Divine promises and unyielding imperatives

The following is a sermon I preached on Exodus 3:1-15. Click here to read the scripture before reading the sermon.

Divine promises and unyielding imperatives

This passage is hands-down my all time favorite bible passage. And no, it’s not because it talks about Moses taking off his shoes. Although, I really do like that part. This is my favorite passage because it is so rich in imagery, so captivating in the way the story is told, and yet when we linger in the text we find the message both comforting and disconcerting all at the same time.

Today we hear God boldly proclaim, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to being them up out of the land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Those must have been incredibly hope-filled words for Moses. After all Moses was one who was moved by the misery of others. Moses was one who understood that caring for others can be costly and risky. We can remember back earlier in the Exodus story Moses saw first-hand the oppression of the Israelites, he saw their suffering and he was filled with compassion for them. In fact, he was so moved by their situation that in a moment of rash thinking, he murdered one of the Egyptian task masters. It was his compassion for the Israelites that led to his misguided murder of the Egyptian. That certainly doesn’t excuse his behavior, but it is clear that Moses is moved by the Israelites’ suffering.

I can only imagine that for a person so concerned about the wellbeing of others, Moses must have been excited to hear God’s plan. It must have been a source of comfort and hope to know that God sees what Moses had seen, God hears the cries Moses has heard, and that God is indeed concerned about the Israelites. What an incredible message this voice from the bush proclaims! God cares about Israel, God cares about justice, God cares about standing up for those who cannot stand up or speak up for themselves.

Not only does God see and hear and care but God has chosen to act! The oppression of the Israelites has moved God to act on their behalf, to bring about their liberation. God will do for the Israelites what the Israelites cannot do for themselves. In a striking passage, God announces that God is on the move. God announces that God is not a detached observer of creation and humanity. Instead, God announces the present activity of God in the very midst of the creation God has made. God has decided to be physically present in the midst of the Israelites’ suffering. And not only to be present but God has chosen to act decisively to counter their current situation.

It’s a message filled with divine promise that shows God remembers the previous promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God will be faithful to the promises God has made. God will indeed make the Israelites into a great nation, who will live in the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Israelites will be a blessing to others. It’s a message filled with the divine promise to be present and active in lives of the Israelites.

It’s a divine promise that’s made not only to the Israelites but to us as well. The God we worship today is the same God that appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Today if you are feeling captive to the demands of work or school, if you feel enslaved by addictions or bad habits, if you feel defined by broken relationship or past mistakes hear these words of hope. God says “I have seen your misery, I have heard your cries, and I am concerned about your suffering.”

The same God who saw, and heard, and was concerned about the Israelites situation, sees and hears, and is concerned about our sufferings. The same God who could not remain detached from their lives as an aloof and distant observer, is not detached from us either. God powerfully announces God’s presence in our midst. God has decided to act to bring hope and healing and liberation to our current situations. And that is indeed good news.

As we like Moses, stand amazed in the midst of such powerful divine promises, the rest of the divine message is just as startling today as it was to Moses. God says, “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

What? Me? Us? Hold on a sec. I thought God was going to be the one dealing with Pharaoh and the one to deal with the messy business of bring out the Israelites. I thought it was God who was going to bring liberation and freedom in the midst of such powerful forces of oppression. In the same message where we witness the incredible divine promise that God has chosen to act, we’re given the unsettling news God has chosen to act through human agents. What began as a divine promise has turned into an unyielding command. Go. I am sending you.

It was as unsettling for Moses as it is for us and Moses had the same reaction we so often have. Me? Who am I to go? Like so many of us, Moses felt completely inadequate to be the one through whom God’s plans would be carried out. Moses would have been all for the promises God makes. Moses would have been all for God bring about an end to the Israelites suffering. He would have been excited to hear that God was planning to liberate them from the oppressive rule of Pharaoh. But this whole business about involving Moses in the plan was really rather disconcerting.

Surely God saw and remembers that incident several years back with the Egyptian guard Moses killed. Surely God knows that Pharaoh had tried to kill Moses before and certainly would try again the moment he got a chance. Surely God knew that Moses didn’t have any qualifications for this task! God couldn’t really want to put such an important task in the hands of Moses of all people and so Moses cries out, Who am I to go?

