“CAN JESUS RAISE US?” 4/10/11

John 11:38-44

¼ of the year gone, and this is the LAST time I bring up the same topic.  What has that been?  A relationship with God hinges on faith in Jesus and life led by the Holy Spirit.  That is a life God wants us to have!  God even proves that such life is given.  How?

Lazarus gets up from death.  What more proof do we need?  The people then were highly doubtful that Lazarus would move.  What does Jesus say to them?  “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  Truth be told, we are highly doubtful that great things can happen in and through us.  What does Jesus say to us?  “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

For this congregation to live on, the glory of God must be seen here and from here.  The Spirit willingly and mightily would give that glory.  But it is glory aimed at the Lord, not the church, not the members.  What do we want?

For relationships you care about to be the best they can be, the glory of God must be seen.  The Spirit instructs souls in the love of Jesus that reconciles and makes new- people and situations.  But, it is work aimed at bringing people to faith, not material or situational happiness.  Is that what we want for those we care about?

For us to have a vibrant relationship with our Savior, the glory of God must be seen in us.  The Spirit makes us new creations, less like us, more like Jesus.  But, that means we must be willing to be less like us, more like Him.  If that willingness is not there, then we aren’t alive to God, our relationships won’t get better, the congregation will perish.  Worst of all, our god is not God.

So, anyone here willing to go beyond where we’ve been and into all God could have us be?

“WHAT RESURRECTION IS LIKE” 4/3/11

Luke 5:36-39

This text often illustrates the new teachings of Jesus.  But, His teaching is part of His life, which is part of the Holy Spirit.  As we are in Christ, that teaching is lived out through the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Here is what it looks like when done.

New patch on old cloth or new wine in old skin, is the same image.  In both cases, it all falls apart.  The new life Jesus gives us is NOT LAID ON OUR OLD WAYS.  We are not basically the same, with a layer of godliness on top.

Recall with me, please, when you have lived that way.  There was a continual fight within yourself.  You weren’t right, and couldn’t do right.  Wrong and right wrestled within you, and you were exhausted.

In resurrection, that fight ceases, more often than not.

The new life of Jesus is put into a forgiven, holy, transformed person, who then begins to live who they are.  Guilt goes, for grace has come.  Sin settles away, for love has taken its place.  Weakness and fear dissipates, for the presence of Christ upholds a soul.

Over time, as it gets practiced, this life gets better lived & seen by others.  That is the meaning of “the old is better.”  The life of Jesus harmonizes with the life we lead, and people are attracted to who and how we are.

An issue of “Presbyterian Layman” proved it.  Christians in the Middle East are converting hundreds of their relatives and neighbors monthly, not by bringing them to church, but by living Jesus’ life in themselves.  The other folks see the difference, and wonder what happened.  The secret church in the Muslim world is much bigger than we know, and it is growing.   We can do the same, because Jesus does the same in all who believe in Him.

“AMAZING GRACE WE CAN GIVE” 4/03/11

1 Samuel 16:1-13, John 9:1-41

In Samuel, God tells us that He looks at our true inside self, not how we appear to others.

* On the one hand, that is grace!  Where we mess up, the Christ in us cleans up, and that is what our Father sees.
* On the other hand, God looks at our deepest self, and makes us see too.  Not always pretty.  But, always honest.

God does this in love, mighty, life-changing love.

In John, a blind man slowly comes around to see his world, and to see who should be in charge of it.

* On the one hand, it is sad that so many people won’t see, or even try to see, what this man is experiencing.
* On the other hand, it is grace that God is doing that work in our lives, curing our heart blindness, our soul sightlessness.

So what?  Well, let’s start at the start.

Do we believe that Jesus loves everybody?  Then, why don’t we?

Can God work His will and heart through anybody?  Then, why aren’t we looking for that work in others?

Did the Spirit have a hand in creating everybody?  Then, who are we to exclude anybody from our hearts and lives?

Remember, all God has to work with initially is sinners headed to hell.  Not the best material to do great things with!

But, God is the best artist.  And we are privileged to be His creation, and to help others be His new creation.

“GENTLENESS” 3/27/11

Luke 13:34

Here’s why this verse amazes me.

Jesus is being challenged and soon to be betrayed by the people He is talking to.  And He loves them anyway!
. . . . . Here is a gentle heart, one able to take the worst of people and give His best in return.

Not only does He love them, but He cares deeply about their fate, as if they mattered more than He did!
. . . . . Here is a gentle mind, one willing to act and focus on others no matter the personal cost.

How much do they matter?  He would embrace and hold every one of those people who want to see Him dead!
. . . . . Here is a gentle person, one who gladly would hold those who would hurt; graciously touch those who would hit.

He would shelter them, keep them from the storm within their souls that make them act so evil, no matter what it cost Him to do so!
. . . . . Here is gentleness, a person would face the storm others go through, not only with them, but as a protection for them.

The image He uses for this is of a mother hen.  Jesus gives a picture of Himself, of God, as a mothering sort!
. . . . . Here is our God – not confined to any sort of image or reputation, but willing to do and be what it takes to bring love’s healing and life back to sinful humans.

