APR192 ~ I AM DOING A NEW THING
Isaiah 43:16-21
A story appeared in the newspapers on January second of this
year. It was about a seventy-one-year old man in Evansville,
Indiana who had his life saved in a most unusual way. A truck
smashed into his house.
It was 2:35 a.m. when a driver lost control of his truck on
wet pavement, struck the curb and sailed on to the porch of Lee Roy
Book's house. Later, a utility crew sought to restore electricity
to Book's home and to check for gas leaks. They discovered that
Book's chimney and pipes were plugged with two feet of soot and
leaves. The blockage was causing odorless, poisonous carbon
monoxide fumes generated from burning natural gas to back up into
the house.
For the past two years Book, who lives alone, has been sick
with classic flu-like symptoms, including chills, nausea, shakes
and headaches. These are also the symptoms of carbon monoxide
poisoning. He would black out and couldn't remember doing such
things as visiting a friend. "I'd come to when I got in the fresh
air," said Book, "but every day it was getting worse and worse. It
was awful." Chances are that if the car had not smashed into his
house, by now Lee Roy Book would be dead.
The kicker to the story, however, is at the end. Booker once
worked as a building contractor. He is very much aware of the
dangers of improperly vented furnaces. He always warned his
customers to check their flues every two or three years to make
sure they weren't clogged.
"But somehow or another," he said, "it never did dawn on me
to check my [own] chimney." (1)
The season of Lent is a time when we who are supposed to be
the spiritually enlightened of the world have an opportunity to
check our own chimneys.
For you see, we do not live in a static world. Neither is God
a static God. God says in our reading from Isaiah, "Forget the
former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new
thing!"
Is there anybody in the room who is not encouraged by this
good news? God is doing a new thing! He is not confined to the
pages of this book. Neither is He confined to the faith of our
fathers and mothers. God is our contemporary. HE IS DOING A NEW
THING.
HE IS DOING A NEW THING IN OUR WORLD.
Some of you can remember
when it was fashionable in our land to look for communists under
every bed. We lived in mortal fear of the Red tide that would one
day wash over our beloved shores. What nonsense! People of faith
should have known that the Soviet Union had far more to fear from
freedom that we ever had to fear from creeping communism. Why?
Because freedom is God's way. Human dignity is His agenda.
Do you remember Archibald Rutledge's story about the time he
tried to capture and cage a young mockingbird? On the second day
in the cage, the young mockingbird's mother flew to her off-spring
with food in her bill. This pleased young Rutledge for surely the
mother knew how to feed her child better than he did. The following
morning, however, he found his pathetic little captive dead. When
he recounted this experience to Arthur Wayne, the renowned
ornithologist, Wayne explained. "A mother mockingbird," he said,
"finding her young in a cage, will sometimes take it poison
berries. She thinks it better for one she loves to die rather than
to live in captivity."
A sad story, but a sound principle. There is something within
the heart of every creature that wants to be free. Freedom is God's
plan for His children. He was there as the bricks were removed from
the Berlin wall. He was there when that lone student defied the
tank in Tienneman Square. He was there when Terry Anderson walked
out of his prison cell in Beirut a free man. It is absurd to
interpret history as if God is dead. God is doing a new thing!
That is a word of warning, my friends, as well as a word of
promise. There are still ways in which we degrade people's dignity
in our land. God will not tolerate such indignities forever. As
long as people live in poverty, in hunger, in fear, God's agenda
is not completed. As long as people live in sin, squalor, and
despair He will not cease to labor. "My Father is working still,"
said Jesus, "And I am working." God is doing a new thing in our
world.
HE IS ALSO DOING A NEW THING IN OUR INDIVIDUAL LIVES.
It was
1884. The New Orleans Cotton Exposition wanted to make an even
bigger splash than the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia a few
years before. And New Orleans did come up with something never seen
before.
All the ladies oohed and ahhed over an exotic water flower
with an orchid-like bloom that came from Venezuela. Even the name
smelled good--the water hyacinth. Thousands of lady visitors
sneaked little slips of the plant into their handbags and took them
home, praying they would take root in some spot of their own damp
Louisiana yards.
The prayers were answered. Before many years, it became
evident that the water hyacinth was not only going to survive--it
might even take over every water channel in the South! Soon rivers
and canals were solid water hyacinths from bank to bank.
A little too late, horticulturists found that each plant
produces a thousand little water hyacinths every two months!
Because pieces break off and float down the river, they can even
transplant themselves with no help at all. (2)
What a profound parallel to the way sin comes into our lives.
A simple phone call. A drink at a party. Growing resentment over
a tiny slight. A callused attitude toward people with less
opportunities than you or I have. Such small, insignificant things.
But watch out when they take root. The human heart is fertile soil
for everything that is twisted, distorted, evil. Every student of
human behavior knows it is true.
A lady wrote into READER'S DIGEST sometime back to say that
a co-worker of hers had his car stolen from the company's parking
lot. When the police finally located the vehicle, they found that
the thief had installed a burglar-alarm system in it.
That thief, out of his own experience, knew the human heart.
There is something within us that is out of whack. There is
something within us that scorns the delights that are permitted and
craves the forbidden fruit. There is something within us that is
self-destructive and causes us to throw away our most precious
possessions of all--including the gift of life itself.
One of nature's deepest mysteries is why whales from time to
time will beach themselves. You've seen the newspaper accounts.
Probably the most famous incident took place in Oregon in the late
1970s. A crowd of 5,000 people gathered on the beach. They watched
helplessly as life ebbed out of 41 sperm whales that had thrown
themselves on the beach earlier that morning. Scientists theorized
that even if there were some way to move the 15 ton monsters back
into the deep, their efforts might be in vain. Freed whales often
turn around and swim determinedly back onto the shore.
Why? No one knows. It's been happening at least since the time
of Aristotle. Many possible explanations have been offered, but
nobody really knows the answer. In the words of Yul Brynner's king
of Siam, "It is a puzzlement."
But there is a greater mystery. Why will a bright, healthy,
well-clothed young person risk impairment of mind, soul and body
by experimenting with drugs? Or why, knowing all we know about the
effects of nicotine on the body, do some people still begin the
habit of smoking?
Why will a man with a wife who loves him and children who
depend on him risk it all on a cheap, meaningless affair? For that
matter, in this day of the rapid spread of sexually transmitted
diseases including A.I.D.S., why would any thinking person engage
in promiscuous sex?
Are we crazy? What gets into us sometimes? The Bible calls it
sin. There is a brokenness in our lives, a sickness unto death. It
is the curse of our very existence. And God wants to help us do
something about it. He wants to do a new thing in our lives.
This brings us to the last thing to be said for the morning.
MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR US TO DO A NEW THING AS WELL.
For, you see, sin
is what the cross is all about.
Somewhere I read about the origin of the word "firemen."
Today's firemen, or firefighters as we now call them, put out
fires. Originally, though, firemen were men who started fires.
The original firemen worked in coal mines, and it was their
hazardous job to be the first to enter a mine each morning.
They would wrap themselves in wet rags to make themselves as
`fireproof' as possible and then, grabbing a long, flaming stick,
they would go in and ignite any explosive methane gas that had
seeped into the mine overnight. Burning off the dangerous gas thus
made the workplace safe for others. (3)
Perhaps if the writer of Hebrews had known about this
tradition, he would have called Jesus `our fireman.' For as the New
Testament church struggled with the reality of Christ's death on
the cross, they concluded that it had something to do with our sin
and our need to be justified before God. Calvary was God's new
thing, they concluded, for that day as well as for all time. By
his sacrifice are we saved. By his wounds are we healed. By his
death are we brought to eternal life. But only if we respond in
repentance and faith.
In a PEANUTS cartoon strip Lucy is livid at her mother. "You
promised me a birthday party," she wails, "and now you say I can't
have one. It's not fair!" Linus tries to intervene. "You're not
using the right strategy," he counsels. "Why not go up to Mom and
say to her, `I'm sorry, Dear Mother...I admit I've been bad, and
you were right to cancel my party, but from now on I shall try to
be good!'" Lucy has a grimace on her face as she thinks this
through. Finally, in the last panel, she cries out, "I'd rather
die!"
Unfortunately, that is the response of many of us. God has
done a new thing. He has done a new thing for the world. He has
done a new thing for each of us. What is our response? Shall we
continue in our same self-destructive ways? Shall we continue to
hurt those who love us most? Or shall we begin to do a new thing
ourselves?
"This is what the LORD says: `...Forget the former things; do
not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs
up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and
streams in the wasteland....'"
Isn't it time you allowed God to send His healing streams into
the wasteland of your barren life? He's willing to do a whole new
thing. Are you?
------------------
1. Eileen Dempsey, Scripps Howard News Service.
2. Suzanne Hilton, HOW DO THEY COPE WITH IT? (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press).
3. Source Unknown.
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APR292
I WAS THERE
If I told you my name you wouldn't know me. There's not enough
room in historical documents to record everything and everybody.
History merely tries to capture the important events that chronicle
our progression as a people.
Individuals who are on the scene are rarely known (much like
the background characters who fill in your movies). However, I have
been allowed, by the grace of the Almighty, to come to you during
this special season of the year, to remind you of THE MOST
IMPORTANT EVENT IN HUMAN HISTORY. I have come to recall something
from that terrible day when they crucified Jesus of Nazareth that
none of you could know or feel. Because, you see, you would have
had to be there to sense what I am going to tell you. I WAS. I was
in the crowd in Jerusalem those last few days of Jesus' life. I
witnessed what happened. And, sadly to say, stood by and watched
as they crucified Jesus.
That fateful week in Jerusalem started out exciting. It was
an atmosphere of a festival. Perhaps something like your Mardi
Gras, or your Independence Day celebrations. The talk was that a
certain prophet was coming to town. That was not all that unusual.
There were always religious leaders coming to Jerusalem. After all,
it was one of the great religious centers of all times. In fact,
many well-known teachers and proclaimers of the Pentateuch resided
there. Indeed, we had the great temple where people from all over
journeyed many miles to bring their offerings and make homage to
God. So Jerusalem was a hub of activity more often than not.
But I could hear people saying that this prophet was different
than the others. I was skeptical. Each new evangelist said the same
thing. Nevertheless, word kept circulating that this man they
called Jesus, from the little town of Nazareth, had spent much time
walking the roads and visiting the towns of Judea and Galilee,
preaching a message of compassion and forgiveness--what he called
"true worship of God." I didn't pay much attention. I had a job to
do. But then one claim caught my ear. They said this Jesus referred
to God as "Father" as if he were His son!
Stories spread about his miracles which most of us considered
to be propaganda. But there were other stories, stories of his
kindness, his genuine love of everyone whether they were rich or
poor, strong or weak, male or female. It was obvious he hadn't had
much association with the Roman pigs who marched into our cities,
took over the government and kept order with their soldiers. I'll
tell you, there is much rage within a captive people. We were
looking for someone, somewhere, to deliver us from this bondage.
So you can understand that many of us zealots didn't get too
concerned over some prophet who circulated stories of turning the
other cheek, and praying for your persecutors. We needed someone
who would lead a revolt and drive the Romans out of our sacred
city. They had no respect for God. They had no respect for our
temple. They only lived on might--pushing people around, making us
do their work for them.
It was hard for a lot of us to get too excited about this
carpenter boy who preached peace. But it wasn't only his passive
stance that bothered us, it was also his conflict with the scribes
and pharisees. They were our religious leaders. They had been for
centuries. We placed our faith in them. They were learned men. They
interpreted Torah for us, kept us looking for a brighter tomorrow.
Even in a time of difficulty they had arranged with the Romans to
allow us to continue our worship in our temple. If it hadn't been
for them, our religion might have been snuffed out.
So many of us working people did not approve of Jesus'
disparagement of the scribes and pharisees. That very week we saw
from a distance Jesus disrupting the affairs of the temple. We
heard him making accusations against the religious leaders, calling
them names, and telling them that harlots would enter the kingdom
of God before they would. How did he know? How dare he say such
things to the men we put our trust in, who performed our marriages
and the bar mitzvahs of our children, who gave their life in
service to God.
Now, I'll admit there were a few who seemed to have gotten the
big head. One must be very careful in saying he or she has been
called of God, you know. And there were some we knew who had
betrayed their calling by things they did. Seems like there are
those in every generation.
But all in all it made sense to many of us when the scribes
and pharisees suggested that this Jesus was not who he pretended
to be. And the most convincing argument of all was when they told
us he was calling himself the very Son of God. That was blasphemy!
I have to admit to you that the time or two I myself heard him
preach it didn't seem like blasphemy. His voice had a sound of
genuine caring. You know, one of those things you can't put your
finger on, you just sense it, feel it. He in fact did seem very
loving and caring to everyone. Those disciples who followed him
from place to place seemed to have no doubt about him. And they
were people just like us. Good men, working men. It was especially
touching when we saw the children gathered around him, and some
sitting on his lap. There's something sincere about a person who
loves little children--he said they belong to the kingdom of
heaven, and then he said something I didn't understand: "We must
turn and become as innocent as children" to enter the kingdom of
God.
Sermons like that had never been preached before. On the one
hand I liked what he said; on the other hand I respected our
religious leaders. Things like that confused my mind the day the
crowd gathered outside the governor's palace. Jesus had been
arrested because the Sanhedrin accused him of blasphemy, calling
himself "King of the Jews," and the Romans thought he was an
insurrectionist. One thing the Romans didn't stand for was
troublemakers.
All at once, Pilate and Jesus and a few others appeared on the
porch. At the feast the custom was for the governor to release any
one prisoner the people wanted freed. Many of us talked together
and we felt we ought to release Jesus because he really hadn't done
anything wrong. Not like the criminals in prison.
But even as we talked the scribes and the pharisees told us
that Jesus was a troublemaker and we should ask for Barabbas
instead, who was one of the most terrible of all prisoners. They
said Jesus was of much more threat than Barabbas. We believed them.
And when Pilate asked us for our answer, many in the crowd began
to yell for Barabbas. It was almost funny and besides, we knew the
Romans wouldn't harm someone as innocent as Jesus. So I have to
admit I joined in. I got caught up in the moment, in the ecstacy
of the crowd, and yelled for Barabbas. It's funny, now that I think
about it, how a crowd consciousness affects a person's rational
thinking. Has crowd psychology ever affected you--times you found
yourself on one side or another; or found yourself influenced by
friends or people you respect--even when your heart tells you it's
wrong?
We all cheered when Barabbas was released. We started walking
away, enjoying this good joke on the Romans, who would surely hear
more in the future from Barabbas and his group. In fact, I think
many of us secretly wanted to encourage Barabbas. However, as we
turned away, Pilate yelled at us. It was obvious that he was
stunned by our decision. So he asked us what we wanted him to do
with Jesus. Again, we followed the lead of our leaders in
continuing what we thought was a good joke on Pilate. We yelled,
"Crucify him!" We knew crucifixion was used by the Romans for
rebels, slaves, and criminals of the lowest class. We knew they
wouldn't listen to us. They never did. They didn't let Jews set
punishment for them. I never dreamed they would actually crucify
him.
It wasn't until Friday that I saw and heard the crowd again.
People were lining the streets leading to the execution hill,
Golgotha. I made my way through the crowd and was shocked to see
Jesus carrying the heavy beams of the cross. He could hardly walk.
He had been abused. I could see blood on his back where his robe
had been torn. I could see the ugly results of the Roman whip. They
had even pressed a ring of thorns on his head. Finally, he fell,
and the Romans made another man carry Jesus' cross. They had
authority to pick someone to do such a thing for a mile but no
more. Even the Romans understood that there was only so much the
human body could sustain.
I watched in horror as they nailed him to the cross. I have
to admit that I cried when I saw his mother and brother and others
weeping and wailing at the foot of the cross. I saw others mock
him, calling him "King of the Jews" and asking him to come down
from the cross. I saw him crucified between two robbers. I made my
way closer and could hear a conversation between Jesus and one of
the robbers:
"Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom." And
Jesus' response: "This day you will be with me in paradise."
How could he think, even say such a thing at a time like this?
I pressed closer. For some reason I couldn't leave as many of the
others did.
And then it happened. It was then I got the shock of my life.
He could barely lift his head. He seemed to be praying...I couldn't
make out too much of what he said, except he lowered his head and
looked at what was left of the crowd, his mother and the Roman
soldiers, and finally his eyes met mine. They seemed, even at this
stage, so loving, they cut me through to the very core. And then
he uttered the words I shall never forget, and I pray the world
never forgets as long as there is a planet earth.
He said, "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they
do."
I wanted to die myself. I now realized what I and the others
had done. He was who he said he was. I almost wish you could have
been there because it was a moment that would have changed your
life too. There would be no doubt about your belief. There would
be no question about your loyalty. You would definitely be part of
his company.
I tell you, that night I realized that Jesus of Nazareth is
the Son of God. He is Messiah. That Friday was the darkest day in
human history. We killed the only true and good thing this world
has ever known.
I ask you before I leave--believe this story. Don't make the
mistake that I made, that others have made. Pray to God to make you
a better follower.
Maybe that's why God allowed me to come to you on this special
day--to retell a story you already know. But also to ask you not
to get so caught up in the affairs of the world that, without
realizing it, you too are yelling, "Crucify him!" by the way you
conduct your life. Learn from my example. I thought it was only a
game and I allowed a terrible tragedy to occur. I'm glad his prayer
for those who put him on the cross covered me. And he's given me
the privilege to share with you. He is who he says he is. Believe.
Obey. You will never regret that you did.
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APR392
AN EMPTY STAGE OR AN EMPTY TOMB?
Luke 24:1-10; John 20:1-18
In his book, THERE I GO AGAIN, Steven Moseley tells about Anna
Pavlova, a Russian ballet superstar of the early 1900s. Ms. Pavlova
has been acclaimed as the greatest ballerina of all time. Her most
memorable performance, however, took place after her death.
Anna was to play the role she made famous, the Dying Swan, at
the Apollo Theatre in London. Tragically, she succumbed to
pneumonia and died two days before the event.
Still, on the appointed night, a crowd of her fans packed the
Apollo Theatre. The orchestra began playing, the curtain rose, a
spotlight flashed through the dark, and the entire audience rose
to its feet. They all stood gazing at a pool of light wandering
around the stage, accompanied by the orchestral theme. As the light
danced and the orchestra played, they remembered Anna Pavlova. In
their hearts they could see her on stage, dressed in white with
flashing dark eyes. And when the music stopped at last, they gave
the vanished Anna a thunderous ovation that echoed on and on in the
night. (1)
An empty stage with only a spotlight, but in their hearts she
was alive.
For some, this is the experience of Easter. The Lord was
crucified, he died as all of us will one day die, and he was laid
in a borrowed tomb, but in the hearts of his disciples he lives
forever. An empty stage, but not an empty tomb.
This is not the testimony of the New Testament. Yes, he was
crucified. Yes, he did die. Yes, he was laid in a borrowed tomb,
but when the women and later his disciples came to visit his tomb
on the third day, the stone had been rolled away. The borrowed tomb
was empty. The grave clothes that had been wound around his blood-
stained body were neatly folded and laid to the side. He was not
there! He was alive! He met with them, dined with them, reassured
them--not as a mere memory dancing in a spotlight, but as a real
person. This is the Easter story. Not an empty stage, but an empty
tomb.
Is this important? You bet it is. Ultimately, you and I have
a choice to make. It is the most important choice we will ever
face. It is whether to accept the empty stage or to accept the
empty tomb. Does Christ merely live in the hearts of his disciples
or is he really alive today just as you and I are alive?
Remember Woody Allen's comic assessment? "I don't want to
achieve immortality through my work," he said. "I want to achieve
immortality by not dying."
Which is it? Are we immortal because there are those who
remember and cherish the fact that once we walked this "vale of
tears" or are we immortal because Christ has once and forever
battered down the gates of death? Empty stage or empty tomb?
DEATH IS OFTEN AN UGLY EXPERIENCE.
It means separation, loss,
heartache beyond description. Oh, we try to pretend it is not so.
Has anyone here ever hear of Mrs. Martin Van Butchell? I would
be surprised if anyone has. She's been dead for over 200 years.
Mrs. Butchell left a will. It specified that on her death, her
husband had control of her fortune only as long as her body
remained above ground. I don't know what she had against being
buried, but that was her stipulation.
Mausoleums were little known at the time, so the husband hired
the Scottish anatomist William Hunter to embalm his dead wife. Then
he dressed her in fashionable attire and put her on display in the
family parlor. Daily visiting hours were held for those who wished
to view the corpse inside a glass-lidded coffin.
As news of how life-like Mrs. Butchell looked spread, the art
of undertaking quickly became a thriving business. Families were
encouraged to soften the loss of loved ones through embalming the
person to look as life-like as possible. Some embalmers, to drum
up new business, took their prize corpses on tour, exhibiting
embalmed bodies in the windows of barbershops, in public halls, and
at country fairs so that rural folk could get a glimpse of the
latest in funeral treatment. And the public was duly impressed. (2)
We disguise death in many ways. Through our language, for
example--he passed away, she's gone, mother's no longer with us.
We dress the deceased in his finest suit or her prettiest dress.
We make use of the embalmer's art. Sometimes we retreat into
memories of better days. Anything to keep us from dealing with the
finality of death.
DEATH IS UGLY IF EASTER IS MERELY A SPOTLIGHT
ON AN EMPTY STAGE.
But if it is about an empty tomb, then death is
an entirely different matter. Indeed, if Easter really is about an
empty tomb, death can be seen in an entirely different light.
Many of you know of Tony Campolo. He is one of the most
entertaining and thought-provoking speakers in America today. Many
of you know about his love for his home church, Mount Carmel
Baptist Church in West Philadelphia, which happens to be a
predominantly black church. Tony Campolo tells about the first
funeral he attended at Mount Carmel when he was twenty years old.
Clarence, a college friend of his, had been killed in a
subway-train accident. At the beginning of the service, says Tony
Campolo, the pastor brilliantly expounded upon what the Bible says
about the promise of the resurrection and the joys of being with
Christ. Then he came down from the platform and went over to the
right side of the sanctuary, where the family of Tony's dead friend
was seated in the first three rows. There, he spoke special words
of comfort for them.
Then the pastor did a most unusual thing. He went over to the
open casket and spoke as though to the corpse. He said, "Clarence!
Clarence! There were a lot of things we should have said to you
when you were alive that we never got around to saying to you. And
I want to say them now."
What followed was a beautiful litany of memories of things
that Clarence had done for many people present and for the church.
The list recalled how lovingly Clarence had served others without
thought of reward. When he had finished, the pastor looked at
Clarence's body and said, "Well, Clarence, that's it. I've got
nothing else to say except this: Good night, Clarence. Good Night!"
And with that he slammed down the lid of the casket as a stunned
silence fell over the congregation.
Then a beautiful smile slowly lit up the pastor's face and he
shouted, "And I know that God is going to give Clarence a good
morning!"
With that the choir rose to its feet and started singing, "On
that great gettin' up morning we shall rise, we shall rise!" As the
choir sang, everyone in the congregation rose to their feet and
started singing it with them. "On that great gettin' up morning we
shall rise, we shall rise!" There was clapping and crying, but the
tears were tears of laughter. "Celebration had broken out in the
face of death. Something of a party that is to come had broken into
that church...Death had been swallowed up in victory." (3)
No empty stage, but an empty tomb. That's the message of
Easter. Death has been conquered. AND SO HAS LIFE. Because of what
happened that first Easter Sunday, you and I can walk in freedom
and dignity and joy.
That prince of the pulpit Charles Hadley Spurgeon was walking
the streets of London deep in thought when he saw a young street
boy. The lad was carrying an old, bent bird cage. Inside was a tiny
field sparrow. Spurgeon stopped the boy and asked him what he was
going to do with the bird.
"Well..." the boy said. "I think I'll play with it for a
while, and then when I'm tired of playing with it--I think I'll
kill it." He made that last comment with a wicked grin.
Moved with compassion for the bird, Spurgeon asked, "How much
would you sell me that bird for?"
"You don't want this bird, mister," the boy said with a
chuckle. "It's just a bleeding field sparrow." But then he saw the
old gentleman was serious.
"You can have this bird for--two pounds," he said slyly. Two
pounds at that time would be worth more than a hundred dollars
today--an astronomical price for a bird worth only pennies.
Spurgeon paid the price, and let the bird go.
The next morning, Easter Sunday morning, an empty bird cage
sat on the pulpit of the great Metropolitan Tabernacle where
Spurgeon preached.
"Let me tell you about this cage," Spurgeon said as he began
the sermon. Then he recounted the story about the little boy and
how he had purchased the bird from him at a high cost.
"I tell you this story," he said, "because that's just what
Jesus did for us. You see, an evil specter called Sin had us caged
up and unable to escape. But then Jesus came up to Sin and said,
`What are you going to do with those people in that cage?'
