Ways to Acknowledge and to Deny

Matthew 10:26-33

Most of what we humans do seems to be motivated by fear.  Fear of death, fear of suffering. We want to protect what we have and those we love.

But Jesus says don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

So how do we respond to the big issues of the day not from a place of fear but from a place of confidence that God loves us intimately?  How do we respond to the situation in Gaza? How do we respond to the children coming to our country without their parents? How do we embody the Jesus Christ for the world in this place?

What does it mean to acknowledge Christ before People? What does it mean to deny him? This is an important question because according to our scripture today it’s the difference between Christ acknowledging or denying us before his Father in heaven.

This is what is painted on the doors
of Christian homes in Mosul Iraq. They are
given the choice to deny Christ, leave
Mosul or face execution. 

 Accepting

This is the gateway and the destination for a lot of Christians. Accepting Jesus Christ as the son of God and acknowledging that he died for our sins, for many, that’s the whole ball of wax.  This is indeed the first gateway. This is indeed a necessary first step. This is indeed our first acknowledgement of him and if you haven’t made that first step, If you don’t know that the Son of God came to offer you eternal life and his name was Jesus…stick around this crowd we have a wonderful story to tell you.  Many people cannot get past this first step. Many people cannot believe that God loves us in this way.  Many people deny that Jesus is who he and many witnesses say he is.  Jesus says “whoever denies me before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven.”

The funny thing is Jesus never said to worship him. 

Don’t get me wrong Jesus is worthy of our worship.  To praise him and lift his name is a good and holy thing to do.  But he never said worship me he said what?  “Follow me.”

We have been talking about the Family of God over these last four weeks. We talked about what it means to be a family in Jesus eyes. Those who do the will of the Father in heaven are my brother and my mother and my sister.  We talked about the family around us where we live and being the presence of Jesus in this particular place for them.

Last week we talked about the great commission.  “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Expanding our idea of the family of God to the global level.

We’ve been developing this ever-expanding idea of the body of Christ but it all comes down to the individual.  It all comes down to you.  So we’ve baptized the whole world (we haven’t of course) are we done? By no means!

Then what?  What comes next? What did Jesus say?  “Teaching them everything I have commanded you.”

Learning

If Jesus sent his disciples out to teach then there must be something to learn.  We continue to acknowledge Christ by learning what he has to teach.  If we take our baptism certificate and call it good then we have denied what Jesus has for us.  This is not memorization of a couple of creeds and some Bible verses this is a life long journey of growing in Christ by deepening our understanding of who he is.

In the very next chapter of Matthew Jesus is inviting people to follow him he said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Anybody tired from life?  Anybody have any burdens to bear? Jesus says he’s going to give you the rest you need.

He said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentile and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is not hard to carry.”

Attaching ourselves to Jesus and his teaching will result in rest for our souls.  If we don’t learn it we cannot find rest for our souls.  It’s not that God will punish us for not learning but it’s that we will miss out on the good things that God wants for us.

Obeying

If I take my car to a mechanic and that mechanic listens to me and checks my car over and has a good understanding of the problem and how to fix it but does nothing. Am I in any better condition?

5 turtles are on a log and three decide to jump into the water. How many turtles are on the log? 5, because deciding to do something and doing it are two different things.

We can learn all about Jesus and what he would have us do, unless we do it, it is as if we are denying him. Jesus said in John 14:15 “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”

You ever hear the phrase, “what you do is what you believe”?   None of us have perfected this Christian walk. But is your behavior pointing people toward the love of God or to something else?  We don’t have to have it all figured out to begin to help others along this journey of life. You can teach what Jesus taught even if it’s pointing people in the right direction.

Teaching

I’m going to admit something embarrassing.  I’m sure someone will react the way people react when they find this out about me. You may not even be able to restrain yourself after service you will say to me, “it’s easy” in response to what I am about to say.

I have never changed the oil in my car because I don’t know how.

It’s easy!

That is what I have always heard.  Unless specific knowledge is passed on I will never know.  I admit that I haven’t been zealous about learning because it is all too easy to pull into the oil change place and have them do it. Besides I wouldn’t know what to do with the waste oil even if I did do it myself.  

Knowledge has to be passed on. You teach by your words and your actions.  You can’t just stick someone in a garage and call them a mechanic just like you can’t stick someone in a church and call them a Christian.

