Author: PastorPartridge

Set Free… For a Purpose

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , ,

“Set Free… For a Purpose!”

August 21, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 13:10-17                 Hebrews 12:18-29                         Jeremiah 1:4-10

 

How many of you have access to the internet and use things like email, Facebook, Twitter and other things?

Like anything else, sometimes we take have to take the good with the bad.  I am not very fond at all of the political garbage that gets circulated but I love some of the things that my friends pass along.  While there is a lot of worthless junk, some things make me smile, and others can be a source of encouragement.  Not long ago, I saw a video that was, recorded from the dashboard of a police car.  In the frame of the video are both another police car and a police officer who is attempting to make an arrest.  But there is a problem.  The man being arrested is not cooperating and is bigger and stronger than the police officer.  He begins to wrestle with the officer for his gun and things look pretty grim for the good guys when something unexpected happens.

The text underneath the video tells us that the officer that we are watching is, in fact, a canine handler and his canine partner is still in the car that is seen in the video.  We are also told that just a short time before the events recorded in the video, the police department had installed a remote release that allows the officer to press a button in his pocket or on his equipment belt, and release his partner from the back of the car.  At that moment, the officer, in the midst of wrestling with the perpetrator, manages to reach his remote release button.  And in the blink of an eye, the tide turned.  In a flash, the canine officer is all over the perpetrator, wrestles him away from his human partner and pins him to the ground.  From the moment that the car door opened to the bad guy being in handcuffs, took less then ten seconds.  It was truly impressive, especially if you are a dog lover.

But the reason that this story came to my mind was the scripture that we will be reading today.  The police dog was safe and secure in the police car but being save and secure is not what police dogs have been trained for.  In order to do what he had been trained to do, the dog had to be set free.  When his handler pushed that button to open his door, there was no leash on him but he knew exactly what had to be done.  He was set free… for a purpose.

We begin our scripture lesson this morning with the prophet Jeremiah who was probably about 12 years old when God called him.  Jeremiah was worried that no one would believe him and protested his calling before God. (Jeremiah 1:4-10)

4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Jeremiah complained that he was too young to be a prophet probably because he had already been told this about a lot of things.  “You’re too to do this.”  “You’re too young to do that.” And so Jeremiah internalizes those doubts and protests to God himself that he is too young to answer the call of God.

But God.

But God didn’t care for Jeremiah’s excuses nor did he care much about his fear.  God casts aside the protests of others by telling Jeremiah not to worry about his age and then he does something else.  God tells Jeremiah not to be afraid because when God calls, he does not set you loose upon the world all alone.  Instead, God calls you to go out, and then goes with you.  To further ease his fear, God touches Jeremiah and declares that he has put his words into Jeremiah’s mouth.  What’s more, God declares that Jeremiah is being called and sent out, to lift up, and to destroy entire nations, to build things, as well as to destroy things.

God called Jeremiah to be his prophet, and then he set him free… to go out into the world and to do the work of God.

God called Jeremiah and then he set him free… for a purpose.

And then in Luke 13:10-17, we hear of this encounter with Jesus:

10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

The woman that Jesus met had been bent and crippled for eighteen years and Jesus simply declares “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”

But the synagogue leader was infuriated that Jesus would even consider healing someone on the Sabbath day, a day that no one was supposed to do work.  But Jesus exposes the ridiculousness of this manmade rule by pointing out how any sensible person would understand that untying their animals, or feeding and watering them, was allowed.  How much more so would God allow this woman to be freed from her crippling disfigurement!

Jesus healed the woman to set her free from her pain and humiliation.

Jesus broke manmade rules to set everyone free from expectations that twisted God’s commands into something ugly.

Jesus set the woman free… for a purpose.

And finally, in Hebrews 12:18-29, the Apostle Paul confronts the nagging fear of many Christians that God is big, and scary, and will strike us down because of some mistake or perceived sin.  Paul understands that the stories of the Old Testament can feed this fear of God but reaches out to calm our fears by saying this:

18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Paul understands that the stories of the Old Testament revealed a god that sometimes even terrified Moses.  But in contrast, Paul reminds us that God is also the god that invites us to live with him, the righteous, loving, and perfect god.  With God is Jesus, the priest who intercedes for us and the man who loved us so much that he gave his life for us.  While we should be cautious not to refuse God, God’s strength is intended to comfort us instead of frighten us.  As followers of God, God’s strength defines a kingdom that cannot be overthrown or defeated.  Instead of binding us into slavery through fear, God’s strength, when added to his call, is intended to set us free.

Just as he called Jeremiah to be his prophet, God calls each and every one of us to our own, unique and special ministry for his kingdom.

Just as Jesus healed the crippled woman, God has healed us of a multitude of wounds, infirmities, and sin.

Just as Jesus broke manmade rules in order to make God’s rules appear more clearly, we too are called to understand the loving Spirit of God instead of the harshness with which humans have often described him.

We have been called, to tell the world that God loves us, and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We have not been enslaved.

We have been set free from the non-biblical rules that human beings have made for us.

We have been set free from sin.

We have been set free from death.

We have been set free… for a purpose.

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, 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 may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Jesus the Destroyer

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , ,

“Jesus the Destroyer”

August 14, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 12:49-56                   Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2                  Isaiah 5:1-7

 

If any of us have learned anything from the current election cycle, I think that there are two lessons that we have seen repeated over and over again. First, many people are not what they appear to be on the surface, and second, that no matter how badly you have mess up, a good publicist can “spin” it to look like something that wasn’t really that bad.  These same lessons can be applied to scripture.  By that, I don’t mean that Jesus has a publicist that is busy making him look better than he really is, but what I mean is that well meaning teachers, pastors and interpreters often focus on the good things, the nice things, the gentle things, about God and Jesus while overlooking some of the harsher aspects of their personalities.

Occasionally, this is deliberate, but I would guess that most of the time it is done simply because explaining and understanding these harsher realities is a little more difficult.  Likewise, understanding these harsher realities is more difficult for all of us to fit within our pre-established assumptions and understandings of both God and Jesus. But it is for exactly that reason that covering these aspects of scripture is important.  It is one thing to vote for a candidate because you heard all about the wonderful things that they have done, but before you vote, it is also critically important that we understand how they behave in private and that we know something about their core moral and ethical values.

If these things are important for us to know before we vote for a candidate for president, how much more important are they for us to know these things about the God that we worship?

