Ministry Matters: Ministry Matters

ARTICLE: Confrontation at Antioch (Gal. 2:11-21)

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:35:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

This article is a free sample from The New Interpreter's Bible, (Vol. XI) included in a subscription to the Ministry Matters Premium Library.

Up through Galatians 2:10, it looks as though all is well. Paul has emphatically claimed the authority of divine revelation as the source of his preaching, and he has recounted a major triumph in the Jerusalem meeting: The “false brothers” were defeated, and the leaders of the Jerusalem church affirmed their approval of Paul's mission to the Gentiles. In the next section of the letter, however, the plot of Paul's narrative takes a sharp turn; the unity achieved at Jerusalem was shattered by a subsequent conflict at Antioch. The account of this conflict (vv. 11-21) is the climax toward which Paul's story has been building.

Paul highlights his confrontation with Cephas (Peter) because it provides the background against which he views the present controversy in Galatia. The issues in the two situations are not identical, but they are closely parallel. Thus Paul can frame his account of his speech to Peter on the former occasion (vv. 14b-21) as a programmatic statement that speaks indirectly to the Galatians as well. Indeed, this speech can be seen as a concise summary of the themes of the letter as a whole.

Translations and commentaries often place the termination of Paul's address to Peter at the end of v. 14 (as in the NRSV) and treat vv. 15-21 as a separate unit. It must be remembered that ancient Greek manuscripts did not employ the convention of placing quotation marks around quoted direct discourse; therefore, the question of where Paul's speech ends is a matter of interpretive judgment. This commentary will argue that the speech extends through v. 21 (as in the NIV; cf. NRSV footnote). There is no indication in the text of a change of addressee until 3:1, and the first-person plural pronouns in vv. 15-17 show that Paul is continuing to address a Jewish audience (i.e., the Jewish Christians at Antioch), not the Gentile Galatians. Consequently, vv. 11-21 should be treated as a single coherent unit. Indeed, several obscurities in Paul's highly compressed language in vv. 15-21 can be clarified if they are understood in relation to the dispute over table fellowship in Antioch.

At the same time, Paul artfully narrates this story in such a way that it serves as a transition into his direct address to the Galatians in 3:1. A movie director making a film of this text might reproduce the effect in the following way: The scene opens in a public meeting of the church at Antioch with Paul confronting Peter; as Paul speaks (vv. 14b-21), the camera pans in on his face so that the members of the Antiochene church gradually disappear from view after v. 18. Then, at 3:1, as Paul says, “O foolish Galatians,” the camera pans back again to reveal Paul in an entirely different setting, pacing the floor and dictating the letter to his secretary. The desired effect is that the Galatians will hear the speech to Peter as being addressed to their situation as well.One result of this rhetorical technique is that Paul never finishes the story of the Antioch controversy; we do not find out how Peter responded to Paul's challenge, and we do not hear how the Antiochene church decided to resolve the dispute. Almost certainly this means that Paul lost. If he had, in fact, convinced Peter and the other Jewish Christians to accept his arguments, he surely would have said so in this letter, just as he did in the preceding narrative of the Jerusalem meeting (vv. 1-10). Regardless of the outcome, however, the telling of this story allows Paul to articulate the theological principles that undergird his present response to the Galatians.

The major theme of the unit is that the gospel mandates the formation of a new community in which there is no division between Jew and Gentile, a community in which Jews and Gentiles eat at one table together, not two separate tables.The speech of vv. 14b-21 supports this claim by arguing that right relation to God depends fundamentally on “the grace of God” (2:21), and not on observance of the ethnically particular signs of covenant membership (circumcision and food laws). This grace has been made effective through the death of Jesus Christ, which avails for Jew and Gentile without distinction (cf. Rom 3:21-31). Consequently, Peter's withdrawal from table fellowship with Gentile believers at Antioch was, as Paul sees it, a symbolic rejection of God's reconciling grace.

If you are a subscriber to Ministry Matters’ Premium Library, read on for commentaries about: Galatians 2:11-14 (Paul's Rebuke of Cephas), and Galatians 2:15-21, (Jews and Gentiles Alike Are Rectified Through Christ's Death)

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ARTICLE: Sermon Options: June 30, 2013

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 18:34:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

ESCAPE HATCH DISCIPLESHIP

1 KINGS 19:15-16, 19-21

I wonder why more little boys aren't named Elijah. His spiritual commitment towers above the wickedness of his day. Emerging from out of nowhere, he single-handedly (or so he thinks) confronts Queen Jezebel, whose very name is synonymous with wickedness. In a day when pagan idolatry was rampant among God's people, Elijah was the catalyst God used to demonstrate who really was the Supreme God.

As so often happens after a time of spiritual conquest, Elijah is completely drained—spiritually, physically, and emotionally. He runs from Jezebel, who has promised to take vengeance upon his life. He gets to the point of wishing he could just die. It may be hard for us to imagine the contrast between Mount Carmel and the cave in Horeb but implicitly we know that it is in the times of fatigue that come from intense spiritual struggle that even God's choice servants are subject to depression. Some great Christian leaders have struggled against "the black curtain."

I. God Had a New Challenge for Elijah
As the text opens for this Sunday, we see God issuing a new challenge to Elijah. God has demonstrated compassion in sending an angel to provide food and drink for his weary ambassador. Out of the experience of having a "still small voice" speak to him, God issues a new challenge to Elijah. Elijah probably would have been just as happy to have God say to him, "You've done a great work. You are the only one who is still serving me. But, since Jezebel is still on your case, I'll let you retire and to back to Tishbe and enjoy your retirement." God reminds Elijah that there is still—and will always be—a believing remnant (a curious omission from the lectionary text) and tells him that he has a new challenge for him.

Isn't it true that our need is not to retire or retreat or give up as much as it is for something new to devote our energies to?

II. The Call of Elisha
Elijah's commission involved anointing new leadership—kingly leadership for Aram and Israel and spiritual leadership for Israel in the person of Elisha. As God corrected Elijah's understanding of the remnant, he also let Elijah know that he was not indispensable. There would be a successor to his ministry.

When Elijah comes upon his young protégé, he finds him in the community field plowing behind one of twelve oxen. He threw his cloak around him in an act symbolic of anointing. As Elijah appears on the scene without any prior reference, this is the first time we read the name Elisha. I believe that confirms that God is more interested in our present devotion to him than he is in our past or our credentials.

The prophet's background is not nearly as important as his availability to be God's spokesperson. Elisha wanted to have the opportunity to bid adieu to his family, a reasonable request, which Elijah did not dispute. Jesus rebuked a young man who made a similar request because it was seen as putting off discipleship. Elisha demonstrates his earnest desire to follow the prophet by sacrificing the oxen and using his plow equipment as the fire with which the oxen would be prepared.

Elisha was burning his bridges behind him quite literally. His discipleship was one that left no escape hatch. Elijah wanted to escape the responsibilities God had given him. Elisha made sure any temptation to turn back from following God would be done away with. What fires have you lit lately? (Mark A. Johnson)

PAUL'S LISTS

GALATIANS 5:1, 13-25

There is a whole new life to which Christians have been called, as different from the old life as night is from day, Paul says. And he wants the Galatians to know that they are not living in the transcendent freedom of that life yet. Nor have they realized that the goal of that freedom is to be bound to one another in love. So he has given them checklists, to show them specifically and beyond any doubt how they were not yet living the life to which they had been called, or the life they claimed to be living.

We do not know exactly what they did with these lists. So we may as well look at them with ourselves and our own experience in the church in mind.

I. List #1: Works of the Flesh
At first glance Paul's list of "works of the flesh" (v. 19) might look pretty foreign to us. We're not "fornicators" or "licentious." Somebody might have an uncle who goes "carousing," but we don't do that stuff. The list doesn't really seem to apply to us.

But let's look a little closer, to be certain. Almost hidden there in the middle of the list is "quarrels." He is not talking about knife fights. Is there anyone who hasn't had a simple quarrel in their family in the last month? Then there was that finance committee meeting with the capital funds expenditures debate. Could that be a little "dissension" or "strife" breaking out? Is there still someone who hasn't found themselves in the list? How about the sweet elderly widow, who feels some "envy" of her friends who still have husbands. If anyone is still out there, we might wonder if they have felt any "anger" lately. Not even righteous anger? Yes? That is "anger." All you need to find is one thing and you are on the list. There are many more than Galatians on it—everyone's life is in that list.

It is a list of things we do that are a degradation and abuse of physical, mental, and emotional power. It is characterized by self-righteousness, selfishness, judgmentalism, manipulation, intellectualism, and intentionally muscling one's way through life by force. There is a biting viciousness about its atmosphere that even animals do not have, unless they are sick.

II. List #2: Fruit of the Spirit
Surely we are on this list. We try to be "kind"; but you cannot be a fool, of course. I feel such "gentleness" and "peace" in church, until I get upset. She is getting better at handling her problems with "patience" and he cannot feel really "joyful" with so much hunger and crime. We are working on all this, going to groups, therapy, reading self-help books.

No. There is nothing in Paul about working on it. "The fruit of the Spirit" (v. 22) just automatically blossoms and comes to fruition, like fruit on a tree, in a transformed life. Better ask ourselves the question: Are these things growing in my life, day after day, more and more?

Let's not make a spectacle of this very personal question because that encourages the real danger here: people might try to disguise their symptoms (the things on list 1), to appear to be on list 2. This leaves no room for real help and we can get caught in the wrong list then by denial, which makes you a sorcerer in your own life, always conjuring to keep the dark side hidden and under control.

III. Getting on the Escape List
How do we get from one list to the other? Not by anything we do, or by anything we don't do. We cannot work our way from list 1 to list 2. The things on list 2 are not the opposite of those on list 1. You do not become loving by not being jealous, for example. There is no way out of list 1 through our efforts. There is no way out of the grave. Crucifixion is absolute.

There is a way to be transplanted from one list to the other. You just die to the first and are reborn in the second. It is doable. But not by you. It is a miracle of God's doing. As we vividly see the difference between the lists, we could well want to put our whole hope on God's power to do this. The Pearl is the possibility of ending up on that other list. We could pray that the Spirit takes over our life, so the old life is literally gone.

Oh, but do we even lift up this greatest of all the promises, of transformation and a whole new life in our churches anymore? Or are we just another hard-working self-help group? Poetic and not practical, some say. If we lived and moved and breathed out of list 2, we'd be wiped out, like lambs among wolves—we'd have no power! True, except for the power to naturally bear all the fruit of the Spirit. (Kathleen Peterson)

WHAT FOLLOWING JESUS REALLY MEANS

LUKE 9:51-62

Every Christian's desire should be to follow Jesus. Unfortunately, few believers seriously consider what following Jesus really means. In Luke 9:51-62, Jesus' words and actions shed light on the high expectations he holds for all those who truly seek to be obedient to him. In particular, Christ reveals three qualities necessary to be counted as a faithful disciple.

I. A Consistent Purpose
The time had come for Jesus to begin the journey to Jerusalem (9:51); a journey that would seemingly conclude in a cruel death on a Roman cross. He had tried to prepare his disciples, telling them that he would suffer this execution but would be raised on the third day. In fact, he said the coming events "must" take place (v. 22) and that it "is going to" happen (v. 44). This truth and Jesus' foreknowledge of it demonstrates the sovereignty of God in the life of Christ.

God had one plan for his Son: to die on the cross for the sins of all who will believe. Jesus willingly submitted and allowed God's will to unfold. In the same way, God has a consistent purpose for our lives: to follow his Son and to share him with others. Every ministry, activity, and thought should reflect this goal. When Christians lose sight of the example Christ gave, they sidetrack God's purpose. Consistently pursuing this mission is the first step down the path of discipleship.

II. A Christ-Centered Perspective
The second quality necessary to be a faithful follower is having a Christ-centered perspective. In the spring of 1996, a group of Montana outlaws known as the "Freemen" held local, state, and federal law enforcement officials at bay for almost three months. They established their own government, threatened to kill the local judge and sheriff, and stole private property—all in the name of Christ.

When the disciples went ahead of Jesus into Samaria to find a place to spend the night and were rejected, they asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven to destroy them (v. 54). Jesus rebuked them because they did not understand his perspective: Love your enemies, pray for those who mistreat you, turn the other cheek, and on and on (6:27-31). Maybe some of those same Samaritans would come to believe in Jesus through the evangelism of the early church (see Acts 8:1, 4-25; 9:31; 15:3). Christ was on his way to die for humankind, and yet they wanted to kill the very ones for whom he would shed his blood.

When human "obstacles" seem to prevent us from accomplishing God's will, a Christ-centered perspective enables one to view them with love and compassion rather than hatred and anger. Allowing Jesus to change hearts and lives rather than resorting to worldly means requires his point of view. Seeing the lost through the eyes of Christ refocuses the true follower on a Christ-centered perspective.

III. A Considerable Price
As Jesus and his disciples walked down the road, three people had the opportunity to follow the Lord. However, each individual offered an excuse to delay their compliance. Why did Jesus respond so harshly toward their procrastination? He was attempting to disclose a third quality about discipleship: the first priority must always be obedience to him.

When a person accepts Jesus as Savior and Lord, a radical shift in priorities should occur so that following him becomes the primary objective. One's relationships, job, social life—all diminish in comparison to the quest of loyalty to Christ. As mature Christians know, placing Christ at the top ensures that every other concern will fall into its rightful place.

To be a true follower, Jesus demands that we recognize a consistent purpose, reorient our thinking to a Christ-centered perspective, and pay the considerable price of placing obedience to him as our top priority. Most Christians claim to follow Jesus. But when you seriously consider the requirements, one wonders how pleased he is with the response. (Craig C. Christina)

ARTICLE: God's Present Incarnation

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:25:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

This article is a free sample from Understanding Biblical Themes, included in a premium subscription to the Ministry Matters Library.

God is incarnate in the world today in the body of Christ. The church becomes the physical presence of God in the world. What God does in the world, whatever actions of God take physical human form, are actions performed by God's body.

This line of thinking is dangerous, especially because it can slide into arrogance. Paul equates the church with the body of Christ, which is the body of Jesus crucified, which is the body of God incarnate. The idea of the church as God incarnate, however, can tempt us to think of the church as the only manifestation of God's presence. Combined with arrogance, this belief could encourage a rejection of the other ways in which God is present. We could emphasize God's incarnation in the church and use that emphasis to exclude and demean religious groups that do not agree with our particular views and who do things that we might not understand as being part of the body of Christ. Similarly, understanding the church as God's body could feed some of the church's long-standing hatreds, especially of Jews and of the created world. God's full incarnation in the church does not mean that the church is the only way God is present. God is much more than can ever be expressed in human form or human institutions, even in the church that is the body of Christ. Just as the gospel of John quoted Jesus' saying that he was a shepherd who had other flocks of sheep (John 10:16), God's incarnation in the church means that God may well be incarnate in other places as well. God's perpetual habit of surprising humanity with presence means that God is likely to be found in more places than we have ever realized. But at the same time, we as the church are God's body, with the full experience and responsibility of being not only God's people but the very physical presence of God in the world today. Whatever God should do in the world, we as God's body should do. In incarnation as the body of Christ, we share with God completely the tasks and purposes that God has undertaken throughout the ages.

In ancient times, the Israelites wrote stories of God as present in the flesh. God walked in Eden's garden; God parented the children of Israel, as well as the child Ishmael. Those old stories portrayed God as present in the flesh. These images of God as incarnate carry through the tradition of scripture to its very end when God sets a table for all at the end of the book of Revelation. God also works through people—although not always through the leaders whom we expect and elect. In fact, God's work with people often occurs best at the margins, not in the centers of human power, which are more sensitive to their agendas and the maintenance of their own human privilege than they are responsive to God's desires for the world. God is also present in the spirit, in ways that shock, surprise, and motivate, for the spirit blows through our lives like a wind that is unpredictable, sometimes destructive, always refreshing and empowering. The whole experience of God as present in our lives can be traumatic, for God refuses our prediction, resists our desires that God play by our rules, and confounds the understanding of our best-trained minds and our most faithful hearts. God is truly an other, not like us—yet God desires us.

In the New Testament, God's incarnation takes the form of Jesus. In this way, we see God among us and we hear clearly God's repetition of the ancient prophetic statements of God's desires for the world. God desires that we join in the transformation of the world, and God explains what this transformation can offer and what it will cost. God even demonstrates that cost, for human rejection of God's desires seems inevitable and culminates in the crucifixion of Jesus. Yet crucifixion is not the end. The death of Jesus and the disappearance of God's incarnate body in the world leaves three sets of traces: the sightings of Jesus' resurrected body for a few weeks or months, the presence of the spirit that had always been among God's people but is freshly experienced in Jesus' absence, and the church as the body of Christ and as God's continually incarnate presence in the world.

God's incarnation takes many forms within the biblical witness. God has always been and will continue to be present in human flesh in God's own body, in the body of Jesus, and in the church that is the body of Christ. God is present in the world through spirit and through people who follow that spirit. God is incarnate in the world through believers today.

The body of God goes beyond those who believe. A cell does not need to understand that it is part of the body or to believe in the body or to love the body. It is enough that the cell function as a cell, and thus is part of the body. Likewise, God's body extends far past the believers who identify themselves as God's body. All people become essential elements of God's body, removing the barriers we construct of gender, race, class, age, language, creed, and ability. God's body is all of us.

Furthermore, God's body is more than just the human. All creatures are expressions of God, and God's body ties us together with animals and other living creatures. The ecology of the world is fully within God.7 All things animate and inanimate in the world and throughout the cosmos together make up God's body. In fact, God's body is large enough and pervasive enough to include all the world, even all the universe.

In this sense, God is revealed in all of us. In fact, all creation is necessary to begin to manifest the full being of God. People of all varieties, whether we like them or not, are vital parts of God's body. God is incarnate in all, whether they realize it or not. God lives within the universe, from the vast galaxies to the smallest subatomic particles.

The cosmic body of God is a rich metaphor, showing the vastness of God beyond our experience. But the image of God as a body is ultimately personal. God is in a form we can know and love, even if we cannot quite understand.

One of the letters written to the early church contained this cryptic sentence: "when God is revealed, we will be like God, for we will see God as God is" (1 John 3:2). Seeing God for God's self is almost the same as being like God. For those who live as part of God's body, it makes sense that seeing God and seeing the self are just about the same thing. God's incarnation among us and in us brings God amazingly near, almost too near to see or touch. When we do see God, we know that God has been among us all along. Incarnation began at the same moment as creation and continues to the end of the age. God's body remains in the world today, and its tasks are our tasks. We have longed to know God, to see God, to touch God, and to love God, and in the end we find that God has been present, within us and us within God's body, all along.

Our desire for God has changed us. We have longed for God until we have seen God and have become made new in God's image, with God's body. Now that we are the body of Christ, God's own body, God lives on in us and will not go away. We live as God's body. In our striving for God's tasks, we are unstoppable; in our partnership with God, we are eternal, because we have become the body of Christ. The first letter of John states this similarly:

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with God and was revealed to us—we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with God and God's Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. (1 John 1:1-4)

When we see and touch God, as we have sought to do from the very beginning, we touch life and we bring that life within us through the connections we have with each other. And our joy is complete. We have seen and touched God; we have shared heart and purpose. Now, since we are the body of Christ, we have come so close to God that we will never be apart. The boundaries have been broken down; the spaces between us and God have been removed. This has happened in Christ's flesh, in the body of God, where we are now united, reconciled, and combined.

For Christ is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. (Eph. 2:14-16)

Humanity ends its divisions as it ends its separation from God in one body, the body of Christ that died on the cross and lives in the church. We are as close as a part of God's own body. God is incarnate in us, God's people, who have carried the image of God from creation's first moment and who have now become more like God as God is revealed in us. Our longing turns to delight in this union within God's body.

From the stories of the most ancient days in Eden's garden, to the story of the life and death of Jesus the Messiah, and onward in the continuing story of the church's life in partnership with God, we have been in God's image and God has been in human flesh. As God has been incarnate and has learned through life and death what it means to be human, we have learned what it means to become one with the body of God. Incarnation is more than just God's presence with us, past or present. It is a shared life, a common task, a unity with purpose, a single goal in our multiple visions. Yet it is even more. As God taught us to walk as humans, as we witnessed God's first steps as incarnate human, now we walk hand in hand with God. With the hesitant steps of children, God's children, we learn to walk in God's own body.

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ARTICLE: Sermon Options: June 23, 2013

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 20:27:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

GOD'S UNWAVERING COMMITMENT

ISAIAH 65:1-9

In 1952, a New York City probation officer searched for more than a year to find an organization somewhere in the Bronx that would take in a twelve-year-old needy youngster. Although the boy had a religious background, none of the major religious groups would make room for him because he came from a sect they did not recognize. The result was that the twelve-year-old "went in a way that was not good." In fact, his name lives in infamy: Lee Harvey Oswald.

"He went in a way that was not good!" For different reasons, God, through Isaiah, applies the same words to old Israel in today's text. However, that is where the similarity ends. Israel's condition was not the result of no one caring. Someone cared more dearly than Israel would acknowledge.

I. The Unchanging God (vv. 1-2a)
This is God's answer to a prayer. Isaiah, provoked by Israel's national behavior, asked God to pour his wrath on them. Instead God answers with unwavering grace: "I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' " Using Hebrew parallelism, he emphasizes the patience of his open arms as a model for Isaiah to follow. This emphasis is like a ship captain calling, "Now hear this: This is your captain speaking." It means, "Pay attention!" There would be judgment, but it would come soon enough.

Meanwhile God's welcome home to a nation of prodigals was unwavering. His open arms had never narrowed and his love had not faltered. He was always there for them. The same is still true for the new, spiritual Israel, the Christian church. Paul, recalling this passage, calls our attention to this in Romans 10:20. God is still there and his arms are still open. For how long? We do not know. How shall we respond?

II. The Ultimate Insult (vv. 2b-7)
Israel's response to this history of love with no boundaries was indifference. God says, in effect, that they have taken an "in your face" attitude against him. The ultimate insult is delivered when they ordered God out of their national affairs because they believed themselves more right than he. This echoes of Isaiah 14:13. Today America often seems to be trying to shut God out of our national affairs, and worshiping the insubstantial polytheism of political correctness. God's patience, however, will not last forever. Israel's attitude toward God came back to haunt them, as will ours. "They walked" was a figure of speech that reveals their pattern of life; "in ways" reveals their manner of life; "not good" reveals their destination, unless they change their ways.

What issues trouble us because we "walk in ways not good"? What issues plague someone you know—perhaps even yourself—because sound counsel is disregarded? How many of our national problems are linked to raising up children with no reference to God in their education? How long will we persist in going "in a way that is not good" before we will realize that trying to shut God out of our national life is effectively shutting Satan into it?

III. The Unwavering Covenant (vv. 8, 9)
The day will come when all faithlessness will reap its bitter harvest, while the faithful of God shall enjoy a sweet inheritance. Isaiah, using one of the Bible's favorite figures, a vineyard, describes the difference as sweet and sour grapes. What spares us in the meantime? It is first that God is faithful to his covenant, and second, that he still sees a few sweet grapes he can harvest.

Christ drank our bitter cup on Calvary's cross and we need not taste it again. What shall we do in gratitude for that kind of love? Our response will lead us one of two ways: Either we will be among the sweet grapes of God's good harvest, or we will be sour grapes, our bitterness betraying our "in your face" unwillingness to change our ways. (Robert Leslie Holmes)

FREE INDEED

GALATIANS 3:23-29

Paul's Magna Carta of Christian liberty was addressed to the Galatians, and forwarded from there to the world. This passage summarizes his central thesis—that Christianity can go directly to the whole world, without demanding prior obedience to the Mosaic Law because justification is now by faith alone. The Law was necessary for a while, but to live by faith is the superior way. Martin Luther reiterated this manifesto by also differing with a latter-day but still-similar position in Rome, on exactly the same basic issue of faith versus works. It seems that this issue must be periodically readdressed in order to remind us that we are indeed free from a works righteousness and that our state is determined by faith alone.

I. What's Not to Like About It?
Why would we be so pleased with the idea that "Justice" is blind, unless we assumed that anything she might "spy" around that blindfold could prejudice her? As the law is applied and mediated through people, we know that they are always vulnerable to manipulation by the fears and hopes inspired by all they do "see." When dealing with legal systems we might pray for wisdom, courage, and insight rather than "blindness" in the procurement of justice. But even justice at its best does not save us. Even God's absolute justice only shows us by how far we miss the mark.

Such an inadequate and tyrannical taskmaster the Law was for us, Paul says. It may have been bowed down to, in its time, but that was before we had anything better. It "guarded" and "imprisoned" those under its unforgiving eye, keeping the soul's imagination of love's largess sorely confined. Still Paul knew there were those in Rome and elsewhere who would not have anyone miss the Law's heavy hand that had been so "good" for them.

II. Like It or Not
Brilliantly, Paul's passionate presentation of the new freedom that believers have in Christ is set forth, not as something that should be allowed to happen, but as an already accomplished fact. He is not so much arguing for or defending a point of view, as he is logically explaining what has happened, so that everyone may understand it. It is something that everyone of rationality and goodwill might certainly be expected to want to do.

When faith was revealed in Christ, the inferior rule of law was simply superseded by faith. The Law then became as "dated" as the in-kind story of a young boy, who told his parents his Sunday school teacher had threatened to throw him into the furnace. When the disturbed parents asked him how that happened, the child explained that his teacher had told him that if he missed three Sundays in a row, she would drop him from the register!

Paul is pointing newly baptized Christians toward the open door through which they go directly to a faith-freed life, without having to walk over the fiery coals of Judaic Law to get there. In baptism, they have "put on" Christ—his mind and his righteousness—as a garment of light that gives a new vision. The same Spirit-connection that Jesus had with God, they now have. Abraham's offspring are now to be reckoned by a spiritually, rather than genetically, seeded line of inheritance. The new children of the promise are to be all who receive it by faith, water, and the Spirit—those invisible means of grace. The visible distinctions of race, position, and gender are truly swept away in the enlightened eyes of faith.

III. All Alike
Even so, every new generation seems prone to mistaking the present outward appearance of the established religious family and its children, for the new ones to whom faith is revealed and Christ truly comes. Therefore, today's church, and especially the fatherliness in it, needs to consider the real status of the transmission of a faith that lives and breathes by the Spirit—not by the Law—to ourselves and to our children. Entry by faith is now possible to anyone. Children of the promise can be drawn into the circle of grace from anywhere, without having to come through Judaism or any other legal system. This however, also means that no one can claim the promise is theirs or their children's automatically by birthright. (Kathleen Peterson)

THE CHAINS THAT BIND

LUKE 8:26-39

A group of muscle men known as "The Power Team" shares the message of Christ by performing amazing feats of strength. In one demonstration, they link themselves together with real chains and then proceed to pull themselves apart. While human strength can break some chains, others exist that only Christ can destroy. These are the chains that bind.

The encounter between Jesus and the Gerasene demoniac builds upon the preceding event of the calming of the storm (8:22-25). Both stories seek to proclaim the power of Jesus in relation to his identity as the Son of God. In particular, the disciples' question, "Who then is this?" (8:25) remains the focal point of the continuing revelation of the nature of Christ and his response to human need.

I. The Power of Evil
Setting aside the validity of contemporary explanations of suffering (victimization, class disparity, poverty, and so on) and their humanist remedies, Luke's account reminds us that supernatural evil exists and may control the behavior of unbelievers. As such, the demon-possessed man exemplifies the destructive pattern of evil and its consequences on human relationships.

First, the man languished under this condition for "a long time" (v. 27). The local citizens of Geresa tried to help him, but to no avail. The metal chains they used were no match for the demons' power, which surpassed every human effort to alleviate or assuage his situation. Like bringing a knife to a gunfight, manmade solutions will always fail to combat spiritual problems.

Second, the result of these impotent efforts led to alienation and isolation. He "lived in the tombs" outside of town being "driven by the demon into solitary places" (v. 29 NIV). One of the most conspicuous evidences of a person under Satan's sway is a detachment from God, loved ones, and the church. As sin penetrates and dominates our lives, we find ourselves separated from those we care about and who care about us. Only the power of Christ restores and reconciles those who are trapped in the destructive pattern of satanic influence.

II. The Power of Christ
Jesus counters the demonic presence in at least two ways: with power and authority. In the same way that Jesus demonstrated power over the physical elements by calming the storm, now he reveals his ability to control the spiritual realm as well. As soon as the man saw Jesus, the demons within cried out for mercy and begged not to be tortured. Note the key words describing this confrontation: the man "cried out" and "fell" at Jesus' feet (v. 28); Jesus "commanded" (v. 29); the demons "begged" him "not to order them" (v. 31); "he gave them permission" (v. 32). Who is this? The demons provide the answer: He is "Jesus, Son of the Most High God."

Contemplate the existential and eternal ramifications of this response. Where humanity is powerless, Christ is victorious. While Satan can break physical chains, Jesus shatters everything that inhibits people from being whole. He intercedes on our behalf to deliver us from the oppressive forces and addiction over which we have no control and restores us to an everlasting relationship with our heavenly Father.

III. Our Response
Jesus "healed" the man (v. 36). The word esothe describes the total healing-salvation Jesus provides. The stark contrast from total despondency to a renewed civility shocked the local townsfolk. The demoniac was naked, but now clothed; in the tombs, but now at Jesus' feet; driven by the demon, now sitting; chained, now in his right mind. The people responded in fear, asking Jesus to leave them.

However, the man sought to follow Jesus, to be his disciple and to obey him whatever the cost. Rather than refusing this offer, Christ redirected it by asking the man to join him in a different way. One does not have to be in the physical presence of Jesus to follow him. Christ invited the man and invites us to participate in his mission of proclaiming the good news to all who would hear by sharing what he has done for us.

No matter the "chains" that bind us, whether from Satan or of our own making, we can know that deliverance is available only from Christ. Human remedies will ultimately fail, but the healing Jesus brings lasts forever. Once we submit to him, our responsibility is to tell others so that they, too, will know the Son of the Most High God. (Craig C. Christina)

ARTICLE: Jewish Grief and Mourning

Tue, 28 May 2013 15:04:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Judaism offers many active expressions of mourning that enable grieving people to acknowledge their loss in tangible ways. Some Christians are finding traditional Jewish mourning rituals to be meaningful as they process their grief and remember their loved ones. These rituals are described in this excerpted article from the Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling, included with a subscription to the Ministry Matters Premium Library.

Judaism is more than a creed; it is a way of life. And death is a reality of life. Since there are diverse ways in which Jews throughout the ages have viewed life, so there are different approaches by which Jews practice the rites of death. For example, traditional Judaism is opposed to cremation as a denial of belief in bodily resurrection. On the other hand, a prominent liberal rabbi in Cleveland writes, "I have no particular faith in physical resurrection. About one in ten funerals in which I officiate involves cremation." Orthodox rabbis may not permit autopsies, yet almost all Conservative and Reform rabbis do. Thus there is no unanimity of acceptance as to the rites of burial and manners of mourning.

One becomes a mourner (Hebrew, Ovel) upon the death of one of seven relatives: father, mother, spouse, son or daughter, brother or sister (including half-brother or half-sister). A child less than thirteen years old is not obliged to observe the rituals of mourning.

From the moment that Jews learn of the death of a loved one, there are specific religious rites that help to order their life. A most striking expression of grief is the rending of the mourner's clothes (Keriah). In the book of Genesis, when Jacob believed that his son Joseph was killed, the father "rent his garments" (37:34). Today many mourners indicate their anguish by cutting a black ribbon, usually at the funeral chapel or at the cemetery prior to interment. The ceremony is performed standing up, to teach the bereaved to "meet all sorrow standing upright." For a parent, the tear is made on the left side over the heart; for others, it is on the right. Keriah is visible for the week of Shiva.

Shiva ("seven") refers to the first seven days of intensive mourning beginning immediately after the funeral, with the day of burial counted as the first day. One hour of the seventh day is considered a full day. Mourning customs are not observed on Sabbaths and festivals. The bereaved remain at home, receiving a continuous stream of condolence calls. This helps to keep the minds of the bereaved active and their attentions engaged. Also, it is important because the companionship lends the comfort of the loving concern of family and friends.

Even though a minor is exempt from many of the mourning rites, the youngsters should not be arbitrarily dismissed from the family gathering. They should be afforded the chance to face grief and mingle with loved ones. Some enlightened adults have helped children feel they are important by allowing them to share in the family duties, such as answering doorbells and telephones, assisting with chores, and even preparing the Seudat Havra-ah, the meal of consolation. They are given the opportunity to help and be helped.

Immediately upon returning from the cemetery the Shiva candle is kindled and remains burning for the entire seven days. Before his death, the great sage Judah Hànasi instructed that a light should be kept aflame in his home, for "light is the symbol of the divine. The Lord is my light and my salvation."

Following the Shiva comes the Sh-loshim, the thirty days. The mourners resume normal activity but avoid places of entertainment. At the end of thirty days ritualistic mourning is over, except in the case where the deceased was a parent, when mourning continues for an entire year.

The adults might attend the i (daily worship) and the Sabbath services. They read aloud the Kaddish prayer, originally not a liturgy for the dead, but a pledge from the living to dedicate one's life to the God of Life, "Magnified and Sanctified." This is the highest approach to commemorate the memory of a loved one. Each time during the year that the mourners recite the Kaddish, they reinforce both the reality of death and the affirmation of life. They openly display their own needed concern and profound feeling of being a good son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, or spouse. They participate with others who are also suffering the emotional trauma of bereavement. They belong to the largest company in the world—the company of those who have known anguish and death. This great, universal sense of sorrow helps to unite human hearts and dissolve all other feelings into those of common sympathy and understanding.

The complete mourning period for those whose parents have died concludes twelve months from the day of the death. For other relatives Sh-loshim concludes the bereavement.

Anniversaries of the death (Yahrzeit) are observed annually on the date of death, commencing on the preceding day and concluding on the anniversary day at sunset. Kaddish is recited in the synagogue and the Yahrzeit candle is kindled.

The service of commemoration of the tombstone or plaque is called the "unveiling." The time of the unveiling may be any time after Sh-loshim and usually before the first year of mourning is over. Unveilings are not held on the Sabbath or during festivals. Any member of the family or a close friend may intone the appropriate prayers, usually a few Psalms, the El Molay Rachamim ("God, full of compassion") and the Kaddish. Visitation at the grave may be made as often as one wishes following the initial thirty-day period.

The memorial prayer of Yizkor ("May God remember the soul of my revered") is said four times a year during the synagogue worship: Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret, Pesach, and Shavuot. It is not usually recited during the first year of mourning.

Jewish rituals are community rituals. They are performed by those who share a religious sameness. The traditions create a sense of solidarity, of belongingness—the feeling that one is a member of the group with all the comfort and gratification that such a cohesiveness brings.

Judaism is strict in limiting mourning to the given periods and the customary observances. Excessive grief is taken as want of trust in God. The faith holds it as desirable that with time the havoc wrought by death should help to repair itself. Though no one is ever the same after a bereavement, he or she is expected, when mourning is over, to take up existence for the sake of life itself. The garment that the pious mourner rends can be sewn and worn again. The scar is there, but life must resume its course. The observance of the Jewish laws and customs of mourning helps the mourner face reality, gives honor to the deceased, and guides the bereaved in the reaffirmation of life.

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ARTICLE: Sermon Options: June 16, 2013

Mon, 27 May 2013 14:05:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

THE BEGINNING OF FAITH

GALATIANS 2:15-21

The theological arguments that Paul writes in Galatians 2:15-21 are precipitated by a much more practical problem—racial division. Paul took Peter to task over the issue of Gentile believers' freedom from obedience to Jewish ceremonial law (v. 14). He reminds Peter and everyone else present for the dinner meeting that to withdraw from the table of fellowship because of eating with Gentiles was hypocritical, inconsistent, and prejudicial. The gospel Jesus proclaimed brought salvation for both Jews and Gentiles by way of the cross and union with God. Peter's actions could be detrimental to the church's future.

Paul took a courageous stand socially and an indispensable stand spiritually for the whole future of God's church. The consequences were important to that generation and for each successive generation until Jesus returns. Following the social stand comes the theological base.

I. The Law Had Its Place—Defining Sin
The law Peter was following in his withdrawal from the dinner fellowship was the "ceremonial" law of the Jews. It was a cultic statute commanded by God in Old Testament times. These ceremonial laws followed the lines of regulations governing the sanctuary, offerings, circumcision, food, feasts, and festivals. These ceremonial laws were topologies waiting for fulfillment that would come only in Jesus. Peter misinterpreted these ceremonial laws as God's moral law.

The moral law is eternal and absolutely reflected in God's character. Moral laws cannot be changed. People cannot fulfill those demands on a human level. The law functions as a tutorial process to show people their sinfulness, but also their salvation through Jesus, who came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it.

II. Faith Has Its Place—Defining Salvation
The law points to a need for salvation. Faith places that need squarely on the answer—Jesus, the only hope of redemption. Paul tells us that Jesus brings a new law, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1-2). Thus the ceremonial law is negated and faith unifies both Jew and Gentile by putting them on the same footing.

Paul believed that the Gentiles had a firm grip on faith as a steadfast, trustworthy reliance upon God through Jesus Christ just as the Jewish brothers did. Salvation is for every Jew and Gentile alike as they reach out voluntarily to Jesus for forgiveness of sin.

III. Grace Has Its Place—Defining Righteousness
Grace points to a righteousness that leads to holiness. Richard Taylor skillfully wrote: "It is not totally accurate to say that grace is the undeserved favor of God toward sinful man, especially if this be interpreted statically. God's grace is dynamic. It is God's love in action empowering those whom God regards with favor. Even so, it is clear that grace excludes every pretense of merit on the part of the recipient; any legal conception of religion is excluded. Grace is God's free, unmerited, and nonlegal way of dealing with sinful man" (Beacon Dictionary of Theology [Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1983], p. 240).

Paul understood grace and dramatically conveyed that to Peter and the Jewish believers. (Derl G. Keefer)

A CLASSIC CASE OF CONTRASTING CHARACTERS

LUKE 7:36–8:3

The narrative in today's text demonstrates a classic case of "contrasts." The three main characters are Simon the Pharisee, a sinful woman (probably a prostitute), and Jesus. As I understand the story, Simon has invited Jesus to dine with him and some other guests. While there, an unnamed prostitute enters the house and begins to display deep gratitude to Jesus. She begins by crying tears of joy and wetting the feet of Jesus and then wiping them dry with her hair. She then kisses his feet and pours her expensive perfume on them. She responds this way because Jesus had earlier forgiven her of her sins (before the narration of this specific event). The reason for this understanding of the events is due to the fact that some have convincingly pointed out that if the woman was forgiven only after having done these things to Jesus, then it goes contrary to the entire point of the story Jesus told to Simon. The point of Jesus' story was to teach that when a person is forgiven much, they love much in return and whn they are forgiven little, they love little in return. The woman was obviously forgiven much to show such love in return.

Within this narrative we find three stark contrasts. These take place between Simon and the other two characters and involve their contrasting views and attitudes toward sinners, sin and forgiveness, and Jesus.

I. The Contrast Between Simon and Jesus: Their Response to Sinners
Simon, being a good Pharisee, would have kept his distance from sinners, such as this woman, for fear of becoming unclean and for fear that their sin might rub off on him (the word Pharisee means, "separated one"). He also had an image to uphold and a good name to protect. His disdain and disgust for sinners like her would be apparent by his attitude toward them. His self-righteousness would render Simon unable to forgive.

Jesus, however, let sinners, like this woman, touch him and get near him. He didn't keep his distance. Instead, Jesus often sought them out. And if they came into his presence, he didn't run away. By being close, by listening, by being accessible, Jesus let sinners like this prostitute know that God cared and that they could be forgiven. He showed compassion and when they responded, Jesus forgave.

II. The Contrast Between Simon and the Woman: Their Response to Sin and Forgiveness
In response to sin, Simon can sure see it in others but not in his own life. He is an eagle-eyed sin hunter when it comes to spotting sin in the lives of other people, like the woman. But his eyes seem to fail him when he looks at his own life of sin. But not only is Simon blind to his own sin, but he also fails to see that Jesus is the source of forgiveness. The result was that Simon loved little, both God and others.

The woman, however, has seen her own sin most clearly. She is strongly aware of the sin in her own life and, therefore, not hunting for sin in the lives of others, including Simon. In the end, her awareness of sin leads her to seek God's forgiveness through Jesus. The result was that the woman loved much, both God and others.

III. The Contrast Between Simon and the Woman: Their Response to Jesus
Finally, both Simon and the woman responded differently to Jesus. Simon furnished no water, no towel, no kiss, and no oil to Jesus as he entered Simon's house. This behavior displayed, at best, indifference and at worst, disrespect. But the woman spontaneously offered her tears, her hair, her kisses, and her perfume in a touching display of love and gratitude.

Interesting, isn't it? For it appears that those who see their own sin, can also see Jesus as the source of forgiveness while those who see only the sin of others and are blind to their own sin are also blind to who Jesus really is and what he can do for them.

How many Christians are more like Simon than Jesus when it comes to relating and responding to sinners? How many Christians act more like Simon than the woman when it comes to responding to sin in their lives? And how many Christians, even after coming to Jesus, are still better at seeing the sin in others than in themselves? How does your life contrast with Simon and the woman? (Michael M. Jones)

ARTICLE: Devotion for Trinity Sunday

Sat, 18 May 2013 04:03:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

From 56 Devotions on Short Notice, included with a subscription to the Ministry Matters Premium Library

Call

Grace and peace be to you from God our Creator and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer

O Trinity, supreme in being; O unity without beginning, all the powers of the universe sing your praise, standing in wonder before you. Heaven and earth, the heights and the depths, are in awe of you. Men and women bless you. The fire, the wind, the light, all serve you. All things created bow before you in faith and hope and love. Amen.

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:5-14

The Apostles Creed read in Unison

Suggested Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy

"Grace be to you from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ." Not a surprising greeting in church! Yet this truly is a strange formula we've been using today—Father, Son and Spirit, or any of the more current forms—Creator, Redeemer, Guide. We have heard it so often it raises no questions in our minds. The over-all term Holy Trinity raises even fewer questions. It may be the name of a church you've belonged to, or a college your daughter is attending.

Years of usage have implanted these words in our vocabulary: "Glory be to God the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. "

Try to write a paragraph explaining the notion of the Holy Trinity. If you do some research for such a paragraph you will be surprised to discover that the term is not to be found anywhere in the Bible!

First used 300 years after the death of Jesus, it came into the Christian vocabulary after a lengthy and fiery debate on how to formulate, find form for, what Christians had experienced. It did not arise from an airy debate by professors of theology on fine points of theory. It was the result of everyday Christians reaching consensus on how to put into words what they had shared in daily living.

How have we encountered God? How do we find words for our encounter with the deity? What appears to be the nature of God?

As they discussed the ways God had chosen to reveal the divine presences they found their thought gathering around three distinct categories. There is surely but one God, yet we have found God acting in three ways— three ways at least! God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

As soon as we use the word "person" we are in trouble. For the early Christians used the word in a different manner than we do. In Greek drama the persona was the mask used by an actor to represent feelings. Thus we have the happy face and sad face as the logo for theatre today. Then the term was transferred to the actual "role" played—thus we find old playbills that list the "dramatis personae"—the roles of the drama.

Now we are closer to the meaning. One God, yet three roles. A human analogy may help. Each of us plays at least three roles at home. One may arrive home, see the children playing ball hockey in the driveway, give each a pat on the shoulder and say, "How's it going?"—the paternal role. One walks into the house and greets one's spouse with a fairly passionate kiss—the spousal role. Same person—different style of action. Then a mother-in-law or father-in-law may be sitting in the living room. One gives a kiss, but a more chaste one this time—the filial role. We are perceived in three roles, yet remain one.

So God is not a unit but a union, not a unity but a community. There is in God, as in each of us, something that resembles a "society." Neither we nor God are single beings, living and loving alone. God, like us, yet in a magnitude we cannot imagine, is personal and loving. In the beginning God—but if God is love, then— in the beginning relationship.

Leo Rosten tells of the old Jewish fellow knocked down while crossing the street in front of a Cathedral. A priest seeing the accident rushed to him and fearing he might die, asked him, "Do you believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?" The old fellow gasped, "Oy, I'm dying and he's asking me riddles!" We may feel as dismayed in having to deal with fine points of theology at a time when there are many questions that seem more pressing. Yet our own response to life is shaped by our convictions. As one made in God's image I am expected, like God, to be "creative, in community, for the sake of others." Doctrine so practical engages us and directs us.

Prayer

O God of all life, you are present to us in the wonder of creation; in the quiet whisper of a spring breeze and in the thunderstorms that shake the earth. You are present also in the tall strong Son of Galilee, whose earthly life provides a pattern, whose death provides release from old captivities, whose rising awakens a fresh new hope. We know your presence, too, in the still small voice within that warms us when we stray from your ways, and encourages us when we might stop along the way. We are grateful for your coming in these ways. Amen.

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ARTICLE: Commentary on Acts 2:1-47

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:51:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

From the Abingdon New Testament Commentary on Acts, available with a Premium Subscription to the Ministry Matters Library

The Holy Spirit and Its Aftermath (2:1-47)

With the ascension of Jesus, the gathering of believers in Jerusalem, and the identification of an apostle to replace Judas, the stage is now set for the outpouring of the Spirit, an event that has been promised again and again but one that still comes with startling force. As fascinating as the scene depicting the Spirit's arrival is (2:1-13), Luke does not dwell on the mechanics of the manifestation; instead, Pentecost serves largely to introduce the Spirit's work. On this occasion the Spirit empowers Peter to speak and enables amazing growth in the community's size and conduct. Peter's speech (2:14-40) occupies a pivotal place in Luke-Acts, because it interprets what has already happened in the death and resurrection of Jesus and because it offers essential clues for understanding what is about to unfold in Jerusalem and beyond. The speech consists of four distinct movements, the first three of which begin with direct address by Peter to the audience. The final movement also begins with direct address, this time from the audience to Peter and his colleagues:

v. 14 “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem”

v. 22 “You that are Israelites”

v. 29 “Fellow Israelites” [lit. “Brothers”]

v. 37 “Brothers”

The aftermath of Peter's speech provides a summary report about the life of this emerging new community (vv. 41-47).

The Coming of the Spirit (2:1-13)

Pentecost, the harvest festival identified in the Hebrew Bible as the Feast of Weeks (Ex 23:16; 34:22; Lev 23:15-21; Num 28:26-31; Deut 16:9-10), provides the setting for the arrival of the Spirit. At least since the time of Augustine, interpreters have attempted to find significance in an association of Pentecost with the giving of the Torah, and some Jewish texts roughly contemporary with Luke do appear to associate Pentecost and covenant renewal (Jub. 1:1; 6:17-19; 14:20; and cf. 1QS 1:8-2:25; Fitzmyer 1998, 233-37). Most Jewish texts connecting Pentecost with Torah are substantially later than Acts, however, and Calvin may have been closer to the mark when he observed that by specifying Pentecost Luke is explaining why Jerusalem would have been full of people, both residents and pilgrims (1965, 49; and cf. Acts 20:16). Alongside this temporal setting, it is equally important to notice Luke's assertion that “they were all together in one place” (v. 1), an assertion that cries out for attention. Luke does not say merely that they were together, or all were present, but instead “all together” and “in one place.” Neither the number of persons present nor the place is specified. Because the immediately preceding verse refers to the apostles, Luke might have only the Twelve in mind. Yet the selection of Matthias occurs in the presence of the larger community (see 1:15), and the fact that the quotation from Joel includes daughters and female slaves makes it more likely that the outpouring of the Spirit encompasses the larger group (a view that was held at least as early as Chrysostom, Homilies on Acts 4 [NPNF 11:25-26]).

The extravagant production Luke describes in vv. 2-3 has all the hallmarks of the divine presence. Both wind and fire are regularly associated with theophanies (e.g., Ex 3:2; 13:21-22; 19:18; 1 Kgs 19:11-12; Isa 66:15; 4 Ezra 13:1-3, 8-11). Beyond understanding that these are traditional signs of the divine, it is futile to attempt to reconstruct the scene. What exactly “divided tongues” are or what it means that they rested on each person is quite unclear. What is clear is that the Holy Spirit pervades the gathered community so that all are in its grasp.

No private event, the arrival of the Spirit simultaneously involves a public venue and public accountability. In some unexplained way, the walls of the house dissolve and the community finds itself outdoors and in the presence of Jews “from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.” The notion of Jews living in “every nation” might seem odd except that for centuries Jews had emigrated for a variety of reasons. By the first century, far more Jews lived outside Palestine than within it. Many Jews made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover and stayed through Pentecost; other diaspora Jews lived in Jerusalem for reasons of commerce or settled there late in life (note also 6:9).

The list of peoples in vv. 9-11 has counterparts elsewhere (Gen 10:2-31; Syb. Or. 3:156-95, 205-209; Philo, Embassy 281-83; Flaccus 45-46), as various writers testify to the presence of Jews and the adoption of Jewish practices in a wide range of places in the Roman world (see also Josephus, Ag. Ap. 2.282; J.W. 2.398). Luke's list does not so closely resemble any other such list as to suggest literary dependence, however, and this list serves less to emphasize the geographical spread of Judaism than to signal the imminent spread of the gospel. What appears to control the selection and ordering of the list is a grouping of locations around the four compass points, viewed through the assumption that Jerusalem is the center of the earth (cf. Ezek 5:5; Jub. 8:19; 1 En. 26:1). The first group begins east of Jerusalem (Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians) and then moves back to Judea; the second group moves north from Jerusalem (Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia) and then back in the direction of Jerusalem; the third group moves west from Jerusalem to north Africa, Rome, and then again back to Jersualem by means of Crete; and the fourth compass point is represented by the collective “Arabs” (Bauckham 1995, 417-27). This observation helps to explain one of the most puzzling features of the list, the inclusion of Judea: Why refer to Judeans as if they were resident aliens?

Luke's understanding of Spirit-filled speech differs from that of Paul, the only other New Testament writer to refer to this phenomenon. First Corinthians uses the same word (glossa), but the context makes it clear that Paul has in mind ecstatic speech that requires the presence of an interpreter (1 Cor 12:10, 28; 13:1, 8; 14:1-33, 37-40). For Luke, however, the speech is that of other languages. Neither does Paul nor anyone else speak of some originating gift of the Holy Spirit. Attempts to reconcile the two accounts are more passionate than persuasive; what Paul and Luke share is an awareness of the Spirit's power and its unpredictability.

This miraculous event prompts a divided response, as gospel proclamation will do later in Acts (e.g., 4:1-4; 17:32; 28:24). Some observers are “amazed and perplexed” at what it might mean, while others offer the more pedestrian interpretation that the believers are drunk. The latter view may not be merely cynical, since Plutarch reports that wine augments prophetic speech (Oracles at Delphi 406B; Obsolescence of Oracles 437E; cf. Mic 2:11).

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ARTICLE: Sermon Options: June 2, 2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 20:54:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Choosing To Believe

1 Kings 18:20-39

Perhaps you recall recently when a burial box from the first century A.D. had come to light, on which was inscribed the words “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” This revelation caused quite a stir in the world of Christian scholarship because, if authentic, it would be the oldest tangible link to the historical Jesus — evidence of his actual existence. While even many non-Christians agree that Jesus was a real person, no physical evidence from the first century has ever been conclusively tied with his life. So, when several experts in antiquities judged this box — or “ossuary” as it was called — to be authentic, it was big news.

But alas, now comes the news that it is not authentic. The latest investigations of the box declare that it may be a true burial box from the time of Jesus, but that the inscription was added much later. In other words, it is a forgery.

Now I don’t know if that has had any effect on your faith, but I would guess that it has not. Most of us who follow Jesus do so because of an inner commitment, and we made that decision completely independent of any physical “proof.” Thus the ossuary, if it had been authentic, would have been a nice confirmation of something that we already believe, but the debunking of the claim really doesn’t make any difference in the solidity of our faith.

I raise the matter of this burial box because I want to talk about the foundations of belief, and the yes-it-is/no-it’s-not story of the ossuary is a case in point.

Our text is from the Old Testament, but before going there, I want to point out something from a New Testament passage, Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). As the story goes, there was a certain rich man who lived very well in a fine house and dined on sumptuous meals. Although his name does not appear in the Bible, he is sometimes called “Dives,” which comes from the Latin word for “rich.” Outside his gate was a desperately poor, sick man named Lazarus, covered with sores. He was so hungry that he wished he could have even the crumbs that fell from Dives’ table. But Dives ignored Lazarus, and eventually the poor man died and was carried by angels to be with Abraham in paradise.

Not long afterward, Dives also died, but he went to Hades, the final destination of the unrighteous. There he was in misery. He called to Abraham to send Lazarus to him with a drop of water for his tongue, but it was not to be. Abraham responded kindly but plainly to Dives. During your life, Abraham told Dives, you had a life of plenty and Lazarus had nothing. But now things have reversed and following death, said Abraham, there is an uncrossable chasm separating them.

Dives then asked Abraham to at least let Lazarus go to Dives’ five living brothers and warn them to behave more compassionately in their lives than Dives had in his. Abraham responded, “They have Moses and the prophets [that is, the scriptures]; they should listen to them.” Dives replied, “But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will listen.” In other words, if they get real, tangible proof, they will be convinced. But Abraham came back with, “If they do not listen to the scriptures, they won’t be convinced by someone rising from the dead.”

Abraham, you see, was exactly right. So-called proof can always be explained away if you want it to be. Consider this story from Lee Strobel, who at the time of this incident was an award-winning journalist with the Chicago Tribune. And he was also, quite plainly, an unbeliever. In fact, when it came to matters of faith, he identified himself as an atheist. In one of his books, he tells of the time when his newborn daughter was rushed into intensive care because of a mysterious illness that threatened her life. The doctors weren’t certain what was going on, but it was clearly serious.

Strobel says that even though he was an atheist, he was so desperate that he prayed anyway, imploring God — if God existed — to heal his daughter. A short time later, his daughter, to everyone’s surprise, did recover, completely. The doctors were left scratching their heads.

Did that convince Strobel that God was real? It did not. He thought, “What a coincidence! She must have had some bacteria or virus that spontaneously disappeared.” He remained in his atheism.1

You see, you can always take any seemingly miraculous thing and debunk it if you are so inclined. You can explain it as an elaborate hoax, a coincidence, the ravings of a confused person, superstition, group hysteria, a lie, a hallucination, or something else. And there are also those spectacular failures among Christians that you can point to and say, “See, Christianity must not be real.” Some time ago, a Catholic bishop in Arizona was arrested for a hit-and-run accident. Certain television evangelists have been exposed as money-grabbing frauds. Some pastors have abused children. The list goes on. We can always find reasons not to believe if we want to.

So Abraham is exactly right when he tells Dives that sending someone to his brothers from the dead would be ineffective and non-persuasive. They’d explain it away.

Which, of course, is what happened with lots of people when God did send someone to them from the death — Jesus himself. To this day, you can hear the speculations of people about what “really” happened on that first Easter, how Jesus’ disciples were fooled or how his body was moved, or some other theory.

The same thing proved true of the account we read from the Old Testament of Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal. Those prophets begged their god to bring fire to their altar, but nothing happened, but when Elijah made a similar request to the Lord God about his altar, God’s fire consumed not only the sacrifice, but also the altar, and even the water in the trench. Seeing that, the crowd of eyewitnesses was convinced. According to the Bible story, “They fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord indeed is God.’ ”

However, the person who had brought the prophets of Baal into the land was the king’s wife, Jezebel, and she was not persuaded.

Apparently, she was not present to see the event, but she heard about it from her husband, who, as far as we can tell, did believe it, though it did not cause him to become a better man. When Jezebel learned what had happened, the only effect on her was to cause her to swear by the gods she did believe in to avenge herself on Elijah. And it’s clear from the subsequent history of Israel in the Old Testament that the miracle on Mount Carmel had only a temporary effect in any case, for it didn’t take long before the people were worshiping other gods again.

No, when it comes right down to it, accepting Christianity is a matter of choosing to believe. There’s plenty of evidence to support belief in Christ and to justify taking the step of committing yourself to him, but if you wish, you can explain all of it some other way, or even simply refuse to consider it.

Do you remember the old Sunday school chorus, “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus”? It means exactly what it says: Following Jesus is a decision.

But here’s the thing: For those who make the decision to follow Jesus, there is a different kind of certainty available. Jesus referred to it one time when he was challenged by some of his countrymen about where his teaching came from. He responded, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own” (John 7:16-17). In other words, it is only by embracing faith in God and by doing what you perceive as his will that you can gain a sense of the reality of Christ.

Saint Augustine put it this way, “Believe that you may understand....” That is not what we usually mean when we use the word “certainty,” but it is what we call “conviction,” which means that we are convinced on a deep, inner level.

Let me go back to Lee Strobel for a moment, the man who decided that his daughter’s miraculous recovery was a coincidence. Much later, after his wife started attending church, Strobel investigated Christianity and eventually became a believer, but it wasn’t any kind of so-called proof that changed him. He actually used his skills as an investigative reporter to look at the evidence for faith in Christ, and he says that that cleared away some of his objections.

But what happened after that was a pure choice. He says, “[I had] to overcome my pride ... to drive a stake through the egoism and arrogance that threatened to hold me back. [I had] to conquer the self-interest and self-adulation that were keeping my heart shut tight from God.”2

In my own experience, I can tell you about two different times when I responded to the call of Christ, each time on a different level. One was when I was thirteen and attending a church youth rally where an invitation to follow Christ was given. I felt compelled to go forward and it resulted there in a gush of emotions and tears. Afterward, I felt new and changed. Later when I was in my late teens, and I had learned more, including many of the arguments against Christian faith, the emotional experience of my early teens was no longer sufficient. I remember things coming to a moment where I thought, “I have a choice. I can believe in God and Christ or not. What do I choose to believe?” Well, I chose to believe that God exists and that Jesus is the one I should follow. There was very little emotion involved in that decision. It took place simply in the arena of my mind. Confirmations that I made the right choice have come in several ways and at different times since, but none of it is what I can hand you in the sense of scientific proof.

It comes down to this: Do you want to know God personally and follow Christ? If so, there is plenty of evidence to support that decision. If you don’t want that, then there are ways to deny the testimony of the evidence.

Among that evidence is the Bible itself. When Dives asked that Lazarus be sent from the death to warn his brother, Abraham said to Dives, “They have the scriptures; they should listen to them.” In other words, “It’s all there in black and white. They should take seriously what’s there. But, if they aren’t convinced by scripture then they aren’t going to be convinced by a mind-blowing resurrection.”

When you decide you want to know God and follow Jesus, there is that inner witness that Jesus talked about — do the will of God and then you will know whether or not the teaching is from God. Or we might say this in shorthand as “believe first and then you will be convinced.” We might like it to be the other way around — “Convince me and then I will believe.” In the end, though, it comes down to what we want and what we choose. If we choose to believe, our faith is not going to be strengthened by a burial box from the first century or shaken when it proves to be false.

Choose to believe in God and to follow Christ. The reward of belief is the fire and the peace of God’s presence — and the inner conviction that you are on the right path.

The Dream

Galatians 1:1-12

It was an October Monday morning. Nothing much happened on Monday mornings, especially during the harvest time. The pastor sat in his office wondering how the sermon reviews were going down at the coffee shop. He would give them another hour, and then stop in for his coffee and wheat toast. He would get the summary of the reviews from Maryanne, the waitress.

The door was open, so there was no knock. The man just kind of appeared, leaning against the sill and looking pretty uncomfortable. The pastor recognized the guy as being from town, knew a little bit about his family and where they lived, but didn’t actually know his name. He did know that the guy had never been in the church here, and that was probably why he looked so uncomfortable.

The pastor said, “Hello,” and the visitor asked if he could talk for a minute. His hands were shaking, and his voice was quivering. This was not a simple case of the nerves. As he sat down, he explained, “You’re probably going to think that I’m crazy, and maybe I am. But I just don’t know who else to go to about this.”

He was asking permission to talk about something, and the pastor gave it. I’ll try to retell the story exactly as the visitor told it.

He began by saying that his name was Fred, and he talked a little more about his family and what they all did. In fact, he talked quite a bit about those things, the whole time sounding like he really wanted to talk about something else. The pastor tried to help him along a bit by asking, “So, what can I do for you this morning?”

Fred sighed, and looked at his shoes. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I want to talk about a dream. Not one of mine, but a dream my son had a few months ago. Can I tell you about it?”

“Sure.”

“Well, it was one afternoon last June. I was out cutting the grass in the front yard. My son came home from work, rode his motorcycle up the driveway, and went into the house. He came back out a minute later with a couple of beers and asked if we could talk. We sat in the yard chairs and had a beer.”

His eyes apologized for the beers, but the pastor shook his head and said, “No problem. Go ahead.”

“Well, my son started telling me about this dream he had the night before, and wondered what I thought about it. In his dream, he was riding his motorcycle home from work, but was taking a different way home than he usually did, riding down Route 17. Anyway, he was just riding along, there by the grocery store, where the railroad tracks cross the road, you know? So, he was riding along, and this station wagon was coming from the other direction. When the station wagon got to the grocery store, it pulled in the parking lot. Then, for some reason, it pulled right back onto the highway again. But the driver went too far and pulled over into the wrong lane of traffic, right in front of my son. His motorcycle hit the station wagon right in front of the passenger door. My son flew across the hood and landed beside the highway right on the railroad tracks. He was killed in the crash.”

Fred paused.

“Wow, that’s a pretty powerful dream,” the pastor said. “I can see why you’d be upset.”

Fred took a deep breath. “No, you don’t understand. That’s not what bothers me. You see, I just now came from the funeral home.” He looked at his shoes again.

The pastor felt something stirring inside. If it had been a movie, the orchestra would have started playing something really soft and slow, but with definite suspense. Fred continued.

“My son was riding home from work last night on his motorcycle. He had stopped by to visit at his sister’s house and was taking a different way home than usual. He was coming up Route 17, you know, about where the grocery store is? Well, according to the police report, there was a car coming the other way on the highway, a family in a station wagon coming home from vacation. As they got to the grocery store, the wife asked her husband to pull in to the store so she could get some milk. Since they had been gone, they would need some fresh milk for the next morning. As he pulled into the parking lot, she said that she would wait and get milk in town where it would be cheaper. The husband spun the wheel to pull back out of the parking lot, and overcompensated, pulling across the road into the wrong lane.”

The pastor almost spoke the rest of the story along with Fred.

“The motorcycle hit the station wagon right in front of the passenger door. My son flew across the hood and landed beside the highway right on the railroad tracks. He was killed in the crash. He landed exactly where the dream said he would land. The police have pictures.”

Fred looked at his shoes again. This time he just stayed there. He then looked the pastor in the eyes, and with the eyes of a father who does not understand, asked, “What does it mean? The dream last summer ... why did he have that? Tell me, what do you think about my son’s dream?”

The pastor was caught off guard. He had slipped into clergy-mode, and had begun thinking of the funeral service and how it should be done. That is, after all, what Fred had come to ask him to do. Since the family does not have a church, obviously someone recommended him for the task. This one would be difficult. He had begun running through the litany of questions that needed to be answered: which funeral home was in charge, when is the service, where will it be, do you have favorite scripture, or hymns?

But this was no funeral invitation. That would come later, but first, there was something different. Fred wanted to know about the dream.

The pastor found himself mentally running through every seminary theology course he had attended, and every book he had read. He thought of existentialism, and a whole collection of other “isms,” but they all seemed to help more with things like funeral plans, and less with answers about four-month-old visions. He tried to find his official clergy response, coming out of his professional training, and personal faith grown out of years of study. Was it a warning to the son? Does God do that kind of thing? If so, why aren’t others warned?

Fred watched him.

Finally, the pastor found his answer. What could he say about a dream four months ago, that fully described the event that just took place a few hours ago? What could he say about a young man who appeared to have been given a vision of a life-changing, or more accurately, life-ending event, far ahead of time? What could he say?

The pastor leaned back in his chair and said, “Wow. I have absolutely no idea what that means. What an amazing story.”

Okay, so what would you have said? As Paul tells us in the writing today, sometimes the only response to a situation is to point to God and say no more. Sometimes, anything additional we might add is not only unnecessary, but probably just gets in the way of the truth. Sometimes all we can say is, “Wow.”

For the record, Fred seemed satisfied with the response. Although he didn’t understand much theology, he did understand “Wow.” Fred understood that sometimes we are just forced to close our mouths and our minds and sit in awe.

What Outsiders Can Teach Us

Luke 7:1-10

Those of us ministers actively engaged in congregational worship don’t get many opportunities to visit other churches and to worship in different settings. We’re pretty much committed to being in our own congregations for the better part of the year. Four or six Sundays at most is about all we have to experience how others go about it.

Actually, this pattern begins for most of us even before we’re ordained. A colleague related that in divinity school he was a youth minister and only got a couple of Sundays off during the school year. He tried to make the most of every opportunity to visit prominent congregations in the area. Even though it’s been more than forty years, he vividly recalled the first congregational visit he made. The service had just begun in this beautiful, historic New England meeting house. The minister got up and extended the welcome to those who were visiting. It was a greeting he’s never forgotten. “We are glad that you are here. We have been here in this place for a long time. If you are of like mind and temperament, you may find yourself welcome. We know our faults. But in spite of them, we still try to be an outpost of the kingdom of God.” Maybe the pastor was just having a bad day, or had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. But if this was his usual way of speaking to visitors, it struck my colleague as odd. On the positive side, he was trying to see things from the visitor’s viewpoint. He was brutally honest about the congregation. But needless to say, my colleague never went back. Given the limited opportunities for worship, he didn’t want o waste it there. Outsiders have a lot to tell us about ourselves. But I’m not sure trying to outguess them is the way to go about it.

I took a sabbatical last year in England, and had several opportunities to encounter how some Brits view Americans. It had to do with 9/11. There was a quiet, but ever present, resentment among the English about how Americans seem to view the September 11 incident as an attack only on the United States. The English lost a lot of young people when the Twin Towers went down, as did many other nations. As they looked at it, September 11 was an attack on the whole western world, not just on America, where it took place. They thought that on the whole, Americans were oblivious to that. There has been an interesting bit of fall out, though. There are many English who have taken to wearing New York Yankees’ hats out of respect for the city of New York and how they measured up to the nearly impossible task of making a comeback out of the rubble and rubbish of 9/11.

I also had an embarrassing moment one evening when I went out to eat at a local pub. I found that you never quite know what kind of pub it’s going to be when you walk in the door. You have to sort of size it up. Some pubs are very nice, and family oriented; some are dives; and some are rather pricey. This one happened to be the local hangout for university students. It was loud, noisy, filled with smoke, and had people stuffed in the room tighter than sardines in a can. I instantly realized that I did not want to spend a moment longer there. So I headed for the door, evidently pushing a guy as I went by. The student looked me straight in the eye, and said, “Over here we say, ‘Excuse me.’ ” I was mortified to death to be the typical ugly American. A lesson was learned that evening. You never do know what others have to teach you.

Today’s scripture from the Old and New Testaments shows us how wide the circle actually is of those who believe in God. In fact, these scriptures tell us that those outside the faith may have more to say to us than we may think.

The verses from 1 Kings 8 are a part of the story of the dedication of the temple by King Solomon. The community is gathered for the dedication ceremony led by the king himself. The Ark of he Covenant is taken into the sanctuary. God’s presence and approval of what was going on is signified by a cloud appearing in the holy of holies, the inner most part of the temple.

The verses from today’s scripture are from Solomon’s prayer of dedication. Taken together, these verses proclaim God as the one and only true God. “... there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart” (1 Kings 8:23). This part of the prayer recognizes the faith of the insiders, those faithful who make up the community of Israel.

The second part of the prayer goes on to acknowledge that there are those beyond Israel who also recognize God for who God is. “Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people comes from a distant land because of your name ... and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel ...” (1 Kings 8:41-43).

There’s an implicit recognition that while the temple is the central place for worship, the God of Israel also has relationships with people beyond Israel. That is, with non-Jews. The presence of these non-Jews at the temple tells the world how great God really is. In a word, outsiders can demonstrate to the insiders what the insiders have been saying all along: Our God is a great God. The prayer is that there will be a day when people of all nations will worship the God of Israel.

In Luke’s story of Jesus healing the centurion’s servant, we also see the principle of extending the boundaries at work. Or perhaps, it would be closer to the truth to say that we see the overturning of the conventional way of looking at things. After giving what’s called in Luke “The Sermon on the Plain,” Jesus enters Capernaum. The town will serve as his base of ministry. We’re told that while Jesus is there, there’s this centurion who has a slave. It is a slave that he values. But there’s one problem. The slave is sick and at the point of death. From that little bit of information, we can glean a lot. Jesus is recognized as a master teacher. Later in the chapter, it’s said that, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” (Luke 7:16).

Jesus is someone to be reckoned with — as is the centurion. A centurion was a Roman military officer in charge of a company of a hundred men. This man was probably not in charge of all the troops stationed at Capernaum, but he may have been in charge of some in the service of Herod Antipas, the local governor appointed by Rome.

That this man has a slave he values is revealing. Slaves were considered “living tools.” Roman owners of slaves could treat them as they saw fit. They could punish them when they wished, and even kill them if they felt like it. Slaves were dispensable. The fact that this man cared enough about his slave to want to save him indicates that this man was a good man, even a compassionate one. So much so that when he heard Jesus was in town, the man went out of his way to see that his servant got the help he needed.

Interestingly, the centurion does not confront Jesus himself with his request. Later, we will find out why, but for now, the man uses the existing network he has with the local Jewish elders to get his wishes accomplished. He uses them to get Jesus to come and heal his slave. These elders are quick to do the centurion’s bidding. They lose no time trying to convince Jesus, a Jewish teacher, to heal this slave, a non-Jew. In other words, to heal this outsider. Or in what was probably their evaluation, even less than an outsider, more like a nobody, a slave. The elders’ appeal to Jesus is based not on the fact that the slave needs help, but because of the esteem they hold for his master. “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us” (Luke 7:4b, 5). A little pressure is put on Jesus to ensure that Jesus will come across with the good deed. It’s as if to say, “Jesus, you’ve got to heal the slave for this centurion, for we owe a great deal to him.” We know for a fact that the Romans helped build many Jewish synagogues. The Romans felt it was in their interest to maintain good order and stability in the countryside.

Without so much as a question, Jesus goes with the elders to visit the centurion’s house to see what he can do for the slave. “... but when he was not far off from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, ‘Lord do not trouble yourself, for I am not orthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed’ ” (Luke 7:6b, 7). The invitation is none other than for Jesus to heal the boy indirectly and from a distance.

Now the centurion appeals to what he judges to be a common bond that he and Jesus share.

“For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes. And to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it” (Luke 7:8). The centurion knows how Jesus must feel inside, being a man of authority himself. He is quite clear that he knows what it means to be under authority and to exercise it himself. He knows how to take orders and how to give them, something he feels that he and Jesus have in common.

When Jesus hears this, he turns to the crowd and says, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith” (Luke 7:9). Luke concludes the story with some crucial information. When the centurion’s friends return home, they find the slave to be in good health.

What on the surface looks like a story about healing, turns out to be a story about faith, the extraordinary faith of an outsider. It’s what I like to call the message in the miracle.

I find the contrasts in the story particularly enlightening. The Jewish elders judge the slave worthy of treatment. Jesus agrees, but for a different reason. The elders think Jesus should heal the boy because of the generosity of the centurion. But Jesus is willing to heal the boy because of the centurion’s own personal faith and trust. The centurion shows himself to be one who trusts Jesus to heal his servant, even from a distance. The Roman officer does not feel he’s worthy of having Jesus in his home. Actually, it’s out of deep respect for Jesus that he does not want Jesus to enter his house. The centurion knows that for Jesus, a Jew, to enter the house of a Gentile, it would mean Jesus would instantly become contaminated or unclean. For this reason Jesus says, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Evidently, even Jesus was surprised to find such faith and compassion in an outsider like this Roman military man.

What can outsiders teach us? For one, they can teach us that we don’t have a corner on the market. Whether it’s in the church or in the world at large, because of all the power and wealth we have, Americans can get to feeling that we know it all and are the point of it all. But there are people of faith outside as well as inside the church. There are British men and women who are just as devastated by 9/11 as we Americans are.

Secondly, in much the same manner, we can learn from those outside that we are not the only ones God loves. I think of my aunt, Bessie Cartwright. Though not actually my aunt, she had the same name, and as she was a member of our church she adopted me, and asked me to call her “Aunt Bessie.” One day, Aunt Bessie became quite concerned about her next-door neighbor who happened to be Jewish. Aunt Bessie was never one to let go of an idea once it entered her head. She always had to act on it. So she called up her neighbor on the phone and said, “Can I come over sometime and tell you about my Jesus?” Her neighbor replied, “Yes, if you will let me tell you about my God.” Well, the day came when they had their religious conversation, each taking turns. Afterward, Aunt Bessie told me about it. She said, “You know, the more she talked about her God, the more her God seemed to be a lot like my Jesus.” Aunt Bessie never tried that again. She and her neighbor remained good friends for as long as Aunt Bessie lived. That was the day she found that an outsider had a lot to teach her.

For us, here at the church, I think there’s another small lesson that we can learn. Maybe it’s not so little after all. Jesus treated the centurion no differently than he did the Jewish elders. He respected them both. He listened to what they each had to say, and he acted accordingly. In a word, he treated the centurion like he was already an insider. And in the process, Jesus healed a hurting boy, a boy who was not even a Jew, not even a Roman, but a slave, a nobody, but in Jesus’ eyes, he was a boy who just happened to be a somebody. He was a fellow human being in need of help.

The moment the church stops acting like a club for the like-minded, and begins treating nonmembers the same as members, that’s the day the church will really become an outpost for the kingdom of God. And when the church begins to act like this, those outside might just want to come inside.

ARTICLE: Worship Elements 2: June 2, 2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 20:43:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Second Sunday After Pentecost

Scripture Readings: 1 Kings 18:20-39, Psalm 96, Galatians 1:1-12, Luke 7:1-10
Color: Green

Call to Worship

L: Spread your open hands toward heaven—

P: Sing to the Lord a new song!

L: The Lord is like no other God—

P: Sing to the Lord, all the earth!

L: Come together to pray and praise:

P: The Lord has made us—Hallelujah! To the Lord we be long, forever—Amen!

Invocation

O Lord, hear us in your habitation; listen to us in your dwelling place! Whatever our age, or race, or homeland, or class, or gender, or intelligence, or ability, or creed, you have promised to show us love: to heal us when we are wounded, to protect us when we are vulnerable, to come to us when we are alone. We stand now in need of your steadfast love; do not disappoint us!

Litany

Leader: O Spirit, help us so to serve you, that all the world might hear and rejoice in the greatness of your name:

Women: Lord of hosts, God of gods, Ruler of glory, Judge of earth, Lover of justice, Avenger of wrong;

Men: Upholder of life, Lifter of heads, Parent to the orphan, Protector of the weak;

All: Maker, Savior, Redeemer, Deliverer, Helper, Shepherd, Keeper, Midwife, sheltering Wings, forgiving God!

L: O Spirit, help us so to serve you, that all the world might hear and rejoice in the greatness of your love:

W: The love that opens, stretches forth, anoints, lifts up, rescues, saves;

M: The love that leads, abides, receives our spirits, helps, holds our times;

A: The love that holds the cup of agony—a strong love, exalted, high, but forgotten!

L: O Spirit, help us so to serve you, that all the world might hear and rejoice in the greatness of your love:

W: The love that creates the heavens and earth and all who — dwell therein, that performs great signs and wonders;

M: The love that rules, that triumphs, that scatters the wicked and makes them still;

A: The love that brings slaves out of bondage, that gathers the lambs and all who are scattered—the love that is bared before all the nations!

Prayer for One Voice

Eternal God, who in Jesus Christ redeems us from the sin that drives us apart and reconciles us with the love that brings us together, we thank you for him who has made us your partners in covenant. We bless you for the vision with which you bless us through him: for the vision of yourself, whose love for all does not diminish your love for each; for the vision of us as individuals, whose move away from you does not slow your move toward us; for the vision of the community of believers, whose history of division does not alter your desire for union; and for the vision of the world, whose clamor for power does not silence your demand for justice.

O God, grant us the faith of Solomon's prayer: the faith that calls the temple not by the builder's name but by your name; the faith that looks not within the temple but beyond for your dwelling place; the faith that longs for the temple to become a house of prayer—not for one people but for all the peoples of the earth.

Unfortunately, our faith in Christ has often been no match for Solomon's prayer. We sing of Christ for all the world, but the world we have in mind is much smaller than the world for which Solomon prayed. It is not the world of "all the peoples of the earth," but only some of them—those of them who think as we think, feel as we feel, worship as we worship, and live as we live.

