Mark

Innocence, Guilt, and the Judgement of God

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Innocence, Guilt, and the Judgement of God

October 13, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Job 23:1-9, 16-17                   Mark 10:17-31                       Hebrews 4:12-16

Everyone has different habits when they watch television, and we all have our favorite things to watch. At our house, we watch a lot of police shows like NCIS, FBI, Castle, and Bones. In one of the shows that we watched this week, there was a woman who was convicted for a long sentence because she refused to accept a plea bargain. And, she had refused to accept a plea bargain, because she never stopped insisting that she was innocent of the crime. I didn’t see how that episode ended, but when I started looking at the scriptures for this week’s message, it got me thinking that this was exactly like the situation in which Job had found himself.

You will remember from last week that Job had done absolutely nothing wrong. But as we read the rest of the story, Job is the only person who believes that. Job’s wife urges him to curse God and die. Job’s friends come to sit with him, but each of them tells him that it would be best if he just accepted a plea bargain from God. They advise him that his situation, having lost his children, his wealth, and his physical health, makes it clear that he is guilty. Admittedly, the evidence against Job is all circumstantial, but to Job’s friends, and everyone else, the circumstantial evidence seems to be overwhelming. And so, their advice is to simply confess his guilt before God, whether he did it or not, and maybe God would be merciful.

But Job isn’t done. Like the woman on television, Job continues to protest his innocence, and he wants to make his appeal directly to God. But for Job, God seems to have gone missing. He feels as if his prayers are unheard. And in Job 23:1-9, 16-17 we hear this:

23:1 Then Job replied:

2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;
    his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find him;
    if only I could go to his dwelling!
4 I would state my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would find out what he would answer me,
    and consider what he would say to me.
6 Would he vigorously oppose me?
    No, he would not press charges against me.
7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him,
    and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
    if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
    when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

16 God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me.
17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
    by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job is in search of God so that he can protest his innocence, but he is afraid of what he will find. Job knows the power and majesty of God and is terrified of what it might be like to be in God’s presence, but nonetheless, Job is not silenced by his fear and presses on to declare his innocence anyway.

The situation of Job is reversed in the story of Jesus that we read in Mark 10:17-31. Here, we find a man who claims to be guiltless… but when Jesus challenges him, we discover that he is not.

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it isto enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Jesus tells the man that he lacks only one thing, and I have to say, we aren’t sure what one thing that Jesus had in mind because it isn’t hard to start naming things that he is missing. Certainly he lacked in humility, and it seems likely that he is lacking in generosity but, since the focus was on the commandments of Moses, the two most likely commandments that he is missing are two that Jesus didn’t mention, “You shall not covet,” and “You shall have no other gods before me.” If this wealthy man is innocent of wanting what others have, then he remains guilty of loving his money a little too much. When facing a choice between following Jesus and gaining eternal life, or holding tightly to his money, the man chooses money. For him, money had become more important than God.

But in the world that the disciples had grown up in, much like we often hear today, many people, even many of the teachers of scripture, taught that the rich had been given their wealth by God and that their wealth was a symbol of God’s blessing. And so, when Jesus says that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, the disciples absolutely freak out. They instantly ask Jesus how this is possible. If the rich are blessed by God and they can’t get into heaven, then how can anyone else get in? Even worse, if no one can get in, then what about the twelve of them who left everything to follow Jesus? And what Jesus tells them is that God’s math is different than human math. God’s system of accounting is different than the one that humans usually use. For God, it isn’t the rich that are blessed, it’s the people who have been faithful to God and who have done the things that God has called them to do. The people who have left home to follow Jesus, or who have given up family or wealth, or have endured persecution for the sake of the gospel will be rewarded even if they were poor. Despite what the teachers of Israel were saying two thousand years ago, and despite what you may hear from many modern televangelists, it isn’t about prosperity, it’s about obedience.

But we are not like Job. We are not certain that we have done nothing wrong. We understand that we get things wrong with some regularity. And, like the disciples of Jesus, we worry that we might not be good enough, that we might not have enough faith, and that God might judge us too harshly. And in Hebrews 4:12-16 the Apostle Paul offers us this encouragement:

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints, and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Paul says that when we read God’s word, we can feel it penetrate us and convict us of our wrongdoing as if it were a sword. Our sin and our guilt are laid bare for us to see where we have fallen short. But our God, our Jesus, understands how we feel and what we experience. Jesus set aside the glory of heaven, came down to earth, became one of us, lived among us, and felt the things that we feel. And so, God understands our weaknesses, our failures, and our temptations and knowing how badly we have failed, still offers us mercy, grace, and forgiveness in abundance.

Even when things go terribly wrong, even when life is hard, even when we worry about not being good enough, God never leaves. God watches over us and his eyes never leave us. No matter how badly we screw up, God never abandons us. Instead, God understands us. God understands what it is like to be human and offers us mercy, grace, healing, forgiveness…

…and 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.  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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Is it a Role? Or is it Character?

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Is it a Role, or is it Character?

September 22, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Proverbs 31:10-31                 Mark 9:30-37             James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a

I don’t typically take the time to read about the personal lives of actors and actresses in the news or in the tabloid papers. But even I know that sometimes the actors that we see on television or in the movies are nothing at all like the characters that they portray. Because ‘The Princess Bride’ is a family favorite at our house, I know that while Andre the Giant played a brute in that movie, and make his living for many years as an unstoppable force in professional wrestling, when he wasn’t in front of the cameras, he was known to be one of the kindest men you would ever meet. In fact, because Fred Savage, who played the grandson, was so young, and because his scenes were shot separately after the rest of the movie had been completed, he didn’t get to meet any of the stars that were in it. But, when Andre heard that Fred was a fan of his, he returned, at his own expense, just to meet him and spend time with him. In fact, Andre the Giant sent Fred Savage birthday cards every year until his death.

Similarly, although Tom Hiddleston plays the trickster Loki in the Marvel Universe movies, offscreen, he is quite kind and is known for his charity work and as a UNICEF ambassador. The same was true of Alan Rickman who played the conniving Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. Off camera, he was known to be loyal to his friends, an encouragement to everyone around him, a gentleman to everyone that he met, and always made time to interact with his fans.

