Matthew

"CHRISTMAS DREAMS"
Matthew 1:18-24

DO YOU BELIEVE IN DREAMS? Truth is, it's hard to believe in the bible and NOT believe in dreams. The scriptures are full of dreams; Jacob had a dream about a ladder, Peter had a dream about a large blanket of food; Joseph had prophetic dreams about his future, and Angels regularly appeared in these dreams. Remember an angel appearing to Solomon and offering him anything his heart desired? I was in a bible study one time when a church member asked the question, "Why did God always speak to people in dreams?" And someone, I don't remember who, came up with the very profound statement, "Perhaps because it's the only time God has our undivided attention!"

We have a fascination with dreams, because Dreams are a mystery. Dreams can be unsettling or prophetic, and sometimes it hard to decide if a dream is a mysterious prophetic message, or if it's our body's way of telling us we shouldn't have eaten that pizza at 11:00 last night There was this certain wife who decided to give her husband a hint as to what she might want for Christmas. She said, "I had a dream last night that you gave me a pearl necklace. What do you suppose it means?" The husband responded saying, "Tonight you'll find out.!" And she did! That evening he gave her a book, "How to Interpret Dreams!"

I BELIEVE IN DREAMS. I know that God often speaks in dreams, because, I believe, God spoke to me in a dream. I have a friend name of Brad, Brad and I were teenagers together, but we grew up and went our separate ways, lived our separate lives. I didn't hear from Brad for 10 years, then one night I had a dream that I was talking to Brad on the phone. Next day, on a whim, I decided to call Brad's mother and try to find our where Brad was living. It was about 8:00 PM, Washington time when I reached Brad, who was hopelessly addicted to crack cocaine, and who was, at the time I called, sitting in his kitchen with a gun in his mouth ready to commit suicide. I believe, to this day, that God spoke to me in a dream, so that I would call Brad and talk him OUT of pulling the trigger. My dream didn't require a lot of faith. All I had to do was make one phone call, but imagine the faith required to believe in the dream of Joseph.

Body:

IF JOSEPH HAD NOT BELIEVED IN A DREAM WHERE WOULD CHRISTMAS BE? In truth, we could almost call this text, The Christmas That Almost Wasn't. Sounds like a holiday, made for TV movie, doesn't it? Santa gets kidnapped, there's a big storm, And a nasally challenged reindeer or, Ernest, or somebody has to save Christmas. But I'm not talking about Santa Claus, I'm talking about the first Christmas. The real Christmas story, the story that we read in Matthew that almost didn't happen.

We're so used to the story that we don't notice all the things that could have gone wrong. Read verse 1. Now we hear this verse and we say, "Aha the virgin birth, nut Joseph didn't see it that way. Read verse 19. We hear that as one statement but it's really two; Joseph was righteous, Joseph planned to put her away quietly. As a Righteous man Joseph would have obeyed the law. The righteous know the law and the law says an adulterer must be stoned. Not just as punishment but as protection for the whole community. The Christmas story could have ended there before it began! But Joseph decided to put her away quietly, I don't know that there is a bible verse against aiding and abetting an adulterer. Even if there isn't Joseph was exposing himself to the wrath and the humiliation of his peers. What if they discovered he was preventing this criminal from coming to justice? But Joseph decided to take a chance and send her away quietly. Maybe to place where others didn't know them. Where they could keep it all a secret.

Wouldn't that have messed up Christmas? "And a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world was to be taxed and Joseph went to Bethlehem alone because he had sent Mary off to another region." But this didn't happen because God took matters into God's own hands.

GOD GAVE JOSEPH A CHRISTMAS DREAM. God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to explain about Christmas. This angel told Joseph that the baby was from God. That he was to name the child Jesus, which means "God saves". That the child was the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us. and because of Joseph's faith, and his belief in his Christmas Dream . Joseph took Mary as his wife they went to Bethlehem, and she bore a son. And angels and shepherds and wise me came to behold him. But none of it would have happened if God had not intervened. If Joseph had not believed in a dreams!

Conclusion:

Like Joseph We Need To Take A Chance. We need to have the faith to take the promises of God to heart. God never offers us iron clad proof that God's promises are true, if God did there would be no room for faith. But that's what faith is, trusting in something that cannot be proven. Ultimately, God wants to teach us faith and trust, if we want God to lead us out of the darkness, we have to trust God to do the leading.

It was God's intent that Jesus be born in Bethlehem, But people had to cooperate. Mary had to agree to give birth to the son of God. Joseph had to agree to Father a child that was not his. It was God's son, not his, yet he had to agree to feed it, to care for it and provide for it, to love it. And you might say, "That's all well and fine and makes for a good Christmas story, but what does it really have to do with now, with my life? You see friends

JESUS SEEKS TO BE REBORN IN EACH OF US. But for this to happen we have to believe in dreams, we have to believe Supremely in the Dream of God. A dream so huge, that it sent God's son into the world, so that humanity could be redeemed. We have to believe in the reality of that dream, Jesus The Christ! That through his birth, life, death and resurrection that we can become new creations, and we have to have the faith of Joseph. Joseph who was standing on the brink of Christmas, just like we are today. Joseph who had the faith to let go of himself, his desires, his fears, his dreams, Because he saw God's kingdom coming. Because He realized God had a desire to be active in his life. And as we sit on the brink of Christmas once again, may each of us realize how God has chosen us to be bearers of the good news, Christ is born! May we see that God wants to come again into this world. That he wants to borne into the world through our faithfulness and our love. That he wants to be born again this Christmas into our hearts and our lives. May each of us have our own Christmas Dream, and may we have the faith to stand with Joseph, and believe!

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

JOY TO THE WORLD!
Matthew 2:1-12

Introduction:

The Secular and the Sacred are wed. Once upon a time, long long ago there was a beautiful woman named Mary who found favor with God and was chosen to bear God's Son into the world. Mary was pledged to be married to a handsome young man named Joseph, who also loved God. Not long after the marriage, when Mary was great with child they traveled to Bethlehem. When they arrived at the Inn they discovered there was no room for them there. A kindly Innkeeper took pity on the couple and allowed them to stay in the stable. And It was there, Mary gave birth to Jesus. The heavens sang with a chorus of angels. Shepherds and Wise men from far away came to offer there gifts to this little King. And they all lived happily ever after That night legend has it that, even the animals talked because of their witness of this Holy Event. And because of this special night Santa Claus decided that there would be no better night then Christmas Eve to jump in His sleigh and make his trip around the world distributing toys and clothes to all those children who have been good throughout the year. And Parents are reminded, with the help of major credit card lenders, that it is better to give then to receive. Many years later, a magical Christmas Snow would bring a humble snowman to life, who loved to play with girls and boys and bring joy to the hearts of all. And so here it is, Jingle Bells, We wish you a Merry Christmas, Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Grandma got run over by a Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman. Behold, The Holy, Sacred Day of Christmas is wed with the Secular world. The Holy Day is turned into a Holly Day.

This Fairy tale version of the Christmas story holds true for many people. The World would love to place, "And they lived happily ever after" somewhere in this story. Mary and Joseph live to a ripe old age the carpentry business booming. Jesus becoming a wise old King and never seeing the cross. It might be possible for us to entertain this happily ever after scenario within this Christmas story. If not for Herod. If not for this Jewish King who manipulates, lies, cheats, steals and murders infants all in an attempt to control.

Body:

The Man Who Would Seize Control. Do You Know Anything About Herod? Herod, named King of Judea by the Roman Senate in 40 B.C. He had little or no support from his own people because, he was only partially a Jew, being a descendent of Esau. He had a habit of executing anyone who stood in his way. (even family members). During his 37 year reign he executed; his first wife, his mother-in-law, her Father, and her brother, three of his sons, Alexander, Aristobulos, and Antipater, and his own sister, Salome. He was an Arch-enemy of Cleopatra, but was sly enough to out smart every attempt of the Egyptian Queen to take his power or his life. In the year 20 B.C. he married the daughter of the High priest so that he would have an iron grip on both political and religious power in Judea. It was this Herod who Wise men encountered on their way to Bethlehem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?"

Let's look for a moment at this encounter, verse 3 says (read verse 3a). That is such an understatement, it's almost funny. Herod has spent his entire life in an insane attempt to keep his power. Now to hear that another may be born who has royal blood, of the lineage of King David. Herod calls his own Wise men together and discovers that scripture claims the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Then he meets again with the wise men who come seeking Christ, but this time he meets with them in secret. The scripture doesn't tell us why he meets with them in secret, but I think it's easy to ascertain. Listen to what he says to them (read verse 8b). If anyone else who knew Herod heard him say that, they would have laughed out loud. All his life Herod has attempted to control everything around him, even God. He has perverted his religion and His image of God in his efforts to maintain his political control. And we all recognize what's going on here because.

THE SPIRIT OF HEROD IS ALIVE IN THE WORLD TODAY. The world is full of Herod's who twist and use the sacred and the Holy for their own gains. How many T.V. evangelists have we seen get rich and fat off of people's thirsting and hungering after God? How many times have we seen the media scoff and ridicule a sacred doctrine or belief of the church? How many of us, in our own way, have been guilty of using the sacred and the Holy for ourselves? Many times I've heard someone say, "I joined that church because of the business contacts" It seems that the mythologizing of the Christmas story is just another example of the Spirit of Herod wrecking havoc with the Sacred and the Holy. It might be easy to get angry or depressed at this point in the message, it’s easy to get angered at the thought that all that we hold Sacred and Holy is being profaned. But take heart, Herod doesn't win. Herod learns a great and eternal truth.

HEROD LEARNS THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL. Herod never stood a chance. The Wise Men found Jesus, worshipped him, and gave him gifts befitting a King. (Read verse 12). Herod didn't give up. Before all is said and done hundreds of baby boys will be murdered in an attempt to find and kill this newborn King. And approximately 1 year after those babies are murdered. Herod dies a miserable, diseased ridden old man. Yes, God was in control. God was in control then and God is in control today. One thing that has always amazed me, is how God can work even through those who profane the Sacred and the Holy. God's uncanny ability to work through them and in spite of them. Have you even seen the movie, "Leap of Faith"? It stars Steve Martin as a traveling tent Revivalist, a powerful evangelist. Who is 100% fake, and into it for the money. He would pay people to fake ailments so that he could perform a miraculous healing and bilk people out of their life savings. All was going well until something happened, until God stepped in an performed a real miracle, healed a young crippled boy because this boy had such an amazing faith. God worked through Steve Martin's character and in spite of him, to perform a miracle, to accomplish God's great a holy will.

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

RISKY BUSINESS
Matthew 3:1-12

DO YOU WANT PAPER OR PLASTIC? Don't you hate when they ask that? You've spent over an hour making complex decisions. What kind of cereal do you buy for the kids? Do you buy the off brand, and take a chance that it might taste like Styrofoam? Or do you buy the real "Fruit Loops?" Then they ask you "Paper or Plastic?" From an environmental approach, you can't win with either. You say "Plastic"; you're a dirty rotten polluter, because plastics don't biodegrade. You say, "Paper," you're a tree killer. Not to mention that paper sacks are supposed to have roach eggs or something like that. I once saw a lady say, "Both!" She had them place the paper sack inside a plastic sack.

Maybe that's the answer, "We just say both!" This seems to be the message of the world today. With all the political correctness and compromise, there seem to be no more absolutes. No one wants to offend anyone else, so truth has taken a back seat to shaking the system, to being politically incorrect, to disturbing the status quo.

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD OF TODAY HAVE DONE WITH SOMEBODY LIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST!?! A bonified prophet of God, but who would hire him? The man doesn't know how to dress! Wearing nothing, but a hairy camel loincloth and a leather belt, crazy wild hair from living out in the desert, and not taking many baths. Ate nothing but grasshoppers and wild honey can you imagine the kind of breath that would give somebody. He had terrible manners, the only time anybody important comes to visit what does John do? He calls them names! Yes, John would be a risk! It would be a risky business to hire John. That's not the kind of preacher we would like at this church, never any good news! Everything that comes out of his mouth is gloom and doom! Preaches the same sermon every Sunday, "Repent, Repent, Repent!" But then again, maybe that's what the Church Of Today needs. More John the Baptists, more "on fire" people of God who are willing to take risks for the Kingdom. People who will declare to the world that compromise is not always a good thing, that there ARE absolutes. Because this is part of what it means to, "Be the Church." To risk being different for God and Kingdom.

Body:

YOU SEE, AS THE CHURCH WE HAVE TO RISK BEING DIFFERENT. It's a risky business to resist conformity, because people are afraid of people who have the courage to be different. Friends the thing is, we are different! We're not like everybody else! We have hope, where reason says there should be NO hope! We have love and compassion, where reason says we should get even! And it shouldn't really surprise us when the world doesn't understand this thinking, read 1 Corinthians 1:18. The Bible tells us that we don't conform to the ways of the world. The world says, "Every man or himself," but God says, "No greater love has a man than he lay down his life for his brother." The world says, "If somebody hurts you, hurt them back," but God says, "If someone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the left also." The world says, "If somebody steals from you throw them in jail and sue their parents for raising bad kids," but God says, "If somebody steals your shirt, offer him your coat as well." To BE the church means we take the risk of being radically different. It means that we don't conform to the world, because we're not of the world, we belong to God! And that means that we take chances, we love those who don't deserve to BE loved. We give of ourselves when it seems there's nothing left TO give. It means we stand up and tell the truth.