Forgive us, O God, not only for shrinking your world to the size of our prejudices, but for reducing Christ to the level of our preferences. Too often we turn your Christ into a Christ of our own creation: a Christ too narrow to tolerate any behavior we do not approve; to sanction any belief we do not hold; to welcome any person we do not like; to permit any worship we do not practice.

O God, you have made us in your image. Forgive us for remaking the world in ours. You have made Christ the church's one foundation. Forgive us for trying to build it on another. Transform us, O Lord. Grant us the grace so to represent the Christ you have sent that the world might receive your glorious gospel, obey your great c and worship your holy name.

Benediction

As we leave this place, let us be committed to living the gospel, seeking not human favor but divine approval. And let us remember that it is not submission before God, but devotion to God, to which we are called in the name of Christ.

ARTICLE: Worship Elements 1: June 2, 2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 20:36:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Second Sunday After Pentecost

Scripture Readings: 1 Kings 18:20-39, Psalm 96, Galatians 1:1-12, Luke 7:1-10
Color: Green

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

People: And also with you.

Leader: Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

People: We bring an offering and come into his courts.

INVOCATION

God of majesty, Christ of Calvary, Spirit of love, with what mixed feelings we address your throne of justice and mercy. Hear our petitions as they are pleasing to you, and grant us our desires as they are in accordance with your holy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Constant God, we confess our inconsistency. We are too often prone to seek favor with people than to risk disapproval of Christian convictions. We are prepared to rationalize or reinterpret difficult demands of Jesus and compromise our relation to him rather than put ourselves at odds with common practice. Forgive our waffling that gives an uncertain impression as to our real commitment, whether it is to the Good News or popular opinion. We do trust in your mercy, through Jesus Christ the Savior. Amen.

Declaration of Pardon

Pastor: Friends, hear the Good News! Our Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for our sins to rescue us out of the present age of wickedness.

People: Grace and peace are ours through the mediation of Christ with our Creator.

Pastor: Friends, believe the Good News!

People: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

[AND]

Exhortation

Having been called by grace, do not turn away in search of any other gospel. Don’t let anyone unsettle your mind with distortions of the Good News of Christ. Be a faithful servant of Jesus.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Help us to be faithful intercessors, good Lord, ready to pray for others as readily as for ourselves. Let our prayers reflect our humility before you. Save us from taking to ourselves any credit for the good response that you give and the great things that you do, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

God of all peoples and nations, receive the praise directed to you by whatever title or name in whatever language or ritual, by whatever race or nation. You are worthy of the highest praise, the purest thought, the most precious offering of beauty and service. We thank you for the disclosure of yourself made through Jesus Christ, and we are dedicated to share the Good News about him with our neighbors, that others may join in our hymns of thanksgiving to your name. Amen.

PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Divine Savior, we cannot buy the salvation you freely give. Our offerings can help spread the Good News, in word and work, in this place and every place as your people fulfill the commission given by the risen Christ. Amen.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION AND COMMEMORATION

To our thanksgiving and praise, O God, we add our prayers for the church of Jesus Christ that it may have the goodwill of all the people and that day by day you will add to our number those who are being saved. Fulfill the hope of our Lord Jesus that when he is lifted up from the earth, he will draw all people to himself. Bring honor to the name of him who though despised and rejected in the earth was received in resurrected glory in heaven.

Fulfill his promised presence by the Holy Spirit everywhere in the church but especially in remote areas to which the church has gone to make disciples of all nations. Bless both the preaching and the teaching ministry of the church so that those baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit may learn to obey everything that Jesus has commanded.

Bless all who are called to be our leaders that they may uphold the law, curb lawlessness, and relieve the powerless. Give success to those who seek to uproot networks of crime and illegal drug distribution.

Continue among us an appropriate reverence for human life. May our physicians and nurses, medical technicians and social workers emulate the gentle approach of Jesus the healer. Give them skill of mind and hand that they may both heal the body and relieve the mind. Give them wisdom in consulting both with their patients and with those concerned about their patients.

Comforting Spirit, bring cheer to the discouraged, rest to the weary, health to the sick in body, mind, or spirit. Give to the bereaved the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. Relieve any fears of the dying with the promise of eternal life in Christ. We rejoice in the good news that because Jesus has overcome death, we also will live. We are encouraged by the witness of your apostles who saw Jesus alive and ascended to you. Into your keeping we have committed our beloved dead. Like him who was dead but is alive for evermore, so we believe are those whom we see here no longer. Keep us ever in this faith, that we may bear the heat of the day, knowing that there will be at last the rest of eternity in everlasting peace. To the risen Christ our Savior, to you who raised him from death, and to the Holy Spirit be ascribed all glory and dominion now and forever. Amen.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: May 26, 2013

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:10:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

WISDOM AND CHRIST

PROVERBS 8:1-4, 22-31

Who really is Lady Wisdom? The virtuous incarnation of common sense? The whimsical bridge between secular Near Eastern wisdom writings in Egypt and elsewhere and the good news of Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate? How we look at the images in the book of Proverbs is determined by our theological perspective. In Proverbs 8 there is a beautiful picture of Lady Wisdom that, for the Christian, begins to blur or merge into the Johannine portrait of the preexistent Christ.

I. The Beckoning of Wisdom
In verses 1 through 4 of this chapter, Wisdom takes her familiar place and role as the guardian of the way of peace and meaning in life. She stands beckoning to men to turn from the paths of error and set their feet again on the solid way. She stands squarely in competition with the way of the world, with the delights and snares of the city; she stands where the paths converge from village, meadow, wood, and city. She also stands where the "Adulterous Woman," her counterfeit and competitor, also waits and beckons.

While a philosophic view contrasts in this passage the values of moderation and reason versus the life of indulgence, as Christians we bring a Christocentric mind-set. Wisdom in her beckoning becomes the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit calling to every man, convicting and convincing and leading to the fullness of life in Christ Jesus.

II. Wisdom's Relation to God and Creation
Verses 22 through 29 stress the priority of the creation of Wisdom. The first creative act of God was the creation of Wisdom. "From everlasting . . . from the earliest times . . . when there were no depths . . . before the hills was I brought forth." This is an echo of the inspired record of the beginning of the Gospel of John. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God" John 1:1-2). As one writer put it, "When anything that ever had beginning began, the Word was."

III. Wisdom's Part in Creation
Verse 30 gives a vision of Lady Wisdom present at the creation of the universe, and even having a hand in it. When God established the heavens, made firm the skies, fixed the springs of the deep, set the boundaries of the seas, and marked out the foundations of the earth, "then I was beside him, as a master workman; and I was daily his delight, Rejoicing always before him" (NASB). Wisdom as a master craftsman, creating this world! And apparently doing it in a way that delighted God the Father, and filled Lady Wisdom with rejoicing.

The Christian eye sees here the presence and role of Jesus, preexistent Son of the Father, coequal in the Trinity. John's Gospel says of Jesus, "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being" (John 1:3) . Jesus was not merely a village carpenter in Nazareth; he is the architect of the universe.

And there is a hint of the delight and rejoicing of verse 30 in the statement of Paul in Colossians 1:15-17, in which he tells us that all things in this universe were made through Christ, made for Christ, and in him all things hold together. And as God in this passage in Proverbs is said to delight in Wisdom's presence and creative work, so we are told in the Gospels that at several points in the earthly pilgrimage of Jesus (his baptism, transfiguration, and so on) he is affirmed and pleasing to the Father.

IV. Wisdom Delights in the Sons of Men
Wisdom is said to delight in this created world, this good creation of God. But even more amazing and important for the spiritual victory of mankind, the Wisdom of God is said in verse 31 to delight and take pleasure in the sons of men. So we hear the underlying gospel that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, delighted not only in the perfect creation, and not only in the first man as he was created; Jesus, our Wisdom and our Righteousness and our Sanctification and our Redemption, delights in fallen humanity (1 Cor. 1:24, 30). He sees not only what we are, but also what we can become through the sacrifice he made for us on the cross. So Jesus came not only preaching, but also delighting in you and me. (Earl C. Davis)

JOY ALONG THE FREEWAY OF LIFE

ROMANS 5:1-5

On July 1, 1983 my family moved from the suburbs of Chicago. We left behind the fantastic shopping malls, the Chicago Bears, Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox, O'Hare Airport, Ginos Pizza, the Museum of Science and Industry, Field Museum, Brookfield Zoo, and other "big city" attractions, to settle in a town of 7,500 people.

Our "shopping mall" consists of a video store, grocery store, jewelry store, a Hallmark card shop, and a clothing store. We have a "zoo" of about nine animals (eight now—the burro died), a few fast food chains, and a new K-Mart.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love our little town—I've been there fifteen years. But the "excitement" is minimal compared to the Windy City. When I traveled across town from my suburban home to make a call at one of the Chicago hospitals it was between forty-five minutes to one and a half hours one way. When the people in my town talk about "across town" it's five minutes—on a busy day. Call me crazy, but there is another "attraction" I miss—the traffic! I miss the eight lanes of bumper-to-bumper cars, the sound of beeping horns, the sight of the trucks, the potholes, the overhead oasis with fast food restaurants where you can look down on the cars below, and the fumes of the cars all along the freeway. That brought joy to my heart.

Paul uses a Greek word, kauchasthai, which means "rejoice." He believed that Christians need to be reverent some of the time, but at times they simply needed to rejoice—to be joyful along the freeway of the Christian life.

I. Rejoice Along the Freeway of Life with Peace in God
Our world understands little about peace. Since World War II, the world community has waged over one hundred wars. Nothing in life is more elusive than the state of peace. Violent crime increases yearly while child and spousal abuse cripples and kills more annually. Murder among all ages is up, but the murder of children by children multiplies rapidly.

Christians talk about peace, but many have never discovered the certainty of God's perfect peace in their lives.

Lloyd Ogilvie relates a wonderful story about a piccolo player who was the most consistent orchestra member getting ready for a grand performance. Week after week for months this piccolo player attended all the rehearsals and followed the guidance of the conductor.

One day the maestro wanted to publicly acknowledge the piccolo player's faithfulness to rehearsals. He wanted the rest of the musicians to follow the piccolo player's example. The conductor had the man stand and began a lengthy praise for his orchestra member. Finally the piccolo player raised his hand and replied, "Sir, I want you to know that I can't make the performance, but I've been here at all the rehearsals just to make up for it."

Ogilvie commented, "I know many 'piccolo player Christians' who are at all the rehearsals, but won't show up at the performance. They have not discovered the reality of God's peace in their lives. There are still walls in their hearts" (Enjoying God [Dallas, Word Publishing, 1989], p. 75).

What roadblocks are along your freeway to peace? Unconfessed sin? Shattered dreams of "success"? Loss of purpose? Despair? Doubt? Fear? Hatred? Prejudice? or Loneliness?

Paul says we don't have to live like that because God's deep peace through Jesus Christ brings salvation, direction, hope, certainty, knowledge, love, and companionship.

II. Rejoice Along the Freeway of Life with Salvation from God
Salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. The Lord offered his own sinless life as a substitute for all sinners. Why did he die? So that believers may have eternal life with God (John 3:16) . The reality that Jesus brings salvation to those who repent so they are treated as though they had never sinned is the central theme of Paul and all New Testament writers.

Salvation is not simply an extension to life, but a quality of life. God's desire is that we allow him to save us.

At Tunbridge, England, there is a monument erected in memory of a group of gypsies. Thirty gypsies were coming home one late afternoon after working in the fields, driving rapidly and carelessly on their wagons. As they were singing and laughing the horses bolted and the wagon crashed through the railing throwing all into the river.

One young gypsy seized a horse drifting downstream, and once remounted, watched anxiously for his mother. After awhile he saw her and went to rescue her; but she struggled in such a way that he was unable to save her. When the gypsies were being buried that young man threw himself around his mother's coffin, and in blood-curdling screams cried, "Mother! I tried to save you! I did all that a man could do, but you wouldn't let me!"

Jesus offers salvation to everyone, but not all will be saved because they refuse the lifeline he has thrown to them. Don't miss the peace and joy Jesus offers today.

III. Rejoice Along the Freeway of Life with the Holy Spirit
At Pentecost God poured out his Spirit through the risen Christ. The outpouring filled the disciples with divine love and sent them into the streets of Jerusalem to preach Jesus. Later he sent them into the uttermost parts of the planet to tell about Jesus. He still empowers and cleanses his people with divine love to tell the world about Jesus! To be empowered by this agape love we must be willing to be possessed by the Spirit.

William Greathouse writes: "Peace, joy, hope, and love, the true fruit of the Spirit—fill the hearts of those who have been justified by faith. The guilty past has been canceled; the glory of the future is assured; here and now the presence and power of the Holy Spirit secure to us all the grace we need to endure trial, to resist evil, and to live as those who wear the beautiful name of Christ" (Beacon Bible Expositions, vol. 6 [Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1975], p. 91).

May the joy of God travel with you on the freeway of life! (Derl G. Keefer)

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

JOHN 16:12-15

Jesus knew that the disciples were not yet ready. They understood so little and misunderstood even more. They were in serious need of more teaching and guidance. That's why, on the eve of his departure, he would ask the Father to send them the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would be their teacher and guide in his absence.

It was as if God, Jesus, and the Spirit were on a relay team. God had run the first leg, speaking, teaching, and guiding his people directly from heaven. Then Jesus, coming to earth in the form of a man, took the baton and ran the second leg. He taught and guided his followers while in their midst. Now Jesus is ready to hand off the baton to the Holy Spirit, who is to run the third and final leg of the race. The Spirit was to come and continue to teach and guide the believers as he lives within them.

I. Too Much, Too Soon
Jesus tells the disciples that he had so much more to tell them but that they were not ready to bear it all (v. 12). What did Jesus mean and what more did the disciples need to know?

While no one knows for sure, it seems to me that Jesus knew that, for one thing, the disciples had still not fully grasped who he was and what he was trying to accomplish. Their concept of "Messiah" was still misplaced as seen by their behavior on the last night and the subsequent week. They thought everything was over when Jesus died on the cross instead of seeing that event as just the beginning. Second, they still had to search out the implications, for themselves and others, of the teachings of Jesus. What would it mean to love your enemy, for example? Or to love one another? And most important, they had to examine and face the consequences of acknowledging Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, the Christ, and the Son of God. How would that proclamation change their lives and the lives of those around them?

But at that point in time, on the night before the crucifixion, the disciples were still wrapped in blankets of innocence and ignorance. Oh they had seen the power of Jesus and had even called him Lord, but they still had so much more to learn and to face. All these things and a thousand more were still to be faced by the young, fragile band of believers and any who would later come to faith. They would need help in sorting these things out. Jesus knew it. And the Holy Spirit would provide that help.

II. The Spirit of Truth
The Holy Spirit would continue on with the disciples' development and teaching (v. 13). He would do this by "guiding them into all truth." In fact, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the "Spirit of truth" (v. 13; 14:17). First, the Spirit will not speak or teach on his own but only what the Father and the Son have taught. There was continuity and harmony in what was to be taught to the believers. It will not contradict or radically alter what has been taught by Jesus.

Second, the Spirit would help the disciples by reminding them of what Jesus had taught them while he was among them (14:26). This would aid the first disciples. This teaching also carried within it the seeds of the apostolic writings that we would eventually come to know as the revealed and inspired writings of the New Testament. The Spirit, then, was and is also concerned for the development and teaching of all disciples, past and present.

Third, the Spirit of truth would reveal the depth of the teachings of Christ and their real implications for the future. One example of this can be seen in Acts 10 where we find the Spirit guiding Peter to reach out with the gospel to Gentiles. This proved to be a major step in the growth of the kingdom and a radical step away from the practices of the early Jewish church (as can be seen by the controversy that followed in Acts 11 , 13–15).

III. Glory to the Father and to the Son
The Holy Spirit brings glory to God and to the Son. The Spirit does not seek his own glory. The Spirit does not seek his own followers. The Spirit does not seek to displace God or Jesus. No, the Holy Spirit seeks to serve and to serve well, and in so doing brings glory and honor to the Father.

We could learn a valuable lesson from the Spirit's example of servanthood. As the Spirit serves both God and us, we should serve both God and others. As the Spirit often works behind the scenes, so we should work without seeking the limelight and without feeling jealous of others who may be more visible. As the Spirit teaches and guides believers to better understanding of the truth, so we should humbly teach and guide younger, less experienced believers in how to walk with Christ. The essence of the Holy Spirit is service. Service to God, to Jesus, to believers, and to the world. Is that not also the essence of being a Christian? (Michael M. Jones)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: Pentecost 2013

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:48:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

GOD'S SECOND GIFT

JOHN 14:8-17 (25-27)

Jesus is God's greatest gift to the world (John 3:16) . But God wasn't through giving! In our text, Jesus, on his last night with his disciples, revealed to them that God was planning to give them another gift—a very special, very personal, and a very unique gift—the Holy Spirit.

I. This Second Gift (the Holy Spirit) Is Also from the Father
It is important to note that this gift is from "the Father" (vv. 16a, 26). Often, the giver of the gift is an indication of the value or worth of the gift itself. The old adage, "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts" was probably first spoken by the recipients of a wonderful gift presented to the city of Troy by their enemy, the Greeks, under the guise of peace. The story of the Trojan horse still lives today! Yes, the value of the gift is often related to the gift giver.

Or maybe you've been to a party where gag gifts were given. Something silly or naughty or worthless. But the Holy Spirit is no gag gift from God. And the Father is not our enemy that he would give us a gift that would hurt or harm us. Instead, the Father gives good gifts to his children (Matt. 7:9-11). The Holy Spirit is a "good gift" from the Father.

The reason for emphasizing this is because not all Christians are convinced of the full value of the Spirit. While they believe in the Holy Spirit they are also frightened of something they can't control. Their mistake is in forgetting that the Holy Spirit is from the Father and is, therefore, a "good gift," not to be feared but to be embraced. While we may not always agree on how the Spirit works in our lives—let us not ignore or discount the gift itself. For the Holy Spirit is at the core of the Church today and without the Holy Spirit the Church is dead!

II. The Holy Spirit Was Given for a Purpose: As Our Counselor
The primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to serve as our counselor (or "paraclete"). Jesus tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit will be "another" counselor (vv. 16b, 26). That is because Jesus also served as a counselor or Paraclete (1 John 2:1) .

The basic idea of a counselor is someone who stands beside another to help or aide them. It also indicates someone who stands beside another in court and represents or defends them. In this text, Jesus is promising that when he leaves this earth he will ask the Father to send another counselor to carry on with the disciples. To stand beside them and help them, and if need be, defend them.

III. The Gift of the Holy Spirit Is Forever
This second gift from the Father is forever (v. 16c). Some gifts break after a day (like the toys we give our children on Christmas morning) or become obsolete in a few months (like computers) or wear out in five years or after 100,000 miles. But not this gift from the Father. The Holy Spirit lives in us forever. He is with us for all time. We are never alone. We always have God's presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

IV. The Holy Spirit Is an Exclusive Gift—For Believers Only
Jesus promised this gift to his disciples and only to them. In John 14:17 he said, the world cannot accept the Holy Spirit because it neither sees him or knows him. But the disciples know the Holy Spirit because he lives with you and in you. When, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples in Acts 2, Peter tells the people to repent and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is for all whom the Lord will call (Acts 2:38-39).

Please notice the process necessary to receive the Holy Spirit. First one must believe that Jesus is the Messiah, then repent of their sins, be baptized, and then receive the Holy Spirit as the Father's gift to his children.

Paul explains that the Holy Spirit was given to believers as a deposit or down payment on our future inheritance and as God's seal on believers, to show that they are his own people ( Eph. 1:13-14). And Paul makes it very clear—if the Holy Spirit lives in you, you have life, if not, you do not belong to Christ ( Rom. 8:9-11).

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Let us celebrate the coming of God's second gift! Let us give thanks to God for his Holy Spirit! And let us renew our commitment to the Father and the Son and be sensitive to the leadings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (Michael M. Jones)

THE TOWER OF BABEL

GENESIS 11:1-9

Voltaire quotes a lady of the court of Versailles in a letter to Catherine the Great: "What a pity that bother at the tower of Babel got language all mixed up; but for that, everyone would always have spoken French!" I don't think it's as simple as that!

Consider the tower of Babel more closely. The passage itself is very straightforward: (1) Once upon a time all the earth spoke one language; (2) the descendants of Noah moved eastward to the Babylonian plain, settled there, and decided to build a city and a gigantic tower to "make themselves a name" and keep them from being scattered; (3) they built the city and the tower, and God came down to "take a look" at this achievement; (4) God decided this tower was a foretaste of man's ability to create whatever he could imagine, and so God confounded their one language and scattered the people.

Amazingly, there is no further mention whatsoever in the entire Bible of this episode of building the tower of Babel! It is popular in Jewish legends, however, with one account saying the tower was seventy miles high. Truly it was, as the name Babel means, the "gate of God." According to Genesis 10:10 Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, made the city of Babel the center of his kingdom. A legend says that God, when he heard of the tower being built, told the seventy angels closest to the throne to go down with him and make the one tongue into seventy. One legend says that the result of this confusion of tongues was that a bricklayer would ask for a brick, and his helper would hand him a bucket of mortar, and get a brick thrown at his head for his troubles.

I. The Lessons of Babel
The overwhelming lesson of this story of the tower is that it reveals in a graphic fashion our sinful nature and why we act the way we do.

They rejected God's will. It is obvious from the garden onward that God's intention for humankind was to scatter and have dominion over the earth (2:28; 8:17; 9:1, 7). But Noah's descendants rejected that plan, and determined they would stay together. That decision was unanimous, but it was an empty unanimity (vv. 1-4). Here at the start of the story we see in humankind a solidarity we can only imagine! It is a very prosaic lesson in the fact that a group can be unified in the wrong direction and around the wrong goals. Simple unity is not enough.

They were filled with a humanistic pride. Humanism is defined in all sorts of ways these days, but in the sense that humanism makes human beings the measure of all things and self-sufficient, then the folks who built the tower were filled with a proud humanism. This tower was a monument to their illusion that they could do without God. Notice the reasons given for the building of this ziggurat, or tower: to make a name for themselves and to prevent being scattered across the earth (v. 4). Doré's famous biblical etchings show a man standing on a block of stone in a stance of arrogance, raising clenched fists to heaven. Josephus says Nimrod built the tower to defy God and escape any further flood. The whole project was human-centered from the start; verse 3 makes a point of the fact that they did not use natural building materials but manmade bricks instead.

Helmut Thielicke puts his finger on the heart of the story when he says they had displaced God from the center of their lives, and thus unbalanced, the spiritual centrifugal forces flung them into the darkness of the world. When they put God out of their lives, life, like some old unbalanced clothes dryer, began whirling faster and faster, thumping and shaking and flinging itself to pieces into the darkness.

II. The Reversal of Babel
Now if we stopped here, there would not be much that is good news or positive about this story. The sin of Babel left us with the barrier of language, and what happened on the Day of Pentecost shows us how the barrier is removed. Sometimes we fail to examine the account of Pentecost in enough detail. At Pentecost we see a group unified and with a dedication to a purpose. But as they preached, a miracle took place; either a miracle of the tongue or a miracle of the ear, for people of over a dozen native tongues all heard the gospel in their own language as these Galilean fishermen preached! It was intelligible! It is at Corinth, and in the modern phenomenon of "speaking in tongues" that the speech is unintelligible, but not at Pentecost. Pentecost is the reversal of Babel.

At Pentecost the crowd asked, "What does this mean?" (Acts 2:12) . Here is what Pentecost means in the light of the tower of Babel in each life. First, in Jesus Christ there is a true basis of unity beyond nationality or language. Second, when we put God's will for our lives through Jesus Christ in its proper and central place in our lives, we have peace, unity, and purpose. Just as the confusion of language at Babel is the symbol of our putting self in the place of God, so the reality of God in our own lives through Jesus overcomes the barrier of language. The cross of Jesus, in any language, is taller than the tower; the cross of Jesus, in any language, draws men and women to it under the blessing of God. The cross of Jesus, in any language, gives a security beyond this world.

In the heart of the prophet in the Old Testament and the vision of the seer in the New Testament the curse of Babel is lifted in the coming of Christ: "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent" ( Zeph. 3:9 KJV). So spoke Zephaniah. Then we hear John from the island of Patmos telling us how he saw heaven opened, and the throne room of God Almighty stretched before him. And the four and twenty elders sang a new song because God had redeemed his people out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.

In Jesus there is but one language: the language of love, grace, and forgiveness, spoken by the Holy Spirit in a way all of us can understand. (Earl C. Davis)

EXPERIENCING PENTECOST

ACTS 2:1-21

There appears to be a renewed interest in the subject of the Holy Spirit. It is good because there is a great need for him in our day. Arthur Moore stated, "If the church is to rise to its fullest stature in God, if it is to enjoy the abundant life, if it is to meet all foes in the spirit of triumph, it must rely, not upon its numbers or skills, but upon the power of the Holy Spirit."

One could personalize that statement by simply inserting a personal pronoun in place of the word church. That insertion makes an impressive impact on an individual's need.

I. To Experience Pentecost Is to Experience the Person of the Holy Spirit
Our Trinitarian doctrine states that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. He is ever present, convicting humankind of sin, witnessing to our conversion, and empowering believers to live victorious Christian lives.

The power we possess does not come by what we have done, or who we are, or the denominational label we wear. Any power we have occurs because we have invited the Spirit to dwell in us. When we give our hearts to him, he empowers our hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits. We become holy people, living abundant lives because of his presence.

II. The Experience of Pentecost Has a Wonderful Message of Jesus' Presence
The disciples watched in horror as the Romans and Jews collaborated together to kill Jesus by crucifixion. These men lost their hope that Friday when Jesus died on the cross. The resurrection of Jesus also brought the resurrection of their hope. After several days Jesus took them up to Bethany and blessed them. As he was blessing them, he was carried into heaven (Luke 24:50-53). However, before he left he promised to send the Holy Spirit so they would receive power (Acts 1:8) . That power is the power of Jesus!

Gordon Brownville tells about Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who first discovered the magnetic meridian of the North Pole. He also discovered the South Pole. On one of those long trips, Amundsen took along with him a homing pigeon. As he finally made it to the top of the North Pole, he reached inside the cage and set the bird free.

Can you imagine the joy of Amundsen's wife, back in Norway, when she saw that homing pigeon circling the sky above? No doubt she exclaimed, "He's alive, my husband is still alive!"

After the Ascension, when Jesus had gone back to heaven, the disciples clung to his promise to send the Spirit. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit circled the sky, came through the doorway, and looked on the hundred and twenty in the upper room. The disciples had the continual reminder that Jesus was alive and at the right hand of the Holy Father. He gives us Jesus' presence all the time. That's the same message of the Spirit today.

III. The Experience of Pentecost Had a Power
When the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples at Pentecost it was with limitless power. As a Christian commits to God, his Spirit increases the power voltage. What is that power?

A. The power to love—even our enemies. In a "Peanuts" cartoon strip, Lucy looks longingly at Schroeder and screams out, "Guess what . . . if you don't tell me that you love me, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to hold my breath until I pass out!" Schroeder casually looks up from his piano and quietly tells her, "Breath-holding in children is an interesting phenomenon. . . . It could indicate a metabolic disorder. . . . A forty milligram dose of vitamin B6 twice a day might be helpful. . . . I think that's probably it. You need vitamin B6. You might consider eating more bananas, avocados, and beef liver." As Schroeder finishes his thought he returns to his piano playing without missing a beat. The last frame shows dear Lucy sighing and saying: "I ask for love, and all I get is beef liver!"

Power-packed, Spirit-filled Christians will give the world God's love, not a meaningless substitute!

B. The power to resist temptation. When temptation approaches it offers the possibility of sin. The Holy Spirit is like an alarm bell in the heart reverberating throughout a person's entire being. He rouses the Christian to instantaneous action to stop sin from taking hold by giving one the power to say "no" to sin.

Pentecost is the center of holiness. Experience the glory of the Spirit's presence among us! (Derl G. Keefer)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: May 12, 2013

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:50:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

FOUNDATIONS OF PENTECOST

ACTS 1:1-11

If, as some legends have it, Theophilus was a lawyer and the book of Acts is Luke's defense brief concerning the value of the apostles, then surely Theophilus noted the changes in these men. And no doubt he had more facts in that first half century of faith than we know. So he contrasted Peter's denials with the boldness of Pentecost; the scattering of the eleven from the cross and their gathering at Pentecost; the doubting of Thomas with the legends of his martyr's death in India; the craven attitude of Peter with his desire to be crucified upside down.

We, too, see the changes in these men and we are inclined to say it happened because of Pentecost. But Pentecost has foundations. All of us want the power and the surety and presence of Pentecost in our own lives, but we cannot have Pentecost unless we have its foundations. The foundations of Pentecost are seen in the account of the days between the resurrection and Pentecost. And what happened in those days can still happen in these days in our lives.

I. They Became Convinced of His Continued Presence
They were assured in their own minds and hearts that Jesus had overcome death. He appeared to groups of his followers—upon one occasion to more than five hundred at one time—at least ten times following his death and burial. They were convinced that Jesus lived, that Jesus was in their midst. Luke, in closing his Gospel, says that after the ascension of Jesus the disciples returned to Jerusalem filled with an abiding joy. These disciples would never understand our concrete signs saying that Jesus is coming soon—he never left them! Our witness to how Jesus was here and is to return soon may be a skewed emphasis; surely we need to sandwich in between these emphases the truth that he is presently in our midst. For this is one key to their boldness.

II. They Became Convinced That Jesus Was Not Through with Them
In the interim between the resurrection and Pentecost the disciples assumed a stance of growth. There was a green edge to their life as they immersed their fellowship in prayer, in thinking through the priority of their experience of having walked with Jesus and having been witnesses to his conquest of death. He had promised power upon them, and they realized that they were only at the beginning of this adventure with Jesus.

III. They Were Strengthened by One Another
Jesus commanded the gathered band of disciples (v. 4) to wait together for what God was about to do. The circle of fellowship formed by human companionship in the three years of their following Jesus was nothing compared to the bond forged by the Spirit as they waited in Jerusalem and prayed and pondered the events of these days. They felt led to replace Judas, to choose another to "occupy his place." And so the core of the church to come was being formed.

IV. They Were Willing to Wait
Ours is not a waiting society; we put the emphasis on busyness and activity. But the Bible is insistent that it is in waiting that we will most clearly understand who we are and what God can do with us. Waiting time is not wasted time. Jesus waited for thirty years before beginning his ministry. And remember, the disciples were not waiting for God to get ready; they were waiting for God to get them ready! And as they waited, they spent time in prayer and study and fellowship.

V. Be Open for Pentecost to Happen to You
If Pentecostal power is to rock my church and my life, I must lay the foundations for such an event. I must be open to the Holy Spirit in a greater way than ever before. I must realize that, like the disciples, I may not have all my spiritual questions answered, for what I need is not more knowledge but more commitment to whatever Jesus wants to do in my life. If Pentecost is to happen in my life, I must realize that regardless of how checkered my past has been, God is not yet through with me as one of his disciples. If Pentecost is to happen in my life, I must be committed to the circle of believers where God has placed me. (Earl C. Davis)

LET THE CHIPS FLY—I WANT TO SUCCEED

EPHESIANS 1:15-23

John Maxwell relates a story in his book, Be All You Can Be, about a Stanford University psychologist who did an experiment on productive attitudes. His thesis was that we live for productive results or fruit. The researcher hired a professional logger from a logging camp. The psychologist informed him that he would pay double what he got in the logging camp if he would take the blunt end of an ax and just beat a log all day. The logger was told he would never have to cut one piece of wood.

The man thought it sounded like easy money and accepted the offer. For half a day the man swung the blunt end of the ax, doing nothing to the wood. He then quit. The psychologist quizzed him as to why he quit early. The logger replied, "Because every time I move an ax, I have to see the chips fly. If I don't see the chips fly, it's no fun."

Maxwell commented, "I'm convinced that there are many Christians who are using the wrong ends of the axes, and there are no chips flying. In other words, they are producing no fruit, and their joy is gone. Joy has been replaced by a sense of futility, uselessness, immobility" (Victory Books, 1987, p. 21).

Successful people like to see the chips fly! But how do people let the chips fly to live a successful life?

I. By Living a Life of Faith in a Dynamic God (v. 15)
Successful living must start and end living in faith with an all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing, all-wise God. When we grasp for God to serve, we don't have to waiver in our living. God doesn't move—we do. As long as we keep close to God, our faith will keep warm.

In a previous pastorate I had an office by the front entrance to the church. The front wall of the office was glass. During Chicago's harsh winters, whenever the front door opened, I would get cold! The designer of the church put the boiler room at the opposite end of the building. Monday through Friday my secretary and I would shiver from the cold. Often we found our way down to the end of the building where the heat was high.

One of the keys to spiritual success is keeping close to the heater—Jesus. Our faith in him must not be moved!

II. By Living a Life in the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation (v. 17)
A spiritually successful life results from comprehending and applying to life all God's grace through the awesome power of the Holy Spirit. Paul wanted the Ephesians to experience all dimensions of God. When they did they were sustained during all phases of life's circumstances—the good and the bad. For the disciple to be successful means a deeper, keener, and stronger experience with the living God as he reveals himself daily through his Spirit. As the Spirit takes control the things of God become more evident and keen.

III. By Living in Hope of a Real Inheritance (v. 18)
A small town in Maine was destined to become a large lake for which the Corps of Engineers had built a sizable dam. A man who was being interviewed said that the most painful part of that experience besides the relocation process was observing his hometown die. All improvements and repairs stopped. Why worry about building repair when it would soon be covered by water? Why fix the potholes? Why pick up the garbage? Why paint over the graffiti on the walls? He said for weeks the whole town was in a state of depression prior to the flooding.

He made this insightful comment, "When there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present."

I am convinced that for the Christian whose hope is in the resurrection and eternal inheritance, his or her feet will be on the ground with a power for the present! We must not be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly value. Let the chips fly and live life to its fullest—now! (Derl G. Keefer)

THE ONE WHO FULFILLS

LUKE 24:44-53

The disciples, like almost all of their countrymen, had grown up with great expectations of the coming Messiah. Then, as adults, they had staked their hopes on Jesus, the young prophet from Nazareth. In the beginning everything seemed so right—then everything had gone so wrong. The crucifixion definitely did not fit their plans. They were devastated. But then he was alive again! And here he was saying, "Touch me . . . talk to me . . . eat with me." "Why?" they wondered, "Why had it all turned out this way?"

"Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44 b). Must? Jesus' theology is showing. Events had unfolded as they had because they had been fore-written, and they had been fore-written because there is a God who "calls things that are not as though they were" (Rom. 4:17 b NIV). "Heaven rules," Daniel teaches (Dan. 4:26) . God planned his plan long ago (usually, in the New Testament, "before the world began"). Now, in time, his plan is being unrolled on the table of human events. God will not be thwarted. History will arrive at God's milestones. It cannot be otherwise.

I. Christ Is the Fulfillment of Prophecy
Fulfilled? It has been in vogue for some time now to downplay or deny altogether the possibility of predictive prophecy. As long as the Scriptures are passed through a filter of skepticism it will never be possible that human beings could actually and accurately foretell the future. To be sure, predictive prophecy was quantitatively rare in comparison to the volume of teaching or exhortational preaching of the prophets. But how else shall we hear Jesus who said of Moses, "he wrote about me" ( John 5:46 b)? Predictive prophecy calls Christians to suspend unbelief and believe. Imagine that!

Jesus speaks of the Hebrew scriptures as a threefold canon: the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms. Because the Psalms are the largest component of the Writings (Kethub段m), by metonymy Jesus names the part for the whole. This ancient classification is still reflected in the modern Jewish Bible, which is called Tanakh, being a vocalization of the initial consonants of Torah, Nebi段m and Kethub段m.

In the Law, Deuteronomy 18:18 was understood as prophetic of the Messiah even before Jesus began his ministry. "Are you the prophet?" the people questioned John the Baptist, their query driven by this passage ( John 1:21) . In the Prophets, Isaiah 53 was the text from which Philip began as he preached Jesus to the eunuch (Acts 8:32-35). From the Psalms, Paul was bold to declare, "What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled . . . by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father' " (Acts 13:32-33 NIV).

"He opened their minds to understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:45 a). There are two ways the "opening" has been understood. One is that Jesus directly by divine intervention removed, as it were, scales from their eyes (Acts 9:18) and veils from their hearts (2 Cor. 3:14-16). The other is that the "opening" was effected by the explanations and expositions Jesus went on to give. Perhaps it was their zealous expectations that so tinted their vision and muffled their ears that "though seeing, they saw not; though hearing, they heard not." They thought they had seen an imperial Messiah sketched in Scripture; somehow the Suffering Servant never registered.

Seeing Christ as we want him to be, rather than as he is, has been a problem for more than first-century disciples. Artists have long painted Jesus in their own image. We should pray, with the theme song to Godspell, "to see Thee more clearly."

II. Christ Is the Prophet of Fulfillment
Between verses 46 and 47 is a subtle transition from that which had been prophesied and already fulfilled, to that which Jesus now prophesies and will be fulfilled. It is a transition from past to future events. It represents the transition between volume 1 and volume 2 of Luke's two-part opus, "Luke-Acts" (as we call them). In the Gospel, the evangelist has told the story of the passion and resurrection. In Acts, he will narrate the spread of the faith from Jerusalem to "all nations."

Luke structures the conclusion of his Gospel as a sort of chiasm with his beginning of Acts. Here in Luke (C) the prediction of the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins beginning at Jerusalem and then to all nations; (B) the promise of Holy Spirit sent with power; and (A) the ascension narrative, correspond in Acts to (A) the ascension narrative; (B) the advent of the Holy Spirit with power; and (C) the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38) beginning at Jerusalem and then to all nations.

Jesus could thus accurately call the future because he is The Prophet. As he sits upon the throne of his ascension, heaven still rules. May he reign in the heart of each of us as well. (Barry K. Sanford)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: May 5, 2013

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:55:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

RESPONDING TO GOD'S CALL

ACTS 16:9-15

God spoke to Paul through a dream directing him to preach the gospel in Macedonia and he followed through without the assurance of having every need provided. Even on the journey, God was working to bring the gospel to people who would not have the chance to hear it without Paul's obedience. How often could we become someone's hope if we would only follow through obediently and take God's message without insisting on having all the details assured to us?

I. A Call for Action
Paul's dream of the "Macedonia call" is one that depicts the emotion of the Christian mission. In seeing a man begging for help, our hearts are touched with compassion along with Paul's. However, we must recognize that Paul is seeing the spiritual reality of the need in Macedonia. In the physical realm, Paul and his companions would not see needy people begging for what they had to offer. Instead, they would confront the powers of darkness and be persecuted by those they were sent to help.

Spiritual realities are greater, but most times harder to grasp. People need God and need for us to respond to that need on behalf of the kingdom. However, they may not know for what their spirits are crying. They may not give a fair hearing to believers who offer the cure for what ails them. Our call to share the gospel is not relative to human response or outward circumstances. God calls us to see the weakened and needy souls of humanity crying out for the gospel which we are called to share.

II. Unfolding the Nets
Paul's obedience to the call of sharing the gospel with those whom the Lord had directed him, resulted in meeting Lydia. She is described as a worshiper of God, yet there seems to be something missing in her spirituality. "God opens her heart" to Paul's message. The purpose of Paul's vision begins to materialize. If the call was for Lydia alone, she was worth the cost of Paul's obedience to it. God purposed to "open her heart." She may not have been the most impressive convert from our standpoint, but to a loving Father, she was more than worth disturbing the plan of his apostle.

After her baptism and those of her household, she offered provisions for the band of evangelists. The seeds of obedience on the part of Paul sprang forth into obedience in her life, and in return provided for the work of God. God provided when his servants responded positively to his call without the promise of provisions. It was a matter of faith. For us today too, God will lead us and direct us in ways that will require faith, but through obedience he will provide for the journey and the needs that are incurred.

Who knows how many men and women the Lord has ahead of us in our journey? They are awaiting our act of obedience. They may even be worshipers of God, but waiting for someone just like us to explain the gospel and lead them to a full faith in Christ. Perhaps we were at one time that person waiting for someone to come and share with us. Listening hearts and obedient actions are essential tools to accomplish God's program of evangelism. (Joseph Byrd )

HOW SOON IS SOON?

REVELATION 21:10, 22–22:5

When our children were young enough to still be excited about Santa Claus' coming we faced every parent's Christmas Eve problem. How do you get the kids in bed and asleep—and sleep enough yourself so that Christmas morning you're not too exhausted to enjoy the wonder of a child's delight and surprise at what came in the night. As I was putting my youngest to bed she asked, "Daddy when will Santa come?" I replied, "Soon", to which she responded, "How soon is soon?"

The book of Revelation claims "these words are trustworthy and true" regarding "the things that must soon take place." We want to know, "how soon is soon?"

I. To the Mountaintop
The night before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968 he gave a speech at Claibourn Temple where he eloquently proclaimed, "I've been to the mountaintop . . . death does not worry me." The Bible opens with the powerful phrase, "In the beginning God. . . ." It concludes with John's vision of the new heaven and new earth. In verse 10 he mentions "a great, high mountain" as he describes for us his vision of the new Jerusalem. He echoes Ezekiel's description of the new temple in Ezekiel 40 . In both instances we are reminded that God took Moses up to a mountaintop to see the promised land before he died.

How soon is soon? We've been to the mountaintop. God has declared what he is going to do. Now we must wait and serve with patience and faith. The Christian idea of hope is more than a mere wish. It is a confident expectation for the future based upon God's past acts. From the perspective of Revelation we have a confident expectation of the future based upon what God has promised he will do in that future.

II. No Temple
God's unmediated and undiluted presence will be the great wonder of the final consummation of the age. John describes the new heaven as a place with no Temple (v. 22), no representative dwelling place for God. Why? Because God himself will dwell with his people. You don't need a facsimile when you have the original. The unmediated presence of God will also be evidenced by the submission of all peoples to his ultimate sovereignty. The gates of this new city are never closed. There is never any night nor any need of artificial light. God himself is the light of this final abode. The imagery is both beautiful and breathtaking. When will all this take place? Soon. But how soon is soon?

III. Paradise Regained
In Genesis we see the primordial couple in a saga of Paradise lost. Revelation concludes with a wonderful glimpse of a river and the "tree of life." That which was lost in the garden of Eden has now been restored. God will be seen face to face. His character will be indelibly stamped upon his children. Humankind will recover the full expression of the imago dei lost through the curse of sin and death. We are told that the chief end of man is to know and to enjoy God forever. One day that will become a universal reality. When? Soon. But how soon is soon?

By the time he was nine years old George Frideric Handel was writing cantatas. A few years later he played before the king of Prussia. Events took an unexpected turn. His father died. His music fell out of popular favor. Bankrupt and in despair he closeted himself in his room and in twenty-four days wrote his inspiring oratorio Messiah based in part on the visions of Revelation 7 and 19. He later exclaimed, "I did see the heavens opened and the great God himself seated on his throne."

We have to see with eyes of faith what God is going to do. We should pray as William Penn prayed, "Lord you have gone to prepare a place for us; prepare us for that happy place." Our job is not to draw diagrams of the new Jerusalem or to create time lines determining its date and place of arrival. We are to make ourselves available to the grace of God that we might be prepared for that happy place—soon. Perhaps sooner than we think! (L. Joseph Rosas, III)

LOVE AND OBEDIENCE

JOHN 14:23-29

"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. . . . He who does not love me will not obey my teaching" (vv. 23-24 NIV).

Jesus tells his disciples that if they love him they will obey his teachings. In other words, he says, "If you really love me you'll do what I say." Love serves as a motivation for obedience and obedience is one of the tests of real love (cf. 14:15, 21).

I. Love Is the Only Real Motivation for Obedience
Love is the highest form of motivation. After all, it was love that motivated God to send his Son to the earth to die for us (John 3:16) and it was love that motivated Jesus to give himself up for us (1 John 3:16) . All through the New Testament love is lifted up as the ultimate motivation for doing what is right and holy ( John 13:34-35; Eph. 5:25 ff; Col. 3:12-14). And love for Christ is the highest motivation for obeying his teachings.

Of course, love isn't the only motivation. We can obey without love. For instance, we can obey out of a sense of fear of what will happen if we don't obey or out of a sense of Christian duty instead of out of love. Or we can obey because we agree with the truth of the teaching without believing in the truth giver (Jesus). But Jesus calls his disciples to obey out of their love for him and for God. It is the truest and purest motivation. The other types may leave us in the lurch in moments of temptation or persecution or doubt, but not love.

Thus, when we obey out of love, Jesus has promised that God will return that love and He and Jesus will come to abide with us. Obedience to Jesus' teachings will bring God's presence into our lives.

II. Lack of Love Motivates Us to Disobedience
Just as real love for Jesus will lead to obedience, a lack of love for him will lead to the opposite, an attitude of disregard or disobedience to the teachings of Jesus. Oftentimes, if love isn't our primary motivation for obedience, we will find ourselves trying to obey out of our own inner strength and for lesser motives. In a pinch, our own strength or those lesser motives may fail us.

It does need to be stated, however, that lack of obedience does not always indicate a lack of love just as obedience does not always indicate real love. We can fail to obey for many reasons other than a lack of love. For instance, we can fail to fully understand a teaching or we can be blind to the implications of a teaching. Of course, sin in our lives often leads us to act in ways that go counter to Jesus' teachings, even when we love the Lord. So don't be too quick to judge others or yourself.

III. Believers Obey Because They Love
Of course, while the other situations are possible, what would be most tragic is for a Christian to not obey because of a lack of love. The implication of Jesus' words are that if we do not obey due to a lack of love, he and God do not abide with us. Failure to love leads to lack of obedience which leads to losing God's loving presence in our lives. Jesus makes it emphatically clear that these words of encouragement and warning are not just his words, they are from the Father. We need to be sure of our motivation for serving the Lord. Our hearts can tell us that for sure, but be sure, God knows the truth and cannot be fooled! (Michael M. Jones)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: April 28, 2013

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:02:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

OVERCOMING BARRIERS

ACTS 11:1-18

Part of the gospel's resurrection message is the breaking down of human prejudices and barriers that separate humanity. All have sinned according to God's Word, and all who receive the grace of God are assured the hope of eternal life promised through the resurrection of Christ. Some would be willing to give salvation to any and all people, but hold back certain privileges in the kingdom to those they do not deem worthy to receive them. This text is another example of Scripture confronting our Christian or religious bigotry.

I. Caught in the Tradition
The brothers were angry at Peter because he broke the tradition of not associating with the Gentiles. Peter's own prejudice in this area would be tested later, but here he had to defend his actions as being directed from God. Here is the hard part of this story. Many times God's desires have little to do with our traditions. We work to preserve traditions out of respect for our ancestry and to firmly establish our identity.

Meanwhile, God is working to do a new thing in our midst. He desires to break the previously held notions and humanly imposed limitations. Although we resist the very concept of change, God is moving to change our identity, to make us look different in comparison to previous generations and more like him. In short, when we work to preserve our identity and history, we could be working against what God is doing in our lives.

II. Choosing to Move God's Way
As usual, God uses things we can understand to explain things we cannot grasp. Peter is given a vision of impure food and directed by God to eat it. The issue was not food, it was the preservation of a tradition that excluded some from kingdom privileges. Peter is confident of his righteousness in this regard, for nothing unclean ever entered his mouth (forgetting that his Lord taught that it was what came out of a man's mouth that defiled him).

God will clean whatever vessel he chooses. Not only can God use Gentiles, he can and will also clean Peter up spiritually to be used for the kingdom. Peter must be cleansed of this bigotry that makes him choose his way over God's command. It seems God has this notion that he is God and can expect obedience from his servants, even to step over their tradition. God corrects Peter's self-justification and makes it clear that obedience is better than following the routine of religion.

Moreover, Peter is not left to simply agree with the proposition that human-imposed barriers in the kingdom are wrong and must be destroyed. No, Peter is confronted with his personal prejudice and must apply the principle to his actions. His speech alone will not suffice here, he must be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. God places a task in front of him that he can handle. Peter can choose obedience in this instance.

God has not changed. He is looking to destroy the humanly imposed barriers that segment the body of Christ. He will challenge us where we live, to move past our human traditions, and to be transformed into what he has created us to be. His body operates with Christ at the head and all parts are to conform in obedience without fragmentation. (Joseph Byrd )

A BRIEF GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN

REVELATION 21:1-6

Every now and then you hear some well-meaning soul say something like this: "Even if there were no life after death, even if God doesn't exist, living the Christian life on earth would still be worth it all." This seemingly noble sentiment is a feeble effort to remind us that the Christian life does make a difference here and now. But it is precisely because of our eternal hope that the sufferings of the present life pale by comparison to the full manifestation of God that shall be revealed in us. Easter was only a month ago and already we need to be reminded.

I. God Is Doing a New Thing
That phrase comes from the lyrics of the Christian rap group, dc Talk. John's vision of the a new heaven and a new earth is a reminder of God's new thing agenda. The temporal order of the first heaven and earth is transitory. Mere physical existence is but a vapor. And it is a poor substitute for life. Jesus said that he came that we might have a full life—not mere subsistence existence.

In the Hebrew mind the sea was to be feared. It was the insurmountable boundary. John's vision is of a new order where there are no longer any boundaries. In that new order we shall know with the same depth and clarity by which we are known by God.

II. Heaven Is a Place
Looking toward the cross Jesus told his disciples, "I am going to prepare a place for you." Heaven is that prepared place for a prepared people. The people of God are called the bride of Christ. Our eternal abode is a fantastic union of humankind in the power and presence of God. Heaven is a wonderful place of no more—the list of human ills and the pangs and pathos of existence is seemingly endless. Yet heaven is a place where God says "no more" to death, mourning, crying, or pain. The old cycle of birth, life, and death is displaced by God's new order. Heaven is a place where the new has come.

III. The New Has Come
How many new year's resolutions do you remember? How many have you kept? You may be thinking, "Preacher, you are crazy. We just had Easter, not Christmas!" The sad reality is that it takes more than good intentions and the turning of the pages of the calendar to make a new start. We enter a new year with the old self and soon fall back into our familiar rut. But, as Paul Harvey says, "Now, for the rest of the story."

I saw a button some years ago with the letters "P B P G I N F W M Y" which stood for the phrase, "Please be patient God is not finished with me yet." I hope all of us are a work in progress, a Christian under construction. There is coming a day when God's construction project will be complete and the new will stand fulfilled. John says in that day the old order has ceased to be and the new has now come to fruition.

In the meantime, we live in the light of our ultimate destiny. Free from the fear of death we can now embrace life to the fullest. A new Christian once began reading his Bible but like many, became impatient with the gradual unfolding of redemption's story. So he turned to the last chapters of Revelation and said, with a sigh, "In the end, God wins." This is why Christians face death differently from non-Christians. We do grieve but not with the hopeless and helpless grief of the world. We know that our good-byes are not final, they are only "until then."

It was the doctrine of the resurrection and the eternal hope it gives that enlivened the early church. Paul said, "if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" ( 1 Cor. 15:13 NIV). However, because of his confidence in the resurrection power of God, he concluded this wonderful chapter of hope with "Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Cor. 15:58) . (L. Joseph Rosas, III)

THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT

JOHN 13:31-35

It is the last night before Jesus goes to Calvary. One of his disciples, Judas, has just left to put the wheels of betrayal in motion and Jesus remains with the other eleven. It will be his last night with them. What does he want to say to them during these last few precious moments?

First, he tells them that he has glorified God and is about to be glorified by God. Then he tells them that he must go on a journey and that they will not be able to go with him. He must make this journey alone. But before he leaves them, he must give them something that will serve to guide them on their own subsequent journeys—a new commandment!

That's right. Jesus, on the last night of his life, gave the disciples a new commandment to be honored and kept. The giving of this commandment was made even more important by the fact that it is one of the last teachings Jesus gave them. And what is that new commandment? Three simple words: Love one another (John 13:34) .

I. The Significance of the New Commandment
What is the significance of Jesus giving a new commandment? The significance is found in Jewish history. For it was at the very beginning of the Jewish nation that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. These Ten Commandments were to serve as the foundation for all the other laws and regulations given to Israel. And Moses was given one of the highest places in Jewish history because he became known as "the lawgiver." When Jesus, then, proceeds to give a "new commandment," he is placing himself above Moses, as the new lawgiver. In effect, his new commandment becomes the Eleventh Commandment!

In a comparison of the events surrounding the giving of the Ten Commandments (Exod. 19–20; Deut. 5) and the Eleventh Commandment (John 13:31-35), a few interesting things should be noticed. First, the Ten Commandments were given by God to Moses (Israel's leader). The Eleventh Commandment was given by Jesus (God in the flesh) to the disciples (the movement's soon-to-be leaders).

Second, God's promise to the nation of Israel was that if they faithfully kept these commandments God would treasure them as his nation and they would become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod. 19:5-6). Jesus' promise to the disciples was that if they faithfully kept this commandment, all people would know that they were his disciples ( John 13:35) .

Third, the Israelites' response was to become impatient and frustrated and to make another god (Exod. 32). The disciples' response was to get sidetracked and miss the point. Peter focused, not on the giving of the new commandment, but on the earlier statement about Jesus going on a journey that they could not follow (John 13:36-37).

II. The Church Has Become Sidetracked Through the Ages
This same response, that of getting sidetracked, has become a recurring pattern for the Christian Church throughout the ages. How many times have Christians fought Christians down through history? Killed Christians? Burned, starved, hunted, tortured, and mutilated Christians? What do people in the community think of our church as a family of God? Do they see us, as a congregation and as individuals, living out the Eleventh Commandment?

The Jews lived and died by the Ten Commandments. Why don't Christians live and die by the Eleventh Commandment? Is it any less binding? Is it any less important? Remember, it was given by God through Christ and it was to be the sign to the world that Christians were God's people and the people of his kingdom.

III. We Can Live the Eleventh Commandment
"Love one another." These are the simple and brief words of Jesus that make up the Eleventh Commandment. And just as simple and brief are Jesus' instructions on how to carry it out in our lives. Jesus said: "As I have loved you, you also should love one another" ( John 13:34) . In other words, Jesus tells the disciples, "Just do as I did to you."

But note that the focus is on disciples loving disciples, on Christians loving Christians, not Christians loving the world in general. This is not a general call to love everyone but a more basic step. After all, a church cannot effectively reach out with the gospel for very long if its members don't love one another first.

How did Jesus love the disciples? Jesus loved the disciples in at least three ways.

Sacrifice: Jesus loved the disciples by making sacrifices for them. He sacrificed his time, his energy, his emotions, his schedule, his family, his privacy, even his life. If we are to live out the Eleventh Commandment and love one another, then we will also have to make sacrifices for one another.

In order to love one another we will have to sacrifice our time, energy, emotions, schedules, families, privacy, maybe even our lives for one another. These sacrifices may need to be made in order to visit the sick or hurting, help others with a problem, or responding when called on in an emergency. Remember, this call to love one another and therefore call to sacrifice for one another is for all disciples, not just the ministers.

Share: Jesus loved the disciples by sharing himself with them. He listened to their fears, he cried in their pain, he laughed in their joy. He prayed with them and for them. He gently showed them their sin and helped them onto the right path. Jesus shared who he was with them. He opened himself up to them.

If we are to live out the Eleventh Commandment and love one another, then we will also have to share ourselves with one another. In order to love one another, we will have to share others' pain and laughter, gently point out faults and then forgive, seek forgiveness when wrong, and open up ourselves to others. In other words, we need to be genuine and real with others, not phony.

This sharing may be required when comforting the bereaved, celebrating another's achievement, confessing a specific sin and asking for forgiveness, or privately going to another to express concerns about the way they are living.

Serve: Jesus loved the disciples by serving them. He called them to follow him, became their master and teacher, and then proceeded to serve them. Earlier in chapter 13 the Son of God was washing the disciples' feet!

If we are to live out the Eleventh Commandment and love one another, then we will also have to serve one another. That means no matter who you are in the church, you are never too good or too mighty, too important or too wealthy or too educated, too old or too young to serve anyone else in the church. If the Son of God can serve men and women of all kinds then so can you.

How do we love one another as Jesus loved? We sacrifice for one another, share ourselves with one another, and serve one another. Are the situations different in our times? Maybe in the details and the names, but not in general. Are there disciples who need to be sacrificed for? Are there disciples who need someone to share their burden? Are there disciples who need to be served? If yes, then there are opportunities for you and me to love one another. Trust yourselves and your instincts to do the right thing. God has been with you: teaching, guiding, loving, encouraging—now go and love one another. (Michael M. Jones)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: April 21, 2013

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:25:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

WALKING IN FAITH

ACTS 9:36-43

On the heels of an incredible miracle of healing for Aeneas, the eight-year bedridden paralytic, the apostle Peter is seen again following in the footsteps of his teacher and acting much like an Old Testament prophet. A key to understanding these miracles is their purpose in turning people to the Lord and beginning to walk in faith. Physical healing stands penultimate to the spiritual healing of eternal salvation. How would Peter approach the situation when he is called upon to pray for one who is dead?

I. An Unusual Woman
On the surface a casual observer may think that Dorcas was simply a woman in this story who serves only the purpose of being the object of a miracle accomplished through Peter. She was more than just a handy corpse, however. Verse 36 describes her as a disciple (this is the only occurrence in the New Testament of the feminine form of the term for disciple). To be described in the story with passing reference is notable enough, but she is classified as a disciple—that is, a follower in the Christian faith. Her ministry is described as doing good and helping the poor. She was not a follower who continually received ministry; she was a disciple who practiced ministry.

Her ministry was marked apparently among the widows of the area. They loved her dearly because of her many acts of kindness. She apparently made them robes and various articles of clothing since they were poor. Her ministry was one that was desperately needed by these widows. When she became ill and died, the women as well as all the believers were at a loss.

II. The Faith of Friends
An interesting point to this story is that after it was clear that Dorcas had died, her friends still urgently called Peter to come. They believed that Peter could have reversed the death process. Certainly this was part of the description of those who would follow in Christ's ministry, but it would also be a possibility for a prophet to accomplish such a miracle.

In her helpless state, Dorcas's resurrection depended on the faith and action of her friends. Here is the power of the Church as a corporate body. There can very well be times in which we find ourselves in a helpless state, and the body of Christ functions to edify or build up those who are helpless and lifeless. There will come times for most believers when they will need to lean heavily upon the faith of brothers and sisters to bring them through.

III. The Faithful Disciple
Peter appears to be touched by the grief of the mourners and takes the initiative to do something about it. How simple it would have been to just attempt to comfort them and help them accept the new reality of the loss of their friend. Peter swallows hard though to move toward the miraculous. No doubt, he has some direction from God for what miracle should occur and obeys the Lord's command.

The greater miracle may not be the resurrection. God had certainly proved this act is as simple as speaking the words "Come forth." No, the real miracle would be the movement of faith in Peter's heart. Is this not the man who denied Christ three times? Is this not the man who returned to his fishing trade when it appeared Jesus was dead? Now look at him praying to resurrect a dead saint!

The change in Peter's disposition and faith to bring the intervention of God to hurting people—rather than taking the easier way out—is clearly a miracle that is within reach for us. Our miracle is to respond to God's call and direction faithfully; to open the doors that untie the hands of an omnipotent God. (Joseph Byrd )

A CACOPHONY OF PRAISE

REVELATION 7:9-17

Whose side is God on anyway? During America's Civil War, pulpits in both the North and South evoked the name of God. All prayed asking for victory, assured that their side was right and just and the other side was wrong.

Our world today is rife with division and strife. We see ethnic cleansing, culture wars, and religious battles being waged in the name of that which is good and right. We have failed to understand the unique gift of diversity and the glorious truth that one day humankind will be united in praise and worship of God through His Son and the Savior of all, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I. An Incalculable Number
The first eight verses of Revelation 7 refer to the 144,000 of Israel who will be saved. The symbolic richness of the Apocalypse is evident. The number 1,000 is one of the highest in the Hebrew language and symbolizes a great or large number. There were 12 tribes in Israel, multiplied by 1,000 one gets 12,000 per tribe. This multiplied by 12 equals 144,000. The church is built upon the foundation of a complete number of the children of God. We are told in these verses (9-17) that the scene before the throne of God includes a "great multitude that no one could count."

In other words, we do not need to speculate on who or how many will get into heaven. We may well all be surprised at the great throng of humanity united before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus referred to having other sheep and prayed for "all who would believe" through the word of the disciples. The great multitude before the throne represents every nation, people, and language. Truly in Christ there is no east or west. Serbian, Bosnian, Protestant, Catholic, black and white and every color of the human rainbow are united. Many languages and dialects with one voice praise God.

I was in Moscow, Russia worshiping in the great Central Baptist Church. We sang the great Lutheran hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." The cacophony of voices, mostly in Russian with a few of us singing in English, was more impressive when one realized that this was heard as a unified word of praise by our great and powerful God.

II. A Renewed People
The multitude before the throne of God are arrayed in white robes symbolizing their spiritual purity because of the sacrifice of Christ in their behalf and their faithfulness in response to Christ. In a day of fallen heroes it is good to be reminded that God is purchasing a people for himself. These will remain faithful to the end and thus they stand in testimony to the faithfulness of God. Their enduring through tribulation is a poignant reminder that the child of God is not immune to difficulty. Their word of praise is "salvation belongs to our God."

As the great British missionary William Carey was dying, one of his close friends, Alexander Duff, talked to him at length about Carey's active life of service to the Lord. After prayer Carey said, "Duff, you have been speaking about William Carey. When I am gone say nothing about me—speak only about my Savior."

III. Ultimate Victory
Have you ever watched the rebroadcast of a favorite team winning a game over an arch rival? It is so much more relaxing to watch a game when you already know that your team has won. Injuries, penalties, and the ebb and flow of the game are not a threat when you know ahead of time the final score.

The throng before the throne provide us a glimpse of the ultimate victory of people of God. Notice all of their needs are met as the Lord fulfills His function as their shepherd. Also note that none of the hymns of praise in Revelation are solos. We are assured ultimate victory as the people of God.

In a day of radical individualism we need to reclaim the corporate dimensions of our faith and be a faithful part of the flock and not simply one in a herd. Jesus promises a special sense of his presence where even two or three are gathered in his name. This should encourage us to corporate participation in the worship of God. As Augustine said, "Apart from the Church there is no salvation." (L. Joseph Rosas, III)

ARE YOU LISTENING?

JOHN 10:22-30

It was a cold, wintry day in late Chislev (December) and the Jews were celebrating the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). On the east side of the Temple, in Solomon's Colonnade, Jesus walked. The colonnade protected him from the cold east wind but not from the cold stares of the people who were with him. The people were there for a reason. They wanted to know and they were clamoring for an answer. They pushed in all around him and they were in his face. "Are you the Messiah? If so, tell us plainly!"

Jesus looked them straight in the eyes and said quietly, "I did tell you but you didn't believe me."

"When did he tell us," someone murmured, "I never heard him actually say that he was the Messiah!" Soon others echoed the same words and the murmuring grew louder.

Jesus replied to the crowd in answer to the murmuring, "The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I protect them and give them eternal life. And my Father, the greatest power of all, also protects them and keeps them safe. The Father and I are one in this purpose."

"Sheep? Listen to your voice? Who do you think we are that we would follow you as if you were some great shepherd. We are not sheep but men!" one of them shouted angrily. And they picked up stones to stone him. . . .

One wonders, weren't they listening?

* * * * * * * * * *

It was a beautiful day in the middle of spring. The sky was blue, the trees were green, and the sun was a warm yellow. Two friends were enjoying the outdoors by sitting at a picnic table in the park eating lunch. "Do you really believe that stuff about Jesus?" one friend asks. "I mean, do you really think that he is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord, Savior, and all those other names I've heard him called?"

"Yes," came the simple reply.

But Susan pressed on. "But why? Why Jesus and not someone else? I'm not even sure I believe in God, much less Jesus."

Adam thought for a moment and then answered, "Because of the things he taught, the miracles he did and still does, because he died for all of us, and because he was raised from the dead. No one else has ever done those things before, or since."

"I don't know, Adam. It seems to me that Jesus was a good man, a great man for that matter. But the Son of God? I don't think so. It's just too weird."

As Adam started to say something Susan picked up a chicken leg and made a gesture with her hand that clearly indicated that the subject needed to be changed. . . .

One wonders, will Susan ever listen?

* * * * * * * * * *

It was a rainy Sunday morning in early fall. The worship service had just ended and people were standing around in small groups talking among themselves or gathering their family members together so that they could go eat lunch. No one took notice of the stranger standing in the back corner of the sanctuary. But if they had noticed they would have been struck by the impression that he was listening to the many conversations going on, all at the same time.

One angry-looking man said vehemently, "I don't care if it's okay to do it, it's different and I don't like it. We've never done it that way before and I, for one, won't stand for the change. If they insist on changing the worship format I am going to raise hell!" Another man in the group added, "Those young people, all they want to do is turn worship into a feel-good experience. They have no respect for worship as reverence and awe."

At the same time, a young man in another group was saying, "Why can't they see that we are dying spiritually and that our worship services need to be more exciting? They are just so stuck in the past that they won't change. Well, if they won't change then I'll just go somewhere else. I don't have to put up with their sanctimonious and overbearing attitudes!"

It occurred to the stranger in the corner that the meaning of the teaching, "love one another," had been lost to those people.

In another part of the sanctuary a businesswoman was scheming in her head about how to close on a deal with a customer who really didn't need what she was offering. In fact, she was pretty sure that the customer was thinking he was getting something that would, in reality, not live up to his expectations. "But that is not your concern," she consoled herself. She needed the commission this sale would bring. So what if the customer was mistaken about the full potential of her product. Was it her fault that the customer hadn't done his homework properly? As she left she shook the preacher's hand and said, "Good sermon this morning, John." A smile was forming on her face, not because of anything the preacher had said, but because she had just decided on the sales strategy she was going to use. It was going to work and she knew it. "That commission has my name on it," she told herself, as she drove away.

The stranger just shook his head and thought, "Is that what it means to do to others what you would have them do to you?" And he knew that while she faithfully attended church, she had, at least for the time being, chosen to follow the voice of another master.

Finally, the stranger lifted a scarred hand to wipe a tear and said out loud, to no one in particular, "Are they really listening to my voice? I sometimes wonder."

Are you listening? (Michael M. Jones)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: April 14, 2013

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:10:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

UNLIKELY HEROES

ACTS 9:1-6 (7-20)

God is described in the Bible as being fond of using unlikely sources or people to accomplish his purposes. The selection of the people that he uses to bring about his kingdom is foreign to us as human beings. Who would have thought the tiny family of Abram would become the foundation of a mighty nation? Who could have guessed that the twelve rough-edged men would make disciples? When God does finally look to the trained religious leaders in the first century, he chooses Saul, later known as Paul. While Saul had the credentials and training for being a spiritual leader in the fledgling church, he obviously lacked the desire! He was the least likely of the rabbis to be chosen to lead and formulate early Christian theology. But that seems to be the mode in which God operates, choosing unlikely sources to accomplish monumental purposes.

I. Portrait of a Vengeful Enemy
In Acts 9:1-2, we see a description of Saul that is designed to communicate the great contrast between his former days and the days after his conversion. In these two verses, Saul is the threatening, murderous, persecutor of the church. His persecution lacked any discretion in regard to women or men. He was posed as the ultimate weapon of hatred against the church. Even he would later describe himself as the "chief of sinners."

We do not know how the church responded to the personal approach Saul took in persecuting them. They certainly feared him (9:12-14). One wonders if they obeyed Jesus and prayed for their persecutor. Jesus warned his followers during his lifetime that such persecution would come and he informed them how to respond. They were to turn the other cheek and bless those that spitefully used them. Someone's prayer must have been sent up. It worked on behalf of Saul and the church. For the church would not only lose a persecutor, but also gain a leader. Saul would not only be changed from the hateful disposition he had created, he would also have eternal life.

II. The In-breaking of God
While human understanding would simply write Saul off as a bad apple or call for his demise, God breaks in to human history to turn the situation around. On his route to sow more evil, a light suddenly flashes around him. Paul was not searching for a theophany, he was taking care of what he thought was a heretical sect. This light was more than a brightness, for a power was present that knocks the rabbi to the ground. No doubt fearful and confused, he now faces a greater authority than that of the High Priest who sealed his journey with papers.

From the powerful source of light that demands Saul's immediate reverence and subjection comes a question that hardly seems appropriate to one of such authority. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Saul has no alternative but to recognize this person as the Lord. But the Lord asks Saul why he is persecuting him. How could a human effect such a mighty power as this Lord? Saul was unaware of Jesus' teaching during his lifetime that to harm one of the least among his followers was to bring harm to him. In all his religious intentions to serve God, he lost the perspective that his devotion would ultimately bear fruit in the way that he treated God's children. To persecute believers was to persecute the One in whom they believed.

III. An Imperative to Follow
God's activity is always purposeful. Saul's conversion was not something that was done to become a novelty among residents of the area of Damascus. God had a purpose for Saul; he was a man of destiny. It would have been hard to see it immediately but Saul was going to fulfill that destiny. A blinded enemy that was murdering saints, to see such a sight may have made some think justice had been served. But God had a purpose in the blinding of his creature. He had a destiny for this man that was so large that it would take his help to accomplish it.

In Saul's humbled and weakened state he could only obey and find that the Lord worked on the other side of the equation, preparing faith in one of his servants to bring healing, salvation, and fullness to this avowed hater of the church. Saul's own life would demonstrate not only leadership in the church, but also suffering for her under the hand of others like himself. He ultimately would give his life, in a manner like the lives he took. God chose Saul for a purpose to serve in leadership and to die in courage for a faith he once thought heretical. God works that way, choosing unlikely sources—unlikely sources like us. (Joseph Byrd )

WORTHY OF WORSHIP

REVELATION 5:11-14

Wouldn't you like to know the future? Every year the pundits make their predictions regarding the new year. These educated guesses are occasionally right but usually they are broad enough to fit a variety of outcomes and not specific enough to be seen as real predictions. Even in the Christian community we sometimes fail to take our Lord's reminder seriously, "No one knows the day or the hour." There are, however, some things regarding the future of which we can be certain.

I. History Is Ultimately in God's Hands
Revelation chapters 4 and 5 describe a heavenly scene where John is given a brief glimpse of the activity of God. The final destiny of humankind is recorded in a book with seven seals. Only the Lamb of God is worthy to open this book. The twenty-four elders around the throne address God directly with praise and adoration. They exult in the Lamb who was slain and is now risen. His life is a ransom for all. Therefore, he is the only one who holds the key to the future. He is the only one who can open the book with the seven seals. Teilhard de Chardin referred to Christ as the omega point of history. Truly history is his story.

II. Speculation About the Future Will Ultimately Mislead Us
Luther said we should live as if Christ had died yesterday, was risen today, and coming tomorrow. If you tell a new believer that Jesus is coming he will ask expectantly "when?" If you tell a more seasoned Christian that Jesus is coming, he'll inquire as to what eschatological scheme you subscribe to. We need to be continually reminded that we are not on the time and place committee, we are on the arrangements committee. Our job is to simply prepare people for the coming of Christ.

III. Praise and Worship of God Is Our Ultimate Response to God's Grace (vv. 5:11-14)
These verses are based on Daniel 7:13-14. They are incorporated in the canticle "Digmus es," which is sung in the daily prayers of the liturgy. The fact that this worship is offered by angels reminds us that the whole of creation is involved in the worship and praise of our great God. Interestingly, none of the hymns in Revelation are solos. They all involve a choir of persons or angels.

Worship at its best is corporate. Kierkegaard said that we should remember that when we worship, God is the audience. We are the participants in the ongoing drama declaring his glory. Worship declares God's worth. It is both a testimony before humanity and a tribute to the God who alone is worthy of worship, honor, and praise.

Go to any bookstore and you will find a plethora of books about angels. Surveys indicate that most Americans believe in the existence of angels. Yet in every scene in which angels appear in the book of Revelation, they point beyond themselves. If we want security about the future we will find it only as we follow the Lamb who alone is worthy to open the book of the future. Surely this is what Jesus meant when he said, "Those who lose their life (and give up on their own hopes for the future) for my sake will find it."

The prince of preachers, C. H. Spurgeon, wrote the following about Jesus: "Oh, Jesus! Thy power, Thy grace, Thy justice, Thy tenderness, Thy truth, Thy majesty, and Thine immutability make up such a man, or rather such a God-man. . . . Thou art music without discord; Thou art many yet not divided; Thou are all things, and yet so all the glories of heaven and earth meet in Thee and unite so wondrously, that there is none like Thee in all things; nay if all the virtues of the most excellent were bound in one bundle, they could not rival Thee." (L. Joseph Rosas, III)

Have You Got Any Fish?

John 21:1-19

John ends his Gospel with the twentieth chapter. The Crucifixion and the empty tomb cause quite a stir in Jerusalem. The risen Christ meets his friends personally at unexpected moments. They are overcome with joy and peace when they encounter Jesus. Their grief has been turned to joy.

Mary is the first to come to the tomb. Her doubt and grief are overcome by unspeakable joy as she encounters Jesus. She had sinned much and Jesus had forgiven and cleansed her. Because of her rejection by the community, she comes to the tomb in the darkness. She discovers that something has happened: the tomb is empty; the stone has been removed. Mary is alarmed when she discovers that someone has been there and disturbed the tomb.

When Mary sees the open tomb she runs to share this disturbing news with Peter. She reports, “We do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:2). Mary then returns to the tomb and stands weeping. When she encounters Jesus, she mistakes him for the gardener. Jesus asks her, “Whom are you looking for?” She then asks for the body of Jesus to care for it. When Jesus calls her name, “Mary!” she recognizes it as the voice of Jesus. She falls at his feet and utters, “Rabbouni!” (vv. 15-16).

Many say the appearances of the risen Christ are nothing more than visions. The disciples in their grief had seen what appeared to be Jesus. Some insist that they were hallucinating. There are many explanations of the empty tomb but none that satisfy the distraught disciples.

The word spreads all over Jerusalem. Many go to their own homes to reflect and ponder all these events. Some are filled with fear and lock themselves behind bolted doors.

Thomas, called Didymus, is told about the risen Lord and he responds, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (20:25). Later Thomas encounters Jesus, who invites him to do what he has declared is necessary for him to believe.

Many who hear the news are like Thomas. They have doubt. Finally, they are convinced without seeing or touching Jesus. The witness of others is adequate to convince them. Thus John ends his Gospel with the twentieth chapter.

Then John adds this strange twenty-first chapter to demonstrate once and for all the reality of the Resurrection. The disciples had been given audacious promises by Jesus and called to a higher service to the whole world. Yet nothing is happening. The waiting and the watching are taking a toll. The disciples’ minds are tiring under the strain of delay. They are perplexed and waiting, but nothing is happening.

Peter’s patience is strained to the limit. He watches the boats putting out for the fishing grounds. Peter announces that he is going fishing. Several of the other disciples say they will go with him. It is beginning to get dark, prime time for fishing. They are going to the Sea of Tiberias, named for Tiberias Caesar. The Fourth Gospel is the only one to use this designation. The “Sea of Galilee” or “Lake of Gennesaret” was more often used by the native people. The disciples go fishing to get away from the ridicule of the doubters, the scoffers.

So, they set out to go fishing, unaware that Jesus has followed and is preparing a fire to cook the fish. The simple aim of today’s text is to make quite clear the reality of the Resurrection. The risen Lord was not a vision, or a figment of someone’s imagination, or the appearance of a spirit or ghost; it was Jesus, who had conquered death and was alive. This is the main reason John adds this appendix, to show the disciples responding to Jesus as a person and not as a vision.

As they return, Jesus calls out, “Lads, have you got any fish?” They say no. He tells them to throw their nets on the other side. They do and the net is filled. It was a common thing for someone onshore or at the edge of the water to assist those fishing. From the shore one could sometimes see the fish better than can those in the water.

When the disciples get to land they see a fire of coals there, with fish and bread on the fire. They now recognize the “stranger” as Jesus. John calls out to Peter, “It is the Lord!” (21:7).

When Jesus asks for some of the fish that the men have just caught, they count the “haul” and discover they have caught 153 different varieties— representing all the kinds of fish in the lake. Jesus feeds the disciples as he fed the hungry crowd. They are drawn together in love by his resurrection power. Their unity is restored and their mission is renewed. Jesus has given these men an incredible mission. Now that they have unmistakable proof of the Resurrection, they are ready to share this news with the world. (T. Leo Brannon)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: April 7, 2013

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:40:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

TAKING THE HIGH ROAD

ACTS 5:27-32

There is a strange phenomenon going around these days. Normally quiet, sensible people are suddenly transformed into loud braggarts consumed by a single notion, often to the point of being obnoxious. There is a name for these people. We call them "grandparents!" To try to reason with these people or to tell them to be quiet is sort of like saying to the wind, "Don't blow!" or to a squirrel, "Stay away from the nuts!" They simply cannot help themselves. They have some wonderful news and they are going to tell you about it whether you like it or not, usually replete with photos!

