Pilgrim Reformed Church

Pilgrim Reformed Church

Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Happenings at Pilgrim this week




THIS WEEK AT PILGREM REFORMED CHURCH


ALL DAY SUNDAY, April 24th...STUFF THE TRUCK
Tuesday, April 26th...Noon, Prayer in the Parlor
7:00 PM Bible Study (Genesis)
Wednesday, April 27th... 7:00 PM Choir Practice
Sunday, May 1st... 9:15 AM Sunday School opening
9:30 Sunday School
10:30 Wordhip Service

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK
Wednesday, April 27th ... George Clifton/
Saturday, April 30th ... Terry Hege & Sylvis Stafford



THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT


I suspect that we all have had the experience of going to the cupboard or refrigerator only to find that the peanut butter jar or juice carton was empty. It was still on the shelf where it always sits, indeed, right where you put it when you last used it, but empty nonetheless.

We generally feel anger that anyone could do this. We may even feel a righteous indignation of sorts, because we know that it was not empty when we last closed the door upon it.
After the immediate angry and indignant response to the empty container we may dwell more on the “who” or the “how” parts of the question. Who could have done this? Who in my very own home could possibly be so thoughtless as to do this? Who?


It’s so much more comforting to try to blame someone else for such a horrendous deed none the less some of us, who may be a little more open to other possibilities, may consider the “how” question. That question goes something like, “How could I have ever done something like this? How could I forget the jar was empty and put it back?” Well, habit is one answer. It always goes there when we’re through. The other answer, the more frightening one is “How could I forget I just emptied it?”


Whatever the answer, we all hate looking in something we’re sure is full and finding it empty. I thought of this as I was reading some of the Easter stories in the Bible this week and I realized that an empty peanut butter jar is nothing compared to an empty tomb. Luke 24:1,3 (NIV) On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb…but when they entered, they did not find the body of Jesus.
How would have reacted to that kind of situation? John 20:11 (NIV) says Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. But Mary was not weeping out of anger or indignation, she was weeping because of the terrible emptiness of first the tomb and now her heart. Nothing Mary could possibly have imagined could have prepared her this. Jesus was gone, her teacher was gone, her Lord was gone, stolen. All was lost.


Then she heard a voice, even a familiar voice, and the voice spoke her name, “Mary” (John 20:16) and her fear turned to joy and she turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni


In that moment nothing in the tomb was everything for Mary … and it is for us today.
There’s an expression, “Thanks for nothing” and, indeed, this morning it is most appropriate! Thank you God for this nothing, is everything!




Sermon for Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011
GOD’S ANSWER TO THE BLUES

Mark 16:1 8
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.


Do you know how to sing the Blues? A strange question for Easter Sunday, but bear with me. Back at the turn of the twentieth century, a new form of music came forth from the coal mines and cotton fields of the South. It was a sad, soulful music based on the experiences of people who lived hard lives. And it was called the Blues.


A Professor of Blues, in Memphis, Tennessee has written a comprehensive and humorous guide called “How to Write the Blues.” He says that not everyone can sing the blues. He says that blues is not a color thing.


Blues is about luck. The winner of this years Masters Charl Schwartzel can’t sing the blues. Tiger Woods on the other hand probably can


Breaking your leg while skiing in Aspen is not the blues. Losing your leg to an alligator in a Louisiana swamp is. You cannot wear a suit and sing the blues -- unless you happen to be an 80 year-old black man and you slept in it. Dying in a bar fight is a blues death; dying while having liposuction isn’t.


Also, no matter how tragic your life, if you own a laptop computer, you cannot sing the blues, says the professor. Maybe your big ol’ mean woman done sat down on it. It doesn’t matter. It’s not the blues.


It’s all right to sing the Blues if you drive a Chevy or a Ford -- but forget it if you drive a Volvo, BMW or any kind of SUV. Even better yet, take a Greyhound bus or a southbound train if you want to sing the blues.


Do you have the right to sing the blues? Yes, say folks who know about the Blues. You have a right to sing the Blues, if your first name is a southern state - like Georgia, if you’re older than dirt, if you’re blind or if you shot a man in Memphis.

However, you can’t sing the Blues if you have all your own teeth, no matter how old you are, or if you once were blind, but now you can see, or, if when you shot that man in Memphis, it turned out to be just a flesh wound.


Most blues begin "woke up this morning." If you didn’t wake up this morning, you will have difficulty singing the blues.


So, can you sing the Blues? By the Professor’s definitions I believe Mary Magdalene could sing the blues. After all, she was a woman of the streets. She was no society babe. Life had been hard. She had been used, abused, now she was confused. She had met a man who turned her life around. He gave her hope, dignity, love.


But now he was gone. Crucified like a common criminal. Now Mary could do nothing but moan, nothing but sob, nothing but sing the Blues. Mary Magdalene could sing the Blues.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, could sing the Blues. After all, she had lost her boy to the lynch mob. It seemed like only yesterday when he was lying in a manger, looking up at her with helpless and loving eyes. She had nursed him, changed him, taught him to walk and play.

Saw how, even as a boy, he impressed the wise men in the Temple with his knowledge of the scriptures. She saw him become a man--and what a man he was. Gentle with little children, a spellbinding communicator when he was in front of the masses who was able to reach out and heal people with his touch.


Mary’s heart had once burst with pride over her son but then the crowd turned against him and instead of allowing him to live a respectable life like other men of talent and ability were allowed to live . . . they put him before Pontius Pilate for a mockery of a trial.


They yelled, “Crucify him . . . crucify him.” And Mary’s heart broke as she looked up at him hanging like a common criminal on the cross. Surely, if any woman who ever lived had the right to sing the Blues, it was Mary, the mother of Jesus.


Simon Peter could sing the Blues. He let down his best friend, the one man in all the world who believed in him. Did Simon believe in Jesus? Yes, but even more important, Jesus believed in Simon. The Master called him a Rock and said he would build his church on him.
Simon Peter couldn’t believe his ears. Yet for all Jesus’ kind words, Simon knew he wasn’t really that strong.

The Master knew it too. It was he who foretold that Simon would deny him three times before the cock crew. Someday Simon Peter would be a rock for the early church, but right now he knows he’s come up short. He let down the one man who truly loved him, and Simon Peter’s weeping his heart out so there was nothing for this would-be rock to do but sing the Blues.


