Preached by Gregory W. Lee
24 June 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Mark 1 -- we're going to start at verse 45
-- as this verse opens, Mark has begun to record the beginning of Jesus' ministry -- at this point, He is known as a healer, and has cast demons from people in the synagogue and had healed many people of their diseases
-- this verse concludes the story of Jesus healing a man with leprosy -- after He healed him, Jesus warned him to go to the priest and offer the required sacrifices, but not to tell anyone else what had happened
-- look now at verse 45
1:45. Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
1. A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.
2. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
3. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.
4. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.
5. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
-- this is a very familiar passage for most of us -- the story of the healing of a paralytic man who was lowered through the roof by his four friends because they could not get into the room where Jesus was
-- it is so familiar to us, though, that we tend to miss the richness of what Mark is trying to tell us -- if you would, I would like for you to close your eyes for just a moment and use your imaginations -- I want you to try to picture in your mind what this scene looked like when it happened
-- first, imagine what the room might have looked like -- it would have been a room about the size of your living room or your great room -- maybe about fifteen feet by about twenty feet at the most -- in about six steps, you could cross the entire room
-- the walls would have been made out of stone or mud -- possibly with a couple of windows on each side that let in a little light -- and the door would have been in the center of the wall and would have been covered with a thick curtain -- other than the light from the window, the only other light would have come from oil-burning lamps placed around the room
-- now Mark tells us that Jesus was in the room, preaching the word to them -- He was probably seated in the middle of the room next to the wall -- and the people were gathered in a kind of semi-circle around Him -- the owner of the house and a few other select guests were probably closest to Jesus -- sitting down cross-legged in front of Him while He taught
-- Mark tells us that the room was full -- so I want you to picture that in your mind -- imagine that you are in the room -- standing there shoulder to shoulder with everyone else as part of the crowd -- we've all been in crowds before -- picture what it might look and feel like -- it is crowded -- it is hot -- you are pressed up against the people in front of you -- and the people on your side and behind you are slightly pushing up against you -- jostling you as you try to listen to Jesus -- you have to keep moving your head to look through the people to see Jesus sitting down there next to the wall
-- you look at the door -- and you see the door is absolutely filled with people trying to get in -- they are leaned in -- trying to listen to Jesus -- outside the door is a little crowd -- they are pressing against each other -- trying to catch a word as Jesus teaches or just a glimpse of Him in the room -- people in the street stop and wonder at the crowd around the door and ask what is going on -- they can't see or hear Jesus from where they are -- all they see is a crowd of people pressing in around the door
-- each window also has a crowd around it -- a few lucky ones are leaning in the open window -- their bodies are half-way in the room and they are able to see and listen to Jesus as He teaches -- others behind them are pressing them and squeezing them against the wall as they try to get close -- everyone is pushing against everyone else and everyone is straining to catch Jesus' voice as He teaches
-- do you have that picture in your mind? -- can you feel the crowd jostling against you? -- can you imagine what it looked like?
-- now, open your eyes -- look around this room -- what is different here? -- compared to the scene that Mark described and that you just pictured in your mind, what is different?
-- that's what I want to talk about this morning
II. The People are Missing
-- just a casual glance around this room confirms what we already know about the churches of the United Methodist Church -- the people are missing
-- this is no secret -- I have spoken about this many times -- and Bishop Watson and his cabinet have been trying to address the declining membership in the South Georgia Conference for several years now
-- Roy Blackwood, the conference layleader, pointed out in his address to the conference that the "greatest threat to our church is our continuous decline of members" -- since the creation of the United Methodist Church in 1968, the church has lost members every single year
-- last year in south Georgia we lost over 1,000 members while the population continued to grow by over 12% -- not only does this mean that we are not bringing people into the church, but we are losing the ones that we have -- and if this trend continues, we are going to be witnesses to the lingering death of the United Methodist Church in this country
-- we see the same thing in our church -- while we may have been somewhat constant in our membership over the last several years, I think everyone here can point to a time when the church was filled -- when the church had lots more members than it has now and when the pews were filled with worshipers on Sunday mornings
-- the scene that we see before us today in our church is not that different from other United Methodist congregations throughout the U.S. -- but, it is vastly different from the scene that Mark portrays in his gospel
-- as Mark relates to us the early ministry of Jesus, he points out that Jesus always drew a crowd -- for instance, after Jesus had cast the demon out of the man in the synagogue and went to the home of Simon and Andrew to rest, Mark tells us that the "whole town gathered at the door" to see Jesus
-- and after Jesus healed the man with leprosy and the man told everyone the news about his healing, Mark tells us that the people came to Jesus where ever He went -- to the point where He could no longer enter a town openly but had to stay outside in the lonely places just to keep from getting mobbed
-- and in this story of the healing of the paralytic man in Capernaum, we read in verse 2 that "so many gathered [to hear Jesus] that there was no room left, not even outside the door" -- in fact, there were so many people gathered that the four men couldn't get their paralytic friend to Jesus to be healed but had to make a hole in the roof and lower him down on his mat in front of Jesus
III. Steps to Revival
-- so, what made the difference? -- why did the people fill that house in Capernaum to the point that no one else could come in? -- and why do our pews and our churches remain mostly empty today?
-- first, there had to be something of substance in that place to attract the people
-- for the last several months, the Glasgow University Chapel in Scotland -- which usually stands empty except for Sunday worship services -- has been crowded with people
-- you see, the university recently hired a new janitor -- an immigrant from Poland who came to Scotland in the hopes of making a better living there -- as part of his job, he would clean the chapel and his eyes would fall on the grand piano that was in the room -- one day, he asked if he could practice on the piano when he was finished cleaning the floors and no one else was around -- the vicar said it would be alright
-- so the immigrant -- Aleksander Kudajczyk -- would play for an audience of one -- but, what happened next was amazing -- you see, Aleksander did not know that there was a webcam in the chapel that continually broadcasted live images of the chapel across the internet -- one day, the chapel's pastor, Reverend MacQuarrie, happened to be at his computer as Aleksander began to play
-- as he heard the masterful sounds of Chopin and Rachmaninov come across his computer's speakers, he said he assumed someone was playing a classical CD in the chapel's sound system -- but, as he looked up at the screen, he saw the music was coming from the talented hands of his janitor
-- MacQuarrie mentioned it to one person -- who told another -- and, all of a sudden, Aleksander found himself giving concerts to a chapel full of people on a regular basis -- the room became so crowded and the demand to see him so great, that Aleksander was asked to play at Glasgow's West End Festival and the International Organ Festival
-- there has to be something of substance present in order to attract people
-- what was present in the crowded little room in Capernaum that drew the people to that place? -- Jesus, of course -- the people had gathered to hear the words of Jesus taught -- to listen to His message and to witness the miracles of His healing and the forgiveness of sins
-- does anyone doubt that that same Jesus is here this morning? -- let me say this emphatically so that you all get it -- Jesus is here today -- He has not left this church or the United Methodist Church -- He is here and He offers to us His words and His healing and His forgiveness and His power and His grace -- the same Jesus that drew the people and that filled the room in Capernaum to overflowing is present in this sanctuary at this moment -- His Holy Spirit is here, filling our hearts with His presence and His power
-- so, we have something here of substance that should be attracting people to come -- we have Jesus -- so why aren't the people coming? -- what made the difference between the house in Capernaum and our church this morning?
-- look back at verse 45 in Chapter 1
1:45. Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
-- now, read vs. 1 in Chapter 2
1. A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.
-- what did you read? -- the man who had been healed with leprosy went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news -- when Jesus came to Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home
-- what is the second reason why the house in Capernaum was filled with people? -- those who knew about Jesus told others about Him and where they could find Him
-- if there is anything missing in the Methodist Church -- if there is anything missing in our church today -- it is that we are not telling people about Jesus or where they can find Him
-- Roy Blackwood, the conference layleader, said that it seems "as if we have lost our desire to share the Gospel with others" -- if you want to know why our churches are not filled and why the membership in the Methodist Church continues to decline, it is mainly for this reason -- we are not sharing the Gospel with others
-- for several years now, the slogan of the United Methodist Church has been, "Open Hearts -- Open Minds -- Open Doors" -- I have had a problem with that slogan since they came out with it -- I don't care how open your heart is -- how open your mind is -- or how open your door is -- if you don't tell people what they can find on the other side of the door, no one is going to come
-- if the owner of the house at Capernaum had just invited Jesus to come and told no one else, we wouldn't be reading about it this morning -- if the owner of the house at Capernaum had just opened his door to Jesus and not invited anyone else in, then the room would not have been filled to overflowing -- and, if we don't start inviting people to come to our churches and to hear and experience Jesus in our midst, then our sanctuaries are going to continue to be filled with empty pews and just the select few who know that Jesus is here
-- if we are going to fulfill the Great Commandment -- if we are going to see the membership declines in our churches reversed -- if we are going to see people come to our churches and experience the healing power of Jesus in this place -- then we must not only develop a desire to see people come to Jesus -- but we must develop a desire to tell them about Him and to bring them here
-- for this year's annual conference, Bishop Watson selected the theme, "By All Means," referring back to the Apostle Paul's words that he had become all things to all men so that by all means he might save some
-- this theme is a call to us to imitate Paul -- to imitate the man with leprosy -- to imitate all those in Jesus' day who told others about Jesus and where people could find Him -- to use any and all means at our disposal to tell people about Jesus and to invite them to come to our churches and experience His presence in a real and mighty way
-- Blackwood pointed out that 80 to 90% of all Christians come to faith through a friend or family member -- do you know what that means? -- by and large, people don't come to faith in a church -- that's not the real purpose of a church -- the purpose of a church is to build up and equip the saints -- the people sitting in the pews -- to go out and be more effective ministers of the Gospel of Christ
-- people come to faith when their friends and family members share with them the story of Jesus -- when they demonstrate it to them in their life -- when they show it through their love
IV. Closing
-- we have to get intentional about telling people about Christ and His healing and His forgiveness -- not just so that our churches are filled to overflowing -- but because the results of living a life apart from Jesus have an eternal significance
-- Evangelist Ray Comfort shared about a conversation that he had with an atheist -- he had been talking with the atheist and trying to witness to him -- he had shared with him the truth of the gospel and the truth of heaven and hell -- one day, the atheist went by a fire and watched as a fireman sat in the front of the truck with headphones on listening to a CD while his fellow firefighters ran into a burning building to rescue people who were trapped inside -- the atheist thought about everything that Ray had been telling him and then sent him an e-mail
-- this is an excerpt of the e-mail to Ray from the atheist: "You are really convinced that you've got all the answers. You've really got yourself tricked into believing that you're 100% right. Well, let me tell you just one thing. Do you consider yourself to be compassionate of other humans? If you're right, as you say you are, and you believe that, then how can you sleep at night? When you speak with me, you are speaking with someone who you believe is walking directly into eternal damnation, into an endless onslaught of horrendous pain which your 'loving' God created, yet you stand by and do nothing"
-- "If you believed one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unchangeable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness. That's equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing. You're just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that 'walk' signal will shine your way across the road."