But why is any of this important? It is important because, as we read scripture, we sometimes need to remind ourselves that we are not the original audience. Because the stories that we are reading were written two, or even five thousand years ago, the country, the people, the language, and the culture of the authors are quite different than those with which we are familiar in the twenty-first century. It is for that reason that sometimes we need to look deeper as we read the stories and find meaning in them that goes beyond what we might find on the surface. It is sometimes as if we need to look behind the roles that are being played to find the character of the actors that are behind them. With that in mind, we begin this morning with the wife of noble character described in Proverbs chapter 31. In our culture, this passage is sometimes criticized because the woman described in it seems to be overly traditional and subservient to her husband. But as we read about this ideal woman, I hope that you will do two things. First, I hope that you will allow her to be who she was to the author, in the time and in the culture to which she belonged and not to judge her based on our twenty-first century culture. Second, I hope that you will look behind the role that she is playing in her culture and examine the character of the person underneath. We will come back to that in a moment, but first let’s read Proverbs 31:10-31.

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.

If we look at the surface and see the role that this ideal wife demonstrates, we see aspects of a traditional, obedient wife but one who not only maintains the household and raises the children, but who also oversees the staff, and maintains several side businesses that generate income for the family. But even if she seems too subservient for your tastes, or this seems too gender specific, then look deeper at the character of the person that is described here. When we look for the elements of character, rather than at the role that is being played, we discover a spouse, regardless of gender, that is frugal, industrious, caring, wise, hardworking, skillful, well prepared, observant, honored, respected, and faithful. And so, even if you aren’t a fan of traditional family roles or the cultural chasm that stands between us, the writer of Proverbs has something to teach the twenty-first century about the character of a spouse and a parent that honors God.

Next, we remember that in last week’s reading, after Jesus was teaching about his death and resurrection, Peter tried to disagree but was rebuked by Jesus for thinking selfishly. What seems to have happened next is that the disciples were confused and tried to figure things out among themselves. And that lead us to Mark 9:30-37 which says:

30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because 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.”

The disciples were afraid to ask Jesus what he meant by teaching that he had to die and rise again, but then got into an argument with one another about which of them was superior to the others. But Jesus says that leadership is not about the role that leaders play but is instead about the character of the leader. Real leaders… serve. Jesus welcomes the children and teaches that for those that follow him, serving others is the same as serving Jesus and by extension, welcoming Jesus is the same as welcoming God.

The apostle James also has something to say about the roles that we play and the character that we show to the world. In James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a he asks…

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.

4:1 What 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.

James gets right to the heart of the question when he says that those who are wise and understanding will show it by the life that they live, the actions that they take, and by demonstrating humility. But James doesn’t stop there. He also addresses the culture of his day, which despite there being two millennia between us, bears a striking resemblance to our own. James says that bitter envy and selfish ambition are not signs of wisdom and are, in fact, unspiritual and demonic, because wherever you find envy and selfish ambition, you will also find disorder and evil.

Wisdom, James says, comes from heaven as pure, in things that are peace loving, considerate, submissive, merciful, impartial, sincere, and in those things that produce good fruit. As an example, we see that wherever peacemakers are at work, we find a harvest of righteousness. In contrast, selfishness, desire, and covetousness produce a harvest of fights, quarrels, and murder. Moreover, James explains that this is often why God doesn’t answer our prayers, because we have the wrong motives when our prayers ask God for gifts that only satisfy our selfish pleasures.

It doesn’t matter if Andre the Giant, Tom Hiddleston, and Alan Rickman played characters that were bad guys. What matters is the character that the actors demonstrated in real life. It doesn’t matter if you are or are not a fan of the traditional role played by the ideal wife described in Proverbs 31. What matters is that her character should be a model for how we live our lives and how we act. It doesn’t matter what title is under our name on our business card, what matters is the character that we demonstrate day in and day out. Real leaders don’t always have nice titles, but real leaders can always be found by the way that they serve the people under their authority. Real wisdom isn’t found in the selfishness and “looking out for number one” that is often taught by our culture. Real wisdom brings order, goodness, peace, compassion, impartiality, mercy, sincerity, and bears good fruit.

Resist evil. Who we are will not be found in who we pretend to be in public, or the roles that we play. Who we really are will always be found in the life that we live, in the actions that we take, and in the character that we demonstrate to the people around us.

Character matters.

Come near to God, and he will come near to you.

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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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Sabbath and Sacrifice

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Sabbath and Sacrifice

March 03, 2024U

By Pastor John Partridge

Deuteronomy 5:12-15           Mark 2:23 – 3:6                     2 Corinthians 4:5-12

How many of you have had to turn your computer, or your phone, or your printer, or some other electronic, or even mechanical, device, off and then back on again, to make it work the way that it’s supposed to work? All of us. Anne Lamott once said, “Almost anything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

It’s a thoughtful sentiment, but Anne Lamott was hardly the first person to think about the value of turning us humans off and back on again. In fact, unplugging human beings, and then plugging them in again is the whole principle behind sabbath rest. Sabbath rest, of course, is an ancient idea, and, to understand that we need to go back to the beginning, to Deuteronomy 5:12-15, where we hear this command from God to his people:

12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

When we read this, we realize that there are two purposes behind God’s requirement of the sabbath day. The first of these is simply to rest, to unplug, and reset our bodies and minds so that we can start fresh again in a new week. And the second reason is to remember what God has done for us, to remember God’s mighty acts of rescue, redemption, and rescue, and to spend time honoring and worshiping our God. But, over time, the reason and rationale behind honoring the sabbath got confused. Because everyone recognized that the sabbath was important, the priests and other religious leaders made rules to help the people of Israel get it right. But along the way, the rules that they made, and the traditions that they established, became so important, that they were held to be of the same importance as God’s original commands. And that’s why Jesus gets into an argument with the Pharisees in Mark 2:23 – 3:6 where we hear this:

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

3:1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

Since the commandment to rest on the sabbath day required observant followers of God to refrain from work, it was natural that, over time, people wanted to know what exactly qualified as work. Moreover, after Israel had been sent into captivity in Babylon because of their unfaithfulness, the priests and other religious leaders wanted to write rules that would figuratively put fences around the commandments of God so that, if you were to follow their man-made rules, you would always be found to be in obedience to God’s commandments. Staying inside the fence, as it were, prevented you from even accidentally breaking a commandment.

