“Neither death, nor life can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.” Well, that sounds nice, but is it true? Could it really be true for you? It’s a bold statement from someone who doesn’t know you. Who doesn’t know the details of your life. It’s a great idea, but when push comes to shove, doesn’t God finally have to condemn someone to eternal damnation?
So then, what do you think is that last straw before God kicks you out of the kingdom? Is it suicide? Or abortion? Or rape? Or murder? Abuse, divorce, premarital sex? Or is it a little more subtle than all that, maybe just a lackadaisical attitude about going to church or a general boredom with religion. Everyone figures that there must be some wrong move when God just shuts the door for good. Maybe you just never knocked the right way.
Do you ever wonder if you are doing something wrong . . . maybe even right this very second? Or maybe you know that have done something wrong, horrible in the past? Maybe, despite your good behavior in public, you have a secret life that nobody else knows. Over the phone. Or on the internet. On business trips. Or maybe just in your own imagination. Maybe you are sure that you’ve separated yourself from God with your sins and you just haven’t figured out how to get back into his good graces yet.
I bet that even right now you, all of you, can think of lots of ways that you might not be cutting it in God’s eyes. And even if you are not self-aware enough to see your hidden faults, none us have a problem seeing the faults of those around us. In fact, if you can’t think of one of your faults, please raise your hand and someone here will surely help you out. Maybe you don’t think that you’ve gone past the point of no return with God, but you are afraid that you know someone who has.
I would like to introduce you this morning to a Christian Hip-Hop artist named Agape. Hip-Hop is a style of music somewhere between Rap and R&B. I met Agape in Minneapolis during a class and he gave me one of his CD’s for free. I believe that his words can help us all see this passage from Romans in a new light, the harsh light of reality, of real life. To really answer the question honestly, can anything separate you from God’s love?
I will read his words for you, so that you can understand them better. I also wrote a couple of stanzas on my own that I hope will be helpful as well. If you want to hear the whole song, or my verses in a hip-hop style, talk to me after the service. But for now, here’s your assignment. Answer this question for yourself: Is there something that can separate you from the love of Christ?
**********************************************************
Picture a queen with a style that would light up the room
Picture a scene where her smile was like a perfume
She had a dream as a child that was right in the womb
It didn’t seem that somehow it was happening soon
She wanted to be a ballerina dance on the moon
At fifteen all her ballerina plans are doomed
Her family serves low self-esteem for breakfast
She wears all her heart-felt dreams for a necklace
A pretty southern miss, why’d she cut her wrists
Her daddy wasn’t there so she commits a hug and kiss
She started clubbin with no rubbers had a couple kids
She used to drop it like its hot, she needed oven mitts
She discovered his lovin was on another tip
She felt unlovable, unworthy and unequipped
One trip to the altar, with the flock stopped and called her
The rock of Gibraltor--shocked them all a lot
Now she’s involved with the rock and they call him the solid rock
You can’t stop this, you can’t knock this,
all the walls in the world can’t block this.
Nothing can separate her from the L-O-V-E of the creator.
Not death, nor life, can separate us from the love of Christ.
*********************************************************
Newlyweds there is a joyful dream,
But hopes and plans are not all what they seem,
Years later they got a house, great jobs, no children
Tears, doctors, prayers have not fulfilled them.
Her life, a empty womb, a great mother around,
Kind empty words are the only sound,
Of her friends, tryin to support her, askin and pryin,
She tries to keep a smile but inside she is cryin,
How to keep on goin, when this dream won’t come,
God blesses some others while he won’t bless one,
They keep tryin , invetro fertilization,
Negative results, they keep on tryin to patient.
A mother and a father with no kids of their own,
In all other ways, God’s love to them is shown,
But not this one and this one always aches,
Every child’s smile you’d think their hearts would break,
One day, a decision, doctor’s trips are stoppin,
Still to God lots of prayers will keep on Knockin,
Someday I hope of them a family God will make,
But for now from God’s love they’ll never separate.
Not death, nor life, can separate us, from the love of Christ.
*********************************************************************
Sirens blazin it’s time to go
Where’s the fire? Hey nobody knows.
Volunteers jumpin in their cars real fast,
Phone call brought em, too much time has past.
No fire this time, but abuse at home.
Volunteers search they hear an awful groan,
A kid, on the floor, not even cryin
It might be breathin, but it’s probably dyin.
In a town this small, it was too hard to confess,
So baby took the brunt of pain and lonliness,
What to do, take too long, for pastor to come here,
This kid needs to know God’s love is near.
Get some water, before this baby’s one last breath,
Did it know God’s love, that was anyone’s guess,
So a fireman spoke God’s promise, in that place
So that baby would always live within God’s grace.
Baptized in the name of Father, Son and Spirit,
Little one, almost gone, did he even hear it?
Evil and sin have made their one last stand,
Now, nothin can snatch that baby from God’s hands.
