APR191: HEY! I WANT TO BELIEVE! ~ John 20:19-31

APR291: WOULD YOU MIND RESCUING ME? ~ Luke 24: 36-49

APR391: ONE FOR ALL ~ John 10: 11-18

APR491: CONNECTIONS IN HIGH PLACES ~ John 15: 1-8

MAY191: THE AWESOME POWER OF LOVE ~ John 15: 9-17

MAY291: HOW DO WE CHOOSE? ~ Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

MAY391: THE MIGHTY TIDE OF GOD ROLLED IN ~ Acts 2:1-21

MAY491: A MOST CONFUSING DOCTRINE ~ John 3:1-17

EXTRA: LITTLE ROOMS WHERE NEW WORLDS ARE MADE ~ Acts 1:1-8; Acts 2:1-4, 12-21

JUN191: FROM COPING TO CONQUERING ~ 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

JUN291: DO NOT LOSE HEART ~ 2 Corinthians 4:13-18

JUN391: FINDING OUR WAY BACK HOME ~ 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

JUN491: WHEN THE STORMS OF LIFE ARE RAGING ~ Mark 4:35-41

JUN591: RICH THROUGH GIVING ~ 2 Corinthians 8:7-9

FILE: AMJ91ChildSermons

CSAPR191 Second Sunday of Easter ~ HEY! I WANT TO BELIEVE!

CSAPR291 Third Sunday of Easter ~ WOULD YOU MIND RESCUING ME?

CSAPR391 Fourth Sunday of Easter ~ ONE FOR ALL

CSAPR491 Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ CONNECTIONS IN HIGH PLACES

CSMAY191 Sixth Sunday in Easter ~ THE AWESOME POWER OF LOVE

CSMAY291 Seventh Sunday in Easter ~ (Mother's Day) HOW DO WE CHOOSE?

CSMAY391 Pentecost ~ THE MIGHTY TIDE OF GOD ROLLED IN

CSMAY491 Trinity Sunday ~ A MOST CONFUSING DOCTRINE

CSJUN191 Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ FROM COPING TO CONQUERING

CSJUN291 Third Sunday after Pentecost ~ DO NOT LOSE HEART

CSJUN391 ~ Fourth Sunday after Pentecost ~ FINDING OUR WAY BACK HOME (Father's Day)

CSJUN491 Fifth Sunday after Pentecost ~ WHEN THE STORMS OF LIFE ARE RAGING

CSJUN591 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost ~ RICH THROUGH GIVING