And none of the people who knew Jesus could sing the Blues like Judas Iscariot. He didn’t shoot a man in Memphis. No, he did worse than that. He betrayed the very Son of God.And he did it with a kiss. Heaven help Judas Iscariot. But Judas won’t accept heaven’s help. He takes the coward’s way out. He hangs himself.


On the two nights preceding that first Easter morn, it was a time for singing the Blues. If a Blues singer had been present, he might have sung, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh-oh-oh-oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble . . . Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”


All the earth was covered with darkness. Denial, betrayal, broken hearts and broken dreams. “We thought he was the one who would deliver us.” But they had seen him with their own eyes, with nails in his hands and feet, and a spear thrust in his side. As befitting a Blues death, their Master had been laid in a borrowed grave. And those who followed him were now in hiding. “Let your light so shine before men . . .” he had taught, but his frightened followers were content to hide their light under a bushel. Their grief and confusion weighed heavily upon them, and all they could do was sing the Blues.


But then, just before daybreak, the women made their way to the tomb. The reports are a little jumbled. Just like the reports we got out of Egypt or Libya as those wars recently unfolded.You can expect that. The memories of eyewitnesses are frequently jumbled. This was an emotional day. The writer of the Gospel of John mentions only Mary Magdalene.


The writer of Mark says that Mary the mother of James, and Salome were with her. It makes no difference. The important thing is that when they reached the tomb, they found it empty.
Even though the authorities had placed guards at the tomb to guard against his disciples stealing his body, the stone was rolled away and the body was gone. Vanished. Only the grave clothes were left behind.

And then the Lord began making appearances to his followers. John tells us he began with Mary Magdalene. Isn’t it just like God, this gracious God who takes our sins and buries them into the deepest parts of the sea never to surface again?


Isn’t it just like God to have the risen Christ appear, first of all, to a person who had once been a woman of the streets? If you can’t see the irony and at the same time the beauty of the risen Christ appearing first of all to a woman who was perhaps a converted prostitute, you have never experienced grace.

Then Christ started appearing to those who believed in him. Peter, John, those gathered in the upper room on Easter evening, and many others, and last of all, after his ascension, to the apostle Paul.

Christ appeared to those who believed in him and he stole something from them.He stole from them the ability to ever again sing the Blues.

• Because, you see, you can’t sing the Blues, if you were once blind, but now you see.
• You can’t sing the Blues when hope is restored.
• You can’t sing the Blues when your first love is in your arms once more.
• You can sing the Blues beside the grave, but not if it’s empty. And it was empty.

The followers of Jesus could no longer sing the Blues. Now, all they could do was shout for joy.
Journalist Bill Keller wrote of Mandela’s inauguration after becoming president of South Africa. “Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a man who had also spent his life opposing apartheid, danced up to the podium and shouted into the microphone, ‘We are free today! We are free today!’” Desmond Tutu could no longer sing the Blues. His reality had been altered. The people danced for joy and they shouted, “We are free today! We are free today!”


That’s been the cry of Christians for 2,000 years. “We are free today!” Free people can’t sing the Blues. And we are free.


• Free from the pain of death.
• Free from the pain of separation.
• Free from the darkness of despair and desperation. “We are free today!”


Maybe you came to church this morning singing the Blues. It’s possible. Life can deal with us brutally at times and we can forget our faith, forget our hope and even forget our God. Maybe that’s your condition today. I want to tell you not to give up.


Because of that empty tomb, we know that love conquers hate, life conquers death, light conquers darkness. Because of that empty tomb we know that no situation can be written off as hopeless. Just when we think we have reached the end of our rope, God reaches down a hand of support.


Many years ago, Rev. Robert Barnes was serving at a church in Philadelphia. The church had just bought a nearby lot on which to expand their parking lot. A small patch of Easter lilies had been growing in the lot for the last few years. The paving company came in and bulldozed the lilies. Next, they poured the asphalt. Soon, the congregation was using the new parking lot.


But the following spring, they began to notice something strange going on. The pavement in the new parking lot was starting to buckle and crack. Sure enough, the Easter lilies were poking up through the asphalt. And that’s what Easter is about. Life is stronger than death. You can bury life in the ground, but sooner or later it will spring up once again. If that’s not good news, I would like to know what is. Surely if an Easter lily can overcome its circumstances, so can you and I.


The followers of Jesus were singing the Blues. But soon they were singing “Hallelujah. Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Hallelujah.” And that’s why you and I are here today, in hopes that we can trade in our Blues, too, for Hallelujahs.


The most famous clock in the world is London's Big Ben. It stands by the Houses of Parliament and towers above Westminster Abbey. It is a familiar landmark. Did you know that the chimes of Big Ben play a tune? No, it’s not a Blues tune. Do you know what it is? It’s the tune of a hymn. The hymn is "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth."


"I Know That My Redeemer Liveth." And if you know that, really know that in your heart of hearts, then you can’t sing the Blues anymore.

Amen.




Sunday, April 17, 2011

What's happening at Pilgrim this week.

CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK


Sunday, April 17th ... 6:00 PM Youth Fellowship

7:00 PM VBS Planning Meeting

Tuesday, April 19th ...Noon Prayers in the Parlor

7:00 PM Bible Study - Genesis

8:00 PM Choir Practice

Thursday, April 21st ... Maundy Thursday Service

Saturday, April 23rd ... 2:30 Easter Egg Hunt

Sunday, April 24th EASTER SUNDAY ... Stuff the Truck all day

7:30 AM Sunrise Service

9:15AM Sunday School opening

9:30 Sunday School 10:30 Worship Serce


BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK

Sunday, April 24th ... Pastor John Tuesday,

April 26th ... George Clifton

Saturday, April 30 ... Terry Hege Sr. & Sylvia Stafford
THIS PASTORS VIEWPOINTFor the week of April 17, 2011

“Son, weren’t you listening to me when I told you to weed the garden before you went off to play?” My father’s words may have been phrased as a question but they really weren’t a question. There was no upward inflection usually found at the end of a question.

“Now children, I want you to pay close attention while I explain this.” We all remember a teacher that would introduce a subject or task with those words.
I can remember as if it were yesterday a jump school cadre in the service get his face right in mine and shout, “Bigelow! You don’t look like you’re listening! Gimme fifty!” (Fifty rapid but perfect pushups were always required for minor lapses in good judgment.)

