Courage Unbound

April 29, 2018April 29, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon courage, faith, leadership, life, love, truth

“Courage Unbound”

April 29, 2018

By John Partridge*

John 10:11-18 Acts 4:1-12 1 John 3:16-24

Where have you seen courage?

We’ve all been witnesses to courage at one time or another. Sometimes it’s as simple as tasting a new food, emptying a mousetrap, or a new parent changing a diaper for the first time. Sometimes it’s a cancer patient willing themselves to show up for one more chemotherapy treatment, or the parent of sick child putting on a brave face to calm the child’s fears. But sometimes it’s more than that.

During the war in Yugoslavia, a Bosnian Muslim factory manager was captured by Croatian soldiers along with his family and his neighbors. They were all taken to a makeshift prison camp and after several days, 40 of the prisoners, including this man, his wife, and his five year old twin boys, were taken out of the camp and lined up in a row. The soldiers brought out a civilian man who was Croatian as they were, and demanded that he choose 12 of the prisoners from the lineup, and decide how they would be killed. But, although he was ethnically Croatian, he had also been a neighbor to the people who stood before him and the closest friend of the Muslim father. Rather than follow their orders, the man turned on the soldiers and said, “You should be ashamed of yourselves! These people are innocent. Release them. Let them go home.” He then turned to his friends and said, “I’m so sorry. This is all I can do. I know they will kill me tonight. I wish all of you the best.” The soldiers dragged the man off and took the Muslim prisoners back to the prison camp. That night the Croatian man was killed by the soldiers, but many of the prisoners were later saved through a prisoner exchange. (Story from Courage Under Fire – https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/courage_under_fire)

Imagine the courage that it took for that man to risk his life in order to do what was right?

In the last couple of messages, we have paid particular attention to the change that we see in Jesus’ disciples from the time of the crucifixion to the days immediately following Pentecost. In a way, our scriptures revisit that today, but our focus this time is on us more than it is on the disciples. We begin this morning with the words of Jesus which are recorded for us in John 10:11-18.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Long before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus knew what was going to happen, but he also knew why it was going to happen. Jesus said that a good shepherd is willing to lay down his life for his sheep. Someone who is just in it for the money, fakers, thieves, and charlatans, don’t stick around when things get difficult. Real shepherds are in it for keeps and are ready to stand and fight for their sheep. But Jesus also says that the relationship goes the other way as well. Real sheep know the shepherd and they follow him, they listen to his voice, and they join together as one flock. This is the way that God intended for it to be and Jesus has been given the power and the authority to do everything that God commanded.

But Jesus did more than that. His ability and willingness to sacrifice for his flock was passed on to his disciples. After Jesus rose from the dead, they began to more fully understand who he was, what he did, and what he had accomplished. And as they understood, they began to follow his example. (Acts 4:1-12)

^4:1The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. ²They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. ³They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. ⁴But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

⁵The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. ⁷They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, ¹⁰then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’

¹²Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

As you will remember from last week, Peter and the disciples are proclaiming the name of Jesus to the crowd that gathered after Peter healed a lame man who was begging by the gate of the temple. Now, as they preach, they are approached not only by passers-by, but by priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the representatives of the Sadducees and, we are told, they were “greatly disturbed.” Most likely, if they weren’t being unruly, or causing a nuisance, the captain of the guard wouldn’t be too concerned, but the Sadducees were the political group that did not believe in any kind of afterlife. They didn’t believe in heaven or hell, in souls, or spirits, and they certainly didn’t believe in resurrection from the dead. This is most likely why they were greatly disturbed. The teaching, let alone the existence, of a risen Jesus, was highly damaging to their worldview and to their ability to attract followers.

But many believed and the church grew.

Peter and John were arrested, thrown in prison, and the next day they were brought, almost certainly under guard, to appear before the high priest, the former high priest, the high priest’s father, all the elders, the teachers of the law, and all the political movers and shakers of the church power structures.

And Peter unapologetically preaches to them all. Peter is bold and courageous and “in-your-face.”

Remember, that just a few weeks ago, this is exactly what Peter and the other disciples were so afraid of. They were afraid that people would overhear. They were afraid that the leaders of the temple would hear about them. They were afraid that they would be arrested or manhandled by the temple guards. They were afraid that they would be forced to appear before the leaders of the temple. And now, that exact scenario has happened.

And at every step, the disciples are no longer afraid.

Why?

Peter’s explanation rocks the world of the temple leaders when he says, “Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Peter essentially says that even though the temple leaders rejected him, Jesus is the cornerstone on which God’s church must be built. Jesus has authority over life and death itself and nothing else matters because no one else, no other religious leader, no other political leader, no other church, matters because Jesus is the only one who can save them.

The disciples are no longer afraid because they know, without a shred of doubt, that Jesus is in control.

The courage of the disciples came from knowing, and trusting, that Jesus was in control and had authority over everything, even life and death itself. And that courage was transformational. It changed their lives. It changed everything.

But so what?

That was still two thousand years ago. What does that have to do with us?

And again, John has the answer. In 1 John 3:16-24, we hear these words:

¹⁶This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

¹⁹This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²²and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. ²³And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

John says the reason that we know what love is, is because Jesus showed us. Because Jesus was willing to give up his life for us, we ought to be willing to give up our lives for the people around us. But love isn’t just risking our lives for people, it’s being willing to give up material possessions as well. We aren’t just called to love other when it doesn’t cost us anything; we are called to love others when loving them means that we give up some of the stuff that makes us comfortable. Love, John says, is demonstrated not by the words that we say, but by our actions toward others. And it is our actions toward others that tell us that we belong to Jesus. We know that we belong, when we act like Jesus. We know that we belong, when our hearts tell us that we are right. We know that we belong, when our hearts do not condemn us for being selfish, or greedy, or guilty of other sins against God.

A significant part of our transformation as Christians comes as we grow in courage, and that courage comes to us because, like the disciples, we know that Jesus is in control and has authority over everything, even life and death itself. John reminds us that God forgives our past but we must live in such a way that we do not feel guilty for our actions. “The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him.” And we know that God lives in us because we live like Jesus. We know that God lives in us because we love like Jesus…

…even when that love costs us something.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are transformed by meeting the risen Jesus because in meeting him, and knowing him, we are given the gift of courage.

We are transformed because we have the courage… to love like Jesus.

