Sermon # 1032
March 13, 2011
Matthew 4:1-11
James 1:17-27
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Living by the Word”
When Jesus was lead into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, Matthew says it was the Spirit who lead him. It seems amazing to me that the leading factor to Jesus’ temptation story is the Spirit. It reminds me a little of Job’s experience when God allows Satan to have his way with all the Job had, and yet could not touch Job himself. For me, it begs the question of why. Why does Jesus need to be lead into the wilderness to face temptation? It is the question the story of Job seeks to answer – not specifically about Jesus or course, but the “why” question of: why things happen the way they do? Why me? Why do the innocent seem to suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does an earthquake and resulting tsunami happen and bring so much loss of life and destruction?
We have not received answers that satisfy. We leave it up to God knows best or some things are too high for us to know. Mystery is our answer and the only way we can live with such mystery is by faith. As Paul says it: “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). If there is a verse of scripture that has the most modern feel to it, I think it is that we walk by faith and not by sight. Modern life is so oriented to what can been seen.
Jesus was lead into the wilderness. For forty days and nights he fasted. Then, the devil comes to tempt him. Jesus turns away every temptation with a quote from scripture: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3). “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Deut. 6:16). “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him” (Deut. 6:13). The first temptation reminds us that we live not by bread alone, not just by the food we eat, but we live by the word of God. Not only does Jesus quote a verse from Deuteronomy that says we live by the word, but he demonstrates that very point by using the word to resist temptation. Jesus puts into practice what it means to live by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
What helps us live in the mysteries of life? God’s word. What enables us to walk without answers? God’s word. What sustains us in the face of natural disaster or war or sickness or death? God’s word.
By the word everything was created. God said, “Let there be light.” In this speech creation began. In Romans Paul writes that it is God who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (4:17). The call into existence is by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We live and we are alive by the word. It is no small matter that our name is spoken when we are baptized, for in this symbolic act and speaking of our name, a new creation is beginning. In one way we are spoken into existence at our baptism as a new creation.
We proclaim in creation theology that God created everything by speech, a series of words. “Let there be light.” “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters.” When a prophet said, “Thus says the Lord,” everyone knew to listen and listen well. Speech making is extremely important in biblical writings, for it is in speeches that we see much of the action and the density of a passage. Not just in words, but in actions, actions that in essence speak a word. Jesus hanging on the cross is a kind of speech that reveals more than words can say. And, of course, speeches are words, words of encouragement or judgment, hope or despair, promise or threat, and so on.
Speeches usually intend to bring some kind of response or action or new thought to the hearer (and the speaker). The epistle of James, a speech given to believers in exile, is a speech that seeks to get people into action. James does not want a Church that just listens to a word, but a church that responds with actions that speak out those words and even speak louder than words.
James 1:22 – But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
ABC news once did a special on religion in America and told the story of a man who had recently converted to the faith. He read the Bible for the first time in his life and he visited a local church for several weeks and nothing seemed to be going on like he expected. So one Sunday he asked an elder of the church, “when do you do the stuff?”
“The stuff?”
“Yes, the stuff.”
The elder was kind of puzzled, “What stuff?”
“You know, the stuff of the Bible. When do you care for the orphans, fed the hungry, make the blind to see, and multiply the bread? When do you do that stuff?”
The elder responded, “Oh, that, we don’t do that anymore, we just talk about it.”
This new believer raises the question, what ever happened to doing the stuff of the Bible? James seems to be saying we ought to be about doing “the stuff.” Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
Fred Craddock tells the story of a time when he was serving as dean at Phillips Seminary. It was for fifteen months. The secretary said, “There’s someone here to see you.” A woman asked me to come out to the parking lot and to her car. She opened the back door, and slumped in the back seat was her brother. He had been a senior at the University of Oklahoma. He had been in a bad car wreck and in a coma eight months. She had quit her job as a schoolteacher to take care of him. All of their resources were gone. She opened the door and said, “I’d like for you to heal him.”
Fred said, “I can pray for him, and I can pray with you. But I do not have the gift of healing.”
She got behind the wheel and said to him, “Then what in the world do you do?” And she drove off.
Fred says, “What I did that afternoon was study, stare at my books, and try to forget what she had said.”*
Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
James may seem hard after hearing stories that seem to call us to do more than we believe capable. But what we do says a great deal. If we just read the speeches, hear the words, see biblical wonders and do nothing in response, James says we are deceiving ourselves. And we are very, very good at deceiving ourselves. Isn’t it odd how angry we will get when someone else deceives us and yet we so easily overlook our own self-deception? Perhaps that’s because a good deceiver never lets you in on the deception, which is why it works so well, and we, in deceiving ourselves, don’t even realize we are being deceptive, because we are so good at it. So how do we come to know that we are deceiving ourselves when the art of the deception is to never let the deceived in on the deception? Sounds too much like a complex psychological problem.
It is easy to deceive ourselves. James looks at it like a person looking in the mirror and on going away, immediately forgets what he or she looks like.
23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.
We look into a mirror like we look into ourselves; we want to forget what we see. We invite the deception because we dare not look within and find the very deception we so comfortably live with. If we cannot help but be deceived by looking into a mirror, or by looking into the mirror of our soul, where shall we look for the truth? James writes,
25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-- they will be blessed in their doing.
“But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, the law that gives freedom…” God’s word gives us freedom from the self-deception, freedom from forgetting what we see in the mirror on the wall or in the mirror of our life. It is a question of where we look. Do we look to ourselves for the truth? Do we look to human tradition like the Pharisees did in Mark 7? Do we look to our television screens? Do we look to the psychic hotline? Do we look to planets and stars? Do we look to Twitter?
No, we look to the perfect law, perfect because it does not deceive. The word of God stimulates us to look with honesty at ourselves and to act upon what we see and hear in the perfect law. The perfect law reminds us of what we so easily forget, that is, who we are and what we are to do and reminds us that we do not live by bread alone.
Unfortunately, we try to live by whatever best suits our ways, whatever suits our self-deception. Sometimes we live by our wits. Other times we live by our common sense. We might say we live by what our grandpa always said. Or another might live by a particular philosophy of life. But we are deceived if we think that anything outside of God and God’s word will bring us life and blessing.
To use James’ metaphor of the mirror, it is not easy to look into the mirror of God’s word. It is a mirror that reveals the truth about who we are and what we are like. We try to mask ourselves and put on happy faces even when pain grinds away at us. But unlike the mirrors of our homes where we put on our make-up or shave away our rough edges, the mirror of God’s law reveals all our faults.
But that is not all it does. It also reveals that our faces of deceit can be unmasked so that we may be both hearers and doers of God’s word. The Law reveals the forgiveness, the love, the mercy, the faithfulness of God. The word is the power of God to unmask our idolatries and reveal our self-deception.
The life that is open to Truth is one that looks to God’s law, the perfect law that reflects, like a mirror, our life, that reflects God, and self, and hope, and love. This word reflects all Truth.
We may indeed not be able to heal a man in the back seat of a car, or do the “stuff” of miracle, but we can do the word in ways that make those times of miracle possible. For only God can do the “stuff.” James calls us to do the word and God will do the stuff through us.
Do not be deceived by the speeches of this world or by the masks by which we deceive ourselves, but look to God’s word; it is the only way to live in the fullness of life God intends. Amen.
*Story from Craddock Stories, p. 21.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Sermon
Sermon # 1030
March 6, 2011
Hebrews 13:1-8
Dr. Ed Pettus
"No Fear"
Hebrews is a unique book in the New Testament. It is not like the gospels or Acts which tell the story of Christ and the early church, nor is it like the letters that make up the rest of the New Testament that characteristically deal with church issues. Hebrews is more like a sermon filled with exposition and exhortation. The exposition of Hebrews is that of the high priesthood of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial life. Hebrews forms a persuasive argument for who Christ is and what Christ has done in order to build a foundational theology which in turn exhorts Christians on how we are to live and what we are to do. Hebrews 13 is the last chapter of the book and a final "to do list" of exhortations; the final exhortations that seem to be tossed in at the last minute to insure various aspects of the Christian life are included: love, hospitality, remembering people in bondage, marriage, contentment with possessions, Christ’s presence, confidence, leadership, and Christ’s constancy.
This morning’s reading concludes at verse 8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." The entire sermon to the Hebrews has laid out the work of Jesus Christ as priest and sacrifice. As the same Jesus Christ of yesterday, Jesus continues to work today as high priest. As the same Jesus Christ of yesterday and today, Jesus will continue to work as high priest forever. Jesus is the constant One who has spoken the words: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Because of that – we are able to say, “I will not be afraid.” No fear. Imagine a life with no fear because we have such confidence in the abiding presence of Jesus Christ our Lord. No fear.
The injunction of verse 8 seems a bit out of place, but this is the subject of the sermon – Jesus Christ himself and his work and how it affects the Christian life. That means that whatever else is said in this sermon to the Hebrews, it is said because of Christ…because the work and word of Jesus Christ has come, all of life is different. We now relate to one another through love. Marriages are held in honor. We seek contentment with what we have and we can be free from the love of money, but all of these things are not because of something we can do, only because of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us.
Sometimes people affect us in special ways in different areas of our lives. Teachers influence our intellectual development and our desire to learn. Sometimes that may carry over into how we work or how we relate to others. A friend might influence us by talking us into things we would not normally do, but the person of Jesus Christ does more than influence our actions. Jesus makes us different, creates us anew, reshapes, remolds who we are and therefore what we do and how we understand life.
Only Jesus can keep a promise of never leaving or forsaking us. Life does not afford us the ability to keep such promises because anything can happen to us. But Jesus, because he has overcome death, is able to stay with us through anything as Paul tells us: "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ" (Romans 8:39).
Because we are changed from within, our conduct is affected, our relationships are viewed in new ways, and our allegiances change. The power of God enables new things to happen to our lives and in our lives. We can ask ourselves, "Are we confident and faithful enough to be able to say, 'The Lord is our helper, we will not be afraid?'" Are there times when fear runs our lives rather than the Spirit of God guiding us?
We can pray for God to help our unbelief, to help our lack of faith, to give us more and more confidence so that we CAN say:
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"
Not only can we say that, but we can live with the confidence of that statement affecting what we think, and say, and do. We will not be afraid to love, to show hospitality, to honor marriage, and so forth.
Only in Christ are we able to let mutual love continue. God is love and without God we could not continue in love. Only in Christ are we able to show hospitality to strangers. In New Testament times, when Christians traveled they sought out Christians homes where they could rest. We are still called to show hospitality to others as our Christian conduct. Only in Christ could we remember prisoners. The Hebrews exhortation especially includes those who were imprisoned for their faith. We also shall remember those who suffer injustice and bondage of any kind because of faithfulness and for the sake of justice.
The most beautiful marriages are those rooted in Christ, held in honor, without abusive conduct. Only in Christ can we begin to keep free from the love of money and be content with what we have. You can begin to see what Christ means in our lives. The conduct we practice in every area of life is shaped and molded by Christ and his work on the cross and in the resurrection.
The action of Christ permeates the Christian life. Nothing is left untouched by God. There is no area of life where faith is separated. There are no parts of life where God is absent or where God is to be omitted. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever in that he is constantly with us, Emmanuel. Jesus is constant in faithfulness, loyalty, and love.
Therefore our lives of love and honor and faith are shaped and reshaped as we grow and learn more about Christ and his consistency. Our lives become lives of praise to God through right living as described in Hebrews. Our lives become lives of worship through the Christian conduct shaped in Christ. Our lives become sacrifices of praise and glory to the one who makes us his own.
