Believe the Story: Peace chapter 23 Reinbeck UMC September 24, 2017

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Believe the Story: Peace chapter 23

Reinbeck UMC

September 24, 2017

  Sing with me, “I’ve got peace like a river/ I’ve got peace like a river //I’ve got peace like a river in my soul// I’ve got peace like a river// I’ve got peace like a river //I’ve got peace like a river in my soul”

 Do you? Does peace run like a river in your life?

According to USA today the top 10 worries in the US are

•           Government corruption — 60.6%

•           Terrorist attacks — 41%

•           Not having enough money— 39.9%

•           Being a victim of crime — 38.5%

•           Government interference in life— 38.5%

•           People we love dying — 38.1%

•           Economic or financial collapse — 37.5%

•           Identity theft — 37.1%

•           People we love becoming seriously ill — 35.9%

•           Healthcare— 35.5%

Look how much we have to worry about… Where’s the peace?

If you do some research, you will find people telling you that if you want peace, “seek silence, remove distractions, relax your body, concentrate on stillness, and move beyond the present moment.” Really? If we could do those things, we wouldn’t be looking for peace!

It is clear to me that everyone- no matter who you are- EVERYONE needs a little peace and the world has no answers. That’s OK. God has an answer. Actually God and God’s peace is the answer.

This is our third week talking about Christian heart-qualities. These are basically the Fruit of The Spirit from Galatians 5. First, we talked about love. Last week we talked about joy. This week we come to that elusive quality of peace.

 Peace is used 429 times in the Bible. The New Testament concept of peace closely follows the Old Testament concept of Shalom. Shalom is “completion” or “Wholeness.” It carries nuances of fulfillment, completion, maturity, soundness, wholeness, harmony, tranquility, security, well being, welfare, friendship, agreement, success, and prosperity.

The Kekchi Indians of Guatemala call it "quiet goodness." Quiet goodness. I like that.

•           Peace is a quiet sense of goodness in our heart, no matter what is happening outside.

•           Peace is a quiet feeling of goodness in our heart, no matter what the future may bring.

•           Peace is a quiet assurance that God is good, no matter what.

 Peace is a gift from God. Specifically it is a gift from Jesus. In John 14:27 (Page 109 in your pew Bibles if you want to follow along.) Jesus promises the disciples and all of us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Notice Jesus does not say, “I will give you generic peace.” He says MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU. That is because peace in this life is rare, but this is truly a gift from our loving and gracious savior because he knew what we needed.

Further he says, “I do not give to you as the world gives.” What is the world’s peace? It is conditional. It is fleeting. It is fragile. It is only available when life is going well. Jesus peace is deeper, unconditional, lasting, and strong. It stays with us whether life is good or life is hard. It is the river that flows in our hearts, even when life around us is dry and lifeless.

Jesus knew that peace is a rare commodity for us. His whole farewell discourse, in the gospel of John, says in a hundred different ways, “do not be troubled, do not be afraid, do not worry.” Remember John was written toward the end of the first century when the church faced terrible persecution. Jesus knew, whether we were facing persecution, or a grumpy teenager, or financial stress, big decision; He knew that we would worry, obsess, get anxious, feel afraid, and lose sleep. He knew that one of the greatest gifts he could give us is peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

 Peace is available to us. Our problem is holding on to it. Other things keep getting in the way. Turning to our main scripture for the morning from Philippians chapter 4, which you can find on page 198 in the back of your pew bible, let’s look at three things we can do to help us hold on to God’s peace.

We start reading: “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia (ee- OO -da) and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

You can tell Philippi was one of Paul’s favorite churches because he knew the people very well. Well enough o call two of the prominent women on the carpet.

 These women were presidents of the Euodia circle and the Syntyche circles of the Philippian UMW. Well something like that… at any rate, they were prominent enough to get Paul’s attention. They had a difference of opinion that must have infected the whole congregation or Paul would not have addressed it. We have no idea why they argued. But isn’t that the way it is sometimes? After a while like the Hatfields and the McCoys we can’t even remember what started the feud.

