drift

Losing Focus

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Losing Focus

October 11, 2026*

By Pastor John Partridge

Exodus 32:1-14          Matthew 22:1-14       Philippians 4:1-9


As I was growing up, there were several things that happened consistently on Sunday. There was always church, followed by our family Sunday dinner, and then Dad would watch golf and take a nap. It was quite a few years before I realized how well naps paired with watching golf on television. Golf has a pace that is different than nearly every other sport. If you fall asleep watching any other sport, you wake up wondering what important things you missed. But in golf, once they flash the current scores, you’re pretty much caught up. As a spectator, focus seems to be less important for the sport of golf than for any other.

But for many other things, focus is critical. I used to work with welders, and you learn quickly not to interrupt them while they are controlling an arc and running a bead. You can’t weld and hold a conversation at the same time. If their attention is required, they stop welding, say what needs to be said, and then return their focus to what they were doing. Farming is similar. To plow a field straight you have to focus on the path ahead. Jesus once said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) And farmers will tell you that this makes sense because once you look away from path ahead, the line that you are plowing goes crooked. And it is this same loss of focus that we see as we return to the story of Israel’s escape from Egypt in Exodus 32:1-14 where we hear this:

32:1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

As we heard in last week’s message, there was a gap between what was familiar and what was not. Learning how God wanted the people of Israel to live was new and unfamiliar. Moses, who had been raised in Pharaoh’s house and had been absent for forty years, was unfamiliar. But Aaron, who had grown up among them, and had lived among them for the forty years that Moses had been absent, was known to the people and was familiar to them. Likewise, worshiping idols that represented the gods of Egypt was familiar, even if they hadn’t personally worshiped those gods.

And so, when Moses goes up the mountain to speak with Israel’s God and does not come back for days and even weeks, the people grow impatient and afraid. They lose focus. Rather than focusing on the path forward, on what God had done for them, the miracles that they had seen, and the leadership that Moses had shown them, they focused instead upon their fear. And reacting in fear, they demanded that Aaron make them gods that were familiar. But this loss of focus led them all to stray from God’s path and God became angry enough to destroy them all and start over with Moses as he had with Abraham. Thankfully, Moses appeals to God on behalf of the people, reminds God of his promises to them, and God relented and did not bring disaster.

Then, in Matthew 22:1-14, Jesus offers a parable that gives us a glimpse into eternity and the Kingdom of God.

22:1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

A group of people were invited to the wedding of the king’s son. They all knew about it. They knew when it would be. They had time to prepare and make whatever arrangements they had to make. But when the king’s servant came to tell them it was time to attend the banquet, they refused to come. That stops us short. While we live in a constitutional republic with democratically elected leaders and are thousands of miles and hundreds of years separated from any kind of monarchy, we understand saying ‘no’ to the king is not a good plan. Even today, the king or queen of England has an annual Royal Command Performance for which even American entertainers are loathe to refuse despite not being under any obligation to a British ruler.

But not only do those who were invited refuse to attend, when the king sends more servants to be more insistent, and tell them that the dinner is being prepared, they mistreat and even kill some of the king’s servants. As one might expect, this did not go over well with the king. In the end, the king not only destroys those who refused to attend the banquet, he fills the banquet hall with people off the streets who would normally never set foot in the king’s palace. At some point, the people who had been invited lost focus. They forgot that they had an obligation to the king. They assumed that their business was more important than doing what the king had called them to do. And their arrogance cost them their lives.

A similar thing happens in real life in the church at Philippi and causes Paul to write a letter to remind them of the things that were of real importance. We hear this in the words of Philippians 4:1-9 when Paul says:

4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Paul reminds everyone in the Philippian church that he loves them all, longs to return to see them again, is proud of them, and holds them up as one of his greatest achievements. But then he immediately begs two leaders of the church, women with whom he has labored alongside for the cause of Jesus Christ, and who he knows he will see in eternity, to please stop fighting. But notice how Paul began that request. Before Paul pleads with Euodia and Syntyche, he says, “stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends.”