_________

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^U 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 at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Ghosts and Transformation

April 22, 2018April 22, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon change, church, faith, Jesus Christ, transformation, truth

“Ghosts and Transformation”

April 22, 2018

By John Partridge*

Luke 24:36b-48 Acts 3:12-19 1 John 3:1-7

Have you seen all the paranormal shows on television? It isn’t just funny movies like “Ghostbusters” anymore, there’s “Ghost Hunters,” “Paranormal Lockdown,” “Ghost Adventures,” “The Dead Files” and something like sixty others that are either currently on television or older series that are sometimes rebroadcast. With varying degrees of seriousness, these shows describe, or investigate, the activities of supernatural, non-spiritual, beings. More simply, ghosts. These ghost hunters or paranormal investigators do not even consider the possibility that the disturbances they are searching for might well be the same sorts of creatures described in the Bible, but in any case there are some things that haven’t changed.

In two thousand years of history, there are some things that everyone seems to know about ghosts. 1) Ghosts can pass through walls and locked doors. 2) Ghosts are not bound by the laws of physics as we understand them. By that I mean that not only can they pass through walls and locked doors, but that they can fly, swim, walk on water, and other things that living people cannot do. 3) Ghosts are generally quiet but can also occasionally communicate with the living. 4) Ghosts are not solid so you cannot shake hands with one and they have been known to pass right through a living person as well as solid objects. And 5) because ghosts are not solid, they generally can’t move solid objects and certainly can’t eat or drink.

Do why does any of this matter?

It matters, because there were several moments when Jesus’ disciples thought that Jesus was a ghost, and each time it scared the snot out of them. You may remember that when the disciples first saw Jesus walking on the water in the middle of a storm, they were frightened because they thought that he was a ghost. Jesus had to call out to them, calm the storm, and explain that it was really Jesus. And as we continue reading the Easter story, our first scripture also finds the disciples, shortly after listening to the story told by the men who had returned from Emmaus. The disciples are afraid because, once again, they think they’ve seen a ghost. (Luke 24:36b-48)

³⁶While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

³⁷They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

⁴⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate it in their presence.

⁴⁴He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

⁴⁵Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

This clearly one of the best arguments that Jesus simply appeared, rather than knocking and being let in through the front door. Jesus was supposed to be dead, but there he was and the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus shows them his hands, and his feet and lets them touch him. But just to be sure, he asks for something to eat, is given a piece of fish, and eats it in front of them. Since everyone knows that ghosts can’t eat solid food, Jesus is obviously trying to calm their fears and convince them that he is not a ghost before he begins teaching. And once he begins his teaching, he explains from scripture why the Messiah had to suffer, die, be buried, and rise from the dead after three days. Jesus then explains that because he has done this, the next step will be theirs. Jesus declares that the news of repentance and forgiveness of sins must be preached to every nation, and that soon he would be sending them out to tell the world.

But not yet.

For now, Jesus tells the disciples that he is sending them a gift and that they need to stay in Jerusalem for a little longer until it arrives. While they wait, Peter and the others travel to the temple daily to pray. And one day, after the events of Pentecost, on the way to the temple, Peter heals a lame beggar that had spent years of his life begging at the same gate to the city. After he is healed, he is seen running, and jumping, and praising God in the temple courts and that attracts a crowd. People recognize the beggar that they have often walked past and they wonder if this could be the same man. (Acts 3:12-19)

¹²When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. ¹⁴You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ¹⁵You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. ¹⁶By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

¹⁷“Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. ¹⁸But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. ¹

Remember, that just a month or so before, Peter and the other disciples had met Jesus while they were together in a house in which they had closed the windows and locked the doors. They were living in fear. They feared being discovered. They feared being arrested. They feared death. They were afraid of ghosts. They were afraid that Jesus was a ghost. And Jesus had to keep telling them, “Peace be with you.” A month or so earlier, Jesus could not communicate with the disciples without repeatedly telling them not to be afraid. But now, together they walk boldly to the temple, Peter heals a lame beggar sitting at the gate to the city, and then stands up and witnesses and preaches to the gathering crowd about the risen Jesus.

In the span of a month to a month and a half, the disciples have been completely transformed. Where they were quiet and afraid, they are now bold, courageous, loud, and in-your-face. Where they had been afraid to be associated with Jesus, now they are proclaiming it in the center of the temple mount. So dramatic is the change in the disciples, that one could easily say that they are hardly the same men. The difference is both stark and dramatic.

This is not the change that you would expect if they had seen a ghost.

People who see ghosts tend to be more afraid, not less.

But meeting the risen Jesus has had quite the opposite effect. Seeing Jesus, or rather, meeting Jesus, has transformed the disciples from a gaggle of frightened fisherman and businessmen into fearless and passionate witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus.

For the disciples, meeting the risen Jesus was a transformational experience. Their lives were fundamentally and demonstrably changed. How they acted, what they did, and even where they did it, was dramatically different after the resurrection than before it.

But what does that mean for us?

We didn’t have the opportunity to walk with, and learn from, Jesus for three years. Most of us haven’t been to seminary, or to bible college. So what does it mean for us to follow Jesus and to be his disciples?

In what scholars think is probably a letter to churches in Asia, the Apostle John wrote these words:

(1 John 3:1-7)

^3:1See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

⁴Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

At first that may not seem to answer our question, but if we look a little deeper, we can find what we were looking for. First, John reminds us how much God loved us and how much of his love he “lavishly” poured out on us so that we could be called the children of God. God loved us so much that he stepped down from his throne in heaven, came down to earth, became a human being, suffered alongside of us, and then was tortured, hung on a cross, and died in our place all so that we could be forgiven by, and reconciled to, God. When we put our trust in Jesus we know that we will one day be like him and live with him in his father’s house in heaven.

But John also says that “All who have this hope, purify themselves, just as he is pure.” John also says, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” And finally, John says, “⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.” Each of these statements tells us something about who we should be and what we should be doing.

John knows what it means to have his life transformed by meeting the risen Jesus.

And that’s exactly what he’s describing for the rest of us.

Everyone who comes to faith in Jesus begins to pursue purity. They do not immediately become pure, but begin to work at purifying themselves because our desire is to become more like Jesus. John also says that if we have seen the risen Jesus or if we even know Jesus, then we will do everything we can to stop sinning. We want to do what is right, because Jesus has done, and is doing, what is right. What John is describing for us, is nothing less than the total transformation of our lives. Meeting the risen Jesus has always been, and remains still, nothing short of a transformational experience. Once we meet Jesus, we want to become like him and we begin to do whatever we can to do so.

Two thousand years ago, the disciples at first thought they were seeing a ghost.

But ghosts don’t transform lives.

Only a living and resurrected Jesus does that.

Two thousand years later, the risen Jesus is still transforming lives.

Jesus is transforming lives in this church today.

Have you met my Jesus?

If you haven’t, I’d love to talk to you.

Maybe today is the day, that your life begins to change.

_________

Did you enjoy reading this?

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

_______________

^* 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 at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Resurrection: Then What?