We begin this morning with God’s message to the people of Israel during the time of the prophet Isaiah.  Here, God describes Israel as his very own vineyard where he had high hopes of raising a good crop, and producing a fine wine, but got something else entirely. (Isaiah 5:1-7)

I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”

7 The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

God says that he cleared the land, planted the absolute best quality stock, watched over it, and did everything he could to prepare for a good crop, but all that he got was rotten fruit.  God asks, “what more could I have done?”  “Why did my vineyard only produce rotten fruit?”  But clearly, God is not pleased and he has already decided on a course of action.  The walls that protect it will be torn down, the hedges that made it pretty will be uprooted, and the vines will be trampled underfoot.  Nothing and no one will live there except briars and thorns.

Even the rain will refuse to go there.

And God says that is what will happen to Israel because the people of Israel are the vines that God has cared for and tended.  God didn’t look for grapes or wine from his people.  What God wanted was justice, but instead they only produced violence.  What God wanted was righteousness, but what his people produced was the distress of the poor, the underprivileged, the outcasts, and the outsiders.

Even though Israel worships a merciful, giving, loving, compassionate god, they have exceeded his patience and God declares that he will remove his protection and allow them to be trampled underfoot by their enemies.

That isn’t the picture of God that we usually get, but it is a vitally important one.  God is a god of justice, mercy, love and compassion, but God has limits.  There are limits to his anger, there are limits to his compassion, there are limits to his mercy, and there are limits to his love.  Just because God loves us, just because he is merciful, compassionate, and loving does not mean that we can do whatever we want.

We worship a loving God, but there are limits to what he will tolerate.

God freely pours out his love and his blessings upon his people, but he still expects something in return.  God expects his vineyard to produce fruit.  God expects his people to act with justice and righteousness.

We must also remember that Jesus is not just a nice man who was kind to women and children, who welcomed strangers and foreigners, and loved everybody.  Jesus has more than one mission.  During his first time on earth, Jesus came as the holy Lamb of God.  He came to be the rescuer, the redeemer, and the sacrifice for the sin of humanity.  But that isn’t the only role that Jesus has to play.  Jesus is also the commander of the Army of the Lord, the Lawgiver, the Lord of our Righteousness, the Mighty One, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the one who will sit upon the Throne of Judgement.

In Luke 12:49-56, Jesus says,

49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?

Jesus says that he has been sent to set fire to the earth and he wishes that the fire had already started but he cannot because the time is not yet right.  Jesus says that he has not been sent to bring peace, but division.  In this role, Jesus is the destroyer.  The coming of Jesus will divide families, communities, and nations.  The coming of Jesus really is the beginning of the end of the world.  After his coming, Jesus says that we should be on the lookout for signs that will help us to interpret the times that we live in.  Some of these are signs of the coming of the end of the world but others are signs that we can, or at least should, interpret because they have happened before and we can find them in scripture.  What happened to Israel, God’s favorite nation, his very own people, the people with whom God made a covenant of love and protection, when Israel became morally corrupt and God could no longer find justice and righteousness in his vineyard?

God brought destruction.

And the reality of scripture is that the coming of Jesus wasn’t the beginning of pie in the sky by and bye where the world would be filled with everything wonderful and all God’s children would finally get along with peace and harmony.  Instead, the arrival of Jesus was a sign of the beginning of the end times.  Because of the coming of Jesus, families would be ripped apart, and family members would turn against one another.  Not only did this happen in good Jewish families and in Greek and Roman families in the time of Jesus but it is happening today.  It is difficult to think of a better example than those we see in the news in Muslim families where children are disowned, beaten, or even murdered because they have become Christian.  This is not limited to Muslims.  It is not uncommon for Jewish families to disown family members who convert, great tensions are created in some atheist families when one member comes to faith, and I have met Indian men whose families turned their backs on them when they converted from their Hindu faith.

So what is it that God desires from us?

We’ve heard it before in previous weeks but in Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2, Paul says,

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets,33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

What Paul says is that following Jesus is no guarantee that life will be one endless chain of joy and wonder.  We aren’t guaranteed a dance in the meadow with unicorns and rainbows.  Instead, Paul reminds us of all the faithful people who died because of their faith… many of them horribly.  But Paul says that all of these faithful people are watching over us, are praying for us, and encouraging us.  Our goal is to do the best that we can, to trust Jesus as much as we can, even when life doesn’t isn’t all roses and margaritas and doesn’t go at all the way that we planned.  Paul’s message reminds us to hold on to faith even if we don’t live to see God’s promises fulfilled in our lifetime.

Jesus is the Savior of the world, the Lamb of God, the Author and giver of life, but also the commander of the Army of the Lord, the Lawgiver, the Lord of our Righteousness, the Mighty One, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the one who will sit upon the Throne of Judgement.

All these things are true.

We know that our God is a god of love, grace, mercy and compassion, but we also must not ignore the reality that God’s patience has limits and that we do not have license to do as we please.

As people of faith, as followers, and as disciples of Jesus Christ, we trust God, but we must also be constantly striving to be worthy of the God that planted us in his vineyard…

…so that we can produce fruits of justice and righteousness.

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, 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 may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Eulogy and Obituary for Marland Gerber

PastorPartridge Eulogy , ,

Eulogy for Marland D. Gerber

August 03, 2016

by Rev. John Partridge

 

None of us expected this.

 

Of course we all know that none of us will live forever, but this is not where any of us planned to be a week or so ago.  When I heard that Marland Gerber had passed from this life and into the next, I was stunned.  I had just seen him at church recently.  He was doing better than he had been in months.  And so, just when we thought he was getting better, we got a phone call, or a text, that we didn’t expect.  But after the shock wore off, those of us who knew Marland realized one thing:

 

We are poorer today than we were last week.

 

As my wife and I met with the extended Gerber family Monday evening, we listened as, one after another, they told us what they remembered, and what Marland had meant to them.  The praise was abundant.  If he had been there, he would have been embarrassed to hear it, but it was all true.  Someone said that “Nobody laughs like Santa.”  He was described as loving, caring, always ready to listen, the best ever, amazing, a very hard worker, a man who always took pride in what he did, a man who lit up the room wherever he went, and more.  Marland was a giving person who was always ready to give what he had.  He tried to provide for everyone and make sure that no one wanted for anything.  He was willing to give the shirt off of his back, and sometimes he gave more than he could really afford.

