Connecting the dots Connecting to God through sanctification 10/20/19

Connecting the dots

Connecting to God through sanctification

10/20/19

 Is “almost good” good enough?

Consider, if you decided that 99.9 percent was good enough …

The IRS would only lose 2 million documents this year.

o          only 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank account in the next hour.

o          Telecommunications companies would only misdirect 1,314 telephone calls every minute.

o          Only 2,488 books would be shipped with the wrong covers on them each day.

o          Only 5.5 million cases of soft drinks in the next year will be flat.

o          only 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions will be written each year.

o          And best of all only 12 babies will be given to the wrong parents each day.

In some arenas, there is no “good enough?” 

 No matter how many hours I practice I will never be good enough to play on the Carroll Tigers basketball team, let alone the NBA.

No matter how many books I read about heart surgery, I’ll bet none of you would let me cut your chest open to do bypass surgery.

And I am absolutely sure if the shoe were on the other foot, I wouldn’t let you.

I can try my very best to make this building sprout wings and fly, but it just is not going to happen.

The same would be true if I tried to be a truck driver, teacher, CNA,  or computer technician. My “best’ would just never be good enough. 

Some times in life doing the best we can just is not good enough.

 In faith, any time we rely on our own best efforts to get us to heaven, we are making a mistake. Doing our very best will never get us into heaven.  No matter how many years I spend preaching, or how many souls I help get saved, or how often you go to church, or how often you pray… nothing you ever do will win you that all-expenses-paid trip to the corner Golden Street and Pearly Gate Avenue.

Paul might have said it best

“I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. ”

So what is a person to do?

We have been talking about the church's new mission statement  “CONNECTING PEOPLE TO GOD” and how we do that.  We spent a couple of weeks talking about how we connect UP to God in worship and scripture. Then we spent a week talking about how we connect IN to each other in friendship and community. Now we are on the 3rd quadrant of our circle connecting DEEPER. We are talking about some ways that we connect with God by going deeper within ourselves.

Last week I left off with a passage from Romans 12 “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind “ We all know that there is a change in our lives when we accept Jesus. But to tell you the truth the biggest change happens as we learn to live out our faith, The Holy Spirit is in the business of changing us day after day after day to be more and more like Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is busy changing us day by day to live the new life in Christ.   The $10 word for that is “sanctification.” Sanctify means to make something holy. The new life in Christ is living more and more holy, more and more like Jesus every day. That sounds like something we DO, but it is not.

 John Wesley talked about the process of sanctification as the Holy Spirit moving us on toward Christian Perfection. Now that might sound strange to your ears. In Wesleyan theology, perfection is a  heart "habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor" and as "having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked." In other words, by the Holy Spirit, we are being perfected in love.  Perfect in this case does not mean without any flaws.  It means whole, or complete, or mature.

This emphasis on sanctifying grace is perhaps the most distinctive theological contribution of Wesleyan theology to our understanding of the Christian life.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, says, justification (salvation) is what God does FOR us, but sanctification is what God does IN us. …at the same time that we are justified, … in that very moment, sanctification begins…. We are enabled by the Spirit to [subdue] the deeds of the body,” Of course, it is the power of the Holy Spirit that overcomes our sinful nature, and as we become more and more dead to sin, we are more and more alive to God.

But why would we want this thing called sanctification? Here’s one way to look at it. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3 “this is the will of God, your sanctification.” We pursue, hope for, and expect sanctification because it is what God desires for us. Sanctification is the means by which we grow to live out the great commandments of Jesus to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is the fullness of life that Jesus died to bring.

For Wesley, sanctification, perfection, discipleship (take your pick) is all about being filled with love, which happens by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. We may not be there yet; but by God's grace, as United Methodists say, "we're going on to perfection!"

In order to do that we have to be ready to change. We have to be willing to be transformed by the renewing of the Holy Spirit poured mind. and heart, and lives.

           

OK, we kind of understand what sanctification is and why we would want it,  but let’s ask what it looks like. in real people? To try to answer that question the Barna Group, a Christian research organization, surveyed more than 15,000 people over a 6 year period. Barna identified what he called 10 “stops” along the journey of transformation– or 10 plateaus that people get to and then stop.   You might say these are rest stops in the Christian life, but some people end up setting up housekeeping instead of moving on.  Notice that we can think of these as rings on our circle growing deeper and deeper.

