Jeremiah 2:4-13
Sermon #1005
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Let Us Say…”
Last Sunday we read about Jeremiah’s call from God, a call weighted by God’s knowledge of Jeremiah’s birth and appointment to be a prophet to the nations. Today we get a picture of what Jeremiah has been called into and his message to proclaim. We pick up at verse four: Hear the word of the Lord. My message to day is about that word, but also about words, about rhetoric, about speeches, about the things that are said and some things that are not said.
I am a believer in the sacred rhetoric of the Bible. The words matter. The sentences matter. The speeches matter. It all matters because our faith is dependent on the testimony given us through all the faithful witnesses of the Bible. What is said in the Bible matters. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, in his greatest work to date, has given nearly 800 pages of Old Testament theology based on the testimony of Israel, based solely on the rhetoric of the Bible. That is not necessarily a new perspective, but the church has in some ways given up on the rhetoric of the Bible. We have shifted from what the Bible says to what can be said about the Bible or what we want to say and then using the Bible as a proof text. We treat the Bible without regard for its power and read it as if it were a normal book instead of our sacred inspired text. We would do well to learn from Mary in Luke’s gospel: “Let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Mary trusted in the word given, in the proclamation, in what was said. An angel told her that she would bear a son even when that not only seemed impossible, but was impossible from a human point of view. But she believed in the word spoken.
Jeremiah is given something to say; he is given a word from the Lord, and it is not pleasant: (Jer. 2:5) Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the LORD: "What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?" This is an indictment against the house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. No one is not-guilty. They have all strayed from the Lord and have gone after worthless things and in going after them, they have become like the very things they seek; they have become worthless! Thomas Steagald notes: “The theological irony at the heart of Jeremiah is shown in sharp relief: the chosen of God have chosen other gods, have shunned God’s purposes, even if it meant shunning God’s provision. Now whatever provision they have made for themselves is at an end. They desire less than the Almighty, and that, Jeremiah says, is exactly what they have: gods who are no gods, who cannot hear or answer prayers, who cannot save them, now that calamity is upon them” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 4, p. 6).
When I read Jeremiah’s word from the Lord so long ago, I wonder, could this not be an indictment against us? We pursue worthless things all the time in an effort to find fulfillment, to find something that will fill our void within, to find something that can we believe will make us happy. We look to food to not only fill our bellies but to somehow fill the sense of despair or to alleviate depression or relieve our sadness. We look to entertainment to escape the pressures of the day or to bring us a sense of relaxation that never really relaxes. Nothing wrong with food or entertainment, don’t get me wrong, but when anything like a double cheeseburger or Star Trek begin to replace God, then…then we fall under this indictment from the mouth of Jeremiah. What gods are we pursuing? The Psalmist knew:
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They (the idols) have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them” (Psalm 135:15-18).
Pursue worthless things and become worthless yourself. Does that mean when we pursue holy things we become holy? Jesus thought so, Matthew 6:33, “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” The apostle Paul must have thought so as well: “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Col. 3:1-4).
How much are we pursuing the things of God and how much are we pursuing the things of the world?
It is a question worth exploring. We think we are pursuing God but the temptation for the things of the world are so very powerful that we sometimes lose our focus and we lose our foundational point of reference. 1 John says it this way: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
The apostle Paul says: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
The indictment from Jeremiah goes on: They did not say, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?"
God's people failed to give the testimony, to tell the story, to recite the songs of deliverance. The did not say! They forgot God and the story of the exodus where God brought them out of slavery in order to bring them in to a plentiful land.
“I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.”
Don't you just hate it when that happens? You give somebody something, and they tear it up or disregard it as if it didn't matter that the gift was something given out of your kindness or that you gave it out of love or that you cared for them. Or God forbid they re-gifted it to someone else!
It was bad enough that the people did not respond with love and obedience, but now the leaders do not even care about God, they do not know God anymore, so much so that they are going after other gods, Baal is their god, and they seek that which is worthless.
The priests did not say, "Where is the LORD?" Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.
Therefore once more I accuse you, says the LORD, and I accuse your children's children.
That’s very deep – to the children’s children. Once more I accuse you. This is not the first time Israel has gone astray. God has forgive time and time again, so that the phrase "once more I accuse you," is repeated a number of times in Israel's history.
Then Jeremiah gives an example:
Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? (Do other nations give up on their gods, gods that have no life, no power?) But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, (the heavens are called in to witness this shocking development) for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
A cistern is an underground chamber where water is stored. It was built to catch rainwater to use during the dry season for people and for animals. The people would make a limestone plaster to waterproof the cisterns and would lower a jar through the mouth of the cistern to get to the water. The limestone plaster needed regular repair and the cistern often needed cleaning. The indictment against Israel is that they have dug cisterns for life apart from God. They believe that they can live on their own or with other gods to care for and protect them.
Now, what if Jeremiah were alive today and saying these words? To take that one step further, we trust that God's word is alive so that this word is a word for today and not just ancient script without relevance for us.
Hear the word of God as an indictment against a nation. We are as a nation trying to dig our own cisterns of technology, science, economics, capitalism to hold the waters we trust to give life, but do not. We act for the sake of national security, for the sake of the world's supply of oil, for the protection of our affluent way of life. We act, as a nation, with lip service to God (if even that anymore) but with faith in government or democracy or other things rather than in the gospel. Many are trying to erase God from the public square. Replace it with humanism, with other gods, with empty promises that will never bring life. Think about the cisterns we dig…entertainment, sexuality, love, self, information, tolerance, political correctness, you can insert your thoughts on this.
Hear the word of God as an indictment against the church. We have, as a church, dug out our cisterns of theologies and traditions and dogmas that we trust to give life only to find that they are empty of life. We have forgotten that faith is lived on the edge. We have forgotten that the life of discipleship is filled with risk and wonder and mystery. We have forgotten our story to the point that we have very little to say as a church or denomination. We instead pursue endless debate on issues or we form a committee, or, God forbid, a task force!
Hear the word of God as an indictment against persons. We hold fast to our own ways, digging cisterns of security and economic stability and trusting in our selves to make things work only to find that none of that holds water.
The only water for life is found in Jesus Christ and the cistern we dig is within our hearts. All else is broken and in need of repair. We cannot hold the water for life in the bank or in our possessions or in our being cool or in achievement. Only in Jesus Christ, only in the God who is the fountain of living water will we live.
In nation, church, or self, we forget where the true living waters flow. We seek other gods to fill our needs for love, companionship, hope, and security. But those gods lead us away from the very water that gives us life and into empty jugs of dry, lifeless, broken dreams and promises.