APR191 HEY! I WANT TO BELIEVE! John 20:19-31 David McKechnie tells a great story about a rather unlikely speaker who came to Bob Jones University sometime back. Bob Jones is a stronghold of fundamentalism. According to the story the speaker told the young people, "You are naive. You cannot continue to take the Bible and apply literalism to it. For example," he said, "take the Old Testament. The Hebrew for `red' and `reed' is the same word. When it talks about Moses leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea with the Egyptian army in pursuit, it really means that it was a Reed Sea. That was no great miracle. There were only about two inches of water in that Reed Sea. It was more like a marsh. A wind came along, blew the water aside, and they were able to slip on through." And as he told them that, a student in the back of the room jumped up and shouted, "Hallelujah! Another miracle!" The speaker lost his composure and asked, "What did you say?" The student said, "Hallelujah! Another miracle! Just imagine. God drowned all those Egyptian soldiers in just two inches of water!" (1) Some people have difficulty dealing with the miraculous. This morning we want to talk about a disciple who had a hard time accepting Christ's resurrection from the dead. We all know his name--doubting Thomas. Actually, he was not known as doubting Thomas by his friends. He was called Thomas the twin. And he was not the skeptic many have made him out to be. It was simply that he was not with the others when the risen Jesus appeared to them. This might be a good place to begin our thinking this morning. THOMAS WAS MISSING FROM THE FELLOWSHIP OF FAITH AND THUS DOUBT CAME MORE EASILY. That happens. People start missing church. Only a Sunday or two at first, then worship becomes the exception, not the rule and finally they are lost from the fellowship altogether. Like the proverbial ember remove from the fire, they cool, lose their ardor, and are very difficult to rekindle. That had not yet happened to Thomas. He was not yet lost. He was simply missing when a significant occasion happened in the life of the Christian community. After all, he was one of the twelve selected by Jesus to be his disciples. A good guess would be that Thomas' heavy heart was responsible for his absence. Some people in times of grief want to be alone. Maybe Thomas sought out his own family after the crucifixion. Maybe he felt he would find more comfort there than with the ten disciples who were left. We could not blame him if this were a time of crisis. It was for all the disciples. They knew Jesus to be the Messiah. They were awaiting the establishment of his kingdom. Now he was gone. Crucified like a criminal. Still, Thomas was missing when Jesus made his first dramatic resurrection appearance to his disciples. Thus he was still in his doubt and despair. It is a good warning to us. Group support is powerful. That is the secret of another organization that has helped a great many people and grown quite prosperous at the same time. It was started by a lady who weighed 214 pounds. She weighed this much even after a lifetime of fad dieting. Her name is Jean Nidetch. It was in an obesity clinic she found the help she needed. That help came in two ways. It came in the form of a special diet. It also came in the emotional support of a group--a group in which she shared with others about her eating problems. Soon she was inviting her overweight friends over and pretty soon they were meeting every week and bringing friends with them to give and receive emotional support. That was the beginning of Weight Watchers International, Inc. The rest is history. Group support is a valuable resource. Group support is what the church is all about. One of the greatest of New Testament scholars, Dr. C.H. Dodd, said that as the years came and went he found a much greater need in the church to be comforted in the midst of life's sorrows and its sobs. D. T. Niles told of a member of his congregation whom he met on the street one day. She had been active once but in recent months drifted away. She told Niles that after suffering numerous personal and family problems God had become distant to her. She felt she had lost contact with him. This was how Niles answered her: "Not only now but even in the future, there will always be times when God seems distant; when it looks as if God has forgotten and does not care; when prayers go unanswered and life is difficult. And at such times you must learn to hold on to your fellow Christians. Your difficulty is that you tried to hold on to God alone, and man was never intended to hold on to God alone." Maybe Thomas was trying to hold on to God alone. Whatever the reason, he was missing from the group when Jesus appeared to them. I've known people to miss a very special event in the life of the church and they never are able to understand the significance that event has for others in the fellowship. It might be a choir cantata or a Lenten service, or it might simply be a regular Sunday morning service that somehow God uses in a very special way to touch hearts. But they weren't there, and it is very difficult to describe to them the wonder of it all. I appreciate so much those of you who take seriously your commitment to support the church with your attendance--not only for those events that are appealing to you but every time the doors are open. People who attend infrequently miss so much! Thomas was fortunate. He got a second chance. Some things only happen once, however, in the life of the church. If you miss them, you miss something very real and very special. There is a second thing to be said about Thomas. THOMAS WANTED VERY MUCH TO BELIEVE. There are some people who are quick to tell you that they pride themselves on identifying with Thomas. "I'm a skeptic," they say proudly. "I'm from Missouri, you'll have to show me!" Actually, there are three approaches to doubt. One is the skeptic who says he or she is a doubter and proud of it. That is a very convenient approach to life. In the name of skepticism, one can avoid making any kind of a commitment. The second approach is that of a person afraid to doubt at all. A voice inside your head suggests you will fry in hell if you entertain even the slightest doubt that everything you have been taught is not true. This voice usually sounds very much like some parent's or some preacher's. The third group is made up of people like Thomas--and I suspect like you and me. This is the group of people who say with the man who encountered Jesus, "I believe. Help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24) I read recently about some creative answers that came from a group of children in confirmation classes in Birmingham, Alabama. Among other things they said, "The natives of Macedonia did not believe Paul, so he got stoned. "When people have only one wife or husband--that is called monotony." And finally: "It is often difficult to hear in church because the agnostics are so terrible." Thomas was no agnostic. He knew that his Lord had been crucified. He knew that he had been pronounced dead and laid in a borrowed tomb. It was too much to ask him to believe that this same Lord was now alive and appearing to his disciples and friends. It would take more than their wishful assurances to heal Thomas' broken heart. "Unless I see for myself the mark in his hand and place my fingers in his side, I will not believe." Who among us would condemn him? Woody Allen once asked, "If God does exist, why doesn't He give me some sign--like depositing a million dollars in my name in a Swiss bank?" In spite of the humorous twist Woody gives things, my guess is that Woody's question was a serious one. Why does God not give us just a little more evidence of His existence? Why doesn't He answer just a few more of our prayers? Why does He keep Himself just a little beyond our reach? Dr. H. H. Farmer once wrote, "If only God would, so to say, sign some of His gifts. If only, like the artist, He would put His signature at the foot of some masterpiece of coloring in the sky." Many of us have probably had the same wish. Why doesn't God reveal Himself to us in such a way that never again would we have to live in doubt and despair? Perhaps He hides Himself on purpose. Perhaps in order to bring us to spiritual maturity, it is necessary for Him to make faith a challenge. Consider prayer. What if He answered every prayer we prayed? Would we not be dependent children? And would not God be reduced to our mere servant or at least our indulgent Father? We would develop an unhealthy reliance on Him rather than our own abilities, our own initiative. Like a child never allowed to fall, we would never learn to walk, to cope, to conquer. We would never reach full manhood and womanhood in Christ. Besides, faith that comes too easily is not faith for the long haul of life. Even if we have our times of doubting during times of stress, that does not mean that we are not seeking faith. We were made for fellowship with Him and our hearts are never at rest until we find their rest in Him. This brings us to the final thing to be said. IF WE SEEK HIM, WE WILL FIND HIM. That is the promise of the Scripture. He will not forever hide Himself from us. "If with all your heart you truly seek Me, you shall surely find Me." (Jeremiah 29:13) Thus says our God. Thomas did. Eight days later he was in a room with the other disciples. The doors were shut and yet Christ appeared to them. "Peace be with you," he said. Then he turned to Thomas and said, "Put your fingers here and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God." There may be times in our lives when we will go through seasons of doubt, despair, feelings of spiritual defeat. Anyone whose Christian faith is worth anything has or will. His promises are sure, though. In our hour of need, He will reveal Himself. It may be through a passage of scripture. It may be through the encouragement of a friend or the singing of a favorite hymn. He will give solace, though. His mighty arm will never fail us. The late Corrie ten Boom told the story of how as a child she went to her father and said: "Papa, I don't think I have the faith to handle real trouble. I don't know what I'd do if you should die. I don't think I have the faith that some people have to face trouble." Corrie's father looked at her tenderly and said, "Corrie, dear, when your father says he will send you to the store tomorrow, does he give the money to you today? No, he gives it to you when you are ready to go to the store. And if you are going on a train trip and need money for a ticket, does your father give you the money when we decide you may take the trip? No. He gives it to you when you are at the depot, all ready to buy your ticket. Corrie, God treats us the same way. He doesn't give you the faith until you need it. When you do need it. He will certainly give it to you." Corrie never forgot her father's words, and later her life became a testimony to their truth. (2) It is no sin to doubt. It is within the will of God that we should struggle with our faith. That is how we mature. If we seek Him, though, we shall surely find Him. In the meantime, let's cling together in His fellowship, trusting that when we really need Him, He will reveal Himself to us. He did for Thomas. He will for us as well. -------------------------------------- 1. David McKechnie, EXPERIENCING GOD'S PLEASURE, (Nashville: Oliver Nelson Publishers, 1989). 2. Robert A. Schuller, POWER TO GROW BEYOND YOURSELF, (New York: Jove Books, 1987). TOP APR291 WOULD YOU MIND RESCUING ME? Luke 24: 36-49 The headline read, "He Can `Marry' People--If Not Distracted By Mouse." The article was about a scam operation that was exposed in Cleveland, Tennessee this past year. The operation ordains ministers for $20 each. The president of the Huntsville, Alabama, Better Business Bureau decided to check out the operation. She sent in an application and a check for her few-months-old cat. She answered questions truthfully and listed his birthdate as a few months previous. Explaining his call to ministry she wrote, "To make people happy and not hunt birds." She directed friends whom she wrote down as references to admit that the applicant was a cat if they were asked. Sure enough, her cat was officially ordained as a minister of the Gospel. (1) The church of Jesus Christ has taken a beating in the media in recent years. There are always those who would take advantage of people's gullibility. Unfortunately, religion is an area where many people are quite vulnerable. Fortunately most people are able to separate the misdeeds of the few from the highmindedness of the majority. Still, many of us have a feeling that the church is not all Christ has called her to be. That is sad. The church of Jesus Christ is the most important institution in all of society. Even those outside the church long for the church to be all Christ called it to be. There is a delightful scene in WINNIE THE POOH that goes something like this: Pooh - "Did you fall into the river, Eeyore?" Eeyore - "Silly of me, wasn't it?" Pooh - "Is the river uncomfortable this morning?" Eeyore - "Well, yes, the dampness you know." Pooh - "You really ought to be more careful!" Eeyore - "Thanks for the advice." Pooh - "I think you're sinking." Eeyore - "Pooh, if it's not too much trouble, would you mind rescuing me?" If a society ever needed rescuing, ours most certainly does. Sensitive hearts know it does--even sensitive hearts outside these walls. How much longer can our inner cities be allowed to deteriorate? How long can society afford girls who are children themselves having babies with no father to help raise them? How can children have any chance at all where drugs are available almost on every street corner? How can we tolerate boys and girls going to school in fear? When is somebody going to do something to help those experiencing daily poverty of mind, soul and body. Of course, the inner city is not alone in confronting problems. They extend into the city's financial district and its suburbs as well. Our society is experiencing a moral drift, a decline in commitment to others, a me-first attitude that robs life of its most vital ingredient--connectedness. "Pooh, if it's not too much trouble, would you mind rescuing me?" This is the plaintive plea of our society to the church of Jesus Christ. In order for us to become a rescuing community, however, we need to recapture some of the elements that propelled the early church. Eleven rather faint-hearted disciples and a handful of faithful and devoted women turned the world of their time upside down. We need to recapture what they had if we are to be what they were. Jesus' last words as recorded in Luke 24: 45-49 should help prepare us as it prepared them: "Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them: `Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.'" (RSV) THE FIRST ELEMENT WE MUST RECAPTURE IS A SENSE OF WHO WE ARE. Someone once wisely commented, "Being busy in church is not the same thing as being godly. If being busy created godliness then insects would be closer to God than man." We can be a very busy church, even be a growing church, and still be ineffective in the work of the Kingdom, if we don't know who we are. Let's consider an analogy. The painter Rubens is recognized even today as a genius. His work has been so influential that we sometimes talk about the "Rubinesque" figure. Rubens was also quite a businessman. Unlike many other immortal artists, Rubens was fortunate enough to taste the fruits of success while he was still alive. He was highly commissioned for his work. In fact he was so highly compensated that he opened what one writer called a painting factory. He hired a school of pupils, and started an assembly line! He made the initial drawings and the pupils filled them in. Then with a few master strokes, he completed the paintings. Now consider who we are. We are students in Christ's school. We are not masters. We simply fill in the sketches he has already begun. When we have done all we can, he provides finishing touches to produce a masterpiece. To understand our role in such a way relieves us of the burden of being sufficient in our own abilities to do what he has called us to do. We are his students, his servants, his apprentices. He is the Master. THE SECOND ELEMENT WE MUST RECAPTURE IS A SENSE OF WHAT WE ARE ABOUT. John Gardner, Former Secretary Health, Education & Welfare, once said something very wise. He said, "In the absence of criticism every organization ends up being managed for the benefit of the people who run it: most schools tend to be run in such a way as to serve the purposes of the teachers; the Navy tends to be run for the benefit of naval officers; the vested interests of postal employees are the predominant factor in controlling and directing the future of the post office; the policies and practices of most universities are explicable chiefly in terms of the vested interests of the professors." If that is true about schools, military services and bureaucracies, it is also true of the church. When we are at our worst, we are under the delusion the church exists for our benefit rather than for the world. What is the mission of the church? "That repentance of sins and forgiveness may be preached in his name to all nations..." The essential mission of the church is to witness to the grace of Jesus Christ. It is to call our nation to righteousness, both personal and social, and to proclaim the good news that we are forgiven, accepted, made right by the cross of Calvary. Our chief task then is evangelistic. We are a community in the rescue business. We will never be the church Christ means for us to be until we center in on that reality. This doesn't mean that we are to go out and harass people into the kingdom. A wife asked her husband, "Dear, Who was that at the door?" The husband answered, "It was that new minister. He has been by four times this week." The wife asked, "What is his name?" Her husband answered, "I think it's Pester Smith." We aren't called to pester people. We are called to offer hope to people who need rescuing. That is the second element we need to recapture--a sense of what we are about. THE THIRD ELEMENT WE MUST RECAPTURE IS A REALIZATION OF THE SOURCE OF OUR POWER. Jesus instructed his disciples to "stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high." This may be the weakest link in the church today. Nels Ferre wrote of a Christian convert from Hawaii who spoke about prayer to a seminary in America. "Before the missionaries came to Hawaii," she said, "my people used to sit outside their temples for a long time meditating and preparing themselves before entering. Then they would virtually creep to the altar to offer their petition and afterward would again sit a long time outside, this time to `breathe life' into their prayers. The Christians, when they came, just got up, uttered a few sentences, said Amen, and were done. For that reason my people called them `haolis,' `without breath,' or those who failed to breathe life into their prayers." There is a powerful indictment here about the way many of us have come to deal with our prayer life. Prayer has become a perfunctory exercise. In the words of the Hawaiian lady, there is no "breath, no life" in our prayers. If it is true, however, that Christ has relieved us of the burden of being adequate for the calling to which he has called us, it is also true that to be effective in his service, we must throw our lives upon him. He is the source of our power. If we neglect our prayer life, we cannot hope to be all he calls us to be. Maybe this is why the church today is often so anemic. Douglas Hyde was a member of the Communist Party in Britain. He says that as a member of the Communist party which then numbered only 45,000 in all of Britain, he fully expected to win the country to his ideals. His comrades expected the same. When he joined the Catholic Church and left the Communist Party, however, he found himself in a group 100 times larger than his previous one. Yet he found no one who expected the Catholic Church to have much effect. Here was 10% of the population holding a set of ideals, and they felt themselves too small to effect any change! (2) The church of Jesus Christ is a sleeping giant. There are millions and millions of us around the world. We are still by far the largest movement of any kind. There is nothing in this world we cannot achieve. The reason we have lost our dynamic character is that we have been neglecting our power lines. We need to stay in the city until we receive power from on high! There is one more important thing that needs to be said. THE FOURTH ELEMENT WE MUST RECAPTURE IS THE AWARENESS THAT ALL OF US ARE INVOLVED IN GOD'S PLAN. The work of Christ is not the work of the pastor, or the education director or of a few high-powered evangelists. The work of Christ is the work of us all. There wasn't a single ordained, seminary trained clergyperson among all those who torpedoed that first community of believers into the most powerful force in the society of its time. Farmers, fishermen, homemakers, tax-collectors, ordinary people fueled the church's growth and influence in New Testament times. About a year ago, a major corporation announced it would be moving its corporate offices across the country. During an interview with the press, the board's chairman was asked if he expected that most of the employees would make the move. He said that he felt that most of the important employees would transfer, but secretaries and others would not. When the secretaries read in the paper the next day that they were not among the "important" employees, they decided to call attention to their importance by not answering any phones for one day. They did all of their other duties, but answered no phones. The turmoil which resulted from this demonstration of importance caused the board chairman to make a public apology. (3) In the work of Christ, there is no one who is unimportant. We all count. Would you mind rescuing me? That is the plaintive cry of the world today. My prediction is that this cry will increase in intensity in the years ahead. Will we heed it? Only if we remember who we are, what we are about, where our power comes from and that each of us are important to the work of the Kingdom. In the window of a New York City hardware store was a sign: "We Repair Every Type of Vacuum Cleaner." Just below this sign was a second one: "Needed at Once--Experienced Vacuum Repair Person." A sign like that might be hung out in front of many churches today. We need to stay in the city until power has come upon us from on high. Then we will be ready to assist Christ in the rescue and repair of his world. ---------------------------------------- 1. The Knoxville News-Sentinel (July 28, 1989), Section A, p. 2. 2. Douglas Hyde, DEDICATION AND LEADERSHIP (Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame Press, 1966), p. 33. 3. William E. Diehl, THANK GOD, IT'S MONDAY, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982) TOP APR391 ONE FOR ALL John 10: 11-18 Sometimes in our complex relations with Middle East countries, we are confronted with instances of barbaric forms of justice. We hear of people getting hands cut off for stealing, a princess stoned to death for adultery and so on. We need to remind ourselves that Christian history has also been full of barbaric acts. Humane treatment of wrongdoers and enlightened applications of justice are modern developments. The morality of rehabilitation as opposed to retaliation is still not fully evolved. Consider, for example, a fascinating occasion in American History when we as a nation nearly acted out of revenge rather than out of justice. When the Revolutionary War ended, a number of colonists loyal to England remained on in America in small clusters. The hostility between these Loyalists and the other colonists was great. A group of Loyalists from Manhattan raided Toms River, N.J., and burned the town. Shortly after that, Philip White, a loyalist, slipped back into New Jersey to visit his wife. He was captured by the New Jersey militia but shot while trying to escape. Rumors about the event built. Manhattan Loyalists under the command of Richard Lippincott rowed out to the British prison ship Brittania and convinced the commander to hand over one of the colonists, Joshua Huddy, for a supposed prisoner exchange. The Loyalists then took Huddy out and hanged him in revenge for what they called the murder of Philip White. The American people were outraged! A large group from Huddy's funeral wrote to George Washington, demanding that he do something or they themselves would. Washington was aware that things were on the verge of mob justice and realized something must be done. Washington first wrote the British commander in the area and asked that he hand over the guilty party. The British commander stalled. Washington next consulted Congress with his unhappy secondary plan. It involved executing one British prisoner, drawn by lot, to pay for the hanged Huddy and to appease the people. Congress agreed with the plan, and a prisoner was chosen by lottery to die. His name was Captain Charles Asgill. Since the British still would not hand over the guilty murderer, it looked as if Charles Asgill would be executed. The Americans, though, were reluctant to end the life of this likable youth for a crime he did not commit. On the other hand, the populace demanded retribution for Huddy. His release would likely start a return to mob justice against the Loyalists. As Congress debated the issue, the French stepped in and begged for Asgill's life, reminding the colonists of the debt that they owed for French assistance in the recent war. The Americans took this convenient way out and released Asgill. The issues of justice were difficult, even laying aside the whole problem of appeasing the populace. Joshua Huddy had been murdered. However, the American government could not rightly execute just anyone for the crime. Despite the politics, punishment was due the murderer and only the murderer. There would be no justice in making an unwilling man sacrifice for the absent murderer. It is a fascinating case out of our history. One man to be sacrificed to satisfy the guilt of another. (1) There is a case in history, however, when an innocent man willingly gave his life for the guilty. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." Charles Asgill was almost an unwilling substitute for the sins of Charles Lippincott. The Lord of all life willingly lay down his life for us all. WE APPLAUD WHEN A MAN OR WOMAN GIVES HIS OR HER LIFE FOR ANOTHER. Such instances do come along from time to time. Murfreesboro, Tennessee. May 28, 1989. "Former NFL football player Jerry Anderson," read the newspaper account, "died Saturday after pulling two young boys out of a rain-swollen river about 40 miles southeast of Nashville. Witnesses said Anderson saw two boys, thought to be 11 or 12 years old, attempting to cross a dam spanning the river. One or both boys fell into the water. According to officer Bill Todd, "Mr. Anderson jumped in the water and managed to get the little boys out, but witnesses said he went under two or three times and about the fourth time, he didn't come back up." He gave his life to rescue two small boys. Of course, you don't have to be an American or a football player for such heroic actions. In a Middle school in the Ukrainian village of Ivanichi a young teacher died sometime back. He absorbed the blast of a hand grenade to protect his pupils. What was a grenade doing in a middle school? According to the London TIMES the teacher, a graduate of the KGB border-guard college, had been delivering the military instruction that is a compulsory part of the curriculum for Soviet children. He was teaching them how to handle what should have been an unarmed grenade. When he pulled the pin a wisp of smoke showed that a live grenade had become mixed in with demonstration grenades, and he gave his life. You don't have to be a man to perform such heroics. Many years ago a woman carrying a baby through the hills of South Wales, England, was overtaken by a blizzard. Searchers found her later frozen to death in the snow. Amazed that she had on no outer garments, they searched further and found her baby. She had wrapped them around the child, who was still alive and well. He grew up to be David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Great Britain in World War I. No greater love than this, than a man lay down his life for his brother. We applaud such bravery, such selflessness, such willingness to sacrifice one's life for another. That is not what this passage from John's Gospel teaches us, however. Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." Do not be deluded. WHAT TRANSPIRED ON CALVARY WAS NOT A TRANSACTION BETWEEN EQUALS. A man laid down his life not for other men but for some dumb sheep. I hope you don't mind being called a dumb sheep, by the way. Actually it is the sheep who should be insulted. After all, a sheep never killed his neighbor, or passed on the latest juicy gossip. A sheep never deliberately abused its body or stole from its employer. Judged by their own standards, sheep are pretty upright creatures. Still, I don't think any of us would lay down his life for a smelly sheep. I did hear about a man who acted drastically on behalf of his dog. He was on a boat returning from a Caribbean cruise. On deck a boy was playing with the man's dog, throwing a stick on deck for the dog to retrieve. One toss went too far and went over the rail into the sea. The dog jumped overboard after it. In distress the dog's owner begged the captain to turn the ship around and rescue the dog. "Stop the ship for a dog! I can't do that," said the captain. "Then you will stop it for a man!" shouted the dog's owner, as he jumped overboard. Of course the ship stopped, and both man and dog were rescued. The point here is that the man knew the ship would stop. He was not really sacrificing his life for his dog. (2) What I long for us to see is the divine absurdity of it all. The Lord of all the universe lay down His life for such as you and I. He lay aside his regal robes to take up the cross of degradation and death. He lay aside his crown of glory for a painful crown of thorns and he did it for you and me. Can you get your mind around such an astounding truth? Are you worthy of such an act? I certainly am not. Are you? I was reading recently about the island nation of Guam. Guam now has an almost insoluble problem, snakes--between six and twelve thousand of them per square mile! And these slithering problems (often 8 feet long or longer) have wiped out 70% of Guam's native species of birds. The problem, however, is man-made. Guam once had no snakes, but during WWII the brown tree snake was evidently imported from Australia, New Guinea, and The Solomon Islands as a stowaway in military shipments. Guam now has no way to get rid of the snakes. (3) The Bible teaches us that man has always carried a snake problem with him. Everything we touch we infect. We discover a way to harness the wonderful energy of the atom and begin building bombs. We invent the internal combustion engine and pollute the air. We discover a way to extract from nature cures for various ailments and we end up producing addictive drugs. The Lord of Life gave his life for creatures who do such things-- creatures such as you and I. Why in the world did he do it? I don't know, but I do know the result of it all. SOMEHOW HE FOUND A WAY TO TURN SHEEP INTO SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD. That's why he lay down his life. I don't fully understand why it had to be done that way, but the result is staggering all the same. That wonderful preacher and theologian Helmut Thielicke put it like this: I see myself at the Last Judgment, and, as at an earthly trial, my identity has to be established before the proceedings begin. But there is an interruption. The Supreme Judge has hardly put to me the question, "Who are you?" before my satanic accuser breaks in and answers for me, "Who is he, you ask? I will tell you. He is the one who has done such and such, and failed to do such and such. He has ignored the plight of his neighbors because he himself was always the neighbor. He has been silent when he ought to have confessed. The gifts you have given him have not made him humble but proud." He goes on for a long time in this strain. But then the counsel for the defense interrupts; he is the exalted Son of God. "O Father and Judge," he says, "the prosecutor has spoken the truth. This man has all these things behind him. But the accusation is without substance. For he no longer is what he has behind him." And although he who sits on the bench knows very well what Christ is saying, for the sake of the audience he asks, "Who is he then if he is no longer what he has behind him?" To this Christ replies, "He has become my disciple and believed me that you have met him in me and want to be his father, as you are mine. Hence I have canceled his past and nailed the accusation to my cross [Colossians 2:14]. Who is he then, you ask? He is the one who has accepted me and thus gained the right of sonship that you have promised. Look upon him, then, as you look upon me; he is my brother and your son." This is the story, says Thielicke, of our identity. (4) Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." I don't like being classified with sheep. But I know I'm a sinner. I know I am unworthy of having the Lord of Life sacrifice himself in my behalf. Rather, I should be sacrificing myself for him. Today's not too late to start. By his grace I will dedicate the rest of my life to him. I hope you will, too. -------------------------------------------------------- 1. Ewing, Edwin, Jr. "The Asgill Incident," American History Illustrated (May, 1973), pp. 10-13. 2. A. Philip Parham, LETTING GOD, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers). 3. The Far Side of Paradise, U.S. News and World Report (Feb. 13, 1989), p.15. 4. Thielicke, Helmut. BEING HUMAN...BECOMING HUMAN: AN ESSAY IN CHRISTIAN ANTHROPOLOGY. Trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1984. TOP APR491 CONNECTIONS IN HIGH PLACES John 15: 1-8 There is a story about professional golfer Gary Player that sounds like it could have happened to you or to me. Once in a major tournament Player tried to ricochet a ball off a stone wall. "I tried to be fancy," admitted Player. The ball hit the wall where it was intended, but instead of finishing on the green, it ricocheted back and hit Player on the cheek. The force of the blow actually knocked him out cold. "Finally, I regained my senses," says Player, "at least a portion of them. Still groggy, I chipped onto the green and then somehow knocked the long putt into the hole. At that time, I assumed I had tied for the lead and would be in a play-off. An official then informed me that I had incurred a two-stroke penalty for impeding the flight of the ball because it had struck me. I lost the tournament." I have days like that, don't you? Sam Goldwyn once accompanied a producer to a preview of a blood-and-thunder epic. After the film, the producer demanded, "Now, isn't that a real swashbuckler?' "Yes," Goldwyn said, "but the trouble is, it buckles where it should swash." That's a pretty good description of my life sometimes--it buckles where it should swash. That's why it is so wonderful to be in worship on Sunday mornings to hear the Gospel. "I am the vine," said Jesus, "and you are the branches." Have you ever thought about how much hope is packed into that little sentence? HE IS THE VINE. IT IS HE THAT NOURISHES OUR HUNGRY SPIRITS. We seek in vain when we look for nourishment in other places. A cartoon showed a man standing in a bar in a very somber mood. He said to his drinking companion, "I come in here to drown my sorrows, but they've learned to swim." There are some people who will seek what they need in their neighborhood bar. Some will seek it sitting in front of a television set hour after hour after hour. Others will look for it in art, in philosophy, some in bizarre personal indulgences. All other streets except that marked Christ, however, are dead- end. All of us are alarmed at the rising rate of crime--particularly crimes of violence. It shocks us to read that in a certain year, eighteen thousand persons were murdered in this country. It might shock us more, however, to realize that during that same year 25,000 people committed suicide. There are some sad, lonely people out there. And they are not only in hospital wards, or ghettoes, or on drugs. They are in some of the finest sections in our town. It is not our outer circumstances that determine our inner happiness. Some people surrounded by every convenience and luxury wallow in inner despair. Others in the most adverse of circumstances arise above those circumstances and claim amazing victories. Gerald Coffee, a retired navy captain, was a prisoner of war for seven years. His home was a cell that allowed him to take only three steps in any direction. Still, during these years of unbelievable hardship he was able to pray, "God, help me use this time to get better." He took a dismal situation and used it for a time of mental, emotional and spiritual growth. In spite of being able to communicate with his fellow POWs only by tapping on the cell walls, he along with other prisoners managed to learn French. He learned to recite Kipling and Shakespeare. Most amazing of all, Coffee and his fellow prisoners were able to keep their sense of humor. Often he composed poems to keep himself amused. One that he particularly liked went, "Little weevil in my bread, I think I've just bit off your head." Today Captain Coffee addresses major corporations on the subject of keeping your faith (and sense of humor) during difficult times. He shares his harrowing experience in order to inspire others. Gerald Coffee's captors could not know he had connections in high places. Gerald Coffee is connected to the vine which is Christ. And that is the difference in life. Christ is the vine. We draw our life from him. HE IS THE VINE. WE ARE THE BRANCHES. IT IS HE WHO LINKS US ALSO TO ONE ANOTHER. We not only have connections in high places. We also have connections in low places and places in between. We are connected to one another as branches linked to the vine of Christ. Maxie Dunhan tells about a cartoon that showed a huge desk and an executive sitting behind it. He is obviously the CEO of some company. Standing meekly on the other side of the desk is another man dressed in work clothes. The man says to the boss, "If it's any comfort, it's lonely at the bottom, too." (1) We live in a world that can be awfully lonely whether you are at the top or at the bottom. We need to affirm and embrace the idea that we are a family with every believer in Jesus Christ in this world. Who could be lonely with such a family? Did you read about the group of twenty-one workers in a factory in Mount Vernon, New York a few years back who each chipped in a dollar and bought a ticket in the New York State Lottery? The next day, their ticket was picked as one of three winners of the largest jackpot in history: $41 million. The story of the Mount Vernon 21 captivated millions not just because of the size of the pot of gold but because of the rainbow of people who won it. Black, white yellow, and brown. Mariano Martinez, Chit Wah Tse, Jaroslaw Siwy, and Peter Lee-- all immigrants from countries ranging from Paraguay to Poland, from Trinidad to Thailand. "We're like a big family here," said Peter Lee. "We thought by pooling our efforts we would increase our luck--and we were right." (2) Obviously I am not lauding their playing the lottery. Lotteries are exploitive. They prey primarily on people at the bottom of society who have very little other hope. I do like to see people work together, though. We do live in a rainbow world. If we can get by our petty prejudices, we have a great big family out there. I like what James Michener once said. He wrote: "I was born to a woman I never knew, and raised by another who took in orphans. I do not know my background, my lineage, my biological or cultural heritage. But when I meet someone new, I treat them with respect. For after all, they could be my people." When we are linked to Christ, other people do become our people. Many of them also have connections in high places and that makes us family. But there is one thing more to be said. HE IS THE VINE. WE ARE THE BRANCHES. IT IS HE THAT GIVES US THE ABILITY TO BEAR FRUIT. Bearing fruit is what life is all about. The rest of this passage makes that point unmistakably. Some of us want to bear blossoms, but not fruit. We want to look good. We want others to admire us, even envy us. But we do not want to go about the hard work of bearing fruit. And yet the non- productive life is an unhappy life. You may remember that fascinating experiment that took place at Amherst College some years ago in which a squash seed was planted in good soil. When it had produced a squash about the size of a man's head, the researchers put a band of steel about it with a harness attachment by which they sought to determine the lifting power of the squash as it tried to grow. They estimated that it might have the power of 500 pounds; which in itself would have been amazing. In a month it was pressing the 500 pounds; in two months 1,500 pounds, then it went to 2,000 and they had to strengthen the bands. It finally reached a pressure of 5,000 pounds when it broke the bands. They opened the squash and found it full of course fibers that had grown to fight away the obstacle that was hindering its growth. Roots extended out about 80,000 feet in all directions, as the squash was reaching out for help to strengthen the fiber. (3) I would hate to think that you and I have less determination than a squash. We have been given minds and bodies and dreams that we might struggle against life and produce fruit worthy of branches connected to the living vine. Dr. Larry Baker is a man who knows about developing strong fibers--fibers strong enough to burst constricting bands. Baker became totally blind by a viral infection when he was 25. When the doctor told Baker "I'm afraid that I have to tell you something that will affect the rest of your life--you will never see again," Baker replied, "Doctor, I understand what you are saying, but I will determine the effect." It was obvious that Baker had taken what would be a devastating blow to anyone, and had made it a pivotal point from which he grew and expanded his horizons. Baker--married with three children and working for a family dairy delivering milk when he lost his sight--described himself in high school as "a member of that one third of the class that made the top two thirds look good." Taking advantage of a scholarship offered to persons with sight disabilities, Baker entered Indiana University and received a bachelor degree, ranking fifth in a class of 780. He received the Presidential Achievement Award, and went on to earn his master and doctor of business administration degrees. A university professor for 10 years, Baker formed his own company, Time Management Center, Inc. in St. Louis. He now presents time management seminars internationally. His company produces more than 60 publications on time management and related subjects. He believes everyone has some disability, some lack of ability to do something that they need to do. "The most severe disability I have ever encountered," he says, "are people who are paralyzed from the neck up--people who are not coping with changes, in ideas and concepts. We make progress by our willingness to make changes." Baker learned to ski after the age of 45 and urges others not to let people set limits for them. "Nobody has ever gone broke giving more than they receive," Baker says. "Have faith in God, your family, friends, and last, but not least, have faith in yourself. Set your objectives and pay the price." (4) That's a good word for all those with connections in high places. How could anyone ever put limits on us? We are connected to the Vine. We are His branches. We are connected to one another. We draw our nourishment from Him and by His grace we bear fruit. Like Gary Player we sometimes have days when the ball bounces back and hits us in the cheek. We have days when we buckle where we are supposed to swash, but we are never defeated. After all, we are His. We have connections in high places. We are the most fortunate people alive. --------------------------------------------------------- 1. Allen Klein, THE HEALING POWER OF HUMOR, (Los Angeles, California: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1989). 2. L. Rohter, "Immigrant Factory Workers Share Dream, Luck and a Lotto Jackpot," New York Times, August 23, 1985. Cited in Letty Cottin Pogrebin, AMONG FRIENDS, (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987). 3. Eric Butterworth, UNITY OF ALL LIFE, (New York: Harper & Row). 4. The Tullahoma News (June 6, 1990), Section A, p. 9. TOP EXTRA LITTLE ROOMS WHERE NEW WORLDS ARE MADE Acts 1:1-8; Acts 2:1-4, 12-21 Ann Arbor is a very difficult place in which to preach, especially on fall football week-ends. It is difficult not to contrast the size and the enthusiasm of the crowds that show up on Saturdays with the size and enthusiasm of the ones that show up on Sundays. Envy is one of the classic 'Seven Deadly Sins," and it has been hard for me not to be envious of the football crowds during the years I have been privileged to serve as pastor here in Ann Arbor. How I would love to preach to crowds of that size! I try to console myself with the knowledge that in the sight of God, size is not really all that important. God often does great things with small instruments. You see, today is Pentecost in the Church's calendar. It is the anniversary of an event which forever changed the course of human history. It was on Pentecost, nearly two thousand years ago, that the Christian Church was born, and launched out into the world in power. On of the large corporations in American, which has an extensive research department, ran a full-page advertisement in magazines some years back. There was the picture of a laboratory with white-coated scientists busily at work. Across the top of the picture ran the caption: "Little Rooms Where New Worlds are Made." The claim was that in this research room new worlds of scientific achievement were being made. That is profoundly true today, isn't it? In many laboratories across our nation and round the world, new inventions are being made. We think of some of them with a shudder . . . for out of such little rooms have come inventions which will either bring the greatest life of abundance which the world has ever known or the end of life on this planet as we know it. The story is told of a very detached scientist who said that he had discovered a weapon with enough power to destroy the earth. His assistant, visibly shocked, said, "That's terrible!" To which the scientist replied, "Oh, it's not so bad. You see, the earth isn't a major planet, anyway." His assistant replied: "IT IS TO US!" How true! Some of the discoveries made "little rooms" frighten us, as well they should But this morning I would like to have us think about "Little Rooms Where New Worlds Are Made," and specifically, three "Little Rooms: which have profound affected the world for good. I. ONE SUCH LITTLE ROOM IS THE "UPPER ROOM" OF PENTECOST. There, the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to those first Christians. We read about in this morning's Scripture lesson, but what does it mean? If you had been there in the city of Jerusalem on that day in the year around 30 A.D., you would have asked the same question: "What does this mean?" You would have the streets crowded with visitors to the Holy City, for it was the Harvest Festival (sort of like our Thanksgiving), the fiftieth day of the Festival of the Passover (indeed, "pentecost" means "fiftieth"), the day on which pious Jews came to Jerusalem from all over the world to offer the "first fruits" of their harvest in gratitude to God. But on one of the side streets you would have found a group of people who had come to the Holy city for another reason. they had come in obedience to the command of their risen Lord. How swiftly events had happened for them! First, the arrest and trial of their Leader; then His cruel crucifixion, and all of their dreams had been dashed to the ground. Then on the third day following ,the glad good news form the empty tomb: "He is not here! He is risen as He said! He goes before you to Galilee, there you will see Him!" Finally, after forty days, the risen Lord met with His disciples on the Mount of Ascension where He commanded them to go back into the city of Jerusalem and wait there until they received power from on high. Back to Jerusalem! Jerusalem was the one place they didn't want to go. It was dangerous there. A person could get crucified there! Yet: Jesus commanded them to go and wait. . . Wait for power. Now, if there was anything they need it was power. At the time of the crucifixion, almost all of them deserted their Lord and Master. Even Peter, the Big Fisherman, had denied his Lord and since that terrible day, they had been hiding behind closed doors for fear that what had happened to their Leader might happen to them. Strangely enough, it seems that even the knowledge that Jesus was not dead, but alive, did not empower them to boldness. they were overcome with awe and wonder, but not courage. They certainly needed power. And so, to the little Upper Room they went. Timid, fearful, yet obedient to Jesus' command. For ten days they waited and prayed and prayed and waited. And then, something happened. What happened? The Holy spirit moved into their lives. What do we mean by "The Holy Spirit?" We mean God at work and active in the world. Halford Luccock called the Holy Spirit "God in the Present Tense." that is what we all need God in the present tense. For a whole lot of folks God is "back there" somewhere, active in the life of the early church, or in Christian history, or in the lives of their forefather and foremother in the faith, but not alive and active in their lives here and now. We need a present experience of God. It is always a tragedy when God gets in the past tense; when we think of God as acting only sometime in the long ago and far away, forgetting that God is present and at work in the world today. I keep seeing billboards telling us that we should get "back to God." They are well-intentioned, but the phraseology bothers me. It