“The Loud Silence”

Luke 19: 28-40    

Since Easter’s coming up fast I thought I’d give you the “Rules of Chocolate” to help you appreciate all those chocolate covered bunnies and eggs you’re going to be exposed to. 

If you get melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly. 

Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want. 

The problem: How to get two pounds of chocolate home from the store in a hot car. Most obvious solution: Eat it in the parking lot.  

Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off your appetite and you'll eat less overall. 

A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that handy? 

If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you? 

If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves. 

Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger. 

Why is there no such organization as Chocoholics Anonymous? Because no one wants to quit. Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done. 

Chocolate is a health food. Chocolate is derived from cacao beans. Bean = vegetable. Sugar is derived either from sugar beets or cane, both vegetables.

And, of course, the milk and cream are dairy. This means eating chocolate meets the dietary requirements for daily vegetable and dairy intake.

I think some folks treat chocolate like a religion and worship it. I’ve seen the altar that CVS and Wal-Mart have set up for chocolate. I’ve been to Olympia Candy Kitchen.

 

Too many people worship material things at holidays, Christmas for sure, and Easter with its Easter Bunnies and things chocolate, as well.  Too many of us have sold out for many material things over God. 

We also know that some people are embarrassed by worship of God but are the first in line to worship at the altar of humankind. Today we’re going to talk about worship and what God thinks about worship. 

There is a quote that says: “There must be some great truth underlying the instinct for worship.” And its clear God agrees! Let’s read the Gospel: Luke 19: 28-40 - 

After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethpage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 

If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, The Lord needs it.” So those who were dent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” 

Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” 

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” 

I think that the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem was an act of spontaneous worship that few people present that day could have told others why they did it afterward.  I guess it must have been one of those “you had to be there, moments!” 

It gives us the answer to the truth underlying the worship of God.

The passage leading up to this event contains the parable of the master who goes on a trip and leaves his servants with money to work with while he is gone. Upon the master’s return one of the servants has refused to do anything with the money. He says he feared losing it.

The master is not happy and punishes the wicked servant. It is on this note that Jesus begins His entry into Jerusalem and the final week of ministry. 

I want to highlight the part of this passage that centers on Jesus’ response after being asked by the Pharisees to “stop” His disciples’ worship. Jesus tells them it really doesn’t matter if they did because the very creation, the stones, will cry out in praise.  

The Master is back, and the accounting will begin. There is nothing humanity can do to stop it. In humanity’s silence God’s creation will be loud. 

What a message we need to hear! God’s creation confirms and offers praise to its creator. He is due our praise and worship in simple ways. Yet nothing anyone can do to us or His reputation will stop it. God is God, Jesus is Jesus, the Holy Spirit will act, and no one can prevent it. God will not be silenced! 

The atonement that requires a blameless lamb has been set in motion and the universe knows it and approves. 

The Greek word for worship is “pro-sky-neō” which means following, obeying, and praising a God or sacred person or any object regarded as sacred. Worship can be given to God or a “sacred” idea or object that becomes like a god.   

The Pharisees are trying to silence Jesus and God because they recognize that His message is not one they want to be part of. Isn't this the way of our world as well? 

If we look around Christianity today, and those who claim Christ, there are many differences in worship practices, and it is our traditions that determine how we worship.  

Since we are all sinners it’s hard to say what others’ do is wrong, unless the Bible proves it’s clearly not Biblical.

 

We say that God’s truth will prevail – it’s why we place the Bible above tradition, the Holy Spirit protects and promotes God’s truth. 

We see the efforts all around us to suppress God’s Word and Truth. Guess what?

 

It will never be successful. God’s very creation, in the silence of humanity, will be very loud in support of God. 

We must do what we can in our worship and praise, knowing we swim upstream in the strong current of human undertow. 

There was a congregation that decided to have four worship services each Sunday.  

There was one for those new to the faith. One for those who liked traditional worship. One for those who had lost their faith and would like to get it back. And finally another for those who had a bad experience with church who  complain about it. The names for each service: "Finders, Keepers, Losers, Weepers." 

Or how about this ad for a church across town: 

“Has the heaviness of you old fashioned church got you weighted down? Try us! We are the New and Improved Lite Church of the Valley. Studies have shown we have 24% fewer commitments. We trim off guilt as we are Low-Cal... low Calvin, that is. We feature a 7.5% tithe, a 35 minute worship service with 7 minute sermons. Next Sunday's sermon is on the Feeding of 500.” 