"`These people?' Sin answered with a laugh. `I'm going to
teach them to hate each other. Then I'll play with them until I'm
tired of them--and then I'll kill them.'
"`How much to buy them back?' Jesus asked.
"With a sly grin, Sin said, `You don't want these people,
Jesus. They'll only hate you and spit on you. They'll even nail you
to a cross. But if you do want to buy them, it'll cost you all your
tears and all your blood--your very life!'"
Spurgeon concluded, "That, ladies and gentlemen, is just what
Jesus did for us on the cross. He paid the ultimate, immeasurable
price for all who would believe, that we might be free from the
inescapable penalty of death." (4)
That is the message of Easter. Death has been overcome, but
so has life. You and I can be free, free as that bird delivered
from its cage. We can walk in dignity and joy, with purpose and
power. Christ is stronger than sin and the grave.
A young boy came home after Sunday school and was asked by his
grandmother what he learned that day. He said, "`God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him shall have everlaughing life.'" And that's the good news for
the day--we can have both everlasting and everlaughing life. We are
free!
They had a contest on public radio, recently, seeking a new
name for the Soviet Union. One entry suggested that in light of the
disintegration of the country, the name should be changed from the
U.S.S.R. to the U.S.S. Was.
That's what Easter is all about. Pardon the grammar, but it
is taking what we are and making that what we was. It is about
giving us new life--today and forever.
Anna Pavlova danced in the hearts of the people who loved her
and admired her. The resurrection of Jesus was something more. He
is alive. More than an empty stage--his was an empty tomb.
-----------------------------
1. (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1991).
2. Charles Panati, PANATI'S BROWSER'S BOOK OF BEGINNINGS (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984).
3. Tony Campolo, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS A PARTY (Dallas: Word
Publishing, 1990).
4. Gary Smalley and John Trent, THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE (Pomona, CA:
Focus on the Family Publishing, 1988).
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HE IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS
Acts 5:27-32; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31
Hubert Humphrey loved meeting people. That made him a much-
loved politician. On a fishing trip in northern Minnesota, Hubert
and federal judge Miles Lord were in a sporting-goods store. Lord
noticed that a tour bus from California had broken down outside.
Lord sneaked out to the bus and introduced himself as the mayor.
"Folks, I'm sorry to see you're having trouble," he said. "If
there's anything we can do for you, just stop by my office. And by
the way, there's something you can do for us. We have a fellow here
in town who looks like Hubert Humphrey. He sounds like Hubert
Humphrey. He even thinks he is Hubert Humphrey. Now, if you should
run into him, don't give him any money, but please be nice to him,
because we kind of like him and he doesn't do any harm."
Lord then went back into the store and said, "Hubert, there's
a bus load of California tourists out there just dying to meet
you." Hubert roared out and proceeded to shake hands with every
person on the bus. Afterward he had a puzzled look on his face. "I
just don't understand those California people," he said. "Every
time I shook hands with one of them, somebody else started to
giggle." (1)
I'm sure that no one loved that gag more than Hubert Humphrey.
Comedian Billy Crystal tells about being in an airport coffee
shop. He was nearly exhausted from a demanding road trip. He
reached for his coffee, and a voice said, "Has anyone ever told you
you look a lot like Billy Crystal?"
He looked up. "Yes, ma'am," he said. "People tell me that all
the time."
"You're not Billy Crystal, are you?" the lady asked.
"No ma'am," he replied
"Too bad," she said. "You should only have his money." (2)
Mistaken identities always bring a laugh.
This morning we want to deal with an identity that was not
mistaken--though many have claimed otherwise. It is the identity
of the risen Christ.
After his resurrection, his disciples devoted their lives to
proclaiming to the world that Jesus is the living Lord. When the
religious and civil authorities sought to silence them, those
authorities had their hands full. If they threw them into jail,
these audacious people converted fellow prisoners and even prison
guards. If they martyred them, they discovered that they died with
such radiant confidence, that people who witnessed their ordeals
were often won to their cause. Consider, for example, the effect
of the dying Stephen's witness on the chief persecutor of the early
Christians, Saul of Tarsus.
He is who he says he is, his disciples insisted. And their
witness rings loud and clear even as we prepare to enter the 21st
century. As the writer of the Revelation testifies, "...he is the
faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the
kings of the earth."
FOR ONE THING, WE HAVE THE TESTIMONY OF THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM.
It was difficult even for those in the select company of the
twelve to deal with Christ's resurrection. Such things just don't
happen in this world. Thomas, particularly, found it hard to
accept. He was not with the other disciples when Jesus made his
first appearances. When the other disciples told Thomas, "We have
seen the Lord!" he was skeptical. "Unless I see the nail marks in
his hands," he said, "and put my finger where the nails were, and
put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
A week later Christ's disciples were in the house again, and
Thomas was with them this time. Though the doors were locked, Jesus
came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands.
Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and
believe. " Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus did not reveal himself to the world at large, only to
those who believed. But appear to them he did--in ways which left
no doubt that he had conquered the grave. And they went out to tell
the story. Against all kinds of opposition they told the story.
Nothing could stop them. No power on earth could defeat them.
I read recently about a door-to-door salesman who had the
worst kind of luck. Day after day he'd walk up and down the streets
with his product. No one would buy a thing. Every day he knocked
on the same woman's door. Every day she turned him away. Finally,
he appeared on her doorstep for the umpteenth time. Just to keep
the man from ever returning, the woman made a purchase. The next
day, the man rang her doorbell again. "What are you doing here?"
she asked, exasperated.
The man replied, "Well, now that you're an established
customer..." (3)
Jesus' disciples had a persistence to their witness that would
not be defeated. In the arena with lions, burned as human torches
in Nero's gardens, suffering the vilest kinds of humiliations and
bodily pain, they stayed faithful to what they had experienced.
They had met the risen Lord and they wanted the whole world to know
it.
This brings us to the second reason we know he is who he says
he is --
THE CHANGED LIVES OF THOSE WHO EXPERIENCED HIS RESURRECTION.
It's been said many times before, but we need to affirm it
this day--people do not die defending a deliberate lie. The men and
women who walked with Jesus daily and experienced his resurrection
knew without any question that he was what he said he was. Why in
the world would they lie about it--particularly when their lie
could cost them their lives? What could they possibly gain by
holding fast to a fictitious account? Heaven? Why would they look
forward to heaven if the resurrection never occurred? It is absurd.
And yet they told their story.
If we followed their example, we could turn this world upside
down. Unfortunately, most Christians prefer what Bishop Michael
Marshall has called "Decaffeinated Christianity"--it promises not
to keep us awake at night.
Witnessing to our faith does not have to be offensive. Pat
Riddle, a Lutheran pastor in North Carolina, tells about a most
interesting event that occurred to him and his wife on their
honeymoon in Savannah, Georgia.
They decided they felt like Chinese food for supper. They
noticed a little Chinese restaurant across the way from their room.
It didn't look five-star and it seemed to be a little tattered at
the edges, but they decided to go. Once inside, they were treated
to a marvelous meal.
As they went to the door to pay their check, the lady behind
the cash register noticed they were newlyweds. She asked if she
could give them a present. When they nodded, she reached under the
counter, pulled out a little porcelain Chinese house and handed it
to them and said, "Always keep Christ in your home and marriage.
This house will remind you of keeping him in your lives. That is
my gift to you."
How do you think they responded to this kind and warm witness?
Do you think anyone would ever be offended by such a gentle and
sincere token of love? Of course not. Witnessing does not have to
be offensive. Indeed, it can be beautiful and caring.
We know he is who he says he is because we have the testimony
of those closest to him. They testified not only with their lips,
but also with their lives.
WE ALSO HAVE TWO THOUSAND YEARS OF OBSERVING THE CHANGES HE
HAS MADE IN OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES.
Look around you in this church. You will find people who will
tell you of crises they have gone through. They will tell you, "I
could not have made it if he were not at my side." Look at the good
neighbors and good friends on every side who will tell you that
everything they have and everything they are they owe to him.
I was reading about a man who stopped his car in front of a
house that Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had helped to build for
Habitat for Humanity. A little boy was standing in the front yard.
He was probably five or six years old.
The little lad ran out and put his hands on the side of the
car, and said, "Man, you sure got a pretty car."
The man in the car replied, "Well, you sure got a pretty
house. Which one of these houses is yours?"
The little fellow said proudly, "That one."
The man in the car asked, "Young man, who built your house?"
He thought the boy was going to say, "President Jimmy Carter built
my house." But, instead, the lad gave a big smile, and said, "Jesus
built my house." (4)
The little fellow was right. I believe if Jimmy and Rosalynn
Carter were here this morning they would gladly testify that they
do their good works because once upon a time Jesus Christ touched
their lives. How can we deny the worth of such testimony? But there
is one more piece of evidence.
IT IS THE INNER TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
A gospel song writer once gave a witness for many of us, "You
ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart." That is my
experience. I hope it is yours.
We know that subjective experience on its own can be
misleading. But when you combine that experience with the testimony
of those who walked with him and died for him two thousand years
ago as well as the testimony of millions of others over the
centuries who also have experienced his healing and life-giving
power in their lives, we are led to cry out with Thomas, "My Lord
and my God."
If you have not had that kind of experience of Christ, might
I invite you to open yourself to him this day? A simple prayer of
faith is all that is required.
An elderly lady walked slowly into a life insurance office in
Minneapolis during the worst part of the Great Depression. She
wanted to know if she could stop paying the premiums on her
husband's life insurance policy. "He's been dead sometime now," she
said, "and I don't believe I can afford making the payments any
more."
The clerk behind the desk looked up her husband's policy and
discovered it was worth several hundred thousands of dollars. This
poor lady was wealthy, but she had no idea. No one had ever
explained to her how life insurance works.
Perhaps no one has ever explained to you that as a disciple
of Jesus Christ, you too are rich. He is available to you--his
love, his power, his joy. You can experience his presence in you
life beginning this moment. Why? Because he is who he says he is.
He is our Savior, Redeemer, and Lord.
-------------------
1. Rep. David Obey (D., Wis.) READER'S DIGEST
2. Billy Crystal with Dick Schaap, ABSOLUTELY MAHVELOUS (New York,
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1986).
3. Bob Woolf, FRIENDLY PERSUASION (New York: Berkley Books, 1990).
4." About Habitat for Humanity," Millard Fuller, PULPIT DIGEST,
Nov./Dec. 1991, p. 69.
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THE GRAND MARSHAL OF THE JERUSALEM PARADE
Matthew 21:1-11; Luke 19:39, 40
During the nineteenth century it was Chancellor Bismarck of Prussia who
entered into the City of Jerusalem riding a white horse. So great were the
number of soldiers and officials that an entire section of the city wall had to be
removed.
During the first century it was Jesus Christ of Nazareth who entered into
the City of Jerusalem riding, not a symbol of prestige of honor, but an animal
symbolic of servitude, a donkey. In accordance with Old Testament scriptures,
the animal was set aside for sacred purposes such as this.
According to William Barclay, the city may have easily been crowded with
as many as one and one-half million people who had come to celebrate this holy
time called Passover. Every Jewish male within twenty miles of Jerusalem was
required to attend.
What could possibly be more appropriate than a Passover with the ultimate
Passover Lamb as the Grand Marshall!?!
Yet His clear purpose was not to be their city honoree.
JESUS KNEW THE REASON FOR HIS COMING.
In reading this passage, one cannot help but be reminded of Paul's
description of Christ. Paul wrote, "Who, being in the very nature of God, did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." (Philippians 2:6, 7)
Civil War General George McClellan was put in charge of the great Army
of the Potomac, primarily because public opinion was on his side. He enjoyed
being told he was a "Young Napoleon." However, history records that his efforts
were less than sensational and he was not a great military leader.
One evening President Abraham Lincoln and two of his staff members
went to visit McClellan at his home. McClellan was at a wedding. One hour
later McClellan appeared and did not even pay attention to the three men
awaiting his return.
Later, a servant reported back to the waiting party that McClellan had gone
to bed! The President's associates were enraged, but Lincoln merely got up and
led the way home. "This is not the time to be making points of etiquette and
personal dignity," the President explained. "I would hold McClellan's horse if he
will only bring us success."
Jesus knew that the price of redemption would be the cross. It would be
a humbling and painful death, but the Father's plan of salvation would prove
successful.
THE PEOPLE THOUGHT THEY KNEW THE REASON FOR HIS
COMING.
During President Ronald Reagan's campaign in 1979, a woman of about
80 spoke out from the audience at the end of one of his campaign speeches,
"Mr. Reagan, everything you've said sounds just fine. But what about the old
folks? Haven't you forgotten us?" The man who was to become the oldest
president of the United States smiled down at her and replied, "Forget you?
Heavens, how could I ever forget you? I am one of you."
No matter how dismal our lot may be, God has not forgotten us. Jesus'
coming was God's way of saying, "How could I ever forget you? I am one of
you."
The people looked to Jesus because He was one of them. Yet, He was not
just another brave Messiah seeking to lead them to victory over the oppressing
hand of the Roman authorities. They wanted a political candidate to establish an
earthly empire, but Jesus came to be their Savior.
They cried out, "Hosanna," which literally means "Save Now." Now was their
timetable for liberation. Now was their King coming to set up a new empire.
Little did they know that His kingdom was for another place and another time.
Enthusiasm for Christ filled the city. People were pressed everywhere in
an effort to see Him. Like King Jehu (2 Kings 9:13), the people stretched out
their cloaks in the path to honor Him as King. Like Simon Maccabaeus (I Maccabees 13-51), they cut down palm branches and laid them in the street to
honor Him as a victor coming home from battle. This was their "red carpet"
treatment.
It was so sad to think that a few days later their praise turned into rage.
Some people today want Christ, but only on their terms.
THE WORLD WOULD KNOW THE REASON FOR HIS COMING.
While most dignitaries today would be offered the keys to the city, Jesus
was offered a cross outside the city. But it would be the cross that would unlock
the door to heaven for all who believed.
What separates our beliefs from all other religions of the world is Christ's
physical resurrection from the grave. He is alive. He is not another spiritual
leader who had come and gone. He is alive to be our mediator between God and
man (I Timothy 2:5).
A man during the Civil War was sitting on a park bench in Washington,
D.C., crying. His son, under great distress, had deserted his post in battle and
was to be shot by a firing squad soon. The father had come to the capitol to see
President Abraham Lincoln but couldn't get past the front gates. People passed
by, but nobody stopped to listen.
Finally, a little boy paused and asked the man why he was crying. In his
emotional distress, he told his story. He ended by saying that if he could talk to
the president, he knew his son would be pardoned.
The young boy asked the man to follow him. When they came to the front
gate of the White House, the little boy said to the soldiers, "It's all right, he's
with me."
The man followed in amazement. They came to the room where President
Lincoln was conferring with his generals and cabinet members, guarded by yet
another detachment of soldiers. The young boy pushed inside and jumped up on
the president's lap. Conversation stopped as the boy said, "Daddy, there's a man
I want you to meet. He needs your help."
The man was brought in to talk with the president. His son received the
presidential pardon because the son of the president took an interest in his
plight.*
Jesus said in Revelation 1:18, "I am He who was dead but now I am alive
forevermore." Friends, the Grand Marshal of this particular parade will lead us
all into the gates of the New Jerusalem! He brings us face to face with God. All
we have to do is follow our Leader.
-------------
The Preacher's Magazine, Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, Volume 67,
Number 2, p. 75.
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FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT
Good Friday
Isaiah 53:4-6; Mark 15:16-20; Luke 23:44-49
Isaiah said it, possibly 550 years before Jesus was born: "He
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with
his stripes we are healed." Is this why the people who executed
Jesus had to torture him so much before they killed him? I think
not! There is a mean and cruel streak in many of us when we are
faced with love and forgiveness. Sometimes it seems we have to
humiliate and hurt those who have come to help us before we can
accept their healing and care. God knows it, Isaiah discovered it,
Jesus experienced it, and the world lives by it!
The soldiers were under orders to kill Jesus in the standard
style of execution Rome used for public criminals: agonizing death
on a crude Cross driven into the ground at the city dump. That was
bad enough, but they exceeded their orders by brutally subjecting
Jesus to physical and psychological torture before carrying out the
cruel political and religious mandate to kill him.
Mark puts it plainly: The execution squad called "together the
rest of the company. They put a purple robe on Jesus and a crude
crown made out of thorns on his head, pushing it down until blood
sprinkled from his brow. They beat his head with a stick, spat on
him, and bowed down before him, as if to pay homage. Then they led
him out to crucify him."
Why the cruelty, why the ridicule, the attempt at humiliation?
Don't tell me it was to make come true what Isaiah forecast six
centuries earlier. I won't buy that! No, there's more human nature
at work here than we care to admit! I won't let you make God or
Isaiah take the blame for such savage cruelty! I'm afraid it's a
part of human evil to curse, abuse, cajole and hurt those who come
to save us. We see love here, suffering love, and we can't stand
such unwarranted affection. We can't accept unearned love until we
draw blood, see tears, or watch the loved one writhe in anguish.
Then, and only then, will we accept the healing help and acceptance
that can redeem us, and restore the relationship that can save our
souls!
Why do women publicly ridicule the men they love and care for?
Why do men privately beat and abuse the women they sleep with? Why
do parents slap, scold and belittle their own children? I believe
it has something to do with what Isaiah envisioned in those
Suffering Servant passages through which we see Jesus prefigured.
I wonder... Was it that cruel soldier who organized the
torture of Jesus, who later heard the Savior say from the Cross,
"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Would this
be the same soldier who, after Jesus had breathed his last and
escaped into the blessedness of death after such cruel torture,
made his own judgment on Jesus, saying, "Certainly this man was
innocent," or as another translation renders it, "Certainly this
was a good man." (Luke 23:47) Luke says the commanding officer of
the assassination squad "praised God" after hearing Jesus say, just
before he died, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."
Did this mean the soldier had found salvation? Did it mean
that Jesus had fulfilled Isaiah's somber prediction about the fate
of the Son of Man, for whom suffering Israel waited so
passionately? Did it mean that death squad would never again
torture its victims?
What can we say about THIS NAIL OF THE CROSS CALLED CRUELTY?
What does cruelty at the Cross of Jesus, the Christ, teach us about
God's plan of Salvation?
WELL, ONE THING IT TEACHES, ABOVE ALL ELSE, IS THAT QUITE
OFTEN WE ARE TOO EVIL TO SAVE OURSELVES WITHOUT SEEING OUR EVIL
THROUGH THE SUFFERING OF OTHER PEOPLE.
Why does the whole world have to see on network news, over and
over again, the brutal beating of a drunken, black speeder in Los
Angeles before the FBI takes seriously the long-standing cries of
police brutality from black and hispanic residents of the city?
Why does a community have to witness the murder of a mother
by her fifteen-year-old son, and then his suicide, before parents,
students and teachers recognize the seriousness of the young man's
social and psychological estrangement from school and family?
Why did Hitler have to exterminate half of the Jewish race in
the 1940s before the rest of the world rallied to stop the Nazis?
Why did the great Christian nation of Germany, that produced a Bach
and a Schweitzer, allow the Nazis to come to power in the first
place?
William Shirer, the noted radio reporter stationed in Europe
during the awful days of World War II, said this a couple of years
ago to Bill Moyers:
"What was important and terrible for an outside observer
was that the vast majority of people supported Hitler
with incredible enthusiasm. Now, why was that? Well, for
one thing, he was giving them full employment. He was improving the economics of the place by borrowing a lot of
money he never paid back. There's a certain militarism,
in our time, in their blood...the Germans didn't care
about loss of freedom, as long as they had some
prosperity."
Further along in that interview, Shirer said to Moyers: "As
you know, President Reagan put out this idea of history that only
Hitler, one man, was responsible for the evil, and that the poor
German people, including the soldiers, were innocent victims.
History gets distorted all the time. I guess we all do it, and that
will go on. It's too bad." (pp. 246, 249)
Like history, theology also gets distorted; that we have seen
over and over again. The Jews forgot the purpose for which God had
called them out under Abraham and Moses. Christian churches forget
all too easily, that Jesus died for all people.
Christians in the Middle Ages forgot that the Arabs and
Muslims were God's people, too, and consequently earned the enmity
of the Middle East, for which the Western World is still paying.
Palestinians and Jews in Israel now have a half-century of
grievances against one another. The Palestinians, as a political
power, have not bought into the theology of Isaiah, and the
Israelis seem blind and deaf to their own historic scriptures that
call for the chosen people "to do justice, to love mercy and to
walk humbly with their God." As one news columnist has noted the
world lives more by reality than by either Isaiah or the Gospels!
Then he adds, "Only when people of good will and dreamers of peace
on both sides are able to overrule the hard people of reality will
tranquil times return to the ancient land of Palestine." (The Daily
Jeffersonian, 3/23/91)
Isaiah revealed that God gives power to endure the cruel
injustices of those who do evil. Before Isaiah, it was common
wisdom that only the guilty suffered, and suffering was a sign of
God's displeasure with the sufferer.
So, in a very real way, Isaiah prepared the Jewish mind, and
the Greek and Roman world to which Jesus came, for God's new way:
Isaiah, inspired by God, was saying that "the suffering of the
innocent becomes a medium of salvation to the whole community, for
the good and the evil alike! The righteous must be the means of
salvation for the unrighteous, for the unrighteous have nothing by
which they can save themselves." (Isaiah, McKenize, p. 135)
Why is it always that way; that the innocent have to
experience extreme cruelty before the will and the way of the
guilty is broken? Will it ever change? Is it really God's way, or
is it our human perversity that requires the shedding of blood
before we give in?
Why did the indigenous natives of North America have to suffer
two centuries of cruel destruction by European Christian invaders
who had come, not to save, but to stay?
Why did the evils of cruel slavery in the South require a
senseless slaughter of innocent young men from the North and the
South in our nation's most costly war before slavery was made
illegal?
Why did the idealism of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and
Martin Luther King, Jr., have to end in their assassinations before
racial equality became the official position of American society?
Why did allied military might have to destroy much of Iraq
before Kuwait could be invaded and liberated?
Why did Iraqi troops have to set more than 500 oil wells on
fire and unleash terrible loss and environmental calamity to the
liberated country before they retreated back to Iraq?
Why did American and other allied forces stop short of a
complete takeover of Iraq, as we did Japan and Germany in World War
II, and thus provide for that troubled country's liberation just
as we liberated Kuwait? Is stopping too soon in a just war as cruel
as starting a war?
No one has satisfactory answers to these troubling questions,
but from my Biblical perspective, the answers to these heart-
rending questions are somehow rooted in the reality that Isaiah put
forth in Judah's dark hour:
"Because of our sins God's suffering servant was wounded,
beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment
he suffered, made whole by the blows he received! (Isaiah 53:5)
The cross of Jesus is our only hope in life or in death! It
is here that we learn once, and for all times, that the cruelty
that people do to one another is not equal to the caring that God
gives to the innocent and guilty alike. Isaiah learned it first,
but we have seen it at work in the world supremely in the life and
death and resurrection of Jesus, God's one chosen to reveal His
truth.
May we see on the Cross of Calvary both the cruelty of which
humanity is capable as well as the divine love of which God is
capable, and may we by His grace always choose love over cruelty.
Let the prayer that Jesus prayed in his last few seconds of life
become our prayer tonight and forever:
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! Amen."
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DO YOU HAVE A FORGIVING SPIRIT?
Matthew 18:21-35; Psalm 32:1-5; Colossians 3:13
I want to ask you a very important and penetrating question
this morning to set the stage for our sermon today. Please answer
it in the quietness of your own heart but with utter honesty. Do
you have a forgiving spirit? Do you have a forgiving spirit?
You could probably answer this question with both a yes and
no. When it comes to the difficult subject of forgiveness, there
are always limitations, conditions, circumstances, and varying
qualifications to the answer we give.
However, as we gather this morning, we know that forgiveness
is central to the living out of the Christian faith. We pray every
week in our Lord's Prayer the following petition: "Forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." We
further recite week after week in the Apostles' Creed, "I believe
in the forgiveness of sins."
Yes, forgiveness is something so powerful that it can
frustrate us, frighten us, and freeze us into an assortment of
human behaviors that can paralyze us in many detrimental ways. It
can also "free" us to love more deeply.
From our Gospel lesson today found in St. Matthew 18:21-35 it
so frustrates Peter that he asks our Lord Jesus Christ, how many
times shall I forgive my brother? It was as though Peter was
saying, "Preacher, make it plain," so I can understand. We further
know by this time in Matthew's account that Peter had been
traveling with our Lord Jesus Christ from towns to villages to
cities. Peter had probably heard our Lord Jesus share great
teaching stories and parables with the various groups of people as
he taught about the necessity of forgiveness and the grace of God.