And we ask that same question all the time when God calls us to do something. Who am I to go? I couldn’t possibly do that! Doesn’t God realize how messed up my own life is? We find all sorts of ways to explain our inadequateness to God. We find all sorts of ways to tell God how we fall short, how we aren’t the right person for this job.

God’s response to our concerns is the same as it was to Moses, “I will be with you.” God knows the gifts of Moses and the faults of Moses. God knows what Moses is capable of but God doesn’t reassure Moses that he’s good enough for the job or even that he’s capable of completing the task set before him. Instead, God promises to be with him. God promises Moses and us that in the divine calls placed on our lives, we do not go alone.

We’re reminded that the success of the Israelite’s liberation, and the divine calls placed on our own lives does not rest on Moses abilities or our own. It’s not about what Moses is capable of, it’s not even about what we’re capable of. The success of the divine plan rests on what God is capable of. And God is capable of might acts, even when working through broken human vessels like us.

God bringing the Israelite’s to freedom is amazing in and of itself. But it’s even more amazing because God chooses to bring it about through a person like Moses, a person who had such a questionable past, a person who had made so many mistakes. Moses probably would have been content to live out the rest of his life hiding in the backside of the dessert. But God has different plans and the intrusive divine call is enough to dislodge Moses from his comfortable hiding place and propel him into risky territory.

God is active throughout human history. God is active bringing about hope and healing, and freeing us from the things that hold us captive, be they work or school or political oppression. What an incredible God we worship, who does all that! We worship a God who sees, and hears, who cares and who acts. We worship a God who performs miraculous feats everyday, through the lives of ordinary broken people, just like us.

Even in the midst of painful broken situations, we live as people of hope. We live as people of hope because God knows our situations and is concerned about our suffering. We live as people of hope because we know God is able to bring healing in even the most dire of situations. And we live as called people. People who have been called and claim by God, people who don’t have to rely on our own abilities but people who trust in the might power of the One who called us. Thanks be to God!

Amen.

The rest of the story

The following is a sermon I preached today on Matthew 28:16-20. Click here to read the scripture passage first.