If you live near people, you know what it is to have conflict. They might be the in laws, a coworker, a neighbor, or a pastor.

I remember when Jeff signed up for the mission trip. He was a year younger than I was. I just did not like him. He rubbed me the wrong way and I figured I didn’t want to spend a week with him, so I almost didn’t go on that mission trip. To make a long story short, I decided I was NOT going to let JEFF keep me from the mission trip. I couldn’t believe that we were assigned to work together that week. (Do you suppose that was an accident?) It was a long week, but do you know what? We returned home friends. Not buddies, but we made peace.

Paul asks these two ladies to do that. Just make peace. Stop arguing. Stop bickering. Just stop.

This is a special kind of loving our neighbor. Just make peace with our neighbors.

Matthew 5:23-24 says “23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” Make peace with our others.

Romans 12 reads, “18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

Live peaceably with all… Make peace with others. That is the first this we can do to help God’s peace stick. You can’t hold on to God’s peace if your hands are full of that grudge, those hurt feelings, or that resentment. Robyn said last week in her sermon, “holding on to unforgiveness is like drinking rat poison and expecting the rat to die.” There is no peace in that. So forgive, move on, kiss and make up, start over again, whatever you have to do to make peace with your neighbors. If we don’t make peace with our others, we can’t receive Jesus’ gift of peace.

 The second thing that helps us hold on to Jesus’ peace is to make peace with your circumstances.

Turning back to Philippians, Paul writes…Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

Do not worry about anything. I know, easier said than done I’ve never been good at that. But Paul insists that whatever you are worried about... money, relationships, a job, a medical problem, your kids, natural disasters. Whatever you are afraid of… being embarrassed, being caught, being shown up, being put down, being ignored… whatever worries you … whatever scares you… take it to God in prayer. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. The un-peaceful circumstances of our lives do not have to make us un-peaceful inside. Take it to God and dump it at his feet. Let’s take all our worries, all our concerns, all our fears, all our anxiety and lay it at God’s feet in prayer. We can’t fix most f it anyway. Maybe God will fix it maybe not, but either way, make peace with your circumstances by letting God have your worry.

The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is a great image of that. For centuries People have been going to the one remaining temple wall to pray. Particularly the Jews, but anyone can do it. I did it when I was there. People have been coming for centuries to they pour out their prayers, their concerns, their worries, their anxiety. They write their prayers on slips of paper and stuff them in the cracks between the stones. It seems like the weight of the worry is swallowed up by those massive stones.

However you do it… let your requests be made known to God. …if your hands are full of worry and stress about things you can’t control, you can’t hold on to the peace of god. So make peace with your life and “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. “

 Make peace with others, make peace with the circumstances of your life, and the finally Paul’s says we must make peace with ourselves. He writes, “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.”

That’s really pretty simple. We can focus on minds on one of two things; our problems or our joys. We can beat ourselves up over our faults, our mistakes, our weaknesses, our failures, our fears, our flaws, our limitations… OR we can make peace with who we are and set our minds on whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise.

 I am not talking about being prideful or boasting. I am talking about being realistic. How many times do we beat ourselves up focusing on the things we do not like about ourselves?

You know what? God made us… and “God don’t make no junk.” God has made you a unique individual and gifted you especially for your work in his kingdom. Don’t beat up God’s child--yourself. We have to make peace with who we are, even when we make mistakes. We never have and never will be able to make all people happy. We will never be perfect in our behavior. We will never get a perfect A+ in life. But we have to accept that and focus on what we can do.

The truth is making peace with others, and making peace with our circumstances is easy compared to making peace with ourselves. Let go of the guilt, the shame, the past mistakes, the shoulds, and the musts… some won’t go away. In fact some will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Like having ex-con tattooed on our forehead. But the more we focus on the negative, the more power we give it. The more we focus on God and good, the closer we are to being at peace.

