Look Up and Believe

Billy Graham was said to be the greatest preacher in America, if not the world, during the years he traveled around the world and preached in stadiums, in churches, in great buildings such as Madison Square Garden, the Los Angeles Coliseum, and other places that seated tens and hundreds of thousands of people. And after an hour of warm-up, after a half-hour of preaching, Billy would always come to the close of his preaching with an invitation to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And thousands of people would come forward.

Many people were saved. And this was a positive force which kept America from falling into the terrible decline that European Christianity experienced in the 1950’s and 60’s. Churches grew strong, seminaries exploded in size, and more and more people made a difficult decision which led them to Heaven.

But there was a problem. The constraints of time and the focus of the Graham organization meant that people who came to Christ because of Billy’s preaching felt that they had arrived – and they had – but despite the organization’s best efforts, most people who made their decision for Christ settled comfortably into their new-found pews. And they stayed there – filling the pews of many churches – but staying in those pews. They had made their difficult decision – they were now safe from hellfire – but they often stuck with their old lives to a large extent.

Through Billy’s preaching, they had seen God and Heaven. But when they sat in the pews, they turned their faces away from God and focused upon the highway to God, the Laws that God gave to Moses.

It had happened before to God’s people. 

Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 

At the time of Moses, God put a difficult decision to the Israelites, those people who were slaves in Egypt under Pharoah. They could take a lamb, keep it in the house four days, long enough for it to become a pet for their children. Then, they were asked to killed and roast the lamb, putting its blood on the outside of their doors, and then they were asked to leave home the next morning for an unknown land, full of unknown dangers, simply because a man named Moses appeared to have been sent by God.

Many made the decision. Their lives in Egypt were so terrible that they found the lamb, killed and ate the lamb, spread the blood, and then hit the road in the morning.

Others didn’t make the decision. That evening, they had a normal dinner like every evening. Perhaps they didn’t think Moses and Aaron were telling the truth, that God had commanded the special activities. Perhaps they basically believed what Moses and Aaron said, but they didn’t put two and two together and realize that if God really had told people to do this, it was important! Perhaps they decided to wait and see what happened, figuring that they could always make the decision the next morning. After all, they didn’t want to be seen as gullible, as fanatic believers who went far beyond being rational in following a religion.

And that terrible next morning, those who did not make the decision were in mourning because the Angel of Death had visited all the homes of Egypt without the blood of the lamb on the doorway, killing the firstborn of every family. Their lives had turned into Hell on earth because they had ignored God or discounted God or simply chosen to see what happened. And so they waved goodbye to their fanatic neighbors as those neighbors left town. Years later, did they look up from their slavery and say to one another – “I wonder what ever happened to those people who followed Moses and his God? Whatever happened to them?”

I wish I could say that was the last time a group of people chose to ignore God.

We still act the same way, don’t we? We basically believe that God spoke through Jesus, through the Bible, through prophets and pastors. Yet it seems as if only those people in the worst conditions, those bound by the slavery of addiction, by terrible loss, by horrible circumstances are interested in trading the certainty of their conditions for the uncertainty of the unknown road with Christ. And so we ignore God and remain behind, only to wonder what might have been…

When those Israelites were in the desert, traveling in the wilderness outside the Promised Land, they moved around from time to time. Always, God was with them. God had shown smoke and fire and earthquakes to them. God had led Moses to tap a rock with his staff and they had seen water pour out of the rock. God had given them manna from heaven every morning to eat. They had seen Aaron’s walking staff bud and blossom and grow almonds. They had heard the voice of God from the mountain. But although the Israelites recognized that God was with them, they had not made the leap from recognizing the existence of God to fully understanding that this was not a series of stories or magic tricks that Moses was bringing to the people.

• Perhaps they had been in slavery for so long that they naturally didn’t like being told what to do by anyone, man or God. 
• Perhaps they had been so comfortable in their slave huts in Egypt so long that they resented having to walk miles each day, even if an all-knowing God told them it was for their good. 
• Perhaps they were so locked into their ways that they just didn’t like to change – not for a man or for God. 
• Or perhaps, as slaves do, they simply wanted to understand the rules of this new Master, for they had learned in their slavery that following the rules was what was important. They didn’t understand that this God, this new Master, wanted people to follow Him as a Person – not just to follow His rules. 

And so one day,

“The people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

The manna - food God had given them from heaven - had become boring! You can just imagine the Israelites trudging along, staring at their feet, the path just a couple of yards in front of them, always looking down as they followed the donkeys and the carts and the oxen ahead of them, dodging the presents the donkeys and the oxen had left in the road. The men and women and children were tired and thirsty and they behaved like five-year-olds. And so God tried again to get their attention.

Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

What was this? It was a bronze snake on a pole! It was an idol, an image, a statue of the very creature that had started the chain of events that got Adam and Eve tossed out of the Garden of Eden. God wanted people to look at a snake and God would cure them.

What was this all about?

First of all, they were in a desert. No trees. Think about were you would find snakes in a desert. Lying on the ground, crawling on the ground, slithering among the rocks near your toes! You keep your eyes down.

And consider those Israelites. They had been looking down at the dust, at the dung, at the sharp rocks and snakes on the road. They had walked hundreds of miles. They kept looking down.

But God wanted to show God’s power over anything and everything. And so, God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole, and then anyone who looked up at the snake lived. God understood that the people didn’t understand who God was, and so God made a them rule which would once again lead people to think about who God was. Once again, God would enter their lives.

Imagine that you’ve been bitten by one of those poisonous snakes. Your foot is swollen, the red streaks are moving up your leg. You can only hobble and you feel the pain. You remember that the snake was the lying enemy in the Garden and you don’t want to die yet.

And so your family helps you to get to the snake. And because you want to live, you raise your eyes from the dust and the dung and the stones up to the snake, the bronze snake on the pole and then you remember that God told Moses to make this snake, to put it up high, and you stare up at the snake and remember all the other things God has done for you since that night back in Egypt when the lamb was sacrificed and you spread the blood on the door and your family survived. You remember being trapped by the sea and the water clearing out and the mad dash across the bottom of the sea, you remember the manna, you remember the water, and now you remember the God that you are dealing with, the God that has saved you countless times and now you believe God is more powerful than a little snakebite, and and with that belief the swelling starts to go down almost immediately.

You have remembered and honored the God that made you and rescued you from slavery and certain death so many times.

And I wish I could say that all of God’s children remembered God and followed God after that episode, but it would be a lie.

In Israel at the time of Jesus, the principal Jewish authority in Jerusalem was the Sanhedrin, a collection of seventy elders and rabbis, including the High Priest. These men were there principally because they were recognized as the most holy men in the country. The great rabbi Gamaliel was there, a great teaching rabbi who is still remembered to this day and who is quoted in the greatest works on the Jewish law. It is as if the heads of all the major churches in town were gathered together to make law for the city. As much as you might disagree with another synagogue over the interpretation of God’s Law, you had to accept that, on balance, this legislature was focused upon interpreting Holy Scripture in a godly way.

But even though these men read and debated scripture regularly, they were stuck in a stage many people were stuck in – they were focused upon understanding the rules of God rather than focused upon understanding God’s character.

One of these men was Nicodemus, a rabbi, a teacher, a wealthy man.

After dark one evening, he came to visit Jesus, the radical traveling teacher who had come to town. Nicodemus came late because he didn’t want to be publicly seen with the controversial pastor until he understood what Jesus was teaching.

Nicodemus said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

And Nicodemus was completely confused. “How can someone be born again?”, he asked.

And Jesus talked to him for a few minutes, explaining that the Holy Spirit needs to come into a person so they can understand God and heavenly things. Nicodemus was still confused, so Jesus stepped back and showed a bit of frustration.

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

Sometimes, you see, we can be in the church for decades, we can read and study and even teach scripture, but without the Holy Spirit, we can still miss the point and be stuck outside, never quite understanding, never moving into the inner circle of disciples who learn from Jesus daily…always being an outsider like Nicodemus.

The difference is whether we are trying to understand Christianity – the system that Jesus taught – or understand and follow Jesus – the God-man who walked on earth and still lives. Are we trying to understand Christianity – or Jesus?

Jesus then said, referring to himself, that “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Just as that bronze snake had to be made and lifted up in the desert and believed in so people could be healed from the snakebite, Jesus must be lifted up and looked at and believed in so that people would have eternal life.

The purpose of Jesus’ life, sacrifice, and resurrection was so we would stop looking at the Law of Moses, the rules given by God, and look instead at God directly as a Person, a complex personality who loves us – not just another slave master, but our Father, who gave His son’s life so we could escape from our slavery to the drudgery of life, our sins, our addictions, our old dreary life.

And when we look up and believe – the clouds go away, the sun shines, there is hope again!

I once worked with a woman who had had a difficult decade. Her husband had left her, her children wouldn’t talk with her, her health was poor, and she had recently had a car accident, which gave her a concussion and put her on crutches. One day, my wife Saundra came to visit me at work during lunch. Now, many of you know Saundra’s personality – most of the time, she is happy, upbeat, filled with sunshine and God’s love.