Perhaps his mind had already been stirred by the fabulous parable
of the Prodigal Son. Perhaps he had witnessed with his very own
eyes the attempted stoning of the woman caught in adultery recorded
in John 8:1-11. Peter by now was beginning to see that this thing
called forgiveness was an integral part of this new kingdom and new
life that Jesus was ushering in. It was not just theological jargon
but a lifestyle of obedience to the work of our Lord. Peter knew
that forgiveness was both difficult and demanding to the human
spirit. He wanted to know just what he was getting himself in for.
Peter, never being bashful to open his mouth, asked
straightforwardly, "How many times shall I forgive my brother?"
I believe here in this text we see Peter asking for help about
the subject called forgiveness. I'm glad, aren't you, that Peter
asked for help, because I also need help with this thing called
forgiveness. May I ask again, do you have a forgiving spirit?
I want to share today three exhortations for your
consideration about this word called forgiveness.
FORGIVENESS IS VERY DIFFICULT UNLESS WE FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF
CHRIST.
A couple of days after President Kennedy was tragically gunned
down in Dallas, Texas, a Presbyterian church from the state of
Michigan wrote to the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald. They had heard
that she wished to stay in America and learn the English language.
They took it upon themselves to write to her and invite her to come
to their community with the promise of finding her a home that she
might get a fresh start on a productive life. Unfortunately, many
persons both in the local community and from around the nation got
wind of this plan and began writing many critical letters about
their offer to this widow. One person probably described the
situation most correctly when she said, "I never heard of a church
doing anything like this before." She knew that forgiveness is not
often found even in a group of believers who could probably best
be called and known as "sinners anonymous." Forgiveness is so hard.
The minister began the painstaking job of answering each
letter that came across his desk that was both unkind and critical
of the church's response. With great sensitivity he wrote each
person a letter sharing that he understood their feelings and
emotions about their efforts on behalf of Mrs. Oswald. However, he
ended each letter by sharing, "The only thing you have not shown
us is that what we have done would not have been done by our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ."
Yes, forgiveness is never easy, but it is the will of God.
Forgiveness is not something based on popularity as determined by
the most recent Gallop Polls but is a biblical mandate that is
reflected in God's salvation act at Calvary.
Fred Snodgrass was a successful baseball player for the
Giants, but he was remembered for one of his failures. In the 1912
World Series, he dropped a pop fly. His error set up the winning
run, for the next batter hit a single. Consequently, the Giants
lost the game and the Series. When he died in 1974, the New York
Times printed this headline: "Fred Snodgrass, 86, Dead; Ballplayer
Muffed Fly in 1912." Sixty-two years later, and yet they could not
forget his mistake. Never mind the fact that Fred later became
mayor of the city of Oxnard, California, and was a successful
banker and rancher and raised a fine family. He dropped a pop up
in the 1912 series, and they couldn't forget his mistake. How
different from Christ who not only forgets our mistakes but
forgives them. (1)
FORGIVENESS IS NEVER EASY BUT IT IS ALWAYS THE WILL OF GOD.
Many years ago there was a movie titled, "Stars in My Crown."
It told of an elderly black man who owned a little farm outside a
southern town. Some very precious metal was discovered in that
area, and suddenly there was pressure on him from many people to
sell his land. But he would not sell. He wanted to stay exactly
where he was. However, the people in the area would not take "no"
for an answer. They did everything they could to make him move.
They burned down his barn, shot through his house one night, and
eventually threatened to hang him by sundown the next day if he did
not agree to sell.
The local Methodist minister heard about the trouble and went
to visit the old man. At sundown of the next day, all the leading
citizens of the community came to the farm dressed in their white
hoods. They were ready to hang the black gentleman if he refused
to sell. The farmer came out on the porch to meet them wearing his
best clothes. He said that he was ready to die and that he had
asked the minister to draw up for him his Last Will and Testament,
which he wanted to have read at that time.
The minister read the will, and those present realized quickly
the old man was giving everything to them. He willed the farm to
the banker who seemed so hellbent on having it. He gave his rifle
to another of the men there who had first learned to hunt with it.
He gave his fishing pole to another. In fact, that old man gave
everything he had to the people who were prepared to kill him. He
killed them first with love and affection.
The impact was incredible. Seeing goodness given in the face
of such animosity was more than any of them could tolerate. One by
one, in shame, they turned away, and the entire lynching mob
disappeared. The minister's grandson had watched everything from
a distance, and as everyone departed, he ran up to his grandfather
and asked, "What kind of will was that, Granddaddy?
The old minister answered, "That, my son, was the will of
God."
Doesn't that make you think about the cross? And thinking
about the cross makes us think about God and God's forgiving, self-
giving love. This is the way we sing about it:
And when I think that God his Son not sparing
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died, to take away my sin. (2)
This man was able to forgive because he had been forgiven by
his Father in Heaven and he in turn could then pass on and share
the gift of forgiveness in any circumstance of life. This man was
able to forgive because he was close to the heart and mind of God.
The story is told about a young man who applied for a job with
the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (better known to us
as PennDOT). His application was accepted and he was given the job
of painting the white lines on a nearby roadway by hand because all
the machines were temporarily out of order.
The first day he painted eight miles. The second day he
painted four miles. The third day he painted two miles. The fourth
day he only painted one mile.
His supervisor, who at first was very pleased with his
performance, became curious why his production level continued to
decrease. The young man replied, "I am getting slower and slower
because the paint can is getting further and further away."
If you find that your ability to forgive is getting more
difficult and further away from the will of God, perhaps it is
because you are not as close as you should be to the heart and mind
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Return to quotes>
GOD'S FORGIVENESS OF US IS CONTINGENT ON OUR FORGIVENESS OF
OTHERS.
The Bible is very clear here. If we do not forgive others
their trespasses, neither will our Heavenly Father forgive us. We
must forgive in order to be forgiven. There is a good reason for
this. The love of God cannot enter an unforgiving heart, and if we
don't allow God's forgiveness to first enter us, we can't pass on
what we haven't yet received. However, once we genuinely experience
it, we can do nothing else but forgive. Being unforgiving has the
effect of locking the door of the heart from the inside; since our
God never forces His way in or kicks down the door, we must first
open it from the inside.
A captive was once brought before King James II of England.
The King chided the prisoner: "You know that it is in my power to
pardon you?" The scared, shaking prisoner replied, "Yes, I know it
is in your power to pardon me, but it is not in your nature." The
prisoner had keen insight to know that unless a person had a
spiritual rebirth that we have no nature to forgive.
The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is that it is
both in the power and the nature of Jesus to forgive and to pardon.
Yes, Jesus doesn't forgive the sin as much as he forgives us.
Frederick Buechner, who is a most creative Christian writer,
shares that of the seven deadly sins, anger is probably the most
fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long
past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter
confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome
morsel, both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving
back is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you
are wolfing down is yourself. This skeleton at the feast is you.
I close with the story told about a woman who heard the
imminent return of Christ was at hand, and he was going to knock
on her door at 3:00 p.m. that day for a short visit. She prepared
herself and her house for such a royal visit. At 3:00 p.m. the bell
rang. She ran enthusiastically to the door, and she was
disappointed because there stood an angry bitter, cold, frowning,
grotesque looking person. She shouted out, "Who are you?" and Jesus
said, "Didn't you expect me to be here?" She shouted out, "You are
not the real Christ." He said, "You are absolutely right, I am not.
I'm the Christ everyone sees in you."
Unless we forgive 70 times 7 the real Christ will never live
inside of us. It is a lifestyle--not a luxury.
The Christian way is a way of love and forgiveness. Real love
can only be born because you have experienced God's forgiveness in
Jesus Christ.
Remember his forgiveness is both real and liberating. It will
set you "free" to forgive others and--the hardest task of all--to
forgive yourself.
WHERE ARE YOU IN THIS STORY TODAY?
How are you responding to Christ's offer today?
I hope and pray that we can all stand at the foot of the
cross. Each time we stand at the foot of the cross two truths
emerge for us:
At the Cross we are reminded of our need of forgiveness.
At the Cross we are reminded we are already forgiven.
Do you have a forgiving spirit?
-----------------------
1. Thanks to Maxie Dunnam, PERCEPTIONS, Bristol books.
2. BOOK OF HYMNS, No. 17, The United Methodist Church, Nashville,
TN, 1964.
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MAY192
OUR DAMASCUS ROAD EXPERIENCE
Acts 9:1-20
Have you ever noticed that most of us fit into one of four styles of
behavior? That's what some psychologists tell us--four distinct styles of behavior.
Some of us are dominant. Dominant folks like to be in control. Nobody has to
ask dominant people what they think. They are blunt, direct--fast to make
judgements and ready to take action.
Then there are those for whom life is a party. These are "people" people.
They like to talk. They are very animated. They like meeting new friends. Their
nature is optimistic. They are fun to be around.
Then there are folks who are marked by their steadiness. They like
situations that are dependable, predictable. They're not the rah-rah type. They
will never be the life of the party, but they're good listeners. They make others
feel comfortable.
Finally, there are the detail people. They like to do things right. They
take care of the little things and are highly conscientious. Some people call
them perfectionists. Some of them are. But most of them simply take pride in
a job well-done.
Four personality types--all valued, all necessary. There is a clever story
that helps illustrate these four types of personality.
Four of King Arthur's knights were guilty of betraying him. They were
sentenced to die on the guillotine. Somehow, though, as the blade was ready to
drop, it jammed. King Arthur took this as a sign that he should show mercy and
give the knights their freedom. The reaction of the four knights to this good
news tells us a lot about their personalities.
The knight high in dominance growled, "I told you I was innocent. This
execution should never have been planned in the first place!"
The knight who was primarily a people person shouted, "We're free!
We're free! Let's go party!"
The steady knight was consoling the executioner, "I want you to know,"
he said, "that I don't blame you. You were just doing your job."
Meanwhile, the detail oriented knight had been staring thoughtfully at the
jammed blade on guillotine. "Hmmm," he said aloud, "I think I see how this
thing can be fixed!"
Four distinct styles of personality. I'll let you choose your own category.
St. Paul would definitely belong in the category for high dominance. There
was nothing retiring about his personality. He was direct, forceful. Such folks are
sometimes wrong, but never in doubt. They are wonderful folks who get things
done in this world, but misguided, they can be a menace.
When we first meet St. Paul, his name is Saul and he definitely is a
menace. Christians trembled at the very mention of his name, for he had vowed
to destroy their tiny but growing movement. Saul was a zealot--a religious
fanatic--a man so certain that he was right that he persecuted those whose views
differed from his own. After all, if he was right, they had to be wrong. Maybe
you know someone with a dominant personality.
Have you noticed how God dealt with Saul, though? Those who have
studied the four personality types tell us that the dominant person fears loss of
control more than any one thing. They like to be in charge. They hate to depend
on anyone but themselves. And what happened to Saul? As he neared Damascus
on his mission of persecution, a brilliant light from heaven blinded him! He fell
to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you
persecuting me?"
"Who is speaking, sir?" Saul asked. And the voice replied, "I am Jesus,
the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city and await my
further instructions."
Saul picked himself off the ground. He was now blind and helpless. Did
you note that? A man who prided himself on being self-sufficient, who feared
loss of control more than anything else in the world was now blind and helpless.
He had to depend on someone else to lead him through the streets. Without
someone to bring him food and water he would have died. His blindness was
only temporary, but for three days Saul the dominant became Saul the dependant.
Do you think perhaps God had a message for Saul? My guess is He did. Do you
think perhaps God has a message for each of us? My guess is He does. We can
learn from Saul's experience.
FIRST OF ALL, GOD WORKS WITH EACH OF US ACCORDING TO
OUR OWN NEEDS.
Each of us is unique and because we are unique God
works with us in different ways. The sad part is that we make the same mistake
that St. Paul made. We try to fit everyone into our mold.
Dr. Lee Morris tells a delightful story from years ago about an
Episcopalian who died and went to Heaven. St. Peter was conducting him
through Purgatory when he saw some people who were just miserable. So he
asked, "Who are those people and what have they done to deserve this?"
St. Peter said, "Those are Jews, and they are guilty of eating ham."
They went on and found another group in worse shape, so the man asked
who they were and what they had done. St. Peter said, "Those are Catholics, and
they are guilty of eating ham on Fridays."
They went on and found a group of people even more miserable, and so
he asked, "Who are these people, and what have they done?"
"Well," said St. Peter, "those are Episcopalians, and they were caught
eating ham with their salad forks."
So many of the differences between Christians have more to do with
individual tastes and backgrounds than they do with authentic faith. Is Gospel
music or Bach more sacred in God's eyes? Is God to be worshipped before an
ornate altar or in a bare, unadorned room? Is conversion instantaneous or can it
be a life-long growth in grace?
God speaks to us in different ways according to our own needs and
experiences. We are on shaky ground any time we presume to judge another's
experience of God.
THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO RECOGNIZE WHEN
GOD IS DEALING WITH US AND TO RESPOND.
There are very few problems in life that God doesn't give us some kind
of warning about. That's true in our marriages, with our health, in our business
and in almost every area of life. Chuck Swindoll uses the analogy of a warning
light on the dash of a car. This warning light glows red when your engine
overheats. Now, one thing you can do if that light comes on is hit it with a
hammer. Then you keep right on driving. This will work for a while. But soon
the car will stop and you'll look under the hood, and kick yourself for attacking
the wrong problem. This is how most of us go through life--hitting the warning
signs with a hammer while ignoring the real problems.
In his book, FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH, Commentator Paul Harvey tells
about an announcement that came across the intercom of a passenger jet.
"There's a warning light for the thermal expander valve on the number two
engine," said the pilot, "and I will not fly until it is replaced. Please return to
the terminal waiting room."
The passengers were off the plane only ten minutes when they were told
to get back on again.
A passenger from Hartland, Minnesota, asked a flight attendant, "Did they
get a new thermal expander valve already?"
The attendant said, "My land, no! There's not one of those things within
a thousand miles. They got us a new pilot."
That's one way of dealing with life's warning lights. And that's sad. Those
warning lights are so important. A lump in the breast needs to be examined
immediately. A teenager who becomes remote and withdrawn needs help without
delay. Couples who can no longer find enough to talk about to make it through
a meal together need to give attention to their marriage. So it is with warning
signs about our spiritual life. An emptiness--a general sense of dissatisfaction
with life--a decreasing ability to control our behavior--a general blindness to the
needs of those around us--may be warning signs that our relationship with God
is deteriorating.
Saul probably received a warning light as he stood holding Stephen's
garment as the mob stoned Stephen to death. Perhaps that is why Saul became
even more fierce in his determination to stamp out this new Christian sect.
That's the way we sometimes respond to warning lights. We become
defensive and we become more determined than ever to pursue our own stupid
designs. But God had a message for Saul. God had a ministry for St. Paul. And
God has a message and a ministry for each of us. God got Saul's attention. Is
God trying to get your attention?
Most of us won't have the same kind of experience St. Paul had. Why?
Because God works according to our needs and our experiences.
GOD WILL
GIVE SIGNS, HOWEVER, TO THOSE WILLING TO SEE.
He will speak to
those willing to listen. Why? That's His nature. He cares about each of us. He
wants only the best for us. It breaks His heart to see us continually fouling up
our lives. Thus He tries to make Himself known. Over a lifetime He speaks
again and again. If we listen, we will hear Him.
Once there was a young man named Francis. Like some of us, Francis
tried to ignore God's warning signals in his life. Francis intended to become a
priest. His father was a medical doctor, however, and wanted him to study
medicine. Francis' real passion was poetry. He never told his father that. To
make matters worse, while he was in his early twenties his mother suddenly
died. Francis' world crumbled about him. Unable to pass his medical school
exams, he went to London where he lived as a tramp and an opium addict.
But something kept pulling at him. One night, under a lamp post, he
scribbled an essay on a piece of paper and sent it, along with some brief poems,
to the editors of a magazine. They ignored his grimy letter for six months. Then
one day, one of them happened upon it and quickly recognized the mark of
genius. The editors made unsuccessful efforts to find him. They published his
poetry anyway. Months later, Francis Thompson saw his published work. He
went to the publishing office and identified himself as the author. The editors of
the magazine befriended him and guided him to the care of a Christian home in
London. Francis eventually conquered his opium addiction. He entered a church
school. Later he wrote one of the most famous poems in Christian literature,
"The Hound of Heaven."
He had been meditating on these words from Psalm 23: "Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Francis Thompson knew the
truth of those words from his own experience. He wrote, "I fled Him, down the
nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years." And he
compared God to a great hound who would not give up the chase.
God speaks to each of us according to our own needs. He places evidences
of His love on every side. He gives us warning signals when our lives are
askew. Saul had a dominant personality. He believed that he could handle every
situation. What a surprise to find himself blind and helpless. God dealt so
effectively with Paul that he never again bragged about what he could do of his
own strength. Rather he testified, "I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)
Is God dealing with you this morning? Has He placed some warning signs
in your life? This is a good day to heed those signs and to make a new
beginning with God's help.
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MAY292
LIKE THE LOVE OF A MOTHER
John 10:22-30
A man was boarding an airplane one day. As he came on board, he
happened to notice that the head of the plane's cockpit flight crew was a
woman. That was no problem. Still, it was a new experience for him.
As he found his seat, he noticed three persons sitting immediately behind
him. One was a young boy about six or seven years of age. Next to him was
a man in his early thirties. And next to the man was a woman in her early
sixties.
The man could not help overhearing the conversation among these three
persons as the plane made final plans for departure from the gate. It was not
long before he realized that they were the woman pilot's family. The boy was
her son. The man was her husband. And the older woman was her mother.
Suddenly he realized why the family was on the plane. This was the first time
the woman pilot had been the head of a flight crew! They were there to honor
her promotion.
The plane taxied down the runway and poised itself for takeoff. The
engines began to roar, and the plane gained speed quickly. Within seconds they
were airborne. As the plane began to ascend the bank to the south, the six-
year-old boy began to applaud! "Way to go, Mom. Way to go!" (1)
This morning we are applauding our Moms. "Way to go, Moms, way to
go!" Truly, today's Mom deserves all the support and applause she can get.
Our text this morning suggests that God is like a loving Mom--and a
loving Dad as well. Jesus uses the analogy of the Good Shepherd, but he could
be speaking of the good parent just as easily. He says, "My sheep recognize my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they
shall never perish. No one shall snatch them away from me, for my Father has
given them to me, and He is more powerful than anyone else, so no one can
kidnap them from me." (NIV)
On this day when we honor our mothers and celebrate the significance
of the Christian family, what are some of the analogies we could draw between
the love of a parent and the love of God?
FOR ONE THING, THE LOVE OF GOD IS A VERY PERSONAL KIND
OF LOVE.
"My sheep recognize my name," says Jesus, "and I know them...."
There is a delightful story about Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the military
hero of a few years back.
MacArthur was highly thought of in Washington and was regarded as a
leader. However, he also had a reputation for being a cold fish personally. So
his Public Relations people came up with an idea. They would have him review
a contingent of veterans. In the middle of the review they would have him
suddenly recognize an enlisted man who had served under him during the war.
"It will be a tremendously moving and human moment," the advisers said
to MacArthur. "Out of hundreds of men lined up for your inspection, you will
suddenly pick out a single individual, call him by name and recall past
campaigns." MacArthur agreed to go along with the plan.
So they set up the inspection and chose their veteran. The lucky soldier
would be unaware that he'd been singled out for the honor. They went through
the Army records, found out everything about the fellow and figured out
precisely where he would be standing when MacArthur marched through the
ranks. To be on the safe side, they arranged for an aide to nudge MacArthur
discreetly when he was directly in front of the proper soldier.
It all went off like clockwork. MacArthur saluted the veterans, the veterans
saluted MacArthur. The general began his march along the lines of soldiers. At
the right moment, the aide gave MacArthur the nudge.
MacArthur halted. He turned and looked at the man standing stiffly at
attention in front of him. "Jones!" he boomed. "We were together on Corregidor.
You are Corporal Jones. I remember you."
Jones looked startled for a moment. Then he peered at the general with
a puzzled expression. Finally, he blurted out somewhat quizzically: "MacArthur?"
(2)
General MacArthur got his bubble burst that day. It served him right.
We live in a lonely world. So much that is counted as love is artificial.
It sometimes seems that we don't really count for much. But there is one place
where most of us still are somebody. That is at home. At home we are not
simply a number. We are a valued member of the family. So it is with God.
With God we are more than a number--more than a face in the crowd. God
loves us with a very personal love. Even the very hair of our head is counted.
That is the first thing to be said from our Scripture. The love of God is a very
personal love.
FOR ANOTHER THING, THE LOVE OF GOD IS A VERY GIVING
KIND OF LOVE.
"My sheep recognize my voice," says Jesus, "and I know
them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish...."
The very nature of God is to give. He gave us life in the first place. He sustains
our lives with His gifts of sunshine and rain and much more. And when our
days are finished on this planet, He gives us eternal life. Jesus once asked,
"Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks
for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven
give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7: 9-11) God is a giving
God.
A mother took her six-year-old boy into a doctor's crowded waiting room.
As they waited their turn, he began to ask her all kinds of questions. In half an
hour he managed to cover almost every subject known to humanity. To the
wonder of all the others sitting in the room, his mother answered each question
carefully and patiently. Inevitably, he got around to God. As the other people
listened to his relentless "how's" and "why's," it was plain to see by the
expressions on their faces that they wondered: "How does she stand it?" But
when she answered her son's next question, she answered theirs too. "Why," he
asked, "doesn't God ever get tired and just stop?" "Because," she replied after
a moment's thought, "God is love; and love never gets tired." (3) That's true.
If you or I were God, we would tire of giving, particularly when we get
so little gratitude in return.
A pastor was visiting some of his parishioners. He took his young daughter
with him. As they visited an elderly couple, the man gave her a handful of
peanuts. Expecting her to show a spirit of gratitude, the father asked his
daughter, "Honey, what are you supposed to say?" Sincerely, and with her eyes
fixed upon the man, she asked, "You got any more?" (4)
That sounds like many of us. We accept God's gifts, never saying "thank
you" but simply asking, "Have you got any more?" Yet God keeps giving. That
is His nature.
FOR YOU SEE, GOD'S LOVE NEVER QUITS.
Jesus said, "No one will
snatch them from me...." St. Paul said, "Nothing shall separate us from the love
of God...." and that is good news. God never quits loving. That's also true of the
love of a faithful parent.
Of course, there are two sides to this. A man wrote to READER'S
DIGEST recently. Here is what he said:
"My mother has always treated me like her baby, no matter what my age.
After turning 30, I purchased a computer and learned to use it. Thinking I'd
impress her with my skill and maturity, I sent her a well-written letter, complete
with computer graphics, borders and an elaborate typeface.
"I phoned to ask what she thought of the letter. `It's lovely, dear,' she
replied. `I have it hanging on the refrigerator for all the neighbors to see.'
Any of you know a mother like that--who still sees a thirty year-old-
offspring as a child? It's not all that uncommon. At least we know we are loved.
The good parent never quits loving--even when we don't deserve it.
Arnold Prater, in his book YOU CAN HAVE JOY!, tells about a man in
a little English village named John Deckard. He was a clerk in a textile factory.
A modest and quiet man, he lived in an ordinary little house at the edge of town
with his wife and his six-year-old son, Rob. Like thousands of Englishmen, every
morning John put on his plain tweed suit, got on his bicycle, and rode to work.
Returning home at five in the evening, he would work in his garden until
suppertime. Then he would spend a quiet evening with his pipe and family. He
was a very ordinary man living what most people would call a very ordinary
life.
But he had one claim to fame. For five consecutive years he had won
the blue ribbon in the Village Garden Show with his prize rose. It had gone on
so long that people had come to expect it. John Deckard's prize rose would win,
and that was that.
Behind his house was his rose garden. When he returned home each
evening, he would don his coveralls and spend his time out there with his roses.
Some said he had more than just "a way with flowers." Some said he mothered
them, that he talked to them and that they understood what he said.
This year, deep in his own heart, John Deckard knew that he would again
win the blue ribbon, for this year his rose was truly a rose among roses. Never
had he seen such perfection in a flower. This was his masterpiece and as he
watched it daily, his contentment and pride grew.
The show was on Saturday and he planned to transplant his rose to a pot
early in the morning. But while he was at breakfast, the tragedy happened. His
little son Rob burst into the kitchen, and chatting excitedly he rushed to the table
and cried, "Look Daddy, look what I have for you!"
And in his grimy little hand, half its petals gone, its head drooping, was
John Deckard's prize rose.
That afternoon, visitors to the Garden Show were astonished when they
came to John Deckard's entry. For in a flower pot he had thrust a stick, and
attached to it, at the very top, was a picture of his little son, Rob. When the
judges heard what had happened, they gave John Deckard an honorary blue
ribbon. Some said that the rose that was not a rose was the finest he had ever
grown. (5) God's love is like that and we can all be thankful.
So, hooray for our Moms. They deserve it. But also, hooray for God. God
is a loving parent. His love is a very personal love. His nature is a very giving
nature. His love never quits.