April 8, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon church, compassion, Easter, faith, life, story

“Resurrection: Then What?”

April 08, 2018

By John Partridge*

John 20:19-31 Acts 4:32-35 1 John 1:1 – 2:2

Today is the second Sunday of Easter or, a part of the church’s Eastertide celebration. Today, and during the next few weeks, we will be remembering what happened after the resurrection and the events leading up to Pentecost. This is important stuff. This is the story of the disciples and the early church as they discovered what it meant to serve a Jesus that had risen from the dead. It was one thing to be a follower of a rabbi, or teacher, that preached throughout the countryside and challenged their church leaders to be ethical, moral, and actually do what scripture taught. But following Jesus the rabbi and teacher, and following the Jesus that had defeated sin and death were two very different things.

In these next few days and weeks, everyone’s understanding of what it meant to follow Jesus was changing. Everything that they thought they knew, and much of what they believed, was challenged. Everything that they thought they understood about the mission of the church, and their role in that mission, was being deconstructed and rebuilt into something new. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, everyone was starting over and their lives would never be the same again. We begin our story today in John 20:19-31, when the disciples meet the risen Jesus for the first time:

¹⁹On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

²¹Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²²And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

²⁴Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

²⁸Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

³⁰Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The disciples were together, probably talking about the wild stories that the women had told them about seeing angels and a risen Jesus. Since the crucifixion, they had been trying to figure out what to do next. They had left their jobs, careers, and families behind to follow Jesus and now he was gone. They were filled with grief and confusion. Their lives were in turmoil… and now this! What did it really mean that the tomb was empty? Was it possible that Jesus had risen from the dead? Had the Romans, or the Pharisees, or someone else, stolen Jesus’ body? Did they suspect each other? Were the disciples asking one another if they had done it for some reason? We don’t really know. But what we do know is that they were together, and that they were afraid of being discovered together, or at least afraid of being discovered by the Pharisees or the Sadducees and arrested, or worse. They were so afraid of being discovered, or overheard by neighbors, that they had closed all the windows and locked all the doors.

And suddenly, Jesus appeared among them.

And in the midst of their confusion, and pain, and grief, and fear, Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you.” Jesus’ first gift to them is to comfort them, calm them, and assure them that he was not gone and that all would be well. But Jesus also says that just as God had sent him to earth, Jesus is sending his disciples out as well. And not only is he sending them, he breathes on them and offers them the gift of the Holy Spirit (these acts are connected because in both Greek and Hebrew, the words for “breath,” “wind,” and “spirit” are the same word). And to make absolutely sure that no one was left out, Jesus returns to make sure that Thomas is included and all of the disciples (other than Judas) are working together. In the span of a single week, Jesus moves the disciples from a place of fear, confusion, grief, and turmoil to a place of unity, belief, understanding, and growing confidence. And going forward, that is what the church begins to look like as well. In Acts 4:32-35, Luke says this:

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

The followers of Jesus Christ were so unified in their belief, so focused on their mission, and so trusting of one another, that they shared everything that they had. That doesn’t necessarily imply that they were living in a commune or were supporting communism, because many of them still owned land and houses, and presumably in some cases, businesses. Luke doesn’t say that these people sold everything that they owned, but that those who had something made sure that they shared what they had with those who had nothing. It’s probably worth mentioning at this point that the followers of Jesus didn’t share what they had or give money to the poor because they got a tax deduction for doing so. A believer in Jesus Christ shares what they have with others, and gives to the church, simply because the Spirit leads us in that direction and because God has asked us to do so. Any tax benefit that results from our generosity and obedience is clearly not something that the disciples ever considered.

And as we heard last week, and many times before that, the mission of the church was clear from the beginning. In 1 John 1:1 – 2:2, it sounds like this:

^1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ²The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴We write this to make our joy complete.

⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

^2:1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ²He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

John again repeats, several times, the core mission of the church. We have heard, we have seen, we have touched, and we must tell the world what we have learned so that others may have what we have. We must share the good news of Jesus so that others can come out of darkness and live in the light.

But.

Isn’t there always a “but?”

John says “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

And as he explains further, what he is saying is that if we follow Jesus, we will walk in the light and Jesus will purify us, and he will be at work perfecting us.

But.

While these things are all true, if we follow Jesus then we must do our best to act like it. We cannot claim that we are perfect or without sin, because we are not, but we try as hard as we can not to sin and trust Jesus for forgiveness when we do.

And so we see that from the very beginning, the followers of Jesus Christ had several core beliefs that directed their entire lives. First, trust that Jesus loves you and is in control of your life. Second, believe that Jesus has defeated sin and death and has paid the price for your sin through his suffering, death and resurrection. Third, we must focus on the mission together. We must care for the poor, feed the hungry, lift up the brokenhearted, cloth the naked, be a voice for the voiceless, and in all things have compassion for others and be Jesus to the people around us. Fourth, because we have heard the good news, because we have seen the power of Jesus to change lives, and because we know the truth, we must tell the world what we have learned so that others may have what we have. We must share the good news of Jesus so that others can come out of darkness and live in the light. And finally, we must live and we must love… together. We must resist sin and live lives that honor God, and we must act as if the teachings of Jesus are important.

It’s a short list.

And it’s not easy.

But these five things must shape everything we do.

_________

Did you enjoy reading this?

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

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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 at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

See. Hear. Go. Tell.

April 1, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon church, Easter, faith, love, story

“See. Hear. Go. Tell.”

April 01, 2018

By John Partridge*

John 20:1-18 Acts 10:34-43 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Leader: He is Risen!

People: He is Risen indeed!

We join together this morning to remember and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the most important day on the Christian calendar and represents the climax and conclusion of the story that begins with Christmas. Well, sort of. We know that it is wrong to say that the story “began” at Christmas because we have thousands of years of recorded history that tell us about the people of God and God’s work on earth prior to the coming of Jesus and the writings of the New Testament. Likewise, we know that it’s wrong to say that Easter is the conclusion of the story because we’re still here two thousand years later. But however we choose to describe it, Easter is indeed the climax of the story. This day, the day that Jesus rose from the dead, is a pivotal moment in history and the pivotal moment of God’s redemption and rescue of humanity. But if the story doesn’t end with the resurrection, if we are still here two thousand years later, if we are still worshipping and following God, then we are presented with some questions that need answering and foremost among them is “Why?” Why are we still here? When is the end of the story? What is supposed to happen between now and the end? And finally, what are we supposed to be doing?

We won’t have time to answer all of those questions today, but the Easter story itself answers some of them, so let’s begin there by reading the story from John 20:1-18.