 

Marland was also a lover in the best possible sense of the word.  He loved Eileen with all his heart and would anything for her.  He did give her a hard time for cooking too much, but didn’t complain when it was his turn to eat.  That love wasn’t just reserved for Eileen.  For Marland, every family member was unique and special and he had his own way to make every single one of them feel loved and valued.  He teased the younger kids by showing them his false teeth, told bad jokes until everyone had them memorized (ask any of them why God’s name is Andy), had pet names for some, asked about their lives, bragged about all of them, gave words of encouragement whenever they were needed but could give you a hard time of you needed that, and Marland showed up for everything.  For Marland, “family” was an event.  He took his grandkids on trips and made sure that they did things together and he came to their games.  Not just a few, but all of them.  Football games, baseball games, wrestling tournaments, dance recitals, you name it, if one of his family or friends were in it, he would do his best to be there to watch.  That dedication extended beyond his family, because over the years as he attended all of those games, he made friends with the other kids, their families, the coaches, and everyone else, so that even when his kids graduated and moved on, Marland was still going to those games to cheer on his new friends.  Of course it’s always more fun to watch when your team wins, and Timmy said that Marland absolutely lit up when the Perry wrestling team won two state finals.

 

But watching his family and friends wasn’t all that Marland did.  He loved sports.  All sports.  All the time.  I think I heard a rumor that since they heard the news, Sports Center is already warning people that they expect their ratings to be down.  It is fairly well-known that Marland liked to yell at the TV while he watched his games.  Often he was yelling at the guy with long hair and telling him that if he got a haircut he could run faster.  For the really big games, the seats in his living room were reserved and by invitation only.  If you weren’t invited, there’s a good chance that you would be asked to leave when the game started.  Aside from yelling at the television, because he knew so much about sports and cared so much about people, everyone in his family thinks that Marland would have made a great coach.  And it wasn’t just about sports on TV.  As I said, Marland supported a great many of the teams in Perry, but he and Eileen also bought season tickets to the Canton Charge games.  The funny thing is, the two of them make friends so easily, that after going downtown week after week, before long they made friends with the guy that gave away free stuff.  And then, pretty soon, instead of getting one towel, they got a bunch of towels.  Instead of getting one bobble-head, they came home with a box of bobble heads.

 

Wherever Marland went, he had friends.  Our church is full of his friends.  The Sugarcreek Methodist Church is full of his friends.  The Elks and the Eagles are full of his friends. And the entire campground at Atwood Lake is full of his friends.   When they heard that Marland had died, and that Eileen was at their camper, over a hundred people stopped by to pay their respects and express their condolences.

 

DJ put it this way: “He never had a bad thing to say about anyone and I would venture to say that no one could say a bad thing about him.  He would always greet people as if they were old friends.  He had a generosity of spirit that is rarely found in today’s society.  All were welcome at his table.  He was always such a giving man.  I am proud to have called him grandpa (poppy).  I will continue to strive to follow the example that such a great person has laid out for me.”

 

Marland called Denise (who he called Neesie) every Friday.  And every week he was genuinely interested in her life.  He would ask, “How are you?” “Where are you?”  And when he asked her, just as when he asked everyone else these sorts of things, you could tell that he really cared about the answers.

 

Among those gathered with the family on Monday night, were several people who are not, nor have they ever been, genetically related.  But at different times, for different reasons, under different circumstances, Marland and Eileen did what they have always done.  They loved people.  And along the way, these folks were just adopted into the family and accepted and one of their own.  For them, Marland and Eileen became their parents.

 

I told you at the beginning that Marland was a lover in the best sense of the word.  He loved people.  He loved hugs. It was hard for us to watch the pain that he was enduring for the last few years, but he never made an issue of it.  He didn’t get grumpy or lash out at people because he cared about them more than he cared about himself.  The other night someone said that he would never talk back, even in his own defense, because he didn’t want to hurt someone else.  Instead of getting angry, he just got hurt that other people were so wounded that they had to lash out at others.  And so his way of making them feel better, was just to take it without fighting back.  As a result, someone at the campground told one of his kids, “Your dad taught me how to be a man.”

 

And so after the shock wears off, those of us who knew Marland realized something.

 

We are poorer today than we were last week.

 

But that isn’t all that there is.

 

 

Marland Gerber was a lover in the best sense of the word.  He loved his family, he loved his friends, and honestly, I think he loved almost everyone.  I’ve shared a lot of things this morning, but the thing that ties them all together is love.  The thing that we will all remember, the thing that made Marland so special, is that everywhere Marland went, he made the people around him better than they were before.

 

We are better than we were before… because we were loved by this special and unique man.

 

And because of that, although we are poorer than we were last week, we are all extraordinarily rich.

 

—————————-

 

Obituary

Marland D. Gerber

September 16, 1938 – July 30, 2016

 

Marland D. Gerber 77 of Massillon and formerly of Sugarcreek died Saturday, July 30, 2016 at Union Hospital unexpectedly. He was born September 16, 1938 in Walnut Creek to the late Ura and Mary (Weaver) Gerber.

 

He retired from Andreas Furniture in Sugarcreek in 1999 after 32 years. He was a member of the Sugarcreek United Methodist Church for over 40 years before becoming a member of Trinity United Methodist Church at Massillon. He was a member of Aerie of the Elks 510 in New Philadelphia and the Eagles 2370 in Canton.

 

He enjoyed spending most of his time at Atwood Lake-surrounded by his wife, family and friends; especially his close friends Joe and Denise Mutchler and Bobbi Ries. He cherished nothing more than the company of his 6 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren. He loved all sports, whether he was able to attend them in person or watching on TV.

 

He is survived by his wife, the former Eileen Doney whom he married on August 2, 1958; his two children Marla (Tim) Armstrong of Massillon and Rick (Trish) Gerber of Sugarcreek, 6 grandchildren Tara (Brandon) Lilly of Streetsboro, Dawn (Kenneth) Boudrie of Massillon, Jonathan Gerber of Sugarcreek, DJ (Stacy) Digianantonio of Alliance, Jeremy Gerber of Sugarcreek and Timmy Armstrong of Massillon, 5 great grandchildren Tyler, Austin, Lucas, Gianna and Conner and was looking forward to the arrival of his newest great grandson. In addition to his parents he is preceded in death by his sister Rhea Winkler.

 

Services will be held on Wednesday, August 3, 2016 at 11:00 AM at Smith-Varns Funeral Home 115 Andreas Drive in Sugarcreek with Pastor John Partridge officiating. Friends may call on Tuesday 2-4 and 6-8 PM at the funeral home. Memorial services will be conducted by the Elks Lodge from New Philadelphia on Tuesday at 8:00 PM at the conclusion of calling hours.

Smith-Varns
330-852-2141
www.smithfuneral.com

God Hates Church

PastorPartridge Sermon , , ,

“God Hates Church”

August 07, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 12:32-40                Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16         Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

 

 

Do you remember playing pretend and actually using your imagination?

Today we’re going to begin by playing a game with your imagination.

This is going to be a little weird.

