All of us have calendars full of events that keep us busy, and this is especially true during December as we prepare for the Christmas season. We have Christmas parties for church, work and social clubs, invitations from friends, open houses, gift exchanges, family get-togethers, and all of that piled on top of our regular schedules for work, school, and church.
It gets to be a lot. Almost a burden.
Sometimes, for our own sense of peace and sanity, we need to be careful about which invitations we accept. If we are to appreciate and enjoy the holiday, we need to find some balance and time for quiet reflection.
But amid all this busyness, we might also remember that in some ways, life wasn’t all that different two thousand years ago. People were busy. Just living their everyday lives, doing business, working jobs, raising children, growing crops, preparing food, and all sorts of ordinary, mundane tasks filled their schedules. And their busyness caused almost everyone to completely miss the most amazing thing that ever happened in the history of the entire planet.
In the second chapter of Matthew we hear this story:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Despite the predictions and prophecies of the Old Testament prophets, despite thousands of years of expectation, despite generations who prayed for the Messiah’s arrival, despite knowing where the messiah would be born, despite the writings of Daniel that gave a good indication of when the messiah would come, despite a collection of professional theologians and priests who dedicated their lives to the study of these scriptures, still they missed it.
Perhaps it’s because they were too busy.
Certainly, God’s messiah arrived differently than anyone expected. Who would have imagined that the savior of the world would be born to a couple of poor people from the distant countryside? Who would have guessed that the official birth announcement would be entrusted to a bunch of sheep herders on a hillside? Who would have believed that a king would be born in barn or a cave, and put to bed in a feeding trough?
As we hear in Luke chapter 2:
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
It was unexpected.
But how much easier was it to ignore amid the busyness of everyday life?
I know that you have things to do. I know that you have Christmas cards to write, family to visit, cookies to eat, and gatherings to attend. But don’t let your busyness cause to make the same mistake that the world made two thousand years ago. Don’t get so caught up in your activity that you forget to remember the story. Don’t forget to appreciate the blessings of the unexpected. Don’t forget to appreciate the coming of the Prince of Peace.
Our busyness will only make us tired.
Don’t allow your busyness to drown out the wonder of this moment.
Take the time to remember the story.
Take the time to be thankful.
Take the time to appreciate the gift, and the blessings, that we have been given.
Merry Christmas.
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In our modern world, we have often heard the phrase, “Peace through strength.” Nations, from ancient Rome, to Hitler’s Germany, to today’s military-industrial machine, have all claimed to bring about peace through having a powerful military, but it has rarely worked out that way. Peace through strength only works when that strength is used to threaten the peace of others. Granted, used rightly, and justly, that same strength can be used to rescue people, and nations, from abuse by other nations or from terrorists. But God’s story leans in another direction. God’s story bends the claim of “peace through strength” into a different shape entirely. In Malachi 3:1-4, God says:
3:1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
God says that he will send a messenger to his people and this will be the messenger that Israel has desired, and has prayed for, for thousands of years since the time of King David. But this promise also comes with a warning. When God’s messenger, God’s Messiah, appears, he will prepare the way for God by refining and purifying his people. God’s message is that there is strength through purity and strength through righteousness.
But let’s look a little deeper and understand why this is a warning.
Malachi says that God’s messenger will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and will purify the Levites, the priests of God, and refine them like gold and silver.
Why is that a warning? It is a warning if you understand how silver and gold are purified.
When silver is refined, the silversmith places the silver over the fire, in the middle of the furnace, where the fire is the hottest and waits while the fire burns away all its impurities. During this process, the silversmith can never take his eyes away from the silver or it might overheat and be destroyed. But the silversmith knows the precise moment when the silver has been purified, because at that moment, he can clearly see his reflection in it. God’s warning is that that he intends to purify his priests, and purify his people, by burning away all of their impurities so that they will reflect his image and his glory.
Peace through purification.
Peace through trials.
Peace through the refiner’s fire.
We await the return of Jesus. We are expectant. But we are warned that, for us, his return may not be easy.
John the Baptist reinforces this same image in Luke 3:1-6, where we hear these words:
3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
John preached that God’s people must busy themselves preparing the way for the arrival of the Messiah by repenting of their sins. “Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low, the crooked roads shall become straight, the rough places smooth”, and onlythen… “all the people will see God’s salvation.”
Peace through repentance.
And finally, we come to the Apostle Paul as he writes to the church in Philippi and prays for them as we see in Philippians 1:3-11.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Right off the bat, Paul begins by saying that God has begun a good work in his church and prays that God will continue the work that he has already started. And, just in case you missed the importance of this, I want to restate it. Paul tells the church that what they are doing is good, but that God isn’t finished with them yet, that there is more work to do, that we are a work in-progress, and he is praying that God would continue to move us in that direction until we have accomplished everything that God has intended for us to do. Second, Paul reminds the church that whether we are together or apart, we share God’s grace and we share God’s work. And finally, Paul’s prayer is that the love of the church may grow greater and greater, that the people will grow in the knowledge of God and in depth of insight into the mind of God so that we might be able to discern what is best, so that we might be pure and blameless on the day of Christ’s return, and so that the church will be filled with the fruits of righteousness, so that God would be given praise and glory.
And if we boil that down, we find Paul’s prayers for the people of Jesus Christ are these:
Peace through the perfecting work of God.
Peace through the grace of God.
Peace through love.
Peace through the knowledge of God.
And we hear the united voices of Malachi, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Paul saying,
“Peace through the righteousness of God.”
The second coming of Jesus Christ will not be easy. We must work diligently to live up to the high calling as a kingdom, and as priests, of Jesus. We are being refined and purified into something better. We must daily work to move toward the perfection of Jesus, to struggle daily to be more like Jesus, so that we can love others like Jesus.
It is no accident that Isaiah 9:6 describes the Messiah this way:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We are a kingdom of priests, be he is…
The Prince of Peace
No matter the strength of a nation, or it’s swords, horses, and armies or navies, peace through strength will always fail… without the Prince of Peace.
There can only be peace…
…through 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. 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.
As we begin the season of Advent today the word we remember, and the word that we will repeatedly encounter, is… hope.
