And now, turn back to your neighbor, and answer, “Neighbor! Of course I’m your friend!”
Audio sermon
I have a friend from my days in another town, a friend who is a very devout Christian. But my friend is also a modern day Pharisee – he is very, very concerned that we follow the rules. Just this week, I read one of his posts which is very upset with Francis Chan, a California pastor who walked away from his megachurch in Los Angeles to start up multiple house churches in the San Francisco area because he felt the focus had become more on the entertainment aspects of the church than on Christ. Chan now feels that the ideal size for a church is very small, about 12 to 30 people, because he feels that this forces more people to become true disciples rather than spectators of religion.
Any way, my friend was upset at Chan, not because of Chan’s views or teachings or lifestyle – but because Chan had appeared at a big conference with several other pastors my friend doesn’t like and said nice, polite things about the other pastors instead of condemning them. It was like someone who had loved ribeye steaks suddenly getting mad because he had found ribeyes at a meal with okra, grits, and tofu – all things he hated. Rather than celebrating that at least ribeyes were being served, he focused his fire on complaining that the ribeye was associating with okra, grits, and tofu.
Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Audio Gospel Reading
But, you know? Francis Chan is a mature Christian and he can take it. After all, much the same thing happened to Jesus. One day, a bunch of tax collectors and sinners were coming close to hear Jesus speak – and a group of Pharisees, the holy bunch of the day, were upset because, as they complained, “Jesus welcomes sinners and even eats with them!”
And we might be tempted to immediately condemn those Pharisees, but then again, it is always wise to ask ourselves what we would have honestly done in their place. I want you to think – who would you rather I had lunch with tomorrow – a group of pastors, a group of ya’ll from this church, or a house full of people a couple streets down the road from me who I know are regular users and possibly even sellers of pot and meth? Who would you rather I have lunch with tomorrow?
If you are honest, you’ll say, “Well, my first thought was I’d rather you were with us, but then I thought it would be better if you were learning from other pastors, but then I realized the right answer is for you to be with the drug users.”
And so it is. For they are the people who need to hear the message most.
At the time of Jesus – and still to a large extent today – we considered someone holy if they only hung around holy people and holy things. And how do things become holy? It is almost like magic – people and things become holy by hanging around with holy people and holy things. It is like the holiness rubs off on them. Let me give you an example. Do you see this candleholder? Do you treat it better than you treat your own candleholders? It has become holy over the years. Try to remove or change anything in this sanctuary, and you will find out that it has become holy to someone in this church. A picture, a candleholder, an oil lamp, a pitcher – let it stay in a church sanctuary for ten years and it will become holy.
One day, a few years ago when I was teaching math at Parkersburg Catholic High School, the regular monthly Mass was held. Because of necessity, a girl took the missal – that’s a big book, like a Bible, that contains the daily readings and prayers for Catholic services – she took the missal and placed it gently on the floor because she needed the space on the lectern for something else going on. From the crowd there was an audible gasp! How dare she put a holy book on the floor! The priest was cool with it, but to the people, it had become holy.
But, you know? Francis Chan is a mature Christian and he can take it. After all, much the same thing happened to Jesus. One day, a bunch of tax collectors and sinners were coming close to hear Jesus speak – and a group of Pharisees, the holy bunch of the day, were upset because, as they complained, “Jesus welcomes sinners and even eats with them!”
And we might be tempted to immediately condemn those Pharisees, but then again, it is always wise to ask ourselves what we would have honestly done in their place. I want you to think – who would you rather I had lunch with tomorrow – a group of pastors, a group of ya’ll from this church, or a house full of people a couple streets down the road from me who I know are regular users and possibly even sellers of pot and meth? Who would you rather I have lunch with tomorrow?
If you are honest, you’ll say, “Well, my first thought was I’d rather you were with us, but then I thought it would be better if you were learning from other pastors, but then I realized the right answer is for you to be with the drug users.”
And so it is. For they are the people who need to hear the message most.
At the time of Jesus – and still to a large extent today – we considered someone holy if they only hung around holy people and holy things. And how do things become holy? It is almost like magic – people and things become holy by hanging around with holy people and holy things. It is like the holiness rubs off on them. Let me give you an example. Do you see this candleholder? Do you treat it better than you treat your own candleholders? It has become holy over the years. Try to remove or change anything in this sanctuary, and you will find out that it has become holy to someone in this church. A picture, a candleholder, an oil lamp, a pitcher – let it stay in a church sanctuary for ten years and it will become holy.
One day, a few years ago when I was teaching math at Parkersburg Catholic High School, the regular monthly Mass was held. Because of necessity, a girl took the missal – that’s a big book, like a Bible, that contains the daily readings and prayers for Catholic services – she took the missal and placed it gently on the floor because she needed the space on the lectern for something else going on. From the crowd there was an audible gasp! How dare she put a holy book on the floor! The priest was cool with it, but to the people, it had become holy.
