Reconciliation, Restoration, and Prejudice

March 30, 2025 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, Broadway, Christ, church, faith, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, Methodist, Moses, Ohio, Paul, prejudice, reconciliation, restoration, transfiguration

Reconciliation, Restoration, and Prejudice

March 30, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Joshua 5:9-12 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Have you ever done major, even irreversible damage to a relationship? You said the wrong thing, spoke hastily in anger, didn’t show up when you needed to be there, failed to stand up for a friend, or walked out when you should have given a hug instead? There are many things that we can do, or fail to do, that can damage our relationships with the people that we care about. But if we want those people in our lives, then we need to find a way to make amends, to apologize, mend fences, and rebuild the trust that was broken. Sometimes that isn’t possible, but you can never know for sure if you don’t try. But sometimes the relationship that was damaged was the one between us and God. And when that happens, we have some choices to make about how we go about restoring our relationship and rebuilding trust. And so, this morning, we take a look at several scriptures that speak to restoration, reconciliation, and the obstacles that can stand between us, distance us from God, and cause damage to our relationship.

We begin this morning reading from Joshua 5:9-12 and we hear about the return of Israel to the land that God had promised to them from the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁹Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So, the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. ¹¹The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. ¹²The manna stopped the day afterthey ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.

On the day of Passover, everyone eats a meal that is laid out in the tradition of that celebration: green vegetables or potatoes symbolizing the coming of spring, Haroset, a combination of fruits, wine or honey, and nuts, symbolizing the mortar that the Israelites used to built the temples in Egypt, bitter herbs symbolizing the bitterness of slavery, boiled eggs symbolizing hope, a roasted beet symbolizing the blood of the Temple sacrifice, and matzah or unleavened bread symbolizing the bread of affliction that the Israelites ate during their time in Egypt. But as the people celebrate Passover, and the fulfillment of God’s promise seen in their arrival in the Promised Land, the very next day, the manna that had fed them for forty years in the desert… stopped.

And now, rather than eat the manna that God provided, the intermediate necessity given to aid in their survival, the people now ate the food that God provided by means of the land itself. No longer were they wandering in the desert, now they were home in a fertile land that could provide them with the food that they needed. Now, God had fulfilled his promise, and the people were restored to the land. The ending of God’s daily provision of manna represented their restoration to the land and the restoration of their relationship with God.

The problem that we have, as the people of God, is when we get in our own way and decide that groups of people aren’t good enough even when God hasn’t said any such thing. Jesus makes this point in Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 and exposes the prejudice of the Pharisees as he tells the parable about the prodigal son saying:

^15:1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ²But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³Then Jesus told them this parable:

“There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So, he divided his property between them.

¹³“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.

²¹“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So, they began to celebrate.

²⁵“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

²⁸“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So, his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

³¹“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Let’s review the highlights of that conversation. The Pharisees accuse Jesus of consorting with the wrong kind of people whereupon Jesus tells them a story in which the son that was always faithful and who did everything right, and the son who clearly represented the Pharisees in this case, got angry because the father, who represents God, chose to be merciful to the son that made mistakes, repented, and returned to his father. The elder son goes as far as to declare that the younger son is not his brother, but his father gently reminds him that his brother was once dead but is alive again. The critical piece is that while the father is willing to forgive and reconcile with his lost son, the older brother’s prejudice corrupts his heart into excluding the people that don’t fit into the roles that he expects them to fill. It is his prejudice that excludes his brother and not the sins of which he believes his brother to be guilty.

By means of this story, Jesus was telling the Pharisees that their attitude towards those that they labelled as sinners was the same prejudice seen in the older brother. It was that prejudice that prevented them from extending God’s grace and forgiveness to the people who wanted to repent and return to God. But how does that extend to us? In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Paul tells us how this applies to the work of the church and how it applies to us in our modern day lives. Paul says:

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sinfor us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Paul says that we all need to stop looking at the people around us the way that the world looks at people. Instead, we must see the people around us as the new creations of Jesus Christ. Each person who repents and comes to Jesus is reconciled to God because of the sacrifice that was made on the cross. Jesus’ sacrifice made it possible for all of us… and the emphasis here should not be missed, all of us… to become the righteousness of God.

But as Paul warned the church in Corinth, we must be careful that we see the people around us as new creations in Jesus Christ and not to judge them with the prejudice of the world. We cannot see people as sinners and outcasts as the Pharisees did, or as traitors and scoundrels as the older brother did, or even as Democrats, Republicans, poor, rich, immigrants, or any other label that our modern culture wants to use, but instead we must see the people around us as the Jesus and as the prodigal son’s father did, and be open to forgiveness, grace, reconciliation, restoration, peace, and love. Holding on to our prejudice, as the older brother did, will prevent us from receiving the grace, forgiveness, and the blessings that God intends for us.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

May the people around us see God in us… and not our prejudice and bias.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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Not Just Average

March 16, 2025 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, Bible, Broadway, Christ, christianity, church, excellent, faith, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, Methodist, Ohio, tranformed, transform, water, wine

Not Just Average

March 16, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 62:1-5 John 2:1-11 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

It’s no secret that some of us do better than others when it comes to things like standing in front of a crowd to speak, or even to make an announcement. We have members of our staff-parish relations committee that are happy to do work behind the scenes, even if that is most, or even all of the real work, as long as someone else stands in front of the church to make the announcement and present appreciation gifts to the staff. The same is often true whenever your pastor, or church growth consultant, or anyone else suggests that you invite your friends to church or share your faith in Jesus with your friends and neighbors. Even for many of us who are comfortable speaking in public, suddenly, we freeze up and don’t want to do it.