I suggested that Saundra might want to spend a few minutes talking with this woman, which Saundra did for about fifteen minutes. I think it was the first time they had met.

That afternoon, the woman came to me and said, “What is it like to be around such joy all the time?” I replied that it was great, for it is great- and pointed out that this is what knowing Christ is like. Saundra usually acts as part of the body of Christ should. And the woman began going to church and the clouds lifted in her life. For the church she chose to attend focused upon God’s love and not on God’s rules.

Sometimes, we just need to be reminded of who the God is that loves us – instead of focusing upon the rules that God has given us to lead us toward Him. It is time to remember that all of the 613 commandments in the Bible are simply the highway. The goal is to understand and fall in love with God, the destination of that highway.

And to do that, we need to move beyond the simple decision to accept Jesus into our heart, we need to move even beyond baptism, that mildly uncomfortable ritual where we bow down before Christ and receive the Holy Spirit with the water, and we need to step on the highway of holiness.

After time, we need to stop studying about Jesus and we need to follow Jesus.

Do you remember when you were in school, the endless days in the classroom? I spent a year of kindergarten, twelve years of elementary and high school, four years of college, and then another five years getting my two and a half master’s degrees. And almost all of that time was spent in the classroom or lab.

I spent a year and a half getting my Master’s in Business Administration in the classroom. But it was the next year, working for Texas Instruments, that taught me business. I spent a year getting half a master’s degree and a certification to teach. But it was the next five years working at Parkersburg Catholic that taught me to teach. I spent three years getting my Master of Divinity degree. But it was the three years pastoring churches in Pleasants County that taught me to be a pastor.

You will learn the basics of Christianity listening to sermons. You will learn more advanced Christian ideas going to weekly bible studies and classes. But you will step on the road which follows Christ when you begin to serve others in a ministry.

If you want to learn to pray, you will need to lead prayers in your family and in small groups – or pray with and for people who come to the food pantry. Pray right there and then with people – don’t say, “I’ll pray for you!”, because you will forget – and you will make a difference with people when you pray with them, then and there.

If you want to see answers to pray, put your prayer requests in a journal and look back over those prayers in 6 months – you will see the hand of God in action.

If you want to understand the love of Christ, drive downtown and tell Chris Mullens at the Clarksburg Mission that you’d like to work three hours a week in the mission. If you want to see joy, tell Tina that you’d like to become a helper in a children’s Sunday school. If you’d like to learn to handle suffering as Jesus did – make it your ministry to visit people in the hospital or nursing homes and read scripture with them. If you’d like to hear testimonies of God in action, come to the Saturday evening AA meeting and just listen.

Or, we could listen right now to some testimonies. Ask some friends today what God has done for them.

And if you truly want to follow Jesus, begin your path by coming to the Lay Servant training in Buckhannon on April 14. See me to register. Or if you are already a Lay Servant, call Mary Ellen up and tell her you’re available to begin serving a small church, leading other people onto the highway of holiness, for nothing pushes you down that highway faster and farther than leading other people, preparing a sermon every week, visiting people and holding conversations about God, leading Bible studies.

If you consider Jesus and His disciples, they did not stop with baptism. He did not hold a classroom study. He taught them with words and example for three years, and then he left them so they could become apostles, telling and showing the world what it meant to be Christ in this world.

There are three key decisions that people must make to truly follow Christ.

• Billy Graham asked everyone who heard him to make a decision to accept Christ into their lives. 
• Most of those people later made a decision to become baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. 
• But there is a third decision that each of us must make to receive the full benefits of the Gospel. Have you ever wondered why some people just seem to glow with Christ? They have made the third decision and acted upon it. We must decide that since Jesus was God walking around on this earth, His request to “follow me” means something more than “learn about me”. Jesus told people to follow Him over 80 times – but told them to believe in Him only twice. Following Christ means moving into some form of ministry to others. 

Will you change your life and follow Jesus, doing what He did, giving your life for other people through serving others, through teaching others, through truly attempting to become a holy person? Will you lift up the Son of Man as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so people will be healed?

Three decisions: Accept Christ, be baptized by water and the Holy Spirit, and decide follow Christ into some form of ministry, helping others.

And if you do, like the people in the desert, you will be rewarded by understanding the love of God.

Ten Promises

Many years ago – about 3500 years ago – the Israelites escaped from Egypt, led by Moses, his brother Aaron, his sister Miriam, and a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. After three months, they camped in the Sinai desert at the foot of the mountain of Sinai.

And God spoke to Moses. God told Moses to tell the people to stay off of the mountain. Three days later, God spoke to Moses again, a message for this new group of people, people who had been slave just three short months ago, people who had never governed themselves. God began the process of teaching this group of people to govern themselves, to keep order, to become a civilized nation rather than just a bunch of escaped slaves who were only bound by claiming a common ancestor over 400 years before.

God eventually provided Moses with a list of 613 commands – 365 things not to do – the negative commandments - and 248 things to do – the positive commandments.

But God began with these ten commandments, the Big Ten.

Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22

So let’s go through these one by one from Exodus 20.

First – You shall have no other gods before me.
We are not to worship anything else. What does it mean to worship another god? It means that we put someone or something else in front of God. Are we addicted to something, something that we will do in preference to worshiping God? Of course not, we say, we would never worship someone or something in preference to God.

Really?

Did you stay up and watch that ball game too late and overslept, missing church the next morning? Did you miss church because there was a volleyball game, a soccer game, a baseball game scheduled for early Sunday afternoon. Everyone knows that our daughter plays volleyball, our son plays basketball, our dog is a champion and had to be at the dog show last weekend.

Did you decide that your drinks, your painkillers, your boyfriend or girlfriend was more important? Did you decide that peace in your family was more important or was God more important? Did you decide that your hurt feelings over what someone said were a reason to avoid listening about the God of the Universe? Had you moved away to college and just didn’t feel comfortable going to another church, a church where God was waiting for you, but your nervousness about attending another church was more important than worshiping God? It isn’t about the church you attend – it is about worshiping God.

“But pastor, I can worship at home. I don’t need to go to church.” That is true. You CAN worship at home. But DID you? Did you read your Bible, did you pray, did you study about God? Some people can worship from home, but did you?

Next, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The Amish do not put faces on their dolls because they take this image-making very seriously. Yet there are other places where God specifically asks that bulls be cast in bronze for the Temple, that pomegranates be painted. This seems contradictory. And so we look a little deeper for the key principles.

We are not to make pictures to be worshiped. We are not to make images to be worshiped. We are not to make things to be worshiped - some older translations say "idol" instead of "image". And this is why many older, Eastern churches have flat painting of saints - but not statues. This worship is something we have to be very careful of, for paintings and statues and wall hangings and things have a tendency to become holy just because they are in a church.

I knew a church where some ladies made a Chrismon tree – a tree with various Christian symbols as ornaments. Because it was the early 1960’s, the ladies used the latest material to make the ornaments – white Styrofoam. At the time, it was very artistic and advanced. But that tree became holy. It was put up year after year. The Styrofoam gradually deteriorated, the ornaments became dusty, the tree began to look ragged and tacky. Yet year-after-year it was put up and every year it took up storage space in the church. But the women who first made it insisted it must remain, because it had become holy, you see. It was a reminder of when the women had done a great thing, a holy thing, something for the church! For forty years it was put up and finally the last woman who was involved died.

The sanctuary committee was relieved that the tree could finally be sent to the dump. But then the daughter of one of the women said, “We ARE going to put up the Chrismon tree this year, the tree that my mother and her friends made, aren’t we?” And so the tree remains. Talk about "punishing children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation!"

Look around you. What décor do we have that is worshiped? What has become holy over the years? Should we really have this print of this man up here – for we all know that it would be a wonderful miracle if Jesus looked like this man whose face was painted sometime back in the 1930's or 1940’s? Would a cross be more appropriate as a reminder of Christ? Or should we have anything here above the altar?

I knew of a church that worshiped first an organ and then a piano. They both became objects of worship and awe in that church. Only special people could touch these holy relics. Choirs can also become holy, as well as pulpits and Communion tables and bishop's chairs.

But we would never do this, would we? We do not have angel trinkets at home, paintings at home, statues that we care about a bit too much, do we? And then, we do not worship this building too much, do we, that we couldn’t change the carpet, remove the pews, put in movable, comfortable chairs that could be rearranged for different meetings, even rebuild the entire sanctuary to make it more flexible and useful for meetings. Why do we even need to hold all of our meetings and bible studies in this building?

Yes, it is easy for things to become holy, to become the idols in our midst.

Next: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."

In our English Bibles, you may have noticed that sometimes the word Lord is spelled capital L, small o-r-d, and other times all four letters are capitalized. LORD. When all four are capitalized, the original manuscripts have YHWH, Yahweh, the personal name of God. “I am that I am”, as God said to Moses at the burning bush.