Not death, nor life, can separate us from the love of Christ.
**********************************************************************
In this next story where we start,
here’s the sad chapter of these high school sweethearts
It was hard to be apart, he in his brigade,
had a couple more missions and he’d come home when he got paid.
Everyday, She would choke tears back,
she was so scared that he would die any day.
Anyway, she went up she got a call.
two-year-old baby there man she saw it all.
We regret to inform you that your husband is gone,
He served his country well and his legacy will live on.
She dropped the phone like the bombs that her husband was close to,
She tried to calm her baby like a mother’s supposed to,
All she wanted now was just one more kiss
She prayed to God that it wouldn’t have to end like this.
She heard twenty-one guns, watched them fold the flag
It wasn’t real, she hoped that he might come back,
They said your husband was a stallion of his battalion
His effort was valiant so they gave him a medallion
She didn’t want that, she wanted him back,
So with tears in her eyes and her daughter on her lap, she cried
Not death, nor life, can separate us from the love of Christ.
*************************************************************************
Can you separate yourself from God? Well yes! In fact, you do it all the time, but nothing can separate you from God’s love. Jesus says, “I love you and I am determined to make you mine.” He just can’t help himself. He is here to give you everything he has, an entire heavenly kingdom, his body, his blood, the forgiveness of sins, eternal life. He can’t keep away from you because nothing will separate you from his love.
Can anything or anyone, separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus? No, nothing. Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword? No. Nothing. Nothing will separate you from the love of Jesus Christ. Will unwed pregnancy, infertility, alcoholism, drugs, anorexia, rape, abuse, abortion, war or death separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus? No. Not even that. Nothing will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus says, “I am in love with you and I died on the cross to show you how much. To show you how very far away from me you choose to separate yourself and how very close to you I am and will always be.” Amen.
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Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sermon for July 20th
“You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” There are many reasons to be afraid of God when you think about it. Things like hurricanes, and ice storms, cancer that shows up out of nowhere and genetic diseases that no one seems to have any control over. Many people look at God and wonder why anyone would worship a God who allows these kinds of bad things to happen to good people. They are afraid of God and for good reason. God can do anything he wants at any time. In fact, we are all destined to fear God as long as we don’t know how he feels about us. Until God lets you know what he thinks of you, you live in fear of God. No matter how many good things we might do, we just can’t be sure what might happen.
In baptism, God declares his will, his purpose and his intentions. He wears his heart on his sleeve. For those of you who have been baptized, God has adopted you into his family. You are his child. He has told you that he loves you once and for all. Even if storms thunder around you, disease attacks your body or suffering of any type comes into your life, God promises that you are his and nothing will snatch you out of his hand. You are his child forever even after death. This is what baptism means for you. This is also what it means for Willa and Olivia who were baptized here this morning. God has made a promise to you and to them that they and you are part of his family now and you do ever have to be afraid of him again.
But adoption is about more than just love. There is a legal aspect to it as well. Not only does your adopting Father, God himself, love you as his very own child, but, as his child, you have the right to an inheritance. Because you were adopted by God, this inheritance is your by legal right. It is this inheritance that gives you the sure and certain hope of eternal life.
Children are sometimes adopted because their birthparents could not provide what was necessary for their life together. Christian parents can understand this predicament very well. We place our children and ourselves in God’s hands because we realize that we are unable to provide certain things by ourselves—eternal life can only be found in God. We love our children so much we ask God to adopt them. In baptism, God welcomes you into his family and takes all you have as his own—your sin, your suffering, and your death. In return, he gives you all that he has—the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry,’Abba! Father’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Now what is going on here! What about that big fat “if” at the end! “If” we suffer, then we will be glorified? What does that mean?
It would be easy to say that suffering is inevitable, because it is, but there is more to this statement than just that. We are not talking about just the general idea of suffering here. This is more like the suffering children go through when their family suffers. The fact that only a real member of a family knows when their family is hurting and hurts along with it. When company is over you might cook steak even if every other day you only eat soup in order to save money. I remember one time when my Grandma came over and was very impressed that our house looked so tidy. I explained to her that it had better look tidy, because we had spent all week cleaning and stuffing things in closets. Only a part of the family knew how much “suffering” had been happening to make it look that way. After you are married, you know that you are really a member of the family when your in-laws find the TV more interesting than you.
I think about the little boy from Africa who was adopted by the singer Madonna. That little boy no doubt enjoys some benefits from being Madonna’s son. They are a family and so when she is successful, her son can celebrate the success with her. However, I’m sure that Madonna’s son must also endure some suffering because of Madonna’s lifestyle and the stigma of being her child. This is what happens when you are part of a family.