Imagine… that every Sunday there are church services in your local bank.  These are not services to worship God, but services to worship money.  Each week people gather to sing songs about deposit slips and ATM’s and occasionally a really old song about real human tellers that smiled.  People stand up occasionally to share stories about how their debit or credit cards changed their lives and the bank president preacher delivers a message about the importance of maintaining a healthy balance.

I warned you that this was going to be weird.

But over time, the stockholders of the bank begin to notice that while the worship services at the bank are just as passionate as they once were, there are a lot of people who aren’t customers of the bank and are known to be deadbeats who don’t have any money.  They love to sing the songs about money, but they don’t actually want to earn any, or save any, of their own.  For them, it’s the passion of the worship experience, and the fellowship of the community that’s important and not the money.

This is weird, first of all because it is difficult for us to imagine that people would worship at the bank (despite the fact that we know a lot of people who already worship their money).  But there is a second layer of weird because the people who are worshipping at the bank reach a point where they don’t even care about the money.  And we wonder why they would even go to the bank if they didn’t have any money and weren’t a regular bank customer.

But move that story back to the church instead of the bank, and substitute God for money, and this is essentially the story that we have in Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1, 10-20)…

The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.

18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Right off the bat, God refers to the leaders of Israel as if they were from Sodom and her people as if they were from Gomorrah, but then God says that he doesn’t care about their sacrifices, or their prayers, or their offerings, incense, holy days, celebrations, feasts, or festivals.  In today’s language, God says, I don’t care about your worship, I hate your church, I despise Christmas and I reject Easter.  You come to worship, but I refuse to listen because you only care about your worship.  Your actions are evil and your hearts are corrupt.

God says that if his people want to be clean again, their hearts must return to God and when they do, their actions will begin to look like the actions of godly people… do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed, and care for the fatherless and the widow.  God makes sure that they know it is not too late to change, but if they do not, they will be destroyed by violence.

The reality that Isaiah tries to communicate to God’s people is that church was supposed to be an expression of their love for God but has become instead simply a travelling show, a performance for its own sake, a custom or a habit with no love.  And God says that for him it was never about the show.  It was always about love.  In today’s language, what God says is that if you can’t live like believers, if you can’t love, then God doesn’t care about church, or Christmas, or Easter, or any of it.

We find this same sentiment expressed by the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, where he says,

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

I like to remind everyone around me that in most contexts, when the word “faith” is used in scripture, it can more easily be understood by replacing it with the word “trust.” What Paul is saying then, is that we trust God, we have confidence and assurance that God will do what God has said that he will do because we have tested him and found him to be worthy of our trust.  And as such, we, like those who have come before us, live by faith and look forward to something better, a world that is better, because we trust that God has prepared such a place for us.  Paul’s description, much like that of Isaiah, reminds us that worshiping God is more about the condition of our heart than about putting on a good show on Sunday morning.

And then in Luke 12:32-40, we hear Jesus emphasize the importance of our heart condition.

32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

That really is a powerful message.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

If your treasure is money, your heart will love money.  If your treasure is in pleasure, then that’s where your heart lives.  And if your treasure is in looking good, or even in worship and on making Sunday morning worship services look great, or in overflowing offering plates, then that is where your heart will be also.

But that isn’t what God wants.

That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do what we do on Sunday morning with as much excellence as we can muster, but what it means is that if our only goal is to put on appearances, then none of it matters and God doesn’t care about any of it.

Jesus says that he will come at an hour when no one will expect him and we must be ready, our hearts must be ready, because on that day there will be no ‘do overs’ or second chances.  Our hearts, on that day, today, and every day, must be focused on God and God alone.

Church is supposed to be an expression of our love for God.  No matter what we do, love has to come first or church will instead become nothing more than a performance for its own sake, a custom or a habit with no love.  God doesn’t want church to be full of people who don’t have an account with him or even care who he is or what he wants.  No matter how passionate, God doesn’t want a church without love.

Without love, God hates church.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Love… must… come… first.

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, 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 may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Entitlement

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“Entitlement”

July 31, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 12:13-21                   Colossians 3:1-11                   Hosea 11:1-11

With just a few exceptions for people who belong to the Public Employees Union or retired from the railroads, most of us are a part of the Social Security system.  We are either working and paying into it, or we are retired and receiving checks from it.  But precisely because so many of us have a vested interest, and because this is an election year, we often hear public conversations arguing about the word, “entitlement.”  It is used by politicians in two very different ways, and that difference is, in part, a source of the arguments.  Much like pensions, Social Security is a system that we pay into.  While we are working, every week, seven and a half percent of our earnings are “invested” and our employers pay in an additional seven and a half percent.  Because we paid into the system, we feel that we are “entitled” to some return on our investment, and that seems reasonable.  Likewise, those folks that retired from a career in the federal government, or retired from the military, feel “entitled” to collect the pensions that they earned.  The difficulty arises when politicians discuss the federal budget and included these sorts of “entitlements” in the same breath as other systems for which those collecting did not contribute.

I’m going to stop the analogy at this point because today’s message is not about Social Security.

It is, however, connected to how we react to our understanding of this word, “entitlement.”

To what things are we entitled?

To what things are others entitled?   And what are we are entitled to give them?

As political as that sounds, I can assure you, once again, that today’s message is not political… but it may accidently overflow into the way that you think about some of our political issues.

We begin this morning in the book of Hosea.  Hosea was a prophet in Israel during, or after, the lifetime of Amos, about 800 years before the birth of Jesus.  Much of what God has to say in Hosea relates to Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.  In Hosea 11:1-11, we read this:

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 But the more they were called, the more they went away from me.
They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

5 “Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them
because they refuse to repent?
6 A sword will flash in their cities; it will devour their false prophets
and put an end to their plans.
7 My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call me God Most High,
I will by no means exalt them.

8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim?
My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man— the Holy One among you.
I will not come against their cities.
10 They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion.
When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.
11 They will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows,
from Assyria, fluttering like doves.
I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord.

God says that he has loved Israel like his own son but that Israel has been “determine to turn” away from him.

God lists all of the things that he has done for Israel.  He has healed them, led them with kindness, loved them, fed them, and cared for them in many other ways, but Israel has consistently abandoned God.  They have loved God in name only; they have praised him with their lips but denied him with their actions.  Because they have turned their backs on him, God will no longer bless them.  So bad was their betrayal, God has considered destroying Israel like he did Admah, Zeboyim, Sodom, and Gomorrah.  But because of his love for his people, instead of destroying them, God intends to bring about a chain of events that will remind them that he is God so that they will return home once again.