Our idea that holiness somehow rubs off on objects also transfers to people. We somehow think that pastor’s holiness may get dirtied by association with the wrong people, the wrong places, the wrong things, even the wrong words. (It is amazing how people speak around me until they find out I’m a pastor – and then their language suddenly changes, and their stories change, too. )
Now we know that Jesus taught us that the right place for a pastor is to be with sinners, teaching them about God and Jesus. We’ve all got that up here in our heads, even if down in our hearts we are concerned that somehow those drug users, those alcoholics, those felons, those, those… “bad” people will contaminate our pastor.
But how come we didn’t get the same lesson for ourselves? Why don't we understand that we should also spend our time with "sinners"? Why is it that when we invite the neighborhood into the church, many of us kind of back up against the far wall rather than mingle? Why do we even avoid coming to special events like a clothing giveaway or a community dinner?
I’ll tell you. It is because when you were a child, your parents taught you not to hang around with “those kinds of people.” We even developed the idea watching television that there are “good guys” and “bad guys”, “good girls” and “bad girls”. And we still teach our children and grandchildren not to associate with people who are “bad”, don’t we?
Folks, that is a good way to keep our children out of trouble. Children don’t know when they are being led down the primrose path to the pile of manure. Children don’t understand that what sounds very good can be very evil. Children don’t understand that much of what the devil brings us is dressed up with fun and excitement. But we know…and we help our children to know where and with whom trouble lurks.
Yet when we mature as Christians, we also need to mature in our understanding of people and who we should spend time with. For what was an appropriate instruction for children - avoid certain types of people - is not an appropriate instruction for a mature Christian who understands right and wrong, who is capable of recognizing evil in the world, and who has faith in God's protection. Instead, mature Christians need to step out from the safety of our fellow church-goers - and eat and drink with "sinners", just as Jesus did.
There is a point we have to make. And it is the point that Jesus made that day with the Pharisees. It is the point that God loves even the “bad guys” and the “bad girls”. God and Christ know that all of us are sinners, even those who have attended church faithfully for decades. The value of an individual is not in his or her behavior, but everyone is valuable simply because we are all images of God, made in God's image. When the Pharisees complained about His dinner partners, Jesus quickly told three parables that day – one about a man’s lost sheep, another about a woman’s lost coin, and a third one about two sons. I'll update that last one so we can better understand it...
There is a point we have to make. And it is the point that Jesus made that day with the Pharisees. It is the point that God loves even the “bad guys” and the “bad girls”. God and Christ know that all of us are sinners, even those who have attended church faithfully for decades. The value of an individual is not in his or her behavior, but everyone is valuable simply because we are all images of God, made in God's image. When the Pharisees complained about His dinner partners, Jesus quickly told three parables that day – one about a man’s lost sheep, another about a woman’s lost coin, and a third one about two sons. I'll update that last one so we can better understand it...
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
A man had two sons. The younger one, the more foolish one, probably after some anger and a fight, asked Dad to distribute his share of the farm to him now. So Dad did that. And the young man took his $100,000 or so and traveled to Myrtle Beach, where he spent his money on booze and loose women, on seafood and souvenirs. After he had spent his money, a hurricane came through up country, caused a flood which meant no food could get in to Myrtle, so he hiked up to North Carolina where an industrial pig farmer offered him a job feeding okra to his hogs while standing in pig manure. Do you like okra? A lot of people can’t stand it.
Finally, the younger son came to his senses, and thought, "You know, back in West Virginia, my dad has 400 acres of beef, even his hired hands have plenty of pepperoni rolls to eat, and here I am with a choice of eating nothing or okra covered in pig manure." So he decides to go back to Dad, humble himself, tell him he’ll work at minimum wage on the farm like a hired hand. So he hitch-hiked up the interstate.
Dad saw him walking up the road to the house and ran down the driveway to him, grabbed him in a big ole hug and even kissed him on the cheek. The son said “Dad, I’ve messed up big time – I’m not worthy to be your son.”
But Dad yelled at the farm hands and his mom – "Quick! Get him a new set of jeans and a new flannel shirt, get him some size 11 cowboy boots and a new cell phone! Get a yearling steer, butcher it and turn on the grill! We’re gonna have a party since we thought this son of mine was dead in the hurricane, but he’s alive and found!"
Now the older son was out in the field on the John Deere, and when he pulled up to the barn he heard Lynard Skynard playing, saw a bunch of them dancing and smelled the steaks a grillin’. So he called over one of the farm hands and asked him "What is goin’ on?"
“Your brother is here”, he told him, “and your dad has butchered the year-old steer because he’s home safe and sound.
