“Perspective!
Galatians 3: 23-29 (NRSV)

How much money must a person have to consider themselves truly free? 1 million; 5 million; 100 million; or 1 billion dollars? Is being free the same thing as being happy? Can you have commitments and obligations to something and still be happy and free?  

We know that some of the unhappiest people on earth are wealthy and spend a lot of that money trying to convince others that they know what’s best. Think of the rich people like Bloomburg or Soros who are constantly trying to take over our lives.

The answer of course lies in your perspective. 

The word “perspective” is defined as “the state of one's ideas, the facts known to you, and the integration of the facts organized into a meaningful interrelationship.” Simply, it means being honestly and truly attuned to who you are and what you need to do. 

It means “having your stuff together,” or “being in whack.” 

A lot of people never get a grasp on this kind of identity for/to their lives. Anais Nin said, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” 

Many people have made lots of money on trying to influence people to develop perspectives that work in business, sports, entertainment, and social pursuits. We think of Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale as examples. 

But no one asks about the great motivator, Jesus Christ. 

You need to realize that perspective is not just attitude. Attitude is how you feel about what you know and what you do. And if you’re not satisfied with the assessment of your perspective then you’ll be in trouble. 

God knows about human perspective. Listen to the Apostle Paul’s take on it: 

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 

But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

 

This passage has been analyzed many times and is among the murkiest of New Testament literature. It seems as if Paul is engaging in double speak here. Why would faith remove us from the laws of God? Why does faith make a difference? 

The answer of course, and if you think about it, applies to most of Paul’s writings, and Jesus’ teachings, it is the concept of perspective.  

Paul, when he was Saul, was the Jews’ Jew, a perfect upholder and believer in the law. He would act under the law as he had been taught to understand it, no more and no less.  

Paul was intolerant of those who could not and believed in direct and deadly force in upholding even the tiniest part of the law of God as specified in the Hebrew Scriptures and as interpreted by the Rabbis. 

Paul was a slave to the law. He could do nothing that was not approved by the law and thus could not adjust to Jesus’ coming as Messiah and rendering the law obsolete. He needed permission from God to do so. 

When Paul was confronted by Jesus’ teachings as the new standard he realized that the Holy Spirit was the new guiding principles to learn and live the life God now required. Saul’s perspective changed. Saul became Paul. 

William James once said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” 

Think of it this way: Your total environment is a reflection of you as a person. The house and neighborhood in which you live, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the job you do, the people with whom you regularly associate. Your environment is an exact and merciless mirror of you as a human being.  

Now if you feel your environment can stand some improvement, you have only to improve your attitude. And your world will gradually change to reflect the changing person. Your perspective will change with your attitude. 

Jesus and all of the New Testament writers are all talking about a change in perspective – a change in attitude. 

Here’s how to change your attitude: Beginning now, begin to act like the person you most want to become. (HINT: Christians generally want to be like Christ!) 

•     If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.—Isaac Singer

•     Everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.—Viktor E. Frankl, Nazi Death Camp survivor 

Sadie Smithson grew up in Johnson Falls, West Virginia. Her father kept a livery stable, Sadie herself contributed to the family income by sewing, and the family floated just above the poverty level. But Sadie craved respect.  

She wanted to mingle with the upper crust of Johnson Falls, and she had a plan for doing it. Her secret ambition was to join the Laurel Literary Society, a group that represented all that was socially prestigious in her town.  

After high school graduation, she applied for admission into the Laurel Literary Society. She was rejected.  

Well, she thought, perhaps they’ll think better of me if I tour Europe. Few in Johnson Falls had ever been abroad. So she saved her money, daydreaming of the soft-gloved hands clapping after she had read her paper on “My Trip to Europe.” 

After many years she saved her money. Finally, she took her long-planned trip abroad, traveling with a professor and his wife, only to be caught in the opening shots of World War I. Sadie, in Belgium at the time, managed to get a ride to Paris; but the driver lost his way, and suddenly they found themselves crossing a battlefield. 