So, in all this, you and I see what gentleness looks like.  Jesus.  Rough and tumble, crucified Jesus.

“EVERYDAY PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION” 3/27/11

Mark 8:14-21

Jesus in this passage slaps His disciples on the head and demands they pay attention to the life of Resurrection already in their view.

So, in this sermon I simply ask questions; you do the work.

Has God ever provided for you, when it seemed there was no way to get ahead again?

Did God ever use what little you have to make not only you, but also others, get more than they had before?

Have you ever sensed God wanted you to do something?

Did God bring new people into your life, when your life was a mess?

Has God ever made a new community around you, so that you saw a new way of being and living?

When was the last time a stranger, or someone you would not deal with ordinarily, affected your life in an amazing way?

How many times has God answered your doubt, not with words, but by divine actions in the world?

What understandings have you had of God that someone or some life experience proved to you was either incomplete or false?

In all these ways, God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, has shown you that He is in the world, at work, and working through lives.

And, there is much more He could do through all of us, as we trust Him!

“IT MIGHT JUST BE ME” 4/24/11

Psalm 114, John 20:1-18

It might just be me, but I think I miss what Easter is about.

God’s presence makes mountains and hills dance.  I get all excited watching football.  Perhaps football matters more to me than God?

Two disciples are running to Jesus.  I don’t recall me running with great enthusiasm to meet with God, hardly ever.  Of course, you probably don’t have that problem.  It might just be me.

I don’t run into people’s graves; their problems are their problems, you know?  Don’t want to interfere.  So, I’ve never really seen any one go from death to life, never seen God raise up a new life.

Easter, if it means anything, is about a fact that needs to be shared.  “He is risen!” is how folks have started telling others.  Can’t say that I spent much of this week talking about Jesus.  Of course, it might just be me.  You have such a love for such a God that the words and the desire to speak them no doubt fly from your lips.

I haven’t wept over things of God, not tears of confusion, or joy, or godly sorrow.  No, I’ll weep at tax time, or when the computer acts up.  Maybe my passions are misplaced?  It might just be me though.

It might just be me, but maybe this Easter story could be more than a story.  It could become more real than family dinner, a show up at church and “back into the real world” attitude, even the chocolate.

Easter could find me taking in not just the story itself, but the main character in the story.  After all, it does say He is alive.  And, if alive, then He has something nothing and no one else can give me.

This Easter I could begin to live for Jesus because I’m in love with and in awe of who He is.  But that opportunity might just be what I need.   You probably are just fine as you are.

“BORN AGAIN” 3/20/11

Genesis 12:1-4, John 3:1-17

“Jesus, I admit I have sinned.  I hurt You, and am sorry for what I’ve done, who I’ve been.  I want You to come into my life and make Your home in me.  I will follow You as my Savior and Lord.”

So, now I’m a Christian, right?

I said the magic words!  What else do I have to do?  Jesus tells us, “You must be born anew, born of water and of Spirit.”  Does saying words make us reborn?  I’ve heard many a pregnant woman wish her child would be delivered SOON.  That didn’t make the process speed up!

Nicodemus didn’t quite understand what Jesus meant.  In his world, being right with God meant behaving in holy ways every single time.  Neither behavior, nor declarations, are what Jesus meant.

The word repeats, like a hammer blow:  “Born.”  We must be born.  Someone must deliver us from the life we knew, into the new life we never could know from where we’ve been.

We must be born.  We have to enter a totally new way of living and experiencing the world, leave ours and enter the fullness of God’s creation.

We must be born…  To have someone else nurture us, allow us to form and grow inside that Someone, to be cared for each day.

Abram had this sort of experience.  God told him to move.  Leave what he knew, for what God knew.  Let go of what he had, to find what God could give.  Follow God’s claim on his life, rather than his preferences for living.

He was born anew, born of water and Spirit.  How about us?

“PROOF OF RESURRECTION” 3/20/11

Matthew 20:17-19

A St. Louis Cardinal pitcher from the early 20th century, Dizzy Dean was criticized for his constant bragging about his ability.  “It ain’t bragging if you can do it,” he replied.  Then, he’d go do it.

Jesus does the same thing here.  Look at what He said.  “Going to Jerusalem” – no big deal; one can arrange that.  “Son of Man betrayed” – one can set that up too.  “Condemned, mocked, and crucified” – again, one can make sure that happens.  “Third day rise to life” – that one is a whole lot harder to make good on!

But, Jesus did make good on this one too.  Two weeks ago, I said that Christianity is not personal opinion, but historical fact.  What difference does that make?  If it is opinion, then one’s own effort in believing makes the faith either good or bad.  If it is historical fact, then it is all about God and what God can do.

Since it is historical fact (I get back to this soon) the practical results for you and I are these: Jesus is alive and can act in and on our lives.  His power over life and death is greater than ours; He can transform who we are!  The Holy Spirit is how Jesus does His work.

Is it a historical fact though?  Well, it certainly is disprovable.  All one needed to get rid of the Christian faith is a corpse.  No one ever brought a body forward!  It certainly is provable.  People who experience Jesus as risen were changed people, and that change has happened over and over again down through the centuries, which is how the Christian faith has grown.