IF WE ARE TO BE THE CHURCH, WE HAVE TO STAND UP AND TELL THE TRUTH. It's risky business to proclaim truth. People don't always want to hear the truth, people don't want absolutes, and they want compromise. Because we're not always sure that we can deal with the truth, compromise is easier. Compromise offers us choices; compromise offers us a way out. But until we can stand up and tell the Truth with courage and conviction, we will never change the world. We will be impotent at our efforts to build God's kingdom. Just a little over a year ago the big movie buzz was over the movie "Gladiator." Starring Russell Crowe as the fallen Roman general turned Gladiator, but did you ever hear the story of the last Gladiator contest? There was a simple Monk who had never heard of the Roman gladiator contests, where men fought to the death against each other and sometimes-even animals. Well, this Monk traveled to Rome and ended in the coliseum sitting with 80,000 people waiting for what? He didn't know, he listened as the Gladiators proclaimed, "Hail Caesar!" "We die for the glory of Caesar!" This monk was shocked and couldn't believe what he was hearing, here we are four centuries after the death of Christ, in a civilized nation that considers itself Christian, and people are killing each other for the entertainment of the crowd. This isn't Christian! This little monk who stood about four feet tall, got up out of his seat, ran down the steps climbed over the wall, and placed himself right between the two Gladiators, put his hands up meekly and said, "In the name of Christ Stop This!" The crowd jeered and laughed, one of the gladiators slapped the little monk with the flat of the sword and sent him sprawling in the dust. But the little monk just stood up, between the gladiators and said, "In the name of Christ stop this!" This time the crowd chanted, "Run Him through!" One of the gladiators took his sword and ran it through the little Monk's stomach. He fell to the ground, and as the life drained out of him he said one last time, "In the name Christ, stop this," and he died on the floor of that coliseum. The crowd grew silent and within minutes, they emptied out of the coliseum. History reports that this was the last Gladiator contest in the history of the Roman Empire, thanks to the boldness of a little monk, Saint Telemachus. If we are to be the Church, we must proclaim the truth no matter what the costs. We must proclaim it with a passion. We must proclaim it boldly. We must be willing to say to say a world that reeks of compromise; "Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation!" "Jesus IS coming again and those who do not know Christ will not be saved, because there will be a judgment." We need to proclaim the very unpopular message, that there are consequences to a life of selfish greed. There are consequences to a life devoid of love; there are consequences to a life of sin. Repent for the Kingdom of God Is Near!

IF WE ARE TO BE THE CHURCH WE HAVE TO RISK GIVING ALL OF OURSELVES. It's risky business giving everything to God, because when we do we say to God, "Do what my life what YOU will!" And when that happens we're changed, change is frightening. It's that "lack of control thing." Giving all of ourselves to God means God has the wheel, no short cuts, no easy way out, no compromise. But you see, the thing is, as the Church we do belong to God. Every fiber and being of our existence. My son-in-law just joined the Air force, and he's planning on shipping out in April. He and my daughter are making all these concrete plans for the time in-between, what he doesn't understand is that he doesn't belong to himself anymore. When you join the military, you become property of the United States Government. It starts as soon as you sign on the line, at any moment the Air Force can decide that today is better than April. When we're baptized into the faith, when we make our confession of faith to God and the congregation of the Saints, we're giving ALL of ourselves to God. It's Just like when we join the church. We say that we will give of ourselves to the work of the church, our time, our talents, our gifts, and our service. Friends, its NOT multiple choice, pick one!

WHEN JESUS CHRIST RETURNS TO THIS WORLD, HE ISN'T GOING TO SAY, "PAPER OR PLASTIC." There will be no compromise. We are either children of God and belong to God, or we are lost to the world. You can't have it both ways. Being the Church, which is what God calls us to be, requires absolute discipleship. Ivan the Terrible was one of the great Czars of 16^th century Russia. He was known for his brutality and lust for war. He wanted to marry the daughter of the King of Greece, a young woman by the name of Sophia. The King agreed to the marriage under one condition, that Ivan had to be baptized and join the church. Ivan agreed and set out to Greece to be married accompanied by 500 of his best soldiers. When the soldiers found out that Ivan was to be baptized, they also wanted to be baptized. The requirements of the baptism were that they make a confession of faith in Christ, and affirm the orthodox articles of the faith, which the soldiers agreed to do, except for one. The article they couldn't affirm was the article that forbids them to be professional soldiers. They asked the priests if they could have some time to think it over? Finally, they devised a plan and announced they were ready to be baptized. They marched into the water, all 500 of them, with 500 Priests. As the Priests put the soldiers under water, each soldier grasped his sword, and raised their arm high into the air. The soldiers were completely baptized, except for their swords, and their fighting arms. These they couldn't give to God!

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE
Matthew 3:13-17

A TEENAGER IS LEAVING THE HOUSE ON A FRIDAY NIGHT TO GO ON A DATE, Mom and Dad stand at the door bidding farewell to their departing child, and one of them utters those weighty words, "Don’t forget who you are!" Do you remember that? And you knew what she meant, while you’re out there, in the midst of some party, in the presence of strangers, don’t lose sight of the values to which you have been raised. Don’t forget who you are! The great paternal benediction to all teenagers as they leave home. And we say that because we wise paternal adults recognize how difficult it is for a teenager to remember who they are. The search for self and the quest for identity consumes much of our teenage years. Teenagers don’t really become difficult until they start asking the question, "Who am I?" Because it’s WHEN they ask that the world provides them with all the wrong answers. Think about it. What does the media tell our teenagers about who they are? You are mostly a sexual being, you are lusting and being lusted after, you’re body is the most important possession you have; nurture it, love it, display it, caress it, show it off. Through the venue of movies, soap operas, and music, the world says to our kids who have begun the search for themselves. You are a heterosexual, homosexual, satisfaction seeking, sexual object, and pursuer. So, be who you are and get ready for a lifetime of affairs, trysts, rendezvous, and romance.

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE. Every one of us needs to hear that now and again, because it’s easy for any of us to forget who we are. The simple truth is that we don’t stop asking the identity question when we turn 21. Every school of thought in the world attempt's to answer the question. Intellectuals tell us that we are thinking, rational, reasoning beings, that knowledge is power. It’s not who you are but what you know. The advertisers and consumerists tell us that we are mostly makers and spenders of money, consuming, craving, producing and obtaining. Preparing for that first mortgage, seeking the two cars, the 2.3 kids, and the forty-year payments. The answers go on and on and we all know them and some of us have bought into them. William Willimon, well known author and theologian and professor of worship at Duke University says, "To the one pressing the question, "Who Am I?" the church has always responded by saying, YOU ARE BAPTIZED!"

Body:

IN THE TEXT FOR TODAY JESUS IS BEING BAPTIZED! There have been few stories in the scriptures that have caused the church as much of a problem as the Baptism of Jesus. And the reason is obvious here we see John baptizing persons in the Jordan River, for the forgiveness of sins into the picture walks the sinless Son of God ready to be baptized! Now realize that for the Jews baptism was a ritual washing, the Greek word for Baptize "Baptizo" literally means, "to wash." The Jews were constantly baptizing people and things, if someone of something was unclean they, would baptize it. If someone died on a bed the bed became unclean by contact with the body and had to be baptized. So they would ritually wash it, or baptize it. When the Pharisees criticize Jesus for not washing his hands, they are literally asking Jesus why he doesn’t "Baptize" his hands. That’s what John is doing at the Jordan River. He was ritually washing people. And there must be something seriously important that Matthew wants us to see in the Baptism of Jesus, because this is the first time that Matthew has Jesus speaking. If you have one those Bibles that prints the words of Jesus in red you won’t see any red until you get to Matthew 3:15, "let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Now there it is isn’t it? I mean how could all those centuries of theologians and biblical scholars miss this? John says to Jesus, "I need to be baptized by you and you come to me." And Jesus responds, "Let it be so, for it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Righteousness is an interesting word, it’s found 232 times in the Bible, and in more than half of those occurrences it refers to the righteousness of God, to God’s love and God’s justice, to God’s saving activities and God’s purposes. In other words, contrary to popular understanding the word righteousness does not primarily refer to someone living a good life. Rather it is a state in which the way of redemption is actively offered or illustrated by God. To make it really, really simple, righteousness is not something we do; it is something God does for us and to us. And if we understand that then we will have a sound understanding of what Baptism itself is all about, because in my experience I have found that most of your church members don’t have a sound understanding of Baptism. And it’s primarily because we’ve forgotten who we are, as an enlightened educated people we have tried to make religion and our faith, rational, reasonable, and understandable. We stress human understanding and experience over Divine activity, we look to what it means to us and for us, instead of what God intends, and what God means. Case in point, we look at the Baptism of Jesus and we ask, "What did it mean for Christ, and we ignore what it meant for God" We do this because we’ve bought into easy and shallow definitions as to what really happens at a Baptism. When the Question has been asked, "What happens at Baptism?" We say, Baptism is an outward and visible sign, it’s something we do to make a statement, and it really means nothing unless we inwardly feel like a Christian. Our own feelings determine if Baptism works or not, if we don’t feel it, it’s not there. The person who says, "I want to be baptized again because I really didn't understand what I was doing the first time I was baptized," is speaking from an understanding of Baptism as something we think or feel. Baptism is about me, my feelings, my attitudes, and my beliefs, and my actions are what matter most, God has little or nothing to do with it. The bible, both Old and New Testament has always and in every way stated that salvation is always God’s work and not ours. Israel was a nobody and a non-people, but God chose to make Israel a great name, a holy people, a blessing to all the nations. And the Bible never attempts to tell us why God did this, except to suggest that it is some unfathomable mystery of God’s love. Israel did nothing to deserve that kind of love, in fact, as a nation and a people, she did almost everything to betray and mock that love, but still God chose Israel throughout all the old and new testament to be a light to the rest of the world. The point being that God chose! The gospel of John states it quite simply by saying, "you did not choose me but I chose you." At any Baptism what happens supremely is that God is saying to the person being Baptized, "You are mine, you have always been mine and I am claiming you as mine." I mean isn’t that what God said to Jesus when he was baptized. "This is MY Son with whom I love, with HIM I am well pleased!" God the ultimate parental figure stands at the door that marks the beginning of Jesus ministry to bring salvation to the world and says to the Son, before this Son enters a world that will desperately try to get that Son to forget who he is, you are MY Son, remember who you are!

AND AT THAT MOMENT, THE MEANING OF BAPTISM WAS CHANGED. John himself prophesied that it would change. He told the people before he had ever even met Jesus, "I baptize with water, but one will come who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire." John foretold the time when Baptism would not be simply a means of ritual cleansing, but a means of God’s holy presence in our lives. Years ago there was a religious bumper sticker that was popular it simply said, "I found it," and was meant to be making the statement that the person who owned the bumper had found God. The thing is that bumper sticker was dead wrong. According to the bible nobody finds God, indeed the gospel story is that God, in God’s infinite love and grace found us. A better way to say it might be "I got found!" Baptism is God’s way of finding us and leading us home, reminding us that we not only belong to God after our baptism, but that we always belonged to God. What happens at baptism is that we are reminded of who we are, and this is why we can baptize infants. Every time we baptize a baby, we are saying that God’s Grace is sufficient. We are saying that God’s grace is free enough, undeserved enough, unmerited enough, and great enough to include even children. Now the usual objection to the baptizing of infants is to say one must have faith to be baptized. And this is right because we’re told in Mark 16:16 "he who believes and is baptized will be saved!" An infant cannot believe so how can an infant be baptized? In the New Testament, faith is not something we do; it is a gift of God. Faith is not something we do, it’s not something we have to have or possess to receive God’s grace. Faith is not our human contribution to the cost of salvation, nor is it something we do, some kind of holy works. The New Testament says again and again that the opposite of faith is works. Faith itself is God’s gift and faith happens not when we grope around for God, but faith happens when God grasps us. In other words, faith comes to you as life comes to you, as a gift. When we see faith as a gift of God, then even infants can be recipients of that gift. We often refer to the Baptism of infants as a dedication, and it is a dedication, but not in the way that we usually apply the word dedication to baptism. At baptism, parents do not so much dedicate their children to God, as much as they recognize that God has already done something for their children. When Children are baptized, the parents and the church are dedicated; we are dedicating ourselves to be instruments of love and grace so that these children might grow in their faith. We are pledging ourselves to being gifts of God to these children so they may grow in their grace. So that as they grow in age and wisdom that they never forget, that they remember who they are.

THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE IS NOT THAT WE SHOULD TRY TO ACT LIKE SOMEBODY. But that we ARE somebody, we are holy children of God called by God to a special purpose. When Jesus was baptized God confirmed for him, his special calling as God’s Son. The text tells us that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus and God affirmed God’s claim upon Christ as "MY SON," Jesus was named. God answered the question before it was even asked. Who is he? He is my son, and at this moment, in this thing we call baptism, I will anoint him with my Holy Spirit and he will begin to be and do what I have called him for. And the thing is Jesus could have rejected his calling. The most compelling truth of the gospel story is that Christ went willingly to the cross. He not only knew who he was and what God called him to do, but he embraced it, he chose it. Even the chosen must choose! At several points in our life as God’s spirit seeks to move us to recognizing who we are, and accepting the call of discipleship, we have the freedom to say no. But you know I’m not so sure that saying NO is as easy as it sounds.