But that the same time, we remember that the first Sunday of Advent is traditionally celebrated as the one in which we remember the contributions of the prophets of old. These two themes are inextricably intertwined because it is in the prophecies of old, and in the faithfulness of God, that leads us to have hope for the future.
That may seem to be a little vague, but let’s begin with the prophecy and the promise of God found in Jeremiah 33:14-16 where we hear these words:
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
We remember from last week, that God’s promise, his sacred covenant, with King David, was that one of his descendants would rule over the people of Israel in righteousness forever. And now we hear Jeremiah say that God intends to keep that promise, that God is raising up a righteous branch from David’s family tree, a man that would do what is just and right, so that Judah and Jerusalem will live in safety. Jeremiah also tells us that God has named that man, that righteous branch, the Lord, Our Righteous Savior.
Who else could this be but Jesus? And as we begin our preparations for Advent and Christmas, it seems especially obvious that this must be Jesus. But when we realize that this is Jesus, then we also remember that God has been faithful and has done what he had promised to David, to Jeremiah, and to the people of Israel. You see, it is in remembering the faithfulness of God that we discover hope.
It is in remembering the faithfulness of God that we discover hope.
But how? How does remembering the past help us to have hope? And the answer to that is found in reading the words of Jesus found in the New Testament, but today we specifically look at Jesus’ words to the disciples found in Luke 21:25-36 where we hear this:
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
Jesus, the Son of Man, promises his disciples that that there will be signs that will precede his return to the earth and people who are alert and watching for those signs will know, just as we see the signs and know that spring is coming, we will know that his return is near. But Jesus doesn’t just declare that he will return, he proclaims that when he comes, he will return, not as a suffering servant that obediently submits to torture and crucifixion, but with power and great glory as a conquering king.
But what does he mean when Jesus says, “this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.”? Part of our problem in understanding comes about because we started reading in the middle of the story. In the beginning of the conversation, the disciples were marveling over how beautiful the temple and the surrounding buildings were, and Jesus said that soon all of them would be torn down with not a single stone left upon another. And so, as we read this part of that conversation, Jesus is explaining that the destruction of the temple was so close at hand, that most of them would live to see it. But we can also understand that the coming of the kingdom of God begins with the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is because, as you will remember from last week, we have been called to be a kingdom and priests.
The kingdom of God is not just something that will come on the day of judgement at Jesus’ return, the kingdom of God is something that we do every day. With the resurrection of Jesus, the kingdom of heaven has been planted on earth, and it is up to us, every day, to live like Jesus, to become more like Jesus, and to make the world around us more like heaven than it was the day before. It is up to us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, to speak for the voiceless, and intervene for downtrodden and the abused and to, as much as possible, make our community, and our world, a better place.
But what would that look like?
In 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, Paul has both kind words, and a prayer for the church in Thessalonica.
9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
Paul compliments the people of the church by saying that he and the others who have ministered there are filled with joy in the presence of God because of them. They are so proud of what the church is doing for the kingdom of God, and they would be blessed by God simply by knowing that they had played a part of leading the church in that direction. But Paul’s prayer for the church is that they might be able to return and teach them even more. And Paul also prays that God would make their love for one another, and for everyone around them, increase and overflow. That God would strengthen their hearts so that the people of the church would be blameless and holy in the presence of God.
Paul was proud of the work that the church was doing but his prayer was that the people would so filled with love, that the love of Jesus would overflow into the life of the church, but also into the lives of their community and everyone around them. Paul’s greatest prayer was that the church would become so much like Jesus, that they would be blameless when they stood in the presence of God. Just as Jesus was raised up as a righteous branch from the tree of David, we too are called to be a righteous branch growing up in the midst of the chaos of our world.
So, you see, God made a covenant with King David that one of his descendants would rule over the people of Israel in righteousness forever and, as he always does, God kept his promise. And just as God made a promise to David, Jesus has made a promise to each of us. Jesus has promised that he will return, not in suffering, but in triumph. But while we wait, we are called to do the work that Jesus began, to be Jesus to the world around us, to be so filled with his love that our love overflows into the lives of one another and into the lives of the people in the community, and the world, around us.
It is a message of promises kept. It is a message of prophecy fulfilled, and prophecy yet to come. It is a message that even today fills the people of God, that fills us, with purpose.
It is… a message of hope.
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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.
We are, once again, entering the Advent Season. Advent literally means the arrival of someone, or something, of great importance, but for us it is more than just marking the calendar to make note of his arrival. We all know that our celebration of Jesus’ birth is on December 25th, but still, we deliberately set aside four weeks, and four Sundays, prior to that for special recognition and celebration?
But why?
We set aside time, because we are creatures of habit. We get in ruts, we get stuck in our routines and habits, and we tend to live every week in the same pattern as the last. If we allow ourselves to do that at Christmas, then Jesus’ birthday will get overrun with the busyness of the ordinary and ordinary is the one thing that it should never become.
Instead, we set aside Advent as a season of preparation just as we set aside Lent as a season to prepare for Easter. For four weeks, we remember and reflect on the many aspects of the Christmas story. We remember the shepherds and the angels, Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, Anna and Simeon, and finally, the arrival of Jesus. Each of the characters of the Christmas story have something to tell us and we can be shaped by God as we learn from them.
I hope that you will join us on this journey of preparation. Oh sure, you can just pop in on Christmas Eve and feel as if you’ve worshipped, but then you’ll have missed the greater message. You could save a lot of time if you only watched the last ten minutes of Star Wars or Casablanca or Gone with the Wind. But while only watching the climax of the story may inform you how the story ends, it doesn’t carry you along on the journey, it doesn’t inspire, it doesn’t stir your emotions or let you feel the passion of the story.
To say that you have experienced these films and been changed or shaped by them, you need to watch the whole thing, often more than once. We watch them, and we imagine ourselves as a part of the story. We take the time to put ourselves in the place of the characters and imagine what it would be like to live through the story as they did. Good movies, and good books, do all those things to us and this is the story that surpasses them all. This is the greatest story ever told.