Life is found in the remembrance of God's mighty deeds in Israel's history and in the history of the church through Jesus Christ and in the history of our lives in the work of the Holy Spirit. Parker Palmer states, "The word remember literally means to re-member, to reunite that hidden wholeness in us and in our world that is so easily torn apart by powers within and around us. (We) refuse to allow (ourselves) and (our) action(s) to be dis-membered by the forces of fragmentation" (The Active Life, p.62-63).
This world will tear us apart. Human reason will tear us apart. Relying solely on anything else but God will tear us apart.
This is why we come to worship. We tell the stories again and again. We return to the living waters offered by Jesus at the well of life. There is no other source for life but Jesus. There is no other cistern that will hold water for life. We need not trade for other gods in hopes that something better will come along. This is the God of life, the God of living waters. If we sell out to the gods of this world, if we dig out cisterns from the make up of the world's systems, we will soon find they are structurally unsound, filled with holes that leak out all of the poisoned waters that we thought would sustain us.
The people Jeremiah addressed did not remember or recite the story of God’s deliverance and provision. The leaders did not remember or recite the word of the Lord. The danger is that when we fail to remember and recite our words of faith, we run the risk of forsaking God and making our own water tanks, broken tanks, broken jugs, broken cisterns that eventually fail.
So let us say, "Where is the Lord who brought us out of our bondage to sin and death? Let us seek no other gods but only the God who is the fountain of living water. Let us not go after worthless things, but seek God who brings meaning to our lives and joy to our hearts. Let us give testimony to this God, for our God is the giver of life.
Let us say…Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life…
Let us say…Jesus Christ is Lord.
Let us say…the good news of salvation, He is risen.
Let us say…the biblical stories that shape who we are, that form us into disciples of Jesus Christ.
And let us keep saying it and say it again, and again, until we hear it ourselves and others hear it deep within their souls. Let us come together every Sabbath day to remember and recite the words, the sentences, the confessions, the testimonies of God. This is why we are here today, saying the words of life, bringing to our remembrance the source of our lives. By saying, by reciting, by hearing and remembering the story of God we pray that we would not fall under this indictment of Jeremiah, that we would not pursue worthless things and become worthless ourselves, that we would not commit the evils of forsaking God and digging out our own way of life apart from the God who gives us the living water.
Let us say…let us seek…let us pursue, saying the gospel, seeking the Lord, pursuing the things of God. And we will know the living water that only God can and will provide. Amen.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sunday Sermon
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Sermon # 1004
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Tearing Down and Building Up!”
One of my favorite discoveries, one of the most exciting things to find is a theme that moves from the Old Testament, through the New Testament, and then into our lives. I guess I love it so much because it confirms the great work of God and the beauty of how God’s order is created and blessed. One of these themes is found in Jeremiah, particularly in verse ten of today's passage: "See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." I want us to focus today on the theme of tearing down and building up.
These are powerful images, disturbing images for nations and kingdoms. How might Jeremiah receive the news that he is the one to deliver this message? Before we go there we see that Jeremiah is, at first, reluctant. God lays a lot at Jeremiah’s feet in the first speech God gives: “I formed you in the womb, I knew you even before that!” “I consecrated you and I appointed you.” Jeremiah does not receive the information of God’s initial speech very well, at least, not in a way we might think appropriate. Should he not be amazed like we are…God formed him, knew him, consecrated him, appointed him? When we read that we are amazed. Should not Jeremiah also be amazed and awed by what God has said? He instead rejects God’s speech: now wait a minute, Lord, I cannot speak for you, I am just a boy.
Teach Sunday School? Now wait a minute Lord, I don’t have the knowledge. Serve as an elder? Lord, I don’t have time for that? Give of my time and resources? Lord, I work hard for what I have! We all find reasons to reject God’s call. We might not even affirm that God calls us, it sounds so large “GOD’S CALL!” Maybe we see the enormity of God’s call to Jeremiah and it strikes fear in us that God might call us to something so large in our eyes that we cannot imagine heeding that call.
Jeremiah actually represents the agenda of God. The prophet's life reflects the divine life of God. As Terence Fretheim puts it: "to hear and see the prophet was to hear and see God." For instance, just look at the words…the reason God can say to Jeremiah and to Israel that he has appointed Jeremiah over nations and kingdoms is because God is the one over nations and kingdoms. God says: "I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." The words are God’s words; the appointment is from the only one who has the authority to appoint such a role.
The theme of the book of Jeremiah is found in the six verbs: to pluck up, to pull (or tear) down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build and to plant. The sin of Israel will bring an uprooting of their vineyards, a tearing down of their buildings and homes, a destruction of their cities, an overthrow of their government. The sin: the people of God were running from God, they even went so far as to forget God and the worst, the worst thing they could do – forgetting that they had forgotten. Now that is a long way from the loving obedient people God had intended.
So the prophet is sent, to speak the words of God, to be appointed over the nations of the world to call them back home, to warn them of their amnesia, to ask them to repent of their sin. But they did not listen.
Jeremiah, who is known as the weeping prophet because Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonian Empire, Jeremiah is reluctant because he is young and unable to speak. Imagine yourself as a prophet appointed over the nations, over the United States, to bring words of warning – to pluck up, to tear down, to uproot, to destroy, to overthrow. Those are words of treason, words of threat, “them's fightin' words”. But that was Jeremiah's task, and nobody was listening.
Sounds like the church in some ways, well at least the part of the church that is saying something. We have the gospel to tell, we have the truth to speak, but nobody is listening, at least not nations and kingdoms. Instead the church seems to be listening to the world more than to the gospel. Words like tolerance have become the gospel of the world and the church has adopted that word over the gospel of Christ, in my opinion.
Jeremiah lived at a time when God's people bore the penalty for their sin. They were exiled and a powerful empire ruled over them. This is difficult for us to understand, we have never had such an experience of displacement. Or maybe we have: perhaps we have felt displaced when forces outside our control change our lives. Perhaps we have been displaced when our world is thrown into chaos by a job loss or a death or a broken relationship. Perhaps we know something of displacement when an experience causes us to ask: will I ever see the light at the end of the tunnel?
Jeremiah’s charge was to bring words of calamity: pluck up…I think of pulling a plant up by its roots, pull down or tear down…like tearing down a building, destroy…like totaling your car, overthrown…a system, a nation, a governments get overthrown. Imagine a young boy, Jeremiah, given these kinds of words for the world! Yikes!
The good news: Jeremiah was not just full of destruction words. He also spoke of building and planting. Israel will have a future despite their transgressions. The book of Jeremiah restates these words of God in chapter 31:28, "And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD." There will be a new covenant and God's people will know the Lord and sins will be forgiven and remembered no more.