The problem with this system was that, after a while, the rules that were intended to help obey the commandments became elevated to the same level of importance as the commandments themselves. And so, in this story, we find the disciples snapping off, and chewing on some uncooked heads of grain as they walked through the fields. But even though they exerted no energy other than lifting their hands to their mouths, according to the rules, what they had done was defined as harvesting, and harvesting was work. God’s commandment to observe the sabbath never said that you couldn’t eat, but the rules that had been written by generations of priests said that what they had done was sin (hint: it wasn’t).

And so, Jesus gives an example from scripture about how the great King David had done the same thing, and worse, and explained that God intended the sabbath to improve the lives of human beings and not to be an additional burden to them. Jesus had the same argument over healing a man who had suffered from what may well have been a birth defect. While healing was somehow defined as work, Jesus asked how doing good and undoing evil could possibly be wrong.

And that’s all well and good, but as we often ask… so what?

So, what if we know that God created a sabbath rest and a time of worship for the benefit of humanity?

So, what if we understand we shouldn’t define our sabbath rest too narrowly, and that doing good things on our day of rest is okay?

How does that make a difference to us as we live our lives?

Well, for that, let’s turn to Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth for some clarity. But, as we read, this may not immediately sound like it is at all related to our understanding of sabbath. But it is, so bear with me until we finish, and I can unpack it a little. In 2 Corinthians 4:5-12, Paul says…

5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

And again, I understand that this message of servanthood and persecution doesn’t immediately sound like it connects to our understanding of sabbath, but let’s look a little closer.  Paul reminds us that what we tell the world is not a message about us, it is a message about Jesus Christ, about how he came to bring light into a dark world, to display God’s glory, and to change hearts. Because of that, Paul says that we have the treasure of Jesus Christ in jars of clay.

Wait.

What does that mean?

Our explanation comes from what immediately follows, and that is a list of all the horrible things that have happened to them as messengers of the gospel. They were hard pressed, persecuted, and struck down, but while these things happened, and while they did experience abuse, pain, and suffering, they were not completely crushed, they did not despair, they did not feel as if they had been abandoned, and they were not destroyed. They themselves were carrying the message of Jesus Christ, but they knew that they were finite, fragile, and temporary vessels. More to the point, we, all of us, are like jars of clay. We are fragile vessels that contain the treasure of Jesus Christ.

We are fragile. Like clay we leak, we chip, we scratch, and we break. If God intended for us to contain his treasure, he would have stored it in something more durable like a stout treasure chest or a stone fortress. But he didn’t. The only way for us to preserve the treasure that we contain… is to share it with others.

Paul says that “we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake.” That means that we must be at work giving of ourselves, offering ourselves as a sacrifice to God, and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Death is at work in us because our time on earth is limited, and because the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is a part of who we are. But life is also at work in us through Jesus’ resurrection and his gift of eternal life to those who believe.

And so, if we look at it with Paul’s words in mind, sabbath is a time of rest and renewal when we remember who we are as we come together to worship our God, refill our leaky clay vessels, share our courage and strength with one another, share the Spirit of God that dwells within us, build one another up, equip one another, teach, learn, and grow, so that we can go back out into the world as a living sacrifice to Jesus Christ and to the kingdom of God.

Anne Lamott said, “Almost anything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

And the truth of scripture tells us that she’s not wrong. Human beings were not designed or built to go non-stop, twenty-four hours a day, seven day a week, three hundred and sixty-five (or 366) days a year. The God of creation built us with a need for rest. Once every seven days he offers us a sabbath, a time to reset, restore, rest, and renew both physically and spiritually so that we can face the world, and all the evil in it, for another week.

Without rest, without sabbath, we are easily crushed, suffer despair, and feel abandoned and destroyed. Without sabbath, our fragile clay leaks and our faith weakens. Without sabbath, we are not prepared to live lives of sacrifice to God.

Simply put, without sabbath, and without rest, we cannot be the people that God wants, and needs, us to be.

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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.™

Goals of Lepers and Christians

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Goals of Lepers and Christians

(Scout Sunday)

February 11, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

2 Kings 5:1-14            Mark 1: 1:40-45                    1 Corinthians 9: 24-27

What are your goals?

Maybe you aren’t sure about your goals because sometimes it takes a while for all our wants and wishes to get sorted and distilled into something that looks more like a plan than just wishful thinking. If you aren’t sure, goals are the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning even if your goal is just to get to work on time and pay your bills. But we often have bigger goals. When we’re in our teens our goal might be to finish school and buy a car. In our twenties and thirties, we might dream of a career, success, advancement, a family, and a home of our own. Later, we might have a goal of owning our own business, or climbing the corporate ladder, travel, hobbies, or writing a book. And at some point, many of us begin to add retirement to our life’s goals (and the earlier we begin planning for retirement the better off we are, though that’s a whole subject of its own).

But did you know that the lepers that we read about in scripture had goals? And, what do the goals of ancient lepers have to do with the goals that we have a Christians, and as a church, hundreds, even thousands, of years later?

Let’s begin with the story of Naaman, the commander of the armies of Aram, found in 2 Kings 5:1-14. Aram, at that time, was one of the most powerful nations in the world and so, as the commander of its armies, Naaman was important, powerful, wealthy, and perhaps second only in influence to the king of Aram himself, and with whom Naaman had a close relationship. But Naaman had a problem that money and power and influence couldn’t solve, and we join the story at that point.

5:1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talentsof silver, six thousand shekelsof gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed.”

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So, he turned and went off in a rage.