sounds as though God were a hitch-hiker on the highway of life whom we passed by hours ago, or years ago, and we must go back to get Him. Not so. God is always out in the future, urging us forwards with Him. and God's forward urging of God's people is what we mean by the Holy Spirit. On that first Pentecost the Holy Spirit moved into the hearts and lives of those timid, fearful disciples, and something happened to them. Fear and timidity were gone. Even Simon Peter, who had cringed at the questioning of a servant girl, stood up to preach, and delivered such a powerful sermon that literally thousands of people asked, "What shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent, and be baptized!" And they were! What a day! What a difference! Ten days earlier it looked s though the Christian Church had been eradicate from the face of the earth. now after that experience in the Upper Room, the Christians were out to take over the world. Such is the result of what happened in one little room in Jerusalem around A.D. 30. Truly in that little room a new world was made, and the Church was born! II. NOW LET US MOVE ON IN HISTORY SOME 1700 YEARS TO CHECK OUT ANOTHER LITTLE ROOM WHERE A NEW WORLD WAS MADE. This little room is to be on Aldersgate Street in London, England. If you had live in London 253 years ago last May 24th, you might have noticed a very distinguished looking little man, a man wearing the clerical robes of the Church of England, scurrying along on his way to a prayer meeting. He was only around 5'4" tall, but he carried himself with Immense dignity. You might also have noticed that as he hurried along, he wore a very solemn expression, as though he were carrying a great burden. Were you to inquire you would have learned that this man's name was John Wesley, and that he was a priest of the church of England as were his father and grandfather before him. What you would probably not learn, however, was that this man -- a priest of the church - - had never in all of his thirty-five years had an experience of God which brought peace and satisfaction to his heart. To gain it he had tried everything he knew to do; a life of strict prayer and discipline (earning him the nick-name "Methodist") becoming a clergyman in the Church; becoming a missionary to Georgia. He had some strange experiences in America, none calculated to bring help to his troubled heart. When he returned to England, he felt himself to be an abject failure in every way. So we have this failed clergyman, age 35, for ten years an Anglican priest, trudging unwillingly through the dense London fog to yet another prayer meeting to find peace for his soul. And then, as Wesley sat in that little room, listening to someone reading from Luther's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, suddenly it became clear what was wrong. Wesley had been trying to save himself! and it cannot be done, any more than you can lift yourself by your own boot-straps. Salvation does not come through strenuous effort . . built through simple revelation! Just as in that Upper Room at Pentecost, something happened. A miracles took place. God's spirit, the Holy Spirit, broke through into yet another human heart. John Welsey went forth from that little room to turn England upside-down (or rightside up). The Wesleyan Revival brought into being the Methodist Church, which some historians credit with saving England from a bloody revolution such as engulfed France at about the same time. John Wesley went on to preach for more that 52 years, and people flocked to hear him! He averaged fifteen sermons a week for the rest of his life. Someone calculated that he preached some 42,400 sermons! He pioneered in hospital and prison reform, published 440 books, and pamphlets. When he was 83 he wrote; "I am never tired either with writing, traveling or preaching." All of his from a man who was a dismal failure at age 35! All from that little room on Aldersgate Street, today marked with a small plaque on a motorway overpass, a little room where another new world was made! III. NOW, WE COME TO THIRD OF THE LITTLE ROOMS THAT HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD. You'll never guess what it is. You are sitting in it right now. If refer to the church of Jesus christ. This room is not all that small, you say? Well, compared to the mighty halls and palaces of the world it is. What? The church change the world? You've got to be kidding! you may say. The Church seems so weak and powerless int eh face of the magnitude of today's problems. But don't let appearances fool you. Imagine that hose Christians behind the Iron Curtain who have kept meeting faithfully for the past forty years in the face of overwhelming opposition from the Communist government, must have felt pretty small and insignificant. But now we are told that they were the little rooms where the new world which is being made in Eastern Europe was being made. "Little rooms where new worlds are made!" The church of the fist century was small, too. Far smaller and far weaker in numbers than any church of today. Yet it transformed the world! The earliest christian churches were so small that they often met in private homes, and they had no problem of overcrowding. Have you ever noticed the personal greetings that conclude Paul's letters? In the 16th chapter of Romans there were personal greetings to about 30 people. It has been estimated by scholars that the was about the size of those early Christian congregations. About thirty. "Pretty small stuff." But history does not say that. Sober history records that those little groups of committed Christians changed the face of the world. We can well imagine some functionary of the Roman Government writing to the Emperor about those early Christians, and saying: "Don't worry. This movement will soon blow over. There are only a few of them. When the going gets rough, most of them will desert. It is nothing to worry about Trust me." Yes, they were only a handful, but what a "handful" the Roman Empire found them to be! Within three centuries, the Church had spread throughout the Empire. Yes, many of them did desert, but most of them came back, were forgiven, and started a movement which has been passed down to us. You and I stand in the heritage of that handful. The important thing in the church is always quality, not quantity. What make the difference? Enthusiasm. As you may know the word enthusiasm is actually two Greek Words that have been combined and added to our English language which translates "God in you" (in-theos). This is precisely what happened on the Day of Pentecost. That waiting group of Christians were transformed by God's presence. They were suddenly filled with a desire and passion to share Christ with the whole world. There were a fire burning in them that would could not be quenched. This is what Jesus so desperately desired to bestow upon them. More this is what He desperately desires for us to have as well. Numbers are not what are important. Enthusiasm is. Wherever there is the contagion of one glowing heart speaking to another; whenever there is one person being brought into right relationship with God and with neighbor, there is the Holy Spirit, the spirit churches are big business, because in and through them, God's Holy Spirit i at work to remake the world. An author named James W. Jones, recently wrote: "The question is not whether the church were be renewed. Of course it will be; the Spirit is at work.The only question is whether you and I will prove a hindrance or a channel to God's activity." (Quoted in "Preaching" magazine, Sept/Oct 1989, p. 37-38) The real question is are we acting as though God were alive? Or are we acting like God is dead? Presbyterian preacher Lloyd Ogilvie says that the modern Church talks a lot about faith, but :"We make our budgets with the assumption of what people would give if Christ had never been raised from t he dead." Today is Pentecost Sunday, the anniversary of something that happened almost two thousand years. Back in 1938, Yale professor Halford Luccock preached a sermon titled "Power for the Task." In it he warned us about becoming "anniversary Christians." He said; "We Christians seems to have developed a kind of memorial complex . . . All some of us can manage is a pleasant historical mood. I grow just a bit weary of anniversaries. Religion is like a marriage in this: it can fall away until it becomes a little more than a celebration of anniversaries. It never seems to occur to some couples that hey could do more than just remember that hey were happy once. It isn't necessary ever year to refer the matter of your wedded bliss to a committee on antiquities." Then he asked: "Is Pentecost just a subject for research or can it occur again?" Pentecost comes every year to remind us that God want to live in the present tense in our lives. A famous evangelist of another generation was once asked to name the greatest need of today's church. He answered, "another Pentecost!" When asked the second greatest need he answered, "Another Pentecost!" When asked the third greatest need, he answered, "another pentecost!" And as we look around at today's church and see the power shortage, we know he was right. What we need is another Pentecost. We need to experience anew what St. Paul called the "fruits of the spirit," which are these: "love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:25) Let's go for it! Amen. TOP MAY191 THE AWESOME POWER OF LOVE John 15: 9-17 In one of the PEANUTS cartoons, a little girl calls Charlie Brown on the telephone. "Marcie and I are about to leave for camp, Chuck," she says. "We're going to be swimming instructors." Marcie takes the phone and adds: "We just called to say goodbye, Charles. We are going to miss you. We love you." The perennial loser Charlie Brown stands by the phone with a grin on his face. One little friend asks, "Who was that?" He answers, "I think it was a right number." Jesus was speaking to the church: "This I command you, to love one another." Love was the mark of Christianity in the first two centuries. Tertullian summed it up like this, "Look...how they love one another." Would the casual observer say the same thing about our church today? "Look how they love one another." Would it be possible for a hungry soul to come into our fellowship and to leave feeling nobody cares? How well do we measure up to this commandment from Christ? LOVE HAS AWESOME POWER. Dr. Karl Menninger, the well-known psychiatrist, claimed that the most tragic word in society today is "unloved." "Love cures people," he said, "both the ones that give it and the ones that receive it." And he's right! Love cures! Love heals! LOVE HEALS HURTING BODIES. Scientific research is now confirming what many of us suspected all along. Love can heal a hurting body. Roy Angell once told the story of a particularly affectionate puppy who hung around a sanitarium. A doctor at the sanitarium decided to try an experiment on the pup. She made a small incision on the puppy's leg. Then she bandaged it. Finally, she instructed those at the sanitarium to feed the pup but not to show it any affection. The change in the little dog was dramatic. Whereas it had always been energetic, frisky and friendly, it now seemed quite forlorn. Even more significantly, six weeks later the incision on its leg had not healed. The doctor then instructed everyone at the sanitarium to lavish love on the tiny creature. Soon the little puppy was frisky and energetic again. And the incision healed quickly. No one knows the healing streams that lie within the human body which may be activated by the power of love. In Sweden a nurse working in a government convalescent home, was assigned to an elderly woman patient. This patient had not spoken a word in three years. The other nurses disliked her and tried to have nothing to do with her. The new nurse decided to try unlimited love. The elderly woman rocked all day in a rocking chair. So one day the nurse pulled up a rocking chair beside the lady and just rocked along with her and loved her. On the third day, the patient opened her eyes and said, "You're so kind." Two weeks later the lady was well enough to leave the home. It doesn't always work like that, of course, but studies are accumulating. Love heals! The poet Elizabeth Barrett was an invalid for many years, unable even to lift her head from her pillow. One day she was visited by a man named Robert Browning. In just one visit he gave her so much joy and happiness that she lifted her head. On his second visit she sat up in bed. On the third visit they eloped. (1) Love heals the body! No wonder people were healed by coming into contact with Jesus. He was love incarnate--and that is what He calls His church to be today. Love made flesh. Love can heal the body. LOVE CAN ALSO HEAL THE HEART. Somewhere I read about a pastor who asked his congregation if they knew of anyone who was suffering. A little girl, raised her hand and said, "My father is, but he won't tell anyone." The girl then hugged her father tightly. The father, already embarrassed, said, "Stop hugging me. You're hugging me to death." "Oh, no, Daddy," she cried, "I'm hugging you to life." That's what many people need more than anything else. They need someone to hug them to life. We live in a fragmented, alienated society. People desperately need to know that somebody cares. A study was done by a government commission on chronic poverty in Appalachia. Before conducting the study, the members of the commission assumed that poverty was linked to environment or lack of education. These are important factors, of course. But the members of the commission made some discoveries they had not expected. For example, on occasion they would journey up a creek beyond so-called civilization. There they would run across a house and family that was falling apart. No surprise there. That is what they expected. Yet farther up the creek they would find a home that was well-kept and a family that was industrious. What was the difference? It could not be isolation or lack of education for the families were nearly identical in such things. Rather the family that was doing well almost always had a relative nearby, or a neighbor--someone who cared enough to be interested in their welfare. (2) Everybody needs to know that somebody cares. That is the cause of a lot of the unhappiness, unrest, and uncivilized behavior in our society today. People have become isolated and estranged not only in Appalachia, but in small towns and even great cities. Perhaps we should say especially in great cities. The closer we live physically, the farther apart we seem to drift socially and spiritually. That is why John Naisbitt in his best selling book, MEGATRENDS, calls our age one that needs to provide both high tech and high touch. Naisbitt argues that with increased technology there must also come increased literal and figurative touching of people to fulfill their human needs. Love heals bodies. Love heals hearts, emotions, spirits. LOVE ALSO LIFTS US TO A HIGHER PLANE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT. How often the story has been told, "He did it because of love." That was true of Elias Howe. He was a man broken in health and poverty stricken. He wanted to give up. After all, why keep trying when life has knocked you down so many times? Day by day, though, he watched his wife slowly sewing in order to get them a little money for the next meal. Beyond and above all things, Howe loved his wife, and it hurt him to watch her work so hard. Because of his love for her, he forgot his sick body and began thinking how he might help her. He went to work. Six months later he completed the first model of a machine that would revolutionize households throughout the world. It was the first sewing machine. Howe's invention made him famous, and it made him rich. It also helped restore him to health. It was his love for his wife, however, that drove him to this high achievement. (3) George Eastman, the talented inventor and founder of the Eastman-Kodak Company, often stated that he never set out to become rich. Nor was it specifically his intent to promote photography. Eastman lost his father while he was still young. He was forced to watch his mother scrape financially to provide the bare essentials for George and his two sisters. Memories of his mother mopping floors and washing clothes for other people haunted George like a bad dream throughout his life. Consequently, he vowed to make enough money so that his mother would never have to work again. Actually, he made millions, and he revolutionized photography--but his real goal was a comfortable living for his mother. That's what love does for us. It lifts us. "Love lifted me," we sing, and it is true. Marcus Bach tells about a young man who attended a summer camp in order to study under a noted art professor. He learned more about art in that camp than he ever dreamed possible--but not from the professor. The young man's roommate turned out to be a blind student, studying music. As he tried to assist his non-seeing roommate by describing their surroundings, he came to realize that his roommate could see, too. Not with his eyes, but with his fingers and his other senses. He found, in fact, that his friend saw with a great sensitivity alien to persons with visual sight. This realization caused things, such as the purple flowers and vines he sought to describe to his new friend, to have a new and living reality to the young art student. He began to see with greater depth and insight. This new way of seeing in turn helped his art career immeasurably. Love lifted this art student to a new appreciation of the visual world in which he lived. Love does that. It brings us pleasure and comfort and lifts us to a new plane of accomplishment. OF COURSE, LOVE LIFTED CHRIST TO THE CROSS OF CALVARY. "We love," John says in his epistle, "because he first loved us." Love doesn't always make us rich and healthy. Sometimes it costs us mightily. It cost Christ. But he paid the price gladly and thereby set an example for us. "Love one another," he said, "as I have loved you." The love we share in this fellowship is love we first received from Him. And we are still receiving it, for He is with us now, and He is still loving. He is still comforting and reassuring us with His presence. It reminds me of a story former President Ronald Reagan once told. During World War II, Reagan's job was to review letters of recommendations. Many of these letters resulted in soldiers receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. One letter told of a gunner who was trapped in a hole in the bottom of a B-29 bomber, following a crippling attack. The landing gear of the plane was destroyed, and the captain did not know if he could land the plane without the gunner being killed. As it turned out, that decision never had to be made. As the plane neared England, the captain realized that they would never reach an airstrip anyway. He ordered everyone to bail out. Just as the last man stood ready to jump, the captain then took off his parachute. He knelt down beside the gunner still trapped helplessly in the hole and said, "Sergeant, looks like you and I are going to land this thing together." He did not forsake the young soldier even at the risk of his own life. That's love. That's the kind of love that lifted Christ to the cross. That's love like unto God's love for you and me. Wouldn't it be tragic in the light of that kind of love, if you and I in the body of Christ could not get along with one another? How trivial our petty antagonisms and animosities are in the shadow of Calvary. "Love one another." What a simple commandment, yet it carries such power. Power to heal minds, souls and bodies. Power to lift us to new planes of accomplishment. I cherish that kind of love for our fellowship and I believe it can be ours. For the God of love is in our midst. He will empower us. And people will once again say, "Look...how those Christians love one another." --------------------------------- 1. Adrian P. Rogers, GOD'S WAY TO HEALTH, WEALTH & WISDOM, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1987). 2. Los Angeles Times, 9/20/88, Pt. 4, p.3. 3. Charles L. Allen, JOYFUL LIVING IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION, (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1983). TOP MAY291 HOW DO WE CHOOSE? Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Since this is Mother's Day, I want to ask the men in the congregation a provocative question. How do you get along with your mother-in-law? Think about that one for a moment. How do you get along with your mother-in-law? If we lived in Goradze, Yugoslavia, the question would not be frivolous. In Goradze, when a marriage announcement is made, they have a strange custom. The bride-to-be's neighbors grab the groom-to-be and drag him outside. There they tie him to a stake near a bonfire and fan the flames toward him. To save him from becoming barbecued, the bride-to-be's mother has to provide food and drink for everybody. After the feast is spread, the fun-loving neighbors cut the guy loose. That is assuming the prospective mother-in-law-to-be is in favor of the union. (1) Those who are considering marriage sometime in the future need to be advised that when you marry someone, their family comes as part of the bargain. Let's deal with another important question. Those of you who are married--how did you choose your present spouse? What was it about that man or that woman that first turned you on? How did you go about deciding that it was real? Real enough for you to stand in the presence of God and vow that you would be faithful to one another for the rest of your lives? The great evangelist John Wesley, patron saint of the Methodists, was engaged to a young lady and could not decide whether he should marry her. So he prayed about it. Then he let his Bible fall open randomly. He looked for guidance where the page fell open. I'm not sure what he read, but he broke the engagement, which led to all kinds of complications. Is that a good method for choosing? Praying and then letting your Bible fall open to give you guidance? Probably fifty per cent of this congregation is thinking of that old joke about the man who followed this practice, and the Bible fell open to the passage, "And Judas went and hanged himself." He tried again and read, "Go thou and do likewise." He tried a third time and read, "And what thou doest, do quickly." Is that a good method? How do we choose? How do we make the right decision? Even more importantly, how do we know God's will for our lives? The question grows out of our text for the morning. The disciples needed to choose someone to replace the traitorous Judas. They wanted someone who had been witness to Jesus' entire ministry, from his baptism to his ascension. Two names were put forward--Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. Both men fit the resume. Both were obviously men of character. How should they choose? First they prayed. So far, so good. Then they cast lots. And Matthias became the twelfth disciple. Is this a good way to determine the will of God? Should we pray, then flip a coin, roll some dice, draw straws? I did read in the newspapers recently that one state in our country has institutionalized such a procedure. Would you like to guess which state? Nevada, of course. The Nevada state constitution has an interesting provision written into it for deciding who will serve as the chief justice of the state Supreme Court. First, the justices must be elected by the public to their 6-year terms. Second, the candidates for chief justice must be individuals who have already served four of their six years on that court. Then, at that point, the constitution prescribes a coin toss to decide which of the remaining two justices gets to lead the court. That sounds very close to the method used by the eleven disciples. Is there method to such madness? Can God say something to us out of such an unusual text? The answer is yes. There is a message here that some of us need badly to hear. SOMETIMES IN LIFE IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE SIMPLY GO AHEAD AND MAKE A DECISION REGARDLESS OF THE METHOD. Decisions are a part of life. You can't buy a meal in a fast food establishment without being asked, "Do you want to eat this here or take it with you? Do you want it with cheese or without? Large size or medium? Grilled or fried?" You may know the story of the young Notre Dame graduate who determined to seek his fortune. He narrowed his choices of vocations to two. He could go into the real estate business in Houston, Texas or the banking business in Boston. He chose the real estate business in Houston. This was just before the bottom dropped out of the real estate market in Houston. He lost everything. He was a persevering lad, though. He hung in there till things got better. He was such a hard worker that he earned back what he had lost and more. Now he had cash again. He decided to get out of real estate. He had a new decision to make--invest in a new computer company with the funny name, APPLE, or invest in a savings and loan. He invested in the savings and loan. He lost all his money again. This time he was so disconsolate, he decided to buy a plane ticket back home to Indiana. Two airlines had planes flying toward Indiana the next day, United and Eastern. He chose Eastern. Reaching the airport the next morning he discovered that Eastern had gone bankrupt during the night and that his ticket was worthless. Frustrated now, he hitched a ride with a fellow piloting a little two-seater, single engine plane. About half- way back to Indiana they ran into a terrible storm. Fortunately there were two parachutes on the plane. Of course our friend chose the one that would not open. Now he's falling through the air. Being a good Catholic the young man cries, "St. Francis, please save me." Suddenly a giant hand reaches out of the sky and grabs him by the wrist. There he is dangling in the air when he hears a gentle voice coming from the sky, "St. Francis Xavier or St. Francis of Assisi?" Life is full of decisions. There was once a man who lived in Northampton, England, who would attend the Anglican Church one Sunday and the Methodist Church the next. The people of the Anglican Church invited him to join their church, and the Methodist people invited him to become a member of theirs, but he could never make up his mind. When he died, his wife wanted his body buried in the Anglican churchyard. Church officials didn't think this was quite right. If you visit this churchyard today, you will find his body buried so that half of it is inside the fence and half outside. (2) A lot of us would prefer to be fence straddlers. Sometimes it is important, however, that a decision, any decision, be made. Top executives are paid fantastic salaries primarily for their ability to make tough decisions. Tycoon T. Boone Pickens speaking at George Washington University recently, gave this advice to the young people there: "Be willing to make decisions. That's the most important quality in a good leader. Don't fall victim to what I call the `ready aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome.' You must be willing to fire." Business guru Tom Peters tells about a businessman whom he admires whose motto is `anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.' "The logic is impeccable," says Peters. He points out that the plane the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk was nothing to write home about. Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone was not exactly up to Bell Lab standards. Yet if Bell hadn't foisted that piece of junk on the world, and if Orville and Wilbur hadn't gone for lift-off with that bucket of bolts down at Kitty Hawk, we wouldn't have 747's and a vast communication network that can instantly link anyone on this planet. Tom Peters goes on to say, "I emphasize the point because the number one failing that I see in small and large organizations is the failure to do stuff... In an environment where we know nothing for sure, the only antidote is, to quote my old man, `Don't just stand there. Do Something!'" There are three reasons why even a suspect system like casting lots was better for the disciples then standing around doing nothing. First of all, Christ had given them a world to save. They needed to get at it. Secondly, they really could not make a bad decision. Both men met the qualifications. Both were men of character. So often in life we fuss and fume over decisions that are important, but from all available evidence, are nearly equal in merits. We might as well go ahead and make a decision and get on with our lives. The third reason is the most important of all. THE LIFE OF FAITH DEMANDS ACTION. There is no faith involved in constant analysis of a situation. Faith demands a decision. It demands that we get moving. God spoke to Abram, and he got moving toward a land he knew not of. God spoke to Moses, and he got moving toward Egypt and the might of the Pharoah. God spoke to these disciples. It was important that they get moving. So it is with our lives. Faith demands action. Someone in this room has been putting off making an important decision. You've prayed about it, you've agonized about it, now maybe it's time to act. But you say, Pastor, how do I know it's the right decision? I can only say this to you. Sometimes in life we have no way of knowing if we are making the right decision, but if we ask ourselves if our decision is in the mind and spirit of Jesus, and if we have prayed and asked God for His guidance, then we need to go ahead and make the decision, trusting that the God who has loved us since we were conceived in our mother's womb will be with us and will take our decision and use it to our best good and the best good of those we love. For, you see, this text is not about decision making at all, but about trust. God probably smiled and shook His head when the disciples cast lots. But they were His people and He wasn't going to let their decision turn out bad, regardless of how they made it. And so it is with us. Father Thomas Merton was going through a time of personal depression. He wrote in his journal: "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself. And the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe, dear Father, that the desire to please You does in fact please You, and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And so I believe that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust You always: though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for You are with me and You will never leave me to face my peril alone." So, were the disciples right to cast lots to choose their twelfth comrade? We can say this: they were right to go ahead and make a decision, whatever the method. The life of faith is a life of action. And the life of faith is a life of trust that the God we worship will not allow us to make a decision that is unredeemable. So, how should we make those important decisions, like who to marry and should we take that new job, etc. First pray. Then weigh the various options. Then act. Make the decision and move forward trusting that the God who loves you will be with you. ----------------------------------------- 1. James Dent, W. Va., GAZETTE cited in READER'S DIGEST, September, 1990, p. 134. 2. S. Lawrence Johnson, THE PIG'S BROTHER AND OTHER CHILDREN'S SERMONS, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1970). TOP MAY391 THE MIGHTY TIDE OF GOD ROLLED IN Acts 2:1-21 (Pentecost) A ship strayed off course near San Diego some years back. It became stuck in a reef at low tide. Twelve tugboats were unsuccessful in their attempts to budge it. Finally, the captain instructed the tugs to go back home. He sighed, "I'll just be patient and wait." He waited until high tide. All of a sudden the ocean began to rise. What human power could not do, the rising tide of the Pacific Ocean did. It lifted that ship and put it back into the channel. (1) Something like that happened to the early church on the Day of Pentecost. They were all together in one place--confused, unmotivated, fearful--when suddenly the tide of God rolled in. There was a sound like the rush of a mighty wind. And above every head there appeared a tongue of fire. And these largely uneducated followers of the Galilean began speaking in other languages. News of what was happening spread quickly. Jews from all over that part of the world had crowded into the holy city to celebrate the sacred feast. Curious crowds gathered outside the house where the disciples were staying. Each listened with amazement to the disciples testifying in the their own language. There was such turmoil that some supposed that the disciples were drunk. It fell upon Simon Peter to interpret to the crowd what was occurring. They were not drunk, he said. The prophecy of Joel was being fulfilled. God was pouring out His spirit on His people. And Peter began telling the good news of Jesus. When he had finished, about three thousand souls were added to the church. How we long to have such excitement in the church again! How we long for the mighty tide of God to roll in once more! Imagine the police called to our church because the neighbors complained that we appeared drunk and disorderly. That will never happen. Most of us in our Christian faith are as sedate as former President Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge kept himself under such control that when his death was made public, someone quipped, "How can they tell?" That will be said when the death notice of many churches is posted. The church was born in excitement. Church ought to be the most exciting place in the community. By that I do not mean that we ought to be rowdy just for the sake of being rowdy. A reporter once covered a campaign rally back in the mountains of Kentucky. He watched as the politicians made their speeches, to the loud yells of the mountain people. When one finished, the reporter asked a fellow who had taken a leading role in the cheering: "What did you think about the speech you just heard?" Back quickly came the reply: "I didn't come here to think. I came here to holler!" (2) There are churches where people don't come to think. They come to holler. We do not desire that. Still, the church ought to be the most authentically exciting place in town. Why? Let me suggest some reasons. THERE OUGHT TO BE THE EXCITEMENT, FIRST OF ALL, OF A PEOPLE FUELED BY PRAYER. Harry Emerson Fosdick, former pastor of Riverside Church, New York City, once stood by the rail admiring Niagara Falls. The man standing next to him commented: "You know, right there is the greatest unused power in all the world." Fosdick, in his kindly manner, quickly replied: "No, I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you. The greatest unused power in all the world is prayer!" Fosdick was right. Prayer is a dimension in our world still to be explored. I read an amusing story recently about two members of the United States Diving Team, which was competing in the Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. They decided one Sunday morning to attend church. They hailed a taxi, but unfortunately they could not speak Korean and the driver could not speak English. Trying to communicate the concept of church, they put their hands together as if to pray. The driver smiled and nodded his head to show understanding and approval. Then he took the would-be church-goers to the city swimming pool. It is ironic that should happen in South Korea. If you have read anything about the amazing growth of churches in South Korea, you know that they put enormous emphasis on the power of prayer--far more emphasis than we do in our Western churches. Every great revival that has swept through the Christian community has begun with a commitment to prayer. The lay revival of 1858 affected the Western world for half a century. It began with a handful of people in a small room of the Old North Dutch Church in New York City. As the group grew, daily meetings were added. Within a few months, 10,000 people gathered daily at noon for open prayer meetings in New York streets. In two years, 2,000,000 converts entered American churches. As Charles Colson describes it: "Like flood waters, the revival spread through the Hudson River Valley and on to Chicago, where Dwight Moody was just beginning his work with young people. Then it jumped the Atlantic to Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, and danced like fire across much of Europe, then to South Africa and India. There was no elaborate evangelistic organization. Communication was slow; word had to spread from one prayer cell to the next, from church to church, from city to city. It was a movement inspired by the fervor of thousands of Christian laypeople." (3) What were these laypeople doing? They were praying. They were making contact with Divine energy. An exciting church is a praying church. EXCITEMENT ALSO GROWS OUT OF CHURCH PEOPLE TRULY CARING FOR ONE ANOTHER. I'm reminded of a Peanuts cartoon sometime back. It's a baseball game. Charlie Brown, Lucy and Shroeder are sitting on a bench waiting their turn to bat. Charlie Brown yells, "We need a run! We need a run!" Lucy asks impishly, "Hey, manager, what'll you give me if I hit a home run?" Schroeder retorts, "A home run? You've never hit the ball out of the infield in your life!" Lucy persists: "If I hit a home run, will you give me a kiss?" Schroeder replies, "If you hit a home run, I'll meet you at home plate, and give you the biggest kiss you've ever had!!" In the last scene, Charlie Brown and Linus are bounced off the bench, when Lucy jumps to her feet, her bat raised skyward in victory, and yells, "INCENTIVE!" Love builds excitement. I'm tempted to ask how many of you watch soap operas on TV--either daytime or nighttime. Television is dull compared to the things that happen in the lives of real people! If the life of our church gets humdrum at times, it is because there is no real sharing going on of individual concerns and heartaches. The Prime Minister of New Zealand attended the coronation of Edward VII as king of the British empire. Someone asked him what was most memorable about his trip. He replied that on the way back to his hotel he passed a slum section in London. There in a dark alley he saw a boy about 12 years old sitting with his arms around a girl about 6 years old. It was late and cold, and the boy had draped his coat around the girl's shoulders and put his cap over her bare feet. That was the most memorable part of the prime minister's trip. When people truly care about other people there is excitement. Exciting churches are praying churches, and they are caring churches. Truly those early disciples cared about one another. The second chapter of Acts tells how they ate together, prayed together, sang together, and had all things in common. No wonder there was such electricity in the air. An exciting church is a praying church, it is a caring church. ONE THING MORE. EXCITEMENT COMES FROM HAVING A GREAT DRIVING PURPOSE AND SEEING THAT PURPOSE BEING REALIZED. Those of you who are excited about your work know what I'm talking about. You have a clear-cut purpose and you can see it being fulfilled daily. Those of you who are excited about a hobby can attest to the same sense of exhilaration. So it is with the church. Churches that have a clear-cut understanding of who they are and what they are called to do are exciting places to be. What is our purpose? It is to claim our community and our world for Jesus Christ. It is to bring the Kingdom of Christ into individual lives by showing them Christ's love. It is to find those who are unable to help themselves and flood them with the grace of God that requires nothing in return. That is our purpose and a mighty purpose it is. How do we achieve it? We achieve it by committing ourselves without reservation to His service. Let me use what I believe is an exciting analogy. It is from Jack London's masterpiece, THE CALL OF THE WILD. It is the story of a magnificent dog named Buck. Buck was half St. Bernard, half Shepherd. He was 150 lbs. of pure muscle. Because he was such an impressive animal, he was stolen, kidnapped, off the streets of San Francisco and transported to Alaska where there was a tremendous need for powerful dogs to pull sleds through the wilderness snow. So cruelly was Buck treated by his kidnappers and then by his first owners that he was nearly broken in spirit by the time he fell into the kindly hands of John Thornton. Thornton was so humane in his treatment of Buck that Buck developed an undying loyalty to Thornton. Thornton wasn't perfect, however. One evening during a conversation in the Eldorado saloon, Thornton was lured into making a $1,000 wager that Buck could break a thousand pound load from a frozen standstill and move it 100 yards. Some dogs had been known to break 500 lb. loads, maybe even 600 lb., but 1,000 lbs. seemed impossible. It was a foolish wager, but Thornton believed that if any dog could do it, Buck could. Thornton didn't even have a thousand dollars. He had to borrow it from a friend. Men spilled out of the saloon to see if Buck could possibly perform this feat. A sled holding twenty 50 lb bags of flour was standing frozen in the snow. The ten dog team that had been pulling it was released and Buck was harnessed in their place. John Thornton put his face against the face of his great dog. This time he did not playfully shake him as was his normal custom. Instead he knelt down by Buck's side and whispered in his ear these unforgettable words, "As you love me, Buck, as you love me..." Then he stepped back and allowed Buck to do the rest. And of course Buck did. "As you love me, Buck, as you love me...." You and I face a task that the world says is impossible, the claiming of this world for Jesus Christ. All we have to go on is a voice in our ear, "As you love me. As you love me." Is there any task in this world more exciting than that? I think not. Excitement fueled by prayer, by caring for one another and by having a clear-cut purpose which we can see being fulfilled. So let the mighty tide of God rush in again. The Day of Pentecost is here. May it lift us to new heights of service, devotion and love. ---------------------------------------- 1. Bailey E. Smith, NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD, (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1987). 2. Eugene W. Brice, THE ILLUSION OF EXCELLENCE, (St. Louis: CBP Press, 1990). 3. Colson, Charles, LOVING GOD, p 180; Judith Markham Books, Published by the Zondervan Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. TOP MAY391 A MOST CONFUSING DOCTRINE John 3:1-17 (Trinity Sunday) A lady wrote to READER'S DIGEST recently. She wanted to tell about an experience she had taking a young girl from India to church with her. It was the 11-year-old girl's first exposure to Christian worship. The young lady's parents were traveling on business and left her with their American friends. The little Hindu girl decided on her own to go with the family to church one Sunday. When they returned home, her host's husband asked her what she thought of the service. "I don't understand why the West Coast isn't included, too," the little girl replied. When they inquired what she meant, she said, "You know, in the name of the Father, the Son and the whole East Coast." I can see why she was confused. There are some parts of our faith that are difficult to understand or explain. One of these is the Trinity. I find myself in a difficult position this morning--on the horns of a dilemma, as they say. On the one hand I feel like the parents of another little girl must have felt. One day she asked her father, "Daddy, what is God like?" The question sounded innocent enough--until the father actually tried to put his answer into language that a five-year-old could relate to. Finally, he gave the answer for which fathers are famous: "Go ask your mother." She went to her mother with the question, "Mother, what is God like?" The mother soon realized that she had no adequate answer for her daughter either. She said, "Honey, why don't you ask your Sunday School teacher?" The little girl went to her Sunday School teacher with the same question, "What is God like?" The teacher said simply, "Why don't you ask your father or mother?" The little girl thought to herself as she left, "If I had lived with God as long as my father and mother and Sunday School teacher, I think I would be able to tell a little girl what He is like." That's one horn of the dilemma. We are Christians. We have walked with God, many of us, all of our lives. We ought to be able to tell people what God is like. However, there is another horn to the dilemma. St. Augustine, one of the most astute thinkers the Christian Church has ever produced, was walking along the seashore one day while pondering the doctrine of the Trinity--Father, Son, and the "whole East coast." He seemed to hear a voice saying, "Pick up one of the large sea shells there by the shore." So he picked it up. Then the voice said, "Now pour the ocean into the shell." And he said, "Lord, I can't do that." And the voice answered, "Of course not. In the same way, how can your small, finite mind ever hold and understand the mystery of the eternal, infinite, triune God?" Do you get the drift of my dilemma? Many Christian churches will be celebrating today the doctrine of the Trinity. It is one of the most prized truths of the Christian faith. "God in three persons, blessed Trinity...." I'm glad we're trinitarians. If I had adequately to explain the Trinity to a five-year-old, however, or even to a fifty year old, for that matter, I would be in trouble. How can you pour the ocean into a mere seashell? How do you explain the grandeur of God to minds as limited as ours? God in three persons. What does it mean? The word Trinity does not even appear in the New Testament. Why, then, did the church Fathers formulate such a difficult and confusing doctrine? It leads to all kinds of difficult questions. How could the babe in the manger control the movement of stars? Was Jesus merely quoting Psalms when he cried out, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me...?" These are questions for which I have no answers. Still, I want to affirm that the doctrine of the Trinity is the very heart of everything we believe as followers of Jesus Christ. IT SAYS, FIRST OF ALL, THAT GOD IS BEYOND THE CATEGORIES BY WHICH WE HUMANS CLASSIFY REALITY. J.B. Phillips was right. Our God is too small! Look around you. Truly the heavens are telling the glory of God. And the glory which they describe is breath- taking. In 150 BC there lived a man named Hipparchus who said there were exactly 1,026 stars in the universe. Fifteen hundred years later Galileo, using the newly invented telescope, looked into the sky and saw many times that number. Now we know there are about 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone and there are billions of such galaxies besides ours! Can you deal with that? Billions and billions of solar systems like our own? How big is this universe? February 23, 1987. An astronomer observed with his naked eye the explosion of a distant supernova- -a blast so powerful that it released as much energy in one second as our sun will release in ten billion years. The truly startling fact is that this supernova exploded 170,000 years ago. It took that long for the light generated by that faraway event, traveling almost 6 trillion miles a year, to reach us. Last fall you may have read about a comparable explosion. Except it may have taken two billion years for the light from that explosion to reach us, traveling almost 6 trillion miles per year. Can you imagine the magnitude of a God who is bigger than all that? Is your God big enough? Can you imagine a God for whom time does not even exist? We talk about `forever.' People say, "Forever is a long time." That's not it at all. Where God is, there is no time. As Augustine taught us, God created time just as He created space. There is no tomorrow or yesterday in heaven. It is always now! Can you get your mind around that? Eternity is timeless. In Los Angeles there is a fossil museum beside the La Brea tar pits. At the entrance of the museum is a painting of a ribbon, eighty-five feet long, representing five billion years of the earth's history. One inch equals five million years. Do you know how much space on that ribbon belongs to the history of the human race, from the cave men to the astronauts? Less than one- half inch! As one author asks, "What was God doing the other 84 feet 11 1/2 inches? " It is good to remember when we wonder why God doesn't keep our timetable that time is nothing to God. Time is a convenience by which we measure things, not God. You see, many of us have a God who is too small. We want to create God in our image, but He is the Divine Other. He is beyond our imagining. When we say, "God in three persons," we are affirming that God is beyond the categories by which we humans classify reality. AT THE SAME TIME WE ARE AFFIRMING THAT THE GOD WHO IS BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDING VISITED THIS PLANET IN THE PERSON OF JESUS OF NAZARETH. I know I am going beyond what many people can accept, but this is the heart of the Christian message. We are not Deists. We do not believe that God set the world in motion and then walked off and left it. We believe God visited our world in the life of a humble carpenter. Notice I did not say in the guise of a humble carpenter. I said in the life of this carpenter. Jesus was not God masquerading as a man. No, God emptied Himself and became fully human when Christ was born in the manger of Bethlehem. He cried real tears, and sweat real sweat and bled real blood. He was a real man, and yet God was in Him, "reconciling the world unto Himself." Thus Jesus was more than just another hero. Heroes come and go. Want to hear an absurd statistic? There was a poll recently that caught my attention. It was by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Tennessee, surveying 1,077 people concerning how they felt about the deceased rock-and-roll star, Elvis Presley. It found the following startling results: Twenty per cent of those interviewed believe Elvis never disobeyed his parents. Seven per cent believe he never told a lie. (1) Amazing! Jesus was more than just another hero, more than another great teacher, more than a dedicated martyr. He was all these things, of course, but more. He was God emptying Himself and taking on himself the sufferings of us all. Can you deal with that? There is an old story about former Notre Dame football coach, Knute Rockne. Rockne devised a play where both guards and the center pull to go block for the ball-carrier. Obviously that left a large hole in the center of the offensive line. It was the quarterback's job to hit all the big linemen who poured through that hole. Rockne was once explaining the play to a fellow coach when the coach stopped Rockne's explanation to ask how effective the play had been. Rockne admitted that he didn't know. He said his quarterback had never been stupid enough to call that play. (2) It is beyond our comprehension that the God of billions of galaxies would humble Himself to become one of us and to take upon Himself our weakness, our shame, but you see, God is God. He defies all the categories with which we are familiar. That is what the doctrine of the Trinity is saying to us. God is bigger than all our categories. Yet God humbled Himself and walked among us. AND FINALLY, THIS SAME GOD WHO CREATES AND SUSTAINS, WHO IN CHRIST SUFFERED AND DIED, IS AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE OF US HERE AND NOW. Wow! That is what we mean by the work of the Holy Spirit. God is present; He is available; He is our Comforter, our Sustainer, our Friend. There is an old story of a conversation between former Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Jimmy Carter. It was during one of Begin's visits to America. Begin questioned Carter about his platinum, red, and gold phones in the Oval Office. "Tell me, what are they really for?" he kidded the president. "Well, the platinum phone goes to Plains so I can keep track of Billy. The red phone is a hot line to Russia so I can keep track of what's happening there. My gold phone is a direct line to God." "How much does it cost to call God?" Begin asked. "Ten thousand dollars," Carter replied. "But it's worth every penny." Later when Carter was visiting Begin in Israel, he asked the same question. "What are your three phones for?" Begin replied, "One's a hot line to Egypt, another's a hot line to Parliament, and the third is a hotline to God." "How much does it cost to call God from here?" Carter asked. "Ten cents," Begin replied. "It's a local call." The confusing doctrine of the Trinity says that the same God of a billion galaxies, who emptied Himself and walked the dusty roads of Galilee, is a local call. He is here, and He is available. If we have a need, He is our Provider. If we are heart-broken, He is our encourager. If we have wandered far from the path of righteousness, He is our Savior. Everything we ever need, we find in Him. God in three persons. Blessed Trinity. -------------------------------------------- 1. Chet Flippo, "Burning Love," Tennessee (July/August, 1989), p.17. 