Lift Your Eyes to the Cross
Rev. Chris Martin
Ash Wednesday
March 02, 2022
Lift Your Eyes to the Cross
Doing What Counts
Doing What Counts
March 02, 2022*
Ash Wednesday
By Pastor John Partridge
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:10
Old Testament Reading: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heartand not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders, gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
_____________________
In our scripture reading from Joel, we heard God’s prophet cry out to the people to fast, pray, weep, and “Return to the Lord” because, obviously, the people of Israel had wandered from God and were doing things that they shouldn’t have been doing. But what is it that they should have been doing? If God is keeping score, then what should we be doing? What should we not be doing? And, how do we make our time, and our actions, count? To begin, let’s start in Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, where Jesus gives us some great examples of all of these. Jesus said…
6:1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus says, ‘Don’t do things for show.’ Actions that count aren’t hypocritical. The followers of Jesus should never do things just because those things make us look good. Getting your picture in the paper, and ten seconds of fame on the television news, with one of those oversized checks because you gave a lot of money to the poor is great, but in God’s eyes that doesn’t count because, at least at some level, you did that for yourself and not for God.
If you’re going to fast, or give up something for Lent, that’s great, but don’t go on social media and tell all your friends that you’re doing it… or it doesn’t count. If you’re going to do things to benefit others, or do things to build your relationship with God, then do them, but don’t do them, and make a big deal about doing them, just so you can look good to the people around you. When you do that, then looking good to the people around you is your reward because in God’s eyes, it doesn’t count.
The bank account into which you want to make deposits is a heavenly one and not an earthly one and so the deposits we want to be making are deposits that build up God’s kingdom and not deposits that grow your earthly reputation. In 2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:10, the Apostle Paul puts it this way:
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be a sin offeringfor us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
6:1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says,
“In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you.”
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Paul says that we are called to represent ourselves the way that ambassadors for another country would. We should be aware that everything that we do reflects our king and his kingdom and so everything that we do should draw us closer to God and strengthen our relationship with him. Paul says that we should “put no stumbling block in anyone’s path,” so that people won’t turn away from God, or stop listening to the message of Jesus Christ, because of the things that we said and did.
Instead, the things that we should be known for are things like endurance, courage, faithfulness, hard work, suffering, purity, understanding, patience, kindness, and sincere love. When people think of us, they should remember truthful speech, the power of God, righteousness, persistence, joy
Generosity, and an unusual yet consistent combination of actions and attitudes that point to God, and give credit to God, while avoiding credit for ourselves.
If you join the Army to get rich, you made a mistake. People join the military for a lot of reasons, but they describe it as “serving” our country for a reason. For all the things that you might get out of your service, getting rich definitely isn’t one of them. And as we enter the season of Lent, we are reminded that following Jesus is quite similar. If you’re following Jesus to get rich, or to get famous, or to be popular, or to grow your business, or most anything that can benefit yourself, then you’re doing it wrong.
Our calling is not to do things that benefit us.
Our calling is to do things for others so that we can be a benefit to God and his kingdom.
That is how we do things that count.
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
Applied vs. Theoretical Christianity
Applied vs. Theoretical Christianity
In 1861 President Lincoln gave General George McClellan the responsibility of building and training the Union Army and he did so with excellence. McClellan was a master of organization and so while he did an admirable job of building the Army and was popular with the troops, he was still removed from command less than a year later. Why? Because despite General McClellan’s skill as an organizer, he was described as “ineffective” when commanding the army on the battlefield. Just as we see in science, where theoretical physics and applied physics are two entirely different fields of study, the theory of battle and the application of that theory can be, and often are, vastly different and require an entirely different mindset.
There is an old military adage that likely dates to a German Field Marshal in the early 1800’s that says, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” And the reason that is true, is because theory and application are always different. That means that an effective battlefield command must be able to adapt as conditions change, or as members of our Marine Corps often say, “Adapt and overcome.”
In the church, we encounter that same disconnect between theory and application. Thinking, learning, and teaching about Christianity, are often quite different from the practical reality of living a Christian life or of putting “boots on the ground” and doing the things that we talk about on Sunday. We see that difference in the hundreds of church growth books that are on the market. It seems like every year someone else has a new book, with a new formula, that’s sure to grow your church ten percent in the first two months. But those formulas are what worked for the author, and although there may be lessons that we can use, what worked in their church, in their city, at that time, has no guarantee of being effective in our church, in our city, at the time we decide to act.
But the second disconnect between theory and application is even bigger and it’s been a problem… well, forever. Jesus called out the Pharisees for it when they criticized his disciples for not washing their hands. Nowhere in the Law of Moses is handwashing required, only tradition required it. But the Pharisees, although they knew the law better than anyone, gave gifts to the church but left their parents hungry. They learned the law, they knew the law, the taught the law but they kept a tradition that broke the law. There is, and always has been, a gap between knowing what to do, and doing it.
