Who’s Your Daddy (The Path from Guilt to Glory)

May 29, 2021 PastorPartridge Sermon adopt, adoption, Alliance, atone, atonement, born again, Broadway, brothers, Christ, church, co-heirs, daddy, daughters, gift, glory, go, guilt, heir, heirs, inherit, inheritance, Isaiah, Jesus, John, Methodist, Nicodemus, obligation, Ohio, Partridge, pharisee, prophet, purify, send, sending, sent, service, sisters, sons, speak, Street, Street Alliance, United

Who’s Your Daddy?

(The Path from Guilt to Glory)

May 30, 2021*

(Trinity Sunday)

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 6:1-8 John 3:1-17 Romans 8:12-17

For a time, there was a well-known taunt that asked, “Who’s your daddy?” That phrase was popular enough to appear on playgrounds, high school hallways, pick-up basketball games, sitcoms, and Hollywood movies. Sometimes it was intended as an insult, often it was used in good humor, but there is truth buried inside of it. If we are to be secure, confident, and comfortable in who we are, is important for us to know where we came from. Likewise, knowing where we came from can help to stay out of trouble, and guide us toward our goals for the future. And so, as the followers of Jesus Christ, it is helpful for us understand where we came from and how we got where we are, so that we can better understand where we are going and toward what goals we should aspire. We begin this morning with God’s call of the prophet Isaiah that we read in Isaiah 6:1-8>

^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. ²Above 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. ³And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴At 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.”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸Then 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!”

Isaiah knew that he was unqualified to speak for God because of his sin and imperfection. But God came to Isaiah and did for him what he could not do for himself. He purified his lips, took away his guilt, and atoned for his sin so that Isaiah could speak for God. And afterwards, Isaiah relents and says, “Here am I, Send me.”

But as we’ve been discussing for the last couple of weeks, the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the coming of the Spirit of God bring about a transformation in the way that God relates and communicates with his people and with his church. We hear Jesus explain a part of that transformation to the Pharisee, Nicodemus, in John 3:1-17:

^3:1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

⁴“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spiritgives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘Youmust be born again.’ ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still, you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Jesus says that following God is not enough but that the followers of God must be born again by being born of the Spirit by putting their faith and trust in Jesus. This is the extension of what we saw in Isaiah as an individual, to all of God’s people collectively. God came to Isaiah, purified him, and atoned for his sin so that he could serve and speak for God. But through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus atoned for our sins, and purified us, so that we can serve God and do his work. And, with the gift of the baptism of the Spirit of God, we are given the strength of God and equipped for service.

But that’s exactly what we’ve been talking about for the last two weeks so none of that is particularly surprising. We discover the interesting part when we start tracing our lineage, finding our history, and begin to understand how that heritage, a how that path through history, helps us to understand who we are. In Romans 8:12-17 Paul begins to connect those dots for us when he says:

¹²Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Paul says that the coming of the Spirit of God is evidence of our adoption, by God, as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and heirs of God. Which, incidentally, means that God is our Daddy. And that adoption completes the lineage that scripture has been drawing for us since the time of the prophets in the Old Testament where we first discover God at work for, and among, his people. But then God sends Jesus to bring removal of guilt, and atonement for sin and after his ascension into heaven, Jesus, in turn, sends the Spirit and the Spirit brings about our adoption as sons and daughters of God. Put another way, scripture describes how God has moved us from condemnation and guilt and toward our perfection and our eternal home. We are moved from guilt, to adoption, from adoption to inheritance, and from inheritance to glory.

But, Paul says, our adoption also brings us an obligation for the indescribable gift that we have been given. But Paul also notes that this obligation is not an obligation to flesh, that is, not an obligation to principalities, or powers or, people, or priests, or pastors, but it is an obligation to live by the Spirit of God, to live the way that God calls us to live, to do the work of the Kingdom of heaven, to share in the suffering of Jesus, so that we might also share in his glory in our eternal home.

It is that obligation that brings us full circle from where we started because as we move from guilt to adoption, from adoption to inheritance, from inheritance to glory, and from glory to service, we hear God asking us the same question that he asked Isaiah:

“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And because we our guilt has been atoned for, our sin has been washed away, and we have been adopted by God as sons and daughters, with God as our Daddy, as co-heirs with Jesus Christ, and filled, equipped, and strengthened with the Spirit of God, we hear Paul urging us to answer as Isaiah did:

“Here am I. Send me.”

You can find the video of this worship service here: https://youtu.be/0qlBh7ZpXvY

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

Use It, Or Else!

November 14, 2020November 21, 2020 PastorPartridge Sermon actions, brother's keeper, brotherhood, brothers, campaign promises, faith, faithfullness, gifts, others, trust

November 15, 2020*

By Pastor John Partridge

Judges 4:1-7 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30

Have you ever had trouble making up your mind about something?