Central to the reading this morning is the promise and confession: "I will never leave you”, resulting in our faithful response: "The Lord is our helper, we will not be afraid." Words have power to shape us. When I was about 12 years old, a coach told me that I would never make it as a quarterback – I didn't have the ability. His words hurt me but also gave me the determination to try my best to prove him wrong. (No, he wasn’t using reverse psychology!)
When someone who loves you tells you you look nice, or complements your efforts, or says anything that makes you feel better about yourself, you tend to gain confidence and feel good about yourself. The words that are spoken to us and by us help to give shape to who we are and how we respond to life. Sticks and stones will break our bones…and words can hurt as well, or they can build us up, building our confidence and trust.
That is why it is so important for us to study the scriptures and to worship. It is here that we say the words of promise and confession. It is here that our lives are reshaped in the image God intended so that we can let mutual love continue or be content with what we have. Without these words of promise we would have little hope for the future. Without these words of confession, we would be at the mercy of the words of the world.
Life comes from the promises of God and from these confessions of faith that we make and that we live by. I do not believe that the author of Hebrews accidentally placed promise and confession in the middle of exhortation. I believe it was intended to show us something about its power for life. Out of the word the world was created and out of the word Jesus brought healing and life and the word is still filled with power for life and healing.
A concern is that our confidence falls short and our fears overcome us. I struggled this past week with what text to preach for today. Hebrews 13 was not a part of the lectionary but I brought it to the Bible study group searching for a message. Part of my struggle has been my concern over the direction of the Presbyterian Church USA in recent years over things like divestment from Israel to this past Tuesday as our Presbytery voted on proposed changes to our constitution. I recognize in myself that fear is one concern, my fear of what will happen, my fears of what it will mean for me personally, but also for our church and for the larger church in general. Change is always difficult for us. We fear the unknown, we fear the unfamiliar, we fear opening our lives and our thoughts to others. I found in this passage from Hebrews a word of encouragement, confidence, and comfort. The Lord may be our helper through this passage in Hebrews. The Lord shows us that we have no need to fear.
As the Bible study group was studying this passage on Wednesday we spoke of the first line, let mutual love continue and how very important we grow in love for God and for one another. But we also noted how fear often prevents us from loving one another and even loving God as we could. The same could be said for showing hospitality, how we fear people, especially in this day and age – so our hospitality suffers due to fear. Or take the issue of money as another example, our culture is obsessed with the love of money. We pine for games like “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” I read part of an article about the Texas lottery and the author joked that the slogan could be: “the family that plays together can claim together”, no doubt mimicking “the family that prays together stays together”. Fear drives us to love money, to hold back our love, and to fail to show hospitality among other things.
I began to look for texts of fear and the Bible has much to say, but one thing the Bible constantly says is “do not fear”.
In Mark 5 Jairus, a synagogue leader, came to Jesus to plead for his daughter who was deathly ill. “While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’” In this instance the counter to fear is belief, trust in Jesus.
When Gabriel appeared before Mary, the angel said: “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). Fear is set aside with the good news that God has shown her grace.
When Israel was in distress, the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name” (43:1).
We are very familiar with the words of Psalm 23 – “even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.”
The antidote for fear is God’s presence, God’s word of encouragement, trust in the Lord, redemption. The word in Hebrews is the promise of constant companionship which gives us confidence to declare that the Lord is our help, we will not be afraid.
Fear is not easy to overcome. It takes prayer, experience, confidence, trust. I have fears over the future of the PCUSA, fears about getting my girls through college, fear that holds love back, fear that I do not know God deeply enough and yet fear to get to God more deeply. I fear publically telling you that I have fears! Such fears will only dissipate through confidence in Christ. I pray that we can gain more and more confidence in Christ our helper who promises to never leave us or forsake us, for in that trust I will not be afraid. In that confidence, we will not be afraid. Amen.
March 6, 2011
Hebrews 13:1-8
Dr. Ed Pettus
"No Fear"
Hebrews is a unique book in the New Testament. It is not like the gospels or Acts which tell the story of Christ and the early church, nor is it like the letters that make up the rest of the New Testament that characteristically deal with church issues. Hebrews is more like a sermon filled with exposition and exhortation. The exposition of Hebrews is that of the high priesthood of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial life. Hebrews forms a persuasive argument for who Christ is and what Christ has done in order to build a foundational theology which in turn exhorts Christians on how we are to live and what we are to do. Hebrews 13 is the last chapter of the book and a final "to do list" of exhortations; the final exhortations that seem to be tossed in at the last minute to insure various aspects of the Christian life are included: love, hospitality, remembering people in bondage, marriage, contentment with possessions, Christ’s presence, confidence, leadership, and Christ’s constancy.
This morning’s reading concludes at verse 8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." The entire sermon to the Hebrews has laid out the work of Jesus Christ as priest and sacrifice. As the same Jesus Christ of yesterday, Jesus continues to work today as high priest. As the same Jesus Christ of yesterday and today, Jesus will continue to work as high priest forever. Jesus is the constant One who has spoken the words: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Because of that – we are able to say, “I will not be afraid.” No fear. Imagine a life with no fear because we have such confidence in the abiding presence of Jesus Christ our Lord. No fear.
The injunction of verse 8 seems a bit out of place, but this is the subject of the sermon – Jesus Christ himself and his work and how it affects the Christian life. That means that whatever else is said in this sermon to the Hebrews, it is said because of Christ…because the work and word of Jesus Christ has come, all of life is different. We now relate to one another through love. Marriages are held in honor. We seek contentment with what we have and we can be free from the love of money, but all of these things are not because of something we can do, only because of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us.
Sometimes people affect us in special ways in different areas of our lives. Teachers influence our intellectual development and our desire to learn. Sometimes that may carry over into how we work or how we relate to others. A friend might influence us by talking us into things we would not normally do, but the person of Jesus Christ does more than influence our actions. Jesus makes us different, creates us anew, reshapes, remolds who we are and therefore what we do and how we understand life.
Only Jesus can keep a promise of never leaving or forsaking us. Life does not afford us the ability to keep such promises because anything can happen to us. But Jesus, because he has overcome death, is able to stay with us through anything as Paul tells us: "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ" (Romans 8:39).
Because we are changed from within, our conduct is affected, our relationships are viewed in new ways, and our allegiances change. The power of God enables new things to happen to our lives and in our lives. We can ask ourselves, "Are we confident and faithful enough to be able to say, 'The Lord is our helper, we will not be afraid?'" Are there times when fear runs our lives rather than the Spirit of God guiding us?
We can pray for God to help our unbelief, to help our lack of faith, to give us more and more confidence so that we CAN say:
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"
Not only can we say that, but we can live with the confidence of that statement affecting what we think, and say, and do. We will not be afraid to love, to show hospitality, to honor marriage, and so forth.
Only in Christ are we able to let mutual love continue. God is love and without God we could not continue in love. Only in Christ are we able to show hospitality to strangers. In New Testament times, when Christians traveled they sought out Christians homes where they could rest. We are still called to show hospitality to others as our Christian conduct. Only in Christ could we remember prisoners. The Hebrews exhortation especially includes those who were imprisoned for their faith. We also shall remember those who suffer injustice and bondage of any kind because of faithfulness and for the sake of justice.
The most beautiful marriages are those rooted in Christ, held in honor, without abusive conduct. Only in Christ can we begin to keep free from the love of money and be content with what we have. You can begin to see what Christ means in our lives. The conduct we practice in every area of life is shaped and molded by Christ and his work on the cross and in the resurrection.
The action of Christ permeates the Christian life. Nothing is left untouched by God. There is no area of life where faith is separated. There are no parts of life where God is absent or where God is to be omitted. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever in that he is constantly with us, Emmanuel. Jesus is constant in faithfulness, loyalty, and love.
Therefore our lives of love and honor and faith are shaped and reshaped as we grow and learn more about Christ and his consistency. Our lives become lives of praise to God through right living as described in Hebrews. Our lives become lives of worship through the Christian conduct shaped in Christ. Our lives become sacrifices of praise and glory to the one who makes us his own.
Central to the reading this morning is the promise and confession: "I will never leave you”, resulting in our faithful response: "The Lord is our helper, we will not be afraid." Words have power to shape us. When I was about 12 years old, a coach told me that I would never make it as a quarterback – I didn't have the ability. His words hurt me but also gave me the determination to try my best to prove him wrong. (No, he wasn’t using reverse psychology!)
When someone who loves you tells you you look nice, or complements your efforts, or says anything that makes you feel better about yourself, you tend to gain confidence and feel good about yourself. The words that are spoken to us and by us help to give shape to who we are and how we respond to life. Sticks and stones will break our bones…and words can hurt as well, or they can build us up, building our confidence and trust.
That is why it is so important for us to study the scriptures and to worship. It is here that we say the words of promise and confession. It is here that our lives are reshaped in the image God intended so that we can let mutual love continue or be content with what we have. Without these words of promise we would have little hope for the future. Without these words of confession, we would be at the mercy of the words of the world.
Life comes from the promises of God and from these confessions of faith that we make and that we live by. I do not believe that the author of Hebrews accidentally placed promise and confession in the middle of exhortation. I believe it was intended to show us something about its power for life. Out of the word the world was created and out of the word Jesus brought healing and life and the word is still filled with power for life and healing.
A concern is that our confidence falls short and our fears overcome us. I struggled this past week with what text to preach for today. Hebrews 13 was not a part of the lectionary but I brought it to the Bible study group searching for a message. Part of my struggle has been my concern over the direction of the Presbyterian Church USA in recent years over things like divestment from Israel to this past Tuesday as our Presbytery voted on proposed changes to our constitution. I recognize in myself that fear is one concern, my fear of what will happen, my fears of what it will mean for me personally, but also for our church and for the larger church in general. Change is always difficult for us. We fear the unknown, we fear the unfamiliar, we fear opening our lives and our thoughts to others. I found in this passage from Hebrews a word of encouragement, confidence, and comfort. The Lord may be our helper through this passage in Hebrews. The Lord shows us that we have no need to fear.
As the Bible study group was studying this passage on Wednesday we spoke of the first line, let mutual love continue and how very important we grow in love for God and for one another. But we also noted how fear often prevents us from loving one another and even loving God as we could. The same could be said for showing hospitality, how we fear people, especially in this day and age – so our hospitality suffers due to fear. Or take the issue of money as another example, our culture is obsessed with the love of money. We pine for games like “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” I read part of an article about the Texas lottery and the author joked that the slogan could be: “the family that plays together can claim together”, no doubt mimicking “the family that prays together stays together”. Fear drives us to love money, to hold back our love, and to fail to show hospitality among other things.
I began to look for texts of fear and the Bible has much to say, but one thing the Bible constantly says is “do not fear”.
In Mark 5 Jairus, a synagogue leader, came to Jesus to plead for his daughter who was deathly ill. “While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’” In this instance the counter to fear is belief, trust in Jesus.
When Gabriel appeared before Mary, the angel said: “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). Fear is set aside with the good news that God has shown her grace.
When Israel was in distress, the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name” (43:1).
We are very familiar with the words of Psalm 23 – “even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.”
The antidote for fear is God’s presence, God’s word of encouragement, trust in the Lord, redemption. The word in Hebrews is the promise of constant companionship which gives us confidence to declare that the Lord is our help, we will not be afraid.
Fear is not easy to overcome. It takes prayer, experience, confidence, trust. I have fears over the future of the PCUSA, fears about getting my girls through college, fear that holds love back, fear that I do not know God deeply enough and yet fear to get to God more deeply. I fear publically telling you that I have fears! Such fears will only dissipate through confidence in Christ. I pray that we can gain more and more confidence in Christ our helper who promises to never leave us or forsake us, for in that trust I will not be afraid. In that confidence, we will not be afraid. Amen.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sermon
Sermon # 1029
February 20, 2011
Ephesians 4:1-16
Dr. Ed Pettus
“God’s Gifts”
I. The Gifts He Gave
Our God is a gift giver. God gives gifts to God’s people – abundant gifts, elaborate gifts, lavished upon us for life. Gifts come from God in a variety of ways. There are spiritual gifts, material gifts, gifts of talents, and gifts we don’t even recognize in our lives, gifts we take for granted, life, breath, health, and love. There are gifts given to us through others – often the person through which the gift is given is unaware that God is using him or her.
