Whose Father?

Philippians 2

The Apostle Paul is calling us to embrace a life of self-giving self-emptying love.  He says if there is any encouragement, if there is any consolation, if you have received any good thing, by bearing the name of Jesus Christ, then be of the same mind. Don’t do anything out of selfishness but give of yourself for each other. Love each other courageously. Love each other sacrificially. This isn’t just Paul’s own ideas. He lifts up Jesus as the prime example.

 Jesus is the incarnate God. Christ existed from the beginning of time but Jesus was born as a human in Bethlehem. Jesus was the embodied realization of the Eternal Christ which is the second person of the holy trinity.  This Jesus who was God in human form, Paul says, did not exploit equality with God, but made himself like a slave.  He was a servant to all. Jesus could have commanded Heavenly armies; Jesus could have led a huge earthly following. Jesus could have been an earthly king but he rejected all of that to teach us Gods way; to teach us self-emptying love.  Jesus had an earthly father who raised him, that was Joseph. Jesus has a heavenly father who is the first person of the Trinity God the father. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, when we believe in him, we receive the power to be children of God.

God is our father.

About 5 years ago I spent the weekend in prison with Pastor Bob Henning.  We were there to share with a select group of inmates who showed receptivity to the Gospel, an experience of unconditional love while teaching about our Jesus.  These guys weren’t hearing about Jesus for the first time.  These guys were ones that were already reading the bible.  In fact, a few of them knew the bible very well.  That is how they devoted their available time.  Studying the scripture, finding hope in those wonderful words that reveal how God loves us.  These guys were the ones most trusted by the guards.  These guys were a family.  I have to tell you I did not like the experience of being in a prison.  The layers of security it takes to get through just to get in makes it very clear that getting out quickly is not a possibility.  And while you are on the inside the utter lack of security for any individual is even more disconcerting. The inmates far outnumber the guards.  We had a lot of instructions.  A lot of “what to do if…” situations. The one situation that sticks with me was what one of the guards said of the guys selected to take part in this weekend program. He said that if there is a riot, these guys would give their lives protecting us because it means so much to them that someone from the outside would come and give of their time to be in that place with them. 

It was a partnership of self-sacrificial love.  We risked our comfort, security to be in that dark place and they were willing to sacrifice their safety to preserve what was being offered. 

Is there a place where we feel uncomfortable going to share God’s love?

This past week D’Ann and I went visiting the neighborhood.  Along the way there was some discussion about who to visit and who to not.  Ultimately it was only time that prevented us from visiting anyone.  We stopped at every house in our path, including one that was beyond a sign that said something like “Keep out.” Or “Private Property”

We learned that when surprised at home most people cannot come up with any examples of needs in the community.  We learned that it would have been valuable if we had a better grasp of the Spanish language.

During that weekend in prison, there was one practice that the insiders had that I liked.  One of the guys started the Lord’s Prayer by asking “Whose father?” then the rest would respond with “Our Father, who art in heaven…”

The Lord’s Prayer is not just words to be recited but truth to be savored. The parenthood of God to each of us is a reality we can live into.  It’s a reality that those guys reflected in their prayer life and in their actions.

Whose father?  Our father. We are all brothers and sisters under the fatherhood of God. We are each blessed with gifts from the father and those gifts are intended to lift up his whole family. We are given the commission to go out and make new disciples or to say it another way to go and make new siblings. 

We pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Our Fathers will is done when we go and make more disciples, teaching them all that we have learned. When we live in a manner that is self-emptying, when we love in a way that is self-sacrificial, that is when our Fathers will is done. When we are all brothers and sisters under the same god when we are all loving sacrificially, when we are all living in a way that is self-emptying no one will have to worry about where they will find their daily bread.

When we can let go of hurts and forgive, we are free to love.  When we can confess that we have wronged another and receive forgiveness from god and from others we are freed from the guilt and fear that hold us back from giving of ourselves completely.

The good news today is that we have a good God who wants to carry the good news about Jesus Christ to every person.  To be a light in the darkness.  Our God wants to use his children to transform this world.  Our God wants to heal our brokenness so that His love is evident. 

Jesus defines family as those who does the Father's will.
Biology has little to do with it. 