There are a lot of reasons for that, and I’m sure that a psychologist or behaviorist would have a lot to say about it, but much of it boils down to it being the fear of the unfamiliar. But of course, that isn’t what we tell people, or even what we will admit to ourselves. At some level, that fear is felt as an innate shyness that we try to explain away. We don’t want to admit, even to ourselves, that we are afraid.

And so, we tell ourselves things like, “I’m not anybody important.” “Nobody wants to hear what I have to say.” “I don’t stand out. I am not one of the beautiful people. I am not particularly smart. I do not excel at anything. Nobody will listen to me. I don’t speak very well.” Or even, “I’m just kind of average.”

But we need to stop doing that.

We are not average.

You are not average.

God’s people were never intended to be average even though the people around them sometimes saw them as average, or worse. In Isaiah 62:1-5, God explains that there is a day coming when the world will see his people the way that they really are. While Israel’s neighbors and enemies saw them as defeated, destroyed, and desolate, God saw his people differently.

^62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
    for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
    her salvation like a blazing torch.
²The nations will see your vindication,
    and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
³You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand,
    a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
⁴No longer will they call you Deserted,
    or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,
    and your land Beulah
for the Lord will take delight in you,
    and your land will be married.
⁵As a young man marries a young woman,
    so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
    so will your God rejoice over you.

God says that a day will come when Israel will be vindicated, and people will see them the way that God sees them. Rather than seeing the nation of Israel as a defeated, destroyed land full of desolation, the world will see them as God’s splendorous crown, the royal gemstone in the scepter of God. And new names will be upon the lips of the nations, instead of being named as deserted, God’s people will be known as God’s delight, and the land as the land of God’s family. God will rejoice over his people in the same way that a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.

I also offer as evidence of the standards that we see in God’s creative power, the story of Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding at Cana in Galilee that we read in John 2:1-11:

^2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ²and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so, they filled them to the brim.

⁸Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, ⁹and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

¹¹What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Once again, this story is well known to us and a great many sermons have been written about it, but for today I want to focus simply on the quality of the miracle, or expressed another way, the quality that we see in this expression of God’s creative power. When the wine was taken to the master of the banquet, he declared that what he had tasted was “choice wine” and he was so struck by the quality of it, that he called the bridegroom aside and complimented him on it, and noted that it was ordinary for cheaper wine to be brought out at this stage of a banquet because the guests would have already had too much to drink and wouldn’t notice the difference. In this case, cheap wine of inferior quality would have been both ordinary and acceptable. Wine of even average quality would have been more than was expected and likely would still have received praise from the master of the banquet and good quality wine would have made a positive impression. But the wine that Jesus made was not inferior, was not average, and was beyond even that of a good quality vintage. The wine that Jesus created was top shelf, top tier, premier, choice quality wine, the best of the best.

Just like we heard from Isaiah, God did not create his people to be average, God created them to be his delight and a gemstone in his scepter. Likewise, God’s creation is not something of average, or even of good, respectable quality. God’s creation is choice, premier, and the best of the best. This is what I want you to keep in mind as we read Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth as he reminds them where they came from, what God has done for them, and how God is transforming their lives. In 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 we hear this:

^12:1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ²You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

⁷Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of languages, and to still another the interpretation of languages. ¹¹All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Paul spells out the idea that although the people of the church had once been pagans, they could now easily say things like, “Jesus is Lord.” That alone, Paul says, is evidence that they have been transformed from a life devoted to pagan gods, filled with the Holy Spirit, and transformed into a new creation in Jesus Christ. And, because they are a new creation of Jesus Christ, every one of them have been given gifts by God’s Spirit. Although the gifts that they have been given are different from one another, Paul says that each of them should be seen as a manifestation, an embodiment, or an outward and visible sign of the working and the presence of the Spirit of God in them. All these gifts are from the same God, from the same Spirit, and all of them are to work together to accomplish the mission and ministry of God.

But just to make sure that you all see my point, I want to remind you of what Paul said, “There are different kinds of working, but in all of them, and in everyone, it is the same God at work.”

In everyone.

Quite simply, that means that you… have gifts. The God who created the universe has given you gifts. Moreover, the God who said that his people are a delight and a cherished treasure, and the God who creates, always and everywhere with excellence even when average would be more than good enough, that God has given you gifts. It is that God who has sent his spirit to live in you, it is that God that has transformed your life, and it is that God that has called you into his service.

You are not average.

You were never intended to be average.

We need to get out of our own heads, and we need to stop saying things like, “I’m not anybody important.” “Nobody wants to hear what I have to say.” or “I’m just kind of average.”

You are important because the God of creation, who never created anything less than wonderful, has chosen you, has taken up residence inside of you, and has transformed your life to become his new creation.

You are not average. You were never intended to be average. You… are a saint of God, renewed, transformed, and empowered to do God’s work.

Let us put behind us any pretense that we aren’t good enough, live into the reality that we are a part of God’s magnificent excellence, and get busy telling the world that God can transform their lives too.

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Invite or Die

March 11, 2025 PastorPartridge Blogs Alliance, attend, Bible, Broadway, Christ, christianity, church, conversations, faith, grow, intentional, invite, Jesus, John Partridge, Methodist, Ohio, United Methodist

The Importance of Being Invitational

March 01, 2025

by John Partridge

This past week (February 23^rd), the Sebring United Methodist Church held their last worship service. Shortly, they will turn the keys to their building over to the East Ohio Annual Conference and next week their congregation will begin to worship with the neighboring Presbyterian church. Officially, the United Methodist congregation will still exist, but as a partner to the Presbyterian congregation and with a single pastor that serves both paper churches in the same sanctuary. I don’t know if this will be listed as a church closure at Annual Conference or if they will name it something else, but from a conversation that I had with one of their church members, for some of them, it sure feels as if the church has ended and they are grieving a death.