Our challenge, as the followers of Jesus Christ isn’t just to learn about Jesus, but to put “boots on the ground” and do the things that Jesus taught us to do. It’s one thing to learn, and know, and even teach, about being generous, merciful, kind, forgiving, and loving, but doing those things is often another thing entirely. We have not been called to be experts in theoretical Christianity, but to actively practice applied Christianity. Our calling isn’t to know things about Jesus, our calling is to be like Jesus.
Because knowing a lot of stuff about Jesus isn’t going to change hearts or grow our church.
But acting a lot like Jesus will.
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Giving up COVID for Lent?
Giving up Covid for Lent?
This year, our season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, on March 2nd.
But what will that look like?
Lent is a time to remember and to reflect. Spring is coming. And with its arrival, we will celebrate Jesus’ resurrection at Easter. Ordinarily, we see Lent as a time to prepare. A time to give up a favorite treat, food, or activity to remind ourselves of Jesus’ sacrifice and to reflect on him whenever we think about our abstinence from the thing that we “gave up” for Lent. But over the past two years we’ve all given up so many things, my heart almost breaks when I think about giving up anything else.
Our hearts ache for the return of “normal.”
And isn’t that sort of the point?
And so, let’s think about Lent, and our preparation for Easter with that in mind. Last year, we couldn’t be together for Lent. We held Ash Wednesday online, but in dispensing own ashes, and marking our own foreheads, we missed out on pieces that felt crucial to our sense of belonging and normalcy. This year we are worshipping in person and this year we will hold Ash Wednesday in person (and since we noticed that our attendance at our virtual Ash Wednesday far exceeded our regular in-person service, we will also have a livestream).
As we walk through the scriptures of preparation during Lent, you will notice that then, like now, the disciples were passing through a season of radical change. Their routines were disrupted. They were separated from their families, from Jesus, and often from one another. By Easter morning they were heartbroken, frustrated, grieving, and longing for a return to normal. And while our circumstances are vastly different, our own experiences over the last two years certainly make us appreciate what they were going through.
And, assuming the progress of the pandemic continues the downward trend that we’ve been seeing, let’s plan to be together on Easter. Let us use this time to start breaking the habits of the pandemic. Rather than “giving up” for Lent, let’s start “adding back.” Let’s try to attend church on Sunday rather than on Monday or Tuesday (remember YouTube tells me when you’re watching), try to get back in the habit of watching “live” at 10:15 instead of watching in the afternoon and try to attend weekly instead of skipping weeks.
In short, let us use this season of lent hopefully, and prepare ourselves for a return to as “normal” and Easter as we can muster.
Let us commit to a season of preparation so that we will arrive on Easter morning renewed, refreshed, equipped, expectant, and joyful.
My hope is that we can journey together during this season of anticipation and arrive, together, joyfully on Easter morning.
Blessings,
Pastor John
Christ United Methodist Church
Unmasked!
Click here to watch the livestream: https://youtu.be/7_DJBw967X8
Unmasked!
February 27, 2022*
By Pastor John Partridge
Exodus 34:29-35 Luke 9:28-36 2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2
Have you ever felt self-conscious? Have you worried that you don’t look quite right, or suddenly notice that everyone seems to be looking at you? Maybe you have food stuck in your teeth, or your fly is unzipped, or your skin broke out and have a big zit or something. It happens to everyone. There even a powerful photograph of President Carter, Menachem Begin, and Anwar Sadat moments before they went in front of the cameras to sign the Camp David Accords. In that moment, all three of these men, presidents of powerful nations, simultaneously and self-consciously stop to straighten their neckties before stepping out into the glare of the public eye. And, I wonder if what we see in Exodus 34:29-35, was caused, at least in part, by Moses being self-conscious about everyone looking at him.
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so, Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
After Moses met with God, he was outwardly, and visibly, changed. Our scripture says that his face was radiant, and from the description, that doesn’t seem to mean that he was happy in the way that we say, “the bride was radiant.” We are, apparently, to understand that Moses’ face was… glowing… with a light of its own and that light, not surprisingly, was at least disconcerting, if not frightening, to the people around him. The world didn’t seem any different to Moses, but Moses’ appearance was different, and it was noticeable, even shocking, to everyone who saw him. And so, either to calm the fears of everyone else, or to calm his own feelings of self-consciousness, Moses began to wear a mask in public after each of his meetings with God. There was something about being in the presence of God, that changes human beings. And we see something similar in Luke 9:28-36.
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John, and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses, and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.
The disciples had become accustomed to traveling with Jesus and it was probably not uncommon for them to wake up early and be walking before the sun had risen. But whatever the case on this day, whether morning or evening, the disciples that were walking with Jesus were half asleep. But as Jesus prayed, the appearance of his face changed… and even his clothes changed so that they became as bright as a flash of lightning. And then Moses and Elijah appeared, and they shone in “glorious splendor” perhaps, in a way, that was similar to the way that Moses’ face had shone when he met God. And so now, obviously, Peter, James, and John were absolutely, completely, 100 percent awake and were, in a sense, in shock. As soon as Moses and Elijah began to leave, Peter just begins to babble nonsense about building houses, worship centers, or something. And then, as if this hadn’t been enough, suddenly a cloud appears, envelops them, and the voice of God announces that the disciples should listen to Jesus because he is his son. And then, just as suddenly as it began, it was over, and they found themselves standing, on the mountainside, alone.