-- "Think about it. Imagine the horrors Hell must have in store if the Bible is true. You're just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself? If you're right, then you're an uncaring, unemotional and purely selfish (expletive) [person] that has no right to talk about subjects such as love and caring."
-- why should we care that the United Methodist Church has been losing members every year since 1968? -- why should we care that the South Georgia Conference lost over 1,000 members last year? -- why should we care that we have empty pews surrounding us right now?
-- because we want more people? -- because we want our churches to be prosperous? -- NO!
-- we care because every empty space in this sanctuary -- every empty spot on a pew -- represents someone who is valuable to God and who may be headed to hell and not heaven simply because we haven't told them about Jesus
-- a declining membership means a lot more than empty churches -- it means that we are not sharing our faith and bringing people to Christ and rescuing them from the flames of hell
-- do I want to see this church filled with people? -- Do I want to see so many people here on a Sunday morning that they're crowded around the door trying to get in? -- Do I want to see the Methodist Church grow every year? -- YES!
-- but not because I want a bigger church -- not because I want to see our church rolls grow -- but because I understand the consequences for those who don't come
-- as I opened the sermon this morning, I had you close your eyes and imagine what the scene looked like in that little room in Capernaum where Jesus healed the paralytic man -- I want to ask you to close your eyes again -- this time, I want you to picture this santuary in your mind -- picture each pew -- the altar -- the pulpit -- the piano
-- you know what it looked like when you closed your eyes -- now, I want you to imagine what it would look like filled -- with every pew filled -- with a person seated in every spot -- picture them standing and singing -- praising God and lifting their eyes and their hearts to heaven as they thank Him for His forgiveness and His healing in their lives
-- use your imagination -- look at the people there in the pews -- who did you bring with you? -- how many came because you used all means possible to share with them the good news of Jesus Christ? -- how many souls in heaven will thank you for introducing them to Jesus?
-- now open your eyes -- will you do what it takes to make that vision a reality?
-- let us pray
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
SERMON: MADE IN GOD'S IMAGE
Preached by Gregory W. Lee
(Father's Day Message)
17 June 2007
I. Introduction
-- if you have your Bibles with you, please turn over to 2 Timothy 4
1. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
2. Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
3. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
4. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
6. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.
7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
-- as we all know, today is Father's Day -- the day we celebrate the fathers and men in our lives -- I have become aware, over the years, that not only do men not understand women but that women don't really understand men
-- so, in honor of Father's day and on behalf of all the men here today, I thought I would share with you a few items out of an instruction manual for women that was written to help you better understand us men and why we do the things we do -- so, here we go:
-- Because I am a man, when I lock my keys in the car, I will fiddle with a wire clothes hanger and ignore your suggestions that we call for help until long after hypothermia has set in.
-- Because I am a man, when the car isn't running very well, I will pop the hood and stare at the engine as if I know what the heck I am looking at. If another man shows up, one of us will say to the other, "I used to be able to fix these things, but now with all these darn computers and everything, I wouldn't know where to start."
-- Because I am a man, when I catch a cold, I need someone to bring me soup and take care of me while I lie in bed and moan. You never get as sick as I do, so for you this isn't an issue.
-- Because I am a man, when one of our appliances stops working, I will insist on taking it apart, despite evidence that this will just cost me twice as much once the repair person gets here and has to put it back together.
-- Because I am a man, I must hold the television remote control in my hand while I watch TV. If the thing has been misplaced, I may miss a whole show looking for it (though one time I was able to survive by holding a calculator).
-- Because I am a man, there is no need to ask me what I am thinking about. The answer is always either sex, cars, or food, though I have to make up something else when you ask, so don't. And when I tell you I am thinking about nothing, it's true.
-- Because I am a man, I do not want to visit your mother, or have your mother come visit us, or talk to her when she calls, or think about her any more than I have to. Whatever you got her for Mother's Day is okay, I don't need to see it. And don't forget to pick up something for my mom, too!
-- Because I am a man, you don't have to ask me if I liked the movie. Chances are, if you're crying at the end of it, I didn't.
-- Because I am a man, I think what you're wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine, too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it looks fine. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now?
-- Because I am a man, and this is, after all, the 21st century, I will share equally in the housework. You just do the laundry, the cooking, the gardening, the cleaning, and the dishes.
I'll do the rest.
-- well, I hope this little primer on men has helped out all the women here today better understand how us men think and why we do the things we do
-- I can understand your confusion about men -- when I was a boy, I became confused myself over what a man was supposed to be
-- you see, one of my first memories as a child was watching t.v. with my father on the weekends -- we would watch man-shows -- football -- wrestling -- and especially, westerns -- all those good old westerns -- Rawhide -- Gunsmoke -- Daniel Boone -- John Wayne movies -- as we watched all those shows, Daddy would tell me that those were real men and that I should follow them and do what they did
-- and so these were the men I patterned in my life -- I especially wanted to be Daniel Boone -- living in the wilderness -- fighting the indians -- hunting and fishing to survive -- truth be told, my decision to be a wildlife biologist was probably influenced some by the TV shows of Daniel Boone that I grew up watching
-- that's who I wanted to be -- that's how I wanted to live -- I remember walking around the stores of Adel as a kid with a coonskin cap carrying a popgun -- I was a real tough character -- women grabbed up their kids to protect them when I walked by -- men gave me a wary eye -- I was a real man just like Daniel Boone
-- and then my mother took me to church -- and I learned in Sunday School about Jesus -- I was told that I should follow Him and do what He did and live like He did -- but He sure didn't sound like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood or James Arness -- all the stories we learned in Sunday School talked about Jesus going around preaching and healing sick people and feeding five thousand men with a few loaves of bread and a few fish and loving everybody He saw
-- and when I looked at the pictures of Jesus in the church, He didn't look like the men in the westerns -- or even any of the men on the farm that we worked with -- He was always posed in prayer -- with long flowing hair -- a slight glistening of His eyes -- and His face turned towards heaven -- sometimes He was alone -- sometimes He was surrounded by a crowd of people -- but He always looked so peaceful and so good and so nice
-- He didn't have a coon skin cap -- He didn't carry a gun or a sword or nothing -- He wore robes and evidently went to church all the time -- and when I was young, I noticed that all of the sunday school teachers were women -- and all of the teachers at Vacation Bible School were women and that the only man in the church was the preacher -- so I guess I kind of figured out on my own that to be like Jesus you had to be like them -- good and kind and sweet -- and not like John Wayne or Daniel Boone
-- and that's the Jesus I grew up knowing -- a good man -- a kind man -- a meek and mild man -- not a hunter like Daniel Boone -- not a warrior like Marshal Matt Dillon -- just a nice, good man
-- and, you know what, that's the image that we still tend to portray in the church today -- but is it true? -- is this our Jesus? -- is this our Lord? -- or is this just what we've made Him out to be?
-- when I got older, I started reading the Bible for myself -- and the God I saw in the Bible sure acted a lot different from the Jesus I grew up learning about in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School -- for instance, in the Old Testament, this God took on the Egyptians and poured out plagues on them and rescued His people from the Egyptian army when they were pinned up against the Red Sea -- and this God told Saul to go to war and kill all the Amalekites -- this God sounded a lot more like a warrior than the Jesus I had learned about
-- and then I started reading the New Testament -- and, sure enough, there were the stories about Jesus feeding the five thousand and healing the sick and preaching on the mountainside -- but, you know what, there were other stories in there, too
-- Jesus standing up to the Pharisees and the religious rulers of His day -- refusing to back down and calling them hypocrites to their face
-- and Jesus going up against demons -- commanding them to be quiet and to come out of people -- casting them away from His presence
-- and then there's the story of Jesus going up to the temple and getting angry -- taking a whip and turning over the tables of the money changers and throwing them out of the temple because they had desecrated it with their presence
-- now, that's a Jesus a man can understand and relate to -- that's a Jesus who is more than nice and good -- that's a Jesus like John Wayne and Daniel Boone -- a man who stands up for what is right and who isn't afraid to fight if the situation demands it
-- and then I read the stories about the early church and the great men and women of God who stood up against Nero for what they believed in -- who were willing to face persecution and die for their faith rather than deny their Lord and Savior
-- men like Paul -- who dedicated his life to spreading the message of Jesus and carrying it to the far-flung reaches of the Roman Empire -- Paul -- who in 2 Corinthians 11 said that he had been flogged by the Jews five times -- beaten with rods three times -- shipwrecked three times -- spending a night and day in the open sea -- constantly on the move -- constantly in danger -- from bandits and robbers and his own countrymen -- in danger in the city -- in danger in the country -- in danger all the time
-- and I realized something -- being a Godly man isn't about being nice and good and holy -- being a man who goes to church doesn't mean you have to check your masculinity at the door -- being a Godly man means you've accepted the challenge of Christ and you're stepping into the heart of a battle -- a battle of good versus evil
-- and I learned that following Christ means more than just coming to church and singing a few hymns -- it means putting on the full armor of God -- and taking up your cross and the sword of the Spirit -- and running headlong into battle with Jesus leading the way
-- to be a Christian man means that you are called to be part of God's army -- to be a warrior -- to be just like John Wayne and Daniel Boone and William Wallace on the fields of Bannockburn
-- look at this passage here in 2 Timothy -- where the Apostle Paul -- who is dying after spending years on the mission field -- is writing to his young protege Timothy -- does this sound like a message from a nice man -- or does it more closely resemble the final instructions from a general on the field of battle to his next in command?
-- look back at verse 1
1. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
2. Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
-- the words of a warrior passing the torch to the next generation -- "in the presence of God and Christ Jesus -- with the power and authority that they gave me -- I charge you, Timothy, with continuing the work -- preach the word -- carry the message -- raise the standard of Christ in the battle against the enemy"
-- "be ready at all times, for the enemy is constantly at watch -- looking for weakness -- looking for his chance to strike -- be strong with the troops -- correct and rebuke them when they stray -- and encourage them when they begin to doubt and when they begin to fear"
-- no, these are not the words of a nice man --of a meek man -- of a weak man -- these are the words of a mighty warrior -- a man of God who knew what he stood for and why he was striving for so many years
-- verse 3
3. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
4. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
-- it's not going to be easy, Timothy -- it's going to be hard -- you've got enemies who are going to rise up against you -- not only Satan and his demons -- but also the men that he's going to raise up -- who will refuse to hear the truth -- who will refuse to follow the one true God
-- but stand firm -- in the heat of battle, don't become confused -- keep your head about you -- remember your calling and Who it is that stands with you and for Whom you fight -- endure the hardship -- and fulfill the calling of Christ on your life -- you are an evangelist -- you are a warrior -- you are a man of God
-- Paul's charge to Timothy reminds me of the words of William Wallace from the movie Braveheart -- if you remember the story, the Scottish people had been oppressed by the King of England -- Edward Longshanks -- for as long as they could remember -- and finally the Scottish highlanders rebelled -- Longshanks sent his army to the field of Sterling to put down the revolt
-- and the highlanders drew up ranks against them -- vastly outnumbered in all ways -- as the Scottish nobles went out to agree to a truce and end the revolt, many Scots began to leave the field of battle -- afraid of dying -- afraid of fighting
-- Wallace rode up then and rallied the troops with a masterful speech -- "Sons of Scotland! I am William Wallace. -- And I see a whole army of my country men, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?" -- a Scot called back to him, "Against that army? No, we will run, and we will live."
