FAILURE IS THE ONLY OPTION

John 10: 11-18 NRSV

This God business is very serious, and I wouldn’t be worth my weight as a pastor if I didn’t preach His truth every time I come to this pulpit. “Joy” is mentioned 165 times in the Bible and “fun” 0 times. God will get serious with us at the last judgment and it is my task to try to prepare you for that while I am your pastor.  

Some of you may think I am too negative about we humans and too down on our own abilities to accomplish good. Well, you are right to a certain extent. That’s not really my job – God will be our ultimate judge.

Yet as someone who’s studied God’s Word I will tell you that human pride and dignity is a barrier between us and God. A barrier each of us needs to tear down.

I enjoy baseball and I remember my favorite Phillies teams weren’t so good back in the 60’s. I remember hearing a story that the late Gene Mauch, manager, once told:

A rookie pitcher, in his first big league game had just walked his 4th straight batter, and the manager went to the mound. “Son,” he said to the pitcher, “I think it’s time to replace you.”

”Don’t replace me now,” the pitcher protested, “last time this guy was up I struck him out.” “That’s true,” agreed the manager, “But we are still in the 1st inning!”

That pitcher was released and out of baseball, the next day.

Several years later he was on his way to becoming a good pitching coach only after he released how bad a pitcher he was. If only we could realize how good Christians we could become if we’d only realize what a failure as a human we are.

Failure, some people’s failures are seen by all, others by a few, and the effects of bad parenting or alcohol abuse, for example, aren’t seen for years.

Other notable failures in recent memory include New Coke, Betamax, the Edsel, the Spruce Goose, prohibition, the Hindenburg, the Titanic, Ask Jeeves, and lots of other failures we could think of.

The father of human failure was Adam, the first man, who had a son named Cain, who would go on to even greater failure. And frankly, where God is concerned, we’re still failing every day and at every opportunity.

No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we learn, no matter how “evolved” we humans think we are, we can’t remake ourselves and our world into that perfect place God created 6,000 plus years ago, by ourselves.

2 Timothy 3: 7 – “Ever learning and never able to come to the meaning of truth.”

Four engineers, a mechanical engineer, a chemical engineer, an electrical engineer, and a computer engineer, all working for the same major corporation, were travelling to an industrial convention when the car they were driving, broke down.

“Sounds to me as if the pistons have seized. We’ll have to strip down the engine before we can get the engine working again,” said the mechanical engineer.

“Well,” said the chemical engineer, “It sounded to me as if the fuel may have been contaminated. I think we should drain the gas tank and clean out the fuel system.”

“I thought it might be a grounding problem,” said the electrical engineer, “or maybe faulty spark plugs.”

They all turned to the computer engineer, who hadn’t said a thing, and asked, “Well, what do you think?” “Hmm, perhaps if we all get of the car for a moment, and then get back in again?”

None of these educated men could diagnose and accurately fix the car. They failed.

Back to Adam. The fall was a tremendous loss for humanity and each of us. We lost the perfection of creation and anything we do is soiled in sin. Since we can never recover that perfection or overcome that sin for ourselves God had a plan to help us do so.

Listen to the words of Jesus from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verses 11-18:

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away--and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Jesus is successful – He didn’t fail in anything He attempted. He fully satisfied and glorified the Father in all things.

When it comes to success on our behalf Jesus accomplishes, or is successful in at least 6 things. Now don’t be put off by the words I’m going to use – I assure you they are standard Christian terms the average believer should know, so I am not going to talk down to you.

Jesus accomplished our “ex-pi-ation.”Expiation means the removal of our sin and guilt. Christ’s death removes — expiates — our sin and guilt. The guilt of our sin was taken away from us and placed on Christ, who discharged it by his death.

In John 1:29, John the Baptist calls Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus takes away, that is, expiates, our sins. Likewise, Isaiah 53:6 says, “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him,” and Hebrews 9:26 says “He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

Jesus was successful at “pro-pi-ti-ation,” as well. Expiation refers to the removal of our sins, propitiation refers to the removal of God’s wrath.

