Yet ANOTHER Gift

• Pentecost Sunday

With Matthew 17:22-27 and Acts 2:1-11

• One time God gave me a car. He did it via my brother in law. It was a 1982 Honda civic hatchback. It wasn’t much – it was falling apart and on its last legs – but it was what I needed, when I needed it, and I had it as long as I needed it, not a moment longer.

And from time to time I’ve been able to provide as my brother-in-law provided.

• Today’s reading from Matthew is odd, and I’m not going to entertain how the coin fish thing happened. Jesus gave a gift to Peter for the temple tax.

Remember when Jesus calmed the storm, what the response of the disciples was? Wonder. Amazement. Worship. Who is this man, that the winds and seas obey him? Who is this man, that a coin appears in a fish?

I’m okay leaving some things about Jesus be a mystery.

Also the community Matthew was writing to, they were struggling with identity, Christians and Jews, the Temple has been destroyed, they are people of faith interacting with a corrupt government… This story gave some insight for how that community could live in that time. Live in harmony with your neighbors, and cling to the teachings of Jesus.

• Today’s reading from Acts, the Pentecost reading, God gives a great gift to the people. Just ten days before was the Ascension, when Jesus told the disciples “wait in Jerusalem until you receive power.” At Pentecost the promise,  the presence the power of God, given to the disciples. & they immediately proclaim, and people respond.

• Today is ALSO Aldersgate Day. John Wesley receives gift from God, strangely warmed, assurance, yet another gift.

The Aldersgate experience:

John Wesley was 35 years old, ten years a preacher, yet he felt depressed and a failure in ministry. But he went through the motions of faith, and one day he met God again:

“In the evening I went unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter to nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine and saved me from the law of sin and death.”         -- John Wesley, Journal, 24 May 1738

• As I said before, no need to rationalize / explain the gifts. The Honda, the coin, the fish, the Holy Spirit, the strangely warmed heart. I can’t rationalize / explain my love for my daughter, it just IS because of who I am. God’s gifts are because of who GOD is. Let the gifts and the scriptures themselves be a reminder of who God is… be drawn to wonder.

Who IS this God who gives such gifts?

• And consider these two things: that God’s gift on Pentecost, on Aldersgate is more than a gift to the disciples, to John Wesley… these are gifts to the world. God gives the church to the world so that the world may receive God’s blessing.

And a gift demands a response.

How might you be as God’s gift to the world?

• Hymn 2237 As A Fire is Meant for Burning

Matthew 17:22-27        (CEB)        Pentecost         05/24/15

22 When the disciples came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered over into human hands. 23 They will kill him. But he will be raised on the third day.” And they were heartbroken.

24 When they came to Capernaum, the people who collected the half-shekel temple tax came to Peter and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” 25 “Yes,” he said.

But when they came into the house, Jesus spoke to Peter first.

“What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect taxes, from their children or from strangers?”

26 “From strangers,” he said.

Jesus said to him, “Then the children don’t have to pay. 27 But just so we don’t offend them, go to the lake, throw out a fishing line and hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a shekel coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.”

The Hope of Faith

• My first sermon, maybe 18 years ago, was on the Transfiguration… I imagined the incarnation as putting on a pair of cold wet jeans… and the Transfiguration as a sudden burst of warmth and light, a divine “attaboy”. Must’ve felt great.

Supreme affirmation that Jesus is Lord, the divine Son of God.

• The Transfiguration also reminds us of Moses (the mountain, the shining, the cloud, the voice, not to mention Moses appears!)

Moses delivered the people from bondage, slavery.
Jesus would deliver the people from bondage in sin, for all time.

Moses delivered the Law, outlining God’s system of forgiveness and reconciliation in sacrifice.
Jesus fulfilled the Law, sacrificing himself for the forgiveness and reconciliation of all.

• Talking with someone about what can we First UMC do about drugs and this person expressed his remorse that because he doesn’t have it all together he can’t help lead transformation. (Do you ever feel that way? You gotta achieve a certain level of with-it before you can serve?)