What I find interesting, is that even though Peter had been babbling about building shelters, and although Peter was often prone to shoot off his mouth, and to say things without thinking, after this incredible experience, none of these three disciples say… anything. They don’t tell their families, they don’t tell the other disciples, they don’t tell anybody… anything. And again, I think this has a lot to do with the disciples feeling self-conscious. What they had just experienced was powerful, incredible, and probably more than a little… unbelievable. Even for people who had witnessed Jesus heal the sick and raise the dead, who would believe what they had just seen? Who would believe that they had seen the glory of God radiating from the face of Jesus? Who would believe that they had been surrounded by the holy cloud of God that they had read about in the scriptures, or that they had met Moses and Elijah? Who would believe that they had heard God’s own voice proclaiming that Jesus was his son? Would anyone believe them? Would they think they were crazy? Would the Pharisees and other church leaders declare that they were heretics and throw them out of the Temple?
And regardless of their self-consciousness or fear, the disciples could not un-see what they had seen. Like Moses, they had spent time in the presence of God, and they had been changed.
But what does that mean for us? What do we take away from these stories of Moses, Jesus, the disciples, and the transfiguration? In 2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2, Paul explained it to his church this way:
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
4:1 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
Obviously, Paul’s understanding of why Moses wore a veil is not he same as mine and, I think, not the same as the reason given in Exodus. Exodus simply says that people were afraid to look at Moses because he glowed or radiated but Paul interprets that to mean that Moses wore a mask so that people couldn’t see that the radiance of God in him faded over time. Those are not at all the same things and, I think, Paul’s interpretation is unfair, and a little unkind, to Moses. But I also think that Paul says this to make a point. Paul makes the point of saying that accepting Christ is like tearing away the veil, or unmasking God so that we can see his glory more clearly. Christians, Paul says, are the “unveiled faces” that can see God more clearly and something happens to us because of it.
As I said before, human beings that have spent time in the presence of God, are changed by the experience. Moses glowed. He was both outwardly and inwardly different because he met God. Peter and James and John, and all the other disciples, were changed because of the time that they spent in the presence of both God and his son, Jesus. Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, his entire life was turned upside down, and he was never the same afterwards. Paul says that because we have met Jesus, and because we have been unmasked, and have seen the glory of God, our lives have also been changed. We don’t give up, we are encouraged, we no longer deceive other people or distort the word of God. Instead, we tell the truth as plainly as we can, and we tell the truth all the time, so that everyone will know that we can be trusted.
But there’s one more thing worth mentioning, I think. Paul believed that when Moses met God face to face, the glory of God that radiated from Moses’ face faded over time. And while I’m not sure that’s how I would interpret it, there is some sense to it. Human beings are not God. We do not, and we cannot, contain God’s glory. Being in the presence of God changes us, but the effect in us fades if we aren’t deliberate in doing things that bring us back into God’s presence. That’s why setting times of regular Bible study, prayer, and church attendance are so vital. Nearly every Sunday, we pray that God would be at work changing us into the people that he created us to be. But for that to happen, we need to do two things. First, we need to give God permission to change us, and be willing to change. And second, we must, regularly and deliberately, invite God into our lives, and set aside time for us to spend time in God’s presence.
But we warned: Just as Moses, Peter, James, John, Paul, and the disciples discovered, being in God’s presence changes people.
And maybe that’s why so many people seem to be afraid to do it.
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
Christian Extra-Terrestrials?
Click here to watch the livestream of this service: https://youtu.be/SA72AxXPOR0
Christian Extra-Terrestrials?
February 20, 2022*
By Pastor John Partridge
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Luke 6:27-38
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Many of you are old enough to have watched the Steven Spielberg movie, E.T. the Extraterrestrial and, even if you haven’t watched it, you probably at least know something about it. There’s also a good chance that E.T. is what you thought of when you saw today’s sermon title, “Christian Extraterrestrials.” But despite Elon Musk’s goal of establishing a colony on Mars, interplanetary Christians is not what I have in mind… at least for today. What I have in mind, however, is just a little bit different linguistically. I thought about using Superhuman, or Supernatural, but those words bring up mental images of Superman from the planet Krypton, or a couple of brothers on television who fight ghosts, demons, and other non-human creatures, so neither of those words really work either. But the definition of the prefix “extra” means “beyond” and so while “extra-terrestrial” can mean a person, or a creature, that is from beyond our planet, it might also mean someone from this planet whose abilities lie beyond the those of normal, or expected, people.
And besides, it made you curious.
