Tuesday, March 1st ... 7:00 PM Bible Study
8:00 PM Choir Rehersal
Wednesday, March 2nd ... 7:00 PM Pilgrim Circle
Friday, March 4 ... 6:30 PM Cards at the Parsonage
Sunday, March 6th ... 9:15 Sunday School Openinf
9:30 Sunday School
10:30 Worship Service
Birthdays this Week
Wednesday, March 2nd...John Sink, Jr.
Friday, March 4th...Ray Craver
Saturday, March 5th...Amanda Leonard
Sunday, March 6th...Marte Perrell
This Pastors Viewpoint
I remember my father using one of his favorite expressions. I don’t know who first spoke the words, though many, like my father, have over the years made it theirs. “Remember,” he would tell me, “there are more followers of example than of precept.”
People don’t always wait for a cry for help to respond to an obvious need, or instructions on what to do. Others moved to render assistance often do so, as if a part of some invisible voluntary chain reaction. They simply followed the example of the first to take action, and in turn, became examples themselves.
Our Lord, as he began His ministry offered the simple invitation “Come, follow me” (Matt. 4:19 NIV). Soon a total of twelve men, all of whom were employed and some supporting families, left what they were doing and volunteered to follow a stranger who had, what seemed at best, a most uncertain future. In their acceptance of Christ’s call they set the example for others who would follow. Women, as well as men, not only followed but also supported financially the ministry of this carpenter from Nazareth.
Soon Jesus would send seventy out into the surrounding country, all of them volunteers and all of them setting examples. It was but a short few years down the road when the ante would be raised for future volunteers and example setters. Jesus would amend his simple “Follow me” to “And if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24 NIV). Notice that Jesus did first whatever asked of others. He was the great example setter.
Jesus taught us to love the homeless, the poor, the sick, the forsaken and all those who are hurting each and every day in our own community. Loving our neighbors do not require acts that place us in danger, nothing heroic as we often measure heroic acts, but it certainly is an example that others can follow. While it is good for us to talk about Jesus’ precept about loving your neighbor it far better to fill up our truck with food for the needy and thus be an example for others to follow. So, go ahead, deny yourself just a little and follow Jesus. It’s a cross you can easily bear.
Oh yes, one thing more. It seems almost foolish to wonder why so many will go to heroic extremes to save a life or spend money to provide a meal, yet do nothing to save a soul. Saving a soul costs not a cent yet the result is eternal. Here’s an idea…let’s try to do both. Invite a neighbor to church and we’ll provide a healthy meal for the soul. There’s a wonderful example for others to follow.
Sermon for Sunday, February 27, 2011
LIGHT SHINES INTO THE DARKNESS
An Upbeat Word for a Downbeat World, #9
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
The choir director selected the 6-year-old boy with the sweetest face in the production for the opening scene of the play. “Now, all you have to do is, when I direct the choir to sing ‘And the angel lit the candle,’ you come onstage and light all the candles.” “I can do it! I can do it!” the little boy said, excited to be the one picked.
Rehearsals came and went, and finally the big night arrived. The choir was in grand voice, the stage was beautifully decorated with dozens of unlit candles all around, awaiting the moment when the cute littlest angel made his entrance.
The director gave the downbeat, the orchestra began to play, and the choir swept into the introductory lines, ending with an expectant “And the angel lit the candle,” and everyone looked stage right for the entrance.
No little boy. The director gave the downbeat again, and gestured for a louder line, to which the choir sang, “And the angel lit the candle,” and again, all eyes looked stage right.
No little boy. The director, beginning to sweat, motioned with great, sweeping gestures, and the choir thundered into the line the curtains swelled slightly from the sound “AND THE ANGEL LIT THE CANDLE!”
And into the silence which followed came a clear, boy-soprano voice floating piercingly from stage right: “And the angel dropped the candle into the john!”
This is the last Sunday in Epiphany. It is also the last sermon in my series, An Upbeat Word for a Downbeat World. The major emphasis in this season of the church year is that into this world of darkness, a bright light has shone. That bright light is Jesus Christ.
I don’t believe that I have to convince you that this is a dark world. Each day I awake and find myself turning on the news and wondering “Will this be the moment I learn we are in another war somewhere?”
They say that the events of September 11, 2001 changed America forever. If it did, it may be because we looked into the face of evil for the first time on our soil. It was horrifying to see those jets crash into the towers of the World Trade Center. But then, it wasn’t really that different than December 7th, 1941, was it.
Did you know that today a grapefruit-sized nuclear bomb, whose basic design may be found on the Internet, would kill everyone within a radius of three miles? Rather than counting our dead in the thousands, we would be counting them in the hundreds of thousands. It is truly a frightening thought.
To say this is a dark world is no overstatement. The last century was the bloodiest century the human race has ever known. Over a hundred million people perished in warfare, and another hundred and seventy million have died through political violence. And so far this century hasn’t made many positive strides toward global peace. Right here at home, every year in the United States alone, twenty thousand people are murdered and almost a million girls and women are assaulted or raped.
It’s a dark world. But there is hope. Light has penetrated the darkness. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:6: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Don’t give up. Light has penetrated the darkness. But there are some important things we need to see.
First of all, not everyone sees the light of Christ. Wouldn’t it be great if they did? What if the whole world lived by the great commandment, to love God and to love your neighbor as you love yourself?