By dying in our place for our sins, Christ removed the wrath of God that we justly deserved. In fact, it goes further: propitiation is not simply sacrifice that removes wrath, but a sacrifice that removes wrath and turns it into favor. 

Hebrews 2:17 says that Christ made “propitiation for the sins of the people,” and 1 John 4:10 says “in this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

A third thing Jesus accomplished was “reconciliation.” Expiation refers to the removal of our sins, propitiation refers to the removal of God’s wrath, and reconciliation refers to the removal of our separation from God. It gives us an opportunity to add success as an option in our life.

Because of our sins, we were separated — from God. Christ’s death removed this problem and reconciled us to God. We see this, for example, in Romans 5:10-11: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

The fourth success has three parts: redemption. Christ’s death accomplished redemption for us, delivered us from sin and freed us to God’s love.

There are three things we had to be released from: the curse of the law, the guilt of sin, and the power of sin. Christ redeemed us from each of these.

Jesus’ fifth success was the defeat of the Powers of Darkness.

Don’t ever forget that Christ’s death was a defeat of the power of Satan. Colossians 3: 15: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.”

We sometimes forget that Satan’s only weapon that can hurt people is unconfessed/unforgiven sin. It’s why we continue to confess as believers as often as we can.

The sixth and final thing I think Jesus accomplished was being our substitute in death on the cross. The reality of substitution is at the heart of the atonement.

Christ accomplished everything we’ve talked about by dying in our place – that is, by dying instead of us. We deserved to die, because of our failure to use the gifts given to us by God the Father, our Creator.  Because we failed God gave us a sentence of death and kicked us out of the Garden of Eden.

Adam made failure the only potential outcome we had, but Jesus changed that when he took our sin upon himself. He became the Kinsman Redeemer of Israel, God’s chosen people, descended from Adam and Eve.

Isaiah says, “he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities . . . the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him” (Isaiah 53: 5-6).

Most of our world knows and thinks of Him as just a Shepherd but we know He is so much more.

A reporter once asked a very wealthy bank president what he attributed his success? "Two words" was the reply. "And, Sir, what are they?" "Right decisions."

The reporter followed up with another question, "And how do you make right decisions?" "One word." "And, sir, What is that?" "Experience."

"And how do you get Experience?" "Two words" "And, Sir, what are they?" "Wrong decisions"

Friends that how we become successful, not in the way the world judges success, but in God’s way: by knowing that as sinners all of our bad decisions  are rendered mute when we trust in Him as our Lord and Savior.

We become perfect in Christ. Amen. 

IF YOU AREN'T WILLING TO SACRIFICE FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN  - THEN WHAT’s THE POINT OF RISKING BEING CONFIRMED AS A HYPOCRITE?

“Putting The Saints In Circulation”

Luke 24:36b-48

We in the church and Christians in general are doing a poor job at reaching people for Jesus these days. Many are in hazard of dying without the grace of God touching their lives.

Three young gen-y-ers died and meet at the gates of Heaven. St. Peter tells them they can enter the gates if they can answer

St. Peter asks the first one, an avid skate boarder, “What is Easter?” The youngster answers, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s the holiday in November when everyone gets together and eats turkey.” “Wrong,” says St. Peter.

He turns to the second, a snow boarder, and asks the same question. He replies, “Easter is the holiday when we put up the tree, exchange presents, and celebrate the birth of a dude called, Jesus. Primo boarding season, Maestro!”

“Wrong again,” says St. Peter. He turns to the third gen-y-er, who loves to water board, and asks her the same question, “Do you know what Easter is?

“Yes I do,” and who says, “Easter is the Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish celebration of Passover. Jesus and his disciples were eating at the last supper and Jesus was later deceived and turned over to the Romans by one of his disciples. The Romans took him to be crucified and he was stabbed in his side, made to wear a crown of thorns, and was hung on a cross with nails through his hands. He was buried in a cave which was sealed off by a large boulder.”

St. Peter smiles in delight. The third gen-y-er continues, “Every year the boulder is moved aside so that Jesus can come out…and, if he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. It’s gnarly, big dude”

Somehow the witness of the faith has not been communicated very well, has it?

