Sunday, November 26, 2017

Believe: #30 gentleness RUMC 11/26/17

Believe: #30 gentleness
RUMC 11/26/17


 The finish line is in sight.  This is the last week of the Believe series of sermons and lessons. We have worked our way through 10 key beliefs asking, “What do we believe?” ten key practices asking, “What should we be doing?”
In these last nine weeks, we have talked 9 attributes of a mature Christian. Today we come to #10.  I think they leave it to last because it might be the hardest for many of us:  GENTLENESS.
Why would I say gentleness is hard? We are all nice people… but we live in a culture that is anything but gentle. It seems that our culture is becoming angrier, louder, and more critical every day.
 Psychologist Leslie Charles says Americans now live by a “Code of Crankiness.” Among the 17 principles of crankiness are:        
•           I should not have to be inconvenienced by others.         
•           I have the right to be impatient or rude
•           So what if I’m rude-I never have to see this person again
•           My opinions and views are more valid than anyone else’s.
Maybe that seems farfetched to folks who are “IOWA NICE”  but if you spend a little time in a crowd or a traffic jam and you’ll see that even “Iowa Nice” is getting crankier.
After spending 3-1/2 hours enduring long lines, rude clerks and insane regulations at the Department of Motor Vehicles, Glenn stopped at a toy store to pick up a gift for his son. He brought his selection - a baseball bat - to the cash register.
“Cash or charge?" the clerk asked.
"Cash," He snapped. Then apologizing for his rudeness, he explained, "I’ve spent the entire afternoon at the motor vehicle bureau."
The woman sweetly replied, "Oh, then shall I gift-wrap the bat…or are you going back there?"
In a Gallup survey of the favorite topics in the Believe series, Gentleness came in dead last. The question that tripped people up was, “Are you known as someone who raises their voice?” How about you? Be honest with yourself. Better yet, ask a friend or family member who will be honest with you. The question is, are you more the like the crocodile or the butterfly.
 I thought it was interesting that the topic of Gentleness falls on Christ the King Sunday. Stereotypically, we think of kings as a powerful, figures who command armies, order executions, rule with absolute authority, and gets exactly what they want. Kind of like an alligator.
In contrast to that image, Jesus, the king of creation and lord of our lives was gentle. He described himself as “gentle and humble in heart,” and Matthew describes him as “humble and riding on a donkey.”  He played with children, had compassion on the sick, and lovingly built relationships with all kinds of people.
Don’t misunderstand me… Jesus got impatient with the hard-headedness of the disciples and the crowds. He turned over the tables in the temple. He called Peter “Satan” and ordered him to get behind him.  Yet Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  
Jesus said, “I am gentle”… what does gentle mean?
 “Gentleness” usually means being merciful, understanding, generous, and balanced in judgment. Those are all behaviors. But to Jesus, it is more than the way we act. Jesus said I am gentle and humble in heart.
Friends, how is your heart? When life gets stressful, do you lash out with the hard heart of the “Code of Crankiness?” Or do you respond with the soft heart of Christ, in gentle grace and forgiveness?
Like all the rest of these spiritual attributes we all the Fruit of the Spirit, we all probably have a ways to go. But remember, like all the other attributes, gentleness is a fruit of the spirit.   That means it is not all up to us. Gentleness is the fruit that grows in us by the power and work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives.   We are not alone in as we try to grow into gentleness.  There are, however, some concrete things we can do to be gentler. Jesus was very good at giving us concrete guidelines and that is why I chose the passage from the Sermon on the Mount that Dian read for us this morning. It comes from the same chapter as the beatitudes. It is on page 5 of our New Testament, if you would turn there. I want to point out three things I see in this passage.

