Scripture: Mark 13:24-37
Today is the first Sunday in Advent. Advent, of course, is the time when we prepare our lives for the coming of the Christ Child. Truthfully, though, we should be doing that every day of our lives, but for most, we need a specific reminder and a specific season to consider the full impact that his life has had on ours.
The effect that his arrival had on this world is described by the various names that Jesus is called – Prince of Peace, King of Kings, Savior, Redeemer, the Hope of the world. An anonymous writer once wrote this about the hope of Christ:
We tend to think of hope as a winged thing, flying serenely above the storms, untouched by the mundane earth. But the value of hope lies in its presence in our everyday lives, a constant earthly promise of welcome into ultimate fellowship with God. And hope doesn't have wings - if we choose to invite it, hope walks beside us as we travel.
- Homiletics On Line
Have you ever heard a better explanation of Christ’s presence in our lives? Intimate, personal, immediate, near, never aloof.
Our reading today is Jesus’ words on our hope for his Second Coming, but I think we need to also consider it in light of our preparation for the First.
Read Mark 13:24-27
Throughout the Bible, signs and wonders are constantly being given as proof of God’s almighty power. And how often do the people see them for what they really are? There were ten miracles in Egypt, all designed to show Pharaoh just who he was up against, and he ignored them all. The children of Israel saw the same miracles, and the only thing that they did was to complain and grumble all the more.
During the 40 years in the wilderness, God lead the people with the signs of cloud and fire; he fed them with the sign of manna and quail; he satisfied their thirst with the sign of water out of solid rock; he rescued them and gave them victory after victory, simply through the sign of the raising of Moses’ staff; and they settled in a land that was gained, not by their hands, but by God’s.
And in return, they continued to be unfaithful to the God who had given them so much. The sign of a holy birth would be given, and only lowly shepherds and foreigners would pay any attention. And in our reading today, Jesus gives all the signs of his return, and the world is still going to turn a blind eye to the glorious happenings.
But in grace, Jesus gives us the word, just the same. And the best part is in verse 27 – “He will send his angels and gather his elect from ... the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.” That will be the final and greatest sign, and no one is going to be able to miss that one. But what about his First Coming? Do people focus too much on the Second, and nowhere near enough on the significance of the First? Are we still looking for signs of the Second, but missing the signs that are still coming to us from his holy birth?
Read Mark 13:28-31
We all know that Spring follows the Winter, and the Summer follows the Spring, but does anyone really know when Spring will arrive? When next Summer finally gets here? Now I don’t mean the calendar date that is designated as the first day of each season. I seem to remember some snow a few weeks ago, and the calendar date for winter is still a few weeks away!
The seasons arrive when they arrive. And so does Jesus – both the first time and the second.
And I expect that in the moment that Christ came into your life, that this was unexpected, too. At least it was for me; it was unplanned, startling, and over the years, I still describe it as “traumatic”. And every time that Jesus touches us in some new way, it becomes a new beginning – Christ is “the beginning of each beginning”, if you will. There never is an ending, except for the life that was before Jesus. Each new beginning in Christ is a new phase, a new opportunity, and life in him just keeps getting more interesting and more exciting!
But we have to accept him and welcome him if we truly want each and every new beginning. And we can’t wait until the signs indicate that time has nearly run out!
The ark was completed, the storm clouds were beginning to gather, and Noah was waiting patiently at the foot of the gang plank. Very soon, the animals began to arrive and they started boarding the ship two by two.
Pair after pair of animals passed by Noah, heading up the ramp into the ship. Finally a lone hippo waddled up and Noah asked him where his mate was. The hippo replied “Well, I was hoping to meet her on the cruise!”
--With thanks to Kirk A. Erwin, Lyons, Neb.
We can’t wait and hope to meet Jesus on the eternal cruise! We have all the signs that we need, and the time is running out. Summer is coming, even though we have a few months of cold ahead of us yet, but do we stop planning for our summer projects and get togethers? Not on your life! My brothers and I have already started talking about our weekend together in the late Spring. I am already thinking about the things that I didn’t get done this year, and what I need to do when the weather turns warm again. I already have my application in for a Course of Study class in March and April. Waiting until the last minute never works out very well for me, and in Christ, it may mean that when the “ship of eternity” sails, we will be left standing at the wrong end of the gangplank.
Advent is about getting on the ball and beginning our celebration, our reflections, our relationship with Jesus Christ now. We can’t wait for his arrival to discover the plans he has made for us – that will be too late.
Read Mark 13:32-37
Jesus told a number of parables that dealt with the topic of waiting and watching. But the bottom line in each of them was that while we must be alert and watchful for the great event, we need to be prepared for the arrival. He told of the 10 virgins who were waiting at night for the bridegroom to arrive for the wedding feast. 5 of them had their lamps ready, and 5 did not; the ones who were ready were honored to escort the groom into the feast, while the unprepared were left on the outside, wondering what had just happened. (Matt 25:1 – 13) He told 2 other parables that are seen to be similar to each other – the Talents, and the Minas. Each was about how we are to act while we wait for our Master to return. (Matt. 25: 14 – 30 & Luke 19: 12 – 27) And this story that we just read is about the servants who are told to be alert for their master’s arrival, because they don’t know when he will be returning. Not one of them tells us that we can sit back and not worry about the Lord’s return. Even though there will be signs and wonders giving us all kinds of hints, we will still be surprised and amazed when the time arrives. Each and every parable tells us to be prepared and ready throughout our time of waiting.
Advent is not the time to sit back and take it easy – it’s a time to prepare. Advent is the beginning of the new beginning, when everything will be made new (Rev. 21:1-5). It is a time when we surrender our old lives in order to receive the new. It is a time when we wait eagerly, but at the same time, preparing for the greatest moment we will ever experience.