It can happen easily as you consider whether you want a red or a blue lollipop, or where you should take your next vacation. Those of us who are musicians had a moment when we had to choose which instrument we wanted to learn. But some decisions get more difficult, and more expensive, as we get older. Choosing between a minivan and a pickup truck has consequences and it’s usually too expensive to choose both or to change your mind once you’ve chosen. Choosing a major in college can be hard but changing your mind after you’ve already invested several years of your life can be expensive. If you move to a new town, finding a church that you like can be difficult, but changing churches after you’ve established yourself and made friends can be painful. We’ve all been through it and, at one time or another, we’ve all wrestled with indecision. But when we read the book of Judges, we discover that the entire book was written during a time when the entire nation of Israel was having trouble making up its mind about God. For a while Israel would love God, but after a generation or two, they would forget God and drift away. And then, as life often happens, things would get hard, and the people would pray for God to rescue them, again, and God would send a judge, or a prophet, people would return to their faith and follow God… for a while, and then the cycle would start over again. That is exactly the story that we see in chapter after chapter of the book of Judges, and that is what we see as we read this passage from Judges 4:1-7 as Ehud, the previous leader of Israel, dies and the people, once again, drift away from God.

^4:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. ²So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. ³Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leadingIsrael at that time. ⁵She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. ⁶She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. ⁷I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”

So, as we joined the story, Ehud, Israel’s previous rescuer, who had rescued them from the nation of Moab, had died and, as they had often done, Israel drifted away from God. Once that happened, they were captured and oppressed by the Canaanites. But after praying for twenty years, God raised up the prophet Deborah to lead the people and to rescue them from their oppressors. God speaks to Deborah, and she creates a plan to trap Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite armies, and all his troops and chariots. In this plan, Deborah will get Sisera to chase her up Mount Tabor and when they reach the top, Barak would be waiting, on the strategic high ground, with an army of men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun and would destroy Sisera and all of his troops from that region.

But imagine what would have happened if Deborah had trouble deciding whether she trusted God. Or what if Barak couldn’t decide whether he could trust Deborah? Or what if no one answered Barak’s call to arms so that there was no army waiting at the top of Mount Tabor? At each step, every person had to believe in the power of God, trust that the message that they received was true, and be willing to take action, and risk their lives, based on what they heard.

And that brings us to Jesus’ parable about the unfaithful servant in Matthew 25:14-30 where we hear this:

¹⁴“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,^[^a^] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. ¹⁷So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

²¹“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²²“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

²³“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²⁴“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

²⁶“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So, you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The wealthy man could have easily entrusted his money to the bankers and received a modest profit when he returned. But instead, each servant was given gold because their master trusted that they could manage his money better than the banker could. While he did not believe that they had equal skills, he entrusted them with his money in proportion to the trust that he had in their abilities. But the unfaithful servant was paralyzed by indecision. He was unable to choose how he would invest the money, abandoned the mission, and failed in his duty. Worse, as the master had pointed out, if the servant had so little confidence in their own abilities that they feared losing it, he could have, at the very least, invested the money with the bankers and received some small rate of interest on it until his master’s return. But rather than use what had been entrusted to him, he buried it instead.

So, what should we be doing with our lives? In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, the Apostle Paul explains it to the church this way:

^5:1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, ²for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

⁴But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. ⁵You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. ⁶So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. ⁷For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. ¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Paul says that, of course, we don’t know exactly the day and time that the world will end, but we know that when that day comes, it will be a surprise to everyone and Jesus will come unexpectedly “like a thief in the night.” And, when that day comes, as there always is, there will be politicians spouting campaign promises about peace and safety, but our calling to always be ready and prepared for the end. We are to be the people who wear our faith, hope, and love where is it visible to everyone around us as if we were wearing armor. Paul reminds us that Jesus died for us so that we could live, together, with him and for that reason, we are to encourage one another, and build each other up.

And if we use this perspective to help us understand Jesus story of the unfaithful servant, we begin to see that his failure was not only due to his lack of faith in himself, and not only due to his lack of trust in his master, but also due to the failure of his friends to encourage him, help him, and to build him up spiritually and intellectually.

We are our brother’s keeper.

Our calling, that that of Deborah, Barak and the people of Israel, is not only to have faith in God, and to trust in his instructions, but to build up the people around us, to call them to Jesus, and to call them to action, so that they are prepared, willing, and ready for action when God has need of us.

We are our brother’s keeper.

We cannot stand idly by and watch as fellow believers, and unbelievers, lose trust in God and fall away from him. We cannot be happy with our success as we watch the failures of the people around us.

Like the servants of the rich man, God has given us gifts, each in proportion to our abilities, and regardless of how much, or how little, we have been given, God expects us to use those gifts for his benefit, and for the benefit of the people around us. We must not be deceived into thinking that we only have a “personal faith” or a “personal relationship” with Jesus. We are called to use our gifts, both as individuals, and as a community, to lift up the people around us, to encourage them, help them, and to build them up emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually.

We must use the gifts that God has given to us or, like the unfaithful servant, God will take what we have and give it to someone else. Instead, we must lift one another up and, work together to rescue the lost, heal the suffering and the hurting, bring hope to the hopeless, and to the build God’s kingdom until our master returns “like a thief in the night.”

You can find the video of this worship service here: https://youtu.be/ZLDcfVPWNp4