THE PULPIT: the way of the cross - Luke 4:1-13

As we noted in the welcome, today marks a turning of the page. We have worked our way through the Christmas cycle, and today we begin the Easter cycle. As you remember, each cycle is made of three seasons each with a unique relation to the Holy Day it surrounds. Each cycle begins with a season of anticipation and preparation. The cycle then comes to its high point with a celebration of the Holy Day. The cycle is closed with a season of integration when the unique message and grace of each Holy Day is applied and worked into our life.

The Christmas cycle begins with the season of Advent; the Easter cycle begins with the season of Lent. During Advent, we prepare for the coming of a new child. It is joyful and exciting. During Lent, we prepare for the coming of death – the death of Christ on the cross. Its mood is mournful and somber. It forces us to look at our own mortality. Not so much our physical mortality but the death that comes from sin. It is a season marked by suffering and sacrifice.

Today’s Gospel lesson is a fitting beginning to our journey through Lent, to our inward looking, and to our common lament. We find Jesus fresh out the waters of baptism, energized by the public affirmation of the Father’s love and support, and empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life. Yet, we find Jesus in one of the toughest spots he could be in. Hear the word of the Lord from Luke 4:1-13.

Forty days without food makes a person slightly more than hungry. Going without food does funny things to our minds and to our bodies. We become grouchy. We become irritable. We get short and easily angered. We become weak. Our bodies ache. We are tired all the time. We have no energy. For me, that’s after just one day without food! I image, that after forty, I would probably be going crazy. I would be delusional, I would be lethargic, I would be apathetic. I really think I wouldn’t care about anything. We can only guess about Jesus’ state of mind, but after 40 days without food, it can’t possibly be good.

It’s no surprise to us that we hear of Jesus’ temptation at his weakest moment. How many of us feel tempted so much more after a long shift at work. In the middle of the night when we just can’t sleep. After a particularly trying time when we have no emotional reserve left. When we are faced with needs, and have no money. It always seems to happen that way. When we are weakest, then we are tempted strongest. So it is for us, and so it was for Jesus.

He is tempted, not once, not twice, but three times. He is tempted with food. It would certainly taste great right now. As he thinks about bread, he can smell it. He can feel his stomach getting full. His mouth begins to water. He is tempted with all the kingdoms of the earth and authority over them. He can see himself – the King of the Jews – leading his people out of oppression and into a new era of the Kingdom of God. He is tempted to through himself off the highest steeple of the temple. He can just feel himself falling – wind in his hair – when from no where comes a loud trumpet and the hand of the Father reaches out of the clouds and snatches him gently from the clutches of death. That would all be so amazing. It would all be so enticing. It would all be so tempting.

We spend much of our time trying to understand Jesus temptations individually, it seems that we first have to understand temptation generally. When step back to look at the forest of temptation rather than the trees of Jesus’ specific temptations we find this temptation set in the context of Jesus ministry and God’s mission. It is a mission for salvation to the world. It is a ministry to the poor, the sick, the captives and the oppressed. Jesus’ ministry is God’s mission and must be accomplished God’s way. Temptation is always, most foundationally, a choice between God’s way and my way.

Understanding that temptations are always a question of God’s way or my way, Jesus’ temptations begin to make a little more sense. Each temptation is a confrontation between God’s way of bringing salvation to the World and an alternative, more appealing, perhaps maybe even an easier or quicker way.

Consider the first temptation. It is a temptation to make bread from stones. Bread is the common stuff of life. It is the stuff that gets a person from day to day. Sure, Jesus was hungry, but so where a whole lot of others. Jesus ministry is to preach good news to the poor – to those who are starving for just a bite of bread. If Jesus could turn a stone – the most plentiful things around – into bread then maybe, just maybe he could feed the world. That would be good news. Jesus could have ended world hunger once and for all! That would be awesome! That’s not a bad thing at all is it? Well, except for the small part about God’s way.

“People do not live by bread alone.” It is not physical bread for which people truly crave. God’s plan was for Jesus to be the bread. People were hungry and this temptation could have filled their stomachs. But God’s grace is about so much more than just full stomachs. Jesus was the bread. Jesus was the one to be broken for the many. By the stones, their stomachs could be filled, but only by the cross could their souls be filled. God’s way? Or an easier way?