The times our wives or husbands can tell tales about their spouse not listening are probably legion. I suspect that not listening is something endemic to the human condition .

My mind was set to thinking about this condition when I read in Psalm 95:6-7 (NLT) in my Bible reading this week. “Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the sheep under his care. Oh, that you would listen to his voice today!.”

Oh, that we would, indeed, listen to God’s voice today…every day as a matter of fact. I believe that if there is any complaining that can be done about our not listening it could be done by God about his people.

Almost all Christians pray sometimes, many pray frequently and some with determined regularity. I’m not talking about praying in church when the pastor announces “Let’s pray.” I’m talking about the rest of our lives. The everyday part. What concerns me, and I’m sure it concerns God even more, is how much of our prayer time is spent in listening.

It is one thing to ask God to do something for us, yet something altogether different to ask what God may want us to do for him. That requires listening.
And so, as with so very much of God’s word found in the Bible, “Oh, that you would listen to his voice today,” speaks to each us. Without pausing to listen, how can we ever know what God wants? How can we obey the call to “follow me [ today]” unless we listen to today’s instructions. It seems, then, we should wake up each morning…listening, listening to God.

Sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011
Choosing Christ at The Crossroads, #6
SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Philippians 2:6 11

“…then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”


Former vice president Walter Mondale told this story on himself. When he was campaigning in Lewiston, Maine. A huge crowd came out to see him off.
"I'm really very, very flattered," Mondale said as he was about to board his plane. "There must be about two thousand people here!"

“Yes,” he was told by one of the natives. Then the citizen of Maine added, “But, to be perfectly truthful, we've never had a 747 land or take off at our airport before. Everyone turned out to see if it'll take off okay or crash."

Some of you are old enough to remember Alfred Hitchcock. You know, the man who mastered mystery and suspense in his movies. Hitchcock always managed to make a brief appearance in his films. This was one of his signatures as a director.

However, for the film LIFEBOAT (1944), he was faced with a difficult problem … the entire movie was set in a lifeboat out at sea, and there were only a few characters in the boat. His ingenious solution was to place a photograph of himself in a newspaper one of the characters reads during the course of the film. He can be seen in the "before" portion of a before and after ad for a diet product.

Pride. Ego. Hunger for status and recognition. Hollywood and Washington are famous for people with enormous egos… as does any great center of accomplishment. It’s difficult to be successful in life and maintain a healthy perspective about your own place in the grand scheme of things.

Psychiatrist Robert B. Millman has studied celebrities from a variety of fields, and he has concluded that sudden fame often results in a psychological disorder that he calls Acquired Situational Narcissism.

Imagine how you would react if tomorrow you woke up as a celebrity. People stared at you, called out your name, cheered for you as you walked down the street. Reporters begged you for interviews. Stores began sending you their best merchandise free. You got only the best tables at the best restaurants. Strangers asked for your autograph.

Sounds great to most of us. But it is difficult to live in that kind of world without having your psyche permanently changed. This is what happens to many celebrities according to Dr. Millman. They begin to think the world revolves around their needs.

So it comes as no surprise that Acquired Situational Narcissism is marked by an intense self-centeredness and outrageous behavior, like drug-taking and affairs which we see and hear about all to frequently these days. It could happen to almost anyone -- unless they are very, very special.

Here comes Jesus into Jerusalem. And the people shout, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And children wave palm branches. And people throw down their cloaks before him. That would be enough to turn anyone’s head, wouldn’t it? Anyone except Jesus. It’s ironic, is it not? There has lived only one man around whom the world really does revolve … and he was the humblest man who ever lived.

Watch him welcome the leper, the blind man, the outcast. See him cradle little children in his arms. Observe as he washes his disciples’ feet. Marvel as he kneels in a garden and prays, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” (Mark 14:36)

That is why more than a billion people on this planet bow at the name of Jesus. The greatest of all became the servant of all, just as he instructed his followers: “He who would be greatest among you must be the servant of all.”

The phrase has become a catchword in business today, and yet
it sounds like an oxymoron. The phrase is SERVANT LEADERSHIP.

Servant Leadership is what Jesus was all about. It is what Palm Sunday is all about. It is what Holy Week is all about.

Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, “humbled himself unto death--even the death of the cross,” says St. Paul. “Therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow . . .” Servant Leadership is strong leadership.

When Jesus told his followers to humble themselves, he was not telling them to be wimps. He was not telling them to be spineless. Who among us could admire a coward?
Jesus was no coward, and he would not want his followers to be cowards either. Only a brave man or brave woman gives his or her life for something noble, something lasting.

On August 17, 1944, American forces flew a desperate mission over the French city of Toulouse. Their objective: to free the city from occupying German forces. Citizens of the town remember one brave young pilot in particular. After his plane was blasted by enemy fire, he ejected from the craft; unfortunately, his parachute didn't open in time. The young pilot died in the fall, and German soldiers took his body away. Toulouse was liberated from its German captors only days later.
For over 50 years, no one knew the identity of this brave young pilot, but the people of Toulouse commemorated him as a hero anyway, and erected a plaque in their town to honor the Unknown American.

In 1994, a journalist for a Toulouse newspaper, aided by a retired French pilot, began delving into the mystery of the unknown pilot. Together, they discovered his identity: 2nd Lt. Daniel Haley, a twenty year old from Chicago who was engaged to be married when he went off to fight in the Second World War.

For years, the Haley family had grieved for him, and the grief was made all the more difficult because they didn't know the circumstances of his death. As a result, the town of Toulouse had another ceremony to honor the memory of the brave pilot, now known to all as 2nd Lt. Daniel Haley. Daniel's sister, Mary, was there to receive her brother's honors. She had cried when told that her brother had died a hero. Now the Haley family and the city of Toulouse can find closure in honoring the memory of this one brave man.

When we celebrate Christ’s passion, we do it in the same spirit that the citizens of Toulouse celebrated the life and death of this young soldier who gave of himself in their behalf. The call to servant leadership is a call to strength, a call to service.

Even more important, it is a call to sacrifice. It is a call to lay down something important, not for your own gain, but for the gain of all.
When a weak person answers the call to sacrifice, we can attribute it to a multitude of motives.

* Perhaps it was the pressure of the crowd.
* Perhaps it was a situational thing.
* Perhaps at that moment it was less stressful for the weak person to
say yes than to say no.