This entire story brings us to see entitlement from several perspectives.  First, over the years Israel came to feel entitled to God’s love and blessing simply because they were Jews, and therefore a part of God’s Chosen People, and also because they lived in Israel.  But they forgot that the covenant between God and his Chosen People was a contract that required something from them.  Second, because of that same covenant, God is essentially asking, “Am I not entitled to your love and obedience? Do I not deserve it?  Have I not earned it?”  The answer to all of these must be, “Yes.”  God may have done these things for his people because he loved them, but even so something is owed to him because of the extravagance of his gifts.

And then, if we move forward to Luke 12:13-21, we find Jesus being asked to arbitrate a dispute in which one brother feels that he is entitled to more of his father’s inheritance than he has received.

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

The man in the story is upset because his brother, who was likely the oldest son, refused to divide his father’s inheritance with him.  We know that it was customary for a father’s estate to be divided among his children, or at least among his sons, with a double share going to the oldest son, who also became responsible for all of the estate’s debts, women, children, and other dependents.  But while it might have been customary, it wasn’t required and it isn’t difficult to imagine a number of situations in which it simply wouldn’t have been practical to do so.  The simplest situation that comes to mind would simply be that the estate wasn’t worth that much and the oldest son needed all of the money to care for the obligations that he inherited with the money (such as taking care of their mother).

But the man who calls out to Jesus feels entitled to his share.

In response to his request, Jesus tells a story about a man who loved money so much that be wanted to keep it all for himself instead of sharing it with others… or sharing it with God.  By telling this story, Jesus is accusing the man (the one who wanted a share of the inheritance) of being greedy.  From Jesus’ criticism we can probably assume that he wasn’t poor but only wanted the money because he wanted more money.

In both stories, money becomes a trap for human beings when they begin to love money more than they love the people around them, or more than they love God.  It is a dangerous trap because in both cases the people in question would say that they loved God, and more than likely they would have truly believed that they loved God, but in reality they had crossed a line.  Somewhere along the line they had crossed a line from trusting God for their wellbeing, and trusting God enough to follow his instructions, teaching, and commandments, into a place where they gave lip service to God but gave their time, talent, skills, abilities and real obedience to making money.  Somewhere along the line, loving God, and loving others, had taken second place to loving money.  Trusting God had taken a backseat to trusting money.

But as the followers of Jesus Christ, we have been called to follow a different path.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, he says this (Colossians 3:1-11):

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Because we have been given eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our calling is to set our hearts on things that are better, higher, and more important than the earthly things that used to consume us.  What we have been given is of unspeakable, incalculable, value.  Because we have received that indescribable gift, we are called to get rid of the things that used to drag us down, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lies.

We are called to live as if we believe.

The danger for God’s people, and their salvation, lies in entitlement.  We cross a line when we feel entitled to things that God has not promised us.  We are not entitled to wealth, or health, or success.  We are not entitled to simplicity or an easy life.  We are not entitled to God’s blessings.  We have crossed a line when we put these things ahead of God, or trust them more than we trust God.

But we are entitled to trust.  No matter what happens we know that we can trust God.  We are entitled to love.  No matter what happens we can know that God loves us and wants what is best for us.

But that entitlement cuts both ways.

Because of God’s covenant with us, through Jesus Christ, because of the extravagance of his gifts to us, God is entitled to something as well.  Something is owed to him and that something is our love and our obedience.

We aren’t called to offer him lip service and just say that we love God.

We are called to make God first in everything that we do and to live every moment of our lives behaving as if he is.

We are called to love our neighbors and care about their welfare just as much as we care about our own.

Every word from our lips, every action that we take, should be a reflection of the love, compassion, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ.

He’s earned it.

He’s entitled to it.

 

Prayer:  O God, may we be so filled with your love and with your Spirit, that the people around us would truly believe that we *act* like Jesus.

Amen

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, 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 may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Choose What is Better

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“Choose What is Better”

July 17, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42                   Colossians 1:15-23                     Amos 8:1-12

 

Which would you choose, three quarters or a $1 bill?

There’s a joke about a local barber that liked to make fun of one of the neighborhood kids.  “That kid is so stupid,” he would say.  And later, as the boy walked by, the barber would get the attention of everyone in his shop, call to the boy and offer him a choice, a choice between three shiny new quarters or a crisp new $1 bill. Just as the barber had predicted, the boy chose the three quarters and walked away while everyone laughed at him.  The next day one of the customers saw the boy on the street and asked him, “Why did you choose the three quarters instead of the dollar bill?”  At which the boy smiled and said, “Because I can get three quarters from that guy two or three times every week, but as soon as I pick the dollar bill, the game is over.”

Our lives are full of choices.  We make thousands of choices every day whether we realize it or not.

Get up or stay in bed?  Paper or plastic? Democrat or Republican? Television, radio, or internet?  Ford, Chevy, or an import?  Union or non-union?  Soup or Salad?  Exercise or dessert?  Pain or pleasure? Regular or high-test?

But every day we also get to choose between things like spending time with God or spending that time watching television.  Should we spend time reading scripture, or spend it reading the latest pulp fiction novel?

Having choices is nothing new, and in Amos 8:1-12, God outlines his grievances against Israel, many of which were because of the poor choices that God’s people had made.

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.

“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.

Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

3 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!”

4 Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,

5 saying,

“When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?”—
skimping on the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.

8 “Will not the land tremble for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the river of Egypt.

9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,

“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your religious festivals into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.

God’s principle accusation against the people of Israel is that they are abusing the poor saying that they “trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land.”  They observe the Sabbath and other holy days, but only grudgingly, and they wait impatiently for them to be over so that they can start selling things and making money again.  And when they do reopen, they cheat on the measurement, overcharge their customers, use rigged scales, and cheat any way they can think of including selling the stuff that they swept up off the floor.  They go out of their way to rip off the poor, even buying their slavery when their debt is no more than the cost of a pair of sandals.

Every day we have choices to make.  In the time of Amos, the people chose poorly.

And God says, “I will never forget anything they have done.”

For their love of money, and their offenses committed against the poor, God says that he will rise up and overwhelm them like the Nile floods the land every spring.  Destruction and agony will come to Israel because they only cared for themselves.  And worse, God will bring about a spiritual famine in which people will seek God, seek God’s words, and search out wisdom, but no one will be able to find it.

But there is another way.

In Colossians 1:15-23, Paul reminds us of how our relationship with God has changed.

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Paul reminds us that there was a time when each of us was an enemy of God because of the things that we did.  But now our lives have been turned around, we are forgiven for the ways that we disobeyed and offended God, and our relationship with God has been repaired because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Jesus intends to present us to God as perfect and holy… if we continue in faith and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.