I spoke earlier of this theme reverberating in the New Testament, the theme of tearing down and building up is repeated in the person of Jesus Christ. The people of God do not bear their sins, Jesus does. In his suffering and death, he is torn down. You may recall the claim the Pharisees made against Jesus when they said: "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days'" (Mat 26:61). Words of destruction and words of rebuilding! Jeremiah echoes through the words of the Jesus.
He was of course talking about his body, destroyed and resurrected. And we might even carry that further when we talk about the church…not the physical building or the temple, but the practices, methods, laws, rules, and the function of the people of God. All of that would be torn down with Jesus and be built up again in his resurrection. We may even reflect that all the great reformations and revivals of the church involve a tearing down and a building up.
This theme is found in Jesus teaching for discipleship: "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Mat 16:25). You have to lose your life to find it. You have to tear down the old to build the new. You have to uproot in order to plant. You have to die in order to live! “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).
This is the theme carried from the days of Jeremiah, to the life of Jesus Christ, into the life of the church, and into our very lives - to pluck up, to tear down, to destroy to overthrow, to build and to plant. Death and resurrection, exile and homecoming, dying with Christ to live, baptized into his death and raised to new life in the resurrection.
The wisdom literature knows this: there is "a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted" (Eccl.3.2). Perhaps there have been times in your life when everything seemed to be uprooted, now is the time to replant. There have been times when our lives were crumbled, the promise is for a time to build!
A major theme in the New Testament for the church is to build up and to plant. Jesus has taken the tearing down and the uprooting upon himself. Paul echoes this in his letters: “Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it” (2 Cor. 10:8).
“Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves before you? We are speaking in Christ before God. Everything we do, beloved, is for the sake of building you up” (2 Cor 12:19).
“from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love” (Eph 4:16).
“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29).
The task of the church is build up. There is no need for us to be tearing each other down. If such a tearing down is necessary, God will take care of that. For those of us who believe, the tearing down was accomplished at our baptism: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-4).
We have been buried, torn down, destroyed, and raised up, built up, replanted so that we might walk in the newness of life, the newness of life, what a great phrase and image!
It is amazing to me that this theme, tearing down and building up, has been a part of God's interaction with people even from the beginning, ever since Adam and Eve were tossed out of the garden. We can see this theme working its way through the tradition, perhaps most emphatically in the days of Jeremiah, but also working its way through our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. There are times when we may be dying to something in order to be raised to new life. There may be times when we are being plucked up so that we can be planted again. There may be times when we are even called by God to some form of service, some use of our gifts, some sacrifice of resources. The good news in all this is that God also knows us, has consecrated us as his own, and has indeed called us to do his will. The good news is that just as God told Jeremiah he also tells us: “Do not be afraid…for I am with you to deliver you” (Jer. 1:8). Give thanks to God for his call, his presence, and his deliverance. Give thanks to God that he continues to tear us down so that we can be built back up, dying and rising with Christ, dying to the old self that we might become the new creation. There are many ways to interpret this theme for our context: as a word to us as individuals (to lose our life in order to save it), as a word to the church (that may be torn down in order to build it back up), as a word to our nation, to society, culture, government (that could be destroyed in order to be replanted).
This is a great theme of the Bible, for life, for hope, for our consideration this day. Amen.
Sermon # 1004
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Tearing Down and Building Up!”
One of my favorite discoveries, one of the most exciting things to find is a theme that moves from the Old Testament, through the New Testament, and then into our lives. I guess I love it so much because it confirms the great work of God and the beauty of how God’s order is created and blessed. One of these themes is found in Jeremiah, particularly in verse ten of today's passage: "See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." I want us to focus today on the theme of tearing down and building up.
These are powerful images, disturbing images for nations and kingdoms. How might Jeremiah receive the news that he is the one to deliver this message? Before we go there we see that Jeremiah is, at first, reluctant. God lays a lot at Jeremiah’s feet in the first speech God gives: “I formed you in the womb, I knew you even before that!” “I consecrated you and I appointed you.” Jeremiah does not receive the information of God’s initial speech very well, at least, not in a way we might think appropriate. Should he not be amazed like we are…God formed him, knew him, consecrated him, appointed him? When we read that we are amazed. Should not Jeremiah also be amazed and awed by what God has said? He instead rejects God’s speech: now wait a minute, Lord, I cannot speak for you, I am just a boy.
Teach Sunday School? Now wait a minute Lord, I don’t have the knowledge. Serve as an elder? Lord, I don’t have time for that? Give of my time and resources? Lord, I work hard for what I have! We all find reasons to reject God’s call. We might not even affirm that God calls us, it sounds so large “GOD’S CALL!” Maybe we see the enormity of God’s call to Jeremiah and it strikes fear in us that God might call us to something so large in our eyes that we cannot imagine heeding that call.
Jeremiah actually represents the agenda of God. The prophet's life reflects the divine life of God. As Terence Fretheim puts it: "to hear and see the prophet was to hear and see God." For instance, just look at the words…the reason God can say to Jeremiah and to Israel that he has appointed Jeremiah over nations and kingdoms is because God is the one over nations and kingdoms. God says: "I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." The words are God’s words; the appointment is from the only one who has the authority to appoint such a role.
The theme of the book of Jeremiah is found in the six verbs: to pluck up, to pull (or tear) down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build and to plant. The sin of Israel will bring an uprooting of their vineyards, a tearing down of their buildings and homes, a destruction of their cities, an overthrow of their government. The sin: the people of God were running from God, they even went so far as to forget God and the worst, the worst thing they could do – forgetting that they had forgotten. Now that is a long way from the loving obedient people God had intended.
So the prophet is sent, to speak the words of God, to be appointed over the nations of the world to call them back home, to warn them of their amnesia, to ask them to repent of their sin. But they did not listen.
Jeremiah, who is known as the weeping prophet because Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonian Empire, Jeremiah is reluctant because he is young and unable to speak. Imagine yourself as a prophet appointed over the nations, over the United States, to bring words of warning – to pluck up, to tear down, to uproot, to destroy, to overthrow. Those are words of treason, words of threat, “them's fightin' words”. But that was Jeremiah's task, and nobody was listening.
Sounds like the church in some ways, well at least the part of the church that is saying something. We have the gospel to tell, we have the truth to speak, but nobody is listening, at least not nations and kingdoms. Instead the church seems to be listening to the world more than to the gospel. Words like tolerance have become the gospel of the world and the church has adopted that word over the gospel of Christ, in my opinion.
Jeremiah lived at a time when God's people bore the penalty for their sin. They were exiled and a powerful empire ruled over them. This is difficult for us to understand, we have never had such an experience of displacement. Or maybe we have: perhaps we have felt displaced when forces outside our control change our lives. Perhaps we have been displaced when our world is thrown into chaos by a job loss or a death or a broken relationship. Perhaps we know something of displacement when an experience causes us to ask: will I ever see the light at the end of the tunnel?