And to what end?  What is the purpose of all this.  Paul says it at the end of the passage we read today.  He says that we should have the same mind that was in Christ.  Christ is our example.  God the Father exulted Jesus, lifted him up; glorified him.  Those who are in Christ will have Christ’s righteousness imparted to them.  And so we are glorified in Christ.  And why was Christ glorified?

“So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and to the glory of God the Father.”

Whose father?

Our father; Jesus’ father; the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the father of many generations that came before us and many that will follow us.

So, how is it with you today?  Have you experience the self-emptying love that glorifies God?  If you haven’t, you can experience it by demonstrating it.  

Fwd: Local Need

Hopefully you saw the excellent news article by 9 & 10 news last night about the plight of many people in our area facing utility shut off.  With the funding cycle changes for the Department of Human Service and FiveCAP, and the financial struggles of the Salvation Army, HELP has been called upon to "fill the gap" in assisting those in or near shut off.  In September, and October to date, HELP has provided $6769 in utility assistance.  HELP has on the books another $5,793 in requests.  This has taxed HELP's budget, and funds have been shuffled from November and December to provide as much assistance as possible in this current crisis.

Eleven families currently have their utilities shut off, and three others have shut-off notices.  More request arrive at HELP daily.  On 1 November  DHS and FiveCAP will again be able to assist people with utilities, either with all of a family's bill or in part.  Meanwhile, they have no heat or electricity, or both.  Some of the homes have children.  Some have medical needs, such as an oxygen machine.

I would like the area churches to prayerfully consider an "emergency" benevolent gift to HELP for assistance immediately, so that families don't have to continue to endure the cold for another week before DHS, etc. can assist them.  If your church can pledge an amount, I will disburse it immediately with the promise that the funds will be provided in the near future.

Another option:  If your church is willing to "adopt" a family so you can assist them directly, please contact HELP and we can provide you a name of a family (with their permission of course) in your neighborhood.  

Thank you for any consideration you may give this request, and God bless you as you seek to "be open handed to the poor and needy" in our community.

Gene McClellan, Executive Director

Hands Extended Loving People (HELP)

231 843-6811

help@help-ministry.org

Two Questions

Mark 8:34-38

Jesus asks his disciples to follow him.  The first time he asks was the invitation to be fishers of men.  Mark 1:16-20

·         Rabbis are respected

·         Rabbis preserved the culture and traditions

·         Only the best students  become disciples/Rabbis

[Have 4 or 5 random people stand up to represent various rabbis.  Have the people surrounding them stand up as their students.  Have some sit down as “wash out” of the program. The one or two left are the future rabbis.]

Simon and Andrew, James and John were getting the chance of a lifetime to follow any rabbi.  But Jesus is special isn’t he?  His disciples get plenty of clues of how special he is.  At one moment they seem like they get it and in the next, it seems like they are clueless.  But every failure is a teaching opportunity.  We read from scripture and we see the failures of the disciple of Jesus and we see ourselves.  At least I see myself.  And we hear the teachings of Jesus in response and so we have this ongoing dialogue with scripture that speaks to our lives.  It speaks to our failures and it gives us a direction and it gives us hope.   The ones that Jesus hand-picked to be his disciples are just as big a screw up as I am.  Hallelujah!

  Jesus asks us to follow him even though we are flawed.  He asks us to follow him even though we are broken.  Or, another way to think about it: He asks us to follow him because we are flawed and broken. Jesus offers healing.  Jesus offers restoration.  Jesus offers abundant/ eternal life. Jesus offers salvation.  You’d be crazy not to take that offer. 

But then there is the second question:  which is really just a clarification of the first.  “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  When we follow our rabbi, we follow very closely.  When we follow we do as he does.  We learn his teachings. We do as he commands.  If we are ashamed of our rabbi and his teachings; if we distance our self from them in public; if we only want the benefit of eternal life and ignore the commands of Christ, scripture says he will be ashamed of us when he comes in the glory if the Father and the holy angels.

The two questions are.  Will you follow Jesus? And will you take up your cross?

We all know what a cross is.  But what does Jesus mean?

The cross is not some trinket. The cross is not some beautiful piece of jewelry that gives us warm fuzzy feelings. The cross was and instrument of execution.  The cross is an ugly thing.  Execution is an ugly, ugly thing. When the king’s edict sent Daniel into the Lion’s den He knew it was a terrible thing.  A criminal was put on the cross not just to kill but also to punish; and not only to punish but to be made an example of because it was a slow, ugly, public death.