I am also aware of another local congregation that will soon make the decision to close. No public statement has yet been made so I will not provide any more details beyond the following. They might make it until Easter or might stretch until summer, but financially, the writing on the wall seems to be clear that soon they will be unable to pay their bills. Here at Christ Church, it appears that we are continuing to grow, but slowly. Even so, the losses that we have seen in recent years are being seen in our budget and in the offering plate. If we had not inherited our endowment from the faithful members of earlier generations, we might well be facing a similar crisis.

Rather than wring our hands, and worry about the future, there are things that we can be doing. Separate from church, I would like to show you two examples. You may know that Troop and Pack 50 are both doing well. Monday evening six more Cubs received their Arrow of Light award and crossed over into our scout troop. But every year, our Cub scouts, scouts, and scout leaders have recruiting drives. During this time of year, every elementary school will be visited, flyers are sent home, presentations are made, questions are answered, and children and their parents are invited to join the Cub pack. Scouts also regularly invite their friends from school, an open house(s) is held, more parents are invited, more questions are answered, and our scout troop sometimes even holds a campout at Silver Park to demonstrate scouting skills to the public and invite young people to join the pack or troop, as appropriate.

Two years ago, the Sebring Model Railroad Club, where I am a member, decided to do something different in the way that they promoted their annual open house. A generation ago, they would run an advertisement in the local newspaper, distribute a few flyers around town, and a thousand or more people would visit and donate to the club. But, as we have seen in the church, in recent years fewer people subscribe to, or read, newspapers. One result has been that attendance at the club open house fell from well over a thousand, to just over a hundred. But two years ago, the club decided to try something different. We printed two thousand business cards that invited folks to our open house. Every club member was expected to pass out 75 to 100 cards over the span of a few months, inviting friends, coworkers, and anyone they met throughout their day. We also purchased yard signs for members to put out along the streets where they lived. And attendance increased. What’s more, as we’ve done a better job advertising ourselves, our membership has increased as well. We still have a long way to go before we see the kind of crowds that were common a generation ago but, so far, we’ve been able to double our attendance. This year, we’re trying something else that is new to us. We know that it’s going to take time, but we’re willing to innovate and experiment. Our survival depends upon it.

I am convinced that Troop and Pack 50 are healthy and growing, in part, because of the efforts that they make to be invitational. I am certain that the Sebring Model Railroad Club would not be doing as well as they are if they had not decided to innovate, experiment, and be more personally invitational. What may have worked a generation ago, doesn’t necessarily work today. There are many reasons why the members of Christ Church choose to attend here. The people are great, the music program is strong, the building is gorgeous and well maintained, and the pastor might be okay as well. But no one is likely to know that unless someone tells them. Even people who know something about us probably won’t come unless someone invites them.

At the model railroad club, two thousand invitations (last year) increased our attendance by one hundred guests. That works out to be a success rate of about one in twenty. What if we did that at Christ Church? What if every regular attender invited twenty people over the course of the year? If we had that same kind of success at the train club, the result might be eighty first-time visitors each year and some percentage of those might choose to attend more often or even join the church. If we all choose to innovate and experiment, it is entirely possible that we could double the size of our congregation in five years. Doing what we’ve done for generations doesn’t guarantee success.

It is important that every one of us becomes more invitational. Maybe that means we have more conversations with the people that we meet in the community, or that we become more intentional about passing out invitation cards. But it is important that we do something different.

Our survival may depend upon it.

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Year in Review: 2024

March 6, 2025 PastorPartridge Blogs 2024, Alliance, Broadway, Christ, church, difference, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, Methodist, neighborhood, Ohio, outreach, United

2024 Year in Review

by John Partridge

Once again, our “End of Year” reports have been filed with the East Ohio Annual Conference office. And so, as always, this seems like a suitable time to look at how we did and how things are going. Of course, numbers don’t tell us everything, but I think we had a good year overall.

We began 2024 with 281 members. Over the course of the year, we lost only one member to death and one to transfer, which is much less than in most previous years. In addition, we added six new members, which again, is one more than the previous year. So, we ended the year with 285 members. As I mentioned last year, our survival as a church depends upon us inviting new people to worship, connecting them to small groups and other ministries of the church, so that they eventually feel that becoming a member is an easy decision.

I had expected that our attendance would increase, and it did, but perhaps not as much as I had hoped. But, regardless of my expectations, our average attendance did increase from 70 to 72 and it is always good when we move in a positive direction. Our online attendance via YouTube fell from 36 to 20, likely because we were not streaming during the Advent and Christmas season which normally have more viewers. And our United Women in Faith saw a modest decline in membership falling from 55 to 53. Once again, we saw an increase in attendance with the number of children and youth in attendance increasing from 11 to 13 and overall, Sunday school attendance increasing from 44 to 46. Overall, given our average attendance in worship, the number of persons attending Sunday school is astounding in comparison to national averages.

After seeing a seven percent decline in giving last year, this year we stayed almost flat with a 63-dollar decline. This is good news compared to last year, but as we all know, our expenses aren’t going down any time soon, so this remains a concern. Worse, since our church will no longer sell our burgers in the park during the Carnation Days festival, we can already project a decline in that income for this year.

Our Facebook page has stayed the same with 298 followers and, despite our current livestream hiatus, our YouTube channel has increased from 123 subscribers to 137. Our online sermon webpage gets about 71 visits per week with a slight increase over last year, those same sermons are sent out to 447 subscribers by email, which is an increase of 147 over last year. Of those, about 10 percent actually open the emails, which is about 45 people, and that’s down a little from last year.