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

JUST SAY YES!
Matthew 4:1-11

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN IT JUST DOESN'T SEEM FAIR. As Christians we try to live up to the model of Christ, but so often, that model seems out of reach. We can't do it. We can't be as holy and as righteous as Jesus. We can't forgive our neighbors like Jesus. We can't love the unlovable like Jesus. And our inability to live up to the model of Jesus is most apparent when we suffer temptation. Because try as we might, we can't seem to fight temptation like Jesus. Jesus, who was hungry and thirsty, takes on the devil face to face. Resists the devil's best temptations, and does so simply by saying, "NO." In effect, that's what's happening. Jesus is tempted by the devil to abandon his messiah ship, and Jesus Just says, "No!" And we know that what we're supposed to do as good Christians, is to be like Jesus. We've been told that since we were little, "be loving like Jesus, be fair like Jesus, give like Jesus, and resist temptation like Jesus." And it's just not fair, because Jesus had certain advantages over us; He Was the Son of God, He knew what his life purpose was, and He had angels waiting to attend him. We shouldn't be expected to deal with temptation as well as Jesus. Sounds like a fairly good argument doesn't it? I mean it just might work, who knows, perhaps we may have found a loophole in all this temptation and sin stuff. We've already tried, "The devil made me do it!" That didn't work because we know that the devil has no authority over the Christian. But this might have potential! But before we put too much stock in this argument, before we take this case to the judgment, and present this as evidence that we should not be held accountable for our sins. Let's take this one step at a time.

WE'RE ONLY HUMAN! Jesus, on the other hand, is the Son of God he's divine. Except that, this scripture begins by documenting Jesus "humanness" before his confrontation with the devil ever begins. Read 4:1-2. The fact that Jesus was hungry illustrates his humanity. In fact, we see examples of Jesus humanity all throughout the scriptures. Jesus often did some very human things. He got frustrated, read Mark 3:4-5a. He got angry, read Mark 11:15-17. He knew sorrow, read John 11:33-35. He knew fear, remember his prayer just prior to the cross, "Father if it' your will take this cup from me!" He knew doubt, the gospels record what Jesus said as he died on the cross. At least two gospel accounts have Jesus saying, "My God why have you forsaken me?" And besides that fact that Jesus was human, there's those nagging little scriptures that remind us that we are more than human. Romans 8:14, "Those who live by the Spirit of God are Sons of God." Philippians 4:13 "I [we] can do everything through Christ Jesus whom gives us strength." But perhaps Peter said it best, read 1 Peter 2:9. But none of this changes the fact that.

JESUS KNEW WHAT HIS LIFE PURPOSE WAS. Jesus was born to be the Messiah. The scriptures tell us that Jesus was born to take away the sins of the world. He was born to be our Savior. He was born to be an example of perfection. He was born to be tempted, and He knew this. Jesus knew who he was. That's what the devil was trying to do, get Jesus to forget who he was. The Devil wanted Jesus to make bread out of stones for himself. But his messiah ship refused, Jesus just said, "No." Because his purpose was not to feed himself, but to feed others, and when the time came, he would make bread not out of stones but from a little boy's lunch. Jesus would make enough bread to feed 5000 people. As human beings, we are often born searching. We search for who we are. We search for the meaning of life. We search for our purpose. Jesus came to show us the meaning of life. Jesus came to help us to understand who we really are. Jesus came to give us purpose. Jesus holds us close and says to us, "You're more than what you seem to be. You're more than what you think you are."

BUT IT STILL DOESN'T SEEM FAIR DOES IT. Because Jesus had Angels. There were angels to announce his coming. There were angels who sang at his birth. Angels warned his parents when Jesus was in danger. And in this text as soon as the devil is through with him angels come and attend him. Our culture has a fascination with Angels. One of the most popular television series for the last few years is "Touched by an Angel." In this ongoing drama, people are regularly attended to by angels. Guardian Angels right? Except that the term, "Guardian Angel" is not biblical. Now the scriptures tell us that angels are among us. Read Hebrews 13:2. And in at least one scripture passage, Jesus implies that we have angels. Read Matthew 18:10. But it's not like we have angels waiting to attend us. When the devil's temptations wear us out. And that may be the best argument yet. In the way of temptation, Jesus had an edge over us. He had angels waiting to attend him. He had a resource we don't seem to have, possibly because of his nature as the Son of God. But then again, we have something Jesus didn't have. We have the Christ. We have someone who knows what's it like to hurt, because he's been hurt. Someone who knows loneliness and rejection, because he was there. Someone who knows temptation like nothing any of us have ever had to face. But best of all in Christ, In Jesus, we have someone who stands with us in our temptations. We can face down the devil and know that we will never travel into the wilderness alone. That when we are tempted, that God is with us. For that's who Jesus is, "Immanuel," God with us, and we also have Grace. We have the assurance that when we don't resist temptations, that when we fail to be as strong as Jesus is, that when we fail to be as righteous as Jesus, that we have a mediator whose righteousness we can claim. Whose sinless life served as a one-time sacrifice for our sin. For all the times when we have given in to temptations

JESUS JUST SAID NO! And yes, it's true that we cannot be as perfect as Jesus Christ the Son of God, because we are fallible, sinful humans. And even though we have been created in the image of God, we have within us the potential for evil. All of us do. But we can learn to just say "No" to the principalities of this world, by saying, "Yes" to the ultimate power and authority which is God. Jesus said "No" to the devil because he had already said, "Yes" to the Father. Jesus said, "No" to the seductive words of the tempter because he had said, "Yes to the authority of scripture.

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

WANTED: A FEW GOOD HELL BUSTERS!
Matthew 10:40-42

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO HELL? Truth Is, Unless You've Lived An Exceptionally Sheltered Life You've Been To Hell. Life can often bring with it, a taste of hell sometimes more than just a taste. Been to hell and back, it's an old expression. And many of us have been to hell and back in our personal lives.

But I'm Asking If You've Ever Been To Another Kind of Hell. Have you ever seen or experienced the misery of people as they exist in a particular hell; a social hell, an economic hell, a demographic or neighborhood hell. And if you've never been to hell there are always people in our lives who invite us there. Sadly enough sometimes it's the preachers. There's an old story about a church that asked the Bishop to move their preacher. When the Bishop asked why, they said it was because he was always telling them they were going to hell. The Bishop must have felt that this was the message the church needed to hear, because the next preacher he sent them told them the same thing. After the first year, however, the Bishop was amazed when they asked for the same preacher to be re-appointed for another year. He asked them what made the difference. The lay leader said, "Oh, this preacher tells us we're going to hell too, but he doesn't seem to be so happy about it!

I'm Not Going To Tell You That You're Going To Hell. Because that's not up to me. Also because I believe I'm called not so much to tell people how to avoid hell, but how to find heaven. No I'm not going to tell you you're going to hell today. But I will say this; if you haven't been to hell you need to go!

WE ARE CALLED TO GO TO HELL! We're Not Called To Live In Hell, We're Called to Live In Heaven. But you can't go to heaven without going through hell first. William Booth discovered hell one night when he couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned, then he got up out of bed and decided to go for a walk. At 2:00 AM he found himself walking in a part of London he had never been to before a very poor section. He spent the rest of that night seeing sights and smelling odors he had never before experienced. When he arrived home early in the morning his wife Katherine was frantic, "Where in the world have you been?" she cried out. He replied, "I've been to hell tonight. I've seen hell!" And after he told her what he had seen, together they founded the salvation army. Have you ever been to hell? If not...why?

Jesus Continually Sought Hell Out. He went into the heart of the leper colonies, where human beings lived whose very flesh was rotting off their bodies. To people who had no hope of life. To people whose touch could mean death, and he touched those people. Those people who lived in hell. He walked into the heart of the social hells of his day; where women and children were marginalized, where the poor were ignored, where the sinners were condemned and cast out. He ate with these people and talked to them about hope. These people who lived in hell!

You See Jesus Had To Go To Hell To Find Us. Jesus finds us as hell raisers and he takes us like he finds us, but he doesn't leave us like he found us. Because he turns us into hell busters. Jesus saves us from the hell of our sin. He saves us from our hell raising nature. So that we can become the church. God's hell busting agent in this world. In Christ we are transformed into people who live a call to bust hell wide open, people who will not let the world get away with abuse, people who refuse to stand aside while God's children live with hate, people who live out a call to douse the flames of hell with the cooling water of the love of Christ. Have you ever been to hell? Are You one of God's Hell busters?

AND A GOOD QUESTION HERE MIGHT BE, "HOW, IN FACT, DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'RE HELL BUSTING FOR GOD? Jesus Tells His Disciples, Anyone Who Receives You Receives Me! Before someone can be a hell buster they have to decide which side of the fence they're going to stand on. I can tell you from 12 years of experience pastoring churches and from a lifetime of being raised in the church as a preachers son. The primary reason a church fails in it's attempts to be a hell busting church, is because too many of the churches members have never stopped being hell raisers. They've just shifted their focus. They now raise hell in their church. Their time is not spent trying to douse the fires of hell with a cool drink of love, but they are heating up with trying to start fires in the church. People Have Forgotten That Without Love Every Effort Is Pointless. Instead of hell-busting through forgiveness; they raise hell with grudges. Instead of hell busting with understanding; they raise hell with judgments and accusations. Instead of hell busting with the purity of truth; they raise hell through rumors and secrets. Instead of hell busting by the power of love and grace; they raise hell because of a misplaced sense of holier-than-thou righteousness. There are churches all over the nation, all over the conference, in this district; and they are dying. Because of all the hell raisers who say things like; we’ve never done it that way before, it won’t work, it cost too much, they’re not our kind of people, he said this, she said that. Praise God This is not one of those churches! Now we’re not perfect. We have our occasional disagreements. Sometimes we may hurt each other’s feelings, but we try to disagree in love. And when we come to realize we’ve hurt one another we try to rectify the situation. And I’ll tell you something friends, if you are looking for the perfect church; you’re not going to find what you’re looking for . And if you do, they won’t let you in, because you’re not perfect. Are you a hell raiser or a hell buster?

Hell Busters Exude The Spirit. They give off a sprit of love and compassion, a Christ like spirit. When you're in their presence you can almost smell holiness, but it's a smoky holy smell. It's a smell that tells you they've been slightly singed with the fires of hell. Where are you getting singed? Where are you suffering for righteousness sake? If you live as a Christian you will suffer. When you live with integrity know this you will suffer! When you live with honesty know this you will suffer! When you live for justice know this you will suffer! And so I ask you right now, this morning, what pain pierces your life right now because you bear the name "Christian?" Because you dare to be a hell-buster? I never thought I'd say this in a sermon, but friends, you need to go to hell!

WE ARE THE CHURCH AND WE ARE CALLED TO OFFER THE WORLD A CUP OF COLD WATER. We Are called To Douse The Flames or Hell with the waters of eternity. Are you a hell raiser or a hell buster? Is our church a hell raising church or a hell busting church? Now before you answer that question consider these two Churches. When Dr. Michael Cordel Arrived At His New Appointment In Downtown Atlanta. He discovered he had inherited a struggling inner-city congregation with an attendance rate that hovered somewhere under a 100. A few Sunday's after arriving, the Cordel family stepped outside the church after services and was stunned to see a steady stream of exuberant marchers parading down the street. This was Atlanta's "Gay Pride" parade, and as they watched the people streaming by it struck Cordel that these were some of the people of St. Mark's neighborhood. This was part of his parish! He thought to himself, I’ve go to do something about this. Now one year later when the parade participants reached the front of St. Marks church, they were met with an unexpected surprise. On that hot and steamy June afternoon, the church had set up a small Oasis, offering cups of cold water to all the marchers who felt hot and thirsty and tired.

Now Two blocks Away Another Church Had A Different Surprise. They had set up roadblocks. They had erected barricades and had policeman riding the perimeters with, "No trespassing" signs all across the property. One was a hell Busting Church, the other was raising Hell. Do You Know Which Is Which? Those cups of cold water St. Marks offered that day transformed that neighborhood and the church Membership has climbed to over 600 in the last four years, and over 200 former gay and lesbian people now run a ministry which transforms lives. All Because a Church offered cups of cold water in the name of Christ in an effort to douse the flames of hell. Are You a hell buster? Or a hell raiser?

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

What Do We Do With The Weeds?
Matthew 13:24-30

Introduction:

A CERTAIN LIBERAL SEMINARY STUDENT AND A CONSERVATIVE FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN WERE ONCE DISCUSSING THE STORY OF JONAH AND THE WHALE. The seminary student was trying to get the old man to believe what he had been taught, that is, that the story of Jonah and the whale was fiction. It didn’t really happen, was kind of like an Old Testament parable. Written to make a theological point about the nature of God, but the old man would have none of it. He had been raised in a very conservative Biblical background, and believed the Bible, every word of it, to be the unalterable, literal word of God. In his frustration the seminary student threw his arms up in the air and said, "There is no such person as Jonah and there never was!" The old man just smiled smugly and said, "Oh yes there is." "And how can you be so sure?" said the seminary student. "Because I know that when I get to heaven I’ll see him there." "And how about when you get to heaven and he’s not there?" "What will that mean?" The old man thought about this a moment and then said, "Well," I suppose that will mean that he’s down in hell with you!"

WHETHER WE HAVE KNOWN IT OR NOT, MOST ALL OF US HAVE BEEN THERE. We’ve been placed in hell by somebody. We’ve been judged and told that we weren’t good enough. We didn’t believe the right way. We weren’t baptized the right way. Didn’t read our bible enough. We didn’t pray the right way. Didn’t live the way that the bible told us that we should live. We slept in on Sundays, after partying too hard on Saturday night. Instead of listening to the Christian radio station, we listened to secular rock and roll, or cry in our beer country music. Instead of watching the PTL club, we watched Baywatch, Survivor, or perhaps even Jerry Springer. Most every one of us, whether we realize it or not have been identified, at one time or another as a weed. As being of the world and not of God, a child of the devil. A son, not of God, but a son of Satan. And you know what I’m talking about, don’t you!? In fact, there are some of who are here today, and you’ve been wounded in life by those persons who have looked at you and said, "You’re a weed!" "And you’re going to burn!" In fact, the actions of these select persons may have even caused you to look at entire churches, and entire church denominations with anger and resentment. Because someone from that church either a pastor or a lay person, looked at you and made the judgment, "You are a weed!"