The observant Orthodox Jews are very careful with the name of God. They will actually write g-d instead of spelling out God because they feel they might drop the document onto the ground and that would be disrespectful of the holy name. Our ancestors of four hundred years ago who adopted the LORD spelling convention also were respectful to this idea, probably because some of the experts who translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to English had Jewish friends or were Jewish. This is likely overkill – several new, but very conservative translations today use the word "Yahweh" instead of LORD. It makes the reading more intimate, and brings God closer to us, particularly in a time when other gods are talked about in America. This is good and not misuse of God's name.

But the principle concept here is to not use the name of God as a cussword, or swear lightly by God’s name. And this applies equally to the name Jesus – and in modern emails and texting. Have you considered what "OMG" actually means?

On the other side of this, there are certain words which are generally banned from usage on the radio which are mostly related to bodily functions – you know which words I mean. Usage of these words does not violate this third commandments – but simply brands the user as low-class, uneducated, and having a lack of self-control. These four-letter-words are certainly not the name of God.

And context is critical. My early training as a child had taught me that some words were never said. They were "bad words".  I remember, as a teen, I had a difficult time reciting the Apostle’s Creed during the few times I went to church, because it used the word “Hell”, as in “He descended into Hell”.  But there is a proper place for most words. That’s why the commandment says, “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God…” 

The fourth commandment:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." 

First of all, let’s recognize that the Biblical Sabbath is not Sunday. TheBiblical Sabbath runs from sunset on Friday evening to sundown on Saturday evening. So we are not talking about Sunday activities – we are talking about Friday evening and Saturdays. It is during this time that we are not to work – and our families and our servants are not to work.

This was taken to the extreme by the ancient Pharisees, who even prohibited good, volunteer work. But Jesus pointed out that you can do good on any day because He healed people on the Sabbath. His disciples were allowed by Him to walk through a field and eat the ripe wheat seeds – which the Pharisees would have prohibited because it was supposedly “work” – harvesting grain. As Jesus pointed out – "the Sabbath was made for man." Man was not made for the Sabbath. We were not to be harmed by the Sabbath, but blessed by it.

But do we violate this regularly? Do you have servants work for you on the Sabbath? Did you eat out Saturday or Friday evening? Did the people at the restaurant serve you? Did you cook a meal at home? Did someone fix dinner? Did you have a pizza delivered?

Many observant Orthodox Jews even today require food that will be eaten during the Sabbath be prepared before sunset on Friday. That’s one reason why we have timers built-into our stoves – and why stoves can keep food warm for hours. Some Orthodox even live in special buildings with elevators that use battery power during the Sabbath, so no one will need to work making the electricity for those elevators on the Sabbath.  

This interpretation of Sabbath-keeping grew so detailed over the centuries that it was said that since drawing water from a well is woman’s work, men could draw water on the Sabbath, but women couldn’t.

But this is where Christians following Jesus differ from the Orthodox. Jesus put a different interpretation on this which we should mostly follow: The Sabbath is a day to grow closer to God. Take a day off once a week. Relax, ready scripture, play with your children. Do a hobby. If you must work occasionally, that’s not a deadly sin, but arrange your life so you have a day off almost every week. Don't plan your life around seven days of work. It’s better for each of us and better for the community as a whole. Look at the big picture rather than the little details. This is God's grace in action.

For example, because of my job, I can’t take off Sundays – and, using the bible Sabbath interpretation, I often have to visit the hospital or an event on Friday evenings or Saturdays. So I try to take off Mondays, or if emergencies hit me also on a Monday, most of Thursdays. 

 What do we do if we break these commandments?

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."

This is the teenage commandment. Notice the second part of the commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land…” The advice your parents give you is critical. You may not see the bus coming that will destroy you - but your parents do and tell you about it. That's why they keep you from running into the road, when all you see is your ball rolling along that nice, flat pavement. And this principle also applies to all those curfews and restrictions that loving parents give 16- and 17-year olds. They can see the bus - you can't!

“You shall not murder."

Notice that modern versions of this commandment use the word “murder” rather than “kill”. That’s because murder is closer to the original meaning of the Hebrew than the more general word “kill”, which has broadened it's meaning over the four hundred years since the King James Bible. And that’s why it is not a contradiction that God has a death penalty for some crimes, and orders warfare in places in the Bible.

“You shall not commit adultery." 

Think about how much better our world would be if everyone followed this commandment. The #Metoo movement wouldn’t need to exist.

“You shall not steal."

This includes cable television, pirating music and software, and even pencils from work.

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." 

Simply put, don’t lie about your friends, neighbors, or family. Don’t spread gossip that you aren’t a hundred percent certain is true, especially on Facebook. Don’t fake emails, don’t fake texts, don’t fake videos.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Now this one is getting personal. To covet means "to want to have". How many of us would love the house of a neighbor? How many would love to have our neighbor’s nice new shiny pickup? (I suspect that few of us covet oxen or donkey’s anymore.

Notice that this commandment doesn’t even require action for us to be guilty. It is the desire that is wrong – not the taking - that's covered under other commandments. And this Tenth Commandment prevents us moving into the actions of theft or adultery, if we recognize the beginning of coveting. The very desire is wrong, and so we need to immediately tell ourselves, “Don’t do that”. And then ask forgiveness from God.

And there is the question: What do we do if we break these commandments? 

We go to God and ask forgiveness. We try to change things so we don’t break the commandments again.

And we find this is impossible by ourselves. We repeat our sins over and over again. And so we need help.

And two thousand years ago, God sent Jesus, part of God Himself, to earth to teach us that even thinking about killing someone else was murder, that even looking at another with lust was adultery, and so Jesus made it even more difficult for us to tell ourselves that we never broke these commandments.

And then, He died for us as a sacrifice on the cross to pay our penalties for these sins - and then He came back to life.

Jesus said that if we believe that He is truly the Son of God and we follow Him, asking forgiveness, we will be forgiven and receive eternal life with God.

And when we do this, something really amazing happens.

The Ten Commandments, these ten orders about what NOT to do – they become Ten Promises, because if you are truly following Jesus,

• “You shall have no other gods before [God]. 
• “You shall not make for yourself an image… 
• “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God… 
• “[You shall] Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 
• “[You shall] Honor your father and your mother… 
• “You shall not murder. 
• “You shall not commit adultery. 
• “You shall not steal. 
• “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 
• “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. 

Following the Ten Commandments which become the Ten Promises becomes easy, because your heart has been changed by the love of God and Christ for you, as shown in the Crucifixion and the Resurrection – and by the arrival of the Holy Spirit during your baptism.

If you want to truly follow Jesus, consider whether or not you’ve been baptized. If you were baptized while you are young, and you’ve now turned at least twelve years old – or if you are an adult and want to really understand this church and join – we are having a confirmation and new members class at 2 pm starting next Sunday. If you have unbaptized children or you want to be baptized, see me – I’m hoping to do a round of baptisms and confirmations and memberships in May. And this includes OLD people!

The Faith of Abraham

Five years and a month ago, I found myself in Italy. My seminary required me to take a trip to another non-English speaking country so I could understand being in another culture. Of course, I’d lived with a Japanese roommate in college, and three-quarters of the physics students at WVU were born in other countries. For business reasons, I had traveled to Japan for two weeks and spent three weeks in Europe training distributors in England, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and France. I’d worked in two Japanese-owned companies, working every day with Japanese nationals. I had traveled to French-speaking Canada on business and to Mexico for two weeks with my high-school Spanish class. Saundra and I had spent four years hosting international students from China, Japan, Korea, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia in our home. When we lived in New Jersey, our best friends were from Norway and Taiwan. Yet, seminary didn’t think I knew anything about other cultures.

The seminary organized a trip for thirty seminary students, most of whom were older folks like me. Some were married couples, but I had to go alone because of the cost. I left behind my wife and family.

So in January of 2013, I found myself walking alone in the rain on the streets of ancient Pompeii on the slopes of Mt Vesuvius. Those cobblestone streets can be slick – the ruts are still there from the donkey carts of the ancient Romans who were killed when the volcano poured hot ash over the city in 79 A.D. just 9 years after the destruction of Jerusalem by those same Romans, those Romans who burned Jerusalem and tore down the great Temple in 70 A.D. The volcano's ash killed people in place, and the archaeologists who excavated the site poured plaster of Paris into the voids left after the bodies decayed, which allowed us to see these "statues" of these Romans, frozen in their last moments as the hot gases and ash caught up with them.

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38 

In January, the weather in southern Italy is rainy, with temperatures in the mid-50’s. That day I walked alone most of the day, looking at homes with beautiful mosaic portraits on their floors, with fountains in their living rooms, with baked clay pipes in their walls to lead the rain into cisterns and those fountains because in the summer, when the crowds come, the city is hot and dry. But that day, I was thousands of miles from home and I walked alone with a few stray dogs, occasionally running into a handful of Chinese tourists, and the Roman dead.