Advent is not the time to become complacent – it’s a time to become energized and expectant! And I don’t mean for the commercialized form of Christmas – I mean for the celebration of God’s arrival in the world! It’s a time to put the past behind and to start preparing for the “beginning of our beginning”. It will be here before you know it!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
“Living in the Life of Light”
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24
Last week, we took a look at what the Light of Christ means for our lives, that it is our call to ministry, that it is the proof that God has a glorious plan for our lives, and a challenge was offered to each person to take a step in Christian faith. Was anyone able to shine the light that they carry in the world to illuminate a life? How did it go this week?
(Note: Several people at each church offered invitations, and 2 folks at one church brought guests!)
The truth is that people are drawn to the light, regardless of how bright and how consistent. When I was growing up, summer evenings always seemed to have a special significance when the fire flies were out. My brothers and I would follow their light, blinking and moving and then blinking some more, until we could catch them in a jar and proudly take the prize to show our folks. We would then sit enthralled for quite some time, watching them light up the jar, and more importantly, our lives. The smiles in the darkness of those evenings were nothing short of infectious.
The light wasn’t continuous, and it wasn’t especially brilliant, but it certainly was effective in its call to my brothers and me.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
Walking and living in the light of Christ involves a responsibility to not only serve others well, to not only walk in the Christ Light, but to also hold each other accountable for our walk.
The first item in the list that Paul offers to us today is that we are to respect those who work hard in faith, and to show respect to those who call us to account. We don’t always understand why or even what others may be doing, but if they are working for the kingdom, then we are to encourage them in their efforts. If we are admonished for something that we have done by a church leader, we can certainly discuss the situation with them, but we are to consider their decision in a respectful and loving manner. This respect and obligation to each other is not only vital, but it is to be extreme. It is the way that we share our light with other believers.
Take the case of the current situation in our own Annual Conference. There is a great divide within our community over a significant issue of faith, and it’s growing greater every day. We should certainly be engaged in the discussions and to always present our view of the call of scripture, but it must be done in as civil a manner as possible. No name calling, no trading insults, no hateful confrontations – just honest and accurate representations of what scripture is telling us.
The second item comes out of our consideration of the first – “Live in peace with each other.” If we truly show respect for each other, peace will naturally follow. And think about it – if we are to be the united and only Body of Christ, how can we not live in peace with each other? Peace does not mean total agreement, it does not mean never questioning a motive or action, it does not mean that everyone does the same things in the same way. Peace comes from a respectful attitude toward the other members of the Body – it is the result of helping each other carry the light of Christ.
The next series of items continue in this theme of relationship.
#3 – “Warn those who are idle.” Again, not berate and not belittle. Warn! And it doesn’t mean that we have to be busy every moment of every waking hour! We need some relaxation time every day, but when we develop a tendency to routinely waste our time on frivolous matters, we desperately need the challenge to put those things aside, and to get back in the game. Our inclination, though, is to see this as a scolding, and we seldom react in a positive way to it. But if the challenge is true, why not take it as a constructive suggestion? Why not readily admit that our friend is right, and thank them that their love for us is great enough to even bring the issue up? Idleness is not about shining our light in the world – it’s about intentionally covering it up.
#4 – “Encourage the timid”. Remember Matthew 5:5 – “Blessed are the meek”? Remember Matthew 25:40 – “Whatever you did for the least of these … you did for me.” The timid will include the bashful, the shy, the fearful, the emotionally challenged, the withdrawn. Don’t ignore them. Don’t treat them in a condescending way. Don’t pass by them on the opposite side of the street! Instead, why don’t we work to inspire them! Reassure them! Reinforce their self-confidence! Help them to be all they can be, and to do all that they can do! “Whatever you did for the least of these …”? Even the timid deserve to carry the Light!
#5 – “Help the weak”. Have you ever felt weak? Unable to do those things that you would like to do – unable to do the things you need to do? When I came down with mononucleosis during my radiation treatments, there were a lot of things that I couldn’t do – like mowing the lawn, climbing a long flight of stairs, walking more than a hundred steps (give or take), and nearly anything that required any exertion whatsoever. Diane had just given birth to our second son, and Nathan kept her kind of busy, but our neighbors and friends from church came to our aid, and even though I wasn’t real comfortable with the fact that I couldn’t do the routine things that I had always done, I had no choice. And the help that the “weak” received from the “able” was greatly appreciated, and obviously memorable. They not only carried their own light, but they helped me carry mine.
#6 – “Be patient with everyone.” Not just the ones who make patience easy, but EVERYONE! This will undoubtedly be the most frustrating task any Christian is called to carry out. We can’t just be patient to those who are patient with us (not that any of us would ever need the patience of others!), but we are called to maintain control of our emotions regardless of the situation. In Galatians 5:22, we read that two aspects of the “fruit of the Spirit” are patience and self-control. And verse 25 tells us that “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the ultimate Light carrier, and we are to keep up with him!
These first 6 efforts are about our relationships with others. Respect, peace, counsel, encouragement, assistance, and patience. But I think we all can agree that they aren’t easy to do – just one or two of them is hard enough, but all 6?? Without the Holy Spirit working with and through us constantly, we will surely fail, but the presence of the Spirit in believers is never in question! We always have that support and encouragement to help us in life.
If our relationships with others is a tough row to hoe, consider the next list, which is about our personal attitudes and efforts in our relationship with God.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
#7 – Be joyful always
#8 – Pray continually
#9 – Give thanks in all circumstances
These 3 truly go together, because they are all about knowing Jesus Christ in a personal way. Without the Lord at our side, how could we possibly be joyful all of the time, or be able to live our life in a prayerful way, or be thankful regardless of our personal situation? The honest answer is that we can’t! It is Christ who gives us that everlasting joy. It is our desire to remain in constant touch with the Lord that keeps us prayerful. It is because of the bounty that comes to us in faith that makes us justly thankful.
We aren’t always happy, we aren’t always walking in perfect faith, and it is seldom that we are focused on the many blessings that come our way. Our joy and connection and thankfulness, though, will always be the most obvious and outward signs of a committed disciple of Jesus Christ, and they are the unmistakable light for both believers and nonbelievers alike.
And how do we see the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives? The next 5 are important in this regard for our consideration this morning.