Ultimately, however, there is no virtue in the sacrifice of the weak. But when a strong person says, “Here is my life. Take it and use it as you would,” we know this is important.

When Dave Maurer was about seven years old, a strange man moved into his neighborhood. The man had a disfigured hand and a lame leg. His physical differences caused quite a stir among the neighborhood children. They came up with all kinds of stories about how he had injured his hand and leg. At all costs, they tried to avoid their new neighbor.

But one day, the lame man came by and invited the kids to his house. Not wanting to appear “chicken,” Dave and his friends accepted.

Maurer says “The man brought out some pictures to show the boys. They were glossy photos of a dashing young Navy pilot posing in front of a shiny, silver jet. He told them the story of his Navy career, and how it was cut short by a horrible crash landing during a storm.

From that day on, Dave reports, the neighborhood boys treated this man as a hero. They brought their friends to see him. And they never tired of his story.” As he writes, “The wounds and injuries we once shunned took on an entirely new dimension once we understood the story behind the scars.”

They were the scars of a strong man who had made a heroic sacrifice. The same kind of sacrifice that Christ made on the cross of Calvary.

Here is the point of all this: Today, in this room, Christ is looking for people who will live strong, sacrificial lives. Christ is looking in this congregation for people who will be servant leaders in our community, in our city, in our nation. Not weak people. Not spineless people. But people willing to live heroically and at the same time sacrificially.

That is what the cross is all about. Many of us have such a pathetic understanding of the cross. Here is your cross:

• Jesus is calling you to stand up and be counted for justice and righteousness.
• Jesus is calling you to do the decent thing, the loving thing, even when it might make you unpopular.
• Jesus is calling you to give, to share, to sacrifice--even though we live in a me-first society.
• Jesus is calling you to be a servant leader in a world where there are far too few heroes.

Will you heed his call? Are you strong enough to say “Yes” today at this crossroad with Christ?

Amen

Sunday, April 10, 2011

THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT

I have seen it from young children in school and I have heard it from grown-ups in adult studies. Although, I can’t remember ever voicing the feeling myself, however, in honesty, I admit that I have often submitted to it. What is this seemingly universal human failing?

It’s our reluctance to persist in asking questions until we fully comprehend the answer. Almost all of us reach some point where we just quit asking, even though we still don’t really get it.

I clearly remember one occasion ten years ago, after having chased all over two counties for some material to finish a lawn project, I finely had a lead on the place that had what I required. Only one store had just what I needed and it was in an unfamiliar part of Charlotte and even further from home.

It was getting late in the day and I was anxious to complete the job before the promised rain storms hit, so as the directions were given I tried very hard to get them right. I even asked the person to repeat it so I was sure I had it right. I hate being lost in an unfamiliar area…especially when I’m in a hurry. I also hate pulling into gas stations and asking again. Hey, I’m a man.

I rushed out to the car, started it up and it hit me! Was I to take a left and then a right or was it a right and then a left? Go on or get clarification? Pretend I’m smart and get lost (not smart) or admit I’m not sure and don’t get lost (smart)? Boy, was I glad I asked again, and after apologizing for bothering the patient direction-giver I left, and was able to go right to the place I sought.

A line in my Bible reading this week brought this all back to mind. In Psalm 86:3 (NLT) David beseeches God, “Be merciful, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly.” David did, indeed, call upon the Lord constantly and he did so because he wanted to get it right.

Given, then, our natural propensity for not asking until we fully understand, do we also quit asking God for directions. Do we blunder off seeking to find our own way, because we were too ashamed to ask, “Lord, will you give me those directions again, please?”

However, if we do ask again of God, perhaps then, we can also say as did David in verse five, “O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask your aid.”

The God who would send his Son to die for us is surely not bothered by our prayer questions. Lost? Ask away! Confused? Ask away! Ask, ask, ask…but then, pause to listen.


Sermon for Sunday, April 10, 2011



A GREEN COUCH FOR GOD
Choosing Christ at The Crossroads, #5

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Former boxer Muhammad Ali has charmed the world with his swaggering self-confidence. But he is quick to admit that he wasn’t always so sure of himself. In the book The Entertainers by Timothy White, Ali recalls a particularly humbling moment from his teen years. He had a crush on a girl named Areatha Swint. Seventeen-year-old Ali sometimes walked Areatha home from school.

One day, as they reached the top stair of her apartment house, Ali worked up the courage to turn around and kiss her. And then he promptly fainted. When he came to at the bottom of the steps, Ali was so upset that he ran all the way home. The champ was K.O.’d by his fear of kissing a girl. That’s a surprising story to hear about the boxer who claimed to be invincible.
But we all have experiences like that from our past, memories that make us cringe, even years after the fact.

In the June 2002 issue of Biography Magazine, a number of celebrities shared embarrassing memories from their school proms.

Actor Matt LeBlanc recalls that he stuck out like a sore thumb at his junior-high prom in a powder-blue tuxedo.

Lorenzo Lamas’ date walked out on him when she saw his tux: it was made of yellow polyester.

Anchorwoman Katie Couric looks back at her prom picture, in which she and her date wore all-white outfits, and inwardly cries.

Actress Lauren Holly went to her prom with the most popular boy in school. She had a great time. But when she got home, Lauren’s parents informed her that she had a piece of broccoli stuck in her teeth.

These stories are humorous, but they’re also painful. That’s part of the humor. We can empathize with the horrible situation of looking like a fool. We’ve all done it at some point in our lives. Sometimes, we can laugh at the situation. Sometimes, we can’t. But there is something in every human being that cringes at the thought of looking foolish. We want to fit in. And that’s one of the reasons that it’s hard to be a follower of Christ.

Listen to our Bible passage for today:
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

“Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.”


For the last few weeks, we have been following the theme Choosing Christ at the Crossroads. In today’s Bible passage, the apostle Paul reminds us of one more difficult choice followers of Christ are called to make: the choice to join the “Fellowship of Fools.”

Paul wrote these words to the Christian church in Corinth, a wealthy and famously immoral city. Corinth was a center of learning and philosophy. It was also famous for its many temples celebrating many different religions. Among these was the Temple of Aphrodite, where 1,000 male and female prostitutes serviced their clients as part of their worship ceremonies.

