What’s the Point?

August 25, 2024 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, answer, Broadway, Christ, church, disciples, eternal life, evil, fight, God, good, Jesus, life, Methodist, mission, Ohio, Partridge, party, Paul, point, politics, prayer, quit, Solomon, Street, struggle, temple, United, what's the point?

What’s the Point?

August 25, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

1 Kings 8:1, 22, 24, 27-30, 41-43 John 6:56-69 Ephesians 6:10-20

We have all experienced it.

Whether we were watching a politician’s speech, or reading a book or a scholar’s paper, or listening to the ramblings of a corporate executive whose meeting we got sucked into, or even the occasional pastor’s sermon, we have all, at some point, found ourselves drifting off into our daydreams and wondering… “What’s the point?” Too often we have felt like our time was wasted because the book that we were reading, or the speaker to whom we were listening, just couldn’t seem to find the point that they were seeking. If we’re honest, there are scripture passages that feel like this from time to time, although sometimes those same passages lay the groundwork for others that do make profound and important points… but not always.

As we read the story of 1 Kings 2, we are listening in as Solomon, who is simultaneously his nation’s king, chief politician, and a religious leader by virtue of being king. And in this story, we hear Solomon give a speech and offer a prayer for his nation as the Arc of the Covenant is moved out of the tent in which is has been housed for generations, and into its new home in the newly completed temple in Jerusalem. Solomon’s speech is a bit long because it repeats for the people some important history, but for our purposes, I’m skipping a bunch of it so that we can focus less on history and more on the point that Solomon makes towards the end. Bear in mind that I’m skipping a lot, so if you want to hear the whole thing, you’ll need to read it yourself. We begin in 1 Kings 8:1, 22, 24, 27-30, 41-43 where we hear these words:

^8:1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David.

²²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven ²³and said:

²⁴You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

²⁷“But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! ²⁸Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. ²⁹May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

⁴¹“As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— ⁴²for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, ⁴³then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

The points that I want you to notice are in verses 30 and 37. Solomon asks if it is possible for God to dwell on earth since even heaven cannot contain him. As simple as this is, it is a distinctive feature of Judaism and a deliberate poke at the religions of Israel’s neighbors. Israel’s neighbors all had temples with strikingly similar architecture from which Solomon borrowed, and in the holy place of each of those temples was an idol. In each of those idols, it was said that the spirit of that nation’s god resided and lived among that god’s people. But Israel’s holy of holies was startlingly empty because Israel knew that their God could not be contained.

Solomon follows that statement about the magnitude of God by praying that wherever God might be, whenever anyone prayed in, or even toward this new temple, that God would hear their prayer, and offer forgiveness. Solomon and the nation of Israel knew that, unlike their neighbors, God did not physically live in their temple, but their prayer was that God would establish his name and hear the prayers of his people wherever they might be. Second, Solomon asks that whenever foreigners would come to that place, and offer prayers, that God would hear and answer their prayers so that all the peoples of the earth would know Israel’s God and choose to follow him.

That was the point. Like Solomon, our prayer is that God would hear our prayers, offer us his forgiveness, and also that God would hear, and answer, the prayers of unbelievers so that they would know God and choose to follow him.

Next, we return for what I think is the third consecutive week that we hear Jesus invite us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. But this time, it is not the grumbling of the crowd, or the teachers of the law, or the Pharisees, but Jesus’ own disciples that we hear in John 6:56-69…

⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

⁶⁰On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spiritand life. ⁶⁴Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

It turns out that Jesus’ disciples didn’t like this teaching about his flesh and blood any more than the Pharisees did and our scripture says that it was not some, but “many” of Jesus’ disciples turned back and stopped following him. Even those who didn’t leave admitted that this was a hard teaching. But in the end, they got the point. When Jesus asked them if they didn’t want to leave like everyone else, Peter said, “to whom shall we go?” They knew that Jesus was the one whose words gave eternal life, so leaving was not an option no matter how difficult it might have been to stay.