And so, I invite you to join us on an Advent journey as we prepare our hearts for the arrival of the King of kings. I hope that, if you can, you will commit yourselves to worshipping with us, not just on Christmas Eve, but every week during this sacred season of preparation. Allow yourself to be drawn into the story, to experience its drama, its emotions, and its passion. I promise that if you do, you will experience a Christmas Eve, and a Christmas, that will be more deeply meaningful, more passionate, more life-changing, than you will ever find possible by simply skipping to the end of the story.
There is a common question that all of us use, but it annoys us when our children ask it of us. So annoying is this question,that although we often think it in our heads, we will not speak it out loud to anyone but our closest friends. We would almost never say it to our employers, or supervisors, or to anyone in a position of authority unless we were deliberately being combative or defiant. Nonetheless, the question is valid. In fact, it is good practice to ask it of ourselves, and a good corporate board, church committee, or political body should ask this of itself on a regular basis.
What question is so important?
It’s simple.
The question is… “So, what?”
As a church, or as a corporation, a school, or a government, or even as a public speaker, whenever we make a decision, or write a speech, we need to answer the question, “So what?” Is any of this important? Is any of this relevant? What do we expect to happen afterward because we’ve made this decision? What do we expect, or even hope, that people will do because of what we are deciding to do? The answer to the “so what” question will almost always guide us to making better decisions and to refining the details of the decisions that we make. Our church just organized the preparation and delivery of over 1,000 Thanksgiving dinners. But, so what? Why did we do it? What did we expect to happen because we did it? If we hoped that the recipients of those dinners would behave in some way, or take some particular action because we prepared those meals, did we make that clear? Did we explain why we did it? Did we clearly express an offer of some kind? If we hoped that they might come to church, did we invite them? (Yes, we did).
Answering the “so what” question helps us avoid doing work for the sake of doing work and just appearing to be busy. Answering that question both before, and after, a planned event or decision, helps to remind us to “connect the dots” and to develop consistent strategies to accomplish our goals.
And all of that brings us to today, as we celebrate “Christ the King” Sunday. But so,what? Why do we set this day aside in the church calendar? What difference does it make that Jesus is the King? It makes a lot of difference. And, as we read through our scriptures, we discover why. We begin in 2 Samuel 23:1-7where we hear the last words of King David.
23:1 These are the last words of David:
“The inspired utterance of David son of Jesse, the utterance of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, the hero of Israel’s songs:
2 “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. 3 The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, 4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’
5 “If my house were not right with God, surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part; surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire. 6 But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand. 7 Whoever touches thorns uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; they are burned up where they lie.”
Because he was the king, and because God had carefully and specifically chosen him from among his people, it was with David that God had made an enduring, eternal, and everlasting promise. God’s promise to David was that a member of his family, one of David’s direct descendants,would, forever, rule over Israel. Righteousness was to be set upon the throne of God, and evil was to be cast aside and burned in the fire. For that reason, we know that whomever will be the king, must be from the lineage of David, and from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we know that Jesus was indeed a descendant from that line. And in John 18:33-37, Jesus himself answers the question of kingship as he is questioned by Pilate.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,”
Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!”
said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king.In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
It seems obvious, but if you want to know if Jesus really is a king, maybe the best thing to do is simply to ask him. Pilate does exactly that and Jesus says that yes, he is a king, but that his kingdom is not an earthly one. Jesus says that the very reason that he was born, the reason that he came into our world, was to testify about,to tell the world, the truth. And more than that, Jesus says, everyone who is on the side of truth, let me repeat that, everyone who is on the side of truth, will listen to him.
After all of that this is what we have: 1) God promised David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne and rule over Israel forever. 2) Jesus has the lineage, the pedigree, the family tree, or the genealogy to be that person and to carry that title. 3) When asked by Pilate, Jesus claims that kingship, and declares that his mission, the entire reason for his presence on earth, is to tell the truth.
But after all of that, we are still left with the question: So, What?
What difference does it make that Jesus is the King?
And in Revelation 1:4-8, John answers that exact question in several different ways.
1:4 John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
John tells us that Jesus is the faithful witness, the one who was sent to testify tothe truth. He says that Jesus is the first person to rise from the dead, and that Jesus is the ruler of all the kings of the earth. That’s a big deal. Throughout time there have been mayors, burgermeisters, governors, presidents, princes, barons, counts, dukes, khans, prime ministers, caesars, emperors, and kings. But Jesus rises above all of them, and rules overall of them because not only is Jesus a king, Jesus is the king, the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords.
It is because Jesus is the king that he was able to free us from sin and death,and as king Jesus has transformed us into a kingdom, a people, together, who follow, and who do the will of God. But not only has he brought us into his family and into his kingdom, Jesus has made each and every one of us to be priests who serve God. Everyone who loves the truth, everyone who is on the side of truth, must listen to him. And, because Jesus is the King of Truth, and because Jesus was sent to testify to the truth, then we know that as his priests, we also must also testify to the truth.
It is the “So What” that tells us who we are and gives us purpose and meaning.
In this season of Thanksgiving, we are thankful for who Jesus in. Because Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, because he was sent by God to testify to the truth, and because he has raised us up and appointed us as a kingdom and as priests, we know what we must do. We are not called to be merely worshipers of God. We are called to be a kingdom of priests for a risen Jesus. We are called to be go out into the world, into its highways and byways and dark alleyways, to and testify to the truth and tell the world about Jesus.
Because of the “So what” we discover that we are not spectators, but instead we are witnesses who have been called to testify to the truth.
Jesus is the King. Jesus is our king. And our king has appointed us as priests, so that we will testify to the truth and save the world.
Let’s get out there and get busy saving the world.
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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 r 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.
My family and I moved to Alliance during the last week of June. And so, on Thursday of this week, when Mike and Amy asked me if I had even had a chance to meet Marcene, I honestly wasn’t sure. Until I stared working on my remarks for today and pulled up her obituary and saw her photograph. But then I knew. I knew that I had met Marcene but hadn’t yet had the chance to get to know her. But many others did. At church, Marcene was known to be a sweet lady who was always well put together. She was always dressed fashionably, not to in any way act as if she was better than anyone else, but simply because being impeccably dressed was important to her. She had flair. People noticed when Marcene entered a room. She was known, always, to be a classy lady as well as a person of deep and personal faith.