^20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

¹¹Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

One of the things that struck me as I read this passage is that each participant saw something. Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb and she saw that the stone had been removed. She ran to Peter and John and immediately told them what she had seen. Peter and John ran to the tomb and they saw the strips of linen and the empty tomb. But then, while Peter and John return to the home where they are staying, Mary remains at the tomb weeping and brokenhearted. And while she is there two angels appear and ask why. “Why are you crying?” And Mary explains that Jesus has been taken from her and she doesn’t know where they have put him. And then she repeats herself to the gardener but in doing so, suddenly realizes that it is not the gardener to whom she is speaking but Jesus, risen, resurrected, alive, and well. But then, Jesus tells her to “Go” and to “Tell” the disciples that Jesus was returning to heaven.

Twice, Mary had seen, and twice she ran to tell others what she had found.

These moments, at the very heart of the Easter story, set the pattern that is to be followed throughout history and to this very day. In Acts 10:34-43, Luke tells us how the disciples themselves understood what had happened at Easter.

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. ³⁶You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

³⁹“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

“You know the message God sent to the people.” “We are witnesses of everything he did”

Peter said, you were there, you saw, you heard, you know. And because of that, Jesus “commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.” Peter wasn’t preaching to the disciples, or to the apostles, or even to the church, but to a gathering of Gentiles gathered in the home of a Roman centurion who had heard the stories of Jesus and had been given a vision by God. The command to tell others is not a command that was given to disciples, or to pastors, or teachers, but a command that was given to everyone who knows the story.

In 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Paul explains it this way:

^15:1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. ⁶After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

This is the next generation of believers. Paul never claims to be a witness to the crucifixion or to the resurrection. Paul did meet Jesus, but long after the events of Easter recorded in the Gospels. And Paul isn’t writing to eyewitnesses as John and Peter did. Paul was writing to a church in Greece, to people who were nowhere near Jerusalem or Israel when Jesus rose from the dead.

In other words, Paul was writing to people like us.

And Paul says, “what I received I passed on to you as of first importance.” There were, at that time, still plenty of people who had seen Jesus after the resurrection and Paul emphasizes that the church in Corinth had heard the story from him, had believed, and held firmly to what they had learned. But Paul also says that what the apostles knew, they preached so that others, like the Corinthians, might also believe.

It’s a pattern that began on that first Easter morning.

Come and see.

Hear the Good News.

Go, and tell.

The church has followed that pattern throughout the ages from that time until today. Every one of us is here today because someone else heard the story and then told it to us. And now, because we have heard the story, it becomes our mission to do the same for others.

Our world, our nation, our community, our neighborhoods, and even our families are filled with people who don’t know the story and who haven’t heard the good news. They have no idea that Jesus came to rescue them from guilt, sin, and death. In Romans chapter 10, Paul asks, how can people call on Jesus Christ if they don’t believe in him? How can people believe if they have not heard the story? How can they hear of no one ever told them? And how can anyone preach, if the church never sent them?

We’re glad that you came today, but it isn’t enough to hear the story and then keep it to yourself.

You have seen and you have heard the story.

Now it’s your turn.

Go and tell.

_________

Did you enjoy reading this?

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

_______________

^*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 at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

‘Go’ for Launch

March 25, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon church, Easter, faith, future, past, peace, politics, vision, waiting, welcome

‘Go’ for Launch

March 25, 2018

By John Partridge*

Mark 11:1-11 Zechariah 9:9-10

How many of you have ever watched the launch of a Saturn V rocket from the Apollo program, or a Space Shuttle, an Atlas, a SpaceX Falcon 9 or any other rocket? The entire countdown can take days, and that doesn’t include all of the construction and preparation that happened before the rocket ever made it to the launch pad. But near the end, just before the final countdown, the Launch Director takes a poll of all the stations that are monitoring the launch. And as you listen, you can hear him name every single position, and before the launch can proceed, each of them must answer that they are ‘Go’ for launch. If even one of them fails to answer in the affirmative, then the launch cannot proceed. Everything must be ready. Every detail must be exactly as it should be.

We understand that. Once, during the Space Shuttle program, one station operator reported that they were not “Go” for launch and the Launch Director chose to proceed anyway. That station operator was reporting that the temperatures at the launch pad were below the required operating temperatures of the spacecraft. And when the launch director followed the instructions of his superiors and ignored the “No Go” from that station operator, he doomed the entire crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Rockets are powerful and dangerous. Millions, even billions of dollars of investment and years, sometimes decades of work are on the line. If even one thing goes wrong, everything the teams have worked for could be ruined. There is no room for error.

But that is exactly what we witness as we read the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in

Mark 11:1-11. God has been preparing humanity for this moment for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of years. Lives, governments, nations, and even empires had been pulled, prodded, guided, lifted up, brought down, created, and destroyed, to bring everything into readiness for what we now call Holy Week. And in this passage of scripture, we can see Jesus checking off the last boxes of the launch poll.

^11:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ²saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

⁴They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. ⁷When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna!” [Hosanna means “save us”]

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

¹⁰“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹¹Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Jesus sends two disciples ahead to acquire a donkey with which to ride upon during his entrance into the holy city of Jerusalem and tells them that if anyone asks why they are taking it, to simply tell them that “the Lord needs it” and will return it shortly. That phrase, “The Lord needs it” can also be translated as “The master has need of it” but in either case we are left with only two options. Either Jesus had somehow, made arrangements in advance for that donkey to be there and the disciples simply needed to arrive and confirm that they were picking it up for him, or Jesus knew that the donkey was there, and that this answer would satisfy those witnesses, all while he was still miles away from that place. But whichever possibility you think is true, it enables Jesus to arrive in the city in the same manner that the kings of Israel had done throughout history and also allows him to check off another item on that pre-launch checklist. We know that many of the things that Jesus did were a fulfillment of the prophecies contained in the Old Testament, and this is no exception. I think that you will find that this passage from Zechariah 9:9-10 will sound remarkably similar to the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem

⁹Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

The people along the road knew who Jesus was. They had heard of the things that he had done. They had witnessed his miracles. They had listened to him preach. But they were expecting a military and a political leader. They were looking for a government that would save them instead of a God who loved them. Today they praised him, but within the week, as they realized that Jesus had no intention of taking over the government, they would turn on him, betray him, and hand him over to the chief priests and the Roman army.

As Jesus enters into the city of Jerusalem, and as he, and his disciples, draw closer to the climax of the story next week at Easter, Jesus will continually fulfill the promises of God and the prophecies of the Old Testament.

The impossible becomes possible.

What was seen in visions and dreams becomes reality.

What was foretold as the future becomes the present.

God’s promise is kept.

Israel’s hope becomes truth.

The hope of future generations unfolds like a flower opening in the spring.

The launch poll has been completed. All is in readiness. All systems are “Go.”

There is no room for error.