In any case, “beyond terrestrial” is a legitimate translation of the language that is used in our scriptures today. But, before we get to that, let’s begin with the story of Joseph. Nearing the end of Joseph’s epic in Genesis, we join his story at the point where, having once been sold into slavery by his brothers, Joseph is now, after Pharaoh, the second most powerful man in all of Egypt if not the second most powerful man on the planet. But at this moment, Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers, the same men who years earlier had beaten him, thrown him in an empty cistern, and sold him into slavery. And, understandably, when his brothers realize who he is, they are terrified. We rejoin that story in Genesis 45:3-11,15:
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks, and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise, you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’
15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
Joseph’s brothers were terrified that, because he was now the most powerful man in Egypt, and not the pesky younger brother, they expected that he would take his revenge on them for what they had done. And, honestly, no one would be surprised if that had happened. Joseph had every right to be angry and it would have been fair for him to sell his brothers into slavery as they had done to him. But Joseph’s relationship with God gave him a different perspective. Rather than seeing this as an opportunity for revenge, Joseph sees that God has been intervening in human affairs, influencing events, and moving him into position so that he could rescue the entire nation of Egypt, and his family, the people that would one day become the nation of Israel. Joseph behaves in a way that is unexpected because his relationship with God has given him a vision of the world that is beyond human.
And we can see that same vision as Jesus teaches his disciples in Luke 6:27-38, as he says:
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Jesus says that being ‘just as good’ as the evil people around you isn’t good enough. And being just as good as average and ordinary people isn’t good enough either. The standard for his followers is to do good even when no other reasonable person would do good, to be unreasonably good, or… beyond humanly good. Jesus wants his followers to love the people around them more than other reasonable people would love, to love in a way that is beyond humanly loving or, beyond earthly love.
And the examples that Jesus gives are so far beyond our understanding of normal, that they are understandably difficult. Jesus says that we should loan money, not just to people that we trust, and not just people that we believe can pay us back, but to loan money to people we don’t even like, people we regard as our enemies, and that includes people that we might be confident have no means, and possibly no intention, of ever paying us back. Jesus says that we should loan them the money with no expectation that we should get it back. In other words, just give money away to people that you hate, and who probably hate you back. Loving in ways that are beyond human, or beyond terrestrial, is exactly the point that Jesus is making. Our calling isn’t to love the people around us like ordinary, average, or even exceptional people love, our calling is to love the people around us the way that God loves. God is loving, kind, and merciful to the ungrateful and the wicked who neither like him nor even know him.
It’s worth noting here that “Do not judge” is currently one of the most commonly misquoted and misinterpreted verses of scripture. It most certainly does not mean that we should… never… judge. Matthew includes this same quote from Jesus, but records Jesus’ statement as saying, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1) To make this clear, some translations record this as “Do not judge unfairly” rather than simply do not judge. There are many times when Jesus asks, even commands us to judge between good and evil, honor and dishonor, to be discerning in all that we do, and other things. What Jesus clearly means is that we will be judged in the same way that we judge others. Don’t rush to judgement. Don’t judge without evidence. Or, as the translators have said, don’t judge unfairly. Likewise, we can expect to receive the generosity of God with the same, or better, generosity that we show others. Give and it will be given to you in an even more abundant and generous measure.
But why? Why is the standard for love, mercy, and compassion so much higher for Christians than it is for everyone else? Why does God demand that our behavior be beyond human, whether we call that super-human or extra-terrestrial? We find the answer to “why” in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth where he says (1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50) …
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam [aka Jesus], a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man [Adam], so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man [Jesus], so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall webear the image of the heavenly man.
And although Paul takes a while to get to his point, the answer really is simple. The reason that the followers of Jesus Christ are commanded, and empowered, to behave in ways that are beyond human, and the reason that it isn’t okay to just be the same as other people, is because earth and heaven are not the same. Adam and Jesus are not the same. When we choose to follow Jesus Christ, we become image bearers of God. Our calling is no longer to look like everyone else and reflect the image of the world in which we live, but rather to reflect the image of a merciful, just, compassionate, and loving God and to reflect an entirely different reality.
As the image bearers of God, we must love more than humanly possible, be impossibly forgiving, extraordinarily generous, inhumanly merciful, and in every other way that we can, be an accurate reflection the goodness and holiness of God.
God has called us, commanded us, and empowered us to behave in ways that are super-human, and beyond earthly.
In other words, we are called to be nothing less than Extra-Terrestrial Christians.
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
Whom Do You Trust?
Video of this worship service can be found here: https://youtu.be/t5u9MdvdDYg
Whom Do You Trust?
February 13, 2022*
By Pastor John Partridge
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Luke6:17-26
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Do you remember the television game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
On that show, you earned money by answering multiple choice questions that increased in difficulty as you advanced. And, as the questions got harder, players had the opportunity to use three “lifelines.” They could ask the audience, they could reduce the number of possible answers from four to two, or they could phone a friend. Today, I want to think about that last one. Imagine that one question might stand between you and a million dollars. And that’s what every contestant had to think about when they had the opportunity play the game. Choose one person, and a million dollars hangs on their ability to answer one random question. And in that moment of decision, those contestants had to ask themselves, “Whom do I trust?”