AND IF THIS IS YOU, THAN PERHAPS THE SCRIPTURE OF TODAY MIGHT OFFER JUST A BIT OF GUIDANCE ON THE SUBJECT. Because we see some people who are doing the very same thing. A Man plants wheat in his field, but while everyone is sleeping an enemy of the man comes and plants some weeds among the wheat. When the wheat starts to grow the servants realizes that there are weeds among the wheat, and they say to the owner of the field "How about we go and pull the weeds and clean out your field?" The owner replies saying, "How about not, because while you’re pulling the Weeds you might just accidentally pull some of the wheat." And something that makes this parable unique, we have a pretty detailed explanation of what it means. In verses 36 - 43 of this same chapter Jesus tells His disciples, "The One Who Sowed The Field Is The Son of Man (Jesus himself), the field is the world, the wheat are the Sons of the kingdom, the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy is the devil. And so it really shouldn’t surprise you that you’ve been unjustly called a weed, because it’s happened before. In fact, it’s a part of human nature to judge, to spend more time pointing out the faults of others, than noticing our own faults. Perhaps that’s why Jesus told his disciples "before you start noticing the splinter in your neighbor’s eye, you had better recognize the log in your own eye."

The Truth Is, I Believe The Reason That There Has Been So Much Finger Pointing In The Christian Church, Is because we’ve become confused as to where and who we are in this text. We often act like the harvest depends upon our manipulation of people and situations. We often think of the field as ours. We adopt an "us against them" mentality. Speaking of "my church," or "my faith" rather than all things belonging to God, and coming from God. Friends let me remind you of a few things, bad guys don’t always wear black hats, and good guys don’t always wear white hats. Bad guys don’t always stay bad, and good guys don’t always stay good. And how about this, we who are the wheat have not always been wheat. But there was a time when we were weeds, and except by the grace of God could have been uprooted ourselves. In fact, the scriptures are full of powerful stories of Transformation, where weeds, sons of the evil one became sons of the Father. Wasn’t Paul a weed before Christ spoke to him on the road to Damascus? Or how about the Roman soldier who stood at the cross while the religious leaders where cursing the crucified Christ, and proclaimed in a loud voice, "Surely this man was the Son of God." Was he a weed, before that confession? Truth is, we’re all born weeds. We are born with a propensity for evil, only by God’s grace and the gift of faith do any of us become wheat, or children of the Father. And again, I believe that’s another problem where we miss the point of this text. When we’re not trying to take the role of the man who owns the field, we’re trying to place others and ourselves into the field. We are either weeds or we are wheat. You are a weed or wheat. He’s a weed. She’s wheat. Did you notice that suspiciously there is one group of characters in the parable that Jesus does not identify? That he does not interpret for us. Jesus interpretation of the parable never suggests who the servants are, but you don’t have to think very hard to realize who they must be. They Are Us! We, the Christian Church, God’s Holy Children called to build the kingdom of God on this earth. We are the Servants of the master, and we’re given great wisdom and insight into ourselves. Through the telling of this parable, the field is the world, not the church. The church is the servants, you, and I. And there is not a one of us in any situation, who have the wisdom to distinguish between the weeds and the wheat. I know this because I’ve tried, as have most ministers.

WHEN I FIRST ENTERED SEMINARY I THOUGH I KNEW WHO WERE WEEDS AND WHO WERE WHEAT. And the truth is that sometimes I believed some of my professors to be weeds. Filling me full of liberal theology. Challenging what I believed to be true, and it all came to a head about half way through my first year. When we received, an assignment in worship Class. We were to attend a Jewish synagogue and participate in their worship. I was floored! Here I am a Christian minister, and I’m being told that I have to attend worship at a place where they don’t even believe in Jesus Christ. The last thing I wanted to do was to go and participate with a bunch of Jesus hating Jews, but I had to have the grade to pass the class. So, I decided that I would go, but that I would make a statement. I purchased the biggest cross that I could find, so that I could wear it in that worship, and I was just waiting for one of those Jesus-hating Jews to say something about my cross. I was going to hit them right where it hurts, with scripture. Pointing out to them, like Stephen pointed out to the Sanhedrin before he was stoned to death. How they had killed and denied the very Messiah whom they had been waiting for since the early days of the Jewish faith. And like the conservative fundamentalist old man who argued with the seminary student, I couldn’t wait to tell them where they were going, and that it was not where I was going. And do you know what I found when I walked into that synagogue? Those people were not Jesus hating Jews. In spite of my hatred and judgment, in spite of the large cross that I was wearing, these people greeted me with love and a mutual respect. I saw in their worship the same service and love and dedication to God, that I had seen in the Christian church, and I was brought to tears. I had gone into that place with the smug belief that every one of those persons was going to hell because they had denied Jesus Christ as Savior of the world. I left that place praying that God would somehow and someway find mercy.

Conclusion

FRIENDS, DEEP DOWN IN MY SOUL I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY TO SALVATION, and that if you die without Christ that you will be counted among the weeds. But as I’ve grown in my faith and my love, I’ve stopped being happy about it. And the thought of anyone who reaches out to God; Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, the thought that any could reach out to God and still not be "saved" tears me deep in my soul. The only comfort I save is the realization of the truth. It’s not up to me. It’s not up to me to distinguish. It’s not up to me or any of us to say who are weeds, and who are wheat. The line separating good and evil passes not through states, or classes, or political parties, not even between differing religions, but through every human heart, and through all human hearts.

WHAT DO WE WITH THE WEEDS? We leave them be. We recognize their potential to be wheat. We realize that like the field in the parable, that we can all grow together. That we are all "in process," and we strive to build God’s kingdom here on this Earth. A place where judgment is finally reserved. A place where people are not seen, so much as what they are, but as what they can become, in Christ.

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

REAL CHRISTIANS HAVE SPLINTERS
Matthew 16:21-28

Introduction:

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

EXTREME CHRISTIANS
Matthew 16:21-28

HOW FAR WILL YOU GO TO STAND UP FOR SOMETHING YOU BELIEVE IN? Are you willing to go to extremes to make the world a better place? Take Julia Butterfly Hill for instance. Do you remember that name? Julia Butterfly Hill is the lady who spent over a year living in a tree. In a protest for the logging practices of the Pacific lumber company. When asked when she would come down she said, "I will come down when there is no more clear cutting, no more herbicides sprayed on our trees, and the remaining 3 % of our ancient forests are protected forever." Now while we might admire Julia Hill for her commitment to her beliefs, you have to admit that perching as a lightening rod 180 feet in a giant redwood is a little extreme.

There’s a lot of extremism today; extreme sports, skateboarding, snow boarding, motor cross, extreme fighting, extreme TV, fear factor, survivor, and top dog, And as popular as extremism seems to be, as much as we like to watch extreme TV, there has been a whole lot of evil that has been perpetrated, as a result of extremism. Think about the destruction caused in this world by extremism; extreme racism brought about the Ku Klux Klan, extreme antiabortion activists have bombed abortion clinics, extreme anti-gay groups have praised their members who have been convicted of beating homosexual's to death, extreme hatred drove a group of human beings to fly jet airliners into the World Trade Center, and into the Pentagon, in the name of their God. And regardless of how we stand on any of these issues, most rational people would not agree with this kind of extremist terrorism. Everything in moderation, that's almost a universal standard of acceptable behavior. All things are acceptable in moderation, but excess and extremism is taboo.

The truth be known, most of us want our religion to be exercised in moderation. Let's not get too extreme. We'll scare people away after all, we don't want to infringe our beliefs on others, right? Let's get together and worship and get a good warm fuzzy feeling, maybe give a little to the church, maybe get just a little happy, maybe allow ourselves to indulge in just a little guilt from time to time, but let's not over do it! We don't want people to label us as "Extreme Christians". Read verses 24-25.

NOW IT WOULD SEEM TO ME THAT WHAT JESUS IS SAYING IS JUST A LITTLE EXTREME. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. Now imagine if you were there as one of the disciples listening to those words. What would be your response? "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me." "Now wait a minute this is not what I signed up for." Jesus, you told us that we were going to help you build God's kingdom" you said, "I come offering eternal life." You didn't say anything about giving up who I am, and you certainly didn't say anything about crosses. Jesus I don't like the direction you're taking this church. So I think I'm going to start going to another church. One that meets my needs and agrees with my way of thinking.

For many Christians this is the kind of discipleship that they live. I’m going to worship at that church, until the preacher says something that I don’t believe in. But you know I believe that a great deal of the blame for this kind of thinking lies with the churches. Because far too often we don't tell the whole truth about the Christian life. We paint a wonderful, and trouble-free picture of what living as a Christian is like. "Come to Jesus and your life will be wonderful!" It's going to be great, fantastic, all your problems are just going to go away. And many people have left out the back door of the church, when they found out the truth. Friends, life in Christ is not a trip to Disney world. If someone has promised you that when you became a Christian that all your problems would vanish. They’ve lied to you! In fact, once you give your life over to God things can begin to get just a little extreme. God has not promised us safety but rather participation in an adventure called, "The Kingdom of God." And this adventurous journey challenges us to do enormously useful work.. While living in situations that would terrify most people. This journey oftentimes involves suffering and self-denial. This extreme adventure will be threatening, challenging, thrilling, and satisfying, but never, ever, boring. Because if we do it right, we have to be extreme!

IN FACT, THERE IS MORE EXTREMISM IN THIS TEXT, AND IN JESUS WORDS THAN YOU MAY REALIZE. It's obvious that the author of this text wants us (the reader) to think about Jesus death on the cross. Even though Jesus hasn't died at least not at this point in Matthew. As Jesus speaks with the disciples he’s just beginning to explain to them that he will suffer and die, but they don’t really get it. The author wants us (the reader) to think about the cross, because we know that Jesus denied himself. Jesus took up his cross, and he died for all of humanity. We Know this because we know how the story ends. And when the author of Matthew wrote this text he also knew how the story ended and he knew that his readers would know because Matthew wasn't written to people who didn't know about Jesus but to Christians, to help them grow in their faith. But now listen to me closely, because I’m about to give you an "Aha!" At the time Jesus said these words to the Disciples, they didn't know. They had no idea that Jesus would end up dying on a Roman Cross of Execution. The very thought would have been beyond their wildest imagination, because Jesus was the Son of God. This man performed miracles; he walked on water. No way would he ever end up on a cross! And so placing ourselves where they were. The disciples in this story at this time, before the crucifixion, what would they have made of Jesus words? You must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.

Well to answer this question I'm going to have to get a little Greek on you. Realize that originally the Gospel of Matthew as well as the whole of the New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek word for cross is "Stauros", the literal translation meaning a stake or a pole. Now the Stauros has a unique history with the Jewish people which has nothing do with a cross. When Moses was leading the Hebrew people through the wilderness they lived as nomads. They had no houses but they lived in tents traveling from place to place, they did this for 40 years, the scriptures tell us. Now when you're constantly on the move you need something that helps to establish your home. Something that is unique to your family something that says, "this is home." The Stauros served this purpose because every family had a Stauros, an enormous stake or pole that was the main support pole for the tent. All the main ropes were anchored to this one stake. The animals would be tethered to this one stake. In fact God gave the command that they were to inscribe upon this stake something called the "Shema" which was the core of the law. You’ve heard the Shema before "The Lord your God is one God you, will love the Lord your God with all your heart all your mind, all your soul and all your strength." The Shema was central to the Jewish faith. It was the core of their faith, and when it came time to move to another place the command would go forth, "Take up your Stauros, take up the family stake and move your tents." We're searching for the promised land. Do you see where I’m going with this? I believe that when Jesus said, "Take up your Stauros and follow me." It had a double meaning. For those who knew the story of Jesus and his cross it meant, be willing to sacrifice yourselves as I have sacrificed myself. But for the disciples it would have meant something more. Take up everything and follow me! Your homes! Your families! Everything that makes you who you are! This is truly denying ourselves, not that we become something we're not, but that what we are we give to God, and allow God to transform us into something more.

THIS IS EXTREME FAITH. And this brand of extreme faith takes extreme Christians. Who are extremely compassionate, who are willing to visit the infected and the sick in hospitals, who are extremely humble, Christians who are able to see that every good gift comes from God alone, and that personal talents and resources should inspire gratitude, not pride. Who are extremely patient, who are committed to working with challenging children, teenagers with attitude, and young adults who are struggling with their faith. Who are extremely forgiving, who are willing to forgive not just once, or twice, but again and again, because they know that God has forgiven them again and again. Who are extremely loving, who volunteer to serve the needs of others, people they don't even know, people who don't deserve to be loved by the world's standards. Who are extremely faithful, who are living out a committed and trusting relationship with God, with their spouse, with members of their family, friends, knowing that faithful living in an uncertain world is at the heart of a life that is real and worthwhile.

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

GOD HUNTING
Matthew 17:1-9

I WAS A BOY SCOUT, FOR A TIME. Actually, I was a Cub Scout for about one camp-out. This was out in West Texas in the Davis Mountains. I was 8 years old and up until the last night of the camp-out, I was having a blast. We had a great campfire we started ourselves. Roasted hot dogs with sticks we had whittled with our knives, and after we had eaten hot dogs, and marshmallows, and told stories. We decided to go swimming in the pond with our clothes on. Of course, we only had one set of clothes so we hung them on sticks around the campfire.