 First, we can work on giving GENTLE ANSWERS. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say to you, ‘Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;  and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.’
All three of these examples have to do with the way the Roman imperial army treated Jewish citizens.  Physical injury, taking what wasn’t theirs, and forcing someone to carry their gear were all common occurrences. Disturbingly enough, times have not changed much. We all experience those emotional slaps in the face, being disrespected, and people are way too anxious to take advantage of others.
How do you respond? Be honest with yourself.
Jesus’ key to responding to these offenses comes in verse 39 which could be translated, “Do not use violence to resist evildoers.” It is human to want revenge and to react in revenge when someone hurts us in any way.  But that is not Jesus’ way.  That is not the way of gentleness.  No eye for an eye.  No slap for a slap. No rude gesture for rude gesture. No foul name for a foul name. No violence for violence. Just gentle answers.
Jesus was no doormat. He doesn’t expect us to be, but he teaches that we are to respond with gentleness and love.  I am pretty sure that we can do better. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  Romans 12:21 (NIV)
  
 Second, there are GENTLE ACTIONS
Look at verse 42 Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
Again Jesus is not asking us to be naive or gullible. He is asking us to treat others with grace.  When we see someone in need, instead of turning the other way, stoop down and give them some gentle kindness. Perhaps it is material like a little money, or a coat, or food.  Maybe it is not material, like a smile, a kind word, a firm handshake, or a quick prayer.
It is very popular in our not-so-gentle culture, to ignore those in need, blame them for their circumstances, or expect someone else to help them. But that is not Jesus’ way, don’t just walk by, don’t grumble, don’t blame, don’t pass the buck. . Gentleness is stooping to do what you can to ease human need or suffering.
Proverbs says “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” 

 Finally, Jesus teaches GENTLE ATTITUDES, which I am going to translate as grace.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; …For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
It is easy to love our neighbor and family. It is much harder to love the enemy. It is even harder to pray for those who persecute you.
Jesus is saying when we seek revenge our hearts get hard. When we respond in grace, whether that means forgiveness, acceptance, or hospitality; our hearts soften. Gentleness is offering a hand of forgiveness to those who are hard of heart. Gentleness is treating those who hurt us with the same kind of love and forgiveness God offers us. It is offering them the same kind of respect and grace that God offers us.
Paul writes “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”    

 Finally just a quick note about verse 48.  48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. That always raises eyebrows.   If it said “Ye shall be holy; for I am holy"   that wouldn’t bother us would it.  If it said,   "be merciful, as your Father also is merciful"  we wouldn’t bat an eye.  Well it is that it means. God’s love for you is perfect. Pass that same love on to those around you. Be graceful to others with the same grace God has given you. In other words, live by the Fruit of the Spirit,
 
You won’t accomplish all of that this week, but this is the perfect time to start. And gentleness is the perfect place to start. So let me leave you with three questions. These are on your KNOW -GROW -GO sheet
•           REFLECTION--- “Have you bought into the code of crankiness?”
•             QUESTION---   Ask someone who will tell you the truth, to rate you on the alligator/butterfly scale of gentleness. Ask several people if you are feeling pretty brave.
•           Finally…an ACTION--- watch for a time this week when you are tempted to react in revenge or harshness. STOP. Figure out how to respond with gentleness and grace and do it.
 You could do the same with each of the attributes we have discussed.

And remember our spiritual lives are not a sprint, but a marathon.  So I’ll end with Paul’s words.

“Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. “

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Believe #29: Humility Reinbeck UMC November 19, 2017