As Christians we live with the hope of eternal life, but for now, there are times when the stigma of being a Christian involves suffering. You are a part of Christ’s family now, so when his name suffers insult and his church is attacked, you can expect to feel some pain as well. Not just because suffering is a part of life, but because God himself has adopted you and you are a part of his large extended family. So, that big ol “if” in the passage I read, isn’t so much demanding that you suffer, but pointing out that even suffering can bring you peace once when that suffering comes on account of God’s Word. Martin Luther argued that suffering was a sign of the church, because where God’s Word is preached in its truth in purity, suffering is bound to come as well.
Despite the dangers of being a Christian, you need not fall back into fear. You have been adopted and you will be God’s child forever. He’ll never give you up. Even when there is suffering in this world, you do not have to face it alone. You are part of God’s family and so we support one another. God will never leave you to fend for yourself. You can be assured that the problems in this life are nothing compared with the glory about to be revealed for you and for them. You are God’s beloved children, God’s adopted children, and he has promised to love you, to be your Father and to be your God forever. Amen.
In baptism, God declares his will, his purpose and his intentions. He wears his heart on his sleeve. For those of you who have been baptized, God has adopted you into his family. You are his child. He has told you that he loves you once and for all. Even if storms thunder around you, disease attacks your body or suffering of any type comes into your life, God promises that you are his and nothing will snatch you out of his hand. You are his child forever even after death. This is what baptism means for you. This is also what it means for Willa and Olivia who were baptized here this morning. God has made a promise to you and to them that they and you are part of his family now and you do ever have to be afraid of him again.
But adoption is about more than just love. There is a legal aspect to it as well. Not only does your adopting Father, God himself, love you as his very own child, but, as his child, you have the right to an inheritance. Because you were adopted by God, this inheritance is your by legal right. It is this inheritance that gives you the sure and certain hope of eternal life.
Children are sometimes adopted because their birthparents could not provide what was necessary for their life together. Christian parents can understand this predicament very well. We place our children and ourselves in God’s hands because we realize that we are unable to provide certain things by ourselves—eternal life can only be found in God. We love our children so much we ask God to adopt them. In baptism, God welcomes you into his family and takes all you have as his own—your sin, your suffering, and your death. In return, he gives you all that he has—the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry,’Abba! Father’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Now what is going on here! What about that big fat “if” at the end! “If” we suffer, then we will be glorified? What does that mean?
It would be easy to say that suffering is inevitable, because it is, but there is more to this statement than just that. We are not talking about just the general idea of suffering here. This is more like the suffering children go through when their family suffers. The fact that only a real member of a family knows when their family is hurting and hurts along with it. When company is over you might cook steak even if every other day you only eat soup in order to save money. I remember one time when my Grandma came over and was very impressed that our house looked so tidy. I explained to her that it had better look tidy, because we had spent all week cleaning and stuffing things in closets. Only a part of the family knew how much “suffering” had been happening to make it look that way. After you are married, you know that you are really a member of the family when your in-laws find the TV more interesting than you.
I think about the little boy from Africa who was adopted by the singer Madonna. That little boy no doubt enjoys some benefits from being Madonna’s son. They are a family and so when she is successful, her son can celebrate the success with her. However, I’m sure that Madonna’s son must also endure some suffering because of Madonna’s lifestyle and the stigma of being her child. This is what happens when you are part of a family.
As Christians we live with the hope of eternal life, but for now, there are times when the stigma of being a Christian involves suffering. You are a part of Christ’s family now, so when his name suffers insult and his church is attacked, you can expect to feel some pain as well. Not just because suffering is a part of life, but because God himself has adopted you and you are a part of his large extended family. So, that big ol “if” in the passage I read, isn’t so much demanding that you suffer, but pointing out that even suffering can bring you peace once when that suffering comes on account of God’s Word. Martin Luther argued that suffering was a sign of the church, because where God’s Word is preached in its truth in purity, suffering is bound to come as well.
Despite the dangers of being a Christian, you need not fall back into fear. You have been adopted and you will be God’s child forever. He’ll never give you up. Even when there is suffering in this world, you do not have to face it alone. You are part of God’s family and so we support one another. God will never leave you to fend for yourself. You can be assured that the problems in this life are nothing compared with the glory about to be revealed for you and for them. You are God’s beloved children, God’s adopted children, and he has promised to love you, to be your Father and to be your God forever. Amen.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Sermon for July 13th
It is election season. Now that the Republican and Democratic primaries are over, we are in the midst of the presidential election. No decision will finally be made until November, but as Americans it is not too difficult to eat, drink and breathe election talk day and night. Between CNN on television, the ticker on CNN.com, MSNBC, Fox news and radio talk shows, you can hear every side, every viewpoint, every criticism and every pundit day and night. Who will be chosen to be the next president of the United States? It is an election year and everybody wants to know who will be chosen.
It is also election season in the church. Did you know that? No? Well, it’s true. It is election season. Election season in every church in every denomination, or non-denomination, in every country in every language and wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ is being spoken whether in a building or not. And everybody wants to know who will be chosen.