So when Jesus “let them take up their cross and follow me.” When he says take up your cross, it wasn’t that he was saying, “Take up your social responsibility and live in that and put my label on it and call it Christian so that you feel better about yourself.  It’s not about the extra charity that we do.  Our cross is not even the problems that we have to deal with in this life.  Those things are not the cross that Jesus is telling us to take up. Jesus is talking about that ugly thing that he has seen his fellow Jews hanging on.  He’s talking about that thing that human flesh gets tacked to and slowly loses its strength and dies.

So what does Jesus mean when he says we need to take up our cross? Does he mean that we should go and get our own cross and die on it?  Not literally. But he is saying that we need to let our sense of ‘self’ die.  Whatever will get us to get our minds off ourselves and our own lives and set our minds on the big picture, on God’s picture. Whatever can do that in our life is our cross. The real cross is indiscriminant.  It’s not your cross.  All crosses do the same job really.  Jesus wasn’t saying look for your ministry.  He wasn’t saying look for your own path.  He was saying, “Follow me.” “I am the way, the truth and the life.” And you need to die to yourself and to your way and your priorities before you can truly follow me. This was right after Peter’s rebuke of him and Jesus said “get behind me Satan.” Peter was thinking of earthly things. Those who want to save their life will lose it.

If we try to hold on to this life, if try to hold on to this fleshly existence and everything that is in this world, it will slip through our fingers.  Sooner or later we will all die. There is nothing that we can do to make ourselves immortal. We can have all the riches in the world and it won’t matter because we will all die.  Eternity is a long time.

Jesus offers us eternal life. Jesus offers us abundant life.  In fact Jesus is the source of life itself.  It’s a gift. We cannot earn it, buy it or seize it.  We can only receive it as a gift.  And the things that we have in this life are a gift so what can we possibly give, what could we possibly offer God in return for life when everything is from him in the first place?  Nothing that we can possibly possess can even remotely measure up to the gift of life that Jesus offers.

Jesus says those who are ashamed of me I will be ashamed of them.  But there is a flipside to that coin.  Those who proudly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, who live into Jesus call to abandon their nets and fish for people, for people who crucify all their selfish desires and put Jesus first that’s who Jesus will lift up when he comes in the Father’s glory. 

That’s the second question. It’s that living beyond ourselves question.  Both question need to be affirmed.

We need to follow Jesus in this world serving the needs of those around us and demonstrating love. And we also need to follow Jesus in a way that takes us beyond ourselves.  Jesus asks us to trust in him.

Two question.  Follow Jesus? Take up your cross?

Know Christ? Make him Known?

So, how is it with you today? The only way to make Christ known is to have Christ living in you.  The only way to do that is to take up the cross of Christ.  Would you pray with me? 

Start Swinging

Numbers 13:25-14-9
Matthew 3:1-10

Start Swinging

A good harvest is a gift of God given through the work
and understanding of His people.

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

² When the wicked advance against me
    to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.
³ Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

Psalm 23 The words of King David as he faced almost certain death at the hands of his son.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

He had confidence in the Lord since his youth. When David faced the Giant Goliath it wasn’t in fear.  David said, “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head…  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

We have that confidence and more! There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ! Jesus is the Good Shepherd that protects his flock.  Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

But we face our own giants.  It isn’t a 9’ tall warrior challenging us to a duel to the death.  It’s not even the giants that face most congregations in the United States.  I have been talking with several of you and I have come to learn that this gathering of God’s people is particularly skilled at managing challenges and moving forward with courage and vision.  But we do have giants to face.  The giants we face are the ones we see every morning in the mirror.

The Israelite spies went into the land that God promised them and they reported seeing giants and they were afraid.  They saw a land flowing with milk and honey but they determined the danger to be too high to risk entering this land. They came back with some fruit of the land.  It was good fruit but it wasn’t enough to convince many to risk what they already had. 

In the Gospel lesson John the Baptist referred to producing fruit.  The good fruit, the land flowing with milk and honey, the good fruit that we ought to be producing is not only a reference to food for sustenance but is more about living on, and trusting in the food that God provides; the eternal food; the spiritual sustenance of trusting in God. 

There is nothing in this world that can separate us from that.