Why does the proof matter?  That is how we judge things.  “Prove it,” we say.  Jesus said, “I will rise.”  Then, He rose.  From that fact, we can rely on all the rest of what He said.  And respond as if He meant all that He said.

“I WILL RAISE YOU” 3/13/11

John 6: 35-40

He will raise us.  If He is dead, then He won’t raise us.  If He rose from death, that same life He had to conquer death is given to us!

“I will raise you,” He said.  To raise us, He must be holding us.  As a mother cradles her newborn, as a father takes his child’s hand, so does Jesus hold us.  That grip is as strong as the universe, and longer lasting!  He will never let go of those He holds.

So, where He is going, then we who are held naturally follow.
What He moves towards is where we aim for.
The work He is doing today is work we join in, for we are in those hard-working hands.

And, so we rise.  Rise out of our own situation into God’s.  Out of our own heads into His heart.  Out of our failings into His glory.  We rise because He carries us, and He is risen!

What does our rising mean?
* Our life’s hungers and thirst are satisfied by Christ’s presence.
* The good people we want to be happens as the Spirit works in us.
* We can live with confidence and boldness, for the Father leads us.

What will our rising mean?
* People will see Jesus in us, and want to know Him too.
* The Spirit will draw us from daily dying to eternal life, always.
* Our Father will befriend and uphold us every day, for ever.

Eternal life is impossible apart from the gift of God.  We aren’t made for forever.  We are remade into a forever, held by the One who makes it all.

“I will raise you,” He promised.  And He will.  If you will be held.

“CHECKING OUR CONSUMPTION” 3/13/11

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, Matthew 4:1-11

I’m told, “You are what you eat,” and “What goes into you will come out of you.”  So, what we take in really matters!

Our consumption, what we choose to fuel our identity, is all we have to live on.  Living by our wants leads us to Adam and Eve’s situation:  estranged from God, distant from each other, lost in what should be paradise.  Living in other ways leads us to Jesus Christ.

We can feed on knowledge of “good and evil,” and then die in our wisdom.  We could daily fuel our hearts and lives with the presence of God and so find that “narrow way” Jesus describes that leads to life.

We know how to eat the forbidden fruit.  How do we ingest the relationship to our God?  Prayer.  Time spent in God’s Word.  Daily attending to God’s needs in our day.  Treating all we do as if it were a holy action, or not doing it.

We could look at the world and try to make the best life we can out of it, and then die in our success.  We can daily consume the power and treasures of Christ, and so live.

We know how to get things by the world’s standards.  How do we consume the treasures of God?  Know and live by the Word of God.  Practice listening to and following the Holy Spirit.  Regard all people as someone Jesus died for.

There is much that draws us from being Christians.  There is One who is stronger than all that allures us away, and He is always there:  waiting, calling, helping us to be and do the right thing.

It helps His job if we take in what helps us help Him.  Think about it.

“I AM THE RESURRECTION” 3/6/11

Communion ~ John 11:17-27

Most people believe that being a good person, or a better person, makes one live a Christian life.  Nope.  Ask Lazarus.

He is dead.  Three days’ dead.  Not even House, or Marcus Welby can fix him – dead.  Jesus gives him life again.

When Jesus gives us the Spirit, we are like Lazarus.  We come alive where we are dead.  We rise out of our situation, not under our power, but by His command and love.  We prove to others that God is alive just by being made new within ourselves!

Our faith is based on this, according to Paul, “If Jesus is not raised from the dead, then your faith is in vain, and we are above all people most to be pitied.”  See, no amount of moral living cures death.  No self-will, no self-esteem, can override death’s grip.  But the Spirit can.  The Lord will.

To ruin our faith, all we need do is leave the resurrection as an event that happened WAY BACK THEN.  Instead of “He is risen!” our faith becomes, “He rose!”  Nice enough thought, but not why He died and rose again.

He died because we are dying.  He rose to bring us to new life.
He died because our sin was terminal.  He rose to place life in us that can never die.

When Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection,” He said to her:
* The final word in daily life, and death itself, is Me, Jesus.
. . . . . What do you say about Me?
* Where you cannot, I can.
. . . . . Will you let Me do what I can in you?
* No power on earth or in people can stop Me from making a difference.
. . . . . May I make a difference in you?

“GLORY FROM GOD!” 3/6/11

Exodus 24:12-18, Matthew 17:1-9

When God’s glory comes, it hardly ever shows up for the sake of the one experiencing it.  Moses already knew God fairly well.  Jesus didn’t need anyone to tell Him who He was!  Glory from God is for us to experience, and then want over and over and over.

The glory from God on Mt. Sinai was all about the law, the ways God wants us to live.  The people were astonished at the glory of God on the mountain.  It was like a raging fire that would not go out.

Such is the way one feels when one actually does as God requires.  Obedience to our Lord gives energy, zeal, a confident contentment no amount of sinning ever approaches.  To follow God’s ways is hard, but hard like exercise.  Once done on a regular basis, exercise makes all of who we are feel better.  Same with following the Lord.