The rescue of all humanity is beginning in 10… 9… 8…7…

_________

Did you enjoy reading this?

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

_______________

^* 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 at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Dangerous Foolishness

March 4, 2018March 4, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon greed, politics, power, truth

“Dangerous Foolishness”

March 04, 2018

By John Partridge*

Exodus 20:1-17 John 2:13-22 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Have you ever gotten some advice from your parents as you went out the door for an evening with your friends?

Of course, most of us have. And for most of us, our parents said things like, “Be careful,” “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” “Stay with your friends and don’t go off alone,” and other advice that often boils down to simply saying, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

All of those things are good advice because our parents loved us and cared about our well-being. But what if God gave us advice? What would God say to us? But of course, we know that God has done exactly that. God gave his people plenty of advice and has been trying to teach us how to live, and how to live alongside one another, for thousands of years. Among the earliest instances of God’s teaching is also among the most famous and well-known, the Ten Commandments, which we find in Exodus 20:1-17.

^20:1 And God spoke all these words:

²“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

³“You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹²“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³“You shall not murder.

¹⁴“You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵“You shall not steal.

¹⁶“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

The commandments that we remember best are the big ones: do not murder, do not steal, and do not worship other gods. But among all of these there are also some gems that are more commonly forgotten.: make your parents a priority, take one day a week to rest and think about something bigger than yourself, don’t lie in ways that hurt others, don’t behave in ways that hurt your spouse, and be content with what you have. The coming of Jesus didn’t take away any of these commandment. In fact, Jesus dedicated his life, not only to living in obedience to them, but to teaching how human beings, even church leaders, sometimes tried to cheat God by manipulating the meaning of his commandments. We see that in John 2:13-22 where we find Jesus kicking butt and taking names because the leaders of the Temple forgot that God cared about outsiders.

¹³When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

²⁰They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

By the time Jesus drove people from the Temple courts, he had already gathered his disciples, had already been preaching for a while, and people knew who he was, even in Jerusalem. But Jesus took issue with all the buying and selling that was going on, but not because it was unnecessary. You see, the animals that were being bought and sold were animals that people needed to take to the priests to offer sacrifices. If you lived in town you probably didn’t own your own sheep or goats, or even your own doves and so, when you needed, or wanted, to offer a sacrifice, you had to buy an acceptable animal. Likewise, the moneychangers were necessary because people came to Jerusalem from other nations and needed what we would call a currency exchange to change into local currency. But there was still another reason because Greek and Roman currency often had the images of emperors or kings or other people on them, the Jewish faith prohibited such images from the temple courts and so the moneychangers offered an exchange of that currency into an acceptable Temple currency. Even worse, all of these systems were rife with corruption that lined the pockets of the chief priests and their friends.

But, even knowing that these things were necessary, there was one thing that probably set Jesus off. The Temple itself was laid out in concentric squares. The innermost section was for the priests alone, the next outer section was for Jewish men to pray, the next for Jewish women and children to pray, and the outermost section was designated, by God, as a place for outsiders, unbelievers, and non-Jews to come to God’s house and pray. It is likely that this was the place where all of the animals were being sold and where the moneychangers had set up shop, and in doing so, they had taken up all of the space that God intended to be a welcome place of prayer for the outsiders. And so, Jesus singlehandedly drives out the entire crowd, and the response that he gets from the Temple leadership was, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Rather than refer back to their own scripture, which they most certainly knew, rather than admit that Jesus was the one who was obeying scripture, they instead ask Jesus to give them a sign to prove that God sent him.

Instead of being shaped by scripture and by the will of God, the leaders of Jesus’ church had allowed their values to be perverted by culture, greed, and power. And with that in mind, as we read Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, we can better understand how the people in the world around us might think that we, and our faith in Jesus Christ, are weird.

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²⁰Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²²Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Paul understood how the priests and the temple leaders had their values twisted and he understood that Christianity, from the outside, looked weird. Just like the Temple leaders, the Jews wanted to see signs that proved that Jesus’ message was real and the Greeks wanted an answer that used logic and philosophy as proof. To each of them, the message of Jesus Christ is foolishness and idiocy. While those of us on the inside have come to understand that this is the truth and the message of God to his people, to those on the outside we are often seen as fools and what we preach as dangerous. Scripture reminds us that this sort of foolishness can be dangerous. Paul and many of the disciples were executed, murdered, or exiled because of the message they preached. Jesus was hung on a cross for teaching the foolishness of scripture by people who had devoted their lives to studying it.

Jesus, the priests, the teachers of the law, and the other leaders of the Temple all knew the Ten Commandments and the teachings of scripture, and yet, some of them allowed themselves to be shaped by their culture, by their greed, and by their lust for power than by the scriptures. We all run that same risk. We all run the risk of being deceived by our own selfishness, or by the culture of cynicism that surrounds us.

This foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and this weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

To everyone on the outside, what we do, and what we believe, is a dangerous foolishness.

But to us, it is the way, the truth, and the life.

For no one can come to God except through his son, Jesus Christ.

_________

Did you enjoy reading this?

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

_______________

^* 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 at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

What is God’s Name for You?

February 25, 2018February 25, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon commitment, devotion, faith, God

“What is God’s Name for You?”

February 25, 2018

By John Partridge*

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Mark 8:31-38 Romans 4:13-25

Have you ever met someone who changed their name?

In some ways it isn’t as common in our American culture as it is in other places, but even so, we have a tradition that most women change their names when they get married. Sometimes that means they take their husband’s last name, other times she hyphenates her last name with his, and sometimes both the husband and the wife change to a hyphenated name together. But in other cultures, people change names when they change religions. Although it isn’t terribly common, we see that here when someone chooses to become a Muslim, such as when Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali. It can go the other way as well, when a person from a predominantly Muslim culture becomes a Christian, or even if they abandon Islam and become an atheist or agnostic, they might well change their name as a reflection of that. In nearly all of these cases, a name change comes about as a reflection of a significant change in the life of the person.

There are a number of times when we see people of both the old and the new testaments change their names but two of the most memorable are when Abram become Abraham, and Simon becomes Peter. We begin this morning with the story of Abraham from Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 where we hear these words:

^17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. ²Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

³Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵No longer will you be called Abram [Abram means exalted father]; your name will be Abraham [Abraham probably means father of many], for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

¹⁵God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

You might have noticed the continued theme of “covenant” that we saw last week in the story of Noah. In the case of Noah, God made a covenant with every living creature on the earth that he would never again destroy the world with a flood. But in the story of Abraham and Sarah, God makes his covenant specifically with these two people and with their descendants. So significant is this promise, that God changes their names, Abram to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah, as reflection of its lifelong importance and as a testimony to the change that God had made in their lives.

