Sermon

The Heart of God’s Lover

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , , , , , ,

“The Heart of God’s Lover”
August 30, 2015
By John Partridge

Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:8-13          1 John 3:2-4          Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Have you ever been to a wedding? Certainly, almost all of us have and of all the things that we always remember at every wedding is how beautiful the bride was. It doesn’t really matter what kind of a wedding it is either. It could be a traditional wedding, a country and western wedding, a formal wedding, an informal wedding, they are all the same in that the bride does her very best to look beautiful. I once performed a wedding in which our church secretary got a phone call from the court house, in the morning, from a couple who was there getting their wedding license. They wondered if the pastor could marry them that afternoon so that they could be done and home before the kids got home from school. It seems that they had been living together for eight or ten years and the groom was finally in a mood to get married, and so the poor woman knew she didn’t want to waste her chance. They dashed off to the courthouse, got a wedding license, came down to the church with another couple as witnesses, and got married in my office. And even then, the bride took the time to stop at home and make sure that her hair and make-up got a little extra attention.

At any wedding, it is the love that the bride and groom have for one another that makes them want to look their best for the one that they love.

It is that principle that I want you to keep in mind.

Throughout scripture, God’s redeemer and rescuer, the Messiah, is described as the bridegroom. The prophet Isaiah said that (Isaiah 62:5) “As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

In Matthew 9:15, Jesus describes himself as the bridegroom saying, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

And in John’s Revelation the bride is revealed to be all of those whose names have been written in the Lamb’s book of life, that is, the followers of Jesus Christ, his church.

It is these sorts of lessons that bring the Old Testament into sharper focus. We always knew that the Old Testament was full of interesting stories but aside from revealing things about the basic morality of the Israelites, a bit of history, and a lot of weird stuff about the old system of worship and sacrifice, we often had a hard time understanding it. But, with the arrival of Jesus and the fulfillment of prophecy, we can go back and revisit some of those books that we thought were old and dusty, and see them in an entirely new light. We can see them differently, because we can now see them through the lens of Jesus.

For example, let’s look at the Song of Solomon. We always knew that this was a great book about love and sex, but if we think about Jesus as the bridegroom, our understanding of the story changes completely. (Song of Solomon 2:8-13)

8 Listen! My beloved!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”

It’s easy to picture a bridegroom peeking through the lattice at his beloved, singing with joy, but when we re-imagine that scene where it is God that is peeking at us, where God is filled with anticipation of being with us, because of his passionate love for us, then the whole thing takes on a completely different, and amazingly wonderful, flavor.

If God loves us in this deep and passionate way, then we are more than simply loved by God, we are the beloved of God or, in other words, we are God’s lover.

But if God is in love with us in this amazing way, then how are we, as the Bride of Christ, to prepare ourselves for our wedding? What does it look like for us to, spiritually, do our hair and make-up and beautify ourselves for our bridegroom?

If we look, we can find the answer directly from the lips of Jesus. In Mark chapter 7 the Pharisees take issue with the behavior of Jesus’ followers because they are not following “the rules” of the law and so are living lives that are unclean. Because of this, these church leaders attach Jesus. (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)

7:1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
The issue for Jesus, you see, is, and always has been, an issue of purity.
In 1 John 3:2-4, John puts it this way:

2 Dear 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. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

The way that we beautify ourselves for our bridegroom is to purify ourselves and Jesus wanted to be sure that we understood that purity isn’t about washing our hands before we eat, or rinsing cups or kettles, or blindly following old traditions.

Purity is all about the heart.

Purity is all about what’s on the inside.

As we prepare ourselves for our beloved, and for our wedding day, our goal isn’t to get rich, or to elect the right political party, or be famous, or to do so many other things that our culture thinks are important. Instead, as James (James 1:27) taught us,

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

God loves us deeply and passionately and our goal is to prepare ourselves for the day that he will call us to live with him in his pure and perfect home. To do that, we must deal with a serious heart condition. We must purify our hearts, filling them with the word of God and other things of purity, and we must do the things that God has called us to do.

Because the heart of God’s lover…

…is our own.

Nowhere to Run

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , ,

“Nowhere to Run”
August 23, 2015
By John Partridge

Scripture:     1 Kings 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30               Ephesians 6:10-20               John 6:56-69

Have you been reading about all that has been happening in the Middle East since the Arab Spring? There has been a rise in radicalism throughout the region that is not limited to ISIS. There are dozens of radical groups fighting against the government, and against one another, in Syria, Iran is becoming even more anti-western and anti-Christian than ever before, and although many good people are trying to help, radical groups in Egypt have dramatically escalated their attacks on Christians (who are known as Copts, or Coptic Christians in Egypt) and on Coptic Churches. Throughout the Middle East, and in many parts of North Africa, Christians are being persecuted and killed far more than they have been in generations. Ships full of refugees are arriving daily in Europe seeking asylum.