Believe #29: Humility
Reinbeck UMC
November 19, 2017
(Automatic===Video- “O Lord it’s hard to be humble”)
Automatic  I don’t know about you, but I really don’t have that problem… I mean I don’t have the problem of “being perfect in every way.” Humility is a different story… I think we all struggle with that at one time or another. And if you think you have humility down pat, let me know… because I probably need to preach a sermon on pride next week.
Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.”
What is humility? I like to think of humility as just being realistic or honest in self-perception. Humility is not thinking ourselves more important or less important than we are. Humility is not puffing ourselves up, but neither is it putting ourselves down.
 C.S. Lewis defined humility this way: “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” Jesus lived a life of true humility. He was so sure of God’s love that he was able to consistently see the needs of others and treat them, as he would want to be treated… Hm… that sounds familiar doesn’t it? That’s the golden rule. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”   Or the second great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  That’s humility.
On the 2015 season of The Voice TV show, one contestant told Pharrell and Lionel Richie, “There’s no song I can’t do.” His coaches looked at each other. Then, Lionel Richie—who has 4 Grammy Awards and has sold over 100 million records—said to him, “If you’re really good, they’ll tell you. Don’t you ever tell them.” To his credit, the young contestant realized he needed to bring a level of humility to his performance.
We might say Humility is never saying how good we are, but being so much like Jesus that others can see God’s goodness in us.

 I said Jesus lived the perfectly humble life. I think there are two directions to his humility.
The horizontal axis is t way he treated others. Take today’s story. Let’s turn to Luke Chapter 14. Jesus didn’t have any problem hanging out with the powerful people of his day. He was at the house of a Pharisee having lunch. The best seats were near the host of course. And he was watching people vying for those prime seats. Could it have been the disciples? Remember their discussion about who was greatest in the kingdom of God?
If he took his own advice, Jesus was sitting at the foot of the table and he gave a lesson in humility. Starting in verse 8, He said, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host” It would be like going as a guest to someone's birthday party, and presuming to sit down right in front of the cake in the chair with the balloons are tied to it. Jesus continued, “Then the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.” That would be humiliating… which is quite different from humility.
 Jesus recommended, “But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.” Jesus concluded saying, “For all who exalt themselves (by sitting at the head table) will be humbled, and those who humble themselves (who sit at the card table off to the side) will be exalted.”
•           Let’s think about that. If you spend the whole party telling your stories, and can’t give anyone else the gift of listening to them… you are due to be humbled.
•           If you always have to be first in line, you can never say to someone, “here be my guest.” You are due to be humbled.
•           If you think you are indispensible at work or at home and you think it is your responsibility to share your vast expertise with everyone whether anyone asks or not ...That’s a lot of pride! And you are due to be humbled.
Jesus is warning that anyone who thinks the world revolves around his or her belly button will soon discover otherwise. And those who willingly put others first, have a special place in God’s heart.
It was with humility that Jesus approached the fishermen, woman at the well, the Pharisees, the lepers, the centurions, and every person he encountered. It was an act of humility to wash the disciples’ feet. It was an act of humility to allow himself to be tortured and killed.
The horizontal axis of humility is the way we treat others.
“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

  How was Jesus able to exhibit such great humility toward others? Because of the vertical axis of humility is our humility before God. Jesus first humbled himself before God. ,
Paul does a wonderful job of explaining it in Philippians 2. Let’s turn there. Starting at verse 6. “Though he was in the form of God”… Jesus was God.
“(He) did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,” … He was willing to climb down o ff the throne of heaven and do something radically humble.
   “Being born in human likeness. And being found in human form”… as one of us… completely human from infant to death.
 “He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.” Even though he was God, Jesus prayed, “Father, not my will but thy will be done. ... NOT MY WILL BUT THY WILL BE DONE. Jesus humbly submitted his humanity, even his life to God. That is perfect humility before God. For us it is knowing that God is God and we are not. For us it is praying… “Not my will but thy will be done.” … “Thy kingdom come.” …“I am thine o lord I have heard your voice.” … “Here I am lord send me.”
 Micah 6:8 has one of the most succinct exhortations on humility in God’s presence. ““What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk HUMBLY with your God?”
The horizontal axis of humility is a profound sense that God is God and you are not.