But that brings us, as followers of Jesus, to an obvious question. If God’s promise was to Abraham and to the Jewish people, then where does that leave us as Gentiles? And that is one of the important questions that the Apostle Paul addresses in his letter to the church in Rome (Romans 4:13-25).

¹³It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

¹⁸Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²²This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” ²³The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Paul argues that the Jewish people have often depended on God’s covenant with Abraham and their compliance with the laws of Moses rather than upon their faith in God. But if that’s true, then Abraham himself is condemned because the law was not written until many generations later. For that reason, Paul says, we know that the promise that God made to Abraham is a promise that is connected to faith and not to a strict obedience to the laws of Moses. And, Paul continues, if that is so, then anyone who puts their faith in God can have the same hope that Abraham did. It was Abraham’s faith in God, even in the face of a childless reality that seem certain, that made him an heir of God’s righteousness. Despite being over 100 years old, and despite Sarah being nearly as old as he was, they persisted in believing that God would fulfill his promise. Paul says that Abraham was “fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised” and because he was “fully persuaded,” God credited him with righteousness. That means that even though, as an imperfect human being, Abraham was not righteous, God’s own righteousness was deposited in Abraham’s account. And Paul tells us that this promise of God was not unique to Abraham and Sarah, but applies to everyone who will put their full faith in Jesus Christ.

But what does it mean to be “fully persuaded” or to put our full faith in God?

That is a reasonable question, and in Mark 8:31-38, we hear Jesus explain it this way:

³¹He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³²He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

³⁴Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Peter was one of Jesus’ first followers and his closest friend, but even so Jesus chastises him because Peter had begun to think of himself and his own needs and desires before focusing on what God wanted. Jesus goes on to say that in order to become a person who is fully persuaded, we must lose our lives for Jesus and for the gospel. Obviously, Jesus didn’t mean that we had to literally die for him, but he clearly did mean that his followers are expected to put the needs and desires of God, and God’s kingdom, ahead of our own.

If you’ve spent any time at all on some social media outlets, you have almost certainly seen one of the countless posts quoting Jesus saying “If anyone is ashamed of me” and that verse comes from this very passage. But on Facebook, those posts almost always say that if you really love Jesus, if you really are not ashamed of Jesus, then you will resend that photograph or that post to all of your friends. Poppycock. That’s not what this passage means at all. What Jesus is saying, is that of you really love him, you will put the desires of Jesus, and the needs of the kingdom of God, ahead of your own. What Jesus wants, isn’t for us to repost his picture or some scripture verse on Facebook or Instagram. What Jesus wants is for us to live our lives as if his teaching actually meant something.

Abraham, Sarah, and Peter were all given new names by God to signify that they belonged to him and were living their lives in devotion and obedience to him. They were “fully persuaded” that God had the power to do what he had promised and they trusted God enough to put God’s desires and the needs of his kingdom ahead of their own. When that happened, God, knowing that the desire of Abram’s heart was to be a father, changed his name from Abram (which means father) to Abraham (which means father of nations). Jesus saw Simon’s faith and changed his name from Simon (which means God has heard) to Peter (which means rock) because despite his doubts and his failings, Peter would become the rock that held the church together.

And so, I invite you to come with me on a short flight of imagination.

God wants each one of us to put our full faith and trust in Jesus Christ, to become fully persuaded, and sold out to him so that we become willing to put the needs and desires of God ahead of our own.

So imagine, if and when you are willing to do that, what new name would God give you?

Would it tell the world that God was giving you the desire of your heart so that he could change the world through you? Would it tell everyone that God intended to use you to build something far larger than yourself? Or would it be something else?

God is waiting to change your name.

Just imagine how your world would change, if you were willing to become… “fully persuaded.”

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Covenant of a Clear Conscience

February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon church, conscience, covenant, death, gifts, love, ministry, proof, truth

“Covenant of a Clear Conscience”

February 18, 2018

By John Partridge*

Genesis 9:8-17 Mark 1:9-15 1 Peter 3:18-22

Have you ever watched the news when there is a press conference to announce the end of a particularly difficult labor negotiation? I don’t care if it’s the steel workers, or the school board, or a Major League Baseball franchise, there is one word that you seem to hear over and over during the press conference, and that is… contract. I usually sounds like, “We’re here today to announce that all parties have agreed to this new contract. Negotiating this contract was difficult and although everyone didn’t get everything that they wanted, everyone was willing to compromise to reach an agreement on this contract. Thanks to this contract, we can all get back to work and be successful together.” Doesn’t that language sound familiar? It does, because the repeated word, “contract” is important, and it is one that the negotiators want to emphasize.

In our society, a contract is something with which we are familiar. Almost all of us have signed contracts at one time or another. We know that those contracts are legally binding on all the parties that sign them, and that there are penalties and even fines that can be incurred if anyone fails to live up to their part of the deal. Now kick that all up a notch and you can better understand the biblical idea of a covenant. A covenant was not just a religious thing; it was a legal one that was often used between nations. Like contracts, covenants usually included a list of what was expected of each party as well as a list of what terrible things would happen to anyone who failed to live up to their part of the deal. The signing of a covenant was often combined with one or several animal sacrifices as a symbol to everyone that the signing of the covenant required the shedding of blood and the breaking of that covenant would also bring about the shedding of blood or death.

With that in mind, then I think we can better appreciate the significance of God’s words contained in Genesis 9:8-17, where God describes his promise to Noah, to all of humanity, and to all of creation after the global flood had ended.

⁸Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Just like those news conference we mentioned earlier, God mentions the word “covenant’ seven times in nine verses and in addition, repeatedly refers to “every living creature,” “all generations,” “never again,” and “everlasting.” God wanted to make a point that this was a solemn promise that God intended to keep and that humanity never needed to worry about God going back on his promise. At least from this one disaster, we were safe.

And then, thousands of years later, Mark records for us this story and the words of Jesus in Mark 1:9-15.

⁹At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

¹²At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, ¹³and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

¹⁴After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Jesus went to John at the Jordan River and was baptized by him. Following his baptism, Jesus went out into the wilderness for 40 days and was tempted by Satan. But after all of that, the message that Jesus shared with the world was that the kingdom of God had come near and that everyone should repent and believe the good news. With the coming of Jesus, heaven is torn open and comes to earth. Instead of heaven being a place that was far away, the kingdom of God had come to earth and lived among humanity. God was no longer far away, but as close as your neighbor, as close as your next breath, as close as your own heart. God was no longer confined to heaven, but entered into the hearts of those who believed. But the baptism of Jesus also symbolized something even more important and the Apostle Peter explains that in 1 Peter 3:18-22.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. ¹⁹After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— ²⁰to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

In this passage, Peter speaks about God’s new covenant with his people, and that is the promise that comes through Jesus Christ. Peter reminds everyone that since the days of Noah, water has been a symbol of salvation and rescue, but Noah and the ark only managed to rescue eight people. With the coming of God’s new covenant, Jesus entered into the grave and revealed the truth to those who were imprisoned there (Note: theologians aren’t clear whether Peter was referring to the spirits of dead people who lived in the time of Noah, or if these were fallen angels who had been imprisoned by God). But Peter makes the bigger point that baptism becomes for us a symbol of Jesus’ three days in the grave and his subsequent resurrection.