-----------------------
1. Thanks to Dr. Eric S. Ritz who credits Norman Neaves for this illustration.
2. James Dent in Charleston, W.Va. GAZETTE, 7/2/91
3. Arthur Fay Sueltz, LIFE AT CLOSE QUARTERS (Waco, Texas: Word
Books, 1982).
4. Ray Bowman, First Baptist Church, Mantachie, MS
5. Arnold Prater, YOU CAN HAVE JOY! (Atlanta, Georgia: Lay Renewal
Publications).
TOP
MAY392
WHO WILL WIPE AWAY THEIR TEARS?
Revelation 21:1-6
TIME magazine, January 27, 1992: There is an article that will tear your
heart out. It is titled, "Corridors of Agony." It tells the stories of children caught
in the almost hopeless jungle of our juvenile courts.
There is Antwan, age 10. His mother warned him about the drug dealers
who hang around the playground where he spends hours each day. A mother's
warnings are no match for threats by street thugs, though. These thugs know
how to shield themselves from the law. They keep a small child nearby when
they are dealing drugs. If the police close in, they hide the drugs on the child.
When Antwan was arrested, vials of narcotics were stuffed in his socks.
Fortunately, the police saw the older boys force the illicit contraband on him.
Then there's Emily, aged 6, a victim of incest. Her father sexually abused
her and her 10-year-old sister Tracy in the bedroom while their mother cooked
dinner. Emily clings to a doll that plays, "It's a Small World After All." Further
details of the depravity of her family environment are really too graphic for
Sunday worship.
Then we meet Timothy and Tommy, ages 11 and 9. Their mother is a
cocaine addict. She loves her boys, she'll tell you, but not as much as she loves
Mr. "C," cocaine. Their living conditions are unimaginable. The County tried
putting the boys in separate foster homes, but the younger one couldn't adjust.
His brother is his family. Without him the younger boy cries pitifully and is
unable to eat or sleep. He sits around with a shopping bag under his arm waiting
to go back to his tragic home.
Such situations are overwhelming our social welfare system today, as well
as our courts. The stories of such children rarely have happy endings. What
struck me, though, was the way Time magazine ended its story. The article took
us to Antwan's apartment--the 10-year-old with drugs stuffed in his socks. He
has been placed in a special program that offers him at least a glimmer of a
better life. The writer tells how his mother unscrews the light bulb from the
kitchen socket and screws it into the living-room ceiling. It is the only light bulb
they have. Its harsh glow illuminates a poster on a far wall. It's a poster of a
young black boy crying. A caption at the bottom of the poster reads like this,
"He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death,
nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever."
I hope you recognize those words. They are from our Scripture lesson for
the day. They speak of God's final conquest over sin and death. They are a
picture of the New Jerusalem. I believe they are also a picture of how God
desires this world to be--a place where tears are wiped from children's eyes.
Where they shall no longer be surrounded by death, sorrow, crying, or pain.
"All of that will be gone forever."
BUT THAT WILL ONLY HAPPEN IF YOU AND I GET BUSY!
That
is our reason for being. We are God's hands, His feet, His messengers. If tears
are wiped from Antwan's eyes and Emily's eyes and Tommy and Timothy's eyes
it will be because we are there ministering to them as representatives of Jesus
Christ.
I know, every Christian doesn't have this level of concern. Some unknown
author described many of us like this:
"I was hungry and you discussed my hunger. Thank you.
I was imprisoned and you prayed for my release. Thank you.
I was naked and you discussed my appearance. Thank you.
I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health. Thank you.
I was homeless and you preached to me of the shelter of the love of God.
Thank you.
I was lonely and you prayed for me. Thank you.
You seem so holy, so close to God, but I'm still very hungry, and lonely,
and naked and homeless and imprisoned and cold and without Christ in my
heart."
Those words hurt, don't they? They hurt because they hit too close to
home.
They remind me of a story that Clifton Fadiman tells about Vladimir
Nabokov, the Russian-born novelist.
One summer in the 1940s, Nabokov and his family stayed with James
Laughlin in Alta, Utah. There Nabokov took the opportunity to enlarge his
collection of butterflies and moths. One evening at dusk he returned from his
day's excursion of chasing butterflies. He said that during hot pursuit near Bear
Gulch he had heard someone groaning most piteously down by the stream.
"Did you stop?" Laughlin asked him.
"No," answered Nabakov, "I had to get the butterfly."
Fadiman adds, "The next day the corpse of an aged prospector was
discovered in what has been renamed, in Nabokov's honor, Dead Man's Gulch."
(1)
There were two dead men there--the prospector and Nabokov himself.
So it is with those of us who cannot hear the cries of children at our
door. If tears are wiped from their eyes, it will be because the church of Jesus
Christ got busy. We are his ambassadors. We are those entrusted with carrying
on the ministry he began 2,000 years ago. Where there are children who need
tears wiped from their eyes, that is where Christ means for us to be.
And you know what?
THERE IS NO GREATER SATISFACTION IN
LIFE THAN HELPING ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.
That's true.
John Hersey, in his book HIROSHIMA, describes the aftermath of the
atomic bomb that exploded in that never-to-be-forgotten city. At the center of
the explosion area was total incineration. On the fringes, houses collapsed. People
were trapped under rafters. Unable to extricate themselves they faced the horror
of spreading fires.
Survivors fled in every direction. The streets were crowded with frantic
people. Most of them ignored the agonized cries of imprisoned people pinned
down in these collapsed houses calling out for help. In the midst of the chaos,
however, there were some fleeing refugees who would hear a cry, would drop
out of the crowd, and would pick their way into a collapsed building, to give a
hand to releasing a trapped person. (2)
In many ways, you and I are in a society where folks are trapped in the
rubble of life. Some of their woes are self-inflicted, to be sure. But that doesn't
mean their suffering isn't just as real. Who will reach out a helping hand? Who
will show real love and concern?
I have some good news for you. There is nothing you can do for yourself
that will enrich your life more than demonstrating that kind of compassion.
Want proof? AMERICAN HEALTH magazine reported the findings of a
study by the University of Michigan's Research Center. This study says that
more than any other activity doing regular volunteer work dramatically increases
life expectancy. It's more important than jogging or aerobics or even oat bran.
Help somebody else and you will live longer. You will have more vitality, more
energy, more zest for life.
During the bombing of London, it was found that people suffering from
nervous disorders found unexpected health by forgetting their own troubles and
ministering to the terrible needs of victims of the air raids. The reason many of
us have no energy, no vitality, no joy, is that we are living only for ourselves.
There is an ancient story called "The Servant of the Kingdom." It is about
a man who's a servant. One day he meets a genie. The genie gives him one
wish, but warns him to be careful what he wishes for.
The man wishes to be waited on, for others to serve him hand and foot.
Things go great for awhile. But soon the luster wears off. He tires of people
catering to his every whim. He grows bored. Finally, he goes looking for the
genie. He says "I can't stand it. I want to go back to serving people. I'd rather
be in hell than live like this." The genie replies, "Where do you think you've
been the last 90 days?"
And there is truth to that little story. We were not created to be served
but to serve. The happiest people in this world are people who out of their own
volition serve others. There's nothing you can do for yourself that will yield
greater rewards. But there is one thing more to be said.
WHEN WE WIPE AWAY ANY CHILD'S TEARS IT IS CHRIST'S
TEARS WE DRY.
Former Governor Jerry Brown of California visited with
Mother Teresa. He tells of attending a six o'clock morning service. The setting
was austere. Everyone sat on the canvas-covered concrete floor. The windows
were open and the street noises were so loud it was difficult to hear the priest
recite the prayers. At the conclusion of the service, Mother Teresa took a few
minutes to speak to the volunteers and give them encouragement. Her message
was very simple: "Jesus is found in the distressing guise of the poorest of the
poor," she said. "What you do to them, you do to Him."
She held out her hand and touched each finger as she repeated, "What
you do to Him; what you do with Him; what you do for Him. Look at the
fingers of your hand," she said, "and you will always remember that it is Christ
whom you are touching in the poor...."
On another occasion Mother Teresa put it like this:
"At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we
have received--how much money we have made--how many great things we
have done.
"We will be judged by `I was hungry and you gave me to eat...I was naked
and you clothed me...I was homeless and you took me in.'
"Hungry not only for bread--but hungry for love...Naked not only for
clothing--but naked of human respect and dignity...Homeless not only for want
of a room of bricks--but homeless because of rejection. This is Christ in
distressing disguise." (3)
Maybe one day Antwan will meet a follower of Jesus who will take those
words seriously. Or maybe Emily will. Or maybe Timothy and Tommy. Maybe
someday the prophecy will be fulfilled, not just in Heaven, but in this world:
"He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death,
nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever."
-------------------
1. THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES
2. Douglas V. Steere, TOGETHER IN SOLITUDE, (New York: Crossroad,
1982).
3. Mother Teresa, WORDS TO LOVE BY, p. 80.
TOP
MAY492
THE PEACE THAT CHRIST GIVES
John 14:23-29
A couple was traveling out West. They stopped at a sign that said, "Echo
Point."
"Try it," the wife suggested.
"I think it's silly," her husband said. Finally he agreed to try it. He
shouted at the top of his voice, "Baloney!" After a moment, he said, "See,
nothing happened."
"Try it again," his wife said.
This time he shouted, "I'm the best looking man in the world!"
Then the echo came back--"Baloney!"
Is there anyone here this morning who is absolutely satisfied with
everything you are and everything you have? I read recently that only one-third
of men and one-half of women rate themselves as being happy. Did you make
the cut? The truth is that many of us find ourselves bogged down in the mire
of discontent.
The philosopher Schopenhauer once compared us to a Bulldog Ant. If we
cut a Bulldog Ant in half, the front and rear segments will enter into a savage
fight. The head will seize the tail with its teeth, while the tail will sting the head
with fury. The fight might last for hours.
That is the way some of us are on the inside. There is part of us that
wants to move ahead and a part that wants to stand absolutely still. There is a
part of us that wants success and recognition. There is another part that wants
to sit on the river bank and while away the hours. There is a part of us that
wants to serve Christ. There is another part that says, "No, I've enough to do
right now. Let someone else take their turn." There is a fierce battle going on
within many of us. Few of us know what it is to live lives of contentment and
peace.
Jesus said to his disciples, "I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind
and heart! And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So
don't be troubled or afraid." What a promise! What a gift! Peace of mind and
heart. He can give it to us. How? Let me suggest some ways.
FIRST OF ALL, CHRIST GIVES US A HEALTHY SENSE OF WHO
WE ARE.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was walking down a street one day. A little
girl joined him. When the girl started to turn back home, the famed jurist said,
"When your mother asks you where you've been, tell her you've been walking
with Oliver Wendell Holmes."
To which the little girl replied confidently, "And when your folks ask you
where you've been, tell them you were walking with Mary Susanna Brown."
There's a little girl with a healthy sense of who she is!
Psychologists tell us that a healthy sense of identity is one of the most
valuable gifts we can give our children. First, however, we need that gift
ourselves. And if we did not receive it from our parents, we will need to look
to God.
Every basketball fan knows the name Larry Bird. Due to a combination
of age and injuries he's now in the twilight of his extraordinary career. He has
won nearly every award possible for a basketball player. Yet he still remembers
what it was like to be slighted, to be overlooked, to feel unappreciated.
He tells about being chosen in his senior year of high school for the
Kentucky-Indiana All-Star games. Those games are a big deal in Kentucky and
Indiana, as you may know. The only reason Larry was chosen was that usually
there was a representative from southern Indiana. He was the one selected to fill
that slot. However, from the beginning, he was placed on the second team.
In the practices, however, the second team out-played the first. And in
the first game in the All-Star series in Louisville the Indiana team was up by
eight points or so in the second half when the coach put Larry's unit in. They
blew the Kentucky team off the floor.
The same thing happened in Indianapolis. The Indiana team was trailing
in the first half, but when Larry's unit went in, they went crazy and took
complete control of the game. In the second half the coach started the first unit
again. Then the second unit was put in--everybody but Larry Bird. Larry just sat
on the bench, wondering what was going on.
With about two minutes to go in the game, the coach came over to Larry
and said, "Hey, I forgot all about you. Why don't you go in now and get
something?" Larry said, "Too late, Coach. I've already been embarrassed."
The coach got pretty angry at that. But Larry Bird had been humiliated.
He had put in his time, just like everyone else. Everybody else got to play. If
the coach had told Larry he wasn't good enough, that would have been one
thing. But to come and say he had forgotten about him was another. How can
a coach forget about somebody, asks Larry, after he's been practicing with him
for two or three weeks?
"I know I reacted wrong," Larry Bird says, "but I was young. However,
if I had to do it all over again, I would probably do the same thing because I
know how embarrassed I felt that night. My values have changed. My outlook
has changed. But I can remember how I felt that night, just sitting there--totally
forgotten." (1)
Friends, if one of the all-time greats who ever played the game of
basketball can feel forgotten, how about the rest of us who are not as skilled
as he? It hurts when we are overlooked, unappreciated, forgotten.
God doesn't forget us. He tells us we are somebody. Those early disciples
faced all matter of opposition and even persecution, but they knew they were not
forgotten. Christ had given them a new identity. He had given them an inner
peace that the world could not take away. Christ gives us a healthy sense of who
we are.
HE ALSO GIVES US THE JOY OF A GREAT PURPOSE.
That's what
he did for those disciples. He sent them out into the world to make disciples of
all humanity. That's a purpose big enough for anybody. What's the grand
purpose of your life?
Highly esteemed futurist Alvin Toffler once said, "You've got to think
about `big things' while you're doing small things, so that all the small things
go in the right direction." That's true. If we are to be effective and successful
and happy, we need to be driven by something bigger than ourselves.
Companies today are encouraged to write out their mission. What is their
purpose for being? Whom are they seeking to serve? It would be helpful if we
all could write out a personal mission statement. What great purpose drives our
lives?
What are some such purposes? How about, "To live all my days making
my life pleasing to God." How's that for a purpose? Or perhaps, "To enrich
someone else's life--someone who cannot do anything for me in return." Or, "To
use my gifts, abilities and opportunities to the utmost. To make a significant
contribution to the world in which I live." Those are some examples of a
personal mission statement worthy of the follower of Jesus Christ.
And everyone of us can be guided by a great purpose--even those of us
in the lowliest of occupations. Have you ever noticed what happens to a great
city when the garbage collectors go on strike? Disaster. We take such persons
for granted, but their contribution to the public good is immense. We all have
something we can do to make the world a better place. The real issue in life
is not our abilities or our opportunities. The issue is commitment to a purpose.
A schoolmaster in France was discouraged with one of his students. He
wrote in his rollbook concerning this student: "He is the smallest, the meekest,
the most unpromising boy in my class." Half a century later, an election was
held in France to select the greatest Frenchman. By popular vote, that meekest,
smallest, most unpromising boy was chosen. His name? Louis Pasteur, the
founder of modern medicine. At age seventy-three, a national holiday was
declared in his honor. He was too old and weak to attend the ceremony in Paris,
so he sent a message to be read by his son. The message read: "The future
belongs not to the conquerors but to the saviors of the world." (2)
Louis Pasteur was driven by a great purpose. Your name and my name
may never be a household word like Pasteur's, but we, too, can be driven by
a great purpose. Christ can give us that purpose. But there is one thing more
Christ gives us. HE GIVES US THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
There are those who will tell you that all you have to do is believe in
yourself and you can have it all. There are others who say you can move
mountains if you are driven by a great purpose. Both are partially right. But a
healthy sense of identity and a driving purpose are not enough in themselves.
One thing more is needed. It is the in-dwelling Spirit of the living God.
Luis Palau tells about an Air Canada flight that ran into trouble one fateful
Monday. Passengers were enjoying a movie on a Boeing 767 when the jumbo
jet's massive engines abruptly stopped. Only those without earphones noticed at
first. Then came a break in the movie. The pilot announced that Flight 143
would be making an emergency landing. Sixty-nine people were trapped in an
agonizingly slow but inescapable descent to earth.
For several minutes, a desperate silence hung over the cabin. Then fear
gave way to screams as the landing neared. All the latest technology couldn't
keep the jumbo jet in the air another second.
What had happened was this. The electronic digital fuel gauge was out
of order. The flight crew depended on figures given by the refueling crew before
takeoff. But someone on the refueling crew confused pounds for kilograms. Thus,
eight hundred miles short of its destination, the jet had run out of fuel.
Fortunately, the captain and the co-captain were able to glide Flight 143 some
one hundred miles to a former military air field. A dramatic crash landing
heavily damaged the jumbo jet's landing gear, but, by the grace of God, no one
on board was hurt. (3)
An impressive craft--headed in the right direction--but running out of fuel.
That's happening to a lot of people today. They have a high sense of self-
esteem. They are motivated by a sense of purpose. But one day they wake up
disillusioned and disheartened. The fuel has all been spent.
Where does the fuel we need for life come from? It comes from God's
in-dwelling Spirit. This was the most important gift that the Father bestowed
upon those first disciples of Jesus. And this is the most important gift He can
bestow upon us. And He will give it to all who ask.
It's important to have a healthy sense of who you are. It's good to have
a great driving purpose in your life. Indeed, Christ will supply us with those if
we ask. But the greatest gift He can give us is Himself. Then we truly know His
peace in our minds and in our hearts.
-------------------
1. Larry Bird, DRIVE! THE STORY OF MY LIFE (New York: Doubleday,
1989).
2. Edward Chinn, WONDER OF WORDS (Lima, Ohio: C.S.S. Publishing Co.,
Inc., 1987), p. 18.
3. Luis Palau, SAY YES! (Portland, Oregon: Multnomah, 1991).
TOP
MAY592
A TIME TO REMEMBER
Revelation 7: 13-17
(Memorial Day)
Memory is a tricky thing. Particularly as we get older. You may know
the story about three women who were talking.
The first said, "Sometimes I go to the refrigerator and forget what I need
by the time I get there."
The second woman said, "When I go upstairs, I can't remember whether
I'm going up for something or I'm on my way back down."
The third woman said, "I'm lucky, I guess (knocking on wood), I don't
have that problem. Oh, there's someone at the door."
One of our older comedians says he can always find his car in a parking
lot--it's the one with the lights on.
Memory is a tricky thing. There are some things, however, that we should
never forget. One of these is the sacrifices that others have made in our behalf.
It was a spring morning in 1866, just after the Civil War that had
devastated the South. A group of Southerners did something quite extraordinary.
They marched down the streets of what was left of their town to a cemetery.
There they decorated the graves of the soldiers. ALL the soldiers--Union as well
as Confederate.
The mothers and daughters and widows had buried their dead. Now they
buried their hatred. The time for healing had come. It was the first Memorial
Day.
Have you ever wondered why Memorial Day is marked in May? Its date
doesn't recall some historic battle. Or the start of some war. Or the signing of
an armistice. Why, then, May?
For a very practical reason. Because it is a time when flowers bloom.
Flowers with which to decorate graves.
There are those who remember when Memorial Day was called Decoration
Day and when the cemeteries were filled with people kneeling to plant a flower
or place a garland or unfurl a flag or to say a prayer. Some still do. But most
people can no longer be bothered. It would take time away from the beach, the
backyard, the ball park. (1)
At the National Cemetery on Long Island, one of the nation's largest, it
has become necessary to advertise for volunteers to place flags on the graves of
veterans as the number of veteran volunteers has decreased.
However, many of those who volunteer have no idea why they are there.
One young man, a 13-year-old Scout, was asked if he understood why the
members of his Boy Scout Troop were there placing flags on the graves. He
quickly replied, "To get service hours." (2)
Memorial Day is obviously not one of our major holidays. But we need
to remember.
WE NEED TO REMEMBER THE DEBT WE OWE TO OTHERS.
You and I do not have what we have today by our own efforts alone.
There is no greater myth than that of the self-made man or woman. We owe an
enormous debt from the moment we come into this world. Some of that debt is
owed to young men and women who shed their blood on battle fields. Many of
them gave their lives because they truly believed that freedom is worth dying
for.
To honor their sacrifice is not to glorify war. War is the ultimate
blasphemy against God. Still, we live in a cruel world where tyrants would
impose their will on others. It would be nice if we lived in a world where
people always played by the rules, where no one coveted his neighbor's property,
where never again would we have to depend upon military might to enforce
justice. But such a world does not yet exist. We do not know what dangers may
yet await us.
When the war between the states flared up, a young Texan enlisted and
marched off to fight with his friends. "We won't be gone long," he claimed,
"cause we can lick them Yankees with broom sticks."
Four years later when the fighting was finally over, the young man came
home, a beaten man. One of his neighbors asked, "What happened? I thought
you were gonna beat them Yankees with broom sticks."
"We could have," replied the young man, "Except we couldn't get 'em to
fight with broomsticks." (3)
It would be nice now that the Cold War is over if we could totally
eliminate our defense establishment with the knowledge that no nation would
ever commit aggression against its neighbor again. But that's not the way the
world is.
Winston Churchill used to tell a parable about a zoo in which all the
animals decided to disarm. They arranged `peace talks' to work out the details.
The rhinoceros asked for a strict ban against the use of teeth in war. The stag
and porcupine agreed, but the lion and tiger defended teeth as being honorable
weapons. The bear, however wanted both teeth and horns to be banned, but
suggested that all animals be allowed to give each other a good hug when they
quarreled. This only served to offend all the other animals, and so they never
could agree.
That's the kind of world we live in. And thus, through the centuries young
men, and sometimes young women, have been sacrificed in the cause of one
noble ideal after another. Some of these wars have been senseless and barbaric,
to be sure. But others have been necessary. We honor the memory this day of
those who have given their lives believing that they were making the world
safer, freer and more humane.
OF COURSE, THERE ARE OTHERS WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR
LIVES FOR US WHO NEVER WORE A UNIFORM, NEVER CARRIED A
GUN.
Our Scripture lesson talks about those who "wash their robes in the blood
of the lamb." Among these are those who have given their lives in the service
of Jesus Christ. And there have been hundreds of thousands of such sacrifices
through the ages.
In the sixteenth century there was a bloody purge of Christians in
Scotland. Thousands of ministers and lay persons suffered for Christ's sake.
Many were hanged or slaughtered in cold blood. Some of these believers endured
the torture of burning at the stake or being beheaded. Patrick Hamilton was a
young Scotsman, twenty-four years old, when he was sentenced to die. As he
was tied to the stake and the fire was burning at his feet he pulled off his outer
garments and handed them to his servant, saying, "These will not profit me in
the fire, yet they will do thee some good." Hamilton was taunted by one of his
persecutors to deny God, but answered, "Wicked man! Thou knowest I am not
at guilt, and that is the truth of God for which I now suffer."
As the fire burned, the young martyr called out, "How long, O Lord, shall
darkness overwhelm this realm? How long wilt Thou suffer this tyranny of
man?" As he was being consumed by the flames he prayed like the biblical
Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." (4)
While we remember those who have died in battle we also need to
remember committed followers of Jesus like Patrick Hamilton. They died in
battle, too--the battle between light and darkness. Their sacrifices remind us how
anemic our own witness for Christ sometimes is. They gave their all. We dare
not forget them.
AND THERE IS ONE MORE WE NEED TO REMEMBER THIS DAY.
IT IS THE LAMB HIMSELF--THE LAMB SLAIN BEFORE THE
FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD.
J. Wilbur Chapman used to tell a story of a soldier who was mortally
wounded. His buddy Jim stayed by him through his long and lonely illness to
the very end.
"Jim, I'm going to die," Charlie whispered to his friend. Knowing Jim
had no family of his own, Charlie added, "But I want you to go back to my
mother and take my place there."
"But Charlie, your mother doesn't know me," Jim reminded his dying
comrade, "and she would not allow me to come into her home and live as a
son."
"I will write her a letter and you will take it to her," Charlie explained.
The letter told the mother of her son's ill fortunes, of his wounds, and of
his suffering, and how Jim had stuck by him day and night through it all. The
letter closed like this, "Mother, receive Jim for my sake."
Jim carefully tucked the letter away in his waistcoat. After the close of
the war he went to Charlie's hometown and sought out the mother's home. He
knocked at the door and stood waiting, ragged and worn from the ravages of
war, a very unsightly character.
As the lady opened the door, she looked upon him and thought him to be
just another beggar passing by. But Jim handed her the letter through the half-
opened door. She read it, recognizing her son's handwriting. When she read the
last line, "Mother, receive Jim for my sake," the expression on her face changed,
tears of deep emotion welled up inside, and she threw the door open wide,
receiving Jim "for Charlie's sake." (5)
According to our Bibles, that sort of acceptance is the story of the cross.
God accepts us as His own beloved children for Christ's sake. We may not
understand why it had to be this way. But we look at the cross and we see
there an open door.