Follow along with slides  

Plateau 1 is the ignorance of Sin. 1% of adults never understand that sin is a real thing and it is in them.

Plateau 2 is being aware of sin, but indifferent. 16% of adults stop there.

Plateau 3 Questioning or wondering about faith is 39% of the adult population. (that’s the biggest percentage 1/2 of the adults never get past the wondering stage of faith.

Plateau 4 -9% of all adults profess faith in Jesus but never do anything with it. 

Plateau 5 the 24% of people are committed to the faith and serve through a local church.

Plateau 6- is the 6% of adults who really deeply yearn for a closer relationship with God but never peruse it.

Plateau 7 is to know your own brokenness and be desperate for God. 3% make it this far, but never go farther.

Plateau 8 is Choosing, again and again, to surrender fully to God. It is radical dependence.

Plateau 9-  ½  %  of adults experience a profound intimacy with and love for God.

And finally, Plateau 10 is ½ % who experience experiencing profound global compassion and love for humanity. Like Mother Theresa.

Clearly, this is a very simplified roadmap. But instructive to us in that, we can see that there is a movement in our faith after Justification or salvation. A transformation of our lives. True conversion of our inner and outer being. That movement is not something we do.  It is not our choice.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit sanctifying us… tuning us into the people God wants us to be.

It’s also worth noting that these “stops” are more practical observation than biblical necessity. God is not bound to march people through steps 3 through 10. Like many theological descriptions, your results may vary slightly. For instance, for some people stop 8, choosing to surrender and submit fully to God, belongs back with stop 4, confessing Jesus as savior. We can discuss what the order should be, but the point remains that there is movement.

 Paul describes it this way in Galatians 2:19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. 

Sanctification is our calling. It is the real point of having faith. If the only point of faith is forgiveness of sins it is really a very selfish process.  But sanctification helps us to re-frame the purpose of God’s wonderful redemptive act in the cross. To see that God’s plan for us does not stop with the cross and forgiveness of sin. The point of salvation is to move us toward a process of growing into a  profound love of God and a profound love of humanity. That is the ultimate goal of the Christian life.

Transformed people are used by God to transform the world. At that point, you are fulfilling Jesus’ greatest commandments.

And it is all a work of God. It is God who calls us, saves u,s and God who refines us in sanctifying grace.

Do you have a profound love for God? A profound love for humanity? If not, then keep growing in your faith. I had been ordained for 25 years before I began to realize that I was missing something because I stopped at point #5. The best was yet to come. And still is.

 Charles Wesley, John’s brother and s a prolific hymn wrote a song we all probably know that speaks of this great journey of connecting to God as we grow in faith. Let’s sing the last verse.  Of loves divine all loves excelling p 384 in the red hymnal or on the screen

Connecting the dots: Dive deeper study August 12 and 13 2019 Carroll FUMC

Connecting the dots: Dive deeper study

August 12 and 13 2019 Carroll FUMC

My friends and I used to joke about writing a book of things we wish they had taught us in seminary. (Actually, someone beat us to it.) Fortunately, over the last 30 years I have continued to learn and grow beyond what I learned in seminary.  It is a good thing because in the early years of the 1980’s (you might want to cover  your kids ears because this is shocking.) we didn’t have computers, cell phones, projection, the internet, power windows, and a heart bypass surgery would land you in the hospital for almost a month. Without being a lifelong learner, I would have been left in the dust.

How many of you can count? You know 1,2,3. Most of you who can raise your hand can count.  Does being able to count mean you’re ready for the hardest math you can imagine?  No, one could go from counting directly to algebra or trig or calculus without following the learning path in between.

Why should our faith be any different? It isn’t, but people expect it to be. Some people have the idea that as soon as they are confirmed or join the church, they know all there is to know and they are good to go for the rest of their lives.  I’m not talking about other churches.  There are plenty of folks like that in this congregation. Our statistics for children and youth in learning opportunities are amazing.  Our statistics for the number of adults engaged in any kind of learning are way below average.

I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad, but I do want you to know that this is an anomaly in this congregation that I noticed before I came, and Suzi and I have had many conversations about adult education and the challenges we face.

 In this connecting the dots series, we have talked about CONNECTING UP TO GOD and CONNECTING IN TO EACH OTHER. In the next couple of weeks, we will turn our attention to CONNECTING DEEPER IN OUR FAITH. There are a few ways to do that, but today I want to talk about study or learning.

