Monday, July 31, 2017

The Ripple Effect of Faith

Monday, July 31, 2017
Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven.  “This is what the Lord says:  Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you.  I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.  Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.  And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”  
Genesis 22:15-18(NLT)
Abraham was willing to obey God, and because of that simple faith, God promised His covenant blessings to Abraham’s family would be too great to count.  Down through the ages the blessing of God has preserved the nation of Abraham’s descendants against the most incredible odds and opposition.  This is the ripple effect of faith.
I often think of this simple fact, that I owe a lot to my parents.  They were people of faith; Mom and Dad carried me to church faithfully, even before I was born.  Now that’s true in a physical sense…Mom carried me everywhere she went when I was in the womb.  But, just as Abram carried Isaac to the altar physically in obedience to God’s direction, my parents carried me to the altar in their hearts; they faithfully acted on God’s instruction and promise:
Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.  Proverbs 22:6(NLT)
In my particular case that verse carries special significance.   I believe God pressed that one hard on my parents’ hearts because God knew faith had to get an early start with someone as stubborn as Russell.  It takes a long time and a lot of repetition to steer my mind in the right direction! 
But the promise of God is true.  I have always been something of a late-bloomer who often has to be led (and sometimes pushed like a mule) in order to change.  I was introduced to the faith early, and because of Mom and Dad’s faithful witness of Christ, even now as the edge of old age creeps up on me, the ripples of faith that began God’s good work in my heart and soul, are still feeding those roots which were firmly planted in God’s soil so long ago.

For You Today

What did it take to bring you into the path of faith’s ripples? 
And do you celebrate it quietly, just between you and God? 
Or do you take time to thank those who had a part in leading you to the altar?
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES

[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com

Sunday, July 30, 2017

The Kingdom is Like...

Prefatory Remarks

--this sermon was first preached to the congregation ofFirst United Methodist Church, Lexington, NC.I was a visiting preacher filling in for Rev. Jamie Armstrong, pastor, who was recovering from a serious illness.

I suspect the last number of weeks must have felt a little like fish out of water for you good folks, with your pastor not being here.  At our churches we have been praying for him and for you.  And I bring you greetings from your sister churches, Mt Zion and Pleasant Hill.
In case you need to know, instead of Jamie the elder, dynamic pastor and preacher, today you have Russell the retired local pastor, retreaded to pastor a two-point charge in the southern tip of Randolph County. 
In the interest of full-disclosure, I was raised in a highly non-liturgical denomination, with a Calvinist-leaning theology.  I later became a Baptist.  And, if that isn’t enough to make the big tent of the United Methodist Church start swaying in the wind, I was also born in New York. 
And, while I do thank you and your Staff-Parrish Relations Committee for inviting me to share this time with you, I sincerely apologize that your committee could not find anyone better for today! 
I do hope I have not put my daughter and son-in-law’s membership at this church in peril simply by being here, but I consider it a huge honor to be invited.

so what is the kingdom like?

On a more serious note, let’s take a closer look at what the LORD told his disciples about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a great prize and pearl.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field.  In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.  “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls.  When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!  Matthew 13:44-46(NLT)
Jesus told a lot of stories to help us understand what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.  Most of us have discovered something we would consider “treasure”.
When I was seven or eight, Bobby Kalfur had the neatest bike ever!  It was a Schwinn-Bell-American-Plymouth hybrid (or something equally impressive).  Honestly, it was a monstrosity; it was yellow (very bright yellow) with black stripes all over.  I’m sure it was assembled from parts Bobby may have scavenged from the local junkyard.  The handle-bars had been replaced with a genuine steering wheel from some long-forgotten heap.  It had no real pedals, and it made very strange noises when you moved.  And this legendary bike was FOR SALE! 
Because Bobby and I were friends he was willing to sell this prize to me for ten bucks.  This was a huge amount of money for a seven year-old who only got a quarter for allowance.  But this, THIS was SPECIAL!  This bike was a treasure you would sell everything you own to buy.  I had never seen such a wonderful bike, but apparently my Mom had!  She advised against it strongly, but I had to have it. 
So, I think I rode that treasured pearl of great price for less than a week before it fell apart.  Somehow Mom or Dad arranged for Bobby's mother to convince him he needed to give me a full refund.  In the years since, I have been much more discerning about what constitutes a treasure, and what is better off left in the recycle bin!
Which is the whole point of Jesus’ story; when you find authentic treasure, or a jewel of immeasurable worth such as the Kingdom of Heaven, there is nothing more worthy of your life’s best. 