The disciples who stayed got the point. If we believe that Jesus holds the words of life and death, then we don’t have to like everything that he has to say. We can admit that some of his teaching is hard. We can admit that we don’t like it, that we don’t really want to do it, or that it restricts our selfishness more than we would like, but in the end, we must make every effort to follow him anyway.

And finally, we come to Paul. Who, as always, delivers a message that applies to churches throughout history. Why? Because two thousand years later we’re still asking, “What’s the point?” Of course, there are many ways that we could answer that question, but listen to how Paul sums it all up in Ephesians 6:10-20 saying,

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ¹⁹Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

The point, Paul says, is that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Full stop. Let me repeat that. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” We have not been put on earth to be in combat with the rich, or with the poor, with people of other races or from other countries, with people who disagree with us, with political parties, or any other organization made up of human beings. Our struggle is not with other people, except when it is. Our struggle is with rulers, authorities, and powers of the dark world that are aligned with the spiritual forces of evil. In other words, our fight is not against people, it is against evil and only becomes a fight with people when those people have aligned themselves, consciously or unconsciously, with evil. That means that we fight against the politics of evil regardless of party. We fight against the Republicans where and when their policies are evil, we fight against the Democrats when their policies are evil, we fight against the Libertarians, and the Socialists, and the Communists, and anyone else when they choose evil. We fight against the church when it chooses evil because it is our purpose to fight against evil wherever we find it.

The point is that it is not people against which we fight. Our mission is to stand up for what is good and to fight against evil. Put on the whole armor of God, stand firm, and pray. Pray for the church, pray for your pastor, and remember that all of us here are pastors and priests. So, pray for one another, that whenever we speak, words may be given so that we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

Solomon knew that the point of building the temple was that all the people of the world would come to know and to follow the God of Abraham.

The disciples knew that if Jesus was the Messiah who holds the keys to eternal life, then we must obey his teaching even when it is difficult, even when it squeezes us personally, even when we don’t like it, and even when we think that Jesus should have done things differently.

And Paul wanted us to know that the point of the church and its people is not to fight against people, but to stand against evil wherever we find it. And that means to fight against evil even when we find it in people, and in organizations that we like.

Pray for one another, that we may be discerning and see the evil in the world around us. And pray that whenever we speak, words may be given to us by God so that we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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Learning Wisdom for Life

August 18, 2024 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, Broadway, Christ, church, disciples, God, Jesus, lessons, life, Methodist, Ohio, Partridge, Paul, Solomon, Street, United, wisdom

Learning Wisdom for Life

August 18, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 John 6:51-58 Ephesians 5:15-20

There are several internet memes that have a humorous take on our understanding of wisdom and the one that have in mind says that “The reason that I am old and wise, is that God protected me while I was young and stupid.” I still don’t consider myself to be “old and wise,” but I have realized that somewhere during the years that I have lived and the many miles that I have traveled, I learned a few things. Sometimes that amounts to wisdom, and sometimes I just know stuff, but there are still a great many things that I do not know. The truth of the internet meme is that for most of us, wisdom isn’t something that you can learn in a book, although books can help. Most often, wisdom is the hard lesson that we learn after we make poor decisions, or when we remember the poor decisions that we have witnessed in others.

I have often remembered the scene in our office on Friday the 13, 1989 when there was a significant crash in the stock market. One of our managers, Chuck, who was only a few years older than me, and in is late 20’s or barely into his 30’s, was absolutely panicked and continually tried to reach his investment people on the telephone, but because this was national news, the phone lines were, of course, constantly busy. But while this 30-year-old was freaking out, another of our department members, Charlie, who was at the time only months from retirement, sat at his desk by the window, continued working, and appeared to be completely unconcerned. And this was even though he had, that afternoon, lost more of his invested retirement funds than Chuck had invested or earned in an entire year. But Charlie knew what Chuck did not. Markets are cyclical. They go up, they go down. And Charlie had seen enough stock market crashes and recessions over his 30- or 40-year career, that they no longer excited him. He had learned a little wisdom.

