The Power of the Cross RUMC 4/12/15

The Power of the Cross

RUMC 4/12/15

Confirmation Sunday

(Confirmands), what would you ask for if you found a genie-in-a-bottle and were granted three wishes that were bound to come true? If you could have three wishes fulfilled, what would you ask for?

Have you heard the story of a young man who found a genie-in-a-bottle? This guy was walking down the beach and came across an old bottle. He picked it up, pulled out the cork, and out popped a genie.

The genie said, "Thank you for freeing me from the bottle. In return I will grant you three wishes."

•        The man said, "Great! I’ve always dreamed of this, and I know exactly what I want. First, I want one billion dollars in a Swiss bank account." Poof! There was a flash of light and a piece of paper with account numbers appeared in his hand.

•        He continued, "Next, I want a brand new red Ferrari right here." Poof! There was a flash of light and a bright red brand-new Ferrari appeared right next to him.

•        He continued, "Finally, I want to be irresistible any women." Poof! There was a flash of light and he turned into a box of chocolates. 

As Christians, we know that there are no genies to grant our wishes, and prayer doesn’t work like a magic lamp.

I kind of wish (the spiritual life) (Confirmation) was like a magic lamp, though.

•        I want to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. “Poof!” and I have my own little Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit filling me full to overflowing.

•        I want deep faith. “Poof!” I have the faith of Abraham.

•        I want spiritual courage. “Poof!” I have the courage of St. Peter.

•        I want spiritual understanding. “Poof!” I have the understanding of the great Apostle Paul.

I wish it worked that way, but it doesn’t.

In chapter 30 of THE STORY, we read the story of the later part of Paul’s life. We read about his second and third missionary journeys and we read from Ephesians, which is one of the prison epistles, and I Timothy, a pastoral epistle.

You have to understand a couple of things to understand chapter 30.

FIRST, you have to understand that the beginning of the chapter is the lower story of Paul’s later career. Paul grew up in Tarsus, 350 miles from Jerusalem. He was about 10 years younger than Jesus was, so Paul was just coming into adulthood when Jesus was killed. He was not a disciple or even a follower. Chances are that Paul never met Jesus before the crucifixion. If he had, he would have been among those who were arguing with him and looking for a way to destroy him. In fact, the first we hear of Saul, soon to become Paul, was when he held the coats for the stoning of the disciple Stephen. In Philippians, another prison epistle, Paul writes, I was “circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

That is the lower story. The upper story is that God was working in this Hebrew of Hebrews, the Pharisee of Pharisees, and the persecutor of persecutors, to make his the greatest evangelist of all time. You all know the story of Saul, which was Paul’s birth name, being struck down blind on the road to Jerusalem and meeting Jesus. Therefore, as we read about his life and ministry, the one who started out persecuting Jesus became the greatest evangelist ever, certainly at least on a par with Billy Graham. The upper story vision is one of Paul, traveling across the entire known world proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Going from region to region and preaching the good news of salvation.

This greatest evangelist is the one who starts this Ephesians passage saying, “Although I am the very least of all the saints.” // “Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things” And that is how Paul spent his life, bringing good news to the Gentiles- people like us who were not of Hebrew descent.

The second thing you have to understand is that Paul’s preaching got him in trouble. The story is laid out clearly in Chapter 30 of THE STORY so I am not going to retell it in detail, but, suffice it to say that the Jews and their leaders we very unhappy with Paul’s preaching and church planting. They imprisoned him. They beat him. They threatened him. They tried everything they could, but still Paul preached the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ until he was arrested in Jerusalem. The commotion caught the attention of the roman governor, who had power of life and death, and sent him to Rome appeal to the Emperor himself. The amazing story of the journey is found in chapter 30, but eventually we follow Paul to Rome where he was under house arrest for 2 years and then beaded about 60 AD.

It is during this imprisonment that Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians that we have before us today. That explains why Paul writes, “ I pray therefore that you may not lose heart over my sufferings for you; they are your glory.”   His suffering is his imprisonment for the faith. Even though he was not in a prison cell, he was still chained with a guard babysitting him 24 hours a day. He was still a prisoner, and he knew that his day of execution would be coming sooner or later.

Those are the two things you need to know to understand this beautiful passage.

•        Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles- essentially to the entire world.

•        Now he sits in prison awaiting execution. When he writes these words.