Let’s hear our Gospel lesson for today: While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 

Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ 

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 

While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

 Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

The details reported in this passage from Luke make it very clear that this is the same body that was crucified and is now resurrected and what they are seeing is not a ghost, because he’s doing physical stuff before their eyes.  

One can almost hear these first witnesses of the resurrection explaining later everything to their incredulous friends and family:

“No the empty tomb wasn't a lie. We didn't go there when no was looking and take his body away secretly. No really, we aren't hallucinating. Just the opposite, our eyes were opened, our minds were shown a totally new understanding of the scriptures. No really, it wasn't "God's Word" re-appearing. It was the actual Jesus who died on the cross - we saw the wounds. No really, it wasn't a ghost. We saw him eat right before our eyes.”

However, the Jesus-who-died-on-the-cross-and-has-been-raised has not come back simply to take up his old job. The now-resurrected-Jesus once again patiently explains "my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you."

(Note how the now-resurrected-Jesus who is present with the disciples makes an odd past-tense, third person reference to that time before, "while I was still with you." There is continuity but also a distinction between Jesus then -  Jesus now.)

In effect the now-resurrected-Jesus is saying, "Over to you." "Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed." YOUR TURN. You are the witnesses of these things. Get ready to testify to the truth and nothing but the truth. Proclaim it.

And maybe just a little shaky at first, that is what they did.  They became witnesses.

A witness in our world tells others what they have seen or heard, or experienced, and boy did they pay a price for it.

Let me tell what the Bible means by the word “witness.” The Greek word used in the New Testament for witness is “martyria” (mär-tü-rē'-ä).  This word has come to be known and used as an English word - martyr. Jesus is saying: I’m turning it over to you. It means it’s your turn to testifying concerning future events. And your turn may require a price too!

Jesus has accomplished defying death on our behalf. God has delivered the promised “Kinsman Redeemer.” We have been given hope and a promise for eternity. We are to testify to it. We are to sacrifice ourselves to and for this testimony – to martyr ourselves for and to it.

Bill Schnebly told me a joke last week with a punch line that suggested too many of us choose to serve Christ “in the secret service.” That’s not an option – Jesus wasn’t talking about hiding lights under a bushel basket when He was appearing to His disciples in this passage. He wasn’t talking about Sunday morning testifying but getting out and about and letting people know who you are.

So what is your style? Running? Ducking? Denying? Stupid Looks? Constantly hanging to the back so no one picks you or notices you? Or are you bold enough to outright refuse?

The Bible gives us several styles to choose from: Confrontational (Acts 2)? Intellectual (Acts 17)? By being Testimonial (John 9)? Relational (Mark 5)? Invitational (John 4)? Or Serving (Acts 9)? Or you can discover your own method.

Then get out of your chair and use it, for the Glory of God. Live by faith, not fear!!!

During the reign of Oliver Cromwell, there was a shortage of currency in the British Empire. Representatives carefully searched the nation in hopes of finding silver to meet the emergency. After one month, the committee returned with its report. "We have searched the Empire in vain seeking to find silver. To our dismay, we found none anywhere except in the cathedrals where the statues of the saints are made of choice silver." 

To this, Oliver Cromwell eloquently answered, "Let's melt down the saints and put them into circulation." 

Sadly, in our day too many saints with a perspective and worthy witness, are unwilling to risk martyring their reputations and person-hood, by moving out of their safe havens called church and going forth into the non-faith community.

After His death Jesus had to come to His disciples and ask them to go forth, just like the saints of our day need to go out into circulation into our society. Jesus did not promise it would be easy, rather that it is, and was all part of an eternal plan. Amen.

He said it better than I.

My Easter message this year involved asking folks to lok for the whole story behind the story - reading the whole Gospel message rather than settling for just half. Read through Mark 16: 1-8 and ask yourself does Jesus leave us afraid and alone? Then read Mark 16: 9-20 and find that Jesus is actually who He said He is. 

