Standing in His Presence

The Lord works in mysterious ways.  How many times have you heard that before?  We use those words all the time.  I have to admit thought that more recently that became very real for me.  Let me explain.  My wife is away this weekend on the Walk to Emmaus as a part of the leadership team.  I have talked with many people before about this weekend event. Since Kristy and I went on the Walk to Emmaus in 2003 many people have asked me what the weekend is like.  I have struggled for almost 7 years to come up with an answer for that question.  All I could ever come up with is, “it is one of those things that you have to experience to understand.”  While I was preparing for this message, God helped me to really better understand the purpose of the Walk to Emmaus.

While preparing for today’s message I did some research on what it means to love as Jesus loves us?  Suddenly like an oncoming train I was keenly aware of the answer to that question.  The weekend is really aimed at helping people to understand what it means to love one another as Jesus has loved us.  So today, while my wife is helping a group of women understand that concept, I hope I can bring some clarity to the question for you.  My wife’s team will have spent 72 hours answering that question; we will spend a lot less time than that.

In the New Testament, there are three concepts that are discussed more than anything else by Jesus. These three concepts are love, faith, and repentance.  I did a simple Internet search the other day to find counts of specific words in the Bible.  I am not sure how exact they are but I definitely found the results of the counts interesting for today’s message.  In the New Testament of the King James version the word repent is used 697 times, love is used 179 times and faith is used 245 times.  The only words used more often than these three are Lord, God, and Jesus.  So if we don’t count the three names for God and Jesus, love is the third most used word in the New Testament.

Today, Jesus calls us all to love one another as He has loved us.  But what does that really mean exactly?   What is it here that Jesus is expecting from each of us?  What does it mean to love one another as Jesus has loved us?

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the context of today’s Gospel reading.  Earlier in this Chapter, Jesus had washed the feet of His disciples and was teaching them a lesson in being a servant for others.  Jesus would soon call them to a ministry of servant leadership and not just leadership.  Jesus would call them to lead others to salvation through Jesus by serving others and demonstrating to them just how much God loves them and how much God wants for them to be saved.  Jesus also knew He would be betrayed and that He would be crucified for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind.  He told the disciples of this and Judas had just left the Upper Room into the night to do what he had to do when we come upon the words in John 13:31 – 35.

It is at this point that Jesus tells his remaining disciples that it is time for Jesus to be glorified and God glorified though this.  How confused the disciples must have been.  They didn’t have all the puzzle pieces that we have today at this point in their lives.  Yes they knew that Jesus was the Messiah and some probably even grasped the concept of Jesus and God being one in being, but they had no idea of what God’s plan for the redemption of sinners would be and I am sure they were very confused at this point.  Things were starting to happen fast and they would be called upon to be fast learners.  They would be a witness to the redemption of mankind and their lives would never be the same again.

Now Jesus tells his disciples that where He is going, they cannot go.  I am sure they thought he was going to some room or maybe even someplace to pray and wanted to be alone.  Maybe they thought he was going on a journey on a ship to a foreign land.  They all knew the Jewish leadership was not happy with the way Jesus was shaking things up and maybe they thought he was going someplace to lay low for a while to avoid the leaders.  We do not know what they were thinking but I am certain they were not thinking about crucifixion at this point.  I would imagine it was probably the furthest thing from their mind.

It is at this point that Jesus gives us a new commandment.  It is really not all that unlike the discussion Jesus had with others when he summed up all the laws of the prophets into two commandments:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

It was pretty clear then that Love was the important concept here.  We are called to love God and in answering that call to love God, we would love God’s other children.  When it comes right down to it, all of creation was created by God’s hand and in God’s image.  Regardless of what we think of others, they were created in God’s image and He loves them. Jesus is clear on that when he gives us the new commandment, “As I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Jesus is clear here that this is the Christian witness he wants the world to see.  It is love that Jesus wants us to use to show the world that we are Christian.  We are called to unite with our Christian brothers and sisters in love.  A love that is so uncommon among such a large group of people that the world will have no choice but notice.  Not only will the world notice this witness but they will look on it with a sense of covetousness.  Any time the world is a witness to true Christian love, they see it as something to be aspired toward.  They will see this and think, “I want what they have.”

Love one another as I have loved you.  These are tough words for us.  We find it easy to love our families and even most of our fellow church members.  The tough part comes though when we are called by Jesus to love the unlovable.  Those people we come into contact in our lives who are in need of love yet manage to make it very difficult for others to love them.  You know who I am talking about.  It is those people who we know we are supposed to love but they have not done anything to deserve it.  Maybe it is a murderer in prison or maybe it is someone who stole something from us.  Sometimes it is even people who have said hurtful words and never apologized.  It is against our nature to forgive them and love them as Jesus commands.  Yes that is right, I said commands, I did not say asks.  Remember in our Gospel reading Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you.”  He said commandment and not suggestion or guidance.   This is clearly something that is important and something that Jesus expects us to do while we wait for his return.

Jesus is the model for this love that He wants us to show for one another.  If we read the 4 Gospels in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), we can see clear examples of love by reading about the things that Jesus did while he was here on earth.  It is hard for us to hear at this point that Jesus commands us to love one another in the same way.  Jesus is not calling us to some kind of a feeling of love for one another and He is not calling us to a sense of caring for one another.  He is calling us to action with this commandment.  He is calling us to show our love through Actions.  How else would the world know we are his disciples unless they could see this love through our actions?  Jesus is calling us to real love.  You see, real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn’t count the cost.

The gospel text today is about this kind of love.  Jesus’ words could easily be about being a good mother or father, but actually they are aimed at the whole Christian family, at the whole Church. Jesus says these words to the Christian church as a whole (including all denominations of the Christian church).

Take note that this is a commandment to love all Christians, not just Methodists.  We are called to love all who love Christ and to show that love with action.  Think about how awesome the world would be today if all denominations would set aside their differences and love one another just because Jesus told us to.  I think the world as a whole would have a much different impression of what it means to be a Christian.  I also think the world would be a much better place.