The glory here is to get us caught up in that fire, and blaze before a world in the dark regarding real life.

The glory in Matthew is for the disciples, you, and me.  Whenever we wonder about our faith:  is it real?  Is Jesus who He said?  We can look here and at the resurrection accounts.  Heaven is in this Man.  Heaven is seen in this Man.  God is with us.

That sort of glory has always been the fuel that drives Christians:  to deepen their relationship with Jesus, to grow closer to the Father, to walk with the Holy Spirit into the world.  Because Jesus is who He is, and we know it, we can become more than we’ve ever been.  Why?  That glory radiates off Him and onto those He loves.

The glory here is for us to be amazed at God’s presence in the world, to live by that presence daily, and to share what we find with others.  Glory from God is for others.  Do we know some “others?”

“LOVE” 2/27/11

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Let’s clear some things up.  The passage is about gifts of God, the supreme one being love – godly love.  How does that differ from what folks are looking for?

Godly love is patient.  Human love is desirous.
Godly love is kind.  Human love is passionate, which can get unkind.
Godly love is not envious.  Human love can fall into “I wish/you always” language.

Godly loves does not boast.  Human love is full of high words.
Godly love is not proud.  Human love wants to fly on cloud 9.
Godly love is not rude.  Human love can say & do hurtful things.

Godly love is not self-seeking.  Human love breaks up if someone is dissatisfied.
Godly love is not easily angered.  Human love is like fireworks.
Godly love keeps no record of wrongs.  Human love has checklists.

Godly love does not rejoice in evil.  Human love likes a little “spice.”
Godly love enjoys the truth.  Human love knows the value of a little white lie.
Godly love always protects.  Human love can wander away.

Godly love always trusts.  Human love makes one prove oneself.
Godly love always hopes.  Human love can despair fairly easily.
Godly love always perseveres.  Human love has the “break up” to fall back upon.

All this means that humans can love each other in godly ways, with passion and much, much more.  Let us love as if it were God’s gift.

“THE REVEALER OF THE SPIRIT” 2/27/11

Isaiah  61:1-3, Luke 4:16-29

Isaiah offers his people hope in the form of a person.   Jesus claims to be that person.  Is He right?

See, all of Christian living pivots on this point:  Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit, so that we can follow Him.  If that statement is not true, then our faith is 100% our own effort and opinion, like most people make faith out to be.

But, if Jesus does give the Holy Spirit, so that we can follow Him, then looking to Him always makes a good deal of sense!  Here’s how I know ‘tis true…

Centuries before Jesus became flesh, He spoke to Isaiah and gave him the news. Jesus put into Isaiah’s heart a yearning for someone who really would change the world, not just give him entitlements.

For centuries, people in oppressed conditions haves sought the one Isaiah spoke of. I’ve almost never met someone in desperate situations who didn’t want a Savior of some sort.  They wanted Jesus, and most didn’t even know it!

Jesus lived what He read. The gospels give us highlights of Jesus’ career.  Those quick glimpses show the words of our Scriptures today in action, don’t they?

Jesus’ claim was strongly opposed. People who thought they wanted God, who thought they were faithful, found out that Jesus wanted more from them, and they tried to kill Him.  Folks have been trying that ever since.  If a decent idea, a decent man, is strongly opposed, it is a good bet that the man is right and the opposition wrong.

Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit, so that we can follow Him.  I am sure!

“LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR” 2/20/11

Leviticus 19:9-18, Matthew 5:38-48

Sometimes it seems to me the Bible was written for just us today.  Look at how God’s expectations fit our present day needs!

Leave something for the poor:  Our job is to care for one another by making room in our budget for those who have no means to budget.

Be honest:  Isn’t that what we really need from one another?

Do right with money:  We got into this last recession because people were more interested in making money than helping others.

Hold your neighbor in esteem and respect:  We used to call this courtesy, or politeness.  God calls it the only way to live.

Turn the other cheek:  Move to avoid the next blow, rather than you take a swing.

Give your tunic; go the extra mile:  When being wronged, show the world by your kindness that you are in the right, and the other one is off base.

Love your enemies:  There aren’t enough bullets on earth to kill all those who hate God.  There are enough Christians to live lives that powerfully affect and alter the hatred.

Care for those you don’t care for:  The mark of a good person is not how one treats friends, but how one treats those one doesn’t like.

All this boils down to this simple rule that is so hard:  “Love your neighbor.”  Good thing Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, so that we could love His ways, know His commands, and do as we are told, and as the world needs us to act!

“THE ANTIDOTE TO LAST WEEK” 2/20/11

Psalm 51:7-14

Last week I told you how hard it will be for us to live by the Spirit.  Of course, not living by the Spirit means we die in the flesh!  But, this Sunday is not meant to scare you, but to encourage you.

God takes what is difficult and makes it glorious.

We will get clean. The dirt other people throw at us gets wiped away as a mother bathes her infant.  The dirt within us gets swept away as a machinist finely grinds a part.  We will have lives that work!  We will be unashamed!  We will be whole!