And the lessons of wisdom are what we will search for today in our scripture lessons. We begin today with the end of King David, the beginning of the reign of his son Solomon, the wisdom that Solomon had, the wisdom that God added to his life, and the wisdom that all of us can learn from him. And for that, we begin this morning by reading 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 where we hear this:

¹⁰Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. ¹¹He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. ¹²So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

³Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

⁴The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

⁶Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

⁷“Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. ⁸Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. ⁹So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

¹⁰The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. ¹¹So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, ¹²I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. ¹³Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. ¹⁴And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”

The phrase “rested with his ancestors,” is an often-used biblical euphemism that meant that David’s bones had been buried in a common crypt or pit with the members of his family that had died before him. In any case, David had died, and Solomon became Israel’s next king. At this point, Solomon was not a child. If David had ruled for thirty-three years in Jerusalem, Solomon could not have been more than a few years younger than that. We know that David first saw Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, from the roof of his palace, and that David had built the palace after he had conquered Jerusalem, it would seem that Solomon’s age could be estimated by starting with David’s thirty-three years of rule and subtracting the time that it took to build a palace. Based on that, estimates vary from twenty-eight down to twelve, but my guess is that it’s toward the high end of that range somewhere in Solomon’s twenties.

But regardless of his age, Solomon had already distinguished himself by his love of God and his obedience to both God and his father David. The exception, according to the history written by the priests in Jerusalem, was that Solomon offered sacrifices in the “high places,” which were centers of worship and sacrifice for Israel’s God that were outside of Jerusalem (and not under the control of Jerusalem’s priests), often these high places were so far from Jerusalem that it was difficult or inconvenient to travel there regularly. But upon David’s death, Solomon offers a thousand sacrifices to God, and after doing so, God appears to Solomon that night as he slept and told him to ask for whatever he wanted.

And this is where we begin to see Solomon’s wisdom even before God gives him any additional gifts. First, Solomon has already demonstrated his faithfulness, and he recognized that his father had become king only because of God’s kindness. But next, Solomon also recognizes that God’s people are “too numerous to count or number” and by saying so, recognizes, not that it was impossible to count them, but that God had prohibited them to be counted, and that David had sinned against God by taking a census to do so. Thus, Solomon demonstrates his wisdom by learning from one of his father’s biggest mistakes. And finally, as we all know, Solomon shows wisdom by recognizing that he doesn’t know everything and would need wisdom to be a good leader, and so, he asks God, not for wealth or long life, but for wisdom.

The next lesson in wisdom for today is found in John 6:51-58 where we hear Jesus say:

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

⁵²Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

When the doubters of Jesus asked how he could give them flesh to eat, Jesus simply said that whoever did would have eternal life and that he would raise them up on the last day. His explanation was that those who ate his flesh and drank his blood were the people who remained faithful to him. It is in that explanation that we find another of today’s pieces of wisdom. But if you didn’t quite get that one, there will be a summary at the end.

Our last lesson in wisdom comes from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:15-20, where he says:

¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s warning is that the church in Ephesus, and ours today, was, and is, surrounded by influences that intend to distract us from our faith and lead us away from God. His example is that while getting drunk is easy, and not necessarily a sinful action by itself, getting drunk often leads to debauchery or other sins because it lowers our inhibitions, reduces our self-control, and causes us to make poor choices. His advice then is not just to avoid sin, but to avoid the things that lead to sin.

Taken together we heard at least six lessons in wisdom today.

First, it is wise to live a life that is faithful and obedient.

Second, there is wisdom in remembering what God has done and to be grateful for what God has done for us.

Third, it is wise to learn from the mistakes of others, as Solomon learned from the mistakes of his father David.

Fourth, learning, and practicing, discernment leads us to make good choices.

Fifth, if we want to be the people that eat Jesus’ flesh, drink Jesus’ blood, and receive eternal life, then we must live a life of faith that shares in the ministry and the suffering of Jesus every day. Jesus said that the one who feeds on him will live, and if we are to feed on him, we must be faithful in consuming his word and doing his work.