Marcene Buchs grew up taking care of her dad. And when she had done that then it was time to take care of her mom, and then it was her Aunt Ellen. She was a caregiver. It wasn’t a life that she chose, but she accepted it as her responsibility. She grew up in Beechwood in a family of farmers. But she came to Christ United Methodist Church more than 60 years ago when her family moved to Alliance while she was in the fifth grade. She was both faithful and dedicated to our church and was sure to attend every week for as long as she was able.
Over the years, she worked as a secretary and kept the bills paid. She didn’t have a fairy tale life by any stretch of the imagination, but she was known for her strength of character, she always took the high road, did things the “right way,” and always did everything well and with excellence. Although she never felt sorry for herself, sometimes the events and the circumstances of her life led her to feel insecure. She lived in a small town, and she knew what people said about her, but that, and despite her insecurity, she refused to retreat, and forced herself to participate in the community.
Marcene was always “super-devoted” to her family and to her grandchildren. She didn’t just care about what they did, she devoted herself to exploring, learning, and doing her very best to understand what they did whether it was sports, or music, or quilting, publishing, or rocket science. Marcene was a reader, and she had always read everything. But whenever she knew what her family or friends were interested in, she read about that too. Although she didn’t have a CD player in her home, she did have one in her car. And so, in order to listen to her grandson Chase’s CD’s, she would get in her car and drive around town so that she could listen to them. As Mike and Amy went through her things, they discovered that Marcene had kept detailed records of her life and of her family’s life. Events and projects that they had long forgotten, were carefully recorded and kept in her albums and notebooks.
Marcene Buchs was a minimalist who loved order. She owned a small number of outfits and when she bought a new one, an old one had to go. Nothing in her home was out of place. She appreciated order and she paid great attention to every detail. But Marcene’s insistence on perfection only applied to herself. She was forgiving of others and understood that they were different than she was.
Perhaps the most obvious example of who Marcene was, is found in her son Mike. As the saying goes, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” And Mike didn’t become the caring, considerate, intelligent, driven, and loving person that he is by accident. He is a living example of Marcene’s influence on his life and a reflection of who she was.
Much of her life was devoted to caring for others and while was greatly loved by others, she loved them all right back. But, as I noted earlier, Marcene’s faith was important to her. She made sure that Mike grew up in the church and passed her faith on to him. And when her grandchildren arrived, she invested herself in them so that they could learn it as well. As I talked to Mike and Amy, we knew that Marcene would not want this moment to pass without sharing her faith with you as well. Marcene Buchs put her full faith and trust in Jesus Christ as her savior. She believed that Jesus died for her sins so that she could, at this very moment, stand before God, forgiven, redeemed, and perfect. We know where Marcene will spend her eternity, and she wants every one of you to join her there when your day comes. If you don’t know how to do that, Marcene’s family and I urge you to talk to one of us afterward.
But of all of us, Mike knew her best of all. And so, although he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stand up here today and share his thoughts, these are his words:
A Son’s Reflections
by Michael Robert Johanson
We are gathered here together to honor and celebrate the life of my mother, Marcene Buchs. My mother was a throwback and maintained the sensibilities of another time always attempting to do the right thing optimistically even when it was not popular or easy. She was not deceived by the complexities in this world and was firmly rooted in the simplicities that are the foundation of our being. That is her message to us. She would have loved the flowers in the room today and would remind us all to enjoy the sight and scent. She would not want any of us to mourn today rather to channel the spirit she has put in all of us to live up to our potential, do the right things, listen, encourage, pick each other up when we fall have hope, faith and leave a positive mark on this world.
I have spent much time this week thinking of what should be said, attempting to properly honor my mom’s memory or even partially convey the wonderful life my family and I were lucky enough to share with her. Should I list all of her accomplishments which were many? She was capable far beyond what we all saw – she had a mighty inner strength. Should I tell stories from the farm in Beachwood? Those would be funny particularly the “hammer story” (though probably still not funny to her brother my uncle Bob). Her happiness, optimism and vision of the future during her youth – she always did her very best? The energy and pride she always exemplified in the workforce? But all of this can be read in the newspaper this week. What isn’t there is her devotion and love for her family. Her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brother and his family, taking care of her mother, father, and her son who were always steadfastly by her side and her by them. I came along not under ideal circumstances, but you would have never known it. Her devotion and love made my life ideal.
If she were planning today’s service she would be playing videos in the hall of rockets launching things I’ve built into space. A spread of magazines that Amy had created that highlighted her handiwork that she was so overjoyed to see on a newsstand. She would play highlight reels of her grandson Noah throwing a football. She often went on long drives to listen to songs on the CD player of her grandson Chase that always lift her up and “made the sunshine come out”. Those songs were played today prior to this service per her request and they meant the world to her. She was very proud of all of Chase’s accomplishments. She would showcase her “superhero” grandson Ellis’s many activities, performances, beautiful voice and intellect and also remark how she was able to get a little piece of her own son back through him. She would spent endless hours studying and learning about all our interests and made them her own. And while none of this would be about her. In her mind it was all about her, and it is.
I found a folder this week in her important papers titled Emotional Serenade. In this folder of poems and writings I got a chance to get inside my mom’s spirit in ways I had not seen before. In her writings I think she described who she was far better than I ever could in the following poem:
THE CATALPA TREES ARE BLOOMING ON HAINES AVENUE
The Catalpas are blooming on Haines Avenue;
their snow-like blossoms are fresh and white and new.
They crown the branches of the stately trees
and cover the ground with a summer freeze.
In time, long green beans will appear,
hanging amidst the elephantine leaves part of the year.
This makes Haines different from Wright, Union or Summit,
indeed it is the very best part of it!
The red bricked street of a yesterday,
scene of a childhood summer of play.