 There are so many scriptures we could use because the Jewish tradition is one of always learning.  Actually, the synagogue was originally not so much a place of worship as it was a place of learning.  The temple was for worship. “Rabbi,” that’s what we call the leader of a synagogue, means “teacher.” When Mary saw Jesus for the first time after the resurrection, she cries out “Rabbani” which means teacher.

Of all those choices I went to Joshua.  It is a great story. Moses had just died and the Israelites, led by Joshua, are getting ready to cross the Jordan into the promised land. God is giving Joshua and the people a pep talk, like a coach before the big game. But he doesn’t say, “we practiced and practiced, you are in great shape, you know the game plan”… no, he says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it”

God didn’t hand them the deed to the land, or a housewarming gift, or the weapons they would need as they conquered Canaan.  No, God gave them a book… This book of the law... the commandments and other laws that eventually became the Hebrew Bible which is our Old testament. This book was to be their guide and they were to meditate on it day and night. 

God didn’t say OK you made it! Step across the Jordan and get your diploma.  He said here’s your Bible (or their version of a bible) “Do not let it depart from your mouth and meditate on it day and night.” Meditating is not just thinking about it: meditating is studying, learning, understanding it, digesting it, growing from it. Meditating on the scripture is letting it draw you into better connection with God and more loving relationships with people. Meditating on them means letting the scripture shape you into the creature God wants you to be. No one expects you to go to Bible study day and night, but since we are people of the book, it sure wouldn’t hurt to have a plan for growing in discipleship through study and learning. I’d say most of that should be scripture or at least scripture based. A church this size should probably have at least two adult classes in addition to duke’s, several ongoing Bible Studies and an occasional special short-term study. But don’t worry. As you grow in your hunger to study, we will be out in front of you preparing the ministries that will help you to do that.

 There are really two parts to study. No matter what the field, there is understanding and then there is applying.

Understanding a 2000-year-old document can be a challenge, but there are a lot of resources to help us.  Living the way God wants us to live is even more of a challenge. But that is why we have each other. 

The new testament passage gives us a glimpse of Jesus both understanding and applying the scriptures in order to help us connect more deeply to God. Jesus said, “I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” To fill the law full of meaning. In other words, to make the understanding come alive in the lives of disciples.

 In this passage, Jesus is doing just that. The Pharisees, who were experts in the law, and an actual lawyer were trying to trick Jesus into saying something silly. They asked, “Which is the greatest commandment?”  Given that there were 600+ laws, they expected that he would choose one that they could say, Ah but what about this one.

  He didn’t fall for it. He did two things, he picked two laws and brought them together to summarize the whole intention of the law, then he applied it to their lives.

Jesus replied, “Love God and love neighbor.” 1 John 4:20 Paraphrased says the two go hand in hand. You can’t love God if you aren’t loving neighbor.

The Pharisees were dumbstruck, so Jesus asked them a riddle about the messiah. They were unable to answer and from then on, they were embarrassed to ask him any more questions.

Jesus then proceeded to point out the pharisees' hypocrisy.

 For us I want to turn back to a place where Jesus really brought it down to earth for us.  Do you remember in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, Jesus said, “You have heard it said that you shall not commit murder” That is understanding… that is what the Bible says and that is pretty easy to understand?  Then he moves to applying it.  “I say to you do not be angry.” He moves from an objective understanding of what one was required to do, to a very personal level. Most of us have not killed… but we have all been angry… Maybe this does apply to us.

That is what preachers are supposed to do every week. Some weeks we do better than others. It is kind of like the old “What Would Jesus Do?” 

Let’s see, Jesus never had to deal with internet pornography available in his house 24 hours a day. But what would Jesus have said or done with regards to that? Jesus goes on, “You have heard it said that you shall not commit adultery” OK clear line... we understand that. We can live on this side of the line. “but I say to you do not even lust.” Now Jesus has gone from preaching to meddling as they say… he is reaching right into your heart as you watch someone out of the corner of your eye and right into your living room as you bring up your favorite porn site.

Jesus went on, “You have heard it said “an Eye for an Eye a tooth for a tooth…”  Nice, simple and easy to do… but Jesus applies it to real life, and it is harder “I say to you do not resist evil with evil. He illustrates it with current events his own day with the way the Roman army treated the citizens of Israel.  They assaulted them and forced them to do their dirty work. “If someone slaps you on the right cheek give them the left also. If anyone forces you to carry their equipment one mile, offer to go the second mile.” That is clearly referring to the army.  He is converting the abstract into the concrete, every day, way we live instructions.