“I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Along with Paul, this is my prayer for all of us. (But especially those of you being confirmed today.)  “That you would be strengthened in your inner being with the power of the Holy Spirit.”

I pray for your inner being-- not just what we see on the outside. But that the power of the Holy Spirit would grab hold of your innermost parts: your thinking and decision-making; your inner will and your desires; your emotions both positive and negative; your needs, your hopes, your dreams, and every single part of the person you are. I pray that the sum total of everything that makes you who you are, would find its strength in the power of the Holy Spirit, which is the source of all life.

The Christian life is more than belonging to a church or coming to church. Church membership or attendance is just the entryway. Being an inactive member, is like saying you live in a house, but never going any further than the foyer. It is like saying you are an athlete because you attended a basketball game once. It is like settling for the smell of the buffet and never taking a plate of food.

My first prayer for you is that the Holy Spirit would grab hold you. Not just grab you by the collar, but would reach into your life and grab hold of that which makes you, you!

When VICTOR SERIBRIAKOFF was 15, his teacher told him he would never finish school and that he should drop out and learn a trade. Victor took the advice and for the next 17 years, he made his living doing variety of odd jobs. He had been told he was a ‘dunce’ and for 17 years, he acted like one.

When he was 32, an amazing transformation took place. An evaluation revealed that he was actually a genius with an IQ of 161. (Over 120 is a genius) Guess what? That’s right; he started acting like a genius. Since that time, he has written books, secured a number of patents, and become a successful businessman. Perhaps the most significant event for the former drop out was his election as chairman of the International Mensa Society. The Mensa society has only one membership qualification - an IQ of over 140.

When he was in school, that teacher grabbed hold of him and held him underwater, drowning him in embarrassment and hopelessness. At the age of 32, something else grabbed him and completely changed his life. It changed the way he acted, the way he worked, the way he thought of himself, and the way others thought of him. He was transformed from the inside out.

My first prayer for you is “That you would be strengthened in your inner being with the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Completely converted on the inside, and transformed from the inside out. A new person in Jesus.

 My second prayer for you is that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.”

This is different from the first prayer because it is for the way we act. The first prayer is that you would be different because of the power of the Holy Spirit; this one is that you will act different because of the love of Jesus.

Being a member of the church is not just about our insides, it is about what we do on the outside.

Tony Campolo, in his book The Kingdom of God is a Party, told how, upon arrival in Honolulu, he accidently found himself in a bad part of town at 3:30 in the morning. He went in to a bar for a snack and found himself surrounded by eight or nine prostitutes who had just gotten off work for the night. He heard one remark that tomorrow was her birthday and learned that she had never had a birthday party in her whole life.

Campolo’s heart was touched. He decided to throw her a surprise party. The next night, he decorated the bar with the help of the bartender, who happily chipped in the cake. The next day, the stunned girl was deeply touched when the whole bar sang happy birthday to her. Campolo offered to say a prayer for the woman before the stunned crowd, and after the prayer, the bartender remarked, “Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?” Campolo replied, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.” The bartender then sneered, “No you don’t. There’s no church in the world like that. If there was, I would join it.”

My prayer is that you would become the kind of church members that would throw a birthday party for a prostitute at 3:30 in the morning.

My prayer is that you love so much that you would make us become the kind of church that reaches out to those who are least expecting it. My prayer is that Jesus would so fill your hearts that you give a hand up to those whom we think might be least deserving. My prayer is that you would love so deeply that you can’t walk by and leave a child crying, or a teenager thinking of suicide, or anyone feeling unloved.

My second prayer for you is that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.”

 Finally, I pray that you “have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” 

That you have the power… this is not a power that comes from within you, but from the spirit of God himself, to comprehend the vastness of God’s love. The immensity of God’s love. The unimaginable greatness of God’s love.

Think about the vastness of our universe. (Be careful not to blow you’re mind) Space is so “hugantic” that light that left the farthest edges of the galaxy 14 trillion years ago, has been traveling (well) at the speed of light all that time, and still has not reached earth. And we don’t know how long it will take to get here. It might only be 1/10th of the way!

Does that make you feel small? It makes me feel tiny!

But think about this God’s love is even greater than that.

 My prayer for you is that you will have the power to comprehend the heights of God’s great love in Jesus Christ. Higher than the furthest reaches of our universe.

