New Year's Resolutions

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, December 27, 2009. The text for this week's message is Colossians 3:1-17.

It’s hard to believe it, but this is the last Sunday of the year. New Year’s Day is on Friday, and we’ll have a whole new year, and a whole new decade, to look forward to. This is that time of year when people start to take stock in what they have accomplished, what they have been through and what they would have done differently. For some reason, the changing of the calendar inspires us to examine our lives and start thinking about making some changes, hopefully for the better. I think it is fair to say that it has been a good year – difficult at times, and incredible at times. I’m sure there’s not a person here that hasn’t run the gauntlet of emotions at some point over the course of the year.

One of the most popular things that will take place this week is New Year’s resolutions. You know, that special time when we make the same promises that we have made for years, only this time, we really are going to take them seriously – at least until February. Some of the most popular resolutions are to get back into shape and to eat healthier. Some will make it a priority to focus on family, or to read a couple books. Whatever those resolutions may be, I pray that you’ll be honest with yourself and make a concentrated effort to accomplish those goals. But what about your spiritual life?

What are some resolutions that you can make about your spiritual life that will really make a difference in how you see the world and how you approach your faith? What I’d like to do this morning is give each of us some time to reflect on the past year. We should examine where we have been, and start looking forward to where we are going. I want to begin this by looking through the words of Paul from today’s reading and reflect on some of the areas in all of our lives that could be better.

The passage begins with a very simple word. It’s a word that we probably don’t think a whole lot about, but how it is used in the Greek is extremely important. “If” – two little letters that make such an important statement. There are different ways to use “if” in a sentence, even in the English. The problem is that, in the English, it is ambiguous. Is the “if” presumed to be true? Is it a statement of fact, or a hypothetical? It is difficult to tell for sure, which is why, when texting and instant messaging have completely ruined the English language in 5 years, we should start training everybody in classical Greek instead. I’m starting a movement, and I need people on board with it. Seriously though, in the Greek there is no ambiguity.

Now it’s time for a little lesson in Greek grammar. In the Greek there are a handful of ways to put together an “if” clause. The way that it is put together here implies that the “if” part of the clause is assumed to be true. It’s not a hypothetical; it is a statement of fact. Another way of translating it is, “Since you have been raised in Christ, seek the things that are above….” Paul is saying that these people have indeed been raised, have found their identity, in Christ. And because of that, there is a certain way that they should be living. Okay, for those that checked out during the grammar lesson in today’s message, it’s time to see where this is important.

If you call yourself a Christian, if your life has been changed by Christ, if you believe that you will be crossing the Jordan to the Promised Land when your time on earth is finished, then there are certain things that you should be doing with your life. There are things in your life that shouldn’t be a part of your life, and there are things that aren’t in your life that should be a part of your life. That’s what Paul is talking about here. He gives us a list of things that we should and should not be doing as people who claim to be living with Christ in our lives.

Now, first of all, Scripture is often seen as a list of “do’s and don’ts” and I think this perception is inaccurate. That’s not what Scripture as a whole is about. Scripture as a whole is about the story of God. It’s about the love that God has for each person. It is about the people of Israel, who were instrumental in bringing about God’s plan of salvation for the entire world. Are there do’s and don’ts? Yes, there are. But it is because this is a new way of thinking, a new way of approaching the world, a way that goes contrary to what our sinful selves think it should be. So, yes, there is some instruction on the implications of living out this faith, but that is not what the Christian faith is all about. The Christian faith is about being in relationship with God, and nothing else. What Paul does is show us the implications of this truth.

The first of those implications is that we should be setting on minds on the things above, not on earthly things. There are higher ideals in this life than control, or a lust for power, or whatever it is that is hold us back. He gives us a list of things in verses 5-11 that we should put away for the sake of God. Paul uses some pretty severe language here. He says that we are to “put to death” these things in our lives that do not glorify God; these things that are a part of our lives without Christ. There are things in our lives before we come to Christ that do not honor God, and these things need to be removed.

How have you done in that area this year? Are there things in your life that shouldn’t be in your life? When we come to Christ, our life isn’t magically transformed and we suddenly stop sinning and are never tempted to sin. As much as I wish it worked that way, it simply doesn’t. We come to Christ when we realize that we can’t do it on our own. We come to Christ because we can do nothing to affect our own salvation. We can never accomplish in our lives what God has already done for us. The sooner we realize this, the better off we are. It is through Christ and Christ alone that our relationship with God can be restored. So, once we come to that realization and submit ourselves to God, what happens next?

This is where the second half of what Paul is saying here is so important. There are certain things that we do when our lives have been affected and changed by God. We are to focus our minds on heavenly things, things that really matter. And we don’t do it to put on a show for the people around us; we do it because God really has changed our lives. We do it because Christ is at work in our hearts. We are encouraged to put on the new self that is being renewed after the image of the Creator, and when we are being renewed in the image of the Creator, the divisions that once existed are no longer there.

Paul says that there is no Greek or Jew, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. The distinctions that we place on people are non-existent in the kingdom of God. Most people are all right with that, as long as it doesn’t include “those people.” Who are “those people” in your life? Who in your life bothers you the most? You see, as much as we don’t want to admit it, there is always somebody in our lives that we would just rather not spend time with. In fact, if our paths never crossed, that would be all right. But these distinctions don’t exist in the kingdom of God.

It was this kind of message that got the Jewish leaders all riled up. Jesus didn’t want to be a part of the elite, he came to seek those who were lost, and the Jewish leaders didn’t like that. Jesus hung out with the tax collectors, the sinners, the non-Jews, the fringe Jews, the poor, everybody that was different because they were the ones who needed him the most. And it all starts with a new approach to life that is brought on by the change that Christ can do in our hearts, if we let him.