Jesus’ ministry wasn’t just about meeting needs though. It was certainly to preach good news to the poor and healing to the blind, but Jesus’ ministry was also to the captives and the oppressed. What better way is there to release the captives and free the oppressed than to have power over all the kingdoms? As the one with all the political power, Jesus really could release captives and put an end to oppression. No longer would we have to deal with racism. No longer would we have to deal with classism. No longer would there be the problems of addiction and abuse. No longer would there be child workers in sweatshops and no longer would the practice of genocide be a problem. If Jesus could rule over all the kingdoms of the world, he could implement his agendas. He could invoke his rules. He could define life by his ethics. It would be great wouldn’t it?!?!

The problem is God is not interested in a kingdom of the world approach to ministry. He’s not one bit concerned with gaining enough power or votes to impose his rules. He really couldn’t care less about political power or lording his ways over others. Those are things common in the kingdom of the world, but God is not about kingdom of the world things. God is about kingdom of God ways. Sure, Jesus could have legalized or legislated or lorded over his kingdom, but that was not God’s way. God’s way is not politics or force, God’s way is not gaining power. The kingdom of God is about giving power away in sacrificial love. The kingdom of God is made real only by the cross. God’s way? Or a less costly, less painful, more beneficial way?

Lastly, Jesus ministry was to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He came so that the world might see God. He came that God would be seen by all the world. And so, while standing at the top of the highest point in the temple, Jesus is tempted to get on with it. It’s been thirty years already. Isn’t it about time the world sees the Father? He has just been affirmed as God’s son. God has just declared his tremendous love for his son. Surely, no Father would let his son fall to the ground. If Jesus threw himself off the temple, surely the Father would reach down from heaven and catch Jesus. It was the temple. There were many people there. Everyone would see what happened. No one could deny having seen God. Finally, God would be revealed.

But God’s hand cannot be forced. God’s word cannot be twisted to make it prove what we want it to prove. God’s word will be proved true and God’s loving face will be seen. Jesus must remain faithful to God’s way. Sure he could jump, and maybe God would catch him, and maybe all the people would see and be amazed, but God is not just interested in people knowing his love, but also his power…even power over death - not just power to prevent death, but power to restore life. Only by confronting the vilest evil the world has to offer – death on a cross – and transforming it into resurrection and life, is the boundless love of God revealed. God’s way? Or a safer, more humane way?

Temptation is always this struggle between God’s way and our way. Jesus was confronted by a variety of “better” alternatives. We are really no different than Jesus. We are tempted too. We always have to choose between God’s way and our “better” ways. The difference is that sometimes we fall short of God’s perfect way. The message of Lent is that we have to remember that sometimes we fall short. None of us is perfect; none of us live up to the high standard of God’s perfect plan. We must repent of our own sinfulness. To repent is simply to turn. It could be said to repent is to re-turn. In the Christian walk, we will inevitably fall, but when we fall, we must always get up facing the cross. We must refocus our life on God’s way – God’s good and perfect and holy way. We must refocus our life on the way of the cross.

In every one of Jesus’ temptations, God revealed His way to Jesus by His word in scripture. “The Scriptures say, ‘People don’t live by bread alone.’” “Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’” “The scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” We have been given the scripture too, but we also have something else. God has revealed His way to us by His Word in human form. In Christ, we have the perfect revelation God. In the cross, we have the perfect revelation of God’s way. God’s way is always the cross. God’s way is always sacrificial. God’s way is always love. God’s way is always the giving away of power. We are always called to lift up, not lord over, those around us. The way of God is the way of the cross.

Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit that filled him. Jesus had the grace and faith to trust and choose God’s revealed way. God has given us, too, His Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who illuminates God’s path. It is the Spirit who gives us the wisdom to discern between our way and God’s. It is the Spirit who strengthens us to resist temptation and to choose God’s way. The same Spirit that filled Christ and empowered him on the way to the cross, fills us and empowers us on the way of the cross.