And yet, interesting stories are emerging from that part of the world that tell us that God is alive and well and still involved in the world in which we live.

Before I elaborate, I want to remember the story of Jonah. We aren’t going to read it today, but remember that God called Jonah and sent him on a mission. But Jonah didn’t want to go and, for whatever reason, Jonah thought that if he could just get far enough away, God wouldn’t be able to find him. And so, Jonah looked at the map, picked the port that was farthest away on the map. Jonah bought a ticket to Tarshish, a city in North Africa on the Atlantic coast that appeared to be at the end of the world, and ran away.

But you cannot run from God.

Although many of the gods of other nations were known to be regional gods who cared only for a certain, limited, part of the world, the God of Israel is the god who created the heavens and the earth and all that is.

There is nowhere to run.

You cannot run from a God who is everywhere.

And so, in the Middle East where many violent people are doing their best to say that the God of Israel isn’t real, that the Jesus of the Christians was nothing more than a prophet, and are trying to destroy, by any means possible, the witness of the church, people are discovering the same thing that Jonah found something like four thousand years ago.

You cannot run from God.

Despite the violence, Christians are taking a stand. The witness of persecuted Christians is being noticed. And I have heard several stories of Muslims who have encountered the risen Christ in their dreams or who have heard a voice who told them to learn more about Issa (the Muslim name for Jesus). With and without the efforts of missionaries and other believers, the name of Jesus is being made known. In fact, according to a witness quoted in a recent issue of Charisma magazine, in some churches as many as 80 percent of those in attendance will say that they came to Christ because of a dream. Veteran missionaries say that more people are converting from Islam to Christianity than in any other time in history.

You cannot run from God.

And so, with that in mind we begin our scripture reading from the book of First Kings chapter 8 as Solomon dedicates the Temple of God in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30)…

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

6 The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.

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

“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

25 “Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ 26 And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

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

When the Ark of the Covenant is placed in the temple, the presence of God follows. Just as it was in the days of Moses when God went before the people and appeared as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, God’s presence appears as a cloud, fills the entire Temple, and the priests are forced to leave the building because they cannot see. Solomon understands the nature of God and declares that the heavens cannot contain God. He goes on to say that the people of God, and even those who are foreigners, do not necessarily have to pray in the temple to be heard by God but only to pray toward the temple. Solomon understands that God hears the prayers of all people no matter where they are.

Often, however, this message is difficult to accept. Sometimes we don’t want to do what God asks us to do. In John 6:56-69, we discover that even Jesus’ own disciples had difficulty accepting his message.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Even the disciples of Jesus, many of those beyond the twelve who were closest to him, had trouble accepting that Jesus was the only path to God. They couldn’t accept that what they had been taught for years might not be complete, that the message of Moses and the prophets and the system of sacrifice in the Temple might not be pointing to something better. But Peter, the twelve, and a few others knew that Jesus spoke the words of God. They knew that if Jesus was truth then there was nowhere else that they could go, even if his words were difficult to hear.

They knew that we cannot hide from God just because he says things that make us uncomfortable.

And, in the end, regardless of how difficult the teachings of God might be, and how we are occasionally convicted by them because of the things we like to do (all of us seem to have a favorite sin do we not?), there is only one place where we can find truth. And with that in mind, we must prepare ourselves to go out into the world. To do so, to prepare our hearts and minds so that we can we a witness to the world without becoming corrupted by it, Paul says this (Ephesians 6:10-20):

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

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

We have often heard this passage about putting on the armor of God read and explained in such a way as to understand that we are preparing ourselves for battle as the knights of old prepared, by buckling on armor and sharpening our swords, but while there is, obviously, an element of that, I also think that Paul is pointing to something quite different. I think that Paul is using military imagery to point to something that is quite the opposite. Paul emphasizes that our fight is not with a flesh and blood enemy. There will be no clash of swords, no throwing of spears, or the twang of a bow. What we prepare for is not a fight that any of us would ever recognize as a fight at all and our preparations would be utterly strange to soldiers and knights in battle. Our preparations are not directed toward the defeat of an enemy outside of ourselves at all, except for the enemy of our souls because every preparation that Paul describes is not aimed at others, but only within ourselves. The way that we are called to fight is to draw close to God, to open our hearts to truth, to struggle toward righteousness, to stand at the ready in the cause of peace. We are to be armed, not with weapons of destruction but to defend ourselves with peace. Instead of retaliating and returning blow for blow and wound for wound, we are called to defend with the words and the truth of God.

I think that Paul deliberately uses the imagery of conflict to highlight a message of peace.
Instead of raising an army to go out to fight those who attack the cause of Christ, our call is, instead, to lift up our voices in prayer and to proclaim the mysterious and miraculous story of the gospel. Our call is not to prepare for battle, but to prepare our hearts, to prepare ourselves, so that we can become the tools that God needs. Because, in the end, the fight against evil is not ours, the fight belongs to God.

