Ponies, Palms, and Murder Plots

(Palm Sunday)

April 10, 2022*

By Pastor John Partridge

Luke 19:28-40

Today we begin the final week of our preparations for Easter. We remember the time that, as the church, we refer to as “Holy Week.” This is that time of remembrance that begins with the joy of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem that we remember today as Palm Sunday but continues with Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest, illegal trial, crucifixion, death, burial, and his resurrection on Easter morning. I hope that you will join us, not just for the bookends of Palm Sunday and Easter, but for the entire journey through Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil on Saturday, and then, after we have walked through that season of frustration, anger, despair, and darkness, to arrive together and celebrate the joy of Easter morning.

But this morning, we remember the story of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover as recorded in Luke 19:28-40.

²⁸After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰“Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³²Those who were sent ahead, went, and found it just as he had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

³⁵They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁸“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

For such a short passage, there is a lot going on. First, Jesus knew what the disciples would find when they went into the village ahead of them. He knew that they would find a colt that had been tied out, he knew that it was such a green colt that it had never been ridden, and although this last one is hardly surprising, Jesus also knew that the owner of the colt would want to know why they were taking it. Just as Jesus had seen Nathaniel sitting under a fig tree before Philip called him to follow Jesus in John 1:48, Jesus knew what the disciples would find when they went into the village. But what is even more surprising, and to my skeptical and sometimes a little cynical mind, even more miraculous, was that the owner of the colt allowed the disciples to borrow it. Think about that for a minute. We take it for granted because it was Jesus, because we are reading the Bible, and because we’ve heard the story dozens of times.

But seriously? The disciples meet a random stranger, whose horse or donkey has only recently had a baby. That baby hasn’t been ridden, it wasn’t old enough to take to the trainer, or to start working at its training, two total strangers off the street start untying it, and the only explanation they offer is that their boss needs it. Seriously? If you owned a new car, that the dealer just delivered to your house on a flatbed trailer, and you hadn’t even had time to drive it yet, how likely are you to loan it to a total stranger? Think about that. If your dog had puppies and they had barely started eating solid food, what the chances that you’d let a stranger “borrow” one? This wasn’t just a baby, horses and donkeys were valuable and they typically only have one baby every 12 to 18 months. So, as I think about this story, and think about what we all know about human nature, I think that although there might be more to the story than Luke chose to tell us, I also think that this might just be one of the greatest miracles in the Easter story next to the resurrection itself.

In any case, the owner allows the disciples to borrow the colt, they bring it to Jesus, throw their outer garments over it’s back, and Jesus rides it. And that, if you know anything about horses, may also be a significant miracle. Ask your friends who know horses, what’s likely to happen if you just jump on the back of a horse that’s never been ridden. The odds are good that, outside of that rider being Jesus, that such a story isn’t going to end well.

And as Jesus came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives toward the gates of the city of Jerusalem, the crowd that was with Jesus began to praise God, in loud voices, for all the miracles that they had seen. They pulled palm branches from the trees and laid them in the road in front of Jesus, and if Palm branches weren’t handy, they laid down their own shirts so that even the animal upon which Jesus rode would, symbolically, not get its feet dirty. And more than that, they began to shout an historic welcome found in scripture, notably in Psalm 118, that the people of Israel had used as kings entered the city of Jerusalem. They shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” and they said, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

And the Pharisees who saw what they were doing, and who heard what they were shouting were displeased. They recognized that the disciples were offering Jesus a king’s welcome. They understood that these symbols were used, and were reserved for, the recognition of kings. And they knew that not far away, inside of the city, sharing a wall with the temple itself, was the Fortress Antonia and a detachment of Roman soldiers. They knew that those soldiers were there to keep the peace, they knew that the only king that could ever be accepted was Caesar, and they knew that blood had been spilled the last time someone claimed to be the king of Israel. The arrival of Jesus, and his disciples’ cries proclaiming him to be king, was threatening to upset the status quo. And the people who had the most to lose from a change in the status quo were the Pharisees.

They insist that Jesus tell his disciples to stop before too many people hear, or at least before the wrong people, the powerful people, the people with swords, could hear them. But Jesus stares them down and declares that if the disciples keep quiet, the stones along the sides of the road would cry out instead.