13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

First, I am certain that I am not the only person that just needs to know how much money that we are talking about when they start throwing around words like “talents of silver” and “shekels of gold.” And so, before we go any further, I will do the math for you. One Babylonian talent is a bit over sixty-six pounds, with translates to 800.2 troy ounces per talent. Multiply 800.2 troy ounces times ten talents, and times Monday’s silver spot price of $22.34 per ounce and you end up with a 665.6-pound pile of silver worth $179,165 in today’s market. That’s a fair amount of money and a lot of weight to carry, but then we have six thousand shekels of gold. Six thousand shekels would weigh 262.5 pounds, or 3150 troy ounces, time Monday’s spot price of $2056.37 per ounce and we end up with a current value of $6,477,565.50 which is a serious amount of running around money.

But, when the Naaman shows up in front of Israel’s king, the king tears his robes as a sign of distress and mourning because he thinks that he is being set up and that somehow Aram wants to find a reason to be offended and declare war against them. Naaman knows, the king of Aram knows, and the king of Israel knows that he can’t heal leprosy because no one can cure leprosy so it must be a trap… right? Leprosy was the great equalizer. It didn’t matter if you had money and power or if you were poor. There was no cure, at all, ever, for leprosy and it would, eventually, after much suffering, kill you. But Elisha hears about the king’s problem and asks that Naaman be sent to him.

You see, Naaman’s goal was not to declare war on Israel because he really had leprosy. So far, he had been able to keep it a secret among a small group of people, but sooner or later the truth would come out and he would be cast out of polite society as unclean and when that happened, he would lose everything and become a beggar on the streets of Aram. Naaman’s only goal was to be healed and become whole again. He stumbles over his pride and his nationalism at first because why would Israel’s river be any better than any of Aram’s rivers, but he humbles himself, does what Elisha asked of him, and is healed.

And then almost a thousand years later, in Mark 1:40-45, we meet another person with leprosy. This man has the same problem, but he is already poor, and already an outcast. But he hears about Jesus, goes to him, gets down on his knees in humility, and begs Jesus to heal him.

40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

41 Jesus was indignant [some translations “he was filled with compassion]. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Even though he was poor, this man’s goal was the same as Naaman’s, to be healed and become whole again. Both men with leprosy had a goal and they did whatever they could to attain it. One offered money and traveled to a distant country only to discover that what was needed wasn’t money, but humility. The second didn’t travel with an entourage but fell at Jesus feet in humility and faith. In the end, though they could hardly be more different, both men did all that they could to reach their goal.

But where does that leave us, and what does any of that have to do with us, or with the church, in the twenty-first century? If we’re honest, it has everything to do with us. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul writes to the church in Corinth about what they should be doing, and what we should be doing, to achieve our goals. He said…

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

If your goal is to run in the Olympics, then you cannot train for one hour every other Saturday. If you want to accomplish your goals, your everyday actions must reflect those goals. The two men with leprosy wanted to be whole again and they did whatever they could to find someone that could help them to get there, and with humility, did whatever was asked of them. If we as individuals, and as a church, or as a pack, or as a troop, have goals, then we must, every day, do whatever must be done in order to achieve those goals.

If we intend to gain rank and one day earn our Eagle Scout award, then we must be busy doing the work of scouting to earn rank and community service hours. If we want to grow closer to God, or grow our church, then we must be busy doing that work as well, not just for one hour every other Saturday, but we must daily, diligently, do the work of reading and studying scripture, inviting our friends and neighbors to church, being busy in prayer, sharing the message of the gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ, and just like we would of we were training for the Olympics, having the humility to patiently, and persistently, do the work, day in, and day out.

All runners run, but only one will win the prize. We must pursue our goals, and run our race, in such a way that we will not be disqualified for the prize.

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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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Freedom’s Surrender

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Freedom’s Surrender

February 04, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 40:21-31          Mark 1:29-39             1 Corinthians 9:16-23

We’re going to start this morning with a quiz.

Most of you did not expect a quiz on Sunday morning, and some of you may struggle with the question, but here it is:

What idols do we worship in the United States in the twenty-first century?

Anyone who has been in church for any length of time at all, or anyone who has started reading the bible knows that there are many cautions and sermons against committing sin by worshipping idols.

Many of us would argue that our contemporary society doesn’t have any idols simply because you won’t find any temples where people worship Baal, or Jupiter, or Roma, or any of the ancient gods and goddesses. But is that enough of a defense?

It could easily be argued that idol worship is anything that we make so important in our lives that we are willing to sacrifice to it, and put ahead of God in priority, importance, or love. In scripture, God repeatedly makes the point that he simply will not accept second place. When we choose to worship God and his son Jesus Christ, God’s expectation, and God’s demand, is that we make him first in our lives. And if we use that definition, then it isn’t hard at all to see that Americans worship idols all the time. Even those of us who regularly go to church sometimes put God in second place because we are worshiping comfort, or sports, or money, or entertainment, or even the entertainment or indulgence of our children. As we discussed last week, as Americans, we often elevate rights above the importance that God gives to them and there are few other things that American culture elevates, and which may be regarded as idols, if we aren’t careful.

But first, let’s begin this morning by remembering who God is and why it is that we come here each Sunday to worship him. Let’s begin by listening to the words of the prophet Isaiah as he reminds God’s people of what God has done, why they belong to God, and why they really ought to stop complaining. We hear these words in Isaiah 40:21-31:

21 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
    and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught
    and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
    no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
    and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

25 “To whom will you compare me?
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
    Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
    not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah begins by asking why you do not seem to understand the most obvious thing in the world, that God is not just big, but bigger than big. God is not just powerful, but so powerful that humans do not, and cannot, compare to him, nor can our imagination comprehend God’s power. Isaiah then continues by asking why people complain that God is hidden, or that God is ignoring them, or that God has forgotten them. Instead, Isaiah says, God knows exactly what you are doing, God is aware of your problems and cares about their resolution, but because God is all-powerful and all-knowing, God understands your situation better than you ever could. As such, God is not impatient, as we often are, and God waits for the right time to do what needs to be done. Once we understand and accept that this is true, then we also understand that our role is to trust God and as hard as it is to get past our own impatience, our role is to be patient and wait for God.

But then we read Mark 1:29-39. And here we find Jesus, God in human form, powerful beyond all understanding, and yet, what he does with that power staggers our imagination and our understanding. Mark says…

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to wait on them.

32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues, and driving out demons.