We are thousands of miles from the Middle East. We cannot, nor should we, raise an army to fight against ISIS and others who are persecuting the church, but what can do, what we have been called to do, is to draw closer to God, to purify our hearts, and to pray. God is already at work changing hearts and calling disciples even in places where his people are driven out, silenced, and murdered. We are called to testify, to teach the gospel message, and to pray.

Because no matter where you are and no matter how much evil tries to hide it…

…there is nowhere to hide.

You cannot run from God.

 

(Not) The Politics of Power

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , , , , , ,

“(Not) The Politics of Power”
August 16, 2015
By John Partridge

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

Why would any reasonable person want to be the president of the United States?

President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy.” So what is it that drives so many people to run for president, especially knowing the meat grinder that you and your family will pass through at the hands of the media and the other candidates? Why would anyone subject themselves to that?

Certainly, the reasons every candidate has will be different. But while patriotism and service to country certainly should be among the driving factors, we have to at least suspect that fame, money, and power are almost certainly included as well. The salary for the President of the United States is $400,000 per year, but there are some pretty expensive perks that come with that. Some past presidents have made out quite well financially after being in our nation’s highest office, but others have nearly gone bankrupt from bad financial dealings. The candidates for the next election are all over the map financially. Donald Trump, of course is a billionaire with a net worth of $4.5 billion, Carly Fiorina is a former executive of a Fortune 500 company and is worth around $80 million, Hillary Clinton has $15 million (and Bill has another $38 million), and all the way down at the bottom are Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders who each have less than a half a million.

So is it money that attracts people to run for president or is it power, prestige, or something else?
These, after all, are the politics of power.
Whatever it is, it is interesting to compare those who lead us, whether it is those in government or those at the top of the corporate world, with the kind of leaders that God calls to lead his people. We begin, once again, by rejoining the story of the nation of Israel recorded in 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14, this marks the end of David’s life and the beginning of the rule of his son, Solomon.

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

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

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

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

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

10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” 15 Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.

    This short passage highlights the character and leadership of King Solomon more than just about any other passage of scripture. As Solomon becomes king, God gives Solomon the opportunity to write his own ticket and asks the “genie in a bottle” question. In no other place in scripture does God allow anyone to “Ask for whatever you want” and perhaps it is because that God knows that Solomon, alone, is the one man who is capable of accepting such a blessing. Because when Solomon is allowed to choose anything in the world, he does not choose wine, women, song, or pleasure. He does not choose money, or power, or prestige, or conquering armies, or fame, or anything else. Instead, Solomon reveals something about himself that we do not often see in people with great power. Solomon, instead of demonstrating greed, or lust, demonstrates humility.

Instead of asking for anything at all for himself, Solomon asks for wisdom so that he can lead well.

And scripture tells us that because Solomon had the humility to ask for something that would benefit his nation and his people instead of something for himself, God gives him all of those other things. Again, perhaps because Solomon alone is the one man who is capable of handling such a blessing.

So as we witness all of the grandstanding and listen to the daily soundbites on the news, it is fair for us to wonder, what is it that makes a good leader?

In Ephesians 5:15-20, Paul echoes the lessons of Solomon but he adds something to our discussion.

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

    So, for Paul, wisdom is a major component of good leadership but in Paul’s mind, wisdom is inseparable from faithfulness to God. Paul calls all of us to be filled with the Spirit of God, to be hearers of God’s word, worshippers of God, and to give thanks to God for everything.

Finally, let us look at the example of Jesus. What characteristics of leadership does Jesus bring to the table? What does the leadership of Jesus tell us about what we ought to be looking for in our earthly leaders, and finally, what characteristics should we be growing in ourselves?
Jesus said (John 6:51-58),

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

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

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

    Jesus was the King of the Universe but his approach to leadership is not power, or authority, or wealth, or fame, but instead, as the king of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus steps down from his throne, descends to earth, gives up everything he has, is born into a poor family from the middle of nowhere, and gives his life as a sacrifice so that human beings can be rescued from sin and death.

The life of Jesus tells us that real leaders serve.

And one of the highest marks of leadership, God’s way, is sacrifice.

And so as we listen to the sound bites of another political election season we will hear a great many promises. Some will seek leadership because they feel the need to be in front and be the center of attention. Others will be lured by power and authority, some by acclaim, fame, and name recognition, and still others by money. In the political world, these men and women will attempt to convince us that they are qualified because they have already had great power, great wealth, or great experience. That is, after all, normal in the politics of power.

But in the end, scripture teaches us to look for something deeper than motivations of the flesh, these desires, lusts, and greed of our humanity. Instead we are called to look for an altogether different set of qualifications. Instead of business as usual, or politics as usual, instead of looking for the things that the newspapers and the television and Internet soundbites focus on everyday, let us look instead to those far more unusual qualifications. Let us look for men and women, real leaders, who have the heart of God, who lead with humility, wisdom, discernment, service to others, faithfulness, and sacrifice.