If our hands are full of self criticism we can’t hold on to God’s peace, so make peace with yourself.

 The last line of our passage is…” and the God of peace will be with you.” No qualification, no requirements, no if’s and’s, or but's… Nothing we have to do. Just a promise “the God of peace will be with you”. And we are back to Jesus promise “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

How about it? Where do you need to start?

•           Making peace with someone

•           Making peace with your circumstances

•           Making peace with yourself

•           Accepting  the peace of God

Where do you need to start this week?

•           Peace with someone

•           Peace with your circumstances

•           Peace with yourself

Start somewhere… start anywhere… Whatever you have to do to let the God of peace dwell I you richly is so worth it.

Let’s be in prayer as you get the “KNOW, GROW, GO” sheet from your bulletin and mark on it what you need to do this week to be a better vessel for God’s peace.”

<<<>>> 

Hold on to your Know, Grow, Go sheet to hang on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror. And let’s pray the prayer for peace.

BELIEVE: JOY Week 22 September 17, 2017

Intro video

BELIEVE: JOY

Week 22

September 17, 2017

 (Babies laughing video automatically advances to slide #3)

Who can resist smiling when we see a baby laughs?

Let me ask you though, is that because we feel joy or we feel happiness?

It depends on the circumstances, but I would say, watching a video of someone else’s baby laughing is probably happiness. Take the video away, and we might be just as sour and dour as we were when we walked in the door. If that is the case, it is not joy.

 Fundamentally, there are two kinds of people in the world. In Winnie the Pooh, they are called "Eeyores" and “Tiggers.” “Eeyores” can find a burden in every blessing; a dark cloud in every silver lining. No matter how good things are, they can always find something to complain about; something that’s not right. People accuse “Eeyores” of being pessimists, but “Eeyores” know the truth: they are realists. They are the only ones that see reality as it truly is while everyone else walks around with blinders on.

You probably won’t believe this, but I have on occasion been called an "Eeyore."

  The other extreme type is “Tiggers” who find a blessing in every burden; a rainbow in every storm. No matter how bad things seem, they can always find something positive. People accuse "Tiggers" of having their head in the clouds – blissfully ignorant, or perhaps, even in denial. But "Tiggers" know the truth you just have to “turn that frown upside-down” and “keep on the sunny side of life.”

Believe it or not, I have never been accused of being a "Tigger."

Truthfully, there’s a little "Eeyore" or "Tigger" in each of us. But "Eeyores" and "Tiggers" can be equally problematic. One we have to pull one back down to earth. The other is always trying to drag us down into the mud.

Clearly, Tiggers are happy and Eeyores are not… but neither one has the advantage when it comes to Christian Joy.

 You see, I want to be perfectly clear, that when we talk about Christian JOY, we are not talking about being a "Tigger." We are not talking about happiness.

•        Happiness is a state of mind, while joy is a condition of the heart

•        Happiness comes and goes, while joy never changes.

•        Happiness is dependent on the circumstances of our lives, while joy is dependent only on God’s constant love.

•        Happiness is conditional, while joy (like the love we talked about last week) is unconditional.

In the most joyful book of the Bible, Philippians, Paul writes, “I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11–13, NLT)

 This is a portrait of Christian Joy. We might define Christian joy and trusting contentment in God.

Christian Joy is contentedly trusting in Christ whether we have much or little, because Jesus is enough.

Christian Joy is contentedly trusting that we don’t have to fight the battle du’jur because our strength comes from Christ.

Christian Joy is contentedly trusting that we don’t have to be the winner, because our victory comes from Christ.

Christian Joy is contentedly trusting that whether we feel happy or sad, it is enough to trust in Jesus.

Christian Joy is contentedly trusting that we don’t have to fight our inner "Eeyore." Rather, trusting that Christ is our joy, no matter how we may feel.

Christian Joy is contentedly trusting in Christ for all things. It is like the trust of the baby completely content just to be held safe in a parent’s arms.