Jesus was faithful to God’s way – the way of the cross – even when it seemed there might be easier, or safer, or less costly, or less painful ways. The real question, especially during Lent, is: will we, like Christ, by the power of the Spirit, be faithful to the way of the cross? To the glory of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

MISSIONARY MOMENT

Please take a moment each day to pray for the church in the following world areas:

BELIZE - http://www.caribbeannazarene.org/wmcaribbean/CaribbeanCountries/Belize/tabid/72/Default.aspx


ARIZONA - http://www.arizonadistrict.org/

THE PULPIT: perfect reflections - 2 Cor 3:12-18

Antonina thinks I’m pretty weird sometimes. One of the things she just never understands is why I don’t do a better job cleaning the bathroom. I usually satisfy her standards when I clean the tub, or the toilet, but I can never make her happy when I clean the mirror. She is just too much of a perfectionist (which is really strange, because usually I am the perfectionist of the family)! I like to spray it down, and wipe it off. It’s good enough for me. But it’s not good enough for her. She will find a stray streak here, or a difficult deposit of who know what there, or a stubborn smudge wherever. I think they are just minor little things that don’t really make any difference, but to her they get in the way of a perfect reflection. Perhaps its because when she looks in the mirror she has something very nice to look at and I’d rather not see what I have to look at! Her mirror has to be perfect. She will take a paper towel and rub off every stingy spot. If she can’t get it with the paper towel, out come the fingernails. Then she sprays, wipes and buffs out every streak and smudge. No matter what I do, I just don’t care enough to get the mirror that perfect.

This week, I found myself staring at a set of texts, peering deeply into one of my streaked, spotted, and smudged mirrors (wishing that Antonina had cleaned it for me) trying to understand God’s message for us today: Hear the word of the Lord from 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2.

To a church in dire straits, Paul writes this compelling call - he puts forth this vivid vision. It is a call to and a vision of holiness. It is a call to and a vision of transfiguration. The two stories I shared with the children this morning are brought together in Paul’s desperate words to the church at Corinth. They were a church he planted. They were one of the great churches in one of the greatest cities. It would be similar to New York or Los Angeles. It was full of commerce and trade. It had a very active economy. It had a very international flavor due to its impressive port. It was growing and thriving. Yet the church wasn’t.

Being in such a city had definite advantages, but so too it had definite dangers. With the diverse influx of travelers from various places, came the religions of the various places. Because of the large population and the relative wealth of the city, false prophets and peddlers of snake oil thrived. Just as a car is much more susceptible to rust in wet climates than in dry, so too the church at Corinth had been highly susceptible to the dangers around it. The church began to tarnish. Its glossy paint job began to bubble. Despite Paul’s repeated warnings, the church continued in self-destructive ways.

Paul begins by reminding them of their story and the story of Christ. He reminds them who Christ is, and who they are. They are a new people living under a new covenant of grace. They all had veils over their hearts that kept them from a clear vision of God. But in Christ, the veil was removed. Christ has come and has removed the veil from their hearts so that they can see the splendor of the King. That is who they are. That is their story. They are sinners who have had the veil of sin removed. They are the church of God. They are the body of Christ. Now it is their mission to reflect the glory of the Lord, but they can’t because the mirror of their hearts has become corroded. It has become streaked. It’s become spotted - it’s become smudged. They no longer are able to really reflect God’s glory – to bear God’s image – in and to the world.

I’m a Corinthian. I look into my mirror and just ignore the spots. I ignore the smudges. I ignore the streaks. I look past them and they don’t really concern me. Antonina is a Paul. They understand that the mirror needs to reflect a perfect image. They understand that reflecting a perfect image is a lot of work. Just because the mirror was once shiny does not mean it will always be so. Keeping a mirror reflecting takes a lot of work. This is even clearer if we consider Paul’s understanding of a mirror. For us, a mirror is more like reflective glass. It is perfect the very fist time we take it home and pull off the protective film. Sure, we have to clean it from time to time, but it is what it is.

This is not so for Paul. For Paul and the Corinthians, a mirror was a piece of metal. Initially, it had no reflective qualities at all. But you can shine it and buff it. You can begin to see an image take shape. You can keep shining it and buffing it and polishing it. The image will continue to improve. This type of metal mirror took a lot of work. Not only did you have to polish it to make it shine, but you had to constantly be working against rust and tarnish. Metal does that you know. People were willing to do it. They were willing to do the work to produce a good image. Perhaps a mirror never would, in the owner’s lifetime, reflect a perfect image. Certainly if it got there, it would not stay that way without continuing hard work. Getting a good reflection was not and is not easy. Just ask our kids. I gave them all a piece of aluminum foil. They folded it and unfolded it so it was nice and crinkly. They have been working hard to rub out all the imperfections. Have any of you had any luck getting a better reflection? It takes a lot of work doesn’t it? Keep at it OK?