Baptism, Peter argues, is not about washing and cleanliness, and it isn’t even about ritual purification in the way that the Jews had traditionally done it. Instead, baptism is a symbol that we take upon ourselves where we join with Christ in the grave (which is the water), pass through the trial that is death, and emerge from the water not only purified, but conquerors of suffering, trials and death, forgiven and resurrected to a new life in Christ Jesus. It is because of this that we have received the new covenant of God through Jesus Christ, or what Peter calls “the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.” Once we have received the gift of Jesus Christ and have given our lives to him, we no longer need to fear God, or worry about the sins that we have committed in the past because we are assured that we are a forgiven people who died with Christ and have left our guilt, our shame, and our sin in the grave behind us.

This is the gift that we have received.

This is the gift of the covenant of a clear conscience.

And so as we leave this place and move forward into the future, we are left with two tasks: First, we should rejoice and give thanks to God that we have been given such an invaluable gift. And second, because this gift is so incredible, we must not keep it to ourselves but instead we must find ways to share this good news with our neighbors, our friends, our family, and with all the world.

What will you do with your gift?

_________

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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 at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

God Speaks. Who Hears?

February 11, 2018February 11, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon church, faith, God, God speaks, prophecy, truth, witness

“God Speaks. Who Hears?”

February 11, 2018

(Transfiguration Sunday)

By John Partridge*

2 Kings 2:1-12 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Mark 9:2-9

How many of you have your cell phones with you this morning?

How many of you spoke to someone on the phone, or texted, or emailed, or used your phone to communicate with another human being in the last 24 hours?

How many of you listened to the radio or watched television, or used the internet, or read a newspaper or even a book?

That’s probably almost everyone.

Today, communication is easy and fast. We think nothing of exchanging messages with people halfway around the world when even a few decades ago, that was still a big deal. As recently as World War Two, the Pentagon would be reading and interpreting information that was days or even weeks old but today can often watch events on the other side of the planet live from cameras on a spy satellite in orbit and from cameras mounted on soldiers’ helmets. Communication today is so quick, so easy, and so commonplace, that we rarely give it a second thought.

Unless we start talking about God… and then everyone panics.

Atheists think the idea of talking to God is silly, unbelievers doubt that God talks to humans and even believers often think that our prayers are only a one-way thing. We pray, God hears, and that’s the end of it. Many Christian think that God might have occasionally spoken to a tiny number of select individuals, but when the prophets of the Old Testament died off, that was that. But as we read through today’s scriptures, we might be surprised to find that that isn’t the case at all. We begin in 2 Kings 2:1-12 where we hear the story of Elijah being carried into heaven…

^2:1 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. ²Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

³The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” Elisha replied, “so be quiet.”

⁴Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

⁵The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” he replied, “so be quiet.”

⁶Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on.

⁷Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. ⁸Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

⁹When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

¹⁰“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

¹¹As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. ¹²Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

I’ve read this story plenty of times before, but as I read through this for today’s message, there were a couple things that struck me. First and foremost among these were the repeated references to groups of people that are referred to as “the company of the prophets.” Like many of you, I have read about Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, and other prophets who have books of the Bible named after them, but other than those few, I often thought that there weren’t many others. In this passage, I allowed myself to think that this was sort of allegorical, or just a way of telling the story, or perhaps that these men were employed by the prophets or by the church in some way. But as we read a little closer, we are forced to think differently.

There are at least two large groups of these men, there are the company of prophets in Bethel, and another at Jericho and fifty of these men watch from the far side of the river as Elijah and Elisha cross the Jordan. From the text, it would even seem as if fifty is only a portion of those referred to as “the company of prophets at Jericho.” And so, from this passage we see that there were a large number of those who were referred to as prophets of God. What’s more, these men are not simply employees of the church because, in each case, well before Elijah and Elisha arrive, they already know why they are travelling together and that God has told them that this would be Elijah’s last day on earth. All of these men, or at least many of them, know the future because they have heard it from God himself, and even though none of them had had written books of the bible, there were hundreds of them.

Next, we hear the story of Jesus on the mount of transfiguration in Mark 9:2-9 and, although we’ve heard this story plenty of times before, as we think about this idea of hearing from God, we might just see something we haven’t noticed before.

²After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. ³His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. ⁴And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶(He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

⁷Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

⁸Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Jesus is transfigured into something that is much different than his normal, earthly appearance and is likely more similar to how Jesus would appear in heaven. And alongside of Jesus there appears two other men whom, we are told, are Elijah and Moses. But before any introductions can be made, Peter already knows who they are. Since these men lived and died hundreds and even thousands of years before Peter was ever born, there is no possible way that he could have known them. Without photography, or video, or even pencil sketches, there is no way that Peter had seen so much as an artistic drawing of what they had looked like. And yet, it would seem that at the instant they appear, Jesus’ three disciples know who these men are and they know that the voice that they have heard is that of God himself.

How did they know?

How did they know if Jesus didn’t tell them?

Maybe Jesus did tell them and it didn’t get written down in the story that was handed down to us.

Or is it possible that Peter, James, and John, at that moment, were given a revelation from God?

Before you decide, let’s take a look at one more passage of scripture this morning and read what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).

³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Paul says that the message of God is hidden by the god of this age, or rather, the ruler of the earth and its culture, whom we know is the enemy of our God and that is, Satan. Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the evidence that is right in front of them and so they cannot see the truth of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. But if that is true, and it must be, then doesn’t that mean that believers in Jesus Christ are themselves hearing and seeing messages from God? Paul says that God has “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”

At the very least, this means that when we read, and when we hear, the Gospel message, we are in fact hearing from God. And whenever we share the message of the Gospel with others we are, in fact, sharing the words of God with them. But I suspect that there is more to it than that because Paul says that “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ.” And, while that seems simple enough, we also know that the people that Paul knew weren’t reading billboards or watching CNN. The people that Paul describes didn’t own bibles and unbelievers wouldn’t have been standing in the synagogue or in weekly gatherings in a Christian church or home. The only light of the gospel that unbelievers would have seen would have been the evidence of creation in the world around them, direct communication by God in some other form, or the actions of Christian believers that they knew or who lived among them.