In a variety of ways, we answer that question all the time. Whom do we trust to educate, or to babysit, or provide medical care, for our children? Whom do we trust with the money that we save for our retirement? Whom do we trust to run our government, church, or social club? Whom do we trust with our friendship, or our medical care, or a host of other things? The stakes of our decisions are high because our lives can, literally, hang in the balance. That’s exactly what we find in our scriptures for today. We begin with the words of God found in Jeremiah 17:5-10. Lives hang in the balance, but whom do you trust?
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
This is incredibly relevant to us in the twenty-first century. God doesn’t say that we are cursed for trusting any one person, but we can be cursed by God for putting the fundamental trust of our lives in any human, in any person, other than God. We must not put our trust in politicians, or in human governments, or in television, radio, or internet personalities. Humans fail. Humans disappoint. Humans can be selfish and turn away from God. If we want our lives to be blessed by God, then we must trust our lives to God and put our confidence entirely in God.
At the end of the day, God says, our reward is based on merit. Our reward isn’t based on what we thought, but on our deeds. In other words, our reward is based upon what we do. And please note, that this statement about rewards is not written in the past tense. This is not a judgement by God after our lives are over, but rewards that God gives while we are alive.
In Luke 6:17-26, Jesus delivers a message that is known as the Sermon on the Plain, and in that message, Jesus also has something to say about trust.
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20 Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Untold thousands of sermons have, undoubtedly been written about Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain but let’s think about its meaning in light of today’s focus on trust. Jesus says that the poor, the hungry, and the weeping are all blessed by God and most everyone will admit that this always sounds a bit odd. But as we think about trust, doesn’t it make sense that the poor are blessed, because they trust God for their daily living. The hungry trust God for their daily food. Those who weep lean on God for strength and we all cling to God when the people around us hate us, exclude us, insult us, and reject us. Likewise, the richer we are, the more comfortable we get, when our bellies are full, and when we are laughing and surrounded by friends, it is easy for us to put our trust somewhere other than God.
The emphasis of Jesus’ message is that we needn’t worry when things aren’t going well. None of us want to be poor, or hungry, filled with sorrow, or hated by the people around us, but our primary concern should never be for our comfort or our popularity. Our primary concern should always be about our relationship with, and our trust in God.
And in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, Paul shares a message for his church that remains strikingly relevant in a twenty first century world that doubts the resurrection just as much as it did two thousand years ago. Paul says…
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Then, like now, there were people, even preachers, that said Jesus had never been raised from the dead. They may have said that Jesus never really died, or that the resurrection never happened, and Paul could find folks with either of those opinions, just as you can now. But Paul makes it clear that if there is no resurrection, then all of Christianity falls apart. Anyone, and certainly any preacher or teacher, that says that the resurrection didn’t happen is a false witness. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then we have no hope of resurrection, no hope of eternal life, and everything that we have believed, and our life’s work, has been a waste. Were that true, Paul says, our trust would have been completely misplaced, and we would be the most pitiable people in the world.
But Jesus did rise from the dead.
And that, Paul says, is the foundation of our faith, our church, our mission, who we are, and everything that we do. It is in Jesus Christ that we have placed our faith, and in whom we have put our whole trust.
Twenty centuries ago, the temptation was for people to put their faith and confidence in the Caesar, or the emperor, national governments, powerful armies, wealthy patrons, money, or false gods. And, although the names of the politicians, nations, and false gods may have changed, the things that tempt people away from God haven’t really changed that much. We’re still tempted to trust politicians, parties, national governments, powerful armies, employers, wealth, popularity, and other gods instead of the one true God, the creator of everything. Poverty, hunger, sorrow, and persecution, are not now, nor have they ever been something that anyone wants for their life, but they all have a way of clarifying our trust. The lesson isn’t that it’s good to be poor, but that the most important thing is to put our whole trust in God and to keep God in the center of all that we do, and all that we are.
We still wonder whom we can trust, but ultimately the answer is a lot more important than a game show and is worth a lot more than a million dollars. Times changed and the people of the Old and New Testaments would feel lost in the world of the twenty-first century, but wisdom doesn’t change. The wisdom of scripture is just a true today as it was two thousand, or even three thousand years ago.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
From Ruin to Rescue
Click here to watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ti7TpIKkqLQ
From Ruin to Rescue
February 06, 2022*
By Pastor John Partridge
Isaiah 6:1-13
Luke 5:1-11
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
There is a story that is common to special Sundays with the Gideon’s, or to inspirational speakers who are recovered alcoholics, or drug addicts, or former gang members. It’s the same attraction that we have to the stories of people like Chuck Colson. Colson was convicted of breaking into the Watergate building and was a key participant in that Nixon-era scandal, but he encountered the message of the risen Jesus in prison and founded Prison Fellowship ministry to reach others who find themselves on the wrong side of iron bars. We are inspired by stories of people who got lost or reached rock bottom, but ultimately found a way to rebuild their lives.