We read in Revelation 21:1 – 6 that God will dwell among us again in the new Heaven and the new earth.  As a preparation to dwell with God for all of eternity, we are called on to learn to love one another as Jesus has loved us.  In this way we will not only become all that Jesus calls us to be, but we will be able to experience a for-taste of what it will be like in the new Heaven and the new earth.

As we prepare for a week ahead there is a question we should ponder as we go about our day to day lives.  Let’s all consider the question of what we can do to show the world that we are Christ’s disciples.  In what way is God calling us to serve and love others as Jesus has loved us?  Who do we know that needs to feel the love of God in the here and now?

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I wish I could take total credit for this but I can’t.  You see the idea for this came to Kristy when she was in the shower one day.  She called me a shared it with me.  I liked it so I added some to it but the base idea for this is clearly her’s.  With that in mind, consider this:

You are walking along life with no real purpose and without Christ.  Somehow you feel led to go to an amusement park.  And you figure, hey why not?  You enter the gates of the amusement park and you are met there by God who starts to walk with you.  As you enter the park, you are filled with the wonder and beauty of the gardens.  He shows you a perfect rose and you notice the awesome smell. Suddenly your senses are alive like never before.  But God is insistant, keep walking, and walk you do.  Next you pass through the kiddie rides where the kids are learning the enjoyment of amusement parks graduating to bigger and bigger rides as you pass through the park.  You are compelled to walk toward the large roller coaster in the center but you are scared.  What if something happens and I get killed in this.  NO, this is way too dangerous and you stop in your tracks.  But God just keeps nudging you toward the coaster.  You reluctantly continue toward the coaster.  The next thing you know you find yourself in line for the coaster. Wait, how did I get here?  I really didn’t want to do this.  Now the fear really starts to hit and your adrenaline starts pumping through your body.  While you are in line you are filled with both anticipation and anxiety.  What will this be like?  Will I need to change myself?  Will this be hard or painful?

Then you get on the ride and the anxiety rolls as you start up the first hill.  It is all going so slowly but as you get closer to the top you begin to see more clearly.  Then  you go over the top of the first hill the rush is awesome as you go speeding down toward the bottom with God clearly in control.  You throw your hands in the air and it is an awesome ride but then you hit the bottom.  wait, where this the awesomeness go?  Did it have to end so soon?  Then suddenly your life takes a sharp turn to the left.  Woah, where did that come from?  That was completely unexpected and just as suddenly there it is, the next hill.  You are not sure you can actually make it up this time.  The climb seems even slower and you just don’t think you are going to make it to the top.  Slowly you climb: clink, clink, clink.  And there is the top.  Here we go again, God is in control!  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Then the ride ends.  You get up and look back and realize that God wasn’t beside you at all but you were in God’s hands the entire time.  He held you in the palm of his hands the whole time watching over you.  And you thought you were in a roller coaster car.  Ya right!

God led us to step into his hands but he did not force anything.  We had to willingly step into his hands, just like we have to willingly step into a roller coaster car. It all begins with the choice to choose Christ and step into the palm of God’s hands.

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It has been far too long since I have updated this blog.  And as much as I hate to admit it, this is quite ironic after I read my previous post this morning.  The fact is that I am no different from anyone else and I often allow life to get in the way and interfere with sharing thoughts on God’s word with my friends.

Life is busy for all of us and we all tend to get lost in the details of everyday life.  When you work in the Northern Virgina area this is quite easy to do because there are so many details in life every day.  I keep telling myself I will get better at this just after the next crisis is over but that crisis just leads to another.  Before you know it, I am looking back thinking, “where did all the time go?”

So there I was this morning, checking on my Facebook friends, another one of those perceived priorities.  As I was reviewing the older posts on a Facebook page for The Message (the bible), I found the following scripture from 1 Samuel 16:7:

But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”

This is a very powerful piece of scripture.  Many of us go through life to find that some people just don’t like us because we are not outwardly attractive, or are not a great athlete, or for many other reasons that people perceive to be important in life.  This scripture provides hope for the rest of us imperfect people.  We are reminded that God looks at the content of our heart rather than our outward appearance or other factors.  When we truly love God with all our heart, mind and strength God is pleased in us.  God is not impressed by the levels of fame and fortune we achieve in life.  God is focused on how well we serve Him and not how well we are served by others.

Yet another reminder for me that I need to be better at serving God above all the other things in life.  Definitely something to think about!

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In the common lectionary for tomorrow, the Gospel lesson is about Jesus turning water in to wine during a wedding in Cana.  The interesting part about this passage is that just before He turns the water into wine, Jesus tells his mother, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.”  In this statement Jesus is saying that the timing of this request is just not right.  After all His time as not yet come, it is not time to start the miracles.  Yet, as we know, Jesus finds the time to do it anyhow.  This brings an interesting question forward for us.  How often in our lives do we not allow the world to see Jesus through us because we just don’t have the time?  How often do we pass on an opportunity to witness to Christ because, “our time has not yet come?”

We need to be purposeful in our service to God in our day to day lives.  Although God gave his all for our salvation, we continue to give our leftovers to God.  We tend to give God our time, talents, and resources that are leftover after all the other priorities of our lives are taken care of.  Why not make God one of those priorities.  He gave His all for us and we should in turn give our all to him.  Yet, when it comes right down to it, God doesn’t ask for all, He only asks that we make service to Him a priority rather than a leftover event.

So here is the thought for the next week, how can we make changes in our life to make God first and to reveal to the world a loving and caring God through our lives?

To borrow words from Lon Solomon, just a though not a sermon.

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As the New Year approached and I heard all the people around me talk about their resolutions for a new year, I became more and more determined that I was not going to make any New Year resolutions this time around. After all they seem so useless. We make resolutions to make changes in our life to improve some aspect of it and do so great for the first month or maybe even two but then we gradually go back to our old ways and soon the resolution is but a bit of dust in our rear view mirror.  So why start in the first place.