Christian Joy is contentedly trusting deep, deep inside that we are always held in the arms of God… and that is really all we need.

How is your Christian joy? If you aren’t so sure you get it yet, you’ll have to get in line. I’ll admit, for a while this week I thought maybe I should find someone more qualified to preach his sermon. I’m not sure I get it myself, but I kept telling myself what I knew I wanted to tell you. “Just because you don’t FEEL joy, does not mean that you don’t HAVE joy. Christian Joy is not a feeling; it is a confidence that Jesus is enough.”

 Jesus says, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”  That word “complete” could also be translated “enough.” “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be enough.”

 If you have trouble connecting to joy, try adjusting your perspective. You are not the end all and be all of life. This life and what you see, is not the whole picture. There is a bigger picture that stretches all the way from creation to consummation… all the way from Genesis to Revelation.

Jesus was part of that picture. From a human perspective, who would journey to Jerusalem knowing that a Roman cross was waiting for them? No one if they were focused on themselves and their life. No one if they were looking at the small picture. Hebrews tells us that, “For the joy that was set before him, Jesus endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus knew the joy of being part of a bigger perspective .He faced the cross, not because he had to, but “for the joy that was set before him.”

If we didn’t see the bigger perspective, what woman would endure the pain of labor?

If we didn’t see a bigger perspective who would give to hurricane cleanup?

If we didn’t see the bigger perspective who would undergo surgery or chemotherapy?

If we do not have a bigger perspective, when life just stinks that’s all there is.

In Christ, we are part of a bigger perspective of the kingdom of God. Therefore, no matter how I feel, I can contentedly trust that Jesus is enough… and that is joy.

In Christ, we are part of the bigger perspective of eternal life. Therefore, no matter what this life brings, I can contentedly trust that Jesus is enough… and that is joy.

For the joy that was set before him, Jesus endured the cross. Therefore, as part of the big picture of the kingdom of God, I can contentedly trust that Jesus is enough… and that is joy.

 If you still have trouble connecting to joy, try realigning your priority.

If you don’t decide what is important, others will do it for you. If you don’t decide what you’ll spend your life doing, others will do it for you. The world has expectations of us. Advertisers are all about setting or changing the priorities of our lives. I suggest, however, that we adjust our priority to align with Jesus. Jesus asks, “What good is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” 

In Christ, we participate in the greatest priority of all… the salvation of our souls for the transformation of the world.

Let’s get personal. How many arguments in your family are over issues that really aren’t very important? Are they worth losing your joy over? How much of the conflict and anxiety in your life is over silly things? ...most of I would guess. Are they worth losing your joy over? How much of your time do you spend on things that just aren’t all that important? Ask yourself, how long will this last? What value will this activity have in 5 yrs., 10 years? One of the tragedies of this life is people giving first class allegiance to second-class causes... or majoring on minors.

In Christ, we are given a new priority “Love the lord your God… Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Now that is something that lasts. Jesus established life priorities for every one of us: love God and love others. Everything else is filler. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend.” Greater joy has no one than this they they give their live to loving God and loving others. When we align our life-priorities with Jesus… loving God and others, we discover something very important. We discover that God first loved us. We come realize there is no greater joy in life than contentedly trusting in God’s unrelenting, unstoppable, indescribable love for us. That is true joy.

I started out saying that I thought that maybe I was the wrong person to preach on Joy. In a superficial way that might be true, but when we dig in to the Joy of Christ, we discover that it does not reside here. It resides there. In God. Joy resides in contentedly trusting that God is enough.

When we adjust our perspective, taking ourselves out of the center of the world, we can see that God really is enough.

When we align our priorities with Jesus priorities, we discover that loving and being loved by God really is enough.

Contentedly trusting that God really is enough… is joy in its purest form.

 You have probably seen this

“GODISNOWHERE”

Today I want to show you a different one.

 “:JOYISNOWHERE.”