Being a Christian is being something altogether new. We have a life that will not end when our bodies fail. We don’t have to fear anything is this world. So often we forget this and we fall in to protecting what is mine.  When we acknowledge Jesus before people we still want “me and mine” to be safe, but I want the division between me and you to disappear.  This is what Jesus taught.  

So when we are faced with the issues of the day we have to, as followers of Christ, ask ourselves how can I acknowledge Jesus? What did he teach? How can I obey? And what can I teach?

The family of God starts with God. God loves you and has called you to be his child.  So how is it with you today? How will you acknowledge Jesus in your life before people?

Every Tribe and Nation

Jesus' eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. ¹⁷ They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted.

¹⁸ Jesus came to them and said:

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! ¹⁹ Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.

“I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.”

What’s the end of the world? Is that when Jesus makes is second appearance and judges the living and the dead and the faithful are taken up with him?  That is so hard to wrap my mind around as a promise because the church has been in existence for 2000 years and it hasn’t happened yet.  The thing to say around religious folk is that it could happen any moment so we have to be ready. Preachers have used this idea to create a sense of urgency by proclaiming that the “Time is near.”

Every generation bemoans the one that follows it. For every generation the notion that the end is upon is a cyclical truth. The Biblical truth is that we cannot possibly know the time when the second coming will happen or even what it will really be like.

Yet Jesus says, Jesus promises, “I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.” Jesus promise is his presence with us. The end of the world is an emphasis on how thoroughly and completely he will be with us.

So what’s your end of the world? How far will you take Jesus? How far will you trust Jesus?  

When I was 11 I thought the end of the world meant a Soviet invasion of the United States after a massive nuclear strike. My friends and I discussed what we would do if there was a nuclear war.  My friend Jimmy said he was going to move to Canada. I didn’t have a plan because, in such a scenario, I saw no hope for survival.  I was such a happy child.

I thought deep thoughts as a kid.  I was quiet.  I liked to go back to the woods.  By woods I mean small group of trees that covered 10 or 15 acres in the field behind our house. Right through the middle of the woods was a small creek. The spring that fed this creek was just a mile down the road behind my friend Brandon’s house. By the time got to our woods it was wide enough that I couldn’t jump across it without getting my shoe wet and muddy. So mostly I stayed on this side of the creek.

So many things happened back in that patch of woods. I fought epic battles with the Russians; I explored the jungles of South America, and mapped the Martian landscape. We would sometimes pasture cattle in the woods so I would have to share space with them.  Aside from watching where I stepped there were advantages. They made a system of trails through the thick brush that gave me more options for exploration.

One day I went back to the woods and a tree had fallen across the creek.  The erosion of the soil from under the tree caused its collapse. I suddenly had a bridge to the other side! Not only could I explore mars but Pluto as well!

That creek was the end of my world. But now my world just got infinitely bigger.

I will be with you always, even to the end of YOUR world.

The end of your world may be different then the end of my world and neither one of them is as expansive as the end of THE world that Jesus was talking about.

So what does your world look like?

Defining you space spiritually. On the edge of that patch of woods there is an oak tree that is ancient. It is a huge beautiful tree.  It stands apart from the rest of the trees by several yards and is predominant in the view from my parents’ back yard.  All you have to say is “the tree” and my family knows what tree you are talking about.

An uncle of mine wanted to cut it down for firewood several years ago.  I don’t know that I have fully forgiven him yet for suggesting it.

There is nothing particularly spiritual or meaningful about that tree. But it made me realize that we can define our space that we live in, in spiritual terms.

When we lived in Gowen, Michigan we had a house that was on an acre of land that was just full of trees. In front of the house was a grouping of three trees that formed a nice equilateral triangle.  I took Alex out there and we stood in the small triangle of space that the trees created and there I explained to him about the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Several years later and not long ago he mentioned that to me.  “Remember those trees that were like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He was a little disappointed when I told him that was just something I made up. The trees were just trees. Now I regret taking that from him.

Jesus is with us wherever we take him. Even to the end of the world.

The disciples went to a place. Like “the tree,” for me, but was a mountain in Galilee. It was a place you could point to on a map. It’s a place you could go to today. In that place they met Jesus. They saw him. They worshipped him.

That place must have been very special in their hearts, the place where they were reunited with Jesus after his death and resurrection. They worshipped him in that special place. Worship is the natural response. Worship is appropriate and worship is easy.  Worship points to God and says to God I love you for being God. Worship is a means of connection between humanity and God.