I was fresh from the farm and an isolated life
thrust on a sidewalk of kids amidst workman and buses,
backyard cherry trees – neat houses and gardens,
flower bedecked porches, new shoes bought on an
afternoon trip downtown, birthday parties on the lawn,
bank tellers, clothiers, teachers, mailmen, executives
and retirees – a grocery store that smelled so right
with licorice cigars and other delights…
everything so lazy and forever. Now all gone mainly
BUT THE TREES
I had always known the infinite variety of trees;
all the magical appendages moving in the breeze;
their sudden brilliant hues burning even after the fade;
their wealth worth more than could ever be paid.
Yet I was amazed at the leaves on a hunt for my son
and ran around saying, in effect, “Here’s one, here’s one!”
Then it was the Ginkgo that mesmerized me,
but the Catalpas are a gift by the powers that be
and are for the moment what’s happening on Haines.
They come to me, and the thrill never wanes.
BUCHS
My mother was always my unexpected messenger encouraging me (and all of us) to accomplish the impossible and she led by example in ways that I didn’t always understand or comprehend. But eventually, I would always understand completely. While her life didn’t always meet the expectations she perhaps had for herself, she made the best of every moment and worked tirelessly to make sure those around her had the best opportunities, were the best prepared, and when we needed a boost, she was there to lift us up. Though 620 Wright Ave was just a small dot on big planet she always encouraged me to be OPEN and ready to take on the world. She taught me that if I opened up my mind I could be and do anything. If I opened up my dreams the impossible became possible. If I opened up my heart I would always be surrounded by the very best people. If I opened up my eyes the path forward would always be clear. And if I opened my arms she would and will always be there.
In her notes this week she left me a final piece of advice in her Emotional Serenade folder. I’m not sure she wrote it but she typed it and put in a place so I would see it first. I think is a continuing message for all of us:
“People tend to look in each other’s wallets instead of each other’s eyes. You can’t buy a look into someone’s heart. Or a loving look. Or a smile. The retention of important memories is a gift beyond price. Memory is where the proof of life is stored. Unobstructed access to memories is both a sign of good health and a measure of true wealth. Money can’t buy health and money can’t buy hope.”
I am thankful for the time that we have had on this Earth together, and her passing reminds me to value the time we all have with our loved ones. To allow our ‘time’ on this planet to walk with us rather than be our adversary and to cherish every moment, because they will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived, and I know how much my mother loved this life and those of you who shared it with her. So those of us who knew her will understand when I say that her passing to me is truly only that state in which she exists within all of us whose lives she has touched, which is why today is not about an end. I know she lives on within me and my children and that too shall pass to my children’s children. No good-byes mom, just wonderful memories. You will walk with me always. I will see you again.
Proverbs 31:10-31 Mark 9:30-37 James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a
Have you ever seen someone use authority well?
Sometime around 1995 I was working in research and development on a new type of control system for residential forced-air heating systems. We had developed the technology in the laboratory and were ready to install several systems, in various parts of the country, run them in the homes of real people, and collect data on their operation. One of the homes in which our system would be installed belonged to an executive in major furnace manufacturer which was one of our industry partners. Everything was proceeding on schedule and under budget until we were within a week or two of the installation. We had our plane tickets in hand. The equipment was already on site. But everything got jammed up when our company lawyers couldn’t agree with their company lawyers over who was liable for what. As engineers, it was completely out of our hands. All we could do was watch as faxes and emails went back and forth between us and our partner.
Until our Vice President, who oversaw the entire research department, stepped in. One day, in the middle of this impasse, he stopped in to ask why nothing was happening. So, we told him. By the next day, the contracts were completed, signed, and the project was back on track. When I asked my manager what happened, he said that our VP had simply called their VP, they both called their respective lawyers, told them that they wanted it done, and POOF! It got done.
I’ve always remembered that story because it reminds me that a key responsibility of leaders is to work for, to serve, their subordinates. Our VP rarely involved himself in the daily affairs of engineers, but he reminded us that when we really needed his authority, he worked for us. By virtue of his position, title, and power, he could get things done that we couldn’t hope to do. We had no ability to argue with our legal team or to overcome their objections and concerns, but all he needed to do was to tell them to get it done… and it was done.
In each of our scriptures today we see different types of godly leadership that we can apply to our lives in church, at home, and in our schools and workplaces. We begin at home, in Proverbs 31:10-31, which is the one chapter of the Bible that is known to be written by a woman. Proverbs 31:1 says that these words are:
31:1 The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.
And so, even though King Lemuel put the words on paper, he made sure that everyone knew that these were his mother’s words. We continue reading in verse ten where it says:
10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. 11 Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. 12 She brings him good, not harm all the days of her life. 13 She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. 14 She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. 15 She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family
and portions for her female servants. 16 She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. 18 She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. 19 In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. 20 She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. 21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. 22 She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. 25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. 26 She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 27 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” 30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31 Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
This passage is sometimes criticized as a description of the expectations placed upon women, but I don’t see it that way. Instead, I find that this describes a woman of strong character who is, as much as possible in the culture in which she lives, a full and dedicated partner, with her spouse, in the life of their family and in building a life together. She is, without question, a leader in her community who dedicates her time and effort to lifting up her family, her household, the poor, and her entire community. She and her husband act as a team. Their efforts, together, build the respect in the community for both of them and although he must have some sort of employment, she seems to earn just as much for her family and provides for them in ways that he cannot. Neither of the members of this partnership would do as well without the other. She is able to do what she does because of him, and he is able to do what he does because of her and each would be severely handicapped without the other. Because of her hard work, her leadership, and her compassion for others, she is honored and praised by her family, and by the leaders of her community.
But what is it about this woman that makes her good and honorable?
Is it just because she works hard? And what can we learn from this and apply to our own lives?
In James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a, we hear this explanation:
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
4:1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James simply says that character matters. If you are wise and understanding… prove it. If you are smart, then your life will show the world that you are smart. The way that you live, the deeds that you do, the friends that you keep, the actions that you take, the humility that you show in your interactions with others, is the proof that the world will witness. At the same time, bitter envy and selfish ambition is proof that you are earthly, unspiritual, and even demonic because envy and selfish ambition are not the proof of wisdom, but the hallmarks of disorder and evil.