Starting in verse 12, Paul has a list of things that we should put on as people who have been redeemed by God. But he starts off by telling us why we should put these things on. We are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved. God has chosen those who put their faith in Him to be His representatives here on earth. We are the ones who set the example of what it is supposed to be like for people to live in relationship with God. We are to be holy because God has made us holy. Holiness is about being separated from the things in this life that keep us separate from God.

We are also loved. God loves us, and because of this great love, we need to respond with our lives in such a way that others see His love as well. It is because of these things that we are to act in a way that Paul lists here.

How are you doing on this list? Do you have compassionate hearts? Are you kind, humble, meek and patient? Do you bear with one another in love? Do you forgive the wrongs that have happened to you in the same way that God has forgiven your wrongs? Do you love others? And I don’t just mean that you love those who love you. I don’t just mean that you are patient with those who are patient with you, or that you only forgive those who have forgiven you. You can’t control that. All you can control is how you react in certain situations. And how you react is a representation of how God is working in your life. Focus your mind and heart on heavenly things, not on earthly things. But how? How can we do this? In verses 16-17, we start to see how we can be affected in some very practical ways. We start to see how we can position ourselves to be molded and shaped by God.

Paul begins by telling us to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.” Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly. At the beginning of the year, I laid down a challenge for everybody to spend 15 minutes every day reading his or her Bible. How did that go for you? Some days were certainly better than others, no doubt. I had, over the course of the year, a number of people tell me that they had been trying to do it, and that it was really beneficial for them. I haven’t said anything about it in a couple months, but hopefully some were able to accomplish this goal. Have you let the word of Christ dwell richly in your lives this year? Will you let the word of Christ dwell richly in your lives this coming year?

I want to lay down another challenge for 2010, since it starts later this week. I want to see what happens when we start letting the word of Christ dwell richly in our lives. I want to challenge you to read through the entire Bible this year. I know, I know, it sounds daunting. It sounds impossible. At times, it is going to seem boring or inconvenient. At least, those are the excuses that we’ll come up with this year. But they are just that – excuses. There is no reason why we can’t accomplish this goal. I’m not asking everybody to write and in-depth summary of what they read. I just want you to spend some time reading the word of God and letting it dwell in your life.

Let’s put a couple of things in perspective here. Because I can get my email on my phone, I sometimes don’t read and delete emails in my Inbox. I finally cleaned up my Inbox last week, and in a month, I got over 500 emails. That’s about 6000 emails a year. An average newspaper has, what, 15-20 pages? That’s anywhere between 5500 and 7300 pages each year. A mass-market book, one of those little ones that you can buy just about anywhere, has 300 pages, and you can read one of those in a week or two. Add it all up and you can read thousands upon thousands of pages worth of things over the course of the year.

Now, go ahead and pull out the pew Bibles that you have in front of you. The way that people approach reading the Bible would make you think there are 40,000 pages in that thing. There’s not. In fact, I looked this week, and there’s only 1085 pages in that tiny, little book. Do you know what that means? If you read three pages every day, you can read through the entire Bible in a year; that’s 21 pages a week. Yes, there is a lot of content, and sometimes it’s hard to understand, but the good news is that there are several different translations out there that make it a little easier. I read the English Standard version, but if you want to read The Message, the NRSV, the NIV, the Good News Bible, I don’t care. Just read it.

As the New Year comes upon us, make some resolutions. Make the same ones that you make every year, but add something to it. Spend some time in the Bible. It won’t take long. Keep a copy in the bathroom if you need to. Take some time this year to dwell in the word of Christ. Take some time to look at your life and see where it is that you need Christ to work the most, and then let him. If you do this, I can promise you that 2010 will be a year that you will never forget.

But the Book was Soooo Much Better

The following was preached at Hillsboro UMC on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2009.

As you probably know by now, tomorrow is Christmas. Christmas is probably one of the most anticipated times of the year. You can’t walk around a retail store these days without seeing Christmas decorations by the end of October. Many people make their lists, plan out their routes and get up at hours no person should see just to go Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. I’m sure many who have decorated their houses for the holiday did so a few weeks ago. In the church, we get ready for Christmas with the season of Advent, which is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.

This year, we took a look at the messages of the prophets of Israel who were also gearing up for the promises of Christmas. Of course, their idea of that first Christmas was significantly different than what we think about when we think of Christmas. The people of Israel were looking forward to the coming Messiah, the one who would save them from their oppressors and return Israel to its rightful place on a world stage. The last thing they expected was a little baby boy born in a livestock shed and placed in a feeding trough. Isn’t it amazing how sometimes the most expected thing can happen in the most unexpected way?

But somehow, somewhere along the way this expected, anticipated thing got confused and misunderstood, and I don’t just mean that is was misunderstood by the first century Jews; we have our fair share of misunderstanding as well. I want to tell you about one Christmas that I will always remember. Rather, about something that happened one Christmas that I’ll never forget.

One year, I got a book for Christmas. I know it doesn’t sound very exciting, but I was really pumped to get this book. It was one of those little mass market books, and it had nearly 400 gripping pages, and I didn’t want to put it down. It had to have been something because, as a 12 year old, I read it in less than 36 hours. I took it with me to Christmas at grandma’s, sat on the couch and read a good bit of it there. My parents had to tell me to put it down and go play with my cousins. I’m pretty sure I even snuck in some reading while we were opening the presents. As you can imagine, it was a fantastic book.

Earlier that year, a blockbuster movie was released. It ended up winning three Oscars, and captured the imaginations of millions. It brought in $357 million here in the United States, and another $557 million worldwide. It stands 14th on the all-time list for money brought in by a movie. I have seen it several times since it came out, played its theme song in middle school band, and I still am amazed at the amount of work that had to have gone into making the props for this movie. This blockbuster was based on that same book that captivated me later that year.