But as you’ve probably guessed, there are differences between these two elections. While we have political elections once a year, every two years or every four years, as is the election season in the church is much different . . . it can happen anytime. It happens all the time. But the most important difference between political elections and the election season in the church, concerns who does the choosing and how.
As you well know, America prides itself on being a democracy. Every vote counts and only counts once. That’s the ideal anyway. We strive, as a democracy, to give everyone a voice so that the will of the majority will be enacted. As long as 50.0000001% of people agree, we can all go along with the decision believing that democracy is pretty much alive and well. We know that there are problems, of course, but we are always are striving for the ideal
This is not a natural way of running a system, it must be worked at to get to work properly. For instance, I’ve been to the Dineen’s house out there on Popple Swamp and seen their chicken coup. There are many hens, but only two roosters, Hank and Rufus, but let me tell you, no matter how much of a majority the hens have there, Hank and Rufus will always get what they want—it is not a democracy.
Or think about a field of crops, this might even make sense in your garden if it is big enough. My uncle Gary is a farmer in Nebraska. He goes out every year and evenly plants corn, beans and milo seeds in the dirt. He prepares the fields, he tills the soil, he plants the seeds, he sprays for bugs and often he has to irrigate. He tries to do all this in a very equal way so that his fields of crops all do equally well. However, when it comes time to harvest, no field is alike. In fact, the end of a row might look very different than its beginning. Sometimes water will have sat and drowned out some plants. Sometimes, there will be a whole dead patch of dry dirt where plants should have grown. Sometimes, despite the majority of corn plants and equal distribution of pesticides, a big ol’ weed will crop up and hassle some plants out of the way. A field of crops is not a democracy.
We can learn a lot about the church’s election season from watching the roosters, Hank and Rufus in their coup, or from the corn harvest corn in Nebraska. It is not a democracy. Your salvation is not decided by majority vote. In fact, none of us get a vote, not even one. Salvation is not going to look “fair” to you if you judge it by the standards of democracy. Salvation is not going to look “right” to you if you are striving for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is a divine election where God alone gets one vote and it is the only vote that counts.
God has made his choice and his choice is you. He elects you as his beloved. He doesn’t ask you for your opinion in the matter. Why not? Because he knows you just as he knows all people. You would never vote for him. You would never choose him. There is no one who is righteous, not even one. There is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. So, God seeks you out and elects you as his chosen one. He finds the biggest sinner that he knows of and seeks you out to tell you that it is election day and he has made his choice. You. You are God’s choice.
But that isn’t fair, you might cry out. Well, no it’s not. You have sinned against God in thought, word and deed by what you have done and by what you have left undone. God has no reason to forgive you for that. It’s not fair. God sent Jesus, his only son, to announce the forgiveness of your sins and he was killed for it. Is it fair for God to have to forgive us for that sin? No! We shouldn’t act the way we do. We shouldn’t lie the way we do. We shouldn’t be so selfish. We shouldn’t be so arrogant. But we are and so he does . . . what? Well, he does the only thing that is left to do when you and I are held captive to sin and death, he holds an election. He elects. God chooses you and says, “You, yes you, the one who doesn’t deserve it. I elect you. It is election day and I win . . . you.”
I remember waiting up until about two o’clock in the morning on November 3rd, of the year 2000, wondering about the results of the presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. I finally went to bed because I had to work in the morning, but I still didn’t know who had won. Then all week long I remember updating my CNN.com screen to see how many votes had come in from Dade county Florida until I finally just got sick of waiting to hear the news. How do you find out the election results each year? You must be told.
Do you know how people find out the election results of God’s divine election? Well, they also must be told. Sometimes they are very happy about it. Sometimes they are not. But, believe it or not, a lot of people still don’t know. Or, they think the results have changed based on something they did. They’ve been waiting for a long time wondering if anyone loves them. Maybe, they’ve heard that God judges them guilty, which is true. Maybe, they’ve heard that God isn’t happy with them for the choices they are making, this is also true. But they’ve never been told the election results. They’ve only heard the bad news and never heard the good news. God has chosen to forgive sinners and now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Madeleine L’Engle writes, “We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe. By telling them how wrong they are and how right we are. But by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”
If you see or know someone with a broken down heart, or a broken down relationship, or a broken down life, do you have to tell them about your faith. No. You don’t have to. You also don’t have to tell them about God’s election. You don’t have to tell them that God has chosen them as his very own. You don’t have to tell them that God loves them more than they love their sins. You don’t have to tell them that God forgives their sins and you don’t have to encourage them to repent of their bad choices to God. You don’t have to do any of this. It’s not mandatory. You won’t get in trouble. So if you don’t want to, then don’t, alright? Alright.