 Some look at that and read “JOY IS NOWHERE” (Frankly I have done that too much of my life.)

 I tell you joy is not “nowhere”. … Joy is in God... and in Jesus Christ God is now here... and when we shape our lives around God’s perspective and Jesus priorities, we take Jesus in here. Suddenly joy has gone from being nowhere, to be to being out there… to being right here. “JOY IS NOW HERE”

Jesus explains the whole thing. “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be ENOUGH.

May your joy be enough.

Believe #21 Love RUMC Sept 10, 2017

(intro video)

Believe #21

Love

RUMC Sept 10, 2017

Some have observed that after a person has owned a dog for a while they begin to bear an uncannily resemblance to each other.

    Others have observed that couples who are married for a long time being to act a lot like their spouse.

Why is it that those of us who have been hanging out with Jesus for a long time don’t look more like Jesus? We should, you know.

We are coming to the last leg of the BELIEVE series of readings, sermons and lessons.

•           We spent the first 10 weeks learning how to think like Jesus; talking about basic Christian doctrines or beliefs.

•           We spent the second 10 weeks last spring seeing how what we believe should directly influence the way we act. We talked about moving from belief to spiritual practices that bring us closer to Christ. We talked about acting like Jesus.

•           Now we are going to see that not only do our beliefs shape our actions, but in addition, our beliefs and actions should change who we are on the inside.

That is after all that the gospel is about. “The old has died and behold the new has come,” being “born again,” “Have the same mind in you which was in Christ Jesus.” The heart of the gospel is a call to be more and more like Jesus.

 If all of that is a little hard to wrap your head around, remember, THINKING like Jesus, leads to ACTING like Jesus, which then helps us grow TO BEING like Jesus.

As we enter into these weeks, I want you to know that this is a critical stage. Here is where the changes in our thinking and acting begin to take root. This is where the faith of our heads and the faith we have been practicing, begin to be the faith we live. Others begin to notice the change in us. As they notice the difference Jesus makes in our lives, we have the opportunity to influence them and through them, the world.

We are going to focus on 10 Christ-like heart-qualities that we should be nurturing in our lives. You will find many of these in Galatians 5 and recognize them as the Fruit of the Spirit.

What is the first word you think of when I say Jesus, right off the top of your head. <<<>>> I thought of love.

You know Jesus loves me. Jesus was the most-loving person who ever lived. If we are going to be like Jesus, we have to be filled with love.

We don’t want the kind of love the culture knows. The message we are sent from birth is that love is conditional.

We can fulfill the condition in a number of ways:

•           People love us when we perform well.

•           People love to be around someone with a nice personality

•           People love to see people with an attractive physical appearance.

Therefore, we work. We work long hours. We work out. We work to find love. Why? Because we have been taught that love has to be earned. Almost all human love—is conditional.

Guys, has your wife ever done this… you try to do something nice and have a tender moment by randomly out of the blue telling your wife that you love her? Then instead of reciprocating she asks, “Why… why do you love me?” Why? I don’t know… I just do. Maybe, to be honest, I love you a little less now that you have pushed me in a corner and asked why. Suddenly that sweet moment has evaporated.

Now, I’m not criticizing Robyn or any of you for occasionally doing that. They just want to know what we all want to know: “Why am I worthy of being loved?” Perhaps, the underlying insecurity is, “Tell me, so I can keep meeting your conditions. Then you will keep loving me.”

We ask because we are conditioned to believe that love is conditional. That’s all we’ve ever known.

That is the world’s equation for love… If we to do enough of what someone likes… and avoid the stuff they don’t like… maybe we’ll deserve their love.

It overflows into pop theology…“If you stop doing bad things, then God will love you.”

“If you do good things, then God will love you.”

People spend our lives trying to EARN love and completely miss this truth: TRUE LOVE IS GIVEN, NOT EARNED.

God has a different formula for love.