Too many people seek to run for president and other offices, political and otherwise, because of what they can gain but that doesn’t make them leaders.

Real leaders lead, because of what they can gain, but because of what they can give.

And that is not the normal politics of power.

May we, as God’s people, be people who seek to serve others, and care for the needs of others, before we seek to satisfy our own desires.

Disobedience, Tears, and Death

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , ,

“Disobedience, Tears, and Death”
August 09, 2015

By John Partridge

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

Close your eyes.

Do you remember when you were a young person and you did stupid stuff that got your parents to yell at you? Now remember when you did something worse, not everyone has that moment but many of us have, when you did something so bad or so unexpected, that your parents didn’t… couldn’t yell, or even speak. Remember how your heart broke when you noticed that this thing you had done or said, made them sit, with nothing to say to you… and weep. Some parents have hidden that moment simply by saying things like, “Go to your room,” or “I’m so angry I don’t even want to see you right now.” But you heard them talking from your room and later you noticed (although they wouldn’t admit it) that they had unusually red eyes like they had been crying.

Maybe you were a good kid and that didn’t happen to you, but maybe your children did it to you as a parent. Or maybe it happened to a friend, or someone from church, but I want you to hold on to that idea, that moment when the words or the actions of another individual, a person you love, are so disastrous, so hurtful, that you, yourself are brought to tears from the pain that you feel on their behalf.

Open your eyes but hold on to that feeling in your memory.

It is moments like these that we will be reading about, and talking about this morning. Once again rejoining the story of King David, now as his son Absalom has dethroned him, run him out of Jerusalem, taken everything that he had, slept with his wives, and now is literally at war with David, we begin in 2 Samuel 18:5-15, 31-33.

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

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

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

10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”

11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”

12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ 13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”

14 Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. 15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.

—-

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

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

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

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

David has been attacked by his own son. Absalom has taken David’s throne, been crowned as king, and driven David into the countryside. But as David’s loyal friends, soldiers, and others rally to his side and he begins to fight back, David, even though he is now at war with his own child, still loves Absalom and orders that he should not be harmed, and in fact, that he should be treated gently.

But as David’s commanding general finds Absalom, he disobeys David’s explicit orders and kills the young man on the spot as he hangs, helplessly, from a low-hanging branch, by his hair.

And when David hears the news that his son is dead, David weeps.

David had every reason to be happy. His throne, his power, his wealth and everything else had been returned to him. The rebellion had been crushed. But David, despite the betrayal, despite the disobedience, despite the pain, still loved his son. And David went to a quiet place and wept.

The next passage of scripture doesn’t sound like it is related to the story of David that we just read, at least at first. But with a little thought and reflection, everything starts to fall into place. (John 6:35, 41-51)

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

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

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

Jesus said, “I am the living bread.” And then, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” From this, and all of the gospel stories, we know that Jesus is the bread, which was given by God, so that the whole world could be rescued and given life. The gift of eternal life, the gift of Jesus, was given as a gift of forgiveness, a gift of wholeness.

The gift of Jesus was a gift of sacrifice.

And it was given because God witnessed our betrayal and disobedience. We have all done the very things that God knew would destroy us. We have done the things that God commanded us not to do. We knew that God was the king of the universe, but we chose to overthrow him. We wanted to sit on the throne. We wanted to make the rules. We wanted to do whatever we wanted.

And our betrayal and disobedience caused God so much pain that he wept.

But even in the face of our betrayal and disobedience, even in the face of his pain and sorrow, God never stopped loving us. In fact, just as David ordered his men to be gentle with Absalom, God still wanted to rescue us from our own mess. God knew that the penalty for our sin and betrayal was death.

But instead of making us pay, God chose instead to sacrifice his own son in our place.

Jesus came to earth to rescue us from the problems and pain that we created for ourselves. Jesus came to become the bread of life and said, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

That is an enormous responsibility.

We owe God a great debt.

But what can we do? How can we even begin to repay what God has done for us? What can we do to show God that we are grateful?

And in Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2, Paul answers us by saying…

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

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

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

Paul says that we are all members of one body, which to me is another way of saying that we all belong to the same family, but, more than that, it is, just what Paul said, that we are part of the same body. Some of us are hands, others feet, and so on, but anything that harms one of us, harms all of us. And so, Paul’s instructions are to speak the truth and to make sure that we don’t do foolish things when we are angry. We all know that when we get mad enough, something inside of us wants to react, to lash out at the thing that hurt or angered us, but in Paul’s mind, that action gives our enemy a grip on us. Instead of lashing out, we need to be thoughtful and loving like David. We need to offer second chances. We need to put aside all sorts of wrongdoing, like stealing. We need to use our speech to lift people up and not to tear them down. Our speech should bring glory to God instead of making dirty jokes, talking about Desperate Housewives, and other unwholesome talk. Unwholesome talk encourages sin. Paul says that all these things “grieve the Holy Spirit of God.”