We will be uplifted. God’s dealing with our sin unchains us from the power that sin has over us.  Where once we are living as victims of ourselves, in Christ, we live as victors by His life.  We will know true joy!  We will receive a new start in life!  We will be the Christians we’ve yearned to be!

We will live new lives. Sin is forgiven to give us new livin’.  A pure heart, undivided in affection – this Jesus gives.  A self-control to do and live rightly – this Jesus gives.  Strength to face sin and sinners with love and righteous mercy – this Jesus gives.

We will praise and testify. Right now, most of us don’t talk much about Jesus because, right now, most of us aren’t clean, uplifted, or new.  We’re just older.  Right now, all of us are so beloved of God that He will begin His life changing work in us, so that we really do care about others, enough to not want them in hell.  He will begin to re-mold our souls, so that praise and worship becomes our mind’s goal and center point.

What would a life lived by God’s powerful forgiveness look like?  Jesus. What would a life where one is not guilt-ridden and timid resemble?  Jesus. What could make us step up to someone in love and show them life is made for worship?  Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus.

“A NEW WAY OF WALKING” 2/13/11

Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Matthew 5:21-37

For centuries the Christian faith was described as a walk, a journey from who and how we were to whom and how Christ is.  And, for centuries, most people tried to go on this journey by obeying rules, being good.  The gospel is that God gives us a new way of walking.

In Deuteronomy, Moses describes this new way as a choice for life.  Not following rules, but living a new way.  Of course, we are given another option:  Death.  The rules, or as we call it, the Law, or as the Hebrew writes it, the Word, are a fence within which we work and play as God’s children.  To go outside the fence is to court death.

As God is Life and Love itself, our choice for life is a daily choice for God in every situation, at every moment.  That is why Moses speaks to the community of believers.  As individuals, there is NO WAY we could hold on to life.  Together in mutual affection and support, we can.

Jesus then tells us what we can do.  What claim does He use to justify telling us what to do?  “You have heard it said…but I say to you.”  OK then, who first “said” it?  Father God.  Then people interpreted the Father’s words, so that they became more rule than life.  Jesus sets aside the rules we’ve made of the Word, and invites us back into a relationship to the Word of God, who, John’s gospel tells us, is Jesus Himself!

Christian faith then becomes like this.  Your doctor tells you to lose weight.  That is the rule.  Well, you try, but the chocolate cake looks SO good.  Then, at the beach, a pretty or handsome young thing strolls by.  You suck in that tummy to look better.  The person makes your behavior change.

So it is with Christian faith.  The person of Christ makes us change, not to follow the rules, but to follow Him!

“IS CLOSENESS TO GOD WORTH IT?” 2/13/11

Jeremiah 7:27-29, Hebrews 10:26-31

So far, I hope I proved God wants this church to live by the Holy Spirit, who MUST be thriving in each one of us.  BUT…

Getting serious with our faith is hard and often hurtful.  Jeremiah spent his whole career as a prophet being harassed, mocked, & finally abandoned.  In the reading today, God tells him the people he is to tell God’s word to will not listen.  They will drive him to despair and frustration.

Sound like any attempts you’ve made to talk about your faith?  Resemble any reaction thrown your way when you try to live out your faith?

Hebrews is even worse.  Not only will many people reject what we do in the Spirit, but also the Spirit will not take our dodging His claim on us lightly.  “If we deliberately keep on sinning…only a fearful expectation of judgment.”   “The Lord will judge His people.”  “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”  Yeah, that makes me want to dash off to church!

When we get serious with God, we get taken seriously.  The sin in us is shown to our face.  Life gets harder, for the temptations we used to fall for are now resisted, and grow the worse as we resist!

Prayers sometimes become cries of pain.
. . . . . Worship and church rarely fulfill our yearnings inside.
Other people’s lives cause us grief and concern.
. . . . . Our own lives cause us godly grief and concern.

Put simply:  To get serious with the God means the hell will be burned out of us, and the world will fight like hell to defeat us.

Yet, there is no other way with Jesus other than this.  No other way for our church to live another year, much less 200, other than this.

“REAL RIGHTEOUSNESS” 2/6/11

Isaiah 58:1-12, Matthew 5:13-20

Unless our righteousness exceeds the Pharisees and teachers of the law, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  And they were the godly examples!  What chance do we have?

Because Jesus fulfilled the law and the expectations of the Father for all humanity, we have a pretty good chance, IF we eat right, flavor right, and look right.

EAT RIGHT:  A fast in all religions is a way to focus oneself on something of God, rather than something of the gut.  God needs a focus on the broken lives and wounded souls around us.

To eat right is to feed on the love of Christ for sinful people and share that love in ways that lift people up to see a new way, a God way, for where their lives are going.

FLAVOR RIGHT:  Salt was what the ancient world had to preserve food.  Godly lives are what the modern world has to keep from being a total hell.  We are God’s flavoring, making the world taste different from what so many are swallowing.

To flavor right is to help people ingest the love of Christ, the embrace of the Father, the life of the Spirit.  We do this for them by doing it ourselves.

LOOK RIGHT:  Not many people have much of a clue.  They are looking for saviors, for someone to help them.  They are looking for Jesus.  We have Jesus inside us.  Jesus wants to shine out from us.