We are entrusted with these gifts – called to use them wisely, not to waste our talents or our material goods. We are called to seek out the gifts of the spirit and use them for the ministry. Gifts of hospitality, faith, healing, tongues, prophecy, teaching, pastoring, and many others. Gifts through talents, skills, resources available, and sometimes simply the gift of one’s presence, being here, being with someone in the hospital, being at the ballgame with a young person – just being available.
In today’s reading from Ephesians we see that God gave gifts so that some would be able to serve various roles in the Church. Paul writes some would be:
1. Apostles
2. Prophets
3. Evangelists
4. Pastors
5. Teachers (and if we carried the list out, this is not an exhaustive list);
6. Elders
7. Choir members
8. Sunday School helpers, participants in worship, and a host of others…
Apostles are those sent to do ministry in the name of Christ. Prophets listen for God’s word and notice what is happening in the world in order to proclaim the good and bad that come at the intersection of the Good News of God and the world. Evangelists have a special task of proclaiming the gospel. Pastors care for the church as a shepherd for the sheep. Teachers teach!
Elders are not listed in Ephesians, but the term elder comes from the Greek word presbuterion, which you may quickly notice is the root word for Presbyterian. Elders are also called in the Church for special tasks. The history of elders goes back to the Old Testament when elders were established to govern the people. Moses had too many folks to deal with so elders were chosen from among the people to bear some of the work of judging cases and dealing with problems. The New Testament saints kept this practice alive by appointing elders to serve in the Church. The apostles could not do everything so they chose others of high character to do ministry. Acts 6:1-6 gives one account:
Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait at tables. 3Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.’ 5What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose [seven men]… 6They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
In the Church today elders are chosen by the people, by the congregation, to work with the minister in ministry. They are called to exercise leadership, government, and discipline. They are to be people of faith, dedication, and good judgment. Their life should demonstrate the Christian gospel. Their duties include strengthening the faith and life of the congregation. With the pastor they are to encourage people to worship and serve God, to equip and renew the Church for work and mission, to visit and comfort and care for the people. The Book of Order states that they should cultivate their ability to teach the Bible and in some cases may be authorized to fill in to preach at churches that have no pastor. (G-6.0304a)
It is quite a calling to be an elder. As great as being an apostle, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, because each one has special tasks to do that make up the Church. God gives us all these gifts for a reason, for a purpose. Paul tells us the purpose of these gifts are:
II. Purpose of Gifts
To Equip the Saints
Who are the saints? Too often we think they are dead. Too often we think they are only Catholic. Too often we think they have to perform super spiritual things. Saints are Christians! Saints are you and I. Saints are the Church. The gifts that God gave to some are to equip all of us for two things:
1. for the work of ministry
2. for building the body of Christ
That means that saints, Christians – we are all to be equipped for the work of ministry. It is not just for the pastor to do, not just for the elders to do, not just for apostles, or prophets, or teachers. It is ours together. We are all called, all gifted, and all equipped for ministry. We are not called to sit on the pew and watch everyone else do the work of ministry. We are not called to be pew potatoes like our cousins the couch potatoes. We are called to the ministry – to work – to participate – to experience God through service and worship and prayer and study and a host of other activities.
We are called and equipped to build up the body of Christ. We are not to tear down, to ridicule, to bite one another out of anger and hatred, but to build up. We are to become body builders. We build each other through kind words, through acts of compassion, through care, love, and edification.
Another purpose of the gifts is…
To bring unity
1. in faith
2. in knowledge
This unity revolves around one person – Jesus Christ. It has been said that the one thing the various Protestant denominations share is Jesus Christ, and that is true. Where we part is in how we interpret Jesus for our life and faith. Each denomination should at least strive to come to unity in the faith and knowledge of Christ, but too often we fall short in each respective denomination. Certainly in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. we argue over authority of scripture, sexuality, ordination, and numerous other topics and we become more and more divided. We need to pray for our denomination and for the whole Church, for the unity that God seeks in us through these gifts.
God gives gifts to do three more things in this passage.
C. To bring maturity
D. To speak the truth in love
E. To promote growth in building up the body in love
The Christian life is marked by a growing maturity. We do not expect people to act at age 30 like they did at age 10. There should be signs of growth and maturity in their life. If we come to know Christ at an early age and continue with an infant faith twenty years later, then we are not growing and maturing. Faith is to be nurtured, matured, and strengthened as we grow in the body of Christ.
We are called to speak the truth in love. Sometimes the truth hurts and we compound that pain by speaking the truth in anger rather than love, or in hatred rather than love. Paul says 1 Corinthians 13 – love is not rude or envious or arrogant. Speaking the truth in love is through kindness and gentleness.
Again Paul speaks of growing in building up the body in love. Building the physical body requires discipline, specific exercises, work, some routine, and some variety. To see muscle growth one has to be disciplined enough to work out on a regular basis. Growth will not occur trying to work out on a hit or miss basis. Once in a while the muscles need a surprise so that they don’t fall into a rut and plateau at a certain level.
Perhaps that is something we need to consider when we participate in the life of the Church. Participation requires discipline, exercise, work, some routine, and some variety. We need to try something new once in a while to see if God is at work giving us a new gift! We need to commit our lives to the disciplines that seek to help us build one another up in love, prayer, scripture reading and study, worship, fellowship, evangelism, and the like – in order to promote growth so that we are not living with a faith that has leveled off at the plateau. Like muscles that are not worked, faith may also atrophy and stop growing. So we seek out the gifts of God by getting more involved in your relationship with Jesus Christ, by being more active in the life of the Church, and by exercising our faith in ways that we have not considered before.
Today we have asked questions of elders that involve participation in ministry with particular tasks. Promises are made to work with others, showing love and justice in ministry, and to follow Jesus Christ. Membership in the Church also brings responsibilities for ministry. Every member of the Church promises to support the work of the church, that is the ministry, through the giving of money, time, and talents. Every one of us, elder, pastor, teacher, prophet, member, evangelist, has responsibility to the work of the ministry.
We do not ordain and install elders to do all the work of ministry. We should not have to rely on ten percent of membership to do all the work. Every one of us should be seeking God and God’s call in our life, understanding that God calls us to share the work. While our elders promise to do certain things, they have not promised to do it all. All of us should remember and renew our promises to active membership in the church.
What have you promised as a member? Well, I am going to remind you! You have promised to proclaim the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ in the Savior. You have promised to take part in the life of the church, to worship, to pray, to study Scripture, and to learn the faith. Members promise to support the work of the church – giving money, time, and talents or skills. Members promise to participate in governing responsibilities, to attend congregational meetings or to serve as elder when called. We are to demonstrate a new quality of life reflecting our life in Christ. We are called on to serve, to live responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationships of life. And we are to work in the world for peace, justice freedom, and human fulfillment. These are the responsibilities of all of us as members of the body of Christ.
Sometimes we get too caught up on money issues and we do not spend enough time reflecting on our time and talents. Time is very precious and most talents or skills are not given because we are unwilling to give of our time. Discipleship takes time. Membership takes time. It certainly takes money to keep the church active and it takes our talents to foster growth and maturity. Christ calls all of us to this work of ministry. The Message concludes today’s Epistle lessons with these words: God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love – like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
Let us grow up together in love like Christ, nourished by the leadership of the church – the servants of the church. Let us all work together to make our church a place of faithful witness to Jesus Christ, a place of nurturing growth, a place of unity and peace. Amen.
February 20, 2011
Ephesians 4:1-16
Dr. Ed Pettus
“God’s Gifts”
I. The Gifts He Gave
Our God is a gift giver. God gives gifts to God’s people – abundant gifts, elaborate gifts, lavished upon us for life. Gifts come from God in a variety of ways. There are spiritual gifts, material gifts, gifts of talents, and gifts we don’t even recognize in our lives, gifts we take for granted, life, breath, health, and love. There are gifts given to us through others – often the person through which the gift is given is unaware that God is using him or her.
We are entrusted with these gifts – called to use them wisely, not to waste our talents or our material goods. We are called to seek out the gifts of the spirit and use them for the ministry. Gifts of hospitality, faith, healing, tongues, prophecy, teaching, pastoring, and many others. Gifts through talents, skills, resources available, and sometimes simply the gift of one’s presence, being here, being with someone in the hospital, being at the ballgame with a young person – just being available.
In today’s reading from Ephesians we see that God gave gifts so that some would be able to serve various roles in the Church. Paul writes some would be:
1. Apostles
2. Prophets
3. Evangelists
4. Pastors
5. Teachers (and if we carried the list out, this is not an exhaustive list);
6. Elders
7. Choir members
8. Sunday School helpers, participants in worship, and a host of others…
Apostles are those sent to do ministry in the name of Christ. Prophets listen for God’s word and notice what is happening in the world in order to proclaim the good and bad that come at the intersection of the Good News of God and the world. Evangelists have a special task of proclaiming the gospel. Pastors care for the church as a shepherd for the sheep. Teachers teach!
Elders are not listed in Ephesians, but the term elder comes from the Greek word presbuterion, which you may quickly notice is the root word for Presbyterian. Elders are also called in the Church for special tasks. The history of elders goes back to the Old Testament when elders were established to govern the people. Moses had too many folks to deal with so elders were chosen from among the people to bear some of the work of judging cases and dealing with problems. The New Testament saints kept this practice alive by appointing elders to serve in the Church. The apostles could not do everything so they chose others of high character to do ministry. Acts 6:1-6 gives one account:
Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait at tables. 3Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.’ 5What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose [seven men]… 6They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
In the Church today elders are chosen by the people, by the congregation, to work with the minister in ministry. They are called to exercise leadership, government, and discipline. They are to be people of faith, dedication, and good judgment. Their life should demonstrate the Christian gospel. Their duties include strengthening the faith and life of the congregation. With the pastor they are to encourage people to worship and serve God, to equip and renew the Church for work and mission, to visit and comfort and care for the people. The Book of Order states that they should cultivate their ability to teach the Bible and in some cases may be authorized to fill in to preach at churches that have no pastor. (G-6.0304a)
It is quite a calling to be an elder. As great as being an apostle, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, because each one has special tasks to do that make up the Church. God gives us all these gifts for a reason, for a purpose. Paul tells us the purpose of these gifts are:
II. Purpose of Gifts
To Equip the Saints
Who are the saints? Too often we think they are dead. Too often we think they are only Catholic. Too often we think they have to perform super spiritual things. Saints are Christians! Saints are you and I. Saints are the Church. The gifts that God gave to some are to equip all of us for two things:
1. for the work of ministry
2. for building the body of Christ
That means that saints, Christians – we are all to be equipped for the work of ministry. It is not just for the pastor to do, not just for the elders to do, not just for apostles, or prophets, or teachers. It is ours together. We are all called, all gifted, and all equipped for ministry. We are not called to sit on the pew and watch everyone else do the work of ministry. We are not called to be pew potatoes like our cousins the couch potatoes. We are called to the ministry – to work – to participate – to experience God through service and worship and prayer and study and a host of other activities.
We are called and equipped to build up the body of Christ. We are not to tear down, to ridicule, to bite one another out of anger and hatred, but to build up. We are to become body builders. We build each other through kind words, through acts of compassion, through care, love, and edification.