In contrast, the wisdom that comes from God is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, merciful, impartial, sincere, and full of good fruit. It is the peacemakers, James says, who produce great harvests of righteousness in the lives of others. Fights and quarrels are the result of conflicting human desires. Our desires, greed, and covetousness drive us toward evil, violence, and death. We claim that God doesn’t hear our prayers, but the James says that the real reason our prayers go unanswered is that we ask with the wrong motives. We ask God to give us stuff so that we can spend what he gives us for our own pleasure and not for the things of God and for God’s kingdom.
James’ recipe for success, is to submit to God. Men and women must both submit to God. We must resist the devil, resist evil, come to God, and only then will God come close to us. We must purify ourselves, our motive must be pure, so that we are not double-minded. We cannot want what God wants and want what we want. We cannot pray that God would bless his ministry and grow his church and use his blessings for our own pleasures.
I admit that this is difficult stuff. James is ruthless and his teaching pierces the hearts of the best among us. But his message is clear. A pure heart is a heart that is dedicated to God… alone.
And so, what does any of that have to do with leadership? How does a heart dedicated to God look to the outside world, or to our church, or to our family?
And for that, we turn to Mark 9:30-37 where we hear the answer from Jesus.
30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
Jesus says that the hallmark of true, humble, peace-loving, pure, godly leadership is servanthood. Leaders are called to be servants first and tyrants last. These are the things that reveal our character. David fell when he considered his desires ahead of Uriah’s, but also ahead of the needs of Bathsheba, the needs of his nation, or the will of God. The illustration and visual aid that Jesus uses is the welcoming of little children. With few words, this speaks volumes about leadership. Jesus says that leaders do good, even for those who can do nothing for you in return. This is as far from “if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” as you can possibly get. This says, “I’ll scratch your back, even if you don’t have any arms.” This says that leaders help others, not because they expect something in return, but simply because they can. The Vice President of Research had little (something but not much) to gain by helping us break the logjam on our project, but with one phone call, he did what several engineers and two or three managers couldn’t get done in weeks. He wasn’t a particularly godly man, as far as I know, but I have always remembered this example of leadership.
This is why character matters. Real leaders are not just leaders. Real leaders, godly leaders, must be servants at heart.
As leaders, our personal desires must take a back seat to the needs of those whom we lead and serve.
Our priority must always be the mission, but also the care of those under our authority, whether or not they like us, whether or not we like them, and whether or not they can do something for us in return.
And don’t think that you are off the hook because you aren’t a leader. All of us, in one way or another, are leaders or, at the very least, are training for leadership. All of us, at one time or another, find ourselves responsible for others. We teach Sunday school, we parent children, we babysit, and so on. Many of us are what the military refers to as unofficial leaders, or back-channel leaders. We are people who others look up to, and respect, simply because we are older, or have done our jobs longer, or because we are known to be honest, or diligent, in our work. Leadership doesn’t have to come with an official title.
All of us are leaders.
All of us must lead with a servant’s heart.
Because…
…character matters.
_________
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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.
I’m going to guess that whether you went to school or not, every one of you here knows something that the rest of us don’t. My grandfather never went to college, but he knew things about repairing giant turbine generators that no one else knew, and that no one else ever had the patience to learn from him.
But before I get off track, here’s the follow-up question. Have you ever tried to explain something, something that you knew from experience or education? Have you ever tried to explain something to someone who was wrong and who didn’t want to be corrected? If you listen, much of our national political conversation sounds like that. We often find that the truth lies somewhere in between the two “sides” that are arguing with one another and no one wants to be bothered with the truth. Everyone is quite happy with their version of the story, even if its demonstrably wrong, and they only get angry if, and when, you try to tell the truth. As soon as you disagree, for any reason, you are labelled as the enemy and each “side” thinks that you belong to the “other side” even if you remain completely neutral, simply because you disagree.
Does that sound familiar?
But as silly, ridiculous, and tragic as this is, it isn’t new. And politics isn’t the only place that we find this sort of thing to be true. In Proverbs 1:20-33, wisdom is described as a living person who is trying to speak truth into the world, and the world chooses to ignore her because they are happy with their ignorance.
20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square; 21 on top of the wall she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:
22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge? 23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings. 24 But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, 25 since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke, 26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you— 27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me, 29 since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord. 30 Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke, 31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
Lady wisdom, who is the personification of learning and intelligence, asks “How long will you fools hate knowledge?” God pours out his thoughts and makes his teachings known, but ignoring his wisdom causes people to be destroyed by avoidable troubles and disasters. The stubborn will eat the fruits of their stubbornness, the rebellious will be killed by their rebellion, and the smug confidence of fools will destroy them. But those who listen to God, and accept God’s wisdom, will live in safety without fear of harm.
But what is it that separates the fools from the faithful?
What is it that makes one person wise and another a fool, or worse?
In Mark 8:27-38, Jesus has a conversation with his disciples that answers that very question.
27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Peter was almost there. Peter saw what many other people had failed to see. Peter knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the savior of the world, and the one that God had promised for generations. But Peter couldn’t accept that Jesus had to die. Peter wanted Jesus to be his king, and he wanted Jesus to do things the way that Peter wanted them done. Peter couldn’t take that last step and accept that God would do things the way that God intended to do them. Jesus says, “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” The key, Jesus says, is to have enough faith that you want what God wants and trust God enough to do things God’s way.
And that’s hard.
Even the disciples struggled with it.
And along the way, there are a great many ways that we can, and often do, fall short.
In James 3:1-12, we hear these words:
3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
James says, even if we get our act straight, and get our whole life together, we still often stumble when we fail to keep a tight reign on the words that come out of our mouths. But what comes out of our mouths reveals the truth of what is in our hearts. James says that what comes out of our mouths can set our entire lives on fire. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t praise God and curse at our neighbors. We can’t love God and hate the poor, or Democrats, or Republicans, or communists, or Antifa, or anybody else. You won’t ever pick figs from an olive tree, and you won’t draw fresh water from the Atlantic Ocean. When you give your heart to God, you need to give God your whole heart, your whole body, mind, and spirit.
You need to be sold-out for God.
You need to be all in.