Yet Peter not all together as we’ve just seen and today Transfiguration.

Who does transformation depend on?
Not Peter. Not my faithfulness / with-it.
Depends on God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
My job: show up and cling to Christ.

• Mitch Albom Have A Little Faith, (2009) includes story of Henry Covington, a drug addict/dealer turned pastor in Detroit…
Transformation is possible. It is the hope of faith.

Similar story last week at District Conference, a drug addict / dealer who interacted with one of our pastors who shared gospel, that former addict is now serving a church in our Western District.

• The hope of faith is that in Jesus and like Jesus real and amazing transformation can take place. That real deliverance from bondage to sin can take place. That instead of “Yes, God, it’s me… again… with the same old same old…” newness.

Hope of faith that radical change is possible can happen in self, in church, in city.

• Hope of faith to be like Christ. We share in the baptism of Christ, receiving the death of our sinful selves. We receive new life in the Transfiguration and we look to hope of resurrection.

• Cling to Christ. Represent.

• Hymn 371 I Stand Amazed in the Presence

Matthew 17:1-13 Common English Bible (CEB)

17 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain. ² He was transformed in front of them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

 ³ Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus. ⁴ Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good that we’re here. If you want, I’ll make three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

 ⁵ While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!” ⁶ Hearing this, the disciples fell on their faces, filled with awe.

⁷ But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” ⁸ When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Don’t tell anybody about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

¹⁰ The disciples asked, “Then why do the legal experts say that Elijah must first come?”

¹¹ Jesus responded, “Elijah does come first and will restore all things. ¹² In fact, I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they didn’t know him. But they did to him whatever they wanted. In the same way the Son of Man is also going to suffer at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples realized he was telling them about John the Baptist.

The Call of Christ

• One night a man had a dream...  Jesus said “I want you to be my disciple” and the man agreed eagerly. Jesus gave man cross to carry, selected specifically for him. About 8 feet tall, and heavy and rough. The man's eagerness fades. After carrying it for a while, the man asked Jesus, “Can you do something about the splinters?” Jesus looked at the man with compassion and made it smooth. The man was pleased that Jesus was so kind to him.

Now it’s smooth, he carries it for a while, but it's still very heavy... Jesus, could you make my cross lighter? Jesus looked at the man with compassion and made it lighter. The man was pleased that Jesus was so kind to him.

Now it's smooth and light, but still about 8 feet tall. The man says, “Jesus, my cross keeps dragging on the ground, and it makes me hunch over so. Could you make it smaller?” Jesus looked at the man with compassion and made it smaller. The man was pleased that Jesus was so kind to him.

They come to a chasm, about 8 feet across. Jesus takes his own cross, still large and heavy and rough, and it perfectly spans the gap, allowing him to cross over safely, but the disciple’s cross, which had been exactly what he needed, has been rendered useless.

• Last week’s reading from Matthew gave us Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ, and this week Jesus points out that there is a cost to being the Christ and there’s a cost to being a disciple: Whoever would be a disciple must deny themselves and pick up cross and follow Jesus, and Jesus’ path is going to crucifixion.

“Get behind me, Satan!”

• Jesus’ words to Peter sound harsh, but we’ve heard them before. Get behind me, Satan… Four words in English, four words in Greek.  Two of the words we heard in the temptation story, Get away from me, Satan (4:10). And two we heard just 9 verses later when Jesus calls Peter to follow him.

Take-home point:
The call to follow Jesus does not stop, 

and it does not rest on our faithfulness.

Have you fallen, strayed? Denied? 

The call is not revoked, it’s repeated.
Not because of my faithfulness but because of Jesus’ goodness.

• Which is one of the answers to the next question: 

Why follow Jesus?

Because of his faithfulness.
Because in him is light.
Because with him is eternal life.
Because he is the way and the truth and the life.
Because (unlike other gods or anything) 

he precedes and he accompanies.

• The call to follow Christ is not easy 

but it beats any offer out there.