Then I was preparing a sermon for today and I was convicted by the Holy Spirit in the process.  I did need to make a resolution this year but it needs to be different this time.  Rather than make a resolution to improve some aspect of my life that I want to improve, I need to improve an aspect of my life that God wants to improve.  For me, this is obedience to the direction of God.  I need to be more open and attentive to the direction that God wants my life to follow and to be obedient to that direction.

Definitely something for all to think about here.  Rather than resolving to do our will, why not focus on resolving to do God’s will with your life.  Let’s focus together on taking the Good News of salvation to the world.  Let’s focus on the mission we have been given by God and less on our missions.

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A week or so ago, I was on a weekend with a group of Christian men. It was an awesome weekend that included discussions about what being a Christian means as well as experiencing the love of God for the weekend.  And no celebration of the love of God would be complete without the celebration of Communion.  With the threat of seasonal flu and swine flu both, we made a decision to use a lot of hand sanitizer.   Hand sanitizer was everywhere.  It was on the meeting tables, it was on the snack tables, and it was on our Communion table.  At some point during the weekend we were all getting a bit overwhelmed and during Communion one of the guys whispers to me, “the hand sanitizer of Christ.”  Now at first I took this as was intended, a joke.  But suddenly it hit me just like a ton of bricks.  Through the Sacrament of Communion, we are once again sanitized in the Blood of the Lamb.  Our sins are sanitized and can no longer infect our soul, just like hand sanitizer wipes out the germs and they can no longer infect our mortal body. 

It is interesting that the weekend has been over for about a week now and I still can’t look at a bottle of hand sanitizer without thinking about my sins being sanitized in the Blood of Christ. 

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This blog posting is from a sermon based on Mark Chapter 10 verses 17 through 31.

As a child I was born into a Catholic family.  My mother’s family and my father’s family were both Catholic as far back as anyone could remember.  Everyone had placed their faith in the Catholic beliefs because that was the family tradition.  So, like all the others before me, I was baptized into the Catholic faith at around the age of 1 week.  Because of this there is no time in my life that I can remember that I didn’t consider myself a Christian.

I attended a Catholic elementary school and in that school the Christian education received as much emphasis as any of the other subjects.  Any field trips we took in elementary school were typically to the church next door in order to attend worship or for other specific ceremonies.  In my early elementary school years I believed not because of anything I was told or heard but I believed because that was my family tradition.  As a child, I really had no reason to doubt the Christian faith. My faith was a child like faith that just was, always was, and always will be, or at least I thought at the time my failth always will be. After all, why would it not always be?  This was the only faith that made any sense at all.

In 5^th grade, the nuns were teaching us about Pascal’s Wager.  Now some of you may or may not know what that is so for the benefit of those who don’t, I will review it quickly here. French philosopher Blaise Pascal suggested that even though the existence of God cannot be determined to exist through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because in doing so living has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. When I heard this alarms started going off in my head.  What do you mean God cannot be determined to exist through reason.  What about all this stuff they have been teaching me all these years?  It all sounds reasonable enough to me.  Why can’t people see the simple truth when it is right in front of their eyes?  Hey Mr. Pascal, nice assumption to live life as though God exists, but you are really missing the boat on this reasoning thing.  In the end, I continued to believe in spite of Mr. Pascal’s attempt to derail me.

When I finished 6^th grade, the church made the decision to start charging tuition to parishioners for their children’s education and sister, my brother, and I were all transferred into the public school system.  In the beginning it was easy to keep the faith.  But the older I got, the more I started to question my faith.  Why did I believe all this stuff?   And like Mr. Pascal previously, I set out on a mission to prove my beliefs to be true.  In a sense I had lost my child like belief and started to question the very foundations of my faith.

In Mark 10:17-31, we find a man who is in exactly the same situation that I eventually found myself in.  You see he too was questioning the foundation of his faith. How do I know this?  I know this because it is the questioning of the faith that starts a person thinking of the type of questions he is asking here.  What must I do to inherit eternal life?  This is a question that does not even come up when you have a child like faith that we are saved by faith alone and because we call on Jesus as our Lord and Savior we will have eternal life.  Of course for this person it was a little different because Jesus had not yet been identified as the Messiah, but he too had all the teachings of Judaism to fall back on.  As far as knowing without a doubt, Judaism had clearly defined what had to be done here for eternal life.  Yet he comes to Jesus and asks the question.  Perhaps he doubted that his faith was correct and that there was more to gaining eternal life than he had been led to believe.  The problem for this man though is that the answer he receives is quite troubling to him.  Jesus tells him to go sell everything he has and give it to the poor and follow Jesus.  This obviously causes some concern for this man as he was quite wealthy.  Imagine asking someone like Bill Gates to sell everything he has and give it to charity.  Imagine someone asking us to sell everything we own and give it to the poor in order to follow Jesus.  The thing that makes this account in the Bible most interesting though is when you contrast it with the story just before it in Mark. This is the story where Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth; anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  So it is a child like faith that is the key here.  These children have no earthly possessions to hold them back.  The children in the former story who possess nothing are not told that they do not lack anything, but rather that the kingdom of God is theirs; yet this man who possesses everything still lacks something! Only when he sells all he has, only when he becomes like a vulnerable child, will he possess everything.

We find this very shocking too.  After all, when Jesus passed the disciples in a fishing boat and commanded them to, “Follow me,” He didn’t say anything about selling everything.  Why ask for this now.  Perhaps Jesus inwardly knew that this man had put his wealth before God in his life.  Perhaps Jesus knew that wealth was a source of a sinful life for this man as he perhaps defrauded others in order to gain more money.   Perhaps, perhaps, lots of ideas but no clear answers here.  We should consider that this man is quite different from the children in the story prior to this.  They had no status or power, but he has both.  Perhaps Jesus is simply requiring the rich man to become like a child before God.  Become like a child before God. Yes it is sounding a bit familiar here in my own life and perhaps yours too.  Perhaps we all need a dose of becoming like a child before God.  This reminds me of a contemporary Christian song that I really like to listen to.  The name of the song is Missing Person and it was performed by Michael W. Smith.  Maybe you have heard it too.  Let me read a few lines of the song for you to see if you agree that this really does illustrate this concept of a child like faith for us.