As we read the stories of scripture, we find many stories like that and, in fact, the whole point of God’s message is a story of redemption, rescue, and restoration. But before a story of rescue can be told, we often need to hear a story of ruin. Before we hear how a person rose from the ashes like a phoenix, there is often a story of how they crashed and burned. And, for that, we begin with the story of Israel contained in Isaiah 6:1-13 where we hear this:
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.
Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump* in the land.”
Isaiah has a vision of God in all his glory, sitting on the throne of heaven and Isaiah cries out that he is ruined or, we perhaps understand his intentions better by translating that as “I am a dead man walking.” It was a common belief that any imperfect and sinful mortal who saw a perfect and holy God face to face would immediately die. But an angel, a seraph, takes a hot coal from the altar, touches it to Isaiah’s lips and says that his guilt has been taken away and atonement has been made for his sin. And so, when God asks who he might send into the world as his ambassador, Isaiah raises his hand and volunteers.
.
But the message that God has for the people of Israel is terrifying. God’s message is that the people just aren’t getting it. They don’t see, they don’t understand, they’re sick, and they don’t want to get better, and God’s judgement is that for their disobedience, he will allow them to suffer the consequences of their unbelief. And, when Isaiah asks how long this punishment will endure, God replies that Israel will be left to their own devices until their houses, fields, people, and everything else are utterly ruined and the trees are left as stumps.
Stumps.
The word “stumps” is worth noting because a few chapters later, Isaiah refers to the messiah as a shoot that comes up from the “stump of Jesse.” (Isaiah 11:1) God’s punishment is to turn Israel over to the natural consequences of their disobedient actions and refuse to rescue them. But, in the same passage, God hints at the hope of future rescue.
And then, after we have heard about what happens to a disobedient people, and what happens to them when they refuse to hear the words of God, in Luke 5:1-11, we are given a vision of what happens when God’s people do listen and are obedient to his words as Jesus begins his ministry and encounters fishermen by the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
5:1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed him.
Jesus had barely started his ministry but even so, Simon, who would later be called Peter, was willing to let Jesus borrow his boat as a place to preach to the people gathered on the shores of Galilee. After Jesus was done preaching, he asked Simon, a professional fisherman who had been fishing the shores of this lake for his entire life, to go out into deep water and to throw out the nets that he and his partners had just spent hours cleaning. Worse still, the fisherman had not only just cleaned the nets, they had spent the entire night fishing with them and caught nothing but weeds, grass, sticks, and rocks. They had been awake all night. They had been throwing heavy, wet, nets into the sea and hauling them back out, hand over hand, time after time, hour after hour, all night. And then, after they had spent their morning cleaning and repairing those same nets, they were ready to go home, see their families, eat, get some sleep, and get ready to do it again. They were tired, sore, hungry, and probably more than a little grouchy.
But despite their hunger, irritation, fatigue, professional experience, and every other reason that they had to say no, and tell Jesus to get stuffed, Simon tells Jesus, “…because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
“Because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
And because Simon and his friends are willing to be obedient, even when they don’t even really know Jesus, and even though everything says that they should just go home and get some sleep, their lives are completely transformed. This is the opposite of what we saw a moment ago in Isaiah 6. There, the people of God knew the words of God but selfishly chose to go their own way and to do their own thing. Here, even though they haven’t yet recognized Jesus as the Messiah, these fishermen are willing to be obedient, even in the face of their own hunger, fatigue, and irritation. And it is that willingness to be obedient that transforms their lives.
And that brings us to 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, where we find Paul warning the church in Corinth that they seem to be drifting toward selfishness and away from obedience. Paul says:
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. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After 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. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But 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. 11 Whether then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Paul says that the people of the church need to remember where they started, to remember the gospel message that they had originally found so compelling that they had left behind their former gods, and former religions, and chosen to follow Jesus instead. It was that message, Paul says, that saved them and abandoning that message would make everything that they had done, and everything that they had endured, completely pointless. He then recites four points that are still contained on many of our creeds today, that Christ died, was buried, raised on the third day, and appeared to Peter and the twelve.
But Paul also says that although he had once persecuted the church, he was shown grace by God, had been transformed, and was now a missionary to the Gentiles for the cause of Jesus Christ. Like Peter, Paul’s entire life was transformed by his obedience to God, and he urges the people of the church in Corinth to remember that this was the power of the gospel in which they had put their faith.
We face a choice between ruin and redemption, between ruin and rescue, and the thing that transforms one to the other is our obedience to God and our willingness to do the things that Jesus asks us to do. Clinging to selfishness will inevitably lead to our destruction, but like Peter, the fishermen, and like Paul, our obedience to Jesus Christ can completely transform our lives into something new, powerful, unexpected, and completely amazing.
But, having been rescued, God asks us to rescue others. God is still asking, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
Are you ready to be obedient? Are you ready to fish for people?