Every day we have choices to make.  And even though we have chosen to come to faith in Jesus Christ, our choices today still make a difference.  We have chosen to follow Jesus, but our daily choices can still be choices to do things that can move us away from God and can destroy our relationship with him.

And so, as we move forward, we must remember the words of Jesus in Luke 10:38-42.

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Martha gets a bad rap for being bothered by her sister’s behavior.  Jesus comes to her house with twenty of thirty guests.  People are packed into the room and overflowing into the next so that they can hear Jesus teach.  And, being a good host, Martha is in the kitchen with her friends and neighbors and whatever help that she can get, trying to make food, and fetch water from the well, and find bedrolls, and whatever else she can think of to make Jesus and his friends comfortable.  But while she is slaving away, she discovers that he own sister, Mary, her absolute best friend and right hand helper, is nowhere to be found.  Instead of helping, Mary is sitting on her behind, listening to Jesus.  But when Martha complains, Jesus explains that Mary had a choice between working in the kitchen and sitting in the living room.  Both of these things were important and either choice was a good and worthwhile choice.  But by listening to Jesus, Mary has chosen what is better.

That little kid knew that even though the men in the barbershop would laugh at him, taking three quarters was a better choice because he could sucker the barber for three more quarters every few days.

The people of Israel chose money and wealth over compassion, mercy, and obedience to God.

Jesus had a choice, and he chose to die in our place so that we could be rescued from death.

Mary had a choice between two options that were both good and important, but knew that listening to Jesus was the better choice.

Every day our lives are filled with choices.  Choices to spend time with God, read scripture, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, to love mercy, to pray for others, to love our neighbors, and many other things.

Let us always remember that Jesus has called us to…

…choose what is better.

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, 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 may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

God and Weasels

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“God and Weasels”

July 10, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37              Colossians 1:1-14                  Amos 5:7-17

 

Do you watch the news at all?

Does this year’s political fiasco stir up any questions for you or for your friends?

I suspect that it has, and I think that it should.

Here are some politically charged questions that are often asked by the followers of Jesus Christ as well as your average person on the street.  And, while they are politically charged questions, they deserve thoughtful, theological, answers.

Why do good things happen to bad people?

Why don’t bad things happen to bad people?

Why are there people, that no matter what they do, nothing bad ever seems to ever happen to them?

Why do these same people manipulate the media so that the people don’t ever hear the truth?

The funny thing about these questions is that, while I have put them into a 21st century context by the way that I worded them, I wasn’t referring specifically to the Bushes, Cheneys, Clintons, or anyone else.  In fact, I drew these questions from a story in the Bible from almost three thousand years ago.  (Amos 7:7-17)

7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”

“A plumb line,” I replied.

Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

9 “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying:

“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”

14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say,

“‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’

17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country.
And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”

Amos was just a guy herding sheep in the middle of nowhere until God called him to take a message to the people of Israel.  But when he did, the priest at the nation’s most important place of worship, the place where the king would have sacrificed and worshipped, Bethel, sends a message to King Jeroboam that Amos is trying to undermine his authority and destroy Israel.  In our terminology, he is conspiring to control the news cycle and stifle free speech, so that the people won’t have a chance to hear the truth, so that the people won’t have a chance to hear message from God that Amos is preaching.

Amaziah the priest goes on to tell Amos to go home and not to bother coming to bring God’s words to the king, to the capital city, and to the nation’s most prominent place of worship.  But Amos’s answer is this: If God has called me to bring a message to Israel then I will bring a message to Israel.  And if you want to stop me, then God has a message of disaster for you as well.

King Jeroboam didn’t like bad news and he didn’t like his people to hear bad news either.  In fact, he had been manipulating the news for so long that he didn’t want the people to hear the truth at all.  On top of that, the church, along with the nation’s most important priest, was one of his leading coconspirators. Together, they had been building something that God says doesn’t measure up, a nation, and policies, morals and ethics, that don’t match God’s standards.  And the message that Amos brought was that God himself was coming with his plumb line, his measuring stick, to see what is built to standard, to see what is straight, to find what is crooked, to test them, to measure them, and everything, and everyone, that didn’t measure up would be destroyed.

Perhaps one of the most important messages that we learn from Amos is that while God’s justice may not always be immediate, or as fast as we would hope it would be, God has not forgotten.  The weasels will get what they deserve, in God’s time.  Ignoring God does not make God, or God’s justice, go away and ignoring God’s laws does not protect you from the consequences of breaking them no matter how wealthy or important (or unimportant) you may be.

Nearly eight hundred years later, in the time of Jesus, people haven’t changed.  Leaders of the nation and of the church are still trying to manipulate and misinterpret the words of God for their own benefit but Jesus isn’t having any of it.  (Luke 10:25-37)

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

This man, who is described as an expert in Jewish law, comes to Jesus and seems confused by the meaning of one of the two fundamental laws of God, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  He accepts that this is a fundamental law of God, and he accepts that he is commanded to love his neighbor, but when it comes time to decide who his neighbor might be, he wants to play fast and loose with the definition.

He knew that he wasn’t loving and so, because “he wanted to justify himself” he tries to get Jesus to give him a definition of “neighbor” that will allow him to weasel out of loving people that he doesn’t like.

But Jesus isn’t having any of that noise.

Jesus tells him a story, in which the hero of the story, the most loving, and most godly character, is a man that every Jew has been raised and trained to hate with every fiber of his being, an enemy that they disliked more than they hated the Romans, a Samaritan.  In the end, the teacher of the law admits that it was his enemy that showed mercy, but even then he can’t bring himself to even say the word “Samaritan” out loud.

Jesus wants us to know that just like it was in the time of Amos, we can’t change God’s rules just because we don’t like them.  Redefining words, or misinterpreting scripture, to make ourselves look good is not acceptable.

We cannot follow the way of the weasel.

There is another way.

As the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Colossae, he begins by complimenting them because the things that they have been doing have people all over talking about them. (Colossians 1:1-14)

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The faith of the church in Colossae, their love, and their ministry, is bearing fruit and people are talking about them so much that Paul keeps hearing about them as he travels on his missionary journeys.  And so, Paul, and his travelling companions, are continually in prayer for the Colossian church so that God would continue the good work there, strengthen them, and give them great endurance and patience so that the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ might continue to grow throughout the world.

Jesus calls us to follow him and to obey his teaching.  But the followers of Jesus Christ are called to do things his way and not to redefine words, reinterpret, and misinterpret scripture so that we make the gospel message into something it isn’t just so that we can look good.

Instead, we are reminded of God’s promise in Deuteronomy 30:9-10 where it says, “The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

God’s justice may not always come as fast as we would hope it would but God has not forgotten.  The weasels will get what they deserve, in God’s time.