Another purpose of the gifts is…
To bring unity
1. in faith
2. in knowledge
This unity revolves around one person – Jesus Christ. It has been said that the one thing the various Protestant denominations share is Jesus Christ, and that is true. Where we part is in how we interpret Jesus for our life and faith. Each denomination should at least strive to come to unity in the faith and knowledge of Christ, but too often we fall short in each respective denomination. Certainly in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. we argue over authority of scripture, sexuality, ordination, and numerous other topics and we become more and more divided. We need to pray for our denomination and for the whole Church, for the unity that God seeks in us through these gifts.
God gives gifts to do three more things in this passage.
C. To bring maturity
D. To speak the truth in love
E. To promote growth in building up the body in love
The Christian life is marked by a growing maturity. We do not expect people to act at age 30 like they did at age 10. There should be signs of growth and maturity in their life. If we come to know Christ at an early age and continue with an infant faith twenty years later, then we are not growing and maturing. Faith is to be nurtured, matured, and strengthened as we grow in the body of Christ.
We are called to speak the truth in love. Sometimes the truth hurts and we compound that pain by speaking the truth in anger rather than love, or in hatred rather than love. Paul says 1 Corinthians 13 – love is not rude or envious or arrogant. Speaking the truth in love is through kindness and gentleness.
Again Paul speaks of growing in building up the body in love. Building the physical body requires discipline, specific exercises, work, some routine, and some variety. To see muscle growth one has to be disciplined enough to work out on a regular basis. Growth will not occur trying to work out on a hit or miss basis. Once in a while the muscles need a surprise so that they don’t fall into a rut and plateau at a certain level.
Perhaps that is something we need to consider when we participate in the life of the Church. Participation requires discipline, exercise, work, some routine, and some variety. We need to try something new once in a while to see if God is at work giving us a new gift! We need to commit our lives to the disciplines that seek to help us build one another up in love, prayer, scripture reading and study, worship, fellowship, evangelism, and the like – in order to promote growth so that we are not living with a faith that has leveled off at the plateau. Like muscles that are not worked, faith may also atrophy and stop growing. So we seek out the gifts of God by getting more involved in your relationship with Jesus Christ, by being more active in the life of the Church, and by exercising our faith in ways that we have not considered before.
Today we have asked questions of elders that involve participation in ministry with particular tasks. Promises are made to work with others, showing love and justice in ministry, and to follow Jesus Christ. Membership in the Church also brings responsibilities for ministry. Every member of the Church promises to support the work of the church, that is the ministry, through the giving of money, time, and talents. Every one of us, elder, pastor, teacher, prophet, member, evangelist, has responsibility to the work of the ministry.
We do not ordain and install elders to do all the work of ministry. We should not have to rely on ten percent of membership to do all the work. Every one of us should be seeking God and God’s call in our life, understanding that God calls us to share the work. While our elders promise to do certain things, they have not promised to do it all. All of us should remember and renew our promises to active membership in the church.
What have you promised as a member? Well, I am going to remind you! You have promised to proclaim the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ in the Savior. You have promised to take part in the life of the church, to worship, to pray, to study Scripture, and to learn the faith. Members promise to support the work of the church – giving money, time, and talents or skills. Members promise to participate in governing responsibilities, to attend congregational meetings or to serve as elder when called. We are to demonstrate a new quality of life reflecting our life in Christ. We are called on to serve, to live responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationships of life. And we are to work in the world for peace, justice freedom, and human fulfillment. These are the responsibilities of all of us as members of the body of Christ.
Sometimes we get too caught up on money issues and we do not spend enough time reflecting on our time and talents. Time is very precious and most talents or skills are not given because we are unwilling to give of our time. Discipleship takes time. Membership takes time. It certainly takes money to keep the church active and it takes our talents to foster growth and maturity. Christ calls all of us to this work of ministry. The Message concludes today’s Epistle lessons with these words: God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love – like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
Let us grow up together in love like Christ, nourished by the leadership of the church – the servants of the church. Let us all work together to make our church a place of faithful witness to Jesus Christ, a place of nurturing growth, a place of unity and peace. Amen.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Sermon
Sermon # 1028
February 13, 2011
Exodus 32:7-14
John 10:19-30
Dr. Ed Pettus
“A Conversational Relationship”
The comedian Lily Tomlin once asked: “Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?” Let’s face it, when we hear someone say: “God told me to do this,” we are quite suspicious. And in some cases this is the right position to take, for we have seen too many cults whose leaders claim to hear God then lead his or her people to a fatal end. The Bible is not without this kind of language: “the Lord said to Moses”, or “the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah”. Sometimes it might be an angel who speaks to Joseph in a dream or tells Philip to go toward Gaza. Does the Lord speak to us?
The first scripture reading today includes a conversation between Moses and God. The first thing we might notice is the opening narration: “The LORD said to Moses.” We wonder if Moses heard a voice. Did Moses sense God speaking? The word Moses hears is so very specific: “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely.” We think that God has never been that specific with anything in our life. Why not? It is part of the reason we look up to Moses, these conversations, not like our prayers, not like any conversation we have ever had. God simply and clearly speaks to Moses. “9The LORD said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.’”
Then Moses seems rather nonchalant about it. He just responds as if talking to a buddy: “But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, ‘O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” By the end of Moses’ speech, God has changed his mind and about the disaster he planned against the people.
Maybe it is courageous on Moses’ part. Maybe Moses is like no other in relationship to God. Or perhaps Moses is an example for every believer. Perhaps this is the kind of relationship God desires to have with each one of us, a conversational relationship. We learn, in this type of conversation with God in Exodus 32, that God takes seriously our role as a covenant partner…as a conversational partner. We have a voice in the conversation that is truly considered. God listens to our side, to our perspective, to our hopes, our fears, and our insight. Perhaps we can have a conversational relationship with God.
Jesus teaches that his sheep know his voice. Listen again: “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:25-27). Those who cannot hear Jesus’ voice cannot hear because they do not believe. But to those who believe – the implication is that we who believe can hear Jesus’ voice. Hearing God is normal in the life of anyone who believes. A conversational relationship is possible for all who believe.
Moses, Abraham, Job, Jesus, Peter, and Paul, these and many others from the Bible teach us of the conversational relationship we have with God. We learn to listen, to hear the voice of God, and we seek to have the courage to converse with God. To that conversation we bring our voice. This is one of the wonderful things about the Psalms. What might we learn about our conversation with God from the Psalms? The Psalms give us voice, a language of prayer, if you will. The Psalms express the human condition and the expressions appropriate in addressing God: praise, fear, anguish, hope, confession, thanksgiving, complaint, worship, song, love…the language of prayer.
Dallas Willard, in his book, Hearing God, shares several guidelines for hearing from God. How can we have a conversational relationship with God?
1. Communion with God – a personal relationship, intimacy, knowing God. It is only in the context of our relationship with God that we can come to know God’s voice. As James says: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (4:8). It is only in this close relationship that we begin to discern God’s voice. Communion with God.
2. Scripture is our companion…the more scripture we know the better we can hear and the better we can speak. In getting to know the people who conversed with God, we learn to engage in that same kind of conversation.
3. Pray for just such a relationship with God. Ask God to teach is to pray, to listen, to pay attention.
4. Warning: a conversational relationship with God does not make us any more important than anyone else. It is a way of life. Speaking with God has its concerns, of course, as we can sometimes grow to full of ourselves if we get puffed up about this relationship. Our prayer may need to be: “Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change, and when we are right, make us easy to live with!” (from Hearing God, Dallas Willard, p. 40).
God speaks to us – through impressions, a hearing in the mind, through circumstances, scripture, the community of faith, the still small voice, experience. But there is no magic formula. God speaks in many ways. More rare to have a burning bush, but more common just in a thought or impression. Most often through the Bible. This is where I believe we hear most often from God, but that is not to say that the kind of conversations like Moses had or Jesus had are not just as available and frequent as any other conversation.
One experience that I would lift up that sort of came to me outside of reading scripture or in conversation with someone: I was walking along the golf course thinking about ministry and preaching and I “heard” God say: “Just speak the truth.” It was not an audible hearing, but something deep within. There was no question in my mind that God had spoken. It is not a grand statement, in fact, it seems quite an obvious statement. Isn’t truth-telling what ministers are called to do? Well, yes, but my interpretation of the statement was to not be afraid to speak the truth as interpreted in scripture. Do not fear presenting the findings and insights from the Word of God on Sunday mornings. It was a strange experience, probably 16 years ago now, and yet I still recall the weight of what I believe God told me. Not an earth shattering word from God! No burning bush nearby – not even a burning flagstick! Some might argue that I was just hearing myself thinking through what I needed to do, if nothing else, just in trust that that is what God tells all ministers. I cannot say yes or no to that, but I can only convey that, to me, it seemed that God had spoken.
Perhaps you have had a feeling and said something like this to yourself or to someone else: “Something told me that this was not right.” There are those occasions when we sense or know something deep within. But sometimes we do not pay attention to that voice. Sometimes we tune out like hearing without listening to someone.
I had a salesman call me at church last week asking me if I thought consumerism was damaging the commitment of service among our people. I thought, how ironic that this guy is about to ask me to consume one more resource in order to teach against consumerism. Was God telling me this? Well, yes, in the sense that I have heard God speak through the scriptures and in learning about consumerism and being a servant of Christ. Was God speaking to me? Yes, but not through my other ear as I was on the phone with a guy from Texas. God was speaking through scripture, experience, education, and disgust with telemarketers!
I would not record such a word from God as: “The Lord said to me”, but I believe it to be the Lord none the less! I will still be amazed at stories in the Bible that seem much more dramatic than any daily ordinary event when God speaks. God speaks to us and we speak to God because, as Acts 17:28 says: “For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’”. God is with us and we abide in Christ, we cannot help but be at some level of conversation.
Above all, the basis for a conversational relationship with God is love. God loves us and wants to be in conversation with us. We love God and want to be in conversation with God. Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth century monk, said of this conversation:
There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it; yet I do not advise you to do it from that motive. It is not pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise; but let us do it from a principle of love, and because God would have us. ~Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God.
The foundation of our conversation is love. God comes to us in many ways to communicate love. God speaks and expects us to speak because of love. The good news is that God has taken the initiative in love, to speak and to listen, to love and to deliver. Sometimes we might be like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who met Jesus on the road and yet did not realize they were talking with Jesus until Jesus broke bread with them. Other times we might have great clarity like Moses, but one thing is certain, God desires to be in conversation. God speaks to us and we will hear if we pay attention: to scripture, to one another, to life, to that whisper from within, to all the ways God may be speaking. Amen.
February 13, 2011
Exodus 32:7-14
John 10:19-30
Dr. Ed Pettus
“A Conversational Relationship”
The comedian Lily Tomlin once asked: “Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?” Let’s face it, when we hear someone say: “God told me to do this,” we are quite suspicious. And in some cases this is the right position to take, for we have seen too many cults whose leaders claim to hear God then lead his or her people to a fatal end. The Bible is not without this kind of language: “the Lord said to Moses”, or “the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah”. Sometimes it might be an angel who speaks to Joseph in a dream or tells Philip to go toward Gaza. Does the Lord speak to us?
The first scripture reading today includes a conversation between Moses and God. The first thing we might notice is the opening narration: “The LORD said to Moses.” We wonder if Moses heard a voice. Did Moses sense God speaking? The word Moses hears is so very specific: “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely.” We think that God has never been that specific with anything in our life. Why not? It is part of the reason we look up to Moses, these conversations, not like our prayers, not like any conversation we have ever had. God simply and clearly speaks to Moses. “9The LORD said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.’”
Then Moses seems rather nonchalant about it. He just responds as if talking to a buddy: “But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, ‘O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” By the end of Moses’ speech, God has changed his mind and about the disaster he planned against the people.