The Rest of the Story

This passage is one of the most well known passages out of the whole bible. It ranks right up there with John 3:16 in popularity and notoriety. This passage from Matthew, often called The Great Commission, has been used by evangelicals all over the world to convey the importance of reaching out beyond the walls of the church and sharing our faith in Christ. And rightly so. This passage does indeed speak to that. And with faithful Christians constantly holding this passage in front of us, it easily gets stuck in our minds, just waiting for the right moment for us to recall it.
Perhaps another reason this passage is so well known is because it is so clear and concise. This is one of those times where Jesus doesn’t beat around the bush. There’s no telling a parable or a story, no metaphors, or complicated language and symbolism to wade through. There’s just clear concise directions. Finally! Finally, Jesus is just giving us straight and specific directions.
Whatever the reasons, whether it’s the clarity of the message, or it’s prominent use by many Christians, this passage is one of the most well known passages in the bible. In fact, this passage is so well known that I would guess most of you could probably recite it from memory. I’m guessing that if I asked you all to recite this passage right now it would go something like this: everyone together would say “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”There would probably be some people who wouldn’t quite remember all of that but my guess is most people would be able to recite that much of the great commission. And it’s wonderful that so many people know and can recite that verse.
But there’s more to The Great Commission than that one verse. So today, we’re going to relive the days of Paul Harvey a little bit and talk about the rest of the story.
So let’s look again at this passage. Verses 19 and 20 say, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, AND teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Most of us remember the part about going and making disciples and baptizing them but most people forget the second half of this passage. Often when you hear The Great Commission recited, you don’t hear anything about teaching disciples. And yet teaching is integral to what Jesus is commanding us to do. It is absolutely correct that we have been commissioned and commanded by God to go and make disciples of all nations, but to lose sight of the last half of this passage, is missing a large part of what Jesus is telling us to do.
This second part of The Great Commission is so integral to the command to make disciples of Christ because none of us innately know how to be disciples of Christ. None of us are born knowing exactly how to follow God and live a Christian life. Instead all of us have learned along the way from family, friends, and the community of faith what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be Christ’s disciple.
That’s why we have Sunday school classes, confirmation classes, Disciple class, and adult bible study classes. If we all knew what it was to be a disciple of Christ, these classes wouldn’t be necessary, and we’d all already know what’s being taught. But we don’t already know. So the community of faith together has been given the responsibility of teaching one another and new believers about God.
Which, by the way, is why we have been having such a big push to fill the TREK volunteer slots, because we all have been given the Great Commission to raise up disciples of Christ and that means teaching those in our midst. This is the same reason that each year we have a confirmation class. The youth need to be taught what it means to take responsibility for their life as a disciple of Christ. It’s our responsibility to do that. If we don’t, no one else will.
But learning is not something that is reserved for the children and youth. Discipleship is a life-long journey. It’s a journey in which we continue to grow into the image of God in us. A few minutes ago we heard a wonderful testimony from Alex Eckard. He spoke to us briefly about part of his discipleship journey. Alex, I want to thank you for sharing your story with us. It’s quite moving and I think there’s a lot we can all learn from your story. Alex shared with us a couple different things that have helped him grow in his faith.
In his testimony, Alex told us that he felt like something was missing so he started coming to church regularly. But Alex did more than just come to worship every week. He began studying the bible everyday and by doing so Alex effectively made a commitment to learning. Alex shared with us how reading God’s word helped him learn that he needed to make some changes in his life. And I would guess that if we all spend more time study God’s word, we would discover the same thing. We would discover we have some things we could be doing better, or shouldn’t be doing at all.
One of the things that Alex’s testimony can teach us is that continuing to learn is vital to our continued growth as disciples of Christ. Growth happens as a direct result of learning. Studying the scriptures on our own can be a wonderful way to learn what God is saying to us today. But studying the bible in a group setting is usually even more informative, and together we learn even more. Here at Calvary we offer a wide range of adult education classes for just that reason. We want to help everyone here continue to learn more about God and how God wants us to live.
Disciples continue to grow by continuing to learn what Jesus has taught us. But disciples also teach other disciples. It’s a two way process. Just as Jesus commands us to make disciples, Jesus also commands us to teach one another. That’s part of the gift of the community of faith. We learn from one another and we teach one another.
The Great Commission definitely calls us to reach out to those who do not yet know the love and grace of God. It calls us to reach out beyond the walls of the church to all the nations and to make disciples. But The Great Commission also calls us to teach one another what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
We are attempting to end services 10 minutes early today so you have the opportunity to go up to the Good Shepherd Hall and sign up to help teach a class, or to take a class, or both. That way if you have children in the Nursery or Sunday school, you have 10 minutes to look around at the options and decide what you would like to be a apart of before you need to go pick up your child. So enjoy this brief opportunity to be foot-loose and fancy free for a few minutes. But more importantly, use this opportunity to consider how you will fulfill The Great Commission. How is it that you will be active in teaching disciples this year? That could mean allowing yourself to be taught, it could mean teaching others. How is it that you will be active in teaching disciples?

Amen.

Life outside the boat

This sermon is based on the scripture passage Matthew 14:22-33. Click here to read it.

Life outside the Boat

Don’t be afraid. It is a phrase that is repeated over and over again in both the old and new testaments. It’s typically the first thing an angel says. Before they even get to the particular message they have to deliver, the angels start with the words “Do not be afraid.” Most of the pillars of our faith have heard these words at one point or another. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Mary, Joseph, the Women at the tomb, Paul in a jail cell, and scared disciples in a small wind battered boat all had these words proclaimed to them. Do not be afraid. All in all these words are proclaimed close to 100 times in the bible.

The prevalence of these words in the bible seem to remind us that humans are fearful creatures. The abundance of named phobias these days points to the fearful nature of so many people today. Now I don’t know the word for it, but I have a serious fear of bees. I’m not just talking about fear of yellow jackets or hornets here, I’m talking about fear of everything that even remotely resembles a bee, including those tiny little sweat bees. And yes, I know it’s a really lame fear, and no I’m not allergic.

I know that while a bee sting isn’t pleasant, it’s really not all that bad either. But in spite of knowing this, it used to be that I made an effort to keep at least a 100 foot radius between myself and any bees. It’s only been in recent years that I’ve been able to control my reactions and not jump out of my seat and move to an entirely different area when a bee is spotted nearby. I now am able to sit, and maintain a relatively calm exterior if a bee comes nearby. But even with these small improvements, I still don’t like bees, they still make me tense. And I still have to force myself not to let my fear of them dictate my actions.