This phenomenon is similar to the early bearers of the good news of Easter. "We must obey God," they said (v. 29). To try to silence them would have been futile. But this world did try.

I. The Early Disciples Found Conflict
One would think that the bearers of such liberating news would have been welcomed with open arms. But those who profit by the system do not welcome news that liberates those whose imprisonment lines their pockets. Enslavers do not want to hear news that would free the slaves. Vested interest seeks to protect its concerns at all cost. The status quo will not foot the bill for change.

So the disciples found themselves in the middle of controversy. When we tell the liberating news of the resurrected Christ, we should expect no other. It could be the state, as in our text, or even organized religion. But beware! The gospel always has and always will have its enemies.

II. The Disciples Continued in Their Obedience
Warnings and imprisonment did not deter them. Even when those threats were carried out, they would not be silent. As the story unfolded, the deaths of James, Stephen, Paul, Peter, and others only made more firm their obedience.

On August 24, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln assembled his cabinet, wrote a resolution, and asked each member to sign it, sight unseen. To call Jesus Lord means we obey, whatever and whenever.

III. Obedience Means Taking the High Road
To follow Jesus means that we expect more of ourselves than does the world. We are subject to a higher standard—the standard of Jesus. It cost him. It will cost us.

The world says "manipulate." To get your way you have to be shrewd and controlling. So what if you have to step on a few folks on the way up the ladder of success! Funny, Jesus never saw it that way.

The world says "dominate." If cunning, deceit, and shrewd manipulation does not work, go ahead and use stronger measures. Some of the issues of our day, like prayer in schools, gun control, abortion, and tax appropriation are very complicated. Some say if we have the answers, it is our duty to enforce them. Funny, Jesus always respected the rights of individuals.

The world says "retaliate." If milder measures don't prevail, lower the boom! Can you picture Jesus saying that? There's only one thing wrong with these measures used by the world—they don't work! We are closing the bloodiest century in mankind's history. It has given us World War II, segregation, apartheid, the Holocaust, Vietnam, Oklahoma City, and the Unabomber, just to name a few. Something ain't working! There must be a better way. And that is something Jesus did speak about—a lot! He spoke about the way of love.

Love, when true to itself, is greater and more powerful than anything evil can throw in its way! Look at the empty tomb!

Like the one who rose from the empty tomb, our love must be for all—the enslaved and those who enslave. As Nelson Mandela states, "A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred. The oppressed and the oppressor are robbed of their humanity."

Our mission is to obey God, to love as Jesus loved, no matter the cost. That's taking the high road.

Although Henri Matisse was twenty-eight years younger than Auguste Renoir, the two artists were good friends. When Renoir was confined to his house the last ten years of his life, Matisse continued to visit his friend. Renoir, almost paralyzed by arthritis, continued to paint. Watching his friend in obvious pain, Matisse asked, "Why do you continue?" Renoir answered, "The beauty remains; the pain passes."

It's worth the cost to take the high road. It is called obedience. (Gary L. Carver)

LET'S SETTLE SOME QUESTIONS

REVELATION 1:4-8

Today as in the first century, people are confused about who Jesus is. Various theories both inside and outside the church compete for a hearing. We discuss his nature: "Is he divine or human?" We ponder his death on the cross: "What affect does his death have today?" And we debate the future: "Will he return or not?" John introduces his letter to the churches in Asia Minor (and to us) by giving a rather complete summary of the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

I. Who Is Jesus?
John says his message to the churches is from "Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth" (v. 5).

Elsewhere Jesus identifies himself as the "logos," or the "word" of God ( John 1:1) . He also tells us, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" ( John 14:9) . Jesus is God revealing himself to humanity in a form with which we can identify—another human. "Is he divine?" Yes. "Is he human?" Yes. Who else could we trust to be a faithful witness to who God is but God himself?

One of the truths to which Jesus witnesses is God's desire and power to keep his promises, and particularly the promise to raise us from the grave. Having become, "the first begotten of the dead," Jesus proves God can and will raise us.

II. What Does Jesus Do for Us?
John also says it is Jesus "who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father" (vv. 5b-6).

Charles Wesley wrestles with the question, "Could Jesus love me?" and draws the conclusion of an emphatic, "Yes!" in his hymn, "And Can It Be." Jesus' love sends him to the cross to give himself for our sins. Jesus frees us from the power, our desire, of the sins that grip us and stand between us and God.

Jesus will give his people the authority to rule with him. He also calls each Christian to be a priest and have direct access to God on behalf of other people.

III. What Will Jesus Do in the Future?
The purpose of the letter is to tell his reader what will happen in the future. "Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him" (v. 7).

Jesus will return to claim the authority that is his, claim the people that are his church, and judge the world. All people will see him, and know who he is. Then it will be too late to agree, "He really is God!" All the people who rejected him will mourn.

If you will turn to him and trust him, you will find: "He really is the faithful witness!" His testimony can be trusted. If you will turn to him and trust him, you will find not only forgiveness for but freedom from the sins that pull you down. And if you turn to him and trust him, you will reign with him for eternity. Just ask anyone who has accepted him, and they will tell you: "Don't wait, come to Jesus now!" (Bill Groover)

CONFIDENT LIVING AND ETERNAL LIFE

JOHN 20:19-31

John 20:31 summarizes the purpose of biblical Christianity: "But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name."

Believing in Jesus is affirming and accepting him as Lord and Savior (see John 1:1-18; 14:6; Acts 4:12 ; 16:30-31). Believing in Jesus enables confident living and ensures eternal life.

I. Faith in Christ Offers Confident Living
People who try to live in the world without Jesus as Lord and Savior bring to mind two friends talking at a party. One says, "I don't know who I am, what I'm doing, or where I'm going." The other expressionlessly mumbles back, "Don't worry about it. Most Americans are going through the same thing."

Without identity, purpose, and destiny, people live on the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual edge. Biblical Christianity has always shared the good news of living triumphantly amid the madness, misery, and meanness of life in the world by discovering and experiencing identity, purpose, and destiny through belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Believing in Jesus has always been declared as the way to life—wholeness, happiness, joy, and security.

While Christians are not immune to the problems of this world, they overcome them (Ps. 37:25 ; Rom. 8:18-39; 1 Pet. 5:6-11). The ultimate victory of eternal life (permanent destiny) enables Christians to put common problems in perspective (temporary distraction).

II. Faith in Christ Offers Eternal Life
Biblical Christianity emphasizes belief in Jesus as guaranteeing the greatest desire of humankind—eternal life (John 3:16 ; 11:25-26; 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; Rev. 21:1-6). That expectation is at the core of every believer's faith. It enabled David A. Redding to write, "Anyone who feels sorry for a dead Christian, as though the poor chap were missing something, is himself missing the transfiguring promotion involved" (Getting Through the Night, 1972).

I'll never forget my grandfather Haydn's claim on this most fundamental tenet of Christianity. He called me from his hospital bed to say he was dying. Living far away from him at the time, I said I'd catch the next plane to see him. He calmly stated, "That won't be necessary. When I die, you'll come back and preside at the memorial service. Then I'll see you later."

Biblical Christianity promises existential (confident living) and eternal (heaven) benefits for all through belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior. (Robert R. Kopp)

ARTICLE: Extra Questions: Our Common Sins

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 10:32:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

1. Denial

Mark 14:27-31, 66-72

Would you describe Peter's assertion in Mark 14:29 as arrogant, over-confident, or both? What other words describe what he said about the other disciples in relation to himself?
What do you think the significance of the second rooster crowing might be?
Think of a time when a friend or family member denied you in some way. How did it make you feel? How did you resolve the situation?
Mark 14 ends with Peter breaking down and sobbing because of his denial. What is the connection between sorrow and repentance?
Describe how you would feel if a Christian leader whom you respected looked you in the eye and predicted that you were going to fail in some way. How would you respond?

2. Sleeping Through Importance

Mark 14:32-42

Think of a time when you weren't able to be there for someone else during an important time. How did it affect your relationship with that person? Now think of a time when you were able to be there, but chose not to be. How were the situations different?
If the disciples had truly realized how things were about to play out, how do you think their time in Gethsemane might have been different?
In Mark 14:38, Jesus says, "The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak." How might these be viewed by modern Christians as words of comfort?
How do we balance the ministry of presence with the need to rest and take care of ourselves? Is it possible to take the ministry of presence too far? If so, how?

3. Telling Lies

Mark 14:53-65

Why is lying such a dangerous sin? Is it possible to lie and not realize you're lying?
What is the best way to confront lies? Do you think Jesus chose the most effective way to confront people's lies in Mark 14:53-65?
How do people bear false witness against Jesus today? As followers of Christ, how do we respond to those lies?
How would you respond if someone accused of you pf bearing false witness against another Christian, or even against Jesus himself?

4. Betrayal

Mark 14:10-11, 43-49

Dottie Escobedo-Frank writes in Our Common Sins that betrayal is a common experience. Considering that betrayal is arguably the sin that cuts deepest, why do you think it's still such a common sin?
Dottie also mentions that it's possible for us to betray ourselves. In what ways do we do that? How does the forgiveness and healing process work when we're our own betrayers?
How do we avoid being betrayed without holding back our trust? How does betrayal relate to trust?
How can we facilitate forgiveness and healing when we're the one who has betrayed someone else?

ARTICLE: Extra Questions: Women of the Bible

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 03:06:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

1. Deborah

Judges 4:1-24

Author James Harnish writes that the story of Deborah is the kind of story that causes many thoughtful people to reject the Old Testament. Why do you think some people struggle so much with this story?
How are narrative accounts in the Bible like other historical documents? How are they different? Jim Harnish calls the Hebrews who told these stories "cultural theologians." What is a cultural theologian?
In what ways do we need the Spirit of God who spoke through Deborah to speak to us today? What might God want to awaken us to do?
How do Deborah and Jael turn gender stereotypes related to war and violence upside-down?
Modern commentators seem to make a bigger deal about Deborah's position of authority than the Bible itself. Why do you think Scripture doesn't explicitly point out how remarkable it was for Deborah to be a national leader during this period of history?

2. Abigail

1 Samuel 25:1-44

What do you make of the portrayal of David and his men in 1 Samuel 25:4-8? Is it positive, negative, or mixed? How does this fit with what you already know about David through arguably better known stories about him in Scripture?
Author James Harnish mentions the "age old myth of redemptive violence." Are there modern situations where violence is truly unavoidable? Explain your answer.
Ultimately, what do you think caused David to listen to Abigail?
Why does God often speak through people outside the places or systems of power?
Compare and contrast Abigail with Deborah from the previous session. What might the differences between these two women tell us about God's purposes and timing?

3. Mary Magdalene

Matthew 27:55-61; 28:1-10

Why did Pope Gregory's characterization of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute in 591 stick through the centuries?
Author James Harnish mentions that the women followers of Jesus stayed with him when he was crucified, while the men ran away. Why do you think it happened this way? Why did the writers of the gospels make it a point to record this fact?
Do you agree with the description of Mary Magdalene in the subtitle of this session, "The First Apostle?" Why or why not?
What does the story of Mary Magdalene tell us about healing and forgiveness? What does it say about our potential today when we follow Christ?
How do you see yourself in Mary Magdalene? How can you follow her example?

4. The Samaritan Woman

John 4:4-42

Considering the encounters of Isaac, Jacob, and Moses with women at wells in the Old Testament, how is Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman unusual?
Who are today's "Samaritans?"
What is the difference between believing based on what someone else has said and believing because of personal experience (verse 42)? Is one better than the other? If so, why?
Why do you think Scripture doesn't tell us the name of the woman at the well?
What would change if more Christians followed the evangelistic lead of Jesus and the Samaritan woman today?

ARTICLE: Deborah, Barak, and Jael

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 02:19:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Someone altogether unfamiliar with the Bible, reading the gospels of Matthew and John, would soon realize that two writers are telling the same story in a different way. in the Hebrew Bible, 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles function similarly. As do chapters 4 and 5 of Judges. Here we have two renditions of the same tale, the first in prose and the second in poetry. The Song of Deborah in chapter 5 is regarded as one of the oldest pieces of literature in the Bible.1 And the tale is fascinating. It begins as most of the other stories in Judges do. The Israelites sinned against God and consequently were given into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who oppressed them for twenty years.

A military leader named Barak arose. One expects more of the same kind of story found elsewhere in Judges. What one gets is unique in the Bible. Barak and his story are depreciated fore and aft by two women and their stories: Deborah and Jael.

Deborah is variously described by the text as a prophet, a mother in Israel, and either the “wife of Lappidoth” or a “woman of fiery torches” (read “spirited woman”), depending on the translation. She is further a singer of tales and a skilled poet, as we discover in chapter 5. The “mother in Israel” designation is particularly interesting. Deborah is the only biblical woman who did not attain that designation by being the mother of a famous son. We do not even know if she had children. Her accomplishments were counsel, inspiration, and leadership. This description endured even to nineteenth-century America, where significant women were often eulogized as “mothers in Israel.”

Deborah is generally viewed positively by everyone except pacifists. Even John Knox, in his venomous First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, said that:

God, by privilege, favor, and grace, exempted Deborah from the common malediction given to women in that behalf; and against nature he made her prudent in counsel, strong in courage, happy in regiment, and a blessed mother and deliverer to his people.

Deborah is often viewed as an extraordinary, rather than representative, woman, one who was not restricted by patriarchy, but who also did not stand over against it. Others see her as a model of courage and power, a woman who risked her life to do the will of God, who shattered role expectations, and invites all of us to greater freedom.

The other primary female character, Jael, has not been viewed so positively. Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, murdered the Canaanite general Sisera when he came to her for sanctuary. While Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible, published in 1898, regarded Deborah as a “wise adviser,” it had no kind words for Jael:

The deception and the cruelty practiced on Sisera by Jael under the guise of hospitality is [sic] revolting under our code of morality. To decoy the luckless general fleeing before his enemy into her tent, pledging him safety, and with seeming tenderness ministering to his wants, with such words of sympathy and consolation lulling him to sleep, and then in cold blood driving a nail through his temple, seems more like the work of a fiend than of a woman.

Leonard Swidler also calls Jael's act “a deceitful, cowardly assassination.” We shall later take issue with these calumnies and see why we perhaps should not consider Jael's act “under our code of morality.”

For now we note that so many of the women in Judges are victims. It is interesting for us here to consider two who face risky situations and, rather than being overwhelmed, take charge of them.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: Easter Sunday 2013

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:40:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

BEYOND EXAGGERATION!

ISAIAH 65:17-25

In this seemingly unlikely Easter text, Isaiah is forecasting a new age of salvation. This was a welcomed word to the many Judeans who had returned from Babylon to their homeland, probably rebuilt the Temple, but as yet had not found the future secure. There always is anxiety when one lives between partial and complete fulfillment. Hopefully Isaiah can bring a word of hope to all of us who live "betwixt and between"!

I. What Is Isaiah Saying?
Isaiah is announcing a new era, inaugurated with rejoicing, a celebration in which even God participates (v. 19). God through Isaiah is not trying to exhort his people to prayer to prepare for his blessing. He is not admonishing them for their sinfulness, which initially led to exile. He doesn't fill the air with "ought and should." God simply is proclaiming how he wishes to show his love for his children. One wonders what would happen if more often we preachers would take our congregations by the hand and walk them around the inheritance that already is theirs as God's children—inheritors of the Easter promise?

II. How Is Isaiah Saying It?
In verses 19b-25, Isaiah is describing the new era in a most picturesque way. Using contrast—what the new age will be and what it will not be—Isaiah is drawing vivid images using figurative language or exaggerated speech. Of course, no one used exaggerated speech more effectively than did Jesus, with images such as a camel trying to squeeze through the eye of a needle or a nitpicker whose vision is blurred by a plank in his own eye. Here Isaiah used almost unrealistic, exaggerated visions of an ideal world where "weeping and crying are heard no more" (v. 19); everyone is assured of old age (v. 20); prayers are answered before they are prayed (v. 24); and natural enemies become buddies (v. 25).

Some of Isaiah's description is very normal. Regular living is not interrupted. Disaster does not intrude. Houses are built and vineyards are planted and they are enjoyed (vv. 21-22). Work is to be performed but there is justice in its reward (v. 23). Wouldn't it be good news indeed if women could bring children into a world free of the terror of war and famine (v. 23a)? How we long for a world where children reach their full potential without worries of Unabombers and terrorists.

III. What Does Isaiah Mean?
Isaiah means that this golden era is God's gift and blessing. Nowhere is it mentioned that the era is a reward for righteousness or merit. It is a gift of the love and grace of a God who answers prayers before they are expressed out loud (v. 24; Rom. 8:26-27). They are a people blessed by the Lord (v. 23b).

Isaiah means that God is actively involved in history, redeeming it for his purposes and his people. God is in the process of transforming his creation (v. 17). In Isaiah's golden age, death will be present but does not ruin life. People work but are, dare we say, paid justly; and people develop without invasion or terror.

Exaggeration? Perhaps it seems so, but what God did in raising Jesus from the dead goes beyond the wildest exaggeration Isaiah could have ever imagined. And it's real! Because he lives, we live. We live in the assurance of the forgiveness of sins, in the promise of a home in heaven, and in the confidence that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Because he lives, we have in this life beginning without end and in the life to come, we are inheritors of a new world ( Rev. 21:1-5). Every day, now and forever, is a day in which we walk in his personal and abiding presence.

Tom Long in his excellent book, Whispering the Lyrics, tells of when he was once invited to be the leader in a special communion service in a nearby church. The plan called for Dr. Long to give a devotion on the significance of the supper in the sanctuary. The group then was dismissed to the fellowship hall, where, seated at tables, each group was to prepare a loaf. It was chaos. Children were rampant. Flour floated everywhere, covering everyone. The kitchen was slow.

Finally, the service ended, and with no little relief, Long was able to pronounce the benediction. "The peace of Christ be with you all," he said, and just as he did, a child's voice rang loud and true, "It already is!"

"No eye has seen
no ear has heard
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who
love him." (1 Cor. 2:9 NIV)

(Gary L. Carver)

THE PROMISE OF EASTER

1 CORINTHIANS 15:19-26

Most of us have become excited when someone has promised us something wonderful, only to be disappointed. Sometimes people break promises they never intended to keep. Sometimes people make promises they want to keep, but they just don't have the ability to keep them. Since we have all been disappointed by broken promises, before we trust someone's promise, we want to know two things. (1) Does the promise maker have the desire to keep their promise? and (2) Does the promise maker have the ability to keep their promise?

God has made the most tremendous promise imaginable. He has promised to raise us from the dead, give us new, heavenly bodies, and then give us eternal life. Easter is our proof that God desires to keep his promise, and he is able.

I. Life Without the Promise Is Life Without Hope
Paul says there is one thing worse than being disappointed by a broken promise: never having had the hope of any promise. I have heard others say if they died and there was no life after death, they would still have enjoyed their lives as Christians and not feel they gave up anything of value. But Paul says if we do not have the hope of God's promise, "we are of all men most miserable" (v. 19).

II. God's Desire Is to Keep His Promise to Defeat Death
Paul calls death "the last enemy" because of God's desire for us to live. Death entered into the world through sin. God's will from the beginning was for us to have eternal life. Adam was created immortal and lost immortality when he sinned.

A Jewish legend says Adam will be standing at the gate of heaven when we arrive. You may say what you please about his sin, which allowed death and evil to enter the world. And after you finish listing the troubles Adam's sin has caused, he will say: "Yes, my child, these things are true. I sinned but once. How about you?"

III. God's Ability to Keep His Promise Is Proved by Jesus' Resurrection
Jesus is "the firstfruits" of the dead, or, the first to be raised. Had God not raised Jesus, we might wonder if he had the power to raise us. But now we have the promise, "in Christ shall all be made alive" (v. 22).

According to verses 23 and 24, all humanity will be raised. "They that are Christ's at his coming" will be raised to receive eternal life. "Then comes the end," when the rest of humanity, those who had not trusted God's promise, will be raised (Rev. 20:11 ff).

Many of the witnesses who testified to Christ's resurrection gave their lives to tell the world, "God can and will keep his promise."

But there is one other witness: the Spirit of God. If you will open your heart to God, trust him, and ask his Spirit to fill you, God himself will give you the assurance you need to trust his promise. (Bill Groover)

PROVE IT!

JOHN 20:1-18

John 20:1-18 is a popular text for Easter Day (cf. Matt. 28, Mark 16, and Luke 24). It recollects the first experiences of the risen Lord.

The resurrection of Jesus is the keystone of the church. Indeed, the whole case for Jesus as the way, truth, and life rests on his resurrection. "If Christ has not been raised," Paul wrote, "then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" (1 Cor. 15:14 RSV).

That's why apologetics (the theological discipline of illustrating the intellectual credibility of Christianity) has been devoted to proving it. And as someone has said, "There is more evidence for the resurrection of Jesus than the birth of George Washington."

I. The Church Witness to His Resurrection
The first witness for the resurrection is the church. There has been a church that has consistently focused on and constantly referred to the resurrection of Jesus as the foundation of its praise, proclamation, prayer, living, and dying since A.D. 32.

II. Sunday Witness to His Resurrection
The second witness for the resurrection is Sunday. Sunday is the Christian day of worship. Its history can also be traced back to about A.D. 32. The church shifted its worship calendar from the Jewish Sabbath (seventh day of the week) to Sunday (first day of the week) because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Mark 16:1-2). Remembering the early church was predominantly Jewish, only an event as powerful as the resurrection could cause a change in the worship calendar.

III. The New Testament Witness to His Resurrection
The third witness for the resurrection is the New Testament—twenty-seven testimonies to the fact of the resurrection. Not one page of the New Testament would ever have been printed if Jesus did not conquer death.

IV. The Disciples Are Witnesses to His Resurrection
Something happened that transformed the disciples from a band of cowering and cowardly disciples into men of courage and conviction. That something, of course, was the resurrection of Jesus.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "If you have nothing to die for, you have nothing to live for." The disciples went from denying him to being willing to face the tests of torture and martyrdom for him, because they were convinced of his resurrection, which ensured their desire for eternal life.

V. We Believers Are Witnesses to His Resurrection
Jesus is alive to all who invite him into their hearts as Lord and Savior. It's like the old hymn: "You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart." Or as Mary announced, "I have seen the Lord!" (20:18). (Robert R. Kopp)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: Palm/Passion Sunday 2013

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:56:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

WHEN THE DECK IS STACKED

ISAIAH 50:4-9a

There is a popular type of movie in which a character played by Sly Stallone or Bruce Willis willingly goes into a situation fighting overwhelming forces, impossible odds, and numerable obstacles. As we watch, we sit and wink at one another because we know that nothing can kill our superhero. In spite of the opposition, he will emerge in the end tattered and torn, better for the wear, but alive and well. If for no other reason, Hollywood needs the character for sequel after moneymaking sequel.

For the suffering servant in our Isaiah text, there is almost a direct parallel. He will take his bumps, harsh though they may be, but know that "he who vindicates me is near" (v. 8 NIV). So he can forge forward, knowing that in the end, he will be alive and kicking. But when we take this as a text for Palm Sunday, the outcome changes. Jesus openly rides into the city, proclaims himself Messiah, faces the betrayer, takes the abuse, suffers the trial, endures the horror and dies. How could Jesus ride into the city knowing he would never ride out? How could he willingly go into a situation knowing that the deck is stacked against him? How did the servant do it, and to a larger extent, how did Jesus? Perhaps this servant poem was not only a pattern for Jesus' ministry, but for him a source of inspiration as well.

I. The Servant Is Prepared
Both knew that God had used everything in the past to prepare them for the present crisis. Nothing is wasted by God. Fred Craddock interprets verse 5 to read, "God dug out my ear." Hear the pain in that? Even that which is unpleasant and harsh, God would use to temper the steel of his spiritual strength. Even the beaten back, the plucked beard, the spat-upon face God would use to forge the strongest resolve—"set my face like flint" (v. 7). Perhaps the servant foresaw and certainly Jesus knew that God was working in all things to remake them into his very nature and character (Rom. 8:28-30).

II. The Servant Is Committed
Both knew that their cause was greater than any set of circumstances or conditions. For the servant, it was the restoration of Israel. For Jesus, it was the redemption of the world—mine and yours! How could one endure hostile and violent opposition without complaint or reaction? The servant knew he was a small piece in a larger puzzle. Jesus knew that his obedience was the key to life's greatest concern. Viktor Frankl has written that "if one has a 'why' to live, he can endure any 'how'." For Jesus, his was the most noble purpose of showing God's love for you and me.

III. The Servant Is Not Alone
Both knew they were not alone in their circumstances. Repeatedly the servant said, "the Sovereign Lord has acted, is acting, and is with me" (vv. 4, 5, 7, 8, 9). Jesus knew that there was no experience through which he and the Father had not or would not travel together.

In the movie Romero, based on the life of Oscar Romero, archbishop of El Salvador, Romero is an unlikely candidate for such a mission. Before his selection, he is sickly, weak-willed, and supportive of the status quo. But when God calls, his life is changed. One critical point occurs when he makes his profession of faith, falls to his knees, and says, "I can't. You must. I'm yours. Show me the way." After great service to a greater cause, he is killed. But he, too, was never alone.

Perhaps in the same way, Jesus was able to face the stacked deck. But remember, they didn't take his life—Jesus gave his life! And remember, too, God vindicated him as well (Phil. 2:5-11). But that's another story—or is it? (Gary L. Carver)

THE PERFECT EXAMPLE

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11

I remember gymnastics in high school physical education. We waited for the coach in the gym, and we looked at the parallel bars, rings, and ropes with anticipation of swinging like monkeys and just having fun. The coach arrived with a state champion gymnast who demonstrated all the various devices. Then the coach said, "Men, by the end of the semester, I want you to perform every exercise just like this example I've shown you!"

Impossible! We didn't want a state champion gymnast for an example to which we would be compared. We wanted our overweight, out-of-shape coach, who could barely hang from the rings to be the standard by which we were compared. Then passing would be easy.

I wonder if the Philippians felt the same way when Coach Paul said, "Here's the example I want you to be like at the end of the semester," and he gave them the example of Jesus Christ. What do you think they said?

"Coach Paul, how about Peter for an example? Or John Mark? Anybody but Jesus Christ!"

I. Some Give Up Before Trying
"Let the mind of Christ be in you." Impossible. We are not divine. Who among us is quick enough to have answered the scribe who tested Jesus on taxation by saying: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's"?

Loving enemies is tough. Some think it is impossible and they give up before they start. How many people do you know who have given all but one of their coats to the poor? Sometimes we let the demands of discipleship pass right by and simply say, "It's too hard." But the Bible never asks more than we can do, and God always gives us the help we need.

II. The Text Tells Us How
There are three characteristics of Jesus that Paul encourages the Philippians to imitate:

A. An attitude of humility. The Bible doesn't ask for wit or brilliance, talent or personality; it asks for humility. Anybody can be humble.

Augustine said, "It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels." It is often our pride that we have to nail to the cross and see as "crucified with Christ." Humility is the reflection of true agape love.

B. An attitude of service. Humility made it possible for Jesus to place the needs of people above his own.

I often tell people, "The highest title given to people in the Kingdom of God is not Apostle, Pope, Bishop, or Reverend; it is Servant." This title is the one Paul used for himself more than any other. This attitude is the one Jesus modeled for his disciples, and us, when he washed their feet.

Christians are not called to great places of leadership until first they have humbled themselves in places of service.

C. An attitude of obedience. Having accepted our forgiveness for our failure to be obedient, a Christian's life should reflect obedience. The old nature, which was changed at salvation, was a natural tendency to do things "my way" rather than "God's way." The new nature should trust God's direction in the small things as well as the big.

Jesus' obedience took him all the way to the cross. Rarely are Christians in the United States in the late twentieth century called to obey to that extent—but we could be! Christians in other places are so challenged, and they live up to the challenge.

III. And Jesus Was Exalted
God exalted Jesus and "gave him the name that is above every name." Christians, likewise, are given his name, his righteousness, and his inheritance. We will be well rewarded for our humility, our service, and our obedience. (Bill Groover)

PICKING SIDES

LUKE 22:14–23:56

God's plan of salvation was passionately moving toward a culmination. Jesus said, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (22:15). In another part of town, the ecclesiastical elite met behind closed doors and "plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him" (Matt. 26:4 NIV).

Despite the expansiveness of this text, it brings to mind the Jesus problem, Pilate's problem with Jesus, and the inescapability of picking sides.

I. The Jesus Problem
Jesus wasn't denominationally oriented. Being a Jew or a Samaritan or Presbyterian or Baptist or Roman Catholic or whatever didn't matter to him. As he told Nicodemus, "God so loved the world" (John 3:16) . Naturally, that didn't sit well with religious snobs—the kind of people who assume God loves them a little more than anybody else.

Jesus wasn't traditionally bound. He talked about growing and getting better. He talked about expanding wineskins; making room in our lives for the new and improved ways that God provides to make life better (see Matt. 9:16-17). He upset the kind of people who long for the way things never were.

Jesus wasn't socially bigoted. He hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, and sexual sinners; with rich and poor; with Romans, Jews, and Samaritans. No one was outside his embrace. He gave no quarter to the kind of people who expected their holy men to cater to the upper crust.

But the thing that upset many people the most was that he never denied being who he was, is, and will always be: Lord and Savior. He acted like God because that's exactly who he has always been.

II. Pilate's Problem with Jesus
Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea from A.D. 26 to 36. Essentially, his job was keeping the peace and keeping Palestine in step with Rome. While Pilate did not sympathize with the religious case against Jesus, he was sufficiently convinced of its disruptive nature to hear it. Like an apathetic clerk at the complaint department, he feigned interest.

Predictably, after briefly interviewing Jesus, Pilate announced, "I find no basis for a charge against this man" (23:4 NIV). Again, Pilate didn't care about the religious issues. As far as the other civil charges (23:2), he did not believe Jesus was a threat to Rome. Jesus didn't have an army. And since his arrest, he didn't have many fans. So Pilate felt it was much ado about nothing.

Trying to keep his distance from the petty religious problems of Palestine, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod. Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate. Pilate offered a real criminal named Barabbas as a substitute. Pilate "realized that though Jesus may have upset the sensitivities of the Jews, he was not really guilty of any crime under Roman law" (John Drane, Jesus and the Four Gospels, 1979). But his reasoning misjudged the obsessiveness of Palestine's religious passion. Jesus was the issue and Pilate had to deal with them about him.

While the religiously antagonistic to Jesus (Sanhedrin) could pronounce capital punishment, only Rome could carry it out. Because he didn't care about the religious issues and wanted to keep his standing with Rome, Pilate allowed—enabled—the extermination of Jesus.

III. Picking Sides Is Inescapable
In one final attempt to distance himself from the whole thing, Pilate "took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. 'I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!' " (Matt. 27:24-26 NIV).

Like so many symbolic acts, Pilate's little handwashing act was hollow. He chose compromise and expediency over Jesus. He thought he was getting off the hook. But Pilate's presumed neutrality earned a place for him in history that will never be erased. For whenever Christians gather, they always remember how our Lord "suffered under Pontius Pilate."

Some churches are like Pilate. They think they can be neutral on the great issues of the day, even when the will of God as exemplified in Jesus and explained in the Bible is at stake. But does anyone think that our Lord will be smiling at the gates of heaven when someone says, "Lord, I was neutral on the issues of faith and morality"?

Neutrality always enables evil to prosper. Just ask Pilate. Just ask Jesus. There is no place for neutrality in the Kingdom. As Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24).

Christians, take sides for Jesus and follow him! (Robert R. Kopp)

ARTICLE: About The Way: QandA with Adam Hamilton

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:50:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

How does The Way relate to other recent books of yours?

Over the years I’ve been to the Holy Land numerous times. The Holy Land is often called “the fifth gospel” because being there changes how you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It acts, in many ways, as a living commentary on the gospels. After numerous trips over I began to outline a trilogy of books that would take readers through the life of Jesus in the light of biblical archaeology, geography, and the latest in biblical scholarship. My hope was to help readers grow in their understanding of, and love for, Jesus Christ. As a pastor, I also wanted them to know how the gospel stories teach us not only about Jesus, but about his will for our lives.

The first in the trilogy of books was The Journey which unpacked the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus. The second in the trilogy is 24 Hours That Changed the World, which focused on Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Way completes the trilogy by exploring the three-year public ministry of Jesus, beginning with his baptism in the Jordan. It explores the places Jesus traveled, the main themes of his ministry, and the people he ministered with.

In preparing to write these books I returned to the Holy Land three times, meeting with archaeologists, Galilean fishermen, a Samaritan priest, as well as scholars and guides who have spent their lives in the land. I sought to retrace the stories in the gospels in a way a typical tour group does not. I walked portions of the journey that Mary and Joseph walked from Nazareth to Bethlehem. I spent days backpacking alone across the Galilee, exploring the places Jesus ministered. I retraced the steps Jesus took during the final day of his life. The insights gained from these experiences are all included in the books.

Knowing that many Christians would like to go to the Holy Land, but only a few will make the journey, we took a film crew to video the things I describe in the books. Each chapter has a ten minute video opening for use in small groups or for personal use. I take readers to all of the places I describe in the book. The book and video work together to deepen the faith, and faithfulness, of readers.

The Way draws you into the Gospels. Is there a particular Gospel that’s a favorite of yours, and if so, why?

The Gospel of Luke is my favorite. I love the way Luke paints such vivid pictures of the people Jesus ministered to. He also makes clear Jesus’ concern for people who were broken, sinners and second class.

I tend, in the books, to draw most often from Mark’s gospel in that Mark was the most succinct. I often follow him and then supplement with material from the other gospels. When it comes to the teaching of Jesus I’m drawn to Matthew, who has the most complete body of Jesus’ teachings. John’s gospel was considered the “spiritual gospel” by the early church. He focused on making sure readers understood the theological and spiritual significance of Jesus. Some of the most moving insights into the meaning of the life of Jesus, for me, come from John. So, I love Luke, but I’m grateful for Matthew, Mark and John as well.

Themes like the kingdom of God and life as a disciple of Christ come through in the Gospels and in this book. Did these concepts have a new impact on you as you wrote about them?

You can’t talk the life and ministry of Jesus without speaking of the Kingdom of God. This is the central theme of his teaching and preaching. Jesus’ primary call upon those who heard him was to “follow me.” My hope in The Way is to help readers understand more clearly what it means to be a part of the Kingdom of God and what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus. In the book I devote much of one chapter to walking through the Sermon on the Mount for here Jesus gives the clearest picture of what our lives are meant to look like if God is our King. While none of us completely live up to his teachings there – in fact some would say it is impossible to do so – his words there are represent my highest aspirations for how I would live. And my inability to fully live up to them point to my need for Christ’s saving work in my life.

No doubt folks will find some of your insights on the life of Christ intriguing. For instance, on “Palm Sunday,” you state that there were two other processions—designed to show force—going on the same day. Where are those cited in history?

We know that Pontius Pilate’s primary residence was in Caeserea Maritima on the coast. Yet we know from the gospels that he was in Jerusalem for the Passover. It is likely that he came over to keep peace in the city (the Passover was a particularly troublesome time for the Romans as the feast was a celebration of how God had delivered his people from slavery in Egypt – the hope of many Jews was that God would do this again, delivering them from Roman rule – hence the need to have Rome’s governor present along with this troops to prevent an uprising).

We also know from the gospels that Herod Antipas was in Jerusalem for the Passover. His primary residence was in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. He would have come in a royal procession with his own military to Jerusalem for the Passover. We cannot know exactly which day each of the other two processions would have arrived in the Jerusalem, but I suggest in the book that the three may have occurred on the same day. Jesus’ processional, riding on a donkey, calling people to love their enemies, and surrounded by a ragamuffin band of followers would have stood in stark contrast to the other processionals.

The Way can be read year-round, of course, but you mention Lent. Did you write it particularly with that special season in mind?

As you note, the book can be read any time, but I was imagining that many would read it during Lent. There are six weeks of Lent and there are six chapters in the book. The first chapter deals with Jesus’ baptism and temptations, and the season of Lent begins in this same place with the baptism and temptation of Jesus. Lent ends with Holy Week and the final chapter in the book takes readers through the events of Holy Week climaxing in Christ’s crucifixion. The epilogue to the book corresponds with Easter – its focus is on the meaning of the resurrection. My hope is that those who read it during Lent will find their experience of Holy Week and Easter deeper and more meaningful for having read the book.

There are a number of companion products to the hardcover book. How can church leaders best encourage their congregations to use these?

The Way is designed to be a church-wide focus with curriculum for children and youth, a video and leader’s guide for Bible studies, small group and Sunday school classes to use with the hardbound book, and a 40 day devotional with daily readings from the gospels and meaningful reflections upon these texts. There is a 60 second video we’ve prepared that shows where the book will take people and another that is meant to be a promo for churches to show in worship the week before the emphasis begins. Over 15,000 churches have used The Journey and 24 Hours That Changed the World so far. Doing The Way as a church-wide emphasis has the power to unify a church and to deepen the faith and passion of the congregation. As the congregation reads and studies, the pastor has the opportunity to preach from the same themes and amazing things happen.

ARTICLE: Quick Links for Lent with Children

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:44:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

For children's ministries and parents below are some quick links to Lent and Easter resources to help you in planning. Check back more will be added:

Pretzel Sunday written by Robert W. Sapp
Lent for Kids: Focusing on God's Time written by Jenni Duncan
What is Lent? Preparing for Easter is a little booklet that you can use in your children's ministries or individually with your child to teach them about Lent. The link includes a download for teaching helps.
An Intergenerational Lenten Fair written by Nancy Gammill, set this fair up using different stations. Your adults will learn about Lent alongside the children!
The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus is a six session study including a bonus session written for children. This Children's Leader Guide is designed to be used as part of a churchwide program based on Adam Hamilton's book by the same title.
Come, Taste the Bread: A Storybook About the Lord's Supper retells the biblical story from the Gospel of Luke a good resource to talk with children ages 4-8 about Communion.
Grow, Proclaim, Serve! churches will recognize the This Is Good News! the book is based on the Gospel of Matthew and includes activities and stickers (for ages 4-10). If you have younger children, see Happy Easter Day written for ages 18 months—2 years.
The Easter Garden: A Lenten Experience for Children is a 7 session or one-day event for large-group/small-group settings. Includes a worship experience.
How Do I Explain Easter to My Child? written by Carolyn Brown
Dealing With Children's Hard Questions written by Ellen Shepard

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: March 17, 2013

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:01:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

GETTING ON WITH THE FUTURE

ISAIAH 43:16-21

The young recruit to the monastic order was warned of its severity, strictness, and vow of silence. At the end of ten years he was allowed to speak two words. To his confessor he said, "Food bad." Criticism accepted. At the end of the second ten years, again he lamented, "Bed hard." Accepted without comment. At the conclusion of the third ten-year period, the monk emphatically stated, "I quit." To which the abbot replied, "Good! You have done nothing but complain since you've been here."

A 1990's hit of the rock group, the Eagles, says, "Get over it!" Others may have replied to the monk, "Get on with it!"

How do we do that? How can we get over the past and get on with the future, particularly as we look forward to the wonderful climax of this Lenten season?

I. Don't Dwell on the Past
Isaiah tells the children of Israel to "forget the former things; do not dwell on the past" (Isa. 43:18 NIV). He did not say that the past was bad. In fact, there was much good—the deliverance of the Exodus, the Davidic Kingship, and Temple worship. He did not say that memory was unimportant. In fact, there is nothing more tragic than the loss of memory, whether it be personal memory loss or the inability to recall one's spiritual or national traditions. But to overly dwell on the past can be painful, even destructive.

When Miss Havisham in Dickens's Great Expectations was left at the altar, the clock stopped and her life stalled as cobwebs decorated the wedding cake. Isaiah would agree with Paul when he said, "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" ( Phil. 3:13 b). Get on with it!

II. Be Open to the God of Change and Surprise
Israel had to adjust to their God whose other name was "Surprise." God wasn't doing his "new thing" (v. 19) the old way through leaders such as Moses and David. Surprise! He was working his will through the heathen Persian King Cyrus! Deliverance from Babylon and return to Jerusalem will be partially facilitated through a non-Jewish agent! God's other name was "Surprise!"

It is important then that we not try to restrict God to the ways he has worked in the past but try to be open to the new ways he may be working in the present and future. Great coaches like Knute Rockne, Bob Neyland, and Paul Bryant were great in their eras, but would lose today unless they changed with the times. We have to learn to cope with the tension and insecurity of newness. It can cost a lot to say "yes" to God, but it will cost even more to say "no"!

III. Trust the God of the Process
We may not always be able to trust the process, but we always can trust the God of the process—the God who leads his children. Israel eventually learned that God always honors his Word (vv. 16, 19-20). Deliverance and restoration would be better than they imagined. Jerusalem would be rebuilt, the Temple would be restored, and the Messiah would come.

Lenten preparation is made richer by an abiding trust that God is going to use the process for his glory and our growth. John Claypool tells us that as the Christmas pageant neared for the nursery school, the anticipation for the little boy was not so much for the program but for the present he was to give his father. When the day finally arrived, the boy ran down the hall to give his father the ashtray he had made. But he tripped and fell, and the ashtray was broken.

The little boy stared in disbelief and began to cry uncontrollably. "Oh, that's all right," his father said, trying to comfort him. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all!" The mother, more wise in her way, said, "But it does matter. It matters a great deal." She then sat on the floor and cradled the little boy in her arms as they wept together.

After a few minutes when the sobbing ceased, the wise mother said, "Now, let's pick up the pieces and see what we can make with what's left."

It's called "getting on with the future." (Gary L. Carver)

BEFORE, AFTER, AND FOREVER

PHILIPPIANS 3:4b-14

Many people have a confused idea about how people become Christian. Some think they are Christian because they live in a "Christian country." Others think they are Christian because they were born into a "Christian family." Such people are not the first to think their relationship with God is based on birth, nationality, or even good works. The apostle Paul gives us a "before and after" comparison of the things upon which he based his relationship with God.

I. Before We Know Christ
Paul was born into a very religious family. He was born into the tribe of Benjamin, Jacob's beloved youngest son. When other Jewish people gave up their language and culture, conforming to the Roman and Greek influences, Paul's family remained faithful as "Hebrews among Hebrews." When he grew up, Paul became a Pharisee—a zealous advocate of the Jewish religion. He kept the Law, and persecuted those who attempted to change the traditional Hebrew religion. Paul was confident, if God would accept anybody based on birth, nationality, or actions, he would have God's approval.

I have talked to people today who likewise think because they were born into Christian families that they have God's ultimate approval. I was born into such a family of churchgoers. We attended weekly services, and evening services. Every Sunday in worship the congregation recited the Apostles' Creed. I can still remember the first Sunday when I said the creed along with the congregation without having to follow along with a printed copy. No one told me simply memorizing the creed would make me a Christian, but I believed I was. Quoting a creed no more makes you a Christian than counting to ten in Spanish makes you a Mexican! Other people I have known likewise have pointed back to something they did to become a Christian.

But Paul says everything he did he counts as "rubbish." People are not born into the Kingdom, and they do not earn their way into the Kingdom.

II. After We Know Christ
Paul wanted to know Jesus; he did not want to simply know about Jesus. Creeds and doctrines may be true and important as they tell us about Jesus, but they are not substitutes for having a personal relationship with Jesus.

Our first personal knowledge of Jesus is when the risen Jesus touches our heart and reveals himself to us personally. Were he not risen, this could not happen. Until it happens, our knowledge of him is only secondhand.

To know the "fellowship of his sufferings" is to know he took our sufferings, our punishment for our sins. We must share in his suffering and, as Paul said, be crucified with Christ. He took my cross as his, now I take his cross as mine.

III. Knowing Christ Forever
Paul now looks forward to his own resurrection from the dead. He looks forward to the day he will stand before God, not clothed in the righteousness he thought he had earned by keeping the Law and serving God, but clothed instead in the righteousness Jesus gave him.

The same future is available to us as it was to Paul by faith. By faith we invite the risen Jesus into our hearts. By faith we trust he has taken the penalty for our sins. By faith we share in his suffering when we confess the suffering our sins caused him. By faith count everything we have done, good, bad, or indifferent, a total loss. By faith we turn to Jesus, wanting to know him alone.

Have you trusted Jesus by faith? Or like Paul's "before" picture, do you place your confidence in yourself? (Bill Groover)

SITTING DOWN TO EAT WITH DIRTY HANDS

JOHN 12:1-8

The anointing at Bethany is one of many examples that reveal that those closest to Jesus had no idea what he was talking about. Mary's act of kindness and Judas's indignation were not informed by the sacrificial and salvific symbolism of the anointing.

Though ultimately proved to be unprincipled, Judas presents himself as morally superior to everyone else at the dinner party. Essentially, he accuses them of sitting down to eat with dirty hands.

There are people in this world who try to make us feel dirty. They show up in churches every now and then. Controlling cliques. The "nobody knows Jesus like I know Jesus" neo-Gnostics, the "Let me tell you about so-and-so to help you know how much better I am" holier-than-thou types.

I. Everybody's Dirty
The truth is we're all dirty (Rom. 3:23) . Everybody comes to the table with dirty hands. We're all sinners. Nobody's perfect. That's why God came in Jesus. We need Someone to save us from the damning consequences of our behavior. We need Someone to give us what we can never earn—the right to be a part of God's existential and eternal family. We need Jesus!

II. Everybody's Invited
One of my favorite stories is about the man who is greeted at the pearly gates by Saint Peter. Before letting the man in, Peter asks, "What's the password?"

Stunned but eager, the man guesses, John 3:16. "

"Good try," Peter says, "but that's not it."

"OK," the man guesses again. "How about John 11:25-26?"

"Good try," Peter says again, "but wrong."

After several more unsuccessful attempts, the man finally blurts out in frustration, "I give up!"

"That's it!" Peter announces.

Everybody comes to the table with dirty hands. The good news is we are invited to sit down and eat with the Host through faith.

We could say that his blood washes the dirt from us. (Robert R. Kopp)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: March 10, 2013

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:39:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

SUSPENDED JOY

JOSHUA 5:9-12

Have your ever lost something? The wilderness had taken its toll on the people of God. For forty years Israel has been a transient nation, wandering throughout an endless desert wilderness with no destination. They were there because they broke covenant with Yahweh. And throughout those four decades they suspended covenant living, thus suspending the joy of the covenant God. If they were to regain the joy of covenant privilege there was a standard of living to be maintained. Joshua summons the joyless people to a new departure—a departure to joy.

I. A Return to Joy Begins by Reestablishing a Pattern of Godly Living

Their disgrace seems to be a noncovenant status from not obeying the law of circumcision in the desert. The mass circumcision described atonement for a whole generation's neglect. God's intention was a circumcised heart, a new commitment to not pass disobedience on to another generation.

Gilgal, which means "circle," is a play on words related to the Hebrew gallothi, "to roll away." The designation of flint knives indicates that iron knives were in common use (v. 2). However, only through obedience to Yahweh and dedication to covenant demands could Israel be a conquering nation. Circumcision testifies that their God is native among them, a presence that heals and restores joy. This sanctuary can be your Gilgal, the place where you too roll away the sadness of life and become a conqueror again.

II. To Restore the Joy of God's Promise You Must Also Release the Past

Verses 10-12 are the climactic words of the entire Exodus narrative. Combining the two independent feasts, the full moon festival and the Passover, Israel must transition from wilderness manna to Canaan's fruit.

On that day the manna ceased. The point was not that they had denied themselves yeast, but joy. Now they could eat a normal diet with the prospect of much more to come.

What has tied you to the past, to disappointment? Virginia Dailey wrote in Healing for Life's Hurts: "We look back with dismay upon our wrong decisions, poor choices. . . . We dwell endlessly on our past mistakes until we make ourselves miserable and physically or emotionally ill. . . . We can't drop those hateful errors. . . . We keep dragging them out. . . . Continual rehashing of previous mistakes can cause us to lead gloomy lives" (pp. 50-52).

Personal power begins today by releasing your past—the mistakes, the pain, the misfortune to the creative ability of God. The preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "For everything there is a season . . . a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."

III. To Restore the Joy of God's Promise You Must Rehearse the Pleasure of God's Presence

"They ate"—they began eating and continued to enjoy the produce of the land. The "produce" was a provision of grain not planted by Israel. Joy was not something they could produce. It is a state that God alone can provide.

"Grandma," he began, "you said when I eat a piece of pie I should say thank you, keep one hand in my lap with the napkin, and eat every bite, right?" "Yes, that's right," she replied. At that he requested, "Well, do you have a piece of pie I could practice on?" Rehearsing obedience to the word of God, Israel learned the success of God's ability.

Rehearsing a cleansed life, a circumcised life, Israel experienced the joy of God's affirming presence as opposed to God's corrective presence.

You rehearse the pleasure of God's providing presence by disciplined prayer, memorization of Scripture, trust in God's ability during difficult times. It is time for you, as C. S. Lewis phrased it, to be surprised by joy. (Barry J. Beames)

NEW CREATIONS IN CHRIST

2 CORINTHIANS 5:16-21

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new" (v. 17). That is exactly what I am afraid of. Everything old has passed away. But I like a lot of the old me. In fact, I like most of the old me. Sure, nobody is perfect, but all that was needed was a minor correction here to some language that wasn't always good; moderate a few other minor habits that were rather excessive. Just a touch-up here and there and I would have been fine.

If anyone be in Christ, they are a new creation. And that's where the problem is. It isn't me that needs to be made better, it is all of them. If the men would just treat women better, then there would be no problem. It isn't women who need to be new creatures in Christ, it is the men. It isn't the minorities who need to be more responsible and work harder, it is the whites who need a new attitude. It isn't the Irish Catholics who need to be new creatures in Christ, it is the Protestants.

That is precisely one of the major problems the good news has. There is all this talk about being a new creation in Christ, and we are not sure we want to be a new creation. We have been told by the New Age religion that God is everywhere and we are God, so we feel pretty good about ourselves. Why should we want to be different? The educational philosophy of the last twenty years has been trying to give me self-confidence, self-esteem, and isn't it a surefire sign of lack of self-esteem to believe that I need to be made over, to be made new?

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation, everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new." We don't think we need to be made new, but we do think you need to be worked on. So why do we keep preaching that if it is not what we think we need? Because we will admit that there are terrible conflicts raging around us. There are hostilities that are more than four thousand years old still being fought in the Middle East; there are conflicts between tribes in Africa; there are Chinese people shooting at other Chinese people for a tiny little island. And there is a war in our own family—fathers and mothers fighting over power and intimacy, there are children fighting with each other, and children fighting still with their parents. If we are ever to find any reconciliation and peace, it is going to be as we accept the gift of God to make us all new in the gift of Christ.

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us" (vv. 18-19). We do not come judging you and telling you that you need to become reconciled because you have this and this fault. We are not telling you to become new in Christ because you are a failure or you are a horrible sinner. We are not into the counting of weaknesses and trespasses.

We invite you into Christ so that Christ might be at work in you so that you become part of the new reconciled humanity that is not playing games of "I'm better than you," "Did so, did not," "Yes, but," and "Give me, give me, give me." God is at work in the power of Jesus Christ to bring all creation and all humanity together in a new heaven and a new earth, and it is only as we become one in Christ that we are renewed so that we are fit for this new, reconciled and redeemed community. And in that new creation we do not lose our interests and talents and abilities, our love for Scrabble, and our delight in country music. Our new creation is all our unique talents and abilities now made compatible with the abilities and interests of others so that we are all made better and more talented and more blessed by the gifts of all.

We are invited to become new in Christ, to become one in Christ so that we can participate in a whole new reconciled reality. It is not that the old is lost, but the old is united in reconciliation and redemption with all others and thus made new. (Rick Brand)

THE PIGSTY FREEDOM OF A WAYWARD SON

LUKE 15:1-3, 11b-32

The parable of the prodigal son begins with a declaration of independence. The young son of the good father has decided to make his own way in the world. Evidently he finds himself pinched by the constraining limits of family life. The household traditions have grown to seem oppressive to the young man, whose imagination is filled with the exciting possibilities of the wider world. The familiar atmosphere has grown stale.

Surely life must have more to offer than this. Surely there are places where the rising of the sun brings something new with it and not just more of the same old stuff yesterday was made of. The son wants to experience the thrill of the unknown. He believes this will not be possible as long as he stays under the protective but suffocating roof of his father's house. He must leave. He must go out and live on his own. He must be free.

The young man has so often been depicted as a low-life rowdy. We think of him as being the archetypical "party animal." Consequently most of us don't see ourselves in him. The young man was a self-indulgent pleasure-seeker who was utterly without prudence or forethought. We're not that way, are we? But maybe he's more like us than we want to admit.

Sure, the Bible says that he got involved in "loose living." But must we conclude that he was after nothing more than cheap thrills? Perhaps what was going on was that he was on a quest for self-realization. He wanted to expand his horizons, discover new things about himself and his world, find out who he was apart from his father. Perhaps he did things he had never done before so that he could learn to be himself, and not just be his father's son. Perhaps by doing more he could be more. If he could just cast off the limitations and responsibilities of the past he could live in a magnificent freedom that would put all manner of exciting possibilities at his fingertips.

It took the prodigal son some time to make this realization. But finally, the Bible tells us, "he came to himself." He discovered that life independent of his father was not so grand as he thought it might be. The hard-won knowledge that he attained was that his purpose in life and his true identity were to be found in his father's household, not in rebellion and isolation from his father.

The prodigal son had a bad experience with his freedom. The consequences of his actions were more than he could bear. He was entirely ready to get rid of it. "I will arise and go to my father, and I will say . . . I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants." But while it can be a dangerous and demeaning thing to give up our freedom to other people or to governments or even to churches, it is only as we place our freedom in the hands of God that we can live in true freedom. Only as we are willing to take our place as servants, indeed, as slaves in the household of God can we experience liberation as children of God.

Some people have noted that when the prodigal son went home he never did ask to be received as a servant. He was taken back as a son. True. But every true child of God is also a servant of God. And even in earthly households both children and servants must accept structures, guidance, and obligations from outside themselves. But with God we are most free when we are most obedient. For we are able to find our true selves and our higher purpose only as we take our place under the loving authority of God.

Some years ago, a visitor to a factory in Detroit, Michigan was very upset because he had seen a man chained to his machine. The visitor concluded that some form of secret slave labor was being practiced. But, in fact, the chain was a safety feature. A mechanism had been devised that would pull the man's hands out of the way before the press closed. Light chains were attached to straps around his wrists as a safeguard against absentmindedness. To an unknowledgeable observer it looked like some cruel practice was taking place when in fact it was a blessing.

So it is in our relationship with God. The word of command is a word of blessing and the call to be children and servants of God is a call of the One who loves us more than we love ourselves. Like the good father of the parable, God has given us the capacity to choose to live against the divine Word or to live out of relationship with God. But true freedom is ours only as we are willing to be servants in the household of God who lovingly receives us as sons and daughters. (Craig M. Watts)

BLOG: Quick Links for Lent

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 19:45:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Ministry Matters has lots of bins to make planning for Lent and Easter easier for you. Share the links with your worship planning team or small group leaders.

If you've never celebrated Lent the links below include articles that will explain the season to you. We hope you find them inspiring and helpful.

Shrove Tuesday (see also Pretzel Sunday)
Ash Wednesday
Lent
Palm/Passion Sunday
Maundy/Holy Thursday
Good Friday
Holy Saturday
Easter
Quick Links for Lent with Children (for parents and volunteers in children's ministries)

[Note: content for all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary is included in the bins which will provide more content for planning for those who don't use the lectionary. An online version of the RCL is located in the Ministry Matters Library, additional lectionary content will also be added to our This Sunday bin.]

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: March 3, 2013

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:44:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

A SATISFIED CRAVING

ISAIAH 55:1-9

Every day, out-of-town visitors and tourists come into our office seeking information about our historic community, our church, our favorite restaurants, so forth. Shortly before noon one day, a family came in looking for information. As we talked about their church and ours, a senior adult couple rushed into the office carrying food to a covered dish luncheon. As they began to talk with this visiting family, the couple said, "We are having lunch in the dining room, why don't you join us. There is plenty of food, and you must be starving after your drive this morning. Our menu may be a little different from yours but the food will take care of your craving. After lunch we will show you around town. Come on, now, there is a feast waiting on you."

The speaker in Isaiah 55:1-9 announces a feast that is open to everyone. That feast is described as the answer to life's unsatisfied cravings for meaning and significance. Isaiah described the life-fulfilling feast Yahweh is inviting you to attend as a covenant with three courses.

I. An Everlasting Covenant (vv. 3-4)
Yahweh promises to those who will listen and come to the feast a covenant relationship where "your soul shall live." The nature of that covenant is an age-long character. It offers them security and prosperity that will be without end. Isaiah described the purpose of the covenant to be Yahweh's "steadfast and sure love for David." Those who enter this covenant fall heir to salvation, joy, stability: the goals God had maintained through Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and David.

II. An Unfailing Commander (v. 4)
Yahweh provided a new leader to assume the mantle of leading his people, the Persian emperor, Darius. The task of the new leader was to be a witness to the people of God's sovereignty and providence. Because Yahweh was the glory of Israel the leader's goal would be to beautify the people. The triumph of the new leader would be to fulfill God's will and establish a new sense of peace. That triumph was realized. In 49:6-9, Darius was successful because he acknowledged Yahweh as God. In 50:10, Darius' success is attributed to his claim to servanthood.

God satisfies the craving of our lives with his salvation, which establishes a prevailing experience of peace. We fall heir to God's glory when we also acknowledge God as Lord and assume a posture of servanthood.

III. A Summons to Significance (vv. 5-9)
Yahweh speaks directly to Darius. He was to summon unknown nations, or nationalities, to the covenant feast. That summons is to worship Yahweh (v. 6). Participants in the covenant are to worship in the temple, where Yahweh could be found and at the appropriate time, while he is near. The temple was not to be closed or denied to anyone. Covenant participants are also summoned to repentance (v. 7). The troublemakers are invited to abandon their rebellion for covenant living. If they accept the terms of the covenant, God's mercy will pardon their sin and that pardon will be multiplied abundantly.

A recent article suggested three elements to narrow the generation gap between teenagers and their parents: listening, trust, and understanding. Isaiah's message is that there are three elements that narrow the gap for your craving of a life of significance. The three elements are the three courses of a covenant feast relationship with God. Listen to God and trust God. God's understanding will multiply mercy for those who will abandon their present commitments and enter a new covenant with him. (Barry J. Beames)

THE OLD MISTAKES

1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-13

The people in the television, movie, and Internet industries do not think that what they show and what they do makes any difference in the way we live. (They'll have us believe that their programs don't influence us but the advertisements do!) We are supposed to be wise enough, strong enough, smart enough, and ever vigilant enough to turn off the stuff that we don't want. They claim they have no responsibility for showing something worthwhile. Paul has a lot more understanding of the human spirit. He knew that temptation would overpower and destroy us if left on our own.

I. We Won't Resist Temptation on Our Own
Paul points his young and inexperienced Christians back to the days of Moses. The children of Israel had been pretty well familiar with holy things. If ever a people were going to be kept straight and righteous by the events of their lives, it should have been the children of Israel. After all, they had the benefits of the plagues. They were led by Moses through the sea. The cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night continually led them. Surely they should have been able to remain faithful, but God was not pleased with them and struck them down in the wilderness.

If they did not measure up with all that help, what have we got to help keep us faithful and obedient, we who are struggling to be God's disciples now? Paul suggests that the first thing we have is the negative example of the children of Moses. They are examples for us. They will help keep us faithful. "So that we might not desire evil as they did."

Well, it will certainly give us pause to think. If they were not able to resist evil—with all of the power and presence of God with them on the journey in the wilderness—there is no way any of us ought to suffer from overconfidence. This is a serious and difficult journey of faith and we need all the help we can get.

II. Temptations Can Overpower Us
There are three major temptations that Paul says those early followers of Moses highlight for us. They "sat down to eat and drink and they rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did." One of our constant and most difficult temptations is the temptation of pleasure. One has only to look around at the horrible problems of drugs and drink, the crime that is generated by the desire for drugs, the pain and suffering that is caused by alcohol and other drugs, and it is obvious that preoccupation with our own feelings, to get happy or to drown our sorrows, is one source of great problems for us even now. And when you listen to all of the complications and costs and troubles that are caused by irresponsible sexual activity, all the sexually transmitted disease, all the unwanted pregnancies, teenage mothers, and abortions, it is obvious that the stories from the past help us to be on guard against allowing our physical pleasures to become master of our lives.

The stories of Moses in the wilderness remind us how easy it is to start to put God to the test, to begin to set down conditions by which God has to answer to our specifications. Jesus was guided by the Old Testament story of Moses at the rock when the devil came to tempt him, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God." When we start trying to set up conditions which God has to meet in order to be God, we have stepped way over the boundaries of being creatures of the Most High God. There is no place for us to demand that God perform for us according to our instructions and there is no faith in whining and complaining when we do not get the things we want.

III. God Will Provide a Means of Overcoming Temptation
Paul will not hear their petty complaints. You can almost hear him tell them: What you are suffering is ordinary suffering. Everybody gets some. What makes you think that you are getting more than somebody else? It is amazing to listen to some people who think life has dumped all over them much more than they deserved. Every life has to have some rain and you are just getting your rain.

But Paul also wants them to hang in there. Remember that God will give you the strength to endure. Not always win but complete the assignment. Not always escape but the strength to hold on to the branches till the flood goes down. God gives the strength to endure and God gives us opportunities to escape. Paul doesn't always say that we will experience a visible, glorious triumph over the temptation, but we will be able to endure and to find a way. God helps us overcome as we remember the stories of the past and pray, "Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief." (Rick Brand )

JUST DESERTS?

LUKE 13:1-9

One December night in 1982 in Westland, Michigan, a man and his wife were driving home. Suddenly a fourteen-pound bowling ball crashed through the windshield, killing the man. Why? That question is almost irrepressible, isn't it? When we face freak accidents or tragic illnesses, the question, "Why?" instinctively forms on our lips. It's not enough to be told that the man was killed by the bowling ball because a nineteen-year-old in the car ahead foolishly flipped the ball out his window.

Jesus faced the same kind of question in his time. Apparently Pilate had some people from Galilee killed as they were worshiping. Just as they were offering a sacrifice, their own blood was spilt on the altar. The questions came, "Why?" Around this same time, the tower of Siloam collapsed, killing eighteen people. Again, the question, "Why?"

"Jesus, were these people more sinful than others? Were they deserving of the tragedy they experienced? Was God singling them out for punishment?" Jesus gave a brief but clear answer: "No!" God was not giving the victims their just deserts. God had not picked them out. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all.

It is hazardous to say whose side God is on simply by looking at what has happened to them or for them. We have heard politicians say, "America is great because America is good." And that claim may make us feel all warm inside. But in the time of the prophets—Isaiah and Jeremiah and others—Assyria was great but Assyria wasn't good by any godly standards. In Jesus' time, Rome was great, but that greatness had nothing to do with goodness.

Are the lottery winners of the world the ones God has favored? I don't know about you, but I always find it gratifying when I read that some man or woman who is out of work and has several small children wins the lottery. "All right!" I think. "That's the way it should happen."

But that's not the way it always happens. Some guy who left his family and hasn't been paying child support won the lottery a while back. Too bad his ex-wife didn't win. I remember several years ago in Illinois when no one claimed the lottery purse for several weeks. Finally someone showed up with the ticket. He found it on the floor of his car while he was cleaning it. The guy was a doctor. It didn't seem fair. Nothing against doctors, but I would have felt better if a custodian or a secretary found that lottery ticket.

God is not at work making sure everything comes out right every step of life's way. There are real injustices. The undeserving gain. The deserving lose. The innocent suffer. The guilty often never account for their actions.

When we don't get the rewards we deserve, we become acutely aware of the lack of justice in the world. I remember a "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip from several years ago that reminds me of comments I hear from my own children. Calvin says to his dad, "Why can't I stay up late? You guys can!" Then with a wide-mouthed protest he declares, "IT'S NOT FAIR!" His dad replies, "The world isn't fair, Calvin." Walking away with a sour look on his face, Calvin says, "I know, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?"

No, the world is not fair. In this present existence, people do not always get what they deserve. But we can overstate the case. Sometimes we go to the opposite extreme. We start thinking that sin is never punished by God and that suffering has nothing to do with disobedience. Jesus certainly wouldn't agree with that notion. It is one thing to say that suffering is not necessarily a sign of the sinfulness of the victim. It is a very different thing to say sinfulness never leads to the suffering of the sinner. According to Jesus, sin has tragic consequences. While Jesus denied that the people Pilate had killed and those who were crushed by the tower of Siloam were being punished for their evil, the Lord went on to say, "Unless you repent, you will perish as they did."

But the world is a morally messy place. The things that happen in the world are not subject to easy answers. Once we recognize the fact that prosperity is not automatically a product of righteousness and tragedy is not necessarily a result of sin, we may be tempted to conclude that God isn't really involved in anything that happens in this world. We may imagine God as a mere observer, passively watching the world, as Bette Midler sang, "from a distance." That's not the way Jesus saw it. God is a real player in the push and pull of life. There is judgment.

In this world that God has made, there are consequences to our actions built into the very structure of the world. The apostle Paul wrote, "You reap what you sow." Jesus said, "If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword." Even in this world, judgment sometimes comes. No, God does not reach down and zap particular people. But disobedience has consequences. Liars soon face the distrust of others. The violent are the most likely to become victims of violence. Where are death rates higher than among gang members?

Belinda Mason, a rural Kentucky native, mother of two, who contracted AIDS at age thirty-two was asked, "Do you think AIDS is a punishment from God?" She replied, "AIDS may be a test, not of the infected, but of those not infected. It tests their ability to respond in love." She is surely right. When we speak about punishment for sin in this world, it is not other people's supposed punishment and sin we should focus on, but our own. As Jesus said, "No, these people were not punished because they were such bad offenders. But unless you repent you will perish like them."

It is not our role to decide the punishment of others. It is, however, our duty to examine ourselves. That can be a sobering exercise. (Craig M. Watts)

ARTICLE: Adam Hamilton to Preach at Inaugural Prayer Service

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:15:16 GMT

By Ministry Matters

United Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton will be delivering the sermon at Tuesday's Inaugural National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral. Adam is the pastor of the 16,000+ member Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas.

Adam is the author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White, Final Words from the Cross, and most recently, The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus.

The prayer service is Tuesday January 22 at 10:30 a.m. ET and will be nationally televised. President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden are all scheduled to attend.

Links:

Preaching for the President's Inauguration - Adam Hamilton
Methodist Pastor Adam Hamilton to Preach at Inaugural National Prayer Service - Religion News Service

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: February 24, 2013

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 21:01:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

THE RIGHT WORD

GENESIS 15:1-12, 17-18

I purchased another book, Thesaurus of Alternatives to Worn-Out Words and Phrases, to help me find the right word for every occasion. Communicators are not the only people searching for the right word, or principle, to assist them to live effectively. Abram discovered that the right word was "the word of the Lord."

Abram's circumstances did not match his understanding of God's purpose. This believer was no apprentice, but during a difficult moment in his life was reminded that God was his "shield and exceeding great reward." In a vision God disclosed three characteristics of himself, three words, which reaffirm Abram's understanding.

I. The Word of the Lord Satisfies Life's Disappointments (vv. 1-6)
Abram had answered God's call and followed God faithfully. Still, there was a missing piece to the puzzle of God's promise: Abram did not have an heir. God's word corrected Abram's misunderstandings about his role in God's plan to bless the earth. The word of the Lord also confirms our purpose in God's plans, plans that are often beyond our comprehension. Further, the word of the Lord convinces us that faith and obedience are effective. Abram received a much needed word of reassurance. He "believed the Lord," or more accurately, he leaned upon the Lord. God was able to do what Abram was not.

II. Another Word of the Lord Strategically Details Life's Direction (vv. 7-11)
"I am the Lord," is the common formula of God's self-proclamation. Abram was old but not finished. When God spoke, his word renewed Abram's mission to possess the land. Even though Abram's life was not shaping up as he anticipated, God's plan was still the same. That word clarified Abram's vision by establishing a covenant and a call to action. The covenant became effective by Abram's obedience to follow God's instructions. With every step of obedience Abram grew more confident. When the birds of prey invaded the covenanting process, Abram drove them away as if he were driving away any remaining doubts about God. Abram had decided that nothing would stop him now!

III. The Word of the Lord Also Secures Life (vv. 12-15)
The darkness identifies insecurity that eventuates from fear and the unknown. God's word provides security for your life by terminating the turmoil of extreme persecution (v. 13). God's word also transposes injustice with extravagant prosperity (v. 14). You can be confident, just as Abram was, that God's justice reserves retribution for the faithless and reward for the faithful. Further, God's word transcends the temporal with eternal peace (v. 15). One sign of disfavor with God was to have no heir. Another sign of disfavor was to die prematurely, ravaged and dismembered in a battle of faith so that one's body parts could not be gathered for burial. God's promise assured Abram of his pleasure. Abram would live a long life, die in peace, and meet his ancestors in burial.

Look no further for a word to empower you to live successfully. God covenanted that day, to make real what he had already promised. Abram's vision ended with a likeness of God's presence, a flaming torch, and a likeness of his people's presence, a smoking fire pot, passing between the animal parts. The setting sun anticipated the dark years of Egyptian bondage, a bondage such as you may now feel. But through the darkness, God's promise flames with hope that you will be faithful and realize what God has already begun. The word of the Lord is the word for which you are searching. (Barry J. Beames)

HEROES NEEDED

PHILIPPIANS 3:17–4:1

"Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us." Charles Barkley made himself famous by declaring that he was not a role model for children. Parents should be role models and I am not your parent, he said. Well, who are your role models? Who are your heroes?

The man had organized community action volunteers all over the southwest. He was meeting with another group of Christian volunteers and he asked two questions: Who are your heroes and who are your enemies? He told them Jesus could not be used as an answer. An interesting pair of questions: Whom do you want to be like and who are your enemies? These Christian volunteers had a horrible time with both questions. Most of the volunteers could name somebody whom they admired, but they refused to name anybody as an enemy.

Paul has no trouble with either one. You ought to be imitators of me, and those who are living like I am living, and your enemies are those who are enemies of the Cross.

I. We Learn to Walk with Christ as We Imitate the Heroes
Living in faith is not living by a rule book; it is catching the spirit, the flavor, the quality of life of another Christian. That is why the church lives by the spoken word, the lived life of fellow believers who walk with Christ. That is one reason each community of faith needs a few old saints. The Christian faith is not done by the numbers. It is an attitude that is caught.

It is like the gentleness of a Mother Teresa, to whom young women all over the world come to feel and to live in her spirit. The way artists want to paint alongside a great artist to catch the energy and the spirit of the master. Don't tell young Christians how to live; tell them who to copy, show them one who has been walking in the steps of Jesus for a lifetime and say, "Do it like she does. Copy the way he has struggled in his life."

II. Watch Out for the Enemies
There are enemies of the Cross. There are those who will try to tell you that nothing is really important enough to undergo sacrifice. There are those who would want to say that God wants everybody to be happy and prosperous and any talk of a Cross is a setback for God's goodness. Why all this talk about sin and confession and repentance? Be positive. You are a child of God and you were meant for wonderful things.

Many years ago there was a very popular book called I'm O.K. You're O.K. One of the Christian saints suggested what Jesus might say from the Cross to that notion, "If everybody is OK, what am I doing up here?"

One of the greatest enemies of the Cross is our fascination and preoccupation with material possessions, the things of this earth. For some it is what we will eat, and what we will wear, and what we will drive, and where we will vacation, and the list goes on of the things that can be enemies of the Cross of Jesus.

Christian people need to encourage one another to have Christian heroes, Christian models. Young Christian disciples need to be encouraged to get to know the saints of a church and to listen to them. And we need to stop pretending that we do not have enemies. There are enemies of the Cross and we need to identify them so we can do as Jesus tells us and love them. Jesus says love your enemies, and pray for them. How are we to follow those instructions if we do not admit that we have enemies and opposition? Paul says, "Copy me." The principle is still valid—there is always some gentle faithful saint within your Christian community you can copy. Find your heroes and know your enemies. If we can identify what we want to become and know who we do not want to look like, it strengthens us for the long journey to the joy and grace of God's kingdom. (Rick Brand )

BLESSED OPPOSITION

LUKE 13:31-35

Recently I heard about a congregation where, at the conclusion of a hymn a young man jumped to his feet and shouted at the people, "You don't mean a word of it! You sang, 'All to Jesus I surrender,' 'Where he leads me I will follow,' 'Jesus, I my cross have taken.' How many of us have done or would really do that?" The congregation sat stunned under the impact of his words. The question haunted the people as they sat in the pews speechless, even after they realized the outburst was a preplanned part of the youth-sponsored special service (from William Powell Tuck, The Way for All Seasons, 163).

Do we really want to follow wherever Christ leads? Have we surrendered all to Jesus? Have we taken up the cross as our own? Those are tough questions. But they are not to be avoided if we intend to take Jesus Christ seriously. He never suggested that he would be content with the spare time or spare energy or spare change of his followers. He set no limits on the loyalty he expected, no constraints on the commitment he required. He not only insisted that his followers be distinctive in their devotion to him, he also told them that they should expect to suffer for that devotion.

As the ministry of Jesus neared its climax, he traveled to Jerusalem, teaching and healing along the way. The disciples knew that Jesus was heading for trouble. He was about to intrude on the center of the Jewish political and religious establishment. Others were concerned as well. Some Pharisees came to warn him. Pharisees were often opponents of Jesus. They were rigidly righteous and by their standards Jesus looked like a spiritual slouch, inattentive to the finer points of the Mosaic law. But apparently not all the Pharisees had it in for Jesus. A few of them came to warn him that King Herod wanted him dead. "Turn back," they urged.

Maybe you've heard warnings like that at one time or another. Perhaps you didn't like the way people on the bottom rung of the company you work for are treated. You saw that the working conditions are poor. They're underpaid. They're not dealt with respectfully by certain supervisors. You were about to take the matter to top management but more experienced voices in the company said, "Turn back!" Or maybe where you work some product that is being made isn't reliable or safe. Others know this but they hid the truth because its correction was too costly or convenient. You began to speak up but some warned, "Turn back!"

Or maybe you're at school and you see just how rotten some students are treated. Maybe they don't dress as nice or look a little goofy or tend to be awkward or tongue-tied. So they get teased a lot, never included. You decide to reach out and be a friend but other people in your circle say "Turn back!" You might find yourself rejected too. It's hard to do the right thing when you might have to pay a high price for it.

So the Pharisees warned Jesus to turn back and not to go to Jerusalem. Herod had already killed John the Baptist. Jesus would be next. But instead of heeding the warning, Jesus had a mission to accomplish. Threats and the likelihood of death would not turn him from his path. Regardless of the cost, he intended to do what God had called him to do.

How many of us are willing to do what God calls us to do? Isn't it true that we often reinterpret the will of God so that it fits more comfortably with our spiritual timidity? We squirm under the very thought of facing opposition, rejection, ridicule. So we define for ourselves a notion of faithfulness that will not seriously put us at odds with the mainstream of our cultures. Our Lord expects better of us.

In the historically based movie Braveheart, William Wallace rallies the people of medieval Scotland to fight for freedom against the oppressive and much more powerful forces of England. The Scottish nobles want to come to terms with the English because they fear for their lives. Wallace, challenging them to stand firm, declares, "All men die but not all truly live!" In different words, Jesus said the same thing. Some have listened and found strength to follow him.

Clarence Jordan, founder of the innovative interracial community Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, endured much harassment, threats, and attacks. He was visiting with a minister in a less controversial church. The man gave Jordan a tour of the building. The minister showed him the lovely stained glass and beautifully designed sanctuary. Then they stepped outside and the minister lifted his arm and pointed to the huge cross atop the steeple. "That cross alone cost well over $10,000," he said. "You got cheated!" Jordan declared. "Times were when Christians could get them for free."

One of the leading contemporary thinkers said, "In Christianity the cross is everything that deserves to be called Christian." The cross tells us that survival is overrated. Faithfulness to God is what matters most of all. The faithfulness of Christ won for us salvation. Our faithfulness, regardless of the cost, is our glad gratitude to the One to whom we owe all. (Craig M. Watts)

ARTICLE: Ministry Matters on the Go

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:18:36 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Getting ready for Sunday is now easier than ever with Ministry Matters' newly optimized mobile site. With a streamlined design and easy navigation, you can peruse This Sunday and browse blogs wherever you are: between hospital visits, waiting for a meeting to start, or sitting at the DMV.