Paul’s concept of holiness is tied directly to his mirror imagery. Holiness requires Christ to do a lot of work in us. We were created in the perfect image of God, but sin distorted that image. Sin cast a veil between the Father and us. Through Christ, the veil has been removed and we can enter the presence of God. By Christ, we live a life of holiness, being transformed from glory to glory. Christ is constantly interceding on our behalf recreating us anew in His image. Christ is forever working on our behalf restoring the image of God to our broken lives. The life of holiness is the life lived in submission to the restorative work of Christ.

This is a great holiness text, but I think its greatness is not in just a deeper understanding of what holiness is. The greatness of this holiness text is in its explanation of why holiness is. Holiness is not so I can feel good about myself. Holiness is not so I can I can be the best that I can be. Holiness is not about self-esteem, or personal success, or health, wealth and prosperity. Rather holiness is about reflecting God.

Sure, holiness is an intensely personal and intimate thing between me and my God, but holiness is really not for me. Holiness is for reflecting God to the world. As we are changed into His glorious image, we reflect him. The question becomes for us not how we obtain holiness, but rather what we do with it as we get it. Paul says the veil is removed, we are transformed, to reflect God. The ancient Eastern Orthodox churches believed that a person could be so transformed by God that even their physical body reflected God’s holiness. Paul said we must be very bold…we must not be like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory. Do we reflect God, or hide God? Do we give the world a good image of God, His Kingdom, His love, or do we portray a distorted image of God and God’s Kingdom? Do we reflect His perfect love, or do we reflect something less?

I was completely stunned when I came across a survey from George Barna. “when asked to rank people groups in terms of their respectability, ‘evangelical Christians’ were ranked one notch above the bottom, just above the prostitutes” (Gregory Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation, 134). Some might argue that is due to the revolutionary nature of the Gospel, but the author discussing this survey suggests doing a survey of your own. “Ask any random sampling of [non-Christians) in America what first comes to their mind when you say the words evangelical or born again Christian, and chances are close to zero that anything like “outrageous, sacrificial love” will be the first thing out of their mouths. Ask them to list the first ten things that come into their mind, and chances are still close to zero that “outrageous, sacrificial love” will be on any of their lists” (Ibid.).

If that is so, then why? What veils have we put up that have given the world such a distorted image of God, God’s Kingdom, and God’s love? If we are made holy so that the world in us might see the holiness of God, what is preventing people from seeing it? These are questions with which I am still struggling. These are questions that we must struggle with and strive to answer. We must be bold, not like Moses who put up a veil. We must be bold, for God has not given us a spirit of timidity and fear, but of love (2 Tim 1:7)!

The holiness we’ve been given emboldens us to reflect God to the world. We are emboldened and empowered, but not to be preachy, but not to be judgmental, not to think that we are better than anyone else, but we are emboldened and empowered to reflect God in love. “If I [don’t] love others, I…have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstances” (1 Cor. 13:3-7).

And so, “you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave us his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross” (Php. 2:5-8).

When people see us, what do they see? A veil we have let remain, or the glory of God…the kingdom of God…the love of God? Do we dispense vengeance or forgiveness? Do we speak judgment or grace? Do we stand up for our own ways and ideas or do we die for other people? What will it take for people to automatically think: “sacrificial love” when they are asked the first thing that pops into their heads when the hear the words evangelical or born again Christian? It will take us leave our agendas to follow Christ. It will take living out the Kingdom of God, though we are surrounded by the kingdom of the world. It will take being transformed from glory to glory, knowing that to be like him, is to be willing to die like him – sacrificially, in love for others…even for those who hate us and make life tough for us. Then, by His transforming grace, will the world see Christ in us. To the glory of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS

Mon.: Ps 138 & Luke 5:1-11
Tues.: Isaiah 6:1-13 & Luke 5:1-11
Wed.: I Cor 15:1-11 & Luke 5:1-11
Thurs.: Ps 99 & 2 Cor 3:12-4:2
Fri.: Luke 9:28-36 & 2 Cor 3:12-4:2
Sat.: Ex 34:29-35 & 2 Cor 3:12-4:2

MISSIONARY MOMENT:

Barbados
http://www.caribbeannazarene.org/wmcaribbean/CaribbeanCountries/Barbados/tabid/71/Default.aspx


Anaheim
http://www.adnaz.org/

THE PULPIT: a love, a life - Luke 5:1-11

This lesson reminds me of one of the greatest novels ever written: Earnest Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Santiago is an old fisherman. Fishing is his job, his love, his life. By the fruits of the sea Santiago survives. But recent times have been tough. He has not caught a single fish in over a month. This is bad news for Santiago. It would be like us going to work every day for a month and getting no pay. You can only survive so long by going without, and when you live day to day, and pay to pay, the length of time you can go without is dramatically decreased.