-- Wallace replied, "Aye, fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!"
-- that is the message of Paul to Timothy -- don't be afraid to fight -- be the man that God has called you to be -- stand up against the evil of this world and the evil in the heavenly realms -- you may die in the midst of the battle -- but you will die knowing that you fought well and didn't shrink away -- and you will die knowing that your reward is waiting on the other side
-- verse 6
6. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.
7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
-- Paul says the end is near for him -- he has given all he has -- he has fought the good fight -- he has finished the race -- he has kept the faith -- he never backed down -- not even once -- he kept going and gave all he had for His God and His King
III. Closing
-- I think most of us grew up thinking that if you were a man and went to church, that you were somewhat weak -- that Christian men were good and nice but that they weren't real men -- in truth, most of them were wimps
-- Jesse Ventura, the pro-wrestler who is the former governor of Minnesota, sure thinks so -- he once said that "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
-- Ted Turner -- good 'ole Ted -- the owner of the Braves and TBS -- once said about the same thing -- he said that "Christianity is a religion for losers"
-- but the truth is, a man who really follows God -- a man who isn't ashamed of the gospel -- a man like Paul and Timothy and all those who stood up against Nero in the coliseum -- these men aren't wimps -- they aren't losers -- they are warriors on the front line of a battle -- representing our God and our King against the evil forces arrayed against them
-- let me close by telling you about just such a man and encourage you to follow his example
-- Reggie White -- the star defensive end for the University of Tennesee and the Green Bay Packers -- was an imposing figure on the ballfield -- he stood 6'5" -- weighed 290 pounds -- and was blessed with incredible speed and strength -- he could bench-press over 425 pounds and run a 4.69 40-yard dash -- extremely fast for a man his size -- by anyone's standards, Reggie White was no wimp -- he was no loser
-- listen to what he once said, "There are some people who say Christianity is for wimps -- but people can say what they want -- as far as I am concerned, being a Christian makes you more of a man -- Jesus was the bravest, toughest man who ever walked on the face of the earth -- before He died on the cross, He could have snapped His fingers and everything would have been over -- but He chose not to do that and instead died a painful death to pay for our sins"
-- as a friend who knew Reggie once told me, Reggie was the type of guy who would knock you down on the field and then offer you a hand back up when the play was over -- a man who knew what he was called to be -- a man who knew Who he was called to serve -- a man who wasn't afraid to enter the battle, even if it might cost him his life
-- let me speak directly to you men in the congregation this morning -- God isn't calling you to be Mr. Rogers -- He's calling you to be Braveheart -- He isn't calling you to just come to church and sing, "In the Garden" and other "nice" hymns -- and He certainly isn't calling you to huddle at home in safety while you send the wife and kids to church
-- God is calling you to carry His message to a hostile world -- to enter the battle -- to charge the fields at Bannockburn -- to stand up for Him at your workplace and in the marketplace and where ever you might find yourself
-- I don't know if you carry things around with you in your pockets or not -- but I do -- and when I reach in my pocket during the day and I feel this thing -- whatever it is -- then I am reminded of who I am and what I am supposed to be doing and standing for in my life
-- one thing that I carry around with me from time to time is a rock -- a smooth river rock -- it reminds me of David standing up against Goliath -- of the rock that he picked up from the riverbank and used to slay the giant Philistine warrior on the field of battle
-- and it reminds me that I am called to be a warrior for God, too
-- I went out and got a bunch of these rocks -- and if any of the men in the church want one -- I'll have them at the back door on the way out
-- regardless of whether you take a rock or not -- I hope you remember that God is not calling you to be a wimp or a loser -- He is calling you to be a real man -- a Godly man -- a man who is willing to fight the good fight, to finish the race, and to keep the faith -- just like David and Paul and Timothy
-- let us pray
(Father's Day Message)
17 June 2007
I. Introduction
-- if you have your Bibles with you, please turn over to 2 Timothy 4
1. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
2. Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
3. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
4. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
6. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.
7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
-- as we all know, today is Father's Day -- the day we celebrate the fathers and men in our lives -- I have become aware, over the years, that not only do men not understand women but that women don't really understand men
-- so, in honor of Father's day and on behalf of all the men here today, I thought I would share with you a few items out of an instruction manual for women that was written to help you better understand us men and why we do the things we do -- so, here we go:
-- Because I am a man, when I lock my keys in the car, I will fiddle with a wire clothes hanger and ignore your suggestions that we call for help until long after hypothermia has set in.
-- Because I am a man, when the car isn't running very well, I will pop the hood and stare at the engine as if I know what the heck I am looking at. If another man shows up, one of us will say to the other, "I used to be able to fix these things, but now with all these darn computers and everything, I wouldn't know where to start."
-- Because I am a man, when I catch a cold, I need someone to bring me soup and take care of me while I lie in bed and moan. You never get as sick as I do, so for you this isn't an issue.
-- Because I am a man, when one of our appliances stops working, I will insist on taking it apart, despite evidence that this will just cost me twice as much once the repair person gets here and has to put it back together.
-- Because I am a man, I must hold the television remote control in my hand while I watch TV. If the thing has been misplaced, I may miss a whole show looking for it (though one time I was able to survive by holding a calculator).
-- Because I am a man, there is no need to ask me what I am thinking about. The answer is always either sex, cars, or food, though I have to make up something else when you ask, so don't. And when I tell you I am thinking about nothing, it's true.
-- Because I am a man, I do not want to visit your mother, or have your mother come visit us, or talk to her when she calls, or think about her any more than I have to. Whatever you got her for Mother's Day is okay, I don't need to see it. And don't forget to pick up something for my mom, too!
-- Because I am a man, you don't have to ask me if I liked the movie. Chances are, if you're crying at the end of it, I didn't.
-- Because I am a man, I think what you're wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine, too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it looks fine. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now?
-- Because I am a man, and this is, after all, the 21st century, I will share equally in the housework. You just do the laundry, the cooking, the gardening, the cleaning, and the dishes.
I'll do the rest.
-- well, I hope this little primer on men has helped out all the women here today better understand how us men think and why we do the things we do
-- I can understand your confusion about men -- when I was a boy, I became confused myself over what a man was supposed to be
-- you see, one of my first memories as a child was watching t.v. with my father on the weekends -- we would watch man-shows -- football -- wrestling -- and especially, westerns -- all those good old westerns -- Rawhide -- Gunsmoke -- Daniel Boone -- John Wayne movies -- as we watched all those shows, Daddy would tell me that those were real men and that I should follow them and do what they did
-- and so these were the men I patterned in my life -- I especially wanted to be Daniel Boone -- living in the wilderness -- fighting the indians -- hunting and fishing to survive -- truth be told, my decision to be a wildlife biologist was probably influenced some by the TV shows of Daniel Boone that I grew up watching
-- that's who I wanted to be -- that's how I wanted to live -- I remember walking around the stores of Adel as a kid with a coonskin cap carrying a popgun -- I was a real tough character -- women grabbed up their kids to protect them when I walked by -- men gave me a wary eye -- I was a real man just like Daniel Boone
-- and then my mother took me to church -- and I learned in Sunday School about Jesus -- I was told that I should follow Him and do what He did and live like He did -- but He sure didn't sound like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood or James Arness -- all the stories we learned in Sunday School talked about Jesus going around preaching and healing sick people and feeding five thousand men with a few loaves of bread and a few fish and loving everybody He saw
-- and when I looked at the pictures of Jesus in the church, He didn't look like the men in the westerns -- or even any of the men on the farm that we worked with -- He was always posed in prayer -- with long flowing hair -- a slight glistening of His eyes -- and His face turned towards heaven -- sometimes He was alone -- sometimes He was surrounded by a crowd of people -- but He always looked so peaceful and so good and so nice
-- He didn't have a coon skin cap -- He didn't carry a gun or a sword or nothing -- He wore robes and evidently went to church all the time -- and when I was young, I noticed that all of the sunday school teachers were women -- and all of the teachers at Vacation Bible School were women and that the only man in the church was the preacher -- so I guess I kind of figured out on my own that to be like Jesus you had to be like them -- good and kind and sweet -- and not like John Wayne or Daniel Boone
-- and that's the Jesus I grew up knowing -- a good man -- a kind man -- a meek and mild man -- not a hunter like Daniel Boone -- not a warrior like Marshal Matt Dillon -- just a nice, good man
-- and, you know what, that's the image that we still tend to portray in the church today -- but is it true? -- is this our Jesus? -- is this our Lord? -- or is this just what we've made Him out to be?
-- when I got older, I started reading the Bible for myself -- and the God I saw in the Bible sure acted a lot different from the Jesus I grew up learning about in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School -- for instance, in the Old Testament, this God took on the Egyptians and poured out plagues on them and rescued His people from the Egyptian army when they were pinned up against the Red Sea -- and this God told Saul to go to war and kill all the Amalekites -- this God sounded a lot more like a warrior than the Jesus I had learned about
-- and then I started reading the New Testament -- and, sure enough, there were the stories about Jesus feeding the five thousand and healing the sick and preaching on the mountainside -- but, you know what, there were other stories in there, too
-- Jesus standing up to the Pharisees and the religious rulers of His day -- refusing to back down and calling them hypocrites to their face
-- and Jesus going up against demons -- commanding them to be quiet and to come out of people -- casting them away from His presence
-- and then there's the story of Jesus going up to the temple and getting angry -- taking a whip and turning over the tables of the money changers and throwing them out of the temple because they had desecrated it with their presence
-- now, that's a Jesus a man can understand and relate to -- that's a Jesus who is more than nice and good -- that's a Jesus like John Wayne and Daniel Boone -- a man who stands up for what is right and who isn't afraid to fight if the situation demands it
-- and then I read the stories about the early church and the great men and women of God who stood up against Nero for what they believed in -- who were willing to face persecution and die for their faith rather than deny their Lord and Savior
-- men like Paul -- who dedicated his life to spreading the message of Jesus and carrying it to the far-flung reaches of the Roman Empire -- Paul -- who in 2 Corinthians 11 said that he had been flogged by the Jews five times -- beaten with rods three times -- shipwrecked three times -- spending a night and day in the open sea -- constantly on the move -- constantly in danger -- from bandits and robbers and his own countrymen -- in danger in the city -- in danger in the country -- in danger all the time
-- and I realized something -- being a Godly man isn't about being nice and good and holy -- being a man who goes to church doesn't mean you have to check your masculinity at the door -- being a Godly man means you've accepted the challenge of Christ and you're stepping into the heart of a battle -- a battle of good versus evil
-- and I learned that following Christ means more than just coming to church and singing a few hymns -- it means putting on the full armor of God -- and taking up your cross and the sword of the Spirit -- and running headlong into battle with Jesus leading the way
-- to be a Christian man means that you are called to be part of God's army -- to be a warrior -- to be just like John Wayne and Daniel Boone and William Wallace on the fields of Bannockburn
-- look at this passage here in 2 Timothy -- where the Apostle Paul -- who is dying after spending years on the mission field -- is writing to his young protege Timothy -- does this sound like a message from a nice man -- or does it more closely resemble the final instructions from a general on the field of battle to his next in command?