Those disciples had that mountain; I have “the tree.” Do you know the last time I have been to the tree?  It was in the summer of 2011.

Are you hearing me?

I’m not spending all my time in the shade of that oak tree.

You can love the place where you found God but that doesn’t mean…

Let’s look at this passage.  If you could boil down, trim away and basically get down to one word of instruction from Jesus from this passage what would it be?

“Go”

Where did it ever say Jesus commanded his disciples to stay in one place and worship him?

“Go”

Maybe we need a little more, because he wasn’t telling them to leave him alone, get out of here or anything like that; he was giving instructions with a promise. 

Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples, and I’ll be with you to the end of the world.

But that was the disciples right. That was those guys in that moment in that place on the mountain.

The authority that Jesus had on earth he has in heaven.  The authority Jesus granted the disciples was ratified and expanded in heaven.

Revelation 5:

The Lamb went over and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. ⁸ After he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders knelt down before him. Each of them had a harp and a gold bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. ⁹ Then they sang a new song,

“You are worthy
    to receive the scroll
and open its seals,
    because you were killed.
And with your own blood
    you bought for God
people from every tribe,
    language, nation, and race.
¹⁰ You let them become kings
    and serve God as priests,
and they will rule on earth.”

And they will rule on earth.  Jesus promises he will be with us to the end of the world. We have only a narrow context of God’s creation.  We have been given authority by Jesus and it has been ratified in heaven to make disciples of all nations. And we do that right here in this holy place.  I don’t mean only in the walls of the church building but in the Holy Land that we have been called to, the holy land that we are to consecrate for God in this place.

What does the kingdom of heaven look like? What is the earth supposed to look like if we take seriously the Lord’s Prayer? That every tribe, language, nation and race is united under the God that loves them.

We may only have a narrow context of God’s creation but we have been called to a global family, a family that exists beyond borders and political loyalties.

We have a broad mandate to love the whole world and all of its peoples in the name of Jesus Christ. But we are called to this spot.

So how is it with you today? How broad is our love in this place.  Do we have the desire to demonstrate God’s love to people from every tribe, language, nation, and race?

We have barriers that we have avoided because we don’t want to get our shoes muddy and wet.  What if we didn’t mind getting our feet muddy and wet so see what’s beyond? What if we built bridges to communities of people that are not yet here? 

Called Out

We are talking about family this month.  Last week explored the definition of family –how it is the blood is thicker than water. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, and how blessed it is when we are family by both faith and by genetics or choice. We are able to stand in this world when we are rooted in the family of God.

Today I want to talk about the roots of community. As our world shrinks with communication technology we become more and more segmented as we spend more and more time in front of our screens –Computer screens, television screens and smartphone screens. In a moment I can contact our missionaries and communicate with the Ndjungus in Cameroon and the Pratts in Jamaica. I can see pictures of my cousin in New Hampshire and see the latest news in Palestine. But it’s been since mid-June that I have seen our neighbors that live just up the hill.

Think about the two or three houses nearest to yours. Have you met them? If you have met them could you become acquaintances with them? If you are an acquaintance with them could you invite them to a cook out?  If you have invited them to a cook out could you become friends with them? 

Significant things happen; Real “church happens when people live, work, worship, go to school, eat, grow, learn, heal and play in proximity to each other.” (From Slow Church-cultivating community in the patient way of Jesus).

This church is deeply rooted in this neighborhood. It’s one of our strengths. We will never be one of those cookie-cutter organizations that have homogenized programs. We are a distinctly local expression of the global body of Christ. Can you, in the name of Jesus deepen your interpersonal roots with your neighbors?

Imagine for a moment that this church building is not here. Imagine that you are in your home and this particular piece of real estate on the corner of Morton and Kinney is vacant, Just beautiful wild grass and whatever else nature may have produced here. Now imagine that a car stops at this corner and someone gets out and opens a folding chair and sits down right next to one of those big beautiful trees and the car drives away. 

That person is here for a purpose.  What is his purpose? You stop by and ask.  Turns out it is Jesus.  Not someone representing Jesus or someone with a Christ-like attitude but Jesus himself. Imagine that Jesus in the flesh is sitting in a chair in this spot instead of you and instead of this church building.  He says that he is going to stay for a long time right in this area doing his fathers will.  He’s not going to spend too much time in Ludington or Scottville, there are churches there taking care of things.  He isn’t going to go down to Pentwater or Hart, that’s covered too.  What do you think Jesus on the corner of Morton and Kinney would do? …That’s what we should do.