And finally, because we live in a world, and in a culture, that surrounds us with influences that distract us from our faith, we must avoid the things that lead to sin rather than simply trying to avoid sin. If drinking leads us to sin, stop drinking, if certain friends lead us to do things that we should not do, then we need to start avoid those friends and make new ones, and if going to certain places and doing certain things lead into temptation and sin, we should stop going to those places and doing those things. In short, this sixth lesson says that rather than attempting to avoid evil, we must avoid the offramps that lead to evil.

We aren’t born wise.

Few of us will be given a sudden gift of extra wisdom by God upon our ascension to the throne.

But all of us, with care, persistence, and faithfulness, can learn wisdom and, although few of us are likely to ever be a threat to Solomon, we can, and should, ask for God’s help in doing so.

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Love: You’re Doing it Wrong

August 11, 2024August 18, 2024 PastorPartridge Sermon Absalom, Alliance, Broadway, calamity, Christ, church, compassion, David, disciples, God, Jesus, love, Methodist, Ohio, Partridge, Paul, Street, United, wrong

Love: You’re Doing it Wrong

August 11, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 John 6:35, 41-51 Ephesians 4:25-5:2

What do you do when someone that you love abandons you, turns their back on you, betrays you, usurps your authority, turns your friends against you, spreads lies about you, steals from you, drives you from your home, causes you to flee your city with your remaining loyal friends, and tries to kill you? And what do you do when the person that did that is your beloved son? That was the story of King David. Absalom wanted to be Israel’s next king and he was angry that David did not consider him above his brothers. But Absalom had been patient and had spent years at the gates of the city, spreading lies about David, undermining David’s authority, and in every way possible convincing David’s military leaders and the people of Israel that David was unfit to be their king and that they should rise up, overthrow David, and make Absalom king by force. And on the day that he selected, armies of men from all over Israel came to fight by his side and it caused an unprepared David to flee Jerusalem with his family and those troops and leaders who were loyal to him. Absalom takes over Jerusalem, moves into the palace, sets up a tent on the roof, in plain view of everyone, and fulfills Nathan’s warning that we heard last week, by sleeping with the concubines that David had left behind to care for the palace.

Most men would be so insulted, hurt, defensive, bitter, and angry that they would want to end the person that had done that to them.

But not David.

In 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 we read this:

⁵The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.

⁶David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. ⁸The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.

⁹Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

¹⁵And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.

³¹Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”

³²The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”

³³The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”

Absalom had done to David everything that one human being can do to hurt another. This is especially true of those things that children can do to hurt a parent and included doing damage to your nation by starting a civil war just to further your own personal selfish ambitions. But, no matter what happened to him, or what was done to him, how he was publicly humiliated, David still gave orders to be gentle with Absalom when he was captured, and was utterly broken when he was told that Absalom had been killed. Whether you think that David was foolish, or weak, or unwise, or naïve in his attempt to save the son who had done so much to hurt him, it stands out in the history of human beings as an example of the soft-hearted and irrepressible love that a parent has for their child. As much as David needed Absalom the traitor to stop what he was doing, David never stopped loving Absalom, his son, and never stopped wanting him to be safe.

And then we hear the other side of the story that we read last week. Last Sunday we heard Jesus say, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” But this week we hear what the people thought when they heard him, as well as how they responded to Jesus’ message. In John 6:35, 41-51, we hear this:

³⁵Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

⁴¹At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God. ’Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Jesus declares that he will do even greater miracles than Moses, or specifically, that God will do greater miracles through him than God did through Moses, and the reaction of the people in Capernaum that knew him and knew his family, was complete disbelief. I have seen something like this in some of the rural towns in which we have lived. The assumption is that no one that I know can really do any better than what I have seen. We have known highly intelligent, and highly capable young people who, although they were capable of doing more, had no higher aspiration than to work in the coal mines, or in construction, or assisting a veterinarian, like everyone that they knew, despite being capable of attending college and becoming an architect, an engineer, or a veterinarian themselves. In that same way, it was impossible for the people in Jesus’ village to believe that anyone that they knew could do any better than they had done.

But that doesn’t stop Jesus from loving them and he preaches to them that everyone who believes will have eternal life, and that he will give his body over to death in exchange for the life of the world. Much like David, even though the people that Jesus had known from childhood had turned their backs on him, he never stopped loving them.