In this short passage, we see Jesus heal Peter’s mother-in-law of an unspecified virus, heal the sick, and drive out demons. Jesus is, at this point, wildly popular and people flock to see him wherever he goes. He is incredibly powerful. He could, at this point, do anything that he wanted to do. He could make a fortune just by performing healings. Can you imagine what Herod or other powerful people would have paid to be healed of their gout, diabetes, heart failure, lead poisoning,meningitis, encephalitis, syphilis, and other unknown and misunderstood diseases from which they suffered? Can you imagine what it would have been worth to Ceasar to know who was trying to kill him? Jesus could have done whatever he wanted. He could have been rich, he could have travelled, he could have had earthly power, but instead he tells his disciples that they will walk to nearby villages so that he can preach, teach, heal, and drive out demons because, he says, “that is why I have come.”

Jesus had the power and the freedom to do whatever he wanted to do, but he chose to do what God had sent him to do. And that feeds into what Paul says in his letter to the church in Corinth. Paul wasn’t powerful like Jesus, but he clearly had other options of what he could do with his life. Paul explains his choices this way in 1 Corinthians 9:16-23:

16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.

19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Paul says that he doesn’t travel from town to town and preach the gospel because of some inflated sense of self-importance but because that is why God has called him, and what God compels him daily to go out and do. Like Jesus, and like generations of pastors, teachers, and evangelists that have followed him, Paul doesn’t preach so that he can gain wealth, or fame, or some other earthly reward, but simply because he is being obedient to God.

Paul says that he is free to do whatever he wants to do. As a Roman citizen, and as a person from a family that had some measure of wealth, Paul is free to go wherever he wants to go, and do whatever he wants to do. Until he chose to follow Jesus, Paul was recognized as a leader within the Pharisees and among the rulers and leaders of Israel and, if it were power and notoriety that he wanted, it is likely that he could have gone back to that life. Paul had the freedom to do whatever he wanted to do, but instead, he gave up his freedom to be obedient to God. He gave up his comfort to suffer alongside the slaves and the poor. He gave up the familiarity of his Jewishness so that he could minister to, and with, the Gentiles. Although Paul had freedom, he gave up that freedom whenever, and wherever necessary so that he could accomplish the mission given to him by Jesus Christ.

Just as we spoke last week about rights, we must be careful as the followers of Jesus Christ and as citizens of the United States in the twenty-first century, to not make an idol of our freedoms. As important, and as wonderful, as freedom is, if we are to answer the call that God has upon our lives, we must sometimes set our freedoms aside in order to accomplish the mission that God has assigned to us.

Our rights and freedoms are not idols to be worshiped, they are tools to be used, set aside, or even surrendered, in pursuit of rescuing the lost as we share the story and the gospel of Jesus.

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

Rights, Truth, or Distraction?

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Rights, Truth, or Distraction?

January 28, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Deuteronomy 18:15-20         Mark 1:21-28             1 Corinthians 8:1-13

I hear voices.

Seriously, every day I hear voices.

But so do you.

Every day we hear voices and opinions on the news, on social media, and in real life. We hear talking heads that give us opinions labeled as entertainment, we have news reporters that inject their opinions into the news, we have political parties of the left, right, and center that would argue that the sky isn’t blue if they thought it would win them votes, we watch wars from a distance and hear voices from factions from around the world spewing widely different points of view, and just about every major news story has a conspiracy theory to go with it. These voices offer us a cacophony of noise that makes us wonder where we might find the truth and might even make us doubt our own sanity.

But, although the stories behind the voices might be different, our struggle is not much different than that faced by the people of the Old and New Testaments. They too heard the voices of different opinions, different religions, different factions within their own religion, and similar arguments between their politicians, rulers, and foreign powers. The world is, and has been, filled with voices and opinions and the challenge that we face is choosing those voices to which we will listen, and discerning the truth from among the noise. Of course, we could spend months of sermons, and volumes of reading and study to even begin to dig through it all, but since this is both a new and an ancient problem, we find that scripture gives us guidelines that can help us.  We begin in another time of confusion. As Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, they worried what would happen to them, and who would lead them, if Moses did not go with them, and for that matter, if Moses, who was already old, were to die. And in Deuteronomy 18:15-20, we hear an answer from Moses that answered some of their questions but also some of ours when he says:

15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”

17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”

Moses’ answer is both good news and bad news. God promises that his people will continue to hear his voice through leaders and prophets that he would send and that he will continue to lead them. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there would also be other voices, from other people, that God did not send. Even worse is that some of those other voices would claim to be prophets sent from God and would claim to speak for God. For obvious reasons, that’s not good. False prophets could have any number of motivations, but as we’ve seen often enough in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, cult leaders and televangelists enriching themselves at the expense of faithful, though gullible believers is a very real possibility. But from the realms of everyday living to politics, listening to the voices of false prophets could be disastrous. This is so important, that the punishment for these charlatans isn’t just that they should be ignored, imprisoned, cast out, exiled, or excommunicated from the community, the punishment for pretending to speak for God … was death. God wasn’t playing around because the lives of his people, and the hope of his nation were at stake.

In contrast, as we read the story of the gospel in Mark 1:21-28, we see how the people reacted to Jesus in comparison to the preachers and politicians with whom everyone was familiar.

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

It was evident by the tone and tenor of Jesus’ teaching that he was different. He did not equivocate. He did not hedge. He did not express opinions or discuss possibilities or probabilities. Unlike the other preachers and teachers that everyone had heard, Jesus taught as if he knew what he was talking about and as if he had the authority to back up his words. And not only did Jesus preach and act as if he knew what God wanted, he demonstrated God’s power by healing the sick and the lame, raising the dead, and casting out demons. Jesus was the real deal and the people who saw him knew it because he spoke like it, lived like it, acted like it, and demonstrated it.

But how does that translate to us? What advice does scripture have that can help us to discern the truth and find guidance as we listen to the conflicting voices that we hear every day?

For that, let us once again turn to the writings of the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the church in Corinth. Reading from 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 we hear this instruction and advice:

8:1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.

4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food, they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
    To him belongs eternal praise.