And thus we remember. We remember those who died that we may live
in freedom. We remember those who died that we may live in faith. We
remember Christ who died that we may live forever. That's the ultimate meaning
of this Memorial Day weekend. It is a time to remember and it is a time to
finish what they started.
They were shooting the movie "Yankee Doodle Dandy" on the day after
Pearl Harbor. The cast listened as President Roosevelt announced on the radio
that the United States was at war with Japan and Germany. At that point director
Michael Curtiz came on the sound stage with Jimmy Cagney. They all listened
in silence for the national anthem to finish. As the women dabbed tears from
their eyes, and the men were deeply moved, Curtiz said in his best Hungarian
accent:
"Now, boys and girls, we have work to do. We have bad news, but we
have a wonderful story to tell the world. So let's put away sad things and
begin." (6)
That's our challenge, too. We remember with sadness and gratitude the
sacrifices others have made in our behalf. Now we go out to tell our story.
---------------------
1. NY DAILY NEWS, editorial, 5-30-88, p. 22.
2. Long Island, NY, 5-18-89, p. 6, "A Legion Turn Out to Place the Flag"
(Thanks to Dr. John Bardsley for these first two clippings.)
3. Wallace O. Chariton, TEXAS WIT & WISDOM, Wordware Publishing, Inc.,
1990.
4. Lockyer, Herbert, LAST WORDS OF SAINTS AND SINNERS (Grand
Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1969) cited in Billy Graham, FACING DEATH
(Waco: Word Books, 1987), pp. 260-261.
5. Rev. D. F. Sebastian, SEBASTIAN'S SERMONS (Orlando: Christ for the
World Publishers).
6. Peter Hay, MOVIE ANECDOTES, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1990).
TOP
MAY692
JESUS PRAYS FOR US
John 17: 20-26
In Yakima, Washington, sometime back a dying man made a strange
request. On his deathbed, Grant Flory said to his family: "Get me to the
Mustangs' playoffs. No matter what." He was referring to his old high school
team, The Prosser Mustangs. So in early December, when the Mustangs played
in Seattle's Kingdome, Flory's cremated remains were in attendance. His son
Dwight approached the stadium gate wearing a camera bag that contained his
father's urn. He was stopped by a guard who asked what was in the bag.
"It's my dad," he replied.
The guard looked puzzled but allowed the ashes inside. Family members
said anyone who knew Grant Flory wouldn't be surprised by his request. He was
a real football fan.
It is the dream of every pastor to have a congregation filled with people
who are that determined to be in worship every Sunday. I need not even say to
you that there are church members who are much more dedicated to their
favorite sports team than they are to God. They give more money to their team.
They know more about the players on the roster than they ever will about the
heroes of the Bible. And I will not live to see the days when people in the
average congregation will sit in a cold, miserable rain to worship God like many
will do to cheer on their favorite team. Perhaps that's because we don't
understand the essential nature of the church. I believe if we could see the
church as Christ sees the church, we would not take attendance as casually as
we do. Jesus, in his prayer for the church recorded in John's gospel, helps us
see the church as he means for it to be.
FIRST OF ALL, JESUS PRAYS FOR OUR UNITY.
He prays "that they
all may be one." (RSV) Christ desires his church to be a close-knit family! He
desires us to be unified. I suspect many of us underestimate how much we need
one another--how much we crave contact--how much we hunger for true
Christian fellowship.
Recent research has indicated that those persons who attend church are
less likely to be ill over time than those who do not attend church. I don't know
what that says to you. Possibly, it says something about a life of discipline.
Perhaps it says something about avoiding self-destructive habits. My guess is,
though, that it says the most about our need for one another.
Revealing studies have been done on depressed people. Depressed people
want to be alone. Should we let them be? Not if we want them to improve.
There is something about being with others that lifts our spirits. We need
genuine fellowship. The church serves two vital functions in the world, and the
first is to put us in touch with one another. We need one another--particularly
when life caves in on us.
Harold S. Kushner tells of an incident from his youth that made a distinct
impression on him. A business associate of his father's died under particularly
tragic circumstances. Kushner accompanied his father to the funeral. The man's
widow and children were surrounded by clergy and psychiatrists trying to ease
their grief and make them feel better. They knew all the right words, but nothing
helped. They were beyond being comforted. The widow kept saying, "You're
right, I know you're right, but it doesn't make any difference." Then a man
walked in, a big burly man in his eighties who was a legend in the toy and
game industry. He had escaped from Russia as a youth after having been arrested
and tortured by the czar's secret police. He had come to this country illiterate
and penniless and had built up an immensely successful company. He was
known as a hard bargainer, a ruthless competitor. Despite his success, he had
never learned to read or write. He hired people to read his mail to him. The joke
in the industry was that he could write a check for a million dollars, and the
hardest part would be signing his name at the bottom. He had been sick recently,
and his face and his walking showed it.
But he walked over to the widow and started to cry, and she cried with
him, and you could feel the atmosphere in the room change. This man who had
never read a book in his life spoke the language of the heart and held the key
that opened the gates of solace where learned doctors and clergy could not. (1)
We need people who can speak the language of the heart. We need
persons within the community of Christ to whom we feel especially close. There
will come a time when we will need to reach out to them for comfort. There
will be times they will need to reach out to us. Jesus' first prayer is for our
unity with one another.
HIS SECOND PRAYER IS FOR OUR UNITY WITH GOD.
He prays
to the Father "that they may also be in us...." There is more than a horizontal
plane to the church. There is also a vertical plane. That's what separates us
from the average social club. We are here to get in touch with each other, but
we are also here to get in touch with God.
Theodore H. White, Pulitzer Prize-winning expert on American politics,
coined a new word recently. Someone asked him about the effect of television
on politicians. White answered, "Politicians remind me of a certain variety of
plant--the kind that grow under porches and other places where the sun doesn't
penetrate. Botanists call these plants Heliotropic, meaning that as they grow, they
bend in the direction of the sun. Well, politicians today are what I call
Videotropic. As they grow, they follow the camera because that's where the
votes are." (2)
If I might build on that analogy, you and I are here because we are
Theotropic--that is, we are drawn irresistably in the direction of God. In God
is our help and our strength. We gather here each Lord's day to acknowledge
that He is our hope and the foundation of our lives.
During a frightful storm in the Georgian Bay of Canada years ago, a ship
was wrecked. Many perished. The mate, with six strong men and one timid girl,
escaped in a boat, but the waves were high and the craft turned over and over
until, one by one the strong men lost their hold and disappeared beneath the
angry billows.
The mate, however, lashed the girl to the boat, and thus she drifted to
the shore where she was found, safe and unharmed. When the stalwart men
went down with shrieks of despair, she alone was saved. She didn't escape by
her skill or wisdom. She escaped because she was fastened firmly to that which
would not sink. (3)
Here in this house of worship we fasten ourselves firmly to that which
will not sink. We find it in our unity with one another, but even more so, in
our unity with God.
But Jesus has one more prayer for us.
HE PRAYS FOR OUR FINAL
UNITY WITH HIM IN GLORY.
Listen to his prayer: "Father, I desire that they
may also...may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast
given me in thy love for me...." I take that to be in Heaven.
We don't talk about Heaven much in the church anymore--except perhaps
at funerals. I'm reminded of that wonderful story about a time when Senator
Jacob Javits of New York was visiting England. A constituent happened to be
in Washington, D.C., and decided to stop in and see his senator. He found
Javits' office, introduced himself, and asked to see the senator.
"I'm sorry," said the secretary, "but Senator Javits has gone to the United
Kingdom."
"Oh, my goodness!" exclaimed the visitor, clearly taken aback. "Is it too
late to send flowers?"
We don't talk much about Heaven. And I suspect one reason is that Christ
gave us so few details as to what it will be like. Some of the popular images
of Heaven do it a disservice, I am certain. I was amused to read something
former Prime Minister Lloyd George once said about the celestial realm. He said,
"When I was a boy the thought of heaven used to frighten me more than the
thought of hell. I pictured heaven as a place where time would be perpetual
Sundays, with perpetual services from which there would be no break. It was a
horrible nightmare and made me an atheist for ten years."
None of our language about Heaven can possibly do it justice. Our minds
are too small to get around the concept of eternity. There is only one thing we
can say about Heaven. We will be united--with Christ and with those we love.
The unity we have here is but a poor reflection of a more perfect unity there.
Writer and speaker Carol Kent expresses this truth in a beautiful way.
She tells about a couple she met in Indianapolis, Indiana, named Pam and Bill
Mutz. She was immediately impressed with the quality parenting these two were
giving their three children. Carol asked her hostess what made their home so
uniquely special. She began her story.
A few years earlier, when their older daughter, Cari, was just two-and-
a-half years old and their son, Jonathan, was seven months old, the children
were in the bathtub together. That week Pam and Bill had out-of-town company,
and the guest had brought two dogs with him that were left outside in the yard.
While Pam was bathing her children, she became concerned that the dogs might
get too far from the house. Jonathan had been sitting up well on his own, and
Pam turned to Cari and said, "Honey, please watch your brother for just a
minute while Mama checks on those dogs."
Pam was gone a short time, but when she returned, Jonathan was under
water. Cari didn't realize the danger. Pam grabbed her son and screamed for
the guest, who came down and did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while Pam
called for an ambulance.
"They laid my Jonathan on a stretcher and worked feverishly over him,
but even before we reached the hospital, I knew that he was gone," Pam said.
In the days that followed, friends and family gathered, feeling Pam and Bill's
grief as their very own.
Carol asked Pam about the long-term effect of this crisis point in their
home. She said, "Carol, God has done an emotional and spiritual healing here
that even psychologists do not understand. We know it's the Lord."
She continued, "Cari speaks often of her brother and looks forward to
seeing him in heaven someday. Every time she gets a helium balloon, she rushes
outside. Then she lets it go as she shouts into the heavens, `Jesus, this is for
Jonathan, and tell him it's from Cari!' I just know those balloons will make it-
-all the way! One day, perhaps, Jonathan will greet us with an armful of
balloons when we have the privilege of joining him in heaven!" (4)
Jesus' prayer is that each of us would have that same confidence. He
wants us to have unity with one another. He wants us also to have unity with
God. God is our refuge and strength. He also wants us to know that the bonds
that join us to one another and to God are eternal. Nothing will ever break them.
Not even death will snatch us from Him or from those we love.
--------------------
1. Harold S. Kushner, WHEN ALL YOU'VE EVER WANTED ISN'T ENOUGH
(New York: Summit Books, 1986).
2. Jeff Scott Cook, ELEMENTS OF SPEECHWRITING AND PUBLIC
SPEAKING (New York: Collier Books, 1991).
3. Contributed. Source: Keith L. Brooks, ILLUSTRATIONS FOR PREACHERS
AND SPEAKERS, Zondervan Books
4. Carol Kent, SPEAK UP WITH CONFIDENCE (Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1987).
TOP
EXTRAJUN
THE SOURCE OF JOY
John 3:25-30; Philippians 4:1, 4-7, 10-13
One cold, rainy morning a teenager awakened on a farm and
walked out to the back of the barn where she kept her favorite pet-
-her animal friend, the mule. The mule was standing outside in the
rain, and as the drops of water rolled off the end of the long nose
of that ugly animal, the mule seemed discouraged and depressed. She
looked at her favorite friend and said, "You know, Betsy, you would
make a wonderful Christian because you look like so many Christians
I know! You look like you have lost your last friend. You look like
the world is coming to an end." (1)
How many here today can remember that special "Joy" song we
would often sing in Sunday School and in summer vacation Bible
School programs when we were youngsters. I believe it went as
follows:
"I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my
heart..."
And then the song leader would shout, "Where?" And we would
shout, down in my heart to stay!"
Have you had those moments in your spiritual journey when for
whatever reasons you didn't feel you had an ounce of JOY in your
heart? Have you had those moments when joy was lacking in your
orientation to life?
Have you ever wondered how the Apostle Paul could have joy
down deep in his heart when he was in prison for his faith in Jesus
Christ but yet he writes to fellow Christians from the Philippian
jail cell that we as Christians were to "rejoice" in the Lord
regardless of what state of being or difficult circumstances we
would find ourselves. How could John the Baptist once again have
joy in his heart when he knew that his importance in the salvation
drama that God was unfolding was decreasing rather than increasing?
How could he say, "This joy of mine is now full," when he knew that
he would soon die.
I have often heard others remark, "Aren't Christians supposed
to have JOY? Aren't they the unique people of the Earth who claim
that we have found the secret and the source of unending joy? At
Christmas, Christians sing, "Joy to the World, the Lord is Come."
How often do worship services in Christian churches begin with that
great hymn, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee"? Many hymnals also have
responsive readings based on Psalm 118 which declares, "Let us
rejoice and be glad."
In Nehemiah 8:9-12, we find God instructing the leaders to
tell Israel that it is okay to be joyous and festive in our
celebration and praise of God. I remember Erma Bombeck once sharing
a story about a mother and father who sat with their three-year-
old child during a Sunday morning worship service. The small child
was quietly walking in the pew, smiling and grinning at the people
sitting in the pew behind them. The father very solemnly grabs the
boy and tells him to stop smiling and having fun, because this was
church and we were to look serious and somber. I remember a quote
that I once saw in Reader's Digest where a person is quoted as
saying, "I'm going to be happy and joyful, even if it kills me."
I would like to share three insights as we look at the source
and the secret of joy.
THE FIRST SOURCE OF JOY IS FOR IT TO BE GOD CENTERED RATHER
THAN CIRCUMSTANCE CENTERED.
One of the most gifted Christian writers today is Max Lucado
of San Antonio, Texas. Max tells about meeting a gentleman called
Robert Reed. Robert's hands are twisted and his feet are useless.
He can't bathe himself. He can't feed himself. He can't brush his
teeth, comb his hair, or put on his underwear. His shirts are held
together by strips of Velcro. His speech drags like a worn-out
audio cassette. Robert has cerebral palsy.
Max shares, "I heard Robert Reed declare, `I have everything
I need for joy!' Amazing, I thought!
"The disease keeps him from driving a car, riding a bike, and
going for a walk. But it didn't keep him from graduating from high
school or attending Abilene Christian University, from which he
graduated with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn't keep
him from teaching at a St. Louis junior college or from venturing
overseas on five mission trips. And Robert's disease didn't prevent
him from becoming a missionary in Portugal.
"He moved to Lisbon, alone, in 1972. There he rented a hotel
room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who
would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who would instruct
him in the language.
"I heard Robert speak recently. I watched other men carry him
in his wheelchair onto the platform. I watched them lay a Bible in
his lap. I watched his stiff fingers force open the pages. And I
watched people in the audience wipe away tears of admiration from
their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he
did just the opposite. He held his bent hand up in the air and
boasted, `I have everything I need for joy.' His shirts are held
together by Velcro, but his life is held together by JOY." (2)
This real life story from one of God's special saints
demonstrates that the source of joy depends on your orientation to
life. It has nothing to do with the events of your life but with
the deeper orientation of your life. Joy is a gift that comes when
a life is centered on God. People like Robert Reed, David Ring, and
Joni Erikson Tada teach us that joy is always only one decision
away. Choose God.
THE SECOND SECRET OF JOY IS TO BELIEVE DEEPLY IN CHRIST.
The first Christians preached and believed Jesus as the one
come from God to lead men and women to the experience of true joy.
This is why the angels sang at his birth. This is why Jesus is
called the "Good Shepherd."
We often get confused in life about many things. I heard the
other day about an executive who was given a prank gift for his
birthday, a penguin. He decided just to accept it in the spirit in
which it was given, so he called in one of his employees and said,
"Will you please take this penguin to the zoo?" The employee never
returned to work that day. That night, however, he appeared at the
executive's house, with the penguin. Exasperated, the business
executive said, "I thought I told you to take the animal to the
zoo." "I did," said the young employee. "He enjoyed it so much,
tomorrow I'm planning to take him to the museum!" (3)
There are a lot of things we are confused about in our day by
day experience of living. But this one thing we must never become
confused about: Jesus came to bring us life and joy that can be
found in no other. We cannot confuse our spiritual orientation of
life by worshipping the creature rather than the creator.
Everything in life is a poor substitute for God.
Life without Christ is no life at all. It is a pulse without
purpose, heart without happiness, existence without eternity; life
without living. With Christ we have a purpose to live for, a power
to live by, and a person to live with. Jesus not only saves us from
our sins, he also saves us for a new life of purpose and power in
the presence of God. He gives us unending JOY.
Recently, I attended with five colleagues an Evangelism
Congress in Pittsburgh. Included on the program each afternoon were
times of personal Christian witness by various persons who had
experienced some challenge in life which forced them to assess
their faith.
One speaker in that series was Dr. Hugh Crocker. He told the
gathering of his life's journey in the past ten years. First, he
told of the terrible automobile accident which nearly claimed his
life. And then, in a totally unrelated turn of events, he told of
his current battle with Parkinson's Disease.
Hugh did not wish to dwell on his infirmities. Rather, he
wanted to make a Christian witness as a servant of Jesus Christ.
I shall never forget these words which he spoke: "I am determined
that no human limitation shall ever strip me of my joy." (4) We can
get bitter or we can get better.
When Jesus Christ enters our lives as Lord and Saviour he
imparts a deep inner strength for us to continue on when the
journey in life is difficult. St. Paul, like Hugh Crocker,
discovered that the joyful vitality of life is found in a daily
appreciation and thankfulness for what God has done for us in
Christ Jesus. If we aren't filled with joy, we soon will be filled
with bitterness.
THIRDLY, THE SECRET OF JOY IS TO SIMPLY OPEN OUR LIVES TO
CHRIST AND JOY WILL FLOW IN.
Do you want joy? You must begin with God. Is God preeminent
in your life? The first priority in life is to be the worship of
God. The worship of God is directly related to the freedom to be
obedient to God. His will becomes the ruling principle of life.
God's will becomes the dominating passion of life. More important
than any preference, tastes, ambitions, ego, or the opinions of
others is what God wants. This is the delight of a Christian. This
is to be the priority of life. God's will brings life and joy.
In our generation there has been a number of books published
under the banner "the one minute" approach to life. First, there
was the "One Minute Manager" which was about a one-hundred page
book and sold for $15.00. Then that book was followed by one
titled, "Applying the One Minute Manager." Then these books led
into the following books: "The One Minute Scolding;" "The One
Minute Father;" "The One Minute Mother," and the series just seems
to continue into every aspect of our lives. These books tell you
how to do things quickly and efficiently.
However, this modern day approach to life will never work when
it comes to developing real joy in our lives. We will never know
real joy if we only have a one minute God, one minute devotions,
one minute prayers, and only attend one hour worship services on
Sunday morning. For joy is the echo of God's life within us. Joy
is a form of energy which helps us live above the circumstances of
trouble and sorrow. Joy is the celebration of life which doesn't
center its focus on what we might lose but on what we have left.
Joy is that power which makes us strong from the inside out.
We find joy, or maybe I should correctly state that joy finds
us, as we journey through life looking at life through God's eyes.
God grants the gift of joy to pilgrims who seek Him rather than
those who seek joy.
A recent evening news program told a story of a man and his
crew who were on a "Treasure Hunt" to locate a ship in the Atlantic
Ocean that had gone down in the 16th Century.
Today the hunts are done with sophisticated sonar equipment
that helps save valuable time. The head of the expedition told how
they located the boat and various small pieces of valuable coins
and metals--but they couldn't find the big pot of gold they
anticipated finding. The sophisticated equipment was of little
help. They went back up for the night to rest and said they would
try it one more time in the morning.
About noon the next day, one of the divers located the "buried
treasure." Parts of the outer coating of the treasure box were
stripped by the years of pressure on the ocean floor and only then
was the real treasure found. How true in life. Our real inner
beauty of joy is also discovered when life exerts pressure and
attempts to rob us of joy. When the storms of life are raging, joy
is far more valuable than a full bank account. Joy is only
discovered in the richness of faith that Jesus Christ imparts to
those who are filled with him.
Perhaps Saint Francis of Assisi said it best, "Let us leave
sadness to the devil and his angels. As for us Christians, what can
we be but rejoicing and glad."
Like John, for our joy to be complete and full, we must
decrease and Jesus Christ must increase. Like Paul, we can declare,
"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
Will you make this the passion and principles of your life?
Will you make your decisions based on this radical approach to
life? Will your orientation to life be filled with God and His
purposes?
If you do, you will have discovered the secrets of joy that
are complete and unending. Be God centered, rejoice more deeply in
Christ, commit every aspect of your life to God's unfailing grace.
Do this and you will have "Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in Your Heart
to Stay!"
--------------------
1. SOUTHERN BAPTIST PREACHING TODAY (Broadman Press, 1987), p. 438.
2. Max Lucado, THE APPLAUSE OF HEAVEN (Word Publishing, 1990), pp.
6-7.
3. Thanks to Brian Harbour for this story.
4. Thanks to Brian K. Bauknight for the remainder of this public
testimony in Pittsburgh by Hugh Crocker.
TOP
EXTRA1
FACING UP TO THE GIANT TASK OF LIFE
I Samuel 17:37-47; Luke 17:5-6
From our scripture lesson this morning, we find that facing
a Giant task is not a new experience in human history, nor in the
life of the people of God. In our passage from I Samuel, we see
an incident that would put a challenge into any person. Here are
two armies in their camps, each occupying a side of the mountain,
with a valley in between them. Out of the camp of the Philistines
comes the giant, Goliath, the champion of the group, with an
interesting proposal to save bloodshed. It would be well for just
two men to fight the battle, and whoever was victorious on the
battlefield would claim the other's army. This wasn't too bad a
proposition or challenge if you were evenly matched, but here was
a man who was nearly 9 feet tall weighing over 300 pounds, whose
spearhead alone weighed about 20 pounds. It would be similar to
Michael Tyson fighting Mother Teresa. When Goliath came forward
and the challenge was made to the nation of Israel, is it any
small wonder that Saul and all Israel were overwhelmed by this
seemingly undefeatable opponent?
A normal reaction to facing a giant task is that we are
tentative to move in a positive direction. Goliath came forward
each day for 40 days to present the challenge to the Israelites.
However, one day David comes upon the scene and observes the
Israelites running back to the camp in fear. The young David
cries out, "Who is this Philistine that he defies the armies of
the living God!"
He immediately presents himself to Saul and offers his
services to meet this giant of a man in battle. When Saul makes
the excuse that he is too young, David replies that he has
already killed a lion and a bear in combat. Finally, knowing that
something had to be done and seeing no one else ready to
volunteer, Saul consented and gave David permission to go into
battle. He gave David his armor, but it was so heavy, David
couldn't even move! He took the armor off and instead went down
to the stream. Beside the rushing stream, David bent down, chose
five smooth stones and went with his slingshot to meet the giant
Goliath in battle.
Well, Goliath could scarcely believe what he was seeing. He
laughed and made much fun of the little boy, David. Goliath says,
"Am I a dog that you come at me with a stick?" However, David
never veered from his steady course. He shouted back, "You come
to fight me with a sword and a spear, but I come to you in the
name of the Lord...the very God whom you have defied."
As I read that old story in devotions recently, my mind
began to focus upon the strategy David used to win his victory. I
began to think about what it took for him to face this giant
called Goliath. I thought of him going down to that little
rushing stream and choosing the five smooth stones to do battle
for God almighty.
I would like to share five necessary ingredients needed to
defeat the giants of our lives.
THE FIRST INGREDIENT IS THAT OF FAITH.
David comes forward and volunteers because he has faith in
God to overcome the enemy. David also had faith in his God-given
ability to use those skills for God's purpose. When you have a
dynamic combination of faith in God and faith in yourself, you
also can go out to defeat the enemies that work against the
kingdom of God. We read in Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible to
please God without faith.
You will recall that our Lord Jesus Christ said, "If your
faith were the size of a mustard seed, it would be large enough
to uproot that mulberry tree over there and send it flying into
the sea." (Luke 17:6) And again Jesus said, "If you have faith
even as small as a tiny mustard seed, you could say to this
mountain, `move,' and it would go away." What is impossible with
humans is possible with God.
I often have the feeling in many mainline churches that most
of its members and clergy don't really believe Jesus when he
speaks of the power of faith. We hedge. We try to qualify
everything. We adopt a committee to see if it is achievable. Far
too often we say, "It simply can't be done." We suffer too much
from the "we can't do anything" syndrome. We must learn to sing,
"Have thing own way, Lord, have thine own way."
I don't know if any of you saw the articles recently in the
MORNING CALL or on television. It was a human interest story
about a man called Bill Irwin. They interviewed Bill Irwin in our
own Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during one of his breaks. Bill
is walking the 2,135 mile Appalachian Trail.
At first, the headlines seemed ordinary. The story, while
interesting, isn't spectacular or amazing. Many have walked the
complete length of the Appalachian Train. Then the story shared
that Bill Irwin is blind and was only able to walk the trail with
the assistance of his guide dog, Orient.
When interviewed on television, Bill shared the following:
"I was called to travel the trail by God, to demonstrate how
faith can overcome difficulty."