 Finally, humility before God leads to a profound transformation in life. When we are proud we hold on to what we have done, what we have accomplished, how important we are. But when we humble ourselves before God, admitting that God is God and we are not, we are naturally filled with gratitude to God. Humble people are naturally more grateful people. If we are filled with pride, we believe that we are the source of all good things and there is no need for gratitude, just another layer of pride. If we are the important one, we can’t walk humbly with our God. If we are the most important person around we can’t love our neighbor as our self.
In humility, we realize that everything is a gift from God.
As James puts it, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.”
Being humble gives us the perspective that everything we have “better than we deserve, Praise God.” Humility is the ground of gratitude.

 One African tribe expresses gratitude by saying, “I sit on the ground before you.” When someone wants to make his gratitude known, he goes and just sits quietly for a period of time in front of the hut of the person to whom he is grateful.
That is what we do in worship each week. We humbly sit on the ground before God expressing our gratitude. Today I want to do it literally. I want you to take the Know, Grow Go insert that you have and a pencil as we sit before God in gratitude.
Let’s just sit on the ground before God in silence for a moment I hope those who can will join me literally on the ground up here, but others may stay in your seats and bow your heads to the ground.
We sit on the ground before you humbly without words O God.

We sit on the ground before you God.
 Now, take the know, grow go page and write in the left hand column anything you have whined or griped about recently: frustrating people, annoying circumstances, wanting something you couldn’t get (such as an uninterrupted nap), or having something you wished you didn’t have (such as a cold). I k now the space is small, if you need to you can use the back. Write down your gripes and ask forgiveness for your pridefulness in believing that you deserve more.

We sit on the ground before you God.
 On the right Colum, write everything for which you are grateful.

 Now one last thing. As Jim begins playing softly in the background, which list is greater:  Your gripes or your gratitudes? In the box, write a one-sentence prayer of thanksgiving for all your blessings.

We sit on the ground before you God in gratitude.
We humbly offer all that we have. We humbly offer a portion of what you have given us as our weekly offering. We humbly offer our estimates of giving representation our hopes for what you will do in our church in 2018, we offer gratitude for all that you are and all that you do. Receive our offering O God. AMEN


Sunday, November 12, 2017

Week 28 BELIEVE: faithfulness November 12, 2017 RUMC

Week 28 BELIEVE: faithfulness
November 12, 2017
RUMC
Our reading today was just the climax of the Joseph story… Rather than read all 13 chapters, let me tell you a story and you watch for examples of faithfulness.
 Joseph was Abraham’s great grandson. There was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then Joseph.
Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son because he was the “son of his old age,” and he didn’t try to hide it. His favor is symbolized the beautiful coat of many colors he gave Joseph as a special gift. His 12 brothers were understandably jealous.
One day, while they were out in the fields, the brothers cooked up this scheme of throwing Joseph into a pit and telling their father that he had been killed by a wild animal. When some Midianite traders came by, they saw an opportunity to sell their brother as a slave instead of killing him. Joseph was taken to Egypt and sold to a high official’s household.
While he was in Egypt his master saw, “that the Lord was with him” and he went from being a mere slave to a trusted part of the household. It wasn’t long though before Joseph found himself in prison, for something he didn’t do.
Joseph became known as an interpreter of dreams. Pharaoh had a dream that no one could interpret but Joseph. The dream predicted 7 years of bumper crops followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph then proposed to Pharaoh that 20% of the food that was produced for the next 7 years (the good years) be stored for use during the 7 years of drought.
Pharaoh was so impressed, that he appointed Joseph himself to the position of governor to carry out the plan. Joseph went from prison to Governor, 2nd in command only to Pharaoh himself.
When the 7 years of famine came, Egypt was in a good position not only to feed its people, but also to sell grain for others who came to Egypt looking for help.
Joseph’s brothers were among the refugees searching for food because Canaan suffered a terrible drought. As “LUCK” would have it, Joseph himself was selling the grain. However, it had been so long that they didn’t recognize their own brother.
Joseph recognized them but didn’t let on. He treated them like strangers and even accusing them of being spies. He insisted that they prove who they were by bringing their youngest brother Benjamin to Egypt. It took a lot of convincing, and the prospect of his whole family starving to death, to get Jacob to send Benjamin back with them. Finally, the brothers returned to Egypt, this time with Benjamin along.
Joseph was not done playing tricks. He gave them grain, but slipped one of his silver cups in the top of a sack. Then he accused them of stealing and had them arrested and brought back. While being questioned, they told the whole story of their family. Joseph couldn’t stand it any longer. (This is where our passage picks up today) He revealed his identity to them, they are amazed, and there is that great tearful reunion.
Pharaoh insisted that the whole family come to Egypt where they lived happily, until the Egyptians made them slaves. (But that is another story)
You can find all of that and a lot more in Genesis 37-50. I recommend it because it is really a great story, but more importantly, there is a great lesson in it for us.