The movie was Jurassic Park. But the book was so much better. There were parts and entire characters in the book that weren’t in the movie, there were people that died in the book that don’t die in the movie. In short, apart from a few characters names, the overarching theme and the title, the book and the movie were nothing alike. I’m sure you’ve had this experience in your life as well. How many have ever read a book, and then see the movie and are totally disappointed? Sometimes, things just don’t get translated right, and the finished product is nothing like the original.

Jurassic Park is by no means the only book to fall prey to this hideous beast, though. Katie and I went to see Prince Caspian shortly after she finished reading the book by C.S. Lewis. I spent a good part of the movie listening to how outraged she was by Hollywood’s version of the classic children’s tale. Things that don’t happen in the book happen in the movie. I think we could go on and on and on, but let’s not. We have all had that experience at some point in our lives when it comes to books and movies.

But what about when it comes to books and real life? How often do our lives fail to live up to the book that we have been given? How often do we fail to be an adequate representation of the people of God? How often do we come up short in our own lives? How often do you miss the important details of the Christian faith, and use a bit of artistic license like Hollywood? If you are anything like me, it’s pretty often. More often than you’d like to admit. And perhaps there is no part in our lives where we have done it as often as when it comes to the Christmas story.

When I look around at how we celebrate Christmas as a society, I can’t help but wonder where we went wrong. And I’m not blaming American society because how can we expect non-Christians to act like Christians? But what is the emphasis on Christmas these days? If we catch people in a good mood, they might say that Christmas is about spending time with family and giving to those we love. But actions certainly speak louder than words. Christmas has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and it is an industry that only briefly acknowledges its source.

On Thursday nights, Katie and I turn our TV to NBC and watch their full line-up of sitcoms. A couple of weeks ago, we were watching them, and afterwards, Katie said something along the lines of, “There sure was a lot of Jesus bashing this week, wasn’t there?” And in reality, that is kind of what was going on. The message that was being portrayed was that we can’t talk about Jesus on Christmas because we just might offend people of other faith persuasions. Is that what we’ve come to these days? We can’t talk about Jesus on the holiday that was instituted specifically to remember him? But it’s not just television.

Take a look at the stores. Do you know how many Santa Claus junk is out there? My personal favorite is the Santa on a Harley giant blow-up thing. I’m just waiting for it to have a sidecar with Frosty the Snowman sitting in it. Did you know you can buy a pink flamingo lawn ornament with your Christmas decorations? That way, you can have a flamingo next to your polar bear, penguin and reindeer. Because nothing says Christmas like a pink flamingo.

What about the movies? I came across a couple of lists that had the top Christmas movies of all time on there. Here’s a taste of what the movies have to offer in this area: The Polar Express, Gremlins, The Santa Clause, Die Hard, Elf, Scrooged, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story. I’m not saying don’t watch these movies. I’ve seen all of them. I like to watch them. They are fun movies to watch. But do any of these movies have anything to do with Christmas, really? If we just watch these movies, then we can assume that Christmas is all about Santa Claus, and elves, and a Red Rider BB gun.

How about the Top 25 Christmas songs, as determined by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers? Surely, there is something on that list that would help remind us of the true meaning of Christmas, right? Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Little Town of Bethlehem? Nope, none of them are on the list. The only song on that list that is even remotely connected to the Christmas story is the Little Drummer Boy. And, I hate to spoil this one for you, but there’s no little drummer boy in the gospels. Do you want to tell me how I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus makes it onto a list of the most popular Christmas songs, and not a single hymn is on that list?

It happens because Christians don’t share their faith with others. It happens because Christians are more concerned with making sure Sears employees say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays,” than they are with making sure they are telling others about Jesus. It happens because Christians have grown complacent and have bought into what society says is most important about Christmas. We’ve forgotten the story.

But here’s the kicker, the book is so much better than the movie. The story of a young virgin, scared out of her mind, but willing to submit to the will of God to carry a child that will bring salvation to the entire world. The story of man whose bride-to-be is suddenly pregnant, not by anything that he did, but he takes her as his wife anyway. He takes her as his wife, even though he could have just as easily called the whole thing off. The story of shepherds tending their flocks at night, only to get interrupted by the angels of heaven and told of the birth of the Son of God.

We forget that story. It gets drowned out in all the noise that we let into our lives. And we forget about what happens next. We forget that Jesus Christ was born. We forget that Jesus Christ lived a life in full obedience to God, and that his death and resurrection made it possible for us to be in a right relationship with Him. We forget that we are charged with the task of sharing this message of hope and deliverance to all the world. And then we wonder why the world doesn’t know the message. We wonder why the world cares more about Santa Claus than Jesus.

Enjoy your Christmas. It is a time when we can enjoy fellowship with our friends and families. It is a time of giving and receiving. But it is also a time of remembrance. It’s a time for us to remember what it is that God has done in our lives. It is a time for us to remember the story of Jesus. A baby boy was born on that first Christmas, and this baby boy would bring salvation to the entire world. Remember the story and share it with those around you.

Kickin' It Old School: Advent in the OT, Part 4

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, December 20, 2009. The text for this week's message is Micah 5:2-5.

Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent, the time in which we prepare and remember the coming of the Lord on that first Christmas. We have been working through a series taking a look at the Old Testament lectionary readings for Advent this year, and we have been getting a sense of what the Israelites were expecting in the coming of their Messiah. We are also learning a bit about what it means to have faith. That’s what we learned from Jeremiah – that God is trustworthy and faithful. Even when things all around us are dark and gloomy, and it looks like there is no hope at all, God is faithful to His promises.