Of course, the original texts did not include punctuation. Our modern translators have added it to help make our reading easier. But I wonder, in this case, where the translators have concluded that sentence with an exclamation point, if we wouldn’t understand it better if it were a colon. That first sentence really doesn’t include an object. Paul says, “stand firm in this way” but doesn’t say in what way. But if we read that sentence as ending in a colon, then what we hear is “stand firm in this way: please stop arguing with one another and be of the same mind in the Lord.”

When Israel got impatient, they lost focus and they moved away from God and were rescued from destruction by Moses. When the people who had been invited to the king’s banquet became selfish and self-focused, they lost sight of their obligations to the king and brought about their own destruction. And in the church in Philippi, people were losing their focus on God by focusing instead on their personal differences. And that is the same sort of thing that happens in churches every day. We would do well to take Paul’s advice to heart. Rather than allowing our neighbors to witness our arguments, let them instead see gentleness, prayer, thanksgiving, and the peace of God. Rather than finding ways to divide us, think about things that are pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

You can’t weld and hold a conversation at the same time.

You can’t plow a straight furrow through your field if you shift your focus from the path ahead.

And we cannot be effective at doing the work to which we have been called if we lose focus.

Let’s keep our hands on the plow… and focus on Jesus.

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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 quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Who Do You Serve?

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Who Do You Serve?

September 21, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:1               Luke 16:1-13              1 Timothy 2:1-7

Have you ever gone through a time in your life when God seemed distant and far away? Or just a time when it seemed as if God didn’t care about what you were going through? If we’re honest, I think that most of us have felt like that from time to time. But in times like that, I have been reminded of a poster that I saw many years ago that simply said, “If God seems far away… who moved?” Let me say that again, “If God seems far away, who moved?” Now, I admit that summarizing the complexities of life this in way may be a little over-simplistic, but it does seem to get to the core of the issue. While scripture tells us that there have been times when God didn’t seem to listen, the far more common theme tells us of times when God has chosen to appear distant because his people turned their backs on him first. Our first scripture for today recounts an example of such an occasion that was recorded by the prophet Jeremiah as God’s people mourn over the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of God’s people in Babylon and we hear these words in Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:1:

18 You who are my Comforterin sorrow, my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    Is her King no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,
    with their worthless foreign idols?”

20 “The harvest is past,
    the summer has ended,
    and we are not saved.”

21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
    I mourn, and horror grips me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
    for the wound of my people?

9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.

Jeremiah reaches out to God because he is filled with sorrow and God is the one who he normally seeks out to find comfort. Jeremiah asks that God listen to the voices of his people as they weep in sorrow and asks why God is no longer in Jerusalem. But God answers that his people have angered him by worshiping images and idols instead of him and, because of God’s displeasure, the people feel disconnected, they know that God has withdrawn his saving power, and they feel crushed, horrified, and wounded. Jeremiah declares that he is so filled with sorrow that if his head were a spring of water, and his eyes were fountains, he would weep day and night over the deaths of his people.

But as sad as the story is, it is important to remember that the disconnection from God started long before the invasion of the Babylonians. God’s people turned their backs on him and worshiped foreign gods, images, and idols and refused all of God’s attempts to call them back to himself. It was only then that God turned his back, and it was only then that God allowed the Babylonians to rise in power and bring punishment to the people, and to the nation, of God.

But in Luke 16:1-13, Jesus tells a story about changing allegiances with an entirely different sort of spin while still being a story about obedience.

16:1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

5 “So, he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 “‘Nine hundred gallonsof olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“‘A thousand bushelsof wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

In the story that Jesus told, we discover that at some point, the manager decided that his allegiance was to himself more than it was to the owner, to ethics, to morals, or the teachings of God. The manager began to siphon the owner’s money in wasteful ways that we would describe as graft, theft, and embezzlement. When the owner gives the manager a few days to show him his accounting ledgers, the manager seeks out some of his boss’s biggest clients and debtors, and allows them to settle with him for enormous discounts so that they then become indebted to him rather than to his boss and he can count on them for employment and support after he loses his job.