But if you ever find yourself wondering, imagining, wishing you could tell someone you know about God’s election, here are a few things to keep in mind. God’s words of forgiveness, come from God mouth and goes out of your mouth. You don’t have to argue with someone, or convince them or force them to believe. God promises that his words, the words from his mouth, his election, shall not return empty, but will accomplish their purpose. God will accomplish faith, not you or I or them.
But you might ask yourself, why me? Why do I know about God’s election while there are people in the world who haven’t? Is that fair? No, it’s not fair as I’ve said before. Not only did you not deserve to hear it, but they still may not have heard about it. That’s not fair at all. So the next time you consider how unfair it is that God has not elected a particular person, it may be the time to get their address and give them the good news of God’s election yourself—in person. The less you think someone deserves God’s election, the more sure you can be that they deserve to be told of the results. Repeat after me, “Jesus loves you.”
What if you aren’t seeing any progress? What if they’ve never gone to church? What if you keep inviting them and they still don’t come? Tell them again. That’s something interesting about my uncle Gary. No matter how many times the corn has been flooded or blown over or not produced well, he keeps planting year after year. Tell them again and again and again. Tell them about God’s love for you and God’s love for them. Invite them to hear God’s election results here at church. Remember, in the church, it is always election season.
But most importantly, today is election day for you. I need to let you know again the results of God’s divine election. Jesus says, “I choose you. Yes. You. The one who doesn’t deserve it. You are precious in my sight. It is election day and I won . . . you. I win you.” Amen.
It is also election season in the church. Did you know that? No? Well, it’s true. It is election season. Election season in every church in every denomination, or non-denomination, in every country in every language and wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ is being spoken whether in a building or not. And everybody wants to know who will be chosen.
But as you’ve probably guessed, there are differences between these two elections. While we have political elections once a year, every two years or every four years, as is the election season in the church is much different . . . it can happen anytime. It happens all the time. But the most important difference between political elections and the election season in the church, concerns who does the choosing and how.
As you well know, America prides itself on being a democracy. Every vote counts and only counts once. That’s the ideal anyway. We strive, as a democracy, to give everyone a voice so that the will of the majority will be enacted. As long as 50.0000001% of people agree, we can all go along with the decision believing that democracy is pretty much alive and well. We know that there are problems, of course, but we are always are striving for the ideal
This is not a natural way of running a system, it must be worked at to get to work properly. For instance, I’ve been to the Dineen’s house out there on Popple Swamp and seen their chicken coup. There are many hens, but only two roosters, Hank and Rufus, but let me tell you, no matter how much of a majority the hens have there, Hank and Rufus will always get what they want—it is not a democracy.
Or think about a field of crops, this might even make sense in your garden if it is big enough. My uncle Gary is a farmer in Nebraska. He goes out every year and evenly plants corn, beans and milo seeds in the dirt. He prepares the fields, he tills the soil, he plants the seeds, he sprays for bugs and often he has to irrigate. He tries to do all this in a very equal way so that his fields of crops all do equally well. However, when it comes time to harvest, no field is alike. In fact, the end of a row might look very different than its beginning. Sometimes water will have sat and drowned out some plants. Sometimes, there will be a whole dead patch of dry dirt where plants should have grown. Sometimes, despite the majority of corn plants and equal distribution of pesticides, a big ol’ weed will crop up and hassle some plants out of the way. A field of crops is not a democracy.
We can learn a lot about the church’s election season from watching the roosters, Hank and Rufus in their coup, or from the corn harvest corn in Nebraska. It is not a democracy. Your salvation is not decided by majority vote. In fact, none of us get a vote, not even one. Salvation is not going to look “fair” to you if you judge it by the standards of democracy. Salvation is not going to look “right” to you if you are striving for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is a divine election where God alone gets one vote and it is the only vote that counts.
God has made his choice and his choice is you. He elects you as his beloved. He doesn’t ask you for your opinion in the matter. Why not? Because he knows you just as he knows all people. You would never vote for him. You would never choose him. There is no one who is righteous, not even one. There is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. So, God seeks you out and elects you as his chosen one. He finds the biggest sinner that he knows of and seeks you out to tell you that it is election day and he has made his choice. You. You are God’s choice.
But that isn’t fair, you might cry out. Well, no it’s not. You have sinned against God in thought, word and deed by what you have done and by what you have left undone. God has no reason to forgive you for that. It’s not fair. God sent Jesus, his only son, to announce the forgiveness of your sins and he was killed for it. Is it fair for God to have to forgive us for that sin? No! We shouldn’t act the way we do. We shouldn’t lie the way we do. We shouldn’t be so selfish. We shouldn’t be so arrogant. But we are and so he does . . . what? Well, he does the only thing that is left to do when you and I are held captive to sin and death, he holds an election. He elects. God chooses you and says, “You, yes you, the one who doesn’t deserve it. I elect you. It is election day and I win . . . you.”