These are the things that make God weep.

Instead, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

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

Instead of living lives of betrayal and rebellion, let us live lives that are dedicated to helping one another, loving one another, forgiving one another, encouraging one another, and offering our lives, and everything that we do, as an offering, a sacrifice, to God.

Are We Mature?

PastorPartridge Sermon , , ,

“Are We Mature?”
August 02, 2015
By John Partridge

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

How many of you wish that you could join Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and live in a place where you never have to grow up? How many of you sing along whenever you hear the Toys-R-Us jingle singing “I don’t want to grow up…”? Just this week I reminded someone in the office that although life requires that we grow old, there is no law that requires us to grow up. Many of us have discovered that growing up is a trap. When we were kids we desperately wanted to grow up so that we could be “free” of all the rules and restrictions of our parents, and everyday attendance at school. But we often discover that adulthood and being grown up is nothing at all like we imagined when we were kids.

But even considering all of that, we recognize that adults behave in certain ways. We go to work on time, we pay the bills on time, we get along with our co-workers (most of the time), we follow the rules of the road when we drive, the rules at work, and a whole lot more rules than we ever thought adults had to follow. Even when we don’t want to act our age, and even though we don’t always like (or follow) all of the rules, we are even more annoyed by other people who refuse to follow them. We have all met people who, although they were forty, or sixty, or older, they acted as if they never grew up. They were immature and behaved as if they were children.

When Patti and I were first married, we knew of a couple who could barely pay the rent and who worried about how to keep food on the table, well, let me be more specific, the wife worried about how to keep food on the table. The distinction is important, because even though they had a hard time finding the money for necessities, the husband would occasionally come home with expensive toys, like a new $400 shotgun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to buy grown-up toys, but when your family is worried about having enough food to eat, mature human beings set aside their desire for toys. Many of us can recall times when we cancelled family vacations, or postponed major purchases, or set aside our need for toys for ourselves, so that we could pay for a child’s braces, or school fees, or a class trip, or a host of other things that were more important to our family.

We don’t always have to act like a grown-up, but a mark of our maturity is that we are willing to act our age when we need to, and set aside our wants for the needs of others who are important to us.

In today’s scriptures we are going to hear three stories that all hinge on the maturity of the people in them. But as we consider them, we realize that the maturity of those involved is not just physical and emotional maturity, but spiritual maturity as well.

We begin once again with the story of King David in 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13 as he murders the honorable and noble, Uriah the Hittite and takes Uriah’s wife Bathsheba for himself.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Certainly a part of David had known all along that what he was doing was wrong. It was that part of him that knew he messed up that caused him to try to cover it all up by making Uriah “disappear.” But once Nathan calls him out, David knows that the jig is up, that he has been caught in his sin and defiance of God, and he repents. Even so, even having repented and been forgiven, David still does not escape the consequences of his actions. God declares that David’s own family will turn on him, and that God will one day do to David almost exactly what he had done to Uriah. David’s own son would turn on him, take away his throne, his palace, his kingdom, and all of his wives and that son would sleep with all of those wives in broad daylight so that everyone would know that he had done it.

David got into trouble because he acted immaturely both as an adult and as a spiritual being. David did what he did because he was greedy and selfish, and because he chose to put his desires ahead of the needs of others.

In John 6:24-35, we hear about what happened after the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus fed five to fifteen thousand people and then, instead of being grateful, they follow him so that he can feed them again.

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus tells the people that he knows they followed him, not because they were impressed by the miracle that he performed, but because they wanted to be fed. He cautions them to work for food that endures to eternal life and not just to work for food that spoils.

Like a baby that cries when it is hungry, the people were being immature; in particular, they were being spiritually immature. They wanted food more than they wanted to do the will of God. They loved Jesus for what he could do for them on that particular day, rather than for who he was and for the gift of eternal life that he had to offer.

Finally, Paul again urges the followers of Jesus Christ, the church, to live lives of spiritual maturity. (Ephesians 4:1-16)

4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
—
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

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

Paul says that we should live a life that is worthy of the calling of God. God did not call us to be petty, judgmental, mean-spirited, short-tempered, narrow-minded, people. God called us to be humble, gentle patient, peaceful, and loving people who get along with others because of the love that we have for one another and the love that we have for God. When we act in ways that do not look much like Jesus, then our behavior is spiritually immature. Mature believers have grown in faith and in knowledge so that we are filled with the Spirit of God and become more and more like Jesus. It is our immaturity that allows us to be deceived by false preachers and bad theology. It is our immaturity that allows believers to be deceived by people who try to lead us astray. But Paul says the solution to all of these is to become mature, to grow in faith and knowledge so that together we can, as the body of Christ, do the work that God has called us to do.