Christianity is not a mathematical theorem to be proved,
even though it does have academic and intellectual integrity. It
is a life to be lived. It was faith in God that allowed David to
go forth to meet the giant.
Yes, the first ingredient for a power-filled life is the
element of faith.
THE SECOND INGREDIENT IS COURAGE.
In the capitol building in Iowa is a large mural depicting
the brave pioneers who settled the West. Beneath the picture you
will find this inscription, "The coward never started, and the
weakling fell by the way." Too many folks never attempt to take
on a difficult task like Bill Irwin, because they run away from
their problems.
I love the story of the little boy who was in Sunday School
one day and the Sunday School teacher said to him, "Tell the
class where God is." Well, little David didn't say anything; he
didn't quite understand what the teacher was asking.
The teacher asked a second time in a louder voice, "Where is
God?" The little boy became frightened and ran home to his
bedroom where he shut himself in the closet. His mother saw this
happen at church, and followed him home. Finding him in his
bedroom closet, she asked, "David, what's wrong?" He shouted out,
"God is missing and everybody thinks I did it."
That day long ago the young shepherd boy, David,
demonstrated not only to the pagan gods of the Philistines but
also to the God-fearing nation of Israel that God is never
missing from the road of life. He is with us, we are never alone.
He gives us His presence and power so we can be courageous and go
out and face head on the giants of life that threaten to undo us.
Faith is not a little puny thing, but the most powerful force
that we have to go forward into the arena of the world. With the
ingredient of courage David was able to place his focus on God
and not the problem, obstacle, or opposition. Notice our Biblical
text shows that David said, "This day the Lord will deliver you
into my hands."
THE THIRD INGREDIENT IS THAT OF OBEDIENCE.
Two men of rather low IQs were driving through the back
roads of a little town. They came to an overpass with a sign
which read: Clearance: 11'3". They got out and measured their
rig, which was 12'4" tall. "What do you think?" asked one as they
climbed back into the cab. The driver looked around, then shifted
the truck into gear, saying, "Not a cop in sight. Let's take a
chance!"(1)
Many people are that way about God's law. They look around
to see if anyone is watching, and if not, they break the law, not
realizing that they are actually doing damage to their own lives.
As Christians, we are supposed to be the obedient servants
of our Master. Every decision, every move, every action is
measured by the Master's will. It's just at this point that we
often miss the substance of Jesus' character. We are touched by
his compassion and by his courage. We are inspired by his
kindness and by his commitment. However, we must not overlook the
strong spirit of obedience to the Father's will that was so
prominent in his personality. Listen to him speak:
"Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
"I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of
Him who sent me."
"Whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother and my
sister and my mother."
"Not my will, but thine be done."
Note the "thy will be done" theme is a key emphasis in two
of our Lord's most noted prayers--The Lord's Prayer and the
Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is no question about
it. At the center of Jesus' life was a glad and unflinching
obedience to the Father's will. This kind of obedience and
commitment to God's will is a key mark of discipleship.(2)
THE FOURTH INGREDIENT NEEDED TO FACE THE GIANT TASK OF LIFE
IS THAT OF PROPERLY PREPARING OURSELVES.
Just like a football team, we must move or gather in the
huddle to receive our game plan from God and execute the plays
from the playbook given to us as a member of the team. The
Christian's game plan and playbook is recorded in the sacred
scriptures from Genesis to Revelations.
A fan of Marion Anderson, the famous opera singer, once
remarked to her, "I would give my right hand if I could sing like
you." Marion Anderson smiled and said, "Would you be willing to
practice eight hours a day for many years to sing like this?"
Today, we live in an "instant" society. We have instant
potatoes, instant coffee, microwave meals, and recently I saw a
place in New York City where you could get a whole banquet in a
box. There is a widespread belief in our society that we can
achieve instant success with a minimal amount of effort. How many
times have you heard a person tell you that they are going on a
brand-new diet to lose thirty pounds that doesn't require any
changes or modifications in their eating habits or lifestyle. To
achieve success and excellence in a chosen field of endeavor,
there must be sweat, hard work, and burning of the midnight oil.
Facing the giants and the large challenges of life and being
victorious over them will never come with easy humanistic
methods.
The word of God pulsates with this truth. The Apostle Paul,
when he writes to Timothy urging him on to spiritual excellence,
told him "exercise thyself rather unto Godliness." Paul is
teaching us while bodily exercise is important it only has
temporary value in this lifetime. However, Godliness, which is
developed also while we are here on earth, has eternal rewards
and benefits.
One of the reasons for the success of Vince Lombardi's Green
Bay Packers was the detailed and complete preparation Lombardi
provided for his team. He developed and communicated the game
plan perfectly and prepared for every contingency. Nothing was
left to chance. So thorough was Bart Starr, team quarterback,
prepared that he knew he would never face a situation he wasn't
equipped to handle.
If the Green Bay Packers spent that much time and effort to
prepare for a football game, how much more should we Christians
prepare for the game of life!
A. J. Cronin was born in a small mining town in South Wales.
There was a cave-in at the mine and 14 miners were trapped. For
72 hours rescuers worked around the clock to save them. They
listened intently in the bowels of the earth for a sound.
Finally, as they dug closer, to where they believed they would be
found, they heard something. It was as quite as a chapel in the
darkness of the mine, and as they listened they heard the men
singing:
"O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!"(3)
Now listen closely, I want to share the good news this
morning that to all of us who feel like quitting when the giant
tasks of life seem so overwhelming, that God will give you the
courage to see it through. Remember, always focus on God and the
abundance of His power and presence and take your eyes off of the
giants who might be in front of you. Remember He is able to give
us the victory. Prepare yourself for all the circumstances of
life and you will never be defeated.
THE FIFTH INGREDIENT NEEDED TO FACE THE GIANT-SIZED TASKS OF
LIFE IS ACTION.
After we prepare ourselves for the battle of life, we must
move from the huddle to the playing field, from the church to the
world. We are not to be so heavenly bound that we are no earthly
good to God. God so loved the world He came; He didn't send a
postcard or a committee. He sent Himself. We are called to be the
salt of the earth, the light in the world, and the leaven in the
lump, to build His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
David acted. "You come to me," said David to Goliath, "with
a sword and with your spear, but I come to you in the name of the
Lord...This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands." So he
goes forward into battle, he swings into action, because he knows
that God shall be with him. Like David, no one can fully serve
the Lord without some effort which propels brave action, which
propels them into life's battles to claim victory for the Lord,
knowing full well that when the power of darkness knocks us down
that Jesus will lift us up, high upon the mountain.
In many of the parables that our Lord teaches us, which are
found in the last few chapters of the Gospel according to St.
Matthew, we find the exhortation to stay busy and be in action
for our Lord as we await the second coming. We are never to miss
the opportunities that our Lord gives us to make a difference.
Eleven months before his death a Jewish gentleman gave his
105-piece collection of modern sculpture to the state of Israel.
As the Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, received it he asked,
"If we are ever attacked, where do you want us to hide your
bronze statues?" The gentleman didn't hesitate for a moment. He
shouted out, "Don't hide them," he said, "melt them down into
bullets." In this day and age when the powers and principalities
of this age seem so large and overwhelming, we need also to melt
down the things that are around us and use them for the battle of
life.
WHERE ARE YOU IN THIS BIBLICAL DRAMA TODAY?
Which one of these ingredients or combination of ingredients
do you need that your Christian witness and work would be more
power-filled in our world and church today?
May God give you the grace to respond like David to face the
giant task of life and claim victory by His power and for His
honor and glory.
And to Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Threefold Fountain both of Being and of Grace,
We ascribe to praise.
--------------------
1. Thanks to Dr. Brian Harbour for this illustration found in his
monthly publication, Brian's Lines, 1990.
2. Thanks to Dr. James W. Moore for this insight found in a sermon preached at St. Luke's UMC, Houston, Texas.
3. Walter L. Underwood, BEING HUMAN, BEING HOPEFUL (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1987), p. 73.
TOP
JUN192
EMPOWERED
Acts 2:1-21
A family driving a large camper pulled up in front of the church just as
the pastor started toward home. Desiring to be friendly, the pastor introduced
himself and expressed his admiration for the camper. The man of the family
told him rather proudly: "This camper sleeps eight people." Then he asked:
"What is the capacity of your church, Pastor?" The beleaguered pastor replied
rather glumly, "Oh, it sleeps about eighty."
It is embarrassing sometimes how little the modern day church resembles
the church that first Pentecost. The sound of a windstorm, tongues of fire,
disciples speaking in different languages, thousands being added to the church
and lots of excitement. Excitement everywhere.
We're more like a small town I heard about. A traveler stopped at a gas
station in the town to buy gasoline. He asked if there was a place close by to
get something to eat. The attendant answered, "No, there's just the cafe down
the road and it closes at 6 o'clock."
"What do you folks do around here for excitement?" the motorist asked.
"Well," the attendant said, "'round here, folks don't get excited."
Such could be said of many churches. They are an indication that we
have forgotten what the church is really about. If we go back to the Day of
Pentecost, the day the church was born, we will see that God gave us the church
to satisfy one of the great hungers of our time--EMPOWERMENT.
Have you heard that word before? It is a current buzz word in our society.
Everyone nowadays wants to be empowered. We want to feel that we have
control over our lives. We want to feel we can take charge of our destinies. We
want to know we can follow the dreams of our hearts. But many of us feel
powerless. Some of us are held back by our lack of initiative. Others of us are
held back by a deprived environment. Others by barriers in our society. Still, we
hunger to believe we can pull ourselves out of the muck and the mire of a
disappointing and dismal situation. And the church is the place where true
empowerment takes place.
Can we not see that Pentecost is about empowerment? A handful of
farmers, fishermen, tax-collectors and housewives became so empowered that
they turned the Roman empire upside down. That's quite an accomplishment.
It may very well be the greatest single act of empowerment in recorded history.
How did they do it? The answer is quite obvious. And, if we study their
example and pattern our lives after it, we will become empowered too.
IN THE FIRST PLACE, THEY OPENED THEMSELVES TO THE
SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD.
That is always the first step in any momentous
victory. It is to place ourselves in God's hands.
Neil T. Anderson, in his book VICTORY OVER DARKNESS, tells a
thrilling story about a little girl born with major health problems which left her
crippled. She had a large, wonderful Christian family. But while her brothers and
sisters enjoyed running and playing outside, she was confined to braces.
"Will I ever be able to run and play like the other children?" she asked
her parents.
"Honey, you only have to believe," they responded. "If you believe, God
will make it happen."
She took her parents' counsel to heart and began to believe that God
could heal her. She practiced walking without her braces with the aid of her
brothers and sisters. On her twelfth birthday, she surprised her parents and her
doctors by removing her braces and walking around the doctor's office
unassisted. She never wore the braces again.
Her next goal was to play basketball. The coach only agreed to let her
play as a means of getting her older sister on the team. She was given an
outdated uniform, but she was allowed to work out with the other players. One
day she approached the coach and promised him if he would give her an extra
10 minutes of coaching each day, she would give him a world class athlete. He
laughed, but seeing she was serious, half-heartedly agreed. Before long her
determination paid off. She was one of the team's best players.
Her team went to the state basketball championships. One of the referees
noticed her exceptional ability. He asked if she had ever run track. She hadn't.
He encouraged her to try it. So after the basketball season she went out for
track. She began winning races and earned a berth in the state championships.
At the age of 16, she was one of the best young runners in the country.
She went to the Olympics in Australia and won a bronze medal for anchoring
the 400-meter relay team. Four years later in Rome she won the 100-meter dash,
the 200-meter dash and anchored the winning 400-meter relay team--all in world-
record times. Wilma Rudolph capped the year by receiving the prestigious
Sullivan Award as the most outstanding amateur athlete in America. Her faith
and hard work had paid off. (1)
In a sense, that is what Pentecost is about. People opened themselves to
God's Spirit and God's Spirit empowered them to do things they never dreamed
possible. That is what the church is about. It is to preach faith. It is to remind
us that all things are possible to those who believe. It is to declare with St. Paul,
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It is to encourage us
to open ourselves to God's Holy Spirit and let God do miraculous things with
our lives. That's the first secret of the church on the Day of Pentecost--they
were empowered by God's Spirit. But they did not stop there.
THEY WERE ALSO EMPOWERED BY THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH
ONE ANOTHER.
hey ate together, they prayed together, they sang together,
they had all things in common. They built each other up in the faith. That's the
way the Christian community was designed to regenerate itself. We are to build
one another up, encourage one another. There is power in such encouragement.
A study was done by psychologist Dr. Henry H. Goddard, on energy
levels in children. He used an instrument he called the "ergograph." How he
ever got some children to stand still long enough to connect them to the machine
is a mystery. But he did, and his findings are fascinating. He found that when
tired children are given a word of praise or commendation, the ergograph shows
an immediate upward surge of new energy. When the children are criticized and
discouraged, the ergograph shows their physical energy take a sudden nosedive.
(2) My guess is that those results could be duplicated in adults. When we are
praised our energy levels go up. When we are criticized our energy levels go
down.
What, then, is one of the most helpful roles that we can play in one
another's lives as Christ's body? It is to praise one another, encourage one
another, pray for one another. That is energizing, enabling, empowering.
Chuck Swindoll says that in the Marines he was taught you should dig a
hole big enough for two when preparing for combat. There's nothing quite like
fighting a battle all alone. There's something strengthening about having a buddy
with you that keeps you from panic. We all need someone to lean on. We all
need another's show of support.
Professional speaker Joe Larson once said, "My friends didn't believe that
I could become a successful speaker. So I did something about it. I went out and
found me some new friends!" There's some wisdom there. Many of us can think
of times when encouragement from a friend made all the difference in the world.
Especially when that friend was a person of deep spirituality.
A Harvard University professor once sought an interview with Phillips
Brooks, the beloved preacher of another generation. The professor had a serious
problem and needed help. He spent an hour with Phillips Brooks and came out
a changed man. Later it dawned on him that he had forgotten to ask Brooks
about his problem! He says, however, "I did not care; I had found out that what
I needed was not the solution of a special problem, but the contagion of
triumphant spirit." (3)
I like that phrase--"the contagion of triumphant spirit." A triumphant spirit
is contagious. That was the spirit with which Simon Peter stood up to address
that large throng on the day of Pentecost. Three thousand souls were added to
the church that day. And daily more souls were added by the contagious spirit
of the community of faith which was the church. That's the kind of contagious
spirit I dream for this church! There's is no limit to what we might accomplish
if we were empowered by God and empowered by one another.
FINALLY, THE CHURCH ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST WAS
EMPOWERED BY THEIR WILLINGNESS TO SERVE OTHERS.
If they had
kept the Good News to themselves, their excitement would have withered
quickly.
Leighton Ford, in his book THE CHRISTIAN PERSUADER, tells about
the time his little girl, Debbie Jean, was lost. His wife had left Debbie Jean and
her four-year-old brother with Leighton while she went to the store. Suddenly
Debbie Jean was gone. A neighbor's child saw her heading toward her school
which was only a few hundred yards away. They looked at the school, and no
Debbie Jean. While his wife checked the shopping center across the street,
Leighton Ford went to the principal and they looked through the class rooms.
There was no sign of her. Panic gripped his heart; he remembered stories about
men picking up little girls. He wondered if he ought to call the police. He
walked up and down the road calling her name.
Half an hour later when he had all but reached the end of his rope, the
little girl came around the corner of the school smiling. The explanation was
simple but hard to take. She had gone to the candy store just beyond the school,
met a friend, and had gone on to her friend's home a half mile away.
Later (after the thunder and lightning and tears were over), Leighton Ford
reflected on the incident. During the nearly two hours that Debbie Jean was
missing, nothing else mattered. In his study were books to be read, letters to be
answered, articles to be written, planning to be done. But all that was forgotten.
He could think of only one thing--his lost little girl. He had only one prayer and
he prayed it a thousand times: "Oh God, help me to find her." (4)
May I say to you that the church of Jesus Christ will never be what God
intends it to be until we have that kind of passion for reaching out to the world
outside these walls. When we have the passion that the early church had for
introducing boys and girls, men and women, to the Man from Galilee, we will
discover a power we never dreamed possible.
Pentecost is about empowerment--a small group of folks turned the world
upside down. May we, like they, be empowered by God's Spirit, by our life as
the community of faith, and by our love of a world for which Christ died.
-----------------------
1. Neil T. Anderson, VICTORY OVER DARKNESS (Ventura, California: Regal
Books, 1990), pp. 107-108.
2. Les Giblin, CONFIDENCE AND POWER (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
1986).
3. G. H. Morling, QUEST FOR SERENITY (Dallas, Texas: Word Publishing,
1989), p. 62.
4. Dr. John W. Keith, Oak Ridge, TN
TOP
JUN292
ISN'T IT TIME TO GET IT RIGHT?
Romans 5:1-5
Did you ever notice that some people always get it wrong? Paul Harvey,
in his book FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH, tells about a county jail in south Florida
where jail officials found a plastic trash bag hanging to the bars of a cell.
Inside was Jimmy Jones, a prisoner who hoped he'd get taken out with
the trash. And he might have--except during roll call his reflexes took over.
And when the name Jimmy Jones was called... From inside the bag came a
muffled response: "Here." Some people just can't get it right.
But here's some good news--especially for those of us who sometimes
get it all wrong. St. Paul says we have been made right with God. Think of
that. We no longer need to concern ourselves about our salvation. We no longer
need to wonder whether we will be found acceptable when we stand before the
throne of grace. We no longer need to cast an anxious eye over our life's work.
Because of what Christ has done, those of us who so often get it wrong have
been made right!
HOW? ST. PAUL SAYS THROUGH FAITH IN GOD'S PROMISES.
That's the essential element for success in life--faith in God's promises. So
many of us live not in faith but in fear. We live in dread of tomorrow. We
expect not the best but the worst. And because our lives are constrained with
fear, we are often our own worst enemies.
Jamie Buckingham tells about a pilot in Ecuador who was involved in a
plane crash because of a passenger's fear. The wheels of the heavily loaded
Cessna 206 had barely left the wet jungle airstrip when the passenger, sitting
in the co-pilot's seat, panicked. The pilot had the throttle pushed all the way
forward to the firewall. He had done this many times before and was confident
they would clear the huge trees towering at the end of the little airstrip.
The passenger, an American who had been visiting the Indians, had never
taken off from a jungle airstrip. Looking up, all he could see were the on-
rushing trees filling the windshield. Why doesn't the pilot pull back on the
controls? he thought in terror. Fearful they were going to crash, he tried to help.
He grabbed the wheel and pulled back. That was the worst thing he could have
done. A plane needs to build up airspeed before you point the nose skyward.
Otherwise, the plane will stall.
The plane did stall. It pitched up, lost critical airspeed and began to settle
toward the jungle below. The pilot wrenched the controls back and tried
desperately to get the nose down. But it was too late. As the airplane reached
stalling speed, the heavy engine pulled the nose over sharply, and the craft spun
to earth. By God's grace, no one was killed, but all were injured because of a
passenger's lack of trust in his pilot. (1)
How like that frightened passenger some of us are. We are continually
grabbing the controls from God. We damage our health with worry. We deny
our dreams because we fear risk. We dampen enthusiasm and joy with our
anxiety. How we need to turn our lives over to God and trust His promises!
There is no greater issue in the lives of many persons in this congregation than
that one. We are made right with God by faith in His promises.
AND THIS TRUST IN HIS PROMISES BREEDS CONFIDENCE IN
OUR FUTURE.
St. Paul says, "We rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of
God." That's one of the three great characteristics of the Christian--hope! We
believe tomorrow will be better than today. Why? God holds the future.
Polls tell us that the confidence of the American people in the future is
at an all-time low. That's the world's attitude. Those are people who can only
trust in the government and in their own resources. The people of God have
another attitude, however. We take our confidence not from the economists nor
from the political pundits nor even our own ingenuity. We take our confidence
from God. And God tells us that because of what Christ has done in our behalf
our confidence can be at an all-time high! We have hope of sharing in His
glory.
Now, I'm not talking about looking at the world through rose-colored
glasses. There is a good story about a husband and wife who had walked out
on a long dock extending into the Mississippi River. As they stood there, looking
at the vastness of that great river, they heard running footsteps behind them.
Here came a man running as fast as he could toward the end of the dock. They
stepped back as he passed them going full speed. At the end of the dock he
increased his speed, gave a mighty yell and took a flying leap toward the
opposite bank. He went about fifteen feet and splashed into the water.
Alarmed, the couple raced out to the end and fished the man out of the
water. "What in the world are you doing?" the woman asked the man when he
was safely on the dock.
Panting and spitting water, he said, "A man up there on the hill just bet
me a million to one I couldn't jump across the Mississippi River. I couldn't
stand there and think about those odds without at least trying it." (2)
In today's world, no one should be foolishly and overly optimistic. This
will always be a hard, cruel world. Before you start a new business, talk to a
good accountant. Before you risk your fortune on a dream, make certain that
you have considered every possible eventuality. Before you jump into the
unknown, get all the advice you can. Still, as people of faith, we should not
fear the future. After all, the future belongs to God.
Some of you are old enough to remember when Jackie Robinson broke
into baseball. He was a tremendous player for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was
also the first black man to don a major league uniform. Jackie Robinson once
told of some excellent advice he received from Branch Rickey, former President
of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He received this advice the same day Rickey asked
him to take this historic step--knowing there could be trouble up ahead.
Rickey said to him, "You know, Jackie, I was a small boy when I took
my first train ride. On the same train was an old couple, also riding for the
first time. We were going through the Rocky Mountains. The old man sitting
by the window looked forward and said to his wife. `Trouble ahead. Ma! We're
high up over a precipice and we're gonna run right off.'
"To my boyish ears," said Rickey, "the noise of wheels repeated `Trouble-
ahead-trouble ahead....' I never hear train wheels to this day but what I think of
this. But our train course bent into a tunnel right after the old man spoke, and
we came out on the other side of the mountain. That's the way it is with most
trouble ahead in this world, Jackie--if we use the common sense and courage
God gave us. But you've got to study the hazards and build wisely....
"God is with us in this Jackie," Mr. Rickey said quietly. "You know your
Bible. It's good, simple Christianity for us to face realities and to recognize what
we're up against...We've got to fight out our problems together with tact and
common sense." (3)
Branch Rickey gave Jackie Robinson some good advice. God is with us.
Faith in His promises gives us confidence in our future. The light at the end
of the tunnel is not an on-coming train. It is the light of God's glory. We need
not live in fear if we trust the promises of God. THIS IS TRUE EVEN WHEN
THINGS ARE GOING BADLY FOR US.
We have such times, don't we? All of us do. One of the lessons you
learn as you go through life, though, is that sometimes events that seem like
absolute tragedies carry in them the seeds of a better tomorrow.
Journalist James Dent tells about an actor friend of his. This friend and
another beginning actor, early in their career, landed bit parts in a live TV
drama. The show was a murder mystery, and they played policemen. His friend
had no lines, but the other actor had a single line he was to deliver. In the
second act there was supposed to be a gun fired offstage, and he was to say,
"Listen! I heard a pistol shot!"
He practiced his line diligently, trying out various intonations to give it
different shades of meaning. Finally, he was satisfied. The night of the show
arrived and his moment came.
"Listen!" he exclaimed dramatically. "I heard a postil..." and he stopped
befuddled. Remember, this was live television.
"What?" Dent's friend ad-libbed.
"Did you hear it?" the actor babbled frantically. "A shistel pot!"
At that point, mercifully, it was time for a commercial. Everybody--except
the red-faced actor--collapsed in hysterics.
"After that," Dent's friend told him, "the actor left the business and
became a wealthy stockbroker. I only hope he remembers when he's counting
his money that everything he is today he owes to a shistel pot." (4)
It is not unusual for adverse circumstances to yield beneficial results. A
man once tried to kill Samuel L. Brengle by throwing a brick at his head.
Brengle survived the attack, but had a long convalescent time. During that period
he wrote many inspiring articles which were put into a book titled HELPS TO
HOLINESS. The book was a huge success. Brengle's wife would say, "Had there
been no brick, there would have been no book!" Indeed, she kept the brick and
had painted on it some words from the Old Testament. They were the words of
Joseph to the brothers who had sold him into slavery: "But as for you, ye
thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good."
Sometimes it happens like that. That which we think is the most tragic
event that could happen to us leads to later triumph.
But even if it doesn't, there is good news. St. Paul tells us that even when
we see no beneficial results, at least with God's help we can keep growing.
Nothing that happens in this world is in vain if we will entrust it to God. Most
of us will testify that the most important lessons we learned in life we learned
through adversity. There are many successful people who will tell you they made
it simply by hanging in there when things got rough. They trusted God, they
learned their lessons and they achieved more than they ever dreamed possible.