The point that Jesus makes is that while the manager was shrewd in his dealings, he had lost faith with his employer and shifted his loyalties to himself, to his pleasure, and to his vanity even at the expense of his continued employment. While Jesus compliments the shrewdness of the manager and encourages us to use those same kinds of street smarts to the advancement of God’s kingdom, Jesus also notes that we cannot serve two masters. If we allow our bank account, pleasure, vanity, other gods, family time, politics, or any number of other things to become our master, then God becomes secondary and no god at all. Christian radio show host Larry Burkett, in his weekly show on finance, used to be fond of saying that if he could spend five minutes with your checkbook, he could tell you what your priorities were. Your priorities, and your master, are the things that you put first.

If we want to get our priorities right, if we want to serve the right master, and put God first, then it is worth looking at the advice that Paul has for his protégé Timothy in his letter that we find in 1 Timothy 2:1-7 where he says:

2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

Paul says that what God really wants from us is godliness and holiness. These are the things that we should make central to our lives and the things that we should give priority in our lives. God wants all people to come to a knowledge of truth, to know that there is one God, and one mediator between God and humanity, found in the man Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are times in our lives when it seems as if God is far away, but most often when that happens it is not because God moved, but because we did. We wandered off, we drifted, we forgot, we allowed our focus to shift to other things, we allowed other things to become our priorities and take a central place in our lives. The way to keep God close is to make God our first and most important priority. God wants us to have peaceful and quiet lives, but to do that we are called to live lives of godliness and holiness and expend ourselves in pursuit of God’s mission to save all the people of the earth and help them to find a knowledge of the truth.

Any attempt to serve more than one master causes us to abandon one of them. Dividing our loyalties causes us to give priority to one and to hate the other.

We can only serve one master.

Choose wisely.

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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 quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Choosing Death

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“Choosing Death”

August 28, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 14:1, 7-14           Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16                Jeremiah 2:4-13

 

How many of you like detective stories?

Some of us like Agatha Christie novels with Miss Jane Marple or Hercule Poirot, or we enjoy reading the exploits of Sherlock Holmes.  Some of us like watching television dramas with a detective element like NCIS, or CSI, or of course, either of the two current Sherlock Holmes dramas.  I admit that I was several years late to the party, but a year or two ago I discovered the television series “Castle” and now we watch it often and are still catching up on a lot of the older episodes.  In any case, this past week we were watching a rerun from early in the Castle series and in it a young man was killed while his friends were playing Russian roulette.  Of course they all claimed that they often did it but that no one was stupid enough to play when there were actually real bullets in the gun.  Instead, they liked to point an empty gun at one another and pull the trigger… except for one night that it wasn’t empty.  That, of course, leads to the mystery to be solved.

But I thought of that episode when I was reading today’s scriptures because of the striking parallels.  We begin this morning in Jeremiah 2:4-13, where God, through his prophet Jeremiah, brings charges against Israel for the crimes that they have committed against him.

4 Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel.

5 This is what the Lord says:

“What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.
8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.

9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord.
“And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely;
see if there has ever been anything like this: 11 Has a nation ever changed its gods?
(Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,”
declares the Lord.
13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

God says that the entire people of the nation of Israel had strayed from him, had begun to worship worthless idols, and then became worthless themselves.  They forgot the God who had given them so much and they took for granted the things that God had done for them.  And as they wandered away from the God of their forefathers, they corrupted the very things that God had given to them.  Even worse, their leaders, both religious and political, were as bad as or worse than everyone else.  Jeremiah says that the people, whose job it was to read and interpret the law, did not know God.  The leaders of the nation actively rebelled against the instructions of God and the prophets who were supposed to speak God’s words to the leaders and to the nations, began to prophecy in the name of another God altogether.