And so, the actions of the disciples, and Jesus’ refusal to stop them, combined with all the previous interactions that Jesus had with the Pharisees, had reached a climax. The Pharisees could no longer look the other way, there was no longer any doubt, they absolutely knew that Jesus was going to upset the status quo. If Jesus lived, more people were going to follow him. And if those people were going to label Jesus as a king, it was going to stir up the worst kind of trouble. The deal that the Pharisees and the other leaders of Israel had made with Rome was that they could remain in power if they helped Rome to rule over Israel and if they helped them to keep the peace. If the disciples proclaimed that Jesus was a king, then this contract would be broken, and the Romans would blame the Pharisees. It was their necks, their jobs, their careers, their lives, that were on the line. It was no longer an intellectual argument. In this moment, the Pharisees had to choose between themselves, and Jesus. And they knew what had to happen.

Jesus. Must. Die.

Did you enjoy this?

Please LIKE and SHARE!

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to visit Pastor John’s YouTube channel.

*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Family vs. Citizenship

March 13, 2022March 14, 2022 PastorPartridge Sermon Abraham, Abram, Alliance, Broadway, Christ, church, citizenship, family, genetics, gift, Jesus, Lent, Methodist, Ohio, Partridge, Pharisees, share, Street, United

Click here to listen to the podcast

Click here to watch the livestream of this service: https://youtu.be/mJdiVrKVMvY

Family vs. Citizenship

March 13, 2022*

By Pastor John Partridge

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Luke 13:31-35 Philippians 3:17 – 4:1

What would you do if you won a prize that you couldn’t use?

A graduating high school senior would not be impressed with winning a burial plot or custom casket from the funeral home. Someone who can’t swim and is afraid of the water probably wouldn’t be too impressed if you told them that they won a new bass boat. And someone who can no longer drive, doesn’t stray far from home, and whom most of us would think of as being a shut-in, would not be terribly excited about winning a cruise or an adventure vacation package to go hiking in Grand Teton National Park. It is just that sort of… lack of enthusiasm that God receives when he tells an elderly Abram, who was already ninety-nine years old, that he would be given a “great reward.” We begin our scripture lesson this morning with that story from Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 where we hear this:

^15:1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward”

²But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inheritmy estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so, a servant in my household will be my heir.”

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” ⁵He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspringbe.”

⁶Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

⁷He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

⁸But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

⁹So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadiof Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

God offers Abram the grand prize to beat all grand prizes and Abram’s response is, “meh”, or “so what?” because he’s already written his will and knows that his entire estate will be inherited by one of his favorite, and most trusted, servants. Abram has no children and no family other than his faithful wife. And, since he left his ancestral home decades before, he doesn’t even have any nieces or nephews or extended family that he cared to name in his will. To Abram, at the age of 99, it’s too late. He doesn’t need any more money, or power, or fame, or anything else than he already has and he has no heirs to whom to leave it. But God knows that and includes a bonus in the grand prize that Abram didn’t expect. God includes an heir, a son, born in his old age, as a part of the prize package. And, just to reassure Abram that this is the real deal, God signs a covenant contract with animals slaughtered in a particular way, that was a well-known system of signing treaties between lords and vassals in Abram’s time, and one that Abram would certainly have known and understood. In in his contract with Abram, God not only promises gifts to Abram’s yet unborn son, but also to his heirs many generations into the future. God’s promise extended beyond Abram, to all of Abram’s family and the nation that would one day descend from them. But was God’s promise limited to people who were genetically connected to Abram?

Well, many of those people certainly thought so. And it may well be that attitude that we see in Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees in Luke 13:31-35. Here the Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod may want to kill Jesus because he thinks that he is the resurrected John the Baptist, but also because the Pharisees just want Jesus to go away.

³¹At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

³²He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ ³³In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

So, yes, the Pharisees wanted Jesus to go away, but they had also heard that Herod was afraid that Jesus was able to do miracles because he was John the Baptist, whom Herod had beheaded, who had been raised from the dead. And in this, although it is certainly self-serving on the part of the Pharisees, there may also an element of “Us vs. Them.” Jesus and the Pharisees, even though they often were at odds with one another, were on the same “side.” Since they were all Jews, they were all descendants of Abraham, they were all from the people of Israel, they were from the same family, and at some level, for many of them, Herod was the outsider and the enemy.