So, what does all that mean?

It means that we are still relevant, and people are still finding value in what we do. It means that Christ Church is connected to 13 ministries for outreach, justice, and mercy for the poor and the socially marginalized. One of the informal questions that has been used for years has been, “If your church disappeared tomorrow, would anyone in your neighborhood notice?” And clearly, the answer to that is a resounding “Yes.” Many of our neighbors rely on us to get through each week and that means that what we are doing is important. It also means that, through our online presence, we are having an impact far beyond the walls of our church even if we might never meet the people with whom we are connecting. And in a world where declining attendance is normal, our attendance is increasing, and the average age of our congregation is shifting younger.

These are all good things. But we still have challenges in front of us. Our expenses will continue to go up and the loss of many older givers has hurt us. If attendance and giving does not increase, we will soon be faced with the necessity of cutting our budget and staff. We hope that we will not need to make these hard choices. But I know that the people of Christ Church believe in what we are doing so I hope that each of us will continue to invite our friends and neighbors and spread the word about how we are making a difference in downtown Alliance.

Overall, the good things that we are seeing outweigh the negatives. We are doing good. We are growing. We are making a difference and changing the world one life at a time. There is good reason for us to have hope for a brighter future.

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Doing What’s Right… As IF.

March 5, 2025 PastorPartridge Blogs act, Alliance, Ash Wednesday, Bible, Broadway, christianity, faith, God, injustice, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, justice, Lent, Methodist, Ohio

Doing What’s Right… As IF.

A Meditation for Ash Wednesday

March 05, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

In Isaiah 58, I hear the prophet Isaiah use what I can only describe as a really dark sort of sarcasm. God says, “Day after day they seek me out and they seem eager to know my ways, as if the were a nation that did what is right.” The use of the term, “as if” is almost that same as my generation used as sarcasm in the 1980’s. We would negate entire sentences by ending them with the phrase “as if” or “not.” I think you understand, but as an example, we would say something like, “That’s really beautiful… not.” Or “The government of the United States is very efficient and productive… as if.” Isaiah’s complaint is that the people of Israel, apparently as individuals and perhaps collectively as a nation, act as if they seek God, but complain that God doesn’t seem to notice their fasting and humility.

But in response, God says that it isn’t enough to seem like you want to know God. It isn’t enough to pretend that following God is important. You cannot fast and pray, and, on the same day, commit your favorite sins, abuse and exploit your workers, argue, and get into fights. If you want God to take you seriously, your life must look like more than an act.

What God really wants from us isn’t a good religious show.

What God wants is to fight against injustice, to rescue the oppressed, to share what you have with the hungry, to shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, and care for your family.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹²Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.(Isaiah 58:9-12)

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The Curse of Wealth and Happiness

February 16, 2025 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, blessing, Broadway, Christ, church, curse, faith, faithful, faithfullness, God, happiness, Jeremiah, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Luke, Methodist, Ohio, Paul, power, resurrection, trust, United, United Methodist, wealth

The Curse of Wealth and Happiness

February 16, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Jeremiah 17:5-10 Luke 6:17-26 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

How many of you, at one time or another, have watched some of the television preachers or televangelists? Most of us have. Although the names have changed over the years, televised church services, and sometimes even just pre-recorded Sunday school lessons, remain a staple of national programming. The problem is that what motivates television stations to air a particular church, or a particular pastor isn’t whether their message is theologically sound or morally edifying, their motivation is based almost entirely on popularity and the ability to sell commercials or, in some cases, to be paid by the churches themselves in such a way that the television station makes money.

And so, as many of you may have noticed, the messages that air on television are often flawed theologically. In particular, many television preachers promote what is referred to as prosperity theology, which is, simply put, if you are prosperous, God must have blessed you, or put another way, if you are genuinely faithful, then God will make you rich. And just in case you haven’t heard me mention this a dozen time before, that message cannot be found in the Bible and is entirely contrary to much of what the Bible actually teaches.

We begin this morning by reading a message from Jeremiah, in which God’s prophet pronounces what might just be one of the most anti-political, and anti-cultural messages of all time. Here, Jeremiah speaks out against anyone who believes that their king, president, political party, or military might will make their lives better, happier, or more prosperous. Worse, Jeremiah declares that anyone who believes those things will be cursed by God. The good news is Jeremiah also teaches us what we need to do if we genuinely want to be blessed by God. We begin this morning by hearing the words of Jeremiah 17:5-10 as Jeremiah declares to the people:

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

¹⁰“I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”

Jeremiah declares that anyone who trusts that the actions of human beings, such as governments or people in positions of power, will make their lives better, or who looks to those people for emotional strength, will be cursed and not blessed because, in most cases, putting our trust in humans is a path toward losing our trust in God. When we do that, God says, we become starved like a bush in the wasteland that never sees prosperity even when it comes to everyone else. However, blessing comes to the people who put their trust and confidence in God. When we do that, we live as if we were a tree planted by a river so that we gain strength and courage even in times of heat and drought.

In the end, God says that what matters is your heart condition. If you trust God, that is what matters. God isn’t going to judge us by which human being we followed but at whether we behaved the way that God has taught us to behave. Moreover, God’s blessing doesn’t come to us because we said the right words, or because we believed the right sorts of cultural things, but because we lived the kind of life that God taught us to live and did the things that God has taught us to do.