As I watched that episode of Castle, I thought, “What kind of an idiot would willingly play Russian roulette?”  To play Russian roulette is a heartbeat away from choosing death itself.  To do so would require depression, or suicidal thoughts, or some other kind of mental imbalance.  And yet, Jeremiah describes for us a time when an entire nation chose to play Russian roulette and gamble that the fun that they are having is worth death.

Let’s be clear.  No one woke up one day and decided to hate God.  There was no single moment when the nation of Israel decided to abandon the God that had blessed them, brought them out of slavery, given them their land, and had cared for them.  There was no single moment when everyone decided that suicide seemed like a great idea.  But all the same, gradually, one decision at a time, one small compromise at a time, the people of Israel picked up a gun because it looked like it might be fun, pointed it at their heads and, one poor choice at a time, began to load bullets into the chambers of the pistol.  There was no single moment when the nation of Israel suddenly decided to choose death and commit suicide, but they arrived in that place all the same, one step at a time, gradually drifting farther and farther from God until they began to represent all the things that God hated and left God with no other choice but to pull the trigger of the gun they had loaded.

But there are other choices that can be made.

In Luke 14:1, 7-14, Jesus warns us of a principle danger that causes many of us to make bad choices and start down the road that leads to death.

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 

7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

This simple parable of Jesus can be applied far more broadly than our occasional invitations to fancy dinners.  The message in Jesus’ story is that when we allow pride to lead us, trouble inevitably follows, even in something as simple as where we sit for dinner.  Instead of allowing our pride to lead us, make your choices humbly instead.  Or, even better, instead of using what we have to make ourselves look good in front of other people who can afford their own dinner, use what we have to help people who cannot help themselves.  Jesus’ message is that one key to staying close to God is to make choices that are guided by humility rather than pride.

But what else is there?

How can we avoid making the sort of bad decisions that lead us away from God?

In Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, Paul says this:

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”

6 So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”

7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Paul makes us a shopping list of things to help us make good choices.  Of course, this isn’t all that there is, but if we can remember this much, it’s a good start.

Love one another, show hospitality to people that you don’t know, remember those who are in prison, those who have been mistreated, and people who cannot speak for themselves.  Honor marriage, even if that marriage isn’t yours and even if you aren’t married yourself.  Keep yourselves sexually pure.  Don’t ever allow money to become the most important thing in your life but instead, be content with what you have.

These things, Paul says, will help us to stay close to God and make choices that will help prevent drift.

But that isn’t all.

Remember your leaders who taught you about the word of God.  Consider their examples, both good and bad.  Learn from what they taught you, but also learn from their mistakes as well as their successes. Paul says that we should continually sacrifice our time to offer God praises.  Paul knows that it takes time and effort to come together as followers of Jesus Christ to worship and praise God and he calls this time and effort a sacrifice that we offer to God.

And finally, do good and share with others.  Paul describes both of these things as sacrifices as well. Doing good isn’t always easy and it isn’t always free.  Doing good costs us time and effort and money and so does sharing what we have with others.  Doing good and sharing with others can be costly, but these are ways that we can offer sacrifices to God regardless of how much money we have.

None of these things are complicated.  None of them are terribly difficult.  But every single one of them is a place in our lives where it is remarkably easy to become selfish.  Every single one of these things can be blind spots for us that allow us to make compromises, small choices, baby steps, that lead us away from God.

Drift.

Israel didn’t wake up one morning and choose death.  They didn’t suddenly decide to rebel against the God that had rescued them and everything that he had ever taught them.  Israel never made a conscious choice to put a loaded gun to their head.  But bit by bit, step by step, one compromise after another, one selfish choice after another, they did exactly that.

Our prayer is that we do not do the same.

Let us not choose death.

Instead, let us remember the things that we have been taught by Jesus, by Paul, and by others, so that we might stay close to God and not drift away, one small compromise at a time.

 

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