God has told us how to worship. Remember the words of God from the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 6: 4-9 - 

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  These words I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children.  

Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” 

This is how we humans are to worship – as often as is practically possible and in all efforts of our lives. God requires no less. Let us become as rocks in our worship! 

Amen.

Social Comentary -- Pastor's Column for April 2013

Lord, You have been our refuge in every generation. Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity. You are God.               

                                                                                                                      Psalm 90: 1-2 (HCSB)

 Dear Church Family:

             I heard an amazing thing last week. In Texas the state legislature meets every other year to consider new laws and mandates. Contrast that with the almost continual barrage of new laws, taxes, and legislative morality that comes from Annapolis. We are constantly blitzed with attempts to make abortion a birth control method, mandate the celebration of alternative lifestyles, overlook criminal actions, reduce criminal penalties, suppress the civil rights of citizens, and tell us the new political and social normal.

            The latest “du jour” right under attack is gun ownership. A lot of you have said, “With all the talk about guns lately, it is making me wonder if I should get one. What do you consider to be the biblical perspective of a Christian having a gun for protection purposes?”

My answer:  I wish we could live in a world without guns and violence. That world has been promised and is coming, but until then we live in a fallen world dominated by the lusts and sins of humankind.

I don’t think gun ownership is a Biblical issue. Whether for sporting or personal security purposes, gun ownership is and in my opinion should remain a matter of personal preference.

People who try to use Matthew 26: 52 to say the Bible is against gun ownership have misinterpreted the passage.

            Jesus was being arrested by a large band of soldiers. Peter drew his sword and stepped between Jesus and the soldiers as if to defend Him. Jesus warned him that if he didn’t put his sword away the soldiers would draw their swords and he wouldn’t survive.

Earlier Jesus had advised the disciples if they didn’t have a sword to sell their cloaks and buy one (Luke 22: 36). Therefore He couldn’t have been opposed to owning a weapon for self defense.

Jesus did however address the responsibility of such ownership and its use.

I know there are some of you who find this whole discussion troubling and I understand your feelings. On the other hand I find those exploiting this topic, just as homosexuality, birth control, abortion, and other issues are being used, for political expediency, just as tasteless. The morality of America is now being legislated not self-determined by majority culture.  

When was the last time you heard of a new bill that addressed an actual need and wasn’t a stopgap or reactionary response to a lobbying or special interest group? “Liberty and Justice for all” has been changed to “never let a crisis go to waste!”

The lesson here for us is that some have treated the truth of scripture in much the same way, compromising truth for political and social correctness. And frankly that scares me more than an armed and trained citizen with a gun.

Let us continue to pray for peace and clarity in all things. And perhaps we should all think about moving to Texas? 

Yours in Christ, 

Pastor John

 

“Carrying the Nail to the Cross”

JOHN 12: 1-8 (NRSV) 

You might want to scrunch around on your seats a little – I’m going to talk about sin and sin talk usually gets the people in the pews nervous!  

On this last Sunday of Lent I want to start this message off with a quote by a well known Reformed Church Theologian some of you may recognize, Rheinhold Neibuhr: “Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and {yet be} incapable of achieving it.” 

Thomas Fuller said, “He that falls into sin is a man; that grieves at it, is a saint; that boasts of it, is a devil.” 

A French Proverb reads: He sins as much who holds the bag as he who puts into it. 

Josh Billings wrote: “Confess your sins to the Lord, and you will be forgiven; confess them to men, and you will be laughed at.” 

Three pastors went to the pastor convention and were all sharing one room. The first pastor said, "Let's confess our secret sins one to another. I'll start - my secret sin is I just love to gamble. When I go out of town, it's‘cha-ching, cha-ching,’ let the machines ring." The second pastor said, "My secret sin is that I just hate working. I copy all my sermons from those given by other pastors."  

The third pastor said, "My secret sin is gossiping and, oh boy, I just can't wait to get out of this room!" 

We are warned about leading others into sin: Two men got out of their cars after they collided at an intersection. One took a flask from his pocket and said to the other, "Here, maybe you'd like a nip to calm your nerves." 

"Thanks," he said, and took a long pull from the container. "Here, you have one, too," he added, handing back the whiskey. "Well, I'd rather not," said the first. " At least not until after the police have been here." 

Or the famous interaction between the Priest and the Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" A priest answers: "No, not if you did not know." Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?" 

Malcolm Muggeridge probably summed up modern sin best when he said, “One of the peculiar sins of the twentieth century which we've developed to a very high level, is the sin of credulity. It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything.” 