The homes were yellow and pink, with a bit of blue. Several corners in the city have counters with holes in their tops, just right for sitting ceramic soup pots on top of fire, the ancient version of a fast food restaurant – "which soup would you like today, friend?" But no one was there to make or serve the soup, - those counters had been closed for almost 2000 years. So I looked for a few minutes and walked through the drizzle to the ancient amphitheater, and then walked through the 10,000 seat stadium and out the exit past a group of ancient tombs, leaving Pompeii to the stray dogs and the Roman ghosts.

A few days later I spent an afternoon walking around Rome. The rain had stopped. There were far more people, people from all over the world walking past me. I started at the Coliseum, walked past various fountains, crossed the Tiber River, eventually found myself at the Vatican, and then ate supper in a Burger King. In one afternoon I had traveled from the time of Christ to the time of the Reformation up to today. And the buildings and homes were yellow and pink, with a bit of blue. I’m not really sure what has changed in Italy over the centuries – there are just more people around today.

When I stopped for lunch that day, I found that I was about fifty yards behind two female pastors from California that were with our group. They went to a lunch wagon where two men from Bangladesh were selling panini sandwiches. The Bengali men greeted them in English. When I walked up, they greeted me in Italian and held the entire conversation with me in Italian. I guess I had figured out how to blend in. The sandwich was terrible, bland, with no salt. I walked on.

I eventually caught the subway back to the hotel to find out that the main group had a run in with pick-pockets. No one bothered me, even though I was alone, far from home, wandering in a strange town by myself. It reminded me of a story from the Bible, a story about another man who wandered far from home.

The central part of the Book of Genesis focuses upon a man named Abram – his name means “exalted father”, and his half-sister, who is his wife – Sarai – which means “My Princess”.

Abram is born in what today is southern Iraq. He travels up the Euphrates River to southern Turkey, and then leaves his family, taking only his wife, his nephew Lot, and some servants and livestock. At age 75, he leaves because God tells him to move to the area of modern day Israel. So they walk.

There, Abram has a host of encounters with the people of the land as he wanders around ancient Israel, and he grows old – almost a hundred years old. Sarai, of course, also grows old with him. Abram gains wealth, mainly in the form of livestock and servants, but there is one thing missing in his life. Abram does not have a child. He has no son to pass on his wealth and his name to. He feels alone.

Now those of us that have read the Book of Genesis realize that in the early part of the book, there are many people who live much longer lives – 800, 900 years – than people live today. But Abram wasn’t looking at that. Although he lived much longer than people do today – he died at age 175 and Sarai died at 127 years of age – by the time he was in his nineties, he had pretty much given up hope of having a son. Even his name Abram – Exalted father – had become an ironic reminded of his infertility, his loneliness.

And then, as recorded in Genesis 15, God spoke to Abram one night. God promises to make Abram into a great nation, with descendants that number more than the stars he can count. And Abram believes God. And the Bible records that God credited his belief to Abram as righteousness.

God comes back to Abram when Abram is 99 years old, and changes his name to “Father of Many” – Abraham. He changes the name of Sarai – My Princess – to “Sarah”, which simply means “Princess”, but has the feel of a noblewoman who is almost a queen. And a year later, Abraham and Sarah have a son – Isaac. Now Abraham is happy – he has a son and an heir.

A few years later, God speaks again to Abraham. And this time, it is a frightening order. Abraham is asked to take Isaac, his only legitimate son and heir, and sacrifice him on top of a particular mountain. And Abraham moves to do it. He takes Isaac, some wood, some rope, and a knife and goes to the top of the mountain. Isaac asks him, "Father, where is the lamb?" Abraham replies that God will provide the lamb, hoping it will be another lamb, not the son that God has given Abraham. The old man builds an altar from stones, he places the wood, then he takes Isaac, ties him up and places him on the wood, and then Abraham lifts the knife.

And God stops him. God orders Abraham to stop. God knows that Abraham would have done anything God asked. Abraham then sees a ram stuck in the bushes, so he sacrifices the ram instead of the boy. Once again Abraham has trusted God and God has seen this trust and rewarded Abraham.

All of the three great religions of the west trace their roots back to Abraham. The Jewish people consider Abraham to be their most important ancestor. Christians consider Abraham to be the founder of the people who would eventually leave Egypt led by Moses. And Moslems also consider Abraham to be the father of Ishmael, Isaac’s half-brother – who is said to be the founder of the Arab people.

And Abraham is the source of the why the Jews are considered God’s Chosen People, for God made the promise to Abram/Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation, and would have the land between the Nile River and the Euphrates River.

But what is the basis for this greatness, this high esteem in which Abraham is held?

The Apostle Paul tells us.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Abraham’s greatness comes from one simple thing. Abraham believed that God had the power to do what God promised – and that God had the integrity to do what God promised.

Abraham knew he alone didn’t have the power. He knew that Sarah was too old to have children. He knew he was too old to father a child. But he knew that God was capable and had the integrity to carry out any promise God made.

And so "God credited Abraham with righteousness. "

The word used, "credited" is an accounting term. You’ve run into it, perhaps with your bank or with a shopping account.

Abraham didn’t have any righteousness himself. But God gave a credit to Abraham’s righteousness account because Abraham believed God.

It was like Abraham had been $10,000 in debt, but because he believed God, God gave him a $20,000 credit, erasing the red ink and putting Abraham back in the black!

Did anyone force God to do this? No. God just decided to do this by God’s own free choice. It was a gift, it was completely God’s grace.

If there was anything that can be said about Abraham’s greatness, it was that Abraham believed in God and God’s promises – even when God’s orders were difficult, like the day he was asked to sacrifice his son.

Of course, the great thing about our God is that many years later, God went to that very same mountain, took God's Son, and sacrificed Him so that we could have a good relationship with God once more. Once again, God had provided the Lamb – this time, in the person of Jesus Christ.

And all we are asked to do to be credited with righteousness is to believe in the promises of God, to believe in the goodness of God, and to follow Jesus.

A few days ago, Billy Graham went to be with God. Those who are younger may not know much about Billy Graham, but Trinity Broadcasting often replays older televised sermons of that Graham spoke.

From 1949 to 2005, Billy Graham organized huge worship services around the world called “crusades”. A year before the event, the Graham organization would come to town and have meetings where they worked with any churches in the area that wanted to be involved – Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Presbyterians. The churches would receive training, volunteers would be lined up, the event promoted, huge stadiums would be rented out, local television time would be purchased, and people would bring their friends, neighbors, and relatives to the stadium or turn on the television.

There would be music – a thousand-voice choir and solo singers. There would be hymn singing. There would be prayers. Holy Scripture would be read – and then Billy Graham himself would preach, with a message that all we had to do was to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from the eternal fire. And thousands of people would come down to the altar on the field, where hundreds of volunteers would pray with them and connect them to a local church. Telephone hotlines took phone calls from the television watchers and radio listeners.

The events would go on for three or four weeks, afternoons and evenings. And over the years, millions of people came to Christ. Thousands of young people piled into spray-paint decorated minibuses and criss-crossed the country preaching to other young people. Hundreds of people went to Christian retreat centers and thousands went to seminaries. New churches were founded around the world. Older churches experienced revivals.

But there were limits to what the Graham organization could do. On average, only 3% of the people in the stadium came to Christ at any particular service. Of course, that might mean 3000 or more people a night. Many never showed up at any church afterwards, like Titanic survivors lifted out of the cold water by people rescuing them who slipped and fell back into the water, never to be seen again.

And there were long term consequences. A many Christians began to believe that being saved was a one-time event – make the decision and that was it – you’d automatically wake up in Heaven one day. And many Christians also took Billy’s shorthand – “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” – and shortened it still more to “Believe in God”.

And so many people got the idea that salvation comes when you believe in the existence of God.

But a more careful reading of the Old and New Testament shows us that there is more to it than a simple belief in the existence of God. 

Abram believed in God's promises and took action because of that belief.

Even Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 states; “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

According to Peter, baptism is a key part of what we all need to do.

And Jesus seemed to speak often of a more strenuous path.

In our reading today, “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

• It is not enough to believe in the existence of a god. 
• It is not enough to believe in the existence of the God of the Bible. 
• It is not enough to believe that Jesus lived. 
• It is not enough to believe in the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. 
• It is not enough to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 
• It is not enough to come to church, even every week. 

These steps are not enough.

• For Jesus asks us to deny ourselves. 
• Jesus asks us to lose our lives for Jesus and the gospel. 
• Jesus wants us to give up our lives – our regular, daily existence, our trinkets, our comforts, our money, our time – and follow him. 

Abram heard God one day telling him to leave and move to a new place. Abram believed God and Abraham went as God commanded. And Abram’s belief in the promises of God was credited to him as righteousness. Notice that Abram’s belief led to action.

Today, when we stay in our homes, when we clearly hear God telling us to do something and we ignore God, when we put up the excuses that it is too soon for us, it is too late for us, it is too difficult for us, we have too many responsibilities, we’ve never had such responsibilities – we are not believing in the promises of God.