-- look back at verse 1
1. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
2. Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
-- the words of a warrior passing the torch to the next generation -- "in the presence of God and Christ Jesus -- with the power and authority that they gave me -- I charge you, Timothy, with continuing the work -- preach the word -- carry the message -- raise the standard of Christ in the battle against the enemy"
-- "be ready at all times, for the enemy is constantly at watch -- looking for weakness -- looking for his chance to strike -- be strong with the troops -- correct and rebuke them when they stray -- and encourage them when they begin to doubt and when they begin to fear"
-- no, these are not the words of a nice man --of a meek man -- of a weak man -- these are the words of a mighty warrior -- a man of God who knew what he stood for and why he was striving for so many years
-- verse 3
3. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
4. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
-- it's not going to be easy, Timothy -- it's going to be hard -- you've got enemies who are going to rise up against you -- not only Satan and his demons -- but also the men that he's going to raise up -- who will refuse to hear the truth -- who will refuse to follow the one true God
-- but stand firm -- in the heat of battle, don't become confused -- keep your head about you -- remember your calling and Who it is that stands with you and for Whom you fight -- endure the hardship -- and fulfill the calling of Christ on your life -- you are an evangelist -- you are a warrior -- you are a man of God
-- Paul's charge to Timothy reminds me of the words of William Wallace from the movie Braveheart -- if you remember the story, the Scottish people had been oppressed by the King of England -- Edward Longshanks -- for as long as they could remember -- and finally the Scottish highlanders rebelled -- Longshanks sent his army to the field of Sterling to put down the revolt
-- and the highlanders drew up ranks against them -- vastly outnumbered in all ways -- as the Scottish nobles went out to agree to a truce and end the revolt, many Scots began to leave the field of battle -- afraid of dying -- afraid of fighting
-- Wallace rode up then and rallied the troops with a masterful speech -- "Sons of Scotland! I am William Wallace. -- And I see a whole army of my country men, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?" -- a Scot called back to him, "Against that army? No, we will run, and we will live."
-- Wallace replied, "Aye, fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!"
-- that is the message of Paul to Timothy -- don't be afraid to fight -- be the man that God has called you to be -- stand up against the evil of this world and the evil in the heavenly realms -- you may die in the midst of the battle -- but you will die knowing that you fought well and didn't shrink away -- and you will die knowing that your reward is waiting on the other side
-- verse 6
6. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.
7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
-- Paul says the end is near for him -- he has given all he has -- he has fought the good fight -- he has finished the race -- he has kept the faith -- he never backed down -- not even once -- he kept going and gave all he had for His God and His King
III. Closing
-- I think most of us grew up thinking that if you were a man and went to church, that you were somewhat weak -- that Christian men were good and nice but that they weren't real men -- in truth, most of them were wimps
-- Jesse Ventura, the pro-wrestler who is the former governor of Minnesota, sure thinks so -- he once said that "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
-- Ted Turner -- good 'ole Ted -- the owner of the Braves and TBS -- once said about the same thing -- he said that "Christianity is a religion for losers"
-- but the truth is, a man who really follows God -- a man who isn't ashamed of the gospel -- a man like Paul and Timothy and all those who stood up against Nero in the coliseum -- these men aren't wimps -- they aren't losers -- they are warriors on the front line of a battle -- representing our God and our King against the evil forces arrayed against them
-- let me close by telling you about just such a man and encourage you to follow his example
-- Reggie White -- the star defensive end for the University of Tennesee and the Green Bay Packers -- was an imposing figure on the ballfield -- he stood 6'5" -- weighed 290 pounds -- and was blessed with incredible speed and strength -- he could bench-press over 425 pounds and run a 4.69 40-yard dash -- extremely fast for a man his size -- by anyone's standards, Reggie White was no wimp -- he was no loser
-- listen to what he once said, "There are some people who say Christianity is for wimps -- but people can say what they want -- as far as I am concerned, being a Christian makes you more of a man -- Jesus was the bravest, toughest man who ever walked on the face of the earth -- before He died on the cross, He could have snapped His fingers and everything would have been over -- but He chose not to do that and instead died a painful death to pay for our sins"
-- as a friend who knew Reggie once told me, Reggie was the type of guy who would knock you down on the field and then offer you a hand back up when the play was over -- a man who knew what he was called to be -- a man who knew Who he was called to serve -- a man who wasn't afraid to enter the battle, even if it might cost him his life
-- let me speak directly to you men in the congregation this morning -- God isn't calling you to be Mr. Rogers -- He's calling you to be Braveheart -- He isn't calling you to just come to church and sing, "In the Garden" and other "nice" hymns -- and He certainly isn't calling you to huddle at home in safety while you send the wife and kids to church
-- God is calling you to carry His message to a hostile world -- to enter the battle -- to charge the fields at Bannockburn -- to stand up for Him at your workplace and in the marketplace and where ever you might find yourself
-- I don't know if you carry things around with you in your pockets or not -- but I do -- and when I reach in my pocket during the day and I feel this thing -- whatever it is -- then I am reminded of who I am and what I am supposed to be doing and standing for in my life
-- one thing that I carry around with me from time to time is a rock -- a smooth river rock -- it reminds me of David standing up against Goliath -- of the rock that he picked up from the riverbank and used to slay the giant Philistine warrior on the field of battle
-- and it reminds me that I am called to be a warrior for God, too
-- I went out and got a bunch of these rocks -- and if any of the men in the church want one -- I'll have them at the back door on the way out
-- regardless of whether you take a rock or not -- I hope you remember that God is not calling you to be a wimp or a loser -- He is calling you to be a real man -- a Godly man -- a man who is willing to fight the good fight, to finish the race, and to keep the faith -- just like David and Paul and Timothy
-- let us pray
Saturday, June 16, 2007
A TWEENER IN A SEA OF UNCONNECTEDNESS
Woke up this morning with a few thoughts about the results of our annual conference and the challenges to be faced in the upcoming general conference of the United Methodist Church. More and more it is made evident to me that I fall into a class in the church that can only be called "Tweeners." As local pastors we find ourselves not laity and not clergy -- we're between the two. And that makes for quite a strange arrangement in our lives and in our ministries.
For instance, because we are not clergy in full connection to the conference, we are appointed by the Bishop to only serve in our local churches. In regards to the sacraments, we are limited to overseeing them within our appointed churches and charges. We can bury folks anywhere, but we can only marry them in our churches. Authorities granted that are a little more than the laity but a lot less than elders.
We see it in other ministries promoted by the Methodist Church. I am heavily involved in the Emmaus and Chrysalis movements, having served as an assistant spiritual director on many occasions. It is refreshing to see God move in these events, especially since spiritual growth in our Methodist churches is sometimes hard to gauge or even notice except through the lens of time.
In our local Emmaus and Chrysalis movements, the spiritual team is disproportionately made up of local pastors. Not sure why, but this is the case. Perhaps the elders are too busy to participate. However, the Upper Room, the United Methodist organization that manages Emmaus and Chrysalis and comes out with the official manual for the events, has mandated that local pastors cannot serve as lead spiritual directors, they can only serve as assistant spiritual directors. Now, even that is in jeopardy depending on how you read the new revisions to the manual. It seems to imply now that only elders can participate as part of a spiritual team. However, local pastors are not allowed to serve as laity in the conference room because we are not laity. We are "tweeners" -- between laity and clergy and possibly about to be discouraged from participating in these movements.
I didn't go to Annual Conference again this year, not because I didn't want to go but because my secular work schedule does not allow it. As a part-time local pastor with a full-time secular job, I have to use my vacation time to attend to pastoral responsibilities, such as visitations to the hospital, or funerals, or attending the required Course of Study. As such, my vacation time is valuable, and if I had attended conference, I would not have been able to attend Course of Study. Last year, I skipped Course of Study so I could actually go on a real vacation -- we took off one week in December to go on a cruise. Since I started attending Course of Study five years ago, this is the first vacation our family has had.
Anyway, sorry to head off on a rabbit trail. The point is, I didn't go to Annual Conference so I can't really criticize or applaud what was conducted there. My only knowledge of the events is based on second-hand information from other pastors, our charge delegate, and The Advocate, the official newspaper of the Methodist Church in Georgia.
The one thing that interested me, though, was the election of the delegates to General Conference. Of course, this is another area where local pastors are excluded from being considered since they are not clergy or laity. Only elders can be elected to General Conference, which is fine with me. But local pastors are not considered laity, so they can't be elected as part of the lay delegation. As I looked at the lay delegation, I noted that every representative comes from a church with an elder as pastor. And while I know that we are a connectional denomination, this does mean that churches with local pastors will not be adequately represented at General Conference, at least by our delegation. The situation with local pastors is unique, and unless delegates have been part of such a congregation in the past, they may not understand the value of these "tweeners" and their smaller congregations to Methodism as a whole.
I bring that up because I hear rumors that the authority of local pastors to administer the sacraments in their appointed churches will be debated at General Conference. In other words, the delegates to General Conference will decide if local pastors can serve communion and baptize within their own appointed churches and charges. This could have a profound impact on the spiritual well-being of thousands of United Methodists throughout this country.
My first year in the ministry I served as a "lay" pastor and not a "local pastor" because I had not attended the License to Preach School. As such, I was not authorized to administer the sacraments in this congregation. Communion could only be offered if I could find another elder who would agree to attend our service and oversee the sacrament. With two churches on my charge, it was extremely difficult to find an elder who could visit both churches on the same day. It was also extremely difficult to find an elder who could come on any Sunday to just one church because they either had their own church, or, if they were retired, were usually preaching at another church. As a result, we did communion twice at one church that year and did not do communion at all in the other, smaller church.
I am a firm believer in the fact that these sacraments are part of the means of grace. If General Conference votes to preclude local pastors from serving communion or baptizing in the church, I think that the spiritual health of many people in these smaller congregations will be negatively impacted. In fact, it may mean the final nail in the coffin for these congregations. How will our conference's delegates to General Conference vote on this issue? I don't know. But I suspect that the ones who are not familiar with the ministry of the local pastor will vote differently than those who are familiar with this particular ministry in the church.
Regardless of what happens, I have been called by God to this ministry and this place and this denomination. I will submit to the authority of those above me in the church and will faithfully fulfill the duties that they assign. I might wish things were different, and I pray that the church continues to recognize and lift up the ministries of us "tweeners." I will continue to advocate for more recognition and rights for the local pastor. But, come what may, I will continue to serve my God however and where-ever He places me.
For instance, because we are not clergy in full connection to the conference, we are appointed by the Bishop to only serve in our local churches. In regards to the sacraments, we are limited to overseeing them within our appointed churches and charges. We can bury folks anywhere, but we can only marry them in our churches. Authorities granted that are a little more than the laity but a lot less than elders.
We see it in other ministries promoted by the Methodist Church. I am heavily involved in the Emmaus and Chrysalis movements, having served as an assistant spiritual director on many occasions. It is refreshing to see God move in these events, especially since spiritual growth in our Methodist churches is sometimes hard to gauge or even notice except through the lens of time.