Believing that the truth can be anything you make it is a deadly deception.

The truth of sin must never be forgotten: Dwight L. Moody taught, “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.”

Faith in God, on the other hand, is recognizing, acknowledging, and admitting our own shortcomings and depending on Jesus’ perfection to overcome them.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once preached: “We are certain that there is forgiveness, because there is a Gospel, and the very essence of the Gospel lies in the proclamation of the pardon of sin."  Let’s read John 12: 1-8:

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 

Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 

Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” 

When Jesus says “you will always have the poor with you” he is quoting the Book of Deuteronomy and reflecting Jewish thought on the social conditions of the time. 

It was not a suggestion to avoid helping the poor nor was it a suggestion to use wealth exclusively as an accessory to proclaim your faith.

As in everything else Jesus is encouraging balance.  

As I read this passage I am struck that the meaning here may be the warning of Judas more than the sacrifice and service Mary does for Jesus. Mary’s kind and soothing service to Jesus was no doubt needed and welcomed. What wonderful disciples, followers, and examples Mary and Martha are to the Church. 

But there are times we need to celebrate Church, God’s Word, and our Savior Jesus Christ. “Gaudiness,” giving your best, and even dressing nicely for Church should be expected at least every once in a while! We need to honor God. 

Yet Judas presents a whole different issue. Why did he betray Jesus? Was it for money? Was it for pride? Was it out of spite? Was he possessed by a demon or forced to act by Satan? Or was it a normal manifestation of his human personality? 

Was Judas just a mean-spirited, nasty person in the wrong place at the right time?

We know enough about Judas to surmise that his motivations seem to be attached to his interest in money and wealth. Unless the Gospel writers misjudged Judas or had grudges against him we must assume that he is the person he has been said to be. 

G. K. Chesterton wrote, “To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid enough to want it.” Satan must have used Judas’ weakness against Jesus. 

Each of us knows someone like Judas who has allowed their wants to overshadow their behavior, ethics, and relationships with others. We’ve seen it in ourselves, our relatives, friends, co-workers, bosses, and neighbors. And we’ve certainly seen it in our Churches. Even those whom Jesus’ chose as disciples weren’t exempt. 

It takes just a little to get out of balance. None of us are immune. It is often said of a person who has a strong commitment to something that they are “card carrying” devotees.  

In the matter of human sin I have come to call it “nail carrying” instead. If you look at the cross I wear during most of our services you’ll see I’ve added an extra attachment. It’s a nail that signifies the sins I commit which “nails” Jesus a little tighter to that cross on my behalf. He’s up there because of, and for, me! And for all humanity.

Dr. Robert Schuller was once on a whirlwind book promotion tour, visiting eight cities in four days. It was exhausting work in addition to his normal duties as pastor of a large church, yet he enjoyed the attention, loved being important to the point of becoming very prideful. 

As Schuller reviewed his schedule with his secretary, she reminded him that he was scheduled to have lunch with the winner of a charity raffle. Schuller was suddenly sobered when he found out who the winner of the raffle was, for he happened to know immediately that the $500 the person had bid to have lunch with him represented that person’s entire life savings. 

The winner was his own teenage daughter.

 

His priorities were out of whack. He was starting to feel  he was more important than his family and church. He had let his own needs get in the way of the blessings and responsibilities God had given.  

In the end Judas was self-centered and selfish. He felt he had to be devious in order to get what he desired. In truth what he really should have done was to ask Jesus for what he needed. He would have been blessed abundantly. Mary, in her gratitude for Jesus’ abundant care for herself and her family, anointed Jesus in gratitude.

We need to see this as the ideal for our own relationship with Jesus and God. It represents the simple life God intended for us in the Garden of Eden – harmony in relationship with each other and with God.  

Yet Adam and Eve were enticed to consider actions outside of God’s Will and they acted in a devious way to satisfy themselves. They ended up rebelling from and deeply disappointing God. 

If we too act outside of God’s Will and care we risk betraying Christ as well. We put ourselves in the crowd before the cross on that Friday morning, yelling for His crucifixation while supplying the nails to do it with. 

The answer to our failure lies in Jesus’ response to Judas:  

“Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” 

Friends, while we are at the cross on Friday afternoon, we are also at the empty tomb on Sunday morning. One without the other would be meaningless. 

Jesus knew He was sacrificing Himself for each of us providing we see and recognize what He has done. He must be given His due, in praise and worship. 

That’s what his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension into Heaven has been about.  

I would like to end with a quote from the great Reformer Martin Luther, “In this

life, Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death, he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; and in his resurrection, a conqueror over eternity.” 