And so I ask you:

• Do you believe in the existence of God? 
• Do you believe in the existence of the God of the Bible? 
• Do you believe that Jesus live? 
• Do you believe that God so loved us that He sent His Son to die for us and be Resurrected? 
• Do you believe that Jesus promised that those who follow Him will be taken care of and receive eternal life? 
• Do you believe Jesus said, ““Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me?” 

If you believe all these things, then what are you waiting for? Why aren't you actively following Jesus?

Find a group of people to bring the gospel to and develop a strategy which fits you – it can be door to door, backyard bible clubs this summer, lurking in McDonalds, coffee shared in your home, a ceramics class, something online, an exercise and worship group like REFIT, a model train club, a grandparents raising kids group, a gun club, a quilting club, a crafting club, a musical group – it all works if people are contacted, prayers are said, scripture is read, and God and Christ are raised up in glory.

Garrison Keillor, the longtime host of A Prairie Home Companion, told Sven and Ollie jokes. Sven and Ollie are two men who are always getting into trouble. 

One day, they are out walking above the fjord, a deep glacial valley, when Sven slips and falls over the edge. Ollie looks down and there’s Sven, hanging onto a tree branch overlooking a thousand foot fall into the sea. Sven is yelling “Get a rope!, Get a rope! Get a rope!”

Ollie yells down – “I’m a-gone ta get some help!” - and runs for help.

Sven hangs on for dear life. He can hear nothing except the breakers crashing far below and some seagulls chirping. The wind blows...

Suddenly, Sven hears something above. He hopes it's Ollie with a rope. Sven yells,”Is that you Ollie?“

A voice comes booming down. “Sven! This ist de LORD!”

Sven yells back. “Really Lord?”

The Lord says calmly, “Sven, let go of da branch. I will catch you and save you.”

Sven thinks a couple of minutes. He looks down….and then back up.

“Lord, isa dere anybody else up there?” 

We've all had times when we looked for another way rather than the path God was guiding us onto.

We have the Lord who has promised to be with us if we will follow God’s Son. Why do we need anything else? Why do we need the comforts of the world?

After all, as Jesus said: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”

Somewhere over the Rainbow

In the movie “The Wizard of Oz”, Dorothy lives in the dry, dusty, black-and-white world of the late 1930’s dustbowl Kansas. We know that Dorothy has had a rough life – She lives with her Aunt Emma and her uncle. Her friends are the old farm hands – and her little dog Toto. 

When God starts a change in our lives, God does a thorough change. God does not want you to improve by 10%, to be a 20% better person.

One day, near the farm, she meets up with a mean, hateful woman who doesn’t like Dorothy’s little dog Toto, so Dorothy returns to the farm, wanting to speak to someone about her hurtful encounter with the old woman.

But no one will listen. Not her Aunt, not her uncle, even none of the farmhands. No one has time to listen to Dorothy tell the story of her bad afternoon.

And so, in the magic of the musical, she sings:

Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh, why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow.
Why, oh, why can't I?

(lyrics from the movie The Wizard of Oz)

And then, the tornado, the whirlwind comes.

Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15 

Dorothy runs inside the house and is knocked out by debris. And in the movie – we’re not quite sure whether or not it is a real journey – Dorothy and Toto and the house fly off to the brightly colored land of Oz, and color enters our black-and-white world.

And that’s the way the world is, isn’t it?

We live in a dry and dusty, black-and-white world, a world where no one has time to listen to our problems, a world where people hurt us with words, a world where trouble lurks just over the horizon, gathering like a storm to destroy what stability we have – our families, our homes, our work – and the debris of the world comes crashing down on our heads and we are knocked down.

And then?

Do we fly off over the rainbow to another land, a land filled with bluebirds and beautiful flowers and beautiful magical people who always win the battles against evil?

It would be nice, so nice wouldn’t it, if our house would conveniently fall of top of our enemies, squashing them under its weight like the Wicked Witch of the East and allowing us to take those beautiful ruby slippers?

It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if, instead of putting us into jail, the people rewarded us like the Munchkins rewarded Dorothy for destroying evil – even if it was an accident?

And it would be nice, wouldn’t it, if our Scarecrow friends without brains became wise, if our cowardly Lion friends became brave, if our heartless Tin Woodmen friends developed big hearts, and if old con men Wizards stopped pretending to have all the answers and simply admitted that they were just old men filled with fear and trying to find a way home themselves?

But this appears to happen only in Oz, the land over the rainbow, and at the end of the movie – I trust you’ve all seen the movie – Dorothy wakes up in her bed in the farmhouse in Kansas, where everyone is okay and concerned about her and all is right in Kansas – except it is still black-and-white – though now sunny.

Rainbows are special to God, also.

...when God is ready to do something, it’s going to happen...

In ancient times, in our reading, God has finished with the great Flood. He sent water to cover the earth, and has given God’s worshiper Noah instructions – and time – to build the ark to escape the flood with Noah’s wife, sons, and daughters-in-law. God told Noah his plan to send a flood on the earth to kill all the people except Noah’s family. God gave Noah detailed instructions on how to build the ship, how to waterproof the ship, and exactly which animals to load aboard. 

Noah worked hard, even though he was over 500 years old, an old man, when his sons were born. Noah listened to his neighbors laugh at him, made the difficult decision to spend his years trusting in God’s plan even on sunny days because Noah believed God when God told Him to build. And then, one day, when Noah was 600 years old, the rain fell. And then, God closed the door and Noah was safe inside with his family.

Has God given you instructions for your life, for what God wants accomplished, for how you are to live your next couple of years? If you’ve been baptized and received the Holy Spirit, God is giving you guidance. The only question is whether or not you are listening to God – or prefer to dance in the rain that is falling in your life, like the unicorns in the old song. So many people prefer rainy days than listening to God speak to them about what to do, what hard work is required, what difficult decisions need to be made. Do you prefer the rain, or would you rather live in a dry ark while God pours the rain down on all those people who would not listen?

We know the story, how God gave Noah a seven day notice, how the animals came to the ark and loaded. Most came in pairs, two by two, but the clean animals, the one’s men and women could eat – they came in groups of 14, seven pairs, enough for plenty of food for the people. We know how it rained for forty days and nights, and how the ark floated away. The floodwaters lasted 5 months – 150 days – after the rains stopped, and the ark continued to float. And God took care of the ark and the people and animals inside it. God always takes care of his people.

Sometimes you get a bit of notice from God to “Get ready!” We’ve seen that over the years, I’ll tell you more about it later. We have to be ready when God tells us to get ready, He’s going to do something, for when God is ready to do something, it’s going to happen – are you ready, are you looking forward to what God is going to do or are you worried about what God’s going to do? The answer should depend on whether or not you’ve been sent to the ark or whether you’re going to be swimming, and if you’ve chosen to follow Jesus, you are being sent to the ark.

But there are people who God speaks to and they don’t listen. Yes, they’ve accepted Jesus as their Savior. Yes, they’ve been baptized with water and received the Holy Spirit. But they have been walking around in the mud of this world so much that they can’t hear the Holy Spirit telling them that the flood is coming because they prefer to slog around in the mud and the rain of the world and it covers up the still, small voice of God. 

After the rain in our lives stops, there is a period of time when we have to survive, when we have to last, when we have to trust God that God has a recovery plan.

Did you listen to God? Did you make the hard decision to do the hard work and build your ark – or did you decide to walk in the sunshine until the mud and the rain came, and now you can’t hear what God is saying to you, you can’t hear because of the rain pounding at you, the mud that’s dragging you down, the floodwaters that are right now rushing at you?

Those people in that day – they didn’t all drown that first day of rain. No, many of them ran for higher ground. But the rain kept coming. They ran for still higher ground. The rain kept coming down and the water kept coming up!

Some ran for the mountains, some found a little rowboat or a canoe or went and stood on their house roofs. And the rain kept coming down and the water kept coming up and it covered the roofs of their homes, and it covered the mountains, and the rain kept coming into the little rowboats and canoes and the people realized that they might not drown in their little rowboats and canoes, but they were going to starve to death because they had no food with them. Because unlike the ark, which had seven pair of each clean animal, the animals that could be eaten – those little rowboats and canoes didn’t have food. God had provided for his people. And the rain eventually stopped after forty days – almost five weeks of solid rain.

The ark floated on the water for a hundred and fifty days, five months. God didn’t speak to Noah or his family. God didn’t give them updates on the weather. They just had to wait, trusting in God, looking out the window at the water that surrounded them – no internet, no television, not even books were aboard. I personally think that that was when playing cards were invented...

No, I’m sure there was plenty of work on board with all those animals there, food to prepare, minor leaks to plug.

After the rain in our lives stops, there is a period of time when we have to survive, when we have to last, when we have to trust God that God has a recovery plan. And we have to wait. We have to wait on God. 

And after five months, the ark bumped into something and stuck. The water had gone down enough that they hit a mountain. But there was still nothing but water in sight. It was another two and a half months before land became visible above the water. After 7 and a half months on board the ark, the people could finally see land again. 