Money and exotic goods flowed through Corinth’s major trade routes, making it a wealthy and materialistic society. To a Corinthian citizen, learning, money, and physical pleasures were the reason for living. Does that sound like contemporary America? So imagine how the Corinthians responded when a new church appeared in their city. This one didn’t have temple prostitutes. It didn’t feature learned scholars holding debates in the courtyard. It didn’t use magical incantations or promises of wealth and power to draw people in. In fact, this new church accepted rich and poor, men and women, slaves and free men, educated and uneducated persons on an equal basis.

Its followers didn’t value money and material possessions; they shared their wealth with one another equally. They didn’t exalt the body by offering sexual pleasures, nor did they exalt the mind by stimulating philosophical debates. Instead, this new church emphasized the Spirit of God living in each believer.

And who was this new church’s god? An all-powerful Spirit who chose to reside in a human body. Not the body of a king or a warrior. The body of a humble carpenter. A body which experienced sunburned skin and chapped hands and aching muscles.
And once this god manifested himself in human form, what did he do? Did he establish a powerful kingdom? No, he allowed himself to be arrested, tortured, and killed by the ruling authorities. And his death wasn’t just an ordinary punishment. Crucifixion was the most shameful form of death. It was reserved for the lowest criminals.

So imagine how these words from Paul affected the Corinthian church: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.”

Paul was not preaching the cross and other stuff. He was preaching the cross--Jesus Christ crucified. As Porky Pig would say, “Th-th-th-that’s all, folks!”

Our God, the Creator of all things and the Ultimate Power in all the Universe, suffered humiliation and rejection and death. No need to water it down or dress it up. No wonder the surrounding society rejected the Christians. No wonder the Corinthian church tried to alter the message, to make it more acceptable, to divert people’s attention from Jesus and his death. No religion on earth had ever made such a horrifying, mystifying, amazing claim about its god. And Paul claims that this horrifying, mystifying, amazing idea is the absolute truth and the central foundation of knowing God.

No wonder others called them fools. No wonder society still calls us fools today.
The message of Jesus is no less radical today than it was then. It has never lost its power to change lives or to draw fire.

Turn to the book of John, chapter six. In verses 25 through 65, Jesus says that he is the bread of life, and that no one can enter God’s kingdom unless they eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. Of course, he is referring to his crucifixion, but not all of Jesus’ listeners understand this. Many of them think he is speaking blasphemy or nonsense. Verse 66 records, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Jesus turns to his original twelve apostles and asks, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” And Peter answers for all of them when he says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Jesus’ life and his message leave us no room for hedging. He is not just another god, another side dish in the Corinthian buffet of religions. Either he is the one true God, or he is not. And Jesus’ crucifixion is either the pivotal moment of all time, or it is an insignificant blip on the radar screen of history.

So what about us? Are we willing to proclaim this message as the central truth of life?
Are we willing to identify ourselves with the Fellowship of Fools? Are we willing to bet our lives on it?

Pastor Tommy Barnett shares a story of his friend, Jack Wallace, who is leading a successful ministry at an inner-city church in Detroit. Jack Wallace once lived on the streets.
Through Pastor Barnett’s ministry to the homeless, Jack gave his life to Christ. He went on to get his degree and become a pastor.

He was then sent to a dying church in a rough neighborhood in Detroit. Through prayer, commitment, and visionary leadership, Jack Wallace and the people of his congregation turned their church around. The church is thriving, and it offers many vital ministries in the surrounding community.

One side note to this story is that in the few years that Jack Wallace has led this church, he has been stabbed eighteen separate times. You’d think Jack Wallace would change his mind after the third or fourth assault. You’d think he would pack his bags and move to a quieter neighborhood, get a cushy corporate job, and settle down into comfortable anonymity. Start looking out for number one. Why not? Everybody else is doing it. Our society would call Jack Wallace a fool. What do you call him? A fool --- or simply a follower of Christ?

A young woman was walking around with a T-shirt that read, “I Am a Green Couch.” Underneath this odd statement was a Scripture reference. Occasionally, people would walk up to her and ask about her shirt. She would direct them to look up the Bible verse. Yet the Bible verse had nothing to do with green couches; it was about salvation through Christ.

When someone asked the young woman why her shirt read, “I Am a Green Couch,” she replied, “If I had something about being a Christian on my shirt, would you have bothered to ask me about it? Or would you have ignored it?

I just put that there so people will ask me about it and look up the Bible verse. It sounds stupid, but it causes people to come up to me. Then, I can share my faith with them.”

This young lady earns an honorable mention in the Fellowship of Fools. She is willing to make herself look foolish to spread the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. She and the apostle Paul are kindred spirits.

God could use any method God chooses to communicate God’s truth to us. God could create a spectacular light show of falling stars and exploding volcanoes. God could write God’s message in the clouds for all the world to see. Jesus could have called down fire from heaven. He could have set up an earthly kingdom that rivaled the riches and power of King Solomon. And Jesus’ followers could have used signs and miracles and philosophical debates to prove their points.

Instead, they chose to tell the truth. The plain, unadorned truth: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) It may be foolishness to the world, but to those who believe it is the power and wisdom of God.

Just before being named President of the United States in 1976, Jimmy Carter spoke at the Southern Baptist Convention. He was on the schedule with the Rev. Billy Graham and another man, a truck driver.

Rev. Graham spoke first. Of course, his message was powerful and inspiring. Carter spoke next, and delivered a fine talk. And then the truck driver stood up to speak.
He was visibly nervous, and barely spoke above a mumble. He had once been an alcoholic, he said. After he became a Christian, this man still hung out in bars. It was the only place he felt comfortable. He began talking to the other bar customers about Jesus. At first, they made fun of him.

After a while, they began to ask him questions. The man ended his talk by saying that he had brought fourteen of his friends to Christ.

Jimmy Carter claims that no one remembered his or Billy Graham’s talk from that night, but people are still talking about the truck driver’s testimony.
The pull to conform is so strong. Don’t we all want to fit in? Won’t our life be easier if we don’t rock the boat? --- Sure, it will.

But how can we believe in an earth-shaking message and NOT rock the boat? Are you willing to identify yourself with the Fellowship of Fools? Are you willing to be a green couch for God?

It may not earn you respect at the office, but it will grant you eternal life with God.

Amen

Sunday, April 3, 2011

THIS PASTOR'S VIEWPOINT


Several hundred years ago people left their homeland seeking a new land to settle where they would be free to worship God as they chose. These settlers that came to America worshiped the same God that Moses worshiped. They left Europe, fleeing across the ocean in what we today would consider rickety boats, to an often-hostile wilderness. The Israelites, also, crossed a hostile wilderness to find, and settle in a new land, a land where they would be free to worship the one, true God.