In the time of the Old Testament, God’s prophets numbered in the hundreds and perhaps even in the thousands. God continued to speak to his people in the time of Jesus, and continues to do so today. Our neighbors and friends probably won’t hear God speak from a cloud, but his light shines in your hearts so that they can see God’s glory.

As we celebrate and remember this Transfiguration Sunday, let us also remember that God still speaks to us today. God gives us the light of the knowledge of his glory displayed in the face of Christ. God is speaking today to our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, and our families, not on CNN and not on the internet, but through you.

Let your light shine.

_________

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print 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 at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

What Will You Do With Freedom?

February 4, 2018February 4, 2018 PastorPartridge Sermon actions, faith, followers of Jesus, freedom, Jesus Christ

“What Will You Do With Freedom?”

February 04, 2018

By John Partridge*

Isaiah 40:21-31 Mark 1:29-39 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Have you ever heard of a man named Blanche Bruce?

Bruce was born in 1841 to Polly Bruce, a domestic slave, and her master Pettis Perkinson, a white plantation laborer. As a slave, Blanche Bruce’s upbringing was comparatively privileged. His father raised him alongside his legitimate half-brother and allowed him to be educated with him by their private tutor. As he reached adulthood, his father legally freed him so that he could pursue an apprenticeship, but when the Civil War broke out many freed slaves were being returned to slavery and Bruce fled to Kansas.

At this point in our story, it’s worth noting that Blanche Bruce wasn’t the only slave, or freed slave, to escape from slavery. Many people did. But what makes Blanche Bruce worth remembering isn’t that he was a freed slave or an escaped slave, but what he did with his freedom once he had it.

In Kansas, he worked as a school teacher, and when he later moved to Mississippi he arrived there with only 75 cents to his name. Even so, it only took a few years before he was successful as both a land speculator and as a planter. His intellect, personality, and charisma also made him a rising star in the Mississippi Republican Party and as such, he became a sheriff, a tax collector, and the superintendent of education in his county. In 1874 he was elected to the United States Senate by the Mississippi legislature and he became the second black senator in U.S. history and the first to serve an entire six-year term. As senator, he defended black Civil War veterans, fought segregation, and spoke out for the rights of Chinese immigrants and Native Americans. After his term as senator, Bruce later served as the register of the US Treasury and thus the first African American to have his signature appear on our nation’s paper currency.

While that’s all very impressive, the reason that I’m telling you the story of Blanche Bruce is that, as we read the lessons of scripture, we find that we need to be asking ourselves one of the same questions that he did. We begin this morning with these words from the prophet Isaiah contained in Isaiah 40:21-31.

²¹Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
²²He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
²³He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
²⁴No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

²⁵“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

²⁷Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
³¹but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

There are two key points that Isaiah emphasizes in this passage and those same two points underlie everything that we do as followers of God, as Christians, and as a church. First, God is uniquely powerful. Our God is the creator of the universe and everything that exists and there is none like him or even remotely close to him. Second, God is with us. Our God chooses to care about, and to care for his followers. Moreover, God chooses to work through his followers for the benefit of the entire world in a way that no other idol, god, or religion does. We can choose to live our lives without God, but we are strongest with him when we choose to follow him and when we invite God to work with us and through us.

But what does that look like?

In Mark 1:29-39, we see Jesus ministering in Peter’s hometown, but even at the height of his popularity and when the demand for his ministry was at its highest, he left.

²⁹As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. ³⁰Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. ³¹So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

³²That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. ³³The whole town gathered at the door, ³⁴and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

³⁵Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. ³⁶Simon and his companions went to look for him, ³⁷and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

³⁸Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” ³⁹So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and then the entire town gathered at the door of the house and Jesus healed diseases, and cast out demons from the people who had come. But early the next morning, even though more people were coming and everyone was looking for him, Jesus slips out of town to pray and doesn’t go back.

But why?

I made this point a week or two ago and I need to make it again today. Jesus was the Son of God, a member of the Trinity, and he literally had the freedom to do anything that he wanted to do. But the question that he asked himself was the same as the one that Blanche Bruce must have asked himself after he escaped to Kansas.

What will I do with my freedom?

Jesus explains to his disciples that he had been sent by God, not to minister only to one town, but to travel from town to town and carry the message of God to as many people as possible in all of Galilee and in all of Israel. Jesus had the freedom to do whatever he wanted, but with that freedom, he chose to do what God had called him to do.

Paul wrestled with this question as well and talks about it at some length in 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 where he says:

¹⁶For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. ¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.

¹⁹Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Paul had a number of things to say and all of them are worth noting as we search for answers. First, Paul explains that he really can’t boast, or even take much credit, for the things that he does because he is compelled, by God to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But more than that, Paul says that he would suffer if he did not do what God had called him to do. Second, Paul makes sure that his readers understand that he is a citizen of Rome, and as such, is absolutely free to do whatever he wants to do that is permissible under the law. He is a slave to no one and in addition, Paul knows that he has been made free from sin through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But, with this freedom, he has chosen to do whatever he can to win souls for the kingdom of God. Paul is free to do as he pleases, but he will go anywhere, and do almost anything, to rescue the lost. He is fully committed to the goal of winning souls for Jesus Christ. And finally, Paul reminds the people of the church that no matter how committed we are, and no matter how devoted we are, or how much effort we expend, we won’t win every time or every person, but by doing all that we can, we will win some.

And this is where we return to Blanche Bruce.

As he fled Virginia and travelled toward Kansas, he knew that he could safely live there as a free man. But remember the question that he had to ask himself along the way.

What will I do with my freedom?

Today we must each ask ourselves that same question. Isaiah reminds us that God is not only uniquely powerful, but that our God chooses to care about us. God is free to do as he pleases, but chooses to work through his people to rescue the lost and to save the world. Jesus made that same choice. As a member of the Trinity, Jesus was free to do whatever he wanted, but he chose to do only the will of God. Paul emphasizes that, as a Roman citizen he had a lot of rights under the law. He was free to do whatever he wanted within the law. Paul chose to answer the call of God and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ with everything that he had at his disposal. He would go anywhere, do anything, and become whatever he needed to become in order to save as many souls as he possibly could. Paul understood that he wouldn’t win every single time, but that, with every effort, he would win sometimes.

And so, today we are faced with that same question. We live in of one of the strongest nations on earth. We are citizens of the greatest empire that has ever existed on the face of the earth. Much of the world can only dream of things that most of us take completely for granted. The poorest among us have things that more than half of the world will never have. We have many basic rights that are guaranteed by the founding documents of our nation and we brag about the freedoms that we enjoy as a nation.

But the question we need to answer is the same as the one faced by Blanche Bruce, by the Apostle Paul, and by Jesus Christ.

What will I do with my freedom?

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