But this recent run of bad luck has not just cost Santiago income, or sustenance, it has also cost him the companionship and comradery of his first mate, Manolin. Manolin too is a fisherman. He is in his early adolescence, but he is the provider for his family. Because Santiago is catching nothing, Manolin is being forced to go out with others who are catching fish. He hates leaving his beloved old man alone, but he has no choice.

Manolin has no choice to go out with others, and Santiago has no choice but to go out alone. He pushes his small wooden skiff away from the sandy beach of Cuba and into the vastness of the deep seas. All alone, he paddles out far beyond the other boats in hopes of finding fish. He sets his line and he waits. Suddenly he finds himself embattled with a great marlin. It begins to drag him out to sea. He is not about to loose this behemoth, and so he holds fast and goes along for the ride. Day turns to night, as Cuba’s lights slowly dim. He is all alone with the fish wishing he had the boy to help.

Finally, he defeats the 18 foot monster and lashes it to his dwarfish boat. He sets his sail and point it toward home. But day again turns to night, and with the darkness comes schools of sharks sensing an easy meal. When he finally arrives home, there is nothing left but an eighteen foot skeleton. He is exhausted and he leaves what’s left of his greatest trophy lashed to the boat and limps tiredly back to his little cabana.

Peter is much like Santiago. He is just a regular guy. If we follow the life of Peter we find that he is always just a regular guy – the type of guy you might find right beside you at work. He has a temper, he is strong headed, he’s just a good old boy! And like Santiago, he too is a fisherman. He’s not the kind who goes for fun. He’s not a catch and release tournament fisherman. He’s a poor, blue collar, fisherman, who’s life depends on catching fish. Fishing is his job, his love, his life. We find Peter on the shore after a hard night’s work. A fruitless night of work. Peter must have been tired, and grumpy because like Santiago, no fish means no food. Every day is a fight for survival. His whole identity…his whole life is consumed by fishing. Every night is spent hoping to catch enough food to survive, and every day is spent sleeping, dreaming of that one big catch. His whole life is focused on one question: will I catch enough fish? This particular morning, the answer was no.

Then Jesus came along. Jesus, knowing Peter’s situation, knowing Peter’s need, provides the catch of a lifetime. It is a catch that Peter can’t handle alone. He begins calling another boat for help. When the others arrive they bring in the catch. Even with both boats working, the catch is almost too much as the boats begin to sink! Suddenly, Peter’s life is revolving around a new question. No longer is he concerned with catching enough fish. In the presence of Christ, his sole concern is whether or not he can share the fish with enough others. Santiago had no one to help. He worked alone. He had no one with which to share to fish, and in the end, he lost his fish. He didn’t even have any left for himself. But Peter is able to call out to others, he is able to share the large catch and they get the fish to shore.

This fish story becomes a metaphor for Peter’s spiritual journey and for ours. Just as Peter had a physical need…fish, so too, Peter had a spiritual need. It was not something he recognized at first. It was not a need he realized until he was confronted by the miraculous presence of God in Christ. Peter was lost, he was alone, he was in sin. In the presence of Christ “he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.’” It is a confession echoed in this morning’s Isaiah passage, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people with unclean lips.” It is a confession we must all make. In the presence of the holiness of God, we become painfully aware of our inadequacy, of our shortcomings, of our sinfulness. When we become aware of this truth, we must accept it. We must own up to it. We must confess, with Isaiah and with Peter our brokenness and our sinfulness.

Just as Christ met Peter’s need for fish, so too does Christ meet Peter’s spiritual need. “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus replied, “Don’t be afraid…” With just three little words, Jesus addressed Peter’s spiritual need. When we realize and confess our sinfulness, we come to another realization. God’s holiness and our sinfulness don’t mix at all. That can be a very scary realization. The prospect of being separated forever from God has the potential of causing within us a great sense of anxiety. But Jesus gives Peter certain assurance that he need not fear. Why need he not fear? Because God’s provision is more than enough!