Right beside the car lay one young soldier, badly wounded. He looked into Sadie’s eyes and moaned, “Water, for God’s sake!” Sadie jumped out of the car with her drinking cup and made her way to a near-by spring. Then another dying soldier wanted a drink. Sadie refused to leave those boys, and finally the car drove off without her.  

All night long, she ran back and forth to the spring with her little cup, carrying water to injured men. She tore her skirt into bandages. She scribbled notes and messages for loved ones at home. And as she worked with each wounded man, she offered a prayer: “The Lord bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you.” 

It was a night of horror, of darkness, and of moaning, dying men. Finally, the darkness gave way to the dawn and with it an ambulance and young doctor.

He was astonished to find a poor girl from West Virginia amid all the blood and carnage of war. “Who are you?” he asked, “and what in thunder are you doing here?” “I’m Sadie Smithson,” she said, “and I’ve been holding hell back all night.” 

“Well!” said the young doctor quietly, “Miss Sadie Smithson, I’m glad you held some of it back, for everybody else in the world was letting it loose last night.” 

As she was returning to America, she told her story to a fellow passenger on the ship. “I’ve never been married—never known what it was to have children—but that night all those men were my children, even the biggest and roughest of them, and I believe I could have died for any one of them.” 

“Well,” said the friend, “the Laurel Literary Society will be glad enough to have you belong to it now.” “No,” Sadie Smithson replied, “I’ve been face to face with war and death and hell and God. Now little things like the Laurel Literary Society don’t matter to me anymore.” 

“What does matter?” asked the friend. “Nothing on earth,” Sadie said. “Only God and love—and doing what I can do for those he sends me to.”

Jesus Christ came in the darkness of night to a dying race of humanity. He loved us and gave himself for us.  

The whole of Christian life is a training course in perspective. 

When we receive him, our perspective changes, and with it our attitude. The trivial and the important change places. Amen.

Father’s Day Faith

Psalm 5 (NKJV) 

Listen to some thoughts about Fathers and Non-Fathers:

 

• Non-fathers wear expensive Italian shoes. Fathers wear vinyl loafers made in China or crocs bought at Disney World.

• Non-fathers drive sports cars that hold turns. Fathers drive vans that hold kids.

• Non-fathers fly to the Caribbean or Hawaii. Fathers drive to Disney World.

• Non-fathers spend weekends taking in the theater and wine tasting. Fathers spend weekends taking out the trash, eating at Ceci’s Pizza, and watching Sponge Bob.

• Non-fathers eat seafood bisque. Fathers eat macaroni made with powdered cheese.

• Non-fathers play tennis. Fathers play hide-n-seek and pat-a-cake.

• Non-fathers live in the fast lane. Fathers live in a subdivision near a school, an all-night grocery, an urgent care clinic. and a gas station with an air pump.

• Non-fathers wear silk ties with subtle designer logos. Fathers wear what they got last Father’s Day, something in a palm tree or a dinosaur, perhaps.

• Non-fathers invest in precious metals. Fathers invest in clothes and shoes for bodies that mature in six weeks.

 

But fathers would never have a single regret for the moments spent with their children. 

We know it’s not easy at times being a father. One cynic, speaking from his own experience, noted that children go through four fascinating stages. First they call you Da-Da. Then they call you Daddy. As they mature they call you Dad. Finally they call you collect. 

But to all fathers and mothers there is a serious side – when they think of the future of their children. 

In the May 28, 1998, edition of USA Today, the following appeared among the letters to the editor:

Will somebody help me save my son? 

My son is two years old and is a reflection of complete innocence. His vulnerability to this harsh, violent, ignorant and uncaring world just rips my heart apart.  

He knows nothing of the killing within the schools that are supposed to prepare children for the world. He knows nothing of the abuse that happens within the homes of children just his age. As he plays with his toys, he is oblivious to the tragedies that occur every day across the country.

And as he clutches his blanket, sleeping soundly, dreaming of the mommy and daddy who love him, he has no idea of the complete social and moral decay of our country. 

Does anyone care anymore? Will someone please, please help me save my son?—Edward Moats, Belleair Beach, Florida.

 

Do you realize how desperately appropriate that letter is today? Even though no main stream media outlet would ever publish it and let the cat out of the bag at how scary the future world is becoming for our children.  