Scroll through all the newest articles and features from the home screen, or tap "Menu" to jump to a ministry-area tab, the Library, or bins page. Access This Sunday from any of those pages.

Access and create bins just as you do on the full site, and keep your colleagues up to speed with either the site-based share buttons or the share functions on your mobile device.

Leave a comment without logging in, now that Ministry Matters (both mobile and full site) are equipped with the Disqus commenting system.

Check it out on your mobile device now, and tweet this page to tell everyone from where you're accessing Ministry Matters mobile. Tag @ministrymatters, and we'll follow you back!

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: February 17, 2013

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 20:48:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

WORSHIP HABITS

DEUTERONOMY 26:1-11

At a recent leadership conference I participated in breakout sessions where I was introduced to a variety of worship experiences. The opportunity to experience worship traditions that were different from my usual worship expression was refreshing.

The large banquet hall of the convention hotel was divided into several smaller sanctuaries. In one room you would find traditional worship furniture, familiar prelude music, and ushers distributing bulletins at the entrance. The congregation heard a call to worship, sang an opening hymn, listened to the announcements, greeted one another, sang another song, and took an offering! Then there was special music, a sermon with three points, an invitation, and closing prayer.

In the next room worshipers were welcomed to a Seeker Service, not by ushers but by a note in the program. Words to the two short songs were videographed on a large screen on the wall in front of the worshipers. Most of the music was performed. A dramatic presentation introduced the pastor's message of simple truths designed to acquaint non-Christians with the claims of Scripture. The invitational hymn was replaced by an invitation to meet with a church representative to acquire additional information about the church.

From down the hall echoed the upbeat tempo of the evangelistic worship tradition. Familiar songs like "Down at the Cross," "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder," and "I Surrender All" were parenthetically interrupted by emotional testimonies. The minister's sermon majored on the ruin of sin and the need of confession and salvation. And next door were heard the majestic chords of sacred anthems, Scripture, and responsive readings. A divided chancel, robed platform personalities, and a message focused on Christian responsibility in our culture engaged worshipers with a liturgical style of worship.

While our worship traditions may vary, three distinct principles from Moses' instruction to Israel provided directions for worship to be genuine and meaningful. These guidelines anticipated Israel's possession of the Promised Land.

I. Worship That Possesses the Promise of God Is Characterized by Concentration (vv. 1-4)
Albert Palmer, former President of the Chicago Theological Seminary, insisted that worship provides the miracle necessary for religion to endure. We concentrate on God by seeking the place where God has placed his name. We also concentrate on God by seeking the priest God has placed in our midst. As God's representative the priest was a spiritual guide to assist in the development of a proper relationship with God. Faithfulness, loyalty, and trust in God's appointed leaders are qualities that enable us to possess God's promise.

II. Worship That Possesses the Promise of God Is Also Confessional (vv. 5-7)
These verses form an outline of the Pentateuch as the worshiper confesses her or his own finiteness. Moses also directs us to confess God's divine omnipotence in verses 8-9 by acknowledging the greatness of God, expressing the deliverance of God, and testifying to the generosity of God. Confession results in a personal submission (v. 10), which is confirmed by an impressive demonstration of obedience and an individual relationship with God that finds expression in daily life.

III. Worship That Possesses the Promise of God Is Also Characterized by Celebration
The people of God should have a reputation of joy and celebration. Moses does not refer to an emotional response, but a disciplined habit. That habit rejoices in the unity of the people of God, the extended grace of God, and an exceptional walk with God. In these areas we discover the promises of God that surprise and enrich mundane spirituality.

You can possess the promises of God with the right worship habits! (Barry J. Beames)

THE WORD IS NEAR YOU

ROMANS 10:8b-13

"The Word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)" (v. 8). This suggests that it is no great secret. The Word is near. The confession of faith that is redemptive is almost a spontaneous confession. It is on the tip of the tongue. It is the heart's reaction to life. But the confession needs some content. It has to have form and substance.

Dwight Eisenhower once suggested that what this country needed was faith, and it did not matter what faith. By contrast, the apostle Paul is convinced that the shape and content of that faith is critically important. He tells us there are some things that are essentials if the faith we hold is to be called Christian. What are those essentials?

I. Jesus Is Lord
"If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord"—that the event of Jesus is the highest manifestation of God; that in Jesus we have discovered the purest form of goodness.

Walker Percy, in one of his novels, has a character in search of one truly evil event. The character had been present when so many terribly wicked events had been "explained" away as sickness or as misguided good. For instance, the man who shot sixteen children in Dunblane, Scotland, was mentally unbalanced, or Hitler was simply attempting to build a great new human race.

The Christian faith, on the other hand, declares that in the life, person, and work of Jesus we discover the mighty power of grace and love that humanity is not capable of creating in its own power. That goodness, that grace, that love is the supreme authority and power over all creation. Jesus is Lord.

II. God Raised Jesus from the Dead
"And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead"—that the love, goodness, grace, and mercy that is in Jesus could not be allowed to be destroyed by death. The power and might of death is not able to contain, to hold, to destroy the goodness, grace, the love of God for creation, and so God stood Jesus back up on Easter Sunday morning.

Paul says that kind of conviction is not far from our lips, and our hearts are looking for that faith. We want to believe in the power of love, we want to affirm the power of God to retrieve life out of the power of death. It is part of our created image of God that we want to live in that kind of faith. It is the conviction of heart that God is able and God is active in saving goodness from Death. Publicly declaring that we are servants of the grace that has been made visible in Jesus makes us part of the community of salvation.

What is fascinating and exciting in this passage is that once Paul has affirmed that we confess Jesus as Lord and that goodness and grace have been resurrected from the dead, Paul says it is the same for Greeks and Jews. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Our joy as Christians is to get to share with them that all their hearts yearn for and their spirits strive after has been demonstrated and done in Jesus. The Word is near all of us. All we have to do is to help them hear and affirm it. (Rick Brand )

TEMPTED

LUKE 4:1-13

It is a strange story. Jesus is in conversation with Satan. It's hard to imagine. We expect Jesus to be in conversation with God the Father. As we read the Gospels, time after time, we find Jesus at prayer. Jesus was in constant conversation with God. But in the Scripture text for today, we find Jesus in a very different sort of conversation.

Jesus was tempted. He struggled over how to live his life and how to do his ministry. Satan tried to draw the Lord away from God's good plan for salvation. Satan offered Jesus easier options than death on a cross.

Often the most powerful temptations are the most subtle ones. Blatant sin is easier to spot and easier to avoid. The sin that is really hard to resist is sin for a good cause. Good causes have justified a multitude of evils. When Satan came to Jesus, he didn't try to get him to steal or kill or lie. He simply tried to get Jesus to pursue his mission by using other means than God's means. Sometimes we try to out-think God. We ignore God's guidelines and instead devise our own plans. We trade God's will for our own clever techniques. We may try to pursue a good goal but not by God's method. That is the kind of temptation Jesus faced.

For us, what is temptation?

"The tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread' " (v. 3).

When Nancy McGraw returned to her office from a meeting, her secretary greeted her with a message: "Drake Henson wants to see you in his office at 3:00 today," she said. Henson was vice president for sales. When the time came, Nancy walked down the hall to Henson's spacious office. "You wanted to see me?" asked Nancy. "Yes, come on in and have a seat," said Henson. From the smile on his face, she knew that the news was good.

Henson began, "Nancy, I think you'll be pleased to hear that you're being offered a promotion. You've done such a fine job we want to offer you the position of chief sales trainer for the Southeast region. You've always been a hard worker. In this company, hard work pays off. Congratulations!"

Nancy McGraw squirmed in her chair, took a deep breath and hesitantly spoke. "Mr. Henson, I am genuinely pleased you have so much confidence in me. I've always tried to do the best job I can. But I'm already away from my family more days a month than I prefer. I know he's only kidding, but my son sometimes refers to me as 'that strange woman.' I'm afraid if I'm gone much more my family will really begin to feel that I'm a stranger."

With a look of disappointment on his face, her boss remarked, "What exactly are you saying? You know you're being offered a real opportunity here."

Nancy shifted in her seat as she began to speak. "I realize this is an important promotion. But it will require me to travel so much that I'll be away from my family twice as much as I am now. We used to do a lot of things together. It's hard for us to even go to church together anymore. I have to think about my family."

Henson shook his head in dismay. "Your family? This is for your family. Just think about all you'll be able to do for them with the significant increase in salary you'll receive. You want to provide the best for them, don't you?"

"And Jesus answered him, 'It is written "One shall not live by bread alone" ' " (v. 4).

"The devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, 'To you, I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me it will all be yours' " (5-7).

A group of concerned Christians from all over the city had gathered. It wasn't a large group, but they were committed and they knew they represented the feeling of a lot more people. The congressman speaking to them was intense. The men and women in the group were nodding in agreement. An occasional "Amen" could be heard.

"We have to take America back!" he proclaimed. "Pornography, illegal drugs, and the breakdown of the family are undermining the moral fiber of this country. We can't just stand around and do nothing. It's time we get tough. Stricter law enforcement, longer prison sentences, capital punishment for more crimes. This country needs to promote righteousness. Prayer and Bible reading should be a part of every public schoolroom's activities. It's time for church leaders and politicians to team up to make America Christian again."

The group burst into applause. Before long, the affair ended, and Mary Elliot approached the smiling congressman. "I agreed with a lot that you said," she began. "But I still have some serious questions. You talked a lot about getting tough on crime but not much about getting tender with the needy. What about the homeless and hungry?" His smile was almost gone.

"And I'm not so sure the churches should depend on the government to promote our faith. We shouldn't look to the government to step in. We don't need a government handout to do our work. Righteousness is not something you impose; it's something God inspires."

"Look lady," he said. "Politicians like me are doing Christians a big favor. What the churches can't do by persuasion, we can do by legislation. What you can't do with a gentle word, we can do with the power to prosecute. I think it would be smart for your people to team up with folks in high places."

And Jesus said, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him' " (v. 8).

What is temptation?

"Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here' " (v. 9).

The church the Reverend Adam Jones served was once one of the largest in the state. But for the past twenty years, it had been in a decline. The population of the entire region was smaller than it once was. Several large factories had closed and people moved elsewhere to find jobs. The church felt the shift of the population as its membership shrunk.

Something had to be done. The chairman of the board of the church said his brother's church hired a firm that did wonders for the growth of his congregation. The board agreed to call in the outfit to see if they could do the same thing for their church.

Barry Baker came from Growing Churches Advertising Incorporated. His presentation was powerful. "If your church wants to soar with the eagles rather than waddle with the ducks, you have to try things no one else has ever done. You have to set yourself apart, get noticed. In our day and age, you have to grab the public's attention."

Heads nodded with agreement all over the room. People were smiling with dreams of better days to come.

Barry Baker continued, "You have to make the public know you're not a run-of-the-mill congregation. Down in Texas, there is a church that has been growing in leaps and bounds since the church began to sponsor an annual Christian body builders contest. They promote themselves as the 'hard body church: the healthiest congregation in town.' The Sunday before the contest the minister preaches with his shirt off."

A few of the people had their mouths gaping open in surprise. One older man raised his hand and spoke, "I recall Jesus once said the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed or like leaven in bread dough. It grows less conspicuously."

The consultant swept the comment aside. "That was a long time ago," he said. "Things have changed. You have to face up to the competition. My motto is 'Whatever it takes.' You have to do something that's a big deal, something people can't ignore. For instance, since you want to project an image as a vital cutting-edge church, I propose that you start a group called, 'Bungee Jumpers for Jesus.' I even have a great motto for you: 'We have a faith that always bounces back.' What do you think?"

"Jesus answered him, 'It is said, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test" ' " (v. 12). (Craig M. Watts)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: February 10, 2013

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 01:11:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

IN GOD'S PRESENCE

EXODUS 34:29-35

Moses had led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt into the desert at Mount Sinai. There he went up the mountain into the Presence of the Lord (v. 28). Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

After a long stay on Mount Sinai receiving the commandments from God, Moses came down to his people at the foot of the mountain. He was unaware that "his face shone because he had been talking with God" (v. 29).

Aaron and the people of Israel were afraid because Moses' face was strangely aglow (v. 30). Moses had to call them to himself and tell them what God had commanded through the Lawgiver. Afterward, Moses had to put a veil over his face whenever he spoke with the Lord.

We find a similar experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus' face shone in the presence of his disciples, Peter, James, and John (Luke 9:28-36). Both accounts tell of the mysterious and awesome experience of the Presence of God—the Shekinah Glory. Moses and Jesus were changed in appearance and their faces shone in the Presence. Note that Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Moses encountered the Almighty at the burning bush, on Mount Sinai, and in the wilderness when the divine Presence led the children of Israel by a pillar of fire or cloud. We can experience the Presence of God in many ways.

• God is present in the world he created. "This is my Father's world: he shines in all that's fair; in the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere" ("This Is My Father's World," Maltbie D. Babcock, 1901).

• God is present in our worship. Jesus promised to be with us wherever two or more gather in his name. We may experience his focused presence in our observance of the Lord's Supper. The Reformers called this "the Realized Presence." Altar candles used in some church traditions are symbolic of the divine Presence in worship.

• God is present in believers. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit ("Christ in you, the hope of glory"). Before Jesus' ascension to the Father, he said to his disciples, "Be assured, I am with you always, to the end of time" (Matt. 28:20 NEB).

It is a transforming experience to be in the presence of God. We have sensed this in reading the Scriptures and in prayer time, in private or public worship. We may feel his presence in our conscience. Often we are aware of the Creator in the beauty and wonder of the natural world. God can become real to us in the lives of other persons. He speaks with many voices. "He speaks to me everywhere." (Alton H. McEachern)

REMOVING THE VEIL

2 CORINTHIANS 3:12–4:2

Have you ever tried to share your faith with someone, but they just didn't get it? Paul encountered that frustration every time he tried to witness to the Jews. All they understood was Moses and the Law. They did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah because they could not see beyond their preconceived notions of who the Messiah would be.

The same problem occurs today. As people are confronted with the person of Christ, they turn away because they are unwilling to see past the veil of their particular perspective. Unless they turn to Christ and allow him to remove that barrier, they will forever be trapped in disbelief.

I. Without Christ, Everyone Is Blinded by a Veil
The modern age of relativism teaches us to value personal opinion above objective truth. As we journey through life, our experiences either confirm or contradict our presuppositions about God and the world around us. The result is a multiplicity of contrasting worldviews, each forming a barrier to reality.

Just as the Jews stood condemned in their zeal for the old covenant of the law, so are those who continue to have their minds dulled by refusing to follow Christ. We remain steadfast in ignorance affirming the fallacies of subjective experience. The deceit of our own lies veils our eyes from the revelation of Truth, which is Jesus Christ.

II. Only Christ Can Remove the Veil
Imagine being blind your entire life and suddenly receiving the gift of sight. The insurmountable joy would be surpassed only by the fresh awareness of the world around you. Vivid colors, depth perception, a bird in flight—all would reveal a new understanding of reality.

Christ came to give sight to the blind! As we turn to the Lord, Jesus responds by lifting the veil. Instantly, we perceive the truth of Christ and our need for him. He delivers us from the enslavement of sin and releases us into the freedom of becoming all that we were created to be.

III. Freedom in Christ Means Boldness in Proclamation
Once Christ removes the veil and reality unfolds, the believer desires to share the news with those around him. Being freed from the shackles of deceit compels one to liberate others. Our hope intensifies our boldness to openly proclaim truth in Christ.

Paul confesses the simplicity of his rhetorical approach. He needs no special tactics or manipulative effects. Rather, he speaks the truth plainly and allows the impact of objective fact to leave its own impression.

As God's treasure chests, we must open ourselves and permit others to partake of the riches of the Savior. We need no formal training in the art of persuasion. Just tell the story of who Jesus is and what he has done for you and leave the rest to God. If the listener rejects the truth, it is through no fault of your own. Some people will never turn to the Lord. To them, the gospel remains veiled, even as they are perishing. (Craig C. Christina)

CHANGED!

LUKE 9:28-36 (37-43)

This event shows Jesus as he moved beyond the roles other people tried to give him. He had recently predicted his own death but the disciples did not want to hear it. They had their own plans for Jesus. Don't we all?

But Jesus knew where he came from and where he was going. The dramatic events on the mount of transfiguration speak about change—his and ours. Consider the development of the story.

I. Identity: Consider Jesus—This Is God's Son
A cluster of Old Testament images bubble to the surface in this story. "Light," "Moses," "cloud," and "Elijah" are all images from the Jewish past. They remind us what God has always been up to. Moses reminds us of the law. Elijah represents the prophets. The light and cloud picture the presence of God.

The experience of transfiguration was a time when the disciples were confronted with Jesus' identity in a new way. The voice from the cloud proclaimed him as God's son.

Who do you think he is? No one can make you believe in him, but once you do, no one can make you disbelieve. Jesus comes into our lives and we find ourselves following him out of love and loyalty.

Dr. Edward Benes was the Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Thomas Masaryk, the first President of Czechoslovakia when it came into existence in 1918. Benes is buried in Lany, a town about twenty-five miles outside Prague. His grave, along with those of three Masaryks, is unmarked. Shortly before his death Benes told a friend why he wanted an unmarked grave: "If the people love me, I shall live in their hearts and they will never forget the place of my grave; hence an identification is unnecessary. If they do not love me, I shall be forgotten in their hearts; and the most elaborate tombstone will make no difference."

Loyalty to Christ is like that. We are confronted with his true identity and called to follow.

II. Discipleship: This Is God's Son—Listen to Him
The event on the mountain deeply disturbed the disciples. They did not know what to make of it at first. We learn that they did not even speak of it until much later. They were confronted with a new way of thinking about Jesus.

"Listen to him," the voice said. That is still the word that comes to disciples today. Listen to Jesus as he raises our ethical vision. His sacrifice was part of God's larger plan. Listen to Jesus as he calls us to join him. We are to take up our own cross and follow. Listen to Jesus as other voices call to us and try to get us to abandon the narrow path.

This is God's Son. Listen to him.

III. Transformation: Listen to Him—And You Will Be Changed
The word transfiguration is the word from which we get our word metamorphosis. It is a change from the inside out. That can be painful.

Simon Peter wanted to seize the moment of glory on the mountain and build booths to stay awhile. He wanted to stay on the mountain of high spiritual experience and eliminate struggle and doubt. But some experiences cannot be captured or held back.

The transfiguration showed that Jesus was different from what the disciples first believed. They had to learn to listen to him. Then they found out that they themselves were changed. We are like them in that we can participate in the transformation of men and women around us who see the light.

As a boy, Robert Louis Stevenson looked out of his window one evening. Those were the days before electric lights. Stevenson saw the town lamplighter coming along. As this lamplighter lit the street lamps in succession, Stevenson was impressed at the sight. He wrote about the lamplighter who went along "punching holes in the darkness." Jesus Christ came into this world as a light, and he punched holes in the darkness.

Consider Jesus. He is God's Son. That is his identity. He is God's Son. Listen to him. He calls us to discipleship. Listen to him. You will be changed. This is transformation. (Don M. Aycock)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: February 3, 2013

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:19:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

THE WORD OF THE LORD

JEREMIAH 1:4-10

Jeremiah's name means "the Lord hurls." Michelangelo painted him on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel as a man of great strength and sorrow—the weeping prophet. "The Word of the Lord" came to Jeremiah and he became a reluctant conscript (vv. 6-8).

Jeremiah preached a religion of the heart and called for repentance and an ethical lifestyle. He was a prophet for forty years until the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. He was a colorful and courageous prophet who held out the hope of a new covenant (chap. 31).

"The Word of the Lord" is a major biblical motif. The world was created by the Word of God (Gen. 1) . Prophets like Jeremiah received their message and inspiration from the "Word of the Lord" (v. 4). John's Gospel presents Christ as the Living Word of God (1:1-18). Here we see three truths revealed in Jeremiah's prophecy.

I. God Knows Us (v. 5)
Heaven knows its own. The Almighty knew Jeremiah before he was born and appointed him a prophet to the nations. Divine providence was at work in his life. The word here, "I knew you," means more than acquaintance. It is the biblical word for profound and intimate knowledge of a person. In Genesis, it is the word used to describe the intimate knowledge of husband and wife. Adam "knew" Eve and she conceived and gave birth to a son, Cain (Gen. 4:1) .

II. God Is with Us (v. 9)
Jeremiah, like Moses, was a reluctant conscript to the Lord's service. He considered himself too young and inexperienced to become a prophet (v. 6). Jeremiah was hesitant, but the call of God was insistent. Little is much, when God is in it.

God gave Jeremiah the words to speak. Compare the promise of Jesus in Matthew 10:19-20. The Spirit will speak through us.

III. God's Word Is Powerful (v. 10)
It is dynamic and accomplishes God's purpose (see Isaiah 55:10-11). The Word from God can build up or destroy. We tend to take words lightly. The Hebrews considered them powerful—a curse or a blessing were as much deeds as words.

When we were children and someone called us a name, we retorted by saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!" As adults, we know that is not true. Words can hurt terribly or they can encourage and build us up. Words are powerful. How much more is this true of the Word of God?

Jeremiah discovered that divine providence had a plan and purpose for his life. He never escaped that sense of call. How do we discover God's will for our lives?

•Follow your bent, your gifts and preferences.

•Listen for the intuitive impression of the Spirit on your consciousness.

•Enter the open door of opportunity.

God calls every believer to discover his or her ministry. Are you listening? (Alton H. McEachern)

WHERE'S THE LOVE?

1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13

With all the hatred and violence of this present age, one cannot help but ask, "Where's the love?" Now more than ever, the Christian community needs to shine the light of Christ's unconditional agape love to a world in darkness. But how can the church accomplish this mission if it is divided against itself?

Such was the case for the believers in Corinth. Debates and controversies ripped apart those who claimed to be followers of Christ. In particular, pride over certain spiritual gifts prompted Paul to remind them of the most important quality missing in that family of faith: love.

The deadly tendency for disputes to arise over secondary issues forces us to examine how love responds in truth. Unfortunately, church conflicts and denominational controversies beg the same question, "Where's the love?" So in 1 Corinthians 13 , Paul poetically illuminates where the love of Christ should be found.

I. Christ's Love Should Be Found in Our Gifts
He begins by identifying the futility of exercising spiritual gifts without love. The Holy Spirit gives every believer at least one gift ( Rom. 12:6) . Whether or not one uses it constructively depends upon the attitude of the heart. Genuine love reaches beyond the parameters of selfishness to incorporate concern for all believers first and the world second.

However, the Corinthians valued self-importance. Sure they used their spiritual gifts, but only as it brought glory to themselves. Sensing this egocentric focus, Paul responds by saying, "If I were Superman and could leap tall buildings in a single bound but only used my power selfishly, then I gain nothing." The temporal praise of today vanishes in the shadow of the eternal reward of our God who demonstrated authentic love on the cross. To follow Christ's example, we must exercise our gifts in a spirit of love for the edification of others.

II. Christ's Love Should Be Found in Our Actions
After addressing internal motivation, Paul reveals specific qualities of love to be pursued and potential pitfalls to be avoided. For love is more than an orientation, it is an activity. By the visible demonstration of this virtue, society gains insight into the true identity of Christ and his followers.

One of the major misconceptions in our culture centers upon the definition of love. The world tends to define love according to psychological dispositions and sensual appetites. People fall "in love," one might have a "lover," or a couple might "make love." These fallacies ultimately return to an egotistical understanding of how love satisfies the self.

Paul reminds us that real love does not seek to satiate empty gratifications or to fulfill personal ambitions. Instead, it manifests enduring kindness toward others and righteous zeal for truth.

III. Christ's Love Should Be Found in Our Maturity
One of the greatest ironies in life is that the more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. As technology advances exponentially, scientists have begun to admit that they are left with more questions than answers.

Believers who think they have God figured out should listen to the scientists, and to Paul. For in the concluding verses of this chapter, Paul exposes the imperfections of a faith that dogmatically clings to partial truths. While Christians affirm the objective truths revealed in scripture, they should admit the limitations of all that can be known. Children make wild boasts about their abilities, but mature disciples humbly await that day when perfect truth will be perfectly known. In this way, love triumphs over arrogance as we walk united in humility and respect.

As the church seeks to proclaim good news, let their actions speak as loudly as their words. For people need faith, and they need hope. But greater than these, they need to find love. (Craig C. Christina)

WHO OWNS GOD?

LUKE 4:21-30

Who owns God? This is a strange question; to some it may even sound blasphemous. But look again at the story of Jesus' return to his hometown. At first, everything seemed to go well. The people spoke highly of Jesus. After all, this was one of their own. What wisdom. What graceful speech. The home folks were proud of their own—up to a point.

That point was reached when Jesus dared to reinterpret their religious traditions. Notice the progression of their reception. They went from pride, to bewilderment, to fury. Why? Exactly what did Jesus teach during his inaugural sermon in Nazareth? Consider these ideas.

I. God Is Unpredictable
In verses 25-26, Jesus reminded his hearers of the story from their history of Elijah. During a time of drought in Israel, everyone in the nation suffered. The predictable thing was that God would have heard their prayers and sent rain. But Jesus tried to get his people to realize that God is unpredictable. God sent the prophet Elijah, not to the people of Israel, but to a widow woman in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. She was a foreigner! Elijah brought her comfort by first performing a miracle by replacing the last of her flour and oil. The widow took the last of her food and shared it with Elijah. The result was that the food was replenished. The widow and her son had all they wanted to eat. A little later, the son of this widow got sick and died. Elijah raised him to life.

Why didn't the prophet help the people of Israel? Wouldn't that have been the expected, predictable thing? Yes, it would have, but God is a God of surprises. God is unpredictable in that he does things that normal human wisdom would not anticipate. Grace is one such unpredictable act of God toward us.

II. God Is Uncontrollable
Next, Jesus reminded his hearers of the story of the time when many in Israel had leprosy. The prophet Elisha acted to cleanse one person during his time. But that one person was not a Hebrew. He was Naaman, a Syrian—an outsider! Surely people in Israel did their best to beg God to heal their sick. But God chose to heal a non-Jew. Why? We cannot know all the reasons but perhaps God was trying to teach that he is owned and controlled by no one. God is the Sovereign Lord and chooses whom he will. No group of people can claim him in an exclusive right. God is uncontrollable by humans.

III. God Is Unstoppable
The great irony of this passage is that Jesus was welcomed at first but then rejected because he reminded the people that God is God and the exclusive property of no one. Jesus' own people turned on him. We are told they drove him out of town and took him to the edge of a cliff to throw him off. Now that is an incredible reaction to a sermon!

Luke tells us, "But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way." This, in a sense, is the story of the entire gospel message. People tried to hijack it for their own uses. They tried to set the terms for God's actions. They tried to determine who was "worthy" and who was "unworthy." But Jesus "walks right through them." One scholar says, "There are always people who want God on their terms, but one cannot have God while rejecting God's people."

What is God doing among us? Does he need to "keep on going" because he is not welcomed here on his own terms? Are we trying to control God and predict his actions because we think we have him all figured out? As the people in Jesus' hometown learned, God is unpredictable, uncontrollable, and unstoppable. You see, no one owns God! (Don M. Aycock)

ARTICLE: Prayers and Suggested Readings for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:11:43 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Pastoral Prayer

IT IS GIVEN to only a few people, O God, to rise above the crowds and become symbols of hope and passion to all of us. We thank you for these persons, from Moses and Christ to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., and for the way they remind us of your care and grace for all the little ones of the earth. We praise you today, on Dr. King’s birthday, for the qualities that shaped his life: for a strong sense of justice, that regarded all souls as having importance in your eyes; for an unshakeable belief in love and gentleness, that would not permit him to turn to violence in order to achieve his dreams; for a commitment to sacrifice, that led him forward without regard for his own safety; and for an ultimate trust in you, that you would never abandon those who stand up for truth and righteousness in the world. We mourn what the world did to him—the pain and the degradation, and finally the death. But we celebrate the dream for which he stood, of a society where the lion and the lamb would lie down together, and the children of all races and backgrounds would mingle together in sweetness and harmony of spirit. Help us to be as committed to that dream as he was, to care as much about the poor and disenfranchised as he did, to be prepared to pay the price that he paid to insure its ultimate success. Teach us to love all men and women as our brothers and sisters, and to care as much about their welfare as we care about our own. And grant that we shall always have heroes whom we admire for their moral clarity, their unremitting courage, and their passion for righteousness, that your name and your way may be honored in all the world. Through Christ our Savior. Amen.

Responsive Prayer

Leader: We are grateful, O God, for those whose lives inspire our own.

People: We pray that we may be more like them.

Leader: Grant that we may aspire to more than a fleeting popularity and a temporary fame.

People: Make us yearn for true greatness in our midst—for those who actually serve your kingdom with all their hearts and all their might.

Leader: Help us to follow the real leaders and not the false leaders.

People: Give us the grace to discern who the real leaders are, and to honor them while they are living.

Leader: Let the spirit of Christ be in us all, to teach us truth and not error, and love and not hate.

People: And grant that we may be ready, like your servant Martin Luther King, Jr., to pay any price in the service of your kingdom.

All: Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: January 27, 2013

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:49:58 GMT

By Ministry Matters

LESSONS LEARNED AT THE WATER GATE

NEHEMIAH 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

The bungled break-in at the Watergate Hotel in the summer of 1972 ultimately brought down the Presidency of Richard Nixon and changed forever the lives of many who were part of that administration. In fact, a whole new vocabulary was introduced into our political dictionary. Any potential scandal is now quickly identified by the suffix "gate"—such as Iran-gate or Whitewater-gate.

Did you know that another important event is associated with the Water Gate? This story is found in the Old Testament, in the book of Nehemiah. A remnant had returned from exile. The wall around the city of Jerusalem had been restored. Now moral and spiritual rebuilding had to take place. The remnant must come to see themselves as people of God.

Ezra, the scribe, is the key figure. The law of God is the key document. The people of God are active participants. The Spirit of God is the empowering agent. What are the lessons learned from this experience?

I. We Must Hear the Word (vv. 1-3)
Abraham believed the word that came from God and thus began one of the greatest pilgrimages of faith. The psalmist asked, "How can a young man keep his way pure?" and answers "By living according to your word. . . . I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" Ps. 119:9, 11 NIV).

Paul reminds us that "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" Rom. 10:17 NIV).

Before the Word of God can be believed, remembered, or appropriated, it must be heard. Karl Barth referred to the Word of God in its threefold form: written, living, and preached. The importance of the preached Word in the context of worship should not be underestimated. Just as the men and women of Israel were willing to stand for hours listening to the Word of God, so we, too, must be willing to invest the time, effort, and energy necessary to hear God's Word. Jesus said, "Let him who has ears to hear, hear."

II. We Must Respond to the Word (vv. 5-6)
Kierkegaard once observed that in worship God is the audience, we are the participants. As Ezra read the Law, the people of God responded with praise and assent. Our hearts are made alive by faith and through the working of the Holy Spirit. We are liberated from sin and self that we might live to the praise and glory of God. Jesus said that the true worshipers of God do so "in spirit and in truth." The objective side of faith is the truth of God revealed in Christ. The subjective side of faith is in our personal appropriation of that truth through the response of commitment.

III. We Must Grow to More Fully Understand God's Word (vv. 8-10)
St. Augustine said, "I believe that I may understand." Often we encounter would-be believers who say, "if I could only be sure that I could live the Christian life, I would believe." Just as a person cannot learn to swim apart from getting into the pool, so we cannot live the Christian life at a purely theoretical level. Faith precedes understanding. Once we commit to God, we then will spend the rest of our lives coming to more fully understand the nature and will of God.

We are to make disciples, baptize them, and then teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. We must hear and respond to the Word of God in order that we might grow to more fully understand that word. (L. Joseph Rosas, III)

COOPERATION THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE

1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-31a

A discovery has been made that when the roots of trees touch, there is a substance present that reduces competition. This unknown fungus helps link roots of various trees, including dissimilar species. A whole forest may be incorporated together in this manner. If one tree has access to nutrients, another to water, and a third to sunlight, the trees have the means to cooperate with one another to live.

Multiple analyses are made to show a need for cooperation and support for one another. The tree illustration is one way to analyze the situation, while Paul in his letter to the Corinthians uses the body as a symbol of cooperation.

I. Cooperation with the Head: Christ (vv. 12-13)
Paul pictures Jesus in the Corinthian text as the head of the church. Christ is the unifying power that keeps the body together. In this role he helps, thinks, guides, and directs the body.

A university professor performed an experiment in his classes that awed him every time he did it. On an oak table he placed a pile of horseshoe nails and in one corner of the same room was a powerful dynamo. When the electric current was flipped on and the poles of the battery were brought up under the table, immediately there was constituted about the table a field of magnetic force. As long as the field of force was maintained the loose horseshoe nails could be built up into various forms, like a cube, a square, or an arch. As long as the current was on, the nails would stay in exactly the form placed as if they had been soldered together. But the moment the current was cut off the nails would fall into a shapeless mass.

Christ's unifying power is to Christians as the field of magnetic force was to the nails. If we do not allow him to be the head of life or the church, there will be a great collapse of morals, ethics, and spirit.

II. Cooperation with the Body: Church (vv. 14-27)
As Christ is the example of cooperation with God for the individual, he is also an example for the rest of the body. On a blank leaf of a grandmother's Bible was drawn a circle with several radii converging to the center, which was named Christ. On the radii were written the names of different denominations of Christians. Underneath the circle she had written, "The nearer the center, the nearer to one another." In 1998 we need to be nearer the center!

III. Cooperation with a Purpose: Service (vv. 28-31a)
Paul teaches that each Christian has a distinct contribution to give for the benefit of the whole. It comes by way of service to others. Martin Luther said that a Christian person is the most free of any other, Lord of all, and subject to none; but that person is also the most dutiful servant to all and subject to everybody. Serving others is certainly the Christian's responsibility as Christ demonstrated. Let it be as Robin McGregor has written: "Put a world in my heart, Lord Jesus. Give me lips to tell the Good News." (Derl G. Keefer)

ARE WE TRUE TO OUR MISSION?

LUKE 4:14-21

I saw a card on a restaurant table recently that stated the company's mission. Accrediting agencies determine if a college fulfills its stated mission. A national bestseller declares individual effectiveness will only come to those who struggle to draft a personal mission statement.

In the hometown synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus used a section of Isaiah's prophecy for his mission statement. Since the church is the Body of Christ, are we true to his mission? Here is a standard by which we can assess the effectiveness of our life and work as the people of God.

I. The Church Works by the Spirit
Luke emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in the mission of Jesus (1:35; 3:22; 4:1, 14, 18). The book of Acts focuses on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church. Fulfilling the commission of the church depends on the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:7) .

Power can be unleashed or harnessed. The energy in ten gallons of gasoline can be released explosively with a lighted match. Or it can be channeled through a car engine and used to transport a person 350 miles.

The Holy Spirit works both ways. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit exploded on the scene. Thousands were affected by one burst of God's power. But the Spirit also works through the church. Through worship, fellowship, and service Christians tap into lasting power.

II. The Church Proclaims the Good News
Jesus chose a text with three references to proclamation. The Holy Spirit anoints the church to "preach good news." When the early church faced opposition, they prayed for the Lord to "enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness" Acts 4:29 NIV). Boldly proclaim because of what the good news can bring to the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. The Lord promises freedom, sight, and release.

I presented my bill to the restaurant cashier. She looked at my check and asked who I was. "Oh, you're a preacher." Without other customers in line we had the opportunity to talk and I inquired about her church. "Yes, I go to church, I'm afraid not to." A church where people discover good news and a changed life is a church you want to be part of. Expectant joy prompts involvement.

III. The Church Ministers to All People
The categories of need described in this mission statement describe more than spiritual realities. Physical, social, and emotional ills exist that the church must not ignore. Much to the dislike of the hometown crowd, Jesus also included the Gentiles as recipients of God's favor. The church's mission extends to every person and every need.

Ralph Neighbour tells about a Houston church that exemplified evangelism that cares. This church reached out to a former corporation president dying of cancer. When asked if he was prepared to die the man said, "If your God is so great why doesn't he do something about the real problems of life?" He went on to tell about leaving his wife penniless and his daughter without money for college. In a rage he ordered the pastor and deacon to leave his room. The two witnesses returned later and apologized. Then they reported their efforts to sell the man's house and the opportunity to invest the proceeds for his daughter's education. They found his family a residence where they could live without rent. His wife had a job offer. The patient cried like a baby. He died shortly thereafter, so wrapped in pain he never accepted Christ. His widow, touched by caring Christians, responded to the gospel message.

Let's be the kind of church that reaches out to every person, every family, and makes a difference in Christ's name. (Bill D. Whittaker)

ARTICLE: Looking for iPreach?

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 19:20:15 GMT

By Ministry Matters

The iPreach content can now be found as part of the Ministry Matters™ website on the Library tab.

What is Ministry Matters™?

Ministry Matters™ is a destination site for all church leaders, paid and volunteer, interdenominational and nondenominational. The site’s goals are threefold: to equip, connect, and inspire people in ministry.

I’ve subscribed to iPreach, so what will I get with the Ministry Matters Premium Subscription?

You will have access to the iPreach content now found under the Ministry Matters™ Library tab. You will also have full access to new online content listed here Ministry Matters Premium Subscriber.

How much will this cost me?

There is no additional charge for iPreach subscribers until your renewal date. More information on subscriptions is available here.

What if I still have questions?

Email subscriptions@ministrymatters.com or call 1-800-672-1789.

View the 6 minute introductory video and read the FAQ's for more information.

ARTICLE: Must-Reads for 2013

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 20:14:41 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Is there anything better than curling up with a good book (paper or e-ink) in a comfy chair, maybe by a crackling fire and with a mug of something warm in your hand? Maybe a few, but chances are it's in your top ten.

Since the week between Christmas and New Year's might be your best chance to live that dream, we wanted to offer you some "must-read" book recommendations from your fellow church leaders.

Story, His Story, and History

If you take a romantic approach to reading, it won't surprise you that a good number of recommendations came from a perspective that emphasizes God's story in Jesus and throughout time, and our own story as it fits into that grand narrative.

Starting with the source, Jeremy Mount emphasized his must-read, "Red letters throughout the gospels!!" (We should have said "other than the Bible . . .")

In that vein, several readers recommended books that advocate taking our cue in leadership from Jesus. Prototype by Jonathan Martin (to be released in 2013—we'll assume the recommending reader had an advance copy) asks the question "What happens when we discover we're more like Jesus than we think?" Unleader, by Lance Ford, emphasizes how Jesus contradicts most of the "effective leadership" models we are expected to follow today.

Beyond those, a few other recommendations for putting your story in context:

Know Your Story and Lead with It: The Power of Narrative in Clergy Leadership by Richard L. Hester. —Matt Kelley

I love reading biographies and autobiographies of past leaders. They are great teaching tools as well as humbling and powerful reminders about the enormous work behind and before us. –Becca Stevens

To understand religion in America in the 21^st century, ministry leaders “must read” American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert Putnam and David Campbell. . . and Christianity After Religion by Diana Butler Bass. –Martin Thielen

Mission and Vitality

On the more "practical" side of ministry reading are the books aimed at helping leaders improve their churches' vitality within and outreach beyond. A few recommendations:

Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Want to Attend by Andy Stanley —@guymwilliams via Twitter

10 Temptations of Church: Why Churches Decline and What to Do about It by John Flowers and Karen Vannoy. This one is some tough love for churches. Read it and pass it on! — Jessica Kelley

Missional Moves by Rob Wegner & Jack Magruder. This book will challenge every church leader to think differently about the way they approach missions and community impact. –Tim Stevens

Lived Faith

Pastors may have responsibility for leading the spritual walk of others, but books enhancing one's own discipleship are nonetheless essential (and good for recommending to the people in one's care!) A few favorites of Ministry Matters contributors and editors included:

Holy Nomad: the Rugged Road to Joy, by Matt Litton. — Eric Van Meter

Too Busy Not to Pray, by Bill Hybels. It revolutionized my prayer life. — Shane Raynor

Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, by Richard J. Foster and Addiction and Grace, by Gerald G. May. I refer back to each of these and recommend them to my small groups. — Betsy Hall

MaryAnn McKibben Dana's book, Sabbath in the Suburbs: A Family's Experiment with Holy Time, is a wonderful resource for those who long to somehow "cheat time," but find themselves too busy, or bound by familial responsibilities. –Bromleigh McClenighan

McClenighan's own book, Hopes and Fears: Everyday Theology for New Parents and Other Tired, Anxious People, also falls into this category, putting people's existential questions in conversation with theological tradition and everyday life.

Leonard Sweet

Yes, the man gets a category to himself, due to the disproportionate number of recommendations that came in for this prolific writer's works. (See the bin with a selection of his books.) I Am a Follower, Jesus: A Theography, and Jesus Manifesto (the latter two of which were cowritten Frank Viola) all got notable mentions.

Apparently, Sweet has also written a novel. The Seraph Seal, which seems like a cross between Nicholas Cage’s National Treasure films and The DaVinci Code. (Perhaps successful non-fiction authors writing fiction is a growing trend, as Will Willimon also has a novel out now: Incorporation,about corruption and intrigue in a small town megachurch.)

Whether you gravitate toward the leadership, spirituality, Christian living, or fiction section of your local bookstore('s website), we hope you find time to curl up with a good book soon.

Read all of Ministry Matters' book reviews.

VIDEO: Lifetime Wish Fulfilled

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:17:09 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Emma Perrone, 97, fulfilled a dream by playing the organ at Hyde Park UMC in Tampa.

ARTICLE: 5 Critical Mistakes for Ministers

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:37:27 GMT

By Ministry Matters

1. Doing Everything Yourself

You have to learn to delegate and give up the unrealistic expectation of perfection. You will only burn yourself out and rob others of the opportunity to serve. Research has found that a key to vital ministry is the training and involvement of "ordinary" people—that is, those who don't get paid to be there. Empower these people to serve, and help other staff and key leaders do the same with the areas of ministry they oversee. Give the ministry away and let others use their gifts.

2. Living at Church

If you work all the time you are probably avoiding something in your life that needs your attention now, not later. Don't wear busyness as a badge of honor. Your family may respect your work ethic, but they'd still rather have time with you—days when you don't answer the phone whenever it rings, vacations when you don't head back early so you don't miss a service. Create and protect personal time when you are not "on call."

3. Ignoring Your Health

Related to Number Two, you must not neglect your own health—physical, mental, and spiritual. Your gift to the key people in your life is a healthy you. Find a buddy or accountability partner and begin to do one thing that will help you be a healthier person this time next year. Do you need to exercise more? Start seeing a counselor? Rekindle a hobby you enjoy? Worship in a place where no one calls you "pastor"?

4. Surrounding Yourself with People who Think Just Like You

If you're able to click "like" on everything your Facebook friends say, you may have unintentionally created an echo chamber in which you are so surrounded by like-minded people, you begin to think your way of thinking is the norm or the majority view. Practice listening to people different from you, and you'll have a better appreciation for how other people understand God and the world. You might not change your mind about anything, but your preaching and teaching will be richer from hearing other people's perspectives, struggles, and doubts.

5. Being a Broken Record

Stop rehashing your favorite scripture, topic, or theological view. Look closely at your sermons and the Bible studies you've taught over the past year. Have you gravitated to a particular book of the Bible or does your favorite scripture seem to weave itself into everything you say? Of course you want to emphasize the core values of our faith, and key fundamentals bear repeating, but challenge yourself to tackle a topic you've never explored in depth, or a Scripture that makes you uncomfortable. Take an online class, get a new reference tool, contact a chum from seminary or Bible college and plan a way to study together. Stretch yourself, not just for your own sake, but for the benefit of everyone you lead.

ARTICLE: 12 Steps of Christmas Recovery

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:08:47 GMT

By Ministry Matters

The Advent season is probably the single most stressful time of the year for church leaders. In addition to the overscheduling, the overspending, the forced merriment, the pressure to find the right gift, and the anxiety of travel and family relations that stress out the average person during the final 6-8 weeks of the calendar year, church staff have the challenge of helping everyone remember and celebrate the real reason for all this cultural insanity.

After attending numerous Sunday school class parties, planning services attended by more visitors than at any other time of the year, writing and preaching sermons that tell the old story in a new way, and squeezing one’s own family meals and gatherings between Christmas Eve services—it’s finally Christmas. Whew.

Those twelve days between Christmas Day and Epiphany—those misunderstood, forgotten days that serve for most as a mere afterthought to the six-week ramp up to Santa Claus, a time to return unwanted items and take advantage of after-Christmas sales—this is your time. It’s your time to recover from the madness and experience the incarnate Christ anew.

Like many other paths of recovery, you can devote some time to taking stock of your life, faith, and ministry, and making necessary changes to lead a healthier life. Although the Twelve Steps began with Alcoholics Anonymous, over the years they've found a much broader audience and have helped many Christians cope with their addictions and unhealthy ways of coping with stress.

Hopefully our Ministry Matters version will give you some insights as you cope with the stresses and temptations of the Christmas season, and prepare your soul for another year of ministry.

1. Admit that you are powerless over what happens during Christmas. You can be light for those who need to know God cares for them by being present without trying to fix them. Christmas will not be a joyful, perfect, or magical time for everyone and your job is not to be Santa Claus Jesus and attempt to make it that way.

2. Believe that God can restore you to sanity. As soon as possible after Christmas Eve, rest. Unplug from technology, especially if it reminds you of church work.

3. Turn your will and your life over to the care of God. As we mature in faith it is easy to lose some of the awe of the Christmas story. Try to get out of your thinking head and into your feeling heart. Now's not the time for exegetical work. Spend time in prayerful conversation with God on what you've experienced through this devotional time and be honest.

4. Make a searching moral inventory of yourself. What are your areas of weakness? To what temptations are you most likely to cave? What behaviors do you tend to excuse in yourself but condemn in others? Stress often intensifies our worst traits, so chances are, they've reared their ugly heads in recent weeks.

5. Admit to God, yourself, and another human being the nature of your wrongs.
Everyone needs accountability, and what better way to clean the slate as the calendar turns than to confess your sins and ongoing temptations aloud? Consider maintaining that accountability partnership throughout the next year.

6. Be ready to give up destructive behaviors. Get serious about change and take practical steps to avoid your besetting sins in the new year. For example, if gluttony is a particular vice, you'll want to de-sugar, de-fat, and de-salt the church office as soon as possible. You do not have to eat all those treats that were brought in as gifts. Thank the givers and pass the goodies along. Gird your loins for battles of willpower that are sure to arise.

7. Humbly repent. There is a reason the traditional Twelve Steps parse out the acknowledgement of, confession of, and preparation to give up one's sin: true repentance is an ongoing process. Not just an apology but a real turnaround and sincere reformation of character. It can be easy for a church leader to focus on everyone else's relationship and rightness with God—don't forget the person in the mirror as well.

8. Make a list of people you have hurt, and be willing to make amends. Like repentance, reconciliation is an ongoing process as well. We've all heard mumbled apologies that sound insincere or coerced. Spend time in prayer and introspection to consider those you have harmed with your actions or attitudes and be sure your contrition is sincere and unselfish.

9. Mend and reinvest in relationships. Apologize and make amends where appropriate. (An exception is made for situations in which making direct amends could do additional harm.) Have you neglected your family during the busy Advent season? Now's the time to deposit back into the emotional bank of those who support you (and the ministry) throughout the year. You may have missed school events or get togethers due to church work. Make it up with not just quality time but quantity time. And think about ways to avoid this problem next year.

10. Continue to take personal inventory. Most New Year's resolutions are abandoned by Valentine's Day. Make sure your self-reflection, correction, and improvement is ongoing. Find an accountability partner and plan weekly or daily check-in's. Don't wait until 2014 is looming to consider and confess again.

11. Improve your contact with God in prayer. Twelve Step groups emphasize praying "for knowledge of God's will and the power to carry it out." You may get called a "professional pray-er" at family gatherings, but don't neglect your personal prayer life. Seek God's will in all things and ask for the strength to do what God desires.

12. Go forward in ministry with a renewed soul, helping others to grow in right relationship to God and one another.

Recovery is not just for addicts. We all have junk in our lives and can benefit from the moral inventory and path of renewal outlined in the Twelve Steps. We encourage you to consider reading one of the featured resources listed below, and offering a study in your church or community based on the Twelve Steps.

Merry Christmas from the Ministry Matters team, and best wishes for a fruitful 2013.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: January 20, 2013

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:02:20 GMT

By Ministry Matters

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

ISAIAH 62:1-5

Prospective parents spend countless hours every year trying to decide on just the right name for an expected child. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" doesn't ring true. We want just the right moniker for our progeny. Why? What's so important about a name anyway?

The creation account in Genesis 2 has Adam naming all the animals. This is indicative of both his dominion over and kinship to the created order. God's progressive revelation of himself is beautifully pictured in the various names that disclose his divine character, power, and purpose. In the Scriptures a person's name is seen as indicative of their character. Jacob was a manipulator who became Israel, or blessed of the Lord. Ruth's mother-in-law, Naomi, whose name means "pleasantness," became known as Mara or "bitterness" because of the death of her husband and sons. Jesus even did a wordplay on Peter's name when he referred to his confession as the rock upon which the Church is built. Isaiah pictures a day when God will give a new name to his people.

I. A New Name Represents Character Revealed (v. 2)
"The nations will see your righteousness" (v. 2a NIV). God's will had always been the holiness of his people. The Church stands under the same mandate to "be holy in all you do" (1 Pet. 1:15 b NIV). Israel never fully grasped the moral purposes of God. Instead, she fell into a pattern of legalism that thwarted true holiness and hindered her witness to the grace and glory of God.

The prophet is confident, however, that God's ultimate purpose will be realized and that the righteousness of Israel will ultimately be manifest. Corresponding to this fundamental change in her character, Israel will be given a new name. This new name is indicative of her new identity. The New Testament tells us that we will be given a new name, also.

II. A New Name Represents Position Revived (v. 3)
"You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand" (v. 3a NIV). The golden days of Israel's history were during the reign of David and Solomon. But the seeds to her demise were also sown during that time. Not all of her position, wealth, and strength came as a result of the Lord's blessing. She entered into many compromising alliances that would ultimately be her undoing. The prophet sees a day when Israel is restored as a "crown of splendor" and a "royal diadem"—both symbols of royalty and the right to rule.

Likewise, the Church has been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

III. A New Name Represents Relationship Restored (v. 5)
"As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you" (v. 5b NIV). The image of adultery is frequently used in the Old Testament to picture the unfaithfulness of Israel to God. Yet the prophet saw Israel restored as a "bride." This is a beautiful image indeed of the clean slate and new beginning that comes as a result of God's grace. The Church is aptly called the "bride of Christ." This is a poignant reminder of our intimate relationship with God through Christ.

As we anticipate the new year that stretches out before us, we are reminded again that it takes more than the changing of the calendar to make a new start. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" ( 2 Cor. 5:17 NIV). (L. Joseph Rosas, III)

GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11

A gift is an act of the will. The Father has appropriated spiritual gifts by his free will to all his children. If Christians really want to be used by Jesus, it will pay big dividends to search out their unique gifts and begin to make use of them. An examination of the gifts helps one determine how they may be used in the church.

I. The Spirit Says, "Jesus Is Lord"
The Spirit of God comes to dwell with people who extend an invitation for him to enter their lives. The early Gentile Christians developed out of raw paganism, where fanaticism ran rampant. They were swayed by anything. Paul wanted to produce rock-solid Christians who were not influenced by any strange doctrine. He guarded his flock against emotional excesses, hysterical behavior, self-delusion, and mistaken theology. It only happened when they understood that Jesus was Lord.

The basis of legitimate spiritual behavior is ushered in by God's Spirit in today's church. Sanctioned spiritual life comes through individual belief that Jesus is Lord.

II. The Spirit Gives Usable Spiritual Gifts to Individuals Who Believe That Jesus Is Lord
God's giver of gifts is the Spirit. He lends gifts for either short or long terms—sometimes for a lifetime. The specific purpose of such gift giving is to glorify God. Paul lists some of the gifts in the text, including:

WISDOM. Aristotle described this word as striving after the ends by using the best methods. The ultimate goal of wisdom is striving to know God intimately.

KNOWLEDGE. This gift is the "nuts and bolts" of wisdom. It is the method for using the wisdom for God's glory.

FAITH. This gift moves beyond the saving faith to the realm of "moving mountain" faith. William Barclay reminds Christians it is passionate belief that makes them spend all their energy on the action of belief. "It is faith which turns the vision into deed."

HEALING. This gift is the ability to treat people in a holistic fashion. God has endowed some to speak the word of faith for the physical healing of others. But be careful: This gift can be perverted easily if eyes are taken away from Jesus.

MIRACULOUS POWER. Missionaries speak of the spiritual darkness and oppression brought on by demonic powers in their service areas. The function of the church is to minister to the minds and lives diseased and disturbed by Satan. Exorcism still plays a part in our world through the power of the Spirit.

PROPHECY. This gift can be translated as preaching. It is not necessarily the ability of foretelling, but "forthtelling." The preacher who lives close enough to interpret the heartbeat of God has this gift. It is to be used by the person who rebukes, warns, guides, and advises believers.

DISCERNMENT. The ability to distinguish real from false characterizes this gift. The church needs people who can distinguish between what God wants and what the devil deploys as real. This gift steers the church away from overindulgence, hysteria, and fanaticism.

LANGUAGES AND INTERPRETATION. On Pentecost the band of 120 Christians spoke in languages to evangelize as they interpreted Peter's message to a diverse crowd. But as time passed this gift became unintelligible sounds in no language. Sadly this gift was robbed of its purpose and worth. The legitimate gifts are still needed and given. People had been empowered by God's Spirit to speak to crowds in their language, but the language was unknown to the messenger. The purpose was evangelism! Let the church use this gift to grow the universal body of believers, not to divide the church.

The snapshot of the early church pictured an alive, vital group of believers with excitement, spirituality, and gifts from God. Today's church needs a reprint of that picture. (Derl G. Keefer)

DON'T MISS THE SIGNS

JOHN 2:1-11

Ignore the road signs when you travel and you'll have a miserable trip. A physician trains to recognize the signs of illness. Sign language enables persons with impaired hearing to communicate. Signs are important. The Gospel of John records seven significant signs from the life of Christ. Jesus chose a wedding for the first of these miraculous signs, which revealed his glory and brought forth faith from his disciples.

I. God Signs His Glory in the Ordinary
Where do you expect to encounter the glory of God? At a wedding? Not if you're the parents! My wife and I nearly divorced before our daughter's wedding concluded. What rating does a wedding have on the stress chart? Imagine how the family at Cana felt when the wine ran out.

At a wedding Jesus revealed his glory. God hasn't left himself without witness anywhere Rom. 1:19-20) and he frequently signs his glory in the ordinary events of life. His signature is on the mountain landscape and the rolling sea. He manifests himself in a grandchild's smile and a grandfather's prayer.

II. God Signs His Glory in the Extraordinary
The water did turn to wine. It was "the first of his miraculous signs" (v. 11), but certainly not the last. A gospel song declares, "I believe in miracles, because I believe in God." He continues to reveal his glory in the extraordinary.

You hear the reports: He healed me from cancer. God took away the addiction; I've been free from this crippling desire for fifteen years. Jesus enabled my wife to forgive me and preserved our marriage. They said I wouldn't live another year—that was ten years ago! God had other plans. God sometimes signs his glory in an extraordinary display of power.

III. Do You Believe the Signs?
When Jesus revealed his glory at the wedding "his disciples put their faith in him." Faith-encouraging signs are all around us but we often are not looking for them. We want something spectacular when God has chosen the ordinary. Jesus asked, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Will he find us living by faith and responding to God's glory whether we see it on ordinary days or in an extraordinary way?

Jesus himself is the ultimate sign of God's glory. Are you missing him while looking for a substitute sign? Remember what he said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

The African impala can jump to a height of over ten feet and cover a distance greater than thirty feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a three-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith trusts what we cannot see.

Faith trusts Christ. Mary told the servants what is also required of us, "Do whatever he tells you" (v. 5). Jesus tells us to believe. Do you? "Follow me," he invites. Do you? Anything less than obedience is not faith, even when you recognize the signs of his glory. (Bill D. Whittaker)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: January 13, 2013

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:13:39 GMT

By Ministry Matters

A COVENANT WITH THE LORD
ISAIAH 43:1-7

Why do we wear a wedding ring? The old joke is that it is like a tourniquet in that it cuts off your circulation. A wedding ring is both sign and symbol. The ring points beyond itself to the covenant we have entered with our beloved.

God had entered a covenant with his people Israel. Though they frequently failed to live up to their end of the bargain, God promised that he would ultimately be vindicated. His grace would assure their completion in his purpose.

I. God's Covenant Offers a Sure Word (v. 1)

"This is what the Lord says. . . ." The covenant making and keeping God reminds his people that he has both created and developed them for a specific purpose. That purpose is that they might be his people.

The doctrine of "election" is frequently a word of assurance for an oppressed minority. In spite of any external and circumstantial evidence to the contrary, such as persecution and suffering, it is a reminder that the believer is the object of God's love and favor. God takes the initiative in our salvation. Further, we are saved for a purpose, that we might be the people of God. From a New Testament perspective God has chosen the means to accomplish this through the word of the gospel energized by the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit.

II. God's Covenant Offers a Sound Mind (v. 2)

"Fear not. . . ." The opposite of fear is faith. Because we can have confidence in the God who has called and claimed us, we need not be overcome by fear.

Walking in faith is always a delicate balancing act. We walk between the precipice of doubt and presumption. In biblical times a person's name was the key to their character. God knows us most intimately yet his love and gracious purpose are not deterred. Therefore, we have no reason to fear. If God is for us, who can be against us?

III. God's Covenant Offers a Secure Journey (v. 3)

"Waters . . . fire." When I found myself going through a difficult time in my Christian life, a friend quipped, "No battle, no victory." Believers are not immune to difficulty. Christians get sick, have family problems, lose their jobs, and face the same adversities as everyone else. Instead of overwhelming us, the flood will lift us up, the fire will purify our hearts. Therefore, we can face anything, secure in the knowledge that our God is in control.

IV. God's Covenant Offers a Certain Future (vv. 4-7)

I once heard someone say, "Even if there were no life after death, if this life were all there was, it would be worth it to know Jesus now." I couldn't disagree more. The Christian message makes no sense apart from the Resurrection and the hope it gives. Paul emphasized, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Cor. 15:14 NIV).

Israel looked forward to restoration. We have confidence for the future because we are loved by the God who is willing to give all in our behalf.

His faithfulness and our faith in the midst of the trials and tribulations of life are a constant reminder of the gracious covenant we have entered through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We can rest on a sure word, the promise of a secure journey, and the hope of a certain future in this new year. (L. Joseph Rosas, III)

RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT
ACTS 19:1-7

No one person, group, or organization monopolizes the Holy Spirit. A. C. Dixon observed that when people rely on the Holy Spirit they get what God can do.

The text reveals that a revival erupted in Samaria under the preaching of Philip. The first introduction of him in Scripture appeared when he, along with six others, was appointed by the apostles as a member of the first church board. Their job was the ministry of distributing the food to the widows in Jerusalem. Now he appears as a distributor of spiritual food to the Samaritans. His message touched the hearts of the people and they were converted. Since these folks were not the "traditional" targets of evangelism, the Council of Apostles dispatched Peter and John to examine the phenomenon. The Council's burning question was, "Is it possible for non-Jews to receive Jesus into their hearts?"

As Peter and John arrived on the scene they discovered the Samaritans were genuinely converted. The disciples observed a willingness by the Samaritans to serve God. Now they needed a power to keep them pure in the midst of paganism and sin.

The church today needs that same power of purity in the midst of today's paganism and sin. It happens when the Holy Spirit is allowed into our lives in his fullness.

I. Receiving the Spirit Means Accepting Jesus

As Philip preached salvation truth, the people of Samaria listened and became aware of their rebellion against a holy God of love. They were tired of looking for love in all the wrong places. Their conviction brought a true repentance met by God's grace.

Duncan King tells the dramatic story of Lauren Chapin. Chapin played Kathy Anderson in the old Father Knows Best television program. Unfortunately, her life was totally opposite the character she portrayed. Kathy was depicted growing up in a wholesome family with all her innocence and charm intact, but in actuality it was not true. Chapin's mother drank heavily and her life was miserable. When the program finally ended she couldn't find another job in television. Alienated from her mother and disillusioned by the world she knew, she began to run wild. She turned to drugs, lived on welfare, and spent time in a mental hospital and in and out of jail cells. But at age thirty-eight, Lauren encountered Jesus and transforming grace changed her life.

II. Receiving the Spirit Acknowledges God's Power

The Samaritan believers received Jesus and were baptized in his name. As born again believers, they were not destitute of the Spirit who regenerated, indwelt, and witnessed to their spirits, but neither did they know him in the fullness that Pentecost signified. They needed that empowerment.

The church still desires the Spirit of empowerment that baptizes in purity and equips for living. Lloyd Ogilvie is chaplain of the U.S. Senate. He relates his experience of searching for the Spirit's blessing. He states that one day he got down on his knees and asked for the Spirit of the Lord to fill him. Ogilvie shared that he felt every part of his being invaded with the Spirit. He felt deeply loved as never before, intellectually equipped with the mind of Christ, and endowed with spiritual gifts that were far beyond his human talents. The struggle was gone! Today you may be struggling for the fullness of God's Spirit in your life. Stop struggling and just let go, allowing the Spirit to fill your life.

III. Receiving the Spirit Signifies Holy Fellowship

The ancient walls of national separatism dissolved under the warmth of the Spirit's presence. The laying on of hands by the apostles indicated the beginning of acceptance of holy fellowship with non-Jews. The church took a historical step that day by accepting Samaritans.

Today that historical step needs to be repeated by the church as it accepts other outcasts into its fellowship regardless of social or economic status or color. Only the Spirit empowers the church for real fellowship. (Derl G. Keefer)

THREE BAPTISMS
LUKE 3:15-17, 21-22

Historical accounts indicate that some of the early Christians practiced a Trinitarian form of baptism. The new convert was immersed three times, once each for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The text for this morning describes three baptisms that affect our relationship with God.

I. Jesus' Baptism Is Our Example

I'm sometimes asked, "Why should I be baptized?" As a Christian I want to walk in Jesus' steps. His example is enough for me. When John balked at baptizing Jesus, the Lord insisted, "Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15 NIV).

Jesus declares baptism is the right thing to do. As the sinless Son of God, he didn't need to give evidence of repentance, but he gave us an example to follow. If you won't follow this first example, will you follow Christ any further?

II. Water Baptism Is Our Witness

Jesus desired public baptism to identify himself with those he came to save. His baptism was an outward witness of his inner commitment. Baptism testifies of our personal faith in the crucified and risen Lord. In baptism we declare his Lordship over our life. "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Rom. 6:4 NIV).

Baptism, like my wedding band, declares that I belong to the One who holds first place in my heart and life.

III. Spirit Baptism Is Our Power

Jesus "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (v. 16 NIV). The baptism with the Spirit occurs at conversion (1 Cor. 6:11) . "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5 NIV). But we must continually allow ourselves to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) .

The Holy Spirit washes and refreshes. He works like fire to judge, refine, and purify. Powerless religion results when individuals have water baptism without Spirit baptism. Where the Spirit actively works, a ready and willing heart will eagerly seek water baptism as a witness for Christ.

In the Tournament of Roses parade one year a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The float represented the Standard Oil Company! With its vast resources, its truck was out of gas.

Buildings, programs, and ministerial staff cannot guarantee the power of God. What good is a magnificent piece of machinery if there is no power to run it? We are assured power to do all Christ asks—the same power that brought Christ from the grave! (Eph. 1:15-23).

What will you say to Christ if you ignore his example and refuse to declare your faith through baptism? Are you experiencing his power since your baptism? (Bill D. Whittaker)

ARTICLE: Simple Christmas: Celebrating a Different Kind of Advent

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:24:37 GMT

By Ministry Matters

2012 has been filled with uncertainty, division, and hardship in many parts of the nation. Power is still out for some victims of Hurricane Sandy, some voters are still mourning their candidate’s loss, and many families are feeling the strain of unemployment or underemployment on their already tight budgets. And now that we’ve turned the calendar page on December, Advent celebrations are in full swing in congregations around the country, turning eyes to Jesus even as we fret over life’s stresses and the added pressure of a hyped-up Christmas season. How are we, as worshipping congregations, celebrating differently Advent this year?

Reaching Out and Slowing Down

A recent survey asked pastors and other church leaders about the message and meaning of Advent they are emphasizing this year. Responses revealed a strong emphasis on local mission efforts along with the ongoing traditions congregations value. Over 70% of responding leaders are taking on local missions projects while almost as many are hosting their traditional music events.

Many leaders expressed a desire to encourage people to slow down to reclaim the real meaning of Christmas and spend more energy on helping others at home and around the world. Some even adapted their usual church programming to assist people in this effort.

One respondent wrote, “As I have encouraged the congregation to slow down at this season of the year to rest, we have eliminated meetings and other programs that were not necessary, freeing folks to attend the two special events and enjoying time with family and friends.”

Another pastor said they will celebrate “in a low-key, counter cultural way. No bells and whistles, no big pageants to create extra stress. We will be giving to a local effort to families who need a little help during the holidays, and we will be hosting. . . a [market]place to purchase locally made items for gifts.”

Helping Leaders Slow Down as Well

The country as a whole may be exhausted…but so is the church planning team, and no one wants (or needs) to plan worship or Bible studies from scratch. “Using a theme helps us to organize, plan and frame worship,” said one pastor. Using online sermon and worship helps like those in Ministry Matters’ This Sunday bins and on GBOD.org, or from Rethink Church, take some of the planning strain off of leaders. Church-wide programs and small group studies like Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, The Journey, and When God Comes Down provide a ready-made theme and structure to Advent offerings.

Keep it simple, and try to avoid adding more meetings and programs than are helpful for sharing the ultimate message of hope, light and healing as we await the coming of Christ into the world. In closing, consider how some of your ministry colleagues summarized the message they want to convey during Advent 2012:

Christmas is about love and grace and hope and healing and no one is left out and everyone will have a place at the table. God is with us always.

God's love for all people, the mercy and grace of God for every person, the opportunity to share that love and grace.

That as we prepare once again to receive the Christ child in the manger we should be preparing each day to receive Christ in our hearts so that we may be His hands, voice and feet.

God's gift to us in Christmas is new life in Jesus Christ--a gift for everyone.

Christ is the Light of the world and comes to us, helps us in the darkness, gives us the light and asks us to become bearers of the light.

That Christmas is about God coming into our world through Jesus Christ and that the best way to celebrate that is by sharing God's love through service to others.

That Christmas is more than tinsel and gifts. This birth story is ridiculously RADICAL!

HOPE.

What message are you trying to send with your Advent and Christmas celebrations this year?

ARTICLE: Get Organized for 2013!

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:50:15 GMT

By Ministry Matters

As end-of-year responsibilities pile up—often in the form of event invitations, gift receipts, worship plans to review, requests for care and counseling, and plenty of cards and notes to write—the resolution to get things under control returns anew.

"Next year," you think, "I will keep all this clutter from accumulating. I will stay on top of my to-do list. I will never forget an appointment or deadline again!"

Fortunately, there are many tools available to help you with these lofty goals—many marketed heavily this time of year to prey on your stress and good intentions. But many are FREE, and after soliciting reader input and trying things out ourselves, we have some tips and tools to help you get organized in 2013.

Managing Your Time

How many times have you ended a day feeling like you've been running nonstop and yet accomplished nothing? Sounds like your schedule may be out of control and out of balance. Keep a calendar with you at all times, whether it is a physical notebook or an app on your phone or tablet, so you always have a "big picture" view of your day—what time is booked and what is still open. If you have an administrative assistant who helps manage your schedule, use an electronic calendar that gives you both a real-time view. Readers recommend Cozi and Google Calendar. (Check out this how-to on synching your Google and Outlook calendars, and integrating a calendar into your church website.)

A relatively new tool just featured in Forbes magazine is now a favorite of one Ministry Matters editor. Yast is a timing tool that Forbes calls more simple and intuitive than others out there.

"With Yast, I know exactly how much time I'm spending on various projects. Plus, it helps me stay focused. Knowing the timer is running on a particular project keeps me from trying to multitask." — Jessica Miller Kelley, Ministry Matters

Don't hesitate to schedule time for yourself as formally and officially as you schedule other meetings and appointments. If your schedule rules the day, make sure "sermon writing," "prayer time," and "family dinner" are booked as indelibly as that premarital counseling appointment or staff meeting.

Managing Your Tasks

Knowing what needs to be accomplished and in what timeframe is key to quelling free-floating anxiety, at least for many Type A personalities. That's why pastor Bromleigh McClenighan loves her to-do list pad from Knock Knock Stuff.

"At the bottom, it reminds me to 'Make a list, you'll feel better.' Also, it's cheap." — Bromleigh McClenighan, Rockefellar Memorial Chapel

(It also has an extra check box at the bottom when you're "ALL DONE," giving the user yet another endorphin rush that comes from crossing something off a list.)

Plenty of leaders go the old-fashioned route for task-management, making to-do lists with pen and paper on any scrap they can find, or by jotting down notes in a nice Moleskine notebook.

Basecamp is a higher-tech way to organize your to-dos and collaborate with others working on the same project. It's not free (beyond a 45-day trial) but may be a worthwhile item in your admin budget.

"Basecamp has literally been a lifesaver for me. No other tool that I’ve found has allowed me to juggle so many different highly-detailed projects!" — Myca Alford, United Methodist Publishing

Trello has been described as a cross between Basecamp and Pinterest, with "boards" for various projects, to which users can add "cards" of to-do lists, ideas, comments, and even attach documents and images related to the project.

Managing Your Stuff

Perhaps most in need of organization for you is all that stuff—the random papers and program bulletins, books and notebooks. They can take over your desk, car, and computer bag before you know it. While the "paperless society" people envisioned at the advent of the personal computer age hasn't totally come to fruition, there are still countless ways to clear the clutter off your desk and store it in the cloud instead.

Some of our readers raved about the tools they use to digitize all those papers and scraps. Guy Williams tweeted us his recommendations for the Evernote and Google Drive apps (available on Android platforms as well as iPhone and iPad), on which users can create and store notes, documents, images, and more. Also, Genius Scan, with which users can easily scan a receipt, book page, bulletin, or any other document and store it as a PDF or jpeg. With grid lines and a perspective sensor, the app keeps the integrity of the document much better than simply taking a photo of it.

A subscription to Ministry Matters saves thousands of dollars and many feet of shelf space by making exhaustive Bible reference works like the New Interpreter's line and indispensible preaching, teaching, and worship helps available in a single online library. Even non-subscribers can save our free resources in bins to access later. (Start a Lent, Easter, or VBS bin now to keep ideas close at hand when your planning ratchets up in a few weeks!)

Half the benefit of organizing your stuff with digital tools isn't just clearing away the clutter but keeping the stuff you need and use most close at hand. When you can access a key commentary on your laptop, tablet, or phone, work can get done while you're getting your oil changed or waiting in the car pool line! Several readers wrote in about their denomination-specific lectionary apps.

The app that is most helpful to me is the Episcopal lectionary application. It helps me plan and write no matter where I am during the week. – Becca Stevens, St. Augustine's Chapel

Other readers' top recommendations were tools for aggregating all the virtual stuff they enjoy. The old favorite iGoogle dashboard is going away later in 2013, but Tim Stevens recommends NetVibes.com:

I use this as a homepage aggregator of everything I want to see at a glance, including top news, blog posts from my favorite people, Facebook and Twitter updates, movie listings, weather and more. It's totally customizable to what is important to you, and stays current on each computer. – Tim Stevens, Granger Community Church

So what are your favorite organizational tools? Have the tools mentioned above worked for you? Any new ones you want to try?

Leave us a comment and include your Twitter handle, and we'll follow you back!

ARTICLE: What Your Pastor Really Wants for Christmas

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:09:43 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Over the next few weeks, congregations will be taking up love offerings and gifting their pastors with nativity-scene Christmas ornaments, baked goods, and framed pictures of the church building. But what do pastors really want for Christmas?

We asked some of our favorite church leaders (on condition of anonymity!) to tell us what they really want from their congregations. They seemed to fall into a few general categories.

More Personal Time

"A week or two in Rome with my wife."

"A two month sabbatical to write my first book."

"Entire summer sabbatical!!! Can I get an AMEN??"

Office Upgrades

"A paper-folding machine for bulletins. I'm tired of folding them myself each week."

"More bookshelves."

"Our own barista for the church office."

"A bathroom in my office! I can't go the bathroom without getting stopped by eight different people who want to talk or share their story."

People with Perspective

"People willing to try something different!"

"Willingness to connect with and serve the poor in our community."

"People making worship a priority in the midst of their holiday plans."

"A 'complaint free zone' for a year, or a quarter, or even a month!"

Appreciation

"Respect."

"Just the words, 'thank you' or 'we appreciate you.'"

Churches, what could you offer your pastor to help with these needs and desires? You might not be able to fund a vacation or a sabbatical, but could you give your pastor a Sunday off every few months so she can go out of town with her family? Could you earmark a few hundred dollars to make the pastor's office a nicer place to be? Could you commit to encouraging your pastor throughout the year with kind notes, meals, and enthusiasm?

Pastors, what do you want most from your congregation this Christmas? Is it a week in Maui? . . . a repainted office? . . . a magical cone of silence for sermon-writing? A subscription to Ministry Matters?

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: December 30, 2012

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 15:46:38 GMT

By Ministry Matters

A REASON TO KEEP GROWING

1 SAMUEL 2:18-20, 26

A person who has a purpose for which to live has a reason to keep growing. And when a person keeps growing, life becomes an adventure.

I. Are You a Growing Person?

We admire people who are alive and growing. Are you that kind of person?

That question has a unique importance for young people. Their lives are often intentionally planned around becoming all that they can become. They go to school to push back the horizons of their knowledge. They go out for sports and discipline their bodies to achieve. They set goals and work at accomplishing them. At its best, youth is a time for exploring brave new worlds.

But there are always some young people who just don’t see the point in it all—or who really don’t believe anything will come of it. They may drop out and drift into some stagnant or self-destructive existence.

What is true for young people is true for all of us. Aren’t the most interesting people you know people who are still growing and learning? Aren’t they the people who are studying to advance in their careers or developing latent talents or traveling to broaden their perspective? Winfred Garrison, a great Christian teacher in the first half of this century, undertook to learn Chinese in his eighties just to keep his mind alive.

Of course, it is easy for adults to drop out and quit growing. Some think that is what they are supposed to do. But the results are sad.

II. A Person with a Purpose Has a Reason to Keep Growing.

Our scripture lesson tells of the boyhood of the prophet Samuel. Samuel’s parents had dedicated him to God and brought him to live with the old priest, Eli. Eli must have brought the boy up knowing that he had a special purpose in life. In fact, God was preparing Samuel to be one of the pivotal leaders of Israel. The text says that, “Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and with the people” (v. 26).

Something similar was said about Jesus. No one ever had a greater purpose than he. In preparation for it, he “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52, NKJV).

We need purpose to keep us growing. Those young people who are making the most of their educational opportunity are often those who have a clear sense of purpose. And the adults who keep a growing edge on their lives are usually those who are committed to something.

III. Where Can We Find a Purpose to Bring Our Lives to Life?

The purpose is there. We just have to discover it and put ourselves into it. There is a current in human life and history that is the purposeful movement of God working to bring his creation to fulfillment. That movement calls out to us all to follow.

The biblical story can help us recognize what God is doing among us. Where can you see that same movement going on around you and within you? What within you would move you toward the fulfillment of God’s purpose for you? Say yes to it. What in the world around you moves the world toward the fulfillment of God’s purpose for us all? Lose yourself in serving it.

Allow that purpose to take over your life. It will push you to become a growing person. It will turn your life into an adventure. (Jim Killen)

TABLE TALK AND HOME FOLKS

COLOSSIANS 3:12-17

It is as if in our text today, the apostle Paul’s positioning himself at his rightful place at the head of the table and remarks to the gathered fellowship at Colosse, “Now here is the way we do things in the family of God.” We must continue to “put to death” the old life with its unregenerate ways (vv. 5-9) and “put on” as clothes the life of the new person in Christ (v. 10). In relationship to each other there is no racial or class distinctions in the fellowship (v. 11).

This is family talk. As members of the family—chosen, beloved, and set aside for service—there are certain values that should characterize our relations with each other.

I. We Should Put on Virtues of Family Unity (vv. 12-14)

Paul relates seven virtues with which family members should clothe themselves. Family members should genuinely and compassionately care for each other. We should show kindness to those who would seek to do us harm. Our own powers should be brought under the Father’s control, resulting in gentleness with each other. Our tempers should have a long fuse. We should be patient with each other’s peculiarities. We should grace each other with forgiveness, just as the Father has graced us.