 The lesson is about faithfulness. Faithfulness is stick-to-itiveness. Sticking with it no matter what.
Did you notice God’s faithful stick-to-itiveness to Joseph? God stuck to his promise to make Israel a great nation.
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness in spite of Jacob’s favoritism...
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness in spite of the brother’s plan to get rid of Joseph…
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness in spite of the false accusation and imprisonment…
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness in spite of the famine in the land…
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness to care for the nation of Israel no matter what… That is faithfulness.
Throughout the Bible, throughout history and, day by day in our lives it seems like whenever things start to look hopeless, suddenly we see how God has been working behind the scenes all along. God had stick-to-itiveness for the people of Israel no matter how many times they betrayed him because when God is a faithful God. God’s stick-to-itiveness to us is just as strong, because God’s love is a faithful love.
When I look at my life when it seemed things were going wrong.
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness provides an alternative plan.
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness finds a way to provide hope. 
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness makes a way for things to turn out to be better than I ever dreamed.
•           God’s stick-to-itiveness finds a way to bring something good out of something bad.
God’s stick-to-itiveness in action is what we call faithfulness.

 Turn to Galatians 5:22 (p 191) <<<someone start reading>>> “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness…” STOP right there. “Faithfulness.” The fruit of the spirit is “faithfulness.” We have been talking about God’s faithfulness as stick-to-itiveness. We are called to be faithful too, as we become more and more like Jesus we are to grow in our stick-to-itiveness to God.
So what does faithfulness mean in our lives? We might think of the faithfulness of a good dog. What is faithful about a dog? He sticks with you no matter what.
Or we might think about the faithful husband or wife. What is a faithfulness in marriage? When one spouse sticks by the other spouse NO MATTER WHAT.
So, as we consider the fruit of the spirit, faithfulness as our call to stick by God NO MATTER WHAT.
It means we stick with God in good times and in bad. We stick with God in easy times and in hard times. It means we have stick-to-itiveness in our faith.
Joseph had stick-to-itiveness or faithfulness in his relationship with God. He stuck with God in the pit. He stuck with God in the palace. He stuck with God in the prison. And Joseph stuck with God when he rose to power. Joseph stuck with God, no matter what. 
I think our faithfulness or stick-to-itiveness has several dimensions.
•           Being faithful to God means trusting God, no matter what. Trusting God no matter where we are. Just because we don’t see God, from the bottom of our pit… just because we don’t see God from our hospital bed… just because we don’t see God from the darkness of our depression… doesn’t mean God is not there. Being a faithful disciple means our faith has stick-to-itiveness no matter what. We have faith in God and praise God, whether we see God or not. We have faith in God and praise God in all circumstances.
After all that happened, Joseph’s final words in the book of Genesis are, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” (Genesis 50:19-20). Looking back on his life, Joseph could see God’s faithfulness at work, and he doesn’t regret sticking with God. 
 Turn to Isaiah 41:10 to read a promise on which we can stand. <<<>>> God says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Being faithful to God means trusting God, no matter what. 
•           Second, being faithful means obeying God no matter what. We have an advantage over Joseph. The Bible is very clear about what we are supposed to do. We can read it in the commandments; we can study Jesus’ teachings. We know in our hearts that God wants us to treat others with love, and respect, and grace, and forgiveness; and being faithful means doing all of that no matter what. Joseph had many opportunities to be dishonest, to become bitter, to refuse to forgive, to take revenge, to sin and he refused every one of them. Joseph was faithful to God by obeying all God wanted him to do no matter what. We are faithful by obeying God no matter what.