#10 – Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;
#11 – Do not treat prophecies with contempt
#12 – Test everything
#13 – Hold on to the good.
#14 – Avoid every kind of evil.
We could spend the rest of the morning discussing these in detail, but suffice it to say that these are the challenge for all Christians today. To follow the leading of the Spirit, no matter where we may have to go; to accept prophecy, or the true word of God, without question; but at the same time, to test, to ensure, that the direction of our walk and the action of our lives are being given in a faithful manner; to cling to the things of God and to totally reject those that are not. These all come back to the call to “pray continuously”, for that is the only way to know if we are on the right track. The Spirit’s fire!
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
If our heart is right, if we avoid taking advantage of both the kindness and ignorance of others, if we strive to the best of our abilities to walk in the Lord’s light and in his word, and to carry his light wherever we go –
then we’ll be headed in the right direction. Is it easy? No. Will we ever be tempted to do otherwise? Yes. Will our relationships with others be perfect? No. But should we always work to make them better? Without question!
Paul writes that “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – will always keep his word for our lives – “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” He tells us that over and over, and we must believe that the Lord will be with us through thick and thin, in good times and in bad, in the light of day and in the darkness of the night. And the reference to our spirit, soul and body being kept blameless? That, too, can only come from a life lived in the light of Christ.
Living a life in the light – one of constant temptation and failure, but also one of glory and blessings that are never ending.
Last week, we took a look at what the Light of Christ means for our lives, that it is our call to ministry, that it is the proof that God has a glorious plan for our lives, and a challenge was offered to each person to take a step in Christian faith. Was anyone able to shine the light that they carry in the world to illuminate a life? How did it go this week?
(Note: Several people at each church offered invitations, and 2 folks at one church brought guests!)
The truth is that people are drawn to the light, regardless of how bright and how consistent. When I was growing up, summer evenings always seemed to have a special significance when the fire flies were out. My brothers and I would follow their light, blinking and moving and then blinking some more, until we could catch them in a jar and proudly take the prize to show our folks. We would then sit enthralled for quite some time, watching them light up the jar, and more importantly, our lives. The smiles in the darkness of those evenings were nothing short of infectious.
The light wasn’t continuous, and it wasn’t especially brilliant, but it certainly was effective in its call to my brothers and me.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
Walking and living in the light of Christ involves a responsibility to not only serve others well, to not only walk in the Christ Light, but to also hold each other accountable for our walk.
The first item in the list that Paul offers to us today is that we are to respect those who work hard in faith, and to show respect to those who call us to account. We don’t always understand why or even what others may be doing, but if they are working for the kingdom, then we are to encourage them in their efforts. If we are admonished for something that we have done by a church leader, we can certainly discuss the situation with them, but we are to consider their decision in a respectful and loving manner. This respect and obligation to each other is not only vital, but it is to be extreme. It is the way that we share our light with other believers.
Take the case of the current situation in our own Annual Conference. There is a great divide within our community over a significant issue of faith, and it’s growing greater every day. We should certainly be engaged in the discussions and to always present our view of the call of scripture, but it must be done in as civil a manner as possible. No name calling, no trading insults, no hateful confrontations – just honest and accurate representations of what scripture is telling us.
The second item comes out of our consideration of the first – “Live in peace with each other.” If we truly show respect for each other, peace will naturally follow. And think about it – if we are to be the united and only Body of Christ, how can we not live in peace with each other? Peace does not mean total agreement, it does not mean never questioning a motive or action, it does not mean that everyone does the same things in the same way. Peace comes from a respectful attitude toward the other members of the Body – it is the result of helping each other carry the light of Christ.
The next series of items continue in this theme of relationship.
#3 – “Warn those who are idle.” Again, not berate and not belittle. Warn! And it doesn’t mean that we have to be busy every moment of every waking hour! We need some relaxation time every day, but when we develop a tendency to routinely waste our time on frivolous matters, we desperately need the challenge to put those things aside, and to get back in the game. Our inclination, though, is to see this as a scolding, and we seldom react in a positive way to it. But if the challenge is true, why not take it as a constructive suggestion? Why not readily admit that our friend is right, and thank them that their love for us is great enough to even bring the issue up? Idleness is not about shining our light in the world – it’s about intentionally covering it up.
#4 – “Encourage the timid”. Remember Matthew 5:5 – “Blessed are the meek”? Remember Matthew 25:40 – “Whatever you did for the least of these … you did for me.” The timid will include the bashful, the shy, the fearful, the emotionally challenged, the withdrawn. Don’t ignore them. Don’t treat them in a condescending way. Don’t pass by them on the opposite side of the street! Instead, why don’t we work to inspire them! Reassure them! Reinforce their self-confidence! Help them to be all they can be, and to do all that they can do! “Whatever you did for the least of these …”? Even the timid deserve to carry the Light!
#5 – “Help the weak”. Have you ever felt weak? Unable to do those things that you would like to do – unable to do the things you need to do? When I came down with mononucleosis during my radiation treatments, there were a lot of things that I couldn’t do – like mowing the lawn, climbing a long flight of stairs, walking more than a hundred steps (give or take), and nearly anything that required any exertion whatsoever. Diane had just given birth to our second son, and Nathan kept her kind of busy, but our neighbors and friends from church came to our aid, and even though I wasn’t real comfortable with the fact that I couldn’t do the routine things that I had always done, I had no choice. And the help that the “weak” received from the “able” was greatly appreciated, and obviously memorable. They not only carried their own light, but they helped me carry mine.
#6 – “Be patient with everyone.” Not just the ones who make patience easy, but EVERYONE! This will undoubtedly be the most frustrating task any Christian is called to carry out. We can’t just be patient to those who are patient with us (not that any of us would ever need the patience of others!), but we are called to maintain control of our emotions regardless of the situation. In Galatians 5:22, we read that two aspects of the “fruit of the Spirit” are patience and self-control. And verse 25 tells us that “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the ultimate Light carrier, and we are to keep up with him!