This is an interesting parallel but it becomes even more interesting. The early settlers in America came with a deep and abiding faith that God had, indeed, led them to these shores and was with them in all they did. God was also with the Israelites in a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.

When the growing collection of settlers in America formed a new nation called the United States of America they declared it to be "one nation, under God..." and to further demonstrate this concept we still place on all our currency the words, "In God We Trust." As we grew and explored our continent and discovered that it was, indeed, "a land of milk and honey", richer in natural resources than almost any other place on earth.

In this weeks Bible reading I discovered these words in Deuteronomy 31:20 (NLT), "I will bring them into...a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous; they will eat all the food they want and become well nourished. Then they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant."

Is this yet another parallel in the tale of these two peoples? Do we, in our well-nourished prosperity, now worship other gods, the gods of material goods and material security. Have we, too, broken the covenant with the God we refer to on our currency, the God under whom we claim to be "one nation."

What is frightening is the next possible parallel. In verse 21 God says, "Then great disasters will come down on them..."Sermon for Sunday, April 3, 2011
Choosing Christ at The Crossroads, #4
“THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED”
Sermon Text: John 12:20-33
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.


Jim French and a friend stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The meal was delicious, and French asked the waiter if he could have the recipe. The waiter was quick to oblige. A few minutes later, he returned from the kitchen with a piece of paper. All parties were satisfied. Until Jim French unfolded the paper. The recipe was written in Chinese. This is not what Jim expected.

That’s like a “Peanuts” cartoon from years ago. In the first panel Charlie Brown says, “I learned something in school today. I signed up for folk guitar, computer programming,stained glass, art, shoemaking, and a natural foods workshop.”
He continues, “I got spelling, history, arithmetic, and two study periods.”
Charlie’s friend asks, “So, what did you learn?”
Charlie replies, “I learned that what you sign up for and what you get are two different things.”

That lesson could be applied to most things in life, couldn’t it? How often do our expectations and our experiences clash? How often do we sign up for one thing and receive something entirely different?

I imagine Jesus’ disciples felt that way all the time. Jesus was always surprising them. They zigged, he zagged. Every time the disciples thought they had Jesus pinned down, he did something unpredictable that sent their expectations into a tailspin. Let’s look first at the disciples’ expectations.

The Sunday after next we will celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. You remember that happy occasion. When Jesus entered the great city of Jerusalem, the townspeople came out to cheer for him. They threw palm branches, the symbol of victory, in his path. Jesus would have scored highly on public opinion polls, if such a thing had existed in his day.

What did his disciples think of all the hoopla? They probably thought something along these lines: “Hey, this is great! We’re finally getting some respect around here. All our hard work and sacrifice are paying off. People are coming around to Jesus’ view of things. It’s time to begin campaigning for that new kingdom the Master’s always talking about. Time to get our candidate’s message out there. And what better place to do it than Jerusalem, the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the region? Yes, Jesus sure is savvy. He knows exactly how to work a crowd. He must have planned this all along.”

In the disciples’ minds, this was the hour of victory the day they had been waiting for. And their expectations were only heightened when they heard the Master say: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” YES! That’s it! Finally they are on the same page with their Lord.

This fit perfectly with all they had been waiting for. But then Jesus zigs where they expected a zag: “Very truly, I tell you,” he says, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

What’s that? If it falls? If it dies? What’s he talking about?

But he doesn’t stop there: “Those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” “Oh,” they think with chagrin. “Here you go again.” And suddenly, the disciples get that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach. Why does Jesus have to make everything so hard? Why can’t he just relax and enjoy the moment? He’s never been more powerful or more popular than he is now? Why can’t he leave well enough alone? Can’t he just muster up a rebel army, take over the throne, and name himself king? This is the man who can walk on water and raise the dead! Why doesn’t he just use a little bit of that power for his own ends?

But before the disciples can distance themselves from Jesus’ words, he confronts them: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”

Now the disciples are really starting to sweat. And those of us sitting here, if we really listened to Jesus’ words, we’d be sweating too. “Whoever serves me must follow me . . .

We look at Jesus’ promises of eternal life and unimaginable glory and say, “Sure, Lord, I’ll follow you there.” But when we face Jesus’ command to serve the poor and needy, to go into all the world to spread his message, to take up our cross and die to our own self, suddenly we aren’t so sure.

In one installment of the comic strip “Hagar the Horrible,” Hagar confronts his not-so-bright sidekick, Lucky Eddie. “I need a second-in-command,” Hagar bellows. “Can you say yes or no with authority?”
Lucky Eddie shouts back, “Yes or No with authority!”
And Hagar says to himself, “I think I’m going to be sick!”

The best thing we can say about Lucky Eddie is that he is eager to please. But Jesus requires more from his followers than being eager to please. Jesus needs people who can say “Yes” with authority.
• Yes, I am willing to put you first in my life.
• Yes, I am willing to die to my own self and my own agenda.
• Yes, I am willing to follow you, though it costs me everything.

By now, Jesus’ followers know that they must make a decision.

As Pastor John Kramp says, “Salvation may be free, but discipleship will cost you everything.” The disciples are beginning to see that they had expected one thing and they were getting something else.

Has that happened to you?
• You expected to retire early, but the pass two years you’ve watched your 401k plan drop precipitously.
• You expected a life time of marital bliss--now the reality has sunk in that it isn’t going to happen.
• You had such high hopes for your child, only to see that young person drift aimlessly in and out of trouble.
• You thought things would be better in a new community, a new school.
• You expected one thing and you got another.

What do you do? First of all, you hold on to your values. It’s tempting to think when life doesn’t work out like you had planned, “What difference does it make what I do with my life? My life has no meaning anyway?” Oh, but it does have meaning. Those values that you’ve held on to so long have been a reliable guide to human behavior through the centuries for a reason.