To be the church means to be called out by Jesus Christ to be his body; to be his physical presence on this earth. And St. Paul UMC is called to be the body at the corner of Morton and Kinney.

“Up to Here, the Lord has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12). The Israelite army had some success and they thanked God for it. The Judge Samuel took a rock and make and impromptu altar and honored god. He named the rock Ebenezer. That was a good place to worship and honor God. It was good because it was right where they experienced the blessing.

How many of you grew up within 15 miles of this spot? Can you count the blessings you have experienced in all of your years?  This is a good place to worship and honor God because it is right where we are experiencing God’s blessings.

So there’s Jesus sitting in his folding chair by a tree on the corner of Morton and Kinney.  What do you suppose is the first thing he would do?

I think he would start calling some disciples, probably a number that was manageable let’s just say…12.

Does Jesus wait until people stop by to see him?

What does he tell them?

What does he teach them?

What does he send them to do?

Who do they say he is?

Who do you say he is?

We know how Simon Peter answered that question. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered, “you are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven! And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…”

Samuel experienced the blessing of God through success in battle and found a rock to honor God.

Simon, now Peter experienced a blessing from the Son of God because of his confession that Jesus was the Christ the son of the living God.” That rock, that statement, that understanding of who God is is the foundation, the cornerstone of the church.

Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus is the Son of the Living God. If we are going to know Christ and make him known. That is the first thing we must know!

Now what? We are with Jesus on the corner of Morton and Kinney. What would he have us do next?

“I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

I have this set of keys here. It opens doors that are locked. This set of keys was given to me when I became pastor here three years ago.  Do you suppose they were given to me to hold on to and to not use them?  Or do you suppose they were given to me so that I could open doors.

Jesus has given us the keys to heaven. Based on the confession that Jesus is the son of the living God, we have been granted access, we have the power and the potential to unlock heaven.  Do you suppose the keys to heaven are meant to go unused?

Jesus said whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven. It’s locked up. Our earthly actions are tied to our heavenly rewards.  We can lock ‘em down or we can set them free.

We have been given the keys to heaven in Jesus Christ. We can as a gathered body of Christ, unlock the blessings of God. 

If I give someone the keys to my cabin I expect and I hope that they use them. I hope and expect that they use every room of the cabin.  I hope and expect that they enjoy their time at the cabin. God wants us to have every blessing in heaven. But God gives us the freedom to lock parts of it away.  We can have as much or as little of heaven as we want.

The good news is that we can remind each other of our freedom in Christ.  We can keep each other from going off the tracks.  We can move forward as the body of Christ bringing blessings to this community.

As Christians our roots go back to the Jewish tradition and the covenant first made with Noah. But we don’t replace the Jewish community, we grow out of it.

As the ones called out of this community to be the body of Christ, we don’t separate ourselves from our community we grow in it.

Jesus Christ is the redeemer and reconciler. Jesus is the beginning and the end. And we are the body of Christ for this community.  So what do we do next?

  

Blood and Water

In January of 1996 I got out of the Army. In the spring of that year I got married and in December of that year our first child was born.  One of the main reasons I got out of the army was to start a family.

The year previous, in July of 1999 I was in Panama at Ft. Sherman going through Jungle warfare school. By this time I already knew that I would be getting out in January. I was determined to make my final months in the U.S. military as comfortable for myself as possible.

One night when we were out in the jungle we were getting ready for sleep suddenly there was the sound of a radio playing music.  It was someone from the Venezuelan Army what we were training with.  The Platoon Sgt. That I was with yelled out “No mas musica!”-No more music! We were training after all and we wanted to remain tactical.  I thought it was pretty funny. After all that calmed down, I quietly got into my pack and took out a little item that I had secretly brought with me.  My hammock. In the deep dark of the Panamanian Jungle where no star or moon light could penetrate the jungle canopy I blindly tied my comfortable swinging bed between two trees.  I was going to stay dry and snake free. I settled into my hammock and was feeling nice and comfy when I hit the ground and the tree I attached my hammock to fell to the ground.

“What was that? What was that?” people were yelling. I just stayed quiet and found a patch of ground to lie on for the night.