Another question in me

One for the powers that be

It’s got me thrown and so

I put on my poker face

And try to figure it out

This undeniable doubt

A common occurrence

Feeling so out of place

Guarded and cynical now

Can’t help but wondering how

My heart evolved into a

Rock beating inside of me

So I reel, such a stoic ordeal

Where’s that feeling that I don’t feel?

But it is the Chorus of the song that really wraps it up for us though:

There was a boy who had the faith to move a mountain
and like a child he would believe without a reason
without a trace he disappeared into the void and
I’ve been searching for that missing person

It is the child like faith that just believes and in turn has the faith to move a mountain.  Yes, this song definitely wraps up my life and belief for me.  Maybe that is why I like the song so much because it reminds me of where I have been.  It reminds me to keep a child like faith and stop asking God questions like, “Please send me a sign that I really am saved.”  Have you ever asked that question of God?  I used to drive myself crazy with this for so long until one day I just heard a voice say, “stop worrying and get to the work that I have commissioned for you.”  I was in a car by myself and I had turned off the radio so I could pray.  Nobody around me and here was this voice talking to me.  The voice provided no clear answer here, yet there was an answer if you think about it more deeply.  Focus on the things that God has commissioned for your life, and the rest will just fall into place.

This concept of selling everything you have was troublesome enough for the man in the story that he was shocked and went away.  Not that he sold his possessions but that he was shocked and went away.  In a way he did demonstrate here that his possessions were more important to him than God because he walked away.  But the troublesomeness didn’t stop there.  We see Jesus continue when he said, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” and, “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.”

And suddenly the disciples were now troubled as well as they started asking questions like then who can be saved?  The answer here was quick yet simple.  “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

All things are possible for God.  Too bad the rich man didn’t stick around long enough to hear this one.  So it is possible for someone with riches to enter heaven as long as they depend on God to do it for them.  Apart from grace, this decent, God-fearing, law-abiding man has no hope.  The same is true for all of us. This passage also warns us of the seductiveness of wealth.  It is also true that we need not be wealthy to have our hearts and souls consumed by thoughts of money.  We are all in danger of loving money more than God.

We find in reality, we depend on God for everything.  When we desire more in life, it is God who gives us the things we need and the things we desire. We fool ourselves into thinking that we have earned our bank accounts or our cars or our houses but in reality it is all a series of gifts from God.  God owns our world and all that is in it.  He created it and therefore it all belongs to Him. He chooses to share some of that with us and all he asks in return is that we love Him more than we love His creation.

In the end of our reading we find the disciples suddenly starting to doubt their own salvation and pointing out that they have left everything in order to follow Jesus.  In a sense they are asking Jesus if there is any reward in all of this for them.  Jesus was quick to point out that those who sacrifice for His sake will be rewarded now and in eternity as well.  This is clear guidance that when we give to God, it will be given back a hundred fold.

You see, God has given us all gifts in life in order that we may share them with others along with the Gospel message of salvation through Christ.  It is when we fail to share our material gifts that we lose the opportunity to share the Gospel message as well.  This definitely gives us something to think about.  God does often work in mysterious ways.  Is material giving also linked to spiritual giving?  Just ask any of the victims of a natural disaster who have seen the face of Christ in the volunteers who brought them relief and you will find the answer to that.  None of the relief efforts would be possible without material giving as well as the giving of time and talents.

Consider a question to ponder as you conclude reading this.  What about you?  Do you still have a child-like faith or are you in a search for a missing person?

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When a firefighter prepares to enter a burning building, they put on Heavy bulky suits, a mask, an air tank, and cover every exposed part of their body.  This special equipment allows them to work in an environment that contains toxic gases from the items that are burning.  In short, it allows them to work in an environment that is hostile to human life.  As they proceed through the fire searching through the smoke for survivors, the soot and toxic chemicals in the smoke collect on their equipment and begin to accumulate.  When the fire is out and everyone returns to the fire station, the standard operating procedures call for cleaning all of the equipment to remove the soot and toxic chemicals from all of the equipment that was used, including the firefighter protective clothing.  The reason for cleaning the protective clothing is that long term exposure to these smoky deposits has been shown to cause long term lung disease.  You see even when they are in an environment that is not hostile to life, they are still effected in a bad way by the chemicals that accumulated on their clothing while they were in the hostile environment.

The same is true for Christians living in a world where both good and bad exist.   Even for those who start every day by putting on the full Armor of God as we are told in Ephesians 6:13 have the effects of living in a sinful world deposited on them every day as they live and work in that world.  Like the firefighter, these deposits cause some long term spiritual decay when left unchecked.   Just take a look at US history over time and you will clearly see it.  Churches that slowly change their social policies little by little and then next thing you know they are accepting things that were once deadly sins.  In the same way the firefighter much clean their protective clothing, we too must clean our spirituality each and every night.  This is done through prayer.  We pray to God every day to remove from us the effects of the world that we were exposed to that day.
So why not just ask God to remove the evil from the world?  That answer is in Matthew Chapter 13.

Jesus uses the parable of the wheat and the weeds to demonstrate that evil is Here to stay long term in the world.  The Christian must prepare to use patience to tolerate the life in an evil world, knowing that in the end, God promises to sort out the details and make sure everyone gets their just reward.  You don’t have to look very far to see that evil certainly exists and sometimes seems to actually get the upper hand.  When we see things like the London subway bombings, Sept. 11, or a murder, we quickly form an opinion and it usually includes words like hang them or execute them.  But lets take a minute to look at what Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 13 regarding our reaction to these events.