•           When John was looking for a short definition of God, he put it as clearly as possible. Three words: God is love. Not just any kind of love. Agape love. Unconditional. Unquenchable. Unrelenting. Never-ending love.

•           When Paul was trying to describe salvation, he said we are saved by God’s Grace. Nothing we do but the free gift of grace in Jesus Christ.

So God’s formula is : “God’s loving nature” + “God’s amazing Grace” = “Love”

Perhaps a mother’s love at its best is the best human example of unconditional love.

It all starts 9 months before the mother even meets the baby.

•           At first, the baby makes her sick. 

•           Later he causes her to gain weight. The weight makes her waddle like a duck and live in sweat pants.

•           The extra mouth to feed causes her to crave bizarre combinations of food: Pickles + peanut butter; bananas + mayonnaise.

•           This baby is going to cause a lot of pain and exhaustion.

•           She’s going to cost a lot of time and money.

•           He needs to be fed.

•           She needs to be changed.

•           He cries.

•           She needs to be held. 

The mother does all those things. She spends her nights awake and her days wishing she were asleep.

•           Does the baby say “thank you?” NO.

•           Did the baby do anything to merit this love? NO,

•           The mother loves the child just because that’s what a mother is.

Like babies, we cannot do anything to earn God’s love. Any more than that baby earned the mother’s love. Nevertheless, God loves us … why? Because that’s what God is. God IS LOVE. God cannot help himself… God just loves.

The truth is:

•           You’ll never be good enough. Neither will I.

•           You’ll never be smart enough. Neither will I.

•           You’ll never be pretty enough. Neither will I.

•           You’ll never be perfect. Neither will I.

•           You are flawed.

•           You will fall.

•           You will fail. So will I.

That’s the truth.

Do you know what… none of that matters. None of it factors in to how much God loves you because of His amazing grace. He knows the truth about you and chooses to cover it in His grace.

Grace that says:

•           “You may be weak, but I am strong.”

•           “You may fall down, but I will pick you up.”

•           “You will screw up, but I will be there to clean you up.”

•           “You’re not good enough, but I am.”

•           “You may think you’ve ruined your life, but I will make beauty from this mess.”

And that is all that matters.

The result of receiving such wonderful grace is that we want to share it with others. Once we learn God’s new math, we want to go teach it to others. As disciples of Jesus, we want to throw out of old love calculator and open our arms up to love others in the same radical way God loves us. We shouldn’t have to be told, but Jesus gives us the new commandment. “Love one another, as I have loved you.”

            We want to mimic three qualities of God’s love when we love others.

 Unconditional, Sacrificial, Forgiving… how are you doing?

Lee and Breanna are giving us an opportunity to LOVE LIKE JESUS. That’s what we promise to do as we baptize Ellanor thismorning.

•           Will you love her unconditionally…Ellanor has done nothing to deserve your love. Will you love her anyway?

•           Will you love her sacrificially…Someday Ellanor is going to need someone to love her enough that they will get up off their pew and teach her about Jesus. She’ll need someone to teach her the songs so she can sing Jesus loves me. She’ll need someone to cheer for her at her pewee baseball game and someone to donate money so she can go on a mission trip. Will you love Ellanor enough to sacrifice something for her?

•           Will you love her enough to teach her about forgiveness…Someday Ellanor is going to be watching you. Will she see you talking bad about certain people in Gladbrook? Will she see you quit church because you don’t want to sit next to so and so? Will she see you holding a grudge? What you do is what she will learn. Will you love Ellanor enough to teach her about forgiveness?

That is where the rubber meets the road. How we treat each other. If we can’t show unconditional, sacrificial, forgiving love to a beautiful baby in our congregation, we have a long ways to go to love like Jesus. We have a long ways to go to BE like Jesus.

   A traveler fell into a deep pit and couldn’t get out. Several persons came along and saw him struggling in the pit. Which one is most like you?

•           The sensitive person said, "I feel for you down there."

•           The reflective person said, "It figures that someone would fall into that pit."