To look right is to reflect the only life that matters, the only life that is stronger than death: the life of Jesus.

Do we fail at this?  Over and over again.  Does God keep giving us opportunities to live this way?  Over and over again.  When must we rely on the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to come close to this life?  Over and over again.

“WOULD THAT WE ALL WERE PROPHETS!” 2/6/11

Numbers 11:24-30

I edited this story down in the Scripture reading.  Here it is:  God is angry with the Israelites because they complained about their living conditions is the desert wilderness.  Moses too complains to God.  His gripe is that he can’t lead these people.  They are too whiny and selfish.

God takes care of both the grumbling and the lack of leadership.  I deal here only with the lack of leadership.

Then is much like now:  people complain more than they achieve.  They demand more than they work for.  Folks expect comfort above character and dignity.  The best among the group are as craven and shallow as the worst.

The times then, the times now, cry out for godly people to stand up and be the wall the weak-souled can lean on and learn from.

The times then, the times now, are a moment of crisis where the people God would bless are just about totally removed from the Lord’s favor.  It takes mighty hearts and noble spirits to stand in the breach for the masses.

It takes those who have the Holy Spirit.  It takes God’s church.  It takes you!

God has plucked you out of all the people around you to be the difference makers in the world around you.  We are to be better than, different from, those who squander God’s care and reject God’ presence.  It is our example that lights the path for some of them back to the Lord, back to real life.

God makes heroes out of nobodies.  God brings greatness out of “just another person.”  God would make us awesome by the Holy Spirit already in us.  That is our call today.  Would that we all…

“LIVING TOWARD FAITH, OR BY FAITH?” 1/30/11

Micah 6:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12

In Micah, God has a quarrel with His people.  In Matthew God has a revelation for His people.  They both are necessary to us, but at different times.

Those times when our lives are outside God’s guidance are Micah times.  Then, we need to hear how hurt God is by our foolish, heedless ways and words.  What we call mistakes, God calls sin.  And sin is powerful, but not as powerful as God’s forgiveness, not as life-changing as God’s grace.

In Micah we hear how life apart from the Lord looks to God, and how a life with the Lord looks to the world.
Doing justice – helping people live well with God and each other
Loving mercy – doing justice with a heart that sympathizes
Walking humbly with God – a life that exemplifies justice and mercy, and love for the Lord

We need to hear, at times, what we need to live towards.

Those times when we are in God’s presence but still not sure of ourselves are Matthew times.  The Beatitudes, we call them.  They represent a set of conditions found in people who already are glad to be godly and good for the world to see and know.

This isn’t a case of, “If you are this way, then God gives you that.”  The Beatitudes are like this, “Because God in you is this way, you are like that.”
You now have a role in the kingdom of heaven.
You have comfort; you possess the creation.
You are filled with righteousness; you are given mercy.
You see God at work; you are a child of God.

The prophets tell us when we are “out of line” with Jesus.  Jesus tells us how wonderful it is to walk in the Way, the Truth, the Life.

“ARE YOU AMONG THE PROPHETS?” 1/30/11

1 Samuel 10:9-13

The Bible is funny sometimes; this is one of those times.   Saul believes he isn’t suited to be king.  God grabs him, changes his heart (literally “deepest core self”) and shakes him up.  And shakes up people around him too!

See, then, and now, people believed only the “select” could get close to God.  One needed certain training or be in a certain blood line.  As it was then, it is now.  Most people don’t want to be godly; it interferes with what they want to do and be.  It’s always good to have a priest of some sort around, but not too close!

God grabs onto Saul and makes him prophesy, makes him speak and act by the Holy Spirit.  Saul is allowed to be more than his circumstance and biology would let him.  That is what God can do!

And, he acts out of character, way out!  Saul “gets religion” as the old timers might say.  He didn’t get religion so much as God got into him.  Saul’s friends couldn’t understand what was happening.

It took a stranger to make things clear.  Saul’s father, your father, mine too is not just who fertilized a certain egg, but who made both man and woman, egg and sperm.  God has no limits on who belongs to Him, who can be an example of godliness in the world.

We set the limits, and look foolish doing so.  God breaks the limits here, showing how foolish it looks to others, and also how necessary that life of faith is to the world.

* That life changes people to the core.  Nothing we’ve got does that.
* That life opens all people to a good, healing, mighty relationship with God.  God is no longer a possession of the qualified few!
* That life is for anyone who would receive it.  Are you among the prophets?

“A GOOD SAMARITAN?” 1/23/11

Luke 10:30-37

For this story to affect us the way it affected Jesus’ listeners, instead of a Samaritan, make him a devout Nazi.

The good people of the right faith avoid the trouble of someone in need.  The ruthless Nazi stops and gives care.  People who love the Lord act like one of God’s creations is poisonous to them.  The murdering Nazi spends time, energy, even money, on a total stranger.  We wouldn’t expect the story to go like that.  Neither did those who heard Jesus tell it!

We expect that the good people do the good thing, and the awful people do the awful thing.
To God’s eyes, good people doing nothing is awful.