The first two verses contain an easily overlooked, but important tidbit. If we word it with a slightly more common phrasing, what we hear is, “Some people think that they know something, but until they understand how to love, they don’t know as much as they think that they do.” Let me say that again, “Some people think that that they are pretty smart, but until they understand how to love, they aren’t as smart as they should be.” And that is what is at the core of the rest of the passage.

In Corinth there was a disagreement among believers about whether it was okay to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. In Greece, much like it was in Israel, particularly without refrigeration, most people simply did not eat meat that often. Even if you wanted to eat meat, it was rare that you would want to butcher an entire animal. But there were meat markets in a city as large as Corinth. The problem was that much of the meat that was available for sale, came to the butcher after it had been sacrificed on some pagan altar.

Some believers felt that it was sinful to eat meat that had been sacrificed to a pagan god, but others believed that since pagan gods weren’t real, that it didn’t matter, that it wasn’t sinful, and it was fine for them to eat such meat. But Paul, strict as he was in his Jewish practice, says that even though he agrees that it isn’t sinful, and that believers have every right to eat it, it still might be wrong to exercise that right if doing so weakens, or damages, the faith of another believer. Paul says that when you exercise your rights in such a way that you hurt people and tempt them to do what they believe to be sin, then you destroy them, and you commit sin against Jesus. Paul’s conclusion is that he would rather give up meat forever than to cause a brother or sister in Christ to lose their faith.

So let us consider what we have heard from scripture today. First, that we can expect to hear voices that speak falsely, that claim to be something that they are not, that claim to speak for God when they do not, and who will attempt to enrich themselves at your expense. But those who are trustworthy will speak the truth, live in a way that models their faith, act as if they have faith, and demonstrate their faith in all that they do. Those that do not do these things are not worth following.

Second, while our rights are important, they are not always the most important. Knowing something, without understanding how to love, means that you don’t really know what you think that you know. If we exercise our rights in such a way that we hurt other people, tempt them to sin, or damage their faith, then we sin against God and against Christ in doing so. For Paul, the issue at hand was whether the followers of Jesus Christ had the right to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols but imagine how we might apply that to our modern discussions about rights. Although rights are certainly important, especially in our 21st century American culture, the measurement isn’t whether we have a right to free speech, or to bear arms, or to not incriminate ourselves, or to eat meat and drink alcohol, or to protest, or to have an abortion, or smoke marijuana, or to a host of other rights that we hold dear, the real measurement is whether in exercising those rights, we hurt other people, tempt them to sin, or damage their faith.

When we do that, even if we have a right to do whatever we did, then we sin.

Remember we said that some people think that that they are smart, but until they understand how to love, they aren’t as smart as they should be.

The measurement isn’t about rights, it’s about having love and compassion for the people around us.

We must never let the voices of the world around us distract us from living and acting in ways that are truthful, compassionate, faithful, and loving.

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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.™

The End is (Really!) Near

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The End is (Really!) Near

January 21, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Jonah 3:1-5, 10          Mark 1:14-20             1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Do you watch cartoons? Or do you read the comics on the funny pages of the newspaper, or online?

I’m not sure exactly what to call it, but there is a cartoon component, image, idea, motif, or stylistic element that has been used, copied, reused so many times that it is impossible to figure out when it first appeared. The image that I am thinking of is that of a person carrying a sandwich board or a sign on a pole that says, “The End is Near.” Often the person carrying the sign is portrayed as a sixties-era hippy, but other times it can be a businessman in a suit, or whatever else fits the point that the cartoonist is trying to convey.

But outside of cartoons and attempts at humor, we have often seen similar doom and gloom, end of the world stories in the real world. These stories once came from a raft of scientists that were predicting the dawn of a new ice age, or those that now predict rising sea levels due to global warming, or to asteroids that will destroy civilization, or a catastrophic x-class solar flare that may one day wipe out all the computers and electricity generation across out entire planet. Not to be outdone, there seem to be regular announcements by various religious groups that the world will end, or that Christ will return, because of their interpretation of scripture, or because of the Mayan calendar, or because of something else. Overall, we have heard that “The End is Near” so often that we no longer bother to pay any attention to such announcements at all.

But maybe we should.

What if the place that we heard “The End is Near” is in the bible? And what if we didn’t hear it just once, but over and over again, generation after generation, from the mouths of prophets, disciples, and from Jesus himself? Would we assume that if the message had been repeated so often, just as we assume today when we listen to the news, that it must not be true, and we are free to ignore it? Or would we notice that sometimes it was true, and things did not go well for the people who didn’t listen?

Let’s take a look at three samples from scripture, and then we will think about what it all means, and just what we might, and might not, want to ignore, and what we should be doing about it in our lives, and in our church, today. We begin with the end of the story in the book of Jonah. First God sent Jonah to preach a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah didn’t want to do that. Jonah knew that the people of Nineveh were awful, evil, terrible people who hated God, hated the people of Israel, and treated their enemies, criminals, and anyone they took a dislike to, with contempt, abuse, violence, and death. Nineveh was the city that hung the heads, and often the bodies, of their enemies on the gates and the walls of their city to warn everyone what happened to those who dared to oppose them. They were not nice people. In any case, God prevails, and Jonah, after his encounter with a big fish, obeys God. This is the story that we hear in Jonah 3:1-5, 10.

3:1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

The message that Jonah carried into Nineveh, however reluctantly, was a message that God intended to utterly destroy them as a people and as a city. As far as they were concerned, Jonah was predicting the end of the world. But they listened to Jonah, heard his message, they repented of their evil actions, habits, and culture, and God relented and did not bring upon them the destruction that he had planned.

It is worth noting however, that some years later, Nineveh returns to their old ways, continue to do evil, and God declares through the prophet Nahum, that their time is ended. The Babylonians invade and Nineveh is erased from history, disappears from the maps of the world, and its ruins only rediscovered by archaeologists in 1847.

We hear a similar story, though far less violent, in Mark 1:14-20 in which Jesus is the one sharing the message from God:

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James, son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

The message of Jesus was that the kingdom of God had arrived and that everyone should repent and believe the good news. But why is repentance so important, so vital, to the news that the kingdom of God had arrived? It is important because, in the calendar of God, now that the kingdom had arrived, the followers of God now knew that judgement was at hand and could come at any moment. The news that the messiah had come was inescapably tied to an understanding that the end was near, and judgement was coming.