We have all met people who, although they were forty, or sixty, or older, they acted as if they never grew up. They were immature and behaved as if they were children.

And, in the same way, we sometimes meet fellow believers who, although they are physically grown up, are still babies, immature, in their faith. Just because we are fifty, or sixty, or seventy, doesn’t guarantee that we act like adults, nor do we automatically become mature Christians because of our age. We grow as we speak, as we act, and as we hear the truth. We grow spiritually in the same way that children grow physically; we need to eat spiritual food. We need to spend time reading and studying scripture, and doing other things where we hear and act out, and exercise our faith so that we can grow in faith and in knowledge.

Our goal is not to fill the pews every Sunday.

Our goal is not to simply a body for Christ, but to become the mature body of Christ.

As such, it is often worth asking ourselves, “Am I mature?”

And to find out, the next question we need to ask is, “Do I look and act, like Jesus?”

Helium, God, and the Church

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , , , ,


Most of us want as little of God as possible.
    We don’t want to admit it of course, but God scares us.  My friend Brian Baer once read a meditation in our Sunday school class called “Just a cup of God please.”  It said that God is prepared to pour out blessings on us through a fountain the size of Niagara Falls.  But we come prepared to collect it in a tea cup because we’re afraid of what God might do with us if we had more.
    The other day I saw a yard sale sign with balloons attached to it but the balloons had been there too long.  Instead of floating, they just sort of hung there.
Lifeless. 
    As I drove by, it occurred to me that our churches are a lot like that.  We are like a balloon.  We are a vessel that takes its shape by being filled with the Spirit of God.  The more of him we contain, the more we begin to take the shape that he intends for us, the more we look like what God intends for us to look.
But to get there, we have to be stretched.
    Balloons aren’t useful unless they are stretched.  Until they are stretched, and dangerously close to bursting, they do not, they cannot, do the thing that they are intended to do.  If they aren’t stretched, they just hang there… lifeless.  
That’s exactly how many of us are.  We want God to come into the church, but too much of God frightens us.  
Being stretched is hard.
It scares us.
    We’re afraid of what might happen if we allow too much of God to come into our lives.  When balloons are too full they fly away or they burst.  We’ve read the stories in the Bible.  When God fills people up, scary things happen.  Life feels like it’s out of control.  Lives are changed.  God asks people to do things they’ve never done before.
Like helium in a balloon, when God comes in we get stretched.
    But if a balloon isn’t stretched by the helium in it, there isn’t enough to overcome the effects of gravity that is pulling it down and it just hangs there.  Lifeless.
    Likewise, even though it might feel safer, when there isn’t enough God in us to stretch us, then there isn’t enough of God to overcome the evil in the world that drags us down.  Without enough of God in the church, we look just like every other human organization. 
We don’t have enough God in us to take his shape.
I know that it’s scary.
Being stretched is uncomfortable.
Being filled with God feels dangerous (and it is).
But if we aren’t filled with enough God to really stretch us…
                  …we will never fly.

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Learning to See (Part 1 – Others)

PastorPartridge Sermon , ,

Scripture:

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13           Mark 4:26-34           2 Corinthians 5:6-17

Anyone who has ever broken their arm, leg, or had surgery on their shoulder or hip can tell you that after surgery when you are finally done with casts and slings, crutches, and walkers, then the real work starts. After the your body has healed, then you begin the longer and harder task of rehabilitation, rebuilding muscle strength, and relearning how to use something you thought you had, but realized that things don’t work the way that they used to. I have shared with you before that after receiving my cochlear implant, I am still relearning how to hear and every time they update the program, everything changes again.

But for the most part, our ability to see is different.

When we get glasses, they make what we see more focused. When we have cataracts removed, it makes our vision clearer. If we wear something like night vision goggles, it is quite possible that we might need to relearn to recognize some objects that look differently than they do with normal vision. But in most cases what we see is, in fact, what is there. There is never a time when we have to relearn to see…

…Except when we become followers of Jesus Christ.

As followers of Jesus we are called to see things, not as they appear to be, but to see them the way that God sees them.

We begin this morning in the book of 1 Samuel where God calls his prophet to anoint a new king in place of Saul. (1 Samuel 15:34-16:13)

34 Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

4 Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the LORD chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The LORD has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

Jesse had good looking sons. They were tall and handsome and well constructed. And as they passed in front of Samuel, several times, if not every time, Samuel thought, “Surely this one looks like a king,” but God doesn’t see the world the same way that human beings see it. Each time that Samuel thought he saw a king, God told him that he was seeing it wrong. This happened so many times that Jesse ran out of sons and Samuel had to ask if he had any more. And the only son that was left was the kid brother they had left out in the fields to watch the sheep.