Malachi is about a messenger that would come to prepare the way for the Lord. That messenger, as we saw, was John the Baptist, who called the people to repentance and pointed them to Jesus. Advent is about preparing ourselves spiritually for the coming of the Lord in Jesus Christ. We have to heed the call of John the Baptist and repent from the sins that are holding us back. We must also use this time to point others to Jesus. That’s also what John did in his ministry. He saw that he wasn’t the most important thing in the world, but that Jesus was. It begins with self-examination, which leads to repentance, and then it ends with us pointing others to the source of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Zephaniah reminds us to rejoice in what the Lord is doing. Rejoicing and praising God shouldn’t be something that we do because those around us are doing it, and it shouldn’t be something we do because that’s what we are “supposed” to do. We should be rejoicing and praising God because He is faithful and He has brought us salvation in the form of His Son Jesus Christ. We should be rejoicing because this salvation is for all people, and we should be praising God with all our hearts when just one person returns to God.

And today, we hear the words of the prophet Micah of Moresheth. Like so many of the other prophets, we don’t know a whole lot about Micah. Instead of giving us a family of origin, we are given the place where Micah was born. Moresheth was a town about 22 miles southwest of Jerusalem, so it was a part of the southern kingdom of Judah. We are told that Micah’s ministry took place during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. This would put him as active during the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, when the Assyrians came in, conquered and exiled the people of Israel in 722 B.C.

Micah’s words didn’t just serve warning to the people in the northern kingdom. He also spoke of what was to come in the southern kingdom. In Jeremiah 26:18, we see the words of Micah quoted by some of the elders in Judah. The primary theme in Micah, as with a lot of the other prophets, is one of judgment and forgiveness. The people are to be scattered for their unfaithfulness, but because of God’s faithfulness, they will be gathered together once again by one who will protect and forgive them.

Today’s passage comes during a time when the restoration of the people is being accomplished. There will come one from the town of Bethlehem, who will be raised up in the strength of the Lord to shepherd the flock of God’s people. Today’s reading begins by addressing Bethlehem Ephrathah. Ephrathah is a designation of the district in which Bethlehem is located. There was apparently more than one Bethlehem in the area, and this designation narrows it down to the Bethlehem that David called home.

There are allusions to David throughout this passage, which is why is it seen as a Messianic prophecy, or a prophecy that points to the coming of the Messiah. First of all the city, Bethlehem, was also known as the City of David. Bethlehem was kind of like one of the small New England towns that have the sign “George Washington slept here.” They had a giant sign at the edge of town that said, “David was born here.” Okay, that’s probably not true, but Bethlehem was known to be the home of Israel’s greatest king. It’s not much, but it is a claim to fame.

Secondly, there is mention of one that would come from Bethlehem who would be a ruler whose coming forth is from the ancient days. There was only one ruling family from Bethlehem, and you got it, it was the line of David. It was understood that the line of David would always sit on the throne of Israel. Now, at the time that Micah was saying these words, there were descendants of David that were sitting on the throne, but they were nothing like Israel’s ideal king.

At the time, the people were warned about the exile that was to come, but it was not a reality, nor was it immanent. The promise of the line of David sitting on the throne was something that was going to mean a lot to the people in just a couple hundred years, but right now, it was something that was just normal. The people of Israel, as they lived in exile in Babylon would look back on these words and remember the promises that God had made.

Finally, the imagery of a shepherd was equally important because David was a shepherd. The shepherd imagery for God is also seen in some of the other prophets. It is an image that portrays care and concern for the people that are being governed, a trait that had become rather rare in the kings that followed David. But the Messiah, the ruler that was to come from the line of David would care for the people, and as we read about Jesus’ ministry, we do see that care and concern for the people come through loud and clear. And as we read Micah and reflect on the birth, life and death of Jesus, what we begin to understand is that sometimes, the best things come in the smallest, and most unexpected, packages.

Take for example, Bethlehem itself. “O little town of Bethlehem” is more than a beginning to a beloved Christmas hymn. It is a statement of fact. Bethlehem was a little town. Remember when Mary and Joseph come into Bethlehem, and there is no room for them at the inn? It was because there just wasn’t much in Bethlehem, which is why everybody left. But once they all had to go back to their hometown for the census, it was packed and there was nowhere to put everybody. The word in verse 2 for “little” could also be translated as “small,” or “insignificant.”

Bethlehem was an insignificant town on the world stage. Apart from being the birthplace of David, nobody cared about it. Think about it, when the wise men from the east follow the star to find Jesus, one of Herod’s people tells them of this passage, and they go in search of the king of the Jews. We’ll get into the details of that story in a couple of weeks, but they don’t go back to tell Herod where the boy is. Herod figures out that they aren’t coming back and has all the little boys in Bethlehem killed. Did you know that Matthew is the only place in history that records this act of Herod? Herod kills a bunch of little boys, and it wasn’t even a blip on the radar of history. That’s how insignificant Bethlehem was, and yet, it was the birthplace of the world’s greatest king, the Son of God.

What about Jesus’ earthly parents? Who were they? Yes, we know that Mary and Joseph raised him, but what do we know about them? Nothing, really. We know that they were betrothed, which is kind of like being engaged at the time. A betrothal was a legal contract to wed, and couples were generally betrothed for a year before officially getting married. During this time, there was no marital contact between the husband and wife-to-be. Yet, next thing we know, Mary is pregnant. Joseph knows it isn’t his baby, and he had every right to, at best, call off the marriage, and at worst, have Mary stoned to death. But he doesn’t. He takes Mary as his wife anyway. Two people that the world barely knows anything about, and they are asked to raise the Son of God.