And, as much as people sometimes try to dismiss the Old Testament, this is much the same message that Jesus preaches in his sermon in Luke 6:17-26that we now refer to as the beatitudes, where it says:

¹⁷He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
²²Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

²⁴“But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
²⁵Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

If we look at this well-known message of Jesus with the words of Jeremiah in mind, we can understand the first section about blessings almost as one long, run-on sentence that says that if any of these things that sound bad happen to you because of your faith and trust in Jesus, or because you are doing the things that Jesus taught us to do, then God will bless you. Your blessing might not happen here on earth, but God will give you a reward in heaven. Jesus points out that all these sorts of mistreatment are exactly the sorts of things that happened to the prophets of the Old Testament.

And then, in the second half of the reading, Jesus lists a bunch of things that sound like they would be good things, things that Israel’s culture, and our culture, normally think of as blessings. But these things, wealth, prosperity, comfort, abundant food, laughter, and the admiration of others, Jesus says are warning signs that you are in trouble with God. Why? Because, once again, if we examine Jesus’ words in light of what we read in Jeremiah, it’s because our trust has been misplaced, and we have come to trust humans instead of God. Like Jeremiah, Jesus warns us all that the comforts and temptations of wealth, prosperity, happiness, and the admiration of others can distract us from our faith and obedience to God while the situations that we think of as misfortune, such as poverty, hunger, sadness, and the hostility of others are precisely those things that often shift our focus towards God and compel us to trust God for the things that we need.

And finally, in his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul adds one more thing upon which our faith pivots. Jeremiah preached that we needed to put our trust in God and to live and act the way that God has taught us. Jesus preached that those things that draw us toward God, even if we often think of them as undesirable, are good simply because those misfortunes will become the source of heavenly blessings when God examines our faith. And to these important things, Paul writes to the church in Corinth and adds this pivotal belief in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20:

¹²But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Paul says that our entire faith, as the followers of Jesus Christ, hinges on the central belief that Jesus died and rose from the dead. Although there have been those throughout the centuries that have taught that Jesus did not physically die, or that rising from the dead is impossible, Paul says that our entire faith hinges on this one point. Because if Jesus only swooned, or passed out, and didn’t really die, then our entire faith falls apart. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then we believe in nothing because Jesus was a mortal human being the same as us and has no power to rescue us from sin and death. Jesus’ death and resurrection is a core doctrine and belief of our faith and so, that faith must be combined with our faith and trust in God, and our rejection of those things, like wealth, prosperity, comfort, abundant food, laughter, the admiration of others, and the influence and power of politicians, and persons of power that would tempt us to trust in anything other than God.

Prosperity theology and far too many television preachers teach that if you are prosperous, God must have blessed you, or that if you are genuinely faithful, then God will make you rich.

But what the truth of scripture teaches, is that the people who are blessed, trust in God and have confidence in God. But those who put their trust in other human beings, and anything else that distracts us from God will be cursed like a bush in the wastelands and will not see prosperity even when it comes to everyone else.

May we always keep Jesus Christ in the center of our lives and trust only in him.

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How Are You Growing?

December 29, 2024 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, Broadway, Christ, church, faith, God, grow, growing, Hannah, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, Methodist, new year, Ohio, Samuel

How Are You Growing?

December 29, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 Luke 2:41-52 Colossians 3:12-17,

If you have ever been in my office, it’s a mess. I know that my mother would not approve. If the police were ever called, they would say that “there appears to have been a struggle.” But you also might notice that I have plants. Oddly, houseplants don’t do well at our house and the only ones that we keep alive are in the cactus family. Since I began my career in engineering, if I want plants to live, I take them to my office. Some time ago, I did a children’s message with three plants that I brought home from my mother’s funeral and all three of them continue to do well, two of them are growing and flower regularly, and the third is holding its own.

In addition, I have a rubber tree, or something, I don’t have a scientific name for it, but it’s quite large. It has grown so tall that it did not have the strength to stand on its own so, some time ago, I added stakes to help it. And then, a few months ago I decided to trim off the growing ends so that it would be able to use its energy to grow thicker and stronger instead. When I did that, I took two of the longest pruned branches and, as an experiment, I dropped them into my fish tank. Once there, both branches rooted the baby guppies hide among their roots. Soon, I should plant them in pots of their own, but I really don’t need two more plants.

In any case, as I read today’s scripture lessons, it made me think about how we, as humans, and as the followers of Jesus Christ, have much in common with those plants. Keep that in mind as we begin this morning by reading from 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 where it says:

¹⁸But Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. ²⁰Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home.

²⁶And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.

This continues the story about Hannah and her son Samuel. If you remember, Hannah was tormented by her husband’s second wife because she was childless and when God finally gave her a child, she returned him to God for service to the house of the Lord at Shiloh as soon as he was old enough to be weaned. But here we learn that Hannah loved him and mothered him as much as she could from a distance. Each year their family would return to Shiloh to offer a sacrifice to God and each year Hannah would make Samuel a robe that she could give to him as a gift.

From this story we can understand that Hannah, Elkanah, and their family were faithful in their worship of God, faithful to one another, and we see that they were, despite the distance separating them, faithful to Samuel. And each year, Eli, the high priest, would bless Elkanah and Hannah for their faithfulness and for their son Samuel. And, we are told, each year they witnessed that Samuel had grown in size, as is natural, but also in favor with God, and with people. Samuel was well liked by the people around him but was also growing closer to God and was receiving God’s favor.