Fatherhood and motherhood is serious business in a world near crazy and getting nuttier each day. What can we do to help our children grow? Listen to Psalm 5: 

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, for to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.  

For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the blood-thirsty and deceitful man.  

But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face.  

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is destruction; their throat is an open tomb; they flatter with their tongue. Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against You. 

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.  

For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor. You will surround him as with a shield.  

While family devotions are important, the most effective Christian witness is natural and spontaneous. Children learn best when parents convey the Scriptures naturally and frequently, “…when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” (Deuteronomy 6: 7).  

One of my professors from seminary, Robert Webber, grew up in the mission field where his parents served the Africa Inland Mission. He tells this story on himself:

 

As a brief furlough, the young family settled in Montgomery, Pennsylvania, in a small home near a farm. Bob was nine, and he loved blackberries. One day he grabbed a bucket and started picking blackberries on nearby bushes. Without thinking, he strayed onto the neighbor’s property and started picking berries. 

Suddenly, the neighbor burst out the front door, waving his fist. “Get out of my field!” he shouted. “And don’t let me catch you on my property ever again! Do you understand me?” 

Bob was terrified, and he ran to tell his father. Mr. Webber said, “Give me that pail of blackberries. We’re going to talk to that man.” The two marched across the yard, Bob thinking to himself, “Good! My dad will tell him a thing or two!” 

“Mr. Farmer,” said Bob’s dad. “I’m sorry my son was on your property. Here, I want you to have these blackberries.” The neighbor was completely disarmed. “Hey,” he said, “I’m sorry I yelled at the boy. I don’t want the blackberries. I don’t even like blackberries. You keep them. And you can pick all the berries you want from my field.”

As they walked back home, the father turned to Bob and said, “The Scripture says, ‘A soft answer turns away wrath.’ Remember that, Bobby.”   

Dr. Webber tells his classes, “I’ve not always lived up to that Scripture, or to the example of my father, but I’ve never forgotten those words or my dad’s action that gave those words meaning.” 

The witness of Christians and especially Fathers are always on display, whether they realize it or want it or not. Their actions speak louder than any words. 

Houston pastor John Bisango describes the time when his 5 year old daughter came to him and asked for a doll house. John promptly nodded and promised to build her one. He then he went back to reading his book.  

A short time later he glanced out the study window and saw her arms filled with dishes, toys, and dolls, making trip after trip until she had a great pile of playthings in the yard. He asked his wife what the girl was doing. 

“Oh, you promised to build her a doll house, and she believes you. She’s just getting ready for it.” “You would have thought I’d been hit by an atom bomb,” John later said. “I threw aside that book, raced to the lumber yard for supplies, and quickly built that little girl a doll house.

“Why did I respond? Because I wanted to? No. Because she deserved it? No."  

Her daddy had given his word, and she believed it and acted upon it. When he saw her faith, nothing could keep him from carrying out his word."

 

How much more will our Heavenly Father follow through? 

The author of Psalm 5 recognized the need for prayer and attention to details. He honored God and his family. To me Psalm 5 is about being a father and following through in life, and asking God to be your shield, strength, and inspiration. 

That’s how you teach your children – with equal parts scripture and example.

 

Teach them the grace of the promise of Jesus Christ and you may be leery of the future but not afraid of it. We live in the unchanging promises of God.

To be a good father:

 

                                first Love God,

                                second, become a good example, 

                                third, love the mother of your children,

                                and fourth, respect and honor your children. Amen.

 

 

 

“LIFE AFTER DEATH”
Luke 7: 11-17 (NRSV)

An old preacher was dying. He sent a message for an IRS agent and his Lawyer (who were both church members), to come to his home. When they arrived, they were ushered up to his bedroom. As they entered the room, the preacher held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed.  

The preacher grasped their hands, sighed contentedly, smiled and stared at the ceiling. For a time, no one said anything. Both the IRS agent and Lawyer were touched and flattered that the old preacher would ask them to be with him during his final moment.  

They were also puzzled because the preacher had never given any indication that he particularly liked either one of them. Finally, the Lawyer asked, "Preacher, why did you ask the two of us to come?" The old preacher weakly said, "Jesus died between two thieves, and that's how I want to go, too.” 