As Dr. Henry Harbaugh, Church Historian, Professor, Poet, Pastor, and Reformed Church Icon said it best in a Hymn* he wrote in 1850:

Jesus, I live to Thee, The Loveliest and Best;
My life in Thee, Thy life in me, In Thy blest love I rest

Jesus, I die to Thee, Whenever death shall come;
To die in Thee is life to me, With Thee I’m ever one! 

Whether to live or die, I know not which is best;
To live in Thee is bliss to me, To die is endless rest. 

Living or dying, Lord, I ask but to be Thine;
My life in Thee, Thy life in me, Makes Thee forever mine.

Amen.

 * E & R Hymnal, page 254. 

 

Somebody asked me what was up with the "armed sheep?" It's based on the concept of being able to deal with "wolves in sheep's clothing" as discussed in the Bible and inspired directly by this great quote:

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.                                                                        -Benjamin Franklin

“Eternity’s Lost and Found” Luke 15  (NRSV) 

I see some of you here without your husbands. Are they missing like Dick was last week? He suffered a run in with a bad car battery. We missed him.

 

Ladies here's some advice for when your hubbies' missing:

 

A lady calls the police to report her husband is missing. The police arrive and ask for a description. She tells them he’s 6 foot 2 inches tall, blonde wavy hair and has a smile that makes everybody love him.

The police then go to the next door neighbor to verify this report and the lady next door tells the police, "You can’t believe her. He’s 5 foot 4 inches tall, has no hair and he’s always frowning." The neighbor then goes and asks the lady why she gave the police such a false report. She replies, "Just because I reported him missing, doesn’t mean I wanted him back!" 

I don't know why I didn't realize this sooner. The reason why I weight so much is because of the shampoo I use in the shower. When I wash my hair, the shampoo runs down my whole body, and printed very clearly on the shampoo label is the warning: 'USE FOR EXTRA VOLUME AND BODY'.

No wonder I have been gaining weight. I am getting rid of the shampoo and am changing to my dishwashing liquid, instead. It “'DISSOLVES FAT THAT IS OTHERWISE DIFFICULT TO REMOVE.” Problem solved. 

A father passing by his son's bedroom, was astonished to see the bed was nicely made, and that everything was picked up and tidy. Then, he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow. It was addressed, 'Dad.'

With a sinking feeling, he opened the envelope and read the letter, with trembling hands.

Dear Dad: It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing to you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend, because I wanted to avoid a scene with mom and you.

I've discovered who I am when I’m with Stacy, and she is so nice, but I
knew you would not like her, because of all her piercings', her leather clothes, and because she 15 years older than I am.

But it's not only our friendship, Dad. She's wants a life together.

Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods, and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that we can live on the cans and bottles we gather along the roadsides of the town.  

In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for all those infections Stacy has because of her homemade tattoos, so she can get better. She deserves it!

Don't worry Dad, I'm 15, and I know how to take care of myself. Someday, I'm sure we'll be back to visit, so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love, your son, Joshua.

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Jason's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that's on the kitchen table.    

 

Let’s read Luke, Chapter 15:

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 

So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’  

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 

“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them.

A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.

 

When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.  He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.  

But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!  I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’  

So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  

But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’  

And they began to celebrate. 

“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  

He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in.

 

His father came out and began to plead with him.  But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.  

But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’

Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’” 

Luke’s Chapter 15 contains three parables: “the Lost Sheep,” “the Lost Coin,” and “the Lost Son.” In all three Jesus emphasizes the need for, and importance of seeking after those things and people God has given us responsibility for. He also assures us of Heaven’s rejoicing as “lost” people are found.

These three parables have OT parallels in the Book of Jeremiah, the Book of Ezekiel, and the Book of Deuteronomy. It is from these passages that the interpretations of meaning, as scripture is used to interpret scripture, is used.   

From this passage I think Jesus is telling us that there are three things that distract us from His kingdom and love, but that God’s Love overcomes.  

Sometimes we just get lost in the world around us and we’re incapable of finding our way and need help. He’s there for us. 

Other times we get lost in accumulating wealth and status,  and become upset when we feel we’ve lost or are threatened with losing what we’ve earned so that our whole life is caught up in it. He’s there too. 

Lastly, there are those who are caught up in the sensory pleasures and pursuits of the world so much so that nothing else matters. He’s there to pick the pieces up as well. 

The Holy Spirit works to overcome these conditions, convince us of our sins, and lead us to repentance and reconciliation. What a time for rejoicing and celebration that is. 