 Turn to John 14:21 to read a promise on which we can stand <<<>>> “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” Being faithful means obeying God no matter what.
•           Third, being faithful to God means sharing our gift and abilities freely. God Gave Joseph many gifts, not the least of which was interpreting dreams. Maybe, like me, you aren’t much for interpreting dreams, but you can do something. Teach, visit, offer a ride, bake, greet, invite a neighbor to church, cook on Wednesday night, teach Bible school, read to a child, donate to Christmas in Grundy, volunteer for Christmas in Grundy… the list of possibilities is endless because God has given each of us gifts we haven’t even opened yet. 
What are your strengths? What are your passions? What makes your heart sing, or your blood boil? Your skills, abilities, and passions are God’s gifts to you. Open them. Take a chance. Be generous with your time, your energy, your knowledge, your abilities, and your passions. Every person in ministry means that … in some way
•           big or small
•           inside or outside the church
…everyone is making a difference for Jesus. That is what we mean by “every person in ministry.” And that is what it means to be faithful.
 Turn to 1 Peter 4:10 to see a command we should follow <<<>>> I’m going to read from the New international version, because it actually uses the word faithful, but it means the same thing in your Bible. “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Being faithful means being generous with our gifts, no matter what.
•           Finally, being faithfulness means being a generous steward. Joseph was a careful steward of what he had. Take, for instance the food he stored for Egypt during those 7 plentiful years. Getting people to give 20% is not that easy. Saving is not that easy. But he did it.
Then when the lean years came, he was generous with all who had need. God has given us much. We might not feel like we have much, but if we are honest, most of us have at least a little more than enough. Be faithful caring for what God has given you and be generous. Next week we will have an opportunity to show our faithfulness to God by promising to support the ministries of the church in 2018. Prayerfully consider what faithful, generous giving means to you and your family and be ready to offer your estimate of giving whatever it might be. Being faithful means being good stewards and generous givers.
 Turn to Matthew chapter 25 starting in the 14th verse. You will recognize this as the parable of the talents. <<<>>>You probably remember that one servant was given 5 talents, one two talents and the other 1 talent. They were told to take care of them until the master returned. 
The first two servants, the ones with 5 and 2 talents, invested them and returned to the master the talents and the interest. The master’s response? Check out verse 21. “Well done, good and faithful servants.” You might think that is because they doubled his money, but that is not it. Let’s read about the other steward.
The steward with one talent buried it and returned all of it to the master and he was condemned. He wasn’t condemned for what he did. …Look at verse 26. He was called a ‘wicked and slothful servant.” Notice, it isn’t because he did wrong. He buried it and returned every penny to his master. He is condemned because he did nothing. He played it safe. Faithfulness is not playing it safe. It is not conserving what we have. Faithfulness is taking a risk, using what we have for something even greater. That is how we experience the fullness of our faith which we call faithfulness.

•           Trusting God even when it is hard.
•           Obeying God even if it is risky. 
•           Stepping out to use our gifts in ministry even if we are not sure of ourselves.
•           Taking a risk to be generous with what we have.
That is stick-to-itiveness or faithfulness.
As a church… as individuals we are not called to be successful as the world measures success. We are not called to be a mega church. I am not called to be another John Wesley. You are not called to be something you are not. We are all merely invited to be faithful.
Faithfulness is not a requirement, a prerequisite, or a condition of our salvation. Rather faithfulness is the only way we have to adequately love the God who is abundantly faithful to us. May you choose to be faithful, not because you have to … but because you love God so much that there is no other way to say thank you.
May you one day hear those precious words, well done, good and faithful servant, well done.