Maybe it is courageous on Moses’ part. Maybe Moses is like no other in relationship to God. Or perhaps Moses is an example for every believer. Perhaps this is the kind of relationship God desires to have with each one of us, a conversational relationship. We learn, in this type of conversation with God in Exodus 32, that God takes seriously our role as a covenant partner…as a conversational partner. We have a voice in the conversation that is truly considered. God listens to our side, to our perspective, to our hopes, our fears, and our insight. Perhaps we can have a conversational relationship with God.
Jesus teaches that his sheep know his voice. Listen again: “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:25-27). Those who cannot hear Jesus’ voice cannot hear because they do not believe. But to those who believe – the implication is that we who believe can hear Jesus’ voice. Hearing God is normal in the life of anyone who believes. A conversational relationship is possible for all who believe.
Moses, Abraham, Job, Jesus, Peter, and Paul, these and many others from the Bible teach us of the conversational relationship we have with God. We learn to listen, to hear the voice of God, and we seek to have the courage to converse with God. To that conversation we bring our voice. This is one of the wonderful things about the Psalms. What might we learn about our conversation with God from the Psalms? The Psalms give us voice, a language of prayer, if you will. The Psalms express the human condition and the expressions appropriate in addressing God: praise, fear, anguish, hope, confession, thanksgiving, complaint, worship, song, love…the language of prayer.
Dallas Willard, in his book, Hearing God, shares several guidelines for hearing from God. How can we have a conversational relationship with God?
1. Communion with God – a personal relationship, intimacy, knowing God. It is only in the context of our relationship with God that we can come to know God’s voice. As James says: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (4:8). It is only in this close relationship that we begin to discern God’s voice. Communion with God.
2. Scripture is our companion…the more scripture we know the better we can hear and the better we can speak. In getting to know the people who conversed with God, we learn to engage in that same kind of conversation.
3. Pray for just such a relationship with God. Ask God to teach is to pray, to listen, to pay attention.
4. Warning: a conversational relationship with God does not make us any more important than anyone else. It is a way of life. Speaking with God has its concerns, of course, as we can sometimes grow to full of ourselves if we get puffed up about this relationship. Our prayer may need to be: “Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change, and when we are right, make us easy to live with!” (from Hearing God, Dallas Willard, p. 40).
God speaks to us – through impressions, a hearing in the mind, through circumstances, scripture, the community of faith, the still small voice, experience. But there is no magic formula. God speaks in many ways. More rare to have a burning bush, but more common just in a thought or impression. Most often through the Bible. This is where I believe we hear most often from God, but that is not to say that the kind of conversations like Moses had or Jesus had are not just as available and frequent as any other conversation.
One experience that I would lift up that sort of came to me outside of reading scripture or in conversation with someone: I was walking along the golf course thinking about ministry and preaching and I “heard” God say: “Just speak the truth.” It was not an audible hearing, but something deep within. There was no question in my mind that God had spoken. It is not a grand statement, in fact, it seems quite an obvious statement. Isn’t truth-telling what ministers are called to do? Well, yes, but my interpretation of the statement was to not be afraid to speak the truth as interpreted in scripture. Do not fear presenting the findings and insights from the Word of God on Sunday mornings. It was a strange experience, probably 16 years ago now, and yet I still recall the weight of what I believe God told me. Not an earth shattering word from God! No burning bush nearby – not even a burning flagstick! Some might argue that I was just hearing myself thinking through what I needed to do, if nothing else, just in trust that that is what God tells all ministers. I cannot say yes or no to that, but I can only convey that, to me, it seemed that God had spoken.
Perhaps you have had a feeling and said something like this to yourself or to someone else: “Something told me that this was not right.” There are those occasions when we sense or know something deep within. But sometimes we do not pay attention to that voice. Sometimes we tune out like hearing without listening to someone.
I had a salesman call me at church last week asking me if I thought consumerism was damaging the commitment of service among our people. I thought, how ironic that this guy is about to ask me to consume one more resource in order to teach against consumerism. Was God telling me this? Well, yes, in the sense that I have heard God speak through the scriptures and in learning about consumerism and being a servant of Christ. Was God speaking to me? Yes, but not through my other ear as I was on the phone with a guy from Texas. God was speaking through scripture, experience, education, and disgust with telemarketers!
I would not record such a word from God as: “The Lord said to me”, but I believe it to be the Lord none the less! I will still be amazed at stories in the Bible that seem much more dramatic than any daily ordinary event when God speaks. God speaks to us and we speak to God because, as Acts 17:28 says: “For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’”. God is with us and we abide in Christ, we cannot help but be at some level of conversation.
Above all, the basis for a conversational relationship with God is love. God loves us and wants to be in conversation with us. We love God and want to be in conversation with God. Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth century monk, said of this conversation:
There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it; yet I do not advise you to do it from that motive. It is not pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise; but let us do it from a principle of love, and because God would have us. ~Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God.
The foundation of our conversation is love. God comes to us in many ways to communicate love. God speaks and expects us to speak because of love. The good news is that God has taken the initiative in love, to speak and to listen, to love and to deliver. Sometimes we might be like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who met Jesus on the road and yet did not realize they were talking with Jesus until Jesus broke bread with them. Other times we might have great clarity like Moses, but one thing is certain, God desires to be in conversation. God speaks to us and we will hear if we pay attention: to scripture, to one another, to life, to that whisper from within, to all the ways God may be speaking. Amen.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Sermon
Sermon # 1027
February 6, 2011
Matthew 4:23-5:12
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Good News of the Kingdom”
Jesus came with a message. Jesus came to bring good news. He wanted then and wants us to realize something about the life we have on this earth. Jesus proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of heaven. After Jesus was baptized by John in the river Jordan, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The next story in Matthew’s gospel tells that when Jesus heard John the Baptist had been arrested, Jesus began to preach his message. His first words were: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. As he called his disciples, he also went throughout Galilee visiting synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. The beatitudes begin and end with the kingdom of heaven. The Sermon on the Mount is filled with the message of the kingdom of heaven. The gospel of Matthew also includes parables about what the kingdom of heaven is like.
I have been preaching recently about discipleship and our focus on Jesus Christ and today we look at his message to us. It is a message of good news. Good news does not sell well today – if it did we might hear more in news broadcasts. Bad news seems to sell. It certainly gets most of the air time. But Jesus is clearly a bearer of good news for the kingdom of Heaven has some near. It is in our midst. This message drew people to Christ. His fame spread very quickly throughout the region and people would bring their sick family and friend to meet Jesus. And he preached and healed, and when word gets out…word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertizing. Good news was welcomed in Galilee, and Jerusalem, and Decapolis, and Judea and beyond the river Jordan. People were coming from every direction to see this healer and preacher of good news.
These people were eager to hear about a new kingdom. Many had probably lost hope for something new. Some thought a new kingdom would come in power to overthrow the Roman Empire. Some were exhausted by the same old messages given by messengers who spoke empty words. So Jesus comes on the scene speaking as one with authority. People took notice. The downtrodden, the poor, the beaten, the wounded, the marginal, everyone heard and came to hear more. Great crowds came. It is hard for us to imagine the number of people or the kind of people who came to see and hear Jesus.
It is in this setting where Jesus goes up the mountain and sits down to proclaim his message of the kingdom. We have come to call this the Sermon on the Mount. The congregation included Jesus’ disciples and all of these people who have come to be healed of physical disease and spiritual dis-ease. Today we will focus on the most famous part of this sermon – the beatitudes.
The beatitudes are on the one hand a favorite text for many in the Christian community, but, on the other hand, they are also troubling for us. We have struggled to understand fully what they mean. But perhaps we are helped in seeing this message through the setting, through the message Jesus had been proclaiming up to this point and to whom he was speaking on the mountain.
Some have thought of the beatitudes as goals to be attained. We hear there is blessing for a type of person, meek or peacemaker or poor in spirit, and we try to become that type of person thinking that we could then be included in the blessings and mercies given in the sermon. But taking into consideration the setting and the message that the kingdom has come near, we might see the beatitudes, not as goals to attain, but as recognition of the church, that is, of who is welcomed. Later in Matthew Jesus welcomes again with the call: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Jesus says, Blessed are…
Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the mournful, the merciful, and so forth. He is addressing people hungry for good news, people searching for wholeness, those who have questioned if hope is even possible anymore. Blessed are…an address to the Christian community, the searchers who had come to see Jesus. Some of you are poor in spirit, some of you are meek, some of you have pain, some of you are pure in heart and Jesus has a message of good news for you…you have a place in the kingdom of heaven. Meekness and poverty of spirit and persecuted ones, these are not goals for us, this is who we are. It is who the people were who came out from all over the region to hear and see Jesus. In essence the message Jesus brings is that those who are peacemakers, the persecuted, the pure of heart…these are signs of God’s blessing. Blessed are you who are in the condition you are in. Blessed are you who have this character of heart and mind and soul that has come to hear the messenger of good news. Blessed are you who are not received anywhere else.
Blessed are those…for they will…
They will: inherit the kingdom, be comforted, inherit the earth, and so forth. Life in the kingdom is here and now but it is not yet fully realized either. They will see even more, they will see God, the will receive mercy, they will be filled. The beatitudes are about the character of the characters who came to hear Jesus and the destiny that is theirs to come and has even come near if not fully yet. The beatitudes open our eyes to who we are and give us the message of hope for the kingdom here and yet to come. Realizing who we are as God’s church in the world – we have hope in the kingdom of heaven.
Let’s take one example: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Who are they? Is “poor in spirit” something we should strive to become or a group Jesus sees gathered at the mountain? If anything we are not in a position to say whether or not we deserve to be in the kingdom of heaven or to receive God’s love or whether we are poor in spirit or meek or merciful. Poor in spirit – these are the kinds of people I think are poor in spirit: people who don’t understand the Bible. Has that ever happened to you? People who do not know what to pray. People who say they cannot grasp God’s love. People too sad or melancholy to believe they can be accepted by God. People who know they are bankrupt when it comes to the things of God. But who are those received into the kingdom? The least of these…those who believe they are un-receivable. Those who struggle with prayer and religion and spiritual disciplines and service and worship and communion. The poor in spirit is any who question or doubt and the good news preached to us in Jesus Christ is that we are welcomed in the kingdom of God!
We could never “do” enough – that is why we cannot earn our place in the kingdom. Beatitudes are not goals or conditions we must achieve, but examples of people who are welcomed into the kingdom…these are the kinds of people who were welcomed nowhere else! If beatitudes were goals to be achieved they would be nothing more than a new legalism, a form of works righteousness. Do we really think that Jesus set our goals at being poor and mournful and meek and persecuted?
In Luke’s gospel and the parallel passage to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also proclaims blessings to people who are in a particular way: poor, hungry, weeping…and the message is the same – there is hope in the kingdom of God. But then Jesus announces the opposite of beatitudes in the form of woes. The reason Jesus gives woes to the rich and the full and the laughing is because they have the danger of thinking they do not need the kingdom. It is terribly difficult to see the kingdom that has come near when we believe that we have it all and can get it all ourselves without any need for God. Terribly difficult.
I think that what people heard in Jesus’ words was that anyone is bless-able! There is no one God cannot change. In the beatitudes people heard an upside down world being set right side up! According to Dallas Willard: “[The beatitudes] are explanations and illustrations, drawn from the immediate setting, of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus” (The Divine Conspiracy, p. 106). What is Jesus saying in the beatitudes? How do we live in response to them? “They serve to clarify Jesus’ fundamental message: the free availability of God’s rule and righteousness to all of humanity through reliance upon Jesus himself, the person now loose in the world among us. They do this simply by taking those who, from the human point of view, are regarded as most hopeless, most beyond all possibility of God’s blessing or even interest, and exhibiting them as enjoying God’s touch and abundant provision from the heavens” (p. 116).