Jeremiah’s charge was to bring words of calamity: pluck up…I think of pulling a plant up by its roots, pull down or tear down…like tearing down a building, destroy…like totaling your car, overthrown…a system, a nation, a governments get overthrown. Imagine a young boy, Jeremiah, given these kinds of words for the world! Yikes!
The good news: Jeremiah was not just full of destruction words. He also spoke of building and planting. Israel will have a future despite their transgressions. The book of Jeremiah restates these words of God in chapter 31:28, "And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD." There will be a new covenant and God's people will know the Lord and sins will be forgiven and remembered no more.
I spoke earlier of this theme reverberating in the New Testament, the theme of tearing down and building up is repeated in the person of Jesus Christ. The people of God do not bear their sins, Jesus does. In his suffering and death, he is torn down. You may recall the claim the Pharisees made against Jesus when they said: "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days'" (Mat 26:61). Words of destruction and words of rebuilding! Jeremiah echoes through the words of the Jesus.
He was of course talking about his body, destroyed and resurrected. And we might even carry that further when we talk about the church…not the physical building or the temple, but the practices, methods, laws, rules, and the function of the people of God. All of that would be torn down with Jesus and be built up again in his resurrection. We may even reflect that all the great reformations and revivals of the church involve a tearing down and a building up.
This theme is found in Jesus teaching for discipleship: "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Mat 16:25). You have to lose your life to find it. You have to tear down the old to build the new. You have to uproot in order to plant. You have to die in order to live! “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).
This is the theme carried from the days of Jeremiah, to the life of Jesus Christ, into the life of the church, and into our very lives - to pluck up, to tear down, to destroy to overthrow, to build and to plant. Death and resurrection, exile and homecoming, dying with Christ to live, baptized into his death and raised to new life in the resurrection.
The wisdom literature knows this: there is "a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted" (Eccl.3.2). Perhaps there have been times in your life when everything seemed to be uprooted, now is the time to replant. There have been times when our lives were crumbled, the promise is for a time to build!
A major theme in the New Testament for the church is to build up and to plant. Jesus has taken the tearing down and the uprooting upon himself. Paul echoes this in his letters: “Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it” (2 Cor. 10:8).
“Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves before you? We are speaking in Christ before God. Everything we do, beloved, is for the sake of building you up” (2 Cor 12:19).
“from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love” (Eph 4:16).
“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29).
The task of the church is build up. There is no need for us to be tearing each other down. If such a tearing down is necessary, God will take care of that. For those of us who believe, the tearing down was accomplished at our baptism: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-4).
We have been buried, torn down, destroyed, and raised up, built up, replanted so that we might walk in the newness of life, the newness of life, what a great phrase and image!
It is amazing to me that this theme, tearing down and building up, has been a part of God's interaction with people even from the beginning, ever since Adam and Eve were tossed out of the garden. We can see this theme working its way through the tradition, perhaps most emphatically in the days of Jeremiah, but also working its way through our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. There are times when we may be dying to something in order to be raised to new life. There may be times when we are being plucked up so that we can be planted again. There may be times when we are even called by God to some form of service, some use of our gifts, some sacrifice of resources. The good news in all this is that God also knows us, has consecrated us as his own, and has indeed called us to do his will. The good news is that just as God told Jeremiah he also tells us: “Do not be afraid…for I am with you to deliver you” (Jer. 1:8). Give thanks to God for his call, his presence, and his deliverance. Give thanks to God that he continues to tear us down so that we can be built back up, dying and rising with Christ, dying to the old self that we might become the new creation. There are many ways to interpret this theme for our context: as a word to us as individuals (to lose our life in order to save it), as a word to the church (that may be torn down in order to build it back up), as a word to our nation, to society, culture, government (that could be destroyed in order to be replanted).
This is a great theme of the Bible, for life, for hope, for our consideration this day. Amen.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Sunday Sermon
Sermon # 1003
Luke 12:32-40
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Ready and Active”
It is really hard to be ready for something you have never done or experienced. No matter how much pre-marriage counseling you do, nothing really prepares you for marriage. No matter how many books you read on the subject, nothing prepares you for having a baby. No matter the preparation, the death of a loved one is never easy. Life’s event, experienced for the first time, can only be truly known when experienced.
Jesus says to be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. How does one prepare for the coming of the Lord? How do we even imagine what that day will be like? Is it just a matter of making sure we are saved? Is it selling all our possessions and giving away the money? Is it prizing only that which we receive from heaven and nothing of this world? What does it take to be ready?
This passage reveals a few ways to be ready and prepare:
First preparation: do not be afraid (or worry).
Luke 12:4-7 do not be afraid, even the hairs on your head are numbered. God cares for us, so much so that the hairs on our head are numbered! And the good news is, it doesn’t matter how many hairs are left up there! God is working in the details of our lives.
Luke 12:8-12 do not worry about what you will say in defense of the gospel. I know many people do worry about what they might say if anyone asks them about their faith. What if I say something wrong? Do I need to prepare something? Jesus says do not worry about that, the Holy Spirit will teach you. Can we trust in that? I hope so. It certainly helps when we know the scriptures and give the Holy Spirit more to work with, but Jesus says do not worry about what you will say. I trust in that promise every Sunday!
Luke 12:13-21 do not worry about what you will eat or wear. Oh, how we worry about what we will eat or wear. Everything we see in advertising seeks to cause us to worry about what we will eat or wear. Teens have been led to believe they have to wear the name brand clothes. Adults are not much better at this. We feel the pressure to wear the right clothes or eat at the best places.
First, do not be afraid, do not worry.
Second preparation: Jesus begins today’s reading with the command: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. Receive the gift of the kingdom. This passage is filled with reassurance of God’s great provision and providence. God “our Father”, God’s “good pleasure”, giver of the kingdom, treasures in heaven, the return of the Son of Man. The kingdom is not just a pie in the sky heavenly realm, but a Lordship of Christ reign right now, in our lives. Imagine our lives within the kingdom of God. Is it a “pie in the sky” perspective to live in a thought process of the kingdom of God? -That we really can live in peace – that we can love, show kindness, live without fear and anxiety? So many times I hear people say living in God’s kingdom just isn’t our reality.
Jesus says it is God’s pleasure to give us the kingdom. When we talk like this, like Jesus, we are challenged to live in the real world – what is the real world? If there were any Presbyterians in the crowd when Jesus talked about the kingdom, I think they would have said or thought: Come on, Jesus, we live in the “real world”. Jesus is probably shaking his head saying: my kingdom is the real world. It is a kingdom where people are able to receive what God has given, where people can sell what they have and give alms, they make bags that do not wear out because they store in it the things of heaven. It is a strange kingdom because we are so wrapped up in the kingdoms of this world and we cannot imagine living anywhere else.