To my knowledge there is no one alive today who has experienced the finality of death and came back to speak about it. Biblically, little is said, other than about Jesus’ resurrection, about people raised from the dead in relating their experiences while dead, the balance of their lives, or if they experienced a second “death.” 

 

We can only assume that they went on to experience death a second time in the normal way of humanity.

Yet there are many today who claim they’ve died, "had an out of body experience,"  went to heaven or hell, and supposedly came back to write or lecture extensively about it. Gallup polls show that up to 8 million people claim some type of NDE (near death experience). 

The scenarios and experiences related range from the usual descriptions (entering the light) to specific messages sent back from some source of celestial wisdom. The only thing we can be sure about is that it appears the experience must create the desire to sing like a canary.  

Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.As he approached the gates of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow: and with her was a large crowd from the town.

When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. 

And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.  

Fear seized all of them: and they glorified God, saying “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!”This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country. 

First a few words about death. God has total control over both life and death. 

Believers should face death without fear. Psalm 23: 4 says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”

 

Believers enter the Lord's presence at death. The moment we die, our spirit and soul go to be with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5: 8 tells us: “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.”

Believers will dwell with God forever. Psalm 23: 6 – “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

We studied heaven extensively a few weeks ago. The question for today is: "What does the Bible say about near death experiences?"

The Bible does not provide information on near-death experiences, but it does mention several occasions when a person died and was later restored to life. There are also occasions in which writers of Scripture had visions of the afterlife and wrote down details of their experiences.

Here are ten situations where people were raised from the dead in the Bible:

1. Elijah raised the son of the Zarephath widow from the dead (1 Kings 17).
2. Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman from the dead (2 Kings 4).
3. A man was raised from the dead when his body touched Elisha’s bones.
4. Many saints rose from the dead at the resurrection of Jesus (Matt. 27:50-53).
5. Jesus rose from the dead (Matt. 28:5-8; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:5, 6).
6. Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain from the dead (Luke 7:11-15).
7. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead (Luke 8:41, 42, 49-55).
8. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44).
9. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:36-41).
10. Paul raised Eutychus from the dead (Acts 20:9, 10).

The biblical writers who saw scenes of the afterlife are Paul (2 Corinthians 12), the apostle John (the book of Revelation), and Daniel (Daniel 12).

There is no specific scriptural support for near-death experiences. Many people use 2 Corinthians 12: 2-5 as a biblical proof text of near-death experiences. But this is taking a great liberty with interpretation and makes the assumption that Paul had actually died when he found himself in heaven. The passage nowhere says that Paul had died. It was a vision that God gave Paul of heaven, not a near-death experience.

We need to be extremely careful in how we validate our experiences. The most important test of any experience is comparing it with the Bible. Satan is always ready to cause deception and twist people's thinking. 

Listen to 2 Corinthians 11: 14-15: "But I am not surprised! Even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder his servants can also do it by pretending to be godly ministers. In the end they will get every bit of punishment their wicked deeds deserve."  

Because the Bible is silent regarding near-death experiences, and scientific research is not reliable, we simply cannot accept the legitimacy of near death experiences on their face value. It would be too strong to state that every near-death experience is faked, imagined, or satanic, but there are very serious concerns, biblically, about the validity of near-death experiences. 

The human brain and imagination is amazing. Who is to say what is real, what is imagined, or what is hoped for, in those situations where death is not far away? 

In the end we are left with the understanding that only God has the power over life and death and to think or suggest that God is inconsistent with that power is to question God.  

 

We need not fear death if we have faith in God.

The folks actually raised from the dead would have had NDE’s to truly talk about! Amen.

MIRACLES!

LUKE 7: 1-10 (NRSV) 

My dictionary defines “miracle” as an extraordinary occurrence that surpasses all known human powers or natural forces and is felt to be caused by some divine or supernatural cause.  

The Biblical definition of “Miracle” (Greek word “dynamis”) means any action of the Holy Spirit or power of the Lord.  