I remember waiting up until about two o’clock in the morning on November 3rd, of the year 2000, wondering about the results of the presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. I finally went to bed because I had to work in the morning, but I still didn’t know who had won. Then all week long I remember updating my CNN.com screen to see how many votes had come in from Dade county Florida until I finally just got sick of waiting to hear the news. How do you find out the election results each year? You must be told.
Do you know how people find out the election results of God’s divine election? Well, they also must be told. Sometimes they are very happy about it. Sometimes they are not. But, believe it or not, a lot of people still don’t know. Or, they think the results have changed based on something they did. They’ve been waiting for a long time wondering if anyone loves them. Maybe, they’ve heard that God judges them guilty, which is true. Maybe, they’ve heard that God isn’t happy with them for the choices they are making, this is also true. But they’ve never been told the election results. They’ve only heard the bad news and never heard the good news. God has chosen to forgive sinners and now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Madeleine L’Engle writes, “We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe. By telling them how wrong they are and how right we are. But by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”
If you see or know someone with a broken down heart, or a broken down relationship, or a broken down life, do you have to tell them about your faith. No. You don’t have to. You also don’t have to tell them about God’s election. You don’t have to tell them that God has chosen them as his very own. You don’t have to tell them that God loves them more than they love their sins. You don’t have to tell them that God forgives their sins and you don’t have to encourage them to repent of their bad choices to God. You don’t have to do any of this. It’s not mandatory. You won’t get in trouble. So if you don’t want to, then don’t, alright? Alright.
But if you ever find yourself wondering, imagining, wishing you could tell someone you know about God’s election, here are a few things to keep in mind. God’s words of forgiveness, come from God mouth and goes out of your mouth. You don’t have to argue with someone, or convince them or force them to believe. God promises that his words, the words from his mouth, his election, shall not return empty, but will accomplish their purpose. God will accomplish faith, not you or I or them.
But you might ask yourself, why me? Why do I know about God’s election while there are people in the world who haven’t? Is that fair? No, it’s not fair as I’ve said before. Not only did you not deserve to hear it, but they still may not have heard about it. That’s not fair at all. So the next time you consider how unfair it is that God has not elected a particular person, it may be the time to get their address and give them the good news of God’s election yourself—in person. The less you think someone deserves God’s election, the more sure you can be that they deserve to be told of the results. Repeat after me, “Jesus loves you.”
What if you aren’t seeing any progress? What if they’ve never gone to church? What if you keep inviting them and they still don’t come? Tell them again. That’s something interesting about my uncle Gary. No matter how many times the corn has been flooded or blown over or not produced well, he keeps planting year after year. Tell them again and again and again. Tell them about God’s love for you and God’s love for them. Invite them to hear God’s election results here at church. Remember, in the church, it is always election season.
But most importantly, today is election day for you. I need to let you know again the results of God’s divine election. Jesus says, “I choose you. Yes. You. The one who doesn’t deserve it. You are precious in my sight. It is election day and I won . . . you. I win you.” Amen.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Sermon for July 6th
“Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the royal master, leads against the foe; forward into battle, see, his banners go. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.” Many Christians have a love/hate relationship with this song. They like the tune, but they don’t like the implications of the song. What it might mean for thinking about God. What it might mean for thinking about ourselves.
Christians, in American culture, are often portrayed as peaceful, weak, quiet, bland sissies. Many Christians themselves believe that when you come to church you have to leave your passion, your strength, your assertiveness and your intelligence at the door. Church is considered to be mainly for women and children, the older the women and the younger the children, the better. Talking about soldiers, wars, battles, kings and banners flying sounds more like an action adventure movie than a Sunday morning sermon.
So, this song, “Onward Christian soldiers,” is an anachronism, full of ideas that seem out of place for our time. Today, Jesus is talked about as loving, tolerant and peaceful, not, as the song puts it, a royal master, leading us against enemies, forward into battle with banners blazing behind and before. Does this song belong in our church hymnal or have we finally outlived the usefulness for these types of metaphors when describing God in our civilized peace-loving day and age?
God’s Word is sharper than any two edged sword, that is, it cuts both ways. It cuts to the right and it cuts to the left. For those of you who imagine Jesus as simply a non-violent pacifist, he brings a sword! He is the same God who led the Israelites in countless wars against their foes. He doesn’t pray for peace as we do, in quiet prayer groups or at night before bed, he commands it! He is assertive! He doesn’t stay a baby in swaddling clothes forever, but as the reading from Zechariah says, he comes as a king, triumphant and victorious.
Jesus Christ cannot be labeled as purely an anti-war flower child. As Jesus said a couple of weeks ago in our gospel lesson, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Jesus is a peacemaker, this is true, but he is also not the namby-pamby many people make him out to be. He is a king, a warrior, a prince. In our reading from Zechariah today, the author uses the symbolism of war and battle, of fighting and arms to express God’s deeds of power, his glory. However, the glory that is expected, the glory is not what we had imagined. The glory is that of peace and humility.