Isaiah had unclean lips. To Isaiah, God provided an angel bearing a red hot coal. This coal was touched to Isaiah’s lips and burned away all the filth. “Now that this has touched your lips, you guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Peter need not fear – we need not fear – because Jesus is the coal for our lips…the remedy for our sinfulness. If sin has forever separated us from God, Christ has forever brought us back into God’s presence. God has provided in Christ a means by which our sins can be forgiven and by which our relationship with God can be restored.

Not only did Christ provide words of assurance that Peter’s sinfulness would be addressed, but the grace of Christ is so abundant that he takes a broken, sinful person like Peter and is willing to use him. “from now on you will be catching people.” If Peter thought the fish Christ provided was so great, how much greater is the grace of God that not only provides forgiveness and reconciliation, but also is able to use broken, sinful people to carry out His work? Peter saw that the only way he could possibly respond to the abundance of fish was to call others to the fish as well. Peter also say that the only way he could respond to the abundance of God’s grace in Christ was to call others to Christ as well. And so Peter “left everything and followed him.”

This is just the beginning of the story of St. Peter. He was not instantly perfect. He frequently stumbled. He even on occasion denied Christ. And yet because he knew the gift of grace given to him required him to call others to that same grace in Christ, he left everything and followed. Imperfect as he was, he was Peter, the rock upon which the church was built.

I can’t help but wonder what would have happened had Peter not called out to his friends for help with the fish? Would his nets have held up? Would he have lost the catch? Would he have ended up like Santiago with nothing of the catch left? Would his boat have sunk under the weight of the fish? Would Peter have lost everything? I think the only way Peter could have had any fish for himself was to share his fish with as many as he could.

I also wonder, what would have happened if Peter would have tried to keep all the grace of Christ for himself? What if he had not left everything to follow Christ and share Him with others? Would he have still been the Rock? Would he have still been foundational in the building of the Church? Would he have been able to have any grace for himself at all? I think, accepting grace means accepting a call. I think, accepting grace means leaving everything and following. I think, grace is like sand, the tighter it is held, the more it is lost. I think if Peter would have not been willing to leave everything and follow Christ so that Christ might be shared with the world, Peter would have lost the grace that was given to him.

That is a challenge for us today as well because it is regular, imperfect, broken people like Isaiah, like Peter, and like you and me that are the rocks with which Christ builds His church. But we must be willing to leave everything to follow him. We must be willing to give up everything to share his grace with others. This is no small task, but neither is it of small consequence. The salvation of the world depends on our willingness to “leave everything behind and follow him.”

One of the things I love to do is to listen to you all. Since I have come here, I have done a lot of listening. I have been listening for answers to two questions: what makes our hearts beat? And what weighs heavy on our hearts? Every congregation has these two elements. Every congregation has something in their identity that make them who they are…that makes them unique…that separates them from the other churches in Toronto and from the other Nazarene Churches in East Ohio. Every congregation also has a burden God has placed on their heart. It is out of this burden that a church’s mission grows.

I believe every church has such a burden. I believe every church has such a mission. I believe every church has such a call. Despite every church having a burden, a passion, a call, some churches seem stagnant. Others seem in perpetual decline. Still others see people’s needs met, see people’s lives transformed, see people come to Christ and to grow in holiness, and they seem to flourish. Why, if every church has a passion and a burden and a call and a mission, do some flourish while others do not?

I believe the answer lies in this morning’s two stories. God has given each of us all the grace necessary to see the church thrive. The real question is what we will do with that grace? Will we be a Church who, like the Old Man in the Sea, is unable to connect with others, who is unable to share with others, and in the end is left with nothing? Or will we be a Church who, like Peter, leaves everything behind us to call others to Christ? Remember fishing wasn’t just a hobby for Peter. It was his job. It was his livelihood. It was security and his way of life. It was his identity, it was his passion, it was his uniqueness. It was all that he had and all that he was. Churches who flounder hold tightly to the things they love, while Churches who flourish leave everything they love in order to follow.

Our mission must compel us to let go. Our mission must drive us to leave our own ways, our own desires, our own likes, and our own preferences behind. Our mission calls us to follow Peter in leaving everything, even our sense of security, even our sense of familiarity to call others that they might share in the grace of Christ. For the glory of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS

Mon.: Ps 71:1-6 & Jer 1:4-19
Tues.: Luke 4:21-30 & Jer 1:4-19
Wed.: I Cor 13 & Jer 1:4-19
Thurs.: Ps 138 & Luke 5:1-11
Fri.: Isaiah 6:1-13 & Luke 5:1-11
Sat.: I Cor 15:1-11 & Luke 5:1-11

MISSIONARY MOMENT:

please take a moment each day this week to pray for the following nazarene districts:

Australia North Pacific

www.nazarene.org.au/anpd

Alaska

www.alaskanazarene.org

THE PULPIT: A boy doing man's work - Jer 1:4-19

Scripture is full of stories of God using the unlikeliest of people to carry out his most important work. This morning, we eaves drop on a conversation between God and one of those young, unknown, kids.