These first 6 efforts are about our relationships with others. Respect, peace, counsel, encouragement, assistance, and patience. But I think we all can agree that they aren’t easy to do – just one or two of them is hard enough, but all 6?? Without the Holy Spirit working with and through us constantly, we will surely fail, but the presence of the Spirit in believers is never in question! We always have that support and encouragement to help us in life.
If our relationships with others is a tough row to hoe, consider the next list, which is about our personal attitudes and efforts in our relationship with God.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
#7 – Be joyful always
#8 – Pray continually
#9 – Give thanks in all circumstances
These 3 truly go together, because they are all about knowing Jesus Christ in a personal way. Without the Lord at our side, how could we possibly be joyful all of the time, or be able to live our life in a prayerful way, or be thankful regardless of our personal situation? The honest answer is that we can’t! It is Christ who gives us that everlasting joy. It is our desire to remain in constant touch with the Lord that keeps us prayerful. It is because of the bounty that comes to us in faith that makes us justly thankful.
We aren’t always happy, we aren’t always walking in perfect faith, and it is seldom that we are focused on the many blessings that come our way. Our joy and connection and thankfulness, though, will always be the most obvious and outward signs of a committed disciple of Jesus Christ, and they are the unmistakable light for both believers and nonbelievers alike.
And how do we see the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives? The next 5 are important in this regard for our consideration this morning.
#10 – Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;
#11 – Do not treat prophecies with contempt
#12 – Test everything
#13 – Hold on to the good.
#14 – Avoid every kind of evil.
We could spend the rest of the morning discussing these in detail, but suffice it to say that these are the challenge for all Christians today. To follow the leading of the Spirit, no matter where we may have to go; to accept prophecy, or the true word of God, without question; but at the same time, to test, to ensure, that the direction of our walk and the action of our lives are being given in a faithful manner; to cling to the things of God and to totally reject those that are not. These all come back to the call to “pray continuously”, for that is the only way to know if we are on the right track. The Spirit’s fire!
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
If our heart is right, if we avoid taking advantage of both the kindness and ignorance of others, if we strive to the best of our abilities to walk in the Lord’s light and in his word, and to carry his light wherever we go –
then we’ll be headed in the right direction. Is it easy? No. Will we ever be tempted to do otherwise? Yes. Will our relationships with others be perfect? No. But should we always work to make them better? Without question!
Paul writes that “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – will always keep his word for our lives – “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” He tells us that over and over, and we must believe that the Lord will be with us through thick and thin, in good times and in bad, in the light of day and in the darkness of the night. And the reference to our spirit, soul and body being kept blameless? That, too, can only come from a life lived in the light of Christ.
Living a life in the light – one of constant temptation and failure, but also one of glory and blessings that are never ending.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
“Destined For the Day”
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
In the theology course that I just finished (Wesley Theological Seminary for Course of Study), we dealt with a lot of terms and phrases, and had great discussions as to what they mean to us and what they don’t mean. The interesting thing about words is that they can have a number of connotations, and can have even more personal implications for our lives. One of the terms that we considered and discussed at some length was “predestination”.
In a religious sense, we see the concept traditionally as meaning that God has preordained, has made a choice for our lives, and we are stuck with it. Presbyterians has taken this notion to heart, even though Calvin actually had little to say about it, and placed very little emphasis on the thought. However, it seems that the intent of New Testament writers in using the term was more in line with Wesley’s term “prevenient” – or the grace that pursues us all until we either surrender our lives to God’s grace, to his invitation, or pass from the earth. Theologically speaking, God would desire – predestine – that all of humanity be saved, but it isn’t forced upon us. We get to choose whether we accept his grace or not. The writers apparently never intended the word to mean “pre-chosen”.
Which brings us to the issue for today – who is living in the light, and who is living in darkness – who will experience destruction, and who will not.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
Confession time – I have a very limited experience with labor pains, and so I hesitate to venture too far into the topic, either to discuss the impact of them on the mother, or the rapidity of their onslaught! But in the context of our passage for today, I would guess that they come on pretty fast.
In my experience with the birth of our first child, the pains came totally unexpectedly. It was a Monday evening, we were getting ready to attend our 2nd Lamaze class, but were abruptly detoured to the delivery room to welcome our son in his 8 week early arrival. (As a matter of interest, we did get our Lamaze registration money back, though!!)
Son number 2 behaved a little better, except the pains began at about 3:00 AM – in farming terms, that’s before the rooster wakes up (!), and 2 hours later, he had arrived.
From my limited sampling of the concept of labor pains, I think it is safe to conclude 2 concepts – that 1) they can come at any time, and 2) they generally come at the most inconvenient time!
So if we carry that assumption over to the word for today, we discover that the comparison to the coming of a thief in the night isn’t too far off.
We are walking around, enjoying our solitude, basking in the beauty of our life, and suddenly, without warning, the “day of the Lord” occurs, and everything changes. We can’t go back, there are no “do overs”, and we find ourselves wherever we are in that moment.
“Predestined”? The Lord’s greatest desire is that all would find that they were on his side of the fence, but scripture is very clear that many will be on the other side. Don’t blame God for the failure to choose correctly, don’t blame God for not “fixing” everyone before his “day” comes. The only blame is for our own lack of decision today, and possibly for the Church’s failure to spread his light wide enough and far enough. God has a wonderful plan for life, and that plan extends beyond the here and now, and reaches into eternity. But each and every person has to claim it, and each and every person has to live it.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8
Just a word regarding verse 4 – the intent of the words are that if we were in darkness, we would be surprised by the events of the day, but the truth is that we are not blinded – we are people of the light. Remember that Jesus told us in John 8:12 that he is the light of the world, and whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And Matthew’s gospel (5:14) tells us that we are now the light of the world. Jesus fills all believers with his glorious light, and now we are to use it to light the way for others.