Don’t think that Jesus was unsympathetic to his disciples’ fears, or to ours. In verse 27, he says, “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.” Doesn’t it break your heart to hear those words, “Now my soul is troubled”? Jesus wasn’t easy on his disciples because he wasn’t easy on himself.
Did he want to be saved from completing his task? Undoubtedly. But did he take the easy way out? Absolutely not. As he told his disciples, “. . . it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” It’s like an event that startled many Christians a few years back. Five dedicated missionaries were martyred while seeking to make contact with the Auca Indians in Ecuador. A reporter was granted an interview with the widowed wives of those missionaries. He asked a question that was on many minds, “Why would God permit this to happen? After all, these men were on an errand of mercy.”

One of the wives, turning to the incredulous man, quietly replied: “Sir, God delivered my husband from the possibility of disobedience.”

That’s deep. There was no question, even in that hard hour, about her faith and about her values. Those values gave her strength, they gave her meaning, they gave her hope. And they took her to those same Auca Indians who murdered her husband and she brought them to Christ.

When life turns out differently than you expected, first of all you hold your values and secondly, go deeper into your faith.

This next passage is one of the more fascinating mini-passages in the Bible. After Jesus declares, “Father, glorify Your name,” we read these words: “Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’” Then notice these intriguing words: “The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’” That’s interesting, isn’t it? Some people were ready to hear God’s word. Others heard only thunder. Which would you have heard?

It’s like the parable of the sower. Some of the seed falls on fertile ground. Other seeds fall among weeds that choke them out. And some falls on barren ground and never sprouts at all.

When life has not turned out the way you had expected, go deeper into your faith.
• Spend more time listening to God. Read God’s word faithfully.
• Spend more time in prayer.
• See if God will give you new insights into God’s will for your life.

I suspect if you do that, you will hear more than thunder. Hold on to your values. Go deeper into your faith, and finally, look for a victory.

You know, so often we see in life only what we are looking for. If you are looking only for defeat, you will see defeat all around you. If you look for victory, however, victory is what you are likely to find.

Now is the judgment of this world,” says Jesus to his disciples, “now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Jesus wasn’t just going to declare himself king over Jerusalem, or over the Jews, or over the Roman empire. He had bigger plans. By his death, Jesus broke down the wall between humanity and God. By his death, he would draw all peoples to himself. But it was only through his death that Jesus could offer us eternal life. No matter how badly life may be going for you, God can still bring a victory.

In 1995, Vietnamese evangelist To Dihn Trung was arrested and beaten by the police.Then they threw him in jail. His crime? Preaching the Gospel of Christ.
While in jail, Trung began preaching to the other inmates. Finally, after six months, outside pressure from Christians around the world forced the Vietnamese government to release Trung, but he refused his release. So many men in the prison were coming to Christ that Trung decided to stay there and serve out his full sentence.

As he said, “I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me was to tell people the good news about God’s grace.”

Trung never expected to find himself in prison for sharing his faith, but even in prison he experienced a great victory.

So, you’re looking at your life right now. You expected one thing, but you got something else. That does not mean that you are not in the center of God’s will. It just means that our ways are not God’s ways.

Ancient records tell us that most of Jesus’ disciples were persecuted and killed for their faith. And it is from their blood that the early church was formed. Two thousand years later, people are still gathering every week in churches all over the world to celebrate the message that they first told.

What do you do when life does not turn out as you expected? Hold on to your values. Go deeper into your faith. Look for God’s victory.

It’s available at today’s crossroads.