The definition of “can’t” (Greek word “dynamai”) means being unable to complete or have success in an action. Isn’t it interesting that the difference between these two words is two letters that represents divine action in one and hopelessness in the other? 

In many of the instances of Biblical miracles the difference is often the faith that is demonstrated in God or Jesus Christ that allows it to happen.  

There is a hint (if we remember that Jesus couldn’t perform a deed of power because of His skeptical family) that miracles may not occur if there is skepticism, doubt, a can’t attitude. God is not to be tested or mocked. 

Have you realized that every action of a supernatural, all powerful God, are actually miracles when viewed by an imperfect, limited, and flawed humanity? This fits in with our dictionary definition. 

Augustine wrote that “miracles are not contrary to nature but only contrary to what we know about nature.”  

In the Book “Charlotte’s Web” written by E. B. White Mrs. Arable says, “What’s miraculous about a spider’s web?I don’t see why you say a web is a miracle – it’s just a web.” “Ever try to spin one?,” asked Mrs. Dorian. 

Albert Folgar wrote “It would be a miracle, for example, if I dropped a stone and it rose upwards. But we do not see a miracle that it falls to the ground?”Let’s read our Gospel lesson for today and see the miracle related here:

 

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 

²A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. ³When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. ⁴When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, ⁵for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” 

⁶And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; ⁷therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. 

⁸For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” 

⁹When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” ¹⁰When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. 

This interaction recorded in Luke’s Gospel is a revealing peak behind what is going to happen with the overall miracle story of Jesus and why it must happen.  

As I said several weeks ago we failed in the Garden of Eden, we (through the Jews) failed as the Chosen people, and we are failing as the church. This passage shows us that due to God’s eternal optimism that at some point things will be put right. 

The centurion was the backbone of the Roman army. Each legion was made up of sixty centuries (or hundreds), each commanded by a centurion. He was a veteran soldier and had a position of prestige - he was paid about fifteen times as much as an ordinary soldier - as well as given almost absolute authority.  

His would wear chest armor of tough molded leather, a transverse-plumed helmet, and the wooden baton he carried would identify him as a centurion. 

Luke does not specify whether the centurion in question was an Israelite or non-Israelite but the hints seem to indicate he isn’t. There were Jews who served in the Roman army in various ranks. The General Josephus, who went on to write history books from a Jewish perspective, was such a person.

The fact that this centurion built a synagogue with no mention of a temple in the region would be very unusual unless he had some type of Jewish lineage, tie, sympathy, or connection. Jesus treats him as a gentile. 

As an officer representing Rome, the centurion would serve as the branch office manager of the Roman Empire for the local population.  

In our passage Jesus says that this non-Jewish centurion displays more faith than anyone Jesus has encountered in all of Israel so far in his ministry. In fact, Jesus is saying that this man’s grasp of the concept of faith is the object lesson that he wants his followers and us to learn. The centurion’s faith is part of the miracle. 

Albert Einstein once said, “There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other way is as though everything is a miracle.” 

Believing in miracles can be difficult for most people. Thinking or accepting that supernatural events are happening or have happened is impossible for some people to believe. 

We live is a world that has chosen to minimize the very thought of God. There is even a growing group of people who, even as they are becoming disenchanted with evolutionary theory, still can’t stomach the idea of a creator God. They are becoming certain that human life on earth must have been “planted” by some great intergalactic Johnny Appleseed. 

In the Herald-Mail newspaper this morning there was a semi-serious article about a coming “zombie apocalypse” that would never have been printed 50 years ago. 

Fifty years ago such thoughst would have been ridiculed. But it shows us how much people today are struggling to provide explanations to the questions no one can answer without God. But they can’t or won’t see the miracles around them. 

The call to faith in God and Jesus Christ asks us to believe the ultimate miracle: That there is a loving Creator God who desires communion with His creation and the people He created in His own image.  

Most of us will not physically see God until we meet Him in heaven – so we are asked to take His existence on faith and the evidence of His presence around us as the ultimate testimony to His Love. 

The example of the believing centurion, who becomes the most unlikely source of testimony in support of Jesus without meeting and talking directly to him, inspires our own acts of faith today. The nature and Sacrament of Communion is a miracle! Amen.