As the current Fall season advances, and as it begins to bring us more and more darkness, more and more “night”, light becomes more and more precious for our lives. When I get up in the middle of the night, I never turn a light on because I don't want to bother Diane. But I tend to stumble around, stubbing my toes on the chest at the end of our bed, tripping over a cat who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I generally create a lot more disturbance than if I had turned a light on in the first place. Darkness is not a friend – even if we are in a totally familiar room, we can still be lost and disoriented and out of touch with our surroundings. But a little bit of light can do wonders.
Friday night, as I went to bed in my hotel room in Washington, I left the bathroom light on. It was dim enough not to bother my sleep, but bright enough to guide me safely through the darkness if I needed it. We are to be that very light. Matthew 5:15 admonishes us to never hide our light – that we should let it shine out into the world so that others will see it.
It is the Lord’s greatest desire that all would experience his light, and would claim it as their own, but someone needs to lead them to the source of this great light. In John 12:36, Jesus tells his disciples to put their trust in the light while they have it, so that they might become the sons of light. And one day, they would carry the light of Christ to the far reaches of the earth, for the sole purpose of passing that light on to others. And the light has been carried and shared and passed throughout the centuries, and now it is our turn to carry and share and pass it on to others. That is the gist of the Great Commission’s call to make “disciples of all nations”. It doesn’t mean that we ourselves must travel to every nation on earth – it means that we can never withhold the light from anyone, for any reason. In accepting Christ, in becoming a Jesus follower, we also take on the obligation to share our personal story of the Lord with everyone we meet. If every Christian in the world would lead just one other person into the light, and then they would lead one other, God’s desire, his “predestined” plan for the world, his deepest yearning for humanity, his longing that all would walk in his light and life, would very quickly become a reality.
We need to walk in the light of Christ, day and night, in good times and bad, in times of absolute certainty and in times of wretched uncertainty. The Lord wants us to carry our light throughout the world, without hesitation and with great expectation.
But the problem today is that even though we are people of the light, we seem to be afraid to show our light, and so we keep it covered and out of sight most of the time. And when we hide it, not only will others continue to stumble around in their spiritual darkness, we will be stumbling, too!
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11
In our discussion earlier regarding the concept of “predestination”, we need to know that there is a second part to it. Not only is the concept that some are “predestined to be saved”, the other side of the thought must be that others are “predestined to be lost”. It is a “double predestination”, and this, too, is a falsehood. God desires that all would be saved, and we have been “appointed” to carry his salvation, his promise of life, his gift of light, out into the world. He doesn’t want anyone to suffer “wrath”, but if we fail to carry out the mission that we have told God that we accept, the wrath will win and the life of salvation that Jesus died and rose again in order to win for us, will simply lie dormant.
Are we really willing to let this happen?
Are we willing to abandon our God given opportunity to lead someone else into the light of Christ?
I want to challenge you to do something. For the next year (this is not a one time thing!), I want everyone to get serious about carrying their light. And during the year, I want to challenge you to a weekly project – that every week, you invite one person to come to church with you. Not to meet you here, but to ride with you, perhaps even to have lunch with you afterward, to come with you in the light that you carry, that they might begin to see in a new way. And if everyone gets just one new person to join them regularly in worship, think what that can mean for the kingdom – think what that can mean for Jesus!
Are you willing to make the effort? It can be a person who has never been in a church, it can be someone who has stopped attending worship for some reason, it can be a young person or an older person, it can be a neighbor, a co-worker, a family member, even a stranger who you may meet in the check out line at the grocery store. If you will commit to doing this, then I will commit to try to keep my messages interesting and pertinent for life. Don’t count on them getting any shorter, but we’ll work together to make this happen. And we will take a moment at the very beginning of every worship to introduce our friends and make them feel welcomed and loved.
What do you think? Can this happen? Will you give it a try? Just 1 invitation each and every week for a year? No goals for victory – we’ll leave that part up to the convicting of the Holy Spirit. But we still need to do our part.
Verse 11 – “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” We will continue to encourage each other, but we’re just going to take that encouragement to a whole new level, that we might bring new folks into the light of Jesus Christ. They, too, are destined for the light of Christ’s day, you know! Who are we to decide that it’s OK to leave them behind in their darkness?
In the theology course that I just finished (Wesley Theological Seminary for Course of Study), we dealt with a lot of terms and phrases, and had great discussions as to what they mean to us and what they don’t mean. The interesting thing about words is that they can have a number of connotations, and can have even more personal implications for our lives. One of the terms that we considered and discussed at some length was “predestination”.
In a religious sense, we see the concept traditionally as meaning that God has preordained, has made a choice for our lives, and we are stuck with it. Presbyterians has taken this notion to heart, even though Calvin actually had little to say about it, and placed very little emphasis on the thought. However, it seems that the intent of New Testament writers in using the term was more in line with Wesley’s term “prevenient” – or the grace that pursues us all until we either surrender our lives to God’s grace, to his invitation, or pass from the earth. Theologically speaking, God would desire – predestine – that all of humanity be saved, but it isn’t forced upon us. We get to choose whether we accept his grace or not. The writers apparently never intended the word to mean “pre-chosen”.
Which brings us to the issue for today – who is living in the light, and who is living in darkness – who will experience destruction, and who will not.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
Confession time – I have a very limited experience with labor pains, and so I hesitate to venture too far into the topic, either to discuss the impact of them on the mother, or the rapidity of their onslaught! But in the context of our passage for today, I would guess that they come on pretty fast.
In my experience with the birth of our first child, the pains came totally unexpectedly. It was a Monday evening, we were getting ready to attend our 2nd Lamaze class, but were abruptly detoured to the delivery room to welcome our son in his 8 week early arrival. (As a matter of interest, we did get our Lamaze registration money back, though!!)
Son number 2 behaved a little better, except the pains began at about 3:00 AM – in farming terms, that’s before the rooster wakes up (!), and 2 hours later, he had arrived.
From my limited sampling of the concept of labor pains, I think it is safe to conclude 2 concepts – that 1) they can come at any time, and 2) they generally come at the most inconvenient time!
So if we carry that assumption over to the word for today, we discover that the comparison to the coming of a thief in the night isn’t too far off.