What if the whole world knew God well enough to call him “Abba,” Daddy? This would be a different world. But not everyone sees Christ. Some people don’t see Christ because of their upbringing. That is obvious.
If you have been brought up in another faith, a faith that knows no personal God, a faith that emphasizes God’s wrath rather than God’s love, a faith that teaches you to hate rather than to embrace the stranger you may never see Christ.
Some people don’t see Christ because they’re too wrapped up in the concerns of this world. Paul says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
A number of years ago, a Navy jet fighter plane shot itself down over the deserts of Nevada while testing a new cannon mounted on its wing. The plane was flying at supersonic speeds, but the cannon shells were subsonic. The fighter actually ran into the shells it had fired seconds before. The jet was traveling too fast.
That’s happening to a lot of people today, especially among high achievers. They’ve got places to go, worlds to conquer and toys to accumulate. They never give a thought to Christ and his claims on their life.
And some people don’t see the light of Christ because of unresolved sin in their lives. Harlan Weschler, a Jewish writer and teacher, related a helpful story. Every night Levi Yitzhak, an elderly Jewish rabbi, reviews the events of the day just passed. He identifies the evil he has committed in it. Then, before he goes to sleep he pledges, “I shall not do this again.”
Each day he follows the identical pattern. He reviews his day and identifies his sin. He declares, “I shall not do this again.” And, each night he says to himself, “But you promised that last night and the night before.” Each time he responds, “Yes, but this time I mean it.”
That is how many of us respond to sin in our lives. It’s much easier to get into a sinful lifestyle than it is to get out.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Some people don’t see the light of Christ because of unresolved sin in their lives. There are many reasons that we might list. But it is important for us to acknowledge that not everyone sees the light of Christ.
The primary reason not everyone sees the light of Christ is that it is partially hidden. Paul says in verse 4:3: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” That is a theme of several passages in Paul’s writings the hidden-ness of God. He is but acknowledging what is obvious to anyone who thinks deeply about the meaning of life believing the Good News of Christ really does require a leap of faith.
We pray and we hear no answer. We suffer and receive no comfort. We dream and fall short in our strivings. This is the human predicament. Not every prayer is answered, at least to our satisfaction. Not every sick saint is healed, at least not in this world. And many of us with “God is my co-pilot” on our bumper sticker, end up taking detours that were not on our flight plan.
And we wonder, why doesn’t God make the life of faith a little easier? Why doesn’t God show God’s self to us a little more clearly? If we could know without any doubt that God is with us, wouldn’t it make an enormous difference in the way we live? On the other hand, perhaps there is method to God’s madness.
Carroll Campbell is an educator. He says, “Try this sometime. Get a group of children in a room with a light fixture hanging just out of their grasp. Then watch what happens: One child will jump to touch it, and before you know it, every kid in the room will be leaping like Michael Jordan. They’re testing their skill, stimulated by the challenge of reaching something beyond their normal grasp. Put the same children in a room where everything is easily in reach, and there will be no jumping, no competition, no challenges.”
Carroll Campbell goes on to say, “The problem with American education is a low ceiling of expectations. We have built schools that demand and teach too little, and the children have stopped jumping.”
Could it be that what is true in education is also true in understanding and knowing God? If the life of faith were too easy, might it not have a deleterious effect on our growth as children of God?
• If I knew for certain that every one of my prayers would be answered
• If I knew that every hurt would be healed
• If I knew without any doubt when I stood beside the coffin of someone I love that they were immediately transported to streets of gold
• If there were no struggle at all to our faith would we develop inwardly the kind of maturity that God desires in creatures with whom God will share eternity?
Besides, if God were to show God’s self to us, in all God’s glory, would we still have our sense of freedom? Would not God’s presence overwhelm us to the point that we would immediately bow our lives before Him?
My guess is that the hidden-ness of God is an essential part of God’s plan for helping us become complete as spiritual beings. I wish it were easier at times. People continually come to me with questions about God that I cannot answer. I can only say with St. Paul: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
This brings us to the last thing we need to say. Once we have the light of Christ in us, we begin to see more clearly. The more you know about Christ, the more clearly you see him in your everyday life. Paul says that unbelievers cannot see Christ, but once you take that leap of faith, once you put your faith in Christ you begin to see him everywhere.
It is a paradox. The truth of God is veiled. And nothing can lift that veil. Science can’t. Philosophy can’t. Even religion can’t. Only faith in Jesus Christ can lift the veil. But once that veil is lifted, all of life speaks of God.
Sometimes we put aside all the things we have been taught about God and we think the whole matter through from the standpoint of our knowledge, our education, and our observation. We categorized all the knowledge we possess and work out a philosophy that seemingly encompasses it all.
You’re most likely familiar with the phrase, “Plan your work then work your plan.” It sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? You can plan it all out, categorize everything, and come up with a philosophical system that accounts for everything you see, then you take a walk in the country and see a sunset that moves you to the depths of your being in a way for which you cannot account. Your philosophy does not cover it.
Or, someone’s death strikes with shattering force and you are left with nothing but the crumbs of your philosophy.”
• What we need is not a philosophy, but a deep faith.
• What we need is not a system or a plan, but a Savior.
• What we need is not to categorize our beliefs, but to kneel before a cross.
Not everyone sees the light of Christ. God has deliberately veiled God’s self from us that we might never take life or faith for granted. Only faith in Christ allows us to lift that veil.
An upbeat word for a downbeat world!
Amen
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