No one knew that Samuel had come to anoint a new king, but no one, not even his own father, thought that David was important enough to invite to dinner with God’s prophet. But the son that had been overlooked by his family was the very one that God had in mind. God’s vision is different than ours. God sees things differently than we do. And that means that things are not always what they appear to be. What we think we see is not always what is. What our eyes tell us about reality, is not always real.

Paul elaborates on this idea in 2 Corinthians 5:6-17…

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Paul says, that we live by faith, and not my sight, which is a good way of saying that the things that we see, aren’t always reality. What is seen with our eyes is not always all that there is to see. For that reason, Paul encourages us to focus on a world that we cannot see, so that we will be rewarded by Jesus on the Day of Judgment.

The followers of Christ, according to Paul, will be questioned by people who take pride in what they can see and we will sometimes be accused (just as Jesus was) of being “out of our mind,” because we choose to ‘see’ with our hearts rather than with our eyes. For that reason, we are called to take pride in what we are doing, take pride in the good that the followers of Jesus are doing, so that we can answer those who are only proud of the things that they can see. We must stop seeing those around us as the world sees them, but instead see others the way that God sees them. Whenever we are in Christ, we are changed and become something new, and Paul encourages us to see the people around us the same way.

God’s way.

And as we learn to see the way that God sees, we realize that the world we are learning to see is the future kingdom of God. In Mark 4:26-34, Jesus described that world this way…

26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a man who is planting seed. While he is the one who put his hand in the sack and scattered the seed, once it left his hand, he is no longer responsible for anything that happens. Instead, “all by itself the soil produces grain.” Once the seed is planted, everything that happens depends on God. Even tiny seeds can grow to produce great sources of shelter and food, but our only responsibility is to plant and to harvest. When we see the world the way that God sees it, we remember that people are not always what they seem. Sometimes the most productive plants grow in unexpected places. Dwight Moody, the great evangelist of the 19th century was brought to Christ when he was a shoe salesman. Billy Graham was a country farmer who came to faith in Jesus at a revival meeting he attended at the request of a friend, and only accepted because his friend offered to let Billy drive his pickup truck.

When we see the world the way that God sees, we remember that just because people look like they are poor, or ugly, or dirty, or drunk, or foreign, or different than us, doesn’t mean that God sees them that way. We remember that God loved all of us long before we were anything close to loveable. God desires for every human being to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and have the opportunity to follow him. It isn’t up to us to choose who hears. Our only calling is to scatter the seed and let God be responsible for growing it.

It isn’t easy to see the way that God sees.

It is hard to doubt our own senses.

But when we choose to follow Jesus…

…we must learn to see all over again.

Baltimore – A Rush to Judgement?

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , , , , , , , ,


I wish everyone would shut up for a minute.

But probably not for the reason you think.

    I waited a long time to write anything about the riots in Ferguson, Missouri because I wanted to try to understand the issues.   
    But this time, after watching and listening to media outlets talk about what is happening in Baltimore I don’t want to wait.  I am posting now, not because I think I understand what is happening, but because I am convinced that almost no one does.
Every media outlet, every reporter, every politician, and a great many bystanders have taken sides.
    Just like the Ferguson case, and the Travon Martin case, and so many others, everyone seems to be absolutely certain that they know exactly what is happening and why.
Everyone is rushing to judgement.
    They judge the police.  They judge Freddie Gray.  They judge the mayor.  They judge the President.  They judge the protestors, the rioters (those are vastly different groups), they judge the victims of the violence, and people are even judging the parents of the people in the streets. 
    Christians are often accused of being judgmental, but this is ridiculous.  Everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike seems to think that they know so much about what is happening hundreds of miles away in Baltimore that they can stand in judgement of people they’ve never met and who they know almost nothing about.
I wish everyone would all shut up and listen for a change.
As I watch and listen to the reporting from Baltimore, all I seem to find is more questions.
What exactly happened in police custody that led to the death of Freddie Gray?
Did Mr. Gray really have surgery on his spine only weeks before his arrest?
Did that matter?
Did the mayor tell the police to allow the mayhem to continue when it might have been stopped much earlier?
I could ask questions all day but it seems clear that, so far, there aren’t very many answers.
    And without answers, all the self-proclaimed experts (left, right and center) should slow down their rush to judgement until they actually have some facts.  Right now there are too many things that we just don’t know.   
Instead of rushing to judgement, why don’t we listen instead?
We all want justice.
    But we should be careful to find the facts so that there can be justice for everyone.  There needs to be justice for the police, the demonstrators, the rioters, the politicians, and especially for the victims.
Investigating, finding, and sorting through the facts are all things that will take time.
While we wait, instead of judging everyone, why don’t we do something helpful?
    Why don’t we try to find ways to help those who lost homes, jobs, and businesses?  Can our politicians and academics find ways to reduce poverty and joblessness instead of just pointing fingers at each other?  Why not volunteer with some charity or aid group to clean up and rebuild Baltimore?  We should all take the time to listen and understand people with whom we disagree.
    Instead of pretending that we know exactly what is going on and who is to blame, our time would be better spent trying to fix the problem and help Baltimore heal.  And while we’re doing that, we should talk less and listen more.
Instead of judging, try donating.
And if you are so inclined, I’m sure that everyone involved could use your prayers.