In our local Emmaus and Chrysalis movements, the spiritual team is disproportionately made up of local pastors. Not sure why, but this is the case. Perhaps the elders are too busy to participate. However, the Upper Room, the United Methodist organization that manages Emmaus and Chrysalis and comes out with the official manual for the events, has mandated that local pastors cannot serve as lead spiritual directors, they can only serve as assistant spiritual directors. Now, even that is in jeopardy depending on how you read the new revisions to the manual. It seems to imply now that only elders can participate as part of a spiritual team. However, local pastors are not allowed to serve as laity in the conference room because we are not laity. We are "tweeners" -- between laity and clergy and possibly about to be discouraged from participating in these movements.
I didn't go to Annual Conference again this year, not because I didn't want to go but because my secular work schedule does not allow it. As a part-time local pastor with a full-time secular job, I have to use my vacation time to attend to pastoral responsibilities, such as visitations to the hospital, or funerals, or attending the required Course of Study. As such, my vacation time is valuable, and if I had attended conference, I would not have been able to attend Course of Study. Last year, I skipped Course of Study so I could actually go on a real vacation -- we took off one week in December to go on a cruise. Since I started attending Course of Study five years ago, this is the first vacation our family has had.
Anyway, sorry to head off on a rabbit trail. The point is, I didn't go to Annual Conference so I can't really criticize or applaud what was conducted there. My only knowledge of the events is based on second-hand information from other pastors, our charge delegate, and The Advocate, the official newspaper of the Methodist Church in Georgia.
The one thing that interested me, though, was the election of the delegates to General Conference. Of course, this is another area where local pastors are excluded from being considered since they are not clergy or laity. Only elders can be elected to General Conference, which is fine with me. But local pastors are not considered laity, so they can't be elected as part of the lay delegation. As I looked at the lay delegation, I noted that every representative comes from a church with an elder as pastor. And while I know that we are a connectional denomination, this does mean that churches with local pastors will not be adequately represented at General Conference, at least by our delegation. The situation with local pastors is unique, and unless delegates have been part of such a congregation in the past, they may not understand the value of these "tweeners" and their smaller congregations to Methodism as a whole.
I bring that up because I hear rumors that the authority of local pastors to administer the sacraments in their appointed churches will be debated at General Conference. In other words, the delegates to General Conference will decide if local pastors can serve communion and baptize within their own appointed churches and charges. This could have a profound impact on the spiritual well-being of thousands of United Methodists throughout this country.
My first year in the ministry I served as a "lay" pastor and not a "local pastor" because I had not attended the License to Preach School. As such, I was not authorized to administer the sacraments in this congregation. Communion could only be offered if I could find another elder who would agree to attend our service and oversee the sacrament. With two churches on my charge, it was extremely difficult to find an elder who could visit both churches on the same day. It was also extremely difficult to find an elder who could come on any Sunday to just one church because they either had their own church, or, if they were retired, were usually preaching at another church. As a result, we did communion twice at one church that year and did not do communion at all in the other, smaller church.
I am a firm believer in the fact that these sacraments are part of the means of grace. If General Conference votes to preclude local pastors from serving communion or baptizing in the church, I think that the spiritual health of many people in these smaller congregations will be negatively impacted. In fact, it may mean the final nail in the coffin for these congregations. How will our conference's delegates to General Conference vote on this issue? I don't know. But I suspect that the ones who are not familiar with the ministry of the local pastor will vote differently than those who are familiar with this particular ministry in the church.
Regardless of what happens, I have been called by God to this ministry and this place and this denomination. I will submit to the authority of those above me in the church and will faithfully fulfill the duties that they assign. I might wish things were different, and I pray that the church continues to recognize and lift up the ministries of us "tweeners." I will continue to advocate for more recognition and rights for the local pastor. But, come what may, I will continue to serve my God however and where-ever He places me.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
SERMON: WE ARE THE FUTURE
Preached by Gregory W. Lee
10 June 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 23
-- this morning, we are finishing up our series on "How to be a Bad Christian" -- so far, we have looked at six ways to be a bad Christian:
1. Make Christianity a burden on others
2. Serve in order to be seen
3. Shut the door of grace to other people and prevent them from entering in
4. Follow the letter of the law and not the spirit or meaning of the law
5. Make a big deal out of small things and pay little attention to the truly important things
6. Become a true hypocrite -- believe that by being holy on the outside you can make up for internal failings and hidden sins
-- the last way to be a bad Christian is to condemn sins in others that we ourselves are committing
-- in this passage, Jesus issues His final "woe" to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as He condemns them for doing just that
-- so, if you would, look down at verse 29 and let's hear Christ's final words of warning to the Pharisees
29. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
30. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
II. Scripture Lesson
-- on January 15, 1929, one of the most influential and well-known leaders of the 20th century was born -- and to this day we celebrate his name and his actions every year
-- as of 2006, 730 cities had streets named in his honor -- in 1986, a county in Washington state rededicated itself in his memory and placed a likeness of his face on their official seal -- and the city hall in Harrisburg, PA, was renamed in his memory
-- he has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and numerous honorary doctorates
-- a Gallup poll found that he was the second most admired person in the 20th Century -- he was listed as the 6th most admired person in the world in this century by Time magazine -- and was elected the third greatest American of all time in a contest hosted by the Discovery Channel and AOL
-- I imagine that if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive today, he would be greatly surprised at his popularity in the United States today
-- during his entire participation in the Civil Rights Movement and his attempts to remove the Jim Crow laws that authorized segregation of the races and that effectively discriminated against blacks and other minorities in the United States, Dr. King was harassed and persecuted -- both verbally and physically -- by enemies on all sides
-- the federal government -- especially the FBI -- investigated Dr. King and placed bugs and tracking devices in his homes and on his person
-- other, more violent opponents physically beat him and bombed his house
-- even all of the major media turned against him when he gave a speech against U.S. participation in Vietnam and calling for our immediate evacuation -- Time Magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi" -- and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, and his people"
-- and of course, we all know that the opposition to him reached its climax in 1968, when he was killed by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee
-- now, 40 years later, we hear Dr. King -- his words and his message and his vision -- lifted up and promoted by some of the people who were his most ardent enemies when he was alive -- everyone applauds him and no one admits opposing him
-- and many people my age and younger -- those who were either very young when Dr. King was alive or who were born after Dr. King died -- look back at that time and at the persecution that Dr. King faced and say, "If I had been alive back then, I would never have done that -- I would have stood with Dr. King against the injustice of Jim Crow and for equal rights for minorities"
-- isn't it amazing how we can so easily condemn others for their sins when we have yet to walk in their shoes? -- and isn't it amazing how we can so easily condemn others for their sins when we are committing the same types of sins in our lives today?
-- this is exactly what is going on in this passage -- the Pharisees were looking back at the sins their ancestors had committed and were saying to themselves, "Why, we'd never have done that if we were around back then -- we're much too holy to have done that"
-- look back at verse 29
29. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
-- once again -- for the seventh time in this chapter -- we see Jesus saying to these men -- "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees -- you hypocrites"
-- what were they doing that was so bad? -- all they were doing was building tombs and decorating the graves of the prophets and the righteous men of old -- recognizing and honoring their memory and their service and dedication to the Lord -- what could be wrong with that?
-- in essence, they were saying, "We respect the teachings of the old prophets and teachers" -- so how were they being hypocritical?
-- verse 30
30. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
-- Jesus called the teachers of the law and the Pharisees hypocrites for two reasons
-- first, because all the while they were honoring the memory and teachings of the old prophets and righteous men of the past, they were actively opposing and persecuting God's righteous prophets and teachers in their own day -- most notably John the Baptist and Jesus Himself
-- by building tombs and synagogues and monuments in their honor -- by decorating and calling attention to their graves -- the Pharisees were trying to claim kinship with the old prophets and teachers -- they were trying to prove they were holy -- just like those great men -- because they took the time and effort to remember them and their teachings
-- but whitewashing tombs and erecting monuments to great men of God could not hide the fact that they themselves were guilty
-- the second reason Jesus calls them hypocrites is because they condemned the sins of their forefathers while following in their footsteps -- as they decorated the graves and built monuments to the memory of the prophets and teachers, the Pharisees would tell themselves, "We are not like our forefathers -- we would have followed the teachings of the prophets and not done them any harm"
-- as one commentator put it, "They imagined themselves much better than their ancestors" -- but Jesus, who knew what they were going to do, uncovered their heart and showed them that they were about to be so much more evil than all who had come before
-- their forefathers had killed God's prophets and teachers -- but the Pharisees were about to kill God's only Son
-- and even while they were plotting against Jesus -- even while their hearts were turned against Him -- they still considered themselves holy and righteous even though they were serving Satan and not the God they professed
-- in Luke 6:41-42, Jesus taught, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? -- How can you say to your brother, `Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
-- the Pharisees saw the sin of their ancestors and condemned them for it -- but their ancestor's sins were but a speck compared to the log in the eye and heart of the Pharisees
-- verse 31
31. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
-- Jesus declared that their own hearts testified that they were the children of those who had persecuted the prophets and teachers -- not only were they related through blood -- but they were related in spirit -- the same evil spirit that led their forefathers to persecute the prophets and teachers was living in them and driving them to betray Jesus to the cross
-- there's one truth that always comes out when dealing with hypocrisy -- the works of your heart speak greater than your words -- the work of the heart is the bane of the hypocrite
-- you can fool people through your words -- you can even fool people by pretending to be holy and honor prophets and teachers by building tombs and decorating their graves -- but, in the end, the truth will be told when your the work of your heart betrays who you really are
-- Jesus says here that they "testified against themselves" -- it was an appeal to their conscience -- Jesus was telling them that in spite of all their pretence to piety -- that both He and they knew in their hearts and in their consciences who they really were -- hypocrites with a capital "H"
-- and even though they pretended that they hated what they forefathers had done, they really approved of their conduct because their hearts were the same
-- Jesus was trying to call the Pharisees to repentance -- to give them a final chance to turn around and to start living righteously from the heart and not just with their words and external acts of piety
-- verse 32
32. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
-- during the meal on the last night Jesus spent with His disciples, He turned to Judas and told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly" -- at that moment, Satan entered Judas and he left to meet with the High Priest to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver
-- in this verse, Jesus is basically telling the Pharisees the same thing -- "what you are about to do, do quickly" -- in other words, "if you want to follow the paths of your ancestors and truly be their descendants, then go ahead and do what it is that you are planning to do"
-- there comes a time when God quits calling you to repentance -- there comes a time when you have refused Him time and time again and you have made your decision to not come to Him -- and He lets you go your way -- in Romans 1 we read of how the people continually turned away from God and refused to respond to His call for forgiveness and holiness -- and Paul says that God eventually "gave them over" to their shameful lusts and desires
-- in this verse, Jesus is giving the Pharisees and the teachers of the law over to their hypocrisy and hatred and eventual persecution of Himself
-- they were going to fulfill the desires of their evil hearts and were going to make their sins complete -- as one commentator put it, by slaying Jesus, they were going to fill up and complete what was lacking in the sins of their fathers -- their fathers had only killed the prophets and the teachers -- the Pharisees were going to kill God
-- and just a few days after Jesus uttered these words, the Pharisees had Pilate crucify Jesus on the cross at Calvary
-- if you want to be a bad Christian, condemn the sin in others that you are condoning in your own life
III. Closing
-- so, what does this mean to us? -- well, it's a warning from Jesus to search our hearts and to examine our ways -- it's so easy for us to look at others and see the sin in their lives while missing the very same sin in our own -- it's so easy for us to look back at those who came before and condemn them for their actions when we are doing the same thing in our own day
-- think about this -- how many times have you read the stories of the disciples and the Pharisees and thought to yourself, "I just don't understand how they couldn't have known that Jesus was the Messiah -- that He was God -- if I had been alive then, I would have followed Jesus"
-- how many times have you condemned them for not recognizing Jesus when He was in their midst while at the same time you have not seen His hand in your life or in the life of others around you?