And at Christmastime, we need to remember that the greatest gift of all came in one of the most fragile gifts of all. Our salvation, our means of being in right relationship with God came in the form of a baby boy. A baby – is there anything more fragile than a baby? Is there anything more defenseless than a baby? I don’t know what is normal in standard child development. All of my nieces and nephew were way too advanced for their age, but I do know some rough estimates. Human babies can barely walk for the first year. They can’t hold a quality conversation until later than that, and some still can’t do that after a couple of decades.

A child is defenseless, and that’s why we see crimes against children as particularly heinous. And yet, a baby made the heavenly chorus break loose. A baby was the one who fulfilled the ancient prophecies of the people of Israel. A baby would eventually bring salvation to the entire world. A baby is an awesome and incredible thing, but there’s nothing special that a baby can do besides giggle and be cute. But an ordinary town saw an ordinary couple do something that was at the same time ordinary and very extraordinary. They gave birth to the Son of God. God can do the most extraordinary things through the most ordinary people.

There is a website called, My Life is Average. It is quite entertaining sometimes. Check it out when you get a chance. According to the designers, and I’m quoting from the site here, “MyLifeIsAverage is a place to share your everyday mediocrity. It is a place to post the mundane things in your life, and read about what makes life normal for other people.” Here are a few examples of what you’ll find on the site:

• “Today I asked a French guy if he played video games. He said, ‘Wii.’”
• “Today, I walked into my living room. My grandma was on Facebook. My 15-year-old sister was knitting. I’m still confused.”
• “Last night, I had a dream I was eating a giant marshmallow. When I woke up, my pillow was gone. I screamed in fear and held my stomach. Then I saw my pillow on the floor.”
• “Today, I wasn’t prepared for a test so I had my identical twin sister go to my class and take it for me. My teacher didn’t even notice the switch. My mom is the teacher.”
• “Today, I got a paper cut opening the Band-Aid box.”

There’s some pretty funny stuff on there, but in a seriousness, let me give you some questions to think about. Is your life average? Do you think that there’s nothing interesting or important about your life, or about what you do? Do you compare yourself to others and think, “there’s no way I can be like that person”? Do you think about the things that need to be done in this community for the sake of the gospel and then stop because you don’t think that you can make a difference? Do you see or hear about other things that churches do and wish that we could do them here, but don’t think we are capable ? Do you think you are too old, or too young do any good for the sake of Christ in this world? Do you think that God doesn’t want anything to do with you because of your past? What can we learn from Micah today?

We don’t need to be spectacular. God doesn’t need us to be the most talented or gifted individuals. God needs us to be who we are. God needs us to be willing to follow after Him and seek His face. God needs us to be willing, not special. God equips those He sends. We don’t need to walk on water, we need to walk humbly before Him.

Is your life average? Good! That’s something God can work with. Because we know, and everyone around us will know that it is God doing the work, not us. There was nothing special about Bethlehem. There was nothing special about Joseph or Mary. There was nothing special about the shepherds who first came to see the newborn king. But God made them special. God took their stories and shaped them in such a way that here we are 2000 years later talking about them. They weren’t special, but they will be remembered for saying “yes” to God.

This Christmas, let’s remember the words of the prophets. Let’s remember God’s faithfulness. Let’s remember the call to repentance. Let’s remember to rejoice in what God has done in our lives and what He is doing in the lives of those around us. And let’s remember that God can use average, ordinary people and places, people like you and me, and places like Bethlehem or Veedersburg/Hillsboro, to change the course of the world.

Kickin' It Old School: Advent in the OT, Part 3

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, December 13, 2009. The text for this week's message is Zephaniah 3:14-20.

Today is the third week of our series looking at the Old Testament lectionary readings for Advent. Hopefully, as we go through this series, you are getting a sense of the expectation, excitement and preparation that surrounded the coming of the Messiah for the people of Israel. It was a time when the people of Israel had to rely on God’s promises, even though many of them never saw His promises fulfilled. God is faithful, and we have to remember that. Last week, we talked about the messenger that would prepare the way for the Lord. In the first century, that promise was fulfilled in John the Baptist, who had a twofold ministry focusing on leading people to repentance and pointing them to Jesus.

The readings today bring us to a place that many of us probably have never been before. I put out an extremely unscientific poll on Facebook this week wondering out loud how many people actually knew where Zephaniah is located in the Bible. And I don’t recall anybody being able to tell me where it was without having to look it up. Now, remember, I have fellow pastors and seminary graduates as friends on Facebook, and nobody really knew where it was without looking it up.

Now, in all fairness, I knew the general location, but not the exact books that came before and after it. I think that’s the great thing about working through an Old Testament series like this, though. We get an opportunity to hear from voices that we don’t normally hear. So, who is this Zephaniah character, and what is this book about?

Not a lot is known about Zephaniah himself. He is not mentioned in any of the historical books like Kings or Chronicles, even though his ministry took place during events that happen in those books. From the first verse of the book, we see that Zephaniah was a descendant of Hezekiah, who was a king of Judah. We can read about Hezekiah in the historical books, as well as in the historical section of Isaiah, Chapters 36-39.

We also learn from the first verse that Zephaniah’s ministry took place during the reign of Josiah, who was basically the last good king of the Israelit people. This puts us in the middle to late 7th century B.C., not long before the Babylonians come into Jerusalem and start the exile. Not surprisingly, in light of where we are historically, the majority of Zephaniah is actually prophecies of judgment. If you were to look at an outline of the book, you would see section on the judgment that is coming against Judah, the coming wrath of God against all people, warnings to individual nations such as the Philistines, the Moabites, the Assyrians and even those in Jerusalem. That is just how the book flows.