Second prep: receive the kingdom.
Third preparation: Be ready to receive the blessings of God. Receiving what Jesus gives us in Luke 12 requires that we change the way we think, it takes a conversion of thought. Perhaps the only way that can happen is by setting as a priority the next preparation.
Fourth preparation: the things of God take priority over all else. This is what gets us to a position to receive God’s kingdom and God’s blessings as the true reality. Treasure the things of heaven. Jesus says in Luke 12:31 strive for his kingdom and everything we need in this world will be given to us. Paul writes in Colossians 3: seek the things that are above…set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth (3:1-2). We are called to set our minds on the kingdom. Ways to do this: scripture study, prayer, worship, fellowship, and the like. It takes persistence and discipline to practice spiritual disciplines, but they serve to put us in a place, a condition of spirit and mind to receive the kingdom, to believe what Jesus says.
Sometimes I think about a basketball shooter who shoots a few times early in the game and misses. A good shooter does not let a few misses stop him from shooting. The theory is, if you are cold in your shooting, shoot ‘til you get hot! That is kind of the way I see our trust in what Jesus says to us. If we are having doubts, if we are having trouble believing that the kingdom of God is real, then we need to shoot ‘til we get hot – pray ‘til we do believe, study until we can trust, worship until we are convinced that life can be lived in the kingdom of God.
Fifth preparation: trust that the future is in God’s hands. We can be certain that Jesus will return, but as to the time, we do not know. What we do know is that Jesus says be ready. All this preparation: eliminating fear and anxiety, receiving the kingdom and blessings, focus on the things of God, all of this helps us trust that the future is in God’s hands, for the Son of Man is coming.
Luke 12 is primarily about fear and anxiety in the community of faith. Jesus may have been addressing our general state of fear and anxiety. We are afraid, because we have been conditioned to be afraid. If we were not afraid we would not buy half the stuff we own. If we were not afraid we would not believe half the stuff we are told from the world. We are worried because we do not trust God. It is just that simple. I did not grow up in a traditionally religious home. My father never attended any worship and my mother probably got us to worship 2 times that I can remember. But there was a sense of confidence in our home. There was a sense of trust that things would work out for us. My father built that kind of attitude that when we were struggling or could not immediately work things out as we had hoped, there was always the assurance that things would work out in the end. Yes, it was a vague pronouncement, but it was at least a trust that somehow, everything would work itself out. But it was a blind baseless trust, empty of substance.
Believers, on the other hand, have the greatest promises ever given, and yet, we are afraid and anxious. Jesus knew this. The Bible knows this. The Bible is filled with God and angels and people saying, “do not be afraid” or some variation of that statement. Jesus says in the gospels, “do not worry about your life”, because he knew that we worry, we are fearful. But Luke 12 is really a positive hopeful encouraging passage. Most of the time the end times or the second coming is accompanied with judgment, but here we have a version with blessings, gifts, the kingdom given, and assurances that the good news of his return is indeed good news for our fears and anxieties.
Jesus calls is to live this way – kingdom living – kingdom thinking – kingdom expectations – and every thought Jesus gives us is counter to the way of the world. This is affirmed again in 1 John 2:15-17 where we read: Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever. We have a love relationship with the things in the world. We treasure the things of this world more than anything, but only because we have been unwilling to be ready and active in the things of God. All that loving the world has done is bring the very fear and anxiety that Jesus commands us to give up in order that God might give us the kingdom. []
1 John also reaffirms for us: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (4:18). It is only by God’s love that we can rid ourselves of the fear and anxiety that so permeates our lives. It is only by observing the ways Jesus reveals to us that we can receive the thought process to live in God’s kingdom here and now. Becoming ready and active is not just about “getting saved” or “getting to heaven”, but being ready and active is about being a disciple of Jesus Christ, an apprentice of his life and teachings, his followers who are willing to risk the ways of the world for the ways of God. Readiness is actively following Jesus with all our being. That is our challenge – that is our joy – that is our true reality.
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom…be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
Luke 12:32-40
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Ready and Active”
It is really hard to be ready for something you have never done or experienced. No matter how much pre-marriage counseling you do, nothing really prepares you for marriage. No matter how many books you read on the subject, nothing prepares you for having a baby. No matter the preparation, the death of a loved one is never easy. Life’s event, experienced for the first time, can only be truly known when experienced.
Jesus says to be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. How does one prepare for the coming of the Lord? How do we even imagine what that day will be like? Is it just a matter of making sure we are saved? Is it selling all our possessions and giving away the money? Is it prizing only that which we receive from heaven and nothing of this world? What does it take to be ready?
This passage reveals a few ways to be ready and prepare:
First preparation: do not be afraid (or worry).
Luke 12:4-7 do not be afraid, even the hairs on your head are numbered. God cares for us, so much so that the hairs on our head are numbered! And the good news is, it doesn’t matter how many hairs are left up there! God is working in the details of our lives.
Luke 12:8-12 do not worry about what you will say in defense of the gospel. I know many people do worry about what they might say if anyone asks them about their faith. What if I say something wrong? Do I need to prepare something? Jesus says do not worry about that, the Holy Spirit will teach you. Can we trust in that? I hope so. It certainly helps when we know the scriptures and give the Holy Spirit more to work with, but Jesus says do not worry about what you will say. I trust in that promise every Sunday!
Luke 12:13-21 do not worry about what you will eat or wear. Oh, how we worry about what we will eat or wear. Everything we see in advertising seeks to cause us to worry about what we will eat or wear. Teens have been led to believe they have to wear the name brand clothes. Adults are not much better at this. We feel the pressure to wear the right clothes or eat at the best places.
First, do not be afraid, do not worry.
Second preparation: Jesus begins today’s reading with the command: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. Receive the gift of the kingdom. This passage is filled with reassurance of God’s great provision and providence. God “our Father”, God’s “good pleasure”, giver of the kingdom, treasures in heaven, the return of the Son of Man. The kingdom is not just a pie in the sky heavenly realm, but a Lordship of Christ reign right now, in our lives. Imagine our lives within the kingdom of God. Is it a “pie in the sky” perspective to live in a thought process of the kingdom of God? -That we really can live in peace – that we can love, show kindness, live without fear and anxiety? So many times I hear people say living in God’s kingdom just isn’t our reality.