Over the hundreds of years between Abraham and Jesus, the people of Israel often came to see their nationality and their citizenship as being inextricably connected to, and intermingled with, their ideas of family. This was a thing that started early, and God often gave Israel instructions to push back against that idea by commanding them to treat foreigners the same as everyone else under the law and to treat them decently as human beings and as people of faith. It was necessary for God to do that because people so intermixed the ideas of family and citizenship that they discriminated against anyone who wasn’t born into the right family tree.

God never said that his Abram’s blessing meant that God would not bless people outside of Abram’s family and God often had to remind his people of that but, with the coming of Jesus, and after Jesus’ resurrection, that familial, genetic understanding was explicitly, and openly confronted by the followers of Jesus. And that’s what we see in Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi in Philippians 3:17 – 4:1 where he writes these words:

¹⁷Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

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

Much like the world we live in, Paul’s world was a confusing and frightening place. People who claimed to represent Jesus did things, and taught things, that were not in line with the teachings of scripture or those of Jesus. And there were also people inside and outside of the church whose primary motivation was to enrich themselves rather than to advance the cause of the kingdom of God. And so, Paul encourages everyone to follow his example and to choose good role models that live and teach in the same selfless way that the disciples, Paul, and his other ministry partners did. He admits that there are people who “live as enemies of the cross of Christ” but he reminds the church that our true citizenship is not to be found in our families, not in the nation in which we live (although that is not to be ignored), but in heaven. We look forward to the return of Jesus Christ and our final transformation into the bodies of our eternal form.

Abram knew that God’s grand prize didn’t have much value if he didn’t have anyone with whom to share it and God knew that too, so he made a covenant with Abram to pass that blessing on to the future generations of his offspring. The mistake that many of his descendants made was to assume that God’s promise was inherited to Abram’s genetic offspring and not the descendants that inherited his faith. God regularly reminded his people that they needed to welcome the stranger, to welcome the foreigner, to treat foreigners the same under the law as they treated the citizens of their own nation and members of their own family. And the coming of Jesus, and then the ministry of Paul, broadened that understanding even further. Everyone who puts their faith in Jesus becomes a member of Abraham’s family and we all inherit the blessings of God and an eternity in God’s house as co-heirs, brothers, and sisters of Jesus Christ.

But Abram saw that his inheritance lost its value if he didn’t have anyone with whom to share it and the same is true for us. We have been given a great inheritance that includes the blessings of God, a transformed eternal body, citizenship in the kingdom of God, and an eternal home in God’s house. But as good as that is, its value fades if we have no one with whom to share it. Our calling is to stand firm in our faith, to pattern our lives after Jesus, the disciples, Paul, and the best role models that we can find, so that we can live our lives as ambassadors of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God, and so that we can share what we have with our family, our friends, our nation, and the world.

Because Abram knew that the greatest value of God’s gift wasn’t in having it, but in sharing it.

Did you enjoy this?

Please LIKE and SHARE!

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to visit Pastor John’s YouTube channel.

*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Squeezed Out

June 5, 2021June 11, 2021 PastorPartridge Sermon Broadway, Christ, church, Eli, John, leaders, Methodist, Ohio, Partridge, Paul, Pharisees, Samuel, Saul, StreetAlliance, Toothpaste, United

Squeezed Out

June 06, 2021*

By Pastor John Partridge

1 Samuel 3:1-20 Mark 2:23-3:6 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

What’s in your tube of toothpaste?

I have – at more than one church – taught a children’s message with a tube of toothpaste. Well, to be fair, it used to be a tube of toothpaste. But some time ago, I took most of the toothpaste out of it and carefully refilled it with chocolate frosting. When I teach this lesson, I ask the children what they think is in the tube and, since it says “toothpaste” right on it, and it has a major brand name and familiar logo, the kids don’t hesitate to guess that it is filled with toothpaste. But, when I open it, and squeeze the tube, they are surprised, and maybe a little revolted, when what come out looks is brown. At that point, at least one child has announced to the congregation that it was full of poop and then, to prove that it wasn’t, or maybe just to see their reaction, I ate some.