It was an ordinary day, or so we are led to believe by the absence of detailed setting. Perhaps it was a warm and sunny day in the North Country and Jeremiah was out for a walk, kicking stones as he strolled down the street. Or perhaps is was a bit of a blustery day as Jeremiah hid out in a favorite cave, trying to stay warm and dry while at the same time trying to stay out of Mom’s hair. Either way, Jeremiah was alone…or so he thought. Something startled him. He thought he was alone, but he could have sworn he heard someone else.

He wasn’t one who appreciated talking, he much preferred the silence, and so he began to peer about trying to see what he had heard. Then he heard it again. It was a little clearer this time – no, a lot clearer. It was a voice, but from whom he could not see. The message was clear: It was the voice of YHWH! The one who creates and gives life. The one who knows us all much better than even we know ourselves, and the one who knew us long before we were ever thought of.

Jeremiah’s dad was a priest, and so while YHWH’s voice wasn’t commonplace, neither was it too startling for Jeremiah. What the voice said, however, was. It was the voice of YHWH saying that Jeremiah was to go to the nations with YHWH’s message! This was not expected news. Jeremiah was familiar with the concept of prophets, but he didn’t think he fit the bill. He was much too young. People respected wisdom and experience. Age and maturity are necessary for this kind of task. Surely, no one will listen to one this young. He is much too inexperienced to know what to say.

The voice interrupts him as he tries to think of as many other excuses as he can. “Stop it. No more excuses.” He hears again his call to whomever, wherever, to say whatever. Now his excuses turned to fear. But the voice of YHWH once again intervened. This time, the words are accompanied by a strange feeling. It was as though something had touched his mouth. He jumped back, His lips tingling. Then to the voice and the touch he is given confirmation of this calling in the form of a tree branch and a pot. He knew he was called, and he knew he must go.

Hear the Word of the Lord from Jeremiah 1:1-10.

Jeremiah must have really felt inadequate. After all, he is only a young boy. He is called to be a prophet. That is really pressure enough, but his call is not just to Israel like the prophets before him. His call is to the nations! “The nations are the bad guys. They are the ones who threaten us. They are the one’s of which we live in constant fear.” Not only that, but he is told right up front that his call would involve “plucking up and pulling down, destroying and overthrowing, building and planting.” All that for a young boy? He must have really felt like a boy being sent to do a man’s job.

We all know what it feels like to be intimidated by the work we have to do don’t we? My first job out of college was milking cows on a dairy. We milked about 300 head. The heard used to be all Jerseys, but economics forced them to start integrating Holsteins as well. I was working all alone one night. The farmer and his parents were out of town on vacation. I brought in the herd and cleaned out the stalls as fast as I could. I went and checked the stall where we kept the expecting heifers. There was one little jersey heifer in there and it looked like she would deliver any minute. So I went in and got started milking.

From the way it looked, it shouldn’t have taken more than an hour for her to deliver, so I stopped about an hour later to check. No progress. Her water hadn’t even broke. I knew that was strange, but I went back to milking. I kept checking all through the night and still nothing. It looked like she was trying…it sounded like it too…but no calf. I tried making some phone calls because I didn’t want to loose two cows! I couldn’t get ahold of anyone. I knew what had to be done. I’d seen it once, but I had no idea how to do it. I was so inadequate at that moment, but I knew I had to do it.

Jeremiah must have felt that way…only ten times worse. Sometimes we feel that way here at church. We have a mission, a call, too. Our mission is to share the salvation of Christ with a world in need. Our mission is to go into the kingdom of the world and show it a better way…a more excellent way, by living as faithful citizens of the kingdom of God here and now. O so often though, we feel so inadequate. We feel like little boys being sent to do a man’s job.

Many things contribute to our struggle. Denominational pressures don’t help. They seemingly pressure us into a numbers game. The churches that get the awards are the one’s who have the most “new Nazarenes.” We have to send in attendance numbers every month. Everything is all about “church growth.” It is so easy to get all caught up in the numbers game, but Jeremiah is a hero because of his faithfulness, not his results. Success was a matter of his faithful obedience regardless of what the outcome was.