That night, I remember that I had a dream, that my legs were made of ice, I woke up the next morning, and there was 19 inches of snow on the ground. Twenty-two little 8 and 9 year old boys wearing nothing but our underwear couldn’t FIND our clothes, no shoes! Now picture this nothing but your underwear and a sleeping bag that was frozen from about your waist down. You can knock on it and it is solid. It was not a dream it was a nightmare! To add to the indignity of the moment they had to carry us one at a time, in our underwear. And placed us in the back of a pickup truck with a small cab over the bed like pieces of frozen meat. It was than that I realized that apparently they do not cover "Be Prepared" until you are a Boy Scout. I am told now that I would have at least qualified for a medal. The polar bear patch, but I didn’t get a medal. Just the memory of the moment a 30-mile drive in the snow going about 15 miles an hour. And I’m sitting in the back of a pickup truck, with twenty-one little boys, in my underwear, worried the whole way that my underwear might freeze to the truck bed. That was the end of my scouting days

THERE ARE MOMENTS IN LIFE THAT ARE LIKE THAT! So intense and so memorable that they change us forever. For Peter, it was this kind of moment, but not like my scouting moment, but a wonderful moment, a GOD moment. It was a "mountain-top experience." In fact, it’s Peter’s story here in this text that coined the phrase mountain-top experience! A moment when God first becomes real.

Mountain Top Experiences are those times when God is so real that you can almost touch God, see God. These are special times; times that change us, times that transfigure us. We take these times with us down the mountains. To help us live in the Valleys.

Do You Remember Your Moment Like That? Have you had a moment? Where is your mount of transfiguration? Are there times in your life when you can look back and say "There! God was there", God spoke to me, God touched me, and God changed my life! There I was transfigured! I believe that whether we realize it or not that we long for these type of experiences. Where we can get a glimpse of God in new and wonderful ways, and when these times come, we need to hold on to these moments, to cherish them.

TELL THE STORY. Peter Wanted To Hold On To His Mountaintop Experience. He wanted to build shelters he wanted to freeze that moment. Peter would have probably been content to stay up on that mountain forever, and who can blame him? I mean that's not a bad idea, to preserve those special God moments in our lives. To hold them close in our hearts, and revisit them from time to time. Don't you imagine that Paul revisited his road to Damascus experience where he met the risen Lord? That experience changed him forever. It was for Paul, a Transfiguration.

But maybe your moment is not connected to a place; maybe it's an activity. Maybe it comes rushing back to you with a special song. For some of us there are special hymns, we can sing that takes us to those moments of transfiguration. I don't know what that special moment is for you. It might be associated with a place, or a song, or maybe a special scripture text that's close to your heart. But I do know that you can’t stay in that moment. Moments like that are not meant to last forever, at least not in this life.

We can't live up there! After the transfiguration, Jesus led Peter, James, and John back DOWN the mountain, back to the valley, back to the real world. Some people will judge a worship experience by how it compares to their mountaintop experiences. The truth is, God reveals God's self to us in many ways. And more often than that mighty rush of wind, more often that that burning bush God speaks to us in that still small voice

I HAVE BEEN BLESSED TO EXPERIENCE SEVERAL MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCES IN MY LIFE. My calling into the Ministry was a mountaintop experience, and I was transfigured. I was changed. I HAD to be changed for God to be able to use me, and for me it took a radical calling. Partly, I believe it's because of my stubborn nature. I can be hardheaded! God spoke to me in that still small voice; I just didn't listen until God took me up the mountain.

And I believe it's that way for many Christians, instead of those powerful, moments of transfiguration. We hear the gentle voice of God as God guides us through the valleys. If we watch and listen, if we look for those moments. Than Every day, we can get glimpses often in quiet subtle ways, of God working in our life. Remember Elijah? He was cowering in a cave from his enemies listening intently for some sign of God's presence. Read 1 Kings 19:11-12. God was in the whisper! The point God was trying to make to Elijah was God was always with him.

God's transforming power is always with us waiting to transform our hearts and lives. God's voice is always speaking to us we just have to know how to listen. How long since you stopped to look at a bird, or even a blade of grass. God is there! How long since you've opened yourself to a special word from God in the Bible? God is there! Think of times when a sense of unexplainable peace came over you in the midst of a stressful situation. God was there! Remember that friend who lifted your heart with a kind word or a deed. God was there! Friends, I there are many times that I have seen God in each of you, your laughter, your compassion, your friendship, and your wisdom.

god is all around us all we have to do is open our minds and Hearts. We need to look for God. Jesus had a wonderful way of doing that. Looking for God Jesus would walk up and point something out to his disciples, "See this child? You must become like this child in order to enter God's Kingdom!" "See this mustard seed? If you have faith like this you can move mountains" "See That lamp? You're like a lamp, You lights on a hill; my lights to the world" "See that sparrow? God cares for them not one of them falls to the ground without God knowing." "See this cup and this bread whenever you see them, whenever you eat and drink, remember what I have done for you."

All through the scriptures, we see people and prophets experiencing god in the common things of everyday life. Amos found a great message from God through a basket of ripe fruit and a plumb line. Hosea received and experienced a powerful word about God's forgiving love through the pain of his own marriage. Ezekiel was given a vision of God's life-giving power while looking upon the remains of a battlefield. In Proverbs God's voice is heard in many ways, through an ant (6:6), a sword (12:18), honey (24:13-14), a sore tooth (25:19), a door (26:14). These God moments come to us gifts from God, but they come not when we make them but when we open ourselves to God so we can really listen. There was a certain revival Preacher who was preaching a revival at very Pentecostal church. He made a deal with this young boy that when he got to the point in his sermon where he said, "And the Holy Spirit Descended Like a Dove." The boy, who was in the balcony was to throw the dove out over the so that it could fly to the ground like a miracle straight from God. They practiced it several times until they got it just right. That night the preacher was in rare form. Got to that place in his sermon and said, "AND THE HOLY SPIRIT DESCENDED LIKE A DOVE!" … Nothing! So he said it again, "AND THE HOLY SPIRIT DESCENDED LIKE A DOVE." Again, no dove! Frustrated he walked out and stood right under the balcony and shouted in his loudest voice, "AND THE HOLY SPIRIT DESCENDED LIKE A DOVE" At which point the boy poked his head out and said, a cat ate the dove! Want me to throw the cat?

THE POINT IS THIS; WE CANNOT MAKE MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCES. And we can't begin to think that if we don't have them all the time that something's wrong with our faith. Those mountaintop experiences, those moments of transfiguration, are special gifts God gives us. We should cherish them, revisit them, but we can't live up there. God, my friends, is as much, if not more so, in the valleys, as on the mountaintops, if we only look and listen. A certain Minister had said to his congregation, "There's a sermon in every blade of grass." Later that week a church member rode past the parsonage and saw the minister out cutting the yard. The member rolled down the car window and said, "That's right preacher, cut those sermon's short" The minister was right.

God is always with us, always trying to teach us, always trying to get closer to us, but we need to be on the lookout for God. We need to learn how to go "God Hunting." There are Far too many Christians who every Sunday confess that they believe in God, but they would be absolutely shocked and surprised, if they actually caught God doing something in their lives on Monday.

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

WHAT CAN BE SWEETER THAN PAYBACK?
Matthew 18:21-35

Introduction:

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

"S’NOT FAIR"
Matthew 20:1-16

Introduction:

LIFE IS NOT FAIR! We Learn This Lesson Usually at A Very Young Age. I think it might start in the checkout line at the grocery store. Five years old and you’ve been good! You haven’t complained because it took so long. You didn’t argue when your Mom said you couldn’t ride under the basket, and you only said, "I want to go home" three maybe four times. But then, you’re at the check out line, and all that candy and gum has been strategically placed so that it is eye level with all five year olds, all you want is one candy bar, or one package of gum. But before you can even ask, your Mother looks down from that basket, full or useless stuff that she bought, and she says to you, don’t even think about it! In addition, you ball up your fist and you speak that phrase that kids have been saying since the invention of the checkout line. S’not Fair! S’not fair! You get a whole grocery basket full of stupid food and I can’t get a stinking pack of gum. S’not fair!

And from that moment on we will speak these words in injustice. When we felt like we were being treated unfairly. My first car was a 1968 Chevy Chevelle Malibu, rusted out fenders, pale green paint job, cost $200. Three years later when my younger brother got his first car, it was a 1973 Mazda RX7, jet-black, cost about $4000. I thought that the whole situation was terribly unfair, and I remember saying to my parents. S’Not Fair!

And we’ve All Experienced Situations in Life That Were Not Fair. When somebody else gets the promotion because they’re related to the boss. When we commit a little wrong and are caught, while so many others commit huge crimes and get away with it. When Mom and Dad give special treatment to your brothers and sisters, because they’re older

Or younger, or they make good grades. And all that’s O.K. because we’ve learned to deal with it. The fact that life is.... "S’not fair!

But what do you do...When God Is Not Fair?

Body:

FRIENDS REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU MIGHT BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS FULL OF STORIES WHERE GOD WAS NOT FAIR. Look At The Story Of Abraham When He Was In Egypt, Read Genesis 12:10-13:2. Now do you realize what’s happened here?

Abraham is afraid for his own skin. So when he and Sarah, his wife travel through Egypt, Abraham convinces Sarah to lie, saying she’s his sister. Consequently, she’s taken as a concubine for the Pharaoh. That’s what the text means when it says, "she was taken into his palace." Abraham has lied and he has allowed his wife to be taken by another man, because he’s afraid of what might happen to him, but instead of punishing Abraham for the lying, the cowardice and for what he allowed to happen to his wife. Text says the Lord punished Pharaoh and his household, and they didn’t even know that Sarah and Abraham were married. And to compound the injustice read Genesis 13:1-2. On just about any standard of justice virtually everyone would agree that what happened with Abraham. S’Not Fair!

Or Look At What Happened with Moses. Moses gave himself up to the service of God so that God might deliver the children of Israel to the Promised Land. Moses faced down Pharaoh and his magicians. Trusting in God and allowing God to work Miracles through his faith. For forty years, Moses led God’s people through the wilderness in search of the land God had promised. All the while listening to the people complain; we’re thirsty, we’re hungry, we want to go back, the food’s no good, forty years! And when they finally make it to the Promised Land, Moses is not allowed to enter. Why? Because way back in the 20^th chapter of the book of Numbers Moses had a slip of the tongue read Numbers 20:2-12. One time Moses does not give God the glory for a miracle. One time out of a lifetime! And he’s not allowed to enter a land he was promised that he has sacrificed his whole life to find. S’Not Fair!

Of Course These Stories Are Out Of the Old Testament. And that was a different time. It was a barbaric, cruel time; standards of justice had to be different except that.

GOD’S NOT FAIR IN THE NEW TESTAMENT EITHER What About the Story of the Prodigal Son. A man has two sons. Younger son wants to leave and make a go on his own. So, Dad gives the younger son his portion of the inheritance. Younger son blows it all and comes back a total failure. Older son stayed home and helped to work the farm. He watches his spoiled younger brother leave with his share of the money. Watches him return home broke and smelling like pigs. Watches Dad put a robe around his shoulders, a ring on his finger, new sandals on his feet. Watches Dad kill the prized calf and throw a party for him. Older Son stayed home and worked for the family, didn’t get a ring, didn’t get a robe, and as he points out to his Dad he never even got a goat for a small get-together with his friends. S’Not Fair! Moreover, the thing is this parable of the prodigal son starts off with Jesus saying.... The kingdom of heaven is like. In other words, this is what you can expect from God. In fact, we see that phrase in today’s text.... The kingdom of God is like...

Then Jesus Tells the Story of A Terribly Unfair Landowner. Hires several men to work in his vineyard, puts some to work at sun rise, takes some more on at about 9:00 AM, at noon hires a few more, at about 3:00 in the afternoon hires a couple more, and then one hour before quitting time hires another group. Nevertheless, when pay time comes he pays everybody the same. And the cry goes out… S’Not Fair!!! Whatever happened to equal pay for equal work, and friends, they have a point!

THERE IS SO MUCH IN THIS WORLD THAT’S S’NOT FAIR. And In The Face of the Injustice Sometimes We Just Want To Shout out To God. Why? God why do we live in a world where a man is dragged to his death because of the color of his skin? God where is the justice in what happened at Columbine High School? God, why would you allow a gunman to walk into a Baptist church and open fire on your people? Or a disturbed mother to drown her four children in a bath tub? God why hasn’t Osaka Bin Laden received justice for the horror and the death he inflicted? Lord where is the justice? It’s S’not Fair

S’not fair that God does not give people what they deserve, but then again...Hallelujah That God S’Not Fair! Because, friends we are sinners. We have broken covenant repeatedly with God and each other all of us, everyone. How wonderful it is that instead of giving us what we deserve. God gives us grace!

If God Was Motivated From A Sense of Pure Justice...none of us would stand a chance!  Instead, God is Motivated Out of God’s Great Love and Care for Us. A love that will bend all the rules to reach us, a love that will excuse a multitude of sins, and bless us in spite of our sin, And that’s a good thing because. We’re all in need of God’s pity and compassion. As unjust and unfair that this text may seem, it also reveals a great truth about God.

Conclusion:

THAT IT IS NEVER TOO LATE Because God Is A Loving And Merciful God, The Call of God To All Sinners Is Issued Over And Over. Offering the kingdom to all that will acknowledge they have a need for grace. For some that, call is not heard until they are wandering in the wilderness. Or eating hog slop in a far country. But thanks be to God whose grace is there when we need it! Always!