2. Hermin Masin, Speaker's Treasury of Sports Stories (New York, New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1954), p. 40. TOP JUN191 FROM COPING TO CONQUERING 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 How do you know its going to be a bad day? One cynic says its when you call suicide prevention and they put you on hold...when your horn gets stuck behind a Hell's Angels motorcycle gang...when you see a 60 MINUTES news team waiting in your office...when you hit a hole-in-one in golf, and you're playing alone. A cowboy out west was in a heap of trouble. A wild bull was after him. Head down and nostrils snorting, the bull charged toward him. The cowboy dove into a convenient recess in the ground. As soon as the bull passed over the hole, the cowboy leaped out. The bull came back, madder than ever. Right before the bull reached him, the cowboy ducked back into the hole. Then, when the bull passed, he popped back out again. He did this several times. A passing stranger watching this scenario shouted, "Hey, cowboy, why don't you just stay in the hole?" Leaping out again, the cowboy yelled, "There's a bear in that hole!" That's how it is some days. We get caught between a bull and a bear. One fellow tells about being on an airliner making its way from New York to San Francisco. One of the engines caught fire. The captain came on the speaker system, calmly reassuring his passengers that the fire would soon be out. Besides, the plane could fly as well with three engines as with four. Unfortunately, a second engine burst into flames. Once again the captain assured the passengers that two engines were sufficient. Then a third engine was suddenly ablaze. The captain said no more. There was only silence from the front of the plane. Soon the captain appeared in the cabin with a parachute on his back. As he opened the exit door, he said calmly to the passengers, "Don't anyone panic, I'm going for help." And out he jumped. That didn't really happen, of course. Still, when the pilot leaves to go get help, you're in trouble! That will absolutely ruin your day. St. Paul knew what it was to have a bad day. He had many of them--shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonment. But he knew his Pilot would never bail out. That is why he could write: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be also manifested...." (RSV) St. Paul was one of those people who was never under his circumstances. Some one asks, "How are you doing?" and we answer, "All right, under the circumstances." St. Paul never stayed under his circumstances. He knew how to get on top of them. Whether shipwrecked, or imprisoned, or in chains, his life was testimony to the truth that we can be victors rather than victims. What was St. Paul's secret? He tells us here. He knew the transcendent power of God in his own life. Christ lived within him. Therefore nothing on the outside was strong enough to crush him. By faith in Jesus Christ he not only coped but also conquered. And so can we. ST. PAUL WAS WISE ENOUGH TO KNOW, FIRST OF ALL, THAT OPPOSITION IS PART OF LIFE. Many of us think that life should always give us a wind at our back so we may float through life effortlessly. We whimper if things do not go our way. We whine at every set back. If the currents against us are strong enough, we throw up our hands and say, "Oh well, I wasn't meant to succeed anyway." Archibald Rutledge tells of seeing a bird build its nest. Patiently and hard it worked all day. That night a storm came and the next morning the little bird's home lay on the ground in pathetic ruin. The bird was there, too, however. It was not mourning over the destruction. It was busily rebuilding. The first words of M. Scott Peck's helpful book, THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED are, "Life is hard." And it is. The people who have made the most significant contributions have been people who have confronted that truth head on. They not only coped, but they conquered. Are you familiar with Wedgewood pottery? It is some of the world's finest. Did you know that Josiah Wedgewood was forced to leave school when he was only nine years of age? At thirteen he was stricken with smallpox, which crippled him for the remainder of his life. Nothing came easy for Josiah. Nothing could defeat him either. Today his pottery is known world-wide for its consistent beauty. Do you love the music of Beethoven? When Beethoven's famous "Ode to Joy" was first performed it was instantly acclaimed. Beethoven could hear it only in his imagination, though. When he was first diagnosed as facing deafness, Beethoven reacted with angry outbursts. He wrote to a friend, "Your Beethoven is most unhappy and at strife with nature and the Creator." At first he withdrew from others and refused to tell them of his problem. He knew, though, he could never be happy if he did not compose music. And compose he did, even if he could not enjoy the sound of his own work. Do you know the story of Grandma Moses? Anna Mary Robertson worked as a hired girl on a farm. She met and married a hired hand on that farm. His name was Tom Moses. They moved to a farm of their own and raised ten children. Anna loved to do needlework, but as she became older, her hands were stiffened with arthritis. Finally, at the age of eighty, she could no longer handle a large needle to embroider, so she decided to try painting. She found she could handle the paintbrush more easily and began painting pictures--mostly farm and country scenes. One day a New York City art collector passing through her small town saw her pictures in a drugstore. The rest is history. Beginning after eighty years of age, Grandma Moses painted over fifteen hundred popular paintings. Twenty-five percent of her paintings were painted after she was one hundred. She developed an international following. Why? Because her hands were stiffened with arthritis and she could no longer embroider. Life is hard. Only those who learn to confront that fact and plunge on with determination move from coping to conquering. St. Paul was wise enough to know that opposition is part of life. HE ALSO KNEW THAT BY THE GRACE OF GOD, OPPOSITION OFTEN PRESENTS OPPORTUNITY. I read recently about a salesman who was stuck on an elevator between floors. Nobody in the building knew he was there. Fortunately, there was a telephone in the elevator, so the salesman called the fire department to report his plight. While he was waiting for the fire department and an elevator service person to free him, the salesman decided to put the time to use. He got on the telephone. He called each of his accounts in the building, explaining what had happened and taking their orders by phone. By the time he was released, some two and a half hours later, he had finished all his business in the building and was on his way to the next appointment! (1) There's a man who knows the secret not only of coping, but of conquering. Morris F. Udall, former secretary of the interior and senator, lost an eye in an accident when he was six years old. Children would cruelly tease him about the eye. He started poking fun at himself in self-defense. Eventually that kind of humor became part of his personality. He learned early on to compensate for that lost eye by also working harder than other kids worked. In his junior and senior years in high school, he was editor of the yearbook, quarterback of the football team, led the basketball team in scoring, had his own dance band, and wrote a political column for the weekly newspaper. Later he rose to national prominence. He traces part of his success back to that lost eye. (2) We are told that the greatest door-to-door Bible salesman of all time stuttered. He made up his mind that he was going to turn his disadvantage into advantage. After making the presentation with a lot of stuttering, he would close with these words: "Do you want to b-b-b-buy the Bible now or do you w-w- want me to r-r-read it to you?" (3) That young man turned what could have been a stumbling block into a stepping stone. Because he had within himself the transcendent power of God, St. Paul knew that every form of opposition could be turned to opportunity. When he was shipwrecked or imprisoned or otherwise delayed in his journeys, he took the opportunity to witness to new persons about Christ. He knew that God would use those opportunities to cause the faith to sprout up in unexpected places. While imprisoned he wrote some of the loftiest words in all human culture. If you know what you are doing is from God, you don't give up just because you have been blown off course. You assume that is where God means for you to be, and you go on doing what you believe God would have you do. Thus, opposition becomes opportunity. THIS IS WHAT THE GOSPEL IS ALL ABOUT. It is about taking that which is useless and making it usable--taking that which is hopeless and making it hopeful--taking that which has been defeated and making it victorious. That is what the cross is all about--a symbol of shame now a badge of triumph. An oriental monarch once owned a magnificent, large, perfect diamond. It was the pride of his empire. Under mysterious circumstance, however, it was damaged. Its beauty was marred by a long, hair-like scratch. The king was heartbroken. He sent out word throughout the kingdom that he would give an enormous reward to anyone who could repair his diamond. No one came forward. All the best diamond cutters feared failure. Then an artist offered to rescue the diamond. "Its greatest flaw shall be its most splendid glory," he announced confidently. Taking the diamond, he kept it in his possession for many weeks. Then he returned it to the king. As the king unveiled his precious stone, he held his breath. Perhaps the artist's hand had slipped, and the stone was now worthless. Perhaps he was a fraud and a soundrel. Slowly, carefully, the king unwrapped the diamond, and then catching a glimpse of his priceless treasure he caught his breath. The artist had turned the hair-like flaw into the stem of an exquisite rose carved delicately into the diamond. Truly it was more beautiful than ever before. That is the story of the cross. A symbol of shame transformed into a means of salvation. It can be the story of your life and mine as well. We will face opposition in life. By God's grace, however, opposition can be turned to opportunity. If nothing else, we will be drawn closer to Him who is our Life. That splendid preacher, Clovis G. Chappel, years ago stood with others, facing a situation that looked utterly hopeless. Then one daring man, as did Paul, stood up. "I love to get in a hard place for my Lord," he affirmed with a humble confidence. "I love to get in a place that is so hard that there is no chance to get through without getting down on both hands and knees and crawling through to God." (3) St. Paul discovered in his weakness the unmeasurable strength of God. "We are afflicted in every way," he wrote, "but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed...." That's good news for our lives, is it not? We cannot only cope, but we can conquer. How? By the transcendent power of God working in our lives--turning opposition into opportunity. ---------------------------------------------- 1. SALES UPBEAT. 2. Dale E Galloway, CONFIDENCE WITHOUT CONCEIT, (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Power Books-Fleming H Revell, 1989). 3. IN PARABLES TOP JUN291 DO NOT LOSE HEART 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 A psychology professor was giving his students a test. He asked one question concerning manic depression. "What would you call someone," the question read, "who walks back and forth screaming at the top of his lungs one minute and then sits in a chair and weeps uncontrollably the next?" One of the students answered, "A basketball coach." Coaching basketball must take a terrible toll emotionally. That's why Indiana's Bobby Knight is famous for his tantrums, and Las Vegas Nevada's Jerry Tarkanian chews on a towel. Coaches, though, are not the only persons who have to deal with extraordinary stress. Many very ordinary people do as well. St. Paul writes, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day." He means by the "outer nature wasting away," that life is taking its toll--physically, emotionally, mentally. St. Paul knew what it was to face hardship, and he knew what those hardships could do to us. As someone has said, "If no one knows the trouble you've seen, you've had a face-lift." And it's true. Life takes its toll. That toll is even greater thanks to the extra burden brought on by that most vexing of all demons, worry. Every problem we have is magnified by the amount of anxiety with which we surround it. A candidate for sheriff in Hamilton County, TN was a winner in a recent Coca-Cola promotional contest. You may remember the contest. Certain cans of Coca-Cola were fixed so that when you pulled the tab to open them you won a prize. The candidate won $10. Now he is threatening a lawsuit. It all started when the political candidate noticed something funny about the can of Coke that he was about to open. It just didn't feel like a normal can of Coke. Then he remembered a recent death threat that he had received in connection with his political campaign. That led to a call to the bomb squad. They, in turn, recognized the prize for what it was and opened the can for the nervous candidate. Now the newest winner wants to sue because of the anguish and stress that his $10 prize caused him. (1) I can't say that I sympathize with him, but worry does take its toll. Remember the story of Sleepy Hollow? In Washington Irving's legend, Ichabod Crane, a schoolteacher, was wooing the belle of a small New England community. His rival for her love was a younger man. In their community there was a legend about a headless horseman who rode around the country-side at night. Ichabod's rival for the hand of this young woman dressed up as the fabled phantom and, late one night, lay in wait for Ichabod. As Ichabod rode by, the headless horseman gave pursuit. Poor Ichabod was so frightened he spurred his horse and was never seen again. If only he had turned and faced the object of his fear rather than fleeing in panic, he would have discovered the truth. (2) That is what worry does to us, though. That is what stress does to us. We've watched Presidents of our country age right before our eyes under the heavy responsibilities of their office. We are told that during the Vietnam War, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara busied himself with the minor details of war planning to distract himself from the futility of that terrible war. Toward the end of his tenure he knew the war could not be won. Yet he stopped questioning the military or political significance of sending 206,000 more troops into Indochina. He concentrated instead on the logistical problems of getting them there. His wife reported that, as he fulfilled the requirements of efficiency and effectiveness during his own final days, he began to grind his teeth every night while tossing fitfully. (3) Life takes its toll. In the early 1900's the top ten killers of humankind in the United States were all infectious diseases. In the 1990's it is estimated that the top ten killers of humankind are all stress-related diseases. "Our outer body is wasting away..." writes St. Paul. We know what he is talking about. Bobby McFerrin had a smash-hit song a couple years back, "Don't Worry, Be Happy!" He says his song "says something that's just common sense, common wisdom for humanity--that worry is counter-productive." "Worry takes your energy away," says McFerrin. "You need to turn it into something very positive. And that is to put a smile on your face and say, well, try to take it a little more lightly." McFerrin, who once considered becoming an Episcopal priest, said that the song came out of his own need. "When I wrote the song," he says, "I was experiencing a period of stress and tension. There were some things going on in my life that I wasn't happy with, and this song was written for me just as much as anyone else." (4) Don't worry--be happy. Don't we wish it was that easy? Thomas S. Kepler tells about a group of 104 psychologists who made a study of their cases and determined a timetable for anxiety: At eighteen, we worry about ideals; at twenty, we worry about appearance; at twenty-three, about morals; at twenty-six, about making a good impression; at thirty, about salary and the cost of living; at thirty-one, about business success; at thirty-three, about job security; at forty-one, about loss of ambition; over forty-five, about health. (5) Every stage of life has its own concerns. The sad part is that we add to the weight of our concerns by the anxiety we bring to them. As someone has said, "Worrying is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but will get you nowhere." Life takes its toll. But St. Paul says two times in this chapter, "We do not lose heart." Why? "Though our outer nature is wasting away, OUR INNER NATURE IS BEING RENEWED EVERY DAY." So, though life takes its toll on our bodies, the inner person is being strengthened. How is that possible? How can we keep growing stronger internally even while life is taking its toll on us physically? Three ways. FIRST OF ALL, BELIEVE IN THE FUTURE. St. Paul writes, "For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen..." St. Paul had a hope about the future that all the fiery trials he went through could not consume. Sir Winston Churchill was once asked by a reporter, what was the greatest weapon his country possessed against the Nazi regime of Hitler? Without pausing for even a moment he said: "It was what England's greatest weapon has always been--Hope." Contrast Churchill's testimony with that of Alexander Solzehnietzen in his GULAG ARCHIPELAGO. He writes of convicts called "goners." These were men who had given up hope and were already dead on their feet. They might shuffle along listlessly in line and stare vacantly a few more weeks, but it was all over with for them. Why? They had given up. Evidence is accumulating that we cannot live without hope. Doctors know that telling some patients that they are terminal is in itself a death sentence. When people have no hope, when they give up, deterioration is rapid. (5) St. Paul was looking toward those things as yet unseen, but still anticipated. This hope kept him from losing heart. Belief in the future will do that. That is the first step we need to take in order to keep from losing heart--in order to strengthen the inner person while the outer person is wasting away. Believe in the future. THE SECOND STEP IS TO FOCUS ON THE TASKS AT HAND. Wise people learn to let go of both their regrets about the past and their anxieties about the future and to concentrate on those necessary things that must be done today. Did Jesus not say, "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself?" (Matthew 6:34) As Casey Stengel used to tell his baseball players when they began to tighten up in the homestretch, "We play'em one at a time." That's a good philosophy for life. F.W. Boreham, once told about a man in his congregation who seemed especially at peace with his life. One thanksgiving eve this man came bringing Boreham a basket of freshly gathered fruit. As they sat talking, Mr. Boreham asked him about his calm sense of assurance. After some hesitation the man replied, "I've always made it a rule that when I shut the door, I've shut the door." He went on to explain that it used to be his habit to go to bed taking all his troubles and his fears with him. Sleeping poorly, his health was being undermined. One night he got up and went to the window. It was a beautiful night. "The garden below and the fields beyond were flooded in silvery moonlight," he said. "The perfect tranquility mocked the surging tumult of my brain. Why had I locked the office door so carefully if I wished all the ledgers and cash books and order forms to follow me home? Why had I closed the bedroom door so carefully if I wished all the cares of life to follow me in? I knelt down there at the windowsill, with the delicious air of the still night caressing my face, and then and there asked God to forgive me, and since then, when I've shut a door, I've shut a door." That's good advice to all of us. It's too late to do anything about the past. Who knows what tommorrow will bring? Besides, tomorrow will be determined at least in part by how we perform today. So, let's shut the door on the past and even on the future, and let's make today a purposeful and productive one. How do we strenghthen the inner person? Believe in the future. Focus on the tasks at hand. OF COURSE, THE ESSENTIAL KEY IS TO TRUST IN A HEAVENLY FATHER. As R.G. Letourneau once said, "Worry and trust cannot live in the same house. When worry is allowed to come in one door, trust walks out the other door; and worry stays until trust is invited in again, whereupon worry walks out. " How true it is. It's like a construction crew that was building a new road through a rural area, knocking down trees as it progressed. A superintendent noticed that one tree had a nest of birds who couldn't yet fly. He marked the tree so it wouldn't be knocked down. Several weeks later the superintendent came back to the tree. He got into a bucket truck and was lifted so he could peer into the nest. The fledglings were gone. They had obviously learned to fly. The superintendent ordered the tree cut down. As the tree crashed to the ground, the nest fell clear and some of the material that the birds had gathered to make the nest was scattered about. Part of the material was a scrap torn from a Sunday school pamphlet. On the scrap of paper were these words: "He careth for you." (6) That's the good news for the day. The same God whose eye is on the sparrow is watching over you and me. There is no burden He will not help us carry. There is no valley through which we walk that He will not walk with us. Do not lose heart. Even as life takes its toll on our outer person, the inner person can ever be made strong. Believe in the future. Focus on the tasks at hand. Know that He careth for you. ---------------------------------------------- 1. Candidate Upset at Winning, The Tennessean (Aug. 2, 1990), Section B, p. 2. 2. Clay F. Lee, JESUS NEVER SAID EVERYONE WAS LOVABLE, (Nashville: Abingdon, 1987). 3. Warran Bennis, WHY LEADERS CAN'T LEAD, (San Francisco: Jossey- Bass Publishers, 1989), p.95. 4. THE DETROIT NEWS, USA Week-End, 10-21/23-88, p. 5. 5. Charles L. Allen, GOD'S 7 SEVEN WONDERS FOR YOU, (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1987). 