Above all, we are united as we embody the selfless love so evident in Jesus Christ. What we hold in common, Christ, is greater than anything we could ever hold in difference.

II. We Are to Reflect the Nature of the Family Name
(vv. 15-17)

Whatever we say or do should be done in the name of Christ (v. 17). In Paul’s day, a name was more than just a handle affixed to an individual; it was that individual—his nature, character, and personality. When we pray in the name of Jesus, we pray in his character and nature. We seek to pray the prayer that Jesus would pray.

So the nature of family life should reflect the character of Jesus—for we are Christians, “little Christs.” Our relationship within the family should reflect the peace, graciousness, wisdom, and joy of our joint heir, Jesus Christ (vv. 15-16).

Sigurd Bryan said, “If we can be a Christian in our own homes, we can be a Christian anywhere.” And it also may be true, “if we aren’t a Christian at home, are we a Christian at all?”

Keith Miller tells about his early struggles to develop a prayer life. Waking early to pray he stumbled around disturbing everyone in the house. His young daughter came to him as he knelt in prayer.

“What are you doing, Daddy?”

“Don’t bother me, Honey, I’m trying to pray.”

She persisted, “What are you doing, Daddy?”

“Go on, Honey, Daddy’s busy.”

“Let’s play, Daddy.”

Exasperated, Miller screamed, “Will you leave me alone. I’m trying to pray!” She ran crying to her mother, now also awake and preparing breakfast.

“What’s wrong with Daddy?” the daughter asked.

“Leave Daddy alone, Honey,” her mother replied. “Daddy’s got to pray so he can be a Christian to the people downtown.” Ouch!

I heard a story years ago from an elderly preacher. One of many children, he grew up poor during the depression. As the large family gathered around the table for the evening meal, the father would come in fresh from milking the family cow. The family watched this nightly ritual as he first strained the milk and then filled each child’s glass full and then the mother’s. He would turn his back to the family, pour what little was left into his glass, and then used water to make his glass full of liquid. The preacher said that it was years before he realized the selfless love and devotion of his father, whom he thought liked water in his milk.

How are you doing in reflecting the family name? (Gary L. Carver)

WHAT’S A KID TO DO?

LUKE 2:41-51

I’ll bet there is hardly a person in America between the ages of five and forty-five who hasn’t seen the movie Home Alone. Some of you have probably seen it a half dozen times. My kids have memorized a fair amount of the dialogue and can anticipate every scene. But for the benefit of you culturally disadvantaged few who have not seen the movie, I’ll give you a thumbnail sketch.

Around Christmastime, a large family is preparing to leave for a vacation in Europe. They plan to get up early in the morning to catch their flight. Unfortunately, during the night the electricity in the neighborhood gets knocked out. Consequently, the alarm clock goes off late. The house breaks into total chaos as the family frantically dresses, packs, loads up, and dashes off to the airport to make their flight.

Once the plane is in the air, the mother has this haunting feeling that she forgot to do something. Were all the doors locked? Yes. Was the garage closed? Yes. Was newspaper delivery cancelled? Yes. With an explosion of realization, she cries out “Kevin!” In the rush and jumble of leaving, Kevin—the youngest child in the family—was left behind. The rest of the movie deals with his antics as he copes with being alone and as he foils the efforts of two bungling burglars from robbing his house. Kevin, who began the movie as a little boy who can’t tie his own shoes or pack his suitcase, quickly learns to be independent.

I can’t help thinking of Home Alone when I read our text for this morning. Of course, the star of the story is not Kevin but Jesus. In the bustle and confusion of getting ready for a trip, he gets left behind. Jesus mother, Mary, was even slower than Kevin’s mother to realize he was missing. Instead of a few hours, it took a whole day for Jesus parents to notice that his seat was empty.

The family had been in Jerusalem for the Passover, the most important religious holiday of the year for Israel. After the festivities, they packed to head back home to Nazareth, their hometown. Jesus family was traveling with a group of others. Apparently his parents thought he was with some other people. I can’t imagine the shock they must have felt when they realized they left him alone in the big city.

It took Mary and Joseph three days to find Jesus. Three days of anxiety, tears, and guilt, I imagine. I can hear it all now. “We should have been paying more attention. We should have been absolutely certain he was with us. How could we have left him there? What rotten parents we are.” But after three days of frantic searching, they neared the great Temple. They turned a corner and there he was. He wasn’t crying and worried. He didn’t blame his parents for neglecting him. Instead, Jesus was sitting with the teachers, the religious experts, asking questions and listening to their answers. It seemed that the people who heard Jesus were pretty impressed with what he had to say.

His parents were more appalled than impressed. When they saw that Jesus was not frightened or in any kind of danger, they got upset in a different way. Parents are like that. Sometimes, if they think their child is lost or in trouble, then they find out he’s all right, they don’t know what to do first—hug him or spank him for not listening to them in the first place. It seems that’s the way it was with Mary and Joseph.

When they found Jesus, his mother said, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety” (v. 48). In other words: “Jesus, we’ve worried ourselves to death because we thought you were lost. You should be ashamed of yourself for making us feel so terrible.”

What did Jesus say? “Mom, Dad, I’m sorry. I’ll never do something like that again.” Is that what he said? No! What he said was, “Why did you seek for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” (v. 49 NKJV). Jesus earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter. Jesus wasn’t sitting there with a saw and hammer. He wasn’t talking about his earthly father’s business but that of his heavenly Father, God. Jesus had left his parents and caused them a lot of worry by going to the temple to get involved in divine business.

There are several lessons that this story about Jesus suggests. First, there is something more important than parents and families. Now, I recognize this is the last thing many of you parents want me to say, but it is the God-given truth. Families are important. Children are important. Parents are important. But the living, loving knowledge of God is more important.

Second, kids need to be patient with their parents. Maybe like Jesus, a child feels that she is ready to be a lot more independent than her parents think she is. But sometimes parents hold her back because they know the world is more dangerous than she thinks it is, and she really might not be as prepared for it as she believes.

Third, children should listen to their parents. Even though Jesus did fine in Jerusalem all on his own, when his parents told him how upset they were, he paid attention. The scripture tells us that when he went back home with his folks, “he was obedient to them.”

Despite the occasional fight and disappointments, no one else is likely to love us as long or as much as our family. A wonderful African church leader, Desmond Tutu, reminds us: “You can’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” (Craig M. Watts)

Season After Epiphany

May God go with you as you depart into the desert, there to meet the temptations of the soul. May the Spirit lead you to an oasis where waters run deep and clouds rise high, and where the voice of heaven whispers in the cool of the trees.

O God, make us vessels worthy of the wine of the new covenant. Let us carry it across an earth drenched with blood, anointing the wounds of God’s peoples and raising the cup to their feverish lips. For long has the covenant been promised to the world, and long shall its wine be poured out for many.

Lent

Dear Lord, who calls not the well but the sick to repentance, anoint us to be agents of your healing ministry. Send us forth as heralds of the fasting to which your prophet Isaiah calls us—the fast that loosens the bonds of wickedness, frees the oppressed, feeds the hungry, houses the homeless and clothes the naked—so that, when people ask, “Where are you, Lord?” you can answer, “Here I am.”

O God, you send us forth not into the world in which Jesus was born but into the world in which we were born. You will not save us from our world, because you have saved us for our world. And you have promised to go with us into that world, enabling us to do even greater works than those of Jesus. Go with us, dear Lord, and we shall become the keepers of your promise.

Easter

O God, who in Jesus Christ turned the defeat of Good Friday into the victory of Easter, bringing dawn out of darkness and life out of death, make us faithful witnesses to the life-giving power of your crossbearing love. Keep us ever mindful of the Risen One’s promise that we would do even greater works than he. And send us forth, with hope renewed and zeal aflame, to labor in the vineyard of the Lord.

O Lord, as you have made disciples of us, now you send us into the world to make disciples of others. Go with us and be our guide, that the witness of our lives may confirm the testimony of our lips.

Season After Pentecost

Return now to the world, and go gladly, despite your fears. Though afflicted, you will not be crushed; though perplexed, you will not be driven to despair; though lonely, you will not be forsaken. The Lord of life dwells in you and among you, now and forever.

Do not lose heart, for there is the abode of God. If your heart be troubled, God will share your agony; if your heart be triumphant, God will share your gladness. Do not lose heart, for there is the shelter for your neighbors. May you share their agony and gladness, as you trek, arm-in-arm, to the mountaintop.

Special Occasions

Almighty God, as you have drawn us together in honor of your prophets, send us forth to settle the Promised Land that they saw from the mountaintop but were not allowed to enter. Give us, as you gave them, tough minds and tender hearts, that we too might become apostles of nonviolence in a land of violence, champions of justice in a society of injustice, and heralds of peace in a world of conflict.

O God, as here we have expressed gratitude for our nation’s ideals, let us go forth to praise them in speech, codify them in law, and translate them into deed. As they turn our eyes from the successful to the struggling, give us the grace to remember that these ideals did not come to us without price, and will not survive without sacrifice.

ARTICLE: Last Minute Advent Planning

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:57:46 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Hope this doesn't catch you off-guard, but Advent starts next Sunday, Dec. 2. We even had an "extra" Sunday between Thanksgiving and the start of Advent this year, but if you're still putting your Advent programming together, there is hope. It's not too late! Here are a few tips:

[UPDATED Tuesday, Nov. 27. to remove Cyber Monday sale prices and links. Hope you didn't miss out!]

Email Advent Devotions

Your people come to church at most nine or ten times during Advent—that's if they're there every Sunday, Wednesday, Christmas Eve, and a few other special events. But with a devotional resource for each individual or family, the message can be reinforced every single day of Advent and families can learn that worship and study are not confined to a steepled building. Most books of this type are $7-9 regularly, often discounted a bit below that. If you pay for express shipping, you could still get print devotional books in time to distribute this Sunday. Or, get the Different Kind of Christmas devos e-mailed to each person or family in your church for just $4 per email address.

Use Downloadable Resources

Too late to get books or DVDs delivered? Find video illustrations and song backgrounds on Ministry Matters. Use This Sunday to find free sermons and worship resources for Advent. And access hundreds more with a subscription to Ministry Matters.

Preach a Series

You may think preaching in series takes more planning time than going week-to-week, but once you have a framework in mind (for example, focusing on a different character in the Christmas story each week, or examining the "Signs and Wonders" apparent in each of the lectionary's gospel readings for Advent). Check out Ministry Matters' bin of Advent and Christmas series ideas. Some, especially those with drama, would need serious adaptation to plan them last-minute, but others have the full text of sermons to give you a jumpstart. We also have a bin of ready-to-use stand-alone Advent sermons.

Make 'Em Think You've Been Planning for Months

We know deceit is not your motive, but you really can still pull off a comprehensive, church-wide experience for at least one Advent program we know of. Here are all the links you need to pull together A Different Kind of Christmas for your church this Advent:

Devotion: Order the print devotional books for just $5.66 or the email devotions for $4.00 each.

Group Study: Order the DVD with leader guide, or use the original book on which the study is based, Christmas Is Not Your Birthday.

Worship: Use these (free!) Advent wreath-lighting liturgies by Jarrod Johnston.

Preaching: This free series outline provides a framework for sermons and offertory meditations, tied to each chapter of the Christmas Is Not Your Birthday book.

ARTICLE: What General Petraeus Teaches Us About Leadership

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:03:23 GMT

By Ministry Matters

General David Petraeus is certainly not the first high-profile leader to fall from grace, and he won't be the last. Adultery and deceit are not vices limited to people in power, of course, but positions of authority—and the personal characteristics that tend to get people into such positions of power—make indiscretions all the more tempting and devastating for all involved. As the saying goes, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Here are a few things we in church leadership can learn from Gen. Petraeus' mistakes:

Just because you're in ministry does not mean you won't be tempted. Your position may symbolize moral leadership, integrity, and faithfulness, but you are still human. After numerous scandals (think Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, and some priests in the Boston diocese), clergy these days don't get put on quite the pedestal they used to. Military leaders generally still get such regard, but Petraeus reminds us that no one is above temptation.

Secrets are never secrets long. You may think damage will be limited and feelings will be spared if you can keep things under wraps, but things will come out sooner or later, and the consequences will be worse, the harder you've tried to hide it. If the head of the CIA can't keep something secret, who can?

Our choices will follow us. What is it about church people that we love to get that tongue a-waggin'? We may not have global news outlets broadcasting our mistakes, but local gossip can do even more damage. It's hard to start fresh when our past is just a Google-search away.

The choices we make don't just affect us. Everyone around us, from our families to our friends and colleagues, are injured by them. And in ministry, the choices we make affect the whole church family and create the potential to divide or even destroy our church. When politicians and military leaders cheat and lie, national security can be compromised; when ministry leaders fail, people's faith can crumble right along with their trust in you.

We need accountability. We need a person or group to help us work through our struggles and to help us remember we aren't all that. That we can and do make mistakes. And that admitting our weaknesses in a safe place with safe people can keep us from doing really dumb things. People in power tend to be surrounded by "yes men," but you need people who will be tough with you when necessary.

Any good we've done will be tainted by the bad choices we make. Let's face it, for some of us, the desire to be admired and remembered well is enough motivation to walk the line. We are more than the sum of our mistakes, but for most of us, the bad tends to stick in people's minds more than the good, and a legacy can be undone before you know it.

We need to ask tough questions. Ask yourself, "What's going on in my life that I would jeopardize everything?" Are you feeling lonely or unappreciated? Does your ego need a boost? Is power and pride going to your head? Nip temptation in the bud by taking a close look inside yourself.

Only time will tell how David Petraeus will be portrayed in history, but we've seen enough leaders rise and fall to know what's at stake. Not just our marriages, families, and careers, but legacies of good and the confidence of all whose faith you've helped to build. Rightly or wrongly, many people will judge the church and the Christ it represents by the way its leaders behave.

ARTICLE: Thanksgiving Sermon Starters

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:49:49 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Thanksgiving is not an explicitly Christian holiday, but our faith in a God to whom we owe so much gratitude makes the holiday an excellent opportunity to gather as a community of faith to praise and thank God together. In planning your sermon for a Thanksgiving service, the day (the Sunday before or a weeknight gathering) and your approach to scripture selection (lectionary or non) make a difference.

Here are a few sermon starters to help you decide and prepare. The complete versions of these sermons (and many, many more) are available in the Ministry Matters premium subscription.

Baby Blues

(Year B Proper 28, First Reading, 1 Samuel 1:4-20)

Hannah thought she would scream if one more person invited her to a baby shower! Once she had looked forward to gathering at the well every morning, seeing her friends, and hearing all the latest news. Now she dreaded those encounters, wondering who would be the first to ask her, “So, Hannah. How’s it going? Are you ‘with child’ yet?” At last summer’s tribal reunion, Hannah lost count of the number of relatives who kept asking when she and Elkanah planned to start a family. One after another they had inquired, “Well, Hannah, you and Elkanah have been together for years now. Don’t you think it’s about time? Your mother is counting on some grandbabies, you know. We could use a few more cousins, too. Here, let me show you my latest brag book. Are these babies cute, or what?” Hannah kept stealing glances at the sundial, counting the hours until that event was over and she could escape back into the comfort of her solitude.

She and Elkanah had been taking her temperature every morning for eons and faithfully plotting the fertility graph. Elkanah had tried so hard to be encouraging, and to let her know how much he loved her, but all she could hear was the ticking of her biological sundial.

She felt guilty for resenting her friends and relatives who had children, but those negative feelings were inside her just the same. Hannah tried not to be angry with her friends, and found herself turning her anger toward God instead. Did God think she was unworthy of motherhood? Was infertility some kind of celestial punishment she had earned?

Hannah mourned the absence of the baby she longed for. She felt so alone and lost. Her head told her that God was close to her in her sorrow, but her aching heart simply could not feel it. Hannah knew she had much to be thankful for, but under these circumstances, she didn’t feel grateful for much of anything. Finally, in her desperation, she did what people of faith do when they are at the end of their rope. She went to church and had a heart-to-heart talk with God. She prayed one of those “let’s make a deal” prayers that we have all prayed at one time or another. Hannah poured out her heart to God. “God, if only you will do this for me, then I will do that for you.” If God would only give her a son, she would give that son back to God to be in service to their Creator. This seems like a strange prayer, since Hannah is promising to return to God what she wants most in all the world, a son, if only God will give her that son.

Finally, God grants Hannah the desire of her heart, and a son, Samuel, is born to her. Hannah proclaims her joy and gratitude in a song to God. “My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God,” anticipating Mary’s song in Luke 1 as Mary waits for the birth of a savior. Hannah is the madonna of the Old Testament. We rejoice that Hannah’s story has a happy ending.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for all those who desperately want children. More than five million people of childbearing age in our country experience infertility. It is important to recognize, when preaching this text, how personal the story is to so many couples, and how a simple message of "count your blessings" can be dismissive of their pain. Thanksgiving can be an appropriate time to acknowledge that it can be hard to give thanks to God when your deepest desires and most desperate prayers have gone unanswered.

Excerpted and adapted from Sermons on the First Readings.

Kernels of Thanks (Colossians 2:6–7)

The theme of this message is simple: be thankful for all that God has done for you, and let your thankfulness overflow to those around you. Gratefulness is the state of the heart most pleasing to God. Gratefulness occurs when we recognize our status as forgiven and renewed, when we recognize our need for God's faithfulness in our lives, and when we have such joy that it can't help but spill over and influence others. This is the rooted and grounded faith of a thankful heart.

Tell about a time when you were truly grateful for something in your life. It could be when you got married or had a baby, or when someone helped you cope with a difficult situation. Let your story show heartfelt thanks. Expound on the scripture passage. It is interesting to note that a grateful life comes out of obedience, rootedness, nourishment in faith, and staying in the truth that we were taught. From this we find that our hearts are overflowing with thanks for all that God has done. The passage seems to be saying that the deeper we are, the more grateful we will become.

Explain the tradition of five kernels. The Thanksgiving kernel tradition dates back to the year 1621 when the Pilgrims endured one of the harshest winters. The people were cold and starving due to a lack of resources. According to tradition, the people were so hungry that at one point, they were given only five kernels of corn on their plates! Later a ship came in, and they were able to trade fur pelts for corn. Placing five kernels of corn on the Thanksgiving dinner plate is a way to remember God's past goodness during a hard time.

Have bowls of corn kernels (unpopped popcorn works well) ready to pass at the appropriate time. Invite people to take five kernels from the bowl, bring one kernel to the altar and pause for a prayer of thanks to God. Then encourage them to take the four remaining kernels and pass them out to the people in their lives for whom they are thankful, stopping to tell each person exactly why they are grateful.

Excerpted and adapted from Sermon Seeds: 40 Creative Sermon Starters.

Providence

(Year B Thanksgiving Gospel Reading, Matthew 6:25-33)

In 1635, the Puritan clergyman, Roger Williams, was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for promoting ideas of religious tolerance and for urging the separation of church and state. To escape deportation back to England, Williams made his way to Narragansett Bay, where he purchased land from the Indians who lived there. Together with a few friends, he established a settlement that he named Providence, a naming that Williams said was in gratitude “for God’s merciful providence to me in my distress.” This settlement eventually became the capital of the colony of Rhode Island.

Williams gave that settlement a great name, for providence refers to the care and benevolent guidance of God. It comes from the same root word as do “provide” and “provisions.” In Williams’ day, providence was a word commonly used in speech, and our ancestors were not shy about attributing good things that happened to them to God’s care for them.

The word is seldom used in our vocabulary these days, and that’s too bad. Providence means that everything that happens, however bewildering, is ultimately subject to God’s purposes, but today, we are sometimes quicker to attribute the things that happen to fate, luck, our own hard work, or the intervention of other people. Our ancestors believed in those things too, but they were often quicker to see the hand of God at work in the background.

The Gospel Reading for today comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and one of the themes Jesus addresses in these verses is providence. He begins by referring to the worry many people feel about the future — about whether they will have enough of the essentials of life. Jesus confronts that worry with three examples. First, he asks his audience to consider how God cares for the birds, which are individually creatures of lesser value than human beings. If God cares for them, will he not also care for humankind? Second, he challenges his listeners to think about how little worry can accomplish. It can’t add even one hour to the worrier’s lifespan. Third, Jesus points to the beauty with which God clothes the lilies of the field, which bloom only briefly. How much more will he clothe his people!

Some Bible readers have wondered if Jesus was saying, therefore, that those who trust him should not make arrangements for their future. In fact, there are Christians who have made that assumption. But what Jesus was talking about was being careful about what monopolizes our lives and energy, about having our priorities in the wrong order. He said that we should “strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” and all these necessities of life will come along as well. To say it differently, the more we recognize our dependence upon God as the giver and sustainer of life, the more we can be independent of anxiety about the future.

Unlike such notions as fate or luck, providence is understood as a positive and intentional working of goodness in life. We live our lives differently according to whether we see ourselves in the hands of God or the hands of fate. Christianity does not claim that God always manages the minutiae of our lives, but it does say that at root, our lives are in God’s hands. And the word for that is “providence.”

It means that in an ultimate sense, nothing happens that cannot be subject to God’s purposes. You will recognize that that is something quite different than saying that God plans everything that happens to you. Providence says that this is God’s world, and he, not luck, fate, superstition, astrology, or any other so-called force determines the meaning of this life of ours. It also means that no matter how terrible the things are that may happen to us, none of them can separate us from the love of God.

Providence means that there is a creating, saving possibility in every situation that cannot be destroyed by evil or by anything else. That is a Thanksgiving affirmation, and true thanksgiving is a recognition of God’s Providence.

Providence is a word that needs to be spoken more often today. Our society, though, places great stock in luck. Hence the proliferation of lotteries and casino gambling. Chance is a reality, but unlike providence that favors everyone, luck reserves its benefits for a favored few. Everybody else loses. Providence rejects that notion. God’s goodness is for all.

Providence also challenges the idea of fate, the belief that certain things in life are predetermined and nothing we can do will change them.

Why do some people die in plane crashes and others happen to miss the flight? Was it just "not their time"? Were they spared for a reason? Providence doesn’t buy the idea of predetermined fates. It declares that neither victims nor survivors are separated from the love of God. Even if God intervenes for some reason to save a life, that doesn’t lessen his love for those who were not spared.

Providence is sometimes used as another name for God, for you see, when we declare our faith in providence over luck, fate, astrology, and superstition, we are expressing our conviction that the agent behind the events in our lives is not the devil, not blind, uncaring fatalism, not even something called “the odds.” Rather we are declaring that we are in the hands of one who loves us, cares for us, guides us, provides for us, and never lets us go. In that way, Christ really is the answer, for he points us to God.

A few years ago, a woman in Costa Mesa, California, found on her doorstep a car key and a note. The note quoted a few Bible verses and ended by saying, “This is a gift for you because I love you.” It was signed, “An Angel of the Lord.”

The key fit a newer car that was parked in her driveway, just what she needed to replace her unreliable old clunker. Naturally, the woman was thrilled, and in response, she hung a large poster on her garage that read, “Thank you, God.” She did not think, of course, that God had personally dropped the car out of heaven onto her driveway. But notice that her sign did not say, “Thank you, anonymous friend.” She knew some friend or acquaintance had given her the car, but she also understood something about providence. Ultimately, all good things come from God.

Providence. It’s a great word and an adult perspective on life. Use the word. Live the faith. God is at work in his world and he will win.

Excerpted and adapted from Sermons on the Gospel Readings.

ARTICLE: Veterans Day Worship

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:05:08 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Many churches like to incorporate a small Veteran's Day observance into worship the Sunday before the Nov. 11 holiday. This year, the eleventh itself is a Sunday, so a prayer or other recognition may be even more appropriate, keeping in mind that our worship is directed only at God and not human heroes.

Moment of Reflection

Today is Veteran's Day, a day when we recognize and give thanks for the service and sacrifice of the men and women who have served in the armed forces. These men and women and their families endure hardship, separation, and sometimes loss for the sake of keeping peace and fighting for justice around the world. Servicemen and women work to assist and build up communities and suffering populations around the world. Though we wish it were not necessary, they take up arms to protect and defend their country.

We honor their commitment to duty and willingness to sacrifice of themselves. But let us also remember that these brave men and women are only human. Today's psalm, Psalm 127, says "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain." Even the strongest and bravest of human heroes stands in need of God's grace and the wisdom and guidance we seek in prayer. Let us pray.

Pastoral Prayer

There have always been wars, dear God, because there have always been problems between human beings. As long as there has been history, battle lines have been drawn and people have fought with one another. We wish it were not so, and that we human beings had the kind of love and insight that would prevent war. But, as it is so and we don’t have that kind of love and insight, we offer our prayers for all those who have volunteered or been conscripted to fight their countries’ wars. We thank you for their courage and often their heroism as they have faced the enemy in battle. We praise their selfless acts in behalf of fellow soldiers. We extol their wisdom gathered from the battlefield, and commend their eternal souls to your loving and forgiving care. We remember especially all who presently serve in the armed forces of this and other countries, and pray for their continued safety and welfare. As they encounter danger, give them the insight to understand life and death, and enable them to be at peace with you and with themselves. Bless the families of all who serve in the armed forces, and let your Holy Spirit rest upon them like a mantle to preserve them from anxiety and harm. Grant to each and every one of us a reminder of the way life itself is a struggle between good and evil, and prepare us to defend the good and not succumb to the evil we encounter. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Responsive Prayer

Leader: We remember today, O God, all those who have served under the colors of their countries.

People: We commend them to you for their bravery, their patriotism, and their honor.

Leader: Grant that those who serve today may be kept in your everlasting love and protection.

People: Give comfort and encouragement to their families.

Leader: We pray for the day when there will be peace on earth and the kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdoms of our Christ.

People: Hasten that day, O God, and help us to live in that hope. Imbue us with your spirit of love and forgiveness, in order that we may understand the nature of Christ’s kingdom.

Leader: Hear our prayers for our enemies in the world, that they may be converted to Christ’s will for the nations and join us in a better world community.

People: Let your holy will prevail among all people, and your name be exalted forever.

All: Amen.

ARTICLE: 2013 Calendar

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:33:29 GMT

By Ministry Matters

When is Easter in 2013?

Mother's Day is May... what?

What day of the week does Christmas fall on this year?

Download and print this 2013 calendar with handy "When is..." list to help you as you plan the next year.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: December 23, 2012

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:20:29 GMT

By Ministry Matters

THE DYNAMICS OF EXPECTANCY

MICAH 5:2-5a

When the wise men told Herod the Great that a new king had been born within his realm, he was deeply disturbed because he knew of Israel’s tradition of expectancy—and he considered it dangerous. When he asked his advisors where the new king was to be born, they turned to our passage from the book of Micah for an answer. The book of Micah is part of the prophetic heritage of the people of Israel. It can teach us a lot about the dynamics of expectancy.

I. Expectancy Grows Out of a Combination of Memory and Belief

When people remember that good things have happened in the past and believe that the One who made those good things happen is still at work in the world, then they can face each new day of life with expectancy. The passage from Micah suggests that Israel should look to Bethlehem for a new messiah, because the great King David had come from that town. The central theme of the prophetic message is that the God who had acted to save his people in the past will also work to save them in the present and in the future. Are there memories and beliefs in your life that can generate expectancy in you?

II. Expectancy Is Not Always Welcomed

People who are beaten, who have given up, find expectancy annoying. It challenges their complacency. It keeps them from being comfortable in their cynicism. Those who want to exploit or oppress others also find expectancy threatening. Herod had good reason for finding the idea of the birth of a messiah threatening. The first three chapters of Micah, like so much of the prophetic literature in the Bible, is full of condemnations of such oppressive practices as he had employed in his reign. Have you ever felt resentful or annoyed when someone else insisted upon taking a positive, expectant attitude toward some situation in which you were both involved? If you have, maybe you had better ask yourself why.

III. Expectancy Gives People the Ability to Persevere and to Keep On Trying

The belief that something has happened that will eventually make things better can give us a hope to hang onto. The prophets gave the people of Israel such a hope, and it sustained them through years of defeat, exile, and suffering. In her book Legacies, Betty Bao Lord tells the story of a Chinese businessman who was imprisoned in his own office for years during the persecutions of China’s great cultural revolution. He was able to persevere because each day he could look out between the boards that had been nailed over his window and see a little vermilion kite. He knew that his young son was flying it there to let him know he was not forgotten. He held onto life as he had once taught his young son to hold onto the string of a kite, because he knew someone outside waited faithfully. Someone cared. Can you remember ways in which expectancy has enabled you to persevere? How great is the hope, how great is the perseverance, that can come with believing that the eternal God remembers you and is working for your good! When you recognize the saving work of God actually happening in your life and in your world, expectancy will prepare you to enter into the new possibility. (Jim Killen)

HOW CAN I BE HOLY WHEN I CAN’T BE GOOD?

HEBREWS 10:5-10

When the text begins with a “therefore,” we ask, “What’s the ‘therefore there for?” In this case, the “therefore” serves as a bridge over which we travel from the writer’s argument in verses 1-4, to his resulting conclusion in verses 5-10. He states that the old sacrificial system existed only to remind us of our sins and was totally insufficient to deal with the depth of our sinfulness. “Therefore . . . Christ came into the world” (v. 5).

Because of the inadequacy of burnt and sin offerings (v. 6), Jesus bowed his will to the will of the Father and became the eternal, once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins. “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (v. 10 NIV).

Made holy? To that we are tempted to say, “I believe that he died for me, but me—holy? How can I be holy when I can’t even be good?” To which God responds: “You are right, you can’t.” But he can make us so, and already has. The word holy means to “be separate” or “to be set aside.” God makes us holy. It is totally his work. Already, he has “separated” us as believers.

I. God Separates Us from the World

As God’s children, we are called to live a life that is distinctively different. We are to live moral, upright, spirit-filled lives that reflect the character and nature of Jesus. This does not mean that we ever attain a moral perfection or that we live in an ivory tower existence far removed from reality. We shall always have our frailties and be in constant need of confession, repentance, and faith. But it does mean that we are to be separated from the world’s standards of judgment and measurement and be attuned to God’s.

God’s ways are not the ways of the world. He says that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. If we seek to find our life, we will lose it, but if we lose our life for his sake, we will find it. To be the greatest, we must become the slave of all. To be “separate” means that we seek to play our life to an “audience of One” and to be salt and light that reflect God’s glory.

II. God Separates Us for His Service

Just as Jesus came to do God’s will, we are separated to do his will and be Jesus in the world. Our talents, time, and potential are placed at his disposal. Just as Jesus found his ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction in doing the Father’s will, so do we (v. 9). God doesn’t ask us to do the impossible or even the uncommon. He expects us to do the common with an uncommon fervor. As Major Ian Thomas is fond of saying, “God is not so much concerned about our ability as he is concerned about our availability.”

III. God Separates Us unto Himself

Holiness is not a code of conduct or a set of practices. It is a personal relationship to the living Jesus Christ who died for our sins. We conduct our lives in and through that personal relationship to him. We are a part of God and God is a part of us making us whole and holy. Peter Gomes said, “To be holy is to be out of sync with the world and not out of balance with God.”

The old fable may say it best. An ancient kingdom faced a dilemma when the grain crop became poisoned. Anyone who ate the grain became insane. Faced with extinction or insanity, the wise king made a wise decision. He said, “We will eat the grain and we will suffer the results. But we will set aside a few to follow a different diet. That way there will always be some who know that we are insane.”

In this often mad rush of busyness and preoccupation with material things we call Christmas, could there not be some who are different? Could there not be some who show the world love and generosity in the name of One who came to give his all? (Gary L. Carver)

SINGING MARY’S SONG

LUKE 1:39-55

People like Christmas for a variety of reasons. The family gatherings, the heart-warming music, the decorations. For children, receiving presents plays a significant role in their fondness for Christmas. But at heart for those of us in the church, our pleasure in Christmas is rooted in our love for the Christmas story, the story of the birth of Jesus.

But not everyone loves that story. And sometimes the people who dislike it the most understand its meaning the best. The Christmas story—and the Christmas event behind it—is not a placid and harmless happening. To the contrary, Christmas is not safe. The reason it is not safe has nothing to do with the traffic hazards around the malls, harmful toys for children, or the possibility of Christmas tree fires. Christmas is not safe because the Christ Child is not safe. He came not only as a promise but as a threat. Most of us have gotten so comfortable with Christmas because we have not seen Christ’s coming as a threat as well as a promise. But Mary saw it, and it made her sing.

I. Mary Longed for a Better World

Just as we experience Christmas as safe, we tend to think of Mary as timid. She is usually portrayed as a pleasant and compliant figure rather than a defiant one. Meek and mild, humble and quiet—that’s the Mary Christmas pageants and Hollywood movies give us. Not often are we provided a glimpse of a Mary who has a vision of a revolutionary world sparkling in her eyes or a passion for justice throbbing in her heart. But that is the Mary of the Bible. The woman God chose as the one to bear Jesus, the Savior, recognized the ugliness of inequality. She was incensed by the brutality of oppression. Mary longed for a better world.

II. Mary Recognized God Was Bringing a New World

It was sometime after her encounter with the angel that Mary went to visit her older cousin, Elizabeth, who was also pregnant. By that time Mary had begun to consider how the birth of this baby, the promised Savior, would affect other people besides her. The prospects were thrilling. When Elizabeth declared to Mary that she was blessed among all women for being chosen to give birth to the Lord, Mary couldn’t contain herself. She began singing a visionary song of a changed world. With the power of a God-inspired protest singer, she belted out the words,

my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

In tones more likely to shake her hearers than to soothe them, she sang of God and the promised Savior.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

Not everyone who has called Jesus their Lord and Savior can sing Mary’s song. Many prefer a tamer tune. But there have been people who through the centuries have sung her song in their hearts, if not always on their lips. Though they live in the misshapen and unjust world of the present, by the power of God they envision a just world to come and they sing God’s future. That kind of song is subversive. It calls into question the present world order. It speaks of new possibilities. It lifts up the spirit of people who have been brought low.

In 1973, in Santiago, Chile, the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende was toppled by the forces of General Pinochet. Pinochet put in place a rule known for its horrible and oppressive methods. During the overthrow, 25,000 people were crammed into a sports stadium and detained at gunpoint. Periodically, individuals were taken out to be tortured and abused. All hope for justice seemed to be battered to pieces.

Among those huddled in the stadium was a popular Chilean folk singer, Victor Jara. He had managed to bring his guitar with him. There in the midst of the brutality and abuse, he began to play and sing. He lifted his voice against the violence and destruction that was being imposed upon his people. The crowd hushed in order to listen to his songs, songs of courage and hope. His songs helped them to see beyond the pain and defeat of the moment to possibilities yet unrealized.

The soldiers knew his music was undermining their fear-inspiring work. They confronted Jara and declared, “If you don’t stop that song, we’ll cut off your hands.” Victor lifted his eyes to theirs and kept playing his music. They carried out their threat and chopped off his hands. The soldiers laughed at him and taunted, “Now try to play your guitar.” He couldn’t play. But again he began to sing. He continued to sing out his heart, sing of his vision of a better world. The furious soldiers stopped him only when they took their guns and shot him.

But even that did not stop the song. The people who heard it remembered. Throughout the time Pinochet and his forces ruled Chile, the oppressed people sang the song of Victor Jara.

Mary sang because she knew that the child she was to bear would change the world. When and how it would change, she did not know. But heart by heart, life by life, community by community, the change comes. (Craig M. Watts)

ARTICLE: Ministers Matter (the blog tour!)

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:50:53 GMT

By Ministry Matters

October is Clergy Appreciation Month, and Ministry Matters is kicking it off with a blog tour celebrating all the unsung heroes of ministry. We've asked some of your favorite leaders and authors to share about ministers who made a difference in their lives—and you can do the same!

Check out our featured bloggers sharing their stories each day, and then share your own story through the link-up below!

OCT 1 Grace Biskie
OCT 2   Max Lucado
OCT 3   Mike Glenn
OCT 4   Matthew Paul Turner
OCT 5   Pete Wilson
OCT 8   Jessica LaGrone
OCT 9   Ron Edmondson
OCT 10  Adam Hamilton
OCT 11 Mike Slaughter
OCT 12 Shawn Wood

Now it's your turn!
Follow these two simple steps:

1. Blog about a minister that made a difference in your life.

What pastor, Sunday school teacher, youth director, seminary professor, or other church leader made a positive impact on your faith and your life? What did you learn about ministry from that person?

2. Follow the instructions below to add your link. Your link and thumbnail will appear below.

The Linky Tools widget will stay open until midnight on October 14—Clergy Appreciation Sunday—so blog, share your story, and honor a minister who mattered to you!

ARTICLE: 10-Fold. 1 Click. Be Counted

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:49:31 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Are you looking for resources to help you make a difference in the world? This October, with a click of your mouse, you can become an advocate for mission! On October 1, 2012, 10-Fold returns for a month-long celebration of five exciting projects, each highlighted for a full week.

“One of the joys of my work is to meet people around the world who are engaged in mission,” said Thomas Kemper, who leads the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. He continued, “10-Fold gives everyone the opportunity to meet some of these people and interact with them online.”

Encourage friends and church members to visit 10-Fold.org weekly, for a project-focused multimedia experience that includes:

videos
chats
devotions
worship resources
and more.

Each visitor can trigger a US $1 donation to the week’s project, made by one of 10-Fold’s sponsors simply by clicking on the Be Counted button.

Week 1: UMCOR

The digital event will kick off on October 1 with a focus on disaster relief. Learn more about the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), a nonprofit organization dedicated to alleviating human suffering around the globe. UMCOR’s work reaches people in more than 80 countries, including the United States. Among other activities, volunteers will be invited to construct relief supply kits.

Week 2: Young People

Young people are not just the future of the church—they are changing the world today. Week Two of 10-Fold begins on October 8 and will introduce ways that young people can engage in mission. Young adult missionaries will share how they are making an impact in the communities they serve.

Week 3: Mission Initiatives

Beginning October 15, learn about how Mission Initiatives are introducing The United Methodist Church to countries from Asia to Latin America, and sharing the gospel through word and deed. By being an advocate for Mission Initiatives, you support growth in places where The United Methodist Church is new to the population. Global Ministries is empowering young churches as they engage in works of piety and mercy.

Week 4: Missionaries

United Methodist missionaries are growing a global force for faith and hope in more than 60 countries, including the US. The week of October 22 tells the story of missionaries who come from many places and backgrounds to witness and serve around the world as congregational and leadership developers, pastors, educators, regional coordinators for UMCOR, agriculturalists, health coordinators, and doctors. On October 26, join in prayer and celebration, as new missionaries are commissioned during a service that will be webcast live.

Week 5: Fair Trade

Who benefits when you purchase fairly traded products? Beginning October 29, learn how you support just and sustainable economies by choosing to buy Fair-Trade items. UMCOR connects consumers with Fair Trade-certified companies and other socially responsible businesses. Some businesses exploit their workers, and entire communities become trapped in vicious cycles of poverty. Fair wages allow farmers and artisans to feed their families, send their children to school, gain access to healthcare, and much more.

10-Fold gives you the opportunity and flexibility to learn more about the projects that stir your heart. It offers tools to share stories of mission and resources for you to change the world. So mark your calendar, invite your friends, and join us this October as we engage in mission and ministry together at 10-Fold.org.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: December 16, 2012

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:58:08 GMT

By Ministry Matters

In The Land of the Living

Isaiah 12:2-6

The psalmist told us something important about the biblical faith when he said, “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” Ps. 27:13) .

Isaiah said, “The Lord has become my salvation.” We have become accustomed to thinking of salvation primarily in terms of our hope for heaven beyond this life. As important as that is to us, it would be a mistake to limit our understanding of salvation to that hope. When Isaiah spoke of salvation, he was talking about something that can happen “in the land of the living.”

I. Salvation Takes Place in the Land of the Living

Throughout the Old Testament, God is thought of as a God who saves. Israel’s earliest experiences of salvation were things that God did in Israel’s history. Notice the places in the Bible in which we find the words, “The Lord has become my salvation.” In Exodus 15:2, they are part of a hymn of praise which Israel raised after God had rescued them from Pharaoh’s army. In Psalm 118:14, they are parts of a ritual of thanksgiving to God for help in some very real crisis. In our passage from Isaiah, they are part of a psalm of thanks that follows a prophecy of the coming of a messiah to bring his people home from exile. These all have to do with saving works of God “in the land of the living.”

In verse 3, there is a shift from past and present tense to the future tense. Isaiah says, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Remembering enables us to anticipate the saving work that God will do in the future.

II. What Kind of Salvation Do We Need in the Land of the Living?

What are the great real needs of our world today? Do we need to be saved from war and oppression, from ecological disaster, from moral disintegration? What are the greatest real needs in your life? From what do you and those whom you love need most to be saved?

Is it inappropriate to turn to the God who “has become our salvation” for help with these needs? Isaiah would not have thought so.

III. The Savior Comes to Bring Us Salvation in the Land of the Living

During the season of Advent, Christians look forward to the coming of one whose name, Jesus, means “The Lord is salvation.” Should we not expect that coming to have something to do with the real needs we experience in the land of the living? All three of the scripture passages in which we found the words, “The Lord has become my salvation,” are passages that the early Christian community used to interpret the saving work of Christ.

That One who came and lived and worked among us in Jesus still comes and lives and works among us today. No, God does not often work through miraculous cures and spectacular interventions. But in many subtle ways, God is at work among us. When we see those saving works that were done through Jesus being done again, we can recognize God’s saving work going on among us and respond.

In Philippians 4:6, Paul invites us to “let your requests be made known to God.” This is not just an invitation to pray prayers that are like letters to Santa Claus. It is, rather, an invitation to take seriously the biblical belief that God is at work to bring about significant forms of salvation here “in the land of the living.” (Jim Killen)

What If or Why Not?

Philippians 4:4-7

Worry changes nothing but the worrier, often to the negative extent that our creative juices are strangled and life is robbed of its vitality. A. J. Cronin states that only 8 percent of our worries are legitimate, and the great majority of our concerns never occur! Emerson said it best:

Some of your hurts you have cured.
And the sharpest you still have survived,
But what torment of grief you’ve endured
From evils that never arrived.
(From “Needless Worry” by Ralph Waldo Emerson)

From a positive viewpoint, worry is a distortion of our capacity to care. The irresponsible seldom worry. From a negative viewpoint, worry is a mild form of agnosticism. Since we feel God will not or cannot act, we feel we have to take matters in our own hands and play the destructive game of “What if?”

I. What If?—A Sit-Down Anxiety

This game of “What if?” is a wringing-of-the-hands, do-nothing, negative and inactive approach to life. We worry about the past, which ignores God’s ability to forgive. We worry about the future, which ignores God’s ability to teach us from our mistakes. We worry about people’s judgment of us, which stems from our inability to love ourselves as God does. We worry about our health, which doubts God’s ability to care for his own. We worry about finances, which ignores God’s ability to give us the wisdom and discipline to manage, especially when we tithe. And we worry about dozens of other things.

Lloyd Ogilvie wrote a book entitled Let God Love You! This may be our greatest need. The word “anxious” Phil. 4:6) means to “divide or share.” When we let God love us, we no longer work against ourselves and begin to work with God. We also take the vital step in replacing a sit-down anxiety with a get-up audacity.

II. Why Not?—A Get-Up Audacity

A get-up audacity is an active, positive lifestyle that dares God to keep his promises and reaches out into every new day in the full assurance that he will. It looks at a situation not with a foreboding “What if?” but with a daring “Why not?”

I love the story of the first grader feeling the pains of leaving his beloved teacher upon being promoted to the second grade. In saying a tearful good-bye to his mentor, he said, “I wish you knew enough to teach me in the second grade.”

One point of that story is that it is time to move on. Paul would agree. “Don’t be anxious,” he said, “do something—rejoice in God’s goodness, show gentleness to everyone, and pray persistently with petition and thanksgiving” (vv. 4-6). Don’t sit and fret. Get up and do.

Norman Cousins, in his book The Anatomy of an Illness, tells how he faced an “incurable,” crippling disease and literally laughed himself back to health. Instead of giving in, he got up! We can as well when we put God first, seek his kingdom (Matt. 6:33-34), and remember that what God guides, God provides. As we do, we exchange the negative, “What if?” to a positive “Why not?” and begin to enjoy the abundant life. “And how!”

III. And How!—the Abundant Life

The Christian with a get-up-and-go audacity enjoys and expects the serendipitous surprises of God. He or she expects God to work. When a situation seems hopeless, the Christian is praying, working, believing, expecting. The believer knows that “surprise” is God’s other name and that God will strengthen us in the problem, teach us from the problem, or God may remove the problem altogether.

Arnold Lemerand, on November 1, 1980, while taking a daily stroll, witnessed a tragedy at a construction site. A massive cast-iron pipe dislodged and rolled onto five-year-old Phillip Toth, suffocating him. With no one else around, Lemerand instinctively did what he could. He lifted the 1800-pound pipe off Toth’s head, saving his life. Later on, neither he nor his sons could budge the pipe. Not bad for a fifty-six-year-old who had recently suffered a heart attack and was told by his doctor not to lift anything heavy. I am not saying that God will use you to perform a miracle, but I’m not saying he won’t either.

The abundant-life-living Christian expects God’s surprises, is sustained by his power, and is kept by his love. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Phil. 4:7) . The word guard paints the image of a faithful sentinel on duty. In this Christmas season, often haunted by the worry of unfulfilled expectations and loneliness, let God hold you guarded and secure in love. Why not? (Gary L. Carver)

And You Call This Good News?

Luke 3:7-18

We think of Advent as a happy time. This is the season when our attention is drawn to the most significant and wondrous event in the history of humanity—the inbreaking of the Savior into a world that has lost its way. We look upon Jesus as the hope and the healer of our globe which is sick unto death. And so we see Christmas as the beginning of a new age, an age of health and harmony that will come in fullness when our Lord returns. The message of the coming of Christ is indeed good news.

Or is it? It is really a matter of perspective. If we look at the news of the coming of the Savior from a certain angle it is deplorable news. John the Baptist makes that distressingly clear. John was an odd character, firmly embedded in the prophetic tradition. His dress and habits were strange, symbolizing his rejection of corrupt society. Both his lifestyle and his message shouted to the world that big changes were on the horizon. No longer could people rest easy with the status quo. Rather, John warned them that the coming of the Promised One would sweep over them like a raging fire in a bone-dry forest.

John’s announcement of the Messiah’s coming fell softly on no one’s ears. He certainly didn’t try to lull his audience into believing that they could welcome the Savior with an unreflective enthusiasm, like a child who looks forward to Santa Claus. John the Baptist’s words were troubling. The harshness of his tone made it evident that he had no patience with those who would require coaxing or cajoling before they would be receptive to his message. John spoke with brutal frankness.

The great church reformer Martin Luther once stated, “The most consistent outcome of the Word of God is that on its account the world is put into an uproar.” Personally, I would not have wanted to bear the brunt of John’s preaching. In the very first verses of our text, we find John apparently lashing out at his audience, calling them names. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

Evidently John stuck such an undignified label on them because he anticipated their reaction to his message. You see, they were confident they had a guaranteed place in the plan of God. It wasn’t as though they were going to be forced to try out for a part in the divine drama. God couldn’t get along very well without them. After all, they reasoned, they were irreplaceable because they were the children of promise. Despite any illusions that they cherished, or that we might cherish, God is not dependent upon any particular group of people—not Israelites or Americans, not blacks or whites, not Catholics or Baptists. As John proclaimed, “I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

The strangest thing is that our scripture text concludes by saying that John “proclaimed the good news to the people.” How is it that John’s message, with all of its name-calling, threats, and warnings, can still be labeled “good news”?

Above all, it is because the bad news of God’s judgment implies the good news of God’s mercy. In the proclamation of darkness, the light of hope always shines. Imagine going to the doctor for a routine examination. As far as you know, you are perfectly healthy. You’re feeling well and have had no symptoms of illness, or at least you didn’t recognize the symptoms or take them seriously. After the test results are back, the doctor sits down with you. The results of your examination indicate that you have diabetes. If you do not drastically change your eating habits, you will surely face dire consequences. Bad news. But at the same time, the good news implied in the bad news is that your condition is not hopeless. Something can be done. It may be tough to make the adjustments, but still there is hope for a full and fruitful life.

With God, every apparently bad word about judgment implies a good word about salvation. Divine warnings are given so that divine mercy might be accepted. Judgment is a way that God shows his care for us. If God were uncaring, God would simply abandon us without notice. But our Lord loves us enough to redemptively hurt us. The word of God is painful the way surgery is painful. The agony it causes is but a stage on the way to health.

The Christ that John the Baptist announced is certainly a threat to anyone who has become complacent and overly comfortable with his or her life, values and opinions. The Christ that John called people to prepare for was One who came to interrupt the normal course of life in order to introduce the way of God. (Craig M. Watts)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: December 9, 2012

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:41:17 GMT

By Ministry Matters

I'm Not Responsible... Am I?

Malachi 3:1-4

If a wife cheats on her husband, whose fault is it? It could be the husband who was inattentive, her parents who caused her low self-esteem, the man who seduced her, or the society that glamorizes affairs. If a man steals a stereo, is he really to blame? It could be the fault of his friends who own stereos and make him feel inadequate, the advertisers who make stereos look so good, or the stereo’s owner who left her car door unlocked. Our society is adept at avoiding responsibility.

I. We Don’t Take Responsibility

Every day we see other people deny their responsibilities. It’s harder to admit that we do the same thing. We have a list of excuses for our lack of commitment to Christ. We don’t love our neighbors, but it’s the neighbors fault. They aren’t very friendly. We don’t pray as we should, but it’s our family’s fault. They’re always finding something else we should be doing. We don’t share the gospel, but it’s our employers fault. They don’t want us to make anyone uncomfortable. The easiest way to avoid our real responsibilities is to say, “I have responsibilities.”

II. We Are Responsible.

Martin Luther wrote: “A man is not responsible if a bird flies over his head, but he is responsible if that bird builds a nest in his hair.” We are not accountable for all the sin in the world, but we are answerable for the apathy in our hearts.

Dennis Waitley argued that to match the Statue of Liberty in New York there should be a Statue of Responsibility in San Francisco. Without individual duty there can be no real freedom.

God’s grace makes us accountable. Grace demands we live true to the trust we have been given. We are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are to live and speak the gospel. The ultimate folly is to accept the gift of grace without recognizing the responsibilities of Christian faith.

III. God Will Judge Us

Malachi understood that the day of the Lord’s coming will be no Sunday dinner on the grounds. God’s judgment will fall first upon the priests, for they are the most responsible. Church people usually think that judgment is for everyone else. We softpedal the many passages of Scripture that make it clear that judgment comes for all of us.

What percentage of what could be done for God do we actually do? Is it as much as 10 percent? Do we really believe that we bear no responsibility for the other 90 percent? Judgment is facing what we have done and what we have left undone. Judgment begins in the heart of God and reaches into our hearts. In the best families, children are concerned with disappointing their loving parents. This is the judgment feared by the children of the heavenly Father.

We need to repent and let God make us right. Malachi envisioned judgment day as cleansing. Christ will be a refiner’s fire purifying his people. God will give us a scrubbing that one commentator described as getting caught in a car wash without a car. We should pledge ourselves to the God who leads us to a holy life. One day we will have to answer for what we have done. (Brett Younger)

A Prisoner's Prayer

Philippians 1:3-11

Sitting in a drab, cramped house is a balding man writing a letter. His shoulders are stooped, his hand and foot are chained. Accompanying him in those chains is a rather large, muscular fellow with body armor displaying the seal of the Roman army. The year is around A.D. 63 or perhaps 64 in the city of Rome. The occasion that prompted this letter was a gift sent to the apostle Paul from his closest friends in the church that met in Philippi.

The tone of this prisoner’s letter was not complaint, grievance, lament, or bitterness. It is a letter of joy, a treatise on hope. The beginning paragraph is a prisoner’s prayer of thanksgiving. That’s right—thanksgiving!

I. The Prisoner’s Prayer Is for His Friends

Paul calls his friends “saints” in verse 1. He had a lofty view of the members of this parish. To him each one had great spiritual worth. He knew that they were “in Christ” and that Christ was “in them.” God’s grace, presence, strength, and power continually surrounded them.

This young congregation of men and women were relatively new Christians at Philippi. We might not call them saints due to their lack of maturity, but Paul saw them as saints in the making. He believed in their potential to deepen and broaden their relationship with God over the passage of years. His confidence ran deep in his converts.

Today the church is filled with many who are coming from the raw side of life. They are rough around the edges, hard to understand, illiterate of Bible truths and doctrines. But Christ sees in them great potential. Can we see any less? Our task is to be their friends, not their critics.

II. The Prisoner’s Prayer Is for Spiritual Progress

There is a crisis moment when Christ comes in and all is forgiven. A new relationship is established between God and the individual. In a sense this relationship is a process. Christ continues his wonder-working relationship. Paul prays for their spiritual development.

Today God desires the same for us. His dynamic and creative power is available to work in us, perfecting us so that some day we may hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21 NIV).

Robert Schuller relates that at the end of World War II the Allied armies searched everywhere for snipers. At a broken down farmhouse on a crumbling basement wall, a victim of Hitler’s holocaust scratched a Star of David. In rough letters he wrote:

I believe in the sun—even when it does not shine;
I believe in love—even when it is not shown;
I believe in God—even when he does not speak.

Spiritual growth occurs even in the midst of adversity and the moments of silence.

III. The Prisoner’s Prayer Is for Knowledge
and Discernment

We seek a clear perception of who God is and what God is all about. We are in Advent. The Christ Child in the manger is the Jesus of history. Lyle Flinner said, “We need to see things as they really are and discern the highest and best for all involved.” That discernment comes only through divine love, a love that is directed both to Jesus and to the people of the earth. It is divine truth seen through human eyes filled with a godly vision.

The spiritual battles of today are almost unparalleled in human history. Today’s global Christian fights spiritual battles in a world that is blinded by New Age trickery, biblical ignorance (one-half of all American children by the year 2000—just over two years from now—will not have entered a church building), stark indifference, and in some areas of our world, outright torture and killing of believers.

We must be alert, knowledgeable, and discerning in our spiritual lives. Thanks, Paul, for your prayer for not only the church of Philippi, but for our church! (Derl G. Keefer)

Under Construction

Luke 3:1-6

The idea that one must prepare for the coming of the Lord is nothing new, for the entire focus of the Advent season centers upon the celebration and anticipation of the birth of Christ. But in preparing for the “good news of great joy,” Christians often overlook the one who actually paved the way, John the Baptist. Although John’s ministry follows the Incarnation, it functions as an introduction to the redemptive purpose of Christ and the necessary human response.

Luke begins the third chapter of his Gospel with a list of earthly rulers from Rome to the synagogue in Jerusalem (vv. 1, 2). But aside from providing a chronological framework for the ministry of John the Baptist (A.D. 25–26), this roster contrasts the powers of earth against the Power of the universe. The inclusion of these leaders emphasizes their insignificance when compared to the impact Christ had on the history of the world. Every earthly ruler wants to be remembered for his contributions to civilization, but Jesus irrevocably modified society by changing humanity’s relationship with God.

Like a herald proclaiming the arrival of a king, John prepared the hearts and minds of those who went out into the desert to hear his message. The quote from Isaiah 40:3-5 epitomizes John’s prophetic role and the demands of God upon humankind. The call to make “paths straight” and “rough ways smooth” describes preparations for a royal visit. Before a king traveled to distant lands, roads and bridges were improved for the journey. Likewise, the beginning of Christ’s ministry on earth required major improvements to lives in poor condition. So the townsfolk wandered into the desert to hear a strange man with a strong message.

There is something very intriguing about the desert. It is a place of introspection and self-reflection. With the distractions and pressures of city life absent, one becomes sensitive to the voice of God. Unfortunately, some people must journey to a barren land before they will hear God’s call. Only when they are alone and totally dependent upon God will people stop to listen to his requirements. And with no place to hide, they must confront God’s demand upon their lives.

What does the Lord require? After wandering through the desert looking for the prophet of God, the people were told to “turn around,” to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. John offers no soothing words of compromise or compassion. The command of God is clear. In order to receive the Lord and his salvation, one must pro-actively change his life by turning away from sin. The King is coming! And God’s people must prepare themselves by straightening out their lives.

As an outward sign of their commitment, John baptized those who sought to turn their lives around. But this change of heart did not automatically elicit the forgiveness of sin. That activity would be accomplished by Christ’s death on the cross. John could only prepare the people for the One who would reveal God’s salvation to all humankind. So their lives remained under construction, paving the way for the Lord.

In this Advent season, all people must reflect upon the condition of their hearts and lives. As homes are being decorated and gifts wrapped, what internal improvements are we making in our relationship to God? Do not be fooled by the tenderness and innocence of a babe lying in a manger. As Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, remember the demands of our Lord. For God does not tolerate sin, and his people must repent to prepare for the coming of the King. (Craig C. Christina)

ARTICLE: Light (Four-part series with FREE graphics)

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:40:07 GMT

By Ministry Matters

This four-week series outline includes free graphics for projection and printed materials (see downloadable file below). The title and imagery could easily be used for a longer or shorter series based on your scriptures of choice, but the outline below should help jumpstart your sermon-planning.

Light: Reflecting the Source

This series is all about the nature of God and what it means for us to be the image of God in the world. Ideal as an introduction to Christian belief and Christian living, the emphasis on incarnation and discipleship is of perennial importance and can go as deep theologically as suits your particular context and style.

Week 1: Let There Be Light
Using Genesis 1, introduce the series and significance of the “light” metaphor, recurring throughout scripture. When there was nothing but chaotic darkness, God created light and separated it from the darkness. Emphasize the awesome power of God as the creator, the source of life and all that is good.

(Song suggestions: God of Wonders, How Great Thou Art.)

Week 2: I Am the Light
Use John 1:1-18 (“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light . . . [John] came as a witness to testify concerning the light. . .”) and/or John 8:12-30 (“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”) Focus on the identity and purpose of Jesus. Jesus brought God’s light close for us all to see and know.

(Song suggestions: Here I Am to Worship, Marvelous Light, Christ Is the World’s Light.)

Week 3: You Are the Light
In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus tells the crowds that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Like candles illuminating the darkness, those who have been “lit” by the light of Christ should carry that light out into the world by following his example. The New Interpreter’s Bible commentary on Matthew emphasizes, “They have been lit not for their own sakes, but for the sake of the world. . . . As Jesus' deeds point not to his own glory but to the glory of God, so the purpose of the disciples' engaging in their acts of righteousness/justice before the world is not for their own sake but to glorify God.”

(Song suggestions: Blessed Assurance, If We Are the Body, This Little Light of Mine.)

Week 4: Living in the Light
Close out the series with a call to discipleship using Ephesians 5:8-15 (“You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live your life as children of light.”) Light is not an end unto itself, but serves to make visible what is true and real. In response to God’s grace and our relationship with Christ, we are to live in an honorable, upright way that needs no darkness in which to hide.

(Song suggestions: Take My Life, Greater Things, I Want to Walk As a Child of the Light)

Graphics

The downloadable graphics package below includes the following:

Cover graphic for projection or landscape printing.
Cover graphic for bulletin or other portrait printing.
Background slide for songs or scripture projection.
Raw images in portrait and landscape for your use.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: December 2, 2012

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:49:55 GMT

By Ministry Matters

THE PROMISED ONE

JEREMIAH 33:14-16

According to a recent study, 1.6 percent of the world’s population will commit suicide. On one hand, that percentage seems too high. On the other hand, it may be surprising that more people aren’t in line for the highest windows.

When C. S. Lewis’s wife died, in his grief he wrote: “What reason have we, except our own desperate wishes to believe that God is, by any standard we can conceive, ‘good’? Doesn’t all the evidence suggest exactly the opposite?”

I. Our Lives Can Seem Hopeless

In his darkest hour, the prophet Jeremiah cursed the day he was born. He spent his life telling the Hebrew people to shape up, with almost no results. The Babylonians had demolished Jerusalem and the temple and run off with all the best stuff and some of the best people. Jeremiah was left in captivity in Jerusalem. He is at this writing (v.1) confined to quarters. The Jews left behind at the exile lost their home, too, for they knew that life was not what it should be.

The whole world understands the feeling of hopelessness. Sinclair Lewis closed one of his novels with a successful businessman telling his beautiful wife, “Deep down we are all just the same. We are desperately unhappy about something—and we don’t know what it is.”

We spend our lives waiting. We bury our treasures. We are intimidated by the giftedness of others, incapacitated by our lack of discipline, and mesmerized by our fear of failure. Our lives aren’t what they should be.

II. God Offers the Hope of His Grace

From captivity, Jeremiah speaks a word of hope. God promises that his people will be slaves no longer. The Messiah is coming from the line of David to fulfill the ancient promise of salvation. Jeremiah does not say a word about the people keeping up their end of the bargain. There is no bargain. There is only grace. This kingdom is dependent not on the goodness of the subjects, but the love of the King.

The game of hide-and-seek has occupied hours of many of our lives. In one version, the person who was “it” could shout, “Alley, alley, outs are in free.” Anyone who was still hiding could return to home base without fear of being caught. The Creator of the universe stands at the home base of heaven calling “Alley, Alley, outs are in free.” Everybody, come home. The game’s over and you’ve won.

III. We Need to Accept God’s Grace

Our refusal of grace does not change God’s grace. We are forgiven even for putting off the celebration. We are not saved by anything we hold. We are saved by the One who holds us. We have only to accept grace and rejoice in God’s unmerited favor.

During the days of sailing merchant ships, one ship was stuck off the coast of South America. Weeks went by without the slightest bit of wind. The ship was helpless and couldn’t move. The sailors were dying of thirst when another ship drifted close enough to hear their shouts for help. They answered, “Let down your buckets.” They found fresh water. Although they were at sea, they were surrounded by the current that came from the Amazon River. They only needed to recognize where they were. Thirsty people are surrounded by Living Water.

As children of God we are free to try and fail, free to make mistakes, and free to rejoice. At the end of it all, there is only grace. (Brett Younger)

A FULL LIFE

1 THESSALONIANS 3:9-13

I remember when I was young pastors and evangelists commenting that we never know when life will end. “Death is near,” they would say. Even young people die.

During my junior and senior high school days, none of their predictions proved true among the young people I knew. But only two years out of high school, two college classmates and my favorite professor died. They weren’t just names in a newspaper. They were flesh-and-blood people that I had laughed, cried, and prayed with at college. These were people I cared about deeply.

I was hundreds of miles away on summer break, August 4, 1967, when they died. They were traveling on assignment for the Christian college that I attended in Oklahoma. When I heard about the tragedy, I was overwhelmed with grief. One of the young men grew up in my hometown of Kansas City. I attended his funeral along with several other classmates. Their lives were too short. Even my “old” professor was only forty-two. Although their lives were short, they all lived full lives.

Paul summarizes what a full life is in 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13.

I. A Full Life Includes Joy

Look at many Christians today. There seems to be little joy in their lives. Why? Fear of failure, rushed hours, lack of trust, lack of prayer, a restless spirit, and anxiety are only a few reasons.

Vernon C. Lyons said that if doing God’s holy will is all that matters to you, then no matter what the rest of life brings, you can find joy.

Do you have joy, real joy, wonderful joy in your heart? If not, let Jesus come into your heart.

II. A Full Life Includes Love

Often, love is misdirected, left out, hurt, and selfish. There are great cracks in the hearts and lives of the human heart. The world needs Godlike love poured down into those cracks.

Love demands ingenuity, consideration, and time. When we learn how to love, we learn how to give the center of ourselves to others and God. Real love gives, forgives, is open, waits, and promises full life. Love doesn’t disappoint—it fulfills and satisfies needs.

The American Civil War began just as one New England couple planned to be married. The man was drafted into the army, so the wedding had to be postponed. The battles were severe, but the man escaped injury. He wrote regularly to his loving fiancee‚ back home in New England. She would pore over his letters, reading and rereading them by the oil lamp of her home.

Abruptly, the letters ceased. Finally a much-anticipated letter arrived, but it was an unfamiliar handwriting. It stated, “There has been a terrible battle fought called the Battle of the Wilderness. It is very difficult for me to tell you this, but I have lost both of my arms. I can’t write for myself. So a friend is writing this letter on my behalf. You are the dearest person to me, but because of my physical condition I feel I should release you from the obligation of our engagement.”

The young woman never answered his letter. Instead, she took the next train and went directly to the hospital where he was being treated. A sympathetic army officer directed her to the young soldier’s cot. The moment she saw her fiance‚ she tearfully threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. She cried, “I will never give you up! These hands of mine will be your hands.”

A full life demonstrates this kind of love.

III. A Full Life Includes Holiness

I read about a plant in South America, called the pitcher plant. On the stalk of the plant just below the leaf is a little cuplike formation that, regardless the size of the “cup,” is always full of water. It is a good illustration of practical biblical holiness. All that God asks is that the heart should be open completely to him and be filled with holiness. (Derl G. Keefer)

THE ULTIMATE SIGN

LUKE 21:25-38

This text is part of Jesus response to a request for a sign of his return. Jesus answer was better than what his listeners hoped to hear.

I. The Desire for a Sign

This was not the first time Jesus was asked for a sign. Often after proving who he was, people asked for more and more signs. He wanted people to believe in his message, to believe in the words of the Scriptures, and respond to God out of hearts full of love and appreciation for who God is. He did not simply want an army of miracle watchers.

Today people would love to know exactly when Jesus will return. Some would want to live like the devil up until the last minute, then repent and get ready for Christ in the hour prior to his return.

Before I accepted Christ as my Savior, I wished I could live my entire life in sin and then become a Christian in the hours before my death. Maximum pleasure, minimum discipleship. Jesus says in verse 34 to avoid that type of thinking. The parable of the foolish bridesmaids makes the same point.

Signs of the end times are not given so we can waste time until we know the day of Christ’s return is at hand.

II. Specific, yet General Signs

The signs given were wars, earthquakes, and famines (v. 10). Rather than signs saying, “Jesus is coming this week,” these events are constant reminders to the church of all ages, “Jesus could come anytime.”

The events Jesus mentioned are all life-threatening events, and are all common around the world. They are intentionally general so that everyone, every week, everywhere, can be reminded: “Jesus could return this week.” Every time you turn on the TV and Brian Williams tells you about the latest fighting somewhere, or an earthquake destroying buildings, or a famine in some little known section of the world, realize God is simply using the six o’clock news as a reminder: “Jesus could come anytime!”

Jesus used the example of a fig tree in verse 30. Is he saying he will return when the fig tree blossoms? Yes, and no. Every year when you see a tree blossoming, you know spring is coming in a few weeks. Likewise, every time you see a tree in bloom, you know Jesus is coming. Perhaps within a few weeks, like spring; perhaps not for another thousand years.

III. The Lesson of the Signs

Thus, the signs of Jesus are reminders he is coming, not warnings telling us when. Jesus warned us not to be deceived (v. 8) or terrified (v. 9), but to watch and pray (v. 36). This is the message of Advent.

Consider this: the people asked for a sign, proof Jesus is who he says he is, and when he is returning. And he gave them a sign: pray always!

They say, “Jesus, are you real? Are you coming? Give me a sign!”

Jesus responds, “Here is your sign: confess your sins, turn from them, take up your cross daily, and follow me. You do these things, and you will know! I will forgive your sins, I will carry your burden, I will change you from the inside out, and I will give you the assurance of your salvation!”

“Jesus, that’s not what we were talking about! We want you to raise some more dead folks. Do something exciting!”

“I am offering a far greater sign than a miracle a stage magician or a skilled physician could duplicate. I’m offering the sign of a changed heart, the ultimate sign!”

Have you experienced that sign in your life? (William Groover)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: November 25, 2012

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 14:08:54 GMT

By Ministry Matters

CHRIST THE KING

2 SAMUEL 23:1-7

The peasants wait nervously outside the palace to learn the identity of their new emperor. The tribe sends its wisest elders to choose their new chief. Every four years Americans step into the voting booth with naive hopes that with this new leader happy days will be here again. The whole world longs for a good king and a brighter future.

I. Kings Begin with High Hopes

Coronations are often the high point of a king’s reign. King David embodied the hopes of Israel. David’s promise was evidence as he received anointment from Samuel, slew Goliath, and befriended Jonathan. The people sang ballads about the daring escapades of this one after God’s own heart. David was King Arthur and Jerusalem was Camelot.

It was a kingdom where might was used for right, justice was for all, and shining knights, like angels in armor, battled to snuff out evil. For one brief shining moment this was “happily ever after.” At his best, David was the most splendid king who ever sat on any throne, a king with high hopes and great dreams.

II. The Kings of This World Inevitably Fall

The dreams didn’t last. By the end of his reign, David was king of a divided, disorganized, and disintegrating kingdom. His reign was a series of tragedies: David’s sin with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, the rape of his daughter Tamar by his son Amnon, the rebellion and murder of Absalom, continuous fighting between the tribes of Israel, and wars with the Philistines.

Finally David was judged too old to go into battle. The round table cracked. The shining moments are brief. The glimpses of glory fade. The kingdoms of this world are destined for collapse.

III. Jesus Is the King Whose Reign Will Last Forever

David comes to the end of a disappointing reign, and yet his farewell address is not sorrowful. The one dream that didn’t die was of a king yet to come. One will come from David’s line who will be a king like David at his best. The King of all kings did come, and one wonders if David would recognize him.

Peter Fribley wrote: “How can you be king who ruled with stories? Who walked to work and slept beneath the stars? . . . How can you be king who refused kingdoms, claimed no crown, walked to work, thumbed a ride to town?”

Jesus is a king unlike human rulers, who seek power and pleasure, who want celebrity and comfort. And unlike human kingdoms, the kingdom in which Christ reigns is a realm with no boundaries, no limitations, and no end.

IV. Our Lives Depend on Recognizing Jesus Kingship

Those who stand against this king, the Lord of all, will not stand at all. David said those who don’t recognize this king are like the thorny bramble thrown into the fire. If we live as subjects of the one true King, then we will be transformed. Jesus can free us from our small worlds and our self-centeredness.

The dream of Christ’s kingdom will renew us. The One who is and was and is to come will bring grace and peace. He will make us a kingdom, priests serving God and one another. Every one of us longs for the One who will make our lives complete. Christ invites us into his kingdom, now and forevermore. (Brett Younger)

THE BOTTOM LINE: JESUS

REVELATION 1:4b-8

It is amazing the difference a few years make. It seems only yesterday when I wanted to write a letter to a friend and needed only paper and pencil. While a high school sophomore in Miss Livergood’s typing class, I used one of the first electric typewriters. Today I sit before a “one-eyed friend” who tells me how to type, warns me about spelling errors, and even corrects my poor grammar. While I’m writing my letter I can be listening to my favorite music on a CD—from within the computer! Writing a letter to a friend has never been so easy!

John did not have the convenience of a computer, but he did possess the heart of a writer. He probably chose seven churches to write to because they each had a special place or influence or authority within the Roman province of Asia, which included the western seacoast of Asia Minor on the shores of the Mediterranean. John wrote to the seven churches because the people knew and loved him, and in return he loved them the most. Through these seven churches the other congregations in the area heard the message—in fact every church in every generation has heard the truth. The truth of which he writes was that Jesus is Lord—the Eternal One. John writes about this Eternal One in several aspects.

I. Jesus As the Eternal Witness

A witness gives evidence to an act, event, or person. In verses 4 and 5 Jesus is an eternal witness of the truth concerning the Father. Jesus speaks from firsthand knowledge. Christ can identify personally with God’s will, is able to speak with authority about God, and carries God’s truth as no one else in the world could or can do.

His witness comes through the Resurrection. God, who loved him with all of his heart, raised Jesus from the dead. All who believe in him share in this resurrection. Because he lives I, too, can live!

II. Jesus As the Eternal Eraser

Do you regret the sins you have committed? Do memories of your pre-Christian life haunt you? Does Satan reinvent the wheel of past regrettable circumstances?

Marjorie Holmes related that a friend wrote to share how her granddaughter had made a wonderful observation. As Marjorie’s friend and her granddaughter stood on a grassy hillside observing an airplane do its fancy skywriting, suddenly the words began to dissolve. The girl asked her grandmother how the words disappeared. As grandmother groped for an answer, the little girl’s face brightened up. She exclaimed, “Maybe Jesus has an eraser!”

Holmes wrote that the day she received the letter had been an awful day. In fact for some time she had been extremely discouraged and depressed. She had been grieving over past mistakes, a cruel word, a moment to witness slipped by, a child unjustly punished, a friend let down. She stated, “No matter how much we mature as people, grow as Christians, try desperately to compensate, memories of our own failures rise up to haunt us, and sting. . . .”

The small child in her innocence and wisdom helped Holmes to realize that, like the writing on the sky that simply disappears, Jesus has wiped away all things that we can bitterly regret. Jesus does have an eternal eraser!

What does he need to use his eraser on in your life?

III. Jesus As Eternal Victor

The book of Revelation assures victory. Defeat is never mentioned—not once! We, the soldiers of the cross, catch a glimpse of the battleground. There will come a moment in history when heaven and hell will collide. Good versus evil; satanic hatred versus divine love. Amid the thunder and lightning, smoke and haze stands Jesus, the Son of God—the ultimate warrior. Spanning time from a manger to a cross, from a tomb to resurrection life—Jesus triumphs over Satan, Hell, sin, and all the forces of evil. As Christians we are assured of being on the victory side. Forward March! (Derl G. Keefer)

WHAT IS TRUTH?

JOHN 18:33-37

In this text, Pilate is asking a question we all have asked: “What is truth?” This question must be addressed before you can trust the Bible, or commit your life to the Lord it proclaims.

I. How Can I Know Anything Is True?

There are several ways we gain information, or know something is true. Some things we learn through what our five senses experience. We learn some truths from what we see, touch, taste, smell, or hear. Some things we learn by figuring them out, such as through mathematics. Einstein didn’t see or touch the theory of relativity; he discerned it rationally.

And some truth we can only know as God reveals it to us. Jesus does not look like a king to Pilate, and it certainly isn’t logical. Since his kingdom is not of this world, Christ’s kingship is one of those truths that must be learned through revelation from the Bible.

What is the difference in truths we can know by experience or logic and those we can only know from revelation? The first two can be proved to others, but biblical truth has to be accepted by faith. Or is that difference always true?

II. Can We Trust Everything We Know As “Truth”?

Our senses can fail us, or fool us. Everyone has seen an optical illusion that appears to be something it is not. Magicians rely on being able to fool your senses. Algebra—as exact and absolute as is mathematics—rests on a series of axioms and postulates. These statements, such as a + b = b + a, are called axioms instead of theorems, because they cannot be proved. Virtually all of mathematics is built upon some statements that cannot be proved (or disproved), and must simply be accepted “by faith.”

Everything you know by experience, you know because you trust your senses—which can be fooled. Everything you know logically, you know because you trust your reasoning abilities—which also can be faulty. Everything anybody knows about anything ultimately rests upon faith assumptions. Philosophers call these assumptions “presuppositions.”

Thus no one can say biblical truth, in general, is inferior to experienced truth or logical truth because biblical truth rests on faith. All knowledge requires a leap of faith to trust the methods by which we gained the knowledge. All knowledge is based upon presuppositions.

III. How Do We Know Which “Truth” to Trust?

A problem arises when truth sources disagree, such as when your eyes see something your logic tells you is impossible. You have to decide which source of knowledge is the authority. The Bible says Jesus walked on water, but experience and physics say that is impossible. The Bible says God loves you, but you don’t feel loved. Which source of information do you believe?

Jesus told Pilate he came to bear witness to the truth. Elsewhere Jesus said he is, “the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus reveals God’s truths to us. You can trust the Bible more than your experience or logic.

The problem is, too many people “test” the truth of the Bible at the wrong place. They begin with a promise saying God answers prayer, and test God by asking for a new luxury car. When they don’t get a car, they conclude: the Bible is not trustworthy.

Start with Jesus, the witness to the truth. Do what he requires: confess your sinfulness, turn from your sin, ask to be forgiven, become a follower of his, and receive his gift of eternal life. Then you will know the truth, and it will set you free! (William Groover)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: November 18, 2012

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 21:00:30 GMT

By Ministry Matters

A MOTHER FOR ALL TIMES

1 SAMUEL 1:4-20

In Ponca City, Oklahoma, an artist depicted in a statue some of the women who helped settle the West. The pioneer woman has a bonnet and long dress. With in one hand she holds a Bible close to her heart. With the other hand she leads her child. Her face is turned upward and her eyes gaze into the distance. She is striding boldly across the prairie.

Consider this image for today’s mother. Date book in hand, desktop computer on her shoulder, she heads to the car. Her child is running to catch up with her. They are eating a breakfast pastry, late for the car pool stops on the way to the child development center!