•           The judgmental person said, "Only bad people fall into pits."

•           The curious person said, "How in the world did you get down there?"

•           The perfectionist said, "Obviously you deserve to be in that pit."

•           The self-pitying person said, "That’s nothing - you should have seen my pit."

•           The optimist said, "Cheer up! Things could be worse. The pit could be filled with alligators."

•           The pessimist said, "Be prepared! Things will get worse. It’ll probably rain."

Jesus, seeing the man,

•           didn’t care who he was,

•           didn’t care about his own safety near the edge of the pit, and

•           didn’t condemn the man for being stupid enough to fall in the pit.

•           He simply took him by the hand and lifted him out of the miserable pit.

Which one describes you…? I hope I would be most like Jesus. And I hope you would too… because I might be the one in the pit!    

Jesus loved UNCONDITIONALLY, SACREFICALLY, AND IN FORGIVENESS. Go be like Jesus.

Faith works when faith brings wholeness September 3, 2017 Reinbeck UMC

Faith works when faith brings wholeness

September 3, 2017 Reinbeck UMC

A woman went to her doctor’s office. She was seen by one of the new doctors, but after about 4 minutes in the examination room, she burst out screaming and ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she explained. He had her sit down and relax in another room. The older doctor marched back to the first and demanded, "What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Green is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?" The new doctor smiled smugly as he continued to write on his clipboard. "Cured her hiccups though, didn’t it?"

Healing comes in all kinds of shapes and colors.

There is not universal agreement about the meaning of the last chapter of James. Some take it as a medical manual.

Take Herbert and Catherine Schaible. They are the couple from Philadelphia sentenced to 3 ½ years in jail for failing to seek medical attention for 8-month-old son Brandon. Brandon died last year of treatable pneumonia because Herbert and Catherine believed that if they had enough faith that Brandon would be healed.

Brandon wasn’t their first child to die while mom and dad waited for healing. In 2009 their 2 year old son Kent died from failure to seek medical care. The Schaibles are third-generation members of a narrow-minded Pentecostal community called the “First Century Gospel Church” in northeast Philadelphia.

The Schaibles pastor, Nelson Clark, blamed Kent's death on a "spiritual lack" in the parents' lives. In other words… they didn’t’ have enough faith. He went on to insist that they would never seek medical care, even if another child was dying.   

THAT is not what I am talking about today.

As is often the case… some people try to make the passage mean what they want it to mean. Personally, I would rather know what James wanted it to mean.

Let’s cut right to the line that causes the problem.

  “Is anyone among you sick?” Let’s take a look at that.

The Greek word translated “sick” used here is “Kamno” is only used two other places in the New Testament.

 Hebrews 12:3 says, “Consider (Jesus) who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.”  In that passage Kamno is translated as “weary.”

 Revelation 2:3 says, “I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary.” Again, Kamno is translated as “weary.”

That word that is translated as “weary” elsewhere in the New Testament, is translated as “sick” in James.  I am no Greek expert and I am not saying that they made a wrong choice in translating this passage. However, I would say at the very least, that “sick” in this passage is broader than just physical illness. It might be a medical sickness… or an emotional weariness like acute depression, or deep sorrow, or guilt… or a relational hurt like unforgiveness, or anger, or jealously… Or it might be a spiritual brokenness like greed, or selfishness.

Or it might be a social sickness like racism, classism, a broken healthcare system, or a decimated mental health care system. And I don’t know about you, but my heart aches when I see the factions in the UMC bickering and slandering each other.

Those social illnesses are just as much sickness, and weaknesses, brokenness as any medical condition.

Does this passage address your arthritis, or heart condition, or anxiety? Absolutely. But it is also much bigger than that. Much, much bigger because God is much, much bigger.

 FURTHERMORE, If we set this passage in context, it follows two instructions  we see the breadth of what James is talking about.

•           “Are any among you suffering? They should pray.” The suffering might be much more than physical illness.