The way the book is structured, you would think that it is going to be entirely about judgment against the people. What is interesting is that all of the warnings against other nations are book-ended by warnings to Judah and Jerusalem. In other words, the people of Judah ought not get too excited that God is going to judge their enemies, because God is also going to be judging them.

Now at this point, you may be wondering why this description of Zephaniah doesn’t seem to match up with today’s reading. There is not a whole lot of talk about judgment in today’s passage. Mostly it is about judgment being “taken away,” or rejoicing, or not fearing evil. In fact today’s reading doesn’t seem to match up at all with a people who have just been told that they will be facing God’s wrath. What is going on here? What really sets the stage for what is happening in today’s passage can be found just a few verses before in Zephaniah 3:9-13.

After all of this judgment and warning, something amazing happens. The people return to God. They heed the call to repent and turn back to God. Verse 9 says, “For at that time, I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech.” Before, during the time that brought on their judgment, the people’s worship of idols and false gods caused them to have impure speech. But with their speech purified, they “call upon the name of the Lord and serve Him with one accord.”

And what is important to pick up in this section is that it is not the people who brought themselves back to the Lord; it is the Lord who brings the people back to Him. God is the one who removes the shame of rebellion; who humbles us; who gives us refuge and peace. But where does this all start? In repentance, in turning back to God. Now, we talked about the importance of self-examination and repentance last week when we looked at Malachi 3 and the ministry of John the Baptist. What we come to today in the Zephaniah passage is what comes next.

There is a dramatic difference between the words of Zephaniah 1-2 and Zephaniah 3, there is the change that is brought forth in repentance and conversion. In today’s passage, the fruits of repentance are brought forth. You see, we don’t just examine our lives in the light of God’s grace and just go on with our lives as normal. We can’t do that.

If there is something that is not right in our lives; if there is something that is holding us back from being all that God has intended us to be; shouldn’t we do something about it? We know the sins in our lives. Come on, let’s be honest, there is nobody else on this earth that knows our sins as well as we do – I don’t care if we do live in a small town, nobody knows everything about another person. And when it all comes down, all we can really do is confess before God. All we can really do is turn to God with our whole hearts; and that is when we move from being impure to being pure; from being sinful to sinless. And what is our response to such a dramatic life change? That’s what we read about in today’s passage.

We are told to sing aloud, to shout, to rejoice and exult the Lord! There is a party in heaven when just one sinner repents and turns to God. In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables about things that are lost, but become found. In the first one, it is a lost sheep. A shepherd with 100 sheep rejoices more over the one that had gone astray and was found, than over the 99 that stayed where they were supposed to be. Jesus says that there is more joy in heaven over the one sinner who repents than over the 99 who need not. That’s not to say that the 99 aren’t important, or that they aren’t valuable, but think about it for a moment. What do you think happened to a sheep that went astray and got lost? It probably died. There were all sorts of dangers lurking in the shadows of the wild at that time. The 99 were fine. They were protected and cared for, but the one who wanders away from the flock is the one that is at the most risk.

The next parable is about a lost coin. A woman had 10 silver coins; each one was worth about 10 days’ wages. She loses one, and searches all over the house to find it. You’ve had this experience, right? You need to find something, and you are going absolutely nuts trying to find it. I used to do this all the time when I was a kid. I’d get out my G.I. Joes and start playing with them, but if I couldn’t find Snake Eyes – forget about it. I’d turn my room upside down to find him because everybody knows that Snake Eyes is hands-down the coolest of the G.I. Joes. I would flip out if I couldn’t find him, and when I did find him, I’d run and tell my mom. She didn’t care. She was wondering why I was getting so excited about playing with dice…. Get it? Snake Eyes is a G.I. Joe character, and a term for throwing two ones in dice. Okay, Katie said it was a stretch. Anyway.

What does Jesus say about this lost coin that was found? That there is joy before all the angels of heaven when just one sinner repents. Can you imagine the heavenly chorus that lets loose every time somebody comes back to God after going astray? Don’t get me wrong, I like hearing our choir and all, but give me the heavenly host any day of the week. All of heaven rejoices, do we?

Do we come to an understanding of our sinful state and wallow in self-pity, or do we rejoice in the fact that through Jesus Christ our sins are as good as gone? When we hear of others who have come to faith, do we sing aloud and shout with joy, or do we say, “that’s nice”? You see, there’s something very important for us to learn about in the third parable in Luke 15 that directly relates to what we are talking about here in Zephaniah.

The third parable is the lost son. You’ve probably heard this one in one form or another. A man’s son is lost. And this time, it’s not something that just wandered away from the group like the sheep, or something that was misplaced like the coin; it is a person who chooses to be lost. How many know somebody like that? How many know somebody that just chooses to go away from God? No matter what you say, no matter what you do, they’re gone, and they just don’t care.

At the end of the parable, we see a stark contrast between what heaven does and what we can have a tendency to do if we don’t rejoice in the lost being found, and when we don’t get involved in the process. The father, upon the return of his lost son, throws a great party. He is overjoyed, even doing things that would have made no sense in the culture. The lost son’s brother is angry. He doesn’t understand why it is such a big deal that his brother has returned. And that’s where we are left. There’s no resolution. There’s no happy ending. There’s nothing. All we are left with is an angry brother who is not interested in rejoicing over what was once lost and now found. That should serve as an important warning for all of us.

We can lose sight of what is really important. When people have that conversion experience; when they truly give their lives over to God; we should be celebrating. We should be seeking ways to make it commonplace for people that we know to come to Jesus. It’s never going to get old to see people turn away from their sins and find new life in Christ. We need to take a cue from Zephaniah here and rejoice because of what God has done, and there is no better time to do that than this time of the year, as we await the coming of His Son. God rejoices when those who are far from Him draw closer to Him, and so should we.