St. Paul put it like this: "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not
disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts...." (RSV)
Are you one of those people who never seems to get it right? Isn't it
time you made a new beginning? Get right with God through trust in His
promises. Then you will find confidence for the future and life's difficulties will
not defeat you.
---------------
1. Jamie Buckingham, PARABLES (Lake Mary, Florida: Creation House, 1991.
2. Ibid.
3. John Haggai, WINNING (New York: Inspirational Press, 1991).
4. James Dent in Charleston, W.Va., GAZETTE
TOP
JUN392
WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPRESS?
Gal. 1:1-10
Have you ever tried to impress somebody and looked silly doing it?
Author Sidney Sheldon tells a memorable story about an embarrassing event
that occurred to him years ago. He had acquired a lovely blue Rolls-Royce. A
few days later he parked in front of a shop in Beverly Hills. He went inside,
did his shopping, returned to his car and got behind the driver's seat of the
Rolls. An arm reached through the window and grabbed his shoulder, and a
voice said, "What do you think you're doing?" He looked out the window, and
there stood an enormous Texan. "This is my car," said the Texan.
"No, it isn't," Sheldon told him. "It's mine." To prove it, he started to
put the key in the ignition. It didn't fit. He realized what had happened. He
said to the Texan, "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm driving the same model and color
Rolls as you, and I obviously parked right in back of you."
And as the huge stranger stood there watching him, Sheldon got out of
the car and walked in back--to his wife's white Volkswagen, which he was
driving that morning. (1)
I love that. Have you ever done something like that? Have you ever tried
to impress people and looked all the sillier for your trouble?
Perhaps it was a member of the opposite sex. Think how foolish we often
felt in those dating years--trying so hard to make the right impression. Everybody
has his or her own favorite story to tell--particularly about those awkward days
of adolescence.
Or perhaps it was your boss. There was a terrific Broadway musical years
ago, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. The
main character, played by Robert Morse, was constantly trying to impress his
boss. For example, in one scene he arrived at work a few minutes before nine.
He loosened his shirt and tie. Quickly he scattered papers on his desk and filled
the ashtrays with cigarette butts. When the boss arrived a few minutes later he
found Morse "collapsed" at his desk as if he had been working all night.
Is there anyone here who has not tried to impress his or her employer at
some time or another?
Or perhaps it's your friends. Impressing friends is always important. At
any age. Many parents have forgotten how important it is in the teen years. We
want desperately to fit in. Sometimes that leads us to adopt some rather bizarre
fashion and behavior.
I was amused to read a quote that appeared in the Houston Post recently.
They were quoting University of Houston football player Torrin Polk. He was
discussing his coach John Jenkins: "He treats us like men," says Polk. "He lets
us wear earrings."
Every generation has its fads--its styles. It's important to us when we are
young to "fit in." The opinion of our friends is important. We adults sometimes
need to be reminded that we value the opinions of our friends, too.
EVERYBODY HAS SOMEBODY THEY WANT TO IMPRESS.
If we
are teachers, it may be our principal. But certainly it will be our students. If
we do not impress them, we will not be able to teach them.
If we are in business, it is our customers. At least it better be. Several
years ago American Airlines was sued by one of their former employees, Robert
W. Cox. He was fired for not smiling enough. Cox, suing the airline, contended
that he had met all requirements for the job except for the smile. But the judge
said that the airline's policy of requiring a "friendly facial expression" was
essential in the competitive airline industry. So American Airlines is still doing
what it does best, without Mr. Cox. (2)
If we are in business, we try to impress our customers. If we are looking
for a job, we try to impress our prospective employer.
There was a study performed at the University of North Carolina recently
that dealt with the importance of making a good impression. A group of
psychologists there set up a false corporation office and began conducting
interviews as if they were a major employer. They advertised job openings for
students at the school. They arranged so that some of the students who applied
for jobs there could dress up, but others could not.
They found that the dressed up students, as a rule, asked for $4,000 more
salary and felt much more confident in the interview than those who were not
allowed to dress up. And why not? When we look our best, we feel better about
ourselves. When we seek to impress others, we often impress ourselves as well.
Everybody, though, has somebody they want to impress. For example,
another recent study revealed that only four percent of corporate chairmen have
moustaches and just two percent have beards. Could it be a little peer pressure
is being exerted even at the top of the business world?
Everybody is trying to impress somebody. Sometimes this occurs at a
sub-conscious level. Some of us go through life seeking to please our parents,
and we are not even aware of it. They may even be dead. But still, the
motivating force in our life is not to disappoint them. There are marriages held
together not for the sake of the children, "but because it would kill mother."
Some of the more conscientious among us can identify with the story of
two young men. They were toying with the idea of doing something with which
they knew their fathers would disapprove. One of them finally decided he could
not go along. The other young man asked sarcastically, "Are you afraid your dad
will find out and hurt you?" Quietly the response came, "No, I'm afraid he will
find out and it will hurt him." We can identify with that, many of us. Everybody
wants to impress somebody.
AND THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WE OUGHT TO TRY TO IMPRESS.
Especially as the church of Jesus Christ. For example, we ought to try to impress
the people in our community. They should have no difficulty believing we are
who we say we are.
A ball-point pen salesman persuaded a small business owner to order five
hundred pens. He was writing the order in his sales book when suddenly the
business owner exclaimed, "Hold on! I'm cancelling the order!" With that, the
business owner turned to wait on a customer and ignored the salesman. The
salesman left the store angry and confused. Later, the business owner's
bookkeeper asked, "Why did you cancel that pen order?" "Why?" responded the
man. "Because that salesman talked ball-point pens to me for a half-hour. He
described the benefits. He showed me how I could use them to expand my
business. He had me convinced that I could not get along without those ball-
point pens. Then he turned around and wrote my order with a lead pencil. He
doesn't even use his own product!"
There is nothing in the world that will defeat us in life like saying one
thing and doing another. It is still true, what we do speaks louder than what
we say. People today are tired of phonies.
Driving past certain slum neighborhoods in New York City, you see cheery
curtains and venetian blinds in many of the windows. But wait! If you look
closer, you will see that these are not curtains and blinds at all. Rather what you
are actually seeing are vinyl decals--plastic imitations of curtains and blinds
placed over the broken windows of abandoned apartments. Some ingenious city
official thought the illusory decals would make a good impression on potential
real estate investors! It looks good. But it's a deception. (3)
How sad if that should happen to a church. We need to impress the people
in our community--not merely with our spire or our windows or our neatly
trimmed lawn. We need to impress them with the quality of our lives. We need
to be who we say we are. Our lives ought to speak to the world about our
relationship with Jesus Christ.
Once long ago there was a gigantic oak tree that stood in the middle of
the town square of a small community. The tree was the pride of the
townspeople. It had been there long before most of them were born and would
undoubtedly outlive them. Then one day storm winds cracked the tree in half and
revealed a trunk filled with disease. A symbol of strength on the outside, the oak
had been weak and vulnerable on the inside. For years it had fooled its
unknowing admirers. (4)
A parable, perhaps, of what can happen to us as a church or as
individuals. We can put our emphasis on the outward facade and neglect the
inner reality.
That brings us to the last thing to be said for the day.
THE ONLY
ONE WE ULTIMATELY HAVE TO IMPRESS IS GOD.
St. Paul says, "You
can see that I am not trying to please you by sweet talk and flattery; no, I am
trying to please God. If I were still trying to please men I could not be Christ's
servant." Here is a paradox. The harder you try to impress people, the sillier you
become. If you seek to impress God, you will eventually make the kind of
impression you desire on people. Consider with me one final parable.
Just imagine that a man is given a present by one of his friends. The
present is neatly wrapped in a small box with a pretty bow on top. Imagine
that the man opens the box and discovers a huge diamond inside. He is
flabbergasted at his friend's extravagance, and thanks him effusively. But then
the man takes the gift home, removes the diamond from the box, and tosses it
into the trash can! Incredibly, he puts the box and the bow on his fireplace
mantle. When visitors come to the house, he proudly shows them the box and
the ribbon. He explains that the box once contained a precious diamond, but
that he threw it away because he liked the wrapping better. His friends are
speechless and leave the house shaking their heads at the man's obvious lack
of discernment...
The box in that story is the body, and the diamond is the soul. We take
great pains to display the box to the world. We feed it, paint it, want it to be
attractive at all times. But, sadly, we forget the diamond inside the box. We
neglect the soul that is eternal and most precious. How foolish to spend all our
energy and attention on the box and neglect the diamond. (5)
So it is with those who try to impress the world and forget that their
primary audience is God. If we impress God, we will become the kind of people
who impress the world.
Everybody has somebody they want to impress. And there are people we
should want to impress--particularly people who need Christ. But while we are
impressing people, let's not forget there is really only One we have to impress.
May we center our lives on impressing God.
------------
1. Robert Morley, PARDON ME, BUT YOU'RE EATING MY DOILY! (St.
Martin's).
2. Peter Hay, THE BOOK OF BUSINESS ANECDOTES (New York, NY: Facts
On File Publications, 1988).
3. Ken Durham, SPEAKING FROM THE HEART (Ft. Worth, Texas: Sweet
Publishing, 1986).
4. Bill Hybels, HONEST TO GOD (Grand Rapids, Minnesota: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1990).
5. Judson Edwards, REGAINING CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE (Minneapolis,
Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 1989).
TOP
JUN492
CHANGE IS POSSIBLE
Galatians 1:11-24
A woman bought a piece of needlework at a craft fair. On it was stitched
these words, "Prayer Changes Things." Proud of the handiwork, she hung it up
above the fireplace in the family room. Several days later she noticed that it was
missing. She asked her husband if he knew what had happened to it. "I removed
it," he replied. "Don't you believe that prayer changes things?" she asked,
mystified. He responded, "Yes, I do. I believe in prayer. In fact, I believe that
it changes things. I just don't happen to like change, and so I took it down." (1)
Some people don't like change. And the principle thing most people don't
like to change is themselves. How many people caught in a troubled marriage
refuse to seek counselling? They would rather lose a good marriage than change.
How many people caught in the cycle of chemical abuse feel desperate about
their lives? Still, they won't seek help because it might require change. How
many people, unhappy with their lot in life, try frantically to find happiness? But
they won't take the one step necessary to change themselves.
CHANGE IS DIFFICULT. Most of us resist change even when it is in
our best interest. The standard typewriter keyboard is a good example of that.
Have you ever noticed where the most frequently used keys are located? They're
placed as far apart as possible. "The original purpose of this arrangement was
to slow down typing speed. Keys on the machines of the 1800s used to jam if
the typist went too fast. About 40 years ago, a keyboard called the Dvorak
Simplified Keyboard was developed. On this keyboard, the most frequently used
keys are in the home row, and the right hand does more of the work (56
percent) than the left. Tests show that typists can greatly increase their speeds
(up to five times) with no increase in errors. (2) Still, we labor on with a
keyboard designed to be inefficient. Why? We don't like to change.
In fact, some people are so rigid they cannot change even when the facts
are in total opposition. Philip Holzman and George Klein conducted an
interesting experiment. They showed subjects a set of two-inch and five-inch
squares. Then they gradually showed the subjects larger squares. The two-inch
square became a three-inch square and the five-inch square became a seven-
inch square, then ten inches, and then larger. The subjects were not told the
squares were increasing in size.
When asked about the size of the squares, some subjects simply couldn't
change their original statements. Even though the size of the squares increased,
they kept close to their original estimate. If they told themselves it was two
inches square, then that's what they kept telling themselves, even as the square
grew much larger. Especially rigid subjects were estimating squares that were
actually thirteen inches on each side to be only four inches on a side! Some
people simply can't change the original message they give themselves; it remains
the same even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. (3)
Change is difficult. For some of us it is more difficult than others. Some
of us would rather die than change! And unfortunately, that sometimes happens.
People abuse their bodies and die rather than do something about it. People
abuse their marriage partners and watch a good relationship die rather than make
necessary changes. People abuse their souls and watch those souls wither and die
rather than plug in to the regenerating power of God's love.
CHANGE IS DIFFICULT, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE.
St. Paul is the best
evidence of that. He had been a fierce persecutor of the Christian community.
Suddenly, he became its most eloquent spokesperson. His story has been repeated
millions of times throughout history. People can and do change. However, there
is usually a progression.
FIRST OF ALL, WE MUST WANT TO CHANGE.
We change when it
is too painful to remain as we are.
Workers in Akron, Ohio, are busy restoring an unpretentious home, seeking
to return it to its Depression-era appearance. It was once the home of Dr. Robert
Holbrook Smith, commonly known as Dr. Bob. It was Dr. Bob who along with
Bill Wilson created Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
A National Historic Landmark and a State Historic Site that opened to
the public in 1985, the house is visited by many who travel there simply to
have a cup of coffee. They want to sit for a few moments in the kitchen of the
house where Dr. Bob and Wilson launched the program in an effort to keep each
other sober. Although it got off to a slow start, AA gradually grew into an
international organization that has helped countless individuals achieve and
maintain sobriety. (4)
There are thousands of members of Alcoholics Anonymous who can tell
you that change is possible. But you have to want to change. Few people even
attempt change unless staying like they are is more painful.
Ron Jensen in LEADERSHIP magazine tells of a painful ending to an
attempted ski jump that appeared for years as the opening of THE WIDE
WORLD OF SPORTS television program: "The skier appeared in good form
as he headed down the jump, but then, for no apparent reason, he tumbled head
over heels off the side of the jump, bouncing off the supporting structure.
"What viewers didn't know was that he chose to fall rather than finish
the jump. Why? As he explained later, the jump surface had become too fast,
and midway down, he realized if he completed the jump, he would land on the
level ground, beyond the safe landing area, which could have been fatal.
"As it was, the skier suffered no more than a headache from the tumble."
It's hard to change, but it's better than a fatal landing. We can change if
we really want to.
WE CAN ALSO CHANGE IF WE HAVE A VISION OF SOMETHING
BETTER THAT WE MAY ASPIRE TO.
Flip Wilson used to say, "What you
see is what you get." Modern research into human behavior says that is true.
There is a scene in the original KARATE KID movie that is quite striking.
The main character, Daniel, is befriended by the wise and elderly maintenance
man, Mr. Miyagi. Daniel goes to see Mr. Miyagi and finds him trimming a
delicate bonsai tree. Daniel is fascinated by this, so Miyagi tells him to try his
hand at it. Daniel replies that he doesn't have any idea how to do it. Miyagi
encourages him to try. First, he tells Daniel to close his eyes. Then Miyagi tells
Daniel to picture in his mind the way he wants the tree to look when he is
finished. Daniel concentrates fixedly on every single detail of the tree. Miyagi
asks him if he has got the tree in his mind. "Then," Miyagi says, "open your
eyes and begin." Daniel starts slowly to trim the tree. Every move is deliberate
and focused. Then he stops, unsure, and asks, "How do I know if my picture is
right?" And Miyagi replies, "If the picture comes from your heart, then it must
be right. Just trust your picture."
People who study human behavior tell us that visualization is a powerful
tool for people who want to change. If you can see yourself as being slender,
then you can probably become slender. If you can see yourself as successful, that
picture will guide you to making better choices. Of course there are limits to
this. Visualizing yourself six-feet tall will not make it so. Still, seeing ourselves
as we might be--as God created us to be--can motivate us to change.
That's why every follower of Jesus ought to have in mind a picture of
the Master. I don't mean his appearance, but the kind of man he was. His
gentleness, his patience and acceptance, but also his willingness to stand for his
convictions. His willingness to lay down his life for others. It is this picture of
the Master that has caused millions of people to rise to new levels of humanity.
"Lord, I want to be like Jesus," says the old spiritual, and that is a key to a
changed life.
We can change if we want to. We can change if we have a mental image
of the kind of person God created us to be.
MOST OF ALL, THOUGH,
CHANCE COMES WHEN WE SURRENDER OUR WILL TO GOD.
Perhaps St. Paul was ready for a change. As he held the Apostle Stephen's
robe while the mob stoned Stephen to death, perhaps St. Paul knew deep down
that Stephen was right and he was wrong. We know after his blinding vision he
had a mental image of Christ, because he urges us to be conformed to that
image in our own lives. The important thing about St. Paul's life is that he was
totally surrendered to the will of God. His conversion was complete. It wasn't
simply a product of a New Year's resolution, or a naive desire to somehow live
a better life. It was unconditional surrender to God. And that's the way complete
change occurs.
E. Stanley Jones once said he had seen missionaries leave loved ones,
friends, home, business, prospects, and come to other lands and find that they
had given up everything except self. Self was still there, assertive and jealous
of its place and honor. The greatest battle any of us undertake is the battle with
self.
There is no other way except surrender--complete surrender to the will of
God. Such surrender requires a life-long journey. A young woman wrote a poem
after a late-night struggle with a high school English assignment. The poem went
like this:
Although three hours it costed,
I'm still not Robert Frosted.
Change generally doesn't come in three hours. It can. But generally it
doesn't. Change usually is the product of a life-long commitment. But it is worth
the price. Particularly the change involved in moving from the world of darkness
to light, from despair to hope, from death to life.
It is said that when Earl Weaver was manager of the Baltimore Orioles
he would charge at umpires shouting, "Are you gonna get any better, or is this
it?" Maybe God is asking us the same question. Maybe we're asking ourselves.
Are you going to change or is this it? We can change if we really want to. We
can change if we fix our eyes on Jesus. We can change if we are willing to
surrender our lives completely to God.
-------------------------
1. By William K. Quick in "Signs of Our Times: A Vision for the Church,"
and submitted by Donald Brenneman in Circuit Rider
2. Source unknown.
3. Holzman and George S. Klein, "Motive and Style in Reality Contact,"
BULLETIN OF THE MENNINGER CLINIC 20 (1956): 181-91. Cited in Dr.
Nelson Boswell, INNER PEACE, INNER POWER (New York: Ballantine Books,
1985).
4. AMERICAN HISTORY ILLUSTRATED, March/April 1992, p. 8.
TOP
JUN592
HELP WANTED, DAD. ASK FOR CALVIN AND HOBBES.
(Fathers Day)
1. What Do Daddies Do?
Six-year-old Calvin is talking to his stuffed Tiger Hobbes:
Calvin: Here's a box of crayons. I need some illustrations for a story I'm
writing. You can draw something besides tigers, can't you?
Hobbes: Sure, Leopards, pumas, ocelots....you name it.
(Time passes and we find Calvin in bed with his stuffed tiger, ready to
be tucked in by his father.)
Calvin: Here Dad, read this story tonight. I wrote it and Hobbes illustrated
it.
Dad:...Um. OK. (He reads aloud.) "The Dad Who Lived to Regret Being
Mean to His Kid."
Hobbes: What are you pausing for. Keep reading.
Dad: Barney's dad was really bad. So Barney hatched a plan. When his
dad said, "Eat your peas!" Barney shouted, "NO!" and ran. Barney tricked his
mean ol' dad and locked him in the cellar. His mom never found out where
he's gone, 'cause Barney didn't tell her. There his dad spent his life, eating
mice and gruel. With every bite for fifty years he was sorry he'd been cruel.
THE END.
Calvin: You know how a lot of stories have morals to them...?
Dad: (With great annoyance) I get it. I get it! (1)
What are the primary tasks of being a father? And how should they be
performed?
Fathers protect, teach, model, instill values, empower (or disempower),
and are a child's point of contact with the wider world. In particular, a father
is essential for the development of his children's sense of values. In simplest
terms: No dad, no conscience.
Dads provide leadership by example and encouragement. The key words-
-to repeat--are example and encouragement. A child sees as possible what Dad
says is possible, and what the child sees as possible in Dad's life. Later in life,
the same child will realize that Dad's word is not the only word or necessarily
the final word.
2. Taming the Barbarians: Dad and Discipline
(Dad is sitting at a desk in the living room, balancing his checkbook.
Calvin enters carrying a clipboard.)
Calvin: Dad, your polls took a big dive this week. Your "Overall Dad
Performance" rating was especially low. (He hands the clipboard to Dad.) See?
Right about yesterday your popularity went down the tubes.
(Dad protests vehemently) Dad: CALVIN, YOU DIDN'T GET DESSERT
YESTERDAY BECAUSE YOU FLOODED THE HOUSE!!
(Calvin walks away as he replies.) Calvin: I'd suggest a new line of work,
"DAD".... (2)
Dads not only empower; they set limits. And when the limits are
transgressed, it is Dad's job to discipline the wayward. In the words of Dr.
Alberta Siegel, a professor of psychology at Stanford University:
"When it comes to rearing children, every society is only 20 years away
from barbarism. Twenty years is all we have to accomplish the task of civilizing
the infants who are born into our midst each year. These savages know nothing
of our language, our culture, our religion, our values, our customs or our
interpersonal relations. The infant is totally ignorant about communism, fascism,
democracy, civil liberties, the rights of the minority as contrasted with the
prerogatives of the majority, respect, decency, honesty, customs, conventions, and
manners. The barbarian must be tamed if civilization is to survive." (3)
That is not to say that discipline is only Dad's job or that it is Dad's sole
job. But just as fathers represent the possibilities of the outside world to their
children, so also do they react as agents of that world.
3. Leaving Dad Behind
Calvin: I wanna horsey ride!
Dad: (stirring paint) I'm busy Calvin.
Calvin: You know, Dad, it won't be long before I'm all grown up. One
day you'll wake up and wonder how all the years slipped by. You'll look back
and say, "Where has the time gone? Calvin's so big. It's hard to remember when
he was small enough that I could give him horsey rides..." But those days will
be lost forever.
(Calvin is on Dad's back as they gallop toward a fence.)
Dad: I think I've worked through my potential guilt now.
Calvin: No, no! Jump the fence! (4)
In one of my memories of my childhood, I am about ten years old. My
playmates have bicycles, and I want one, too. My father discovers that the
Chicago Herald-American is selling Schwinn bicycles to its carriers for nineteen
dollars. He convinces the local newspaper distributor to sell one to him. It is
delivered unassembled in a cardboard carton.
For most of a weekend, we work together in the basement of our
apartment building assembling the red, one-speed, balloon-tired bicycle. It proves
a formidable task, which I assist by passing him tools and asking impatiently
when he will be finished.
Finally, it is done. Dad rides the bike around the block, tinkers with the
chain some more, and rides it again.
Then he has me mount it. He walks alongside, steadying the bike. At
first, he grips the handle bars. Then he holds the saddle as I practice steering
and pedaling. He walks faster and faster. Soon he is running. As the bike picks
up speed, he lets go, and I lose my balance and fall in the street. We repeat the
sequence again and again. Balance still eludes me. He demonstrates, explains as
best he can, and we try again. It is after dark when we quit.
A few days later we try again. He rides the bike for several minutes, and
has me try. He steadies the bicycle again. I manage a few yards on my own,
become frightened and stop. Then we try again. I add a few more yards to my
range. We try again. Finally, to his surprise and mine, I am riding alone. I am
frightened and excited. I glance back over my shoulder. Dad is waving at me,
smiling, and shouting encouragement as he recedes into the distance. I am on my
own!
I am still unsure and wobbly. In the next few days there are spills and
scrapes. Trying to stop, I scratch the paint on a car door about three blocks
from home. I explore new neighborhoods, meet new boys my own age. About
a mile from home, a bully stops me, tries to goad me into a fight, and tells me
to stay out of his neighborhood. From month to month, my self-confidence and
rage increase. Some days I bicycle from morning to night. I am on my own!
Psychiatrist Martin Greenberg explains:
"As fathers, we struggle to get our children on the `cycle' of life. We
race alongside of them, panting--exhausted sometimes--and, finally, they're able
to ride off on their own, and we are saddened because we feel we've been left
behind. But indelible memories can keep you running alongside that bike." (5)
Unalterably etched in our very being, influencing our sense of self, are
what we as sons and daughters remember about our father's teaching us. For
they were there from day one instructing us how to ride a bike or shave or flirt
or gut a fish or entertain guests at a pretend tea party or start a lawn mower or
shag flies--in sum, to "be a man" or "act like a lady." These memories color not
only our relationships with our father, but with all other human beings as well.
The memories of a son, in particular, surface again and again in the way he acts
as a father with his own children. In his book, THE BIRTH OF A FATHER,
Greenberg states that he often thought of his father and the bicycle-riding lesson
just after his own son was born. He comments:
"The images captured the closeness that I have with my father and yet
the reality that I was leaving him behind, that I was moving on to a new phase
of my life. My recollection of my father running beside me filled me with a
need to be near my own child, to be a part of his life, recognizing nevertheless
that at one point he would also leave me behind." (5)
Dad is our teacher and our model. He recedes into the distance--yet is
always there. For a lifetime we idealize him, fight him, blame him, and resist
him. But when we become fathers ourselves, we catch ourselves repeatedly using
his very words and duplicating his very reactions. We keep telling ourselves that
we are smarter than he was, that we will never make the same mistakes with our
children that he did with us. Consciously and unconsciously, we keep asserting:
"Look, Dad, I'm on my own now!" But we never truly are.