The point of this surprising visual aid is to remind everyone that our lives are like that tube of toothpaste. What come out of the tube when it is squeezed and under pressure, is whatever we put in it in the first place. If you fill the tube with toothpaste, that’s what come out when you squeeze it, but if you fill it with chocolate, you’ll get that instead. Over the course of our lives, we will fill our hearts, our minds, and our souls… with many things. And when we are squeezed by life, when we find ourselves under stress and pressure, what come out will be the things that we put in. If we fill our hearts, minds, and souls with good things, generosity, goodness, faith, then good things will come out. But if we fill ourselves with profanity, greed, selfishness, and those sorts of things, then that is what will come out of us when life inevitably puts the squeeze on us. And that is exactly what we see in our scriptures for today in some expected, and some unexpected ways. We begin with the story of God’s judgment of Eli, the priest who was training the prophet Samuel. Eli was generally a good man, but his sons weren’t and, well, let’s read the story (1 Samuel 3:1-20).

^3:1 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

²One night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So, he went and lay down.

⁶Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So, Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. ¹²At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. ¹³For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. ¹⁴Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”

¹⁵Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, ¹⁶but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”

Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

¹⁷“What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” ¹⁸So, Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

¹⁹The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. ²⁰And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

Eli tried to be a good man and a good priest, and he generally succeeded, except for when it came to his sons. His two sons became priests who were without morals and who, although they wore the clothes, and had the job titles, didn’t follow God. God had warned Eli that he would be judged if he did not correct his sons but even with and explicit warning, Eli did nothing. The harsh condemnation from God that we read here was that Eli, and his family, would be judged forever “because of the sin that he knew about” and did nothing. Eli was the senior priest. He outranked his sons in status and seniority. But even though Eli knew about the terrible things that his sons were doing, he did not rebuke them, or correct them, or reprimand them, or punish them, or remove them from office. Despite knowing that his sons were abusing their power, blaspheming God, and hurting people, Eli… did nothing.

This is a harsh reminder for us because Eli is not condemned for doing evil or for being a bad person. Eli’s sin was in knowing that wrong was being done… and doing nothing. Eli’s sin was not in what he did, but in failing to do anything to stop what he knew was wrong. God’s condemnation of Eli is a stark reminder that we are our brother’s keeper, and that God will hold us accountable for our inaction when we fail to do anything when we know that evil is being done even if we aren’t the ones who are doing wrong.

And, although once again the bad guys in the story of Mark 2:23-3:6 are church leaders, we are told of an entirely different sort of condemnation.

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

²⁵He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶In 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.”

²⁷Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸So 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. ²Some 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. ³Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

⁴Then 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.

⁵He 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. ⁶Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

The pharisees were following Jesus and looking for things with which they could accuse him. This is a lot like one of those police dramas on television where a dirty cop follows someone around just so that they can give them a ticket of accuse them of some other violation. What happens is that while they are walking, Jesus and the disciples get hungry, snap the heads off some wheat, and eat it. Ignoring for a moment that our twenty-first century dirty cop might accuse them of petty theft, the dirty pharisee cop accuses them of violating the law by harvesting on the sabbath. But in response, Jesus reminds them that King David, whom everyone loves, committed a far worse act by eating the bread that had been left on the altar and consecrated to God. The law was clear that only priests were allowed to eat such bread, but Jesus says that the sabbath was made to serve the followers of God and not to enslave them.

Jesus saw this same prejudice as he was preparing to heal a man with a shriveled hand. He knew that his nitpicking critics would accuse him of working on the sabbath if he healed the man’s hand, and so he asks them in advance if it is lawful do good, or to save a life, on the sabbath. Jesus’ question corners them into silence because they couldn’t openly say that doing good, or saving a life, was against the law but because Jesus had outwitted them, again, and publicly embarrassed them, again, they began to plot to kill Jesus instead.

But what does any of that mean for us twenty-one centuries later?

And as is often the case, people in the church were asking the same question twenty centuries ago, and in his second letter to the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 4:5-12), Paul offers this answer:

⁵For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For 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.

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

Paul says that we are alive, but we are “given over to death.” Or to think of it in another way, we are alive, but we must endure the life that we have, we must suffer, struggle, and go through trials and difficult times for the sake of Jesus so that Jesus might be revealed in us and through us. That’s so important I’m going to say it again. We go through difficult times and endure difficult experiences, SO THAT Jesus might be revealed in us. We are squeezed so that the world can see what is inside of us. We come under stress and pressure so that the people around us can see what we have inside.

But what comes out of us when we are squeezed, depends entirely on the things with which we have allowed ourselves to be filled. Even though he was a priest, Eli’s comfort was so important that he did nothing about the injustice, sin, and blasphemy being committed by his sons. And God, and everyone else, saw it. Even though they were the church leaders, when Jesus pushed back, the darkness, greed, and addiction to power that they harbored inside of them came to the surface and was revealed to the world.