Any gardener or farmer will quickly tell you that the decision to leave the weeds along with the wheat is certainly not the way we humans would choose to deal with this.  After all, weeds take away nutrients from the wheat and they also block sunlight.  Both of which will have an effect on the growth of the wheat.  However Jesus points out that by killing the weeds, we will also kill some of the wheat.  Weeds that grow alongside of the wheat looks very much like the wheat.  Also as they both germinate in the ground and begin to grow, the root systems intertwine with each other.  In this case, there really is no way to pull up the weeds, without pulling up some of the wheat also.  Instead in this case, the logical solution is to wait until harvest time and to lay them all out together and at this stage of growth, the weeds will be a different color than the wheat and easily spotted and separated.   We look around and we see lots of weeds growing today.  When we see the pain and suffering that the evil in the world has caused, it is only natural for us to want the evil removed, sometimes in a very vindictive way.  We quickly call for an execution to rid the world of evil, bomb them into oblivion.   Or perhaps we are more peaceful in our reaction to the evil.  Perhaps we begin to question God.  How can you let this happen?  Why don’t you do something to stop it?  Are you even paying attention to us?

In the parable, Jesus doesn’t deny that evil exists in the world.  Jesus tells us that He is fully aware of the evil in our world and He is also fully aware of where it came from.  For us it seems that the world is a terribly broken place, being Held hostage by weeds.  We think of the world as a piece of land that was intended to be a wheat field that has been overrun by weeds.  In some cases, it is hard to find any wheat in all of the weeds.

So what is Jesus’ response to all of this?  What does He tell us, the workers of the field, to do?  Like the landowner in the parable, He tells us that we should not try to rid the world of evil but rather allow the good people and the evil people to grow together.  Now that causes us some trouble.  Obviously Jesus does not understand.  These people are evil and they cause pain.  They need to be removed for the good of all.      Doesn’t He see this?

Let them grow together.  What a strange way to run a farm, or is it?  What exactly does He mean by this?  When I looked up the word let in the dictionary I was rather surprised by how many meanings it had.  Consider the word in the forms of let down, let on, let out, let up, let alone, let go, let off, let one’s hair down, let someone have it, let someone in on, and let up on.  This is certainly a lot of possibilities.   According to author Robert Farrar, “let both of them grow together until the harvest,” carries in the original language a sense of forgiveness toward the malicious enemy.  Now that is starting to sound a lot like the Lord’s Prayer, forgive us or trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

If this is the case, then Jesus is calling us into a form of discipleship that is much more costly than we had first anticipated.  The evil that is done in the world is not to be answered by plucking them from the world like a weed, but rather with forgiveness and patience, patience to wait for the final judgment of God.  For Jesus tells us that in the final days, the weeds will be separated from the wheat and burned in the eternal fire.

God exercised patience and forgiveness giving all of the weeds an opportunity to change and become wheat before the final judgment day.  Jesus tells us here that we too should take the same approach to dealing with the weeds of life.  Look around and you will clearly see that this is God’s approach to dealing with weeds in our world today.

Even look at ourselves, we can go from being a weed one day to being wheat the next.  It is even very easy to return to being a week with no effort at all.  When commenting about this parable, St. Augustine said, “There is this difference between people and real grain and real weeds, for what was grain in the field is grain and what were weeds are weeds. But in the Lord’s field, which is the church, at times what was grain turns into weeds and at times what were weeds turns into grain; and no one knows what they will be tomorrow.”  God has given us all free will to make a decision regarding our own life, a decision to be wheat or weeds.  We are even free to do wrong to the point of inflicting pain and suffering on others. Much to our disappointment, God does not pluck these people from the world for their evil deeds.  Instead God practices forgiveness and love.  We find this to be a very strange way to run a farm, but a review of history shows that it is definitely the way God works.

Sometimes we read through the Old Testament and see times when people lived a righteous life and God rewarded them.  Those same people then turned away from God and we read about how their good life turned around quickly.  After reading these Old Testament stories, we expect God to deal with people that way in our lives.  When God does not punish them, we begin to question things.  But a review of the New Testament will reveal that Jesus never even suggests that we will be punished in this life for our evil deeds.  He makes it a point to preach about forgiveness and patience.  This is mostly done through parables but it is certainly not restricted to parables.  When he is nailed to the cross, He forgives them.  When He rises from the dead, He forgives those apostles who skipped out on him when he needed them most.  And then He does the most interesting thing.  He sets those who abandoned Him in the business of spreading His love and forgiveness to a broken world, to all sinners, to everyone.

In the end times, when the harvest is gathered before the Lord, the weeds will clearly be seen for what they are and thrown into the fire.  Yes, God does have mercy but God is also just.  God welcomes with open arms all who want His forgiveness, but we must first ask for it.  There are so many of us who will want to keep that distance from God and will sadly never have the opportunity for his forgiveness and love.  This is something better than justice, this is divine forgiveness, the divine willingness to allow the wheat and the weeds to grow together because it is impossible to separate them without killing some of the wheat.  This is the recognition that revenge creates more problems that it solves. So we look at this and we clearly see that forgiveness and love are God’s way of dealing with a broken world.  This still makes us uncomfortable but this love and forgiveness not one of us stands a chance of making it to Heaven.

We must be careful that our preoccupation with the weeds of life does not get in our way of understanding the end of this message, that is how the harvest happens.  An abundant harvest is brought before the Lord, large enough to cause the landowner (God) and the farm hands (the angels) to rejoice together.  The weeds in the field have no power to prevent this bountiful harvest in the end.   The seed is good and it will bear wheat through all adversity that is presented by the weeds.  We find that this parable ends in triumph, good over evil, through a bountiful harvest.

But make no mistake, evil is real just not ultimate.

In the past century, the most graphic example of a failed attempt to eradicate weeds from the human garden is the Holocaust — Hitler’s massive program to eliminate the Jews, the insane, criminals, and other people deemed “misfits.”  His idea — that society would be greatly improved it we could get rid of those who cause problems and drag us down — is hardly novel.  Hitler was different from many of us only in his willingness to commit monstrous evils in pursuit of his goal.  In truth, he was not even novel in that way.  The phrase, “ethnic cleansing,” has been used to describe any number of Holocaust-like genocides in the past century.

There has never been a shortage of Hitler-like tyrants.  Hitler simply wielded his sword with more force and skill than most.