There is so much to learn in the Bible and so much to understand… but there is so much more to learn from the Bible and so much more to do as we live it out in life.

My friends, you are great people, but I have to break some bad news though… you don’t know everything… neither do I, and neither does anyone else on the face of the earth… only God. Maybe that's a surprise, maybe it isn’t, but it is true.

 Therefore, join a class, a Bible study, a small group, something to help you in connecting deeper and hold you accountable for studying the Bible and living what you are studying. Why can ‘t you do this at home, online, or using podcasts?  Of course, you can, but remember how people learn. We learn 1% of what we learn through taste1.5% through touch, 3.5% through smell, 11% through hearing, and get this 83% through sight. That might be reading, but it is also watching others learning the same material and struggling together to apply it to your lives.  It makes a real difference.

I can hear some of your thoughts right now.  ‘I’m too old you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. “I’m so busy I don’t know how I would fit that in.”   Let’s try something… a few weeks ago Clay had you trying to think of the 10 commandments, only a couple of you knew them right. Teach 10 commandments. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

10 commandment slides as I go

See? Now you know the 10 commandments if you go home and do that a few more times you be as good as I am and when someone asks you what the 8th commandment is, you will be able to say… ummmm 8- jail- do not steal! Am I right?

We just proved 2 things.  You can teach any dog, old or young, middle-aged and anything else... you can be taught new tricks. And second, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time.  If you decide to grow more connected to God by connecting deeper in study, you can.   I’m pretty sure you can.

  Romans 12:2 says, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Not transformed in the heart, that will come, not transformed in behavior, that will come too. No. Be transformed BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND. Make a habit of studying all you can in order to deepen your faith and connect you more closely with God.

Connecting with God, Connecting through community October 6, 2019

Connecting with God, Connecting through community

October 6, 2019

First UMC Carroll

(play “Cheers” theme song) For 13 years, when Norm walked through the door everyone at Cheers said what? ________ “NORM!” Even as an extreme introvert, I always kind of wanted a place where everybody knew my name. And they're always glad I came. And they were always saving a seat for me. I’ll bet that is true for many of you.

I’m not convinced that many bars really offer that kind of community. I think this church, however, can be that place for many people. I want this church to be a place where we really connect with each other. That’s what I want this church to be because I think that God’s vision for church... No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter why you’ve come …this is a place where everyone wants to know your name, they’re always glad you came, and we always have a place for you.

Our mission statement is “Connecting People with God.” When people are connected to God, the church becomes the practice field for connecting with others. On the other hand, if someone comes to us because they have a connection to someone here: a friend, neighbor, coworker, or relative. (good for you for inviting them) they come a little “pre-connected,” Then it is our job to nurture more relationships in hopes of someday connecting them to God.

That’s why I try every way I can to connect with you and help you connect with each other: learning names, name tags, visiting folks, coffee in the back, streaming services, small groups. Those are all attempts to connect with you and help you to connect to each other. That’s also why I have racked my brain trying to figure out ways to be more relational with our congregation online. (If you have any ideas, please let me know.)  I want this to be that kind of place whether you come in person or by the miracle of technology, where everyone knows your name, they’re always glad you came, and we always have a place for you.

 This series of sermons called “Connecting the dots” is all about connections. We spent the first two weeks talking about how we connect to God in worship and scripture.

  Today we want to reflect on CONNECTING IN with each other. In other words Christian friendships and Christian community.

Let’s start with the premise that we are, as Barbra Streisand would say, “People who need people.” That is the way we are built. God is a God of relationships and created us to be “people who need people.?

 Imagine if normal relationships are represented by a single cord, what does Ecclesiastes mean when it says, “A cord of three strands is not easily broken?”  It means that there is a whole different level of connection offered when the relationship is based on Christian faith.

The 3 stranded twisted cord is stronger than the sum of the strength of the three cords individually. Let’s imagine that each cord stands for one important characteristic of Christian friendship or Christian community.

 First, Christian friendship or Christian Community offers acceptance.

Paul writes “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle... Don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.”

God is a God of all creation and all the different kinds of people. Every single person is a beloved, precious child of God. None of us is perfect. None of us can meet everyone’s expectations, and often we can’t even meet our own expectations let alone God’s, However, God never treats us as failures or disappointments. The God who created us accepts us and loves us just as we are.