Everyone knows that this life is rarely easy. At some point, all of us will be squeezed, and what comes out will reveal to our neighbors, and to the world, what things we have fed to our hearts, our minds, and our souls.

It isn’t optional.

It will happen.

The only question is what you will choose to pour into your heart, your mind, and your soul.

Choose wisely.

You can find the video of this worship service here: https://youtu.be/WUuARhsZ4AI

Did you enjoy reading this?

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to visit Pastor John’s YouTube channel.

*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Not Enough by Half

March 8, 2020March 8, 2020 PastorPartridge Sermon Abraham, faith, Jesus, Pharisees, trust, unfinished

Not Enough by Half

March 08, 2020*

By Pastor John Partridge

Genesis 12:1-4a John 3:1-17 Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

How many of you have ever supervised children who have been instructed to clean their room?

Usually, the way that this worked in our house, was that our children, particularly Noah and Jonah, would be told to go and clean their room. After some time had passed Patti or I would check on their progress and, most likely, there would be none. So, the next step was to repeat the instructions, sometimes with more specifics, and we would sit in their room and supervise for a short period to ensure that they were complying with our instructions. Later, we would once again check on their progress and… there probably wouldn’t be any. At some point, I would occasionally stop and ask them if they understood my instructions, and even asked them to repeat my instructions back to me. There was no misunderstanding. They could repeat my instructions almost word for word. They just never connected their knowledge to their actions. Or, put a different way, they couldn’t make the connection between what they knew and what they believed. They knew that their parents wanted their room to be clean, and they knew how to do that, but they didn’t believe for themselves that it was an important thing to do. That shortcoming, that limitation, often kept our boys from receiving a special treat that we had in the kitchen or some other reward that we had intended to give them for their success.

And this limitation that most of us have witnessed in our children, and in ourselves, illustrates a spiritual shortcoming that we witness in scripture. We begin in the book of Genesis where we find God giving instructions, and a promise, to Abram. (Genesis 12:1-4a)

^12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

²“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

God begins his instruction with a command to “Go,” but continues by demanding that Abram trust him regarding his destination. Abram knows nothing about where he is going except that God promises to show him the way. In return for his trust, God also promises to bless him and turn his family into a great nation.

And Abram trusted God, and he went.

Abram heard God, Abram knew what God said, he believed and trusted that God would do as he promised, and he obeyed God and put his faith and trust into action. That is the process, and the model, that we are to follow. But, like Noah and Jonah, some people get stuck in the middle of this process as we see with some of the Pharisees in John 3:1-17.

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

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

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

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

⁹“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

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

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

Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council, comes to Jesus, probably as a representative of several others in that group, though probably not all of them. And he says that they know that Jesus has been sent by God because only God could give someone the power to do the things that Jesus has been doing. But, despite knowing that Jesus has been sent by God, Jesus knows that they do not believe the things that he has been teaching. This is their disconnection. They know, but they do not believe. Information has penetrated their head, but not their heart; and Jesus is clear that knowing is not enough. Jesus came to open the door to heaven, but in order to receive eternal life, we must not only know, we must believe.

From Nicodemus’ visit, we understand that some of the Pharisees were struggling with the things they knew to be true. They knew that Jesus came from God because the evidence was overwhelming. But even when they were equipped with this knowledge, they couldn’t bring themselves to believe everything that Jesus was teaching because believing Jesus meant that they had to let go of something else and begin to act differently. Moving from knowing to believing, required that they change the way that they lived their lives and they weren’t willing to let go and make that change.

To be fair, the Pharisees weren’t the only ones that struggled with what Jesus was teaching. Many Jews believed that they were saved by the law of Moses, and that all they needed to do was to obey the law in order to be “good enough” for God. The Pharisees took this view to extremes, but many others held this same view to a lesser extent. And so, when Paul wrote to the church in Rome, many of whom were Jews, he tried to explain why simply obeying the law was not enough.

(Romans 4:1-5, 13-17)

^4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ²If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁴Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

¹³It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Paul wants us to understand that it wasn’t the law of Moses that makes us “good enough” to be justified before God. Since the law of Moses was written a thousand years after the death of Abraham, it seems obvious that the law couldn’t have anything at all to do with Abraham’s justification or righteousness. Instead, Paul says, Abraham’s righteousness was a gift that was credited to him, by God, because he believed in God and put his whole faith and trust in God. The promise of God that was given to Abraham, came to him through God’s grace because of his faith and it was faith that made the difference.