That made the older brother hopping mad. So Dad came over and pleaded with him. The brother replied, “I’ve been working on this farm for years and always done what you asked, but you never even gave me a turkey for my friends. But when this no-good son of yours came back from his time with the beach hookers, you butchered a steer for him!”
So Dad looked at him and said, “You and I are always together. We work together and play together. We’re the best of friends. We go to the Mountaineer games together! Everything I have is yours, you know that, from the John Deere to the Ford King Cab. But we had to celebrate, because your brother was dead – and is alive again. He was lost and is found.”
And this sort of love is why Jesus spent time with the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the drunks, the Roman collaborators, the trouble-makers, the thieves, the drug users, the drug dealers, the immigrants, the zealots, the blind, the lame, the Deaf, the mentally ill, the lazy, the godless. He knew that any one of them who simply recognized his or her need for God’s guidance, who just asked for the help of their heavenly Father would be welcomed back into the family with honor and celebration.
But did you notice the story doesn’t end with the return of the younger son? It continues with the recognition that those people who are consistent followers of God’s will often become jealous of the attention paid to the lost souls, the people who have gone far from home. And so the Father reassures the elder son of God’s continued love and support. Jesus assures the regular church goer that God still loves them too!
A man had two sons. The younger one, the more foolish one, probably after some anger and a fight, asked Dad to distribute his share of the farm to him now. So Dad did that. And the young man took his $100,000 or so and traveled to Myrtle Beach, where he spent his money on booze and loose women, on seafood and souvenirs. After he had spent his money, a hurricane came through up country, caused a flood which meant no food could get in to Myrtle, so he hiked up to North Carolina where an industrial pig farmer offered him a job feeding okra to his hogs while standing in pig manure. Do you like okra? A lot of people can’t stand it.
Finally, the younger son came to his senses, and thought, "You know, back in West Virginia, my dad has 400 acres of beef, even his hired hands have plenty of pepperoni rolls to eat, and here I am with a choice of eating nothing or okra covered in pig manure." So he decides to go back to Dad, humble himself, tell him he’ll work at minimum wage on the farm like a hired hand. So he hitch-hiked up the interstate.
Dad saw him walking up the road to the house and ran down the driveway to him, grabbed him in a big ole hug and even kissed him on the cheek. The son said “Dad, I’ve messed up big time – I’m not worthy to be your son.”
But Dad yelled at the farm hands and his mom – "Quick! Get him a new set of jeans and a new flannel shirt, get him some size 11 cowboy boots and a new cell phone! Get a yearling steer, butcher it and turn on the grill! We’re gonna have a party since we thought this son of mine was dead in the hurricane, but he’s alive and found!"
Now the older son was out in the field on the John Deere, and when he pulled up to the barn he heard Lynard Skynard playing, saw a bunch of them dancing and smelled the steaks a grillin’. So he called over one of the farm hands and asked him "What is goin’ on?"
“Your brother is here”, he told him, “and your dad has butchered the year-old steer because he’s home safe and sound.
That made the older brother hopping mad. So Dad came over and pleaded with him. The brother replied, “I’ve been working on this farm for years and always done what you asked, but you never even gave me a turkey for my friends. But when this no-good son of yours came back from his time with the beach hookers, you butchered a steer for him!”
So Dad looked at him and said, “You and I are always together. We work together and play together. We’re the best of friends. We go to the Mountaineer games together! Everything I have is yours, you know that, from the John Deere to the Ford King Cab. But we had to celebrate, because your brother was dead – and is alive again. He was lost and is found.”
And this sort of love is why Jesus spent time with the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the drunks, the Roman collaborators, the trouble-makers, the thieves, the drug users, the drug dealers, the immigrants, the zealots, the blind, the lame, the Deaf, the mentally ill, the lazy, the godless. He knew that any one of them who simply recognized his or her need for God’s guidance, who just asked for the help of their heavenly Father would be welcomed back into the family with honor and celebration.
But did you notice the story doesn’t end with the return of the younger son? It continues with the recognition that those people who are consistent followers of God’s will often become jealous of the attention paid to the lost souls, the people who have gone far from home. And so the Father reassures the elder son of God’s continued love and support. Jesus assures the regular church goer that God still loves them too!
Folks, as we grow this church, there will be times when there will be stress in our family. There will be people who come into the church who will have a history, a history that you will remember and I and any other pastor you have will not know. You will remember what a deadbeat they were, what a drunk they were, how you couldn’t trust a word they said – and yet God and the pastor will welcome them with open arms, with a celebration, with a party.
when you hear them take vows to follow Jesus, it will be tempting for someone to say, “I wonder how long that will last”. Don’t do that, for there may have been people who wondered the same when you took your baptismal vows – or your father or mother took their vows. Don’t be like the older brother, upset because someone has come back to the Father.