As we read through the Zephaniah passage, we need to remember that we have been called to rejoice in what God has done. Do we really understand the magnitude of what is going on when we come to worship? I don’t know about you, but sometimes, I think that I forget. After coming week after week after week, Sunday worship can become just a part of our routine if we let it.

We lose the joy and the excitement that we once had because it becomes something that we are “supposed” to do. Y’all that’s not right. We don’t come to church because that’s what people are supposed to do on Sunday morning. We come because we have been affected by the living God. If God, the angels and all of the heavens rejoice when just a single person returns to the Lord, then how much more should we rejoice that we have the opportunity to gather in His presence each and every week?

God has taken away our judgment. God has removed the sin that fights against us with everything it has. We no longer need to fear anything because if God is for us, who can be against us? The lame, the outcast, those who live in the shame of their sin, and, yes, that is each one of us that is gathered here today – we are all gathered together, the Lord removes our sin from our lives, and there is great rejoicing.

While the majority of the message of Zephaniah is less than pleasant, it ends on this great note of rejoicing and praise. As dark as things look, as locked up as we can get in our sin, as messed up as our lives can get, there is still rejoicing and praise. There is ultimate hope in God. We worship and praise God because of this hope.

As we continue on through this Advent season, let’s not forget the messages of the prophets who spoke to the people expecting their Messiah. Let’s not forget that God has done something so amazing that we celebrate it every single year during the Christmas season. What God has done shouldn’t be approached casually. It shouldn’t be just part of our annual routine. It should be something that we approach with great joy because the God of all creation; let that sink in for a minute – the God of all creation came down at Christmastime so that we could have salvation.

Kickin' It Old School: Advent in the OT, Part 2

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, December 6, 2001. The text for this week's message is Malachi 3:1-4.

Last week we talked about hope and the promises that God has made. Faith is all about trusting in God, even though we may not understand God. When we approach the season of Advent and spend time looking at key Scriptures that were important to the people of Israel, we need to remember God’s faithfulness in the promises that were fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. These weeks leading up to Christmas are a period of preparation. This week, we are looking at a text that is important when it comes to what it means to prepare. As the first Israelites returned to Jerusalem, the promise of restoration still hung over their heads.

As we get into the later prophets of the Old Testament, we see a shift from talking about the impending exile to a focus on purity and preparing oneself for the coming of the Messiah. And here, in Malachi, we see the development of an expectation that there would be one who would come and prepare the way for the Messiah. This one is known as the messenger, but who is this messenger and what is it that he does?

What I find interesting is that the Hebrew for “Malachi” and “my messenger” are the same. This has led many to believe that the book is not named after the prophet, but after the key theme of the messenger that is to come. I think this gives us a clue as to the importance of this passage, as well as another passage later in the book that point to a messenger that is to come before the Lord.

If we were to keep reading Malachi, which is possible to do in one setting because it is only four chapters in length, we would see in Malachi 4:5 the promise of a prophet that will come before the great and awesome day of the Lord, and that prophet is named. It is Elijah. This could mean one of two things.

First, it could mean that Elijah himself would return. You may or may not know that Elijah never died, at least there is no description of his death in the Old Testament. We can read about Elijah’s ministry in the books of 1 & 2 Kings, but in 2 Kings 2:11 we read that as Elijah and his pupil Elisha were walking one day, suddenly they were separated by chariots and horses of fire, and Elijah was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind, and that is the last we hear from Elijah. Because of that event, and the words of the prophet in Malachi 4, some believed that Elijah himself would return one day.

Secondly, it could mean that there would be one whose ministry would be similar to Elijah’s. Elijah’s ministry was primarily focused on turning the people away from their idolatrous ways to which they had grown so accustomed. It was about bringing people back to the Lord. The people had to examine their hearts and repent. Notice here in Malachi 3 when it says that he will be like a refiner’s fire, like one who purifies gold and silver. Elijah’s ministry was one of refining the nation of Israel. There would be another who would refine the people as they awaited the coming of their Lord.

If we read through the gospels carefully, it is clear who that prophet was. In Mark 1, he is described in a manner very similar to Elijah in terms of what he was wearing and eating. In Matthew 11, he is described as one who is greater than all the men born of women. In Matthew 17, he is described as one who has already come, but was not recognized. In John 1, he points his own disciples to Jesus, knowing that Jesus was truly the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. That man was John the Baptist.

When we read about John the Baptist in the gospels, we read about a fiery character who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and let the people know what needed to happen in order for them to be in relationship with God. We don’t see a guy who thinks his ministry is the most important thing in the world; we see a guy who knew that his ministry was to get the people to repent and then point them to Jesus.

John the Baptist had a ministry of preparation. He was preparing the way for the Lord by getting the people to closely examine their hearts, minds and souls, which inevitably will cause people to repent if they are truly honest with themselves. He called out the Jewish leaders whose hearts were not in the right place, but in their own self-importance, they did not seem to care. He was fairly harsh as well, at one point calling them a “brood of vipers.”

You see, the thing about a refiner’s fire is that it is hot. It can burn. It can destroy things within the material. In fact, refining gold and silver is an extensive and sometimes difficult process. The whole material needs to be heated up to incredibly high temperatures, and all the junk and filth can be burned out or removed. It is a messy process. It can be a very dangerous process. But it is a process that, in the end, makes that which was already valuable even more so.

In a sense, John’s ministry continues in the work of the Holy Spirit. As we go through life, there are things that we let in which will harm us. They degrade that which is valuable within all of us. The Holy Spirit works in our lives, through the grace of God, to refine us. Do you ever do something that you just know is wrong? Often, that is the Holy Spirit working in your life, convicting you of the sin that is in your life and refining you, as long as you let Him.