We are walking around, enjoying our solitude, basking in the beauty of our life, and suddenly, without warning, the “day of the Lord” occurs, and everything changes. We can’t go back, there are no “do overs”, and we find ourselves wherever we are in that moment.
“Predestined”? The Lord’s greatest desire is that all would find that they were on his side of the fence, but scripture is very clear that many will be on the other side. Don’t blame God for the failure to choose correctly, don’t blame God for not “fixing” everyone before his “day” comes. The only blame is for our own lack of decision today, and possibly for the Church’s failure to spread his light wide enough and far enough. God has a wonderful plan for life, and that plan extends beyond the here and now, and reaches into eternity. But each and every person has to claim it, and each and every person has to live it.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8
Just a word regarding verse 4 – the intent of the words are that if we were in darkness, we would be surprised by the events of the day, but the truth is that we are not blinded – we are people of the light. Remember that Jesus told us in John 8:12 that he is the light of the world, and whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And Matthew’s gospel (5:14) tells us that we are now the light of the world. Jesus fills all believers with his glorious light, and now we are to use it to light the way for others.
As the current Fall season advances, and as it begins to bring us more and more darkness, more and more “night”, light becomes more and more precious for our lives. When I get up in the middle of the night, I never turn a light on because I don't want to bother Diane. But I tend to stumble around, stubbing my toes on the chest at the end of our bed, tripping over a cat who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I generally create a lot more disturbance than if I had turned a light on in the first place. Darkness is not a friend – even if we are in a totally familiar room, we can still be lost and disoriented and out of touch with our surroundings. But a little bit of light can do wonders.
Friday night, as I went to bed in my hotel room in Washington, I left the bathroom light on. It was dim enough not to bother my sleep, but bright enough to guide me safely through the darkness if I needed it. We are to be that very light. Matthew 5:15 admonishes us to never hide our light – that we should let it shine out into the world so that others will see it.
It is the Lord’s greatest desire that all would experience his light, and would claim it as their own, but someone needs to lead them to the source of this great light. In John 12:36, Jesus tells his disciples to put their trust in the light while they have it, so that they might become the sons of light. And one day, they would carry the light of Christ to the far reaches of the earth, for the sole purpose of passing that light on to others. And the light has been carried and shared and passed throughout the centuries, and now it is our turn to carry and share and pass it on to others. That is the gist of the Great Commission’s call to make “disciples of all nations”. It doesn’t mean that we ourselves must travel to every nation on earth – it means that we can never withhold the light from anyone, for any reason. In accepting Christ, in becoming a Jesus follower, we also take on the obligation to share our personal story of the Lord with everyone we meet. If every Christian in the world would lead just one other person into the light, and then they would lead one other, God’s desire, his “predestined” plan for the world, his deepest yearning for humanity, his longing that all would walk in his light and life, would very quickly become a reality.
We need to walk in the light of Christ, day and night, in good times and bad, in times of absolute certainty and in times of wretched uncertainty. The Lord wants us to carry our light throughout the world, without hesitation and with great expectation.
But the problem today is that even though we are people of the light, we seem to be afraid to show our light, and so we keep it covered and out of sight most of the time. And when we hide it, not only will others continue to stumble around in their spiritual darkness, we will be stumbling, too!
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11
In our discussion earlier regarding the concept of “predestination”, we need to know that there is a second part to it. Not only is the concept that some are “predestined to be saved”, the other side of the thought must be that others are “predestined to be lost”. It is a “double predestination”, and this, too, is a falsehood. God desires that all would be saved, and we have been “appointed” to carry his salvation, his promise of life, his gift of light, out into the world. He doesn’t want anyone to suffer “wrath”, but if we fail to carry out the mission that we have told God that we accept, the wrath will win and the life of salvation that Jesus died and rose again in order to win for us, will simply lie dormant.
Are we really willing to let this happen?
Are we willing to abandon our God given opportunity to lead someone else into the light of Christ?
I want to challenge you to do something. For the next year (this is not a one time thing!), I want everyone to get serious about carrying their light. And during the year, I want to challenge you to a weekly project – that every week, you invite one person to come to church with you. Not to meet you here, but to ride with you, perhaps even to have lunch with you afterward, to come with you in the light that you carry, that they might begin to see in a new way. And if everyone gets just one new person to join them regularly in worship, think what that can mean for the kingdom – think what that can mean for Jesus!
Are you willing to make the effort? It can be a person who has never been in a church, it can be someone who has stopped attending worship for some reason, it can be a young person or an older person, it can be a neighbor, a co-worker, a family member, even a stranger who you may meet in the check out line at the grocery store. If you will commit to doing this, then I will commit to try to keep my messages interesting and pertinent for life. Don’t count on them getting any shorter, but we’ll work together to make this happen. And we will take a moment at the very beginning of every worship to introduce our friends and make them feel welcomed and loved.
What do you think? Can this happen? Will you give it a try? Just 1 invitation each and every week for a year? No goals for victory – we’ll leave that part up to the convicting of the Holy Spirit. But we still need to do our part.
Verse 11 – “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” We will continue to encourage each other, but we’re just going to take that encouragement to a whole new level, that we might bring new folks into the light of Jesus Christ. They, too, are destined for the light of Christ’s day, you know! Who are we to decide that it’s OK to leave them behind in their darkness?
Sunday, November 6, 2011
“Standing Stones”
Scripture: Joshua 4:1-9
We all have those great memories of important times in our lives – a special birthday party that you’ll never forget, a family vacation that everyone enjoyed, the time we met the person who would one day become our husband or wife, graduation from school, the birth of each and every one of our children, the day we welcomed Christ into our lives. Some memories tend to come and then slowly go away, but others remain with us throughout our life.
Why would some be so fleeting, while others become a lasting part of our make up? Why are some memories so ingrained in our subconscious, while other times, that may have been equally important at the time, pass out of our awareness?