And if you aren’t convinced that these events are so closely tied together, then listen to Paul explain it to the church in Corinth as recorded in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31:

29 What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

Paul says that the time is short, that the end is indeed near, and because it is, the followers of Jesus Christ must live as if time is important. We should not live as if we have all the time in the world, but as if Jesus could return tomorrow, or this afternoon, or before we draw our next breath. Paul’s words describe a need for urgency in our behavior and in our actions. We must act as if the world might end tomorrow. We must live as if our mission is important and assume that we might not get a second chance to share the good news with the people around us. We should share what we have and not get addicted to the accumulation of possessions. And finally, we should behave as if we aren’t addicted to the things of popular culture and the popularity of fads and famous folk.

Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour of his return and the day of judgement, but scripture says that the end is near.

And we really ought to act like it.

We must live lives that reflect some urgency.

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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.™

Baptism 2.0

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Baptism 2.0

January 14, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Genesis 1:1-5             Mark 1:4-11               Acts 19:1-7

If I say the word “baptism” what image comes to mind?

Since we are in church, the odds are good that most of you thought of water. This is even more likely when this is the Sunday that we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, and we have a fountain gurgling in the front of the church.

But when I say the word “baptism,” what else comes to mind other than a baptism in water?

When I entered the words “Baptism by…” in the Google search box, it suggested baptism by fire, baptism by immersion, baptism by desire, baptism by blood, and a few others. In Catholic doctrine, sacramental baptism is by water, the baptism of desire is a person’s desire to join the church, and baptism by blood is a sort of euphemism for martyrdom. Baptism by fire, or trial by fire, is used in the military and in other stressful situations where you are initiated into a group by enduring or surviving a challenging task. You might have been trained for that task, but until you perform that task under a particularly high stress environment, you have not yet been baptized by fire. In the military that might be actual combat, while in retail it might be surviving Black Friday.

But none of those is what I’m talking about in the title of today’s message when I wrote “Baptism 2.0.” Of course, the first baptism is John’s baptism which signifies a baptism of repentance. That baptism isn’t entirely original to John. Immersion in water to symbolize purification was an everyday occurrence in the Jewish world of the first century. Everyone, from the oldest to the youngest and from the least to greatest passed through a mikveh, a ritual bath, before they could enter the temple courts in Jerusalem or often even the synagogues in their local villages.  But there’s another baptism, that goes beyond ritual purification or even John’s baptism of repentance. But… before we get to that, let’s begin at the beginning, the very beginning, and read the first few verses in Genesis chapter one (Genesis 1:1-5)

1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Genesis tells us that before anything existed, when all that was, was darkness, even then, there was God. It was the Spirit of God that looked over the darkness, spoke into it, and created light.

Why is that important?

Because God’s spirit not only plays a part in creation, but also in Jesus’ baptism, and in the life of God’s people, and God’s church, in the present day.

In Mark 1:4-11, Jesus comes to John in the wilderness to be baptized and as we read, we witness something spectacular.

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

First, John declares that the Messiah, Jesus, would baptize his followers, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit. It is also worth mentioning, I think, that in Matthew’s account, John says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire which is the image that we are given at Pentecost.

Second, after Jesus is baptized, heaven opens, the Spirit of God descends upon him, and the Father speaks from heaven declaring that God loves his son Jesus and is pleased with him.

But again, why does that matter?

It matters because we begin to understand that the Spirit of God is not just an agent of creation, but is aware of what is happening on earth, and is an active participant in the events of earthly humanity.

But still, why is that important to us personally or corporately in the present?

And the answer to that is found in Luke’s letter to Theophilus, that we find in Acts 19:1-7 where we hear these words:

19:1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

This is important for several reasons. First, if we didn’t understand what John was saying at Jesus’ baptism, it is more obviously presented here and the point is that John’s baptism of repentance, what I’m calling “Baptism 1.0,” and the baptism that Jesus brings, “Baptism 2.0” are two different things. John’s water baptism was symbolic of a person’s desire to repent and make an outward sign that one intended to change the way that they lived. But the baptism of Jesus was, and is, a baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the “baptism of fire” that was seen on the day of Pentecost when tongues of fire came down from heaven and entered each of the disciples and the others who were there with them. And, we believe, this is the baptism, most often without fire, that we receive, when we choose to follow Jesus and are baptized into his church.  This is much more than just an outward sign of repentance, although water baptism is that, but Baptism 2.0 is not just external and symbolic; it is also internally transformational because the Spirit of the living God enters into us and takes up residence within us. It is because God chooses to inhabit us, that he is daily able to be at work transforming us into the people be wants us to be, and to lead us, guide us, and empower us with his strength, his compassion, his patience, his endurance, and his love, to do the work that he has set before us to accomplish. It is because God inhabits us that we have the strength and wisdom to do things that we would otherwise believe to be impossible. It is God that gives us the courage to share the gospel with others, it is God that leads us to the people who need to hear his message, it is God who leads us to people who can teach us what we need to learn, it is God who gives us the strength to persist and to continue when we come to the end of our human strength, and it is God who goes with us and equips us to do his work in countless other ways.

Baptism 2.0 and the coming of the Holy Spirit is why the church is able to answer the call of God and do the work that God calls us to do, both as individuals and as a gathered church. It is the moment that God’s people move beyond “God with us” and begin a new life as we go into the world with “God in us.”

You wouldn’t send your children outside in the cold without a hat, coat, and gloves.

You wouldn’t leave on a long car trip without a full tank of gas.

You wouldn’t send an army into battle without food and ammunition.

And neither does God send you out into the world to do his work unequipped and unprepared.

That… is Baptism 2.0.