The negative example of how not to love are obvious. The example of Absalom teaches that we shouldn’t betray the people we love just to further our selfish ambitions. We may not be princes, but neither should we wish that our parents would die so that we can receive our inheritance sooner, or fear that they might spend their money before we inherit it. The example of the people of Capernaum is a little more difficult but may hit closer to home for some of us. That example teaches that we should not doubt or discredit the aspirations or accomplishments of the people around us, just because they are doing better than we are. It might be envy, but it might also be like the people I described earlier, that were so accustomed to the world that they knew, that they simply couldn’t imagine anyone that they knew doing any better than they did, nor could they aspire to anything more than what they knew. Rather than despise or discredit our friends who try to do better, true love teaches us to be sources of encouragement. Rather than grumble and heckle them for doing better than we did, we should be their cheerleaders and rejoice with them in their accomplishments.

But Paul has some other advice in regard to how we should love, and we find that in Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2 where he says:

^4:25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

²⁹Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

^5:1Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Paul’s instruction for the people of the church is to stop lying, but the way that he says that, is to “put off falsehood” and, although the difference is subtle, I think that it is important. Paul says, “we are all members of one body,” which is a nice way of saying that, because we claim to belong to the church, we all represent Jesus Christ, and our individual actions reflect on all of us, and Jesus, collectively. And so, rather than just hearing Paul say that we should stop lying, we should also hear that we should stop spreading gossip, rumors, half-truths and, in the twenty-first century, that probably includes internet memes that contain a seed of truth mixed with half-truths, innuendo, and outright fiction.

And, if you doubt my interpretation, or think that maybe I’m reading too much into that, look at what Paul says next. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” That not only means that the followers of Jesus should clean up their potty mouths, but also that we must only speak words that affirm, encourage, build up, and benefit the people to whom we are talking and sharing, and yes, that includes our interactions on the internet.

Paul says that we grieve God when we harbor bitterness, rage, and anger, when we fight and spread untruths about others, or express any sort of malice toward others. Instead, be kind, be compassionate, be forgiving because that is what Jesus Christ did for you. Let’s be clear, this isn’t easy. It’s going to be hard to live our lives this way. But when Jesus calls us to love, Paul wants us to know that walking in the way of love means to love others, including our neighbors, the people on the internet, and including the people that we don’t like, people that don’t like us, and the people that don’t treat us nicely.

David loved even when Absalom stole everything from him and tried to kill him.

Jesus loved even when his friends and neighbors doubted him, turned their backs on him, and abandoned him. Even when his nation hated him, and crucified him, he loved them enough to give his life to save them, and all the rest of us.

The message is clear. Genuine love is not transactional. If you only love the people who love you back, or the people who do something for you, that isn’t real love. Walking in the way of love means loving others, including our neighbors, the people on the internet, people that we don’t like, that don’t like us, and that don’t treat us nicely. And it also means speaking only words that affirm, encourage, build up, and benefit the people to whom we are talking and sharing.

And, unfortunately, if that is the definition of love that we’re supposed to use, and it is, a lot of us doing it wrong.

Let us pray that God would empower us to do better.

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Are You Worthy?

August 4, 2024August 4, 2024 PastorPartridge Sermon

Are You Worthy?

August 04, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a John 6:24-35 Ephesians 4:1-16

It is a common occurrence for people to reach prominent levels of achievement only to then feel as if they do not belong there. Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, has said that, although few of them will say it out loud, every person that sits in the executive suites of national and international businesses experiences the feeling of not really belonging there. It’s so common that it has a name, imposter syndrome. Tina Fey said that she often bounces between egomania and feeling as if she is a total fraud. Nobel Laureate Maya Angelou said, “I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.'” Even Albert Einstein felt as if the acclaim that he had earned was too much. He once said, “The exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler.”

But you don’t have to have a chair on the top floor of a Fortune 500 corporation to feel that way. Pastors feel that way all the time, and so do people of all levels of responsibility. It’s an almost natural thing for anyone who achieves something when they came from humble backgrounds or went through times in their lives when they had few possessions and resources.