In the Parable of the Weeds, Jesus predicted the problem with Hitler’s program.  When Hitler tried to weed Germany’s garden, he yanked more wheat than weeds — destroyed more good than bad.  In the end, he committed suicide to avoid judgment for his evil deeds — and he forced Germany to struggle until it, too, collapsed in ruins around him.

At the end, the allies could have responded in a Hitler-like way — executing ferocious judgment on the German people for the millions that Hitler had killed.  Instead, they responded with restraint, bringing to justice only a few leaders who were clearly responsible for Germany’s evil deeds.  The Marshall Plan sought to rebuild West Germany, and provided enormous resources to help America’s fallen enemy.  As a result, Germany and its former enemies became allies in the efforts to maintain peace in a world threatened by the Soviet Union and others.

Evil never gets that last word.  Greater by far are those who shine in their Father’s kingdom, those who mirror the bright light of divine compassion.

Wheat and weeds, who’s one and who’s another? We all know that it is impossible to know for sure which is which but St. Augustine reminds us that no one knows today which they will be tomorrow.

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On Thursday morning a rather intense but short storm went through the area. It went through at about 2:00 AM. Did you notice it or did you just sleep right through it. I probably would have just slept through it except that one of the thunder claps sounded as though the lightning strike was just outside my bedroom window. In fact it made the windows rattle. It certainly made me startle for just a moment.

How many of us adults sometimes get scared in storms? When you are in the yard and you see a lightning bolt in the sky I am sure most of you run for cover. Many people are so scared of lightning; they just can’t seem to function during storms. All they can do is sit in a room and tremble. It wasn’t all that long ago that I was one of those people. You see I used to think that we had to earn our way to heaven through good works and that God would punished us daily for our sins. Because of this belief, I used to be so scared that God was going to strike me dead for my sins that during thunderstorms I would literally hide from the storm, as if I could actually hide from God, and pray for God’s forgiveness as the storm rolled through. Now that sounds pretty silly doesn’t it? You bet it does. But at the time for me it was as real as sitting here and writing this.

It is so easy to get caught up in the storms of our life as well. On the way home from work on Friday my wife called me on the phone and told me that one of our cabinets in the kitchen was coming off the wall. My first reaction was, “oh great, another home improvement project.” I suggested that she take everything out of the cabinet so that if it did fall while I was on the way home, at least we would not lose the dishes.

When I got home it was much worse than I originally thought. The cabinet itself was actually separating from the back and much of the frame that held it together was cracked and coming apart at the foundation. Yes, this was much more of a problem that I had expected. I started to panic. After all, where would I find the money to replace the cabinet. No, wait a minute, I can’t just replace one. I will never find one to match. I am going to need to go buy a whole set of cabinets. After all, my wife is never going to be happy with one cabinet being different than the others. Oh my, that is going to be very expensive. Even if I do the labor myself, it is going to be very expensive. Things seemed hopeless and I had no idea how I was going to get out of this one. Then I looked over at my wife and she was not upset at all. She was just sitting there listening to me ramble. I stopped talking long enough for her to get a word in and she just said, “let me know when you are done and I will tell you my thoughts.”

I stopped talking and invited her to share her thoughts. She reminded me that a couple of years back we had a friend who was a real estate sales person who was working on a project in Northern Virginia that was converting apartments to condos. In the project they were replacing all of the kitchen cabinets and appliances that were only a year old at the time and we went and picked up a lot of the stuff and had put it in the basement to use when we finished the basement, another of those projects that just never seemed to happen. So, in the basement we had a whole set of cabinets that were going to be in the kitchenette in the basement. She then said that she really didn’t care if the one we replaced didn’t really match the others, just as long as she had some place to put the stuff that was now all over the counters.

Suddenly I realized how this fit today’s Gospel lesson so well. I am certain this is very much how the disciples felt in the middle of this storm. They felt that the situation was hopeless and that they would all surely perish in the storm, yet Jesus was just sleeping. Didn’t he understand this was important and hopeless? Why do we continue to fret over the storms in our life rather then just giving them to God and letting him command them to stop? It really reminds me of a song that I really love to listen to on the radio called, “Who am I,” by a Christian group called Casting Crowns. Listen to one of the verses:

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again
Who am I?
That the voice that calm the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.

Not because of who I am.
But because what of youve done.
Not because of what I’ve done.
But because of who you are.

It sounds pretty simple but it is very effective. Just call on the name of Jesus and He will calm the storm in you too.

A great example of this can be found in Mark 4:35-41.   It starts at the end of the day when evening comes. After a day of preaching and teaching Jesus mortal body was tired and needed rest so he suggests that they go over to the other side of the water. Thinking this is a good idea; the disciples accompany him in a boat and head for the other side. Jesus lies down for a nap while they sail across the lake. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a strong storm rises that is so intense that the boat begins to take water. Now most of the disciples were from the working class before Jesus called them to be disciples. Some were even fishermen. Surely they knew about storms at sea and had even been through a few in their days. Yet this one caused fear in them, it caused fear to penetrate their hearts. It certainly seems that their fear had paralyzed them. All they could think of to do was to go to Jesus. I would suspect that after spending as much time with Jesus as they did and witnessing all of the miracles they likely thought that being with Jesus would prevent the storms from affecting them. Maybe they were scared this time because they didn’t understand how this could be happening as long as Jesus was in the boat with them. That would certainly make the next logical step being one to go find Jesus and ask him about it.

So then they decided to approach Jesus. And notice He is still asleep as they approach Him. The storm is throwing the boat around and the boat it taking on water. Certainly Jesus is being tossed about and getting wet, yet He is still asleep. They woke Him and asked why He did not care that they were all going to die. Why is it that Jesus did not wake up during any of this? Was it real or just their imagination? How could anyone sleep through all of that? Jesus slept comfortably because He fully understood the purpose of His life on earth. He knew exactly what the Father had planned for His life and knew that His life would not end until it was time for that to be fulfilled. Regardless of what the world threw at Him, he rested easy in the assurance that God’s will would be done on earth. Now that is a kind of faith that we all could use a little more of, maybe a lot more of. When the disciples had completely lost their faith, Jesus still had a very strong grip on faith. You see I am not sure the disciples really had faith at this point.