EXCHANGING THE TRUTH FOR THE LIE

By Dr. Peter Jones

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/news/article/exchanging-truth-lie

Harry Reid, past Senate majority leader, when recently confronted with his bare-faced lie during the
presidential debates affirming that Governor Mitt Romney never paid taxes, simply responded with a smirking self-justificatory: "He didn't win, did he?"

Why are so many "progressive" causes these days finally revealed as lies.

It is devastating to realize that lying will inevitably become endemic to this utopian culture of "hope and change," because more and more, and this includes so-called conservatives, the pagan worship of creation rather than the God who created us (Romans 1: 25) relativizes truth
and falsehood. Thus the rising, Millennial generation has been sold a bunch of subtle lies by its Baby-boomer parents, as well as being trained by postmodern pagans to be suspicious of the very existence of truth.

The Sixties sexual revolution trumpeted the lie that unbridled sexual freedom was good for everyone. Of course, the father of the sexual revolution in the late 50s, Alfred Kinsey, was ultimately
denounced as a sado-masochistic bi-sexual sex criminal who facilitated the sexual torture of infants and children to eek out deeply flawed data for his research. Alas, the resulting hook-up culture is in a royal mess.

Homosexuality was proposed as a harmless personal issue, and homosexual marriage would never disturb the majority culture of straight marriage. S. Bear Bergman, a Canadian activist was
shockingly blunt the other day about his movement's true motives. "I am here to tell you (he said in 2015)...all that time I said I wasn't indoctrinating anyone with my beliefs about gay and lesbian and bi and trans and queer people, that was a lie."

People have been lied to about the numbers, pretending that at least 10% even 25% or 30% of the population are homosexual. But it is a lie. The government's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released on July 15, 2014, stated that only 1.6 percent of Americans identify as "gay" or "lesbian," while 0.7 percent identify as "bisexual."

Lies about abortion continue to be told. The "product of conception," that is, the baby, is merely
unwanted fetal tissue, and abortion is a necessary part of women's health and self-expression. Each week finds another State Legislature affirming some new method or approval of a “later” term abortion.

However, one honest psychologist states: "I have seen hundreds of patients in my office who have had abortions and were just lied to by the abortion counselor, assuring their client: "This is less painful than having a tooth removed. It is not a baby."

The lying is compounded by the dishonest refusal to allow pictures of this socially-liberating procedure, namely, a dismembered human being. In fact, so many lives have been shattered by this blood thirsty practice. The truth only appears to many women later. After an abortion a women went into labor and gave birth to her baby's head!

Now, pretending to be a threatened powerless minority, denouncing "anti-discrimination," the massive homosexual lobby, supported by mega-companies like Apple, and Walmart, are about to pull off a massive cultural coup d'etat of total victory.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: All the while these companies hide behind "User agrements or terms of use agreements that allow them to set and execute whatever terms or exclusions of service they desire on their customers!!!!!!!)

These "moral" forces of change who do business with the most corrupt nations on the planet, now in
attacking Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act seek to deny to religious objectors at home their one final place in the public square, their freedom of religious conscience. Anyone can see that the law not an attack on homosexuals but a simple protection for believers against punitive homosexual activism.

In the words of Shakespeare, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." It is all an immoral hoax. On one side is the homosexual CEO of the world's largest company, Tim Cook, net worth
$400m, who was baptized in an Evangelical church, who opposes religious freedom, and with him, a growing phalanx of Fortune 500 companies.

On the other side is a 70-year-old grandma florist, standing to lose her business and her home, because she refuses to promote same sex marriage.

Cook hypocritically denounces a "very dangerous wave of legislation" that will unleash on society
"harmful" religious liberty and "could lead to separate water fountains for gays in Indiana." This hypocritical charade, of course, is a lie. What is really sought is not free water fountains but the removal of any limit on this insatiable lust for power, seeking not "social justice" but a total silencing of unwanted “truth.”

In this world of lies and half-truths, what a priceless treasure it is to look into a person's face and know he or she is telling the truth! Pilate, embodying the mega-power of Rome, saw truth in
the face of the emaciated prisoner, Jesus, who said, without apology: "I am the way, the truth and the life." Three days later resurrection life showed it was clearly true.

P.S. HE is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!