As silly as my fear of bees is, I know I’m not alone. There are plenty of people who have a fear of bees. But more than that, I know that fear is a driving factor for many of us, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Sometimes its large amounts of fear that overwhelm us, sometimes its little bits of fear, almost entirely unnoticed, that nudge us along in life, influencing the decisions we make.

When you really start to look, marks of this fearful nature of humanity can be seen all over our culture. We have shows like Fear Factor, and many commercials capitalize on our fear by telling us if we don’t have a certain product, we won’t be attractive or cool, or wealthy. One glance at the news can tell you how much fear currently surrounds the housing market, gas prices, and the economy. We hear political comments that remind us of the corporate fear of terrorism here in America. It seems everywhere we look, we can see signs of this fearful nature of humanity. More often than not this fear is cultivated, and exploited by those looking to make a buck or those vying for positions of power. Society tells us, often in subtle ways, that we should base the decisions we make, on the fears we feel.

As much as I wish it weren’t true, Christians are not exempt from this fearful nature. We see in the biblical witness over and over again that unchecked fear will drive our decisions. Abraham told the Egyptians that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife because he feared they would kill him and take her as their wife. David, widely considered to be one of the most faithful kings of Israel, feared his adultery with Bathsheba would be discovered so he had her husband Uriah killed. Peter, the same Peter who momentarily walks on water with the help of Jesus, publicly denies Jesus not once but three times because he fears for his life.

And Christians today allow fear to influence their actions in big and small ways all the time. Sometimes its little things like running from bees or not speaking out against injustice for fear of how we might be perceived. Sometimes its large things, like denying the call God has placed on our lives or being unwilling to tithe, for fear of what that means for our future. Sometimes its outright denying or minimizing our faith for fear we might conjure up other people’s hate. Fear. Fear can be a incredibly powerful force in our lives. And in the midst of our fear ring out the words “Take courage! Do not be afraid!”

As powerful as fear can be, as Christians fear is not intended to be the driving force in our lives. Over and over again we hear the words, “take courage, do not fear!” Take courage, don’t be afraid! What comforting words those are to hear in the midst of a world so focused on our fears. What comforting words those are to hear when it feels like we’re being battered by the storms of life. But what does that really mean for us as Christians? Does that mean that we’re being unfaithful when we’re afraid? Does that mean that as Christians we should never experience the emotion of fear?

I don’t think God expect us to be entirely free from fear. After all, sometimes fear is a good thing. It lets us know when there’s a potentially dangerous situation. Even as faithful Christians, we will experience fear. But I think the common biblical proclamation of “Don’t be afraid” is intended to release us from the grip fear holds on our lives. Don’t be afraid, is God’s way of reminding us that God is more powerful than even our fear, that God, not fear, should be the ruler of our lives. Don’t be afraid serves to remind us that fear should not be what makes decisions in our lives.

Instead our relationship with God, and our trust in what God is calling us to, should be the defining factor in the decisions we make. Fear is what keeps us in the rocking and wind battered boat. But trust in God and the desire to move closer to God, to walk hand in hand with Jesus, is what enables us to experience life outside the boat.

Life outside of the boat is when we lean into the words “Take courage. Don’t be afraid!” Life outside the boat is when we trust in the power and presence of God in our midst. Life outside the boat, is being willing to act in spite of the fear we feel.

Now life outside the boat is not all smooth sailing. It doesn’t mean that things will be easy or we’re guaranteed to succeed. The winds still blow again us, and sometimes our fear still causes us to lose focus on God. But life outside the boat allows us to experience the miraculous ways God is able to use even us, fearful creatures.

At times it seems like those types of miracles don’t happen anymore. But even now, the biblical proclamation, “Take courage! Don’t fear!” is breaking the bond of fear in the lives of Christians. Right now, a lot of the world’s attention is focused on China, its policies, and the Olympics. As the world’s spotlight is focused on China, Christians around the world are using this as a time to ask us to pray for persecuted Christians in China. In China, if you are a Christian, you’re required to register with an authorized state church. In these authorized state churches, the messages and activities are closely monitored by the government. With such strict government monitoring, the good news of the gospel and the freedom of life lived in relationship with God is often muffled and constrained.