AMEN

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Goodness and Kindness Week 27 Believe RUMC

Goodness and Kindness
Week 27 Believe
RUMC
 Jesus was kind enough to make wine for a young newly married couple when they ran out of wine at their reception.
 Jesus was kind to the adulterous woman saying, “I don’t condemn you either. Go and sin no more.”
Jesus was kind to the 5,000 feeding them with 5 loaves and two fish.
Jesus was when he healed the 10 lepers them even though no one else would even look at them.
One of Jesus’ best known STORIES is about a man lying beaten and bloody along the road and a hated Samaritan stopped to help. It was not a random act of kindness. It was an intentional act of one who modeled his life after the goodness and kindness of God.
Those stories of kindness are just the beginning. Jesus is the perfect example of what it means to be good and kind.
I’ll admit when I first started preparing this message, I was a little cynical just about using the words “good and kind.” I finally realized it is because so many times I have heard things like “I’m not a religious person, but I am a GOOD person.” Or, “He never went to church, but he was a KIND person.”
Kudos to those folks, but that is not what we are talking about.
 We serve a God whose fundamental nature is goodness. Think back to the very first chapters of the Bible. What phrase is repeated again and again. “It is…<<<good>>>Everything God created was “good” because it came from the good creator.
There was that tree that was in the garden… what was it called? <<< The tree of the knowledge of GOOD and evil.” >>> That tree represented the opportunity to choose between the goodness of a relationship with God, and the badness alienation from the good creator.
Goodness is not just PART of the nature of God, it is the SUM TOTAL of God’s attributes. God’s love, God’s grace, God’s hope, God’s joy… all add up to God's goodness.
 Then there is kindness. God’s kindness grows out of God’s goodness. Kindness is goodness in action. The Hebrew Bible often talks of God’s loving-kindness which was proven in the divine covenants and God’s patience with human failure. Divine kindness is God’s goodness alive and well in guiding, sustaining and preserving his people through history.
Goodness and kindness are not human traits that make up for someone’s lack of faith or faithfulness to God. Goodness and kindness are the very heart of God’s fundamental nature that became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ.
That is why Jesus is the ultimate model of goodness and kindness. It wasn’t because he was good in human terms, but because God is good. It wasn’t because Jesus was kind in human terms, but because God is kind. Jesus’ kindness and goodness was a perfect reflection of God’s goodness and kindness.

 Now, turn in your bibles to Ephesians 4:32….. What does it say? “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32, NLT)
In our English translations, we miss a subtle word-play. The Greek word for “kind” is chrestos. The Greek word for “Christ” is Christos. Paul’s readers could not miss the point that Jesus was the perfect reflection of God’s kindness.
The call is clear. God is good. Christ is good. And we are to be kind as Christ reflected God’s kindness. Be Good as Christ reflected god’s goodness.

So how do we do that? How do we reflect Christ’s goodness and kindness?
 It starts with the words we say. We have a choice to make with every syllable we speak. Good or bad. Kind or cruel. And it makes all the difference in the world.
People teaching about resiliency in children say that it takes 1000 positive comments to erase the damage done by one critical comment that tears down a child’s self esteem.  Adults are probably not far behind. Toby Mac does a great job of singing of the power of kind words. Listen to his song “Speak Life.” 