• Celebration of Holy Communion

Matthew 16:21-28     (CEB)   Fifth Sunday in Easter     05/03/15

²¹ From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts, and that he had to be killed and raised on the third day. ²² Then Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him: “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you.” ²³ But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. ²⁵ All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. ²⁶ Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. ²⁸ I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Jesus, Lord and shaper

• 4^th Sunday of Easter

With Matthew 16:13-20

• People have always been drawn to caves. They are full of mystery, intrigue, darkness. Some even have underground rivers.
One of the headwaters of the Jordan River is a cave spring, celebrated as home of the Greek god Pan. When Jesus was a teenager, governor Philip II claimed this cave spring for Caesar, named it Caesarea Philippi.

Jesus chooses this place to “come out” as the Christ, the Son of God.
It is a source of life flow.

• David and Debbie got married last month (there’s a video on the church facebook page). When a couple says “I take you as my wife / husband” they are agreeing to order their lives by that relationship.
It means they’ll make decisions together, or with their partner in mind, decisions about finances and activities. It means they’ll control their urges and desires and take care to be in frequent communication with each other. They will live as representatives of each other.
They commit to each other.

Peter makes a similar life-changing commitment calling Jesus Christ and Son of God. LORD!  Re-read the above paragraph, substituting disciple and Lord…

I give myself to you, I give control to you.

• And Jesus responds with I will build my church on you…
Not because you’re so solid, Peter, (three times betrayal, anyone?) but because you have allowed me to mold and shape you. That’s a disciple. A disciple yields self to God, lets God shape.

• And then Jesus hands Peter the keys… not even the realm of the dead will be able to stand against it (and remember where we are? Source of life Caesarea Philippi).

Jesus hands Peter the keys, with a warning… I’m building the church through you because of that part of you that says “I commit myself to You, Lord,”
and the warning is this: the church you build will be like you.
If you look like you, the church will look like you.
If you look like ME, the church will look like me.

Take care to be like Jesus.

• Will your church be known for who it hates, or who it loves?
for who it serves or who it declines service to?
Will you use the keys to keep people out or to let people in?

• Finally, Jesus did not look to the Pharisees and Sadducees to build the church on, he passed ’em by (and not without condemnation!)…they lacked the living yielding faith that Peter and the disciples were beginning to demonstrate.

• Will you be shaped by Jesus?
faith to be shaped/used by God

• Hymn 385 Let Us Plead for Faith Alone

Matthew 16:13-20        (CEB)        Fourth Sunday in Easter        04/26/15

¹³ Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

¹⁵ He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ Then Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because no human has shown this to you, rather my Father who is in heaven has shown you. ¹⁸ I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I’ll build my church. The gates of the underworld won’t be able to stand against it. ¹⁹ I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he ordered the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ.

Again?

• Second Sunday of Easter

With Matthew 15:29-39 and Acts 4:32-35

• Last week Easter message about God’s power and desire to make all things new.
Today’s passage sounds like a re-run of the feeding of the five thousand, narratively just a few days ago in chapter 14.

• There are some “take-home points” but first…

• Robert Frost poem 1936 

    I turned to speak to God                   God turned to speak to me
    about the world’s despair                  (don’t anybody laugh)
    but to make bad matters worse         God found *I* wasn’t there
    I found God wasn’t there.                  at least not over half.

I find this poem both funny and haunting.
A person asked God
Why is there suffering/hunger/poverty/injustice, God?
Why do you allow it to happen? 

God’s response: Yes, why DO you let it happen?

• There’s a partnership God invites us into / expects of us / designed us for. And what Jesus has to offer is so compelling that people go hungry just to be near him.

• Last time disciples said send them away.
This time Jesus takes initiative: compassion.
The disciples have opportunity to remember or to demonstrate faith (here’s our bread, Lord, will you bless it?) but they question, instead. Jesus does not reprimand but nurtures, encourages…

And the Eucharistic formula is seen again, Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, gives it, and the people eat and are satisfied. By the way, Matthew is telling us here that people who strive to follow Jesus (go hungry for) will be satisfied.