As a result many Christians choose not to register with an authorized state church but instead choose to be a part of underground house churches. These house churches are illegal and anyone found to be a part of these house churches are arrested and often convicted and sentenced without a trial. These Christians face persecutions that most of us in the United States have only read about, these Christians in China face persecutions that would cause most Americans, who so proudly boast of our freedom, to submit to the governing laws. And yet, in the face of such persecutions, the Christian population in China is growing. The church in China is growing! In spite of all the persecutions, in spite of all the restrictions, even in spite of the fear the government tries to force on the population, the church in China is growing! The Church in China is growing!

The Church in China is experiencing life outside the boat. The Church in China knows what it’s like to feel fear, fear for one’s life and loved ones, and to allow the words of Christ to break the grip of fear on their lives. The Church in China has found that life outside the boat, even with the winds still blowing, allows them to be in closer relationship with God, even if it means sometimes they get wet. The Church in China, underground, defiant, and growing, is an example to all of us, of the power God has to overcome even our fears.

Our fears here are often a little less dramatic than the persecution in China, but our fears here are still real. They still try to seize control of our lives. But no matter how huge or tini-tiny our fears are, God’s presence in our life, and our trust in God is more powerful than the fears we have.

As you leave the sanctuary today, please take one of these small gray bracelets as a reminder to pray for the persecuted Christians in China. But also let it be a reminder for you that we’re called to a life freed from the grip of fear, that we are called to life outside the boat. Let it be a reminder for you of the biblical promise, Take courage! Do not be afraid!

Amen.

Abundant Life

Recently CNN.com had an article about how economic concerns are on the minds of voters. The article reported that 48% of voters polled now consider the economy to be the deciding factor in who they vote for in November. Given the current economy it's understandable why this is in the forefront of so many people's minds. We have faced a record breaking year in many ways with little of those records being positive things. There's been concern over the decreasing value of homes, questions about the stability of banks, and gas prices have affected many people's routines. It seems like everything is costing more these days. Gas is expensive, electricity is expensive, and those two things have affect the prices of many things, including travel plans, shipping costs, etc.

It certainly is understandable that so many people are keeping an eye on the market and are worried about the economy. It is a concern that affects many Christians as well. As I read the article on CNN.com I kept thinking about how Jesus said "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Abundant life! Jesus promises us abundant life. But what exactly does that mean?

Many Christians have used this verse to preach a prosperity gospel. Basically they claim that if you life faithfully and pray hard then God will bless you with monetary rewards. But can that really be what this verse is about? It seems to me that it is unlikely that Jesus would promise something he himself doesn't have. So if we are going to look for clues about what it means to have abundantly life, it seems reasonable to start by looking at Jesus' life.

Jesus didn't have a lot of material stuff. In fact he was pretty poor. He was born in a stable. He tells a would-be disciple that he has no place to lay his head ie. no house. He repeatedly warns against the rich, and how easy it is to make money the God of our life. He even tells a rich young ruler to go and sell all he has and give it to the poor. It is really quite unlikely that Jesus was rich.

So if Jesus wasn't rich, what is exactly is abundant life? One of the things we see time and time again in all the gospels, is the close and intimate relationship Jesus has with the Father. He is constantly praying to the Father, he even says he can do nothing apart from the Father. Even in his last moments in the garden of Gethsemane he prays that the Father's will be done. If Jesus has nothing else, he had a close relationship with the Father.

It seems to me that if we are going to have a conversation about abundant life, we need to start with Jesus' relationship with God. Jesus offers us what he already has. Jesus offers us a close intimate relationship with God. Jesus isn't promising that we are going to have an abundance of economic means. Jesus isn't promising us an abundance of material possessions and wealth. Instead Jesus promises that we know the abundance of life lived in relationship with God. We will know what it means to love and to be loved. We will know what it means to live into the image of God in each of us. Abundant life is so much more than money.

That doesn't mean that the economy will not be a high priority in the election in november. Nor does it mean that we don't need to be concerned about the poor. But it does mean that regardless of how the economy turns out, regardless of how the election turns out, we have the promise of abundant life. We have the promise of a fruitful and full life live in relationship with God.

Now that's a promise we can trust!