So the first step in kindness and goodness is to “speak life,” or let our words reflect the kindness and goodness of God in Jesus.
 The second is with our actions. You know exactly what I am talking about.
CATHERINE RYAN HYDE wrote ad book and 17 years ago “Pay it forward” was released as a movie and it started something of a movement of kindness.
In it a boy named Trevor explained his idea of how he could help change the world:
If someone did you a favor—something big, something you couldn’t do on your own—and instead of paying it back you paid it forward to three people, and the next day they each paid it forward to three more, and the day after that those 27 each paid it forward to another three, and each day everyone, in turn, paid it forward to three more people, in two weeks that comes to 4,782,969. According to his logic, in 20 days it could spread to the entire population of the world.
His teacher said that it was an “OVERLY UTOPIAN IDEA.” What do you think? Perhaps reaching the whole world is not as easy as Trevor thought, but the principle is sound. Kindness is contagious. So is unkindness.
 Turn to the passage we read this morning….  These are instructions Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica. It says, “See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.” Isn’t that a novel idea!
•           What if instead of yelling back across the aisles, congress started treating each other (and more importantly US) with kindness.
•           What if instead of spewing vitriolic hate, the protestors for white supremacy, or black lives matters, or immigration, or whatever the protest happens to be stopped shouting and began to act kindly. I am not unrealistic enough to think that will happen today… but it could… and if it ever happened… it would change the world.
But the lesson of “Pay it forward” is that it starts not with them, but with us. One person at a time. One act of kindness at a time.
But not kindness for kindness sake. Not goodness for goodness sake. We seek to be  good because God is good …and we want our lives to look more and more like God. We seek to be kind because God is kind …and we want our lives to look more and more like God.

 There is an old, old fable I want to share in closing. 
Many years ago, on a little island, lived a bunch of happy people. They loved their friendly little island with its beautiful trees, water, and sand. The islanders had a special tradition of trading warm fuzzies with each other. Warm fuzzies were like little balls of pure love that made everyone feel good all over.
People would offer warm fuzzies freely, and if you needed one all you had to do was ask. Even people you didn’t know would reach into their pockets and pull out a warm fuzzy, and just give it to you! Every warm fuzzy was like a big hug from a friend. And there were always plenty of warm fuzzies to go around.
Everyone felt safe and loved and they all helped each other to feel safe and loved.
But one day a grouchy, grumbly, mumbly tourist came to visit the island. He didn’t understand what everyone was doing but he was sure he didn’t like it. He kept cold prickles in his pockets and warm fuzzies didn’t make any sense to him. So he decided that he would tell a lie to the islanders, to convince them to stop with all that warm fuzzy business.
The grouchy tourist told the islanders that their warm fuzzies were the most precious things in the world. He told them that instead of sharing them, they should be keeping them. What if the world supply of warm fuzzies ran out? What would they do then?
All of a sudden the islanders began worrying and acting selfishly, keeping their warm fuzzies to themselves. And a funny thing happened. When people stopped sharing their warm fuzzies, people stopped receiving warm fuzzies. Instead of everyone feeling warm and fuzzy inside, they started to feel cold and prickly inside. This made everyone kind of sad, everyone except for that grouchy tourist that is.
Thank goodness something nice happened next. You see, one of the islanders had left for college. She came home to visit and brought her warm fuzzies with her. When she arrived home, she started giving warm fuzzies to everyone she saw. The islanders started to realize what they were missing and that they had made a mistake. Holding onto their warm fuzzies didn’t make them happier, it made them miserable. They figured out that giving their warm fuzzies away not only made their friends happy, it made them happy too.
The good news is that we can be just like those islanders!
We can keep our goodness and kindness to ourselves and wallow in our collective unhappiness. OR… OR We can give away our warm fuzzies, like these cute little pom poms. You are welcome to take whatever is left over after everyone receives one, if you want to literally give them away. My idea was to stick them in your pocket as a reminder that God created you to be good and kind, and God is shaping you to be a good person who treats others with kindness. They are a reminder to freely give away  words and acts of kindness and goodness. You see, when we offer a good deed to someone who didn’t even ask or expect it, that is the best kind of warm fuzzy there is. When we offer a kind word to help someone feel better, that’s the best kind of warm fuzzy there is.

From our scripture today, “See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil. May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ... The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”