6. BITS AND PIECES TOP JUN391 FINDING OUR WAY BACK HOME 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (Father's Day) Have you ever been accused of being a little absent-minded? Some of us have. We can take comfort in the fact that somewhere in Norway there is a young man named Jermund Skogstad who is worse off than we. Last year Jermund moved from the country to the city and rented an apartment. Thirty minutes after moving into his apartment, he stepped out for a bite to eat. By the time he found a cafe, he was hopelessly lost and had no idea how to get home. Further, he had forgotten the address of his new apartment. Fortunately, he had written the address on a card in his wallet. Unfortunately, his wallet was left behind in the apartment. The last I heard, Jermund had been searching for his apartment for a month. He still hadn't found his way home. (1) That must be a terrible feeling--to lose your way home. Let's talk about that for a few moments this morning. Father's Day is a good time to think about home. St. Paul in our reading from 2 Corinthians writes of yearning for his heavenly home. We can appreciate that. We, too, have a home in heaven. Some of us, however, need to pay more attention to our home on earth. What are some of the functions of a healthy home? HOME, FIRST OF ALL, IS WHERE WE LEARN VALUES. IT IS WHERE WE LEARN TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG. You may have read in the newspapers sometime back about one town that has tried to insure that parents are responsible for teaching their children right from wrong. The city council of Dermott, Arkansas has passed some new ordinances regarding youths. Parents of minors can be placed in a public stockade for failing to restrain their children's illegal activities. If the parents simply cannot control their children, they can sign papers to that effect, and the city will have the juvenile courts rule on what to do with those children. The parents will no longer be held responsible for the actions of their kids, but the parents must pay $100 to the city or do 20 hours of community service. Further, the parents must display a sign in their window and a bumper sticker on their car saying, "My children are not my responsibility. They are yours." (2) As unusual as this city's approach is, there is something very Biblical in the idea. Scripture says that parents are to teach their children right and wrong and to nurture them in the way of the Lord. The idea that children just randomly turn out good or bad and that they should be free to determine their own moral course without outside influence is a relatively new (and foolish) idea. No parent can control everything a child does, but every parent does have a responsibility before God for how his or her children are raised. Actually, most children appreciate knowing where the boundaries of behavior lie. In fact, as Dr. Joyce Brothers notes, strictness in parenting may be coming back into style. A recent study of almost 2,000 fifth and sixth graders--some of whom had been reared by strict parents, others by permissive ones--produced some surprising results. The children who had been strictly disciplined possessed high self-esteem and were high achievers, socially and academically. What these children said revealed that they were actually happier than the undisciplined children. They loved the adults who made and enforced the rules they lived by. (3) Consider the story of Kenny Wheeler. Wheeler grew up in east L.A. where gang-related deaths are epidemic. While in high school, Wheeler looked and acted like a gang member but he didn't actually join a gang. He was fortunate enough to have a teacher who looked out for him. One time, Wheeler skipped school and this teacher called his home. Wheeler's parents went out and looked for their son, found him, and took him back home with them. Says Wheeler, "The other guys laughed for a week--but now some of them are junkies or in jail. It was worth the week that they humiliated and teased me!" Today Wheeler is a gang counselor in Los Angeles. (4) Young people need to know where the boundaries are. They need to know that parents love them enough to hang tough sometimes. This is not to say that physical punishment should be used. We can be firm, yet gentle. Jesus was the ideal model for such behavior. Still, home, first of all, is where values are learned. SECONDLY, HOME IS WHERE WE LEARN TRUST AND CONFIDENCE. I like Sam Levenson's story about the little boy who was heading off for camp for the first time. In the presence of the camp owner and two counselors, his parents were signing the necessary documents for the boy's admission. Watching all this was his younger brother, who finally looked up with tears in his eyes and asked his father, "Why are we selling Robert?" I trust that Robert knew he wasn't being sold. If there is one great need that small children have, it is to know that they have a place in the world--that they belong. This, of course, is the great tragedy of the break-up of families. Each of us needs to know there is something in our lives that is stable, secure. Home is where children learn trust and confidence. This is why they nearly drive us crazy sometimes with their need for attention. A certain father put his little girl to bed with all the necessary ritual only to be called back into her room several times. Finally, after hearing a bloodcurdling scream, he rushed into her room and demanded to know what the problem was. "I burnt my tongue," the child declared. "You burnt your tongue?! How in the world did you do that?" the exasperated father shouted. "I licked the night light," she replied. That little girl wasn't just precocious. She needed to know she mattered. Children have this tremendous need to be aware of their own significance. Actually, that is a need that all of us have. We satisfy it in other ways, though, than licking night lights. Parents have a crucial role to play in giving children the attention and the love they need. Mickey Mantle, former home-run slugger for the New York Yankees, was deeply influenced by his father. Mantle once wrote, "According to Mother I was still in the cradle when Dad asked her to make a baseball hat for me. When I was five he had her cut down his baseball trousers and sew together my first uniform. Also when I was five, he began teaching me how to switch-hit; that is, to hit left-handed against right-hand pitchers, and right-handed against left-handed pitchers, which gives a hitter a big advantage. Dad was a left-hander, Grandpa a right-hander. Every day after work they'd start a five-hour batting session. Both would toss tennis balls at me in our front yard as hard as they could. I'd bat right-handed against Dad, and switch to left- handed against Grandpa. When I hit the ball hard over the house or through somebody's window they would count it a run. I'm probably the only kid around who made his old man proud of him by breaking windows. Dad hammered baseball into me for recreation. But he did more than that. He taught me confidence." Can you see how Mickey's later success was the product not only of talent and personal initiative, but also of that trust and confidence he learned at home? Trust and confidence are primary functions of the home. Of course, God is our ultimate source of trust and confidence. This brings us to the last thing to be said: HOME IS WHERE WE FIRST MEET GOD. I am so grateful for those young families in our church who make the effort of having their small children in Sunday School and church every Sunday morning. I know it is an effort. There is statistical evidence, however, that they will not be sorry. Attendance in Church and Sunday School makes a difference in a child's life--even if he or she may not understand everything that goes on around here. A small child was sitting in her mother's lap and they were looking at a magazine together. When they came across a picture of Jesus, her mother asked, "Do you know who that is?" "Yes," the young child said matter-of-factly, "He goes to our church." Children may not understand everything we talk about around here. What they do understand, though, will make a difference in their lives. There is an old story about Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the great English poet. He was once talking with a man who told him that he did not believe in giving children any religious instruction. His theory was that the child's mind should not be prejudiced in any direction. Children should be permitted to choose their religious opinions completely for themselves. Coleridge said nothing, but after a while he asked his visitor if he would like to see his garden. The man said yes, and Coleridge took him out into the garden, where only weeds were growing. The man looked at Coleridge in surprise, and said, "Why, this is not a garden! There are nothing but weeds here!" "Well, you see," answered Coleridge, "I did not wish to infringe upon the liberty of the garden in any way. I was just giving the garden a chance to express itself and to choose its own production." Home is where we first meet God. Of course, children cannot be expected to meet God in a home where faith is not real. Out of our history books comes the story of a Baptist preacher who took to a stray dog that his two boys had become very fond of. It seems that the dog was black as coal except for three very distinctive white hairs in his tail. One day they saw an advertisement in their local newspaper about a lost dog that fit the description of the stray perfectly, including the three white hairs. With the help of his two young boys, the preacher carefully separated the three white hairs and pulled them out. The real owner, hearing that a dog fitting the description of his lost animal had wandered to the preacher's small farm, went looking for his dog. When he arrived the dog showed every sign of recognizing his former owner, so the man wanted to take him home. Quickly the minister spoke up, "Didn't you say the dog had three white hairs on his tail?" the owner unable to find the identifying hairs, was forced to leave. Later the preacher would write, "I kept the dog, but lost my boys." Oh, the names of the two boys--Frank and Jesse James! (6) Home is where we learn values--where we learn to distinguish between right and wrong. Home is where we learn trust and confidence. Home is where we first meet God. Wouldn't it be terrible to gain the whole world and lose your home? Poor Jermund Skogstad. At least he just lost his apartment. There was no one at home waiting for him, depending on him to find the way back. St. Paul says, "Whether we are home or away, we make it our aim to please Him." That's a good verse to remember as we leave this morning. Let's affirm on this Father's Day the importance of pleasing God in our homes. Let's make a new commitment that whatever else we may lose in this world, we won't lose our home- -neither here nor in the world to come. ----------------------------------------- 1. Man Misplaces Apartment, THE KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL (October 5, 1990), Section A, p. 2. 2. Town Ordinance would Put Parents of Delinquents in Public Stockade, The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Aug. 9, 1989), Section A, p. 6. 3. Dr. Joyce Brothers, "The Power of Love," GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, Sept, 1985, 103. 4. John Calis, "True Colors", PHILIP MORRIS, Summer 1988. 5. Don Emmitte TOP JUN491 WHEN THE STORMS OF LIFE ARE RAGING Mark 4:35-41 Are you comfortable flying? A lot of people are not. I chuckled when I read about a lady who was flying with her infant daughter. When they landed, they were met in the waiting area by her granddad, who took the baby while she proceeded to the baggage claim area. Standing there alone waiting to claim her baggage, she was absent-mindedly holding the baby's pacifier. She noticed a flight attendant staring at her--then at the pacifier, then back at her. Finally the flight attendant spoke. "Excuse me, Miss--is this your first flight? (1) Two fellows were sitting on a park bench. One of them said to the other, "I'm afraid of flying. I take the train on all my long trips." The other said, "That's silly. Didn't you read about those 300 people who got killed on a train last week?" "Three hundred people?" asked the fearful one. "How could three hundred people die in a train crash?" "A plane fell on it," said his friend. Many of us are uncomfortable flying. One nervous fellow noted that the Lord said, "LO, I am with you always." Perhaps if we can imagine ourselves in a tiny plane being buffeted by a storm that is threatening to tear our small craft to pieces, we can appreciate the terror that seized the disciples when a terrible storm came up on the Sea of Galilee. The wind and the waves threatened to swamp their little boat. Only if you remember that some of these disciples were seasoned fisherman can you appreciate the ferociousness of this storm. The disciples thought they might die. They were so frightened they woke Jesus, who was sleeping in the stern of the boat and asked him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" Many of us have asked the same question at some time in our lives. Jesus seems asleep in the stern of our boats and we want to ask, "Do you not care that we perish?" You see, EVERYBODY GOES THROUGH STORMS AT SOME TIME OR ANOTHER. Our storm may be a problem marriage. I read recently about a grandmother, celebrating her golden wedding anniversary. She told the secret of her long and happy marriage. "On my wedding day," she said, "I decided to make a list of ten faults which, for the sake of our marriage, I would overlook in my new husband." A friend asked her to tell some of those faults. The grandmother replied, "To tell you the truth, I never did get around to listing them. Whenever my husband did something, though, that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, `Lucky for him that's one of the ten!'" A marriage Counselor asked one couple, "When things go wrong, do you blame each other?" The wife answered, "Not always. Sometimes we blame the children. Sometimes we blame the President. Sometimes we just slam doors." There are a lot of door-slamming marriages-- marriages in which communication has broken down--marriages in constant turmoil. Some marriages don't make it through the storm, and the wreckage can be devastating. Especially for women. A recent study showed that women and children experience a 73% decline in their standard of living the year of their divorce. Ironically men's standard of living increases 42%. Just as important is the fact that more and more couples find that divorce is no real solution to their problems. In her book, SECOND CHANCES: MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN A DECADE AFTER DIVORCE, Judith Wallerstein writes, "Divorce is deceptive. Legally it is a simple event, but psychologically it is a chain- -sometimes a never-ending chain--of events, relocations and radically shifting relationships strung through time." (2) Marriage counsellors who a decade ago were advising couples to go ahead and part are now recommending couples hang in there and try to make it through the storm. Of course, that has been God's plan all along. Marriage problems are a storm many people are going through. THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE IS ALSO A TERRIBLE STORM WITH DEVASTATING EFFECTS. One famous study, called "Broken Heart," researched the mortality rate of 4,500 widowers within six months of their wives' deaths. Compared with other men the same age, the widowers had a mortality rate 40 percent higher. What greater storm can we go through than the loss of a loved one? In Ernest Hemingway's "Islands in the Stream," an anguished father mourns the loss of his oldest son. The boy has been killed in war. The father is grief-stricken. He will not eat or sleep. He walks alone on the beach for hours. A friend tries to persuade him to leave the beach and begin to come out of his depression. The father says to his friend, "I have been out here all day thinking about him and wanting to have him with me always. I know I have got to let him go. I have got to---but I cannot do it today." Some of you can identify with that father's deep hurt. The loss of a loved one is a dreadful storm. FOR SOME OF US, THE STORM MAY BE A PERSONAL FAILURE. Some of you may know the name, George MacDonald. He was a Congregational minister in a small parish in England in the middle of the nineteenth century. One day his deacons came to him to report that it was impossible for them to continue his salary. He would have to move on. He innocently offered to remain and support himself by writing and teaching. His wife, however, had insight that George did not. "George," she said, "it isn't that the people here are too poor to pay us. They don't want us." Can you feel the hurt in those words, "They don't want us?" MacDonald went on to distinguish himself as a poet and a novelist, but the memory of that failure was always with him. All of us go through storms. THE WORST PART IS THAT JESUS SEEMS TO BE ASLEEP. "Why doesn't he intervene?" we cry out in our distress. Charles Dickens asked that same question through poor demented Barnaby Rudge. Gabriel Vardon comes upon Barnaby, the lunatic lad, at dead of night. Barnaby is bending over the prostrate, bleeding form of a man who has fallen victim to highway robbery. "See," says Barnaby, "when I talk of eyes the stars come out! Whose eyes are they? If they are angels' eyes, why do they look down here and see good men hurt, and only wink and sparkle all the night?" That's the unanswerable question, is it not? Where is God in my distress? Do you not care that we perish? In that beautiful movie, OUT OF AFRICA, the question is asked in a different way. A young Danish woman named Karen Blixen goes to Kenya. There she marries a man she hardly knows. She plants a coffee plantation. For a while, paradise belongs to Karen Blixen. Then, after about fifteen years of hard labor, within the span of a few months she loses it all. She loses her health, her lover, her friend, her coffee crop and her farm, and finally she loses her identity. Everything she lived for has been taken away from her. Suddenly, she is confronted with the meaninglessness of it all, and she asks, "If I know a song for Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the field and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Would the air over the plain quiver with a color that I had had on? Or the children invent a game in which my name was? Or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me? Or would the eagles of the hills look out for me?" She gives her life to Africa, but when she's gone, Africa doesn't remember. There's nothing there that remembers her, though she remembers it. (3) Do my griefs and heartaches matter? That is the question she is asking. Is there anyone there who sees and understands? Teacher, do you not care that we perish? THE STORY IN MARK'S GOSPEL IS AN AFFIRMATION. YES, JESUS DOES CARE. When the storms of life are raging, he does care. When it seems you cannot hold on a moment longer, he does care. When the waters threaten to engulf, he does care. The disciples rouse Jesus from his sleep, and he speaks to the wind and the waves, "Peace! be still!" And the wind ceases and there is a great calm. Then he turns to the disciples and asks, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" THE CENTRAL QUESTION IN LIFE IS NOT HOW MANY STORMS WE MUST PASS THROUGH. THE QUESTION IS WHETHER WE HAVE FAITH FOR THE STORMS. All of us will encounter storms. Sometimes it will seem as if God Himself has forsaken us. It is at such times that our faith will be critical. Do you believe in a God who loves you and has promised never to forsake you? Do you believe that however dark the clouds may be, behind those clouds, the sun still shines? Do you believe that beyond every cross, there is an empty tomb? If you do, you can weather the storm, however severe. If you do not, today is the day to appropriate that faith for yourself. William Gibson wrote the book, MASS FOR THE DEAD. In it he tells how after his mother's death he yearned for the faith that had strengthened her during her remarkable life. It was also the faith that had upheld her during her courageous dying. So he took his mother's gold-rimmed glasses and faded and well-worn prayer book and sat in her favorite chair. He opened the prayer book because he wanted to hear what she had heard. He put on her glasses because he wanted to see what she had seen. He sat in her place of prayer and devotion because he wanted to feel what she had felt. He wanted to experience what had so deeply centered and empowered her. Nothing happened, though. It did not work. (4) That is not too surprising. He needed a faith of his own-- not his mother's faith. As someone said long ago, "God has no grandchildren." Do you have a faith that you can call your own? Do you have faith for the storms of life? Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, in his book STAY ALIVE ALL YOUR LIFE, tells about encountering a hurricane in the Atlantic. They managed to sail around danger, however. Afterwards, Dr. Peale and the captain were visiting. The captain said he had lived by the philosophy that if the sea is smooth, it will get rough, and if it is rough, it will get smooth. Then the captain added, "But with a good ship you can always ride it out." What happens, though, if you are in a tiny ship in a terrible storm? That was the predicament the disciples faced. That is the predicament many of us sometimes face. At such times all we can do is rely on the faith we have nurtured all these many years. When we do, if our faith is our own and if it is real, we will hear a voice, a voice that calms the storms within our own souls. "Peace," that voice will say. "Peace. Be still." ---------------------------------------------- 1. Sandi Gooden in READER'S DIGEST 2. Wallerstein's quote from: Patricia Hersch, "Ten Years After: A Sobering Report on Divorce," Psychology Today (July, 1989), p. 78. 