And as we read the story of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, we find that Luke’s description of Jesus, as a child, is a mirror of the description that heard about Samuel. As we read from Luke 2:41-52 we hear this:

⁴¹Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. ⁴⁷Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”⁵⁰But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁵¹Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵²And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Like Elkanah and Hannah, Mary and Joseph were faithful to God and made the journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Passover despite their relative poverty. And as it was in the story of Samuel, we find also in the story of Jesus, the faithfulness of the parents is reflected in the faithfulness of their son. The part of the story that we always talk about is that Mary and Joseph were a day’s journey from Jerusalem before they realized that Jesus was not among their friends and family in the caravan. But when they returned to Jerusalem and found Jesus, he simply said, “Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” Jesus is where is needs to be because he has learned faithfulness from his parents and now must be faithful to God in his own way. And again, as it was in the story of Samuel, when Jesus returned to Nazareth, he was obedient, and grew is wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and with people. Put another way, Jesus was growing in mind, in body, and in spirit.

And that takes us back to the plants in my office. With care, my plants stay alive. But the ones that get enough light, food, and water will grow and flower. But scripture tells us that the same is true of human beings and the followers of God. If we are properly cared for, have food and water and all the things that we need, and live lives of faithfulness to God, we will grow in mind, in body, and in spirit, and produce fruit for God.

And so, as we come to the end of one year and the beginning of the next, it is an appropriate time for us to think about these things, take a hard look in the mirror, and ask ourselves, “How am I growing?” Are you growing in faithfulness, in mind, in body, and in spirit? Are you growing closer to God?

As we begin the new year, let us ask ourselves, “Are we producing fruit?”

Today’s benediction comes from the words of Paul in his letter to the church in Colossae. In Colossians 3:12-17 Paul speaks this blessing over the church, and I want to pray it over all of you for the new year:

¹²Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Happy New Year everyone.

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A Promise Kept. But Why?

December 24, 2024 PastorPartridge Sermon Advent, Alliance, Broadway, Christ, Christ United Methodist, Christmas, Christmas Eve, church, death, faith, God, Isaiah, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, keep, kept, Luke, Methodist, Ohio, Partridge, peace, promised land, Titus, United, United Methodist, war

A Promise Kept. But Why?

(Christmas Eve)

December 24, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 9:2-7 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

We’ve had a great evening of celebration, and we all know that Christmas is a time of joy, wonder, gratitude, and thanksgiving. We give thanks for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, who was and is the rescuer of the world. In the scriptures that were read this evening we heard God’s promise through the prophet Isaiah that the Messiah would bring light to the darkness, freedom to the captives, and peace to the world. When we turn on the news and we hear messages of missiles, bombs, bullets, and warfare around the world, and as our nation spends trillions of dollars to maintain the largest military ever seen on the face of the earth, hearing God’s promise that every warrior’s boot, and every blood-stained garment will be thrown into the fire is a powerful message. It is for us, just as hopeful, and just a powerful as it must have been for the people of Israel so many years ago. But God’s promise didn’t stop there. Isaiah continues by saying that the coming Messiah would take over the government, that he would govern in greatness, that the peace under his rule would never end, and that he would establish, and uphold, justice and righteousness forever. That sounds just as fantastic, impossible, and hopeful in the twenty first century as it must have sounded in in the time of Isaiah eight hundred years before the birth of Jesus.

But Luke tells the story about God keeping the promise that Isaiah had proclaimed. A story of how the savior, Israel’s messiah, had been born, how an angels had announced his arrival to lowly shepherds on a hillside rather than in the halls of the palace, and how an entire choir, a host of angels, had praised and given glory to God, and how, having heard the message, and seen for themselves, the shepherds became the first preachers, heralds, and missionaries and spread the word about the messiah’s arrival.

But why?

Why did these things happen? Why did God promise, and why did God keep his promise? Why did God go to all that effort? Why did God send his own son to earth? Why did God care?

And this evening we heard the answer from God in the words of Titus. It is because of God’s grace that he sent the Messiah. It was and is grace that offers rescue to the people of the world. It is grace that teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and the passions of the world. It is grace that teaches us to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while the world spirals into selfishness, lust, greed, and depravity. And it is grace that empowers us as we wait for the fulfillment of our hope in the coming of Jesus Christ because it was Jesus who gave us the gift of himself to redeem us from wickedness, to rescue us from sin and death, and to purify us so that we could become his people. It was Jesus who gave himself so that we could become a people who were eager to do what is good.

The story is just as amazing, fantastic, impossible, hopeful, and wonderful as it has always been. And our mission is the same as that of the shepherds who heard the story from a host of angels on a hillside two thousand years ago. Let us go out from this place glorifying and praising God for all that we have heard and seen and tell the world the good news of our rescue, of God’s grace, and of Jesus’ gift.

Jesus is the greatest gift of all.

It isn’t a story that we could keep to ourselves, nor is it a story that we were ever intended to keep for ourselves. As the angels said, it is good news, of great joy…

…for all the people.

Merry Christmas.

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Rejoice: God’s Promise or Restoration and Joy

December 15, 2024December 19, 2024 PastorPartridge Sermon Advent, Alliance, Baptist, Broadway, Christ, Christ Church, church, faith, fruit, God, imperfect, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, joy, judgement, love, Luke, mercy, Methodist, Ohio, Paul, politicians, religion, rescue, restoration, Rome, suffering, United, United Methodist, Zephaniah

Rome, Religion, Remove, Rejoice

December 15, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Zephaniah 3:14-20 Luke 3:7-18 Philippians 4:4-7

For much of Israel’s history, including today, things were not perfect. While there were lengthy periods of peace, those periods of peace were often under the rule of foreign empires or less than ideal kings. And, if we’re honest, the same thing can be said about much of the world and about much of history. Although we often speak fondly of American history, we also admit that those periods struggled with slavery, discrimination, and the mistreatment of women, minorities, and anyone who failed to fit the mold that society had declared to be normal, as well as denying opportunity and accessibility for persons with disabilities. Whenever we become wistful for “the good old days,” it is always worth considering for whom those days were good.