God’s word is sharper than any two edged sword. It cuts both ways. The Jews imagined their Messiah as a victorious warrior king. If Jesus was this Messiah, their Savior, many Jews figured it was time for a little payback against the nations that had power over them. They expected Jesus to destroy their enemies and trample the bodies into the dust. For those of you who imagine Jesus as simply a battle-hero, an awesome warrior king!—he comes humbly riding on a donkey. He doesn’t take prisoners of war, the reading today says he sets free the prisoners of hope. He doesn’t pillage neighboring towns for retribution for his people, he restores double to those who were exiled from their homes out of his own kingly coffers.
Jesus undermined the symbols of glory and power for those hungry for destruction and dominion among the Jews. With these same symbols, he offends the civilized sensibilities of those of us hungry for comfort and tolerance in our day. God’s word cuts both ways, to the right and to the left.
We worship the God who freed the oppressed Israelites from their slavery to the Egyptians. Yes we do. But we also worship the God who drowned Pharaoh and his army in the waters of the Red Sea in order to seal this escape. It’s the same God. We worship the God who gave us eternal life through Jesus Christ, and the God who sent his only son to death on a cross. It’s the same God. We worship the God who commands peace, but brings a sword. It’s the same God. God is not the battle hero we all want him to be nor is he the pacifist we all want him to be.
We are in the midst of wars across the world in Iraq and Afghanistan. You are all intelligent citizens and can make up your own minds about how you think and deal with these things politically. I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m not going to tell you what to believe or that God is on one side or the other because he is on both. God knows the necessity of war and the pain of war. God knows the sins of war and the righteousness of war.
The more you hear God’s Word, read it at home and converse with others about it, the more it affects your understanding and beliefs. However, as soon as you or I try and wield it like an axe against others either to lead the war charge or to cut off an olive branch, the axe head falls off and stubs our toes. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t to judge based on God’s word. It means that God does the judging—with his words—and that he always judges you and me with his words before we can see start swinging at the log in our neighbors’ eyes.
Today’s reading from Zechariah was not written as an oracle about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was an oracle for the Israelites coming out of exile. This reading strengthens our faith in God and informs our understanding of how to faithfully live our lives during these wars, but we cannot take these verses and chastise our neighbors or government without taking at look at ourselves first. The words interpret us first, pointing out our sins and then pointing out our hope. God knows that war and peace will come and go. We are driven to seek hope in God’s righteousness and not in our own.
You have a God who is not unfamiliar with wars and battles. He has led the charge, he has healed the wounded and he has buried the dead. He has even died on a cross. He knows what it is to suffer, to be despised, to be punished and to be struck down in a battle. Not just against evil but against the devil himself. There are people we love at home and abroad who are fighting for this country and being placed in harms way. We can trust that God is there with them, fighting with them, suffering with them and protecting them from harm. And when death happens on the battlefield, from friendly fire or from a road bomb or from an ambush, we can trust that their Lord and Savior will not leave them or forsake them just because they are part of a war. He has been there before.
You also have a God who is not unfamiliar with the struggle for peace and the end of war. He has promised long ago to judge between many peoples and nations, that they will beat their swords into plowshares and use their spears for pruning hooks. There will come a time when nation shall not lift up sword against nation and not learn war any more. He has not only called us to peace, but has taken it on himself to command peace to nations. Peace is finally God’s responsibility even while we do our best to pray for that peace to come. You can trust that God is listening to your prayers for peace. He doesn’t want any soldiers from any nation to die whether they are Christians or not, for as the book of Ezekiel proclaims, “God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” Instead, he is always seeking those who are lost so that they might turn to him and live, not only happily on this earth but also eternally in heaven.
God loves you. When you are in the midst of wars and battles, he fights alongside you with the goal of giving you peace as the prize. When you are praying for peace, he will do battle with the forces of evil, apathy and destruction and command that peace as a triumphant and glorious king. His love is not based on your political preference. You are made right with God by faith alone. You are loved by both a peaceful and a powerful God. Amen.
Christians, in American culture, are often portrayed as peaceful, weak, quiet, bland sissies. Many Christians themselves believe that when you come to church you have to leave your passion, your strength, your assertiveness and your intelligence at the door. Church is considered to be mainly for women and children, the older the women and the younger the children, the better. Talking about soldiers, wars, battles, kings and banners flying sounds more like an action adventure movie than a Sunday morning sermon.
So, this song, “Onward Christian soldiers,” is an anachronism, full of ideas that seem out of place for our time. Today, Jesus is talked about as loving, tolerant and peaceful, not, as the song puts it, a royal master, leading us against enemies, forward into battle with banners blazing behind and before. Does this song belong in our church hymnal or have we finally outlived the usefulness for these types of metaphors when describing God in our civilized peace-loving day and age?