I know you’ve had some difficult times. I know you’ve had a difficult year. I know things look bad, that nothing is happening, that life is just going to be tough and you’re seasick from all the floodwaters. But God is leading you to the top of a mountain and God will show you the other mountains that you will climb one day if you will just trust in God and have a bit of patience in his plan.

Noah’s journey started on the 17th day of the 2nd month. The surface of the earth was not dry until the first day of the first month. And the mud that was below that crust had not dried until the 27th day of the 2nd month. And all the evil people had been destroyed, leaving just Noah and Noah’s family to start again.

When God starts a change in our lives, God does a thorough change. God does not want you to improve by 10%, to be a 20% better person. God doesn’t want you to become a quarter or a third better. God doesn’t even want you to become half better. God doesn’t want you three-quarters better or even 90 percent better. God wants you to toss away every bit of your old troubled life and become a new person.

Our problem is that we love so much of our old life. Do you love your old life?

Addicts love their old lives, too. They love their chemicals, their short-lived high, they love their friends who provide them with their chemicals. And those chemicals and friendship kill them.

• What do you love about your old life that God wants to wash away? What is killing you? 
• Do you love being angry? 
• Do you love hating certain people or politics or companies? 
• Do you love those man-and-woman made objects around you, those trinkets, those movies, those television shows, those sports? Are they slowly putting you to sleep, a slow death?
• Do you love having money to spend, your job, your home? Are they lulling you into a belief that the sunny days will continue forever, that the rain and flood will never come and wash you away?

Noah gave up everything he had except his family because God wanted him to live. If Noah had stayed with his home, his friends, his tools – Noah would have died!

And so Noah built the ark, went into the ark - and Noah came out of the ark and walked upon dry ground again in a world which no longer had wicked people.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” 

Notice how many times God repeats the message about the covenant, a contract between God and people and all living things.

In the original Hebrew, the word our Bible has translated as “rainbow” is qesheth. (keh'-sheth).

Qesheth simply means “bow”, as in a hunter’s bow, a weapon. God leaves his great bow, his great weapon in the sky. God has put it up and is not hunting. He is at peace. Yet, God has a great weapon that can destroy the earth and the people if God were to change God's mind.

You may have noticed, it is after the storm that the rainbow appears. It is only after the storm that we are able to see God’s reminder to us of his promise – not before the storm. Why do you think that is so?

I think it is because God want’s us to remember His promises as the storm is coming toward us, to remember for the long term. We are to look at the storm barreling down upon us and say, “Don’t worry, God’s rainbow is on the other side. God promises to not destroy the world in a storm with water again. Don’t worry. God loves us. “

And then afterwards, there is the rainbow to drive home the lesson.

So just because you can’t see the rainbow before the storm – or in the storm – remember that the rainbow will be there after the storm. God’s got it. God knows the storm is there.

The Apostle Peter survived many storms in his life, including the one that weekend when Christ was crucified. Peter wrote

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
Where were these spirits imprisoned? In Hell. Christ literally went through Hell for you and me and the folks that were disobedient before the Flood came.

Peter continues: In it [the ark] only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.

Our baptism changes our conscience and makes us right with God.

And the water does more, as Peter says:

It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Somewhere over the rainbow, Christ is waiting on us.

I promised to tell you a bit about how God sends us notice of changes.

When we were living in a home in Atlanta once, things were getting a bit rough in the neighborhood. A woman who was an active pagan worshipper lived in the cul-de-sac, and a gang of teens had begun to party there almost every night. Fights were breaking out, and we were becoming concerned about stray bullets flying into our home – But we were also wondering, is this a place to minister?

Saundra went to a meeting where the leader gave a talk based upon Isaiah 40:31

...but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

The speake focused upon the eagles and how the mother builds a safe, comfortable nest for her baby eagles, even plucking out her chest down to make a nice, soft nest. Then, when the eagles are ready to leave the nest, she removed the down and everything soft from the nest so the nest is just a collection of prickly twigs and it becomes uncomfortable. In this way the eaglets begin to move to the edge of the nest and eventually fall and fly away.

Saundra was listening to this intently. Was there a message for her? The women then said, “If your nest is uncomfortable, maybe it is time for you to fly!”
Saundra came home in tears and told me this, and within two weeks, we’d found a new home and moved in.

Then, a few years later, we were in Atlanta when another pastor preached on the same passage from Isaiah, and once again focused upon eagles. Within two weeks we were living in Marietta, OH after a successful house closing.

In Williamstown, Pastor Steve Gedon preached about the eagles, and a couple weeks later I received an appointment to two churches near St. Marys.

It seems that this is how God gives us notice of changes in our lives. Be alert – look to how God and the Holy Spirit are guiding you toward changes.

Noah was tipped off to changes outside the ark by his birds. First he sent out a raven which just flew back and forth over the water and returned. Then a dove flew out and returned since it could not find a place to land. Then, the dove came back with an olive branch, which told Noah the trees were still living, and now were uncovered. Then the dove left for good, meaning dry land was there. Be alert to the signs God sends us.

And then, two weeks ago, on Pioneer Club Sunday, the passage just came up as one of the readings. One of the children read the passage about eagles. Saundra and I also listened to T D Jakes preach a sermon on eagles. Saundra remarked – “eagles? Hm.”

And Sunday night, Mary Ellen Finegan, the District Superintendent, called me and said, “It is the intention of the Bishop to appoint you to Calvary and Mt Clare charge, effective the first of July of this year. “ So I'll be moving on to a new set of churches.

And so, let me close with this passage from Isaiah 40:

...but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

And, may I say,

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow.
Why, oh, why can't I?

Crossin’ Over Jordan

Our readings today center on Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, as well as their followers Peter, James, John – and Elisha.

Moses, you remember as the great prophet who led the people of Israel from Egypt, the man who brought the tablets of the Law down from God’s mountaintop, the man who had seen God just enough that his face glowed and people asked him to wear a veil to cover his face.

While the story of Jesus is central to the Christian story, and Moses is the central character in the founding narrative of Judaism, Elijah is less well-known than either Jesus or Moses, and Elijah’s follower Elisha is even less known than Peter, James, and John.

Today, I plan to tell the story of Elijah the great prophet of Israel. and his follower Elisha, who became a great prophet in his own right. It is important to understand the role these men played in the great drama of God’s interactions with the nation of Israel.

Let’s go back in time. We will go to a time after Moses led the people of Israel, the worshippers of Yahweh, out of Egypt, after Joshua led the people from the wilderness into the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan River, after the Judges led Israel, people like Samson, Debra, Gideon, and others, after Samuel anointed first Saul and then David as the kings of Israel, after King Solomon made Israel reknown throughout the Middle East.

After King Solomon died, there was a civil war in Israel. The Northern Kingdom, known as Israel, split from the Southern Kingdom based in Jerusalem, which became known as Judea. In Judea, the two tribes of Juda and Benjamin stayed loyal to the kings of the House of David in Jerusalem. In Israel, the ten tribes of the north split and became loyal to King Jeroboam, a former governor in Solomon’s kingdom.

2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalm 50:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9

About 45-50 years after the split, Ahab became king in Israel. His capital was located in Samaria, in the city of Shechem. King Ahab married Jezebel, a priestess of Baal and the daughter of the King of Tyre, who introduced and supported the worship of Baal in Israel. At Jezebel’s urging, Ahab builds a temple to Baal and brings into the country several hundred Baal priests to be missionaries. And then, she begins to kill the local priests of God, of Yahweh.

And then, in I Kings 17, Elijah the Tishbite from Gilead walks into Ahab’s palace one day. The word “Tishbite” may indicate he was from a town called Tishbe, or it may more likely be translated as “sojourner”, a person who resides temporarily in a place. So, perhaps we should call Elijah, “Elijah the wanderer from Gilead”.

And here we have a true name for Elijah, for he never settles down but moves from one place to another, living in the wilderness, being fed by crows, and then moving onto a town in the north for a while where he miraculously brings oil and grain to a starving woman and her son, and resurrects the boy when he dies. And the core part of his name, Elijah, means “My God is Yahweh”

That day, when Elijah walked up to King Ahab, he delivered a message: “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

In our English Bibles, you will often see Lord spelled LORD. Whenever Lord is spelled in a capitals, the underlying word is YHWH, pronounced “Yahweh”, the personal name of God which is “I am that I am”, as God told Moses at the burning bush.

So a man whose name is “My God is Yahweh” says, "As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
And then, Elijah walks out and apparently disappears. For a while, Ahab seems to have considered Elijah as a crazy old man, but then as the weeks and months go by without any rain, Ahab begins to seriously look for Elijah. But Elijah is off with the ravens and crows, being fed by them in a little canyon, and then Elijah is up near Jezebel’s home town helping the woman and her son, bringing the boy back to life.

No rain falls.

Consider the effects of no rain in a world with footpaths, without good roads, without railroads, without the ability to bring food in from far distances. We are blessed in the ability to bring food to our grocery stores from California, from Georgia, from Iowa, from Hawaii, even from Peru and Argentina. But donkeys aren’t a reliable way to transport food over long distances – especially when those donkeys are dying of thirst, just like the people and the plants are dying.