But all that is simply to say, that throughout history, we nearly always find ourselves looking forward to something better. No matter how good or how peaceful a time each generation finds itself in, there is almost always something that needs to be improved upon and some segment of that society that has been left out of whatever peace and prosperity everyone admires. But in looking forward to something better, we are reminded of the promises that God made to the nation of Israel, to the world, and to us.

We begin this morning reading one such promise recorded about seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, by the prophet Zephaniah, a fourth-generation descendant of Israel’s King Hezekiah and likely a member of Israel’s royalty and frequent visitor to the halls of political power and the king’s court. But the message that Zephaniah delivers is not good news. It is, instead, an announcement of God’s judgement against Israel and the destruction that would come at the hands of the Babylonian empire. And yet, included alongside harsh and explicit descriptions of the suffering that Israel would endure, Zephaniah also proclaims God’s promises of mercy and restoration. And we find these as we read from Zephaniah 3:14-20:

¹⁴Sing, Daughter Zion;
    shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
    Daughter Jerusalem!
¹⁵The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
    never again will you fear any harm.
¹⁶On that day
    they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
    do not let your hands hang limp.
¹⁷The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.”

¹⁸“I will remove from you
    all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals,
    which is a burden and reproach for you.
¹⁹At that time I will deal
    with all who oppressed you.
I will rescue the lame;
    I will gather the exiles.
I will give them praise and honor
    in every land where they have suffered shame.
²⁰At that time I will gather you;
    at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honor and praise
    among all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes
    before your very eyes,”
says the Lord.

Although Zephaniah proclaims God’s judgement and Israel’s future destruction, he also tells of a time when God will take away their punishment, turn back their enemies, and once again brings peace to his people. Zephaniah says that a day will come when God will deal with all those who oppress the people of Israel, a day when God will rescue the lame, return the exiles from the four corners of the earth, restore their fortunes, and give them praise and honor among the nations of the world.

And God’s people remembered the words of Zephaniah as they waited for the fall of Babylon, and then again during the rule of the Persians, and then the Greeks, and then the Romans, and then a dozen other empires throughout history. But clearly, as Luke describes the ministry of Jesus, it is Rome that the people would have had in mind. And in that time, we hear these words in Luke 3:7-18:

⁷John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

¹¹John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

¹³“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

¹⁴Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

¹⁵The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. ¹⁶John answered them all, “I baptize you withwater. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you withthe Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ¹⁸And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

Calling the people a brood of vipers is a harsh way of beginning a conversation, but I suspect that although John had been preaching and baptizing for some time, the moment that Luke records for us here is one in which it had become… shall we say… “popular” for people to say that they had seen John. If that is the case, then this is the moment when the politicians, religious leaders, and others who didn’t really care that much about repentance or renewal came to hear John. They hadn’t left their comfortable offices because they were particularly interested in John’s message but had done so because everybody was talking about him, their curiosity was aroused, and because they didn’t want to feel left out of the conversation because they were the only ones who hadn’t seen him.

And so, John sees those who were merely curious mixed in with those who were honestly seeking and he asks then, “Who warned you about the judgement and destruction that is coming?” John tells them that the thing to do is not to wander out into the desert to hear him preach, but to produce the real fruit of real repentance instead of resting on your family history because family history and faithful ancestors is not a plan that’s going to work. John says that God is already moving to cut down the family tree in which you live unless he finds that tree producing fruit.

In answer to several specific questions about what producing fruit looks like, John says that it looks like sharing what you have, not padding your billing, not stealing from others or using your power to extort money from others but to be content with what you are paid honestly. But John goes on to say that the long-awaited messiah is already on the way, and it is he that will bring in God’s harvest and burn up the chaff. And this is important. Everyone there had some idea of who the chaff would have been as God sorted through the people of Israel. They probably assumed that the chaff would be the military that occupied their nation, the politicians that constantly divided the people, and the religious leaders who divided into factions and confused the people about what God taught. But John’s message continued and in it he encouraged the people to repent and change their lives, to follow God, to produce fruit, and proclaimed the good news of God’s rescue.

And while we need to take all of John’s message to heart, today, as we celebrate the third Sunday of Advent, we particularly take note of that last bit about the good news of God’s rescue. It is this good news that the angel spoke of when appearing to shepherds saying, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

And Paul expands upon that in his letter to the church in Philippi and gives all of us some advice on how we are to live as the followers of Jesus Christ. In Philippians 4:4-7 Paul says:

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

Rejoice. Doesn’t that fit with the theme of joy that we remember on this third Sunday of Advent? Rejoice! Rejoice that we have heard the good news of Jesus Christ. Rejoice that we have been rescued from sin and death. Rejoice that we have been forgiven. Rejoice that we have an intimate relationship with the creator of the universe. Rejoice that we can lift our thoughts and our voices in prayer. Rejoice that we are not, and will never be, alone. Rejoice that we have been adopted as the sons and daughters of the king of the universe. Rejoice that we are God’s people and the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. We have ample reason to rejoice.

But, as God’s people, as a people who are called to rejoice and to live lives that are filled with joy, what does that look like? And to that, Paul says, be gentle. Be so gentle that it will be evident and obvious to everyone around you. Live your life so that the world will know that God is near to you. Do not be anxious, don’t let your life be filled with worry, but always take your concerns to God in prayer, always give thanks to God for what he has given to you, and always feel free to ask God for the things that you need. Be filled with God’s peace and guard your hearts and your minds so that you never allow yourself to turn away from Jesus, or from the path and the calling to which he has called you.