Many Jews believed that they would inherit the gifts of God because of their DNA or because of their obedience to the law, as we saw in the lives of the Pharisees. But Paul, who was once a Pharisee himself, specifically argues against that mistaken idea. Paul says that it is not the law, or obedience to the law that brings the inheritance that was promised to Abraham. If grace came from the law, then grace would be earned like wages are earned. But we can’t earn our salvation. Instead, the inheritance of God, his gifts, rescue, forgiveness, and eternal life, are a gift of God’s grace that is unmerited, unearned, and comes to us only by putting our faith and trust in God as Abraham did.

Our children knew that we wanted their room to be clean, and they knew how to do that, but they didn’t believe for themselves that it was an important thing to do. The Pharisees knew that Jesus came from God but even when they were equipped with this knowledge, they couldn’t bring themselves to believe what Jesus was teaching because believing Jesus meant that they had to let go of something else and begin to act differently.

Human beings haven’t changed in two thousand years. Many of us still have the same problem that the Pharisees had in John’s story of Jesus. We’ve heard the story. We know the story. We can repeat the story. Some of us have even accepted that the evidence for the truth of the story is both compelling and overwhelming. But that’s not enough by half. We’re holding so tightly to the things that we find comfortable, that we just can’t seem to let go of our old things and grab hold of Jesus.

Knowing the story is not enough. If we want to grab hold the grace and forgiveness that is offered to us by God, then we must do as Abram did. We have to be “all in.” We must put our trust and faith in Jesus, go where he tells us to go, and do the things that he tells us to do.

Jonah and Noah’s stubbornness cost them the occasional bowl of ice cream, but our failure to trust Jesus will be far more expensive.

The message of Abram, Moses, Paul, and Jesus is that we must let go of our old life.

Put our whole trust in Jesus.

And finally, begin to really live.

Are you ready?

Did you enjoy reading this?

Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog.

Click here to visit Pastor John’s YouTube channel.

*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Westboro is NOT Winsome

March 11, 2013March 5, 2019 PastorPartridge Sermon body of Christ, Christian, church, homosexual, love, mission, Pharisees, relationship, Westboro baptist, wrong

I have probably mentioned this before, but the folks from Westboro Baptist Church really burn my cookies. Last night at our youth group meeting we watched a segment of Adam Hamilton’s “When Christians Get it Wrong” and were discussing how well-meaning church people often chase unbelievers away from the church instead of attracting them. When I was much younger, we were always taught that the Christian faith should be “winsome.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, but from the way it was used, it sounded as if it ought to be something that looked and sounded attractive. According to the American Heritage online dictionary it does, in fact, mean charming.

The followers of Jesus Christ are called upon to tell the world about the Good News of reconciliation, that God has done everything possible to repair our relationship with him and to demonstrate his love for us. I have to think that demonstrating respect and love for others, for their religion, for their opinions, for their culture and for their existence would have to be the first step in doing that. Showing up at a child’s funeral or anywhere else with signs that say “God Hates Fags,” “God Killed Your Sons,” or worst of all, “God Is Your Enemy” is definitely going in completely the wrong direction. First of all these statements tell unbelievers that the church is out of touch and that it is full of bigoted idiots that have no desire (or ability) to understand their situation. Worse than that, these things are all lies. There is nothing in scripture that could lead someone to believe that God hates you or that God is your enemy. the whole point of scripture, especially the message of the Gospel, is entirely the opposite, that God loves you more than you can know.

That doesn’t meant that God is making any compromises about things that he considers wrong, but that a message of love cannot be communicated by being hateful and hurtful. In his book, When Christians Get it Wrong, Adam Hamilton, correctly, points to the Apostle Paul. I have used Paul as an example for years, and so have many others. Paul was a Pharisee. He was incredibly well educated. He had studied under some of the most noted Rabbis in history. Paul knew sin and he wasn’t afraid to point out the sins of others. Paul had often warned the churches of the evils of idol worship, particularly in those places under the influence of the Romans and Greeks (which we, pretty much everywhere), but that isn’t how he started a conversation with people who actually worshiped idols. When Paul visited Athens, a city full of idols and temples of numerous false gods and goddesses, Luke tells us that “he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” Even so, Paul didn’t launch into a tirade about how evil they all were. He went into the synagogue and and into the marketplace reasoned with the people. His reasoning was sound enough that he was asked to go to Mars Hill and explain his views further and even there, he didn’t condemn them. Instead, Paul said:

“People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. (Acts 17:22-23)

Paul began by expressing his admiration for their care in pursuing the truth even though their worship of idols distressed him. No one will believe you if you tell them you love them while you are beating them over the head. Telling someone that God hates them is not winsome… or loving.