 My prayer for you is that you will have the opportunity to plumb the deepest depths of God’s great love. Deeper than the deepest ocean.

   My prayer for you is that you know the breadth and the length of God’s love from the farthest reaches of the east to the farthest reaches of the west.

 Then and only then- when you begin to see the breadth and length and height and depth, of God’s great love in Jesus Christ will you begin to understand the power of the cross.

(Edie gave me this cross a couple of years ago. It sits right next to my chair and often when I am praying I pick it up as a reminder of what Jesus did for me. As a reminder of the tremendous power of the cross. As a reminder of the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, of God’s great love in Jesus Christ for me. This morning I will be giving you a similar cross. Keep it close. Cling to it. Cradle it in your hand, as a reminder of the Christ that lives in your heart.)

•        We are people of the empty cross.

•        Be changed by the power of the cross.

•        Live by the power of the cross.

•        Know the power of the cross.

•        Cling to the cross and be “filled with all the fullness of God.”

AMEN

Living Hope RUMC Easter 2015

Living Hope

RUMC Easter 2015

The sun rose, but it was still dark.

It was the darkest 39 hours in history.

It was the worst 2 ½ days of their lives.

It started in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asked them to stay and pray. They fell asleep. After all, it was late, and they had just finished the big Passover meal, but Jesus was obviously disappointed. That, however, would not be the last time for that.

Looking back, they wondered, if they had stayed awake, maybe they would have heard the mob coming to arrest him. But then, what could they have done to stop them? And strangely enough, Jesus seemed to be expecting them.

Perhaps if they had stopped Judas… but who would have expected one of his closest disciples to betray him? They all felt betrayed.

Oh, how they wish they had not abandoned him. Peter was the only one who followed Jesus after the arrest. Of course that ended badly too. Denial, denial, denial.

Denial, however, was not the worst of it… It got darker and darker.

The darkness closed in as they spit, and mocked, and whipped, and falsely accused him.

They paraded him before the governor.

They pressed for his execution, and justice was betrayed.

Mocking, spitting, more mocking, more whipping. The contempt. The hatred. The inhumanity of it all.

The crucifixion, the blood, the pain. The scorn. The loathing. The brutality of it all.

Then death, and despair, and darkness.

Then the deepest, darkest 39 hours in history.

Finally, the sun rose, but it was still dark.

They trudged to the tomb, burdened with spices. Burdened with grief. Burdened with guilt.

·        We can all understand the burden the disciples shared on Good Friday, and Saturday can’t we?

·         We all understand the brokenness of dreams-shattered, hopes-dashed, and plans-crushed.

·        We all know what failure feels like.

·        We all know what loneliness feels like.

·        We all know what betrayal feels like.

·        We know hopelessness and depression.

·        We know the agony of addiction.

·        We know the anguish of desperate medical situations and the stench of death that lingers in our nostrils.

·        We know the gloom of joblessness and financial trouble.

·        We know all too well the brokenness of family relationships: children and parents, brothers and sisters at odds with one another.

·        We have all seen the hurt and brokenness in our own community as neighbors and friends find themselves on opposite sides of the school issue, and say terrible things to one another.

·        We see the brokenness in our world as nations and peoples, and religions rise up against one another.

·        Whether it is in our own soul and mind, our families, our community or our world; I can say confidently and with absolute assurance, that every one of us knows the darkness of what the Bible describes as our sinful condition, or our sinful world. It is through the darkness of that sinful and broken world that the disciples trudged to the tomb that day.

That’s when things turned around.

For the women the light and the hope suddenly pierced through the darkness with just three words.

Those words, “He is risen.”

With those three words, “He is risen,” shadows were dispelled, and life was filled with light.

With just three words, “He is risen,” the sun rose on the disciples, the light shone, and nothing was the same.

In just three words, “He is risen,” history was changed.

In just three words, “He is risen,” our lives were changed even 2000 years later.

Our Scripture reading this morning explains why those three words make all the difference for us. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a NEW BIRTH into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is IMPERISHABLE, UNDEFILED, AND UNFADING, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” [1]

In this passage Peter is answering the question what difference does Easter make? His answer, “it makes all the difference in the world.”

First, the resurrection makes all the difference because we are given NEW BIRTH. Peter writes, “By his great mercy he has given us a NEW BIRTH.”