Both of these images contrast with Hannah, who is described in 1 Samuel 1. Hannah could probably identify more with the pioneer woman, but she still offers a contemporary model for today’s mother.

I. A Mother with Sorrow

Many mothers today understand Hannah’s struggle because your home isn’t a bed of roses either. One news account listed the home as society’s violent place. Jealousy tears apart family relationships. Couples who yearn for a child silently grieve with every news account of child abuse. Divorce pits family members against one another.

Mothers may even be misunderstood by the church. Hannah’s preacher saw her praying at the altar and thought she was drunk (v. 13). A mother going through a divorce told me, “I guess I’ll have to find another church. Not one member has said a word to me during this rough time. Maybe they don’t know what to say, or they think I’m an embarrassment to the church.”

Every mother, every home has problems, or will. For Hannah they continued “year by year” (v. 7). The tears easily flowed; her appetite diminished. Her husband worried. Instead of giving up she turned to God.

II. A Mother with Faith

A time of trouble is no time to give up on God and his people. Hannah kept fellowship in the house of God (v. 7). She prayed to the Lord, pouring out her soul before him (vv. 10-11, 15-16). Worship and prayer change the face of our problems. Perplexed by evil, the psalmist said, “When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me—Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood” (Ps. 73:16-17 NKJV).

Faith finds new courage in the promises of God. Hannah received the word to “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him” (v. 17). The promise was enough. She “went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad” (v. 18 NKJV). Sorrows and problems find resolution in the promises of God. Countless individuals have by faith “subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises” (Heb. 11:33 NKJV).

George Barna wrote: “What an incredible state of affairs. The family is deteriorating before our very eyes and little is being done to save it. Millions of Americans cannot even describe the meaning of “family values” (Absolute Confusion, Regal Books, 1993, p. 143).

Let’s pray and work together toward the goal of letting both church and home preach God’s will and God’s truth. May both church and family be a place where we can find rest, comfort, and security in God’s love. (Bill D. Whittaker)

FROZEN BY FEAR, FREED BY GRACE

HEBREWS 10:11-14, 19-25

Some animals have a tendency to freeze when overtaken by fear. Rather than run or scurry away, they stand motionless, until overtaken by that which is causing the threat. More than one deer, raccoon, or possum has been caught in the headlights of an automobile, only to freeze in terror and become struck by the automobile.

People can act likewise. Psychologists indicate that fear can grip us and keep us from action. I read of a man struck by a train at a railroad crossing. He lived to tell his story, saying he both heard and saw the train coming his direction, but he was unable to take a step. It was as if his feet had been cemented to the ground.

Other fears are equally paralyzing. The fear of rejection, humiliation, embarrassment, or failure can keep us from taking positive steps in relationships and in our daily living. Fear can even affect the way we relate to God. Because of our sin, our guilt, and our feelings of inadequacy, we may fear the presence of God. We fear his wrath, his judgment, his scrutiny.

The writer of Hebrews offers some good news to soothe our fears. No longer are we to allow fear to freeze us, but rather we are to let grace free us. Through Christ our Lord, we can have confidence as we relate to God.

As the perfect high-priest, Christ has offered a complete and final sacrifice. He now sits enthroned at the right hand of God (v. 12). Because of his work, Christians are being made holy and therefore are able to enter the presence of the Almighty God. As believers, we now have confidence to draw near to God, to hold fast to our hope, and to invest in others.

I. Christ Gives Us Confidence to Draw Near to God (v. 22)

We have confidence to draw near to God’s presence. Separating the Holy of Holies from the common people was a huge veil. Humans belonged on one side and God on the other. Only the high priest could go in, and only then on the day of Atonement. Christ has provided a “new and living way” to enter into the presence of God.

Through Christ, God reaches through the veil and draws us in. What we could not do on our own, Christ has done for us. We can draw near to God as a welcomed child because of the work of our Lord.

It is with great anticipation that we approach the throne of God. And yet there is to be no fear, only the calm assurance of Christ’s confidence. We come in confidence because we have been cleansed. Our hearts are cleansed from all guilt and our bodies are cleansed from sin. And so in faith and in confidence we run to God and seek his face. We have been freed by grace to do so.

II. Christ Gives Confidence to Hold Fast to Our Hope (v. 23)

The ultimate hope of the Christian is contained in two simple statements. First, Christ arose from the grave. Second, Christ is coming again. These two words of affirmation and faith comprise our hope. The book of Hebrews reminds us to hold fast to our hope. We must never lose our grip on what we believe. The confidence for doing so is found in verse 23, “For he who has promised is faithful.”

You’ve seen the bumper sticker that says, “God said it and I believe it.” God is indeed faithful and therefore we can trust all of the promises that he has made. We need only look back to envision our hope for the future, for if we believe in the promises of God, we must also believe in the return of our Lord. We therefore build confidence in our lives and not fear, knowing that God has promised the faithful return of Christ. By holding fast, our faith is enriched and our hope is grounded.

III. Christ Gives Confidence to Invest in Others (v. 24)

As believers, we are to consider how we can constructively spur others on to Christian growth and maturity. We are to take up the ministry of encouragement. Through our faith, others should learn love and the doing of good works. We are not Christians merely for our own sakes, but for the sake of others. We must become contagious communities of faith, encouraging others to grow.

True disciples of Christ are called to make investments in the lives of people. To “spur” others toward maturity will require time, effort, prayer, and example. Though we may feel inadequate, perhaps even spiritually impoverished, God still can use us to build his kingdom if we will invest our lives into the lives of others.

When the automobile first appeared on the scene, thousands of Americans joyfully bought them. It did not take long for the joy to wear thin as many motorists found their cars bogging down along the roadways. The paths made by horses and buggies had too many ruts and puddles for cars to move about freely. To bring back the joy, Henry Ford started an ambitious campaign to introduce street paving to America. He assembled teams and provided them with equipment to begin paving “seed miles” across the nation. From town to town, these crews would pave a one-mile stretch of smooth road. When motorists first drove on the smooth surface, the exhilaration proved too great and soon miles and miles of roadway appeared as the joy of driving gripped the country.

Small investments can bring great rewards, especially those that are eternal in nature. In Christ, we can make a difference in others by spurring them to abundant life and good deeds.

God loves you and longs to enjoy fellowship with you. Rather than be frozen by fear at that thought, allow the grace of Christ to free you to experience the riches of his Kingdom. (Jon R. Roebuck)

COUNTDOWN WITHOUT NUMBERS

MARK 13:1-8

Americans who remember the beginnings of the space age will recall the excitement—and apprehension—about the nation’s first orbital flight. Regular classes were forgotten as the children at my school gathered in front of a black-and-white television to watch the rocket launch. Would John Glenn really circle the earth and return safely? Could such a thing be done? We didn’t know, but we kept our eyes on the screen and listened eagerly for each progress report. Our teachers assured us we were watching history in the making, and they were right.

Suspense, timing, and reminders from a Teacher are part of the scene from today’s Gospel reading. Jesus had left the temple for the final time and had taken his disciples to the Mount of Olives, higher than the temple mount, where they could see the entire city. The odd remark by one disciple, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” was met with an even stranger prophetic utterance from Jesus: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

This interchange serves as introduction to the only long discourse in Mark’s Gospel, often called “The Little Apocalypse.” Verses 1-8 are part of an entire chapter dealing with signs of the end of the age. It is appropriate, therefore, to look at these verses in their context. What are the underlying themes in this prophecy shortly before the Passion, and how do they address the contemporary church?

I. The End of the Age Will Come

The phrase “second coming” does not appear in this chapter, though the revelation or appearance of the Christ is a theme. The destruction of the temple (which burned in A.D. 70), famines, earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, are not signs of the end, but “birth pangs”—signs preceding the end and confirming Jesus prophecy.

The church for centuries has declared its eschatological belief in reciting this line of the Apostles Creed: “from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Ever since this conversation with Peter, James, John, and Andrew, followers of Jesus have believed the Savior will come again.

II. No One Knows When This Will Happen

The first question the disciples asked the Master was, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” It is a question followers (and nonfollowers) of the Messiah still ask. Throughout history and even today, self-appointed prophets have made a cottage industry of predicting when the end of the world will come. The Cold War, the Gulf War, and other events have all been accompanied by literature identifying current events with eschatological names and symbols. But Christ said to the disciples, “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (v. 32). Christians should therefore be skeptical of anyone who claims to have inside information, for this contradicts the testimony of the Gospels.

III. Followers of Jesus Are to Be Ready

Jesus instructions were to take heed and watch, for we do not know when the time will come. For disciples of any age, this means striving to grow in the knowledge and love of God, witnessing and serving in Jesus name, and trusting the Lord’s faithfulness. It also means resisting “false Messiahs” and the temptation to second-guess God’s timetable. Finally, it means looking forward expectantly to God’s future. As the writer of Revelation concluded: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” (Carol M. Noren)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: November 4, 2012

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 18:48:34 GMT

By Ministry Matters

LOVE THAT LASTS

RUTH 1:1-18

The familiar words from Ruth (vv. 16-17) took on new significance when I heard them read at the wedding of two students. The bride was from Russia; the groom from Virginia. She had only been in America a year. Each of them is still learning the other’s language; but they understand the language of love.

Through book and film Americans witnessed the “love story” about The Bridges of Madison County. In the story, a photographer and a married woman have an affair while her husband is away. For too many that defines love. Although spoken by a young woman to her mother-in-law, the words of Ruth provide a better model for love that lasts.

I. Love That Lasts Develops Through Loss

Naomi and Ruth shared grief in the loss of their husbands. They had experienced famine and other problems. Naomi affirmed that Ruth had treated her kindly through these times of loss (v. 8). The prospect of separation brought tears (v. 9). No doubt these difficulties had strengthened the bond between Naomi and Ruth. Although Orpah also expressed her affection (v. 14), the bond was not enough to keep her from returning to her homeland.

Naomi felt Ruth would lose even more if they stayed together (vv. 12-13). But “Ruth clung to her” and insisted on accompanying her mother-in-law back to Judah. No possible future loss could be as real as Ruth losing the love of Naomi. She had lost her husband; she would not lose Naomi.

My wife and I grieved the loss of our first child. But from the grief came a stronger love for each other. Love that lasts develops through loss, if you are willing to seek the other’s best welfare rather than selfishly continue to nurture the grief.

II. Love That Lasts Grows Through Commitment

Pollster George Barna describes our time as an age of decreased commitment. Authentic love involves commitment: “For better, for worse; for richer or poorer; in sickness or in health. This commitment of love has no boundaries. “Where you go, I will go.” Love requires little to satisfy. “Where you lodge, I will lodge.” Love will adjust. “Your people shall be my people.” Love never ends. “Where you die, I will die,—there will I be buried.”

III. Love That Lasts Comes from Faith

“The cord that drew her was twisted of two strands.” Ruth loved Naomi but she also loved God. She declared, “your God, my God. The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me” (NKJV). The Lord became Ruth’s Lord.

The fruit of the Spirit is love. Truly spiritual people have great capacity to love. Jesus said others would recognize his disciples by the love they have for one another.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13 NJKV). Authentic love lasts. It is the product of faith in Christ, our only hope for lasting relationships. (Bill D. Whittaker)

LIFE IS LIQUID

HEBREWS 9:11-14

In my view of life and its ebb and flow, there are four liquids that must be present in any home. My list includes: ketchup, Mountain Dew soft drink, Armor All protectant, and WD-40 lubricant. If I have those four liquids, I can survive just about any catastrophe!

There is, however, another liquid, without which we cannot survive: blood. Blood is the liquid of life. It surges through our bodies bringing oxygen and food to all the cells that comprise life.

Blood drives are always a fascination to me. If we are honest, most of us are a bit squeamish at the thought of giving blood. Needles and tubes bother even the bravest men and women. But have you noticed that when the need is great enough, when there is a crisis, then even the most anxious people step forward to offer their contribution.

Because of his love, and our need, Christ has offered to our world, the sacrifice of his blood. Through his death on the cross, Jesus has offered a superior sacrifice. In these verses from Hebrews 9, the writer illustrates the superiority of the sacrifice. It is superior in three ways.

I. It Was His Own Blood (vv. 13-14)

On the tenth day of the seventh month of each year, the high priest offered the sacrifice of animals to atone for the sins of the people. Symbolically, he took his own sins and those of his people with him into the Holy of Holies, and there he made sacrifice. Several different animals were used. The blood of bulls was used to atone for the sins of the priest (A little ironic, isn’t it?), and the blood of goats was used to atone for the sins of the people. A special red heifer was used to wash away the sins of anyone having contact with the body of a dead person.

Rather than the blood of animals, Christ offered his own blood to atone for our sins. To offer his blood was to offer his life. His was a perfect sacrifice with no impurities. Even in our technologically advanced age, there is no synthetic substitute for blood. It is a precious human commodity. In the same way, there can be no substitute for the blood of Christ who offered his body on Calvary for the sins of humankind. His sacrifice was superior because it was the offering of his own blood.

II. There Was a Finality to His Sacrifice (v. 12b)

Verse 12b indicates that Christ entered the holy place—into the presence of Almighty God—“once for all.” No more would a yearly sacrifice be made; the sacrifice of Jesus was a complete and final sacrifice. His blood offered that which no animal could give. The blood of animals removed the outward stains of sin; they cleansed the body but not the soul. They were unable to remove the guilt of sin.

Christ is able to forgive completely. The promise of 1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) who is faithful and just and will remove our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (guilt).” What freedom! In Christ, the believer never has to confess the same sins more than once. Christ’s forgiveness is not like the old system of sacrifice where the sinner would feel the guilt of his iniquity over and over again. In Christ there is no guilt, but only freedom once that sin is confessed. Christ forgives and removes the guilt of our sins. There is a finality to his sacrifice.

III. It Was a Rational Sacrifice (v. 14)

On the cross, Christ offered himself. It was a voluntary and rational decision. Animals used for sacrifice never had a choice in the matter. They were selected and used by the High Priest. Yet Christ himself chose to offer his life, fully aware of the implications of his decision.

Could there be a greater illustration of the love of Christ than his pilgrimage to the cross? First came the agony of Gethsemane. Next would come the betrayal, the trial, the jeering crowds, and finally the crucifixion. At any point, Christ had the power to say No! and bring the process to a screeching halt. By his own choice, Christ died for us that we might have life. It was a rational sacrifice.

Christ offered his blood to atone for our sins, simply because of his love. (Jon R. Roebuck)

ANYTHING BUT LOVE

MARK 12:28-34

A recent Gallup poll on the faith Americans profess showed that a great majority of people in the United States believe in God. They also believe in heaven, and are confident they will go there after death. Those polled gave a wide variety of answers about what qualifies a person for heaven: being honest, acting kindly toward other people, obeying the Ten Commandments, giving one’s life to Christ, and so forth.

Robert Bellah gives a face to this lack of consensus in Habits of the Heart, in an interview with a woman named Sheila. “Sheila-ism” is her religion; though she believes in God, it is a God whose values and standards are her own, who wants her to do what she thinks is best for herself. The suggestion of moral imperatives from outside oneself is more often than not regarded as repressive, bigoted, and an attack on individual liberty.

It’s an ironic contrast to the spirit of the age in which Jesus lived and taught. In the nineteen references to “scribes” in Mark’s Gospel, eighteen present these experts on the law in a negative light, obsessed with the letter of the law and trying to discredit Jesus. Far from discarding an external, communal standard for righteous living before God, the scribes devoted much time to measuring the extent to which they and others lived up to the standard. Some would say they were infatuated with the law itself.

There is a radical difference between the context in which Mark’s Gospel was written and our own world, yet our Redeemer’s words are equally challenging to both.

I. Hear, O Israel

Jesus answered the scribe’s question, “which commandment is the first of all?” by quoting the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4. These words were recited daily by Jews, who would have understood them as God speaking through Moses, the lawgiver. Therefore, they carried the weight of divine imperative, and also simultaneously reaffirmed Israel’s corporate identity before God as “God’s people.”

Among followers of the Messiah, the Shema would have identified Christ as part of the prophetic tradition of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. Claiming this word as divine imperative to themselves had the additional effect of identifying themselves as people belonging to God in a special relationship.

II. Love the Lord Your God

The capacity for “hearing” the word of God or being called God’s people is not the result of following rules successfully, nor the outcome of doing what feels right to an individual at a particular moment in time. Rather it is a gift from our gracious God, and the appropriate response is love that seeks expression through treasuring God’s good purpose for us. As Saint Francis Xavier wrote, “E’en so I love thee, and will love, and in thy praise will sing; solely because thou art my God and my eternal King.”

III. Love Your Neighbor

The scribe did not ask Jesus for the second commandment, though it, too, is found in the Torah (Lev. 19:18 b). This command is echoed in Romans 13:9 and 1 John 4:7, 8. Eduard Schweizer wrote that it is impossible to keep the first commandment unless one lives according to the second. Jesus, as the fulfillment of the Law, obeyed the two great commandments perfectly, and gave his life for us out of love for the world and love for the Father.

Following Christ means, among other things, becoming like Christ in self-giving love. Like the scribe, we “are not far from the kingdom of God” if we know this—but we have not yet arrived unless we do it, too. Love is perhaps the most difficult commandment: impossible to do without God’s enabling grace. (Carol M. Noren)

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ARTICLE: Sermon Options: November 11, 2012

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 18:42:11 GMT

By Ministry Matters

MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

RUTH 3:1-5; 4:13-17

Fiddler on the Roof includes a scene where the heroine implores the town matchmaker to find the right marriage partner for her. “Matchmaker, matchmaker, find me a match.” Would-be matchmakers should take lessons from Naomi. The brief love story of Ruth and Boaz reveals some excellent pointers on how to make a match; but more important, it contains vital decisions involved in having a marriage blessed by God.

I don’t think marriages are made in heaven, but the Lord of heaven will bless a marriage that honors his will. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33 NKJV), doesn’t just apply to what we eat, drink, or wear.

I. Heavenly Matches Consider Earthly Realities

There is little doubt that Naomi’s matchmaking was partly motivated by her own need for security (vv. 1-2). Cultural realities motivated her search for a near kinsman to perpetuate the family identity and retain ownership of her husband’s land. Isn’t God also concerned about earthly realities such as security, family, and compatibility?

A Gallup poll stated 47 percent of marriages now end with mutual incompatibility as the reason for the dissolution of the relationship. Most of the people who claim this were once madly in love.

We are warned “if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (Tim. 5:8 NKJV). Emotional, spiritual, and physical security stabilize marriage and enable the union to fulfill God’s purpose.

II. Heavenly Matches Observe Life Actions

The untypical kindness of Boaz did not go unnoticed by Ruth (2:13). Apparently Boaz had also checked her out, “for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman” (3:11 NKJV). In a moment when less principled people would have given in to lust, these two patiently waited. Ruth accepted his word and laid at his feet without fear (3:14a). Desire did not dethrone duty (3:13). The early hours of the morning brought renewed concern for their reputation (3:14b).

Every relationship involves risk. Observe life actions before you risk yourself to another.

III. Heavenly Matches Wait for the Lord’s Blessing

Naomi told Ruth to “sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out” (3:18 NKJV). That’s good advice for all who seek a match. It is a good word for those who seriously court another, and sound wisdom newlyweds should heed. Heavenly matches take time.

“So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife” (4:13 NKJV). Taking and becoming are continuing decisions of commitment. Insecurity visits again when the skin sags and wrinkles come. “Will he love me after the mastectomy?” “Will she be there when memory fails?” Browning penned the hope: “Come grow old along with me, the best is yet to be, the last for which the first was made.”

All of creation was blessed through the union of Ruth and Boaz. From their son Obed came Jesse, then David, and ultimately the Savior of the world. Think about the future blessings jettisoned by couples who give up on their relationship at the first “big fight.”

Your marriage may not have been “made in heaven” but it can become a heavenly match. (Bill D. Whittaker)

THE WELCOME MAT

HEBREWS 9:24-28

Do you have a welcome mat at your door? There is a difference between a welcome mat and a doormat. A doormat is a woven cloth on which you wipe your feet, leave the mud, or remove your shoes. Although it may look the same, a welcome mat says something quite different. It says, “We’re glad you’re here! You are among friends.”

In our journey from earth to heaven, from the temporary to the eternal, we are received into glory with a welcome mat placed there by a loving Savior. There is something better than a pot of gold at the end of life; because of the work of Christ there is a welcome mat receiving us into heaven with an enthusiastic reception. Christ welcomes us. We are welcomed into a relationship with God, we are welcomed into eternal life. We are welcomed into a forever fellowship with Christ.

How does the work of Christ welcome us into heaven?

I. Christ Appears for Us (v. 24)

Do you know what a sanctuary is? It is by definition a holy place, a shelter, a house of worship. It is a place where God and man have direct contact. According to Hebrews, Christ has not entered a man-made sanctuary. The writer clearly states that Christ did not enter the tabernacle, the temple—nothing built by human hands. Instead, Christ entered the one true sanctuary: heaven itself. Christ entered the place of God. It was there that Christ had directed communication with the Father.

When matters are serious enough, we desire that kind of communication. We want to talk directly. Maybe it’s a big business deal, or a wedding proposal, or multinational negotiations; when the matters are of grave concern, we desire direct communication. No substitute for the real thing will do.

Christ has entered heaven, into the presence of God, to appear for us. Christ used direct communication to plead our case before God. Christ has taken our needs, our problems, our fears, and our pains to God. What joy there is in knowing that Christ has already paved the way for our journey. He has appeared for us!

II. Christ Sacrifices for Us (vv. 25-26)

In verse 25, the writer of Hebrews refers to the Old Testament sacrificial system. Year by year, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on the day of Atonement and offered sacrifices for his sins and for the sins of the people. The sacrifice that was required was the blood of animals. In contrast to that system, Christ has made the one and only sacrifice. Instead of the sacrifice of animals, Christ offered the sacrifice of himself, which was sufficient for all our sins. Notice the key phrase of verse 26: “to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

To be a good host, to truly welcome someone into your home, you must make some sacrifice. There is the effort of cleaning the house, doing the cooking, preparing the table, working in the yard. Effort must be made for everything to made right. I remember as a child one of the most dreaded phrase in our home was, “The deacons are coming.” Each year my parents would host a deacon/spouse cookout in our home. There was always much cleaning and preparation to be done. You couldn’t mess up the dishes, walk on the floor, or enter into the forbidden living room. Everything had to be just right.

Christ has made everything just right by his sacrifice. By offering his life before God, we are no longer enslaved by our sins. We are no longer guilty under God’s law. We are free. By his sacrifice, Christ has made it possible for us to be in God’s holy place in fellowship with holy God.

III. Christ Saves Us (vv. 27-28)

The writer of Hebrews reminds us of the Judgment Day of God. There will be an ending to this life. We will be held accountable for what we have done or for what we have failed to do. Judgment will come. But verse 28 reminds us that Christ has removed our sins. He is coming again, not to remove sins a second time as though his first sacrifice was not complete. Instead, he comes to bring salvation.

The Day of Judgment, for those of us who are people of faith, will not be a day of fear but rather a day of grace. It will be a day in which we will be reminded that Christ loved us enough to die in our place. Instead of eternal punishment, Christ says, “Welcome, you are among friends.”

My brother and I had fought all day. Mother had made the eternal proclamation, “Wait till your father gets home.” We did so with great fear and trembling. He came in to make his I’m-about-to-spank-you speech. He pulled back the edges of his coat and said, “See this belt?” He had on sans-a-belt slacks, no belt in sight. We laughed until we cried. He did, too. How about that? We thought we were about to really get it, but instead we spent the day in laughter. We received something we did not deserve: grace. Christ saves us from what we deserve.

The road to God is made open by the work of Christ. The welcome mat is out at the end of our journey. Christ is there, offering us an enthusiastic reception. (Jon R. Roebuck)

WIDOW’S MIGHT

MARK 12:38-44

Nearly everyone likes to be identified with prestige and success, even in the church. Chapel attendance at one seminary more than tripled the day Robert Schuller was guest preacher; everyone wanted to see this Christian celebrity. Give any boy in the Sunday school a choice whether to be a king or a shepherd in the Christmas pageant, and you know which one he’ll choose. The number at weekly Bible study will be higher when you study Joshua than when you get to Jeremiah.

Something in each of us gravitates toward those who have power; their stories allow us to enjoy their reflected glory and thus feel a little better about ourselves. Even if the powerful are oppressive and cruel, as in the cases of Pharaoh and Herod, we take satisfaction in comparing ourselves favorably to them.

This tendency in human nature makes it difficult to “get into” the story from Mark’s Gospel. Jesus began by condemning those who enjoy their power and prestige. Their trappings of success—things to which any of his listeners might aspire—would be the means of their condemnation before God.

If that was not enough, Jesus drew their attention to a poor widow whose meager offering was all she had. He held her up as an example to his listeners. They were difficult words for them to hear. They knew a widow’s economic standing was barely above that of a slave’s. They received meager charity: being allowed to glean after the reapers had finished with a field. As Mark 12:40 indicates, widows were routinely swindled by the more powerful. Far from having a “big name,” this widow’s name wasn’t even known.

I. Our Temptation Is to Stand with the Powerful

It is relatively easy to hear this story from the standpoint of those who stood beside Jesus. They looked at the widow, perhaps joined in praising her for her generosity. They could have exhorted one another to be more generous in their contributions to the temple, felt good about their increased level of giving, and might even have resolved to do something to lessen the widow’s deprivation. They could have done all this without changing their self-understanding and protection of their own interests. But our Lord calls his listeners to do far more than write a larger check next time.

II. Our Challenge Is to Stand with the Widow

In contrast with those who watched the scene, or who contributed out of their abundance, the widow who gave all she had knew that her only hope was in God’s mercy. Like the widow of Zarephath who gave the last of her sustenance to God’s prophet, this woman committed all that she had to divine keeping. There is, among such people, the realization that “our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Delusions of prestige and self-sufficiency may blind us until all other helpers fail, and comforts flee.

Standing with the widow means coming to the realization of our neediness. It also means acting on that realization: abandoning self-protecting strategies in favor of radical obedience in following Jesus example. It is taking risks for and with Christ. And it means doing so with humility and thanksgiving, trusting the Lord’s purpose and promise rather than human gain. The widow’s might is the providence and love of Almighty God; worldly ideas of success pale in comparison. (Carol M. Noren)

ARTICLE: Using This Sunday

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:20:18 GMT

By Ministry Matters

The Ministry Matters team was recently asked to lead a midweek, workplace worship service. We could have planned a service from scratch, but—like you—our to-do list contains many more things beyond "plan worship." So we started with the This Sunday bin for the following Sunday and, with those pieces as inspiration, made the service our own.

Lots of people are using This Sunday each week. (Are you among them? Tell us how you use it!) Some come specifically for Nancy Townley's weekly Worship Connection resources, which include several calls to worship, prayers, altar decor ideas, and other elements based on the week's lectionary passages. Some folks love Carolyn Brown's weekly Worship for Kids lessons, with child-centered interpretations of scripture, notes about difficult words and concepts for kids, and song and sermon ideas. Some peruse it all and pick what works for them. Here's how we did it.

Starting Point

It was the week of August 19, and wisdom was a recurring theme in the lectionary passages (1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Psalm 111; Ephesians 5:15-20; and John 6:51-58). Ministry Matters editor Shane Raynor would be our preacher, and he chose to focus on the I Kings passage, in which Solomon is told he can ask for anything and God will give it to him. Solomon chooses wisdom, and for that is rewarded by God with not just wisdom but wealth and fame and more.

Shane decided to base his message on one of the complete sermons included in the This Sunday bin. The language, stories, and application were all uniquely his (even reading Lance Sawyer's sermon now, I don't get the slightest déjà vu from having heard Shane's sermon), but using this ready-made sermon as a starting point made the task of preaching much simpler and time-efficient than starting from scratch. Read Shane's blog post about the process of using someone else's sermon as a starting point.

Developing the Theme

The worship resources in the August 19 This Sunday bin primarily ran with the bread themes present in the Psalm's reference to manna in the wilderness and John's discussion of Jesus as the bread of life, rather than the wisdom theme of I Kings, so our thematic support had to be original.

It's hard to illustrate the concept of wisdom itself, but the idea of Solomon's request being a reflection of what God wanted for him, the desire to reflect the heart of God in our own hearts, struck a chord. Mirrors became the primary visual, with "Reflecting God's Wisdom" as the title of the service, reflection being a theme on which we could riff in sermon, prayers and litanies, graphic design, and altar decoration. (Download the graphic below.)

Plug and Play

A quick scan of the various calls to worship and benedictions available in Worship Connection and Worship Elements allowed us to pull the ones that best supported our theme. Copying and pasting these items freed up time to focus on the sermon, visuals, and other elements (not to mention responsibilities beyond worship-planning).

If you're unsure about the legality of copying and pasting from This Sunday, see our FAQs. Unless otherwise indicated on the article, most resources can be reprinted for church use.

Adding the Spice

The This Sunday bin contains enough options that one could mix and match to create endless orders of worship—no two churches would do it the same way—but with time and creative energy freed by choosing to use some items as-is, we could craft some elements from scratch, like a prayer response that invited worshippers to reflect (pun intended) on ways in which they could reflect the heart and mind of God in their own lives. See it below and feel free to use it in your own worship or devotion.

Prayer Response for "Reflecting God's Wisdom"

Solomon’s wisdom was in wanting what God wanted—in aligning his own heart with God’s. In prayer, we seek that alignment. During the silent moments in our prayer, take a moment to imagine the ways our own hearts can better reflect the heart of God.

Lord,

Help us to love who you love.

(silence)

Help us hear the cries you hear.

(silence)

Help us speak as you would speak.

(silence)

Help us value what you value.

(silence)

Help us see people as you see them.

(silence)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: October 28, 2012

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:51:04 GMT

By Ministry Matters

SOUND, SIGHT, AND FAITH

JOB 42:1-6, 10-17

A new bride, just home from the honeymoon, was preparing a special meal with ham and lots of extras. The young husband was surprised when his wife cut off apparently two good ends of the ham before it went into the oven. “Why did you do that?” he asked. “That’s the way my mother always fixed a ham,” she replied.

On a visit to her folks he asked his mother-in-law about it and heard, “That’s the way my mother always cooked a ham.” The young groom made a special trip to grandmother’s house to hear her explanation. “Son, that’s the only way the ham will fit into my pan.”

Do you respond to life the way others have, or do you make your own decisions? Is it truth for you because someone else said it, or do you have to see it for yourself? Job’s testimony reflects the tension between sound, sight, and faith.

I. Responsibility Accepted

Job acknowledged, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (42:5). In the pilgrimage of faith it can’t be all hearing or all sight. Both are involved and we must make a responsible decision to both. Job accepted the responsibility for the word God spoke (vv. 3, 4), and for his own rash words. “I have uttered what I did not understand” (42:3). His personal encounter with God left him speechless at first (40:4-5).

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” ( Rom. 10:17, NKJV). When we respond by faith to God’s word we begin to see God. The word spoken by Jesus will judge us at the last day ( John 12:48) . The rich man, concerned about his sinful family, was told, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets (the word of God), neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31) . God has spoken through his word. Have you made a responsible decision and come to know him personally? Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (John 20:29).

II. Repentance Acknowledged

Sound and sight came together in a fresh encounter between Job and God. He made the response the prophet made when he saw the Lord “high and lifted up” (Isa. 6, RSV): “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (v. 6). Alexander Maclaren noted, “If we rightly understood His power, we can rest upon it as a Hand sustaining, not crushing us. . . . It is better to trust than to criticize, better to wait than to seek prematurely to understand.”

True repentance was evidenced in Job’s lack of demands. He asked for no vindication, nor for a healing touch. He was content with the presence of God.

III. Restoration Experienced

A turn from pride, rash demands, and self-sufficiency always brings one to a position of usefulness to God. Job was used as an intercessor for his friends (42:8, 10). He was restored to fellowship with his neighbors (42:11). New leadership in his family resulted (42:12-16). He died “full of days” (v. 17).

It doesn’t always happen that way. Sometimes entrance into glory restores health. Sometimes the divorce goes through. Restoration to a vital relationship with God and full days in his will is always the best result. (Bill D. Whittaker)

ALWAYS ON THE JOB

HEBREWS 7:23-28

As the Chaplain of the Week at the local hospital, I am required to wear a “beeper” 24 hours a day so that I can always be reached in case of an emergency. I am, in effect, always on call and thus “always on the job.”

There are a number of things that need to be always on the job. For example, for the safety of the nation, our National Defense system must always be on the alert, ready to respond anytime. We desire that our utility providers stay on the job. We need our power, our water, and of course our cable TV! Perhaps most important is the 911 emergency system. People are always on the job, waiting to help if there is an emergency. We need that kind of protection.

In the seventh chapter of Hebrews, as readers we are reminded of the great assurance and peace that Christ can offer. He does so because he is always on the job. Christ continues to work in our behalf, at all times, in every situation. In this passage, Christ is being compared to the high priests of his day. He is shown to be superior because, unlike them, he lives forever, he makes constant intercession, and he offers the perfect sacrifice.

I. Christ Lives Forever (v. 24)

In the old system of high priests and sacrifices, death meant there was a continual need for replacements. As soon as one priest died and new one would have to be appointed. Over and over the process of replacement went on.

One of the problems with computers and the software to run them is the problem of upgrades. No sooner is a program purchased and installed on the hard drive, than a new version, an upgrade is announced. There is a constant game of obtaining the newer, better, and faster program. Constant replacement can be tiresome.

Christ is superior to the finite high priests of his day. Christ is eternal and he holds the priesthood permanently. Christ will always serve as our high priest. Eternity is a difficult concept to comprehend. We have difficulty even visualizing such an expanse of time. But the truth of God’s Word proclaims that as long as there is time, Christ will lead us, protect us, guide us and forgive us. He will open and maintain a channel to God. He lives forever and is our Priest forever.

II. Christ Makes Constant Intercession (v. 25)

To intercede means to “intervene” or to “mediate.” Christ “always lives to intercede” on our behalf. Before Christ came, a mediator or priest was needed to act as a “go between” uniting man with God. The priest became a middle man taking the petitions of each sinner to the throne of God’s grace.

Most of us have been through the frustrating process of buying a car. It seems that at every dealership there is a middle man that we have to encounter. He takes our offer to someone else and then returns with the answer. It seems that we are never allowed to talk directly to the person who can make the deal. It is frustrating to play the game of indirect communication.

Christ comes to offer constant communication. He continues to petition God for our needs; he continues to provide the atonement for our sins. It is as if Christ says to God over and over again, “I know this man; he is one of mine.” Christ intercedes on our behalf constantly; he mediates the relationship between God and man.

III. Christ Offers a Perfect Sacrifice (vv. 26-27)

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies to make two important sacrifices. The first sacrifice offered was to atone for his own sins. The second was to atone for the sins of the people. It was a continuing action. It was repeated over and over, year after year. Christ died once for all! He has offered for us a complete and perfect sacrifice. When Christ died for our sins, it marked a complete and final sacrifice. His sacrifice met our needs. All that was, is, and will be needed to atone for our sins, Christ has already provided.

Sometimes dentists have the unpleasant task of filling cavities. On some occasions, a temporary filling is placed in the cavity until the permanent filling can be put into place. What agony as a patient, to go through the process over and over again. A complete and final fix would be the desired result.

Christ has done a complete work. His sacrifice has covered our sins for all of time. Christ is always on the job, making intercession and offering his love for us. (Jon R. Roebuck)

EYES OF FAITH

MARK 10:46-52

Every reporter has an agenda. Ask five people who witness an accident to give an account of what happened, and you’ll get five different testimonies, even if they’re all trying to be objective. Every retelling of a story has a purpose; it’s true of current events, and it’s true in biblical narratives. The way we remember and repeat the healing of Bartimaeus says something about us as well as him.

Our grandparents may have sung Homer Rodeheaver’s interpretation of this passage, “Then Jesus Came:”

One sat alone, beside the highway begging, His eyes were blind, the light he could not see; He clutched his rags and shivered in the shadows, Then James came and bade his darkness flee. When Jesus comes the temper’s pow’r is broken; When Jesus comes the tears are wiped away. He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory, For all is changed when Jesus comes to stay.

The remaining stanzas recall the healing of the Gerasene demoniac, the person who had leprosy, the person who could not hear or speak—the bottom line being that everything is different when Jesus comes to stay. A more contemporary rendition of the story, “Blind man sat by the road and he cried,” emphasizes Jesus showing us the way to go home, that is, to be saved.

When Mark recounts this event of Jericho Road suggests his motive. He wasn’t establishing that Jesus could heal the sick; that was already done at the beginning of the Gospel. The episode is set near the end of Jesus earthly ministry. Earlier in the chapter we find the story of the rich young man, the account of James and John asking special favors, and Jesus third prediction of his passion and death. Jesus was on his way to the crucifixion, and this is the final healing miracle Mark records.

How the story is framed tells us of Mark’s purpose. The blind beggar perceived something those closest to Jesus couldn’t see. Bartimaeus called him “Master”—the first time in Mark’s Gospel the Lord is addressed that way. Bartimaeus proclaimed Jesus “Son of David” before the crowds of Palm Sunday used the title. Bartimaeus glorified God and inspired others to give glory. Faith and praise—even from someone considered an outsider—made a person whole, and gave him confidence.

Mark’s depiction of the disciples make plain they didn’t understand who the Messiah was or why they were going to Jerusalem. James and John’s request resulted in a quarrel among the disciples. They showed an uncaring, even nasty attitude toward a blind man seeking the Great Physician. Mark’s depiction showed even long-time followers getting in the way of God’s power and purpose, when blinded by a merely human vision.

But the persecuted, Gentile church for which Mark wrote would also have heard it as a message of hope: that “outsiders” are included in the Kingdom; that God’s purpose is accomplished even on the way to a cross; that those who are broken may still lead others to faith.

Today, Mark’s perspective offers encouragement to Christians anxious about the future and tempted to close ranks against a sometimes hostile environment. Like Bartimaeus, we are to risk everything to proclaim the gospel, relying on God’s promises rather than visible evidence. We are all blind or broken in some way, but by the grace of God we can be healed and used to the glory of Christ. (Carol M. Noren)

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ARTICLE: Creation Story Snacktime

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 18:50:30 GMT

By Ministry Matters

What could be more fun than learning about the days of creation during snack time? With these creative creation-themed snacks, your children are sure to enjoy an interesting snack experience and learn about creation in a way they won’t soon forget. The seven days' worth of snacks could be offered one-per-week in Sunday school, in addition to your other lesson for the day; or, you could double-up two days to fit them into a five-day VBS.

For more great Creation snack ideas (noted in italics below), see our Creation Story Snacks board on Pinterest.

Day One

“God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And so the light appeared.” Genesis 1:3

Add a little yellow food coloring to a bowl of vanilla pudding. Cover the bowl with a black napkin. Remind the children that the first day of creation began in darkness. Then God said, “Let there be light.” Invite children to pull the napkin away. “And so the light appeared.” Thank God for the light.

Alternate snack ideas: black & white cookies or chocolate-drizzled popcorn can emphasize the act of separating light and dark, and (with the popcorn) the difficulty of doing so.

Day Two

“Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters to separate the waters from each other…. God named the dome Sky.” Genesis 1:6, 8

Give each child a blue paper plate and a dark-colored crayon. Read to the children how God separated the waters and made the sky. Have them draw a line across their paper to divide the sky from the water. Give them some marshmallows to dot the sky with clouds. Thank God for the sky.

Alternate snack ideas: Blue jello parfaits with whipped cream clouds, or store-bought blue jello cups on which children can place white mini-marshmallows.

Day Three

“Let the waters under the sky come together into one place so that the dry land can appear… God named the dry land Earth…God said, ‘Let the earth grow plant life:’” Genesis 1:9, 10, 11

On the third day, God made the earth and the plants. Allow children a little creative freedom. Place several small pieces of fruits and vegetables such as apple or orange slices, celery, broccoli, carrots and small tomatoes in the center of a table. Include small cups of peanut butter, fruit dip, or salad dressings and several plastic spoons. Give them a large paper plate and ask them to create a landscape using the available foods. Remind them that God simply spoke, and the earth was created. He spoke, and plants grew. Thank God for the earth and the plants.

Alternate snack ideas: Make a veggie island, complete with palm tree; or a fruit & veggie flower garden.

Day Four

“God made the stars and two great lights: the larger light to rule over the day and the smaller light to rule over the night.” Genesis 1:16

Let your children celebrate God’s creation of the sun, moon and stars with this fun snack. Purchase pre-made sugar cookie dough and help your little ones cut out sun, moon, and star shapes. Bake them and decorate with colored icing. If you don’t have time to bake, there are packaged cookies in these shapes available at many stores. Thank God for the sun, moon and stars as you enjoy your snack.

Alternate snack ideas: With a star-shaped cookie cutter, you can make stars from whatever snack food you prefer (cheese slices, sandwiches, etc.) or arrange fruit slices in the shape of a shining sun.

Day Five

“God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with living things, and let birds fly above the earth up in the dome of the sky.’” Genesis 1:20

Help students remember that God created water animals and birds on the fifth day. Serve up fish-shaped crackers or gummy candies on white paper plates. Give your children a crayon and ask them to draw some birds on the plate while enjoying their snacks. Ask them to thank God for their favorite water animal or bird.

Alternate snack ideas: Top a blue-iced cupcake with goldfish crackers, or suspend gummy fish and other candies in blue jello aquariums.

Day Six

“God made every kind of wildlife, every kind of livestock, and every kind of creature that crawls on the ground….Then God said, “Let us make humanity…” Genesis 1:25-26

On the last day of Creation, God created all the animals and human beings. Bring a mirror to the table as your children enjoy eating animal crackers for a snack. Let each child glance in the mirror. Remind them that God made Adam and Eve, and God made them. Thank God for all the animals and thank God for each child at your table.

Alternate snack ideas: Decorate cupcakes or cookies to look like animals, or add some healthy food to your animal crackers by standing them up in a bed of celery and hummus. Make a veggie skeleton and talk about the complexity of the human body.

Day Seven

“On the seventh day God rested from all the work that he had done.” Genesis 2:2

To remember God’s day of rest, make pigs in blankets. Discuss all the things God made and the number of days in which God created them. Talk about how God rested on the seventh day and how we too need times of rest. Thank God for all of creation and for rest.

______________________________________________

This article is adapted from a piece originally appearing in Children's Teacher magazine.

ARTICLE: How Do You Use This Sunday?

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 14:32:08 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Ministry Matters' This Sunday bin is a hotspot of worship-planning, sermon-writing, idea-sparking resources. We want to know how you're using those tools.

Do you grab a Call to Worship and go?

Do you read the sample sermons to jumpstart your writing?

Do you just check to make sure you're not forgetting a holiday?

Let us know in this quick, four-question poll.

Click here to take survey

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: October 21, 2012

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:31:15 GMT

By Ministry Matters

FINDING THE ANSWER IN THE WHIRLWIND

JOB 38:1-7 (34-41)

When a whirlwind of adversity strikes, how do you deal with it? We often ask “Why?” or “Why me?” Some stoic may keep silent or feel guilty about questioning, but most of us seek answers.

Viktor Frankl suffered through years in World War II concentration camps; he lost everything. Frankl later wrote, “If one has a why to live, he can endure almost any how.” The Old Testament account of Job reveals that sometimes the why isn’t given, but an even better answer can be found. How do we find the answer in the whirlwind of illness, death, war, bankruptcy, or natural calamity?

I. The Answer Comes When We Remember Who We Are

We don’t have all the answers. A couple lost their son in a tragic motorcycle accident. Friends of the mother found it easy to say, “God needed a flower for his garden.” The “friends” of Job had easy answers. They offered conventional wisdom—“sin brings adversity; righteousness brings prosperity.” Righteous Job didn’t know what was happening, but he didn’t buy that line.

Job stood defiantly before God and sought an audience to plead his case. He demanded a judicial hearing (31:35), but got far more than he expected. God said, “Who is this . . . ? Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you” (38:2-3).

Because we often consider ourselves “the masters of our fate,” it is easy to slip into pride and self-sufficiency when adversity strikes. We defend ourselves, justify our actions, point to past faithfulness. We demand an answer, or give out easy answers. God reminds us who we are—a person limited in knowledge and power whom he may be teaching some lessons with adversity.

God placed Job on the witness stand and displayed multiple exhibits of creation’s mysteries. “Where were you . . . ? Have you commanded the morning . . . ? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up?” Since none of us can fathom the mysteries of life, we ought to keep more silence in the midst of the whirlwind of suffering.

II. The Answer Comes When We Remember Who God Is

With the splendor of creation spread before him like an Imax theater, Job realized anew the power of God. But what he needed even more—and what we need as well—was the presence of God. The Powerful One became the Present One. “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind” (38:1). Our God is “a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1) . If we are willing we can find the reality expressed in the old hymn, “He walks with me and talks with me, and tells me I am his own.”

Job’s attention was directed to the rhinoceros and the crocodile. David Cline observed, “These too are part of God’s creation though we may see no value in them or indeed may find them positively malevolent. It is the same with suffering, sometimes indeed it may have a recognizable purpose, but sometimes it may be just as enigmatic and hurtful to man as the wild animals can be. Nevertheless it is part of God’s order for the world, and he knows what he is doing in allowing it to be” (The International Bible Commentary, F. F. Bruce, ed., p. 547).

The liberation forces in Europe found written on a prison wall, “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in the day, even when it is dark, and I believe in God, even when he is silent.” Look and listen for God in the midst of your whirlwind. He does work “in all things for the good of those who love him” ( Rom. 5:28) . (Bill D. Whittaker)

QUALIFIED TO SERVE

HEBREWS 5:1-10

Whenever there is a local election, most newspapers run articles or charts that provide information on the background, experience, and views of the candidates who are running for office. That’s because when a person is elected, or chosen for a job, the list of qualifications is always important. The candidate’s abilities, experience, and knowledge are all a part of his or her qualifications.

In Hebrews 5, Paul outlines the duties of a high priest. And as the responsibilities are listed, he points to Jesus Christ as the supreme example of a high priest, who ministers on behalf of sinners who need his help. He reveals that Christ alone is qualified to serve.

I. The Role of the High Priest (v. 1)

Paul writes that “every high priest is appointed to represent them (men and women) in matters related to God.” The high priest becomes a mediator between God and mankind; he brings the petitions and needs of man to the throne of God’s grace and in turn he reveals to mankind the will and Word of God. The high priest makes the connection, facilitates the exchange.

When I preached in some evangelistic services in Brazil, a key person in every service was the translator. Brazilians speak Portuguese and I speak “Southernese,” so it became necessary to involve someone who could understand both parties and facilitate communication between the two. Without the mediator, our words were lost.

The high priest of God represents men and women before God. The task is carried out in two specific ways. The high priest was to offer gifts and sacrifices to God to atone for the sins of the people. Normally a dove or a lamb, without spot or blemish, was sacrificed on the altar by the priests to represent the repentance of the people so that the relationship between God and man could be established once more. Through the sacrifice of the animals the sins were carried away. God and man would be made at one again.

II. The Calling of the High Priest (vv. 2-4)

To become a high priest required the special calling of God. One could not seek the office, but rather the office would seek the candidate. God—in his own time and in his own wisdom—would call out those whom he wanted to serve. It would be a special person, with a very special calling of God.

The calling to become a high priest carries with it two distinct qualifications. First, the priest has to be empathetic with human frailty. Paul states, “He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.” A good high priest understands the needs, problems, and pains of those whom he was called to serve.

As a pastor, I am always struck by what is said to people in the midst of their grief. So often as we attempt to comfort those who have lost a loved one to death, we say things like, “I know exactly how you feel, I know just what you’re going through.” The truth is that many of us don’t really know, nor do we really understand the depth of their pain. To fully appreciate all that their loss will mean requires the experience of having walked where they are now walking. The high priest understands intimately the needs of his people.

The second qualification involved the calling of God. Only God can know the hearts and minds of his people, and only God can call persons into service who will adequately fill the role of a just and fair mediator. It was not uncommon for people to seek the office of high priest in the Jewish world because of the fame and notoriety and to some degree the financial success that it would bring. Only those who had felt the true call of God to lead his people found ultimate and lasting success.

III. The Sufficiency of Christ (vv. 9-10)

Paul reveals that all of the duties and qualifications of the high priest are fulfilled in Christ Jesus. It is Christ who becomes the High Priest for the people of the world. He offers gifts and sacrifices for our sins. He is mediator between God and man. He who was without blemish or sin died for us that our sins might be removed. The gap between Holy God and sinful man has been spanned only through the work of our High Priest.

As a Christian people we affirm that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. We believe Christ to be fully human and fully divine. He understands humanity and he emphathizes with our needs.

He carries the calling of God. So Christ did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you . . . You are a priest forever . . . ” (vv. 5-6). From the beginning of time to the end of the age, it has been the will and plan of God for Christ to serve as the connection through which we come to God. God called him to serve us. He alone is worthy. (Jon R. Roebuck)

THE ABUNDANT LIFESTYLE

MARK 10:35-45

Joseph Cardinal Bernadin of Chicago says that when he was made an archbishop many years ago, his mother instructed him, “When you walk down the aisle in the service, try not to look too pleased with yourself.” One could forgive a Christian leader for being moved on such an occasion, but his mother’s warning was both timely and timeless. The church is all too prone to count success as the world measures it: by salary, prestige, and power.

In evaluating a former student’s career progress, a retired professor at a Protestant seminary superciliously remarked that this minister had “never served any really significant churches.” The same criticism could be made about Jesus earthly ministry—and the same problem, longing for “success,” can be identified in the Twelve who followed him.

I. We Make the Wrong Assumptions

James and John were two of the three in the Savior’s inner circle of disciples. Along with Simon Peter, they witnessed our Lord’s Transfiguration and appear in the forefront of many gospel stories. They loved Jesus, and wanted to remain close to him, but they misunderstood what close discipleship entailed.

The setting of this episode in Jesus ministry is on his way to the cross. When he first predicted his suffering death (8:31), Peter strongly objected to the concept. Peter was on the side of humans, not of God. He had a flawed understanding of the Messiah’s mission, and what following Christ would mean. In Mark 10:35-45, we see that James and John made the same mistake.

The church is prone to the same error today: believing that visible power denotes importance to God, numbers equal faithfulness, and religious celebrity means success.

II. Jesus Turns Our Assumptions Upside Down

The Master’s response to James and John is one of the rare occasions when Jesus did not do what was asked. He queried, “What do you want me to do for you,” as he did before healing blind Bartimaeus. But in this instance, he told the disciples such a favor was not his to grant. Not only did the Savior deny their claim for places of privilege, but his answer also modeled for them the servant mindset they ought to emulate.

His response asserts that the “payoff” for discipleship is uncertain; there are no guaranteed successes as the world measures them. The “cup” and the “baptism” mentioned in verses 38-40 were later understood by the early followers as references to the sacraments: gifts of God’s grace by which people have a share in the destiny of Jesus, as Albert Schweizer points out. Thus the cup and the baptism are not symbols of achievement or tokens of successful discipleship, but marks of our commitment to do as our Lord did.

III. Assume Following Means Serving

Jesus said, “Whoever would be first among you must be slave of all,” in sharp contrast to James and John aspiring to places of honor. Isaiah 53 depicts Jesus as the suffering servant who was despised and rejected in his self-giving, not admired or loved.

The death of the Messiah as suffering servant offers freedom and forgiveness to all in the bondage of sin. While our following Jesus does not have the same redemptive power as his suffering, it does mean loving and serving others in Jesus name. Far from being masochistic or self-destructive, our servanthood has a purpose: to reveal God’s grace made incarnate in Jesus Christ. What is more, we can rejoice in the midst of any suffering such servanthood entails, confident that the road to the cross also leads to the resurrection. (Carol M. Noren)

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ARTICLE: Try Something New for Advent

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 21:47:04 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Before we know it, the air will be turning cool, leaves will fall, the Thanksgiving turkeys will go on sale, and the twelfth month of people's calendars will start filling up with holiday parties, kids' school programs, year-end work reviews, and performances of The Nutcracker. And with all those busy days and late Saturday nights, more people will be staying nestled all snug in their beds rather than getting up and ready for church in time for Sunday school.

The routine gets displaced by the special, especially at Christmastime, so why not do something extra-special with your Sunday school classes and small groups so that Bible study and Christian formation doesn't fall by the wayside during Advent? Here are a few ideas:

Scrambled Eggs

Everyone knows free food is a draw, but we're talking even bigger than free coffee and danish before Sunday school. For the four Sundays of Advent, serve a big breakfast and do Sunday school over bacon and eggs. But here's the twist: scramble the classes up by encouraging people to sit at different tables and do the lesson or discussion with their table-mates. Many classes and small groups have Christmas parties during December, so use the morning time to encourage people to get to know someone new.

Use a study with broad appeal like When God Comes Down, or show a video study like The Journey on a big screen to the whole crowd before discussing at their tables.

Lunch & Serve

Rather than meeting for Sunday school before worship, gather afterwards to enjoy your study discussion over lunch together before going out to serve somewhere together. Brown-bag or pot-luck it at the church to save going out each week, and then car pool to sort cans at a homeless shelter, wrap presents at a toy giveaway, or shop together for Angel Tree gifts. A mission-oriented study like A Different Kind of Christmas would be a perfect fit to get your group in an other-focused frame of mind before going out to serve the Birthday Boy in those in need.

Share the Joy

Have your classes meet elsewhere during Advent to share fellowship and enriching discussion with others, in jails, battered-women's shelters, nursing homes, etc. Choose a study without too much emphasis on outreach and service, since these people's mobility is clearly limited. One centered simply on the nativity story from scripture will be most accessible to people with diverse church backgrounds (or none at all). Lectionary-based Preparing the Way covers Advent scriptures from the Old Testament, Gospels, and Epistles.

Making your Sunday school or small group sessions a special event in themselves during December will help keep interest and energy high, and help put the emphasis on our relationships with Jesus, our fellow Christians, and those in need during the season of Christ's birth.

ARTICLE: Worship in a Flash (Free Download!)

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:45:39 GMT

By Ministry Matters

When your kids' Christmas gifts arrive on the doorstep from Amazon in a few months, many people's excitement may give way to panic when they see those dreaded words "Some Assembly Required." But for worship planners like you, assembling is second nature.

You do it every week, carefully selecting music, prayers, litanies, visuals, and more from various resources and crafting them into a unified and meaningful experience of worship! Whether you use them as is, tweak lines here and there, or just use the idea as a jumping-off point to write your own, you make good use of these "ready to use" worship resources.

Especially at Advent and Christmas, when there are special events to plan, class parties to attend, family responsibilities to juggle—all on top of designing and implementing worship services that will be among the best-attended of the year—you need "ready-to-use" resources you can trust.

The Ministry Matters team is working hard to get This Sunday bins for Advent up as soon as possible so you can make use of our litanies, prayers, sermon starters, children's sermons, and more in your Advent planning.

But to give you a jumpstart, help yourself to this free sample from Worship in a Flash for Advent and Christmas, a new collection of sermons, prayers, services, songs, and projection images all on an easy-to-tote flash drive.

Included on the drive are the following:

Thematic sermons/sermon briefs for Advent, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day/Christmas Sunday, including two sermon series.

Lectionary-based sermons/sermon briefs for all the Sundays of Advent and Christmas for Years A, B, and C.

Complete services for all the Sundays of Advent and Christmas, including sermons

Suggested hymns, contemporary songs, solos, and anthems for each of the Sundays of Advent and Christmas.

Multiple selections of prayers and litanies for each of the Sundays of Advent and Christmas, including the Prayers and Litanies for the First Sunday of Advent, downloadable for FREE below!

It’s hard to experience the joy of the season when you’re running around exhausted and stressed. So happy Advent-planning and Merry Christmas from Ministry Matters!

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: October 14, 2012

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:04:08 GMT

By Ministry Matters

LIFE’S HARD QUESTIONS

JOB 23:1-9, 16-17

It is easier for us to reflect on the story line of Job without entering into the pain of his conversations with his friends. In these conversations we see a Job who is human. He is a man of integrity, yet he is also a man of questions and a man who struggles with his agony. We are not only told of Job’s incredible faith and great feats; we are also told of his weaknesses and shortcomings.

Here, Job is wrestling with his questions by giving a response to Eliphaz’s rebuke in chapter 22. Eliphaz has just admonished Job to turn to God in repentance so that he may be restored—he assumes Job’s calamity is based on sin in his life.

I. The Questions of Agony (vv. 1-2)

Job begins his response to Eliphaz by describing his emotional and attitudinal condition. He has a “complaint” against God. As he perceives God putting him through his ordeal, Job is asking the wrenching question, “Why?” God’s hand remained heavy despite his pleas. Within the cycle of grieving all humans enter into a time of asking why. We cannot forbid this questioning nor can we give answer for God. This is a stage in which the human heart simply cries out, “I do not like what I am feeling!”

II. The Futility of Arguing One’s Righteousness (vv. 3-9)

If he could speak to God face-to-face, Job believes that he could state his case. In reality he wants to rationalize his questions and find answers for his calamity. However, even Job is theologian enough to know that God would not use supernatural power to destroy him. He is convinced that he would be acquitted of the wrongdoing of which Eliphaz is accusing him.

Yet God is not a human who can be found and met face-to-face to discuss the issues. Job argues that he is practically defenseless because God cannot be found and bring to rest the accusation of sin, which supposedly has brought Job disaster. The process of rationalization of our righteousness or our circumstances is truly futile. God’s ways and thoughts are beyond human capacity. In all, Job is left with frustration, which is shared by many people who are struggling in the face of helplessness.

III. Reverent Questions (vv. 16-17)

Job responds by noting the true awesomeness of God and his power to make the human heart faint. Even in his questioning, Job still has the wisdom to “fear God.” Verse 17 points out, though, that it does not silence his questions. He does not understand his dilemma and still has agonizing and self-searching questions that remain unanswered. It’s a little messy when you do not have black and white answers to difficult situations.

Our text seems to indicate there is a way to question and yet fear God. Perhaps that is what faith is. Maybe we must believe and reverence God without all of our questions being answered. Life is messy, but faith is holding onto God, even when it doesn’t feel like God is there. Because the promise of Scripture is that God is always with his children, even when they are struggling. Trust him—he is there. (Joseph Byrd)

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE KING

HEBREWS 4:12-16

Most of us have never had the need or opportunity to seek an audience with a king. Nigeria is a country, however, in which kings are still very real social powers. Although the country holds elections, traditional kings are still acknowledged. Every village, town, and city have a king. Anyone who wants to promote an event has to visit the king to get permission to do so. A king may be very rich or very poor, but he is still king and must be consulted about events in his domain.

An audience with the king can be a challenging experience. Approaching the throne requires courage and humility, and frequently a previously scheduled appointment. To speak to the king, one needs an advocate, someone who can introduce you to the king and explain your cause.

In the Old and New Testaments, God is described as Israel’s king despite the presence of earthly rulers. The priest was the intermediary or advocate between the people and God. The book of Hebrews announces that the most superior of intermediaries is now available, God’s own Son. He is the high priest who intercedes for us and answers us.

I. Awareness of the Need for Grace

Verses 12 and 13 describe for us what the word of God does in our lives. It strips us of pretense and lays us bare before God. There is no room for denial of guilt or projection of fault. The word of God is so precise that it separates us joint from marrow—distinguishing between the soul, that which Greek thought defined as a living being, and the spirit, which is the center of thought. Only God could so separate our selves and scrutinize our very being.

It is the quality of God to so know us that we recognize we are being judged. Is it any wonder then that we become keenly aware of our need for God’s grace?

II. Assurance of Grace

Grace is that wonderful word for God’s favor and blessings. Verses 14 and 15 assure us that grace becomes available to us—we are not to despair. Our judge is not a distant king but one who has joined with us in the adventure so completely that he, as the Son of God, put on our flesh and thus knew every attack that we have known. He has experienced our limitations and been subjected to our weaknesses, liabilities, and infirmities. And he was triumphant. In contrast to us, he did not sin. He never allowed anything to separate him from God.

III. Abundance of Grace

Verse 16 urges us to make use of our audience with God the king to receive the abundant grace God desires to give us. We are to go to God fearlessly and confidently, with the assurance we shall receive God’s favor and earthly blessings—help that is appropriate and well-timed for every need. We can endure God’s intimate scrutiny because in Jesus Christ we see God’s great love for us. Therefore we come as we are.

God in his grace recognizes our human weaknesses but does not allow us to stay trapped by those conditions. Jesus Christ, the high priest, provides companionship with God, which produces the holiness intended in our lives.

The author of Hebrews encourages us to bring to the audience with the king our weakness and receive his strength. We bring our infirmity and receive health. We bring our trouble and receive help. Thanks to Jesus Christ the mediator, the priest, life is no longer a trap but an adventurous assignment from the king. (Carolyn Volentine)

TAKING THE LAST STEP

MARK 10:17-31

Sitting in a park one day, I saw a group of children playing on a slide. In the midst of all the energy and excitement there was one boy who held back. He was reluctant to go down the slide. The others were encouraging him to try. All of a sudden you could see the look of determination on his face as he boldly marched to the slide.

Step by step he climbed the ladder. But when he reached the top and his young eyes saw how far it was to the end of the slide, his resolve crumbled. You could see the fear and disappointment on his face and in his shaky knees as he slowly made his way back down the ladder. He stood on the brink of a momentous decision and was unable to take the last step.

I. Another Young Man Faced a Decision

This passage is about decision making, commitment, and separation from God. It’s wrapped around wealth and a rich man’s struggle. It calls into question the things, attitudes, and practices in our lives that keep us from total commitment. It’s about ending the separation and taking that last step. Like the young boy on the slide, the rich young man comes to Jesus and stands on the brink of a momentous decision.

The rich young man responded to the compelling nature of Jesus voice and message. He was good and faithful, but he realized something was missing. So he came seeking answers. Jesus loved him immediately. Jesus saw the boundless potential in him.

The Great Physician diagnosed the problem and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (v. 21). But the price was too high. With shaky knees, the rich man slowly backed down. He couldn’t take the last step and “went away grieving.”

II. God Will Not Take Second Place

Jesus wasn’t condemning money or wealth. Jesus was warning the disciples, the crowds, and us about decisions concerning money. Money and things cannot have first place in our lives. When they take first place we view everything in terms of price, not value. Money and things fix our heart on the world, not God. They can separate us from God.

It’s not just love of money that separates. A thousand things can separate us from God. An attitude. A prejudice. Jealousy, political positions, indifference, a hobby, an unforgiving spirit, even a theological position; all of these can separate us from God if they take first place in our lives. We’re called to fix our heart on God. God will not take second place in our lives.

III. It Is a Challenge Beyond All of Us, but Not Beyond God

The disciples were amazed at Jesus pronouncement concerning the rich. It was popular belief that riches were a sign of God’s favor. They asked, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible” (v. 27).

We can’t do it on our own. But God can do it for us. That’s grace. Salvation comes through faith in God through Christ. That’s the step the rich young man couldn’t take, giving up all and following Jesus. This passage confronts us in the one area we don’t like being confronted—our commitment. It challenges us to probe deeply and honestly into our faith relationship with God. It calls us to stand on the brink with shaky knees. It challenges us to take that last step. (Billy D. Strayhorn)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: October 7, 2012

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 16:56:50 GMT

By Ministry Matters

TOUGH FAITH

JOB 1:1; 2:1-10

The story of Job is well known, although few of us really want to apply it to our lives so that we can understand painful circumstances. We have the natural human desire to avoid anything that will bring us pain or discomfort. Job clearly teaches us that bad things do happen to good people.

However, good people have something that helps them make some sense of their experience. This is not to say that we never question or feel pain or discomfort; it is simply a promise that eventually the circumstances will make sense and God will work all things together for our good.

I. A Man of Integrity (v. 1)

Job is described with particular words that are significant enough to be repeated in the text. They seem to imply more than just a brief description of him. These words identify his character—that is, his truest self.

He is first described with the terms blameless and upright. These mark his moral character. He was complete, undefiled, or uncompromised. Put simply, he was pure in his intention, single-minded, and single-hearted. He also was upright or righteous in the sense of being straight. He could have been the example of correct living.

Job is also described by the phrases, fearing God and shunning evil. The fear or reverence of God is prominent in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Here it takes on an even more in-depth meaning. Not only was Job righteous, but he lived such a life in piety before a Holy God. Moreover, Job was not only called to God; he was also called away from evil. The term literally means he removed or departed from evil. Such a man is one who walks before God in spiritual integrity.

II. Maintaining Integrity After Disaster (vv. 1-3)

The scene in heaven in these verses follows Satan’s attack upon Job by destroying his livelihood and his children. Job did not sin in all of the disaster that was brought upon him. In all the ruin that had come upon Job, he still maintained his integrity. The idea here is that Job courageously held strong to his integrity or true character. We must come to understand that life’s tests in the crucible will determine our integrity or true character. Job remained true.

III. Accepting Pain (vv. 4-10)

Satan is further allowed to attack Job directly and physically. In the pain and discomfort of physical problems coupled with the emotional agony of losing his family and livelihood, Job’s integrity would face the ultimate test. In verse 9, his wife questions if he still will hold to his integrity.

It is a question still asked today. Is our integrity really worth feeling the pain? The temptation to give up and not focus upon principles and convictions is always present for the believer. Job’s reply is appropriate for today. Can we accept the good from God without accepting the trouble? In a society geared to convenience and minimizing discomfort, this rhetorical question is alien.

Not only should our lives be shaken to truly examine the occasional time of suffering, but we also should underline the preceding undeserved blessings that we so often take for granted. Job was willing to live with suffering; he saw it as part of the territory of being a servant of God. Even here, Job did not sin in what he said.

We may not count our words with such weight, but Jesus said that it is out of the abundance of our hearts that our mouths speak. How’s your integrity? (Joseph Byrd)

FAMILY TIES

HEBREWS 1:1-4; 2:5-12

All large cities now have a variety of international restaurants. Whether you are in New York City, Nairobi, London, or Moscow, you will find any number of culinary tastes. The world’s largest cities also offer a wide variety of catering to religious tastes. There are Moslem mosques, Baha’i temples, Buddhist temples, Shinto temples, Jewish synagogues, and Christian churches, just to name a few of the religious opportunities.

The writer of Hebrews knew what it was like to live in a smorgasbord of religious culture. Therefore, it was not only urgent and important, it was imperative he clearly focus his readers attention toward their definitive Christian beliefs.

The one reservoir of truth from which all Christian truth springs is that the one true personal God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The trinitarian view of God is the point at which Christianity separates from its sister religions, Judaism and Islam. Hebrews adamantly argues it is God the Son who supremely reveals God’s Self to us.

I. The Glory of God in Christ Presented to Man

Hebrews 1 pronounces Jesus Christ to be the culmination of Jewish history’s saga. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times in various ways” (NIV). But now we have something “better,” even the “best.” The word better appears twelve times in this letter. Jesus the Son of God and everything that is affiliated with him is better than what was previously available.

In verses 2 and 3, Jesus superiority is demonstrated in seven declarations. 1) God has given him ownership of everything. Literally, God has made him “heir of all things.” 2) As also taught in John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16, God created the universe through him. 3) He is the concentration of God’s glory, who God is and what he does. 4) He is the exact representation of God. That is, he is the essence of God made understandable to us. 5) Echoing the declarations of John 1:1 and Colossians 1:17, Hebrews identifies Jesus as the word of God, which not only creates but also holds all things together. 6) Jesus cosmic functions prove his power to relate to humanity’s need for restoration from its sin. The Son of God, therefore, is better than all that has gone before because he has done what no one else or nothing else could do. He has provided purification for sins. 7) Having done so, he is exalted to more than a better position than that of all others. He is awarded equality with God as described in the phrase, “sat down at the right hand” of God. Thus he is intimately involved with God and intercedes for those who trust him.

II. The Best Brings Men to the Best Position

After the author of Hebrews thoroughly explains Jesus as the Son of God, he proceeds to proclaim the humanity of Jesus. What greater argument for Jesus humanity can there be than Jesus suffering—suffering even unto death. Jesus, the Son incarnate, literally taking on flesh, put himself in the same vulnerability as flesh, a position a little lower than the angels. But from that position he has been exalted now above all. He has imparted to flesh his holiness. That holiness is available to all who will receive him.

They who receive him are, therefore, truly his brothers: he sharing their flesh, they sharing his holiness. He has brought “many sons to glory.” (Carolyn Volentine)

LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME

MARK 10:2-16

Why do we have children? If you ask people that question, you’re likely to get one of three responses:

• We had children to populate the earth. Now times have changed, and having large families is not necessary or even popular anymore. Procreation alone isn’t reason enough to have children.

• We had children so we would be less lonely. There’s some bad news, I’m afraid: children make parents feel more lonely, not less. At first, it feels good to be needed twenty-four hours a day. Soon you’re lonely for adult conversation. Thinking about the future makes you lonely. The future comes and the kids leave home. That makes you lonely.

• We had children because they give meaning to life. Viewed like this, children become another possession, like a Rolex or a BMW. Treat children as things and they’ll grow up with no sense of self-worth or values.Then, why do we have children? William Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas, in their book Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony, write: “Christians have children, in great part, in order to be able to tell our children the story. . . . It is our privilege to invite our children, and other’s children, to be a part of this great adventure called the Church.”

That’s a great reason for Christians to have children. It reminds us whose we are. By telling and living the story, we invite and enable the children to come to Jesus. It is a great privilege to tell the story. It’s an even greater privilege to empower children to tell it. The child’s point of view helps us maintain the awe and mystery of faith.

Sometimes we fail to notice what is in plain sight. It’s not that we don’t care—it’s that the things we walk by every day become so commonplace that we forget they are there. Children help us see with new eyes and ears. Their experiences enhance our faith experience.

Children can be a pain. They leave fingerprints, spill soft drinks, and get crumbs all over everything. They’re loud, noisy, and sometimes disrespectful. But they can also be angelic and reverent. Our job is to help the children hear the story, because sometimes they can even be God’s messengers.

The day after our denomination began a campaign to raise money for our camp, nine-year-old Erica wanted to give me something for the camp. I thought she meant a dollar or two. Instead, she shocked me by giving me $100. I started not to take it, but the light in her eyes said I had to. It was a sacred offering. Her mother said Erica prayed about how much to give. Do you know where she got the money? It was the money she received for her birthday and Christmas combined with the money she earned for good grades and picking up aluminum cans.

Erica’s gift gave us a fresh understanding of love and giving. I called the camp administrator and told him about Erica’s gift. He told our denominational newspaper and the newspaper ran a story about it. Other preachers called, and they shared the story with their congregations. There is no telling how much more money that $100 generated. But no matter how much was given, there was no gift as great or as large as what Erica gave. Through her unselfish gift we heard our Master’s voice.

Sometimes children are God’s messengers, sent so that we can hear the message in fresh ways. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep. Sometimes we get so caught up in keeping the pasture clean and tidy that we can’t hear the Shepherd’s voice. That’s when we need to let the lambs of God speak to us. Listen closely and you’ll hear the Master’s voice. (Billy D. Strayhorn)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: September 30, 2012

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:30:15 GMT

By Ministry Matters

THE HUMBLE HEROINE

ESTHER 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

This text is surrounded by a truly captivating story: God’s people are living in exile, yet God is present with them, directing the affairs that affect them and protecting them. As believers, we may not find ourselves in the greatest circumstances; we may even be threatened by our adversary. However, we can trust in our God of deliverance to be faithful and make a way out for us.

Haman had created a scheme to destroy the Jews. Our text demonstrates his humiliation and ultimately his fate for transgressing against God’s people.

I. God’s Placement (7:1-6)

The rise of Queen Esther to the throne is a drama of its own. Here, however, we consider that God placed her in a position to work for the good of those he loves. Haman’s plot to annihilate the Jews could have been successful, but God had placed Esther (the heroine of the story) in a place to frustrate Haman’s plan. Esther wisely and humbly requests of her king her life and the lives of her people.

Our society seems to think that shouting will gain the hearing needed to bring justice. This story indicates that prayer and fasting (4:1-3) working through God’s placement of the circumstances accomplished more than any sort of demonstration. Faith and prayer to a sovereign God moved through the circumstances to avert an evil plan.

II. God’s Judgment (7:9-10)

Haman’s evil plan becomes his own undoing. He was blinded by his own agenda and arrogance (cf. 6:6), and the consequences were as severe as his intentions toward the Jews. Haman is hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai. His brand of evil is not ancient history. The evil of a self-absorbed spirit is present in today’s world.

In chapter 6 Haman is humbled, but in chapter 7 he is accountable for his decisions. Today’s world does not want to hear of a God of justice. Yet without a sense of conviction there can be no relief of condemnation through redemption. This text demonstrates there are consequences for taking a stand against God’s people.

III. Sorrow Turned to Joy (9:20-22)

These verses comprise one of the primary purposes of the book of Esther: to explain the institution of the annual festival of Purim. The Jews were on the verge of being annihilated, but God rescued his people and relieved them from their enemies. This was cause for generous celebration with feasting and gift-giving.

Christians greatest enemy has truly been defeated, and we should pause to consider that the appropriate response to God is one of worshipful celebration and generous living. God is faithful to deliver his children! (Joseph Byrd)

PRAYER: OUR LIFELINE TO GOD

JAMES 5:13-20

Prayer is a mystery. To the Christian, prayer is a truth revealed but not fully apprehended. Like the words trinity and sacrament, prayer helps us talk about how we experience God. John Wesley boldly proclaimed, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” But what is prayer?

Prayer is our talking to God and God talking to us. Prayer is communication and communion with God. Prayer assumes there is a God. The Christian knows that God not only is there, but he is good and his will is ever directed toward his children’s good. When we pray, we recognize the sovereignty of God.

Prayer, like life itself, is a gift from God. It is only possible because he reveals himself to us that we may converse with him.

I. Prayer Is Our Response to Life

Prayer comes in as many forms as there are circumstances. It ranges from the “Oh, my God” type of prayer when believers are in crisis situations, to the lovely “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer of a child preparing for bed. James urges us to bathe all of life in prayer. He focuses on four general areas common to us all: trouble, happiness, illness, and sin.

II. Prayer Is Our Response to God

When James says to pray “in the name of the Lord,” he is pressing us to remember that we are not living in a powerless, lonely state. We are living in Christ’s ruling presence. We pray in response to our Savior’s presence and involvement in life with us, praying not from a position of “rights” but from a position of reception of his grace. We know a God of superlatives; omniscient, omnipotent, and also omnipresent.

III. In Prayer We Hear God’s Response

James declares: “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (NIV). God responds to those who know him, who humble themselves to be his servants. Such a servant was Elijah. James summarizes the Old Testament story about Elijah and the rain. But just in case we misunderstand, James assures us that Elijah was a human being, just as we are. It was Elijah’s righteousness that made him able to communicate with God.

The fifth century Talmud records a story about righteous Elijah and the power of prayer. The story says that Elijah would frequently visit a certain rabbi. One day the rabbi waited but Elijah did not come. The next day, when Elijah did arrive, the rabbi asked him, “Why didn’t you come?”

Elijah replied, “I had to wake up Abraham, wash his hands, wait while he prayed, then make him lie down again. Likewise I had to wake up Isaac and Jacob, wash their hands, wait until they prayed, and make them lie down again, each in his turn.”

“But why didn’t you awaken them all at the same time?”

“Oh, no,” Elijah replied. “I know that if they prayed together, their prayers would be so powerful that they would bring the Messiah before his time.”

The Talmud’s story and our text in James both press us to know that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. James then projects: if all of life is to be held before God in prayer, is it not logical that if someone does wander from the truth, he can be brought back? Even a multitude of sins will be covered. The sinner will escape eternal death, thus receiving the greatest benefit of healing from the prayer of faith. (Carolyn Volentine)

WHO IS ON OUR SIDE?

MARK 9:38-50

A man ran a newspaper ad for a system “guaranteed to cut any and all of your bills in half.” The system cost only $29.95. Upon investigation, authorities discovered that for the $29.95 plus postage and handling, the man would send people a three-dollar pair of scissors. He was subsequently arrested for mail fraud.

All around we see a world out of control. It’s a world where no one says no; where success, money, and self-gratification mean everything; where betrayal is easy and family and commitment finish last; where integrity is just a word. When will it end? We want to shout, “That’s enough. Everybody back to square one. Let’s start all over again.”

I. Christ Set the Example We Need

The Son of God came as one of us, tempted in every way like us, but he did not give in. He gives us the chance to start over, to be transformed through forgiveness. He gives us the chance for reconciliation through grace. He also came to show us what faith, discipleship, love, and obedience are all about. He showed us what courage and integrity are by taking up his cross and bearing our sins. He calls us to follow him and to live by kingdom standards.

II. Christ Gave the Direction We Need

Who is on our side? That’s the question the disciples bring to Jesus. During the history of the church there have been times when that has been a very important question. Are they for us or against us? Today there are so many groups who claim to be followers, how do you tell them apart? How do you tell who are the real players and who are only playing at this thing called faith? Is it the creed they espouse? Is it the amount of Scripture they can quote?