Ignoring God does not make God go away.

Ignoring God does not make God’s justice go away.

Ignoring God’s laws does not protect you from the consequences of breaking them.

We are called to follow the way of Jesus Christ… and not the way of the weasel.

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, 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 may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Pride and Prejudice

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“Pride and Prejudice”

July 03, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture:

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20               Galatians 6:1-16                      2 Kings 5:1-14

 

Having served for ten years in the United States Army Reserve, I am a veteran.  Perhaps that makes me more conscious of public military references or more aware of how the military is being portrayed in the media, but to me it seems as if the last few years have seen a significant increase in the drumbeat of patriotism.  That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on how it is expressed and who it is that is beating the drum.  What I have seen and heard, is a huge increase in the way that we honor veterans, the way that we praise those serving in active duty, and the way that we glorify the military in general.  Again, these things aren’t necessarily bad, but we must be careful that we aren’t being manipulated by people, businesses, and politicians who have something to gain.

I am proud to be a veteran.  I’m glad that I served and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I am proud of our military, what it can do, the skills, abilities and intellect of the men and women in uniform, and I am proud of my nation.  But in all these things, I must be careful because that pride can be manipulated by marketing companies, special interest groups, charitable organizations, and shady politicians to advance their cause even when that cause may not represent my interests and, in fact, may not be good for anyone except the shady people who profit from it.

But there is yet another reason to be cautious.  We must be cautious of pride itself because if pride is allowed to grow without boundaries, controls, or accountability, it can grow into something ugly.

We begin this morning in 2 Kings 5:1-14, where we meet Naaman, one of the most powerful military leaders of his day.  But despite all of his power, Naaman had a big problem.

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.

13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

Naaman was the commanding general of the most powerful army in the known world.  Among his friends were warriors, kings, and ruling elites.  But he had an incurable disease that didn’t care about his wealth, power, or influential friends.  The good news was that one his slaves knew that Elisha, the prophet of the God of Israel, had real power that came from God himself.  And so, Naaman goes to Israel carrying great wealth and a letter of introduction from the King of Aram.  The king of Israel worries that this is a trick because he knows that leprosy is incurable, but Elisha tells the king that he should send Naaman to him.

And here is where Naaman’s patriotism derails everything and very nearly kills him.

Even though Elisha tells Naaman what he must do to be cured, he storms off because the cure required that he bathe in a river in Israel instead of a river in his home country.  Naaman was so proud of his home country that he was insulted that he couldn’t be cured in waters that he believed to be superior simply because they were the rivers of his home.  For Naaman, his home, his nation, was better than every other.  For him, there was no better place in the entire world.  For him, it was necessary to believe that home was worth fighting for because it was the best.  But that nationalistic streak, that pride, became a prejudice against everyone else, and a prejudice against any place else.

And that pride almost killed him,

The irony is that the warrior who would die because of his pride and arrogance was rescued by his servants.  They gently remind the Naaman that if Elisha had demanded some great act of service, or participation in some heroic battle, Naaman would have jumped at the chance.  And so, in humility, they suggest that perhaps something simple could be done just as easily.  And as soon as Naaman recovers enough of his humility to do as Elisha asked, he is healed, the incurable is cured, and the damage that has been done to his flesh, is restored.

Similarly, in his letter to the church in Galatia (Galatians 6:1-16), Paul warns that the leaders of the church, and indeed any of the followers of Jesus Christ, and not immune from falling victim to our own arrogance and pride.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load.6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

12 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.

We all experience failure.  None of us are perfect.  And so, when someone sins, our response should not be to humiliate them further, turn our backs on them, throw them out, excommunicate them, or otherwise abandon them, but to restore them… gently.  Paul says that it’s okay to be proud of your own accomplishments, but that you’ve crossed a line when you compare yourself to someone else.  Your path and your burdens are yours and not someone else’s.  We can help others to carry their burdens, and they can help to carry ours, but we cannot be proud that we are doing “better” than they are without our pride crossing the line into arrogance and sin.  Our motivation in doing good must be to please God and not to please ourselves or to make ourselves more comfortable.

Paul goes on to remind his readers that there are those within the community of believers, likely including some well known people or church leaders, who do things simply to impress people.  These people tried to get believers to do things that weren’t required.  They wanted people to follow rules rather than follow Jesus because following rules looked good and impressed people.  They wanted Gentile believers to be circumcised so that they would “fit in” and not because it was required to follow Jesus.  Their ultimate motivation was to be popular and comfortable rather than obedient to God and to the mission of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus sent seventy-two missionaries out into the towns and villages ahead of him he built in a lesson on humility even before they took the first step of their journey. (Luke 10:1-11, 16-20)

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 


16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus sends his followers out with nothing that they can call their own and nothing that they can credit for their success or failure.  They go out with almost no possessions of any kind, no money, no luggage, and not even shoes on their feet. All that they have are their gifts, talents, abilities, and the Spirit of God that goes with them.  And when they return, they sing God’s praises telling everyone what God had done and not what they had done.  Afterward, Jesus instructs them not even to rejoice over God’s power, but simply to praise God for their salvation.

Pride is a tricky thing.  It’s okay to be proud.  It’s okay to be proud of ourselves.  It’s okay to be proud of God and the things that God does.  It’s okay to be proud of our nation and proud of our military.  But we can cross a line and become too proud.  We must be careful not to allow our pride to drift into arrogance.  Patriotism is normal and even expected, but sometimes patriotism can be an excuse for our failure to be humble before God.

And so, as we leave this place to go out and celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, feel free to be happy for our country.  Feel free to be proud of how far we have come and what we have accomplished.  But let us also try to keep our priorities in order and remember that everything that we have been given, as individuals, as a church, and as a nation, has been given to us as a gift from God and, just as surely, can be taken away by God.

Let us remember that our obedience must be to God first, and to our nation second.

The most important thing, however, is to rejoice that God has chosen to rescue us.

 

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, 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 may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Why Study Poverty?

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urban-povertyWe all think we know what poverty is.

Almost all of us are wrong.

In August, Trinity Church will host Dr. Ken Price as he presents a one day seminar called Bridges Out of Poverty.  I’m certain that many people think that this is unnecessary and until a few years ago, I was one of them.

We all think that we know what poverty is, what it means to be poor, and many of us think that we have to solution to how poor people can get back on their feet again.  We think that poor people just need to work harder, or sign up for this or that government program, or get more education, or stop making foolish choices.

These thoughts are almost always wrong.