Friends, You Can’t Work Your Way into Heaven. You can do never enough good in this life to earn everlasting retirement. Whether we start our Christian service at 6:00 in the morning, or at 5:00 in the evening, our individual righteousness accounts will never be fat enough to fully fund a future in God’s eternal kingdom.

YES THERE IS A LOT IN THIS LIFE THAT’S S’NOT FAIR. Tiger Woods Recently Had His Picture On A Box of Wheaties. He was paid more money for having his picture on the box, than the farmers who grow the wheat to be used to make the cereal have. S’not fair! In God’s great love for us God has given God’s Son to die that we might live. We claim that gift of grace and then sometimes live our lives like we don’t know who God is: hating our neighbors, self absorbed and self serving, calling out to God only when we’re in a crisis. Yet, God is always there like the father of the Prodigal son, with open arms full of mercy and love. S’not Fair!

Praise God! S’not Fair!

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

WORLD PREMIER: JESUS THE MAN!
Matthew 21:1-11

THE MAN IS A SUPERSTAR. He's famous. They say he's the next King David. I wonder what he looks like. I've heard he's single, 33 and never been married! What's better he's coming here to Jerusalem! Some say he's a prophet. Pharisees say he's a fake, but if he's a fake, why haven't they done something I heard he heals lepers. I heard he even healed a blind man. In fact, some say he brought a man back from the dead. Now I didn't say I believed it, but that's what they're saying. Do you think we'll get to meet him? I mean maybe even get to talk to him? I've had this bad back for a while now, who knows, maybe he's for real. You know I bet he knows Caesar. The man's famous and he's coming here. It's going to be great! A World Premier!

WAS IT LIKE THAT YOU THINK? If you think about it, the crowd did react to Jesus entry into Jerusalem as if he was famous. Like his reputation had preceded him. Rumors must have been flying, and truthfully, he didn't enter the city very majestically. No procession of armed guards, no trumpets, no chariots, he just came riding in on a donkey. Not even a very impressive donkey, but a foal. A baby donkey! But regardless the crowd went nuts. Throwing their cloaks on the ground in front of him. Throwing cut palm branches, and shouting Hosanna. This originally was a prayer. It meant, "Save us we beg you!" But by the first century had become a kind of a festive shout, a religious hurrah. With no more literal meaning than "good-bye." And you can't help but wonder why they were so impressed. Verse 10 tells us, "The whole city was stirred." He's not really done much in Jerusalem yet. So why all the hoopla? Well I'll tell you why, because he's famous! Because He's reached celebrity status.

THE WORLD IS CRAZY FOR CELEBRITIES. How many tens of thousands of readers pour over celebrity magazines each week? We have a curiosity that makes us want to see how the famous people live. We want to know what they eat for breakfast. We want to know who they're with. I tell you something regardless of how people feel about him. If we were to book O.J. Simpson to speak here at Old River Terrace, I-10 would be backed for 3 miles in each direction. It would take half of the Constable’s and Deputy sheriffs to take care of the crowd control, and we would see church members that we haven't seen in months. Maybe even years. Because people love celebrities. And it really doesn't take much today to be a celebrity does it? You can be famous just for being famous. It used to be you were famous if you made a life changing discovery, or if you walked on the moon, or starred in a blockbuster movie. But today you can be famous for murdering somebody John Hinkley. You can be famous for engaging in criminal activity, John Gotti. You can be famous for having no shame whatsoever, Jerry Springer. But that's today isn't it, I mean the world of today isn't much like the world of Jerusalem in Jesus day, and the people are different.

IMAGINE IF JESUS WERE TO MAKE A TRIUMPHAL ENTRY TODAY. Imagine if Jesus had been treated like a 21^st Century celebrity as he rode into Jerusalem. Connie Chung would report on rumors that Jesus planned to disrupt Temple business. There would be a psychological profile on him in Vanity Fair magazine. And of course his picture would be all over the Tabloids, with crazy stories like, Jesus man or alien? "He touched me an made me pregnant." One of the tabloids would have investigated Jesus relationship with the woman at the well. 20/20 would probably have an investigation by cult specialists. And as he entered the city, hundreds if not thousands would have snapped their throw away Kodak’s. Pointed their video cameras, while Katie Couric and Willard Scott made a special appearance. Offering colorful commentary, but it wasn't like that at all was it? While celebrities of today are famous because they hired agents and promoters, Jesus was celebrated by a small band of followers who were not quite sure why they were even there. Except for the fact that something drew them to this teacher. To this Holy man! In a cruel and violent world where most people were interested in staying out of trouble, Jesus regularly shook up the status quo. In a culture where people shamelessly promoted themselves, Jesus told those he healed, "Tell no one." He was not swayed by current trends, he was not concerned with money, and he had no problem with challenging those in power, because his ministry was guided by the only power that really matters. And he was famous! He was a celebrity.

AND THE PEOPLE REACTED TO JESUS LIKE HE WAS A CELEBRITY. They sang and shouted his praises. They welcomed him into Jerusalem with a ticker 1. They welcomed him into Jerusalem with a ticker tape parade, and look at all they said about him. Read verse 9. They're right aren't they? They act like they know who he is! If we would stop the gospel story right here, we'd have a nice ending. Jesus is marching into Jerusalem and the crowd is treating him with the praise and adoration he deserves! Except that they're only words! Because just a few days from now this same crowd, who is shouting Hosanna, will shout, "Crucify him!" They recognize that Jesus is a celebrity. They have the right words, but they still miss the point. They have all the notes and none of the music. You see friends. Knowing the truth is not the same thing as doing the truth! You can make an A+ in a course on ethics and still flunk life. There are far too many almost Christians who stand in the crowd and shout Hosanna, and it's only words. They recognize whom Jesus, they know the truth, but they still miss the point. Jesus is not a part of their life, but just takes up a small part of their conscience.

TODAY IS PALM SUNDAY AND IT IS PASSION SUNDAY. For the most part churches decide which to celebrate; Palm Sunday is the Day when we celebrate with the crowds, Jesus triumphant march into Jerusalem. Passion Sunday marks the beginning of the last week Of Jesus Life. I’ve always believed that both are extremely important. We need to be able to celebrate and shout our Hosannas to the King as he marches into Jerusalem. But we can never forget what it is that he’s marching towards, and what the last days of his life were like. And we know some of the details of this mysterious celebrity. He was not particularly young, if you consider the life expectancy of a man of his time. He probably looked nothing like People magazine's idea of the "sexiest man alive." He was definitely not rich. His groupies were limited to 12 men of limited resources, and a few women of uncertain reputations. And while his followers could not believe that he could really die, we know he did die. And that his death was as senseless, at least at face value, to his disciples then as it is to us today. But the one detail we know for certain is that the story of Jesus the Man never ends. It didn't end in a procession in Jerusalem. It didn't end on a cross. It didn't end in a cave where they put his mangled body.

BUT THE STORY CONTINUES! It continues in all who do more than simply shout Hosanna! It continues in the lives of people like you and me. In whom the living Christ continues to work wonders. The story continues in us who are called to keep it alive! The story continues. It might not continue on the pages of people magazine. It might not continue with Willard Scott and Katie Couric supplying colorful commentary, but for those of us who have found ourselves, by grace, following Jesus it is an irresistible story. A life changing story, and although we don't know all the details of the last few days in the life of this famous celebrity, this man named Jesus. We do have a pretty good idea, don't we, what he ate for his Last Supper!

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

JUST DO IT!
Matthew 21:28-32

ARE YOU A DISCIPLE OR AN APOSTLE? Do you know the difference? Those who followed Jesus during the course of his ministry on earth were disciples, but they were also apostles. Truth is, it was the purpose of Jesus all along that they become apostles. The literal meaning of the word disciple is a learner or a student. The literal meaning of an apostle is one who is sent!

The divine purpose, friends, of Jesus Christ bringing you to salvation is that you could become an apostle. This is the theme of discipleship all throughout the New Testament. Christian disciples who are becoming apostles. Learners who become active participants in the building of God's kingdom. The sad truth is, however, that many disciples never become apostles. Usually because they don't understand what it means to be a disciple. Now they try to do all the Right Stuff. They read the bible. They go to Sunday School, attend church regularly. They listen to the stories, but they've gotten the wrong lesson out of the Message. A Certain Sunday School teacher told the story of David and Goliath. He was very animated in his delivery, giving much detail to the story. He acted out the story with gestures and Movements, concluding with all the specifics of how little David killed the huge Goliath with a rock from his sling. At the end of the presentation, the teacher asked the class what lesson we could learn from the story. There was a short silence and then a little boy popped up and said, "Duck!"

AT TIMES IT SEEMS THAT THIS IS THE LESSON THAT WE LEARN AS DISCIPLES. We learn to duck. Duck the Sunday School Superintendent before, he, or she asks you to teach a Sunday School Class. Duck the Youth Director before you’re asked to help with the teenagers. Duck the Men’s group or the women’s group, because you might be asked to help around the church. Duck the preacher or he might ask you to serve on a committee. It's been my experience that when it comes to the doing of Christian ministry that people can be divided into 3 groups. Those who make things happen. Those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. Friends, we need to get the right lesson out of today's text. Because this is a text, not so much about discipleship, about learning, but this is a text that speaks of being an apostle. It’s concerned with the doing of the gospel. In fact if we were to reduce the lesson of this text to just three words. Those words might be words that Nike shoes made famous

JUST DO IT! And it's important for us to recognize just whom Jesus is talking to in this text. He's speaking not to his disciples, not to those who are learners, who are students on their way to becoming apostles, but he's speaking to the Chief Priests and the Elders of the Law. The teachers of the faith. Those who should be on their way to becoming apostles. Trouble is, although these Chief Priests and Elders of the Faith know the law, although they make a life out of the study of the scriptures, they get the wrong lessons out of the stories. Jesus knows this, but he still tries to get through to them, through the telling of a story. There was a man who had two sons; this man is trying to build a farm by the raising of crops. His says to the first son, "Son I need you to go work in the field today." And if you’ve ever raised kids you’ve heard this response, "Aw, Dad, do I have too?" "I worked yesterday!" "I'm always having to work." "None of the other kid's have to work." And in the end, the first son refuses to work, but then the text says "He changed his mind," and he went. Now when the father approaches the second son the scenario is just a little different, but still reeks of kids and teenagerism. "Sure Dad, I'll go." "No Problem." "I'm on top of it," but he does not go, when all is said and done it was all talk. Just tell Dad what he wants to hear so he’ll leave you alone. Now Jesus fully intended that the Chief Priests and Elders see themselves in the story. That they were the Second Son. They talked a good game, but in the end, it was all talk and no action, all show and no go. They don't fall into the category of disciples or apostles. They might have started out as disciples, but some where along the way they got lost, and they began to see themselves not. As disciples who are learning so they can be sent to do God's will, but they become too full of the milk of their own importance, they are morally wrong, and spiritually empty.

APOSTLES DO NOT TALK OR THINK ABOUT WHAT GOD WANTS THEM TO DO. They Just Do It! And you might struggle with it that thing that God is calling you to do. You might start off initially telling God; "I don't want to," "get somebody else," "I'm too old," "I'm too busy," "I can’t handle it." But in the end, a true apostle will "Just Do It!"

Then there are those who are stuck in discipleship, the Second Sons. Who come to church to be fed and to learn, and that's all the church is to them. It's a place where I Grow in My walk with God. With much emphasis placed in "I" and "My' and "Mine." Friends there is entirely too much I and My that goes on in the church. This is my Sunday School classroom. These are my kids. That is my committee. I have the authority. Friends when the people or the pastor of any church begin to use words like me and my and mine that church is not doing what Christ called us to do. The church, it's ministry, or it's buildings do not belong to the preacher, or the lay leader, or the members of the church board, or the biggest giver in the church, or any of the people. But friends every ministry in the church, every group in the church, every room in the church, every building in the church, every dime in the church, belongs to Jesus Christ. And I promise you that when any of us lose sight of this truth, that eventually Christ will remind us and the reminder may be painful. The entire gospel of Christ is a story that calls us to deny ourselves for the love of God and one another. It's a story we've heard our whole life; the story of Christ, his life, his love for God and humanity, and how he gave his life that God and human beings might come together in a relationship. One of the things that no one can deny about the gospel story, it is calling each of us to BE like Christ. To be little "Christs." To Be Christians, and that means moving towards becoming apostles. But to become an apostle we have to give ourselves up to be sent. As Christ was sent. Not with a motive of what's in it for me, or how good will people say I am, or so that we can pat ourselves on the back and say, "Self you sure are Holy." But we give ourselves up for the service of God and God's kingdom, so that God might be glorified. So, that God's kingdom might come upon this earth. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for 20 years. Does your life show 20 years of spiritual growth? 20 years of apostleship? Or is more like one year of discipleship?

FRIENDS GOD CREATED US TO BE WORKERS IN GOD'S FIELD. Look at what Genesis says about Adam. God created Adam out of the dust of the ground. Took care to mold him and shape him like a master potter. Because God needed someone to work the field. Read Genesis 2:15. Like the Father in today's parable God called Adam to work the field, to tend one of God's greatest creations, the garden of Eden. There is another great and holy creation of God’s that needs tending, God's Holy Church. The call of discipleship, the call that turns us from disciples into apostles, is the call to BE the church. Not something we are by virtue of where we go, but something we do by virtue of who we are. God has taken great care to mold and shape your life so that you could become who you are today. But are you a Disciple? Or are you an Apostle? God wants to build a kingdom through the raising of Christian disciples who become apostles. God says to you, "Will you go and work the field?" Will you be one who is sent? Will you become my apostle? By the simple fact that you are Christians you have already said, "Yes, Lord, I'll go." We talk a whole lot about Grace. That we are saved by God's Grace, and not by what we do. But Friends if we accept that grace without accepting what goes along with it that grace becomes cheap. James, the brother of Jesus was talking about this cheap grace in the book of James. Read James 1:22-25.