Instead, become like the Father, always looking to spot someone coming back from the pig manure of the world. Be like the man who leaves 99 good sheep and goes to search for the lost sheep. Be like the woman who has 9 silver coins and spends all day and all night searching by candlelight for the one missing coin.
As Paul wrote: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him in this way.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
In other words, look at people who come to Christ as butterflies instead of the caterpillars they used to be – the old died – the new is here.
Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
We have a ministry – a ministry to go into this community and bring people back to a good and proper relationship with God and Christ. Will you join into this ministry?
... in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
Christ’s death on the cross was to pay for all the sacrifices that the Old Testament Law had demanded be paid. The one-and-only Son of God was the only thing valuable enough in the whole Universe to be sacrificed that could pay for all of our sins, our trespasses, our crimes against God. And it was through that crucifixion of Christ that we have been reconciled to God, that we’ve been restored to a right and proper relationship with our Creator. And He has trusted US with that message of reconciliation to go into the world around us. Investigate this and tell others!
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
Think of what God did…
He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us,
He took the sinless Jesus to become the scapegoat, put all of the sin of the world on Him just so we could become right with God. And Jesus did not do this for everyone, but did this for each one of us, and would have done it if it had only been you...or me.
“so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Just so we could walk with our heads up right, standing tall, knowing that our life stories show Creation how righteous God is, how righteous Christ is, how GOOD they are. Have you ever thought about how your life story, from your time before you knew Christ to today shows just how good God is? Tell that story to someone this week.
David wrote: Psalm 32
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
you righteous ones;
shout for joy,
all you upright in heart.
You know the story of the prodigal son. Almost everybody here has heard that story before. Most of the people in America know that story. Yet there are still people who do not feel that they are good enough to come to God. There are multiple people reading this who feel that they are not good enough to even be baptized, who feel like they must be more holy, more pure, more perfect before they can come to God.
The story of the prodigal son is the story that shows us how imperfect we can be and still receive God’s love.
You know, we all dig pits and graves into which we then fall. And we often take the shovel with us into the pit and dig deeper down still, as if that would get us out of the pit.
And then we think that the only way that we can stand tall again is to climb out of the pit by ourselves. But that is not true.
The younger son had not climbed out of his pit – he was at the very bottom of his pit. He simply decided to stop digging and go home, to throw himself on his Father’s mercy. He admitted that he was not worthy – and that was what allowed him to go home, wasn’t it? He admitted he wasn’t able to handle it himself.
That’s the point. God simply wants us to recognize that there are things we cannot do ourselves, things we are not strong enough to do, smart enough to fix, good enough to handle by ourselves. God wants us to admit that we need God. We need God. That’s all!
For when we admit that, we can be taught...
Little Timmy was four years old and was trying to teach himself to read books. He’d look at the book and try to remember the words Mommy had said. But he had trouble remembering the whole book. And even when he remembered all the words of the one book, he couldn’t remember the words of the next book, but Mommy knew the words of all the books. And it was very frustrating. But he was going to read the books, so he had Mommy to read the books to him over and over again so he could remember the stories.
Finally, one day, he said to Mommy, “I’m not as smart as you, Mommy.”
“Why not, Timmy?”
"Because you can read all the books and I can’t remember the words to them.”
And Mommy said, “I don’t remember all the words. I figure them out. Do you see this letter, it looks like a house? We call it the letter A” And Mommy taught Timmy about letters and how to read that afternoon. She gave him the key and he became a great reader and writer after that.
Sometimes, you see, we are trying to learn the wrong way.
Like Timmy thought he had to memorize all the words, we think we have to memorize all the rules and be perfect.
Actually, the key is we need to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, which God can give us. If we will turn to God and stop trying to memorize all the rules and be perfect, God will give us the key to becoming holy, which is listening to the Holy Spirit.
Will you turn to God and say, “I’m not good enough. I need You!”
Will you turn to God and say, “I can’t do it on my own. I need You!”Will you turn to your godly neighbor and say, “I need God. Will you pray for my soul?”
And when you are ready, one of you lead the other to say something like this, repeating the words after one another:
“Father God,
I’ve messed up. I can’t handle it alone.
I need you.
I’m sorry for what I’ve done.
Will you take control of my life?
Amen.”
And you can do this for yourself, or with another person at work or at home. It doesn’t matter.
And you can do this for yourself, or with another person at work or at home. It doesn’t matter.
Our heavenly Father is waiting, watching, looking down His driveway for you to come home. Come home!
If this sermon or another one has changed your life or touched your heart, we'd like to know. You can leave a comment below, or visit us some Sunday morning at Calvary United Methodist Church (in Clarksburg's Adamston neighborhood, 390 S 22nd St, Clarksburg, WV 26301. Services are at 9:30 am and 7 pm Sundays.) or at Mt Clare United Methodist Church in Mt Clare, WV at 11 am.
No comments:
Post a Comment