I think we should at least try to treat one another as Jesus would treat us. Remember the woman caught in adultery? … “Where are your accusers? … neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Jesus accepted everyone… I can’t think of anyone who was excluded.

Ray Buckley, one of our speakers this week, tells about asking his father if a person can be Christian and still be racist. I thought to myself… “I’m not so sure.” Ray’s father said something like, “of course, a person can be Christian and still be a racist. What we must remember is that God often asks us to move from where we are in order to be more like Jesus.

I knew a pastor in davenport was asked about whether gambling winnings should be included in a tithe or is it dirty money. He said, “Include it, of course! Give it to us and we’ll clean it up.”

To be honest we all come to God like that. We come as sinners and let God clean us up. That ought to be our attitude about anyone who comes to our door. “Of course, you’re welcome here, and we’ll let God clean you up.” No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter why you’ve come this is a place of total acceptance. Where everyone will get to know your name, they’re always glad you came, and we always have a place for you. Acceptance.

  The second cord in our three strands is support.

Paul writes: “Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.”

 Too many relationships today are political or transactional. If a person is useful, they are friends. As soon as the usefulness expires there is no guilt in disposing of them like a Kleenex.

Not here, though. Not in this church. That should never happen in a church. This should be a place of unwavering support. Relationships are not based on usefulness, but on love and grace. When someone is having a hard time, we need to steadfastly support them. There are no catches. No conditions. No expiration dates or limits on Christian friendship or Christian community.  Christian friendship and Christian community might not quite be “till death do us part,” but it is close. Let’s call it a “no matter what” relationship.

Deb Davis gave me permission to testify to you on her behalf about how important this is. She said a person doesn’t realize what it means to have the church gather around them until times get really hard. Then it means the world. Christian friends are in it for the long haul, uphill and down. God never gives up on us, and we should ever give up on each other.

Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play major league baseball. Faced crowds that were just vicious to him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. Then shortstop "Pee Wee" Reese came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd with him. The fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved his career.

When someone is in trouble, Christian friends should be the very first ones to put our arm around them. By offering unwavering, unlimited, steadfast support, we just may save their life. Or at least get them through a hard time.

That ought to be our attitude to everyone of no matter who you are, let us stand beside you and put our arm around you. No matter where you’re from let us stand beside you and put our arm around you. No matter why you’ve come to this place let us stand beside you and put our arm around you. Let us be the place where everyone will get to know their name, we’re always glad you came, and we always have a place for them. Support.

 The third quality of Christian community or Christian friendship is Accountability.

Paul writes in Romans, “Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.”

Easier said than done right? Buying lunch for those who have hurt us. Taking time out of our busy lives to care for anyone in need? There are a lot of things about the Christian life that are hard. And we need help to do them.

I have always said, maybe some people could be Christian outside the church, but not me. I don’t have the discipline. I need you, and we need each other, to encourage us along the way. Accountability might sound a little legalistic, we could call it encouragement, but I really couldn’t find a better word than accountability. What I am really saying is we need to companion one another along the journey, learning from one another and teaching one another, encouraging one another and leaning on one another. Ideally, we would be like the push me, pull me from Dr. Doolittle. You pull me along today and I’ll pull you along another time.

That ought to be our attitude to each other, no matter who you are let’s grow together. No matter where you’re from let’s grow together, no matter why you’ve come to this is a place we will help each other to be better disciples of Jesus Christ. We’re the place where everyone will get to know your name, we’re always glad you came, and we always have a place for you. Accountability.

 Christian friendship and Christian community. We have it… but can we do better? I think so. I think we pretty much have support down pat.  However…

1. In the last year and a half though, I have actually, audibly heard some eye rolls from way up here. That simply has no place in an accepting Christian community. Period. Everyone must be accepted no matter what.

2. I’m also not convinced that there is much accountability going on. Push me pull me work.  You help me be more like Jesus today, and I’ll help you be more like Jesus tomorrow. Think about that and see with whom who you might have that kind of relationship.

 I have a vision… a vision for our church. A middle school class was asked to define friendship. One student said, “A friend is a pair of open arms in a society of armless people.” Isn’t that great? “A friend is a pair of open arms in a society of armless people.”

Where do you fit into that description? Is your attitude like this when you come into the church… that is really kind of an armless posture.

Or do you come through the doors like this? Arms open to accept, hearts open to support, spirits open to journey with each other to be closer to Jesus every day.

Let us all be open arms in a society of armless people.