And that describes King David. We all know the story. David was the youngest son, of a family that no one had ever heard of, from a small town that people barely remembered, and who belonged to one of the smallest and most unimportant tribes of Israel, but eventually finds himself, not only at the top of his own clan and tribe, but manages to reunite all twelve tribes of Israel and become the king of the reunited nation and a regional power with which other nations had to reckon. But how did David react to his ascension to power? Did he feel as if he was an imposter? Did he overcome it? Or did he overcompensate? Last week, we read the story of David’s poor decisions, his descent into sin, and his betrayal of an innocent, loyal, and honorable man. This week, as we read 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a, we learn that David’s actions did not go unnoticed by God…

^11:26When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.

^12:1 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

⁵David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! ⁶He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

¹¹“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. ¹²You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

At some point in his life, David forgot how he got to the top of the pile and, at the same time, forgot who had put him there. When that happened, David put aside any imposter syndrome that he might have been experiencing and chose egotism instead. He was the king and could do whatever he wanted regardless of who got hurt. And the message delivered by the prophet Nathan makes it clear that God sees whatever is done in secret and will not be forgotten. There will be a price for our egotism and selfishness.

We see a different sort of test for imposters in the story of John 6:24-35. The morning after we witnessed Jesus feed more than five thousand people and saw Jesus walk on water, the people find him again in Capernaum.

²⁴Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

²⁸Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³²Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Once Jesus says that he isn’t going to give people bread every time a crowd gathers, they want to know how they can tell if he is an imposter. People thought that Jesus might be the Messiah, but Jesus wasn’t the first person to claim to be the Messiah of Israel. There had been many before him and many came after him, and so the people ask what sign he will give to prove that he is not just another imposter. And so, Jesus says that the sign he will give is himself, that his followers will never be hungry for spiritual food that gives real life.

And finally, as Paul sits in yet another prison, he writes to the church in Ephesus and, in Ephesians 4:1-16, urges them to live lives that are worthy of the calling that God has put upon their lives.

^4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why itsays:

“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”

⁹(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows, and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Paul says that a life that is worthy of the calling of God is a life that is humble, gentle, patient, loving, peaceful, and in unity with one another through the Spirit of God. He knows that we are not perfect, but because we are not, God has given each one of us the grace to live with one another and with the people around us. Paul says that it is Jesus who sent us the gifts of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and I would add the many authors of excellent books of spiritual teaching that have been given to equip us, God’s people, for works of service. In turn, our spiritual service is to build up the body of Christ until all of us are united in faith and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and become mature and attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

That last part, “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ,” should be remembered from last week. It means, that we are filled with the same powerful love that fills Jesus, and that we love others in the same way that Jesus loved. When we are mature, Paul says, we will no longer be tossed back and forth by the wind and the waves of faddish teachings, or the cunning, crafty, and deceitful schemes of those who would use the church or its people for their own selfish ends, but that we will speak the truth and work together to love one another and to love others.

David allowed his ego to take him down a path that he should have never followed and it destroyed the life of Uriah and the lives of many others. There is no need for us to suffer from imposter syndrome, but if we are to be worthy of God’s gifts to us, we must do as Jesus did, to keep God at the center of our lives and give of ourselves so that others can receive the gift of spiritual food that Jesus offers. A life that is worthy of the calling of God is a life that is humble, gentle, patient, loving, peaceful, and in unity with one another through the Spirit of God.

It is a high calling, but there is no need for us to suffer from imposter syndrome. Instead, we must give thanks for the amazing gifts that we have been given, and live lives that are worthy of them.

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Pastor Partridge

Sermons, blogs and other things from Pastor John Partridge

Month: August 2024

What’s the Point?

What’s the Point?

August 25, 2024*

Learning Wisdom for Life

Learning Wisdom for Life

August 18, 2024*

Love: You’re Doing it Wrong

Love: You’re Doing it Wrong

August 11, 2024*

Are You Worthy?

Are You Worthy?

August 04, 2024*