I think that the difference in them is not so much in the memory itself, but more so in the impact that it has on the rest of our life. It isn’t about the past – it’s about what it means for us today, and how that memory will prepare us and serve us as we travel into the future. That life long memory – whether it came as moment of awakening, or as one of heartache – is the very thing that defines the event to be “life changing”.
Read Joshua 4:1-7
As we read last week, the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were called to step into the raging waters of the Jordan as the leaders of the nation, and in their faithfulness, the waters began to pile up miles upstream and downstream, and the people were able to cross into the Promised Land on dry ground. Now we see that there was another group of leaders who would represent the nation – the 12 who had been chosen to select and carry the memorial stones from the middle of the river bed to the far shore. And what would they memorialize?
God simply told them to pick up 12 stones from the river bed, and put them down wherever they would stop for the night. There was no mention by the Almighty as to what they were to memorialize, or even that they were to be a memorial in the first place. It was Joshua who told the people that they would be a memorial to what God had done for them that day.
But personally, I think that the memorial should have had a far greater significance in the minds and hearts of Israel. They had been enslaved in Egypt with no way out until the Lord lead the fugitive Moses back to confront Pharaoh, and then miracle after miracle was brought to bear, simply to bring to fruition the promise that the people would live in the land promised to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 10 plagues would be brought against the people of Egypt, and when they finally left slavery, the sea that stood as a barrier to their escape would be divided, and when the army of Pharaoh pursued them, they would be confused and delayed and eventually completely destroyed. The people were given the commandments of God directly from God; they were fed on a daily basis with no interruption; water was provided out of solid rock; they defeated enemy after enemy, and for 40 years, God, in the image of a cloud and a column of fire, lead them through the wilderness.
And in spite of their corporate unfaithfulness and constant grumbling, they finally reached the Jordan and in another miraculous moment, this last water barrier was also defeated and the people would be able to enter their promised home. Did the nation have something to remember? I should say so!!!
There would be many memorials given to this journey, and hundreds of years later, the Psalmist would memorialize the journey this way.
Read Psalm 114:5-8
Remember? How could they ever forget? But the stones would still be set up as “a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Standing stones – not the miracle itself, but a tribute to the miracles of God. It’s been said that we can “choose to throw stones, to stumble on them, to climb over them, or to build with them.” In this case, Israel chose to build with them.
Read Joshua 4:8-9
But stones can’t talk, can they. They can’t tell the story – the significance – of how they came to be where they are. A stranger who doesn’t know how and why they have been placed in such a manner can only wonder about them. Don’t you wish the stones had a voice? That they could regale us with the entire wonderful experience?
My friends, that is why we need to take the place of those stones. Every one of us has been the recipient of God’s blessings throughout our lives. Oh, yes, we’ve grumbled, we’ve created our own disastrous detours, we’ve sinned, we’ve failed the Lord over and over again, and even in our faithlessness, our blessed Lord has remained faithful to us and has continued to work his wonders in our lives. We must be the “Standing Stones” of today. Amen?
And so, I have to ask, when was the last time you shared a witness with someone else? When was the last time that someone saw you as a memorial to the glory and majesty of our God?
I love stories about Mother Teresa, because she is one of the great witnesses, one of the great “Standing Stones” of all time. This is how one of those stories goes:
When Mother Teresa first began her work among the dying on the streets of Calcutta, she was obstructed at every turn by government officials and orthodox Hindus, who were suspicious of her motives and used their authority to harass her and to frustrate her efforts. She and her fellow sisters were insulted and threatened with physical violence. One day a shower of stones and bricks rained down on the women as they tried to bring the dying to their humble shelter. Eventually Mother Teresa dropped to her knees before the mob. “Kill me!” she cried in Bengali, her arms outstretched in a gesture of crucifixion, “And I'll be in heaven all the sooner.” The rabble withdrew but soon the harassment increased with even more irrational acts of violence and louder demands were made of officials to expel the foreign nun in her white sari, wearing a cross around the neck.
One morning, Mother Teresa noticed a gathering of people outside the nearby Kali Temple, one of the holy places for Hindus in Calcutta. As she drew closer, she saw a man stretched out on the street with turned-up eyes and a face drained of blood. A triple braid denoted that he was of the Brahmin caste, not of the temple priests. No one dared to touch him, for people recognized he was dying from cholera.
Mother Teresa went to him, bent down, took the body of the Brahmin priest in her arms and carried him to her shelter. Day and night she nursed him, and eventually he recovered. Over and over again he would say to the people, “For 30 years I have worshipped a Kali of stone. But I have met in this gentle woman a real Kali, a Kali of flesh and blood.” Never again were stones thrown at Mother Teresa and the other sisters.
--Donald J. Shelby, Weakness and Power, 22 December 1991, Santa Monica, California.
Now I have to admit that there aren’t a lot of people around with the faith and fortitude of a Mother Teresa, but what an incredible witness! But even if we aren’t quite as courageous as this marvelous lady, we have to take a stand, none the less. The priests of Israel had to take that risky step into the raging waters of the Jordan. The prophets of Israel had to carry the message that the nation had to change their ways – a not very popular message at that. The disciples would be called to carry their witness to the gospel into a world that would hate them for it. The early church would grow by leaps and bounds, even as they were being persecuted to the fullest extent of worldly force. Each and every one of these would become “Standing Stones” in their own right. They are living memorials to what Almighty God can truly do.
So when will we start? When do we accept the call to be a flesh and blood, a living “Stone”? Not one that weaves and bends to the changing winds of the world, not one that hides in the middle of a gravel pit, surrounded by a lot of other anonymous stones, but one who takes a stand in plain sight for the entire world, and proclaims in no uncertain terms, that Jesus Christ is Lord, and he wants to be their Lord, too.
Will you become a new and living “Stone” for Christ today?
We all have those great memories of important times in our lives – a special birthday party that you’ll never forget, a family vacation that everyone enjoyed, the time we met the person who would one day become our husband or wife, graduation from school, the birth of each and every one of our children, the day we welcomed Christ into our lives. Some memories tend to come and then slowly go away, but others remain with us throughout our life.