Remember who came to see Jesus. These were the powerless, the weak and meek, the marginalized in society and they had little hope in their situation. Jesus sought to help people realize that they were able to be good, made good by being in a relationship with Jesus. That relationship means walking in the present kingdom of heaven, seeing the truth of Jesus’ message that the kingdom is here and is now and yet is to come. But we drift away from kingdom living and get swept into social and media expectations that say we need to have more and consume more and do whatever it takes to get ours and whatever else those messages are.
Jesus’ message brings us into the kingdom, helps us realize we are in the kingdom as we are – poor in spirit or meek or peacemaker or hungry or thirsty. The purpose of Jesus’ sermon was to help us become realistic with our lives and to open us to the nature of God’s kingdom. Jesus would go on to teach more about the kingdom. The kingdom is like a mustard seed, like yeast, like a treasure hidden in a field, like a net thrown into the sea and what we notice about these things is they are common things, like the common people who are received into the kingdom. This is the kingdom the world does not receive and of which it does not know. The kingdom is a condition of vision, love, hope, joy in which we dwell as God’s people, as a people in Christ.
I was trying to think of a way to visualize the kingdom that has come near, but Jesus himself said it is not a kingdom that we can say is over here or over there. It is a kingdom among us, or as could be translated, within us (Luke 17:20-21). It is the kingdom where we are welcomed, the kingdom we are to seek, and in which we are to grow to becoming changed in the inner life toward inward righteousness. We may not be able to see it but we can see a lot in the world that we know is not the kingdom of heaven.
In one way the beatitudes extend an invitation to those who have never been invited to anything – come to Jesus and in coming you will know the good news of the kingdom of heaven. For it is yours and you will be comforted, filled, called God’s children. In today’s world, this is still very good news, good news indeed! Amen.
February 6, 2011
Matthew 4:23-5:12
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Good News of the Kingdom”
Jesus came with a message. Jesus came to bring good news. He wanted then and wants us to realize something about the life we have on this earth. Jesus proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of heaven. After Jesus was baptized by John in the river Jordan, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The next story in Matthew’s gospel tells that when Jesus heard John the Baptist had been arrested, Jesus began to preach his message. His first words were: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. As he called his disciples, he also went throughout Galilee visiting synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. The beatitudes begin and end with the kingdom of heaven. The Sermon on the Mount is filled with the message of the kingdom of heaven. The gospel of Matthew also includes parables about what the kingdom of heaven is like.
I have been preaching recently about discipleship and our focus on Jesus Christ and today we look at his message to us. It is a message of good news. Good news does not sell well today – if it did we might hear more in news broadcasts. Bad news seems to sell. It certainly gets most of the air time. But Jesus is clearly a bearer of good news for the kingdom of Heaven has some near. It is in our midst. This message drew people to Christ. His fame spread very quickly throughout the region and people would bring their sick family and friend to meet Jesus. And he preached and healed, and when word gets out…word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertizing. Good news was welcomed in Galilee, and Jerusalem, and Decapolis, and Judea and beyond the river Jordan. People were coming from every direction to see this healer and preacher of good news.
These people were eager to hear about a new kingdom. Many had probably lost hope for something new. Some thought a new kingdom would come in power to overthrow the Roman Empire. Some were exhausted by the same old messages given by messengers who spoke empty words. So Jesus comes on the scene speaking as one with authority. People took notice. The downtrodden, the poor, the beaten, the wounded, the marginal, everyone heard and came to hear more. Great crowds came. It is hard for us to imagine the number of people or the kind of people who came to see and hear Jesus.
It is in this setting where Jesus goes up the mountain and sits down to proclaim his message of the kingdom. We have come to call this the Sermon on the Mount. The congregation included Jesus’ disciples and all of these people who have come to be healed of physical disease and spiritual dis-ease. Today we will focus on the most famous part of this sermon – the beatitudes.
The beatitudes are on the one hand a favorite text for many in the Christian community, but, on the other hand, they are also troubling for us. We have struggled to understand fully what they mean. But perhaps we are helped in seeing this message through the setting, through the message Jesus had been proclaiming up to this point and to whom he was speaking on the mountain.
Some have thought of the beatitudes as goals to be attained. We hear there is blessing for a type of person, meek or peacemaker or poor in spirit, and we try to become that type of person thinking that we could then be included in the blessings and mercies given in the sermon. But taking into consideration the setting and the message that the kingdom has come near, we might see the beatitudes, not as goals to attain, but as recognition of the church, that is, of who is welcomed. Later in Matthew Jesus welcomes again with the call: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Jesus says, Blessed are…
Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the mournful, the merciful, and so forth. He is addressing people hungry for good news, people searching for wholeness, those who have questioned if hope is even possible anymore. Blessed are…an address to the Christian community, the searchers who had come to see Jesus. Some of you are poor in spirit, some of you are meek, some of you have pain, some of you are pure in heart and Jesus has a message of good news for you…you have a place in the kingdom of heaven. Meekness and poverty of spirit and persecuted ones, these are not goals for us, this is who we are. It is who the people were who came out from all over the region to hear and see Jesus. In essence the message Jesus brings is that those who are peacemakers, the persecuted, the pure of heart…these are signs of God’s blessing. Blessed are you who are in the condition you are in. Blessed are you who have this character of heart and mind and soul that has come to hear the messenger of good news. Blessed are you who are not received anywhere else.
Blessed are those…for they will…
They will: inherit the kingdom, be comforted, inherit the earth, and so forth. Life in the kingdom is here and now but it is not yet fully realized either. They will see even more, they will see God, the will receive mercy, they will be filled. The beatitudes are about the character of the characters who came to hear Jesus and the destiny that is theirs to come and has even come near if not fully yet. The beatitudes open our eyes to who we are and give us the message of hope for the kingdom here and yet to come. Realizing who we are as God’s church in the world – we have hope in the kingdom of heaven.
Let’s take one example: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Who are they? Is “poor in spirit” something we should strive to become or a group Jesus sees gathered at the mountain? If anything we are not in a position to say whether or not we deserve to be in the kingdom of heaven or to receive God’s love or whether we are poor in spirit or meek or merciful. Poor in spirit – these are the kinds of people I think are poor in spirit: people who don’t understand the Bible. Has that ever happened to you? People who do not know what to pray. People who say they cannot grasp God’s love. People too sad or melancholy to believe they can be accepted by God. People who know they are bankrupt when it comes to the things of God. But who are those received into the kingdom? The least of these…those who believe they are un-receivable. Those who struggle with prayer and religion and spiritual disciplines and service and worship and communion. The poor in spirit is any who question or doubt and the good news preached to us in Jesus Christ is that we are welcomed in the kingdom of God!
We could never “do” enough – that is why we cannot earn our place in the kingdom. Beatitudes are not goals or conditions we must achieve, but examples of people who are welcomed into the kingdom…these are the kinds of people who were welcomed nowhere else! If beatitudes were goals to be achieved they would be nothing more than a new legalism, a form of works righteousness. Do we really think that Jesus set our goals at being poor and mournful and meek and persecuted?
In Luke’s gospel and the parallel passage to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also proclaims blessings to people who are in a particular way: poor, hungry, weeping…and the message is the same – there is hope in the kingdom of God. But then Jesus announces the opposite of beatitudes in the form of woes. The reason Jesus gives woes to the rich and the full and the laughing is because they have the danger of thinking they do not need the kingdom. It is terribly difficult to see the kingdom that has come near when we believe that we have it all and can get it all ourselves without any need for God. Terribly difficult.
I think that what people heard in Jesus’ words was that anyone is bless-able! There is no one God cannot change. In the beatitudes people heard an upside down world being set right side up! According to Dallas Willard: “[The beatitudes] are explanations and illustrations, drawn from the immediate setting, of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus” (The Divine Conspiracy, p. 106). What is Jesus saying in the beatitudes? How do we live in response to them? “They serve to clarify Jesus’ fundamental message: the free availability of God’s rule and righteousness to all of humanity through reliance upon Jesus himself, the person now loose in the world among us. They do this simply by taking those who, from the human point of view, are regarded as most hopeless, most beyond all possibility of God’s blessing or even interest, and exhibiting them as enjoying God’s touch and abundant provision from the heavens” (p. 116).
Remember who came to see Jesus. These were the powerless, the weak and meek, the marginalized in society and they had little hope in their situation. Jesus sought to help people realize that they were able to be good, made good by being in a relationship with Jesus. That relationship means walking in the present kingdom of heaven, seeing the truth of Jesus’ message that the kingdom is here and is now and yet is to come. But we drift away from kingdom living and get swept into social and media expectations that say we need to have more and consume more and do whatever it takes to get ours and whatever else those messages are.
Jesus’ message brings us into the kingdom, helps us realize we are in the kingdom as we are – poor in spirit or meek or peacemaker or hungry or thirsty. The purpose of Jesus’ sermon was to help us become realistic with our lives and to open us to the nature of God’s kingdom. Jesus would go on to teach more about the kingdom. The kingdom is like a mustard seed, like yeast, like a treasure hidden in a field, like a net thrown into the sea and what we notice about these things is they are common things, like the common people who are received into the kingdom. This is the kingdom the world does not receive and of which it does not know. The kingdom is a condition of vision, love, hope, joy in which we dwell as God’s people, as a people in Christ.
I was trying to think of a way to visualize the kingdom that has come near, but Jesus himself said it is not a kingdom that we can say is over here or over there. It is a kingdom among us, or as could be translated, within us (Luke 17:20-21). It is the kingdom where we are welcomed, the kingdom we are to seek, and in which we are to grow to becoming changed in the inner life toward inward righteousness. We may not be able to see it but we can see a lot in the world that we know is not the kingdom of heaven.
In one way the beatitudes extend an invitation to those who have never been invited to anything – come to Jesus and in coming you will know the good news of the kingdom of heaven. For it is yours and you will be comforted, filled, called God’s children. In today’s world, this is still very good news, good news indeed! Amen.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Sermon
Sermon # 1026
January 30, 2011
Luke 17:20-21
John 14:15-27
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Christ Focus”
Henry Jones lies on the stone floor with a gun shot wound. His voice is raspy as he repeats one instruction over and over: “Only the penitent man will pass. Only the penitent man will pass." The scene flashes to Indiana Jones who is entering a corridor of what we can only imagine are dangerous traps. Indiana is also quoting the instruction: “The penitent man will pass. The penitent... the penitent. The penitent man...” As the excitement builds, Indiana realizes the clue is a way through the corridor: “The penitent man is humble before God…” and as the cobwebs begin to move with a wind, Indiana gets it: “The penitent man is humble before God…” “He kneels before God.” Indiana makes it through the razor sharp triple pendulum, the first test. A few more traps to clear and he is on to the Holy Grail. Do you remember that scene from the Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade?
The penitent man kneels before God. This is our first step to God. Humility. Dallas Willard writes: “Only the humble person will let God be God” (Knowing Christ Today, p. 151). Humility. Jesus spoke of humility in this way: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Matthew 18:3-5).
Humility means turning from an attitude that says I can take care of my own life. I can handle things, I can manage, I can do it alone. Children know better. They know that they need help and they are not afraid to ask. Humility is our surrender to God. It is that conversion of attitude that says I know that I cannot make it on my own, I need God. I must get on my knees as a penitent person, humble before God.
“Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. 11The 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. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” 13But 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!” 14I 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” (Luke 18:9-14).
Some people refuse to humble themselves. They may be too dignified or perhaps they will make a deal with God that they will work things out and if they run into any problems then they might call on God to give a helping hand. Sort of the “break glass in case of fire” relationship. The rich young ruler was one who refused to humble himself: “Then someone came to [Jesus] and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ …If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ 18He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 20The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these; what do I still lack?’ 21Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions” (Matthew 19:16-22). Only the penitent.