What I think they had was hope. Sometimes we have a hard time seeing the difference but hope can be lost. When times get tough and the storms of life roll in we begin to doubt our hope. When we have faith, we don’t lose it. Faith is not the hope of life everlasting, it is a very strong knowledge that no matter what, we will have life everlasting. It is that deep assurance that no matter what happens in life, Jesus will watch over us and make sure that His will be done.

So what it really comes down to here is God’s will right? If we are sure we know what God’s will is for our life and we are on the path to fulfilling that will we know that the world really doesn’t matter much because it is God’s will that is driving us. Now I am certainly not suggesting that we stop working and paying the bills but I am suggesting that we stop worrying about the problems we seem to think are so overpowering in our lives. Take a good look around, are you on the path that God wants you to be? If you are then don’t let the world knock you off the path through troubles and hard times. If you are not, then no wonder you are scared every time the storm clouds roll in. You don’t have that same sense that Jesus had about knowing the outcome of the short lived storm will not have any effect on your purpose here on earth. Once you have that assurance, you will have the courage to stand on a golf course with a 1 iron in the middle of a thunderstorm because you have the assurance that the time has not come yet. It is then that you can truly live in the Spirit and accomplish the will of God. When you constantly worry about how the bills are going to get paid, or how you will get the car fixed, or when the next promotion is coming you just can’t focus enough to understand the will of God for your life.

This is where the disciples were, focused on the storm and lost the big picture. It is no wonder that Jesus asked them why they were afraid. After all they were in the boat with the author and finisher of life. How could they think for one minute that they would perish? Then again even if they did wouldn’t eternal life be even better after they leave this world? You would think that with the promise of eternal life in Heaven we would be eager to leave this world, yet we are not. Yet we like the disciples cling to life and fear the times when we sense the end is near. Far more often than not the fears are unnecessary and only server to further slow us down and prevent us from completing God’s work in the most efficient manner possible.

So remember the deep fear of thunderstorms I spoke of earlier. I don’t have that problem anymore. I went from hiding in closets to being able to comfortable walk across the yard at a leisurely pace in the midst of a thunderstorm. So how did I make that transition? It just went away 4 years ago. It certainly wasn’t through any form of psychotherapy. It was through spiritual therapy. It occurred the moment I realized God’s calling for my life. It came the moment that I said Yes Lord, I will do that. It came the moment that I placed my trust in God. It occurred the moment that I gave Jesus authority over my heart to do with as He wished. And like the song from casting crowns says, it came:

Not because of who I am.
But because what of youve done.
Not because of what I’ve done.
But because of who you are.

So why did it take me so many years to get it? I guess it just wasn’t in God’s timing. But what is our problem with all of this anyhow? It certainly sounds simple enough and if I had any idea of the benefits, I would have surrendered to Jesus a long time ago. Why don’t we get the message? I think it really does come down the matter of trust. Trust in God to take care of the things that we think are important. Having enough trust in God to change our hope into faith. So that is the question to be answered, do you have faith in God or is it just some unanchored hope?

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OK, so Jesus rose from the dead. Now what? No, really what is the big deal? This is certainly not the first time in the Bible when someone was brought back from the dead. Take a look in the old testament. You will see that Elijah visited a family whose daughter died. He prayed for her healing and she got up as if she was sleeping. Jesus did this twice with Lazarus and a little girl. So why is this time so important?

For people who don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God these are the questions they face. If Jesus was just another person or even a prophet that was raised from the dead the implications on humanity are so much different than they are when you consider it in the context that Jesus himself taught the disciples before it happened. Even before He was crucified, Jesus taught His disciples that the Messiah must be crucified as an atonement for the sins of the world so that the world can be reconciled to God. The disciples were understandably a little confused by this kind of teaching. Those words just don’t make any sense when you consider them in our human context. The Messiah is supposed to come to earth and rescue the people from oppression and abuse. How could He possibly do that by dying and being buried? Certainly by human standards, this makes no sense at all.

I am sure that after the crucifixion of Jesus the disciples felt a little abandoned and defeated. It is only human to get all fired up over the idea of defeating those who have been oppressing your society and regaining your freedom. We see this clearly in the Gospel accounts of the days following the death of Jesus. It is most evident in the two disciples who were walking to a town named Emmaus as they walked downtrodden and wondering that question I asked in the beginning, Now What? You may recall that Jesus appeared and walked among them and they did not recognize him until he broke bread with them at the dinner table. In Luke 24:36-48 we find a continuation of that account. After recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread, the two from Emmaus immediately went back to Jerusalem to share the events with the others. This is the setting for today’s reading. They are discussing the many Jesus sightings when suddenly Jesus appeared among them. Here is the interesting part. They are all discussing the many people who have seen Jesus and are reporting that he is alive. A lot of people saw him die on the cross and saw him put in the tomb. Although Jesus told them he would rise from the dead and walk among them again many lost their convictions when he died and was placed in the tomb.

Don’t be too critical of them for losing convictions so fast. It happens to us all the time too. How often do we get all fired up around Christmas and Easter only to cool down later in the year? How often do we get fired up to serve and later find our fire either gone out completely or significantly dimmer? Yes, I think we as humans suffer from this condition more than we would like to admit. Today’s gospel reading brings us good news though.

When Jesus appears among them they are scared and think they see a ghost. Jesus begins the conversation with them by saying peace be with you and do not be afraid. I would imagine they were quite unsettled. Imagine how you would feel if someone who died in the past would suddenly appear in the chair beside you and start talking to you. Jesus goes through some talk and actions to prove to them that it is not only Him, but also that He is not a ghost. In asking for something to eat, Jesus proves to them that He is there not only in spirit but also in human bodily form, a fully functioning human body complete with the scars from the crucifixion. No denying it now, this is definitely Jesus and he is definitely alive.