No rain fell for over three years.

Eventually, God told Elijah that it was time, and Elijah went to meet Ahab. Elijah told Ahab to gather the priests of Baal and meet Elijah on the top of Mt Carmel for a battle of the gods – Baal versus Yahweh. And Elijah also insisted that this be a public battle, with all the people of Israel encouraged to be there.

Mt Carmel rises over 1700 feet above the surrounding lowlands. For centuries, it had been a place of refuge for fugitives, and it was strategically placed near the border between Israel and the Phoenician cities from where Jezebel had come. The top of the mountain is relatively flat and there had been an altar to Yahweh there for centuries, but it had fallen into disrepair over the years.

The battle terms were very simple. Both sides would build an altar with an animal sacrifice. Then, they would ask their god to light the fire of the sacrifice.

The Baal priests got to go first. They built their altar, cut up their sacrifice, placed their wood. Then, they danced around and then cut themselves. But there was no response. After a few hours of no response, Elijah taunted them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”

Finally, evening approached without any response from heaven. Now it was Elijah’s turn.

Elijah asked some men to help him and he rebuilt the ancient altar to Yahweh with twelve stones, one for each of the tribes.

He dug a trench around the altar, big enough to hold about fifty pounds of seeds.

Then, he placed the wood and cut up the bull onto the altar. And then he did something amazing.

He asked some men to fill four large jars with water. He then dumped the water on the wood and the meat on the altar. He did this three times so twelve large jars of water had been dumped on the wood and the meat on the altar, the water dripped down and filled the trench around the altar that he had dug. Twelve large jars of water – one for each of the tribes. He had soaked the wood and the meat so that it was dripping wet.

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
And then fire fell from heaven and burnt up the wood, the meat, the stones, the soil, and even the water in the trench.

And the people? They fell on the ground, faces down, and began to chant. “Yahweh is God, Yahweh is God”.

And Elijah had the crowd grab the priests of Baal and put them to death. Elijah sent Ahab back to the palace to get supper, for he said he could hear heavy rain coming. And soon, the heavens opened up with a pouring, heavy, soaking rain and wind storm.

After she found out what was happening, though, Jezebel was rather upset and angry. She sent a messenger to tell Elijah that he was a dead man. So Elijah ran for the border, to the mountain of God in the south. And there, he spoke with God again.

God gave him a further three assignments, about selecting men to finish off Ahab. And one of these men, the man selected to be the next prophet, was Elisha.

Elijah found Elisha, put his cloak on Elisha and Elisha became Elijah’s servant.

Over the next few years, Elijah made additional appearances at the king’s court. Soldiers were destroyed by fire from the sky. And in one of these appearances, he is described as wearing hair clothes, and a leather belt – does that remind you of anyone else, perhaps John the Baptist? Is it any wonder people asked John if he was Elijah returned?

Eventually, Elijah pronounces doom on Ahab’s son and family – and they die. Now we come to our first reading. 

... the most valuable thing in the Universe that a man can possess is what possesses him – the Spirit of God.

Elijah’s time on earth is coming to a close. He heads toward Bethel, a town about twelve miles outside of Jerusalem on the road that leads into the Jordan Valley. Rather than have Elisha walk down the mountain which he’ll have to climb back up, Elijah asks Elisha to wait in the hill country, and not to come with him down the road to Bethel. But Elisha has decided to follow this man of God, the man whose name means “My God is Yahweh”. “As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.

So Elisha follows Elijah down to Bethel.

There, a group of prophets meets them. The prophets says to Elisha, “Do you realize that Yahweh is going to take your master away from you today?”

And Elisha knows. He tells them “I know. Be quiet.”

Next, Elijah tells Elijah, “Yahweh has sent me down into the valley to Jericho. Stay here.” It is about a 3000 foot descent down to Jericho into the Jordan Valley, 3000 feet down – and Elisha will have to walk 3000 feet back up.

But Elisha is loyal to a fault. “Nope, I’m coming with you to Jericho." "As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.

A group of prophets who lived at Jericho met them. Once again, this second bunch asked Elisha, “Do you realize that Elijah is being taken away by Yahweh today?”

Once again, Elisha responds, “I know. Be quiet.” It must have been very difficult for Elisha, knowing that he was about to lose his mentor.

It seems that everyone knew what was going to happen.  And well they should if they were listening to God’s Spirit speaking to them. That’s how people become prophets, after all. By hearing God’s voice and listening to it.

Elijah told Elisha once again, “Yahweh wants me to go to the Jordan River.”

Elisha responds, “Right behind you, Boss!” "As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.

This is loyalty. But notice that Elisha’s loyalty is not just to Elijah – His loyalty is to the mission, to the man who talks with God, and to that same God that Elisha know lives.

He is following the man who single-handedly returned Israel from the worship of a deadly, evil god who demanded infant sacrifice – to the worship of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, the God of Moses, the God of Israel, the God that sent fire from the sky.

And they came to the Jordan River. Where to cross the Jordan, the historic boundary of Israel, the river that God had dried up for Joshua and the invading army of Israel so many centuries before?

Fifty of the prophets from Jericho are watching to see what happens.

Elijah takes his cloak, rolls it up, hits the water, and the water separates so he and Elisha can walk across on dry land. Wow!

And the man of God, the man whose name means “My God is Yahweh” turns to Elisha, his servant, his follower who has stuck with him for years, the younger man whose name means “My God is salvation”. “Elisha, what can I give you before I go?”
Elisha responds, and asks for the most valuable thing he can think of. “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.”

And I’m sure Elijah smiles. For he says, “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

For you see, Elisha realized that Elijah had nothing material of importance. Indeed, Elisha realized that there is nothing important that is material. Instead, the most valuable thing in the Universe that a man can possess is what possesses him – the Spirit of God. And Elijah had a huge helping of that Spirit.

Elisha was greedy for the right stuff. His focus was upon God and God’s Spirit.

About that time, “a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.”

Elijah went to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot made of fire drawn by horses of fire. And all Elisha could do is yell the obvious: “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

And Elisha saw him no more.

Elisha grieved. He grabbed his own robe and ripped it in half. He was upset, he was angry, he wanted the man back who had taught him so much about God, he wanted back the man who was filled with God’s Spirit.

Have you ever been there, standing as someone crossed over Jordan, wanting them back so selfishly because they were the one who treated you well, who taught you what was important in life, who showed you God’s love and leaked their Spirit all around and all over you because they were so filled with God’s Spirit that it simply leaked out of them?

Have you ever been angry because someone moved on, that wonderful person moved on in this life or went to Heaven? Have you wanted to rip and tear and shred things because you were so upset?

That was Elisha that day there beside the Jordan River, deep in the hot Dead Sea valley where salt had dried from all the tears the Jordan River had carried from Galilee, the lake of life hundreds of feet above and upstream.

Years earlier, Elijah had walked up to Elisha while he was plowing. Elijah had come from nowhere and just walked up to him and put his cloak on Elisha’s shoulders. And Elisha knew then and there who Elijah was, the Spirit that possessed Elijah, and that Elisha should follow the older man.

The young man had been plowing his fields with twelve oxen. His servants drove eleven of them and he drove the lead ox. But that was behind him now. So on that day, so many years ago, Elisha killed his oxen, he tore up his yokes and used them for the fire, he fed his workers and his family and Elijah and Elisha himself. And then he left his home, never looking back, because he focused his life on following and learning from this Spirit-filled man, the one whose name meant, “My God is Yahweh.” He left behind his idols of wealth and land and family – and focused upon God.

Given a choice, would you rather have your home or a double helping of God’s Holy Spirit? 

And so when Elisha settled down a bit that day, he saw that Elijah’s old cloak had fallen on the ground. And he walked back to the River, the Jordan River, and he asked, “Where now is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?” And half-heartedly, he rolled up the cloak and slapped the water of the river.

And the water split, leaving a path of dry land across the river! And he crossed over the Jordan River like Joshua had centuries before and entered the Promised Land once again.

The fifty prophets of Jericho who were watching insisted on searching to see if Elijah’s body had fallen to earth and Elisha finally, reluctantly, agreed to let them search. They searched for three days but could not find his body on either side of the Jordan River, there just north of the Dead Sea.

And then, almost 900 years later, Jesus led Peter, Andrew, and John up to the top of Mount Hermon, a very tall mountain north of Galilee, the mountain whose snowmelt feeds the living sea, the Sea of Galilee and gives it life even today.

And suddenly, at the top of mountain, Jesus changed right before their eyes. No longer was he wearing a dirty, grey-white robe, but that robe was glowing bright, filled with light, whiter than human hands could make it, and Jesus’ face was shining even more than Moses’ face had glowed so many years ago, and then they appeared – Moses and Elijah – and Jesus spoke with them. But Jesus had been transfigured – and the disciples were transfigured by their realization that Jesus was truly divine, truly the Son of God, God Himself in the flesh.