One of the most amazing scenes in the gospels is in Matthew 13:58 where it is said that Jesus could not perform any miracles: “And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief”. Imagine a group so arrogant, so disbelieving, so unwilling to humble themselves that Jesus could not even work a deed of power in their midst.
*****
We learn from the scripture that there is a particular kind of person God seeks. In Isaiah we read: “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word” (66:2). God looks to the humble – God seeks out those who trust in him with all their heart, who surrender, submit their lives. This is our entrance into life in the kingdom and in relationship with God through Christ. Humility.
A second step involves the pursuit of inward righteousness. This is a hidden, inner dimension of faith that works in the secret places of the heart and soul. It is what we might consider our character. Jesus says something very interesting about inward righteousness: “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19-20). What righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? A righteousness within. The scribes and Pharisees sought to demonstrate their righteousness on the outside, with pubic prayers and outward behavior. They sought to be “seen” as righteous, but they failed to truly pursue righteousness in the inner being.
Without this inward righteousness we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. This is not the sense of going to heaven when we die, but it is the kingdom in which we are engage today, God’s kingdom. It is the kingdom Jesus taught as among us: “Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you’” (Luke 17:20-21). This is the kingdom we enter through humility and this is the kingdom we engage through inward righteousness. It is a gift from God received from above. Jesus told Nicodemus: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” (John 3:3).
Living in the kingdom means that we are walking with Christ day by day, allowing the Spirit to work in us and we seek to transform our inner being – taking on the character of Christ. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
These two elements, humility and inward righteousness, bring us into the interactive environment of knowing Jesus Christ. We enter into the kingdom of God. We begin our journey with and to God. As we continue to progress in humility and righteousness we grow to expect Christ in our everyday existence. We being to “see” Jesus everywhere, all the time. Dallas Willard calls humility and inward righteousness the preliminaries that must be in place before we grow into two substantial elements of living life with Jesus in the kingdom of God.
Two substantial elements - First, we begin to receive more readily Christ’s “presence and activity where we are and in what we are doing at any given time” (Willard, Knowing Christ Today, p. 153). This reminds me of the benediction I have sometimes used written by Richard Halverson:
Wherever you go, God is sending you, wherever you are, God has put you there; He has a purpose in your being there. Christ who indwells you has something He wants to do through you, where you are. Believe this and go in His grace and love and power.
One of my favorite devotional readings from Oswald Chambers speaks of God using us in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. “You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is of His mercy that He does not let you know it. When once you are rightly related to God by salvation and sanctification, remember that wherever you are, you are put there by God; and by the reaction of your life on the circumstances around you, you will fulfill God's purpose, as long as you keep in the light as God is in the light” (My Utmost for His Highest, August 30). Being rightly related to God is Chambers’ phrase for what we are referring to today in humility and inward righteousness. We are seeking in these two actions, to be rightly related to God, that is, to live in the kingdom of God today.
Jesus teaches that we can live in this constant awareness of Christ’s presence: “Abide in me as I abide in you” (John 15:4). He also has this wonderful prayer of uniting us with him and God the Father: “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:20-24). In the kingdom of God we are one in Christ, engaged in his ministry, his life, his mission, and ever growing, more and more into this awareness of Christ’s presence in the world and in us.
The second substantial element in our life in Christ is a natural movement from the practice of Christ’s presence – the desire to do what pleases God – obedience.
Obedience for Jesus is this: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments…Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:15-16, 23). Obedience and love are intertwined! “One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ 29Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 31The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
Willard calls these four elements, taken together, the Christ focus. Humility, the intention of inward transformation, the practice of the presence of Christ, and progressive obedience – these enable us to focus our lives in Christ, with Christ, through Christ, for Christ. These four elements give us the ability to live an ordered life, practiced in humility, transformation, presence, and obedience. It is life in the kingdom of God, ever growing and learning how we might “eliminate distractions and keep our whole being focused upon constant companionship with Christ in our ‘nows’” (Willard, p. 156). Christ focus – day by day, moment by moment, as a student of Jesus, a disciple. I am seeking this kind of growth in Christ that enables me to have a Christ focus. I think of that as an awareness of God, a God consciousness that never goes away. I think this is the kind of yearning Paul had for the church when he said: “My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19). Christ is formed in you! A Christ focus. I’m not sure I have the pain of childbirth for that, but what I have is a hope for you and for myself, that we can continue to grow into this kingdom of God and to grow into faith, but most crucial, that we grow in a personal and intimate way in our relationship with Jesus. Take these four elements:
1. Humility
2. Intentional inward righteousness
3. Practicing the presence of Christ
4. Loving obedience
Take them on that we might develop a Christ focus. Christ focus. Live with that thought today: Christ focus in humility, in righteousness, in Christ’s presence, and in obedience. Amen.
*This sermon taken from reflections on Dallas Willard’s, Knowing Christ Today, p. 150ff.
January 30, 2011
Luke 17:20-21
John 14:15-27
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Christ Focus”
Henry Jones lies on the stone floor with a gun shot wound. His voice is raspy as he repeats one instruction over and over: “Only the penitent man will pass. Only the penitent man will pass." The scene flashes to Indiana Jones who is entering a corridor of what we can only imagine are dangerous traps. Indiana is also quoting the instruction: “The penitent man will pass. The penitent... the penitent. The penitent man...” As the excitement builds, Indiana realizes the clue is a way through the corridor: “The penitent man is humble before God…” and as the cobwebs begin to move with a wind, Indiana gets it: “The penitent man is humble before God…” “He kneels before God.” Indiana makes it through the razor sharp triple pendulum, the first test. A few more traps to clear and he is on to the Holy Grail. Do you remember that scene from the Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade?
The penitent man kneels before God. This is our first step to God. Humility. Dallas Willard writes: “Only the humble person will let God be God” (Knowing Christ Today, p. 151). Humility. Jesus spoke of humility in this way: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Matthew 18:3-5).
Humility means turning from an attitude that says I can take care of my own life. I can handle things, I can manage, I can do it alone. Children know better. They know that they need help and they are not afraid to ask. Humility is our surrender to God. It is that conversion of attitude that says I know that I cannot make it on my own, I need God. I must get on my knees as a penitent person, humble before God.
“Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. 11The 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. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” 13But 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!” 14I 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” (Luke 18:9-14).
Some people refuse to humble themselves. They may be too dignified or perhaps they will make a deal with God that they will work things out and if they run into any problems then they might call on God to give a helping hand. Sort of the “break glass in case of fire” relationship. The rich young ruler was one who refused to humble himself: “Then someone came to [Jesus] and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ …If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ 18He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 20The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these; what do I still lack?’ 21Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions” (Matthew 19:16-22). Only the penitent.
One of the most amazing scenes in the gospels is in Matthew 13:58 where it is said that Jesus could not perform any miracles: “And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief”. Imagine a group so arrogant, so disbelieving, so unwilling to humble themselves that Jesus could not even work a deed of power in their midst.
*****
We learn from the scripture that there is a particular kind of person God seeks. In Isaiah we read: “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word” (66:2). God looks to the humble – God seeks out those who trust in him with all their heart, who surrender, submit their lives. This is our entrance into life in the kingdom and in relationship with God through Christ. Humility.
A second step involves the pursuit of inward righteousness. This is a hidden, inner dimension of faith that works in the secret places of the heart and soul. It is what we might consider our character. Jesus says something very interesting about inward righteousness: “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19-20). What righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? A righteousness within. The scribes and Pharisees sought to demonstrate their righteousness on the outside, with pubic prayers and outward behavior. They sought to be “seen” as righteous, but they failed to truly pursue righteousness in the inner being.
Without this inward righteousness we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. This is not the sense of going to heaven when we die, but it is the kingdom in which we are engage today, God’s kingdom. It is the kingdom Jesus taught as among us: “Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you’” (Luke 17:20-21). This is the kingdom we enter through humility and this is the kingdom we engage through inward righteousness. It is a gift from God received from above. Jesus told Nicodemus: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” (John 3:3).
Living in the kingdom means that we are walking with Christ day by day, allowing the Spirit to work in us and we seek to transform our inner being – taking on the character of Christ. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
These two elements, humility and inward righteousness, bring us into the interactive environment of knowing Jesus Christ. We enter into the kingdom of God. We begin our journey with and to God. As we continue to progress in humility and righteousness we grow to expect Christ in our everyday existence. We being to “see” Jesus everywhere, all the time. Dallas Willard calls humility and inward righteousness the preliminaries that must be in place before we grow into two substantial elements of living life with Jesus in the kingdom of God.
Two substantial elements - First, we begin to receive more readily Christ’s “presence and activity where we are and in what we are doing at any given time” (Willard, Knowing Christ Today, p. 153). This reminds me of the benediction I have sometimes used written by Richard Halverson:
Wherever you go, God is sending you, wherever you are, God has put you there; He has a purpose in your being there. Christ who indwells you has something He wants to do through you, where you are. Believe this and go in His grace and love and power.
One of my favorite devotional readings from Oswald Chambers speaks of God using us in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. “You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is of His mercy that He does not let you know it. When once you are rightly related to God by salvation and sanctification, remember that wherever you are, you are put there by God; and by the reaction of your life on the circumstances around you, you will fulfill God's purpose, as long as you keep in the light as God is in the light” (My Utmost for His Highest, August 30). Being rightly related to God is Chambers’ phrase for what we are referring to today in humility and inward righteousness. We are seeking in these two actions, to be rightly related to God, that is, to live in the kingdom of God today.
Jesus teaches that we can live in this constant awareness of Christ’s presence: “Abide in me as I abide in you” (John 15:4). He also has this wonderful prayer of uniting us with him and God the Father: “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:20-24). In the kingdom of God we are one in Christ, engaged in his ministry, his life, his mission, and ever growing, more and more into this awareness of Christ’s presence in the world and in us.
The second substantial element in our life in Christ is a natural movement from the practice of Christ’s presence – the desire to do what pleases God – obedience.
Obedience for Jesus is this: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments…Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:15-16, 23). Obedience and love are intertwined! “One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ 29Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 31The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
Willard calls these four elements, taken together, the Christ focus. Humility, the intention of inward transformation, the practice of the presence of Christ, and progressive obedience – these enable us to focus our lives in Christ, with Christ, through Christ, for Christ. These four elements give us the ability to live an ordered life, practiced in humility, transformation, presence, and obedience. It is life in the kingdom of God, ever growing and learning how we might “eliminate distractions and keep our whole being focused upon constant companionship with Christ in our ‘nows’” (Willard, p. 156). Christ focus – day by day, moment by moment, as a student of Jesus, a disciple. I am seeking this kind of growth in Christ that enables me to have a Christ focus. I think of that as an awareness of God, a God consciousness that never goes away. I think this is the kind of yearning Paul had for the church when he said: “My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19). Christ is formed in you! A Christ focus. I’m not sure I have the pain of childbirth for that, but what I have is a hope for you and for myself, that we can continue to grow into this kingdom of God and to grow into faith, but most crucial, that we grow in a personal and intimate way in our relationship with Jesus. Take these four elements:
1. Humility
2. Intentional inward righteousness
3. Practicing the presence of Christ
4. Loving obedience
Take them on that we might develop a Christ focus. Christ focus. Live with that thought today: Christ focus in humility, in righteousness, in Christ’s presence, and in obedience. Amen.
*This sermon taken from reflections on Dallas Willard’s, Knowing Christ Today, p. 150ff.