Why would some be so fleeting, while others become a lasting part of our make up? Why are some memories so ingrained in our subconscious, while other times, that may have been equally important at the time, pass out of our awareness?
I think that the difference in them is not so much in the memory itself, but more so in the impact that it has on the rest of our life. It isn’t about the past – it’s about what it means for us today, and how that memory will prepare us and serve us as we travel into the future. That life long memory – whether it came as moment of awakening, or as one of heartache – is the very thing that defines the event to be “life changing”.
Read Joshua 4:1-7
As we read last week, the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were called to step into the raging waters of the Jordan as the leaders of the nation, and in their faithfulness, the waters began to pile up miles upstream and downstream, and the people were able to cross into the Promised Land on dry ground. Now we see that there was another group of leaders who would represent the nation – the 12 who had been chosen to select and carry the memorial stones from the middle of the river bed to the far shore. And what would they memorialize?
God simply told them to pick up 12 stones from the river bed, and put them down wherever they would stop for the night. There was no mention by the Almighty as to what they were to memorialize, or even that they were to be a memorial in the first place. It was Joshua who told the people that they would be a memorial to what God had done for them that day.
But personally, I think that the memorial should have had a far greater significance in the minds and hearts of Israel. They had been enslaved in Egypt with no way out until the Lord lead the fugitive Moses back to confront Pharaoh, and then miracle after miracle was brought to bear, simply to bring to fruition the promise that the people would live in the land promised to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 10 plagues would be brought against the people of Egypt, and when they finally left slavery, the sea that stood as a barrier to their escape would be divided, and when the army of Pharaoh pursued them, they would be confused and delayed and eventually completely destroyed. The people were given the commandments of God directly from God; they were fed on a daily basis with no interruption; water was provided out of solid rock; they defeated enemy after enemy, and for 40 years, God, in the image of a cloud and a column of fire, lead them through the wilderness.
And in spite of their corporate unfaithfulness and constant grumbling, they finally reached the Jordan and in another miraculous moment, this last water barrier was also defeated and the people would be able to enter their promised home. Did the nation have something to remember? I should say so!!!
There would be many memorials given to this journey, and hundreds of years later, the Psalmist would memorialize the journey this way.
Read Psalm 114:5-8
Remember? How could they ever forget? But the stones would still be set up as “a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Standing stones – not the miracle itself, but a tribute to the miracles of God. It’s been said that we can “choose to throw stones, to stumble on them, to climb over them, or to build with them.” In this case, Israel chose to build with them.
Read Joshua 4:8-9
But stones can’t talk, can they. They can’t tell the story – the significance – of how they came to be where they are. A stranger who doesn’t know how and why they have been placed in such a manner can only wonder about them. Don’t you wish the stones had a voice? That they could regale us with the entire wonderful experience?
My friends, that is why we need to take the place of those stones. Every one of us has been the recipient of God’s blessings throughout our lives. Oh, yes, we’ve grumbled, we’ve created our own disastrous detours, we’ve sinned, we’ve failed the Lord over and over again, and even in our faithlessness, our blessed Lord has remained faithful to us and has continued to work his wonders in our lives. We must be the “Standing Stones” of today. Amen?
And so, I have to ask, when was the last time you shared a witness with someone else? When was the last time that someone saw you as a memorial to the glory and majesty of our God?
I love stories about Mother Teresa, because she is one of the great witnesses, one of the great “Standing Stones” of all time. This is how one of those stories goes:
When Mother Teresa first began her work among the dying on the streets of Calcutta, she was obstructed at every turn by government officials and orthodox Hindus, who were suspicious of her motives and used their authority to harass her and to frustrate her efforts. She and her fellow sisters were insulted and threatened with physical violence. One day a shower of stones and bricks rained down on the women as they tried to bring the dying to their humble shelter. Eventually Mother Teresa dropped to her knees before the mob. “Kill me!” she cried in Bengali, her arms outstretched in a gesture of crucifixion, “And I'll be in heaven all the sooner.” The rabble withdrew but soon the harassment increased with even more irrational acts of violence and louder demands were made of officials to expel the foreign nun in her white sari, wearing a cross around the neck.
One morning, Mother Teresa noticed a gathering of people outside the nearby Kali Temple, one of the holy places for Hindus in Calcutta. As she drew closer, she saw a man stretched out on the street with turned-up eyes and a face drained of blood. A triple braid denoted that he was of the Brahmin caste, not of the temple priests. No one dared to touch him, for people recognized he was dying from cholera.
Mother Teresa went to him, bent down, took the body of the Brahmin priest in her arms and carried him to her shelter. Day and night she nursed him, and eventually he recovered. Over and over again he would say to the people, “For 30 years I have worshipped a Kali of stone. But I have met in this gentle woman a real Kali, a Kali of flesh and blood.” Never again were stones thrown at Mother Teresa and the other sisters.
--Donald J. Shelby, Weakness and Power, 22 December 1991, Santa Monica, California.
Now I have to admit that there aren’t a lot of people around with the faith and fortitude of a Mother Teresa, but what an incredible witness! But even if we aren’t quite as courageous as this marvelous lady, we have to take a stand, none the less. The priests of Israel had to take that risky step into the raging waters of the Jordan. The prophets of Israel had to carry the message that the nation had to change their ways – a not very popular message at that. The disciples would be called to carry their witness to the gospel into a world that would hate them for it. The early church would grow by leaps and bounds, even as they were being persecuted to the fullest extent of worldly force. Each and every one of these would become “Standing Stones” in their own right. They are living memorials to what Almighty God can truly do.
So when will we start? When do we accept the call to be a flesh and blood, a living “Stone”? Not one that weaves and bends to the changing winds of the world, not one that hides in the middle of a gravel pit, surrounded by a lot of other anonymous stones, but one who takes a stand in plain sight for the entire world, and proclaims in no uncertain terms, that Jesus Christ is Lord, and he wants to be their Lord, too.
Will you become a new and living “Stone” for Christ today?
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