Poverty is much more complicated.  In fact, there are a great many forces that (unintentionally) work together to trap people in poverty and prevent very logical solutions from being successful.  These forces also prevent those people who are most in need from working harder, getting education, or doing many of the things that ought to lift them up to the next level.

As a church, both locally and nationally, we try to provide assistance to the poor but very often our best efforts are unsuccessful and we struggle to understand why.  We thought that we did all the right things, but the people didn’t come, or the help that we offered didn’t work when we thought that it should.

More often than not, the failure isn’t one of planning, or effort, or budgets but a much more fundamental failure to understand the complexity of the problem.  Moreover, these failures are not unique to the church but the same mistakes are often made by school systems, businesses, local, state and federal governments, and many others.

In order to be good stewards of our gifts, talents, abilities, time and money we should do our best to understand the problem before we set out to fix it.  And that is exactly why I invited Dr. Price to come here and why we are offering the Bridges Out of Poverty seminar.  This seminar was originally designed to teach school teachers so that they could better understand the students (and their families) that lived in poverty but it quickly grew beyond that.  It is regularly taught in businesses, social service agencies, charitable organizations, churches and other groups that work with, or seek to help, people in poverty.

I hope that you will join me, and Dr. Ken Price, on Saturday August 27th as we learn the hidden “rules” that govern the lives of the poor, why the poor can’t get the services that you take for granted, and many other ways in which our own culture and basic assumptions set us up for failure when we try to help.  This seminar is not free.  Participants will each get a course book, and we will be serving lunch, but if you would like to attend and the cost is a problem for you, please talk to me.  I don’t want anyone to miss this because they can’t afford it.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Before Birth

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“Before Birth”

June 26, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 1:57-66, 80                Acts 13:22-26                 Isaiah 49:1-6

 

How many of you have noticed that our culture, over the last forty years of more, has spent a lot of time arguing over the legality, morality, and ethics of abortion from the time of conception to the moment of birth?

Don’t get yourself worked up, because this isn’t a sermon on abortion (although I have preached them).  Instead, this morning I want to bring to mind an idea about God that while it may, or may not, inform our thinking on the issue of abortion, has even bigger implications for each one of us and how we choose to live our lives.

The message of scripture is one that you have undoubtedly heard before, and it is this:

Our God is the god who goes before us.

What that means, is that God is omniscient, which means all-knowing.  God knows everything, past, present, and future.  God knows everything that is know-able and that includes the things that happen in secret.

Most likely, we’ve all heard that before.  But what does it mean?  How does that play out in history?  And how does that have anything at all to do with me?

Let’s begin this morning by reading a bit from the prophet Isaiah, who lived and wrote the words of God, about 800 years before the birth of Jesus.  (Isaiah 49:1-6)

49:1 Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.”

5 And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah proclaims that God knew him by name, and called him to be a prophet, before he was born.  Isaiah even has a Jimmy Stewart moment that sounds like something from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  He admits that there was a time when he believed that he had worked for nothing and wasted his life, but then realized that he has worked in the service of an all-powerful God.  In the end, Isaiah trusts that whatever reward is owed to him because of his life and his work, is in the hands of a good, loving, and trustworthy God.

But Isaiah also proclaims that God has plans for the future, plans to restore Israel to its former glory, to return to Israel those whom God has protected, and finally, God intends to create a person who would call to the Gentiles so that God’s rescue and salvation could expand across the entire world.  This person was known to God, and their mission and ministry established, long before they were born.  Clearly, it is a reference, 800 years before his birth, to Jesus, the rescuer of all humanity, but it may also speak of the ministry of John the Baptist who announces the coming of Jesus.  If this passage does not speak of John indirectly, there are other passages of scripture that describe John quite clearly.  In Luke 1:57-66, 80, we hear John’s story begin this way…

57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

The Old Testament prophets told of one who would come to announce the coming of the Messiah and that person was described as someone who would be like Elijah the prophet.  But closer to the time of his birth, Elizabeth and Zechariah are told about his coming, what his name was to be, and that God had already set him apart for a special ministry.  All these things were known by God long before John was conceived in his mother’s womb.

And of course, in Acts 13:22-26, Luke reminds us of another similar story.

22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’

23 “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’

26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.

God knew everything that David would do, long before he did it and in fact, God not only knew what David would do, God knew that David would do the things that God wanted him to do.  Further, Luke makes sure that everyone reading his letter, including both Jews and Gentiles, that God’s message of salvation has been sent to us so that we could be rescued, but also entrusted to us so that we could rescue others.

So let’s review for a moment.

Isaiah tells us that God called him to be a prophet, by name, before he was born and also that God made plans for the future of Israel at least hundreds of years in advance.  Isaiah also tells us that eight hundred years before it happened, God was already planning the arrival of the Messiah and preparing the people who would surround him.

Elizabeth and Zechariah are told that they will have a child, and what God has named him, before that child is even conceived.  In addition, the mission and ministry of that man is already known to God.

And Luke tells us that the message of Jesus Christ is intended for the children of Israel and for the rest of the world.  That message of salvation and rescue was intended for us even before we were born and it is intended for future generations even before they are born.

But so what?

How does this help us to think about abortion?

What does this mean for our lives?

First of all, I promised that this isn’t a sermon on abortion, but it is worth mentioning because it crosses paths with the main point.  As we consider the abortion debate, we may not come to the same conclusions, but regardless of our personal thoughts on these matters, it is important that we think about these things.

So what does this all mean?

What it means is that our God is bigger than the ways in which we often think about him.  God is all powerful (omnipotent) and all knowing (omniscient), and exists outside of time.  The creation story tells us that God created night and day, and by doing so is arguably the creator of time itself.  But regardless, God not only knows the future, God plans and prepared the future.  More importantly, God’s plans and preparations are not vague generalities, but specific plans, involving the lives, missions, and ministries of specific people that he calls by name hundreds or thousands of years in advance.  God raises up and destroys nations and shapes cultures over vast expanses of time to prepare each moment for the mission and ministry of his people.

And if you boil that down to what it means to your life and to my life, it means that God knew you, by name, hundreds and thousands of years before you were born.  God knew about you, your life, your personality, and everything about you, before the creation of the universe itself.  God knew what you would be good at, what gifts, skills, and abilities that you would have and God knew what mission and ministry he had in mind for you, for me, and for every human being ever born.

The universe is not without meaning.

This world is not without meaning.

Your life is not without meaning.

God has a plan… and you, your gifts, your skills, your abilities, your personality, are a part of that plan.

Knowing that, we are obliged to do whatever we can, through study, meditation, and prayer, and other spiritual disciplines, to discover what God has called us to do.

And then, we must help others to know Jesus Christ, and help them to understand what God has called each of them to do.

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, 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 may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.