Two stories jesus told…

Jesus was teaching about the incomparable WORTH of the Kingdom of Heaven. 
In the first story a servant is digging in the master's field, and locates a treasure by chance; he immediately covers it back up.  He then makes arrangements to buy the field.  This is a shrewd fellow! 
But his business aptitude is not the point; it’s his joy over finding the treasure and doing whatever is necessary to secure it for himself. 
Jesus was using a very familiar illustration.  Palestine, even today, has much treasure buried in the ground.  In ancient days, the ground served as the bank; especially during the times when enemies would arrive with conquest on their minds; you hide what’s precious to you!
In the second story a man finds the pearl of great price.  Using the definite article, we are led to understand that this is a one-of-a-kind, greatest find possible.  Again, the man moves every part of heaven and earth he must in order to possess that pearl.
Those are Jesus’ stories; what do we make of them? 
In order to answer that question we have to ask exactly what the pearl, or the treasure represents.
Right off the bat you would have to say that it is not monetary or material; that kind of stuff held little interest for a carpenter turned rabbi.  Jesus hardly owned more than one set of clothes, and no property or permanent house.  On top of that, most of what Jesus had to say about riches was not exactly positive.
So we need to find a connection between those things which we discover in this life in the course of ordinary, everyday activities (like the people in Jesus’ stories) and that which is worthy according to Heaven’s standards. 
And there are many fine things in life to pursue; science, art, music, literature, humanitarianism, and a host of worthy means to serve others and bring glory to God. 
However, the pearl of GREAT price is the TREASURE, THE best!
So…what does it mean to you?  What does the great prize mean in our culture?
A great prize or accomplishment always makes headlines.  Consider these three news tidbits from just this week:
1.     FoxConn announced it will build a $10-billion factory in Wisconsin.[ii]  That’s great economic news, but is it the kind of pearl Jesus meant?
2.     The President announced no transgender persons will be allowed to serve in the military.  Some people will be appalled; some will be ecstatic.  That’s big-time news, but is it the treasure upon which we should build a life?[iii]
3.     National Basketball Association player for the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James is being paid to bounce a ball and throw it through a hoop at the rate of just under $34-million a year.[iv] 
Are any of these the great treasure of which Jesus spoke?
I will tell you what I see; with all the hot press on money, power and prestige, we perhaps may be missing the true and greatest pearl, the hidden treasure God wants us to find.
What if the authentic treasure or pearl of great price was something as simple, ordinary and profoundly wonderful as parenting?
To re-cast Jesus parable, forty-six years ago I was a man going about the business of just making a living for Elizabeth and myself.  Then a physician put a 7-pound, wrinkled and wailing little person with a full head of hair in my arms.  Suddenly I was a father, holding a pearl of greater price than I’d ever imagined.  Elizabeth was a mother and now responsible for one of the world’s greatest treasures – a new life that held promise, gifts, and bearing the image of her Creator. 
We were all at once more than two become one; we were a family with the responsibility to write responsibility, honor, respect and kindness on a newly-arrived clean slate!
This, my friends, is the type of a pearl of great price, an inestimable worthy treasure, placed in the hands of earthly stewards by God.  This is God entrusting God to His own treasured creatures.
And whether you are biologically the parent, or a surrogate parent, by “aunt-ing”, “uncle-ing” or “valued friend-ing” the Kingdom of Heaven is yours when you do the hard work of modeling respect and kindness…when you handle responsibility with honor and excellence, so that those little people, who see you do such counter-cultural goodness, will have a hunger to be just like their heroes!
To be a witness in the world for Christ may not include for you standing on a street corner with a huge sign for the passing cars that says, Jesus, One Way…or REPENT, SINNERS
But your call to be Christ’s witness most certainly includes BEING a SIGN for little ones in you know…a sign of the greatest treasure…the Kingdom of Heaven.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!
Notes                               