Yes, it is none of our business, but we are about the Father’s business, aren’t we?

True, we could get sued later, or taken advantage of, but doesn’t God get mistreated every day by folks, yet still does good to them?

Certainly, we have reasons for not helping, but so does God, and He does so anyway.

Jesus asks us to live so that when we travel down our road, those in the path are shown compassion, love, and justice.

As we go our way, we are to live His ways before the world.

What we have is for His use, not our hoarding.

Who is good in this story?  When have we been on this road?

Go, and do likewise.

“YOU SHALL LIVE” 1/23/11

Ezekiel 37:11-14

This sermon is for those who might wonder whether or not they are alive in the Spirit, awakened to Christ, open to the Father’s will.

Your life as a Christian is the work of God; let Him work.

He has a plan for you—you matter in Christ’s cause.

He has a place for you—you belong in His purposes.

He has a passion for you—you rise as He raises you.

Your worry and despair gets blown away by the Spirit’s breath.

The Spirit moves the bones—wake up ready to move.

The Spirit awakens the dead—open your heart to life.

The Spirit restores courage—act on the Word with courage.

You can know God in a powerful, power filled new way.

What is weak in you becomes strong in Jesus.

What is dead in you gets life from the Spirit.

What is lost in your life is reclaimed by the Father.

Call out to the Lord!  Beat on the lid of your life’s coffin and scream through the dirt that lies over your heart.  You are meant to live, not die, to flourish, not just get by.

Rise from worry, walk away from humdrum.

Come to Jesus; welcome the Spirit; you shall live!

“RESTORING ISRAEL & EARTH” 1/16/11

Isaiah 24:1-7, John 1: 29-42

I meet a lot of frustrated people.  They often get more frustrated when I tell them my belief that frustration happens when we make our lives too small, when we deal with insignificant things.

In Isaiah, Israel specifically, a Messiah (Savior sent by God) is to work at getting us holy again.  Strive not to make a profit, but to speak and live by the Word of God.   Act so that others are blessed, not just so that one’s family is secure.

More than that, they, or at least the Messiah, are given an even bigger task:  to show the whole world and all its peoples how wonderful life with the living God really is!  This little band of sinful, politically weak, former slaves is invited by the Lord to  change the world.

And, the Messiah shows us how God intends it to be done.  Jesus simply lives before others.  John notices and points out how the glory of God seen in the life of his cousin.  We are to live so that people are impressed by the Jesus they see in us.

Further, Jesus inspires people to tell other people about Him.  Then, He deals with that invited person personally.  In simpler terms, we talk about Jesus in ways that people want to meet Him, we live as Jesus directs, so that people want what we have, and as they come to Christ to be changed, the world changes!

Why doesn’t God just wave a powerful hand and fix everybody?  In  John 3, the Baptist tells us why:  “He must increase; I must decrease.”  God chose to use a people transformed by eternal love to do the job.  The question isn’t why isn’t God fixing things, but rather why aren’t we?

As we heard Jesus call us, we came to Him.  In so doing we were given lives big enough to change the earth.  Let’s get going!

“A GREAT ARMY” 1/16/11

Ezekiel 37:9-10

Finally, the breath comes in!  And all those souls, all those dead lives, rise and stand ready: not just to be busy, but to be about the Father’s business.  Not just to get things done, but to get God’s things done.  And, it is not a few folks either.  It is a great army!

And, so it always is with God and His people.  There are enough Spirit-liven, Spirit-driven people in the world right now to do all God needs done to change lives, restore morality, and work justice.  Don’t believe me?  Look at the figures.

Estimates are there are 1 billion, 2 hundred million Christians in the world.  Now, I said “Spirit-liven, Spirit-driven” Christians, so let’s lower the number a bit.  Say there are twenty million Christians in the world, with the rest Christian because they say so, not because God made them so.  Of those twenty million, say 18 million are already busy with their lives, and don’t want to be bothered with God’s call and purpose for them.  Still, there are two million available to God and for God.

The Roman Empire was transformed with only 12 people doing Jesus’ work.

You, who are among the few, this message is for you:

You are not alone!  A great army of God’s people is with you.

The Spirit is within and among you; He will lead you in the ways of Christ!  Never fear, that guidance is here.

God has called you out of the ordinary into the superior life, out of the frustrations of the age into the work that transforms the ages!

You are personally made alive for Jesus to be seen in you! Go and be who the Lord raised you to be!

“LIFE BUT NOT BREATH” 1/9/11

Ezekiel 37:4-8

Ezekiel’s vision continues.  He is told to prophesy, speak God’s words to his situation.  Why?  Well, life comes by heeding the Word of God.  That is how the bones live!

He speaks to the dry bone field, and the bones become sorted piles.  The piles arrange themselves into skeletons.  The skeletons receive sinew and tissues that pop up out of nowhere.  The sinew and tissue stretches out to better fit into skin that clothes each skeleton.  Wow!

BUT, you have seen a corpse, I trust.  All that is needed for life is there, but there is no life!  A lot of people living in our world, a lot of people participating in God’s church are corpses.  They are dead to God and dying in 100’s of different ways.

