Pine Trees and Apples

Mark 9:38-50

My popcorn harvest

 

“Have salt in yourselves , and be at peace with each other.”

Here it is the last day of September 2012. Its the season of harvest. The work of planting and of preparation is literally coming to fruition. The soy beans look just about ready. The apples, the corn, the pumpkins will all soon be brought in. each plant bears the fruit that it always has. A pine tree will never bear an apple, just as the enemies of God will never bear good fruit. Those who proclaim the name of Jesus Christ and do works of power in his name will not be able to say anything bad about him. There are those who bear the name of Jesus who do things, who have a way of seeing things that is different than our own way. Jesus says, let them be.

Jesus some pretty strong words about the excuses we make for our failure to follow him. “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off! If your eye cause s you to sin, tear it out! What ever it is in your life that you are blaming for your failure to follow Jesus Remove it!

There are moments as a parent and as a pastor for that matter when I am often privileged to be there to witness a revelation. The moment when the truth, as it is, becomes clear to someone. With my children I can tell them things, good things, wise things. But until they understand it for themselves they are, at best, obedient to my word. But after they understand and make the choice to make the wise choice they have something that will shape their lives for the good and that can never be taken from them.

My children just like me and just like any one of you can come up with any number of reasons and excuses for failure to live as Jesus commanded. “Its too hard.” “He didn't really mean that.” “He lived in a different time.” “He lived in a different culture.” Or maybe we don't even bother to come up with reasons why not.

In this passage of scripture Jesus seems pretty adamant about living rightly.

So how do we live rightly as Christians? Is it by following the platform of our favorite political party? As some of you may know, there is a law that prohibits pastors like me from endorsing a political candidate or party from the pulpit. The consequence of violating this law is that the church of the offending pastor can lose their tax-exempt status. There is a movement around the country to challenge this law. Sometime in the first part of October, several pastors will intentionally violate this law and and submit transcripts to the Internal Revenue Service in an attempt to draw them into enforcing it and thereby beginning a court challenge. The hope and intent is that this law will be deemed unconstitutional. I was challenged to take part in this. If you have been here for the past several weeks you may have heard me preach on the divisiveness of politics, so you can guess that my first reaction was to resist.

However, as a thought problem and as a challenge to my self I thought, if push came to shove, and I had to say something, what would I say? Who would I endorse from God's pulpit in God's church? Who should have the “Christian” vote? I don't know. I don't think that if Jesus had a car there would be any bumper stickers on it. I am certain that God can use whomever is elected. If this answer is unsatisfying and you would like a more nuanced treatment of this, I would love to talk with you in your home. I certainly have some ideas and I don't think that either candidate would want me speaking on their behalf.

Jesus has set a very high standard. He said be perfect as I am perfect. Not that we can get to perfection on our own but we only get there by letting the Spirit of God live in us. Not that we need to be perfect to be accepted by him, in fact we often come to Jesus and find acceptance when we are at our most broken and vulnerable moments of our life.

Jesus asks those who have found life in him to begin to remove the brokenness from our lives. When we find life in Jesus we make our lives reflect his life. When we find salvation in Jesus we are drawn into a life of thanksgiving, of selflessness, and of unconditional love.

This freedom in Christ is a wonderful experience. It is a wonderful life. When you have it you want others to have it as well. We gather together in this holy place and we share our life together. We pool our talents our resources and we listen for the voice of God. We feel for the prompting of the Holy spirit and for many, many years this church has been a light in the darkness. It has been a testimony to the presence of God in the world. This church is reaching out to those in need. Providing resources to the poor. Providing shelter to the homeless through Hospitality INC. Providing a witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We may be tempted to think that we have it all figured out. We may think that we are doing all we can for the Glory of God.

But we know better don't we? I am guessing that each one of you has something of God's Spirit prompting you in a direction that is new and fresh. I am guessing that God has placed in your hearts a vision for serving Him in a way that this congregation is not currently engaged in. Did you know that you don't need anyone's permission to start a new ministry? Permission has been granted by Jesus Christ!

The disciple John asked Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” but Jesus said “do not stop him, because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say anything bad about me.” Somebody in this congregation has an idea. Another person in this congregation has a prompting from the Holy Spirit. Another person has a calling to Serve God in a new way. Many faithful Christians in this congregation will continue to serve God in the way they have for many years. However we as individuals choose to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. Let the rest of us encourage and support you.
“For I tell you the truth, whoever gives you a up of water because you bear Christ's name will never lose their reward.”

Those harsh words that Jesus has about how we should remove the things in our life that impede us from following him is just an illustration on how important it is not to stand in the way of our brothers and sisters in Christ. After all that talk of cutting of you hand and foot and tearing out your eye. Jesus says, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Back to the disciple John's question, “What do we do about those other people who are using Jesus name that are not a part of our church” Jesus says, “stay out of their way!” and, “Live at peace with one another.”

Brothers and sisters I may or may not vote like you but I am your Christian brother, a fellow inheritor of the kingdom. So lets live at peace with one another.

So How is it with you today? Are you prepared to live a higher ideal than any political party can set? Are you prepared to support your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as they follow gods prompting to serve him? Are you prepared to listen and follow God's purpose for you?