Does anyone recall Jeremiah’s nickname? The weeping prophet. Does that make him sound like a winner to you? “Very few people had listened or heeded the message, certainly not the king or the religious leaders. In fact, they had tried on more than one occasion to kill him for his efforts. Even Jeremiah himself had more than once fallen into despair, not only at the rejection and ridicule heaped upon him, but simply under the grinding weight of the message he carried. Yet, even from the midst of [all that], Jeremiah remained resolute in his message” (from Dennis Bratcher - crivoice.com).

In this morning’s Gospel lesson, Jesus was run out of town on a rail. He went and preached in his hometown, but when push came to shove, “all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.” This was just one of many such rejections that led to a particularly stirring scene where Jesus was reduced to tears, begging and pleading for this cup to be taken from him, yet he remained faithful to his call. Success is not determined by results, it is not accomplished by keeping a close eye on numbers; it is accomplished by keeping a close eye on God.

Another source of our feelings of inadequacy come from focusing on ourselves. We sometimes are so caught up in looking at gifts, and abilities, and resources, and facilities, that we forget we are the Church. “The risk is that we will assume, sometimes even in subtle ways, that because we are "called" into a special ministry, or have certain gifts that lead to success, or are part of a chosen people or God’s family, that we can handle who we are on our own” (from Dennis Bratcher – crivoice.com).

We are tempted to become like Jeremiah, a people of excuses rather than a people of God. “I can’t do that, I’m just a boy!” “We can’t do that, we’re just a small church.” “We can’t do that, we don’t have the budget that they do.” “We can’t do that, we can’t offer all the bells and whistles they have to offer.” But God said, “Don’t say that! No more excuses.” We are the church, and that means we operate wisely within our abilities, but also faithfully…within the unlimited ability of God. Success is not determined by our abilities, it is not accomplished by keeping a close eye on our gifts; it is accomplished by keeping a close eye on God.

Jeremiah is a great hero of our faith, but not because of who he was or what he did. He is a great hero because of what God did through him. God was the actor. Jeremiah remained faithful, trusting in the provision of God’s grace. “Truly I do not know how to speak…” “Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth.’” God’s work being done is not dependent on us being up to the task. That is good news! Not a single one of us individually – not even every one of us collectively – is sufficient for the mission to which we’ve been called. God is! God is abundantly sufficient to see his mission through.

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me (Ps 23:4).” “Not by might, nor by power, but by my power says the Lord of hosts (Zech 4:6).” “Therefore I am content with weakness…for whenever I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor 12:10).” “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Php 4:13).” “But those who are first will be last, and the last will be first (Mat 19:30).”

By reaching down and touching Jeremiah’s mouth with his hand, God provided out of his abundance for Jeremiah’s mission. By reaching down and touching the world with his Son Jesus Christ – by reaching down and touching the Church with his Holy Spirit – God provided out of his abundance for our mission.

To the average observer, it would have seemed that even Christ’s mission was a failure. He certainly didn’t establish a new world power. He didn’t even get any new laws passed or any political or religious reform made. It all ended with some of his disciples scattering, and a couple of his devoted followers weeping at the foot of a cross where his corpse hung dead. The path of faithfulness often seems to come to a dead end. So it was for Jeremiah, and so it was for Christ.

Our mission too puts us on a road that leads to the cross, but we know that the cross is not a dead end. Christ has already provided through His resurrection. By Christ’s resurrection, God has reached out and touched the mouth of our world. By Christ’s resurrection, God has put salvation for the world in our mouth. It is the only avenue of fulfilling the mission we’ve been given. Salvation to the nations is only possible by the power of Christ’s death and resurrection. Salvation to the nations calls us to follow Christ to the cross where we too must die, giving our lives freely, in sacrificial love to the world.

This path is not an easy path to follow. It is completely contrary to our nature. It is foolishness to the world. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you [power to] be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth.” In the gift of the Holy Spirit, God has empowered His church to faithfully follow as Jeremiah followed. We have been given the stamina to faithfully follow our call, even to the cross, just as Christ. Our success is not based on numbers or outcomes, but on faithfulness, going forward, sharing salvation with the world, knowing that God is faithful and that God alone is sufficient to carry us through. To His glory: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.