[i] Title image: Andreas F. Borchert, via Wikimedia Commons

Friday, July 28, 2017

Repent and Be Baptized

Friday, July 28, 2017
This text is the end of Peter’s Pentecost Sermon.  Jesus has been crucified, buried, resurrected on the third day, and ascended to the Father in Heaven.  Peter has just told the crowd that Jesus, Messiah, had come to love us and we crucified him:
Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”  Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 2:37-38(NLT)
Why repentance and baptism?  How does that speak to the unspeakable misery of humankind around the world?  The group listening to Peter got the point, even if we in the 21st century have largely missed it.  Repentance and baptism is how you get right with God.
About three thousand folks responded to the promise of Joel (2:28) by calling on the Lord, repenting of their sin; they were saved, and then baptized. 
How would you describe the events of September 11, 2001?  Was it Satanic or evil attack, Jihad, Islamic holy war, or just plain schizophrenic madness of a cult?  Any of those can be debated; what cannot be debated is that God speaks to us in that misery and carnage; He calls out to us to call upon His name to be saved.
*    God calls to us saying, See, I have better things in mind for you.
*    God calls to us saying, Men may lie in wait to destroy, I will love you.
*    God calls to us saying, Without My forgiveness you will hate just as much as the ones who attacked you.
Leslie Williamson lives in Nevada.  Her 7 year old son was baptized in Lake Tahoe.  She watched with tears as he came up out of the water. 
Do you feel any different she asked. 
Yeah, Mom, I do, he replied.  Now I have water up my nose![ii]
Repenting and calling upon the name of the Lord, and then following Him in believer’s baptism isn’t about whether you feel different, better, wiser, or even saved.  It is all about obedience to God whether you feel like it or not – whether you question God or not.

For You Today

Obedience brings joy. 
And when you make up your mind to obey God, you will find He has a wonderful plan for encouraging you along the way. 
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES

[i] Title Image: By U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Scott B. Boyle [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
[ii] Leslie A. Williamson, Gardnerville, NV. Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart.”

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Rivers of Tears

Thursday, July 27, 2017
Your laws are wonderful.  No wonder I obey them!  The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand.  I pant with expectation, longing for your commands.  Come and show me your mercy, as you do for all who love your name.  Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil.  Ransom me from the oppression of evil people; then I can obey your commandments.  Look upon me with love; teach me your decrees.  Rivers of tears gush from my eyes because people disobey your instructions. 
Psalm 119:129-136(NLT)
David loved God as a shepherd boy tending his father’s flocks.  He loved God when he was a fugitive, running for his life because King Saul had a paranoid-schizophrenic break with reality, fearing that God was giving his throne to David.  Saul’s fears were founded, as God was about to have an obedient king in place of the disobedient Saul:
But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’  Acts 13:22(NLT)
David loved God even though he was human and could sin as humans do.  That love for God drove David to repentance when he got publicly caught in his sins with Bathsheba; he repented and was restored. 
As a king David was moved to rivers of tears because he saw disobedience throughout the nation of Israel, and he knew the people were making the same mistake as Saul.
When it comes to having a relationship with God, the important thing for human beings to remember is that obedience trumps words, feelings and anything else! 
When David wrote this Psalm he was well on the other side of his most infamous moments of sin and separation from God.  He had experienced both the joy of obeying God’s word, and the pain of his own arrogance as his sin separated him from God’s fellowship.  And you can certainly tell the difference!
Therein is a model with which we can live!  It is the word of God that gives light to our understanding, instruction to our hearts and forms a safe footing for our steps.  Disobedience brings darkness to the soul, confusion in the heart and one trap after another in which we will fall as we are confronted with life’s harshness.
David declared God’s laws/ways were wonderful.  I have heard it described otherwise by today’s culture, as many refuse to have anyone tell them what to do, or how to live.  The difference between David, and those who refuse God’s way, is the reality of just how lovely and fulfilling life can be under God’s wing.   