God’s Word is sharper than any two edged sword, that is, it cuts both ways. It cuts to the right and it cuts to the left. For those of you who imagine Jesus as simply a non-violent pacifist, he brings a sword! He is the same God who led the Israelites in countless wars against their foes. He doesn’t pray for peace as we do, in quiet prayer groups or at night before bed, he commands it! He is assertive! He doesn’t stay a baby in swaddling clothes forever, but as the reading from Zechariah says, he comes as a king, triumphant and victorious.
Jesus Christ cannot be labeled as purely an anti-war flower child. As Jesus said a couple of weeks ago in our gospel lesson, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Jesus is a peacemaker, this is true, but he is also not the namby-pamby many people make him out to be. He is a king, a warrior, a prince. In our reading from Zechariah today, the author uses the symbolism of war and battle, of fighting and arms to express God’s deeds of power, his glory. However, the glory that is expected, the glory is not what we had imagined. The glory is that of peace and humility.
God’s word is sharper than any two edged sword. It cuts both ways. The Jews imagined their Messiah as a victorious warrior king. If Jesus was this Messiah, their Savior, many Jews figured it was time for a little payback against the nations that had power over them. They expected Jesus to destroy their enemies and trample the bodies into the dust. For those of you who imagine Jesus as simply a battle-hero, an awesome warrior king!—he comes humbly riding on a donkey. He doesn’t take prisoners of war, the reading today says he sets free the prisoners of hope. He doesn’t pillage neighboring towns for retribution for his people, he restores double to those who were exiled from their homes out of his own kingly coffers.
Jesus undermined the symbols of glory and power for those hungry for destruction and dominion among the Jews. With these same symbols, he offends the civilized sensibilities of those of us hungry for comfort and tolerance in our day. God’s word cuts both ways, to the right and to the left.
We worship the God who freed the oppressed Israelites from their slavery to the Egyptians. Yes we do. But we also worship the God who drowned Pharaoh and his army in the waters of the Red Sea in order to seal this escape. It’s the same God. We worship the God who gave us eternal life through Jesus Christ, and the God who sent his only son to death on a cross. It’s the same God. We worship the God who commands peace, but brings a sword. It’s the same God. God is not the battle hero we all want him to be nor is he the pacifist we all want him to be.
We are in the midst of wars across the world in Iraq and Afghanistan. You are all intelligent citizens and can make up your own minds about how you think and deal with these things politically. I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m not going to tell you what to believe or that God is on one side or the other because he is on both. God knows the necessity of war and the pain of war. God knows the sins of war and the righteousness of war.
The more you hear God’s Word, read it at home and converse with others about it, the more it affects your understanding and beliefs. However, as soon as you or I try and wield it like an axe against others either to lead the war charge or to cut off an olive branch, the axe head falls off and stubs our toes. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t to judge based on God’s word. It means that God does the judging—with his words—and that he always judges you and me with his words before we can see start swinging at the log in our neighbors’ eyes.
Today’s reading from Zechariah was not written as an oracle about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was an oracle for the Israelites coming out of exile. This reading strengthens our faith in God and informs our understanding of how to faithfully live our lives during these wars, but we cannot take these verses and chastise our neighbors or government without taking at look at ourselves first. The words interpret us first, pointing out our sins and then pointing out our hope. God knows that war and peace will come and go. We are driven to seek hope in God’s righteousness and not in our own.
You have a God who is not unfamiliar with wars and battles. He has led the charge, he has healed the wounded and he has buried the dead. He has even died on a cross. He knows what it is to suffer, to be despised, to be punished and to be struck down in a battle. Not just against evil but against the devil himself. There are people we love at home and abroad who are fighting for this country and being placed in harms way. We can trust that God is there with them, fighting with them, suffering with them and protecting them from harm. And when death happens on the battlefield, from friendly fire or from a road bomb or from an ambush, we can trust that their Lord and Savior will not leave them or forsake them just because they are part of a war. He has been there before.
You also have a God who is not unfamiliar with the struggle for peace and the end of war. He has promised long ago to judge between many peoples and nations, that they will beat their swords into plowshares and use their spears for pruning hooks. There will come a time when nation shall not lift up sword against nation and not learn war any more. He has not only called us to peace, but has taken it on himself to command peace to nations. Peace is finally God’s responsibility even while we do our best to pray for that peace to come. You can trust that God is listening to your prayers for peace. He doesn’t want any soldiers from any nation to die whether they are Christians or not, for as the book of Ezekiel proclaims, “God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” Instead, he is always seeking those who are lost so that they might turn to him and live, not only happily on this earth but also eternally in heaven.
God loves you. When you are in the midst of wars and battles, he fights alongside you with the goal of giving you peace as the prize. When you are praying for peace, he will do battle with the forces of evil, apathy and destruction and command that peace as a triumphant and glorious king. His love is not based on your political preference. You are made right with God by faith alone. You are loved by both a peaceful and a powerful God. Amen.
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