Rejoice. Be filled with joy. And live a life that honors God, produces fruit, and reflects your relationship with Jesus Christ so that through you, and through your actions, the people around you can see Jesus…

…and feel his love.

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Facing the End of the World

November 17, 2024 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, Broadway, Christ, church, end of the world, faith, God, Hannah, hope, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Methodist, Ohio, pain, Samuel, suffering

Facing the End of the World

November 17, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

1 Samuel 1:4-20 Mark 13:1-8 Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-25

What do you do when the bottom drops out of your life? Or when the other shoe drops, or when bad goes to worse, or it’s more sickness than health, poorer instead of richer, and worse instead of better? The people that we meet in today’s scriptures either find themselves in those kinds of circumstances, or they are considering times that sound like the end of the world, or that actually is the end of the world.

We begin this morning with the story of Elkanah and his two wives Hannah and Peninnah. The prophet Samuel tells us that while Peninnah had children, Hannah had none. And every year, Elkanah went to Shiloh to worship and to offer sacrifices to God in the place where Eli, and his sons Hophni and Phinehas, were the priests of the lord. But we are told, in 1 Samuel 1:4-20, that…

⁴Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. ⁷This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. ⁸Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

⁹Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. ¹⁰In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. ¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

¹²As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. ¹³Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk ¹⁴and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

¹⁵“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. ¹⁶Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

¹⁷Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

¹⁸She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

¹⁹Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

In a world where children, and the ability to bear children, was an indication of God’s blessing, Hannah, although she was dearly loved by her husband, was childless. Because of that, her husband’s second wife, Peninnah, tormented Hannah relentlessly. And so, while the modern catchphrase says that we should dance like no one is watching, that is how Hannah prayed before God. She went to the holy place of God at Shiloh, she got physically as close to God as she was able, so close that Eli could hear her weeping from his chair at the doorway, and she poured out her heart to God.

Because of her faith and her passion, before she left, Eli assured her that God had heard her prayer, and when she returned, she brought her son, whom she had named Samuel, because in Hebrew “Samuel” sounds like “heard by God.”

And then, in Mark 13:1-8, we find Jesus throwing a wet blanket over the enthusiasm of his disciples. They are excited to be in the big city of Jerusalem, excited to worship in God’s temple, and thrilled at all the magnificent architecture that surrounds them. And Jesus’ response is to announce that all these incredible, expensive, labor intensive, buildings that had taken decades to build, and some of which were already hundreds of years old, would one day be destroyed and thrown down like a child casting aside broken toys.

^13:1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

²“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴“Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”

⁵Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁶Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. ⁷When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

Jesus doesn’t rain on the disciples’ parade and spoil their mood of excitement just to be mean, his intent is to tell them something about the future. Jesus tells them that as great as things are, as wonderful as it might have been to be a part of the Roman Empire, and to live during the great Pax Romana, or Roman peace, none of those things were going to last forever. There is an idea from the Enlightenment period that says humanity is on a relentless and unstoppable climb to perfection, and while we still hear that idea resonating in the twenty-first century, Jesus says that things will not always get better. Tomorrow will not always be better than today, and the future will not always be better than the past. Jesus says that even the great buildings of the Roman Empire and of Herod the Great will be cast down, wars will still be fought, and earthquakes, famine, and other natural disasters will still claim victims before God will bring about the end of the world. And in those future days, many will stand before the world and claim to be Jesus, or claim to be sent by Jesus, and many people will be deceived by such charlatans. But the people of God, and the followers of Jesus Christ, must remain faithful to what we have been taught while also being vigilant and careful.

And then, in Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-25, Paul repeats a message that we heard last week, that Jesus has taken away the need to make sacrifices for sin, and then offers the followers of Jesus some advice on how we should behave, and what we should do as we face hard times, struggles, disasters, and the end of world… together. Paul says…

¹¹Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again, and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹²But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

¹⁹Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Paul begins by repeating the message we heard last week, that the human priests that worked in the temple of Jerusalem offered sacrifices for sin over and over again, for hundreds, even thousands of years, but Jesus’ sacrifice was offered once and his sacrifice was enough to remove the sins of all humanity for all time. Because of that, Paul says, we were given a new way to enter the presence of God. In the temple, there was a great curtain that separated the world from the holy of holies, the place where the Arc of the Covenant was kept and the place where God rested his feet upon the earth. But that curtain was split from floor to ceiling as Jesus died on the cross, and Paul says that a new and living way, through the body of Christ, was opened for us to enter the house of God. And so, Paul encourages us to hold tightly to what we have been taught and what we have believed, to remain faithful, to encourage one another to do good and to be loving, to continue meeting together as the gathered body of Christ and to encourage and support one another as we struggle through the difficulties of life.

But more than that, Paul says, as we face hardship, disasters, and the end of the world, we should not give up doing these things but should instead commit to doing them even more. When we face the end of the world, when the disasters, suffering, and pain of our lives make it seem like the end of the world, in personal ways as it did for Hannah in her childlessness, or in national ways like the destruction of the temple and all of Jerusalem, we should not walk away from God, but redouble our efforts to draw closer to him as Hannah did. To pour out our hearts to God in prayer, but also to draw closer to one another as the body of Christ, do good deeds for the people around us, to love one another, support one another, and to encourage one another because our suffering will always be greater when we are alone, and becomes less and less when we are together.

Often, you have heard me encourage you to invite others to visit our church but that isn’t so that our church will grow, although that is also likely to happen. The reason that we invite others to our church is because this is a place of hope.

And this is a place of hope because we are a people of hope.

Hope is greater, love is greater, and life is better… when we are together.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

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Pastor Partridge

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