Are you a disciple or an apostle? God is calling you to become an apostle, to become an active participant in the building of God's Kingdom. Isn’t it time that you gave those gifts and talents to the building of God’s kingdom? Isn’t it time that you got of the bench and into the game? You know what to do.

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

SINNERS OR SAINTS
Matthew 23:1-12

ARE WE SINNERS OR ARE WE SAINTS? That is a question that has plagued the church since it's beginning, and it's so important that we know the answer. Because how we see ourselves will determine how we see the mission of the church, are we saints or are we sinners? Truth is, we often feel more comfortable seeing ourselves in the roll of sinners rather than saints. We often feel like sinners. We do what we know God does not want us to do. We say what we know God does not want us to say. We are aware of our sinful selves, and we often feel far from God. And we know it's because we're sinners, because we're human, we're not perfect.

MOST OF US, HOWEVER, GET A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN WE TRY TO THINK OF OURSELVES AS SAINTS. Because we know we're not perfect, we're sinners. So how can we be saints? Saints are holy, pure, and close to God all the time, right? Except that the Bible tells us, we're Saints. 30 times in the course of his writings, the Apostle Paul calls the people in the churches Saints. 3 times the author of Acts refers to Christians as Saints. The Book of Revelation uses the title, "Saints" more than any other book in the bible 13 times, and always to refer to the Christian Believer. We are sinners, but we are also saints and as long as we know this we're O.K. The problem arises when we let our identity slip too far in one direction or the other. When we are either so consumed with our sinfulness, that it inhibits our ability to be the church. Or when we are so full of our own self-righteousness, that we forget our calling as the church.

THE PHARISEES BELIEVED THAT THEY WERE SAINTS. And they tried very hard to make the people see them as saints. They dressed like Saints, verse 5 says that "they made the tassels of their garments long." In the book of Numbers chapter 15 verse 38 God commands the Israelites to make borders or fringes on their garments to remind them to obey the laws of Moses. Pharisees were not content to have fringes like everybody else, theirs had to be longer and more colorful, so the people would know they were Saints. They carried the scriptures around like Saints. Verse 5 says, "they make their phylacteries wide." Phylacteries were small leather boxes that contained a portion of the Torah, or the rabbinical law. These phylacteries were worn either tied to the forehead or strapped to the upper arm by a leather band. Apparently, the Pharisees wanted everyone to see theirs, because the text says, "They make their phylacteries wide", so the people would know they were Saints. They talked like Saints. They Pharisees were often the teachers in the synagogues. That's what the text means when it says, "They sit in Moses seat." That was metaphorical expression referring to the teaching and leadership of the Jewish synagogue. And what they taught the people in effect was, be holy like us, be saints like us. Except that Jesus points out that, they are not Saints, but that they're sinners. He doesn't condemn their teaching, just that they do not practice what they preach!

IF JESUS WERE HERE TODAY, HIS MESSAGE WOULDN'T CHANGE MUCH WOULD IT? We've seen those Pharisees on TV haven't we? Trying hard to make the people believe they are Saints. Dressing like Saints, spotless suits, and high hair. Not that there is anything wrong with wearing a suit and having high hair. Just that this has become the look of the traditional TV Evangelist, and they too make their phylacteries wide don't they, using the bible as an icon, the bigger the bible the better. The more they hold it up, the more they slap it or pound on it, the better! It's been said that you can tell how holy a TV Evangelist is by how close they hold the bible to their cheek. Would Jesus call these people Saints do you think? Would he look at Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggert and all these other TV Evangelists, with their high hair, and their big bibles, and their King James vocabulary, who encourage people to be the church by sitting in their living rooms and becoming faith partners by sending checks. Would he call them saints? Or would Jesus have a different vision of a Saint? Would he point to the person standing behind the counter at the food line serving the homeless, and say "she is a Saint." Would he show us the elderly gentlemen who tirelessly works making needed repairs to his church, and say "he is a Saint." Would he refer to the six year old boy who gets himself out of bed every Sunday morning and walks to Sunday School at the neighborhood church, while his parents sleep in, and say, "There is a Saint."

FRIENDS THE TRUTH IS, A SAINT CAN OFTEN DO MORE DAMAGE TO THE FAITH THAN A SINNER. The Pharisees did much more damage to the Jewish faith than the Tax Collectors did. Read verse 4. Jesus accused the Pharisees of shutting the kingdom of heaven in the faces of the people. He said that they would travel the land over for a single convert, and then make that person twice the son of hell as they were. In fact, this chapter is known as the seven woes. Jesus gives the Pharisees seven examples of how they are destroying the faith. But if you summed up everything he says about them in this chapter, it all boils down to the same thing. They thought they were Saints and refused to believe they were sinners.

You can't become a Saint until you realize your own sin. Because it is only the Sinner who has been forgiven and received God's Grace, who can love other sinners. And you see you are not a Saint until you can love. A faith without love will never do anything but harm to the Kingdom of God. A Couple of years ago Jerry Fallwell met with a former colleague of his a pastor who, since leaving Fallwell’s ministry had come out of the closet and become a Gay pastor to a gay church. Fallwell and this former colleague decided to meet and to discuss rising violence directed towards gays. Both Fallwell and this Gay pastor were bringing with them 50 members of their respective congregations everyone expected a riot. Fallwell and most of his supporters have always been very outspoken critics of the gay community, but instead of a riot, what developed was a worship service in which Fallwell preached. His was not a message of judgment and condemnation, but it was a message of love and hope. Now don't get me wrong Falwell did not, "go over to the other side." In the course of his message, he says that he still believes that the practice of the homosexual lifestyle is a sin, but he points out that Christ loves even the sinner, and that we are all sinners. Now in contrast there was another pastor and his congregation present. This pastor who used to be a supporter of Falwell, told the media that now Fallwell is as big of a sinner as the Homosexuals and that now he would burn in hell with them. This same pastor just a few weeks earlier stood outside a graveyard at a funeral service for a murdered gay man with several of his church members, and they held up signs for the family to read that said, "Your son is burning in hell!" Now which is the sinner and which is the saint?

Conclusion:

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

YOU BETTER WATCH OUT!
Matthew 24:36-44

MOST PEOPLE DON'T LIKE SURPRISES! It's something I believe, that we develop as we grow older, this dislike of surprises. Because when we're surprised, we're caught off guard, and we often lose our composure. We've also learned, as we've grown older that not all surprises are good surprises. And that's why it's hard for some people to enjoy this season of Advent, this season of expectation, because surprise is what this season is all about!

THIS SUNDAY MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON OF ADVENT. When we celebrate the Coming and Second Coming of Christ. For some of us, this text is exciting this SEASON is exciting! Because this text deals not with the past but with the future, we can hear these words of prophecy, and we can attempt to see God's prophecy being played out into today's world. For others, however, the Second Coming of Christ can be troublesome. Primarily because we don't like surprises and the text makes it clear that this event will be a surprise. Read verse 36. Sometimes the return of Jesus is spoken of as a grand cosmic event, in which the Christ will descend on clouds from on high, the trumpets will sound, the dead shall be raised, and Christ will return. But in today's gospel reading, we find another image.

Jesus Says that The Promised Day Of The Lord Will Come Like A Thief In The Night. What a strange image, and yet this is the perfect image to reflect the way in which Jesus comes to us. When a thief comes there's feelings of shock at the un-expectedness, and the overwhelming sense of being under-prepared. The one thing we can be certain of when it comes to the return of Christ is that we can be certain of nothing. The first thing we're told is you're not going to know when! It's going to be a surprise so wait and watch! One aspect of Advent IS waiting. We wait to experience the return of Christ. We wait to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Christ.

WE LIKE TO GATHER ON SUNDAY MORNING AND HAVE THE CHOIR SING A CHORAL CALL TO WORSHIP. And expect God to show up at 11:00 on our terms at our convenience, that we're reminded in this season and in this text that the living God's comings and goings are not at our beck and call. God is free, holy, and sovereign and is not present with us except as a gift, as grace. And any who would hold the Christian faith must be prepared for surprise, for shock, for the grace of NOT being in control of things spiritual. The command implicit in this text is not to wait, but to watch! To wait is to be passive, is to be unprepared. To watch is to take action, to be ready. A person who watches, though they may be surprised, will not be caught off guard. But because God is God, God will come to us in surprising and unexpected ways. How odd that we sometimes think of the church as a matter of tying things down, getting our faith firm. Making a final decision for or against Christ, but you see, things are far more unpredictable than that, because things, at least our relationship to God, is IN GOD'S hands and NOT ours. And as soon as we begin to believe IT IS, God sends another surprise! Be prepared for the unexpected don't be surprised when you're surprised. Jesus HIMSELF, CONFESSED THAT HE Did NOT know the day this would happen. And that's sort of problematic in itself isn't it? That Jesus would not know something that God knows. I mean they are the three in one Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Jesus IS God, right? Yes Jesus WAS God and Jesus IS God but he was also human. Perhaps the greatest proof of God's Love for us is that Jesus experienced life on this earth AS a HUMAN being. Prone to the SAME weakness' and temptations. If Jesus had been fully God while he walked this earth, it wouldn't have been a true experience of the human condition. Jesus didn't become fully God until he conquered death and rose from the grave.

But Even Though Jesus was Not Fully God, He Knew The Importance of Being Prepared. Jesus knew the necessity of watching, and so He gives us some insight into what the day of the Lord will be like. Read 37-39. Now there's nothing wrong with eating and drinking, remember that it was Jesus who turned the water into wine at the wedding feast, pretty much after they had all had much to drink, wine often flowed very freely at many of the Jewish festivals and occasions. There's nothing wrong with getting married. These are all parts of life and living. Jesus wants us to enjoy life to the fullest, but what Jesus IS warning us against is becoming SO involved with LIFE that we forget about the ONE whom gave us life. Jesus is warning us about FORGETTING God, about becoming PASSIVE in our faith. It can become so easy to get caught up into our own existence, eating and drinking, our families, our careers, doing the job, that we forget the one who gave us existence. a. We can neglect our spiritual life, our relationship with Christ, God's will for our lives.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST WILL BE A WONDERFUL DAY IF YOU WATCH OUT! But for the passive, and faithless, for the mediocre, for the halfway, the text makes it clear it will be a Day of Judgment. Read verses 40-41. This won't be an indiscriminate judgment. Those who are faithful, those who are sanctified, those who have an active watching faith, will be saved, will be transformed! But there's another one of those words's that we're not sure we like transformed, because we're not in control. There was once an old farmer who brought his family to the city for the first time; the family had never seen such impressive sights, skyscrapers and billboards, subways. Everything was a wonder to this farmer and his family who had never been off the farm, had never owned a television set, had never read contemporary books or magazines. Well, the farmer dropped his wife off at a department store and took his son to the biggest and tallest of the downtown skyscrapers. As they walked into the lobby, they saw something else they had never seen before: two steel doors opened and a rather large elderly woman walked in the big doors closed behind her, and a dial above the doors swept from the right to the left and then back again. The doors opened, and a beautiful YOUNG lady walked out. The farmer was amazed! He turned to his son and said, "Boy go GET your Mother, We HAVE GOT to run her through that thing." We don't know how what it's going to be like to be transformed, but if it's anything like the transforming God does on us in our everyday life, we can know it's going to be good! But to experience the transformation we have to experience rejuvenation. We have to experience Christ; His Love, His Sacrifice, His Grace, and this requires action, not passivity. God will not save you unless you want to be saved. Yes God is ultimately in control and will come to us in surprising ways, but we have to respond to God's intrusions into our life. We have to listen when God comes into our lives in all the surprising and unexpected ways that God chooses. When God appeared to the shepherds, and said go to Bethlehem, they didn't truly see the wonder until they did what the angel told them to do. When God intrudes into our lives and shows us a glimpse of his power and love, it's an invitation to be transformed, but it's still up to us to accept God's invitation. And that means that you have to take the reigns with your spiritual life. We've got to give our spiritual life the priority that it deserves. Jesus commands us to "Keep Watch" because we don't know when that day will come. Dr, Charles Fineberg a noted Jewish scholar says that in the course of Israel's history there have been 64 individuals who have appeared claiming to be the Messiah. There are wars and rumors of wars. There are plagues and diseases, every single Christian Church, for the past 20 years has been declining in membership at the rate of 9% annually. While the Muslim faith is the fastest growing religion in the world. Are we in the Last days? Who Knows? Could be 20 minutes, could be 200 years. The point of Christ's imperative in this text is that we not sit and wait, passively. We've all seen the bumper sticker "Jesus is coming...look busy." God expects us to BE busy, God expects us to DO the work of BUILDING GOD'S kingdom of preparing the world for the Second Coming of Jesus. This is the only way we can stand ready when that day comes.

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

NO FEAR
Matthew 28:1-10

EVERY GOSPEL HAS IT'S OWN UNIQUE SLANT ON THE RESURRECTION. And although every gospel tells the same story, the way the people react is different in each Gospel. In Mark, the primary emotion is doubt. The original text ends with the women fleeing from the tomb not telling anyone, and the reader is left to decide for ourselves if Jesus has indeed risen. In Luke, the theme is amazement. The women are amazed. Peter is amazed. The men on the road to Emmaus are amazed. In John, the theme is relief, then belief. Everyone is mourning the death of Jesus; they live in fear for the future. Jesus appears to them, they are quickly relieved from their fears, because they are quick to believe. And there is great joy! In Fact, Joy underscores every gospel account of the resurrection, but in this gospel. In Matthew's Gospel, before we can get to the joy of the Resurrection, we have to experience the fear. Fear is the main theme of this resurrection account. In fact, Matthew's presentation reads almost like a scary movie. Friends, don't misunderstand me, this is a day of joy. We should celebrate this day with joy, but if we are going to be true to Matthew's Resurrection account. Before we can get to the joy of the resurrection, we need to at least attempt to experience the terror.