It’s just wrong.

Sometimes Right is Wrong

March 5, 2013 PastorPartridge Sermon abortion, church, healing, homosexuality, Israel, Jesus, love, ministry, Pharisees, prostitution, right, sin, wrong

Not long ago my wife, Patti, and I attended a seminar with Dr. Terry Wardle at Ashland Seminary. During one session Dr. Wardle noted that sometimes the question is not whether something is right or wrong, but whether it is loving or unloving. This idea struck me and I immediately wrote it in my notebook. While this may not always be the case, this is a wonderful lens by which we can examine our choices as we live out our faith. Checking to see if our actions are loving or unloving is a great way to get closer to deciding, “What would Jesus do?”

Some will object that Jesus was the perfect man and lived his life without sin, and so, he could not have done wrong. And yet, he did. During his ministry, Jesus seemed often to be at odds with the Pharisees, men who devoted their lived to following “the rules” and, in fact, devised rules stricter than those contained in the Law so that, by following these ‘new and improved’ rules, they would never, even accidently, violate the Law. Simply put, the Pharisees made it their business never to break a rule. They were devoted to living that was always right and never wrong but if this is so, why were they so often at odds with Jesus?

The Pharisees began to hate Jesus and plot for his humiliation and, ultimately, his destruction when Jesus repeatedly revealed their hypocrisy and the failure of their rules-based morality. Jesus pointed out that what they had achieved was like white washing a tomb; it looked pretty on the outside bur remained full of corruption on the inside. The Pharisees were known to tithe from everything they earned, every increase that God granted to them, even to the point of giving ten percent of the growth from their herb gardens and yet some of them had elderly parents whom they allowed to starve. They justified their actions by saying that all their money was “Corban” or, dedicated to God. They had followed one rule so vigorously, that they missed the bigger ideas of “love your neighbor” and “honor your father and mother.” They had done what was “right” but had failed to be loving. As Jesus saw it, they had missed the point.

At the same time, the Pharisees attacks against Jesus revolved around what they perceived as his wrongdoing. Jesus and his followers were rule breakers. Jesus sat down with sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, outcasts, and ate with them. No self respecting, rule-following, religious person would be seen socializing, let alone sharing food, with “those people,” and yet, Jesus did. As Jesus and his followers were walking through a field on the Sabbath, they were hungry and the disciples began to pick heads of grain, rub them between their hands to remove the chaff, and eat them. The Pharisees asked Jesus why he allowed them to do wrong. Clearly they were harvesting on the Sabbath, and everyone knew that harvesting was work and work was not permitted on the Sabbath. They made the same accusation against Jesus when he healed a man on the Sabbath. Since healing was “work,” obviously Jesus had done wrong. Again, as Jesus saw it, they had missed the point.

In each case, the Pharisees wanted to follow the rules, to do what was right, but Jesus wasn’t as concerned with right and wrong as he was with being loving. Jesus believed that the Pharisees had missed the point when following “the rules” caused them to be unloving.

If we see ourselves in the mirror held up by the Pharisees, we should. The Pharisees weren’t bad people; they were the church leaders and teachers of their day. Like the Pharisees, I think sometimes we get so focused on “the rules” that we miss the point. When people of faith debate issues like homosexuality, abortion, capital punishment and other “religious” issues in the public square we often carve out positions that we believe are “right” and yet, at the same time, fail miserably at being loving. That doesn’t mean that we have to accept sin, Jesus didn’t, but Jesus found a way to be loving even if it broke a few rules.

As we enter the public square we must ask ourselves if our arguments are right, but also if they are loving. Because…

Sometimes, right is wrong.

Pastor Partridge

Sermons, blogs and other things from Pastor John Partridge

Pharisees

Ponies, Palms, and Murder Plots