Sermon
Sermon # 1025
January 23, 2011
2 Peter 1:2-11
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Participants in the Divine Nature”
We have been focusing on keeping the Lord always before us as written in Psalm 16:8 and seeking to know Christ from Philippians 3. Last Sunday we spent time in Colossians 4 regarding the removal of the old sinful life and putting on a new life in Christ. Today we enter Peter’s second letter to the church. Our passage deals with building up our faith and spiritual life using what God has already given us. The letter begins with the greeting of grace and peace, words loaded with theological meaning, Christian code words, concepts we learn in our knowledge of God and of Jesus. Grace – the unmerited favor God gives us in Christ, and peace – shalom in the Hebrew, wholeness, contentment, and rest.
Peter encourages us as he reveals what God has given us already. God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Just as he greets us with grace and peace in the knowledge of God, now he tells us that we have all we need for life through the knowledge of Jesus. It is in getting to know Jesus Christ that we come to know more and more of what God has given us. It’s like receiving a new gift to unwrap every time we learn a new verse of scripture or reflect on what Jesus did in healing someone. Imagine if you received a new wrapped gift in the mail every day…Monday you read the beatitudes and as you finish the UPS man drives up with a new gift. Tuesday a reflection on Psalm 100 and FedEx pops by with a gift. Wednesday – Psalm 16 and you cannot figure out how you missed it but there appears a gift on the kitchen table for you.
God gives us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ. Our response? Thank you, God, for these gifts, for this word, for that teaching, for this work, for that call. Thank you. And the more we give thanks, the more gifts that come. 2 Peter 4:4 “Thus he has given us…” he has given us more: through knowledge, through grace and peace, through his power, he has given us great promises. We are not told here what those promises are but we are told their purpose. Through his promises we may escape the corruption of the world. Through our relationship with God through Christ we are able to avoid all that garbage we see in the world. Through Jesus – that is the key to Peter’s exhortation. We know God’s provision, God’s power, God’s promises, only because we have come to know Christ. And having seen God’s gifts, we can also see the world for what it is – the corruption, the lust, the greed, the deception, and we can flee from it. We do not have to participate in the ways of the world. 1 John tells us more:
“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” (2:15-17).
The word that Peter uses to talk about the corruption in the world is a word that denotes internal decay. In essence the world and its ways are rotting away, but we can escape that decay by participating in God’s will – God’s divine nature.
We may now participate in the divine nature. We are participants in the kingdom of God. We become children of God who play in a different kind of playground. We are citizens of heaven and a part of the priesthood of all believers. God has invited us into a new reality, a reality we discover, a reality revealed to us as we read and study the Bible, by getting to know Jesus Christ, by keeping the Lord always before us, by serving the Lord. God has invited us into this realm and said: “Make yourself at home, you have everything you need right here.” We have been asked to participate in the life of God. This is a life that does not decay, but lives forever. Being participants in the divine nature means that we share with God in his glory:
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
As Paul tells us to seek the things that are above so too does Peter tell us to do something. Verse 5 begins with this phrase: “For this very reason…” For what reason? Because God has given us everything we need, because we have knowledge in Christ, because we have received promises, because we are now participants in the divine nature, for all these reasons…make every effort to support your faith. Make every effort. I’ve made the statement in my last two sermons that grace is not opposed to effort. Grace is opposed to earning, thinking that we can earn our salvation, but not opposed to the effort to grow in Christ since we have already been given everything we need in Christ. Peter tells us to make every effort, every effort to support our faith. Work at it, give it energy, time, devotion, love, discipline, obedience. This is no insignificant matter, but our very life, for Christ is our life.
The same was said about God’s word when Israel was preparing to go into the promised land:
45When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them: ‘Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law. 47This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess’ (Deuteronomy 32:45-47).
God’s word helps us to fulfill the word from Peter to make the effort to support our faith. We read and study God’s word that we might grow in Christ, know Christ, and know what it means to be participates in the divine nature.
So Peter bids us: “Support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love” (2 Peter 1:5-7). Eugene Peterson says it this way: “So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others” (The Message, 2 Peter 1).
If we make this effort then good things happen…as Peter puts it: we will be effective and fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if we make no effort and we lack these things, then we are short sighted and blind and forgetful of what God has done and provided for us. What I think we tend to do is to think that God is just going to drop every insight into our lap, but what we find is that with no effort to see, we become more blinded by the deception of the world. As Liz Gilbert referred to this topic in her book Eat, Pray, Love: “eyes that are so caked shut with the dust of deception” (155). Our effort in faith is to grow in the knowledge of Christ until our eyes are opened to see the truth. St. Augustine said it this way: “Our whole business therefore in this life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen” (from Eat, Pray, Love, p. 123).
We are participants in the divine nature. Participants by definition are active, included, taking part in something, and in this case, taking part in the kingdom of God, in the life of God. We have not been invited to sit down and watch but to live in obedience to God’s word, building our faith, making the effort! One of my favorite scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is the two pirates in the row boat and one is supposedly reading the Bible but he cannot read, so his response to the other pirate who points this out is that you get credit for trying. Make the effort!
Thomas Merton points out in a prayer that desiring to please God is pleasing to God:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Desire and effort get us on the journey as participants in the divine nature. Obedience leads us into the transformation we seek and that transformation in turn makes us more obedient. But it takes desire and effort to become the obedient followers of Jesus that these passages from Psalms, Colossians, Philippians, and 2 Peter all anticipate.
Imagine yourself as a participant in the divine nature. You have been chosen to participate in the life of God, in the kingdom of God. We like to be selected, picked to play on the team, and God has chosen us to be his own. God has chosen us to come to know Jesus Christ his Son, personally and intimately, not just a knowledge for the head, but a knowing in the heart and soul. We are not just after information about Jesus, but transformation in Christ. We are participants in the divine drama, in the kingdom, in the story of God’s people today. Let us make every effort to support our faith: in prayer, in scripture study, in worship, in love, in peace and grace, in every way we can imagine to actively participate in the life God has given us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Receive God’s gift as a participant in the divine nature. Amen.
January 23, 2011
2 Peter 1:2-11
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Participants in the Divine Nature”
We have been focusing on keeping the Lord always before us as written in Psalm 16:8 and seeking to know Christ from Philippians 3. Last Sunday we spent time in Colossians 4 regarding the removal of the old sinful life and putting on a new life in Christ. Today we enter Peter’s second letter to the church. Our passage deals with building up our faith and spiritual life using what God has already given us. The letter begins with the greeting of grace and peace, words loaded with theological meaning, Christian code words, concepts we learn in our knowledge of God and of Jesus. Grace – the unmerited favor God gives us in Christ, and peace – shalom in the Hebrew, wholeness, contentment, and rest.
Peter encourages us as he reveals what God has given us already. God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Just as he greets us with grace and peace in the knowledge of God, now he tells us that we have all we need for life through the knowledge of Jesus. It is in getting to know Jesus Christ that we come to know more and more of what God has given us. It’s like receiving a new gift to unwrap every time we learn a new verse of scripture or reflect on what Jesus did in healing someone. Imagine if you received a new wrapped gift in the mail every day…Monday you read the beatitudes and as you finish the UPS man drives up with a new gift. Tuesday a reflection on Psalm 100 and FedEx pops by with a gift. Wednesday – Psalm 16 and you cannot figure out how you missed it but there appears a gift on the kitchen table for you.
God gives us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ. Our response? Thank you, God, for these gifts, for this word, for that teaching, for this work, for that call. Thank you. And the more we give thanks, the more gifts that come. 2 Peter 4:4 “Thus he has given us…” he has given us more: through knowledge, through grace and peace, through his power, he has given us great promises. We are not told here what those promises are but we are told their purpose. Through his promises we may escape the corruption of the world. Through our relationship with God through Christ we are able to avoid all that garbage we see in the world. Through Jesus – that is the key to Peter’s exhortation. We know God’s provision, God’s power, God’s promises, only because we have come to know Christ. And having seen God’s gifts, we can also see the world for what it is – the corruption, the lust, the greed, the deception, and we can flee from it. We do not have to participate in the ways of the world. 1 John tells us more:
“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” (2:15-17).
The word that Peter uses to talk about the corruption in the world is a word that denotes internal decay. In essence the world and its ways are rotting away, but we can escape that decay by participating in God’s will – God’s divine nature.
We may now participate in the divine nature. We are participants in the kingdom of God. We become children of God who play in a different kind of playground. We are citizens of heaven and a part of the priesthood of all believers. God has invited us into a new reality, a reality we discover, a reality revealed to us as we read and study the Bible, by getting to know Jesus Christ, by keeping the Lord always before us, by serving the Lord. God has invited us into this realm and said: “Make yourself at home, you have everything you need right here.” We have been asked to participate in the life of God. This is a life that does not decay, but lives forever. Being participants in the divine nature means that we share with God in his glory:
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
As Paul tells us to seek the things that are above so too does Peter tell us to do something. Verse 5 begins with this phrase: “For this very reason…” For what reason? Because God has given us everything we need, because we have knowledge in Christ, because we have received promises, because we are now participants in the divine nature, for all these reasons…make every effort to support your faith. Make every effort. I’ve made the statement in my last two sermons that grace is not opposed to effort. Grace is opposed to earning, thinking that we can earn our salvation, but not opposed to the effort to grow in Christ since we have already been given everything we need in Christ. Peter tells us to make every effort, every effort to support our faith. Work at it, give it energy, time, devotion, love, discipline, obedience. This is no insignificant matter, but our very life, for Christ is our life.
The same was said about God’s word when Israel was preparing to go into the promised land:
45When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them: ‘Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law. 47This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess’ (Deuteronomy 32:45-47).
God’s word helps us to fulfill the word from Peter to make the effort to support our faith. We read and study God’s word that we might grow in Christ, know Christ, and know what it means to be participates in the divine nature.
So Peter bids us: “Support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love” (2 Peter 1:5-7). Eugene Peterson says it this way: “So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others” (The Message, 2 Peter 1).
If we make this effort then good things happen…as Peter puts it: we will be effective and fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if we make no effort and we lack these things, then we are short sighted and blind and forgetful of what God has done and provided for us. What I think we tend to do is to think that God is just going to drop every insight into our lap, but what we find is that with no effort to see, we become more blinded by the deception of the world. As Liz Gilbert referred to this topic in her book Eat, Pray, Love: “eyes that are so caked shut with the dust of deception” (155). Our effort in faith is to grow in the knowledge of Christ until our eyes are opened to see the truth. St. Augustine said it this way: “Our whole business therefore in this life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen” (from Eat, Pray, Love, p. 123).
We are participants in the divine nature. Participants by definition are active, included, taking part in something, and in this case, taking part in the kingdom of God, in the life of God. We have not been invited to sit down and watch but to live in obedience to God’s word, building our faith, making the effort! One of my favorite scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is the two pirates in the row boat and one is supposedly reading the Bible but he cannot read, so his response to the other pirate who points this out is that you get credit for trying. Make the effort!
Thomas Merton points out in a prayer that desiring to please God is pleasing to God:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Desire and effort get us on the journey as participants in the divine nature. Obedience leads us into the transformation we seek and that transformation in turn makes us more obedient. But it takes desire and effort to become the obedient followers of Jesus that these passages from Psalms, Colossians, Philippians, and 2 Peter all anticipate.
Imagine yourself as a participant in the divine nature. You have been chosen to participate in the life of God, in the kingdom of God. We like to be selected, picked to play on the team, and God has chosen us to be his own. God has chosen us to come to know Jesus Christ his Son, personally and intimately, not just a knowledge for the head, but a knowing in the heart and soul. We are not just after information about Jesus, but transformation in Christ. We are participants in the divine drama, in the kingdom, in the story of God’s people today. Let us make every effort to support our faith: in prayer, in scripture study, in worship, in love, in peace and grace, in every way we can imagine to actively participate in the life God has given us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Receive God’s gift as a participant in the divine nature. Amen.
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