Like Nicodemus, we have to ask, what sense does “NEW BIRTH” make? We have to ask, “How do we do that? What do we have to do to get NEW BIRTH in Jesus Christ?” The problem is, like Nicoedemus, we are thinking about it backwards. 

Let’s start with Jesus Resurrection. Did Jesus cause his resurrection? No, he could not because he was dead. The resurrection of Christ on Easter was wholly and completely by the power of God. It was only by the gracious power of the father that Jesus was raised from the grave.

The same gracious is true in the NEW BIRTH.

Let’s look at it this way. Who is responsible for our first birth? What exactly did you do to be born the first time? I’ve always thought it a little odd that we get presents on our birthdays because we don’t have anything to do with our birth. Beyond showing up, we don’t cause it, we can’t control it, we can’t speed it up or slow it down. Birth is completely and totally a gift that is given us by our parents and the forces of nature.

The NEW BIRTH is the same way. It is not something that we do. It is not something we earn. It is not something we can speed up or slow down. What God does for us in Easter is completely and totally a gift from the almighty creator of the universe and Jesus Christ, his son, the redeemer of the world.

So first, to understand what difference Easter makes, we have to understand that it is not what we do that makes Easter, Easter. It is what God does. The gift of Christ’s resurrection is to us a gift of life itself, which we call NEW BIRTH.

Going on, Peter writes, “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a LIVING HOPE.”

On December 17, 1927, a US Submarine was patrolling off the Atlantic Coast when it accidentally collided with a Coast Guard Cutter. The submarine was so severely damaged that it sank and came to rest on the floor of the Atlantic about 100 feet down. A rescue ship was dispatched to the scene of the collision and immediately divers were sent to investigate. The first diver to go down was a Commander Ellsberg, who came up reporting the submarine was on her keel with a large hole in her side ... and no sign of life. The next morning, however, two more divers went down again to survey the situation, and as they did, they heard tapings coming from inside the damaged vessel. The tapping turned out to be in Morse code. From the signals, the divers learned that there were six men who survived the crash. The last message they tapped out in Morse code was: "Is there hope? Please hurry, please!"

Many people today are asking the question, “Is there hope? And if there is, please hurry.”

Iffy hope is dead hope. Wishy-washy hope is dead hope. Hope when all is just dandy is a dead hope.

LIVING HOPE is not just wishing for something to be true.

LIVING HOPE It is not just hoping for the best.

LIVING HOPE is the certainty that we are alive in God by the gift of New Birth in Christ.

Let me come at it from this side: If I asked you, "How do you know that you were born?" what would you answer? You would answer, "Because I'm alive! I exist. I'm here." And that's right. That is all the answer needed.

You would not answer, "I know I was born because I've got a birth certificate at home." Or, "I know I was born because I did some historical research at a hospital and found a document with a little footprint on it that matches the curly lines on the bottom of my foot." Or, "I have signed affidavits from the doctor and nurses that my mother gave birth."

You would simply say, "I know I was born because I am alive." To quote the great naval philosopher, Popeye, “I am what I am.”

Now suppose I asked you how do you know that you are born again? How do you know that you have a relationship with Jesus? You wouldn’t cite the date you were saved. You wouldn’t pull out your membership card.

No, you would answer, “I know I have new life because I am alive to God. I once had no spiritual life and now I am alive spiritually. Once my heart was dead, now it is alive with love. Once I was dead inside, now I am alive in God. The proof that I was born again… is my life today! I know him. I love him. I trust him. I follow him. I hope in him. My life is in him.” That is LIVING HOPE.

Not an empty hope, but a hope that is alive in our relationship with God.

LIVING HOPE is alive even if the world around us is dead.

Hope is not even real hope until it shines in the midst of our darkest hopelessness. GK Chesterton said, “it is only after hanging on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn.” 

LIVING HOPE is hope that continues to hope especially in the darkness.

LIVING HOPE is for those who hung on to hope through the capture and mock trial, through the spitting and mocking, through the whipping and beating, through the crucifixion and scorn, through the blood and the guts, through the dying and the death, through the burying and the dark nights of Friday and Saturday. It is in the midst of that hopelessness that the light of LIVING HOPE shines. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of deep darkness on them a light has shined.” [2]

·        Easter does not mean that there is no darkness. It means that in Christ there is LIVING HOPE that we are no longer trapped in the dark tomb.

·        Easter is not for people who have hope already. It is for those whom LIVING HOPE is their only hope.