Jesus says the secret is to have salt in ourselves. We’re called to live our faith in such a way that there is no doubt who we follow. Jesus speaks of not putting stumbling blocks in the way of others. He speaks of living a life that is not offensive to others or to the values of God’s kingdom—a life that doesn’t lead another astray.

III. Christ Provided the Vision We Need

Turning the other cheek; loving our enemy; forgiving those who sin against us; showing no partiality; being honest; living with integrity and faithfulness; bearing our cross—these are not options for the followers of Christ. Nor are they unattainable ideals. They are the order of the day—the minimum daily requirement, the standard by which we live and breathe and relate to people both inside and outside the faith.

The story is told that one day General Robert E. Lee was speaking in the highest terms of another officer, when one of the men interrupted him: “General, do you know that man is one of your biggest enemies, and misses no opportunity to ridicule you?”

“Yes,” Lee replied. “But I was asked to give my opinion of him, not his opinion of me.”

The Son of God calls us to act with the same integrity, no matter what is going on in the world. How we act reflects upon Christ. Christ is on our side helping us to live our faith. Bishop Woodie White said, “No matter how bad the bad news gets—the final word is always the good news of Jesus Christ.” We are called to remember that and seek to glorify God with our lives. (Billy D. Strayhorn)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: September 23, 2012

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:59:15 GMT

By Ministry Matters

HONORING THE VIRTUE OF A WIFE

PROVERBS 31:10-31

Often we look at this passage as a standard to which women need to live up to to be of good character. Perhaps there is merit to such an approach, but one truly wonders if the writer is simply considering the blessing of his wife or mother and noting her qualities. The text could read more like poetry expressing deep love and appreciation for labors and qualities rarely found in people of our day. It could be an expression of thanks, noting all the benefits provided from such a noble and caring wife. In fact, the text tells us as much about how to treat a virtuous wife as it describes her.

I. The Virtues of Her Labor (vv. 11-19, 24)

The work of this wife is such that it cultivates complete confidence from her husband because she has consistently worked for his good and not his harm. Such are many of the wives and mothers with which God has blessed the church—often quietly laboring to make a positive effect on their family.

In this text, her work is described as selecting materials for linen and being enterprising enough to provide meals, sacrificing her sleep to maintain such a level of accommodation for the entire family. Her work is accomplished with vigor, and her labor is done to work the advantage toward the family. She does not accept shortcuts to accomplish her responsibilities. This text does not condemn the “working woman”; it takes note and honors the stay-at-home moms.

II. Her Care for Her Family (vv. 21-23, 27)

This wife has tended to her family with preparation well in advance. Verse 23 seems to indicate that she takes a role in the respect that her husband has within the community. How true it is that any spouse can edify or destroy the character of a mate. This is not an idle woman; she is a good steward of her home and all with which God has blessed her. She is a wife who has the management capabilities of a corporate executive.

III. Her Character (vv. 20, 25, 26, 28-30)

One may praise an individual for his or her actions; however, that person’s character involves his or her attitude while doing the tasks that must be accomplished. This woman is praised for her character and for her activities. She is a woman whose lifestyle demonstrates generosity. She is a woman of dignity and strength. There is no sense of femininity equating to “wimpiness” here. Her character is such that those who know her best, including her flaws, call her blessed and praise her. Her nobility is beyond the norm for others; she settles for nothing less than purity in her life.

Finally and most important, all of her character is shaped by her wisdom to fear the Lord. Here is the beginning and the end of such a virtuous woman: her faith in God.

A simple message to us today from this text is to call us to look beyond the choices of career a woman may make and focus upon her character. The next century needs women of character whose values are shaped by their faith in God. (Joseph Byrd)

THE BATTLE WON

JAMES 3:13–4:3, 7-8a

“Love’s redeeming work is done . . . Fought the fight, the battle won.” These familiar words from the hymn, “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” by Charles Wesley, remind us that Christians are on a winning team. James and the rest of the New Testament present a worldview that the kingdom of God is in tension with the human desire to be king, the world’s desire to establish its own kingdom, and the powerful supernatural kingdom of Satan.

I. The War Situation

Although the ultimate war is won, there are daily skirmishes. Like a general, James barks out his assessment of our personal and social warfare in verses 3:3-18. The background context for flesh sins focuses on the social sins. He contrasts “evil wisdom” with “wisdom from above.” This evil wisdom reveals itself in the area of destructive interpersonal relationships.

Bitterness is the first identified culprit. This includes bitterness against others, circumstances, ourselves, and God. Next comes jealousy (vv. 14-16), arrogance (v. 14), and self-deception or lying against the truth (v. 14). Encouraging the root of bitterness is always the foul fertilizer of unforgiveness. Refusal to forgive encourages many toxic weeds of interpersonal conflicts and sin. Bitter, prideful, negative emotions yield the fruits of disorder and, as James calls it, “every evil thing.”

The sin energy of our self-centered wills attracts the even greater destructive forces of Satan and his demons. James is not saying that all who reveal negative wisdom are completely ruled by Satan. He is saying those with negative wisdom are allowing confusion and other negative manifestations because they are allowing themselves to be influenced by the evil one. James does not allow for rationalizations. He clearly defines sin as sin and orders his readers to be faithful and loyal.

II. Command One

Therefore, he orders clearly and forcefully: “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” The opposite of rebellious pride is submission to God. Verses 4:3, 7-8a clearly give the Christian his/her orders. As we draw near to God in worship, prayer, and thanksgiving we will know God’s presence as we have never known it before. The book of Revelation describes the work of heaven as that of praise. We can draw into God’s presence by that same activity and focus now, in this present age.

III. Command Two

“Resist the devil” (v. 7b). How? We resist the devil the same way Jesus did—by verbal confrontation based in the truth of God’s word. The word of God in the New Testament is often referred to as a weapon. Resistance of the devil is both offensive and defensive. The promise of God is that the devil will flee from us as we resist him.

IV. Command Three

Verse 8a says, “Draw near to God.” Worship him. Praise him. Glorify him. By deliberately bringing our attention to him, we are putting ourselves in the position to receive his presence. And his presence is what we are promised. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”

Clean-up skirmishes against flesh, the world, and the evil one continue. But the praise of God makes the Christian a conqueror so that he may sing: “Soar we now where Christ has led; / Following our exalted Head; / Made like him, like him we rise; / Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!” (Carolyn Volentine)

A DIFFERENT SORT OF GREATNESS

MARK 9:30-37

As a teenager, I always wanted to belong to an “in” crowd. But I didn’t live in the right neighborhood or I didn’t wear the right clothes. I always seemed to stand on the outside looking in. I also wanted to be a leader. I wanted to be in charge and have people respect me and ask me for advice. In the role of leader I saw a certain amount of power and prestige.

I. The Disciples Attitude

That’s how the disciples must have felt. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the privileged class. They got the best seats at banquets. Others paid attention to them. The disciples stood on the outside looking in and longed for what these people had. No wonder they were discussing who among them was the greatest. Maybe, at first, they were innocently discussing how the kingdom would come about and what role they would play. But the innocent talk got out of hand. Then again, maybe the power of their newfound positions went to their heads. Whatever the case, Jesus asked them what they had been arguing about. The look in his eyes told them he already knew. So he taught them about servanthood.

II. Being a Servant Leader

He didn’t berate or belittle them. Instead, he took a child in his arms. A child is the classic example of the powerless. A child can’t reward or repay. Jesus held that child in his lap and said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” (v. 37).

His message made their arguments about greatness as meaningful as arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Jesus said: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” (v. 35).

That’s an odd way of thinking. Our whole economy and social structure is based on being number one. We constantly push and shove to see who will be in charge and who will have the most influence. We honor those folks who come in first. Contrast that to the portrait of Jesus painted by his own words: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

III. Sacrificial Service

Greatness and servanthood—both attitudes are natural in us. The first illustrates that to which most people aspire. The second illustrates that for which we were created. One indicates our quest in life, the other exhibits our best in life.

A mother celebrating her birthday was treated to a party by her family. Mom was told to sit in her favorite chair. One by one, the father and the two older children solemnly presented Mom her gifts on a tray, as if she were royalty. The youngest girl, who was really too young to have had much of a role in picking out the gifts, had been left out of the plans. But she rose to the occasion. She suddenly appeared with the empty tray. Approaching her mother she placed the tray on the floor, stepped on it, and with a childish wiggle of joy said, “Mommy, I give you ME!”

Jesus, the only Son of God, had everything and yet claimed nothing. Out of his unselfish service and obedience came our salvation. He calls us to live and pursue a different kind of greatness, the greatness that comes from giving yourself to Jesus and being a servant. (Billy D. Strayhorn)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: September 16, 2012

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:49:00 GMT

By Ministry Matters

WISDOM’S CALL

PROVERBS 1:20-33

This text focuses on two characters: wisdom and simple ones. Wisdom is personified as one calling out and warning that she needs to be heeded. She is calling to “simple ones,” those who reject her and fail to acknowledge her warning.

What kind of wisdom is being rejected here? Verse 29 demonstrates that simple ones, mockers, and fools hated her knowledge in their refusal to fear the Lord. “Fear of the Lord” is the theme of the book of Proverbs (cf. 1:7) and is the content of wisdom’s message. This is not the fear of the abused toward the abusers, but a loving reverence submitting to the Lordship of God.

I. Wisdom’s Attempt to Call (vv. 20-21)

The call of wisdom is not for some elite few who have achieved academically to master a philosophy of God. On the contrary, her call is public and for anyone willing to heed. She does not call out in the theology classroom alone but in the street and in public squares for common folk to hear her important message. She does not limit her work to quiet halls of academia but cries out in the midst of the noise of the streets and in the gates of cities.

Wisdom shouts loudly amidst all the other voices that claim truth, but she has the only answer that will remedy humanity’s ailments: “Fear the Lord.”

II. Simple Ones Rejection (vv. 22-25)

Simple ones do not want to complicate their lives with truth and the harsh reality that a change or reordering of their lives might be needed to remedy their ailment. They love simple ways, burying their heads in trivial matters and avoiding the truth at any cost. If they cannot hide from reality, their “plan B” is to mock the truth and maintain an arrogant false superiority toward the truth, which is by New Testament terms “foolishness” to them. Their ultimate problem is that they hate such knowledge.

Wisdom was always ready to aid and assist them, but they refuse to hear her rebuke. Human nature never likes to hear rebuke or reproof. Human nature tends to seek out voices that confirm our own thoughts and do not challenge us to make changes in our comfort zones. Wisdom calls out even in nature so the Psalms tell us, but moving along on our own course is the most comfortable path to take.

III. Wisdom’s Response (vv. 26-28)

Initially, one may read these verses and think, “How cruel!” However, wisdom attempted to alert simple humanity to the truth, but in rebellion they fall into disaster and calamity. Now wisdom mocks and laughs at the arrogant yet ignorant who failed to heed her call.

So many of humanity’s worst problems are because we have failed to listen to a simple truth and move in obedience. To look for wisdom to lead the way after such disaster was forewarned is meaningless. More is at stake here than wisdom saying, “I told you so!” There are principles and cycles set from the foundation of time.

We have no choice but to live by the biblical principle of reaping and sowing. To fail to heed means we face the consequence of disaster. We brought such disasters upon ourselves by failing to “fear the Lord.” (Joseph Byrd)

THE TYRANT, THE TONGUE

JAMES 3:1-12

Out of the heart come all kinds of evil (Mark 7:20-23), and the first place they go is the tongue (v. 6). How many of us have wished we had not said that careless word or made that too quick response? Of course, we all have. Whoever invented the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” never had a parent scold him, a fiance‚ break an engagement, or a doctor give him a cancer diagnosis.

James considers the tongue, the instrument of words, a tyrant that is managed by an even greater power, the human heart. The words we say reflect much of what we are inside.

I. The Tongue: A Teacher’s Instrument

Verse 1 warns those who would be teachers of their greater responsibility and accountability in comparison to others. The New Testament held teachers in high esteem. First Corinthians and Ephesians list the teachers immediately following the apostles and prophets.

As carriers of the truth of the gospel, they are warned to be especially careful. The very clarity and purity of the gospel was theirs to explain and exemplify. The Bible does teach a double standard. The standard for the ordinary Christian is very high. Jesus said, “Be perfect.” James adds that teachers will be judged by that standard even more strictly than the ordinary believer. And what instrument do teachers use more than their own tongues?

II. The Tongue: A Universal Instrument

Verse 2 broadens the importance of careful consideration of the tongue to all. A mature person, James says, is easily recognized if he/she can control his/her tongue. Because the whole body follows what the tongue says, verses 3-8 graphically illustrate the power of the tongue.

The tongue is compared to a rudder for a ship, a small fire to a forest fire, and a bit for a horse. These small things do control their larger complements. So the tongue manages one’s life. In verse 8, James declares it evil. He is referring to all the misuses of the tongue, such as gossip, backbiting, slander, and rumors.

III. The Tongue: Indicator of the Heart

Echoing the teaching of Jesus, James reminds his readers that the tongue may be a tyrant, but it takes its power and direction from the heart. James refers to the fact that bitter and sweet water cannot flow from the same source. Fig trees cannot bear olives, and those who praise God cannot curse their fellow men.

James recognizes that apparently such contradictions do happen. He reminds us that we have failed and have praised God in one breath while cursing our brothers with the next. But, he shouts, “This should not be.”

Even Paul struggled with this apparently universal predicament. He, too, declared a dualism in his inner self when he spoke of doing things he wished he had not done and leaving things undone he had done. If so great a saint had such difficulty, is it not to be expected that all of us need to be alert? (Carolyn Volentine)

THE BURDEN OF THE CROSS

MARK 8:27-38

During a battle a soldier was frantically digging in as shells fell all around him. Suddenly his hand felt something metal and he grabbed it. It was a silver cross. Another shell exploded and he buried his head in his arms. He felt someone jump in with him and looked over and saw an army chaplain. The soldier thrust the cross in the chaplain’s face and said, “I sure am glad to see you. How do you work this thing?”

When Jesus talks about bearing our cross, we want to know, “How do you work this thing?”

I. Peter Started with the Right Idea

Poor magnificent, blundering Peter. Someone said the only time Peter took his foot out of his mouth was to switch feet. He did it again. Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” In a flash of insight Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

When Jesus explains how that will translate into everyday life, however, Peter reprimands Jesus. A suffering Messiah can’t be right; it didn’t fit any of Peter’s preconceptions about Messiah. Jesus, in turn, reprimands Peter.

The cross is essential to Mark’s understanding of Jesus purpose and mission as Messiah.

II. What Bearing the Cross Isn’t

The cross is central to our faith but, like Peter, we cringe at cross- bearing. What does Jesus mean? People say, “I guess that’s a cross I have to bear,” generally with a poor-pitiful-me tone of voice. Is that really cross-bearing? No!

Cross-bearing doesn’t refer to meaningless or even involuntary suffering that has to be endured. Suffering terminal cancer or AIDS is a horrible misfortune, but it’s not bearing a cross. To offer your cancer- or AIDS-weakened self by reaching out to others and helping them, that’s taking up your cross.

III. What Bearing the Cross Is

Bearing our cross is a choice. It is a voluntary form of sacrificial obedience that identifies us completely with Christ. Bearing our cross is not making the best of a situation or circumstance. It is something we deliberately take up and bear.

We don’t like that. We would rather wear a cross than bear a cross. The cross is all about discipline, hard work, obedience, and commitment. It isn’t easy, but it is possible. It draws us closer to Christ and makes us more Christlike.

Some women who live near Washington D.C. wanted to show God’s love to a special group of people. They heard about a group of babies who were rarely held and destined to live and die in hospitals because they had AIDS. The babies didn’t get much attention, so they began to cry silently. No one had responded to their crying out loud so they stopped doing it. But they still shed tears.

Even though these children would die by their second birthdays, the women took a number of the AIDS babies home. The women would respond to the silent tears by holding and rocking the babies. Soon these unloved, cast-off AIDS babies began to cry out loud again. They had been spoken to in the only way they could understand. They had been spoken to in the language of love by women willing to deny themselves and take up their cross.

To experience life in Christ requires feeling the weight of his cross in our daily discipleship. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible. When we say yes to the cross, we don’t have to bear the load alone. The burden of the cross is no burden at all—not when we’re yoked with Christ. Deny yourself by giving yourself for others in Christ’s name. Take up your cross and follow him. (Billy D. Strayhorn)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: September 9, 2012

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:55:37 GMT

By Ministry Matters

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

PROVERBS 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

A name is only composed of letters that make a sound. It is the person that bears those letters who is important. No matter how many other people in the world carry your name, each is different and you are the only you. I want my name to stand for God.

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 22 some of the characteristics that I want people to see in me when they call my name.

I. I Want My Name to Carry Honor (vv. 1-2)

How can we gain respect and honor for our names? It comes through high ethical and moral conduct—label it integrity. We adhere to a high standard of justice and responsibility that is derived from our connection to God.

The word honor for a Greek living during Christ’s lifetime meant “weighty” or “heavy.” Gold, for example, was the best example of something of honor because it was both heavy and valuable. When we give honor to certain people, we’re saying that they carry great weight with us.

People will honor us because we are faithful to our spouse, ethical in our conduct at work and church, and have a godly standard. We are an asset to God.

II. I Want My Name to Be Synonymous with Generosity (vv. 8-9)

An African boy listened carefully as his teacher explained to the class why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas Day. The teacher said, “The gift is an expression of joy over the birth of Jesus and friendship for one another.”

When Christmas Day arrived, the young boy waited around after class to see his teacher. When everyone had left he handed her a sea shell of exquisite beauty. The beauty startled the teacher and she inquired where he had found such an unusual shell. He told her that there was only one spot where these particular shells were to be found—a certain bay several miles away.

“Why it’s gorgeous, but you should not have walked all that way to get a gift for me,” the teacher told him.

His dark eyes sparkled as he answered, “Long walk part of gift.”

Generosity often means sacrificial giving that comes from deep inside the heart.

III. I Want My Name to Be Synonymous with Compassion (vv. 22-23)

The world lacks compassion. Sometimes it seems as if all we do is shove to get to the head of the line, like junior high students at lunch time. Let somebody else be the last. Who cares? The Greek word for sympathy signifies that we are “to feel or suffer with.” We align ourselves with the hurting of the world.

Generosity is the response to people’s need whereas compassion is the reason. Compassion comes because God’s Son is with us. With Jesus eyes we see the hurt, bleeding, dying world with new appreciation. We see the external and internal needs of humanity. (Derl G. Keefer)

LIVING FAITH

JAMES 2:1-10, 14-17

I have two plants in my office. One is alive and the other is artificial. The artificial one is a very low maintenance plant with only occasional dusting required. It never blooms and never gives any signs of life, even though it is green. The living one shows all the signs of life. It needs water and sometimes the leaves bloom. Other times some leaves turn brown and must be trimmed. A cursory glance at the plants will not reveal which one is living and which one is plastic. A closer and more thorough examination does reveal which plant is the living one.

Some people in the church resemble the two plants in my office. While some are genuine and alive, others only give the appearance of spiritual life but in reality are fake. How can I know whether I have a living faith or a false faith? The second chapter of the book of James helps to give us some answers to that question.

I. Living Faith Is Impartial (vv. 1-10)

Discrimination is evidence of partiality. James is quite clear that we should not hold our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a sign of personal favoritism. Nor should we be partial to anyone. As we read this passage in James chapter 2, we must be struck with how similar our day is to James’s day. We tend to cater to those who are wealthy or are dressed well or look good. In so doing we are showing partiality.

How do you and I respond to the person who doesn’t dress as well or smell as nice as others? A living faith is one that welcomes equally the poor and rich, the black and white and brown, the educated and uneducated, the well-dressed and the poorly dressed. While we might downplay this type of sin, James is quick to say that whoever breaks the law at one point is guilty of breaking the whole law. Discrimination is sin and we need to call it such, no more or less loudly than we speak of every sin.

Living faith, on the other hand, is not concerned with skin color or bank accounts or anything except the individual person. May God grant us a faith that shows no partiality!

II. Living Faith Produces Good Works (vv. 14-17)

While I was in high school and college one of my sisters lived in Florida. Every spring break I made a visit to see her. Driving through the orange groves I began to stop and enjoy the sights, smells, and tastes. Those trees naturally produced oranges because that is what they were—orange trees. The oranges grew from the inside of the tree out.

In the same way, Christians ought to produce good works because on the inside God has changed us. To use another biblical analogy, we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. We are not the same anymore, and because we have been changed from the inside out we naturally produce good works. It is as natural for a Christian to produce good works as it is for the orange tree to produce oranges.

Good works for the Christian, as do oranges, come in all shapes and sizes. Developing Christian character, ministering to the needs of others, and sharing the Word of God are all examples of good works. Time would not permit an exhaustive list of good works that the believer could perform. The key is that a living faith produces good works.

Living faith is the result of the work of God in bringing a person to salvation. Impartiality and good works are the results of a living faith. Just as the true nature of the two plants in my office will be eventually revealed, so will a living faith and a false faith be made plain. A living faith produces good things that bring praise and glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (Douglas Walker)

BEYOND THE BORDERS

MARK 7:24-37

In the preceding verses Jesus declared all foods are clean (v. 19), because it is what is in the inner person that counts. In these stories, Jesus declares all persons clean, whether a Syrophoenician woman in Tyre, or a man of unknown but non-Jewish race in the region of the Decapolis. These two stories recorded by Mark are also documented in Matthew (15:21ff.).

We should not get bogged down in the details of the story, but rather see the broad sweep of the theological brush. We have here two examples of the same religious principle illustrating Jesus repudiation of the traditional Jewish beliefs that the true faith is only for those of the house of Israel.

While as a matter of strategy Jesus started with Israel, as a matter of practicality he expanded beyond those borders. These two stories make this point clear. The Christlike God is a God for all people, who seeks all people everywhere, who calls on them for faith in him and is desirous for the commitment of all, so that all might be saved. As Paul wrote counseling Timothy: “This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4).

To the best of our knowledge this is the first and only journey of Jesus beyond the borders of Israel, and the fact that he traveled here is symbolically significant. His actions speak volumes of words.

Jesus often stated that it was his intention to go first to the house of Israel, to those of the Jewish faith. He never claimed to be starting a new religion. He was brought up a Jew and knew well his Jewish Bible (Old Testament), often quoting it, even on the cross (see Mark 15:34; Ps. 22:1) . He claimed that he had come not to destroy Judaism, but to fulfill it. To fill it full of new meaning. To bring it to its proper climax. To fulfill the words of the Jewish prophets. This was his intention.

While he still desired this, he had what spaceflight engineers would call today a “midcourse correction.” He drew his circle larger to include the Gentiles—all non-Jews—and this is nowhere more evident than this passage where a desperate Gentile mother pleads with him to come and heal her daughter, who was possessed with “an unclean spirit.”

He states first his original intention to go to the Jews: “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (v. 27). The Jews often referred to Gentiles as “dogs.” Jesus uses here the common vernacular, as he often did in order to be understood by the common people. The woman’s clever repartee drew him out so that he healed a foreigner in a foreign country, an astounding theological event for one who claimed to come to fulfill Judaism.

The second episode, where a person who cannot hear or speak is healed, is recorded more for the comments attributed to the crowd than for the actual healing. The healing was not a new lesson, other than it was again done to a Gentile beyond the border of Israel.

The most astounding thing was that the people were now saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak” (v. 37). These were carefully crafted words that were used to echo the prophet Isaiah who, when he spoke of the coming Messiah, said, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy” (Isa. 35:5-6a). The use of these words verified in the minds of those using them that Jesus was in fact the Christ spoken of by their prophet Isaiah.

When General Douglas MacArthur was forced to leave the Philippines because of the advancing Japanese army during the Second World War, he told them, “I shall return.” When he returned near the end of the war, he chose very carefully his words when he landed and said, “I have returned.” It was a fulfillment of his earlier promise. Jesus is claiming to be the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah by going beyond the border to non-Jews. (C. Thomas Hilton)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: August 26, 2012

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 18:56:09 GMT

By Ministry Matters

GOD IS THE PROMISE

1 KINGS 8:(1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43

Inside the human spirit there rises a desire to seek, know, experience, and please God. Sometimes there is a question as to whether God will meet us. Yet on other occasions we boldly claim God’s presence and feel God’s special touch on our individual lives or in our public services.

Like a printer’s trademark of several years ago, God draws a circle and writes, “I never disappoint.” God makes promises to his people.

I. God Promises His Presence (vv. 1, 6, 10-11)

Solomon is the faithful king with much promise, but he keenly realizes the desperate dependency of his rulership on God’s presence. In preparation for the temple dedication he brings out the symbol of God’s promises—the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the ark were the two tablets of stone with the law written on them and— according to the writer of Hebrews—a pot of manna and Aaron’s rod. These were constant reminders that God would not leave nor forsake his people.

Today there are symbols to remind us of God’s presence. Symbols for the New Testament church abound, such as the cross, bread and fruit of the vine, the empty tomb, and a crown. They help us along our spiritual journey to visualize God’s leadership and presence by giving us proper understanding of God’s glory.

II. God Promises His Covenant Love (vv. 22-26)

Solomon’s prayer of temple dedication begins with a statement of promise that God would give his love. However, for Israel to maintain its favored nation status, it must meet the condition that God laid down—wholehearted devotion to him. This accomplishment would occur if the people walked with him in obedience and trust. The question was not if God would love them, rather would they love God?

That remains the question today. God loves us, as John 3:16 states emphatically. The “whosoever will believe” gives us the condition. Acceptance of the promise gives us the special “favored person” status.

III. God Promises His Concern (vv. 27-30)

These verses indicate that God can be visited in his sanctuary made by hands; however, God is not limited to just the temple. The Almighty God dwells in heaven and is on the earth, literally everywhere. We cannot box him in or domesticate him. He is distant, yet closely attentive to the needs of his people. He quite literally is the awesome God with a personal touch. Only a God free from us can really help us.

God’s love is concerned with our circumstances. He abides with us and works with us. He graciously makes a difference in our lives. God inclines his heart, ears, and eyes toward us. We can have genuine confidence in this great God that Solomon speaks of in this text.

IV. God Promises His Answer (vv. 41-43)

The Lord is the answer to life’s needs, questions, and sins. This God of promise comes to all who genuinely seek to know his forgiveness, love, and presence. Step by step God will lead us if, in faith, we follow. Our lives can be built on him. Our need is to worship God in spirit and in truth! Will you? (Derl G. Keefer)

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

EPHESIANS 6:10-20

Everyone who has ever tried to live the Christian life would admit that it is a struggle. Our vision is so limited that we only see the physical things with which we wrestle. We focus on ourselves, our circumstances, and others. In the later portions of Ephesians, chapter 6, the apostle Paul attempts to redirect our sights. He tells us our struggle is not really with flesh and blood, those things upon which we most often focus. Our real conflict is spiritual and with spiritual forces!

This is one of those passages we must read with the eyes of faith. We cannot see with our physical eyes the things about which Paul speaks. More important, Paul discusses how we may have victory in this conflict, which we accept we are in by faith.

We know Paul’s exhortation as spiritual armor. Paul gives spiritual meaning to the armor of a Roman soldier. By putting on the armor of God we, too, will be equipped to fight and win in the spiritual struggle in which we find ourselves. Paul describes six pieces of our spiritual armor.

I. We Wear the Belt of Truth

The first part of our spiritual armor is truth. Two ideas are significant about truth. First, Christians should know and believe the truth about who God is and what God has done. This relates to cognitive facts about what the Bible says about God and his mighty acts. Human notions of God will not do. Second, we must be truthful people. Telling the truth to ourselves and others, in love, is essential in the spiritual battle in which we are engaged.

II. We Wear the Breastplate of Righteousness

Another aspect of our spiritual armor is right living. Many a believer has been sidelined due to corrupt behavior. The visual image is the piece of armor that protects the chest and heart. In order to protect this large area of the body a large sheet of metal was fashioned to guard it. The protection for our spiritual lives is personal holiness.

III. Our Feet Are Shod with the Gospel of Peace

This third item of equipment calls us to evangelism and missions. Every believer is to be actively involved in sharing the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ alone. When we fail to spread the word about Christ we are unprepared for spiritual conflict. Along with personal evangelism we can be part of mission efforts away from our homes. Church planting, church construction, and short-term mission volunteers are specific ways we take the gospel of peace to those around us and the world.

IV. We Wear the Shield of Faith

A defense device that allowed the bearer to fend off arrows and spears was the shield. Likewise, Christians can extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy by clinging to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Defining faith is often easier than explaining how to live by faith. A life of faith is characterized by dependence on the Lord. Paul wrote to the church at Rome that whatever was not of faith was sin (Rom. 14:23) . Perhaps another way of looking at the life of faith is to think in terms of pleasing the Lord. Does what I am doing bring pleasure to the Lord? Faith is a vital part of our spiritual armor.

V. We Wear the Helmet of Salvation

Even in ancient days helmets were used to protect the head from injury. Perhaps no part of the body is as susceptible to a mortal wound as is the head. We safeguard our heads by wearing helmets when we ride bicycles and play sports.

In the spiritual realm this important body part represents salvation. Nothing can rival the necessity of our own salvation for victorious Christian living. The assurance of our salvation becomes a security from doubts and dismay. Discouragement, which is one of our very real opponents, is thwarted by confidence that the Lord has saved us. Salvation by grace through faith stands as a pillar of strength in the midst of our spiritual conflict.

VI. We Carry the Sword of the Spirit

The final piece of our spiritual armor is the sword of the Spirit. Of course the analogy refers to the Word of God. As believers we should hear, read, study, apply, memorize, and meditate on the Bible.

It’s interesting that Scripture is the only part of the equipment that is for offense in this spiritual conflict. While Holy Writ is not to be a weapon for us to use in order to beat others over the head, it should serve to help us move forward in the Christian life. Apart from the Word we have no clear guidance and would be left only with our feelings. God’s Word enables us to press the fight toward our spiritual enemies who are not flesh and blood.

Paul concludes this section of scripture with a clear admonition to prayer. As we take up the full armor of God and couple it with prayer we can conquer the spiritual forces that wage war against us. (Douglas Walker)

DIFFICULT TEACHING

JOHN 6:56-69

Jesus is preaching in the synagogue at Capernaum to people of faith. This is not a public discourse in the sense that he was standing on the street corner preaching to people with no religion. Jesus knew the Jews believed. Jesus knew the Jews practiced their faith. Jesus knew the Jewish faith and claimed to the Jews that their faith had now been fulfilled by his arrival. He did not try to destroy their faith, but to fill it more full of divine truth.

Jesus claims to be the “bread” that “came down from heaven” and that the “one who eats this bread will live forever.” When his life became their own life then they would live forever, just as Jesus was going to live forever.

I. The Disciples Difficulty

One could assume that the casual attender at the synagogue would have difficulty with such a teaching, but one would hope that his disciples would “get it.” They didn’t! John goes out of his way to point out that many of the close followers of Jesus found this teaching to be difficult.

Other translators have the disciples responding: “This is very hard to understand. Who can tell what he means?” (TLB). “This is more than we can stomach!” (NEB). “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?” (JB). Such comments from a casual observer could be expected, but not from his faithful followers. John says that Jesus disciples were complaining. Jesus claim to be the living bread that would provide eternal life for all who believe in him was dividing people into camps.

Jesus response was to say to his disciples, in so many words, “So this offends you? Wait until the Ascension. If my claim to come from God is difficult teaching, wait until I return to God after the Resurrection. You haven’t seen anything yet. Stick around.” Many did not. They had had enough and they went back to their Judaism, or whatever. But not Peter.

II. Nowhere Else to Go

When the outer circle of disciples began to thin, Jesus turned to his inner circle of twelve and challenged them to make a decision. Peter then made it clear that he (for a while anyway) got the gospel message and he would cast his lot with Jesus. As a matter of fact he felt that there was nowhere else to go, for Jesus had “the words of eternal life.”

The challenge here is to those of us who already consider ourselves disciples. Jesus keeps stretching our faith. Jesus keeps saying, “You have come this far, come a little farther. You have committed this much, commit a little more. You love these people, now open your arms to these people. You have compassion for the one hurting person in front of you, now broaden that compassion to all hurting people in God’s world.”

Grow, grow, grow. Jesus is continually trying to remold us into his likeness, which means that there are few way stations along the journey at which we can rest.

Clarence Jordan visited an integrated church somewhere in the southern United States. He asked the uneducated preacher, “How did the church get this way?” The pastor explained the message he preached: “If you’re one with Jesus, you’ve one with all kinds of folks. And if you ain’t you ain’t.”

“What happened?” Jordan asked.

“Well,” the preacher said, “the deacons took me into the back room and told me they didn’t want to hear that kind of preaching no more. So I fired them deacons! Then I preached that church down to four. And not long after that it grew and grew and grew. And I found out that revival sometimes don’t mean bringing people in, but gettin the people out who don’t love Jesus.”

Jesus knew his teachings would be difficult in a fallen world. He never promised us an easy time. He promised us his presence. (C. Thomas Hilton)

ARTICLE: Good Christian Girl: QandA with Jennie Allen

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:42:53 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Caught in this familiar haze of worldly happiness and empty pursuits, Jennie Allen and her husband Zac prayed a courageous prayer of abandonment that took them on an adventure God had written for them: "God, we will do anything. Anything." Jennie's story is that of a "Good Christian Girl" transformed by total surrender to God.

Jennie, you grew up in a Christian home, yet you say God felt plastic to you for many years. What was this like for you?

I grew up trying to force faith, when it is really God who gives faith. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God...”

I don’t think I am alone in working hard trying to please God in my childhood and youth. We come from a generation of Sunday schools that taught us to do the right thing, not really to know Jesus. We can say the right things and do the right things and sometimes train ourselves to even think the right things, but I believe in a God who transforms the insides of us, when we believe in him.

What has to happen in order for God to become real to a “good, Christian girl”?

We have got to quit pretending. God is either real to you or he is not. We have to quit caring so much about how our faith appears and care a lot more about the state of our hearts before God alone.

I do believe when we get to heaven a lot of people will not be there that will shock us. And in the same measure, a lot of people will be there who made complete messes of their lives. Those folks will be there because their only hope was Jesus. Faith in Jesus Christ has nothing to do with morality. In fact the most moral people were the most far from God, in Jesus’ day. And I am afraid we good, Christian girls may face the same reality if we are honest with ourselves. We have learned to pray, study our Bibles, and do ministry—but do we know Jesus?

Once Jesus became your center, teaching other girls about God came naturally. Do you think this is a primary calling on your life?

I think we all have gifts to make God known; it is part of what transforms inside of us when God invades us. But with every calling, whatever it is, the privilege carries with it a weight. I have angst attached to my gift of teaching.

Somehow God made me a girl who dreads the opinions of others and then gave me a calling that places me in front of a lot of opinions—even as I will be accountable to God for how I displayed him with my words, with my life.

Right before I signed with my publisher I spent a night in prayer with my best friends. I cried harder that night from the weight of this call and the fear I felt doing it than I may have ever cried. I will face God one day and when I do I want to fall on my face worn out, having spent all he gave me to make him known here, for his glory and his fame.

You believe this generation of young women is unique. How is this generation different from the generation previous, and what are they seeking?

Every generation wants to do life differently than the one before it. I think the generation before us gave us a deep appreciation for knowledge of God and the Scriptures. And now this generation of women wants to live that knowledge in reckless ways. We are a generation which feels deeply and wants to give our lives away to causes that will outlast us. We want to be inspired and moved. I think we are a generation which aspires to be a part of movements that stretch beyond the confines of our generation.

And we want to wrestle. We don’t want pat answers or fill in the blanks. If something is not honest or real, we know it and we won’t touch it.

**Your first book, Anything, shares how you surrendered your life to God in a fresh way as an adult. How does surrender impact a woman’s life?**

As I was growing up, I somehow missed some words in Sunday school, words like: die, pick up your cross, surrender everything, give up this life. Surrender is the foundation for a relationship with God, yet we have categorized it as something for missionaries or emotional retreats. Surrender is actually a call on the life of every believer: “Love me with ALL your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength.” And with giving him everything, there comes freedom and peace. It feels like death, and it is, but there is freedom in letting go of the things that never would fulfill us anyway.

This radical, abandoned life is new for me, and yet it seems to contain more of God and more freedom and more life than trying to hold on to my sane life and protecting my rights and dreams ever did. It is only in completely laying down my life, agendas, goals, expectations, and rights that I get to taste and see God completely.

He is worth it. He is worth forsaking everything. We’ve boiled him down to principles. Yet everything else I have ever tried to smash into my soul to fill it, just seems to make me ache for more. He gets in and actually restores me, unwinds my mess of a head and soul. His mercy trumps the most epic of stories. He is worth my surrender.

Is there a benefit to pursuing a life of surrender alongside a friend or a group?

I don’t know how else to surrender than with others holding my hand. Here’s why: our spirits are strong, but our flesh will fail us every time.

The night that I was crying with fear to step into obedience, my friends pushed me into obedience. I cried and shook my head no, and they prayed over me and pushed me to follow Jesus into very uncomfortable places. They still are.

This is a war, and the stakes are souls and forever and joy and peace and hope. No one fights wars alone. One of the best things about surrender, and following Jesus with friends who are doing the same, is the depth of friendship you build at war, in the trenches. We cry, we pray, we bleed together. I’ve always dreamed of friendships like that.

How has your willingness to live a surrendered life (and your husband Zac’s willingness) allowed your children the chance to surrender as well?

This question makes me cry. Our children don’t know how to fake it yet; they just want to love Jesus and help people.

One of the things God called us to do following our prayer of surrender was to adopt our four-year-old son from Rwanda (Cooper). Watching them daily lay down their comforts for Cooper has changed me.

Our oldest son was most reluctant about the adoption. He would have to share his room and lose the place of being the only boy. Yet once we got home from Africa with Cooper, Conner, my oldest, was the proudest brother. At times when Cooper is busy getting himself in typical toddler-boy trouble, our Conner will notice and sweep Cooper up on his back to take him outside to play.

The best qualities in our kids are being developed by asking them to sacrifice some comfort. We so often try to protect kids from trouble or hardship, but maybe we are also protecting them from God’s refining work in their lives.

Who are your role models as you seek to live a life that gives everything to God?

There are many, but here are three I can highlight.

Katie Davis: reading her blog brought me face to face with Jesus on my bathroom floor! She is living her faith radically in Uganda. She is 22 and has adopted 14 orphaned girls off the streets. Katie has one of the most sold-out faiths I have ever seen, and yet for her it is as simple as “Jesus is real.” Katie is living like it. She taught me that following Jesus may be costly, but how else are we supposed to live?

Francis and Lisa Chan: they daily wrestle with this question, “How do we live lives pleasing to God?”

Bill Bright: I was moved by an interview Bill filmed before he died. He wrote a contract in his twenties, together with his wife Vonette, right after they put their faith in Christ, They signed over every piece of their lives to God: money, house, time, relationships. They offered him everything they possessed for his use. The next night, God awoke Bill with a vision for Campus Crusade for Christ. He said in the interview, “If there had been no surrender, there would have been no vision.” He is with Jesus now, and I know when he got there he was surely out of breath and met with an embrace and affirmation. He had done all that God had for him. I want the same.

What’s next for Jennie Allen?

I guess, whatever God says!

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: September 2, 2012

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:15:37 GMT

By Ministry Matters

THE DREAM OF LOVE

SONG OF SOLOMON 2:8-13

The theme of the book of the Song of Solomon is a “celebration of love.” Bible scholars have interpreted this passage several ways.

Some scholars believe that this love is between a man and a woman. Many view the song as a love poem about King Solomon and his bride. Others view it as a triangle of love: a shepherd figure who is the real lover and who wins the girl’s heart over the romantic advances of the king. Still others view this as a collection of unrelated love poems with no overarching story line at all. And some Bible interpreters comment that this lover’s song is an allegory depicting either God’s wholesale love of the nation of Israel or Christ’s love for the church.

The text can be titled, “The Dream of Love,” and seen as a dream of romantic love or spiritualized as a dream for the divine love of God. In the text, notice first:

I. The Excitement of Love (vv. 8-9)

Have you ever been away from your sweetheart for any length of time? What was missing? The touch, eyes, and voice. Most of all what was missing was the companionship! Companionship is the ability to share surface conversation and intimate thoughts as well. When I am with my love, my wife, she doesn’t have to speak a word. Simply knowing that she is near comforts me. There is a calming effect that all is well. When I have been away for a conference and get close to home, my heart starts beating faster and I begin to visualize her in my mind. When we embrace, I know that all is right with the world and a peace settles over me.

The crescendo of love heightens as the girl anticipates her lover “leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills” (v. 8, NIV) in order to be with her. It is great to have someone love us. God’s love for us is like that.

II. The Invitation of Love (v. 10)

Even when sin separated us from God, God still loved us so much that he sent his one and only Son out searching for us. In our foolishness we mistreated him by ignoring his invitation to abide with him. Yet our hearts were lonely and empty and there was a longing for real life. God dealt with us through his preachers and laypeople sharing the gospel and being people of intercession—praying for us to respond to the invitation of Jesus.

When we began facing the truth and understanding the God that longed for us, we responded. A new excitement filled our hearts! He created in us a new heart with new ambitions and goals. He became our friend for eternity!

III. The New Life of Love (vv. 11-13)

In Palestine the winter dumps heavy, cold rain upon the ground and people. The gray clouds give off a feeling of despair and gloom.

The spring ushers in a new sense of optimism with its warm sun that calls forth life from the moist earth. With the arrival of spring comes the ripening of the figs on the trees and the blossoms become tender grapes. The migrating turtledove returns with the warm weather. All is new. All of this new life in nature creates the mood, the ambiance, the feeling of lovers in love. Life is fresh and exciting.

The obvious spiritual comparison unfolds for us. When we find our lover, God, the newness is everywhere. We have a new name: Christian. A new heart: transformed. A new personhood: redeemed. A new home: heaven. But new life comes only because we have the lover with us—God! (Derl G. Keefer)

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE

JAMES 1:17-27

There are moments when golf is one of the most exhilarating games on earth. Two minutes later golf can be the most frustrating game on earth. Golf is a sport where many times a player knows what to do but just can’t do it. A golfer sometimes has difficulty putting into practice what he or she knows to do.

The Christian life at times is like golf. The Christian knows what to do but sometimes just doesn’t do it. The book of James helps and encourages us as Christians to put into practice what we know to do. In this passage from James we find three clear exhortations to do what we know to do. James answers the question: “How can I put into practice what I know I should do?”

I. Acknowledging God’s Perfection (vv. 17-18)

James lists for us some of God’s perfections. Every good thing that is given and every perfect gift comes from the Father, which demonstrates his perfection. The blessings of life, such as family, food, friends, health, and material blessings, are all evidences of God’s goodness and grace. As we acknowledge God for his perfection our hearts should overflow into thanksgiving to him.

Our heavenly Father exists in such perfection that there is no variation in him or shadow of turning. What a stark contrast between the creatures and the Creator! As further evidence of God’s perfection, James speaks of God’s will in bringing us to salvation. All of this should evoke in us an acknowledgment of who God is, which will enable us to put into practice what we know.

II. Thinking of Others First

James instructs us to place others before ourselves in order to put into practice what we know. We are to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. When we practice these characteristics, we genuinely put others before ourselves and show them the kindness and respect of Christ. The hard part, of course, is being consistent in our conduct; James reminds us that our anger and haste does not accomplish the righteousness of God.

Furthermore, we are to be humble and remove all filthiness and wickedness. Such acts show we are thinking of others before we are thinking of ourselves and placing their interests before our own. A lifestyle characterized by thinking of others first demonstrates that the word has been implanted in the soul of that individual.

III. Doing God’s Word (vv. 22-27)

The clearest expression of our need to put into practice what we know comes in this section. James pleads with us to be doers of the Word and not mere hearers. The warning is strong for those who do not do the Word—they are deluding themselves.

These words call for personal examination. Each of us should reflect on our own lives to see if we apply what we know. A wise Christian once told me that spiritual maturity is not based on what you know, but on what you do with what you know.

Application of God’s Word is the real test for our walk with God. James argues that we deceive ourselves when we do not apply the Bible. In fact, these are some of the strongest words in all of Scripture that warn of self-deception. It is not enough for us to hear and read the Bible if we do not put into practice what we know. As illustrations James cites our ability or inability to bridle the tongue and our willingness to minister to widows and orphans—those with great need.

All of us need to be reminded of the necessity of putting into practice what we know to do. All of us need encouragement and help from time to time to be strong enough to keep practicing what we know is right. May God give us the grace and strength to help and encourage one another to put into practice what we know. (Douglas Walker)

INSIDE JOB

MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

The world has a crude expression—taken from computer terminology—that goes like this: “garbage in, garbage out.” It is meant to warn people that they should carefully select what they read, the movies they see, the friends with whom they associate, and the television programs they watch, for the danger is that you may become that which you see, hear, and associate with. The corollary is, “you are what you eat.”

Many people feel that participating in a corrupt world will ipso facto produce a corrupt person. They always assume that the dark will overcome the light and the light will never overcome the darkness. The Bible tells us it can go either way.

I. When the Inner and Outer Don’t Match

Inner faith will produce outer actions—there is no doubt about that, and Jesus has no quarrel with that. If, when you feel like praying, you fold your hands, bow your head, close your eyes, and kneel, then your outer posture is rightfully expressing your inner feelings. If you love someone and you greet that person with a hug as a manifestation of your endearment, then your actions are expressing your inner feelings. If you thoroughly enjoy the company of an individual and hence spend most of your time with that person, you are expressing with your body the inner feelings of your heart and mind. Your inner feelings and your outer actions are expressing the same emotions.

Hypocrisy comes when you display the outer actions without the inner feelings: when you bow your head to pray but do not feel like praying; when you hug a person you do not like; or, like Judas Iscariot, when you kiss a person but do not use the kiss as an expression of affection but as some other kind of sign. If you spend time with others in order to use them but do not really like their company, you are being hypocritical because your actions are not an extension of your inner feelings. You must have not only the “words” but the “music” to go along with words.

Jesus wants his hearers to know that their Jewish religion supports such inner faith for he quoted the prophet Isaiah (29:13) “These people . . . honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me.” That is hypocrisy! Pretending to be something you are not and have no intention of being.

II. It’s What’s Inside That Counts

If I told you I saw a local pastor one night coming out of a notoriously risqu‚ bar with his arms around some of the drinkers singing loud songs, what would you think? You would wonder what he was up to! I neglected to mention that the pastor had on a Salvation Army uniform and they were singing “Amazing Grace.” Well, that’s a little different then, isn’t it? The pastor’s motivation was to witness to Jesus Christ and to rescue the perishing, not join them in their revelry.

The difference is inner motivation. All evil things come from within, but so do all good things. The outward act can be ambiguous and therefore we must look, as God does, upon the inner motivation.

The Christian faith is an inside job. The apostle Paul encouraged the Christians at Philippi with these words: “[W]hatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” Phil. 4:8) .

Think and act on these things. When you do, your Christian life will have both the words and the music. (C. Thomas Hilton)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: August 19, 2012

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 15:55:50 GMT

By Ministry Matters

A PRAYER FOR WISDOM

1 KINGS 2:10-12; 3:3-14

The message of the text reveals Solomon’s desire to be a man communicating with God. At this point in his life he was unencumbered with selfishness, distractions, and the allure of unlimited power. The prayer he uttered shows a preoccupation with faithfulness, obedience, and fellowship with God.

At this innocent time in Solomon’s life he was inviting the Almighty to rule over him. Later in his life this king would lose sight of God and begin to prostitute himself with foreign gods. Here, at the beginning of his rulership, he was accountable to the true God.

Let’s examine Solomon’s prayer for true wisdom.

I. It Is a Prayer of Praise

Solomon remembers the graciousness and kindness of a loving God. Walter Bruggemann wrote: “Solomon sets himself in the history of Yahweh with his people. The context for prayer is a recital of the long history of graciousness which reshapes and redefines this moment of prayer. Such prayer is never in a vacuum, but always in a context of faithful remembering and a grateful resolve to continue this family in faith.”

Life is lived to the fullest when we remember God is in charge. Our praise reaches God’s heart as we reach out in availability to him. True praise goes to him for who he is, not because of what he gives us materially. He must be the object of our adoration, reverence, and awe. Praise glorifies God.

Richard Lee has said, “Oh, for a heart that is fixed on God no matter what happens. Oh for a devotion to Him that is steadfast, for lips that will praise His unchanging love and faithfulness, though all the world crumbles around our feet. This is the praise that pleases the Father and brings glory to His name.”

II. It Is a Prayer of Submission (3:7)

Honest submission understands where life and power originate. This prayer waits on God. Solomon solicits God’s power and submits to it.

Stephen Beck observed that while driving down a country road one day he came to a very narrow bridge. In front of the bridge was a sign stating, “Yield.” Since no other cars were coming he continued across the bridge to his destination.

On the return trip he came to the same one-lane bridge, but from the other direction. To his surprise there was another yield sign posted. The two signs were placed on each end to help prevent drivers from having head-on collisions.

When we submit to God for all of life, it is to avoid a head-on collision with God’s will for our lives. A quick outline to help us remember that submission is God’s plan follows:

Submission is the secret of power.

Submission is the source of praise.

Submission is the steam of purpose.

Submission is the satisfaction of planning.

E. Stanley Jones wrote: “Life holds nothing within it which Christ has not conquered.” Solomon would have understood that perfectly.

III. It Is a Prayer of Concern (3:9)

Notice that Solomon wanted a listening heart to hear God speak. He does not ask for personal wealth, health, or power; but rather for wisdom to lead. It demonstrates a compassion and concern for the people he rules. That was his passion.

Janet Curtis O’Leary said, “Pity weeps and runs away; Compassion comes to help and stay.” Wisdom knows the difference between the two.

IV. It Is a Prayer that God Answers (3:10-13)

The miracle of this prayer rests on God. He answered the king in a way that far exceeded Solomon’s hopes or dreams. God surpasses the minimal heart requests and gives him that for which he does not ask—riches and honor.

When we submit ourselves in faith and obedience, God will provide blessings for us beyond anything we anticipate. (Derl G. Keefer)

FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS

EPHESIANS 5:15-20

Recently I was reminded that it is important to carefully read the directions when putting together children’s toys. My son had been wanting a basketball goal, so my wife and I gladly obliged. In order to save a little money we went to Sam’s Wholesale and purchased a goal that we had to assemble. I was tired (can you tell I am already making excuses?) and hurried through the complicated assembly instructions (another excuse?).

The first step stated to put one pole inside another and beat on the ground four to six times to ensure a proper mesh. My error was that I put the wrong ends together and beat furiously until I couldn’t separate the two poles. We ended up having to order another pair of poles from the manufacturer. Needless to say, I have heard from my family about the importance of carefully reading instructions.

In one sense the New Testament is an instruction manual for life. When you and I carefully read the instructions and follow them, our lives run much smoother.

In this text, the apostle Paul gives us some instructions for living the Christian life. Our task is to read carefully and to follow completely the directions we read. Notice the three clear directives in this section of Scripture.

I. Walk Wisely

The first instruction says to be careful to walk wisely. Verse 16 clarifies that Paul most likely has in mind what we would call time management. We need to be wise in how we spend our time. In this last decade of the twentieth century, schedules are fuller and demands on time are greater than at any other period in history. Christians have the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to Christ simply by the way we choose to spend our time.

With the proliferation of calendars and other scheduling helps, time management has become an industry unto itself. Christians should think in terms of priorities when planning schedules. Part of our daily calendars ought to include quality time alone with God and with our family, ministry opportunities, as well as our regular work routine.

II. Understand the Will of the Lord

Paul’s second suggestion is to not be foolish but to understand the will of the Lord (v. 17). The context seems to indicate that this verse is linked to the preceding two verses. This verse would then relate to knowing God’s will for our lives on a daily basis.

Often we are concerned about knowing God’s will for the big things in our lives, such as job, school, or mate. God is not only interested in the big decisions of life but also in the daily development of character and our own practice of the Christian life. Knowing God’s will for how we schedule our routine every day seems to be the direction of Paul’s thought.

The big question becomes, “How do we know God’s will?” At this point Paul gives no definitive answer; however, the last three chapters of Ephesians comprise a textbook of sorts of how we ought to conduct our lives. Learning more of how we are to live the Christian life answers the question of what God’s will is on a daily basis. Here, being wise means that we organize our lives around the things we ought to be doing, which is the will of God for our lives.

III. Be Filled with the Spirit

The final instruction for living the Christian life that Paul writes in this passage is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are to be controlled by the Spirit of God in the same way a drunk is controlled by alcohol. The analogy should show us the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in our everyday life.

What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? According to verses 19-20, three things occur when we are filled with the Spirit: we speak with joy to one another, we are joyful in our hearts, and we give thanks to God. If one is filled with the Spirit, he or she speaks to others in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The one who is filled with the Spirit also makes melody and sings in his or her own heart. Joyfulness of the inner person is the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s control. Finally, the one who is filled with the Spirit gives thanks to God for all things.

Just as following the instructions will lead to success in assembling a child’s toy, following the instructions for the Christian life will lead to successful living. (Douglas Walker)

A DARING DISCOURSE

JOHN 6:51-58

What in the world was Jesus doing that stirred up so many people?First, Jesus hearers complained (6:41), and now they “disputed among themselves” (v. 52). He didn’t seem to bring much peace of mind; instead he caused controversy wherever he went. He seemed to be a troublemaker who was out to make waves as big as he could.

I. A Literally Repulsive Idea

Cannibalism is repulsive, and so Jesus was daring to talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The Jews especially would find such talk repulsive because of their dietary law (see Lev. 17:10, 11). They did not drink the blood of animals and certainly would not drink the blood of humans. Jesus was intentionally risking offending his hearers with that kind of talk. But he took the risk, knowing full well the consequences.

He took the risk because he wanted to reveal as clearly as possible the biblical God. He took the risk, knowing full well that some would intentionally misconstrue what he said in order to ridicule him. He knew that would happen. All public speakers have their opponents. All preachers have challengers who feel they don’t know anything about anything, and if an opportunity comes along to give a double meaning to something these people jump on it. This was such a double-meaning statement, and Jesus listeners jumped on it.

For Christians today, the body and blood of Christ are symbolized by the bread and cup in the sacrament of Holy Communion. The meaning behind the symbolism is what brings us to the Lord’s table, and that meaning is what many of Jesus listeners failed to grasp.

II. We Become One with Christ

In this text, Jesus is encouraging his disciples to be so closely aligned with him that their flesh becomes one. Our daily lives are to become so closely identified with his that we become one with Christ. This is a reminder that as Jesus lived and died in the flesh so we too live and die in the flesh; that as Jesus suffered, so will his disciples suffer; that as Jesus died and rose again from the dead, so will we who have put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior one day die and rise again to new life.

Loretto McMahon died on August 28, a few years ago. Her obituary in the Ft. Lauderdale paper said she was eighty-eight years old and “was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where she spent most of her life in the food services industry as waitress, secretary, and owner of a tea room in Aurora, Illinois. She retired to Ft. Lauderdale, and although she never married, she created an extended family of wonderful friends. She was courageous and caring. She is best remembered as a woman who recognized that making a meal for friends is a way of sharing time, talent, and treasure. In lieu of any form of memorial, why not share a meal with friends and tell them you love them.”

When you do this the “living bread” (v. 51) will continue to live in you. (C. Thomas Hilton)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: August 12, 2012

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 15:44:13 GMT

By Ministry Matters

The Humpty-Dumpty Syndrome

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Absalom lay peacefully in his mother’s arms as his father, David, looked on. But what a paradox. The child whose name meant “peaceful” would burst upon the pages of history with a vengeance. Murder, seduction, hatred, rebellion, and war would become his trademarks. Even his death would be anything but peaceful.

Absalom suffered from what we could call the “Humpty-Dumpty syndrome.” Like the character in the children’s rhyme, Absalom thought he couldn’t fall, but life came crashing in on him and he did fall! And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Absalom together again.

What caused Absalom’s downfall? How can we avoid his mistakes?

I. Absalom’s Life Demonstrated Revenge

The Bible describes the trickery of Absalom’s half brother, Amnon, who raped Absalom’s beautiful sister, Tamar (2 Sam. 13). Like a cancerous cell, revenge spread quickly in Absalom’s heart until it dominated his every waking moment. Revenge asks how to take the law into one’s own hands to carry out the punishment of the guilty. David never punished Amnon for his despicable act, but Absalom planned in his heart the steps necessary for revenge, and carried them out (2 Sam. 13:32) .

The character flaw of revenge appears as:

• a relentless pursuer never satisfied until hatred is fulfilled.
• desire, not for justice but for selfish victory over another.
• restlessness—until a twisted action is taken.
• fanaticism that leaves logic in the dust.

What about your life? Has someone hurt you so deeply that you have lost sight of equitable punishment and allowed revenge to rob you of life’s peace? Get a grip on revenge now. Ask God for forgiveness. Deal with the matter with human help. Get on with life.

II. Absalom’s Life Demonstrated a Lack of Moral Responsibility

Absalom carried out his plan by murdering his brother Amnon. He then flees from his act of violence to Talmai, his maternal grandfather (2 Sam. 13:38) . At his home he found asylum.

The question of morality is on the mind of the nation. Who is right and who is wrong? Where do we get our morality?

Christians look to the Bible as the foundation for our morality, for which the Ten Commandments forms the basis. The Beatitudes are the principles of sacred attitude (Matt. 5:1-12). Truth, righteousness, and holiness become our watchword and song in life—all of which point to moral responsibility.

III. Absalom’s Life Demonstrated a Divorce in Relationships

There is a sad verse in 2 Samuel 16, which reads, “then all the Israelites will hear that your father is your enemy” (v. 21b, New Century Version). Divorce culminates in separation from any type of relationship. Somewhere in Absalom’s heart he divorced his dad. It may have started when David refused to punish Amnon for Tamar’s rape, but probably it developed years before in quite subtle ways. David’s busy schedule of running a nation, going off to war, and ruling a palace all interfered with his relationship with Absalom. What legitimate activities have separated you from someone you love?

IV. Absalom’s Life Ends Without Remorse

Remorse never entered Absalom’s mind when he became entangled in the large oak tree (2 Sam. 18:9) . He probably died cursing his father as he had done all of his life, even as Joab threw the first javelin into his heart (2 Sam. 18:14).

Many people die without any remorse for the things they did or the way they acted. Revenge, immorality, separation, and hatred all contribute to a great fall in life. How can we avoid this kind of scenario? Only by asking God for help, repenting for wrong motives and actions, and daily consecrating ourselves to God. (Derl G. Keefer)

Learning How to Encourage Others

Ephesians 4:25–5:2

Remember the old children’s verse, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”? The older we become the more we realize that words do hurt. Hurtful words coupled with hurtful actions are much more painful than “sticks and stones.” The sting of hurtful words and actions can remain with us for years.

Christians ought to encourage others with their words and actions. We often are not sure how to do this. In Ephesians 4:1 –5:2, the apostle Paul instructs believers in how to encourage others through words and actions. In these verses we learn six ways to encourage others.

I. We Encourage Others by Speaking the Truth in Love

The first way we can encourage one another is by removing falsehood and speaking the truth in love. This is one coin with two sides. One side states that we must stop lying to each other, while the other side of the coin says we must speak the truth in a loving manner. Many times we try to avoid conflicts by fudging on the truth. We do not want to hurt the other person’s feelings, or so we tell ourselves. Actually, we probably don’t want to get involved to the point that we put ourselves at risk. Loving relationships, though, mean that we do put ourselves in the place where we can be hurt for another’s welfare.

At the same time we must not be blunt to the extent that we needlessly offend. Love must be our guide. We must ask ourselves what is the most loving way to express the truth.

II. We Encourage Others by Not Allowing Our Anger to Become Sin

A second direction for encouraging others is found in verse 26. While anger is an emotion that arises in any relationship, we must not allow our anger to become sin. Biblical anger always involves a righteous reaction to sinfulness. But biblical anger is always seasoned by love and redemption. Sinful anger wants to hurt and get revenge. Don’t allow your anger to damage a relationship. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

III. We Encourage Others by Working Hard

Paul expresses a third manner in which we can encourage other people, and that is through sharing the goods we have gained through hard work. In verse 28 we are admonished not to steal but to work hard in order to have something to share with those who are in need. Sometimes the best thing we can do for someone is to supply a material need. Providing food or clothes or paying a medical bill can build others up in ways we could never imagine. The only way we can meet such a need is to be in a position financially to do so. Consequently, our income through gainful employment becomes a means for encouraging others.

IV. We Encourage Others by Speaking Positive Words

Verse 29 is a verse that seems to tower over the rest of the passage. Words are not neutral. The words we say are either positive, which means they build up other people, or they are negative, which means they tear down other people. Evaluating our words as to whether they are positive or negative is one of the most difficult things for us to do. We need to be concerned with more than what we say and why we say it. We must be mindful of the way the other person hears and receives what we say. Perhaps the most encouraging thing we can do for others is to use our words to build them up.

V. We Encourage Others by Forgiving Them

The fifth way our passage teaches us to build up others is by forgiving them. Forgiveness means not taking into account wrongs we suffer. Forgiveness also involves treating the one who has sinned against us as though he or she has not done anything to us. We can forgive others even if they do not ask for our forgiveness, but full reconciliation takes place only when they admit their wrongs and ask our forgiveness.

Think of the times in your life when you have had to ask for forgiveness. Can you remember how encouraging it was when you received forgiveness? So we need to be “tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”

VI. We Encourage Others by Walking in Love

Paul’s final exhortation on how we can encourage others is to walk in love. Our whole attitude and demeanor should be characterized by love. Such a character trait includes putting others before ourselves, wanting and working for the best for and in others, being patient and kind, and hoping and believing in others. Love is an action and not soupy sentimentality. We can encourage others best when we love them most.

The apostle Paul has given us practical instruction into exactly how we can encourage other people. The hard part for us is to apply what we know is right. Our relationships with each other deserve the greatest effort we can exert. When we put into practice what the Scriptures teach us we enjoy healthy and happy relationships. (Douglas Walker)

Satisfaction Guaranteed

John 6:35, 41-51

Hunger hurts! When you haven’t had enough to eat it is painful. I vividly remember a meal shared with fellow theological students. After we had said grace one student said to me, “I just don’t understand why we pray over our food. None of us have ever been without food. Most of us have eaten too much of it today, and we are struggling with a weight problem. We should not be grateful for food, but grateful when we can resist its allure.”

This person’s problem was that he had never been without food before, never been weakened because of the lack of food. The average person in the world will eat one small meal today, and 10,000 will die due to the lack of food. Hunger hurts!

Hunger for food was assumed in biblical times, and with the context of this universal experience Jesus spoke the controversial words, “I am the bread of life.” It was a statement that was sure to get everyone’s attention. What was Jesus saying about himself?

I. I Am a Staple

Verse 41 says that “the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven. ” It didn’t take them long, did it? Wouldn’t you complain about me if I said, “I am the bread of life.” You would consider that outrageous! They thought it was ridiculous that Jesus should make such an audacious claim. “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?” (v. 42).

Bread is a universal staple. It was in biblical times, and it is now. According to Webster’s, a staple is a “chief item of trade, regularly stocked and in constant demand”; “a most important, leading principal.” Jesus is claiming that life is made up of many pressures, many opinions, many struggles, many decisions, but there is one thing that is basic to all of life—himself.

The Jews had every right to complain about someone who would make such a broad claim. Either Jesus was someone they had never encountered before, or he was in need of the services of the mental health clinic.

II. I Satisfy

It is no secret that God has created us with a “God-space” in our lives, and until we fill it with God we will be hungry and thirsty. Job expressed this when he cried, “Oh, that I knew where I might find [God], that I might come even to his dwelling!” (23:3).

Jesus guarantees that he will fill the hunger that we all have for spiritual fulfillment.

Job’s cry is the cry of everyone. Nothing satisfies our longing for the Deity but the Divine. Junk food may relieve our hunger for a time, but a steady diet of junk food will produce indigestion. Likewise, if we try to fill our spiritual hunger with things of the world, we will never be satisfied. Jesus is the staple that permanently satisfies our desire to have fellowship with our Creator. When we accept Jesus we are satisfied. Satisfaction guaranteed . . . by God. (C. Thomas Hilton)

ARTICLE: 19 Signs of Vital Worship

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 18:37:03 GMT

By Ministry Matters

We serve a triune God who is alive and constantly active in mission in our world. Worship can be the vibrant overflow of our discipleship to Jesus Christ. How can you help your congregation offer worship that is fully vital?

Vital worship looks, sounds, and even feels different in different contexts because the people who offer it and the gifts they bring are different. But whatever the context or the style, when worship is vital, there is energy and authenticity in what happens. The power of God’s Word touches the hurts and awakens the hopes of real people. Visitors are glad they came. People participate because the singing, the hearing, the praying, the sharing at the Lord’s Table, and the sending forth are done in ways that say, “This is real. This matters. This is life!” In vital worship the people are addressed, touched, washed, fed, anointed, and strengthened in relationship to God and to one another.

Considering these more holistic aspects of worship and the congregation is the work of the worship planning team. Your church need not be large for your leaders in worship ministry to develop a more comprehensive approach to worship. What is important is to discover your own passion for helping your congregation offer worship that is authentic and vital and to sense that you are a leader gifted by God and supported by resources and people in your congregation and beyond.

Vital Worship

Many of these signs of vitality are present in worship. In what ways does your congregaton express vitality in worship?

People are welcomed, honored, and cared for.
God’s story, which is our story, is always told.
Jesus is experienced as present in love and power.
The people and the community are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
People are active in singing, praying, and responding.
There is passion in the pastor’s presiding and preaching and the congregation’s singing, praying, and responding.
Varied ages and cultures participate actively.
Things (food, water, candles, furnishings, fabrics, vessels) are used generously to point to the presence of God.
Actions (people being baptized, sharing bread and cup, offering the peace of Christ to each other) point to the presence of the risen Lord.
People offer their whole bodies in worship in culturally appropriate ways (posture, hands raised in prayer, dance, movement, clapping, meditation).
Worship space is arranged so the people can be together and see one another.
There are calls and responses: people experience God calling, and they respond. Leaders work in concert to prompt the participation of all the people.
Leaders are prepared and expect to hear God’s Word and experience God’s power.
Leaders act with the people more than for the people.
Everyone acts in ways that say, “Worship matters.”
People who are experiencing hurt and isolation receive a healing touch.
All the people have a sense of belonging and know how to participate.
There is energy, and the way worship unfolds makes sense.
The worship reveals the planning, gifts, and preparation of the people.

Consider what’s working well now and ways your congregation shows or has shown signs of vital worship. How might you and others on the worship planning team or committee help your congregation claim and build on its strengths and, over time, add more vital practices to its repertoire?

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: August 5, 2012

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 18:40:12 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Healing the Heart

2 Samuel 11:26–12:13a

In Sholem Asch’s novel The Nazarene, the miracles of Jesus are mocked by a blind man. The blind man could have been healed if he had asked. Jesus responded to his remarks by questioning what shall it avail one to be made seeing with the eyes and have the heart remain blind. God initiated spiritual healing of David’s blind heart through an encounter with Nathan.

Known as a judicial parable, this text disguises a real-life violation of the law as a parable told to the guilty person in order to lead him to pass judgment on himself. Spiritual failure obscures God’s dynamic purpose for your life. That purpose can be restored, as it was for a broken King David, by healing your heart through a threefold spiritual/therapeutic process.

I. Sin Must Be Raised to a Personal Consciousness

In verses 1-4 of chapter 12, David was brought face to face with his sin. Nathan gave David a parabolic illustration of reality. David had confused fact with fiction by rehearsing his own self-justification. But the significance of the offense is implied by Nathan’s use of contrasting opposites: rich man, poor man; many flocks, one lamb. David’s personal consciousness was also raised by a private illumination of his resistance to God. The important issue was not the specific act but the nature of the offender. David ignored the sacred value of marriage, revealing the true nature of his heart.

His consciousness was raised further by the prophetic incrimination of his own reticence. In 11:25, David told Joab to not be displeased by Uriah’s death, implying that the Lord was pleased with this holy war. The Lord, however, was not pleased with the king.

II. Healing of the Heart Also Requires Prescribed Consequences

Verses 5-6 of chapter 12 confront us with the inconsistency of human judgment. David said the offender “deserves to die.” Literally, the word means “son of death” and describes the person’s character, not David’s sentence. His anger motivated an irrational demand. Verse 6 records the correct legal sentence, according to Exodus 22:1, a fourfold restitution. We do not judge the seriousness of sin the way God does.

An inverted holy justice is another prescribed consequence in verses 7-12. David was told that the sword would never depart from his house, that his wives would be taken from him, and that his secret would be made public. When holy justice replaces human inconsistent judgment, we understand the devastating effects of sin.

The prescribed consequences also reveal an impatient heavenly jealousy. According to verse 14, David’s actions had provided God’s enemies the opportunity of blasphemy that would bring shame and ridicule on the name of God. The consequences of David’s sin were transferred to the child. That severe judgment would immediately restore reverence to Yahweh’s name.

III. A Penitent Confession

This is the final phase of the heart’s healing. The confession in verse 13 minimizes the person. David accepted full responsibility through an honest confession: “I have sinned.”

The confession also maximized David’s failure. The word “sinned” is unqualified. Confession of sin must be made without explanation or excuse. The confession of sin must also magnify the Lord. David stated, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Yahweh was the object of the confessional act. Although our sin impacts others, it is a rebellious action defying the authority of God.

Your heart can be healed through spiritual therapy that includes a personal consciousness of sin, prescribed consequences for sin, and a penitent confession of sin. (Barry J. Beames)

By Way of Thanks

Ephesians 4:1-16

Everything thus far in the letter to the Ephesians has been a gift. Beginning from the very first words of the letter (“Grace to you and peace”), every line seems to place more bread in an already overflowing basket. Chapters 1 and 2 give us the announcement and extensive elaboration of the many aspects of God’s grace as it has been poured out upon us. Chapter 3 opens with Paul’s own self-description as one whose very imprisonment is a sacrifice of love toward those to whom he writes. That chapter closes with an assurance that Paul is giving something else to the church—prayer. Indeed, the very text is almost a gift of praying.

No other passage in the entire New Testament is so fully saturated with a sense of the blessedness of God’s people in the church. Reading chapters 1-3 truly gives us a feeling of having been richly gifted. But receiving even the most beautiful and sought-after gift can make us feel awkward if we are not allowed to express due thanks for it. Chapter 4 gives us an opportunity to respond with thanksgiving.

I. The Great “Therefore”

In verse 1, the writer states, “I therefore . . . beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” In this case, the word “therefore” is the fulcrum balancing all that came before with all that follows. It is the center point between gift and task, call and response, blessing and gratitude.

In Luke 19 , Jesus shows love to Zacchaeus; therefore, Zacchaeus redistributes his wealth. In 1 John we are told that God first loves us; therefore, we are able to love. In Acts, the Holy Spirit is given to the church; therefore, the church goes out in mission. And in Ephesians we are reminded that God has showered us with grace and blessings (chapters 1–3); therefore, we can respond with gratitude (chapters 4–5).

II. Worthy Means Shared

The way the writer talks about responding to God’s overwhelming initiative is by asking for a “worthy” life in response. By “worthy,” the writer means living cooperatively with others. All the virtues enumerated here address what Bonhoeffer referred to as “life together.” Verse 3 sums up this emphasis nicely (“making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”), and the verses immediately following have become the hallmark of the modern ecumenical movement: “ . . . one body . . . one Spirit . . . one hope . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.”

Asking for unity, however, does not require uniformity. On the contrary, the tribute to unity is followed closely by a marvelous litany of the diversity of gifts and graces given to the Body of Christ (v. 11). Many voices make up the gospel song. The goal of unity is not monotone Christians, but harmonizing Christians, whose variety of gifts “promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love” (v. 16). Our best means of showing gratitude to God for all that has been expressed in three chapters of this letter turns out to be more horizontal than vertical. To appreciate God’s bounty to us is to live graciously with one another. (Paul R. Escamilla)

What is It?

John 6:24-35

In this conversation between Jesus and some people who had followed him across the Sea of Galilee, there is a reference to an important event in the history of the Jewish people. After Jesus fed a crowd of 5,000 people, he crossed the Sea of Galilee only to be followed the next morning by some of the crowd. In this conversation about food that perishes and food that endures, the people reminded Jesus of an event from their history: “Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness” (v. 31).

It’s a story worth recalling.

The Israelite people had been led out of slavery in Egypt and had wandered for about two months in the wilderness east of Egypt, the area we know as the Sinai peninsula at the northern end of the Red Sea. They believed that it was God, through Moses, who had led them out of Egypt, and this freedom became the defining event in their history. They owed their freedom to God. But two months after they left Egypt, they ran out of food. They began to complain that in Egypt, even though they were slaves, at least they had food to eat.

So Moses talked with God about the situation, and God told Moses that he would “rain bread from heaven” for the people (Exod. 16:4). The next morning dew covered the ground, and when the dew evaporated a flaky substance was left behind. It tasted, we are told, like wafers made with honey, and it could be ground and made into cakes. The story says that when the wandering Israelites first saw the flaky substance on the ground, “they said to one another ‘What is it? For they did not know what it was” (Exod. 16:15).

They called it “manna,” and there is an interesting play on words here. The Hebrew phrase for “What is it?” is pronounced something like man hu. Man hu; what is it? Manna—“the bread that the Lord has given you.” And they ate it for forty years.

When he was reminded of the story, Jesus carried the meaning a step further: “I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” And the people made a request: “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” (vv. 32-35).

Remember this the next time you come to the Lord’s table for the sacrament of Communion. When we partake of the sacrament we eat bread that resembles the manna provided in the wilderness. And we claim that it represents Jesus, the very Bread of Life.

What is it? It is freedom from the distress of life. It is sustenance in the wilderness of life. It is grace in the pain of life. It is God’s presence in the loneliness of life.

What is it? It is rest in the demands of life. It is peace in the disruptions of life. It is community in the isolation of life. It is security in the uncertainty of life.

What is it? It is manna rained from heaven. It is bread that nourishes the soul. It is Christ, the Bread of heaven, which will “feed me till I want no more.” (J. Lawrence McCleskey)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: July 29, 2012

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:13:52 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Don’t Play with Fire

2 Samuel 11:1-15

For most of her life, a seventy-year-old cleaning woman had worked for the company. Fellow employees decided to honor her and planned a surprise party to express their appreciation. When news of the party was leaked and the woman found out about the plans, she pleaded for them not to throw the party. “That’s sweet of you,” said her boss, “but it’s not necessary for you to be so modest.”

“Modest, my foot!” she exclaimed. “I just don’t want to have to clean up all that mess!”

King David learned that sin invites us to a party and leaves us to clean up the mess it leaves in our lives. The account of David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba recorded in 2 Samuel 11 reveals three common aspects of sin to motivate us not to play with fire.

I. When You Sin, You Can Expect Public Exposure

David wanted to keep his sin a private experience. In his attempt to remain anonymous David employed others to act on his behalf. He surveyed individuals in the palace to find who the woman next door was. One person told David her name was Bathsheba (v. 3). David also sent others to bring Bathsheba to the palace.

When Bathsheba became pregnant, she sent a messenger to tell David the news. Sin can be defined as an outward expression of inward resistance or rebellion to God’s purpose. Even individual acts are known by God. David’s choice had consequences beyond his own spirituality. Bathsheba’s shame, Absalom’s and Uriah’s deaths, and preservation of the act in scripture all made a moment of private desire a public event.

II. Sin Results in Accelerated Panic

Verses 6-14 do not reflect a calm and composed response: David panicked. Immediately he sent for Uriah under false pretenses. When Uriah arrived, David tempted him with the privilege of going home to wash his feet, or rest. David also tempted him with royal advantage by catering a feast at Uriah’s house (v. 8). The pace quickened when David realized Uriah slept on the porch. Uriah was enticed to an altered state of mind through intoxication. David’s attempt was not foiled just by Uriah’s patriotism. Even intoxicated, Uriah was more pious than David.

Out of desperation the king became more aggressive. Uriah carried his own death wish as part of a well-orchestrated murder plot. David’s actions could never cover his sin. Panic only accelerated the consequences.

III. Personal Exemption: Obedience to God

Personal exemption is a third dimension of the sin event exposed by specific words throughout this text. Notice the supporting characters in this drama.

The word Bathsheba means “daughter of Sheba” or “daughter of oath.” It was David who disregarded the ritual cleansing rites. Bathsheba was so respected that as “the wife of Uriah” she is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:6.