(Calvin's Dad is in his chair, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.)
Calvin: How come you're still home? Why aren't you at work?
Dad: I took the day off. (Calvin looks horrified.)
Calvin: Say, Dad. Can I have a look at the classified section?
Dad: As soon as I'm through with it.
Calvin: Gosh, Dad. I'd sure like to borrow that section right this minute.
Why don't you read the editorials?
Dad: (Looking astounded, reads aloud,) "New Dad wanted. Frequent
traveler preferred. Liberal views on discipline a must. Ask for Calvin during
normal work hours." (6)
4. Fathering Made Easy(?)
(It is a quiet Sunday afternoon. Calvin's dad is sitting on the patio reading.
Calvin walks by, covered with mud.)
Dad: Wow! How did you ever get so muddy?!
Calvin: Well, I was just standing there, minding my own business, when
all of a sudden, a horde of dirty cannibals comes...
Dad: Forget it.
(Calvin wanders off. Dad throws back his arms and takes a deep breath.)
Dad: Boy, what a delightful afternoon. Sometimes I feel like I work all
the time to afford this place, and never get to sit back with a good book and
enjoy it. Well, at least I have the weekends to...(Dad's reverie is interrupted by
his wife's scream)
Mom: CALVIN! YOU GOT MUD ALL OVER THE HOUSE! LOOK
AT YOU! AIE!--THE COUCH! WHAT'D YOU DO IT?! DID YOU WALK
ACROSS THE COUCH?!
Calvin: I didn't do it! Someone else must have! I saw a muddy guy go
running from...
Mom: OUT! OUT OF THE HOUSE! NOW!
Calvin: OK, OK! I'm going! You don't need to push! I can tell when
I'm not wanted! Hey! Leggo! Ow! All right, goodbye!
(Dad sits with his book in hand, staring into space. Calvin reappears.)
Calvin: Hey, Dad, catch the water balloon. (Dad and his book are
drenched.) Great reflexes, Dad. By the way, don't go in the house like that.
Mom's in one of her moods again.
Dad (talking to himself): I'll bet I could get a lot of work done at the
office on weekends....(7)
So here we are on this weekend--on Father's Day no less--trying to brush
up on our fathering skills. No one gave us a guidebook when we took on this
job, but there are a few obvious rules.
First, as a father realize that your only responsibility is to do the best that
you can do, to be aware of the impact you have on your children, and to
respond as fully as you are capable of responding to their needs.
Second, do the best you can do under the circumstances, just as your
father did the best he could do.
Third, do whatever you do for your children because it gives you pleasure
to do it--not because you have to or because it's good for them--and expect
nothing in return.
Fourth, accept responsibility for your own happiness and stop expecting
Mom, Dad, your spouse or your kids to do it for you.
Fifth, start now to make positive contributions to your children's memories
of their childhood. You cannot guarantee that their memories will not accentuate
the negative while ignoring the positive, but you can create a basis today for
being remembered as a great father tomorrow. It is all in the execution. Time
and focus are all that separate a good father from a rotten father. There is no
such thing as a few minutes of "quality time." Quality means attention,
dedication, commitment, talent, and, above all, ample time.
Great fathering requires three things: being there, being aware, and being
real. Everything else is dessert.
Being there, wanting to be there, committing oneself to being there, being
proud of being there, putting up with the messes and the disappointments and
one's own shortcomings, and still choosing to be there for this child--that is what
fathering is all about.
And don't worry too much about not having all the answers. That's what
children are for!
Calvin: Dad, can you get my ball out of the gutter again?
Dad: This is the third time this afternoon! I thought I told you to play
out back!
Calvin: Relax, Dad. It's just a ball in the gutter. It's not as if I've been
embezzling money or killing people, right? Aren't you glad I'm not stealing
and murdering?
(Dad walks away. Calvin turns toward the reader.)
Calvin: I always have to help Dad establish the proper context.(8)
---------------------------
1. Bill Watterson, THE CALVIN AND HOBBES LAZY SUNDAY BOOK
(Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1989), p. 45.
2. "Calvin and Hobbes," by Bill Watterson, June 11, 1991, San Jose Mercury
News, p. 6D.
3. Stanford Observer, October 1973, p. 4.
4. "Calvin and Hobbes," by Bill Watterson, San Jose Mercury News, June 25,
1987.
5. "Father's Day can be a celebration of all kinds of ties," by Al Morch, San
Francisco Examiner, June 21, 1987, p. E-4. See also Martin Greenberg, THE
BIRTH OF A FATHER (New York: Avon Books, 1985), pp. 71-72.
6. "Calvin and Hobbes," by Bill Watterson, August 25, 1987, San Jose Mercury
News, p. 7C.
7. Bill Watterson, THE CALVIN AND HOBBES LAZY SUNDAY BOOK
(Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1989), p. 75.
8. "Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson, August 21, 1987, San Jose Mercury
News, p. 7C.
TOP
JUN692
THE REPENTANT HEART
II Samuel 12:1-14
Mighty King David acted on his impulses when he saw Bathsheba bathing
in the afternoon sun. David committed a sin. David had not given any thought
to the consequences of his sin. He thought he could get away with anything.
After all, he was the king. David knew right from wrong--that was why he went
to such lengths to cover up his sin. As you will recall, David had Bathsheba's
husband Uriah killed in battle. After a period of mourning David took Bathsheba
as his wife. David hoped that he could put the whole episode behind him now
and get back to ruling the nation.
One day a prophet came to pay David a visit. Nathan had visited David
before. As king, David was the chief judge in the land. When Nathan had a
concern, he took it to David and the king decided the case. There was nothing
unusual about Nathan visiting with the king.
Nathan had a case to share with David. There were two men, one was
rich and the other was poor. The rich man had many cattle and sheep, while
the poor man had only one sheep. The poor man's family treated their sheep
as one of the family. The lamb drank from the man's cup and ate off his plate.
The lamb became a pet to the man's children. One day a visitor came to pay a
visit on the rich man. Instead of killing one of his own lambs for dinner, the
rich man took the poor man's only lamb. The poor man's children were crying
as their pet was led off to slaughter. The lamb was served as dinner for the rich
man and his guest.
King David was appalled by this. Who would do such a horrendous thing?
David told Nathan, "I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this
ought to die!" The case touched David's emotions in a powerful way. That was
exactly the reaction Nathan hoped for. Remember, David was a shepherd. David
spent a lot of time with sheep before he became king. David's heart went out
to the poor man and his family. Who ever did such a thing ought to die or at
least "pay back four times as much as he took." David's sense of justice was
offended by this crime. It was like taking candy from a child and standing there
laughing as the child began to cry. No decent person would do such a thing.
Nathan must have been trembling as he said to David, "You are that
man." God told Nathan to deliver this message to David. God knew what David
had done, and apparently other people knew it too. Nathan took quite a risk in
speaking these words to the king. David could have ordered him killed right on
the spot. "You are that man."
David stood there speechless. He regretted saying he thought the guilty
man should be put to death. He never realized that he was the man in Nathan's
parable. David was in shock. In David's day anyone caught in adultery was put
to death. After all, there was a Commandment against doing such things.
Sometimes God has to trick us to get us to look into the mirror we
ourselves have hung. Sometimes it takes another person to point out our wrong
doings, like Nathan did for David. Has anyone ever told you a story that you
could see yourself in? The parable that Nathan told is the most famous parable
in the Old Testament. Jesus used parables in the same way. Jesus wanted people
to examine their hearts so he told parables that often left the people feeling
unsettled. David was certainly unsettled after hearing Nathan's parable. Has
anything like this ever happened to you?
Pastor Timothy J. Smith tells about an incident in grade school that made
an indelible impression on his life: "It was Sunday morning and my brother and
I were waiting outside in our front yard for our parents and baby brother to go
to Sunday School. My brother and I were doing what boys do best. I was
chasing my brother around with my Bible in hand. In those days we took Bibles
to Sunday School. Maybe we were playing tag or some such game that young
children engage in while waiting for their parents to take them someplace.
"Unknown to me at the time, my Sunday School teacher Mrs. Fulmer,
drove by our house. Apparently we had missed Sunday School a couple of
weeks and she wanted to see if my brother and I needed a ride. It was an act
of love that she went out of her way to drive by our house that Sunday
morning. She didn't stop when she saw us in our Sunday clothes waiting in the
front yard. And I certainly did not see her.
"Later that morning in Sunday School our lesson focused on the care we
give our Bibles. Mrs. Fulmer told a story about two boys. On her way to church
that morning she observed two boys playing in their yard. The oldest boy was
hitting his little brother over the head with his Bible. Then she said something
like, would Jesus be pleased with boys hitting each other with their Bible, or
some such thought. Then Mrs. Fulmer looked straight at me. She did not say a
word. She did not have to. I knew I was guilty, I knew I was the one she saw
hitting his brother with the Bible. No one else in class knew what brought on
this discussion. Probably no one remembers this class or ever knew who Mrs.
Fulmer was talking about. But it was a lesson I have never forgotten."
Sometimes God has to trick us to look in the mirror that we ourselves
have hung. Sometimes God uses other people to get us to examine our own
motives. And sometimes the process can be painful because we realize that we
have done wrong.
David stood there looking at Nathan. Nathan told David what the LORD
had told him to say. It was the LORD God who made David king. It was not
David's own skill or power but it was something that God had done. God,
speaking through the mouth of Nathan, said, "If this had not been enough, I
would have given you twice as much." God was behind David one hundred
percent. If David wanted more God would have helped him. "Why?" God asked
David, "did you disobey my commandments?" Sounds like a parent scolding a
child. "I have given you everything you have ever asked for, why did you
disobey me?" God had favored David and David obviously forgot his dependence
upon God.
Then came the punishment for David. David did wrong and would have
to face the consequences of his actions. Nathan told David that the sword would
never depart from David's family. And everything that Nathan prophesied
eventually came true. The remainder of II Samuel and the first two chapters of
I Kings tell of the tragedy that David and his family experienced. Mighty King
David disobeyed the LORD. It was too late to try to right the wrongs he had
done.
David knew he had done wrong, and he now realized that God knew what
he had done. Then came David's confession: "I have sinned against the LORD."
David admitted his sin before God. David's confession was that simple. Nathan
pronounced words of assurance, "The LORD forgives you; you will not die."
God spared the life of His servant David because he confessed his sin.
When we are able to confess our sins, we restore our relationship with
God and we are able to start over again, living our lives the way God would
want us to. It's never too late to ask for forgiveness and start over. Jesus taught
us that in one of his parables. Confession is good for our souls.
Joe never felt good. He always looked a little pale and complained about
not feeling well. He had problems in his throat and had difficulty breathing. Joe
went to doctors and spent a lot of money on tests. Most of his modest salary
went to pay doctors and hospitals. He would spend days at the hospital taking
tests and more tests. The results were always the same. No doctor could ever
find anything wrong with Joe. The doctors prescribed drugs that brought only
temporary relief. Joe just never felt well. Joe went on like this for years and not
one doctor could give him any reason why he had not felt well.
During one of Joe's stays at the hospital a chaplain stopped to talk with
him. Joe told the chaplain about his troubles and how he felt terrible for a long
time. The chaplain knew the right questions to ask Joe. The chaplain prayed with
Joe and left. The next day the chaplain was back again to visit with Joe. They
talked some more. The chaplain was beginning to think that maybe Joe's
problems were the result of his feeling guilty for his sins. The chaplain told Joe
in simple terms to confess his sins, and he would get better.
Joe made a decision to act. He went back to his home church that he had
not attended in years. Joe went to church three weeks straight. Joe asked if he
could speak with his pastor sometime during the week. A time was set. Joe
spoke about the wrongs he had done in his life. He confessed his sins to God.
The pastor spoke words of assurance telling him that once we confess our sins
God forgives us. Joe agreed to try to right the wrongs he had done by doing
good. And an amazing thing happened--Joe got well. The symptoms that had
plagued Joe disappeared. Joe felt great and was a new person. Joe felt more
alive than he had in years. What made the difference was his admitting he had
done wrong and confessing his sins to God. God forgave him and gave him a
new life.
God forgives us when we are able to confess our sins to Him. David
made his simple, yet humble confession, "I have sinned against the LORD."
After this, David was able to restore his relationship with God. Joe confessed
his sins to God and discovered he was on his way to wholeness.
New life is available to all of us if we confess our sins to God with a
repentant heart. Sometimes God uses other people to reveal our sins. When we
confess our sins, God will forgive us and wipe the slate clean. God loves us that
much.
Amen and Amen.
TOP
FILE: AMJ92ChildSermon
Third Sunday of Easter
CS01 ~ OUR DAMASCUS ROAD EXPERIENCE
Scripture: Acts 9: 1--20
Object: Twig or piece of wood and a piece of paper.
(Hold these up at the same time for the kids to see).
Boys and Girls:
What have I got here? (Pause for answer). That's right, a
piece of wood and a piece of paper. What do we use paper for?
(Pause for answer). (Suggestions: coloring, schoolwork, writing
notes, paper airplanes, etc.) So we use paper for a lot of things,
don't we? Well, did you know that paper comes from wood, just like
the wood I have here? It does. They can take a big piece of wood
and send it off to a paper factory. There they cut up the wood and
put it through lots of machines, and when it comes out, it's a
piece of paper just like I have here. This piece of paper is really
just a different form of wood.
You know, when we become Christians, we go through something
called conversion. "Conversion" means we change from one form (hold
up the wood) to a different form (hold up the paper). God changes
us inside, in our hearts, and makes us different from the way we
used to be, and that's good.
Saul in the Bible was a man who persecuted the early
Christians. But God came to Saul in a blinding vision, and God
changed him. Saul was converted. God didn't change him on the
outside, but He changed him on the inside. He changed his heart.
Saul changed his name to Paul and, rather than persecuting
Christians, he became a great Christian leader.
God can take bad people and make them good. He can take lonely
people and make them feel loved. God likes to help people change
for the better. He will help us become better if we will let Him.
TOP
Fourth Sunday of Easter
CS02LIKE THE LOVE OF A MOTHER
Scripture: John 10:22-30
(Mother's Day)
Object: One pair of mismatched socks (for instance, a brown and a
green sock) tied together.
Boys and Girls:
Can anyone tell me what I have here? That's right, two socks
stuck together. Do these socks go together? No? Why not? That's
right, because they're different colors.
Now in my family my mother would match up all the socks. She
would never put a green sock and a brown sock together. She would
put all the socks together just right so I'd have nice socks to
wear to school. That was nice of my mom to do that for me. What
are some other nice things that our moms do for us? (Pause for many
answers.)
Moms do a lot of nice things for us. Aren't we lucky to have
our moms? In the Bible God says to honor your mother and father.
That means that we should treat them nicely and do what they tell
us to do. Well, today is Mother's Day. This is the day when we
should all give our moms a big hug and tell them how great we think
they are. Let's thank God for our moms.
TOP
Fifth Sunday of Easter
CS03WHO WILL WIPE THEIR TEARS?
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-6
Object: Facial tissue, like Kleenex.
Boys and Girls:
Well, what have I got today? (Pause for answer). That's right,
I've got a Kleenex. You can use a Kleenex for lots of things. You
can use it to wipe your nose, or clean up a mess. And sometimes
when you cry, you can use a Kleenex to dry your tears. (A dab at
your eyes with the tissue would illustrate).
Doesn't it feel all better when Mom or Dad dries off your
tears and gives you a big hug and tells you everything is going to
be okay?
The Bible tells us that someday God Himself will wipe away all
our tears and there will be no more pain or suffering or death.
Doesn't that sound like something to look forward to?
In the meantime we need to wipe away one another's tears.
That's what it means to be His family. We comfort one another when
someone is sad. That is one time we can act like God. Because God
loves to comfort people. He comforts us when we are hurting, and
He wants us to comfort others.
TOP
Sixth Sunday of Easter
CS04THE PEACE THAT CHRIST GIVES
Scripture: John 14:23-29
Object: A bowl (preferably transparent) filled with water.
(Hold bowl up where kids can see the water and jiggle the bowl
around to stir up the water).
Boys and Girls:
I want you to look at the water. What does it do when I shake
the bowl? That's right, the water jiggles and bounces around. If
I'm not careful, it will spill right out of the bowl. Now what
happens when I hold the bowl really still? (Hold the bowl very
still or put it on a small table). That's right, the water gets all
smooth and calm and it doesn't move around.
Sometimes our heart is like that water. When we are mad at
our best friend, or when we're in trouble, or when we hurt
ourselves, we feel all jumbled inside just like that water that
jiggles all over. That's not any fun, is it?
But Jesus said that he would give us peace in our hearts. That
means that when our feelings are all jumbled up inside of us, he
can make them smooth and calm, just like the water when we stop
shaking the bowl. Then we'll feel all better. That's what "peace"
is.
How do we find that peace? One way is to go off by ourselves
for a few moments and talk with God about our problems. Often, when
we do that, we will feel more peaceful. We won't be as angry or as
hurt. We will be like the water in this bowl when it's still--calm
and peaceful.
TOP
CS05MEMORIAL DAY
Object: a piece of string tied around your finger.
Boys and Girls:
Does anybody know why I've got a piece of string tied around
my finger? It's to help me remember things. When I was little, my
mom and dad taught me that if you want to remember something you
should tie a piece of string around your finger. Then every time
you saw the string you would think: "Now, what am I supposed to
remember?" And you'd remember it.
Tomorrow is a holiday. Does anyone know which one? It's
Memorial Day. This is the day when we are supposed to remember our
soldiers and the people from our country who have fought in wars
for us. These people worked hard to help our country and to protect
our freedom. Some of them died while trying to help our country.
You know, Jesus died to help all of us, too. He did it because
he loved us very much. So today let's remember to say "thank you"
to God for all those who made sacrifices in our behalf and
especially for Jesus who made the greatest sacrifice of all.
TOP
Seventh Sunday of Easter
CS06JESUS PRAYS FOR US
Scripture: John 17: 20-26
Object: A jar of honey
Boys and Girls:
Does anyone here this morning like honey to eat? Honey is
sweet, isn't it? Most people like its taste.
I read recently that honey has uses other than in food. For
example, some golf balls have honey as their center. Some kinds of
anti-freeze that our parents put in their car in the winter-time
have honey in them. Honey is quite an interesting subject.
Now, who makes honey? That's right, honey bees. It probably
took thousands of honey bees working together to produce this jar
of honey. To me, it's one of the most amazing miracles in nature-
-that all those bees work so hard and work together like they do
and produce this sweet-tasting food.
From our Bible this morning we read a prayer that Jesus once
prayed for the church. He prayed that we would all work together
as his body. He wanted us to make this a sweeter world, didn't he?
If we are going to make this a sweeter world, maybe we need to
learn from the honey bees and start working harder and start
working together. It is amazing how much bees or people can
accomplish when they work together. That is Jesus' prayer for the
church--that we will work together in love for one another and love
for him.
TOP
CS07PENTECOST
Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
Object: Magazine pictures of the Olympics or some small piece of
sports equipment.
Boys and Girls:
How many of you watched the Olympics when they were on? (Pause
for answers). That was pretty exciting, wasn't it?
People came from all over the world to be in the Olympics.
They came from France, Africa, Spain, Russia, everywhere. They all
spoke different languages. Like in Japan, they say "Aregato"--that
means "thank you." What about "Gracias?" That's "thank you" in
Spanish. Now, even though they all spoke different languages, they
all came together and worked hard and cheered for each other. Their
different languages weren't a problem.
We celebrate Pentecost because a long time ago a group of men
and women came together to worship God. God sent what we call "the
Holy Spirit" to these men and they all started speaking different
languages. Even though they were speaking different languages, they
still understood each other. And they were still worshiping God.
Maybe one thing that Pentecost represents is that though
people may be very different--they may speak different languages,
they may have different skin colors, they may live in the country
or the city--if they have the Spirit of God in them, they can live
in friendship and love.
Let's pray that God will fill us with His Spirit that we, too,
may love all people.
TOP
First Sunday after Pentecost
CS08GET IT RIGHT BY GETTING RIGHT
Scripture: Romans 5:1-5
Object: An egg (hard-boiled for any of you nicknamed
"Butterfingers")
Boys and Girls:
Do you know what this is? That's right, it's an egg. You know,
if a mama chicken takes care of its eggs, after a while, the egg
cracks open and a little baby chick comes out. Now, before the
little baby chick can come out, it has to break this shell around
the egg. For us, it's easy to break this shell. But for a little
baby chick, it's a very hard job. The baby chick has to work a long
time to break the shell. And the baby chick has to do it all by
herself. If anyone tries to help her, by breaking the shell for
her, the little baby chick could die. You know why? Because when
the little baby chick works hard to break out of the shell, she
gets stronger and stronger. If she gets out of the shell without
having to work very hard, she won't ever get strong. She'll be
really small and weak, and she'll die. Now, the baby chick probably
doesn't like having to work so hard to get the shell off. But the
hard work is good for the baby chick.
The Bible tells us that sometimes things we don't like are
good for us, too. Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to
do (like clean our room or eat vegetables). Or things happen that
make us sad (like we get in trouble). These things are bad, but
they teach us about good things. When we eat our vegetables we get
healthier. When we get in trouble we learn how to be nicer people.
Bad things can sometimes make us stronger, just like working hard
to get out of the shell makes the baby chick stronger.
TOP
Second Sunday after Pentecost
CS09FATHER'S DAY
Object: Something that belongs to your father--a hat, pipe, watch,
shoes, book, hammer, newspaper, etc.
Boys and Girls:
(Hold up object for kids to see). What have I got here? (Pause
for answer). Good, that's right. You know why I brought this up
here? It reminds me of my father. See, this is my father's
____________. (Reminisce for a few seconds about your father and
this object).
Now, what are some nice things you think of when you think of
your father? (Steer them toward good adjectives---fun, nice,
strong, etc.) You know what? The Bible says we have a "Heavenly
Father." Who is that? God...right. God watches over us, and loves
us, and keeps us safe, kind of like our dads do. Aren't you happy
you have such a nice father? Well, today is Father's Day, when we
all tell our fathers "thanks" for being so nice. So be sure to be
nice to your father today, okay? And be sure you say a word of
thanks to your Heavenly Father, too. After all, He's the best
father of all.
TOP
Third Sunday after Pentecost
CS10CHANGE IS POSSIBLE
Scripture: Galatians 1:11-24
Object: A roll of film
Boys and Girls:
What is this? (Hold up the film) That's right. This roll of
film is from my camera. Tomorrow I will send it off to the photo
finisher and he or she will send me some beautiful pictures taken
from this roll.
I read somewhere that when Kodak cameras were first invented,
it was necessary to return the entire camera every time you needed
film developed. Later they would return the camera to you loaded
with film along with the pictures that you had taken before. I'm
glad they changed that system. There wouldn't be very many pictures
taken if we had to send our entire camera in every time for the
film to be removed.
A lot of things have changed through the years. When our
grandparents were our age, they really didn't even dream of
computers and VCRs and microwave ovens. We live in a world of
change.
The best news that the Bible gives us is that people can
change, too. People who are mean can become kind. People who are
always afraid can become courageous. People who seem to lose at
everything can become winners. We can change. If we sometimes don't
like ourselves, we can do something about it. And the most
important thing we can do about it is ask for God's help. God will
help us change. After all, He created us. He knows us better than
we know ourselves. He knows what makes us mean or afraid or a
loser. And He can help us be new people. All we have to do is ask.
We no longer have to send a camera back to the factory to have
the film developed, but we still need to go back to the One who
made us, God, to see how we may develop. He can help us change.
TOP
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
CS11THE REPENTANT HEART
II Samuel 12:1-14
Object: A calculator
Boys and Girls:
Who can guess what I have in my hand? That's right. A
calculator. How many of you have one? How many of you have ever
used one? They are really very interesting. They add, subtract,
multiply, divide and do a whole bunch of other things that I don't
even understand. There is one button on this calculator though,
that I would like to talk to you about.
It is a red button with the letter, "C" on it. What does that
mean. That's right. It means clear. If you get all of your numbers
in the calculator and then you make a mistake, what can you do? You
press the "clear" button and automatically all of the information
is eliminated from the calculator. Then you begin all over again
without trying to sort out the other mistake. In fact there is no
record of your mistake. None! It is lost forever!!
That is what happens to our sins when God forgives us. God
erases them from His memory just like hitting the "clear" button
on this calculator. When we ask for forgiveness, He not only
forgives us, but He also forgets. Isn't that great?
That is also what God asks us to do with people who ask for
our forgiveness. We are asked to be just like the "clear" button
on the calculator. God says that we are to forgive and then we are
to forget. That's not easy, but that is what God asks us to do.
The next time you see a calculator, look at the "clear" button
and remember that God will forgive and forget your mistakes that
quickly. We must also remember that God expects us to be that way
with others. We are expected to forgive and to forget. --Larry
Davies
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