• And I don’t want to go too hard on the disciples – God knows there are plenty of times *I* need to be told something more than once – but we are also witnessing the disciples blooming… sneak peak ahead: in chapter 16 confession of Jesus as Messiah.

• 4K fed, 7 baskets of leftovers. Some commentators have suggested that the numbers 5K and 12 are numbers signifying the Jews, and that 4K and 7 signify the Gentiles, and that the retelling of the story demonstrates how Jesus came for all, but that’s more of an interesting possibility than main take-home point.

• Last little tidbit here… Last week was Easter, and every Sunday is a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. We need reminded, and we need to re-proclaim, just like we wear our school colors on a weekly or daily basis… Disciples needed a reminder from Jesus just a few days after feeding 5K that he was Messiah, that in him the lame walk, the blind see, the mute speak, the crippled are made well, and that in him and in partnership with him, the impossible happens. And so we sing Christ is Alive…

• Hymn 318 Christ Is Alive

Matthew 15:29-39        (CEB)        Second Sunday of Easter 04/12/15

²⁹ Jesus moved on from there along the shore of the Galilee Sea. He went up a mountain and sat down. ³⁰ Large crowds came to him, including those who were paralyzed, blind, injured, and unable to speak, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. ³¹ So the crowd was amazed when they saw those who had been unable to speak talking, and the paralyzed cured, and the injured walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

³² Now Jesus called his disciples and said, “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry for fear they won’t have enough strength to travel.”

³³ His disciples replied, “Where are we going to get enough food in this wilderness to satisfy such a big crowd?”

³⁴ Jesus said, “How much bread do you have?”

They responded, “Seven loaves and a few fish.”

³⁵ He told the crowd to sit on the ground. ³⁶ He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish. After he gave thanks, he broke them into pieces and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ Everyone ate until they were full. The disciples collected seven baskets full of leftovers. ³⁸ Four thousand men ate, plus women and children. ³⁹ After dismissing the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

Acts 4:32-35        (CEB)        Second Sunday of Easter                      04/12/15

³² The community of believers was one in heart and mind. None of them would say, “This is mine!” about any of their possessions, but held everything in common. ³³ The apostles continued to bear powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and an abundance of grace was at work among them all. ³⁴There were no needy persons among them. Those who owned properties or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds from the sales, ³⁵ and place them in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Then it was distributed to anyone who was in need.

A Divine Dialog

The Divine Dialogue: A Possibility

Jesus: Look at ’em down there, Pops. Don’t you just love ’em?

Father: I DO love them, Son. 

They’re some of My favorite things in all Creation!

Jesus: You’re smiling, Pops, but I know You… 

something’s bugging You, too. Tell Me what it is.

Father: Oh, Son, I love you. You know Me so well. 

Yes, something IS ‘bugging Me’…
My people, they just don’t seem to GET it.

Jesus: Get what?

Father: Oh, You know… LIFE. 

I’ve put them in a world of possibilities
and given them endless potential,
but they are usually distracted by shiny things.
And they focus on themselves way too much.

Jesus: I know what You mean, Pops.
It’s just like You said: They just don’t seem to GET it.
But I’ve been thinking…

Father: Go on…

Jesus: I’ve been thinking, 

what if I were to go there and SHOW them how to live?
SHOW them righteousness and right priority and right relationship?

Father: Oh, Son, I think it’s a GREAT idea… But…

Jesus: …Yes, Father?

Father: You know. We’ve sent people. We’ve INSPIRED people.
But things haven’t always gone well for them.
I’m thinking… They might kill You.

Jesus: I’ve thought about that. They might.
And I’m thinking… that’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Like I said, I just love them to pieces.

Father: You’re the best. And You know what, Son?
I love You, and there’s nothing You or anybody in the world can do about it!

Jesus: Aw, Pops, I love YOU, and there’s nothing You or anybody in the world can do about it!