Amen
THIS PASTOR'S VIEWPOINT Several hundred years ago people left their homeland seeking a new land to settle where they would be free to worship God as they chose. These settlers that came to America worshiped the same God that Moses worshiped. They left Europe, fleeing across the ocean in what we today would consider rickety boats, to an often-hostile wilderness. The Israelites, also, crossed a hostile wilderness to find, and settle in a new land, a land where they would be free to worship the one, true God. This is an interesting parallel but it becomes even more interesting. The early settlers in America came with a deep and abiding faith that God had, indeed, led them to these shores and was with them in all they did. God was also with the Israelites in a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. When the growing collection of settlers in America formed a new nation called the United States of America they declared it to be "one nation, under God..." and to further demonstrate this concept we still place on all our currency the words, "In God We Trust." As we grew and explored our continent and discovered that it was, indeed, "a land of milk and honey", richer in natural resources than almost any other place on earth. In this weeks Bible reading I discovered these words in Deuteronomy 31:20 (NLT), "I will bring them into...a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous; they will eat all the food they want and become well nourished. Then they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant." Is this yet another parallel in the tale of these two peoples? Do we, in our well-nourished prosperity, now worship other gods, the gods of material goods and material security. Have we, too, broken the covenant with the God we refer to on our currency, the God under whom we claim to be "one nation." What is frightening is the next possible parallel. In verse 21 God says, "Then great disasters will come down on them..." Sermon for Sunday, April 3, 2011 Choosing Christ at The Crossroads, #4 “THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED” Sermon Text: John 12:20-33 20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. 27 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. Jim French and a friend stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The meal was delicious, and French asked the waiter if he could have the recipe. The waiter was quick to oblige. A few minutes later, he returned from the kitchen with a piece of paper. All parties were satisfied. Until Jim French unfolded the paper. The recipe was written in Chinese. This is not what Jim expected. That’s like a “Peanuts” cartoon from years ago. In the first panel Charlie Brown says, “I learned something in school today. I signed up for folk guitar, computer programming, stained glass, art, shoemaking, and a natural foods workshop.” He continues, “I got spelling, history, arithmetic, and two study periods.” Charlie’s friend asks, “So, what did you learn?” Charlie replies, “I learned that what you sign up for and what you get are two different things.” That lesson could be applied to most things in life, couldn’t it? How often do our expectations and our experiences clash? How often do we sign up for one thing and receive something entirely different? I imagine Jesus’ disciples felt that way all the time. Jesus was always surprising them.They zigged, he zagged. Every time the disciples thought they had Jesus pinned down, he did something unpredictable that sent their expectations into a tailspin. Let’s look first at the disciples’ expectations. The Sunday after next we will celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. You remember that happy occasion. When Jesus entered the great city of Jerusalem, the townspeople came out to cheer for him. They threw palm branches, the symbol of victory, in his path. Jesus would have scored highly on public opinion polls, if such a thing had existed in his day. What did his disciples think of all the hoopla? They probably thought something along these lines: “Hey, this is great! We’re finally getting some respect around here. All our hard work and sacrifice are paying off. People are coming around to Jesus’ view of things. It’s time to begin campaigning for that new kingdom the Master’s always talking about. Time to get our candidate’s message out there. And what better place to do it than Jerusalem, the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the region? Yes, Jesus sure is savvy. He knows exactly how to work a crowd. He must have planned this all along.” In the disciples’ minds, this was the hour of victory the day they had been waiting for. And their expectations were only heightened when they heard the Master say: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” YES! That’s it! Finally they are on the same page with their Lord. This fit perfectly with all they had been waiting for. But then Jesus zigs where they expected a zag: “Very truly, I tell you,” he says, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” What’s that? If it falls? If it dies? What’s he talking about? But he doesn’t stop there: “Those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” “Oh,” they think with chagrin. “Here you go again.” And suddenly, the disciples get that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach. Why does Jesus have to make everything so hard? Why can’t he just relax and enjoy the moment? He’s never been more powerful or more popular than he is now? Why can’t he leave well enough alone? Can’t he just muster up a rebel army, take over the throne, and name himself king? This is the man who can walk on water and raise the dead! Why doesn’t he just use a little bit of that power for his own ends? But before the disciples can distance themselves from Jesus’ words, he confronts them: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” Now the disciples are really starting to sweat. And those of us sitting here, if we really listened to Jesus’ words, we’d be sweating too. “Whoever serves me must follow me . . .” We look at Jesus’ promises of eternal life and unimaginable glory and say, “Sure, Lord, I’ll follow you there.” But when we face Jesus’ command to serve the poor and needy, to go into all the world to spread his message, to take up our cross and die to our own self, suddenly we aren’t so sure. In one installment of the comic strip “Hagar the Horrible,” Hagar confronts his not-so-bright sidekick, Lucky Eddie. “I need a second-in-command,” Hagar bellows. “Can you say yes or no with authority?” Lucky Eddie shouts back, “Yes or No with authority!” And Hagar says to himself, “I think I’m going to be sick!” The best thing we can say about Lucky Eddie is that he is eager to please. But Jesus requires more from his followers than being eager to please. Jesus needs people who can say “Yes” with authority. • Yes, I am willing to put you first in my life. • Yes, I am willing to die to my own self and my own agenda. • Yes, I am willing to follow you, though it costs me everything. By now, Jesus’ followers know that they must make a decision. As Pastor John Kramp says, “Salvation may be free, but discipleship will cost you everything.” The disciples are beginning to see that they had expected one thing and they were getting something else. Has that happened to you? • You expected to retire early, but the pass two years you’ve watched your 401k plan drop precipitously. • You expected a life time of marital bliss--now the reality has sunk in that it isn’t going to happen. • You had such high hopes for your child, only to see that young person drift aimlessly in and out of trouble. • You thought things would be better in a new community, a new school. • You expected one thing and you got another. What do you do? First of all, you hold on to your values. It’s tempting to think when life doesn’t work out like you had planned, “What difference does it make what I do with my life? My life has no meaning anyway?” Oh, but it does have meaning. Those values that you’ve held on to so long have been a reliable guide to human behavior through the centuries for a reason. Don’t think that Jesus was unsympathetic to his disciples’ fears, or to ours. In verse 27, he says, “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.” Doesn’t it break your heart to hear those words, “Now my soul is troubled”? Jesus wasn’t easy on his disciples because he wasn’t easy on himself. Did he want to be saved from completing his task? Undoubtedly. But did he take the easy way out? Absolutely not. As he told his disciples, “. . . it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” It’s like an event that startled many Christians a few years back. Five dedicated missionaries were martyred while seeking to make contact with the Auca Indians in Ecuador. A reporter was granted an interview with the widowed wives of those missionaries. He asked a question that was on many minds, “Why would God permit this to happen? After all, these men were on an errand of mercy.” One of the wives, turning to the incredulous man, quietly replied: “Sir, God delivered my husband from the possibility of disobedience.” That’s deep. There was no question, even in that hard hour, about her faith and about her values. Those values gave her strength, they gave her meaning, they gave her hope. And they took her to those same Auca Indians who murdered her husband and she brought them to Christ. When life turns out differently than you expected, first of all you hold your values and secondly, go deeper into your faith. This next passage is one of the more fascinating mini-passages in the Bible. After Jesus declares, “Father, glorify Your name,” we read these words: “Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’” Then notice these intriguing words: “The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’” That’s interesting, isn’t it? Some people were ready to hear God’s word. Others heard only thunder. Which would you have heard? It’s like the parable of the sower. Some of the seed falls on fertile ground. Other seeds fall among weeds that choke them out. And some falls on barren ground and never sprouts at all. When life has not turned out the way you had expected, go deeper into your faith. • Spend more time listening to God. Read God’s word faithfully. • Spend more time in prayer. • See if God will give you new insights into God’s will for your life. I suspect if you do that, you will hear more than thunder. Hold on to your values. Go deeper into your faith, and finally, look for a victory. You know, so often we see in life only what we are looking for. If you are looking only for defeat, you will see defeat all around you. If you look for victory, however, victory is what you are likely to find. “Now is the judgment of this world,” says Jesus to his disciples, “now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Jesus wasn’t just going to declare himself king over Jerusalem, or over the Jews, or over the Roman empire. He had bigger plans. By his death, Jesus broke down the wall between humanity and God. By his death, he would draw all peoples to himself. But it was only through his death that Jesus could offer us eternal life. No matter how badly life may be going for you, God can still bring a victory. In 1995, Vietnamese evangelist To Dihn Trung was arrested and beaten by the police. Then they threw him in jail. His crime? Preaching the Gospel of Christ. While in jail, Trung began preaching to the other inmates. Finally, after six months, outside pressure from Christians around the world forced the Vietnamese government to release Trung, but he refused his release. So many men in the prison were coming to Christ that Trung decided to stay there and serve out his full sentence. As he said, “I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me was to tell people the good news about God’s grace.” Trung never expected to find himself in prison for sharing his faith, but even in prison he experienced a great victory. So, you’re looking at your life right now. You expected one thing, but you got something else. That does not mean that you are not in the center of God’s will. It just means that our ways are not God’s ways. Ancient records tell us that most of Jesus’ disciples were persecuted and killed for their faith. And it is from their blood that the early church was formed. Two thousand years later, people are still gathering every week in churches all over the world to celebrate the message that they first told. What do you do when life does not turn out as you expected? Hold on to your values. Go deeper into your faith. Look for God’s victory. It’s available at today’s crossroads. Amen