As he did with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus takes the time to open the scripture and help those present to understand not only the events of the last few days but also how they fulfilled the promises that were laid out in the scripture of the old testament. Then Jesus lays out the single statement that makes this resurrection so much different than any of the others. In verse 47 we find the words, “and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” These are the words that make this so different from anything people had ever imagined, that the death and resurrection of Jesus laid out the possibility for forgiveness of sins for those that repent of their sins and proclaim this forgiveness in His name. We also see that this would start in Jerusalem but would be proclaimed to all the nations, both Jew and Gentile.

I have often told people that through leading worship I am blessed every time and today is no exception. You see I have to admit something to you. I often struggle to really understand many scriptures. I am certain that nobody else has this problem but it is a real struggle for me sometimes. I believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and with such a belief it is critical that the scripture not contradict itself and that all things in it resolve to truth. I would be surprised if nobody else noticed that after reading it intently this is sometimes a challenge for us as there are many things that are not easy to understand and require some insight from God to get us through some of this. As I prayed about today’s message God reminded me of one of the parts of scripture I have often questioned. This is a verse from Matthew 24: 33 – 34, “so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” When Jesus said this I am sure most people of the time interpreted this as a prediction of the end of the earth and the upcoming final judgment. Like them, I too had issues reconciling this statement. Here we are more than 2000 years after the death of Jesus and certainly after the end of that generation and yet here we are still praying and still waiting on the final judgment day. Now don’t get me wrong I am not complaining here that this has not happened fast enough. I have had some moments in my life that if it had come then, I would not have been pleased with the results of the final judgment. However, I have often struggled with reconciling this statement with the belief that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. No room for mistakes here, it has to be true.

When God reminded me of this question, He also provided me an answer to my problem. You see, it suddenly became clear to me that Jesus was not talking about the final judgment here, He was talking about the His coming death as a reconciliation for us to God. Jesus died on the cross so we no longer would no longer need to be captive to sin and destruction. Jesus sacrificed His life so that we would be redeemed for God and made holy through Jesus in order to spend eternity with God in his Heavenly Kingdom. In this Bible verse Jesus was not talking about an event but rather talking about the opening of a door for us to enter.

So what does this have to do with the dreams of the disciples for a Messiah to rescue them from their bondage and oppression from the Romans? Well I am glad you asked. You see the disciples were expecting a Messiah to rescue them from the Romans but God’s plan for salvation was much better than just delivering them from the Romans. God’s plan was to deliver them from the forces and powers of evil. God’s plan was to provide a way to reconcile all of mankind to Him once and forever. Through this sacrifice we are made holy in the eyes of God simply by repenting of our sins and asking for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ.

I am reminded of a study we did in my home church last Sunday before worship. In that study we discussed the challenges of the Jewish remnant that was holding up in a mountain fortress called Masada. As Jerusalem was systematically being destroyed around them, these faithful Jewish people thought the mountain fortress would provide them a good place to avoid capture and persecution by the Romans. Unfortunately for them, the Romans found a way to build a ramp in the back and take siege the mountain fortress. When the remnant reached the conclusion that capture was imminent, the made the decision as a group that there were no alternatives left to deal with this crisis. They had come to an impass and there was no way out for them, or at least in their minds. The fact is that for us, we always have a way out and that is Jesus. Jesus meets us where we are and always gives us the strength to deal with whatever challenges life throws our way. The sad part is that the remnant was at their end and did not turn to Jesus for help. Instead they made the decision that the only alternative was mass suicide. How sad indeed that they felt they had no alternatives. Isn’t that always the case with people who have committed suicide throughout the ages, they feel they have no hope of getting through whatever their crisis is. I have wondered all week how many of the Jewish remnant would have gone on to witness to Jesus with the Roman captors, but unfortunately we will never know because of their decision.

I am a big fan of contemporary Christian music. One of the songs that I heard this week that really spoke to me is one by Mandisa called, “Voice of a Savior.” It really speaks to our need for a Savior in our condition of human brokenness and how we try to find it anywhere we can. Think about them as you read the lyrics of this song:

Some people try to listen, to the bottom of a bottle
Some people try to listen, to a needle in their arm
Some people try to listen, to the money in their pocket
Some people try to listen, to another’s arms

You and I are not that different
We got a void and we’re just trying to fill it up
With something that will give just a little peace
All we want is a hand to reach to
Open arms that say I love you
We’d give anything to hear
The voice of a Savior

Some people try to find it with blind ambition
Some people try to find it where no one else has gone
Some people try to find it in the crowns of victory
Some people get defeated and lose the strength to carry on

Some people try to find it in the shadow of a steeple
Some people try to find it in the back row pew
Some people try to find it in the arms of Jesus
That’s where I found it, how about you?

So in today’s world there are many challenges that bring us fear and uncertainty. The economic situation and world events all combine to cause us to be concerned. In the end where do we turn for salvation from life’s challenge? There are lots of places we could turn to for answers but where do we find the “final answer?” As the song says, there are no shortage of options that people often turn to but in the end there is only one source of peace and comfort that will fill our needs without leaving us feeling empty. That place is in the arms of Jesus.

I know I have said this before in the past but it does bear repeating. We are all designed by God to live in harmony and love with God. As a result there is this God-sized hole in each of us that only God can fill. The problem for us is that we often turn to other things to fill that hole. It might be cars, it might be power, or it might be respect just to name a few. But in the end these things cannot fill the hole in us because that hole is designed to be filled by only one thing. Have you ever noticed that no matter how much you have, it is never enough? If you try to fill it with possessions, you just can’t gather enough to feel satisfied with them. You always find yourself looking for more.

This is something to think about as you go about your day today. When you are looking for something that will bring a little peace do you look for it in some earthly form or do you desperately seek the Voice of a Savior? Let us commit together to turn to God’s plan for our eternal salvation. Let us turn to the one who not only knows our challenges first hand but has laid down His life for us to have a path for eternal salvation. Let us seek the Voice of Our Savior to fill these needs and desires rather than the ways of the world.

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