Uriah means, “Yahweh is my light.” According to verse 11, the ark accompanied the army, implying that it was a holy war. Uriah acted with honor, and from innocence. Out of loyalty he never failed to live up to his title, the servant of David (v. 21).

When you outwardly express an inner resistance to the will of God you can expect the public exposure of your sin to result in an accelerated panic that throws life out of control. Or you can experience personal exemption from the consequences of sin by conditioning your life to obey God. (Barry J. Beames)

A Prayer for All Seasons

Ephesians 3:14-21

Is there a special prayer that has great meaning in your life? For some it might be the Lord’s Prayer. For others, the Prayer of Saint Francis has special significance. Both of these prayers are written in the first person: “Our Father, who art in heaven”; “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.”

What if we’re feeling the need to pray for another person or community, but are not sure how to pray? Paul’s prayer on behalf of the Ephesians gives us a good model for such intercession, as he asks essentially three things for them: power, love, and the fullness of God.

I. We Pray for Power

Paul prays for the church to be strong (v. 16). Immediately we think of physical strength, or financial strength, or mental strength. But this prayer is for strengthening “in your inner being with power through his Spirit.” In other words, this intercession asks that the Ephesian church be strong where it really counts: deep within. As easily as we might tend to ask for other kinds of strength for another person or for a congregation, this prayer bypasses those strengths for an inner power that steadies and strengthens every other aspect of one’s life. This power—spiritual power—is the very best means of support.

II. We Pray for Love

The next phrase of Paul’s prayer asks for Christ to dwell in their hearts as they become “rooted and grounded in love” 6. 17). Notice that love is not a free-form emotion that waxes and wanes, comes and goes, ebbs and flows. Neither is it a feeling that we conjure up and tailor to our own disposition.

Love is a “groundedness,” a “rootedness,” deriving from the occupancy of Christ within the very heart. In other words, there is an objectivity about this love, having to do with the standard of self-giving set by Christ. It is Christ who is to order the heart toward love by living there; such a love should grow deeper, stronger and sturdier with time.

I remember a small Inter-Varsity booklet entitled My Heart, Christ’s Home The title speaks for itself, and in the course of the booklet various “rooms” in the person’s heart are opened up to the question of whether Christ is really welcome there. It is one thing to visit with a friend over lemonade on the front porch, and quite another to invite someone into our medicine cabinet, the family room, or the refrigerator! “May Christ dwell in your hearts,” the prayer goes, probably knowing full well how subversive and life-changing such an intercession could turn out to be.

III. We Pray for Fullness

Lastly, Paul prays for something rather peculiar. Put in other words, I would say he’s praying for the Ephesian church to be slightly overwhelmed. Here he wants them to comprehend the incomprehensible: breadth, length, height, depth, love that surpasses knowledge . . . so that “you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (v. 19). It is with such a fullness that we can pray with the psalmist, “You, LORD, are all I have, and you give me all I need; my future is in your hands” (Ps. 16:5, GNB).

Power for faithful Christian living; hearts of love; a sense of the fullness of God in our lives. These are not things we should pray only for others; let’s ask God to make each of these things living realities in our own lives. (Paul R. Escamilla)

A Miracle of Multiplied Witness

John 6:1-21

On the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in an area where much of the ministry of Jesus occurred, there is a small church at a place called Tabgha. Built by Benedictine Fathers in 1982, this church is on the site of two earlier churches, the first built about A.D. 350 and the second about a hundred years later. The second church was destroyed in the early seventh century, and over 1,300 years passed before archaeologists excavated the site and found the remains of the two churches.

In their excavations the archaeologists found a beautiful mosaic that had formed part of the altar of the second church building. The mosaic shows a basket of loaves, with a fish on either side of the basket. Very early in the Christian community’s life, this site was apparently regarded as the place where Jesus feeding of the multitude occurred.

It is not surprising that the early Christians would have marked this particular event from the life of Jesus. This miracle story, or “sign” as John would have designated it, was very important in the early church. It is the only miracle of Jesus that is reported in all four Gospels.

After a particularly intense period of ministry, Jesus had gone off by himself. But the crowds followed him, and at the end of the day they were hungry. So Jesus had the people sit down; he took five loaves and two fish from a boy in the crowd, gave thanks to God, and distributed the food. After everyone had eaten, the disciples gathered up twelve baskets of fragments. And the crowd wanted to make Jesus king, but he went off by himself.

What do you make of this experience reported by all the Gospel writers? All kinds of attempts have been made to rationalize the story: everyone who had food must have shared it; the feeding really referred to spiritual food; it was a symbolic prefiguring of Holy Communion; it was a literal miracle of multiplying food. But all these approaches seem to miss the point.

The text leaves an element of mystery in the account. It says only that the people ate what they wanted and were satisfied. It preserves the element of mystery. Halford Luccock wrote: “The story is a wonderful picture of a tremendous truth of Christian history, that Jesus does multiply above measure for human use whatever of worth is put into his hands. Whatever we give him he will enlarge for the service of human need” (The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 7, p. 743). And George Buttrick once said: “The main truth is that of alliance between man’s little and God’s abundance. Let reminder be given for our cheer that, if we do what we can in trust and consecration, God will give the increase” (The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 7, p. 432).

Is it not sufficient to say that our task as disciples is simply to do what we can in trust and consecration and leave the increase to Christ? Is it not sufficient to say that our task as disciples is to offer what we can to the causes of Christ—our efforts, energies, money, prayers, concerns, time, love—and allow Christ to take what we offer individually and make of it corporately far more that we are able?

I believe I know at least part of the reason the early Christians regarded this experience of Jesus so seriously. They had seen the attractive and expansive power of the gospel to nourish spiritual hunger and to minister to physical need. And this experience from the life of Jesus reminded them of both dimensions of the gracious and loving ministry of Christ and the church. They believed in the miracle of multiplied witness because they had both received and shared its power. (J. Lawrence McCleskey)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: July 22, 2012

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:18:44 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Steps to Greatness

2 Samuel 7:1-14a

The best-selling book genre today is how-to books. These books are written to describe how you can successfully accomplish something: how to organize your life, become a millionaire in twelve months, start a successful home business, and on and on. Second Samuel 7 reveals how to become spiritually great in three simple steps.

This passage has been called the theological crux, the most important writing in the Samuel materials, and the summit of Deuteronomistic history. It confronts mistaken churchmanship with Yahweh’s magnificent Lordship. Through reflection, King David decided to construct a house for the ark of God that would be more appropriate than a tent. Nathan, the palace prophet, initially agreed that David had a good idea. Suddenly, however, the text calls David to a greater purpose. Three spiritual principles define God’s greater purpose and how you can find that purpose in your own life.

I. Accept the Call to a Greater Vision

The king desired to do something that was impossible. Yahweh’s question in verse 5 implies that David could not possibly build a house to contain God. The word “you” takes the emphasis away from the person and places it on the action. The king also desired something that Yahweh never desired, never requested. Yahweh made his position clear in verse 7; he had always walked with his people and had never asked for a dwelling place.

The destruction of the temple in later years may have occurred because it had not been required by God in the first place. Notice, however, that the house of David survived! This greater vision calls the people of God to walk with him dynamically; with holy lives in daily practice.

II. Accept the Call to a Greater Mission

Verses 8-10 describe David’s greatness in terms of what Yahweh had accomplished through him. Construction of the temple would have been a symbol of David’s ability and power: temporary, decaying, limited. God’s mission transcended human comprehension and ability.

Three statements in verses 9-10 detail Yahweh’s greater mission. Israel would experience the establishment of God’s abiding and guiding presence. David’s name would also be made great by the establishment of the Davidic dynasty through a long line of descendants. Those two elements would result in Israel’s being granted peace from her enemies.

A mission that transcends the physical and visible in programs, buildings, and budgets positions the church for a greater purpose. Called to become partners in God’s mission, the church has a global purpose with unfathomable possibilities.

III. Accept the Call to a Greater Blessing

What David knew God deserved, God would provide for himself: “Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house” (v. 11). The house of God was to be a place where the people of God would gather to celebrate the glory of God. In the meantime, David was privileged to experience the Lord in a personal, daily relationship.

Today’s church gathers, regularly but periodically, to corporately celebrate God’s presence. The greater blessing of the church throughout the age, however, is the indwelling presence of God. That presence is permanent, not periodic; dynamic, not symbolic. The greater blessing provides you and me with the privilege of God’s personalized presence.

As a result of the greater purposes of God, the people would come to celebrate in later years Yahweh’s leadership (v. 12) because of a greater vision; his adequacy (v. 13) because of a greater mission; and his mercy (v. 14) because of a greater blessing. Adopt these steps to greatness and move beyond a less than fulfilling spiritual experience. (Barry J. Beames)

Nothing but Gift

Ephesians 2:11-22

We live in something of an antiauthority age. Authority figures tend to be belittled, and even the very idea of authority finds little acceptance among many people in our day. Tell folks what they “should” do or “ought” to do, and you are likely to receive a questioning look, followed by a cynical, “Why?” While an earlier age could find some moral bearings in such exhortations, the loss of authority has cost many in our day their sense of moral identity. How do we know how to live?

We will not find easy material for oughts and shoulds in this corner of Ephesians. In fact, there is not an exhortation for miles around! Trying to get moral imperatives from these verses is like a dog trying to bite a basketball. Nevertheless, Paul wants us to understand that it is possible to find a moral compass. We can know how to live!

I. We Can Recognize What We Are

Paul wants us to understand that there is no need for “oughts” and “shoulds” when we truly recognize what we are and live true to our identity. Instead of telling us what we ought to be, this text announces what, by the grace of God, we are! In fact, the first three chapters of Ephesians are filled with such announcements of our identity: we are redeemed, we are adopted, we are forgiven; we are given revelation, inheritance, the Holy Spirit, aliveness, grace, kindness, peace, salvation, God’s indwelling.

II. We Can Remember What We Are

No exhortation for miles around? I was wrong. There is one, if you can call it an exhortation. It is this: Remember (v. 11). Remember who you are—and who you used to be (v. 12). The way the word remember comes together in Greek tells us something about how remembering works for the Christian. An-amnesis literally means “against-amnesia.” In other words, “avoid forgetting.”

In a culture that tends to borrow resources more from the future than from the past, we often place little value on the avoidance of forgetting, on remembering who we are and who we used to be. A poster on the wall at a local recreation center says it all. A young boy decked out with sunglasses leans against a beautiful European sports car, his arms folded in self-assurance. The caption reads: “I’ve worked hard all my life for this.”

Arms loaded down with every spiritual blessing, we are asked only one thing, seemingly a modest request: to remember from whom all of these blessings flow.

III. We Can Realize Whose We Are

God’s action in Christ of reconciliation, of peacemaking, of building and growing, leads to a culmination: that your life is “a dwelling place for God” (v. 22). A mystical image, perhaps hard to picture concretely, the idea hints at the very best part of the whole range of gifts enumerated here: God’s life with us.

So if we haven’t read it between the lines so far, the author makes it all clear now: the bestower of all these wonderful gifts has one further purpose in mind—to live with us forever! In such a way, the Giver becomes the ultimate, consummate Gift.

Ever hear anyone say, “I’m trying to get in touch with my true feelings”? God has taken us one step beyond. He has made it possible for us to get in touch with who we really are. And as we see ourselves for who we are, we will see God for who he is—and for all he has done for us! (Paul R. Escamilla)

Renewal, Believing, and Wholeness

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Have you noticed how people want instantaneous miracles these days? Ours is an instant-gratification culture. We want not just miracles, but instantaneous miracles. We want illnesses cured, and we pray for them to be cured now. We want financial difficulties relieved, and we buy lottery tickets in hope that all our difficulties will be relieved instantly. We want to lose weight, so we go on another miracle diet that promises us quick and permanent weight loss. We want what we want, and we want it now! Moreover, we want what we want to be bestowed on us with little or no effort on our own part.

These reflections on our instant-gratification society may seem a long way from the text about Jesus retreat to a lonely place and his response to people who came to him for healing. But the distance is much less than it seems. The text is divided into two sections. Together they tell us two important things about wholeness.

First, we see that Jesus understood the need for regular replenishment and renewal. When the disciples tell Jesus about their travels and teachings, they report that they were surrounded by crowds of people who wanted to be near them and to hear their words. Jesus knew the wear and tear of constantly being available to people. As important as such ministry is, even Jesus could not keep it up without time for renewal and replenishment. So he said to the disciples, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”

Throughout my ministry, I have struggled with my need to take time off. It is easy for us to reason that the ministry of the church, or the work at the office, or the volunteer program, or the community project will not get done if we take time off. Have we ever stopped to think that such a view of our indispensability is idolatrous—that we are so important that everything depends on us? And when we try to fulfill the impossible expectations we end up frustrated, or angry, or depressed, or disillusioned. Only then do we realize that we simply cannot meet all the expectations and care for all the needs.

If Jesus knew that he needed time for renewal, prayer, meditation, and refreshment, who are we to think we can continue to minister in his name without replenishment? We are, remember, the culture that has coined the term “workaholic.” How desperately we need to recover the practice of retreat, replenishment, spiritual nurture, and care of our souls. That’s the first thing this text tells us about wholeness: that we need to replenish the springs of our souls.

And the second thing is this: wholeness is not so much “dropped” on us out of the blue as it is a gift of God to those who believe that God can give it. The text tells us that once people recognized Jesus, they brought their sick to him to be made well. They believed that they would be made whole if they could simply touch the fringe of his cloak. And, “all who touched it were healed.”

Think of “healing” in as broad a sense as possible—as physical healing to be sure, but also as a restoration to wholeness. Think of it in terms of healing body, mind, and spirit, which represents wholeness. Think of it as healing the past, which frees persons from captivity to guilt and sin. Think of it as healing the psyche, which releases one from anxiety and restores one to a life of trust and confidence. Then ponder the faith of those who anticipated and expected healing if they could simply touch the fringe of Jesus cloak.

In the New Testament there is close correlation among the words healing, wholeness,and salvation. To be healed—physically, mentally, spiritually—is tantamount to being made whole; it is tantamount to being saved. And Christ is the giver of such healing, wholeness, and salvation to those who believe. But believing is not some kind of magical method of getting what we want from God. Rather, it is faith that Christ is the key that can open the door to allow the healing of mind, body, and spirit to come into our lives.

With such a strong connection among healing, wholeness, and salvation in the New Testament, we do well to remember that healing may not always be what we hope for. We may hope for physical healing, but the healing that comes may be strength of spirit and confidence of will to sustain us and see us through the difficulty of a physical illness.

In my first pastorate thirty-four years ago, there was a woman who suffered from severe physical injuries. She had been in a automobile accident years before, in which her husband had been killed and she had been critically injured. Many of her broken bones never knit back together again. She had to be lifted in and out of bed each day. In her last hospitalization, shortly before her death, I was praying with her, and I prayed that we would always know that God is present with us, whatever the circumstances. As I said “Amen,” she said, “He is! He is!” Physically she was never restored. But in every other way she was as whole a person as I ever knew.

I believe that Jesus knew something important about the ministry of wholeness, healing, and salvation. He knew that the caregiver must from time to time be replenished. And he knew that wholeness comes to those who, in faith, both expect it and leave its shape to God. If Jesus knew both these things about renewal, believing and wholeness, shouldn’t we take a cue from him? (J. Lawrence McCleskey)

VIDEO: What I Wish I'd Known Before Going Into Ministry

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:26:58 GMT

By Ministry Matters

What do you wish someone had told you before you went into ministry?

Pete Wilson, Greg Surratt, Martin Thielen, and Adam Thomas respond.

ARTICLE: A Service of Anointing

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:25:56 GMT

By Ministry Matters

1 Samuel 16:1-13 helps a congregation see a biblical precedent for anointing leaders and encourages people to look beyond the outer appearance to recognize one in whom God is at work.

Setting the Scene

This brief narrative about God's choosing and anointing of David follows God's rejection of Saul. It introduces the cycle of narratives that tell of David's rise to power and his reign as king of Israel. The story involves a three-way conversation in which God speaks through Samuel to Jesse and his sons in order to name and anoint David as king. Samuel's role in anointing David with holy oil illustrates well God's appointing and anointing of leaders—of prophets, and priests, and rulers—to perform holy work in the world.

Preparing for the Service

This text would lend itself well to a service in which congregational leaders or teachers were being recognized, installed, commissioned, or ordained. The use of oil to anoint such leaders might offer the chance to employ an ancient practice in a contemporary setting.

Call to Worship

Listen! God's voice calls to us.
We hear God calling.
Look! God will provide for us.
We see God working in our midst.
Come! God is making us holy.
We welcome the Spirit's power.

Opening Prayer

God of the prophets, priests, and rulers
  who have gone before,
  we come into your home having heard your voice.
In every age
  you have called your people into community,
  welcoming saint and sinner alike
  into the household of faith.
Anoint us now with your presence.
Rush into our midst on Spirit wings.
Establish your reign in our hearts.
In the name of the Triune God we pray.
Amen.

A Litany

(of Dedication or Ordination for Leaders or Teachers in a Church)

In days of old God called prophets, priests, rulers.
God called them by name, appointing, anointing.
The prophets spoke for God;
  they saw things from God's perspective.
The priests served God in worship;
  they ministered on behalf of God's people.
Godly rulers provided for the welfare of all;
  they led with the common good at heart.
Just so, we appoint and anoint leaders in Christ's
    church:
  Prophets and preachers and teachers;
  Interpreters and sages and visionaries;
  Apostles and evangelists and musicians;
  [Elders and deacons;
  trustees and treasurers;*]
  hearing God's call, receiving God's Spirit.
  Saints of God, one and all!

*Insert here the offices and titles appropriate to your particular congregation.

Prayer of Confession

All-seeing God,
  you see us as we are, as wayward sheep,
  well-meaning yet weak,
  valued and loved yet fearful.
All-loving God, we are short-sighted,
  valuing appearances,
  shallow in our judgments,
  selective in our neighborliness.
All-merciful God, forgive and free us,
  for we long to see with your eyes,
  to know ourselves and our neighbors
  through the eyes of love.
In the name of Christ who sees,
  who loves,
  who forgives us all,
  we pray. Amen.

Prayers of the People

The prayers, focusing on a theme of wholeness, integration, holiness, and wholeheartedness, could move logically from personal to global concerns. The series might naturally begin with prayers for healing of body and soul and of broken personal relationships. Healing of group relations in our nation, race relations, and religious differences could focus on specific cases from the week's news—church burnings, hate crimes, school shootings, domestic violence. International peace, the healing of creation, and prayers for reconciliation among tribes and nations and enemies would seem a natural progression from prayers for wholeness and healing in personal, interpersonal, and natural spheres. Language of anointing and healing, of shalom, and of a reign of peace would resonate well with the language of the scripture lesson.

Children's Sermon: A New King

by Patricia Hatfield

Can anyone tell me what a king is? (Listen to the children's answers.) Yes, a king is a leader or someone who is in charge of a country. Do you know what a king does? (Makes laws; leads the army; speaks for the people.)

So what do you think a king looks like? (Old or young; tall and strong; wears a purple robe and crown.) Someone who looks like that we expect would surely be a strong and powerful king, able to lead the people in war and in peace.

In our Bible story today, we hear how God chooses a new king for the Hebrew people. God tells the priest, Samuel, to go to Jesse, a father with eight sons. The Lord would tell Samuel which one of the eight boys would be the new king. When Samuel arrived at Jesse's house, he saw the oldest son, Eliab. Eliab was very tall and handsome. Samuel was sure this was the son who would be the new king.

But God said to Samuel, "Don't pay attention to how tall and handsome he is. I have not chosen this son because I do not judge by how a man looks on the outside. I look at the heart."

One by one, Jesse brought seven of his sons before Samuel, but each time Samuel said, "No, the Lord hasn't chosen him. Do you have any more sons?"

Jesse answered, "There is still the youngest, but he is out taking care of the sheep."

"Tell him to come here," Samuel said. So Jesse sent for him. He was a handsome, healthy young man, and his eyes sparkled.

The Lord said to Samuel, "This is the one!"

And right in front of the older brothers, Samuel marked David with special olive oil to show that he would be the new king.

Did you expect God to choose the youngest son to be king? It doesn't matter to God how old we are, or how tall we are, or what we look like. We can still be a king for God if we have a good heart. Do you think there are any kings here today in our congregation? (Children will probably think this is funny. Mention some of the church leaders such as Sunday school teachers, the board moderator, or the elders.) All these people were called by God to be leaders in our church, to make rules for our church, and to speak for the people of the church.

Do any of you think that you will be called by God to be a leader in our church? Probably David didn't expect to be chosen. Perhaps some of our leaders didn't expect to be chosen either. But they are serving God through their good hearts and by what they are willing to do. Let's pray:

[Prayer:] Dear God, we thank you that you choose leaders by the kind of heart that they have. Help us to have good hearts, to learn about you everyday, and to grow to be the kind of person you want us to be. Amen.

Sermon Starter: The Least Likely

In ancient Israel, priests, prophets, and kings were anointed with oil as a holy sign of their call from God. The holy oil sanctified these chosen servants, giving them a special authority. In this story Samuel plays both a priestly and a prophetic role in the anointing of David. Priests used holy oil to set apart people, places, and things for God's purposes. Priests offered sacrifices to God for the people. Samuel does both these things in this story. Yet Samuel is a prophet, speaking on behalf of God. Samuel, a seer who sees with God's eyes, reveals God's election of David as future king.

The fairytale nature of this narrative strikes us. God speaks through Samuel, carrying on a conversation with Jesse through him. The sons of Jesse, beginning with the eldest, are paraded past Samuel and God and one by one are rejected. The repetition sets up a pattern that leads to the story's climax. The youngest, smallest, most insignificant brother is off tending sheep and must be called in for consideration. The surprise ending to the story is that God chooses the least likely brother for the greatest honor. A sermon based on this passage might focus on God's calling of mere mortals for divine work.

Other familiar passages of scripture resonate with this theme and might easily be brought to bear. The shepherd boy David is anointed king of Israel, so passages employing the shepherd motif might help interpret this passage. "The Lord is my shepherd [he] anoint[s] my head with oil" (Ps. 23:1a, 5b). When people question or doubt our leadership, it can be comforting to remember God's holy call in our lives. Jesus' parable of the lost sheep and the shepherd who will go to any lengths to seek the stray (Lk. 15:3-7; Mt. 18:12-14) underlines the faithful love of God that reaches out in ways that surprise us. Gospel themes such as "the first shall be last, the last first" are also supported by this story, in which God chooses not the oldest and tallest, but the youngest and least of the brothers.

Perhaps the parade of brothers reminds us of fairy tales in which some sort of choosing takes place. Cinderella, a young and seemingly insignificant girl, is chosen against all odds. The proud father Jesse and his lineup of sons might remind us of the ambitious stepmother and the stepsisters who try in vain to squeeze their feet into the glass slipper. We are as sure that Cinderella's foot will fit as we are that David's boyish charms will fit with God's plans. A powerful point of this story is that if God can call David, God can call us. God's choosing is often of the unlikely.

David was viewed by the Hebrew people as a great king, though we know he was fallible and flawed. Bethlehem is the birthplace of Perez, Obed, Jesse, and David. Jesus' birth in Bethlehem and his Davidic lineage give credence to his anointing as a ruler. Jesus is often spoken of as "prophet, priest, and king," the three roles that required anointing in Israel. A sermon that wanted to draw comparisons between David and Jesus as God's anointed or as shepherds of God's flock would need to be careful not to fall into anti-Judaism. Common points between the two, which carry forward the theme of "the least likely," include Jesus' humble birth, his coming as a child, his anointing to preach good news to the poor, and the crown of thorns.

Sermon Starter: Now I See

This passage and its narrative structure play upon various ways of "seeing." Samuel is a prophet, a "seer," one who is allowed to see as God sees. The story is framed by Samuel's coming and going, sent by God, carrying his horn of oil, and using it to anoint David as king. In verse 1, God says, "I will provide" a king, but the word translated provide is a form of the word to see, meaning something like "I will look out for a king," "I will see," or "find a king here," among Jesse's sons. The same Hebrew root is used later to speak of both seeing and appearance. In the pivotal verse (v. 7), Samuel is told not to regard Eliab's "looks." "The Lord does not see as mortals see." Humans see the eyes (the appearance), but God sees the heart.

The way God sees and the way humans see are two different things. When David is finally chosen, it does seem that his appearance matters. He is ruddy, earthy (something like Adam), and his eyes (his appearance) look good. The ambiguity and the irony are probably important. David isn't what Samuel or Jesse or any of us might expect in a king, yet he is exactly what God is looking for.

Eyes, or looks, are compared with heart. Often this verse is seen as an argument for a dualistic view of human nature—we look on the "outer," God looks on the "inner." This view is not supported by the language or by a Hebrew view of human nature. The heart and the body are in unity; the eyes and the heart are connected. Human sight is limited compared with God's insight. What humans value in a leader isn't exactly the same as what God values. David's beautiful eyes and his ruddy appearance suggest that God's vision goes deeper than even Jesse's or Samuel's.

The heart is the center of desire and feeling and intent. This wholeness of heart and soul and body explains why the love of God is to be heart, soul, might (Deut. 6:5). This wholeheartedness reminds us of Jesus' words, "there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile" (Mk. 7:15). Holiness, for Jesus the Jew and for Hebrew scripture, is a wholeness, a wholeheartedness, in which the heart is the center of all affections.

Our age wants to reconnect with this wholeness, this wholeheartedness, this holiness. It is easy to think of examples in our culture and in our world in which humans fail to see as God sees, looking upon human beings as appearance only and not as deeper, integrated reality—from the beautiful people of show business to the hard bodies of athletes. We might also think of ways that dualism comes into play, demeaning outward or physical or material reality that is part of our wholeness in God—racism, ageism, sexism, discounting of persons with any kind of disability. It is comforting and central to our faith to know that God sees us and loves us as whole human beings, that our worth as persons is derived ultimately from God's creative love.

Offering Meditation

The oil of anointing was a precious commodity. It was given to God by the people of God, along with other valuable gifts, for the worship of God. God's people set aside, sanctified, offered to God a portion of their earthly goods so that the service of God, temple worship, and communal caring could be maintained. The holy oil was used to sanctify, to consecrate, to make people, places, and things holy for the service of God.

Just so our income is a precious commodity. It is a valuable gift of God for our health and well-being and pleasure. As God's people have in all times offered their gifts and sanctified a portion of their wealth, setting it aside for holy use, so we bring what is of value to us and give a part of it to God, setting it apart for the service of God, for the building of community, for a holy anointing of God's world. Let us give to God a gift that costs us something; let us give it freely in thanksgiving and gratitude.

Offering Prayer

God of the ages, you have called us by name; you have made us holy; you have blessed us with gifts both earthly and spiritual. We give to you now of our earthly gifts, and in giving we pledge also our spiritual gifts to your service. As your holy people may we offer your holiness, your wholeness, your healing to a heartbroken world. We pray in the name of the one God: Spirit, Savior, Creator. Amen.

Communion Meditation

The elders of the city saw Samuel coming and asked, "Do you come in peace?"

"Peacefully, I come," Samuel replied.

Just so, from one clan to another, from one tribe to another, from one nation to another come the negotiators, the reconcilers, the mediators.

"Do you come in peace?"
  asks the Indian chief of the settler;
"Do you come in peace?"
  asks the Arab of the Jew,
"Do you come in peace?"
  asks the Catholic of the Protestant,
  the Bosnian of the Serb,
  the Tibetan of the Chinese,
  the child of the parent, the wife of the husband

Into the midst of enmity, adversity, and mistrust, into the midst of a family's power struggle, the prophet, sent by God, comes with the word Shalom, Peace.

Just so, Jesus came. Just so, Jesus comes now. Jesus—the prophet, the high priest, the savior—comes into a world of fear and strife, of dissension, of broken relations. Jesus comes saying, "Peace, my peace, real peace, God's peace, I bring."

This bread, this cup (the lifeblood, the body broken) become a peace offering from God to put things right, to put us at rest, to put an end to the hostility. This meal is the shalom, the reconciliation of God in Christ.

Do you come in peace? Christ bids you come. Leave behind your animosity, your anxiety, your fears, your strife. Come in peace, make peace with one another, with God, with yourselves. Come in peace, for Christ, our peace, invites us all.

Prayer after Communion

God of peace, at this holy meal
  we have tasted your shalom.
Christ's death has put to rest our deepest fears,
  healed our deepest rifts.
As those at peace with God and one another,
  may we now take part in the restoration,
  the re-creation,
  the reconciliation of the world.
In the power of the Spirit, we pray. Amen.

Benediction

You are people chosen by God,
  a royal priesthood,
  holy each and every one.
Go now in the peace of Christ
  and the mighty power of the Spirit. Amen.

____________________________________

This article by Rebecca Button Prichard is from Celebrating Incarnation (Chalice Press, 1999), part of the Ministry Matters Premium Subscription.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: July 15, 2012

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 20:32:34 GMT

By Ministry Matters

An Essential Proposal

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

David’s attempt to restore worship, which had been in decline since Eli’s death, sought to involve the whole nation in spiritual renewal. The ark narrative described the process of renewal as a national movement from disaster to blessing by eliminating inappropriate attitudes and adopting appropriate attitudes toward God. The proposal was essential if a sacred focus was to be revived.

I. Spiritual Renewal Is Interrupted by Inappropriate Attitudes

I have been challenged numerous times by the statement, “You know, we are all trying to go to the same place.” While heaven and eternal life may be a common desire, not every route or lifestyle will guide you to that destiny. More precisely, Christians who live with inappropriate attitudes experience a frustrated and fractured journey. God proposed that spiritual renewal could be Israel’s experience if the ark, the symbolic presence of God, was returned. But a series of inappropriate attitudes retarded the awakening.

First, the men of Israel set the ark on a new cart (v. 3). With the conviction that Yahweh deserved the very best, or in an attempt to devise a more efficient mode of transportation, the cart served to impede their renewal. Why? God’s instructions in Numbers 7:9 required that the ark be carried. Carrying the ark implied specific obligations necessary for a right relationship with God, such as purification. Any time we circumvent God’s directions, God’s purposes are abandoned.

Verse 5 suggests another important and inappropriate attitude. Although this act of worship appears to be a correct response, close examination reveals something is missing. In the list of instruments there is no mention of the wind instruments. While it is only my conjecture, “wind” is a common symbol for the Spirit of God throughout scripture. Spiritual renewal requires one’s recognition of and submission to the Spirit of God.

Another inappropriate attitude is found in verse 10, when David left the ark at the house of Obededom out of fear. David became afraid of God following Uzzah’s death when he touched the ark. Granted, Uzzah spontaneously tried to protect the ark from destruction. But the action was a breach of God’s instruction. Now David was confused and afraid, and left the ark in the care of a Gentile rather than taking it to his city.

All is not lost because we have had inappropriate attitudes about God. Regardless of those developments renewal was possible. Verses 12-19 guide us to understand that.

II. Spiritual Renewal Is Engraved by an Inverted Attitude

During the ensuing three months, observers noticed that the house of Obededom was blessed. Remember this principle: the presence of God is the blessing of God. What took place to secure God’s blessing for Israel?

David personally retrieved the ark (v. 12). This change of attitude is evidenced by the gladness that replaced his fear. Spiritual growth is contagious. Others accompanied David in bringing the ark home.

The people became obedient. This time they carried the ark (v. 13). They would not make the same mistake again.

David led another worship service (vv. 15-19). Now their worship reflected a sacred privilege rather than the celebration of a military conquest.

Not everyone was impressed with the renewal experience. Saul’s daughter, Michal, “despised [David] in her heart” (v. 16). She had an inappropriate attitude. But for those who, with David, personally identified their lives with the presence of Yahweh, obeyed the word of God, and worshiped God in sacred abandon, there was a new blessing “in the name of the LORD of hosts” (v. 18). (Barry J. Beames)

The Longest Blessing

Ephesians 1:3-14

Reading through the first chapter of Ephesians is much like looking through an old family scrapbook that has been sitting on the shelf for years. As we turn each musty page, we are reminded of people, places, events that we had long since forgotten.

Verses 3-14 are like a scrapbook for the church, tracing the history of our relationship with God to its beginnings, and even before its beginnings, to the foundation of the world. This scrapbook then goes on to show us the future of God’s relationship with us.

I. The Grand Basics

In these verses we find the basics of our faith expressed, except that they turn out to be very grand basics. On a time line, the description stretches from before time to the fullness of time. On a graph, it encompasses everything—things in heaven and things on earth. On a scale, the lavishness of the plan would break the springs. The writer gives us a sense of the size and scope of these ingredients of our faith with a fascinating literary device: in the original Greek text, verses 3-14 are one continuous sentence—a rather expansive blessing!

We often speak casually about blessings. Ephesians would have us understand that we don’t know the half of it. We are blessed in ways that are literally of cosmic dimensions.

II. The Greatness of God’s Blessing

God’s blessing toward us is expressed in three ways. First, God chooses us: “. . . just as he chose us in Christ. . . . He destined us for adoption” (vv. 4, 5). We are blessed because we have been chosen, adopted, and incorporated into both God’s earthly and cosmic families.

Second, God redeems us: “In him we have redemption . . . forgiveness” (v. 7). We are, by the riches of God’s grace, fashioned into new creatures, our past sin and brokenness left behind. Whatever we may have been before—however we may have sinned, however we may have failed God and others—is put behind us, covered by his redemptive grace.

Finally, God unites us. Indeed, God brings unity to all things in his creation: God “has made known to us the mystery of his will, . . . to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (vv. 9, 10).

From this elaborate, extravagant blessing streams a single consequence: the blessing of God (v. 3). We are destined, as recipients of all the spiritual riches elaborated in the “long sentence” before us, to “live for the praise of his glory” (v. 12). In a beautiful literary symmetry, this long, flowing “hymn” concludes the same way it opens, with the benediction of God (v. 14).

God is glorified in our blessedness. In God’s glorification is our human odyssey—the long, long story of our blessedness in God—made complete. (Paul R. Escamilla)

Be Careful What You Promise!

Mark 6:14-29

To be perfectly honest, I would not have chosen this text. We lectionary preachers find that most of the time the lectionary texts are good starting places for a sermon. I have found over the years that lectionary-based preaching has provided a more well-rounded fare for my congregations than would have been the case if I simply chose my own text and topic week after week. But occasionally, I come to a lectionary reading and wonder why, under heaven, it is there. This is one of those texts.

It’s a story about a paranoid ruler, about a prophet who condemned the ruler for his lust, about a resentful and vengeful woman, about a daughter-in-law’s seductive dance before her father-in-law, about a foolish promise, about a spiteful request, and about an unjust and gruesome murder. It’s hardly a story that invites quiet reflection on this midsummer Sunday morning! And although I would not have chosen this text, it is in the lectionary, so I have thought about it at a deeper level—beyond the unattractive nature of the story itself.

My wife and I are season ticket holders to Opera Carolina, and last year one of the operas was Richard Strauss’s Salome. It is Strauss’s dramatic and memorable telling of this tale of John the Baptizer, Herod, Herodias, and Herodias daughter, Salome. The music was dreadfully mournful. The presentation was haunting. The set and props were terrifying—from the wailing cries of John in the well where he was held prisoner to Salome’s presentation of John’s head on a platter. Did I like it? No! Have I remembered it? Absolutely!

Herod had married his brother’s wife, Herodias. John had told Herod that such a marriage was not right. Herodias wanted John dead, but Herod was afraid of John because Herod knew John was a righteous man. But Herod made two grave mistakes. First, he gave himself a birthday party, and Herodias daughter danced for Herod—an entrancing dance. Though it is not in the biblical text, the “Dance of the Seven Veils” is presented in a seductive and compelling way.

Then Herod made his second mistake. Pleased by the dance of Herodias daughter, Herod promised her whatever she wanted. He made the promise publicly. And when the girl went to her mother and asked what she should request, the deed was done: “The head of John the baptizer,” said her mother. Because Herod did not want to renege on a promise he made publicly, he had John beheaded and the head was delivered to the girl on a platter. She gave it to her mother. And that’s it!

Have you ever, in the excitement or enthusiasm or sensation or enticement of a moment, made a promise that you wished later you had not made? Have you ever been lured by the seductive attraction of evil to make a commitment that you wished later you had not made? Have you ever let your lesser emotions and base nature gain power over your clearer thought and your more noble intentions and devoted yourself to a course of action that you later regretted?

We are not told what became of Herod or Herodias or Herodias daughter. But I can tell you this much: outside Jericho archaeologists are now excavating the ruins of Herod’s palace. We know that he lived opulently, but he has no lasting place of nobility or goodness in history. On the other hand, the Jordan River, which flows by Jericho, is remembered as the water in which John baptized Jesus; John is remembered as the voice in the wilderness who proclaimed the coming of the Messiah; and John is remembered as a teacher of righteousness. John uttered truth as he understood it—and he paid a high price for his integrity. Herod made a promise under the influence of seduction—and he paid a high price for his foolishness. John died. Herod lived, knowing that once he made a foolish promise he had to make good on it, even though it meant he did evil he had not wished to do.

Given those choices, I hope I would choose John’s integrity! (J. Lawrence McCleskey)

VIDEO: The Greatest Need in the Church Today

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:37:23 GMT

By Ministry Matters

What do you consider to be the greatest need in the church today? Discipleship? Relevance?

Pete Wilson, Greg Surratt, Mike Slaughter, and Jo Saxton respond.

ARTICLE: Summer Sunday Preaching

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 19:20:03 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Few preachers seem to look forward to that long expanse of Sundays reaching from Trinity Sunday to Labor Day. It is a time for planning what will happen after Labor Day and for making vacation plans. Father's Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day Sunday are not high holy days on the calendars of most local churches, and at most provide blips on the liturgical screen.

Indeed, two months intervene between Independence Day and Labor Day, and the preacher's imagination is taxed to find ways in which to make service and sermon "meaningful." This creative breakdown has been known to result in various kinds of experimental and innovative liturgies and sermons—which, if they fail, make no one feel too badly because they were in the nature of a trial balloon, an attention getter, after all. They perhaps provide the best justification for defining the liturgy as that which is intended to save the people of God from the pastor's bright ideas!

Into this dilemma comes the lectionary as a means of introducing what might seem to be a revolutionary concept in many places, that of reading, studying, and celebrating the scriptural witness in a consecutive way over a sustained period of time. The key here is the word consecutive and appreciating why it is necessary to understand the overall structure of the lectionary.

During the "proper" times of the year, Advent to Epiphany and Ash Wednesday to Pentecost, the lessons are generally chosen so as to have some kind of thematic connection, drawing together varied scriptural witnesses to help us gain insight into the meaning of the sacred mystery being anticipated or celebrated. Volumes 1 and 2 in this series illustrate that pattern. Even the "ordinary" Sundays between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday have the Old Testament lessons chosen in relation to the day's Gospel which, with the epistle, is being read sequentially. But when we come to the ordinary time after Pentecost, the lessons operate on three independent tracks with no intentional thematic relationship between them.

In Year B, the ruling Gospel is Mark, the evangelist who is particularly concerned with portraying Jesus as the Son of David. The Old Testament lessons after Pentecost then are chosen from the Davidic cycle to complement Mark's interest. They begin with the story of the boy Samuel—who, as prophet, will anoint David king in succession to Saul and conclude with the accession of David's son Solomon. Because of the tradition concerning the wisdom of Solomon, the later lessons of the time are taken from the wisdom literature. The intent is not that there be a one-on-one thematic connection between the two readings; it is rather that the Old Testament lessons provide us with the context and tradition within which Mark was thinking and writing. The epistle lessons throughout the summer months are from 2 Corinthians, a volume in which Paul struggles to explain what it means to be involved in a ministry that is based upon the cross, which for Mark is central to understanding the work of the Anointed One.

(For more ideas for preaching on Mark, see this 9-week series and reading plan.)

The mention of the three-fold set of lessons provides occasion to discuss the order of the reading of the lessons. The intent of the lectionary is that the order be Old Testament, psalm response, epistle, Gospel. The psalm is a response to the Old Testament reading, not a lesson in itself (though that does not mean it cannot be used as the text for the sermon, since it is a part of the canon). This use of the psalter as a resource for prayer and praise reminds us of our roots in synagogue and Temple. In the epistle we hear the apostolic witness, which understands itself to be in continuity with the work of God in the experience of Israel in the Old Testament and sees itself as a fulfillment of God's promise to Israel. The Gospel is read last, because that is the vehicle through which the community interprets both the experience of Israel and the primitive Church. There is a kind of historical development here, since usually each reading is older in time than the one following it, but this is no justification for the pattern. The rationale is unabashedly christological. It is through Christ that we view and interpret both the witness of the Old Testament and the apostles. It is for this reason that in many traditions the congregation stands to hear the Gospel read—not because the Gospels are somehow "better" scripture, but because they are an icon of Christ in our midst, and it is Christ whom we stand to greet.

This means that the order of the lessons is not changed so that the one with the primary text is closest to the sermon, because we still need the word of Christ through which to focus our attention. Even if, in ordinary time, the Gospel does not relate thematically to either of the previous lessons, it is still the last lesson because of the symbolic lesson to be learned. It may be that there is a particular Gospel lesson that the preacher has used as a vehicle for interpreting one of the earlier lessons. That may provide a justification for changing the Gospel of the day in order to establish the thematic connection. For example, Proper 14 has as the Old Testament lesson the story of the death of Absalom and David's subsequent grief. The Gospel is part of Jesus' discourse in John 6 about being the bread of life, a rich mine for preaching, but which may be difficult to relate to Absalom hanging by his hair from a tree limb! This preacher might exercise personal freedom to change the Gospel for the day to Matthew 23:37-39, Jesus' lament over Jerusalem, in order to compare the grief of David and David's great Son. Nothing is lost from Mark, since today's Gospel is from John, which might be included next week, and the lament narrative is not included in the readings from Matthew in Year A. The epistle for the day is part of the ethical teaching at the end of Ephesians. It certainly can stand on its own as a separate reading, but it may be related to the other two lessons in terms of the basis for ethical action, which is expressed by the fact that "God in Christ has forgiven you" (4:32). That forgiveness (at what cost to God!) moves us from rebellion and slayers of the prophets to those who, sealed by the Spirit, are engaged in "what is useful for building up."

This kind of creative and critical thinking allows for an expansion of the lectionary by the insightful preacher if each set is taken in turn each three years as the governing lesson. The preacher then makes other thematic choices (assuming that the integrity of the texts is maintained). Already one's preaching ministry has developed possibilities for the next nine years, and it mitigates the accusation that the lectionary limits the preacher's choice of texts.

In recent years, the dictum that the text and the sermon should not be separated has become a kind of mantra that has given rise to a new liturgical legalism that does not understand the liturgical setting out of which the dictum originated. The reason for the rule is not to disallow a hymn between lesson and sermon (or even two lessons with responses). It grows out of the practice, still current in some places, of having the (one and only) Scripture lesson very early on in the service, followed by a pastoral prayer, an anthem, the offering, the announcements, a hymn, and whatever else, and then finally the sermon. That is the kind of separation the rule is intended to prevent.

Perhaps most important for the preacher is to remember that though it may be called "ordinary" time, it is still kairos with which we are dealing, and that for the Christian, time is always a means of grace.

Excerpted from: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, included in the Ministry Matters Premium Subscription.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: July 8, 2012

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 15:14:15 GMT

By Ministry Matters

World Changers

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 12b-19

The world watched with anticipation as the Berlin Wall was dismantled, signifying the unification of a German people divided by political differences. It was an event that had global implications—a moment that would be remembered by its promises and challenges. Two governments, economies, and educational systems had to be integrated into one functioning society. If the merger was to be successful, it was essential to find an effective and widely accepted leader: a world changer.

Through a series of events, David—who had been king of Judah for seven years—was anointed king of Israel. For thirty-three years David led a united people who had once been divided. King David’s rise to leadership was inevitable but not because of his political prowess. Rather, he had a variety of interests and accomplishments: celebrated athlete (1 Sam. 17:34) , accomplished musician (1 Sam. 16:14) , prolific writer, composer, and poet.

God is calling men and women today to change our world by unifying the loyalties and purposes of humanity for a sacred commitment. Three essential qualities of David’s life emerge from this text as criteria for those who would be world changers.

I. David’s Sacred Devotion Was Affirmed by a Secular Declaration

David was recognized by the leaders of the tribes of Israel as qualified for the task of uniting the kingdom. They shared a “kinship.” The leaders declared “we are your bone and flesh.” That statement seems to state a quality preferred even to the more generally authoritative covenantal relationship formula for the selection of leadership. World changers are local, home folk committed to Yahweh’s mission.

David’s leadership credentials were another important factor. Even when Saul was king, David was the driving force, the respected leader, a hidden messiah.

David’s churchmanship proved to be important. The Lord had summoned David to feed the people. This idea of David becoming the “ruler over Israel,” or the crown prince is an interesting development. Here, the secular designation of a king took on theological application.

Contemporary Christianity sometimes seeks to place Christians in the political arena. God chose a committed and proven secular leader to become theologian. Indeed, our religious grammar should be corrected theologically. Effective churchmen are not so much Christian physicians or Christian attorneys but physician Christians and attorney Christians.

II. David Maintained a Spiritual Conviction Which Prevailed Over Social Conscience

Verses 6-12 describe an attempt to persuade David to gain cultural approval through actions that contradicted the will of God. David, however, had a non-negotiable spiritual conviction. David faced the roar of the insensitive with the conviction that he was not alone with his spiritual convictions.

III. David’s Meaningful Spirituality Resulted in a Memorable Personality

Like David, those who desire to make a lasting impact with their lives will notice the order of his two leadership priorities. David maintained an inward reflection. As he centralized the government in Jerusalem David “built the city all around from the Millo inward” (v. 9). He moved toward the temple first.

Next, David experienced an outward expansion: “and David became greater and greater” (v. 10). The scene in verses 12-19 illustrates those priorities. When confronted by opposition David sought God’s will. He turned inward to the voice of God, which turned him outward to victory over the Philistines.

A lasting impression can be made on the world by those who will develop an appropriate personal spirituality consistent with God’s summons. David understood God’s unique plan for his life and he walked closely with God. God has called you to be a world changer, too. Will you also walk with God? (Barry J. Beames)

Power in Our Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Our society doesn’t have a lot of interest in weakness. We pay to see strength, not weakness. We like to be with winners, not losers. Sometimes, however, what appears to be strength isn’t all it seems. And what looks like weakness at first glance may actually be something altogether different.

The Corinthian people were not asking anything that had not been asked before. They simply wanted proof that God was really with them—to see signs and hear about miracles and revelations, things to prove that God was really strong and powerful, really present with them.

Paul had tried to dissuade them from this inclination earlier in his letter (see 10:18). But by this point in the letter, Paul seems resigned to the necessity of revealing his own “credentials” as a person who has experienced revelations from God. Reluctant as he is to do so, he goes ahead anyway. What follows is a third-person account of his own ecstatic experience of being called by God.

I. Thorns Are Present in Every Life

But then a curious thing happens. In the middle of his litany outlining his own personal strengths and credentials, Paul stops suddenly and changes his course entirely: “to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh . . .” (v. 7). We don’t know what that thorn was, but whatever it was, it tormented Paul without end. Repeated prayers give us a sense of his desperation in trying to contend with it (v. 8).

I have vivid memories of picking blackberries as a child near my grandparents ranch. There is no way to remember the feelings of delight that came with filling a bucket with those wonderfully plump, juicy, purplish-black berries without also remembering the constant aggravation of thorns grabbing and snagging and scraping and pricking as we picked those luscious berries. We developed a formula for determining the ratio of berries to thorns in a blackberry patch: lots of berries, lots of thorns; a few berries, lots of thorns; no berries at all, lots of thorns!

II. God Touches Us at the Point of Our Weakness

One doesn’t need the experience of picking blackberries to know about the persistent presence of thorns in life, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual—jabbing at our lives, punctuating our happiness, abbreviating our joy.

Yet we are not alone in the suffering. The word of God to Paul during his struggle was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” By the end of this text, Paul’s letter has taken a strange turn, and he has begun to boast of his weaknesses rather than his strengths, “for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

Fred Craddock once observed that it is the nature of grace that it can only enter empty spaces. That is to say, God’s power comes to us not when we’re full and happy and everything’s going our way, but when we’re bereft, when the dipstick has come up dry, when we have nothing else to go on. When we are weak then, by grace, we are strong. (Paul R. Escamilla)

The Sacrament of Failure

Mark 6:1-13

Jesus was a failure. At least in this instance that is the conclusion we draw if we take this passage from Mark seriously.

Jesus went to his hometown, the town where people knew him, and they said of him, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon . . . ?” They were not impressed. Thomas Wolfe said we can’t go home again. Well, we can, but there is always someone there who knew us when we were growing up—and who is not impressed, or worse.

Jesus went home and taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were offended. So Jesus gave us the line that has ever since been applied to those who go back home and find the hometown folks unimpressed: “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown.”

It is a curious text. It follows a series of mighty acts: calming the storm, healing the Gerasene demoniac, healing a woman with a hemorrhage, restoring a little girl to life. Then Jesus went home, and no one was impressed.

How did Jesus respond to this failure, this rejection by those who knew him so well? He sent his disciples to teach and heal, and he told them what to do if they ever went to a place that would not receive them: “as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet.” In other words, do not let the failure continue to cling to your heels. Go on with life, with the next challenge. Leave Nazareth and go to Capernaum.

It has been called the Sacrament of Failure, this shaking of the dust from one’s feet. It is an appropriate text for much of our life, but it is an especially appropriate text for celebrating the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper—truly a Sacrament of Failure. After all, it was on the night of his betrayal that Jesus instituted this meal—the night before the failure of crucifixion.

This world of ours does not honor failure. It does not praise weakness nor reward defeat. Yet in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper we proclaim our faith, that it was out of the failure of betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion that God brought victory. It was out of the weakness of self-sacrifice that God brought salvation. It was out of the failure of death that God brought life.

Our world loves success stories. Yet most of us know, at some time in our lives, what it means to fail, to lose, to be weak. For that reason we can take heart in this sacrament. It is the sacrament that makes it possible for us to shake from our feet the dust of failure and move on toward life’s next challenge. It is the sacrament that makes it possible for us to look to the new beginning, the new possibility, the saving promise.

Come, then, to the table. Receive the sacrament. If you know or have known any failure in your life, let this sacrament be for you the moment of a new beginning. For we are people who are nourished by the heavenly food of one who looked beyond the disappointment of failure to the hope of new beginnings. Thus we are not immobilized by failure but energized by possibility. We are people for whom the promises of beginnings are stronger than the fears of endings.

So whatever the failure—of morality, of relationships, of purpose, of commitment, of hope, of vision, of intent—shake off the dust from your feet and go out into a new future. You will find beside you the Lord who gave the advice in the first place! (J. Lawrence McCleskey)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: July 1, 2012

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 20:13:23 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Lament for Fallen Warriors

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Christians should lament the fall of Christian warriors (those falling into sin) as surely as David lamented the death of Saul and Jonathan. His lament for Jonathan wasn’t surprising. They were best friends. His lament of Saul, on the other hand, was extraordinary, because Saul had relentlessly hated and hounded him. David was deeply grieved over Saul’s death because Saul was God’s anointed, the king of Israel.

Christians should grieve the fall into sin of any other Christian because we are God’s elect; chosen for his glory. Our lament for fallen Christians will convey the same attitudes as David’s lament for Saul.

I. The Attitude of Forgiveness of the Fallen

The whole tone of David’s funeral elegy for Saul reflects his forgiveness of Saul. The greatest need of a fallen Christian is God’s forgiveness. The second great need is forgiveness by fellow believers.

The prodigal son’s father forgave him freely and threw a party to celebrate his homecoming. But the older brother withheld his forgiveness and refused to attend the party. That must have deprived the younger brother of a critical ingredient for him to ever enjoy and benefit fully from the restoration of relationship with his father. When we withhold forgiveness from fallen brothers and sisters in Christ, we deprive them of an essential ingredient for continued growth in Christ: the joy of Christian fellowship.

II. The Attitude of Positive Talk About the Fallen

David’s lament forbade negative discussions about Saul’s and Jonathan’s defeat and death. Instead, David wrote of the victories and strengths of the regal father and son. He encouraged others to do the same.

In a critical football game, a running back fumbled away his team’s last-minute opportunity to tie or win the game. His teammates who patted him on the back and encouraged him did the Christian thing. A member of the other team who cursed and ridiculed him did the ungodly thing.

All around us are brothers and sisters who are struggling with life’s challenges. They may be struggling with marriage; or having difficulties with children; or facing vocational insecurity or even loss of a job. There could be any number of reasons for their struggle, but there is only one Christian response: to love, encourage, and be Christ’s presence in the life of that brother or sister.

When Christians fall, the last word they need to hear from a brother or sister is a harsh word of judgment and criticism. They desperately need a word of forgiveness and encouragement. (Jerry E. Oswalt)

Attention: This is Not a Sermon About Sex!

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Several years ago a minister pondered how to maintain decent crowds for Stewardship Sunday. The topic has an uncanny way of emptying pews, and he labored at how to avoid that. So he announced in the church newsletter that next week’s sermon would be entitled: “Everything You Need to Know About Sex.” Predictably, come Sunday morning the pews were jammed. Even the C-and-E (Christmas and Easter) Christians had added a third worship service to their annual repertoire.

After the hymn of preparation, the pastor noted how quiet the sanctuary became. The listeners sat on the edge of their seats, anxious to hear the latest word on the world’s hottest topic. The pastor mounted the steps into the pulpit, looked at the congregation, and said: “Sex was created by God as an expression of love between husbands and wives and a way of propagating life on planet Earth. Now that we’ve settled that, let’s talk about stewardship.”

No games and no gimmicks today. Instead we need to be honest and up front about this topic. Stewardship is a biblical priority. What we do with what we have been given is a subject regularly addressed in both the Old and New Testaments. In today’s lesson Paul challenges the Corinthians to put their money where their mouths are, to back up their professions of charity with the practice of giving.

I. Authentic Stewardship Requires Faithfulness

Paul was collecting an offering for the church in Jerusalem. Various Christian communities (including some of rather meager means) had contributed. Corinth, of course, was a city of considerable financial ability. The believers there were capable of supporting the mission significantly. They obviously had expressed their support verbally. Now Paul was asking them to follow through. He spoke of their “readiness in desiring it” being matched by their willingness to “complete it out of what you have” ( 2 Cor. 8:11, RSV).

How easy it is to talk a good game about faith without being faithful. How easy it is to preach love without loving, to teach forgiveness without forgiving, to testify about missions without helping and healing, to verbally champion youth ministries without contributing or programming, to talk evangelism without inviting. Perhaps the Corinthian church was at that point, talking a good game about stewardship without being faithful stewards. Meanwhile the needs of the poor in Jerusalem were not effectively met by mere talk.

II. Authentic Stewardship Requires Giving Ourselves First

Paul said that Jesus is the model for Christian stewards: “[f]or your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (v. 9). It is an image of self-giving love that always places a priority on others.

General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, used to send handwritten Christmas cards to all his workers. Booth signed the cards with a single word. It was a word designed to keep them focused. It was a word designed to remind them of their calling and their duty. It was a word designed to drive them past verbalizing faith to authentic fidelity. Every card he signed with the single word: Others.

We, too, are called by God to think of others, to share with others, to love and serve and help and heal others. And few Christian disciplines accomplish all that half as effectively as the stewardship of our finances, by which the church wraps its arms of compassion around the world, healing hurts and lifting high the cross. (Michael Brown)

Desperate

Mark 5:24-34

The woman was sick. Mark tells us she had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She went to many doctors, but none had been able to help her. Instead, her condition had grown worse.

She received reports of this man called Jesus and how he was having a remarkable effect on people. She knew what she had to do: she would go to Jesus. He would heal her.

When she gets there it is a mob scene. The crowds were pressing against Jesus. The woman believed that if she could just touch him—just the hem of his garment—she would get well. She reaches out and touches his cloak—and she is cured.

Most of us have not had this kind of experience. We are captured by the faith of the woman. She did not just believe that Jesus had the power to heal her—she was convinced that if she just touched his robe, the hem of his garment, she would be cured. She forces us to reexamine our faith in the mystery around us—that which can’t be explained and is beyond reason. Whether you call it mystery, magic, or grace, Christianity has always been filled with elements that involve a trust in something supernatural.

In many quarters of the church we have tried to ignore this mystery. We have attempted to make the Christian faith rational. Meanwhile, all around us and deep within us is a hunger that reaches out for expression. We see it in the rise of witchcraft, tarot cards, and astrology.

But there is more to human life than just reason. There is a mind, and a heart, and mystery and wonder, and powers and principalities we can’t explain. Jesus invites us to love the Lord our God with all of our minds—which means that we are to use and respect and appreciate the power of reason and our minds—and we are to love the Lord with all our heart and emotions and instincts, and we are to offer our souls, which is to commit ourselves to the grace of God that surrounds us. If we can just touch the grace of God, then our sin-sick world can be healed. (Rick Brand)

ARTICLE: Prayer for Vacation Days

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:20:22 GMT

By Ministry Matters

There's a happy sort of feeling, God,

That seems to come always

When school is closed and summertime

Brings back vacation days!

I'm sure you know just what I mean—

We're free to run and play,

To swim and go on picnics,

Or to fish the whole long day!

O thank you, God, for the ways

Of happy, free, vacation days!

_________________________________________________

This prayer by Arletta Christman Harvey is from Everyday Prayers for Children, included in the Ministry Matters Premium Subscription.

VIDEO: With the Time They Save Using Ministry Matters (No. 2)

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:07:53 GMT

By Ministry Matters

What do you do with the time you save by using Ministry Matters? Take up snowboarding? Raise goats? Vacuum the sanctuary? (yeah, right!) Hear from Lori Wilhite, Adam Thomas, Jo Saxton, and others in this lighthearted video.

And catch more leaders in With the Time They Save Using Ministry Matters (No. 1)

VIDEO: With the Time They Save Using Ministry Matters (No. 1)

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:04:33 GMT

By Ministry Matters

What do you do with the time you save by using Ministry Matters? Plant a garden? Reupholster furniture? Write a Broadway musical? Hear from Pete Wilson, Will Willimon, Greg Surratt, and others in this lighthearted video.

And catch more leaders in With the Time They Save Using Ministry Matters (No. 2.)

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: June 24, 2012

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:24:55 GMT

By Ministry Matters

The Right Stuff

1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 9-23) 32-49

A movie that came out several years ago about America’s early Mercury and Apollo astronauts was entitled The Right Stuff. The title pointed to the fact that those bright, courageous men had what it took to get the job done. It could be said of the shepherd boy David that he had the “right stuff” to defend the honor of the Lord God of Israel before the challenge of the awesome Philistine warrior, Goliath.

It takes the right stuff for Christians to defeat the powerful forces of Satan with which we daily do battle. Victorious Christians possess the same qualities that enabled David to defeat Goliath.

I. The Right Stuff Includes Reverence for God

David was sent to the front lines to carry some good home cooking to his three older brothers. While visiting with them, he witnessed the taunting challenge of Goliath for Israel to send a man into hand-to-hand combat against him. He had issued this challenge daily for a period of time. No soldier in Israel’s army had accepted the challenge. They cringed in fear before Goliath for good reason. He stood ten feet tall and wore armor that weighed 150 pounds. The head of his spear weighed nearly twenty pounds. Israel had no one who could begin to match up to him physically.

David was offended greatly by this event because he saw it as the dishonoring of God. He volunteered to bring Goliath and his defiance of God down. David’s intense reverence for God demanded that Goliath be stopped.

Christians should have the same strong reverence for the Lord as did David. Such reverence will motivate us to live lives that consistently reflect holiness, love, and integrity to a world so ready to taunt, challenge, and even intimidate God’s people.

II. The Right Stuff Includes Reliance upon God

When Saul expressed reluctance to permit David to fight Goliath, David replied that the Lord God had delivered him from the bear and the lion in the past and that he would depend upon the hand of God to do the same as he battled Goliath.

Christians must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to gain victory over satanic temptations and trials. This is why the writer of Ephesians admonished us to put on the “whole armor of God.” In God’s strength we can prevail.

III. The Right Stuff Includes Being True to Yourself

David refused the offer of Saul’s armor because he had not used such before. It wasn’t who he was. He felt comfortable going up against Goliath with the familiar weapons of the shepherd, a stick and a sling.

Christians can win more battles against the forces of darkness when we become familiar with the spiritual weaponry God has given us, so that we are comfortable in the use of it.

Jesus used the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God to do battle with Satan in the wilderness at the outset of his ministry. The Word was a vital part of who he was, so he used it effectively.

Our challenge is to become so familiar with the Word of God that it becomes a natural weapon for us in our warfare with Satan. (Jerry E. Oswalt)

Devoted to Discipleship

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

A couple of issues are touched in this lesson that remain as timely as they were the day Paul wrote about them.

I. Discipleship Is an Urgent Matter

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” “Someday” is not soon enough when discipleship is the topic. “Now is the accepted time” to enter partnership with Christ. And, obviously, “Now is the accepted time” to dispose of any obstacles that stand between Christ and us.

Some time ago, having finished an afternoon of yard work, I was pained by a splinter in a finger. Too sore to bother with initially, I decided to wait till bedtime to remove it. By then the soreness had increased, prompting a decision to wait till morning. By morning, the soreness was accompanied by swelling and redness. I made the tactical error of mentioning that to my wife who (a) immediately grabbed my hand, (b) put me in an armlock known only to her and a handful of professional wrestlers, (c) muttered something about “not putting these things off,” and (d) did unspeakable things to the end of my left index finger with a sewing needle. I appreciated her concern but was somewhat disturbed by her enthusiasm. Nonetheless, by afternoon the swelling and redness had subsided. By bedtime the finger was no longer sore. Fortunately she is willing to take action when it is time to act.

Paul concurred with that modus operandi: “Behold, now is the accepted time.” When we suffer physically, there is no time like the present to take corrective measures, eliminating whatever stands between us and health. When we hurt spiritually, there is no time like the present to take corrective measures, eliminating whatever stands between us and God (be it guilt, anger, avarice, selfishness, prejudice—the list goes on an on). “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2, KJV).

II. Discipleship Is a Matter of Commitment

Paul moves on from urgency to discipline. Devotion to a life of discipleship requires faith, commitment, and courage. It is not an easy journey. In this lesson he lists the hardships and tribulations he has suffered as a minister of the gospel. He has remained faithful only through great endurance.

There is a lesson here for every Christian. Those who seek to faithfully follow where Christ leads find obstacles along the way, many of them frightening and painful. Stand tall for truth and you often will stand alone. Take a position for morality and you may be ostracized by the crowd. Speak out for evangelism and sometimes even fellow church people will brand you a narrow-minded fundamentalist. Speak out for justice and the current climate may call you archaic, a rose-colored idealist out of touch with a commonsense world.

Follow Christ and wherever he leads the journey will be difficult. But the journey will at least ultimately take us where we need to go. In fact, only following Christ will do that. However easy (and wide) the way of the world may be, the path of Christ is still the narrow path that leads to life. Neither Jesus nor Paul promised that discipleship would be easy. Instead, the promise is that only discipleship is meaningful.

In the final tally, only life lived in the service of Jesus Christ is life worth living at all. Thus did Paul describe himself as “having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” (Michael Brown)

Why Are Ye Afraid?

Mark 4:35-41

Of all the stories in the New Testament, perhaps this story is most symbolic of the Christian church. Throughout the history of Christianity, disciples have read this story and seen in it their own situations.

For you see, we are now the disciples in the boat. This very day you sit in what is called the nave of the church, and nave is the Latin word for ship. The Christian community has always used as the symbol of its life the ship on storm-tossed waves with the cross on top of the ship. You are now in the boat with Jesus Christ, and the storms are raging outside.

There is no need to prove that the storms are raging! You know what the storms are around you. You know what the storms in your own life are. We are in the boat with Christ, and the storms rage and they are frightening.

In the scripture story, Jesus disciples are doing what Jesus instructed them to do. They have Jesus with them on the boat and yet the storm comes up. This story has always been important to the Christian faith because it is evidence that having Jesus with us in the boat is never a guarantee that there will not be storms in our lives. And even though Jesus is with us, many of us, like the disciples, lose hold of our faith. “Don’t you care if we perish?” the disciples ask Jesus. They were not concerned about whether or not Jesus the Messiah and the mission of the Messiah might perish. In their fear they expected Jesus to care about them and to save them from danger.

Likewise, when we become afraid of the storms around us the temptation is to believe that God does not care what happens to us. With the fear there returns that old expectation that God’s obligation is to protect us. Walter Bruggemann suggests that one of the marks of atheism is when we return to that “insistence on self-definition. . . . for it is based on the surmise and fear that there is no one but us. And only our voice can prevent the terror of cosmic silence.” Don’t you care if we perish?

Jesus spoke the words, “Peace! Be still!” The words had an effect on both the disciples and the storm. The words of Jesus are directed to all the different forms of evil, mistrust, and fear that are working in the world. Jesus actions to speak to the winds and the sea (those hostile storms outside) exerted control over the disciples fear and mistrust.

Jesus demonstrates the power to protect and care for his church—his disciples. There are no storms that by the power of Jesus Christ his people cannot endure. Jesus does care and is able to keep his people from sinking and falling into the full power and control of evil. Why are ye afraid? (Rick Brand)

ARTICLE: Worship Elements: June 24, 2012

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:25:40 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Fourth Sunay after Pentecost

COLOR: Green

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49; Psalm 9:9-20; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41

THEME IDEAS

Battles, vengeance, adversity, and suffering are plentiful in today’s readings. Those seeking an alternative theme might consider this subtheme: the power of the unexpected and the surprising. An elder, Saul, takes a chance on a confident young David, who wisely sheds conventional armor. In Psalm 9, God takes the side of the oppressed, needy, and poor, and is asked to declare nations “only human.” In rebuking a storm, Jesus speaks the word “peace.” In a dispute with the Corinthians, Paul issues an appeal to and from the heart.

INVITATION AND GATHERING

Call to Worship (Psalm 9)

Seek God; know God; trust God, O people.
Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion.
Declare God’s deeds among the people,
for the needy are remembered, the poor have hope.
Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion.

Opening Prayer (1 Samuel 17, Psalm 9, 2 Corinthians 6, Mark 4)

Center us, O God,
to worship you this day.
Remove our needless armor.
Be our stronghold.
Grant us calm.
Give us joyful hearts and ready minds,
that we may be open to your grace. Amen.

PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE

Prayer of Confession (Mark 4)

Merciful God,
when lashed by life’s windstorms
we often lash out in return.
Forgive us
when we blame you or others
for our troubles.
Teach us to find you
in the eye of the storm.
Show us the calm center
that comes from a word of peace.

Words of Assurance (2 Corinthians 6)

Hear the witness of scripture:
God listens; God helps. Now is the day of salvation.
Open wide your hearts and receive God’s forgiveness.
Amen.

Passing the Peace of Christ (Mark 4)

A word of peace can have awesome power. Let us share
signs of this peace in the name of the One we follow.
The peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.

Invitation to the Word (Mark 4, 2 Corinthians 6)

Gracious God, great Teacher, Bearer of peace,
we seek your wisdom.
Open our hearts and minds to your word
and to possibilities yet unseen. Amen.

THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION

Invitation to the Offering (Psalm 9, 2 Corinthians 6)

With the Apostle Paul, let us not “accept the grace of God in vain.” With the psalmist, let us praise and rejoice in God, our stronghold in times of trouble and need. In gratitude for what we have received, let us bring our tithes and our offerings.

Offering Prayer (1 Samuel 17)

Merciful God,
we thank you for the many ways
that gifts are offered in your service;
we especially thank you for fathers and elders
whose love and wisdom
have touched our lives and our church.
Help the elders among us
nurture the young in our midst,
just as Saul took a chance on young David.
Help the young among us
honor their elders,
even as they are true to their own callings.
Accept our gifts, we pray,
and bless now this morning’s offerings,
that we might do your will
in this place and in all the world. Amen.

SENDING FORTH

Benediction (2 Corinthians 6)

Put obstacles in no one’s way,
but rejoice in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness,
holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech,
and the power of God.
Go in peace.

CONTEMPORARY OPTIONS

Contemporary Gathering Words (1 Samuel 17, Psalm 9, 2 Corinthians 6, Mark 4)

You’re not what we expect, O Lord.
Victory without a sword,
windstorms calmed with simple words,
sleepless nights rewarded.
Help us put our trust in you,
unexpected God.

Praise Sentences (Psalm 9)

Sing praise to God, who heeds our tears.
Sing praise to God, who helps the afflicted.
Sing praise to God, who lifts up the oppressed.
Sing praise to God, who remembers the needy.
Sing praise to God, who gives aid to the poor.
Sing praise to God, who is worthy of our thanks!

Adapted from The Abingdon Worship Annual 2009, © 2008 Abingdon Press
The Abingdon Worship Annual 2013 is available now.

ARTICLE: Sermon Options: June 17, 2012

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:14:23 GMT

By Ministry Matters

Seeing People as God Does

1 Samuel 15:34–16:13

We see the outside of people; God sees the inside. We see the body; God sees the heart.

It wasn’t difficult for Samuel to anoint Saul as Israel’s first king. Saul was an impressive physical specimen. He looked like a king. On the other hand, Samuel may have found it more difficult to anoint David as king after Saul, because David was a mere lad. The shepherd boy looked like anything but a king. Saul turned out to be a failure as a king. David ruled with great success.

Someone may ask: “Why did God select Saul as king? Didn’t God know his heart?” Yes, of course God knew his heart. Likely, God gave Israel what they wanted, a king like the kings of other nations. They looked on the outside of Saul. He looked like a king. They would have refused the shepherd boy at that juncture. They needed to learn to see people like God sees people. So the Lord let them learn.

God frequently chooses the weak, common, unimpressive folk from human perspective to be his servants. The Messiah himself was described by Isaiah (53:2) as one whose outward appearance would not attract people to him.

How frequently we see only the outside and not the inside of people and thus make an incorrect judgment of the kind of persons they are. Think of the pastor selection committees of local churches who have given priority to external qualities rather than the character of prospective pastors. Vance Havner once quipped that he was glad he wasn’t handsome, because he had noticed that people expect the preaching of preachers to live up to their looks!

Why does the Lord frequently use those who are unimpressive in the sight of man to do his greatest work? There are at least two reasons.

I. God’s Power Made Obvious

People soon were astonished at David’s exploits in battle. It was obvious that he didn’t possess the physical prowess to accomplish those exploits; thus, God was given more credit than if David had been a powerful warrior.

Some of the apostle Paul’s critics in the church at Corinth were critical of his preaching skills. Tradition teaches us that he wasn’t a handsome man. Also, he had a chronic illness that hindered him physically. Yet, second only to Jesus, Paul became the dominant figure in the New Testament because he accomplished so much church-planting within the Gentile world. Paul is responsible for as many as thirteen of the New Testament writings, and is a central figure in the book of Acts. Paul gave the glory to God for all his accomplishments. Concerning his preaching, he wrote that his speech was not with “plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:4-5).

II. God Looks Beneath the Surface

The Lord wasn’t surprised by David’s feats. He knew the young man’s heart. He saw the qualities that could be divinely enhanced within him to make him a great king.

Similarly, God perceived in Saul of Tarsus the capacity to become a great Christian missionary, even when he was a vicious persecutor of Christians. God saved him and made of him an effective apostle to the Gentiles. He was used as the most influential instrument in the hands of God to break down the barrier between Jewish and Gentile believers. (Jerry E. Oswalt)

New Life in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:6-17

In previous passages Paul has dealt with faith in life eternal and how mortal existence is just a prelude to that which is yet to come. In this lesson he draws a parallel to discipleship. Unredeemed life, he suggests, is mere prelude to converted life.

I. Eternal Life Is a Promise

Paul states, “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (v. 8). He trusts that death is simply a bridge linking worlds, a pathway leading Home. Maurice Boyd writes of a bridge in Europe engraved with these words: “Bridges are meant to cross over. No one builds his house there.” So it is with life. The journey is exciting. We love it and wish to linger. But ultimately this life is a bridge between worlds, and Home waits on the other side of crossing.

II. Abundant Life Is Also a Promise

Just as death means birth to life eternal, so does conversion mean re-birth to the abundant. “So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (v. 17).

Many people are familiar with Chuck Colson’s story and how he underwent a personal metamorphosis. Formerly a convicted Watergate criminal, he now is instrumental in ministry to the incarcerated. Colson’s previous experiences were a prelude to his new existence. The cocoon produced a butterfly.

A personal friend whose life crumbled has painstakingly rebuilt a new and devotedly Christian identity. He often concludes statements with the phrase, “That was in my former life.” For him, the new birth that Christ described to Nicodemus and Paul and affirmed in this passage was a moment of starting over. My friend became a new person. “So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

III. Judgment Is Not Our Prerogative

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view. . . . if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation” (vv. 16-17). When a person has experienced rebirth, it is not our role to judge his or her sincerity or to remind others of his or her former lifestyle.

I recall once commending a certain church member for his commitment to missions. He displayed in word and deed a genuine love for the underprivileged and dispossessed, and gave of himself graciously to assist them. A listener replied: “It’s true. He has become a great fellow. I remember when he was a drunken philanderer. What a wonderful change has occurred for him.” In one brief statement a person’s reputation was smeared and his authentic conversion was devalued.

“I remember when he was a drunken philanderer.” That statement served no purpose but to discredit and embarrass. It lacked compassion. Jesus would never have said something like that, and such is the standard for judging what we, too, should and should not say about others. (Michael Brown)

The Kingdom is Like . . .

Mark 4:26-34

There are so many things around us that make us wonder whether it is worth the effort to try to do mercy, love justice, and to live a life that is becoming to followers of Jesus Christ. Two thousand years of Christian faithfulness have gone by, and to judge by the mass media assaults on our consciousness, the world is worse instead of better.

What’s the use of trying to do good? Where are the signs of the coming of the kingdom of God?

There have been times in history when Christians were sure that the kingdom of God was just around the corner. During the periods of 1880 and 1920 in this country, we thought the kingdom was near. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., wrote in the Saturday Evening Post of February 1918: “I see the church molding the thought of the world as it has never done before, leading in all great movements of history as it should. I see it literally establishing the kingdom of God on earth.”

But now, as Bob Dylan once said, “We don’t talk so proud.” Now we are not so sure of the victory of goodness over evil.

The disciples of Jesus early in his ministry asked a lot of the same questions we ask today. “How come there aren’t more people at the service, Lord? If by their fruits ye shall know them, how come goodness seems to be having so few fruits?”

In response to their questions, Jesus told a series of parables—parables about sowing seed; about the different kinds of results; about the hidden growth and the harvest; about the mustard seed. These stories help us look at this coming kingdom of God and our participation in it.

I. The Coming Kingdom Is Assured

The good news is the assurance of a harvest. The kingdom will come. As surely as you and I can predict that death will come to each of us, Jesus says you can trust the forces of God’s mercy and grace and love to bring in the kingdom of God. Do not be discouraged by the size of the beginning; do not be concerned about the visible signs of the fruitiness of your efforts. The kingdom of God will come.

II. It Will Not Be a Kingdom of Our Making

The kingdom is one of grace and mercy that will come because God brings it. The church and the kingdom of God are the creation of God. The farmer does not know how the seed germinates and grows. Likewise, the kingdom of God grows in hidden, mysterious ways, independently of our human efforts.

The parable suggests that we are to be faithful farmers, sowers of the seed, and we are not to worry about the crop because God will produce the harvest. We are often tempted to become so caught up with worrying about the harvest that we neglect the sowing of the seed. Or we may forget that God keeps us in this world to act as ministers of reconciliation, to be salt to prevent the rotting from getting worse. Or we may be so depressed by the apparently unconquered power of evil that we lose all faith and thus contribute to the darkness.

Also, we may become so concerned with building the kingdom here on earth that we may forget that there is so much more to come. We may focus all of our attention on the possibilities of this world and forget that this world and all it offers are under judgment by the holiness of God. We may begin to equate our efforts and achievements with God’s kingdom and thus lose touch with the only true standard by which the events and accomplishments of this world can be measured.

III. God Calls Us to Faithfulness in Light of the Kingdom

When Elijah fled from Jezebel into the cave and complained to God that he was the only one left, God said, “Oh, hush, I have seven thousand who have not bowed a knee to Baal.” Jesus told the parables to help us hear the good news. The kingdom of God comes because it is God’s gift of mercy and grace. It comes as a wonderful surprise, as a gift of hope and as a miracle of love. Do not be discouraged; the kingdom will come. Do not neglect your part of faithfully scattering the seeds, but remember you are called simply to scatter the seeds and enjoy the new life that God has given you as his people. Do not neglect your calling; however, do not believe that your great society, your new deals, are God’s kingdom. The good news is that the harvest will come. (Rick Brand)