Maybe you had a similar experience before you came to know Christ. Or, maybe, if you don’t have a relationship with God through Jesus, you are still having this experience. Some people refer to it as your conscience, or your upbringing, or your sense of ethical duty, but I think what just might be behind all of that is the grace of God.

In our Wesleyan theological tradition, we have a term for it. It is called prevenient grace. Prevenient grace is the grace of God that precedes our salvation. In that period in our lives before we come to be in a real relationship with God, His prevenient grace will often be working in our lives, though we may not even know it or recognize it. Over time, we can ignore God. We can shut him out and stop listening. That doesn’t mean that God has abandoned us, it means that we no longer recognize His voice.

But if we stop just long enough to notice something outside of ourselves, God’s prevenient grace draws us closer to Him. We begin to see things in a new way. Life makes a little more sense. And suddenly, we are open to a whole new world that we never could have imagined, a world where we follow after God and seek His face. And that brings us to a point of repentance.

We don’t repent because of the punishment that might come on us if we fail to do so. We repent because God’s grace has led us to that point. We recognize that there is something more to this life than what we see every day with our own eyes. We realize that there are parts of our life that fail to live up to the standards that have been set – not by us, not by our friends or family, not by the society in which we live, but by God’s standards of holiness. We recognize that we do not belong in the presence of God because we are stained and ruined people. That is the refiner’s fire at work. That is God’s presence at work in our lives as we learn to submit to God.

John’s ministry was a ministry that led people to repentance. It might seem like an obvious question, but do you know why John is known as John the Baptist? It’s not a denominational affiliation. People called him John the Baptist because so many people heard his message of repentance and came to be purified through baptism. That’s what baptism is about – recognizing our own impurities and coming before God to be cleansed from our sin. It is the outward sign of the grace of God that is working inside of us.

Some of you may be thinking, “This is all nice, but I’ve been a Christian for years.” And that’s true, some of y’all have been Christians for longer than I’ve been alive. If that’s the case, it doesn’t mean that none of this talk of self-examination and refinement is applicable to your life either. You see, we don’t stop being refined simply by being baptized. There is constantly the need for purification in our lives.

Just a brief poll: how many have sinned this week? Clearly there are still parts of our lives that are in need of refinement. There are still parts of our lives that stain the holiness that is expected of us. I’ll go out on a limb and say that those who are closest to God are most aware of what it is in their lives that separates them from God. Have you ever heard the saying, “The more you know, the more you realize there is to learn”? It is like that in our spiritual lives as well. This is God’s grace at work in our lives as well.

We have a different name for it in our tradition, but it essentially does the same thing – draws us closer to God by getting rid of the junk that is holding us back. We refer to this as God’s sanctifying grace. It, too, is the refiner’s fire at work in our lives. It convicts us of what is wrong in our lives and destroys that which is in the way of our relationship with God. This also begins with self-examination. What is it in your life that is holding you back? What is it in your life that is preventing you from taking the next step with God? These are the kind of questions that lead us into the refiner’s fire. These are the types of questions that draw us closer to God.

As important as this part of John’s ministry was, the ministry of repentance, it wasn’t all that John did. There was one more important aspect of his ministry that is crucial for us to look at as we enter into this season of preparation for the birth of Christ. John’s ministry was really twofold. First, it was to get people to the point of repentance, and second, it was to point them to Jesus.

Nearly every time we come across John the Baptist in the gospels, he is pointing somebody to Jesus. In his message, he refers to one who will come whose sandals he is not worthy to tie. In the beginning of the gospel of John, he points his disciples to Jesus. That is something we should be doing as well.

Perhaps the most important thing about our faith is that it is not ours to keep. Not only should we be examining ourselves, but we should also be sharing our faith with those around us. We should be taking John’s lead and be pointing others to Jesus as well. Perhaps you may not know this, but there is very little about our faith that is intuitive. Our faith is not something that we could just come to on our own by sitting under a tree on a nice, summer day.

The reason why we are where we are this morning is because somewhere along the way, somebody shared his or her faith with us; maybe it was your parents, maybe it was a close friend, and maybe it was a pastor or Sunday school teacher. Regardless of who it was, somebody shared faith with you. You didn’t just happen upon it by accident. So, why wouldn’t we be eager to share that same faith with someone else?

Look at it this way, if you eat at a great restaurant, and it is a wonderful experience from the time you walk in the door to the time you get back to your car, you are going to tell people about it. It will come up in conversations because you are excited about it. In retail, they stress the importance of good customer service by pointing to word-of-mouth advertising. If a person has a bad experience, they are going to tell two friends, who will tell two more friends, who will tell two more friends. The inverse is true as well. Good (and bad) customer service pays back exponentially.

We know these things to be true in our own lives, and, yet, the most important thing that we could ever come across is something that we keep to ourselves. We need to learn from John the Baptist and start pointing others to Christ. Yes, it may be uncomfortable, and you may make a colossal mistake at some point. But didn’t that happen when you were learning to ride a bike?

I know I came home more than once with a few scrapes and bruises, and you probably did too. But do you remember the freedom that came with learning how to ride a bike? I used to go all over the place with my bike. There is freedom in sharing Christ with others, and it is there because we are doing something that we were meant to do.

So, this week, our second week of Advent, let’s not forget to think about the lessons that we can learn from Malachi and from John the Baptist. Take some time out this week to stop and reflect on your life. Are you living a life that is honoring to God? What is it in your life that needs to be taken out by the refiner’s fire, regardless of how much it may burn at first? How can you share the joy of your faith with the people you know?