3. Roger Thompson in PREACHING TODAY 4. Maxie Dunnam, THAT'S WHAT THE MAN SAID, (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1989). TOP JUN591 RICH THROUGH GIVING 2 Corinthians 8:7-9 Last year about this time Andy Hawkins, pitcher for the New York Yankees, managed a history-making feat. He pitched a complete no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox...and lost the game 4-0. Only one other major league pitcher has ever thrown nine innings of ball without a hit and lost. That loss was by a much more respectable 1-0 score. You ask, how can you lose a game where you allowed no hits? Well, first you walk two batters; walks don't count as hits. Next you have three teammates make errors. Errors put men on base but are not counted as hits against the pitcher's record. The result of all this is that the pitcher's results that day in the record-book look far better than his results on the stadium scoreboard. That bears a funny similarity to real life. Some of us look very good in our own scorebooks because we choose what things we'll judge ourselves on. We forget the walks and fielding errors and believe we're pitching no-hit games. Our record-books, however, are not the final word. God sees all things, and that affects the final score! (1) I'm not in the pulpit this morning with the intention of making any of us feel guilty. There is an area in the life of our church, though, where many of us are not lighting up the scoreboard as we could or should. That is in our giving. In our lesson from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, Paul praises the generosity of the church at Macedonia. He uses their giving as an example to challenge the church at Corinth. He says gently to the Corinthians, "Now as you excel in everything- -in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in your love for us--see that you excel in this gracious work also." (RSV) The gracious work of which Paul speaks is giving. That's pretty tactful. "You're lighting up the scoreboard in every area," Paul is saying, "but one. Let's try to light it up with our giving as well." Then Paul adds, "I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love is real." Paul is not demanding that they increase their giving. He hopes that they will see that giving is a natural consequence of Christian devotion. I hope each of us see that as well. I want to offer some reasons this morning why generous giving is critical to the devotional life of a Christian. THE FIRST REASON CONCERNS THE SEDUCTIVE NATURE OF WEALTH. This is not a sermon against money. In just a few moments we are going to be talking about some of the wonderful things money can do. There is something very dangerous about money, however, and that is this: THE MORE YOU HAVE, THE HARDER IT IS TO SHARE. That's true. A recent Gallup poll confirms what many of us have observed for years. Donations to charity decrease as income increases. The survey found that low- and moderate-income Americans, especially churchgoers, are more generous than upper-income Americans. The Rev. Reuben Tinker, an eloquent Presbyterian preacher, put it this way back in 1830: "The heavier the purse string hangs down, the tighter the strings." Tinker said, "If a thousand poor people were given a thousand dollars, they would give more than a rich man who was given a million dollars." (1) Think about it. The same person who had no difficulty tithing when his salary was $100 a week has real difficulty when his salary reaches $1000 per week--after all, 10% of $1,000 every week is a lot of money! It should work the other way. It should get easier to give as our wealth increases, but it does not. There is something about money that hardens us. According to Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, a recognized authority on selling to wealthy prospects and the author of MARKETING TO THE AFFLUENT, it is very difficult to get people with money to see anything else. When wealthy participants in his studies were asked if they would like the money for participating in the studies donated to their favorite charity, the response was rarely charitable. One millionaire even admitted, "I'm my favorite charity." (2) It is like a man who bought a baby python and played with it until he had trained it to wrap itself around his body. Then he took his act to the circus where people clapped and cheered as he showed his mastery over this fierce reptile. Until one night he gave the signal for the python to release him, and the python decided otherwise. The cheers of the crowd turned slowly to screams as the crowd began to realize that the great serpent was crushing its so-called master. As attractive and wonderful as money is, that is its nature. No wonder Jesus talked more about money than any other subject. No wonder he warned that we could not serve God and mammon too. So, you see, giving is a spiritual question. For some of us, our very souls are at stake. Maxie Dunnam tells a memorable story that speaks to the very heart of this matter. First United Methodist Church of Charlotte, North Carolina, an old downtown church with many affluent members, extended its ministry to the city's poor and homeless. When these domestic refugees became highly visible on church property, one well-dressed and well-educated church woman stopped minister Harold Bales in the church corridor, obviously wanting a justification for the presence of the intruders. Rev. Bales explained that he was trying to save people from hell. The woman, hesitantly agreed that the church should make an effort to save the street people from hell. "No, I don't mean them," Rev. Bales said, "I'm trying to save us from hell." That's powerful, but its true. Many people in our society are in danger of becoming rich fools--gaining the world, but losing their own souls. That's the first reason giving is an important spiritual matter--the seductive nature of wealth. THE SECOND HAS TO DO WITH THE WONDERFUL THINGS MONEY CAN BUY. I'm not going to be a hypocrite about it, I like having money. I can appreciate the millionaire who told a group of acquaintances, "I know you're envious of my wealth. But just remember that money is not everything. Money will not mend a broken heart or win the love of a good woman. No, my friends, money cannot brighten a home or reassemble the fragments of a broken dream. Money cannot buy happiness." He paused for a moment, then added, "Of course, I mean confederate money." At least he was being honest. I agree with Woody Allen: "Money is better than poverty--if only for financial reasons." Did you hear about the biologist who crossed a pig with a giraffe? He says he's eating a lot higher on the hog. Terrible, I know. Few of us live high on the hog. Most are in the same boat as former pro golfer Doug Sanders. He says, "I'm working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time. If I can die right after lunch Tuesday, everything will be great." Regardless of our circumstances, we have to admit that there are some things only money can buy. Like braces for your children's teeth and a good education. Like quality health care and a worry free retirement. Like dependable transportation and a warm house on a cold night. In a society such as ours money is a very valuable commodity. The late G.A. Studdert-Kennedy once said that the real meaning of money was brought home to him him in a powerful way. He saw a girl, living in a veritable pigsty, dying of tuberculosis. The girl could get well, but only on one condition: somebody had to find enough money to transport her to a decent place where she could have fresh air, professional care, and good food. Studdert-Kennedy went out and got the money, and then he knew, he said, what money is. "It is the power to demand a human service and to be sure that you will get it." Our giving is a spiritual matter simply because there are some things in this world only money can do. Money can help house the homeless and feed the hungry. Money can send Bibles to new Christians in developing countries. It can provide counsellors to young people in runaway shelters. It can build a beautiful place of worship to call secular people back to God. You probably have enough money in your wallet right now to feed a hungry child for several days. Think of the power that gives you. You can make a difference in whether or not a child survives! I wish that child could be fed with our prayers and best wishes, but without money it will not happen. One day a boy was walking in the street carrying a basket of eggs. He tripped on the curbstone, dropping the basket, and smashing the eggs. A crowd gathered at the scene. One said, "What a pity!" Another said, "I'm sorry he is crying. Let's comfort him." Then a man stepped forward, reached into his pocket, and said, "I care a dollar. How much do you care?" That's the question. We have in our wallets the power to translate personal tragedies into triumphs. (3) Giving is a spiritual matter, first of all because of the seductive nature of wealth. Secondly, because there are some things only money can do. FINALLY, IT IS A SPIRITUAL MATTER BECAUSE WE WORSHIP A GIVING GOD. St. Paul follows the two verses we have already read with these words: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich." We worship a giving God and He says to us there is only one way that we can become truly rich. That is by giving--all we have and all we are. I was reading recently about Dr. Robert Cade. Dr. Cade is employed as a research physician at the University of Florida. In 1965 he did some research on why football players lose so much weight during extended practices and games. That research led Cade to develop a drink designed to replenish the fluids lost during heavy exercise. He named the drink after the nickname of the Florida football team: Gatorade! In 1989, the Stokley-Van Camp sold more than $400 million worth of Gatorade. Dr. Cade's royalties are substantial, obviously. Yet he still lives in the same house in Gainesville. He uses his money on behalf of others. He has supported Vietnamese boat people, paid the bills of many needy patients, funded research performed by himself and others, and he currently underwrites the education of sixteen medical students. When asked about his charitable gifts, he replied, "God has blessed me in all kinds of ways--including a big income. In the book of Deuteronomy God tells the Israelites a man should give as he is blessed. I think I am duty bound to do as He suggests." (4) Dr. Cade is a man who is truly rich. He has not been seduced by his wealth. Yet he understands the good things money can buy. How about you? St. Paul said to the Corinthians that they were lighting up the scoreboard in every area except one. If they wanted to really excel--if they wanted to know what rich really is--they would need to learn to give. --------------------------------------------------------- 1. William Nack, "That's Baseball," Sports Illustrated (July 9, 1990), p. 19.- 2. JOYFUL NOISELETTER, March 1989, p. 2. 3. Maxie Dunnam, THAT'S WHAT THE MAN SAID, (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1989). 4. MAIN EVENT, A Sports Journal for Physicians, Sept. 1989, p.24 in PREACHING, Jan/Feb 1990 TOP CSAPR191 CHILDREN SERMONS Second Sunday of Easter HEY! I WANT TO BELIEVE! Scripture: John 20: 19-31 Object: A baseball glove Boys and girls: Baseball season will be starting soon. I've got my glove ready. One of the things I like about baseball is that some baseball players get nicknames. Like Lefty Gomez and Dizzy Dean- -two great old baseball stars. Some nicknames are great. Others are not so great. I don't believe I would want to be called Goofy, like Mickey Mouse's friend. I certainly wouldn't want to be called Dopey like one of Snow White's friends. One of Jesus' disciples developed one of the most famous nicknames in all the world. He became known as Doubting Thomas. Thomas wasn't with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them after he arose from the grave. Thomas couldn't believe Jesus was really alive. Not until he could see the Master for himself. Jesus did show himself to Thomas and Thomas believed from that day on. But he could never shake the nickname. Today, two thousand years later, he is still known as Doubting Thomas. That's not fair. Thomas really did believe in Jesus. Maybe that's a good lesson to us about getting a bad reputation. Reputations, like nicknames, have a tendency to live on even when they are no longer true. Let's earn for ourselves good names. Because names live on. Just ask Doubting Thomas. TOP CSAPR291 Third Sunday of Easter WOULD YOU MIND RESCUING ME? Scripture: Luke 24: 36-49 Object: A rope and a rock Boys and girls: If a friend of yours was drowning, would you throw him a rope or a rock? I heard about a girl named Sally who was having a real problem with her weight. One day she saw a friend of hers walking up the driveway. Sally said to her mother, "Linda's so skinny it makes me sick." "If it bothers you," her mother said gently, "why don't you do something about it?" "Good idea, Mom," Sally replied. Turning to her friend, she called out, "Hey, Linda, have a piece of chocolate cake." What was Sally trying to do. She was trying to give Linda a weight problem like her own, wasn't she? Sometimes people who say they are our friends try to get us to do things that are wrong. Or they try to get us to do something that is not good for us. Of the thousands of young people who die each year from addiction to drugs, many of them started because a friend got them to try a drug the first time. What a terrible thing to do to a friend. Jesus wants us to be the kind of people who throw our friends ropes, not rocks. He wants us to help lift others up, not help them go down. Remember that, if a friend tries to get you to do something you know is wrong or something you know is not good for you. He or she is no friend at all. TOP CSAPR391 Fourth Sunday of Easter ONE FOR ALL Scripture: John 10: 11-18 Object: A Teddy Bear Boys and girls: Sometimes when we are small and afraid, it helps to hold on to something soft--like this Teddy Bear. Did any of you ever have a Teddy Bear? I heard about a very brave lady who probably would liked to have had her Teddy Bear with her. She is a California State Highway Patrol Officer. One day she received a call concerning a woman about to jump from a bridge. This presented the officer with a very big problem. She has an extreme fear of heights, and the jumper was perched on the railing of a bridge that is 443 feet above the floor of a deep gorge. That's high and that's scary. The officer forced herself to walk calmly toward the woman, however, and sit down beside her. There they talked for two hours while the officer struggled with her own panic. Finally, the jumper agreed to come away from the railing and get help. That took courage, didn't it? That highway patrol officer risked her life for someone else. One of the reasons we love Jesus is that he was willing to give his life for us. That took a lot of courage, too. The Christian religion isn't for sissies. It is for people who are brave enough to do the right thing, even when it's scary. I'm glad I am a follower of Jesus, aren't you? And I pray that we will always be brave enough to do the right thing like he was brave enough to give himself for us. TOP CSAPR491 Fifth Sunday of Easter CONNECTIONS IN HIGH PLACES Scripture: John 15: 1-8 Object: A small limb with branches Boys and girls: Jesus compared himself to a vine and us to branches on that vine. I couldn't find a vine, but I brought this small limb with me. See how the branches are connected to the limb? Jesus was saying that we are connected to him and because we are connected to him, we are connected to each other. I believe that is why God created us to hug each other. When we hug we are re-connected. A famous doctor said recently that hugging somebody is about the nicest thing we can do for them. Hugging helps lift people out of depression. It helps our body's immune system fight off disease. Hugging breathes fresh life into a tired body and makes you feel young and more vibrant. In the home, daily hugging will strengthen relationships and significantly reduce friction. All these things can happen, says this doctor, when we give someone a hug. So, when you get back to your seat, why don't you give your parents a big hug. Think how much you will be doing for them. If your parents are not here, how about giving me a big hug. Think how much you will help me. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. Being connected is one of the most important things in the world. One of the ways we show we are connected to someone else is with a hug. TOP CSMAY191 Sixth Sunday in Easter THE AWESOME POWER OF LOVE Scripture: John 15: 9-17 Object: A potted plant Boys and girls: I brought my friend with me this morning. (Set plant down in front of them.) How many of you have a plant for a friend? Actually, plants are our friends, aren't they? They take up the Carbon Dioxide in our air and convert it to oxygen. They give us food to eat and they make our world colorful. We could not live without plants. They are truly our friends. For quite a while people were writing in magazines about talking to your plants. Plants need love, we are told. They need people to talk to them. They grow better if you talk to them. At least that is what was being said. I feel kind of funny talking to plants, myself. I do know that people need other people to talk to them and to show them love. Everybody needs that. That's one reason God has given us the church. This is a place where we can talk not only to God, but also to one another. Jesus told us to love one another and that means talking to one another and having fellowship. So, talk to your plants if you like. They are our friends. But far more importantly, make friend here at church. That's what God wants us to do. TOP CSMAY291 Seventh Sunday in Easter (Mother's Day) HOW DO WE CHOOSE? Scripture: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Object: An apple Boys and girls: Have you ever played the silly game where you twist the stem of an apple while you say the alphabet (twist stem)--A,B,C,D,E,F. Then at the place in the alphabet where the stem breaks, whatever letter it breaks on, that is the first initial of the person you will some day marry. For example, if a girl's stem breaks on "D" she might marry someone named Don, or David, or Dick. That's a silly superstition, isn't it? It certainly would be a crazy way to choose someone to marry. We're going to talk in our regular sermon this morning about how our Moms and Dads chose each other to marry. Right now I want us to take a few moments to give thanks for our families, and especially our mothers. Mothers are very special people, aren't they? We didn't get to choose our mothers, but most of us wouldn't trade our mother for any other mother in the world. God must have chosen our mothers for us, because in most cases it worked out so beautifully. Let's take a few moments to give God thanks for our families and particularly our mothers. Nobody in the world loves us like they do--except God Himself. As a matter of fact, someone once said, "God couldn't be everywhere at once and so He created mothers." That is so true. Let's give thanks for our mothers. (Lead the children in a prayer of thanksgiving.) TOP CSMAY391 Pentecost THE MIGHTY TIDE OF GOD ROLLED IN Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 Object: A rubber spatula and a wool sweater Boys and girls: We are going to do a little scientific experiment. I need a volunteer. (Choose someone with long, straight hair.) Now I'm going to wipe my magic wand on my mystic sweater (Rub rubber spatula vigorously on wool sweater), then I'm going to wave it like this, and I'm going to place it above___________'s head--and what happens? That's right! Her hair stands up! Why is that? That's right. Static electricity. Today is Pentecost. It is a strange, but happy day in the life of the church. Two thousand years ago the Holy Spirit came upon the church with great power. It was like electricity in the air. We don't know if the disciples' hair stood up, but we do know that above each person's head appeared a tongue of fire. We can't really imagine something like that happening, but whatever it was that happened to the disciples, it made them so powerful that when they preached and prayed and fellowshipped, thousands of persons were added to the church. So we celebrate Pentecost just like we celebrate Christmas and Easter. We think of Christmas as the birthday of Jesus and Pentecost as the birthday of the church. And we pray that we as a church today will be just as powerful as the early church was at showing the love and joy of Jesus. And if we could do that, that would be enough to make your hair stand up-- even without my magic wand and my mystic sweater. TOP CSMAY491 Trinity Sunday A MOST CONFUSING DOCTRINE Scripture: John 3:1-17 Object: A glass of water, and ice tray and a steam kettle Boys and girls: This is Trinity Sunday. This is the day we celebrate a most confusing doctrine--the doctrine of the Trinity. What do you think of when you think of the Trinity? That's right, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe in One God who reveals Himself in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That's very confusing even to us adults. One way we can think of it is like this. What do I have right here? That's right, a glass of water. Suppose I poured this water into this tray and put it in the freezer for a few hours. What would happen? That's right, it would freeze. Then it would be what? Ice. Suppose, however, instead of pouring it into the tray I poured it into this steam kettle and put it on a hot stove eye for a little while. What would happen? That's right. It would start boiling away and turn to steam. It's the same water---but in three forms, water, ice, steam. In the same way, we believe in one God who is our Creator, but who also came to us in Jesus Christ and who is with us today in the Holy Spirit. The main thing to remember is that however God comes to us, He comes to us for one reason--to let us know that we are loved. We are His children. We may not understand all His ways, but we know that one thing. We belong to Him. TOP CSJUN191 Second Sunday after Pentecost FROM COPING TO CONQUERING Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 Object: A string or thread for pulling a loose tooth Boys and girls: Have you ever had a toothache? They can be very painful. Toothaches are a good reason to remember to brush your teeth. Can you imagine an elephant with a toothache? The huge tusks that elephants have are really teeth. Those tusks can be up to eleven feet long. That's a big tooth, isn't it? Tusks can become infected just like teeth and they can be as painful as a toothache- -an elephant-size toothache. Of course an elephant can't go to a jungle dentist. He can't even tie a string like this one to a door- knob and pull it. Have any of you ever pulled a tooth like that? The elephant looks for a tree where he can lodge his big tusk between a limb and the trunk and pull his own tooth or tusk. The Bible tells us there are painful events in life--that sometimes hurt worse than a toothache. Sometimes a heartache hurts far worse than a toothache. The Bible tells us that no matter how bad we hurt, though, God is there to comfort us and to help us ease the hurt. That's good to know, isn't it? There is Somebody who loves us, is always on our side, and wants to help us through any hurt. That is God. TOP CSJUN291 Third Sunday after Pentecost DO NOT LOSE HEART Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 Object: A brick and a piece of glass Boys and girls: How is this brick like this piece of glass? That is the question for the morning. We know some ways they are not alike, don't we? What are some of them? You can see through the glass, can't you? And the brick is much stronger. It takes a much stronger blow to shatter this brick than to shatter this glass. But there is a way in which they are very much alike. They are both made from sand. Isn't that amazing? That reminds me of people. People can have some of the same things happen to them, but some get stronger and others shatter like glass. They may be very similar people on the outside, having the same kind of experiences, but one gets stronger while the other goes all to pieces. What's the difference? I believe God has something to do with it. If we believe that God is with us through all kinds of times, then when bad times come, we are more likely to get stronger than to shatter. That is what faith is all about. Faith makes us strong when life is hard. So are you a brick or a pane (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun, ed.) of glass? Have faith in God so that you can be strong for bad times. TOP CSJUN391 Fourth Sunday after Pentecost FINDING OUR WAY BACK HOME (Father's Day) Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 Object: A yellow ribbon Boys and girls: One of the most familiar sights during the war in the Persian Gulf has been the yellow ribbon. I don't know the original source of this symbol, but I do know that fifty years or so ago there was a story that preachers used to tell. It was about a young man who ran away from home. No one heard from him for many years. Then one day he got homesick. He sent a letter to his family, apologizing to them for all the worry he had caused them. He told them he wanted to come home. "If I'm not welcome, just hang a black ribbon on the old oak tree out front," he wrote. "If it's all right for me to come home, just tie a yellow ribbon on the tree." The next day when the young man came up the street near his home he found the old oak tree just covered with yellow ribbons. His family really wanted him to come back home, didn't they? Home is where people love us no matter what we've done or where we've been. Home is where people stick together no matter how difficult the times. Home is where we know we are loved, no matter how badly the rest of the world may treat us. On this Father's Day, let's give God thanks for our homes. It's the one place in this world where there will always be a yellow ribbon for us. TOP CSJUN491 Fifth Sunday after Pentecost WHEN THE STORMS OF LIFE ARE RAGING Scripture: Mark 4:35-41 Boys and girls: I want us to join hands and make a circle. I want us to pretend that we are reaching around a giant tree. Out in California there are giant trees called Sequoias. Twenty children holding hands could barely manage to circle a giant sequoia tree. It's the biggest living thing in the world. They are big around and they rise high into the air. You would think these giant sequoias would have roots that reach deep down into the ground, wouldn't you? How else would they stand when strong winds blew. Yet we are told these tall trees have roots just beneath the surface of the ground. The reason they do not blow over is that they intertwine their roots. They hold one another up! That's a good lesson for us, isn't it? They best way to make it when life is treating us roughly is to hold on to each other as well as on to God. TOP CSJUN591 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost RICH THROUGH GIVING Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:7-9 Object: Some money Boys and girls: Did you know that there are some things in life that increase the more you give them away. Let's say that you love somebody. When you give them your love, they give love back. Now you have more love than you started with. The same thing happens with a smile. You give a smile to someone. They smile back. Now you are happier and smile even more. It's wonderful to give away something that increase in value the more you give. Money doesn't work quite like that. When we spend it, it is gone. Usually what we buy with it doesn't last very long, does it? Usually it wears out. However, when we give money to a worthy cause we get something back that doesn't wear out. When we give money to God, or to someone in need, or to a worthy organization we get something back that is more important than money--it is the feeling that we have done something noble, something good. We get the feeling that we have made the world a better place to live. Think about that next Sunday morninmg when you put your money into the Sunday School offering. You are doing something noble and good. You are giving to God's work. You are making the world a better place to live. TOP

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