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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.™

The Mark of the Feast

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The Mark of the Feast

May 09, 2021*

(Mothers’ Day)

 By Pastor John Partridge

John 15:9-17                          Acts 10:44-48                         1 John 5:1-6

With today being Mother’s Day, I thought that I would start by thinking about what it is that many of our Mother’s taught us.  But right up front, I want to recognize that not everyone has had a positive experience with their mothers.  Some of the people we know, and some of you who are reading this, experienced verbal, mental, or physical abuse and for that, or other reasons, you do not have a positive association with Mother’s Day.  Similarly, I want to recognize that Mother’s Day is a source of pain for some of you who wanted children, but either couldn’t have them, or lost them.  I get it.  We made friends with many people who shared these kinds of experiences and walked with us, and encouraged us, along our adoption journey.  But for all of you for whom Mothers’ Day is a day to be avoided, as well as for all of you who have fond and loving associations with this day, I hope that you will bear with me and not avoid today’s message because while a loving mother is a human ideal, it is just part of our human experience that God uses to point to something better.

When mothers do their jobs well, we remember them for teaching us how to dress ourselves, for our sense of fashion and style, for teaching us values, and although it takes a while for us to realize it, for demonstrating the value of sacrificing ourselves to meet the needs of others.  Our mothers taught us how to cook, how to clean, how to count, how to share, how to be nice, and a host of other things that we learned by demonstration, rote learning, osmosis, and sometimes mind-numbing repetition, but when motherhood is done well, one of the things we remember most… is love.

And that leads us to the first of today’s scriptures where, in John 15:9-17, Jesus explains why demonstrating love to others is important:

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Jesus says that God loved him, and because of God’s love for him, Jesus showed his love to us.  But just to be sure that we know what love is, Jesus offers us a block of instruction.  First, we are encouraged to stay inside of Jesus’ love and the requirement to do that, is to obey the commands of Jesus.  That seems straightforward, but to be sure that we understand, Jesus explains further saying that our obedience isn’t intended to make us slaves, but to bring us joy.  And the command that we are supposed to obey, is this: Love each other in the way that Jesus loved us.  Jesus says that he chose us and appointed us to go out into the world and bear fruit that will last for eternity.  And finally, Jesus repeats his definition and his instruction for clarity and for emphasis, “This is my command: Love each other.”

Out of all the commands of God, and all the teachings of scripture, that Jesus could have highlighted, and out of all the things to which our relationship with God might have been connected, Jesus doesn’t choose anything that we could judge to be oppressive, or onerous, or burdensome but instead summarizes all the commands of God necessary for our rescue as salvation as simply, “love each other.”

At some point, someone in our lives showed us what love looked like.  For many of us, it was our mothers, but even if it wasn’t, Jesus says that love is something that we learn from experience, and something that we pass on to others.  God loved him, so Jesus loved us, and now it’s our job to pass that love on to the people, and to the world, around us.

But as simple as that is, the disciples had a problem understanding what it meant to love the people around them.  The Jewish tradition, at that time, was that the promises of God, and virtually all of God’s instructions, were intended for the Jews, and for the Jews alone.  When God said to love your neighbor, the traditional understanding of many people was that God meant that you should love your Jewish neighbor, that while it was important to love the person that belonged to your church, or that belonged to your religion, it wasn’t necessary to love the people that didn’t go to church, or that belonged to a different religion.  But that wasn’t what Jesus taught, and although it took a while for it to sink in, the disciples began to understand what that meant.  In Acts 10:44-48, Peter is preaching to a group of people who are both Jewish and non-Jewish and as he does, something unexpected happens…

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tonguesand praising God.

Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

When Peter is speaking, the Jewish believers witness the Holy Spirit of God as it enters into everyone, both Jew and Gentile, the insiders, and the outsiders, and they were astounded.  They were sure that the Gentiles didn’t count.  For their entire lives they had been taught by their church leaders that the rules and God’s promises only applied to them and not to the outsiders.  But their eyes told them something different.  It was clear that when God said everyone, God meant… everyone, and so Peter invites the Gentiles to be baptized.  This is an important point. Because that was a big deal.  While circumcision was the mark that said a man belonged to God’s people, the people of Israel, the Jews, baptism was the mark, the symbol, that signified that people belonged to Jesus, and to his church, and to the people that would become known as Christians.  Baptism was the mark of belonging, and the mark of being invited.  Rather than calling it the mark of the beast, it was the mark of the feast, because it revealed to the world that you belonged to Jesus.

And if that wasn’t clear enough, John amplifies and clarifies that message in his letter to the church in Asia in 1 John 5:1-6 where he says:

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is the truth.

John says that everyone (there’s that word again) that believes that Jesus is the savior and rescuer of the world is a child of God and the way that we show our love for God is to carry out his commands and love his children.  But John wants to be even clearer.  He says that Jesus was born into the world both by water and by blood.  Both “by water” and “by blood” are metaphors.  Saying that Jesus came by water is a reference to Jesus being born as a human being to a human mother and that makes Jesus like us.  But John also reminds us that Jesus came into the world “by blood” which is saying that Jesus was born into the world through death.  While we generally think of death as how we leave this world, Jesus rose from the dead and lives for eternity, so John is saying that just as we are born to our mothers in this life, Jesus was born into a new life by passing through death.

But what does that mean, and what difference does it make?

What it means, is that when we are born to a mother, we are born into a family and born into this earthly life.  But when we meet Jesus and accept him as the savior and rescuer of the world, we are born into something bigger than our earthly family.

And it makes a difference because while the example of sacrificial love that good mothers demonstrate for their families is important, it is only part of the story.  When we put our faith and trust in Jesus and accept him as the savior and rescuer of the world, we are born into a new, bigger, and more important family that will last forever.  As much as good mothers might model sacrificial love, Jesus is the better example of real and perfect love.

Everyone is invited to belong, the insiders, the outsiders, the imperfect, the screw-ups, the loving, the unloving, the church people, the people that have never set foot in a church, and everyone that ever needed a second chance.  Everyone means everyone.

We are all invited to belong, to receive the “Mark of the Feast” if you will, and to be baptized and demonstrate to the world that you belong to Jesus.

Jesus chose you and has given you the task of going out into the world and bearing eternal fruit.

And along the way Jesus commands us to do one thing…

Love each other.

Because everyone means… everyone.

You can find the video of this worship service here: https://youtu.be/GolLW9LrWsQ

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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.