·         Easter is not for people who have never sinned. It is for those of us who know that our only hope to break the power of sin, is to place our LIVING HOPE in Christ

It is exactly for people like us that Jesus was raised.

It is exactly for people like us that LIVING HOPE comes to shine in our darkness.

And finally, Peter writes that living hope is forever. Nothing will ever put out living hope. Peter writes that it is IMPERISHABLE, UNDEFILED, AND UNFADING

                                                       i.      Living hope is IMPERISHABLE hope. The Greek word here means that it is --un-ravaged by any invading army. It is unconquerable. Living hope cannot be defeated by any darkness in life. The Resurrection of Jesus is evidence that living hope cannot even be defeated by death itself.

                                                     ii.      Living hope is UN-DEFILABLE. The Greek word here is the opposite of polluted. Our living hope is not tainted with any impurity. It is elemental, not watered down by human effort, or luck, or expected relief. It is pure hope as pure as the light that conquered the darkness of the tomb.

                                                  iii.      Living hope is UNFADING. Everything of this earth fades. Flowers fade from brilliant colors to brown. Sunsets fade from bright orange and reds to blackness. Life fades from living to dying. But Easter hope -- Living hope--never fades. It does not wear out, it does not dim down, it does not get thin, or old, or weak. Living hope never fades.

Living hope is forever hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a NEW BIRTH into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is IMPERISHABLE, UNDEFILED, AND UNFADING, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” [3]

Those words come from Peter, who was a long ways from perfect.

·        Peter knew the brokenness of dreams-shattered, hopes-dashed, and plans-crushed.

·        Peter knew what failure feels like. (Oh boy did he!)

·        Peter knew what loneliness feels like.

·        Peter knew what betrayal feels like.

·        Peter knew hopelessness and depression.

·        Peter had seen the dark side of life. In fact not only had he seen it, he had lived it.

Let me tell you, none of that mattered any more.

None of that mattered because Peter was no longer defined by brokenness, failure, loneliness, betrayal, hopelessness, and depression.

Peter was no longer defined by the standards of this world.

Peter was no longer defined by the measures of this life.

Peter was no longer defined by what he had been or what he had done.

Standing at the door of the empty tomb completely redefined who Peter was.

Standing at the door of the empty tomb completely transformed Peter’s life.

Standing at the door of the empty tomb completely revolutionized the way Peter saw and experienced life and the world around him.

Standing at the door of the empty tomb completely recreated the person Peter would be for the rest of his days. He was a new man, given NEW BIRTH INTO A FOREVER LIVING HOPE by his encounter with the resurrected and living Christ.

Today, we come to the tomb.

We have dragged our sorry selves out of bed.

·        Trudged through the brokenness ,

o   the failure

o   the loneliness

o   and the betrayal

·        We have come with the hopelessness and depression.

o   The agony of addiction.

o    the anguish illness and the stench of death

·        We bring the gloom of joblessness and financial trouble.

o   the brokenness of family relationships,  our community and our world

We could just stay here. We might get stuck here. We could stand here and get stuck in the mud. Stuck in the pains and gloom of this world. Stuck in the same old sinful lives we have been living all along. Stuck in the darkness.

But it is terrible to be stuck in the darkness. Research subjects, isolated in pitch dark bunkers experience delusions, paranoia, and panic within just a few hours. Eventually they close their eyes and give up on light or life ever again seeing.

There are people who spend their whole lives stuck in dark and give up on ever seeing light or life. Stuck in the darkness that consumes all of their energy and time. There are people who spend their whole lives stuck in a dark tomb, surrounded by the stench of death and despair. There are people who spend their whole lives trapped in sin. There are people who get used to the dark, thinking that it is normal. So they close their eyes and resign themselves to the darkness.

The sad thing is they never realize that the stone has already been rolled aside and the light of Easter is streaming in on them.

Don’t get stuck there.

Don’t get stuck here.

You’ve come this far. Don’t stop short of the joy of Easter.

You’ve ventured through the darkness of your life

You are only one heartbeat, one breath, one step short of Easter joy.

Just 3 words short of Easter Joy

Take that step into an Easter life …One step.  Just three words …Those 3 words?… He is Risen.

OK four words… He is risen Alleluia.

---

[1] ! Peter 1:3-5 NRSV

[2] Is 9:2

[3] ! Peter 1:3-5 NRSV