But there are giants.  There are those things that cause us fear. There are those things that prevent us from entering the Promised Land, things that prevent us from living the life that God intends for us. So what are these giants? Is if fear of our neighbors, what they’ll think of us?  Is it fear of the government? What holds us back from being fully the people that God intends us to be?

The Giant that we must overcome and overcome on a daily basis is our in-born, broken nature.  Our nature is brilliantly illustrated in the story of Adam and Eve.  They were given everything they needed to live a happy, eternal life.  But they wanted what they were told they could not have.  They reached up and took fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  The one tree God said they could not eat from.

We do that don’t we?  Humanity I mean.  Just think of the “enlightenment.” The advances in scientific knowledge to describe and understand how things work in nature is astounding.  Human mastery over our environment miraculous.   Many tend to have the understanding that the human has been elevated and we have become self-sufficient and have outgrown our need for religion to explain the world. Our understanding has evolved and now sees ourselves as masters of our own destinies.  But just like Adam and Eve, we wouldn’t have anything unless God made it available in the first place. 

I love science.  I appreciate science.  We should embrace science.  But understand also that it is merely understanding better, the way God ordered the universe. 

But the trap is to understand the world like the story Jack and the bean stalk.  In that story Jack was given some special ability (magic beans) and he was able to ascend to a different world.  Where he ceased the Goose that laid the golden eggs.  He came back to his world.  Was pursued by a giant who was the guardian.  So Jack severed the connection with this other world because he got what he wanted.

It was jacks power to ascend.  It was his power to take what he wanted.  It was his power to decide what we would and would not let in his world from that other world.

Contrast that with the faith filled world view. 

We live in a world that is constantly being breathed into existence by God.  At its very foundations is God.  We are not physical bodies with a soul.  We are souls with a physical body. 

In Exodus chapter 20 where the Ten Commandments are given it says, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”  We are not to worship the physical. But everything that is physical was given by God.  The trees in the garden were all from God.  We are gifted with an intellect and a free will to investigate all these gifts from god but not to worship them or our mastery over them.

However when Jesus came, he came in a body.  He came in physical form.  Jesus sanctified the incarnational existence. Only his flesh was not corrupt.  Only his flesh knew no sin.  Only his flesh was broken and given for your salvation.

And when we accept the gift of salvation the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us and Jesus promises that if we have just the tiniest amount of faith the Holy Spirit will do great things through us.  But we have to face our giants. You all have trusted God in the past.

We have to trust God as we travel on this road of discernment.  How can we see our mission as a community of Christ followers through the lens of what God envisions for us?  Blessings have flowed down from heaven to us.  So we have to discern what it is that God would have us do next.  But before we can move forward we have to defeat the giant.

So what are the specific giants that stand in our way? What are the things that frighten us about this discernment process? More than a couple people have come to me and have said “Pastor Jon, I do not want to go door to door evangelizing. Well I know how I have received folk who have come to my door and I have come to the conclusion that that is not the best way to share the love of Christ. I don’t particularly want to do that either. But I do want to reach out to the community more.  I want to demonstrate Christ’s love in multiple ways. By sharing resources, by providing services. By reaching out with compassion in times of trouble, in times of need and in times of want. By reaching out in times of celebration of their victories.  So that they know that this is a gathering of people in whom the presence of Christ can be felt.

The sacrament of Holy communion we have Christ with us in a very unique way. Do this in remembrance of me. We eat the bread and drink the cup and we find forgiveness for our sins as we confess them to the lord.  We find healing where there was brokenness. Those things in us that are unholy can be transformed and healed and they need not be a hindrance to us anymore because they are no longer a hindrance to God. When we look in the mirror we are supposed to see ourselves the way God sees us, not the way we often see ourselves when se see the sin, the failure.  But when God looks at us he sees perfection.  He sees his son Jesus who is the very reflection of himself. He sees Jesus in us. And he is waiting for us to claim our inheritance and his children as brothers and sisters to Jesus.  We need to start to envision this community of his Children the way He sees us. And start to do the work of making our perceived reality look more and more like His envisioned reality.

So, how is it with you today?  If John the Baptist is right that the axe is laying at the root of the tree and  God will remove anything in me that does not produce fruit, then I say “Lord, start swinging”  if we have to take up our slings and face a giant like Goliath, then I say, “Brothers and sisters, start swinging.”