When we choose to follow God and put our faith in Jesus Christ, we can’t do it half way.
We can’t give God ninety-five percent and hold five percent back for ourselves. As we see from James’ description, a rudder isn’t very big, but it steers the largest ships. A bit is tiny compared to a horse, but it takes the rider wherever she wants to go. Our tongues are small in comparison to the rest of our bodies, but they can destroy everything that we spent our lives working for. They can destroy every bit of Christian witness that we tried to build with 30 years of church attendance. So, if we are truly going to put our faith in God, we need to give God everything that we have.
We cannot be fools who ignore God’s wisdom and focus only on our human concerns.
How long will we wait?
We need to want what God wants, and trust God enough to do things God’s way.
We need to listen to what God’s wisdom teaches, learn from it, accept it, and do it.
We need to love our neighbors the way that God loves them even if they are Muslim neighbors, or Democrat neighbors, or Republican neighbors, or Mexican neighbors, or gay or lesbian neighbors, or anything else.
We can’t hold anything back.
Following Jesus was, is, and always will be a radical thing to do.
Are you ready to be all in?
_________
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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.
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 John 6:35, 41-51 Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2
Is your family close?
Do you love each other?
Is there anything that you wouldn’t do for your family?
For some families, there is no closer bond. They will go anywhere and do anything to help one another. There is no mistake, however grievous, that cannot be forgiven. Of course, not every family is like that, but even among those that are, sometimes that family bond can be put to the test. As we rejoin the story of King David this morning, God’s punishment for David’s sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah has come upon him. First, the child that he had with Bathsheba died. But then, one of David’s other children, Absalom, determines to push David aside and become king for himself. Over a span of years, he persuades many of David’s own advisors and military leaders over to his side and stages a coup. David, and those loyal to him flee the city and Absalom sets up a tent on the roof of the palace, at the high point of the city, where everyone can see. And in that tent, Absalom sleeps with all of David’s wives that couldn’t flee with him. But as David fights to regain what was his, the bonds of family are stretched to the limit. (2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33)
5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.
6 David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. 7 There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.
9 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.
15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.
31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”
32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”
33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”
David’s son staged a coup, drove him out of his capitol city, moved into his home, slept with his wives, went to war with him, and attempted to kill him, and still, David’s love for his son is so great that he commands his troops to “be gentle” with Absalom and David weeps in great distress when he learns of Absalom’s death. Though obviously, Absalom didn’t feel the same way, those are the bonds of family. Despite the betrayal and the carnage, David still loved his son enough to care deeply about him and mourn his loss.
When things work the way that they should, the love, and the bonds of family are some of the strongest that we ever have for other human beings. But in a story recorded for us in the Gospel of John (John 6:35, 41-51), Jesus begins to describe a bond that is even greater.
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Once again, the religious critics of Jesus disparage him because they knew him and knew his family. To them it seemed obvious that Jesus couldn’t be anyone important and certainly couldn’t have “come down from heaven.” But Jesus refutes their arguments by simply saying that no one can follow him unless God leads them to follow him and all those who follow Jesus will be raised up on the last day. But more than that, Jesus says that he is the living bread and anyone who eats that bread will live forever and he promises that those that follow him will never go hungry or thirsty.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we already know that we are adopted, by God, into his family and are made brothers and sisters, legally co-heirs, with Jesus. Legally, we become family. But beyond that, Jesus says, God gives his family members eternal life and will care for their needs forever. It’s worth noting that while this is not a huge change from Jewish theology, it was dramatically different than many of the other religions of Jesus’s day. The gods of most other religions demanded obedience from their human worshippers, if they cared anything for them at all. The gods only cared about themselves and they had little or no concern for the welfare, past, present, or future, of their worshippers. But the God of Israel cared. And the change Jesus emphasizes is a major change from Jewish theology. Jesus says that you don’t need to be a genetic descendant of Abraham. If you follow Jesus, God will adopt you into his family, invite you to live with him, and will care for your needs forever. That is a relationship that goes beyond the ordinary boundaries of family.
And in Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2, the Apostle Paul preaches that our relationship with God goes even farther.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
5:1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
The first thing that we see in this passage is how Paul describes our relationship with one another where he says that we are all “members of one body.” Think about that. What does it mean to belong to “one body?” What Paul is describing, is a relationship that is closer than family. It’s one thing to love your brother or your sister, but it’s an entirely different thing to say that your hand or your foot is important to you. You might consider walking away from a relationship with one of your family members, but few, if any, would willingly cut off a hand.
Paul goes on to warn the church not to allow our anger to cause us to sin. This takes us right back to the story of David and Absalom. While David continued to love his son, no matter what insults and atrocities he committed, Absalom allowed some insult in the past, some hurt, to fester into anger, and he allowed that anger to cause him to rebel against his king, and sin against his father David. But anger is just the beginning. Paul has more to say about how we are to manage our relationships with one another. Don’t steal, work, and work enough so that you have something extra to share with those in need. Purify the words that come out of your mouth and don’t behave in ways that grieve the Holy Spirit.
Wait. What? How do I “grieve the Holy Spirit?”
Think of it this way, at the moment that you put your faith in Jesus Christ and follow him, the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside of you, right? So, every minute of every day, everywhere that you go, the Spirit is there with you. Just imagine God’s reaction to some of the places that you go. Do you think that God is thrilled when he walks beside you into a strip bar, or to some of the R-rated movies that you’ve seen, or parties that you’ve attended? Do you think that God’s spirit rejoiced when some of those words that you shouldn’t have said came out of your mouth anyway? Of course not. But you did them anyway. And you took a holy and perfect God along with you. And the Spirit of God grieved over the places that you went, the things that you did, and the words that you said.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, violence, slander, and every form of malice. Be kind, and compassionate, forgive one another, and walk in the way of love.