-- how many times do you think bad thoughts of others because of something they are doing in their life even though you do the same thing yourself? -- have you ever thought, "I can't believe that so-and-so skipped out on Bible study last week" when you yourself miss Bible study from time to time? -- why do we hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves?
-- I remember when I worked in Tennessee -- our plant was operated by contractors with Government oversight -- and every single Government worker was convinced that the contractors spent all their time goofing off and not working -- I distinctly remember us talking about that while we were sitting around drinking coffee together during work hours -- oh, the specks that we so easily see in others and the logs that we so often miss in our own lives
-- how many times have you looked down on someone for not paying attention in a worship service or for not being more committed or for not tithing on their income -- when we ourselves were failing in similar ways?
-- the Pharisees lived that way, and Jesus condemned them as hypocrites for it -- the sad thing is, they never even realized it, even though Jesus pointed it out numerous times and called them to repentance and faith in Him
-- Barclay says, "The only prophets they admired were dead prophets -- when they met a living one, they tried to kill Him -- they honored the dead prophets with tombs and memorials -- but they dishonored the living ones with persecution and death"
-- the Pharisees had fooled themselves -- they didn't think of themselves as hypocrites -- they didn't think of themselves as prophet-killers
-- and if we are not careful, we can fool ourselves, too -- as one blogger put it, "Religionists don't see themselves as the God-rejecting people they are" [http://comelordj.blogspot.com/]
-- Jesus is calling us today to examine our hearts and our actions to make sure that we are living holy and righteous lives in Him -- to make sure that we are not rejecting Him by claiming to be more holy than we are -- or more holy than those around us
-- Jesus is calling us to be real in our worship and our evaluation of ourselves and our lives and our relationship with Him
-- as I close this morning, I am going to invite you to make just such an evaluation -- an examination -- of conscience in your life -- I want to encourage you to truly and honestly examine your life and your heart and your relationships with God and with your neighbors -- and to respond to God's word as you feel led
-- let us pray
10 June 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 23
-- this morning, we are finishing up our series on "How to be a Bad Christian" -- so far, we have looked at six ways to be a bad Christian:
1. Make Christianity a burden on others
2. Serve in order to be seen
3. Shut the door of grace to other people and prevent them from entering in
4. Follow the letter of the law and not the spirit or meaning of the law
5. Make a big deal out of small things and pay little attention to the truly important things
6. Become a true hypocrite -- believe that by being holy on the outside you can make up for internal failings and hidden sins
-- the last way to be a bad Christian is to condemn sins in others that we ourselves are committing
-- in this passage, Jesus issues His final "woe" to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as He condemns them for doing just that
-- so, if you would, look down at verse 29 and let's hear Christ's final words of warning to the Pharisees
29. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
30. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
II. Scripture Lesson
-- on January 15, 1929, one of the most influential and well-known leaders of the 20th century was born -- and to this day we celebrate his name and his actions every year
-- as of 2006, 730 cities had streets named in his honor -- in 1986, a county in Washington state rededicated itself in his memory and placed a likeness of his face on their official seal -- and the city hall in Harrisburg, PA, was renamed in his memory
-- he has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and numerous honorary doctorates
-- a Gallup poll found that he was the second most admired person in the 20th Century -- he was listed as the 6th most admired person in the world in this century by Time magazine -- and was elected the third greatest American of all time in a contest hosted by the Discovery Channel and AOL
-- I imagine that if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive today, he would be greatly surprised at his popularity in the United States today
-- during his entire participation in the Civil Rights Movement and his attempts to remove the Jim Crow laws that authorized segregation of the races and that effectively discriminated against blacks and other minorities in the United States, Dr. King was harassed and persecuted -- both verbally and physically -- by enemies on all sides
-- the federal government -- especially the FBI -- investigated Dr. King and placed bugs and tracking devices in his homes and on his person
-- other, more violent opponents physically beat him and bombed his house
-- even all of the major media turned against him when he gave a speech against U.S. participation in Vietnam and calling for our immediate evacuation -- Time Magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi" -- and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, and his people"
-- and of course, we all know that the opposition to him reached its climax in 1968, when he was killed by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee
-- now, 40 years later, we hear Dr. King -- his words and his message and his vision -- lifted up and promoted by some of the people who were his most ardent enemies when he was alive -- everyone applauds him and no one admits opposing him
-- and many people my age and younger -- those who were either very young when Dr. King was alive or who were born after Dr. King died -- look back at that time and at the persecution that Dr. King faced and say, "If I had been alive back then, I would never have done that -- I would have stood with Dr. King against the injustice of Jim Crow and for equal rights for minorities"
-- isn't it amazing how we can so easily condemn others for their sins when we have yet to walk in their shoes? -- and isn't it amazing how we can so easily condemn others for their sins when we are committing the same types of sins in our lives today?
-- this is exactly what is going on in this passage -- the Pharisees were looking back at the sins their ancestors had committed and were saying to themselves, "Why, we'd never have done that if we were around back then -- we're much too holy to have done that"
-- look back at verse 29
29. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
-- once again -- for the seventh time in this chapter -- we see Jesus saying to these men -- "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees -- you hypocrites"
-- what were they doing that was so bad? -- all they were doing was building tombs and decorating the graves of the prophets and the righteous men of old -- recognizing and honoring their memory and their service and dedication to the Lord -- what could be wrong with that?
-- in essence, they were saying, "We respect the teachings of the old prophets and teachers" -- so how were they being hypocritical?
-- verse 30
30. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
-- Jesus called the teachers of the law and the Pharisees hypocrites for two reasons
-- first, because all the while they were honoring the memory and teachings of the old prophets and righteous men of the past, they were actively opposing and persecuting God's righteous prophets and teachers in their own day -- most notably John the Baptist and Jesus Himself
-- by building tombs and synagogues and monuments in their honor -- by decorating and calling attention to their graves -- the Pharisees were trying to claim kinship with the old prophets and teachers -- they were trying to prove they were holy -- just like those great men -- because they took the time and effort to remember them and their teachings
-- but whitewashing tombs and erecting monuments to great men of God could not hide the fact that they themselves were guilty
-- the second reason Jesus calls them hypocrites is because they condemned the sins of their forefathers while following in their footsteps -- as they decorated the graves and built monuments to the memory of the prophets and teachers, the Pharisees would tell themselves, "We are not like our forefathers -- we would have followed the teachings of the prophets and not done them any harm"
-- as one commentator put it, "They imagined themselves much better than their ancestors" -- but Jesus, who knew what they were going to do, uncovered their heart and showed them that they were about to be so much more evil than all who had come before
-- their forefathers had killed God's prophets and teachers -- but the Pharisees were about to kill God's only Son
-- and even while they were plotting against Jesus -- even while their hearts were turned against Him -- they still considered themselves holy and righteous even though they were serving Satan and not the God they professed
-- in Luke 6:41-42, Jesus taught, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? -- How can you say to your brother, `Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
-- the Pharisees saw the sin of their ancestors and condemned them for it -- but their ancestor's sins were but a speck compared to the log in the eye and heart of the Pharisees
-- verse 31
31. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
-- Jesus declared that their own hearts testified that they were the children of those who had persecuted the prophets and teachers -- not only were they related through blood -- but they were related in spirit -- the same evil spirit that led their forefathers to persecute the prophets and teachers was living in them and driving them to betray Jesus to the cross
-- there's one truth that always comes out when dealing with hypocrisy -- the works of your heart speak greater than your words -- the work of the heart is the bane of the hypocrite
-- you can fool people through your words -- you can even fool people by pretending to be holy and honor prophets and teachers by building tombs and decorating their graves -- but, in the end, the truth will be told when your the work of your heart betrays who you really are
-- Jesus says here that they "testified against themselves" -- it was an appeal to their conscience -- Jesus was telling them that in spite of all their pretence to piety -- that both He and they knew in their hearts and in their consciences who they really were -- hypocrites with a capital "H"
-- and even though they pretended that they hated what they forefathers had done, they really approved of their conduct because their hearts were the same
-- Jesus was trying to call the Pharisees to repentance -- to give them a final chance to turn around and to start living righteously from the heart and not just with their words and external acts of piety
-- verse 32
32. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
-- during the meal on the last night Jesus spent with His disciples, He turned to Judas and told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly" -- at that moment, Satan entered Judas and he left to meet with the High Priest to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver
-- in this verse, Jesus is basically telling the Pharisees the same thing -- "what you are about to do, do quickly" -- in other words, "if you want to follow the paths of your ancestors and truly be their descendants, then go ahead and do what it is that you are planning to do"
-- there comes a time when God quits calling you to repentance -- there comes a time when you have refused Him time and time again and you have made your decision to not come to Him -- and He lets you go your way -- in Romans 1 we read of how the people continually turned away from God and refused to respond to His call for forgiveness and holiness -- and Paul says that God eventually "gave them over" to their shameful lusts and desires
-- in this verse, Jesus is giving the Pharisees and the teachers of the law over to their hypocrisy and hatred and eventual persecution of Himself
-- they were going to fulfill the desires of their evil hearts and were going to make their sins complete -- as one commentator put it, by slaying Jesus, they were going to fill up and complete what was lacking in the sins of their fathers -- their fathers had only killed the prophets and the teachers -- the Pharisees were going to kill God
-- and just a few days after Jesus uttered these words, the Pharisees had Pilate crucify Jesus on the cross at Calvary
-- if you want to be a bad Christian, condemn the sin in others that you are condoning in your own life
III. Closing
-- so, what does this mean to us? -- well, it's a warning from Jesus to search our hearts and to examine our ways -- it's so easy for us to look at others and see the sin in their lives while missing the very same sin in our own -- it's so easy for us to look back at those who came before and condemn them for their actions when we are doing the same thing in our own day
-- think about this -- how many times have you read the stories of the disciples and the Pharisees and thought to yourself, "I just don't understand how they couldn't have known that Jesus was the Messiah -- that He was God -- if I had been alive then, I would have followed Jesus"
-- how many times have you condemned them for not recognizing Jesus when He was in their midst while at the same time you have not seen His hand in your life or in the life of others around you?