Jesus says it is God’s pleasure to give us the kingdom. When we talk like this, like Jesus, we are challenged to live in the real world – what is the real world? If there were any Presbyterians in the crowd when Jesus talked about the kingdom, I think they would have said or thought: Come on, Jesus, we live in the “real world”. Jesus is probably shaking his head saying: my kingdom is the real world. It is a kingdom where people are able to receive what God has given, where people can sell what they have and give alms, they make bags that do not wear out because they store in it the things of heaven. It is a strange kingdom because we are so wrapped up in the kingdoms of this world and we cannot imagine living anywhere else.
Second prep: receive the kingdom.
Third preparation: Be ready to receive the blessings of God. Receiving what Jesus gives us in Luke 12 requires that we change the way we think, it takes a conversion of thought. Perhaps the only way that can happen is by setting as a priority the next preparation.
Fourth preparation: the things of God take priority over all else. This is what gets us to a position to receive God’s kingdom and God’s blessings as the true reality. Treasure the things of heaven. Jesus says in Luke 12:31 strive for his kingdom and everything we need in this world will be given to us. Paul writes in Colossians 3: seek the things that are above…set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth (3:1-2). We are called to set our minds on the kingdom. Ways to do this: scripture study, prayer, worship, fellowship, and the like. It takes persistence and discipline to practice spiritual disciplines, but they serve to put us in a place, a condition of spirit and mind to receive the kingdom, to believe what Jesus says.
Sometimes I think about a basketball shooter who shoots a few times early in the game and misses. A good shooter does not let a few misses stop him from shooting. The theory is, if you are cold in your shooting, shoot ‘til you get hot! That is kind of the way I see our trust in what Jesus says to us. If we are having doubts, if we are having trouble believing that the kingdom of God is real, then we need to shoot ‘til we get hot – pray ‘til we do believe, study until we can trust, worship until we are convinced that life can be lived in the kingdom of God.
Fifth preparation: trust that the future is in God’s hands. We can be certain that Jesus will return, but as to the time, we do not know. What we do know is that Jesus says be ready. All this preparation: eliminating fear and anxiety, receiving the kingdom and blessings, focus on the things of God, all of this helps us trust that the future is in God’s hands, for the Son of Man is coming.
Luke 12 is primarily about fear and anxiety in the community of faith. Jesus may have been addressing our general state of fear and anxiety. We are afraid, because we have been conditioned to be afraid. If we were not afraid we would not buy half the stuff we own. If we were not afraid we would not believe half the stuff we are told from the world. We are worried because we do not trust God. It is just that simple. I did not grow up in a traditionally religious home. My father never attended any worship and my mother probably got us to worship 2 times that I can remember. But there was a sense of confidence in our home. There was a sense of trust that things would work out for us. My father built that kind of attitude that when we were struggling or could not immediately work things out as we had hoped, there was always the assurance that things would work out in the end. Yes, it was a vague pronouncement, but it was at least a trust that somehow, everything would work itself out. But it was a blind baseless trust, empty of substance.
Believers, on the other hand, have the greatest promises ever given, and yet, we are afraid and anxious. Jesus knew this. The Bible knows this. The Bible is filled with God and angels and people saying, “do not be afraid” or some variation of that statement. Jesus says in the gospels, “do not worry about your life”, because he knew that we worry, we are fearful. But Luke 12 is really a positive hopeful encouraging passage. Most of the time the end times or the second coming is accompanied with judgment, but here we have a version with blessings, gifts, the kingdom given, and assurances that the good news of his return is indeed good news for our fears and anxieties.
Jesus calls is to live this way – kingdom living – kingdom thinking – kingdom expectations – and every thought Jesus gives us is counter to the way of the world. This is affirmed again in 1 John 2:15-17 where we read: Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever. We have a love relationship with the things in the world. We treasure the things of this world more than anything, but only because we have been unwilling to be ready and active in the things of God. All that loving the world has done is bring the very fear and anxiety that Jesus commands us to give up in order that God might give us the kingdom. []
1 John also reaffirms for us: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (4:18). It is only by God’s love that we can rid ourselves of the fear and anxiety that so permeates our lives. It is only by observing the ways Jesus reveals to us that we can receive the thought process to live in God’s kingdom here and now. Becoming ready and active is not just about “getting saved” or “getting to heaven”, but being ready and active is about being a disciple of Jesus Christ, an apprentice of his life and teachings, his followers who are willing to risk the ways of the world for the ways of God. Readiness is actively following Jesus with all our being. That is our challenge – that is our joy – that is our true reality.
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom…be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Sunday Sermon
Sermon # 1002
August 1, 2010
Deut. 30:11-14; Philippians 4:4-9
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Prayer Shaped Life”
As everyone was leaving the sanctuary last Sunday, I had a few comments on the sermon, not unusual. But there were a few who asked for a follow up on prayer, the “what and how” of prayer. I take it that we agreed that we struggle with prayer, but what I did not offer was a way through the struggle. So this morning we are going to look at scripture and some of the ways people have prayed in the church’s tradition.
There really is not much “instruction” for prayer in the Bible. Last Sunday we probably heard the most well know Bible teaching for prayer when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus gives them, and us, the words for a particular prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus does teach about prayer in the gospels. My paraphrase to another lesson on prayer is “don’t be a jerk!” From Luke 18… “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’”
One rule about prayer: be humble.
In Matthew 6 we have a little different lead into the Lord’s prayer: “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (5-8).
Other rules about prayer: in secret and be sincere.
Most of what we learn about prayer from the Bible is by the prayers of the Bible. One of my favorites is from Ephesians: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19).
Imagine if we took that prayer and offered it with the names inserted of all the people on our prayer list. That that person could be strengthened in his or her inner being, that Christ may dwell in our hearts, that we might know the love of Christ. If we prayed this prayer for one another it would absolutely transform the church and the world.
The early church also sets an example for us on being the church: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
The devotion of the church was to teaching, fellowship, communion together and praying. When I look at churches today, there seems to be a great divide between then and now.
For me, if we want to know the “what and how” of prayer, look to the Psalms. Prayers of confession like Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love…” Prayers of praise like Psalm 146: “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!” Prayers of thanksgiving like Psalm 105: “O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.” Prayers of lament like Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Prayers of confidence like Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd.” Prayers of redemption like Psalm 32: “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Prayers of deliverance like Psalm 59: “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.”
I am not saying that there is a prayer in the Psalms for every circumstance we face, but there is language to express the human condition. There is the appropriate basics of address to God. And there are expressions of waiting, silent waiting like Psalm 62: “For God alone my soul waits in silence.”