These are not easy things. They’re not. They’re hard. But in today’s story, we are Absalom. We’re the ones who got mad, went our own way, behaved badly, betrayed our father, and hurt him more than we could ever imagine. But despite all that we have done, God loves us anyway. Our God is the god who genuinely cares about his people. God loves us like family. In fact, God loves us more than family. God made each and every one of us and he wants us to be more than we are. God wants us to be like Jesus. God created us to be perfect and holy, and he wants us to be perfect and holy. God wants us to care about each other more than family. God wants us to care about each other as if our brothers and sisters were our own hands and feet, or kidneys or liver. God wants us to be one body, that is pure, and holy, and works together for the kingdom of God.
So yes, doing all the things that we talked about today, doing all the things that Jesus, and Paul, and the other writers of scripture have taught us is hard.
But doing those things is how we get from where we are, to where God wants us to be.
We were created to be more than family.
Let’s act like it.
_________
Did you enjoy reading this?
Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.
Click here to visit Pastor John’s YouTube channel.
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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.
2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a John 6:24-36 Ephesians 4:1-16
Have you ever heard of Karma? Most of us have. It’s a popular idea even if the word is often misused. In Hinduism and Buddhism, by definition, karma is “the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.” What that means is, karma is the thing that will punish an evildoer, by guiding them to an unpleasant reincarnation as a poor person, or as a slug, or some other unpleasant experience in proportion to the evil that they did in a previous life. In popular usage, karma is (wrongly) thought of as “what goes around comes around” or why bad things will, eventually, happen to bad people.
But within Christianity, we don’t believe in karma. Instead, we believe in a sovereign, all-knowing, all-seeing, God who promises justice and judgement. In Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a, we rejoin King David’s story as David’s crimes are revealed and his punishment levied.
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
12:1 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Last week we noted that God was undoubtedly disappointed by David’s failure, but we realize, as we read this week’s passage, that “disappointed” doesn’t go far enough. Our scripture tells us that “the thing David had done displeased the Lord.” Even David, when presented the facts of his own case simply disguised as a story about a prized lamb by the prophet Nathan, condemns himself and demands that no pity should be taken on such a person. But in the next moment, David’s sin is revealed as Nathan proclaims, “You are the man.” Murder by proxy is still murder. Nathan doesn’t quibble about who “pulled the trigger” or whose hands killed Uriah, Nathan simply says, “You killed him,” and “You took his wife.” Before announcing David’s sentence. God declares, “the sword will never depart from your house” or, that violence will always be a part of David’s life, and that members of his own family will one day betray him, and sleep with his wives. David’s punishment is truly, “what goes around comes around” but it isn’t karma, it’s justice handed out by an all-knowing God.
David, like many people throughout history, including many people in our present-day world, was deceived by money, sex, and power, and began to believe that he was above the law. He was the king, he was rich and powerful, so he could get away with it. But in the end, David remembers the truth, that nothing is done that God does not see, that no one is above the laws of God, and that, in the end, no one escapes justice.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that David’s story is a condemnation of rich people. In John 6:24-35, we hear a familiar story about Jesus in which ordinary people, and a great many of them, suffer from the same kind of deception that David did.
24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
An entire crowd of people climbed into boats and went in search of Jesus, but Jesus knew that every one of them had been deceived. All these people, rich and poor alike, had followed him, not because of Jesus’ miracles, and not because of his teaching, but because they thought that he would keep feeding them. They weren’t following Jesus the savior of mankind, or even Jesus the great teacher, they were following a meal ticket. They didn’t follow Jesus because he confronted them with their sinfulness, or because he could help them to get closer to God, or because he would help them to become better people, they followed Jesus because of what they thought that they could get out of him. In this case, food.
This hasn’t changed. There are a lot of people who come to church and are known to be good upstanding members of the community and longstanding church members who have been coming to church for entirely the wrong reasons. They come to church because their parents did, or because that simply “what good people do,” or because it’s “good for business.” But, just like the crowds that followed Jesus, all these people have been deceived. They are following Jesus for what they can get out of him.
And Jesus sets them all straight saying: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” Jesus tells the people not to be deceived by food… or by anything that spoils. Don’t be deceived by money, sex, or power, but neither should we be deceived by more common things like clothes, or cars, nice apartments, houses, prominent businesses, job titles, professional associations, or anything else that disappears like smoke after you die. Instead, be concerned about things that last for eternity long after your life on earth is over.
Believe in the one that God has sent and make it your business to invite others to know him. Only your life, and the lives of others, will endure into eternity, and only Jesus can give us the bread of life.
But if we are to keep our focus on God and not be deceived by “stuff,” then how should we live our lives? And, once again, in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul shares what a life lived for God might look like. (Ephesians 4:1-16)
4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it [Psalm 68:18] says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Paul reminds the church that we have been called to follow Jesus, adopted into God’s family, and work alongside Jesus, on his mission, and are empowered by the Holy Spirit, and we ought to live our lives in such a way as to be worthy of that high calling. We should be completely humble, patient, and loving and make every effort to remain in the unity of the Spirit through the peace that binds us together. Jesus has poured out grace upon each one of us but in doing so he also gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
But why?
Why do we need those people? Do we need them so that we can delegate the work of the church to them?
Clearly, Paul says, no. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are not employees.
Instead, Paul says that all these were called by God and sent by Jesus to equip the church for the works of service that he has called them to do. And we are to do these works of service to build up the body of Christ until such a time that we all become mature. And Paul says that we will be mature when we no longer act like children, no longer get tossed back and forth by our culture, no longer deceived by money, sex, power, and the craftiness of deceitful schemes. The body of Christ, Paul says, is held together by every supporting ligament, it grows, it builds itself up in love, and every single part of the body of Christ does the workthat God has called us to do.
Every single part, every single person, every single believer, has work to do.
Every one of us must be out on the field.
There are no spectators.
Maturity doesn’t come because we belong to the church and it doesn’t come simply because we stuck around for a few decades.
The way that we learn not to be deceived like David, or like the crowd that followed Jesus, the way what we become mature, is to listen and to learn from scripture. To listen and learn from the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers that God has called so that all of us are equipped to do the work that God has called us to do.
And we must persist, we must keep on doing that work until we, eventually, become mature.
_________
Did you enjoy reading this?
Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.
Click here to visit Pastor John’s YouTube channel.
_______________
*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.
We’re busy.
A Righteous Branch
Pastor Partridge 