The Lord's Feast

• Resurrection Sunday / Easter

With Isaiah 25:6-9 and Matthew 28:1-10

• We meet again. Resurrection Sunday (aka Easter) is on the one hand the holiest of days (it set the standard) and yet should be like other days. Or rather other days should be like Easter.

• Today’s message is not your typical Easter message. If today weren’t Easter I might talk about what’s been going on in Indiana or Kenya or Iran, offer some reflection about where God is and how might God be working in these events but you’ll just have to ask me directly ;) (or maybe I’ll talk about that next week. Come back!)

No, today’s is not your typical Easter message… I’m not dwelling centrally on the gospel text, rather on the Isaiah text that Jesus himself was likely familiar with, from 700 years before Christ.

Likely his disciples were familiar with it, too. Put yourself with them in Holy Week, in the highs and lows of the week culminating with the death of Jesus just before the Sabbath day and during the week of Passover…

Listen to the text, let it speak your hope…

• On this mountain, the Lord of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples a rich feast… (v.6)
A rich feast, yesss, now we’re talkin!…. And Oh, that God speaks to all peoples!

We like to think of God inviting others to the feast, the like-minded, yes, and those who have died… How good to feast again with them!

Who do you want to see at the Lord’s feast?

Yet, as Religious Freedom Restoration Act of Indiana has shown, there is much diversity and disunity among those who call Jesus “Lord” … they might be at the Lord’s feast, too.

If Jesus embraces one you oppose, what will you do?

• The Lord will swallow up the veil that is veiling all peoples… swallow up death forever. (v. 7-8).

Instead of Death swallowing up everything (as we generally hold)… it is reversed!

Oh, that by the power of God, fear & sorrow would be wiped out, and divisions cease because God’s kingdom priority is the celebration of God and not “what’s in it for me?”

• The Lord will remove his people’s disgrace from off the whole earth. (v.8)

Oh, that God would remove disgrace. Isaiah’s talking about how the people have been shamed, but I also hear it as God removing how shameful the people have been. Removing the shame I’ve endured, and the shame I’ve inflicted.

The Lord will restore right relationships.

• In the life and death of Jesus (life & death & resurrection) (recall children’s sermon, in which Jesus chooses to become incarnate to demonstrate life as God intended, in spite of the possibility of being rejected and killed)

God says I remove disgrace and death and disunity

In the midst of your darkness confusion and chaos
I make all things new, I restore & reconcile, inspire & complete.

• Oh it sounds good…

This is our God, and he has saved us… Let’s be glad and rejoice in his salvation! (v.9)

It sounds good. And it’s true. Will you be a part of it?

• into Holy Communion

Isaiah 25:6-9        (CEB)        Resurrection Sunday                                                                                               04/05/15

⁶ On this mountain,
    the Lord of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples
        a rich feast, a feast of choice wines,
        of select foods rich in flavor,
        of choice wines well refined.
⁷ He will swallow up on this mountain
       the veil that is veiling all peoples,
    the shroud enshrouding all nations.
⁸ He will swallow up death forever.
The Lord God will wipe tears from every face;
    he will remove his people’s disgrace from off the whole earth,
        for the Lord has spoken.
⁹ They will say on that day,
“Look! This is our God,
    for whom we have waited—
    and he has saved us!
This is the Lord, for whom we have waited;
    let’s be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”

Matthew 28:1-10        (CEB)        Resurrection Sunday                         04/05/15

28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. ² And there was a great earthquake, for an angel from the Lord came down from heaven. Coming to the stone, he rolled it away and sat on it. ³ Now his face was like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so terrified of him that they shook with fear and became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He isn’t here, because he’s been raised from the dead, just as he said. Come, see the place where they laid him. ⁷ Now hurry, go and tell his disciples, ‘He’s been raised from the dead. He’s going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ I’ve given the message to you.”

⁸ With great fear and excitement, they hurried away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ But Jesus met them and greeted them. They came and grabbed his feet and worshipped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers that I am going into Galilee. They will see me there.”