In the book Praying the Psalms, Dr. Walter Brueggemann takes our greatest collection of prayers and groups them in three basic categories: orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. Three conditions of the Psalms reflect the human condition. Some prayers, some Psalms are expressions of orientation, when everything in life is going rather well. All is in order and the only real concern is to keep up the obedience and love relationship with God. Psalm 1 is an example: You don’t hang out with the unrighteous, you meditate on the word of God, the good get good stuff and the wicked get bad stuff – just like it should be. But life does not always work out that great and sometimes the wicked get all the good stuff and the righteous get trampled on, like Psalm 88, one of the darkest Psalms of the collection. “my soul is full of trouble…like those who have no help…my eyes grow dim through sorrow.” And there is no resolution in Psalm 88; it ends with friends who shun me and companions who are in darkness. But other Psalms make it through the darkness and arrive at a greatly surprising reorientation, like Psalm 98: “Sing to the Lord a new song…” for God has done marvelous things.
These three categories reveal a larger theme for prayer…life, death, and resurrection. Life = orientation; death = disorientation; resurrection = reorientation. The movement of this prayer follows the movement of the great theme of the Bible. Life – death – resurrection. The Exodus theme: Free – Slaves – Delivered from bondage. It is the theme of the prodigal story…the brother was alive, then dead, and is alive again…kill the fatted calf for a party. Orientation – disorientation – reorientation. Basically this says that our prayers fit in a context. Sometimes we praise God when things are going well. Sometimes we lament over the trouble we see. Sometimes we petition, intercede, give thanks, confess, repent, bless, plead, and sometimes we do many of those things in one prayer. Sometimes we practice A-C-T-S, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. But sometimes we just praise, other times confess, and sometimes we might just sit and say to God: “I just want to be with you.”
How do we pray? There is no one way, no one answer to that question. We can enter into prayer while driving down the road or my laying prostrate in the sanctuary. One might not seem as sacred as the other but both seek to enter into God’s presence. We will be praying today, in the form of hymns, singing prayers; in the form of liturgy, reciting the Lord’s Prayer; in the form of listening, as we open worship to prepare our hearts; in reading scripture we are praying. We learn to pray mostly by praying. We start where we are, with whatever means and understanding we have because that is all we can do. There is no magic formula, no prayer more sacred than another. Some may be more moving to us, more eloquent, more passionate, but God hears them all.
We hear of people who say they heard God or God spoke to me, and we wonder: why don’t I hear God? How do we hear God in prayer? Let me suggest ways to listen for God.
Lectio Divina – spiritual reading, prayerful reading of the Bible…not looking for more information, not looking to teach or preach or gain data, but to enter the word for the purpose of engaging and being engaged by the word of God. The purpose is to read slowly, several times, for the sake of dwelling in the word and letting the word dwell in you. This is not the time to go into detail on how to do this, but there are lots of resources available. Come talk to me!
Journaling – recording our thoughts and hopes and dreams and what not in the form of prayer. Writing God a letter.
Silence – there is a way to quiet our self…let your thoughts run their course, do not try to stop them, but focus on the whisper, the still small voice.
Centering Prayer – focuses the mind on a single word or simple phrase. We sang the Hymn this morning: Holy, Holy, Holy. Centering prayer focuses on a single word or short phrase. Like silent prayer we let our thoughts run through our minds until we can come to a place in our prayer when we are focused on God alone. Sometimes we say quick prayers: “Lord, help me!” Centering prayer is a long exercise, 20 minutes to an hour or longer. It takes discipline and commitment.
Scripture Study – different from spiritual reading, study is to hone the mind, memorize, gather the data, get informed in text after text, one text at a time. If there is one discipline more elevated toward hearing God, this is it! The more texts we know the better we hear. The best spiritual hearing aide is knowing scripture.
Talk it over with someone who listens well, not just in listening to you, but who listens to God. A spiritual friend, someone you admire in the faith.
These are just a few of the ways we seek to hear God in prayer. Let me pause for a word of caution! We also need to take care in listening for God, because not everything is from God that we might think. We have seen much evil done by those who thought they had a word from God and led others to trust in that word only to lead them to destruction. Paul gives warning for instance in 2 Corinthians: “The devil can appear as an angel of light (11:14). We can have very strong feelings that something is from God, but as 1 John reminds us, we need to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Does what we hear contradict scripture? Does what we hear resonant with other believers, with the community of faith, including the tradition, the best thinkers in the faith? It is true that hindsight is 20/20. Many times what we believe God has spoken to us will be revealed later.
Singer and song writer Keith Green begins one song with these words: “Make my life a prayer to you…” Perhaps we can take those words to grow in prayer. Lord, make my life a prayer to you. Is this how we might pray without ceasing? Prayer is a life long journey of address to God, listening to God, seeking God, and response to God seeking us. Prayer is being patient when we feel like all we are doing is talking to the walls. Prayer is devotion to God, obedience to God, words and actions and outbursts and fits of praise, expressions of thanksgiving, and sometimes prayer is being at a loss for words. Prayer is a God-consciousness wherein we think of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit at those moments when we are not thinking of something else. “Lord, make my life a prayer to you.”
My word to you today is to pray. Pray where you are in your understanding of prayer. My word to you today is to seek out teachings on prayer. Learn lectio divina, spiritual reading; learn the prayer of examen where we look back on our day and see where God was in it. Learn as much as you can about the practice of prayer. My word for you today is to pray the scriptures and learn the scriptures so that your prayer life might be greatly enriched. My final word to you today is: do not loose heart, the Holy Spirit is praying for you. Hear this word from the book of Romans:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
That’s us! The saints. The Spirit is praying on our behalf.
There is much to learn about prayer and prayer will indeed shape our lives if we take the time to pray and devote our lives to prayer. Let us thank God in prayer for the gift of prayer. Amen.
August 1, 2010
Deut. 30:11-14; Philippians 4:4-9
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Prayer Shaped Life”
As everyone was leaving the sanctuary last Sunday, I had a few comments on the sermon, not unusual. But there were a few who asked for a follow up on prayer, the “what and how” of prayer. I take it that we agreed that we struggle with prayer, but what I did not offer was a way through the struggle. So this morning we are going to look at scripture and some of the ways people have prayed in the church’s tradition.
There really is not much “instruction” for prayer in the Bible. Last Sunday we probably heard the most well know Bible teaching for prayer when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus gives them, and us, the words for a particular prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus does teach about prayer in the gospels. My paraphrase to another lesson on prayer is “don’t be a jerk!” From Luke 18… “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’”
One rule about prayer: be humble.
In Matthew 6 we have a little different lead into the Lord’s prayer: “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (5-8).
Other rules about prayer: in secret and be sincere.
Most of what we learn about prayer from the Bible is by the prayers of the Bible. One of my favorites is from Ephesians: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19).
Imagine if we took that prayer and offered it with the names inserted of all the people on our prayer list. That that person could be strengthened in his or her inner being, that Christ may dwell in our hearts, that we might know the love of Christ. If we prayed this prayer for one another it would absolutely transform the church and the world.