The three disciples were all scared, but as usual, Peter took out his nervousness by speaking. “Let me build shelters here – three of them – for You, Jesus, for Moses, and for Elijah.” Peter wanted to honor the three great prophets.

And Peter quickly realized his mistake, for God spoke out of the clouds surrounding them and told Peter to shut up and listen! “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!”

God called Peter's attention away from the great Moses and the great Elijah to God's one and only Son, Jesus. Jesus was the one to listen to.

And then they were gone and it was just Jesus, Peter, Andrew, and John again. And on the way down the mountain, Jesus told them not to tell anyone until He rose from the dead. But the three had been transfigured, deeply changed by the event, for they had seen Jesus as He truly is. God had shown them that Jesus was His Son.

My friends, there comes a time in our lives when we have to consider what we believe. Most Americans go through their lives believing vaguely in a vague god, a belief that makes them feel better, a general idea that one day when they die, they may become an angel or see Jesus or go to heaven. It is an easy belief, a life that allows us to have nice homes, nice cars, decent jobs, to live without much difficulty for twice the lifespan that most people enjoyed a hundred years ago. It is easy to believe - and not do anything.

But my friends, following Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean an easy life. Sometimes we need to make hard decisions – my home, my job, my career, my comforts – or a life devoted to God. At some point, we must also be transfigured by God’s grace and love. We must see Jesus as He truly is and accept what that means for our life and the choices we make from that point onward. It means we might have to give up something comfortable if we will really follow Jesus.

Given a choice, would you rather have your home or a double helping of God’s Holy Spirit?

Given a choice, would you rather spend your leisure hours comfortably at home or helping rowdy young elementary students come to know the love of God?

Given a choice, would you rather be an ordinary person – or an Elijah – or even one of the company of prophets that saw Elijah taken to Heaven? Would you rather be nameless? Or would you declare to your friends, neighbors, family, and everyone you meet: “My God is Yahweh”. “My God is Jesus”.

We think these are choices only God can make, and to a certain extent that is true, for God told Elijah to put his cloak on Elisha, Jesus told Peter and Andrew and John to follow Him, and God has put you in this world to step forward to do battle with the evil in this world. That is what He asks of all Christians. But too few realize this.

Now, the question is what choices will you make today, this week, this year? God is waiting for someone to step forward from his or her comfortable life and begin to change the world. And that someone is you.

Let’s Go Out!

It’s Super Bowl Sunday! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

After two weeks of build-up, tonight at 6:30 pm, the most important event in America will happen – two groups of men will face-off over a stuffed piece of pigskin to see which group can run, pass, and kick the ball to the end of an acre of ground more often. On this basis, great honor will go to either the Boston area or the Philadelphia area.

There will be great debates this afternoon over whether or not there is enough air in the pigskin. There will be great debates over whether the leader of the Boston team is too old. There will be great debates over whether or not Justin Timberlake will have a great worship service. And in the end, the silver pigskin idol will be passed into the possession of one or the other teams of priests.

Over a hundred million Americans will watch this worship service tonight, the greatest worship of the year.

Over a hundred advertisements will have been placed and viewed, with the greatest companies in America wanting to be associated with this religion of the pigskin.

Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-11, 20; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39

This religious service is so important that tens of millions of dollars have been spent on security, because it is recognized that people from another religion might try to attack the people who attend this greatest worship service of the most popular religion in America, the worship of the pigskin.

And in ancient times, God told His people that pigs were unclean, that their meat wasn’t fit to eat, and a great rebellion happened in Israel once because an outside king chose to roast a pig on the altar of the Temple.

It is like a great spiritual disease infects Americans this time of year. Church activities are changed, people who are normally very devout Christians suddenly are sitting on edge during the game, people who ordinarily show up promptly to work on Monday morning because they normally go to bed at 9:30 and get up at 5:30 stay up until 11 and stumble into work barely on time – and their bosses show up even later. It is a great disease that takes us away from the Living God and gives us the pigskin god. It takes us away from Christ.

Jesus’ leading disciple was Simon Peter. And Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever – something very serious in a time before antibiotics. She could easily have died.

That day, Jesus was coming to visit Peter’s family with his disciples. The Messiah was visiting Peter's home – and his mother-in-law was too sick with fever to come to see Jesus.

Have you ever been too ill, too upset, too distracted, too down-in-the-dumps to come to church to see Jesus? Have you ever been feeling so poorly you’d just as soon not get out of bed on Sunday morning? Perhaps you’ve lost someone, perhaps you have the flu, perhaps you’ve had a rough week, perhaps you’ve been traveling and you’re tired. You just feel like seeing all those people will be too much!

Peter and Andrew told Jesus about Peter’s mother-in-law and the way she was feeling. They brought up to the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the World, the Son of God that Peter’s mother-in-law had a fever and had taken to her bed.

And that same Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, God the Son, cared enough about that one woman that he went to her, he took her hand, and he helped her up.

She didn’t have to reach out to Him – he went to her. She didn’t have to grab ahold of Him – He took her hand. She didn’t have to beg – He helped her up. The Son of God cared about this one woman. She could have refused his offer. But she didn’t.

And what happened?

The fever left her and she began to serve them. She felt better. She felt healthy again, she felt so good she served the Holy Son of God.

Now, you may say, “There it is, she had to serve them”, and you’d missed the point of the story, which was that now she felt so much better she wanted to serve.

Let’s face it.

There are two ways that people look at church. And it all depends upon how we look at coming to church.

Peter’s mother-in-law could have been a grouch. She could have said, “Simon, Simon, why are you bringing your friends over to the house. I’m sick! You’ll need to send out for fish and figs from Isaac’s delivery house! Go outside – eat outside and leave me alone!”

And some days, we look at all the people in the church and we think – “I don’t want to talk to them today. I’m running a fever – see, it says 99F on the thermometer – and I had some sniffles last night, I stayed up late watching television, I have homework to do, I have to clean out the linen closet, I need to get home in time for the pre-game show” and the truth of the matter is that somewhere along the line, we began to look at Peter and the other disciples and the work in the kitchen, we began to look at the people we run into as a burden, and we decided that church is something we are trying to squeeze into our schedule.

Or, we can recognize that the Savior of the world wants to see us, to hold our hand, to lift us up, to heal us, and He is giving us the chance to serve Him, to listen to stories about what He has done, to be in His presence! Is church a burden or a blessing?

Folks, if you are here looking at the people around you, looking at me, listening to the music we try to make, your focus is on the wrong thing, like all those people who did not come to church today but will be paying tremendous attention to the movement of that pigskin on that acre of grass tonight.

But if you have come to listen to how the Son of God has acted in the past, how the God that created the Universe is still acting, and how the Holy Spirit that dwells inside you wants to speak to you, your focus is right. And if you want to turn to that Son of God who has delivered you from certain agonizing permanent death to an eternal life which has already begun – your focus is right.

Later that evening, after the sun had set, people came to Jesus and brought many people who needed healing to Him. All night long Jesus healed people. He healed them physically, He healed them emotionally, and He healed their spirits. In the Greek language of the original, the word we translate as “heal” more accurately means, “made whole.”

Like a repair shop, Jesus made people’s bodies whole, He made their hearts whole, He made the minds and their spirits whole – for the first time in their lives. He gave them a mission – to tell of God’s love to everyone in the world. Now, they had what they needed to live a purpose-filled, eternal life full of joy.

For it is when we have encountered Jesus’ healing touch – and usually we need that touch many times, even weekly, even daily – that the rotten places in our souls that the world has touched with its diseased hands are removed and replaced with and by the eternal Spirit of God.

Mark points out that in many cases Jesus cast out demons. Like maggots, the demons need removed from our souls before Jesus can make us whole. And there are demons that want to destroy our souls – the demon of addiction, the demon of depression, the demon of hopelessness, the demon of worthlessness, the demon of loneliness, the demon of anger, the demon of control, and many others. They need to be cast out before we can be whole and so we need to ask Jesus to cast out these demons so we can be healed.

After a full night’s work, Jesus and the disciples got some rest, but Jesus got up early and went off by himself to pray. His disciples eventually woke up and followed him and found him and told him – “Everyone is looking for you!”

But Jesus said, “Let’s go to other villages and I’ll preach and heal people there, too.”

And that is what they did.

Now that Jesus has returned to Heaven, He has left his Holy Spirit with each of us, his followers. And now, the Church – you and me and all the other Christians – is to act as the Body of Christ and spread His healing to other places, other people, other villages. 

How are we doing?

Super Bowl Update: I clicked over to see the Super Bowl just after the game ended and watched the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy. 

Years ago, I was privileged to attend a bar-mitzva of one of my son's friends at the local synagogue. When the Torah was brought out (the scrolls of what Christians call The Old Testament), the Torah was paraded up and down the aisles, with each person in the congregation touching or kissing the holy scroll cases. It was the expression of devout followers of their respect and worship of the God that was revealed in those scrolls. 

Last night, I saw the same routine played out on national television as the victorious Eagles players kissed the Lombardi Trophy as it was carried to the platform for the presentation. 

Have we gone too far in turning our entertainment into worship?