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Our Hardest Prayers

PastorPartridge Sermon


Could you pray for God to take your life?  Or your child’s life?  Or pray for cancer? 

 

Our gut says no.

 

How do we pray for something that we *don’t* want to happen?

 

Everything in us resists.

 

But sometimes the prayers God desires are the prayers we do not want to pray.

 

Surrender is necessary.

 

What do I mean?

 

Is God so vindictive and manipulative that he would want me to die? Or take the life of a child?  Or give someone cancer?

 

Honestly, those are deep theological issues that we all struggle with and I do not have a solid answer for you. 

 

Seriously, I don’t know.

 

I think that the answer is no.  I know that God is a loving God and I know that before the world was corrupted, Adam and Eve weren’t supposed to die.  Death and disease and suffering are abnormal.

 

But on the other hand, in our world, these things exist and while God doesn’t give us these things, sometimes, for his own reasons, God chooses not to take hardship away from us.

 

And so the question is, when trouble comes, when we experience hardship, and suffering, pain and even death… how should we pray?

 

Our natural reaction is to pray for God to rescue us from our trouble, to take away our pain, and to save us from death and most of the time, that is exactly how we pray.  Unfortunately, that is not the model that we have been given.

 

In John 12:27-28, shortly before Jesus was arrested, he said this to his disciples:

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
    And later that night Jesus prayed two times saying, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) and then later, “He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
    Knowing that God has sent him to die, Jesus prays that the Father will use his suffering to bring glory to God.  Jesus lives as an example to us that our prayers might not always be for God to rescue us from our troubles, but that, if God has prepared that trouble for us, or has chosen to allow it into our lives, that our suffering would somehow bring God glory.
    The crucifixion of Jesus meant the death of God’s own child but God allowed it, even planned it, because, in the grand scheme of things, in God’s master plan, that pain, that suffering, that death, made the entire world, and the future of everyone, better.
    God brought glory to himself when Jesus was lifted up on the cross because that action pointed all of humanity toward Jesus and toward God.  So we know, that whatever we do that points others toward Jesus, likewise brings glory to God.
    And so when we experience hardship, and suffering, pain and even death, even though our natural reaction is to pray for God to rescue us, we must remember that is not the model that we have been given. 
    Praying for rescue isn’t a bad thing.  Before his arrest Jesus was praying for exactly that when he said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” But he didn’t stop there.  Jesus continued by saying, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
    It is okay for us to pray that God would rescue us, in fact, it’s normal.  But we always need to remember that rescue might not be a part of God’s plan.  And so, as we pray for rescue, we should also remember to pray that if God chooses not to rescue us, that our trouble, our suffering, and yes, even our death might, somehow, bring glory to God and point others toward him.
And those are probably the hardest prayers we will ever pray.

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Excuses, Excuses

PastorPartridge Sermon


 “I could never be a _______ because I once heard about a really stupid _______.”
    This kind of statement is all too common on social media.  It has been said about almost every possible group.  I have heard it said about Republicans, Democrats, pro-lifers, pro-choicers, Christians, Atheists, and everything in-between.
But those aren’t arguments, they’re excuses.
And it is unfair to everyone.
    Sure, it’s funny to point at the Republican that didn’t know that Tehran is the capitol of Iran.  Or the Democrat who thought the island of Guam would capsize if we sent too many Marines there.  But it isn’t really fair to say that these people represent all Republicans or all Democrats.
And the same is true for Christianity.
    I admit that sometimes Christians say really dumb things.  There are some Christian leaders who make me cringe almost every time they open their mouths.
But that seems to be true of people from any large group.
    I have heard people with Masters and Doctorate degrees say dumb things but that doesn’t mean that education is stupid.  We shouldn’t give up on education because we once met an educated person that did, or said, something dumb.
    Just because someone in Hollywood made a bad movie (and there have been some really awful ones) is no reason to give up on movies forever.
    Just because we saw a stupid driver on the highway (and there are plenty) is no reason to give up on driving. 
    Our opinions about education, politics, morality, religion, or anything else, should be built on the truth and on the merits of their arguments, not simply on whether or not we once heard one of “those people” say something stupid.
    If you want an excuse to stay away from a political party, or church, or anything else, that’s up to you. But don’t say that it’s because a few people said, or did, something dumb.
Don’t judge an entire group by the actions of a few.
Because that would just be stupid.

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