What will be your answer?
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
The Unseen Congregation
The Unseen Congregation
by John Partridge
You might have noticed that I’ve been trying something new. It’s not totally new, but I’ve been trying to do it more consistently. What is it? I’m trying to remember that our entire congregation isn’t sitting in the sanctuary but is gathered, collectively, online as well as in the pews. I read an article recently that resonated with me when it said that those of us who were livestreaming should address those online as if they were present. The goal is for us to make those on-line feel as if they are included as participants in worship and valued members of the congregation and not just watching church on television.
For most of us, the online part of our ministry is invisible and that’s why I have sometimes given a statistical summary at the beginning of the year. With all the busy-ness of Covid I didn’t do that last year, but I think that it’s still an important reminder that our ministry is larger, and spread wider, than just the people that we see in church on Sunday morning. That has been true since I first started posting sermons online in 2008 or 2009, has been growing in importance ever since, and grew even more as everyone went online during this pandemic. Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:
In January of 2018, Christ Church had 172 “followers” on Facebook. By 2021 it was 228, and this past year it grew to 248. By internet standards this is still a small circle of influence, but it reminds us that whenever we post sermons, or announcements, news, photos, or anything else about our church, there are more people watching than we might think.
The same is true of our Sunday morning messages. As I mentioned, I have been posting the text of those messages since 2008 or so, and tracking subscribers since 2009. In October of 2009 a 3 (three) people downloaded a Sunday sermon, but today that number has grown to almost 700 per month. Subscriptions to those messages have grown from 333 in December of 2019 to 411 today.
And that brings us to our YouTube livestream. When COVID-19 started, we were dumped headfirst into the world of online worship. We didn’t have time to prepare, and we all thought, at the time, that it would all be over in a few months. For both of those reasons, we didn’t take the time to launch a new YouTube channel for Christ Church, but instead just used the one that I already had. We “launched” online worship with the six (yes, 6) subscribers that my channel already had for my random rocket, railroad, and travel videos. Since that launch, I almost never use my channel for anything other than videos for Christ Church, and our subscribers have grown from 6 to 86. Over the course of 2021, more than 1300 computers watched videos on our channel and the people sitting at those computers watched a total of 857 hours of video.
It’s clear that there are a great many “invisible” people behind computer screens who are increasingly connected to Christ Church. Statistically, visitors will connect with a church online before they even consider stepping foot in the door physically, and some of those online visitors do indeed come inside. We’ve already brought some of them into membership. But our reach goes beyond Alliance, Ohio. We know that some of those who watch our services on YouTube are shut-ins, medically fragile, Covid cautious, former members, family members, and others out of town, and out of state that want to stay connected. But a measurable percentage of visitors to our YouTube channel were from India, and the people reading those sermon texts this past year were from the United States, Canada, India, Ireland, Philippines, Australia, Ghana, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Pakistan, China, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Kenya, and 37 other countries.
I have often explained that posting sermons online was entirely accidental. I started copying, and eventually posting, sermons because I type a manuscript rather than trying to preach from a handful of bullet points on a three by five card. I do that because I’m a better writer than I am a preacher, and because I’ve never had the confidence to preach from a handful of notes. I have never taken credit for whatever success (however limited) we have had online. The credit has, and should, always be given to God. In Isaiah 55:10-11, God says:
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
That is exactly what we are seeing as we continue to grow our presence online. God is at work, through us, spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ in Alliance, Ohio, and around the world. I hope that all of us will be mindful that there is an “unseen congregation” worshiping with us each week. Our worship, and our ministry, reaches far beyond those of us who sit in the sanctuary.
Isn’t God awesome?
Blessings,
Pastor John
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Missing the Point
You can find the livestream of this service here: https://youtu.be/NPJQzZy3N9U
Some thoughts on how the followers of Jesus should have conversations about politics and other difficult (and divisive) subjects can be found in this special video short of today’s benediction:
Missing the Point
January 30, 2022*
By Pastor John Partridge
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Luke 4:21-30
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
To find an example for this morning’s message, I opened my search engine and entered, “People who missed the point” and I was not disappointed. I was instantly directed to an article on Buzzfeed with a title that almost exactly matched my search, and while some of the illustrations are too visual to explain here there were still plenty of examples to make you smile… and groan a little. There was the photo a handicap “accessible” bathroom that was at the top of two stairs, a person using the blade of a Swiss army knife to open a wine bottle while the corkscrew was plainly in view a fraction of an inch from their thumb, a photo of a CNN “Breaking News” bulletin that the Titanic had sunk 102 years ago, a “connect the dots” coloring book in which the printed dots were already connected, a company named “Just Wireless” that was selling computer cable wires, a restaurant that offered a veggie burger with bacon, and Crest mouthwash that advertised 24-hour protection with instructions to use twice per day.