The early church also sets an example for us on being the church: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
The devotion of the church was to teaching, fellowship, communion together and praying. When I look at churches today, there seems to be a great divide between then and now.
For me, if we want to know the “what and how” of prayer, look to the Psalms. Prayers of confession like Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love…” Prayers of praise like Psalm 146: “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!” Prayers of thanksgiving like Psalm 105: “O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.” Prayers of lament like Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Prayers of confidence like Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd.” Prayers of redemption like Psalm 32: “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Prayers of deliverance like Psalm 59: “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.”
I am not saying that there is a prayer in the Psalms for every circumstance we face, but there is language to express the human condition. There is the appropriate basics of address to God. And there are expressions of waiting, silent waiting like Psalm 62: “For God alone my soul waits in silence.”
In the book Praying the Psalms, Dr. Walter Brueggemann takes our greatest collection of prayers and groups them in three basic categories: orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. Three conditions of the Psalms reflect the human condition. Some prayers, some Psalms are expressions of orientation, when everything in life is going rather well. All is in order and the only real concern is to keep up the obedience and love relationship with God. Psalm 1 is an example: You don’t hang out with the unrighteous, you meditate on the word of God, the good get good stuff and the wicked get bad stuff – just like it should be. But life does not always work out that great and sometimes the wicked get all the good stuff and the righteous get trampled on, like Psalm 88, one of the darkest Psalms of the collection. “my soul is full of trouble…like those who have no help…my eyes grow dim through sorrow.” And there is no resolution in Psalm 88; it ends with friends who shun me and companions who are in darkness. But other Psalms make it through the darkness and arrive at a greatly surprising reorientation, like Psalm 98: “Sing to the Lord a new song…” for God has done marvelous things.
These three categories reveal a larger theme for prayer…life, death, and resurrection. Life = orientation; death = disorientation; resurrection = reorientation. The movement of this prayer follows the movement of the great theme of the Bible. Life – death – resurrection. The Exodus theme: Free – Slaves – Delivered from bondage. It is the theme of the prodigal story…the brother was alive, then dead, and is alive again…kill the fatted calf for a party. Orientation – disorientation – reorientation. Basically this says that our prayers fit in a context. Sometimes we praise God when things are going well. Sometimes we lament over the trouble we see. Sometimes we petition, intercede, give thanks, confess, repent, bless, plead, and sometimes we do many of those things in one prayer. Sometimes we practice A-C-T-S, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. But sometimes we just praise, other times confess, and sometimes we might just sit and say to God: “I just want to be with you.”
How do we pray? There is no one way, no one answer to that question. We can enter into prayer while driving down the road or my laying prostrate in the sanctuary. One might not seem as sacred as the other but both seek to enter into God’s presence. We will be praying today, in the form of hymns, singing prayers; in the form of liturgy, reciting the Lord’s Prayer; in the form of listening, as we open worship to prepare our hearts; in reading scripture we are praying. We learn to pray mostly by praying. We start where we are, with whatever means and understanding we have because that is all we can do. There is no magic formula, no prayer more sacred than another. Some may be more moving to us, more eloquent, more passionate, but God hears them all.
We hear of people who say they heard God or God spoke to me, and we wonder: why don’t I hear God? How do we hear God in prayer? Let me suggest ways to listen for God.
Lectio Divina – spiritual reading, prayerful reading of the Bible…not looking for more information, not looking to teach or preach or gain data, but to enter the word for the purpose of engaging and being engaged by the word of God. The purpose is to read slowly, several times, for the sake of dwelling in the word and letting the word dwell in you. This is not the time to go into detail on how to do this, but there are lots of resources available. Come talk to me!
Journaling – recording our thoughts and hopes and dreams and what not in the form of prayer. Writing God a letter.
Silence – there is a way to quiet our self…let your thoughts run their course, do not try to stop them, but focus on the whisper, the still small voice.
Centering Prayer – focuses the mind on a single word or simple phrase. We sang the Hymn this morning: Holy, Holy, Holy. Centering prayer focuses on a single word or short phrase. Like silent prayer we let our thoughts run through our minds until we can come to a place in our prayer when we are focused on God alone. Sometimes we say quick prayers: “Lord, help me!” Centering prayer is a long exercise, 20 minutes to an hour or longer. It takes discipline and commitment.
Scripture Study – different from spiritual reading, study is to hone the mind, memorize, gather the data, get informed in text after text, one text at a time. If there is one discipline more elevated toward hearing God, this is it! The more texts we know the better we hear. The best spiritual hearing aide is knowing scripture.
Talk it over with someone who listens well, not just in listening to you, but who listens to God. A spiritual friend, someone you admire in the faith.
These are just a few of the ways we seek to hear God in prayer. Let me pause for a word of caution! We also need to take care in listening for God, because not everything is from God that we might think. We have seen much evil done by those who thought they had a word from God and led others to trust in that word only to lead them to destruction. Paul gives warning for instance in 2 Corinthians: “The devil can appear as an angel of light (11:14). We can have very strong feelings that something is from God, but as 1 John reminds us, we need to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Does what we hear contradict scripture? Does what we hear resonant with other believers, with the community of faith, including the tradition, the best thinkers in the faith? It is true that hindsight is 20/20. Many times what we believe God has spoken to us will be revealed later.
Singer and song writer Keith Green begins one song with these words: “Make my life a prayer to you…” Perhaps we can take those words to grow in prayer. Lord, make my life a prayer to you. Is this how we might pray without ceasing? Prayer is a life long journey of address to God, listening to God, seeking God, and response to God seeking us. Prayer is being patient when we feel like all we are doing is talking to the walls. Prayer is devotion to God, obedience to God, words and actions and outbursts and fits of praise, expressions of thanksgiving, and sometimes prayer is being at a loss for words. Prayer is a God-consciousness wherein we think of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit at those moments when we are not thinking of something else. “Lord, make my life a prayer to you.”
My word to you today is to pray. Pray where you are in your understanding of prayer. My word to you today is to seek out teachings on prayer. Learn lectio divina, spiritual reading; learn the prayer of examen where we look back on our day and see where God was in it. Learn as much as you can about the practice of prayer. My word for you today is to pray the scriptures and learn the scriptures so that your prayer life might be greatly enriched. My final word to you today is: do not loose heart, the Holy Spirit is praying for you. Hear this word from the book of Romans:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
That’s us! The saints. The Spirit is praying on our behalf.
There is much to learn about prayer and prayer will indeed shape our lives if we take the time to pray and devote our lives to prayer. Let us thank God in prayer for the gift of prayer. Amen.
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