-- how many times do you think bad thoughts of others because of something they are doing in their life even though you do the same thing yourself? -- have you ever thought, "I can't believe that so-and-so skipped out on Bible study last week" when you yourself miss Bible study from time to time? -- why do we hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves?
-- I remember when I worked in Tennessee -- our plant was operated by contractors with Government oversight -- and every single Government worker was convinced that the contractors spent all their time goofing off and not working -- I distinctly remember us talking about that while we were sitting around drinking coffee together during work hours -- oh, the specks that we so easily see in others and the logs that we so often miss in our own lives
-- how many times have you looked down on someone for not paying attention in a worship service or for not being more committed or for not tithing on their income -- when we ourselves were failing in similar ways?
-- the Pharisees lived that way, and Jesus condemned them as hypocrites for it -- the sad thing is, they never even realized it, even though Jesus pointed it out numerous times and called them to repentance and faith in Him
-- Barclay says, "The only prophets they admired were dead prophets -- when they met a living one, they tried to kill Him -- they honored the dead prophets with tombs and memorials -- but they dishonored the living ones with persecution and death"
-- the Pharisees had fooled themselves -- they didn't think of themselves as hypocrites -- they didn't think of themselves as prophet-killers
-- and if we are not careful, we can fool ourselves, too -- as one blogger put it, "Religionists don't see themselves as the God-rejecting people they are" [http://comelordj.blogspot.com/]
-- Jesus is calling us today to examine our hearts and our actions to make sure that we are living holy and righteous lives in Him -- to make sure that we are not rejecting Him by claiming to be more holy than we are -- or more holy than those around us
-- Jesus is calling us to be real in our worship and our evaluation of ourselves and our lives and our relationship with Him
-- as I close this morning, I am going to invite you to make just such an evaluation -- an examination -- of conscience in your life -- I want to encourage you to truly and honestly examine your life and your heart and your relationships with God and with your neighbors -- and to respond to God's word as you feel led
-- let us pray
SERMON: THE MAN IN THE MIRROR
Preached by Gregory W. Lee
3 June 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Mat 23
25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
28. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
-- for the past year, I have been having conversations with a student in my office about religion -- one day I asked him, "Do you go to church anywhere?" -- he told me that he had been a member in a local baptist church growing up -- but that he hadn't been to church since he was 16 years old
-- he told me about how the church elders had a problem with the youth group being too loud and too boisterous and how they didn't want the youth in the church -- they wanted things to stay just the way it always had -- and they didn't like the way the youth were bringing contemporary worshp songs into the church and doing things that they had never done in a worship service before
-- it turned into a huge issue and he said that the church actually split over it -- the people who didn't want the youth messing up their services stayed in the church and the others went off to found a new congregation -- but he and his family opted to leave and not come back
-- he shared that this turned him against church -- not against God -- but against church -- so now that he's an adult and out on his own, I asked him why he didn't try going to one of the other churches in town that had more contemporary and charismatic services -- and he replied back with that familiar line, "Because there's too many hypocrites in the church."
-- my initial reaction was to reply back, "Well, we can always make room for one more" -- but I just couldn't -- because I knew that he was right -- there are too many hypocrites in the church today
-- as you know, we've been going through this series from Matthew 23 on "How to be a bad Christian" -- it's what we call an expository series -- where we take a passage and break it down and try to get from it the message that the Spirit has for the church today
-- there are several advantages to expository preaching -- one is that I know ahead of time what the sermon text is going to be -- and, hopefully, it keeps me from getting stale and from preaching on the same topics over and over again because you are bound by the message in the text you are using
-- and, another advantage, is that sometimes you are forced to preach messages that are just a little harder or a little closer to home than you would normally like to bring
-- and that's just what happened this week in this passage -- you see, the reason I knew that my student was right -- that there are too many hypocrites in the church today -- is because I saw one first thing this morning -- when I looked at myself in the mirror before breakfast
-- if we are honest with ourselves -- like it or not -- we have to admit that there is within us a little hypocrisy from time to time
-- it is that hypocrisy -- the hyprocrisy that is found within believers and within churches -- that Jesus is confronting in our passage today
-- so, if you would -- let's look back at this passage again in some more detail and let's try to see what Jesus' message for us this morning is
II. Scripture Lesson
-- verse 25
25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
-- so what is a hypocrite? -- well, we get the word "hypocrite" or "hypocrisy" from a Greek word that means "Actor" -- it means to play a part -- to act one way on the outside while living a different way on the inside
-- now that definition is a little different from the way we normally define a hypocrite -- normally, when we think of a person that is a hypocrite in the church, we think about someone who portrays themselves as holy on Sunday but then goes out and lives like a sinner the rest of the week
-- there are certainly people who do that -- the televangelist scandal of recent years shows us that this type of hypocrisy occurs -- but that's not the meaning Jesus had in mind when He used the word "hypocrisy" in this passage
-- the Pharisees were holy every day -- they were the holiest people around -- they were the most righteous -- the most zealous for the law -- they were good and godly men -- they didn't act one way on the sabbath and then act another way the rest of the week
-- in fact, Jesus commended their outward righteousness on occasion -- in Matthew 5:20, Jesus tells His disciples, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven"
-- these men were as holy and righteous in their actions as they could be -- they had it down -- they were the standard to follow
-- but still, Jesus called them hypocrites -- not because of of their lack of righteousness on the outside -- but because of their lack of righteousness on the inside
-- you see, they were playing a part, just like a part in a play-- it was the only part they knew -- and they had played it for so long, they had actually started believing it was true -- as a famous French classical writer once commented, "We [become] so accustomed to wearing a disguise before others that we are unable to recognize ourselves"
-- they really believed they were holy -- they really believed they were righteous -- and so did everyone who saw them
-- so Jesus had to do something drastic to shock them into reality
-- "Hypocrites," He cries out, "All you are doing is washing the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside is as dirty as ever" -- in other words, "You may be clean and holy and shiny on the outside -- you may think you are holy and righteous through and through -- but your heart is still as dark and evil and dirty as always"
-- the Pharisees had been more concerned about appearing holy before men than before God -- and while their lips praised the Lord, their hearts were far from Him
-- verse 26
26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
-- notice that Jesus calls them "blind" here in this passage -- the Pharisees and the teachers of the law prided themselves in interpreting the Scripture -- in knowing the law and understanding the law and teaching it to others -- showing them the way they should go in their lives
-- but Jesus says that they are blind -- they haven't seen the truth themselves -- they have missed reality and settled instead for a part in a play
-- "Clean the inside first," Jesus says, "and then the outside will follow"
-- for all their acting -- for all their trying to be holy and righteous and to follow the law to the "nth" degree -- the Pharisees could never be holy in the eyes of God, because their heart was not right with Him
-- as Isaiah pointed out in Isaiah 64:6, "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" -- in other words, we can try to act holy and righteous and good, but our acts don't amount to anything unless they are driven from a pure and clean heart
-- once you are clean on the inside, good works will naturally follow -- pouring up out of the wellspring of living water that is within us
-- Jesus calls the Pharisees and the teachers of the law "hypocrites" because they were trying to live holy lives on the outside without first being holy on the inside
-- I once read about this man who applied this principle to his home -- actually, he did it to fool the tax assessor -- he didn't take care of the outside of his house -- his lawn was unkempt -- his bushes were not trimmed -- leaves were not raked -- the paint was peeling -- gutters hanging down -- the place just looked like a mess
-- but, on the inside, it was palatial -- he had the best carpet -- top of the line furnishings -- high dollar entertainment center with stereo -- it was a showcase -- it was a home you'd expect to see in the pages of a magazine
-- even though his motives in this case were not pure, he did illustrate what Jesus is trying to point out in this passage -- it is not the external things that count -- it is not the part that the people see that counts -- it is the inside part -- it is your heart and your spirit and your relationship with the Father -- that is what is important -- and that is where you should be working and putting your most time and effort
-- do you remember what God told Samuel when Samuel went to Jesse's house to anoint the next king of Israel? -- Samuel wanted to anoint Jesse's oldest son who was tall and handsome and well-built -- but God said, "No, this isn't him" -- in 1 Samuel 16:7, God told Samuel, " Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
-- what defines a hypocrite in God's eyes? -- someone who looks holy on the outside but who is far from Him in their heart
-- verse 27
27. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
28. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
-- Jesus makes His same point to them in another way -- once a year, the tombs in Jerusalem would be repainted -- they would be made to look new and shiny so they would be attractive to all who passed by them
-- but being clean and attractive on the outside did not change what was on the inside -- they were still tombs and they still held the bones of the dead
-- according to the Law, anything dead was unclean -- and if a Jew touched a dead person or their bones, then they would be considered unclean until they had been cleansed by the priest
-- by calling them "white-washed tombs" -- "whited sepulchres" -- Jesus was pointing out to them that they were not only ceremonially unclean -- but they were unclean in the eyes of God
-- they talked like they were holy -- they walked like they were holy -- they acted like they were holy -- but in reality, they were unclean hypocrites leading others astray
-- so, if you want to be a bad Christian, become a true hypocrite -- thinking that by being holy on the outside you can make up for internal failings and hidden sins
-- as Dave Burchett [http://www.daveburchett.com] points out, "The warnings of Jesus to the phony Pharisees are also directed at me...and you"
III. Application and Closing
-- my student contended that there were too many hypocrites in the church today -- and when I saw myself in the mirror this morning, I found myself agreeing
-- as I see it, there are two dangerous types of hypocrites in the church
-- I'm not worried about the people who come in and pretend to be holy on Sunday and then live a sinful life the rest of the week -- they aren't playing a part that they think is real -- they know that they are sinners and far from God -- and so does everyone else who sees them -- God is already working on their heart, convicting them of their unrighteousness -- that's why they come to church and try to blend in on Sundays
-- no, I'm worried about the other two types of hypocrites in the church -- the ones who are dangerous because they are lying to themselves
-- first, there is the person who comes to church religiously -- who is a pillar of the church -- sings in the choir -- knows all the words to the songs -- comes to Bible study -- always participates in everything that goes on -- does good things in the church and in the community -- really looks holy -- but doesn't know the Lord -- in fact, there's never been a point in their life when they made a personal decision to ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins and to come into their life to be their Lord and Savior
-- these are the hypocrites that think they can become Christians by osmosis -- they are Christians because they come to church or because their family goes to church or even because their family built this church -- but, truth be told, they're playing a part -- they're not Christians at all
-- the other type of hypocrite is the one who looked back at me from the mirror this morning -- the one who is a Christian -- who has accepted Christ and received forgiveness from sins -- but who still has unforgiven sin in their hearts that they are dealing with on a regular basis
-- maybe it's anger -- or covetness -- or lust -- or pride -- or gossip -- or envy -- or lying -- or stealing -- or any number of things -- whatever it is, it's deep inside -- and we know it -- and so we compensate by doing good things to make up for it -- "Perhaps if I'm holy enough on the outside, it will make up for what's on the inside"
-- and so we put forth one picture for the world -- of the holy Christian man or woman -- the one who is doing all the right things and really living for the Lord -- when inside we know that our hearts just aren't where they ought to be
-- either way, we're just as big a hypocrite as the Pharisees ever pretended to be
-- so what do we do about it? -- well, there's only one thing we can do -- and that's run to the cross of Jesus -- as Timothy Sanford says, "The cross is the only cleansing agent that originates from God and performas a once-and-for-all cleansing of the believer"
-- the cross can cleanse us -- whether it's the cleansing of sins for the first time for a person who has never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior or whether it's the daily cleansing of
sins from us Christians
-- as it says in 1 John 1:9-10, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness -- If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."