In the daylight I found that the tree I tied my hammock to had virtually no roots. Panama is basically rock. The soil varies in depth and here it was very shallow.  The roots of the tree (before they rotted away) would have been very shallow.

As we grow in faith, as we reach for the sky we have to make sure our roots are deep and are planted in good soil or our efforts will end with a crash.

Family.

They say blood is thicker than water. I know there are at least a couple of family trees in this congregation whose branches and shoots are woven and interwoven all through this place. How do you know you are related, other than the fact that you all show up at the same weddings? It’s your roots.  Your grandparents your great grandparents and perhaps generations before that have been faithful in proclaiming God’s work and word in this place. Not only that the homes of your families have been faithful in passing on the faith to the generations that came after not just here in this place on Sundays but around the dinner table and in the living rooms of your homes.

When Joshua was saying “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” He was reaffirming a covenant with God. An important part of worship and covenant reaffirmation is to remember the great things that God has done. Not only to remember them but to recite them. Deuteronomy chapter 6 says, “⁴ Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only true God! ⁵ So love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. ⁶ Memorize his laws ⁷ and tell them to your children over and over again. Talk about them all the time, whether you’re at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning. ⁸ Write down copies and tie them to your wrists and foreheads to help you obey them. ⁹ Write these laws on the door frames of your homes and on your town gates.”

The people that share the same roof, the people that sleep in your house, these are the first ones that you should hear of the blessings of God from your lips.

“Well pastor, I live alone.”

Then you are a step ahead. It’s time for you to share the good news about Jesus Christ to people outside your home.

Whether you live alone or with a multitude…you can choose to live in a way that the world directs or you can dedicate your household to the love of God. There are no stronger roots than the love of God. And a tree without roots will fall.  

 Blood is thicker than water! The temptation is to focus only on those closest to you, but how do you define close. Let me offer another version of the saying “blood is thicker than water” The blood shed on the battle field (No greater love) is thicker than the water shared when you are thirsty (Not lose their reward).

In mark chapter 9 Jesus says, “⁴⁰ Anyone who isn’t against us is for us. ⁴¹ And anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name, just because you belong to me, will surely be rewarded.

Giving a drink of water to your brothers and sisters in Christ is a good thing, worthy of reward. But Jesus also said,  “This is my command: that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you.¹³ No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do what I command you.”

Laying down one’s life for others is the ultimate act of love.  I love that the grand Marshall of the 4^th of July parade was trooper Butterfield. Every day that he put the uniform he was laying down his life for others.

The veterans that were honored, the soldiers that were remembered and everyone who serves to keep us safe are the ones who demonstrate what love is. Their sacrifice, their blood is thicker than any act of charity any drink of water that can be given. Let that expand your concept of who is your family.

Blood is thicker than water.

Let me propose yet another version of that saying.

The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. Jesus died for us. Jesus bled and died for you and for me. It was just for the guys in is squad. It wasn’t just to keep order on the streets. It was an eternal gift for all of humanity.  Jesus died as a sacrifice for all who would believe in him.

Jesus requires nothing for you to receive this gift; it is freely given. The covenant is an agreement between God and you.  God says I love you and forgive any failing that you may feel guilty for and want to love you forever.  In return we say, “Yes God I love you too. Thank you. Thank you for revealing your nature in Jesus Christ.”

That’s the covenant. Through the covenant we have abundant and eternal life.

The Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

Jesus mother and brothers came and stood outside, asking to speak to him. They someone told Jesus they were there. Jesus made this point. He pointed at the disciple that were with him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Family is something I value.  I love my family. But how much greater is it when those who are related to you are also your brothers and sisters according to the blood of the covenant of Jesus Christ? We are bound to some by genetics but we are truly bound to those who love God and do his will.

I love that Jesus was pointing to his disciples and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” He was saying that they are the ones who do the will of his Father in heaven. I find great encouragement in that! Do you know why? Because the disciple were clueless and they messes up got it wrong most of the time. It says that to me I don’t have to understand perfectly; I don’t have to serve without mistakes.   It’s encouraging because I know that if I keep myself pointed toward God and always seek to do his will, God will use even my mistakes and my miss-steps. We just have to keep Jesus at the center.

So how is it with you today? Have you loved your family lately?  They are right here, all around you whether you know them or not.  This is the family of God, bound together by the blood of Jesus Christ.