The final thought we have is this: Jesus is so irritating, the way he loves people. His love frequently doesn’t work the way we expect it too. Amen.

“ONE MORE CHANCE, LORD”

Luke 13: 1-9, NRSV

Contemplate the word philosophy: the rational investigation of the truths and principles of living, being, behavior, conduct, and knowledge. If you have the right to be called a “philosopher,” than you may be labeled as wise in the ways of the world.

You would know the causes and effects of things; how and why things happen, and would have the ability to at least ask the significant questions regarding life, death, and human existence. We know that all of us ask these questions or should.

 

I use to know a guy when I was in the Navy that contemplated His "place in the celetrial universe" when he chipped paint.

Other significant questions we ask:

Why does the sun lighten our hair, but darken our skin?

Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?

Why is a boxing ring square?

Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips?

Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?

Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?

Why is it that rain drops but snow falls?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the third hand on the watch called a second hand?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why is the word dictionary in the dictionary?

Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet?

If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?

Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

But one of the most important issues philosophers and especially we “amateur” philosophers ask is about God and/or the idea of human existence. 

Today’s scriptural passage should cause each of us to approach God’s word with some questions about what it means and what its claim on us is. 

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  

He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did. 

Then he told this parable; A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I found none, Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ 

He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Jesus interaction with these folks give us more information regarding His thinking and journey toward the upcoming Easter experience and the price it is going to cost in order to provide the world a second chance at relationship with God. 

Ulrich Zwingli, founder of what became the “Reformed Church” felt that the whole notion of Christianity and life itself could be best described as a search for “ardent personal communion with God in Christ!” Nowhere is that more apparent than in these verses from Luke.                               

These verses contain an amazing vision of hope for each and every person in God’s creation because we see that God has given His creation more time to recognize Him as Creator and Lord of all.  

Instead of figuratively crumpling it all up in a ball and tossing it in the trash can God instead continues to work with His creation. 

If we realize the heartbreaking reality it must be for God to be rejected by so many people we may get just a small glimpse of the greatness of God’s Grace. Imagine, as God, knowing that, even though He gave all, not all will respond, how sad and frustrating it all must be. 

Think of this: an all powerful God, who has done everything possible to show His love and desires for intimate relationship, has rendered Himself powerless to “force” that love on anyone.

God has one relationship rule. And it is a rule that is natural to you and I humans, but not for God. Love must be freely given and freely received. We are to love unconditionally as He loves us.  

But that doesn’t mean we are forced to accept that love. God is persistent, through the Holy Spirit, in reminding us of His love, but God is not a stalker. But His presence is everywhere so it’s hard not to see Him.

 

I think that those who claim to be atheists, with their constant desire for "separation" of church and state are doing nothing more than trying to swear out protection orders against God. 

Some people have asked me why I continue in the ministry with such apparent lack of success. Our attendance is decreasing, our funds are decreasing, people lack enthusiasm for Bible Study, attending services, and it seems at times as if no one wants to have the church involved in their lives. 

I tell them this: “I ask myself why I think I am better than Jesus? After all, he was so singularly unsuccessful with so many people. Then I remind myself that following Jesus has nothing to do with success as the world values it and everything to do with love.”  

It is Jesus’ love for us that makes all the difference and His willingness to sacrifice for us that matters. 

A little girl in England, Josie Caven, was born totally deaf.

She felt isolated as a child because of her inability to hear, but that changed after she received a cochlear implant during the Christmas season. At the age of twelve, she heard clearly for the first time. The first sound she heard was the song “Jingle Bells” coming from the radio. 

Was Josie’s hearing restored? Yes — completely. Did she hear well immediately? Not exactly. Her mother said, “She is having to learn what each new sound is and what it means. She will ask, ‘Was that a door closing?’ and has realized for the first time that the light in her room hums when it is switched on.

She even knows what her name sounds like now, because before she could not hear the soft s sound in the middle of the word. Seeing her face light up as she hears everything around her is all I could have wished for this Christmas.” 

Josie’s hearing was restored, but that restoration introduced her to the daily adventure of learning to distinguish each new sound in the hearing world.  

It’s the already and the not yet — a phrase that aptly describes the perspective of believers in Christ who have not yet experienced the fullness of redemption that will one day be realized in heaven.

Friends this is what regeneration in Christ’s love is like. The trials and tribulations and struggles of life is the fertilizer that grows us closer to Jesus and God the Father, and helps us bear the fruit of His Kingdom. Amen.