THE STORY BEGINS LIKE ALL OLD SCARY MOVIES BEGIN. Two women are alone in the woods by themselves, and like most scary movies, there is some kind of natural disaster. In this story, it's not a nuclear bomb, there's no biological germ that escapes detection, no housing complex secretly built over a graveyard, but the text says, "There was a violent earthquake." And like most scary movies there has to be some kind of alien or monster, now, in this story we don't see aliens taking the form of humans, and trying to take over the planet. We don't see a horrendous beast created from some biological disaster, no giant ants, and no giant spiders. What we see is an Angel of the Lord. Now at face value this doesn't seem very terrifying. Angels are protectors. Angels are benevolent. In fact, our society has often pictured angels as little naked babies with wings, cherubs! So, what's to be afraid about? The Bible tells us that angels are God's heavenly warriors, and the term, "Angel of the Lord" always describes an angel of power and might. This Angel arrives with the earthquake. In fact might even be the cause of the quake. The Roman guards, stationed by Pilate to frighten away any of Jesus disciples, are so afraid of this angel that they faint dead away. Text says, "They shook and became like dead men." Probably wasn't a little naked baby angel. Of course, we sigh a sigh of relief when the angel speaks, because, regardless of how alien or beastly this angel may appear, he's one of the good guys, and he tells the women, "Jesus is not here!" "He is risen!" "Go look at the tomb." "He went to Galilee." "Now I have told you," and that last phrase adds to the mysterious nature of this angel. It takes away from his personality and presents him almost like a mighty alien being who was sent to fulfill a mission. A mission that has just been completed "Now I have told you!" The women leave and the text says they're still afraid, but they're filled with joy, and then it happens. Jesus, The dead man appears, the walking dead, the crucified one. "Greetings," he says, and I'm sure that Jesus appearance caught them off guard. In fact, most likely scared them half to death. I’ve said it before, but we can learn almost as much from what a scripture text does NOT say, as we can from what it says. The text does not say, and Jesus calmly approached them and tapped them on the shoulder. That Jesus very quietly got their attention with a soft "psssst." But what does it say, "SUDDENLY! Jesus met them." Almost the equivalent of "Boo," and what happens next? Well, Jesus now a member of the walking dead, known in horror movies as the undead, a walking, decomposing corpse, grabs the women, takes a bite out of each of them, and they too turn into Zombies. Now if this were a horror movie this is what might happen. Except the story of the resurrection is not a horror movie! And although there was fear and terror experienced by the characters in this story, the message is not, "Be Afraid!"

THE MESSAGE IS "NO FEAR." When we come face to face with the supernatural, it is human nature to be afraid, to fear what we don't understand, but the words of Jesus are "Do NOT be afraid." There are far too many people who live every day of their lives in fear; Ochlophobia - fear of crowds, Nyctophobia - fear of darkness, Scopophobia - fear of being looked at by other people, monophobia - fear of loneliness, gamophobia - fear of marriage, Thanataphobia - fear of death, Hadephobia - fear of hell! Boy the church has tried to work that last one haven't we? How many times has the church tried to make converts, by assaulting people with the fear of hell and death? And perhaps because this tactic used to work, Jonathan Edwards preached a classic sermon in the early 1800's that is required reading in almost every seminary in the country. The title of the sermon was, "Sinners in the hands of an angry God." In this sermon Edwards pictures God as holding each one of us between two fingers over the fires hell, just waiting for provocation. Just waiting for a reason, to drop us into the flames, and the thing is, it worked. Edwards brought thousands to Christ. But friends, it's not Jesus. Jesus’ message was not, "Shape up or burn." Jesus said, "No Fear." Jesus said, "I've not come to condemn but to redeem." And besides, it doesn't work anymore does it? Because the reality of the world we live in today, is more frightening than any illustration or example about hell. Friends, there are people all around us who live in hell every day. The flames of life are consuming them and each day is just one step closer to death. No hope for the future, no joy!

JESUS COMMAND TO THE WOMEN WAS THAT THEY TELL THE BROTHERS. This is the command to all who experience the fear and the joy of Easter. Go and tell. Bring your friends and show them, show them the empty tomb, show them that because of the power of God, that they don't have to be afraid anymore. Show them that the message of Jesus is not believe or burn, but that the message is, "Greetings, we've won, now go and tell." Have you ever wondered why the angel rolled the stone away from the tomb? Jesus didn't need the stone removed to escape the tomb. All throughout the resurrection accounts, all of them, every single gospel, Jesus was entering rooms through walls, through locked doors. Jesus could have walked right through the rock that blocked the entrance to the tomb, and this would have been consistent with the resurrection stories. I believe the angel rolled that stone away from the entrance of the tomb, not so that Jesus could come out, but so that we could go in. So, we would know. So we would know that Jesus has risen, you are here today so that God can give you a reminder. God has called you here today, called all of us here today, to remind us, that there is much more to life than the horror, and the pain, and the fear, and the hell that life can bring us. Because death has been defeated, God has won, Because Jesus the Christ is alive! Not walking dead, but living hope, and even though, the resurrection was preceded by the horror of the cross, and the evil of the crucifixion, although it is shocking to the extreme, to see a dead man walking. To realize the full power and might of the living God, although it is easy to be afraid, the message of this gospel is, "Have no fear, He Is Risen!"

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*

DO YOU REMEMBER WHICH DOOR YOU CAME IN?
Matthew 28:16-20

HOW GOOD IS YOUR MEMORY? Truth is how you answer that question might depend on your age. Has this ever happened to you? You find yourself standing in the kitchen with the refrigerator door open; you can't remember if you just put food in, or if you've come to take food out. Or even worse, you go upstairs to get something, halfway up you realize you forgot what you were going after. Then you have to decide whether to go back downstairs and try to remember what you needed, or continue on up and look for something that needs bringing down. Unable to decide you resort to sulking. Only to discover that you have completely forgotten whether you were originally upstairs coming down or downstairs going up! Tomorrow is a national day of remembrance, as a nation we remember those who have courageously given their lives in the defense of this country. We remember those who have served overseas fighting for our freedom, and perhaps, after what happened September 11th, 2001 we remember those who gave their lives to save others. We remember those who died as victims of a war we didn’t even know we were fighting. But Memorial Day also serves another purpose, it confronts us with the truth and the reality that too often, we don’t remember. The sad truth is, as a nation our memory is short. We don't remember those who have died. We don't remember those who have fought, and the consequence of our memory loss is that we have become a people who takes our freedom for granted. Moreover, this is a real tragedy that we have forgotten how we came to live in a free nation. That we don't remember the doors that have been opened for our liberty. But friends, what is infinitely more serious.

IS WHAT WE, AS THE CHURCH, HAVE FORGOTTEN. We have forgotten our calling as the church. Read verse 1. This text is known as the great commission, but too often is seems to be interpreted as the great suggestion. As if making disciples was optional, as if Jesus is suggesting that we spread the good news of the gospel, but Jesus didn't suggest it, he commanded it, he clearly said, "This is your job, now go and do it!" Now I could spend the next 15 minutes chastising the Church for not taking this commission seriously, but I don't believe it would help a lot. Because the problem is not that people don't want to spread the gospel, sometimes the problem is lack of training. Sometimes the problem is lack of focus, but more than anything else is I believe it's because of a lack of memory.

WE HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT DOORS WE CAME IN. We have forgotten that somebody opened a door for, and the question we need to ask ourselves today, "Do you remember which door you came in?" Do you remember who that special person was that God used to introduce you to Jesus Christ? Was it a friend? A Sunday school teacher? A relative? Maybe even a preacher? Do you remember what event or worship experience it was that got you to come into the church? Was it a covered dish dinner? A Sunday school class? A youth group meeting? Maybe a special worship experience like a Christmas or Easter service? Do you remember which door you came in? If we're not careful, God's only begotten son, can become God's only forgotten son. Jesus is ignored if not forgotten by the world, even we as Christians sometimes leave Jesus on the shelf, until we can't handle life ourselves. The wonder is that in spite of this, God loved the world so much that God sent the Son knowing he would be ignored, put aside, abused, forgotten. And the impact that this kind of memory loss has Had on the church, has been that our doors have become smaller and fewer. It seems that the church of Jesus Christ has become another secret society organization. It has it's own essential symbols. It’s own esoteric beliefs. It's own separate language. Too often in the church of today we speak and act on little but that which relates to ourselves. Too often, we want to keep the spirit and it's work to ourselves. We want an indoor spirit; an indoor spirit can do for the church what an in-grown toenail can do for the body. It can become diseased and infected and endanger the whole organism. The best-kept secret in this world is the Grace of Jesus Christ. In a sense, of course, Jesus is our secret, but not meant to be our kept secret, but a shared secret. Jesus, God, the Spirit do not exist solely for us as the church. And this text today reminds us that we are not the center of our mission. When the church itself and it's own needs become the center of it's own mission, instead of the mission of God in the world, it's time to hear the words.

OPEN THE DOORS. The great commission is about opening doors that stand between Christ and the world. Do you remember seeing that picture by Warner Sallman of "Christ knocking at the door?" The door represented our hearts; Christ was knocking that we might invite him in. I’ve seen that picture in many a church. That painting was based upon the text in Revelation 3:20, "Behold I stand at the door and knock." But friends, these words were not spoken to the individual believer, but to the church, to a smug, self-satisfied little church in Laodocia that had suffered a memory loss. Where the people had forgotten what doors they came in. I think that perhaps we need to rethink that picture, especially in the world of today. We need to realize that Jesus does not only stand at the door and knock and invite himself to come in, but that supremely, he stands at the door and invites us, as the church, to come out. Too often, the church has locked Jesus outside his own church. Jesus stands there, not so much trying to get his followers to let him come inside and stay, but to get them to sit down at the table with him, that they might get up and follow him into the world. Into the mission of ministry, love and grace.

SO OFTEN WHEN WE THINK OF WITNESSING OUR FAITH WE THINK OF KNOCKING ON DOORS. Friends, in this culture, we don't need to worry about knocking on doors. We need to open doors, we need to make new doors, and we need to unlock doors. We need to address the question of whether or not we have enough doors. Whether or not the doors we have are doing the job. The truth is far too many people are leaving the church through the back door.

The question is to what lengths are we willing to go in an effort to open doors to Jesus. The gospel of Luke tells of some friends, who dropped their paralytic friend through a hole in the roof, that he might be in the presence of Jesus. Opening doors is simply a matter of giving all people access to God's church. Making the great commission such a high priority, that the needs of those who don't know Christ take priority over our needs. But it’s also much more, the text says, "Go Out and Make Disciples!" Now if you study Greek and you really dig into this text. You’re going to discover that what Jesus is really saying is, "As you go, make learners everywhere." That’s what a disciple is a learner. Our job is not so much to make converts, as it is to make learners. The great commission is not as much about dragging people into the Church, into the Sunday school, or youth programs, as much as it is showing them, something, of the power of Christ in your own life. Monday through Saturday, show them some of what you have experienced personally in your life, and by doing this you can help them to learn about Christ; through the joy, and the hope, and the love you’re feeling. Then, as people influenced by your faith, they will find their way into a community of believers somewhere. You see it’s not just about opening the doors at Old River Terrace, but about opening doors everywhere, for Christ to enter a life. It may be here. It may be someplace else. You see that doesn’t really matter because our calling is not to build Old River Terrace United Methodist Church, but to build the kingdom of God. What we do while we’re here is to become equipped. We’re being equipped to do the work of the church that is done out in the world, and is done between Sundays.

DO YOU REMEMBER WHICH DOOR YOU CAME IN? Is that door still open? The eleven disciples were commissioned to make disciples of all nations, to give people of ever race, culture and nationality access to the Son of God, to the one who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Such access is going to take a lot of creativity. It's going to require a lot of doors. We need to open doors, unlock doors, and create new doors. We may need to cut a few new doors for single parents, victims of abuse, latchkey children, and people who are suffering or have suffered the hurt of divorce. We may need to cut a new door by offering a ministry to the deaf, the physically and mentally handicapped. We may need to cut a new door by simply studying our community, by finding out if there are any hidden racial or cultural groups that are not currently being served by any church. We can open doors for them, but we have to care enough to discover who they are.

LET IT BE OUR PRAYER THAT NO ONE EVER COMES TO THIS CHURCH AND IS UNABLE TO COME IN BECAUSE THEY CAN'T FIND A DOOR. That no part of our ministry is ever closed. That we're never closed to spiritual seekers, by tradition or high church language. That no part of our message should ever keep anyone from entering into a relationship with Christ. That no part of the life of the church will ever stand in the way of anyone being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that the way we live our lives, the joy and the love that we share, with the people who come into our lives, will open doors to the faith. As the people of God, we've been given a great gift, the joy of Eternal Life, Communion with God through the grace of Jesus Christ. How good is your memory? Do you remember how you got here? Do you remember which door you came in? Is that door still open? And if not, do you love God and your neighbor enough to open it? Church...Holy People of God.... Remember...And never forget...Which door you came in!

*Click to Return to Sermon Lists or Return to Top of this Page*