Ezekiel’s vision is of folks just like that.  Their bodies are all together.  They can stand on their own two feet, even.  But, they are dead.  There is no breath in them.

The Holy Spirit is first active in human life in Genesis 2:7, where God breathes on some sculpted dust and makes a living being.  Here is the breath of life.  Life, in the Bible, is not when the heart is beating, not when the brain waves are flowing, but when the Holy Spirit has filled and, to use the old Apostle’s Creed language, “quickened” a person.

We are only corpses in motion apart from the Holy Spirit at work and alive in us.  Which brings me to an ancient and meaningful tradition in the Christian Church – the breath prayer.

“Lord, Jesus Christ, my Savior,”  breathe in while saying this.
“Have mercy on me, a sinner,” breathe out while saying this.

Let us try to breathe in more than air; let us breathe in God.

“WHY BE BAPTIZED?” 1/9/11

Is. 42:1-9, Matt. 3:13-17

Well, first off, what is baptism?  I’ve come to believe from Scripture and prayer that baptism is ONLY this:  the Holy Spirit entering and remaking a person.

OK, then, why was Jesus baptized?  What remaking did He need?  None.  He tells us why He was baptized here in Matthew:  to fulfill all righteousness,  the righteousness of God’s promise – which we read of in Isaiah 42, and…

God’s expectation – whereby Jesus does in life what we SHOULD do in our living, but often don’t.  In effect, Christ becomes our “stand in” for the bad acting job we’ve done.

So, if Jesus has done all that is needed, why should WE be baptized?  Read with me the Isaiah passage again, putting your name in where you see the word “I,” or “Me”.

Amazing the affect that has when we do that, isn’t it?  Remember, as we are followers of Jesus, we are to do as He does.  As He is our Lord, we are to obey His heart’s desire, and those desires we see and sense right here in Isaiah.  We are really to be different people!

And, who could do that without the Person of the Holy Spirit?  That is why we need to be baptized!

Mere sprinkling won’t help – unless we sprinkle our day with a deep awareness and love of God who is with us.

Just pouring won’t help – until we open our lives to the outpouring of God’s infinite love upon us and then flowing from us.

Even a dunking matters little, except as we drown our self-love, our self-goals, our self-centeredness, and rise up into God service.

Any age can be baptized; there is no age of either accountability or understanding.  There is, in every  person of every age, a need to know and live for God.

“LOST AND FOUND” 1/2/11

Jer. 31:7-14, John 1:10-18

Jeremiah speaks to exiles: captives of Babylon forced to live miles from home.  These are the best of the nation of Judah, and that is why they were taken: to brainwash them into loving Babylon, and to leave the people behind needing leadership, namely Babylon!

God declares to this defeated, lost people, “Rejoice!  I will bring back even the lowliest exile.  I will provide for My people both with material and with spiritual things.  Why?  I am their Father; my goodness shall satisfy them.”

What a declaration!  Is it even possible?

John speaks to all humanity, everyone who has left a loving relationship to the living God.  They are therefore lost in a world they did not make, making worlds for themselves God never intended to exist.

God declares to this wayward, anxious people, “Rejoice!  I show Myself to you.  Come to Me, and I give you new life.  You shall:  be adopted as My children; behold Me, receive grace upon grace, know Me as your God again.”

What a declaration!  Is it even possible?

Well, God did bring back exiles from Babylon to Judah.  They did, for a time, enjoy both material and spiritual blessings.  But, like all people, they wanted more than they had, and so lost all.

That is the situation John speaks to.  That is our situation today.  If God can shape history, so that a promise made is a promise kept, then certainly God could shape a human soul, so that a relationship broken becomes a relationship restored.

Taste and see, here at the Lord’s Supper.

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” 1/2/11

Ezekiel 37:1-3

This is a vision, a picture God gives Ezekiel’s soul.  The prophet sees Israel in a field, all dead:  bone dry dead.  The bones have no skin.  There are not even blood stains to be found.   God asks him, “Can these bones live?”  Ezekiel answers, “I don’t know; You do.”

This is a fact, a truth grounded in what we can experience.  Our church is old.  200 years old.  There are a lot of dead people in back of us:  some we know, some we love, some we’ve never heard of.  There are folks from this church in graves, folks not coming again.

We are old.  Our bodies don’t work as they once did.  Yet still we are busy, and to do what we’ve desired to do leaves little energy for what God might be calling us to.  Many of us are frail, many are broken in soul or heart in some way.  There is not much health and vitality here.  How could there be?!  Yes, we do have money in the bank.  But money won’t cure old age.

God asks us, “Can our bones live?”

Until we answer as Ezekiel did, we never shall revive and live.  He put his whole trust and confidence in God’s power, God’s desires, God’s actions, not his own.  God can do in and through us what it takes for this congregation, and everyone in it, to live.

God won’t do what it takes, if we have decided to do what we can, & not what He can.  And, so we start our Bicentennial year with a profound and important question.  “Can these bones live?”

HINT:  God’s answer is always “YES!”, unless we hold on to unrepented sin.

So, with God’s “Yes” and our need to trust and confess, we are ready to face today and the next 200, right?