-- the only cure for hypocrisy is the blood of Christ -- and the only place to get that cleansing blood is from the cross of Jesus
-- as the Robert Lowry hymn “Nothing but the Blood," says:
"What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
-- this morning, if you find yourself a hypocrite -- either because you have never accepted Christ or because you have been trying to cover up your sins by being good and holy on the outside -- then I want to invite you to come to the cross and let Jesus' blood wash away your sins and cleanse you again
-- as always, the altar is open for any who wish to come forward and respond to God's word -- let us pray
3 June 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Mat 23
25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
28. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
-- for the past year, I have been having conversations with a student in my office about religion -- one day I asked him, "Do you go to church anywhere?" -- he told me that he had been a member in a local baptist church growing up -- but that he hadn't been to church since he was 16 years old
-- he told me about how the church elders had a problem with the youth group being too loud and too boisterous and how they didn't want the youth in the church -- they wanted things to stay just the way it always had -- and they didn't like the way the youth were bringing contemporary worshp songs into the church and doing things that they had never done in a worship service before
-- it turned into a huge issue and he said that the church actually split over it -- the people who didn't want the youth messing up their services stayed in the church and the others went off to found a new congregation -- but he and his family opted to leave and not come back
-- he shared that this turned him against church -- not against God -- but against church -- so now that he's an adult and out on his own, I asked him why he didn't try going to one of the other churches in town that had more contemporary and charismatic services -- and he replied back with that familiar line, "Because there's too many hypocrites in the church."
-- my initial reaction was to reply back, "Well, we can always make room for one more" -- but I just couldn't -- because I knew that he was right -- there are too many hypocrites in the church today
-- as you know, we've been going through this series from Matthew 23 on "How to be a bad Christian" -- it's what we call an expository series -- where we take a passage and break it down and try to get from it the message that the Spirit has for the church today
-- there are several advantages to expository preaching -- one is that I know ahead of time what the sermon text is going to be -- and, hopefully, it keeps me from getting stale and from preaching on the same topics over and over again because you are bound by the message in the text you are using
-- and, another advantage, is that sometimes you are forced to preach messages that are just a little harder or a little closer to home than you would normally like to bring
-- and that's just what happened this week in this passage -- you see, the reason I knew that my student was right -- that there are too many hypocrites in the church today -- is because I saw one first thing this morning -- when I looked at myself in the mirror before breakfast
-- if we are honest with ourselves -- like it or not -- we have to admit that there is within us a little hypocrisy from time to time
-- it is that hypocrisy -- the hyprocrisy that is found within believers and within churches -- that Jesus is confronting in our passage today
-- so, if you would -- let's look back at this passage again in some more detail and let's try to see what Jesus' message for us this morning is
II. Scripture Lesson
-- verse 25
25. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
-- so what is a hypocrite? -- well, we get the word "hypocrite" or "hypocrisy" from a Greek word that means "Actor" -- it means to play a part -- to act one way on the outside while living a different way on the inside
-- now that definition is a little different from the way we normally define a hypocrite -- normally, when we think of a person that is a hypocrite in the church, we think about someone who portrays themselves as holy on Sunday but then goes out and lives like a sinner the rest of the week
-- there are certainly people who do that -- the televangelist scandal of recent years shows us that this type of hypocrisy occurs -- but that's not the meaning Jesus had in mind when He used the word "hypocrisy" in this passage
-- the Pharisees were holy every day -- they were the holiest people around -- they were the most righteous -- the most zealous for the law -- they were good and godly men -- they didn't act one way on the sabbath and then act another way the rest of the week
-- in fact, Jesus commended their outward righteousness on occasion -- in Matthew 5:20, Jesus tells His disciples, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven"
-- these men were as holy and righteous in their actions as they could be -- they had it down -- they were the standard to follow
-- but still, Jesus called them hypocrites -- not because of of their lack of righteousness on the outside -- but because of their lack of righteousness on the inside
-- you see, they were playing a part, just like a part in a play-- it was the only part they knew -- and they had played it for so long, they had actually started believing it was true -- as a famous French classical writer once commented, "We [become] so accustomed to wearing a disguise before others that we are unable to recognize ourselves"
-- they really believed they were holy -- they really believed they were righteous -- and so did everyone who saw them
-- so Jesus had to do something drastic to shock them into reality
-- "Hypocrites," He cries out, "All you are doing is washing the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside is as dirty as ever" -- in other words, "You may be clean and holy and shiny on the outside -- you may think you are holy and righteous through and through -- but your heart is still as dark and evil and dirty as always"
-- the Pharisees had been more concerned about appearing holy before men than before God -- and while their lips praised the Lord, their hearts were far from Him
-- verse 26
26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
-- notice that Jesus calls them "blind" here in this passage -- the Pharisees and the teachers of the law prided themselves in interpreting the Scripture -- in knowing the law and understanding the law and teaching it to others -- showing them the way they should go in their lives
-- but Jesus says that they are blind -- they haven't seen the truth themselves -- they have missed reality and settled instead for a part in a play
-- "Clean the inside first," Jesus says, "and then the outside will follow"
-- for all their acting -- for all their trying to be holy and righteous and to follow the law to the "nth" degree -- the Pharisees could never be holy in the eyes of God, because their heart was not right with Him
-- as Isaiah pointed out in Isaiah 64:6, "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" -- in other words, we can try to act holy and righteous and good, but our acts don't amount to anything unless they are driven from a pure and clean heart
-- once you are clean on the inside, good works will naturally follow -- pouring up out of the wellspring of living water that is within us
-- Jesus calls the Pharisees and the teachers of the law "hypocrites" because they were trying to live holy lives on the outside without first being holy on the inside
-- I once read about this man who applied this principle to his home -- actually, he did it to fool the tax assessor -- he didn't take care of the outside of his house -- his lawn was unkempt -- his bushes were not trimmed -- leaves were not raked -- the paint was peeling -- gutters hanging down -- the place just looked like a mess
-- but, on the inside, it was palatial -- he had the best carpet -- top of the line furnishings -- high dollar entertainment center with stereo -- it was a showcase -- it was a home you'd expect to see in the pages of a magazine
-- even though his motives in this case were not pure, he did illustrate what Jesus is trying to point out in this passage -- it is not the external things that count -- it is not the part that the people see that counts -- it is the inside part -- it is your heart and your spirit and your relationship with the Father -- that is what is important -- and that is where you should be working and putting your most time and effort
-- do you remember what God told Samuel when Samuel went to Jesse's house to anoint the next king of Israel? -- Samuel wanted to anoint Jesse's oldest son who was tall and handsome and well-built -- but God said, "No, this isn't him" -- in 1 Samuel 16:7, God told Samuel, " Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
-- what defines a hypocrite in God's eyes? -- someone who looks holy on the outside but who is far from Him in their heart
-- verse 27
27. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
28. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
-- Jesus makes His same point to them in another way -- once a year, the tombs in Jerusalem would be repainted -- they would be made to look new and shiny so they would be attractive to all who passed by them
-- but being clean and attractive on the outside did not change what was on the inside -- they were still tombs and they still held the bones of the dead
-- according to the Law, anything dead was unclean -- and if a Jew touched a dead person or their bones, then they would be considered unclean until they had been cleansed by the priest
-- by calling them "white-washed tombs" -- "whited sepulchres" -- Jesus was pointing out to them that they were not only ceremonially unclean -- but they were unclean in the eyes of God
-- they talked like they were holy -- they walked like they were holy -- they acted like they were holy -- but in reality, they were unclean hypocrites leading others astray
-- so, if you want to be a bad Christian, become a true hypocrite -- thinking that by being holy on the outside you can make up for internal failings and hidden sins
-- as Dave Burchett [http://www.daveburchett.com] points out, "The warnings of Jesus to the phony Pharisees are also directed at me...and you"
III. Application and Closing
-- my student contended that there were too many hypocrites in the church today -- and when I saw myself in the mirror this morning, I found myself agreeing
-- as I see it, there are two dangerous types of hypocrites in the church
-- I'm not worried about the people who come in and pretend to be holy on Sunday and then live a sinful life the rest of the week -- they aren't playing a part that they think is real -- they know that they are sinners and far from God -- and so does everyone else who sees them -- God is already working on their heart, convicting them of their unrighteousness -- that's why they come to church and try to blend in on Sundays
-- no, I'm worried about the other two types of hypocrites in the church -- the ones who are dangerous because they are lying to themselves
-- first, there is the person who comes to church religiously -- who is a pillar of the church -- sings in the choir -- knows all the words to the songs -- comes to Bible study -- always participates in everything that goes on -- does good things in the church and in the community -- really looks holy -- but doesn't know the Lord -- in fact, there's never been a point in their life when they made a personal decision to ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins and to come into their life to be their Lord and Savior
-- these are the hypocrites that think they can become Christians by osmosis -- they are Christians because they come to church or because their family goes to church or even because their family built this church -- but, truth be told, they're playing a part -- they're not Christians at all
-- the other type of hypocrite is the one who looked back at me from the mirror this morning -- the one who is a Christian -- who has accepted Christ and received forgiveness from sins -- but who still has unforgiven sin in their hearts that they are dealing with on a regular basis
-- maybe it's anger -- or covetness -- or lust -- or pride -- or gossip -- or envy -- or lying -- or stealing -- or any number of things -- whatever it is, it's deep inside -- and we know it -- and so we compensate by doing good things to make up for it -- "Perhaps if I'm holy enough on the outside, it will make up for what's on the inside"
-- and so we put forth one picture for the world -- of the holy Christian man or woman -- the one who is doing all the right things and really living for the Lord -- when inside we know that our hearts just aren't where they ought to be
-- either way, we're just as big a hypocrite as the Pharisees ever pretended to be
-- so what do we do about it? -- well, there's only one thing we can do -- and that's run to the cross of Jesus -- as Timothy Sanford says, "The cross is the only cleansing agent that originates from God and performas a once-and-for-all cleansing of the believer"
-- the cross can cleanse us -- whether it's the cleansing of sins for the first time for a person who has never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior or whether it's the daily cleansing of
sins from us Christians
-- as it says in 1 John 1:9-10, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness -- If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."
-- the only cure for hypocrisy is the blood of Christ -- and the only place to get that cleansing blood is from the cross of Jesus
-- as the Robert Lowry hymn “Nothing but the Blood," says:
"What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
-- this morning, if you find yourself a hypocrite -- either because you have never accepted Christ or because you have been trying to cover up your sins by being good and holy on the outside -- then I want to invite you to come to the cross and let Jesus' blood wash away your sins and cleanse you again
-- as always, the altar is open for any who wish to come forward and respond to God's word -- let us pray
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