•           “Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.” Again, that sentence has nothing to do with medical problems.

On the other side, our passage is then followed by this one.

•           “The prayer of faith will save the sick (which should be translated weak), and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” AGAIN… clearly, this is much more than physical healing. 

In this passage, the sickness of which James writes is clearly bigger than any medical problem.  It encompasses emotional sickness, spiritual sickness, relational sickness, and social sickness.

 NOW, I want to address the ritual James describes. “Call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.”

A few years ago, “anointing with oil” would have been a strange thing. Recently there has been an upsurge in what they call essential oils. Oils distilled from certain botanicals used to help any number of maladies. Robyn uses peppermint for her arthritic hands. Noah had a teacher that used lavender to calm the class.

Using oil is no longer a strange thing. But we are not talking about the medicinal effects of essential oils.

In time of Jesus, anointing was commonplace. It was a sign of respect or love. It was a sign of inauguration to office, or conferring of power; both secular like kings, and religious, like priests.

Perhaps most interesting is the term Christ or Messiah. Do you know what it means?

“The anointed one” Jesus was the anointed one.

•           Jesus was the one anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit.

•           Jesus was the one so deeply loved that a woman came to anoint his feet and dried them with her hair.

•           And Jesus was the anointed one, who was anointed in preparation for burial.

So anointing has a long history symbolizing the giving of love and power.

And the anointing the weak or sick, or broken, or hurting people is a way of showing them love, and symbolizing to them in a concrete way, the power of the prayer we pray over them.

With those two things in mind:

•           That the passage is about a wide range of “illnesses.”

•           And that anointing is a way of showing love and symbolizing power …

 Let’s get back to the text and see what James wants to tell us about how faith works in our lives.

Are any among you suffering? Are any cheerful? Are any among you sick? Are any weak? Are any broken? Are any hurting? Are any worried?

The answer is yes. I don’t know what you see from where you sit, but I look out and I see each one of you struggling in some way. Some of you I can name your brokenness, we have struggled together, or you have shared your brokenness. Others are more private, but I have been standing here long enough to know and each and every one of us is broken, weary, sick, depressed, sorrowful, guilty, in need of forgiveness, needing to let go of anger, or jealously, or we are just drained empty from all the chaos, trouble, turmoil, hurt and hatred with which we seem to be surrounded in our day to day lives.

From where I stand, I see that we are a people very much in need of healing.

 James says that prayer is the answer to our brokenness.

Prayer is the answer to all of our brokenness. James talks about three kinds of prayer: praying for ourselves, asking others to pray for us, and praying for each other.  Any way that we pray, James says,   prayer is the answer to all of our brokenness.

•           Prayer connects us to the one who is our all in all.

•           It connects us to the only one who is all things.

•           It connects us to the only one who is complete in himself.

•           Prayer connects us to the only one who knows our brokenness and was willing to be broken that we might be made whole.

•           Payer connects us to Jesus …the anointed one… the Christ…the one and only God willing to be broken… in fact broken to death… in order to make us whole.

We come here because our lives are  like a leaky bucket. Or a crackedpot. Patched here and there, but

•           still leaking love just as fast as God can pour it in. 

•           Still leaking grace just as fast as God can pour it in. 

•           Still leaking hope as fast as God can pour it in.

•           Still leaking joy as fast as God can pour it in.

•           God filled us with his image and it is leaking right out.

We are broken, but want to be more like Jesus.

We come because we face all kinds of sicknesses, and we want to be made well.

We come to lay all of our brokenness at the feet of Jesus.

  Jesus… and only Jesus offers

•           salvation from all brokenness,

•           Hope in the deepest darkness.

•           Joy in the midst of pain, and

•           Life in the midst of death.

In Jesus …and only in Jesus,

•           We can be made whole.

•           We can be healed. 

•           We can be filled and

•           We can experience a faith that works.

Faith works when, in Jesus, faith brings wholeness.

AMEN