For You Today

Obedience brings joy.  Don’t be like the child who shouts NO!!! to his parents about eating his string beans; that child will never know the strength healthy food can bring.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES

[i] Title Image: Ian Thomson, via Wikimedia Commons

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Subway Sermon

Wednesday, July 26, 2017
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.  They cannot be numbered!  I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake up, you are still with me!  Psalm 139:13-18(NLT)
We wandered, my bride and I, into the sandwich shop unknowing we were going to be running smack into a Subway sermon!  We went through the process of ordering.   Elizabeth chose  her sandwich, low calorie, low fat, healthy stuff (naturally), and the preacher opted for his normal stuff too…stuff as much stuff as possible on that big ol’ hunk of bread!  While the server used a backhoe to load up my sandwich, I slipped over to the drink cooler to grab a Diet Coke to go with my diet sandwich. 
And there it was!!  Or rather, there was RUSSELL!
I couldn’t believe the Subway people knew I would be there that day, and were nice enough to put my monogrammed Diet Russell Coke right up front! 
Wow, what service!
Now, I’m not certain the Subway folks had really planned for my visit, making that one bottle with “Russell” on it because they knew I’d be there.  It was one of perhaps a thousand bottles of Diet Coke I’ve had, and have never seen a Russell bottle!
But the coincidence of finding your name staring back at you is kind of cool, and really interesting, as it reminded me of the Psalmist’s awe when he recalled just how intimately God had known him from before he was a gleam in his earthly father’s eye.
This leads me quite naturally to the whole idea of what many call a fetus.  Now, I know that’s the technical name for the little person being formed in the womb of a woman; I prefer, however, to call that little person a baby
And that Diet Coke bottle is a little example of contrast as to why a fetus is a baby to me.  In the manufacturing buildings of Coca Cola, some marketing genius thought it would be a good idea to put names on the bottles.  Great strategy, that…people love to be recognized…even if it’s only an impersonal printed label with their name.  They put thousands, perhaps millions of Janes, Johns, Bills, Harrys and Joans…and perhaps a few Russells on cases and cases of Cokes.  The chances are some crossed paths with people who had those names.  Right place, right time, and the coincidence made Coke fans!
Contrast that with a God who knows not only the possibilities of how many Russells might be out there, but actually knows all the Russells, personally, and even better than Russell knows Russell.  In fact, before Russell was born, this God knew all about what he would be named, what he would look like, and what his whole life would be about.  And this God knows all the Janes, Johns, Bills and all the rest just that intimately.  He knows our rising and our lying down, our goodness and the blackest thought we’ve ever entertained.  He knows all about us, and loves us deeply; in fact God is so mad in love with each of us He was willing to die for us, so we could experience eternal life.
Somehow, that’s a whole lot better than coming face to face with a marketing scheme coincidence in a sandwich shop!

For You Today

It’s no coincidence that He knows your name; he’s the one who inspired your parents to put that name on you!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES


[i] Title Image: Ian Thomson, via Wikimedia Commons

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

The Cost of Arrogance

Tuesday, July 25, 2017
What sorrow awaits rebellious, polluted Jerusalem, the city of violence and crime!  No one can tell it anything; it refuses all correction.  It does not trust in the Lord or draw near to its God.  Its leaders are like roaring lions hunting for their victims.  Its judges are like ravenous wolves at evening time, who by dawn have left no trace of their prey.  Its prophets are arrogant liars seeking their own gain.  Its priests defile the Temple by disobeying God’s instructions.  But the Lord is still there in the city, and he does no wrong.  Day by day he hands down justice, and he does not fail.  But the wicked know no shame.  “I have wiped out many nations, devastating their fortress walls and towers.  Their streets are now deserted; their cities lie in silent ruin.  There are no survivors—none at all.  I thought, ‘Surely they will have reverence for me now!
Surely they will listen to my warnings.  Then I won’t need to strike again, destroying their homes.’  But no, they get up early to continue their evil deeds.  Therefore, be patient,” says the Lord.  “Soon I will stand and accuse these evil nations.  For I have decided to gather the kingdoms of the earth and pour out my fiercest anger and fury on them.  All the earth will be devoured by the fire of my jealousy.  “Then I will purify the speech of all people, so that everyone can worship the Lord together.  My scattered people who live beyond the rivers of Ethiopia will come to present their offerings.  On that day you will no longer need to be ashamed, for you will no longer be rebels against me.  I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you.  There will be no more haughtiness on my holy mountain.  Those who are left will be the lowly and humble, for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord.  The remnant of Israel will do no wrong; they will never tell lies or deceive one another.  They will eat and sleep in safety, and no one will make them afraid.”  Zephaniah 3:1-13
(NLT)
Hans Christian Anderson wrote a tongue-in-cheek fairy tale about an emperor who was so vain and arrogant he was convinced by a shrewd tailor that because of the new invisible suit of clothes made for him he was the finest dressed ruler in the entire world.  Parading around in his skivvies, the emperor was the laughingstock of the parade!
Many have compared America as a chosen the purpose of being to God’s representative to the world, and a great force for good…just like ancient Israel.  Now, I would not, as the old expression has it, throw out that baby with the bath water.  However, if my friends are right about America’s self-view of invincible exceptionalism, and if our leaders are fully-clothed, in their right minds, I would simply submit that the comparison between the United States and God’s chosen Israel must be accepted in its’ entirety!  Another old saying holds that you must take the bad along with the good!
In Zephaniah’s prophecy, Israel is lambasted and warned that their arrogant ways, ignoring God, justice and mercy, are stripping the nation of any chance of being God’s witness of love.  Instead they are full of themselves and ripe for judgment. 
Where did this arrogance come from?  It was largely the leaders who began to believe their own press reports about Israel’s special history, power and protection by God.  With impunity and unmitigated gall they began to congratulate themselves on their place in history and how they held all the cards.  They forgot the One who was really in charge. 
Those who want to compare America as the New Israel need to see the pitiful similarity between ancient Israel’s leaders and America’s political power brokers, who act with either ignorance of, or indifference towards God. 
Of course this is not much different than the voters who put them in power.  We have gone way past even the pretense of being a Christian nation, past modern and post-modern, all the way to godless hedonism.
May God have mercy on us; we are going to need it!

For You Today

As bleak as the political scene and horizon may look for America, there is always hope for a nation, an individual, or a neighbor who will return to God. 
May it be so with me, and with you, as we commit ourselves to proclaiming His kingdom today; let the revival begin!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES


[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com

Monday, July 24, 2017

Blood River

Monday, July 24, 2017
Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man.  He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.  Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe.”  So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested.  After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.  Then another angel, who had power to destroy with fire, came from the altar.  He shouted to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment.”  So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath.  The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle. Revelation 14:14-20(NLT)
A favorite in many churches, especially on Independence Day is The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  On such days I have seen on the faces of many a worshipper, waves of patriotic nostalgia as we sing Julia Ward Howe’s inspiring hymn:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
he hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword;
his truth is marching on.[ii]
It must be that the patriotic thoughts accompanying those verses are visions of a mighty marching American army vanquishing all enemies, solidifying America as supreme authority in the world.  It’s hard to not have a puffed-up chest over such notions.
But the song isn’t about American victories; the hymn is about a blood river, 180 miles long, and deep as the height of a standing horse’s jaw bone.  The song is about a sickle harvesting the lives of all human beings in the judgment of God…some to everlasting fellowship with their Creator, and the rest squeezed in the winepress of God’s judgment, resulting in everlasting condemnation in Hell.
The modern (and foolish) picture of that kind of preaching is caricature; skeptics give the eye-roll treatment to any kind of end-times talk these days.  But, then, God has always had some of His creatures who didn’t believe, and didn’t behave.  In the long run, it is not what humans believe or ridicule as fable which matters; rather it is what God has decreed will happen – that will happen!
This part of Revelation’s prophecy about the final judgment time on earth is particularly chilling to the bone.  To tell you the truth, I don’t feel patriotic when I sing Ward’s hymn; I do not want to stand up and wave an American flag.  Rather, I feel a sense of forebode in my spirit that wants to cry-out to anyone who will listen, come to the altar, reject sin in every way, and turn their your life towards the mercy seat of God’s love.  That is the only place of safety against the Day of Judgment.

For You Today

Whether a person is a skeptic or saint there is nothing that stops the truth from marching on.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES

[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com
[ii] Battle Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe, 1861, (United Methodist Hymnal, Nashville, UMC Publishing House, 1989, p.717)