Sometimes people seem to completely miss the point… and sometimes it’s funny when they do. We probably all do it from time to time. But sometimes missing the point isn’t funny at all, and sometimes the results of missing the point can be downright tragic. We begin in Jeremiah 1:4-10 where we hear God cautioning a very young Jeremiah, possibly only 12 years old, that he should not miss the point.
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knewyou,
before you were born, I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
God tells Jeremiah that he has known everything about him, about his life, about his purpose, and about his calling to mission and ministry since before he was even conceived by his parents. But Jeremiah is certain that God has made a mistake, misses the point, and argues with God because he is certain that God cannot use a twelve-year-old to bring a message to the leaders, priests, royalty, and the king of Israel. But, again, Jeremiah misses the point and God says something that amounts to, “What part of I set you apart,” or “I appointed you” did you not understand? God says that the point is not that Jeremiah is young and will, almost certainly, be disrespected by the elders of Israel because of his age, the point is that God, the creator of the universe, is sending him, is going with him, and promises to rescue him from whatever happens. And to make that point even clearer, God touches Jeremiah and says that he has put the words of God into his mouth and gives him the authority to uproot, tear down, destroy, overthrow, build, or to plant entire nations and kingdoms.
Boom.
That’s the point.
And, as we rejoin the story of Jesus that we began last week (The Power of Systems Integration), we discover that the people of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth missed the point quite spectacularly in Luke 4:21-30 after Jesus read from the Isaiah scroll and announced the fulfillment of scripture.
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosyin the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Jesus announces that the people in the synagogue are witnesses as he begins the fulfillment of some of the messianic prophecies found in the writings of Isaiah, and the response of the people is “Who does this guy think he is? We know him. We’ve known him his entire life. We grew up with his parents. Obviously, the Jesus we know cannot be the Messiah.” Jesus replies by pointing out that their attitude was expected. Prophets throughout history were commonly misunderstood and completely disrespected in their hometowns for the same reasons that the people of Nazareth misunderstood Jesus. And it was for that reason that Elijah performed a miracle for an outcast, outsider, and foreigner and why Elisha healed the leprosy of the commander of an enemy army rather than any of the people of Israel.
Jeremiah and the people of Nazareth made the same mistake. They assumed that the focus was on them when God repeatedly tells us that the work of the kingdom is not about us. It’s about God. And when Jesus reminded them that they weren’t the center of attention, that Israel’s greatest prophets revealed God’s power to outsiders, and that he simply isn’t going to perform miracles on command, they got so angry that they transformed into a mob that tried to kill him. And that’s when the miracle happens. The synagogue mob tries to throw Jesus off a cliff… and he walks right through the crowd and goes on his way. There seems to be only two possibilities. Either Jesus simply faces down the mob and they suddenly have a change of heart, or some other miracle happened such that they were stunned, or Jesus became invisible, or something. But from what we know about mobs, and how intense they are when they become violent, it seems obvious that God miraculously intervened at this moment so that Jesus just walks away and goes on about his business.
The people in the synagogue in Nazareth completely missed the point.
But how often are we guilty of the same thing?
In 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Paul writes to the church and cautions them not to miss the point saying:
13:1 If I speak in the tonguesof men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Paul says that the whole point of ministry in the kingdom of God, is to be loving while we’re doing it. The point is that everything eventually ends. Prophecies end, languages end, voices end, childhood ends, people end, knowledge ends, everything eventually ends. The only exceptions to the rule, the only things that last forever, are faith, hope, and love. And love is the greatest of the three.
Too often we, even in the church, miss the point. Too often, like Jeremiah, we think that ministry is about us. That we can’t witness, that we can’t minister to others, that we can’t participate in God’s mission and ministry because of some limitation that we think we have. We’re too young, we’re too old, we’re too shy, we’re not good with words, we’re not popular enough, or rich enough, or good looking enough, or some other excuse with which we’ve convinced ourselves. But God’s reply to us is the same as it was to Jeremiah. It’s not about us. It’s all about the God who created the universe. And if, and when, God sends us, he goes with us and give us the power to do the thing that he sent us to do.
Too often miss the point like the people in the synagogue of Nazareth. We think that God will perform miracles for us on command. We pray for something that we want and get angry, and even we lose faith, when God doesn’t do what we think God ought to do.
And too often we miss the point like the people of Corinth. We want to do ministry the way that we want to do it. We want things to be the way that we want them. We want the rules to be the way we want them. We want to say whatever we want to say in whatever way we feel like saying it. We want to do whatever we want to do. We do things our way and convince ourselves that we’re doing the work of God. And we do all these things without any regard to how it makes other people feel. But Paul reminds us that we’ve forgotten the point if we forget to be loving. We can’t tell the world about a loving God while we’re hurting them. Mission and ministry are great. God calls all of us to kingdom work. All of us are called to be a part of God’s mission and ministry. But we miss the point if the people around us can’t see that our ministry is filled with faith, hope, and love.
Yes, we need to tell the people of the world about Jesus.
But they can’t, and they won’t, hear about his love if they can’t feel our love first.
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
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