Sermon

Do we see in our world something God loves?

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

March 14, 2021

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Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

John 3:14–21 (ESV)

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Last week we discussed Jesus at the temple armed with a whip and his tongue. I encouraged us to think deeper about this. And I hope we did leave last week and considered how we might be angering Jesus with our lifestyles.

The history of Israel is filled with God angering stories. There are so many stories of God being angry that some scholars have questioned if the God presented in the New Testament is different than the God presented in the Old Testament. I say some scholars, but those scholars usually start from a position of not wanting to recognize the existence of God, so when they see all the stories of God being angry and then look at the stories of Christ, they see a difference. We could spend hours discussing this, but that defeats the purpose. The thing I want us to recognize is that God got angry. And in much of the Old Testament they did not discuss what happened when everything was going well. It is often filled with stories of human errors and how God worked through those errors to preserve Israel, even though it upset Him.

This example is seen clearly in today’s passage. Jesus has finished his display of ire and he has returned to the mode we are used to, the teacher and miracle worker. He continued this through the feast, enjoying the celebration and many listened to what he had to say. Even the religious leaders must have listened to some degree, we know that Jesus had attracted their attention. If someone came in and knocked over our pews and threw books in our Meetinghouse, they would attract our attention too. But as they listened to his teaching, they realized that he was not far from their understanding and that caused them to think a bit deeper about his actions and his teaching.

Jesus goes back to where he was staying. We are not told exactly where Jesus spent his time when he was on his ministry journeys. Maybe he had gone to Bethany to stay with Lazarus’s family, or maybe he just set up a tent and made camp somewhere in the wilderness. I always imagine Jesus in a tent. And when Nicodemus comes to visit, I always imagine that they are sitting on rocks around a campfire. This has little to do with what scripture says and everything to do with what I might like to be doing on a nice spring evening.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night and when he comes, he calls Jesus, rabbi. He acknowledges that Jesus has some authority to teach, and they can only assume that it is from God. Again, I want us to imagine the scene, a wondering pastor in a tent being visited by a theology professor from the most prominent Seminary you can think of, maybe Andover Theological Seminary, which is the oldest seminary in the United States, founded in 1807, which is now in the process of merging with Yale. Imagine a theology professor from that ancient institution, in a suit sitting on a rock by a fire out in the wilderness.  And while sitting there on the rock, he is being talked to not as the distinguished professor but as an equal at best, if not a student of this man living in a tent.

They sit and talk and Nicodemus is confused. And Jesus looks at him and says, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” Here a man that is a respected teacher among the Pharisees is being treated like an erring student. And Jesus explains himself.

Nicodemus was confused because Jesus started this conversation with the concept of being born again or born from above. This idea is something that Nicodemus just cannot grasp and to be honest we have become so accustomed to the words today in our Evangelical teachings that I do not know if we really understand the concept either. To Nicodemus and to most teachers of Israel, being born into Israel meant that you were a member of God’s chosen people. There is not any need to repent or change anything if you respect your people’s customs and live according to the law. This is how most of world things as well. We are good people generally.

Jesus takes Nicodemus back into the history of Israel. He says, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” This gets Nicodemus thinking. Israel is not perfect, and they never have been. God redeemed the people from Egyptian bondage, which is what the feast they had just celebrated is to remember, and they go to the boarder of the promised land. They send in spies to get and idea of what they are dealing with, and those spies come back with a report that the people are too big. Egypt was the world’s superpower at the time, and they had walked out of Egypt with Egypt’s wealth because God was with them, and they look at the people in the promised land and think they cannot overcome them because they are too big.

Imagine the annoyance that would have caused to God. He had just brought the greatest nation in the world at that time in history to their knees, and the people do not think He can do the same with a nation that is a fraction of the size and might of Egypt. What does God do, none of them get to go into the land. They then embark on a forty-year wilderness hike. They wonder in circles for decades, and what do they do while they wonder? Well, they complain. While they wonder God is providing them with food, he has preserved their clothing so it does not wear out, and they are walking for forty years, my shoes are wearing out in less than six months and theirs are lasting a lifetime.

They are wondering and eventually that generation begins to die. Aaron died and the people mourned for an entire month. Aaron was their first priest, and they were thinking if their priest cannot even get into the promised land why did they leave Egypt in the first place. They complain even more, “why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loath this worthless food.” God has listened to this for decades, while every day he gave them manna and doves.

God had been protecting them, feeding them, providing water, and ensuring that they were clothed and that they had shelter, yet that was not enough for them. What else could God do to prove to them that he would care for them? He left them alone for a bit.

Why do bad things happen to good people? The answer is right in scripture. We do not recognize the good but focus on the bad. The desert is filled with numerous deadly obstacles. The people did not realize how much God had been doing for them. He provided a cloud by day and fire by night, protecting them from the harsh temperatures of the desert day and cold temperatures at night. But there are also deadly venous creatures. God withdrew his hand of protection for a moment and venomous snake began to find their way into the camp. And people began to die from the bites.

The people became aware that they their complaining, their speaking out against God and Moses was the cause of this situation. And they plead to Moses to appeal to God for deliverance. God again had mercy on them. He commanded Moses to build a sculpture of the serpents and put it on a tall pole so when the people were bitten, they could look upon the sculpture and believe or trust that God would provide for them.

Every one of the people of Israel had been bitten by the snake and deserved death. It is only the grace of God that kept them alive. Jesus reminded Nicodemus of this. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

The people in the desert were not saved because they were Israelites, but they were saved because they turned to God. Each person in the wondering camp had to turn themselves to God. Without the turning they would have all been dead. The venom of the snake’s bite course through the veins of everyone because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save it. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, just as every Israelite in the desert.

Imagine you were Nicodemus, a prominent scholar among the Pharisees, and you had just heard these words. All the theological understanding available to us is nothing if we do not realize one simple thing. If we do not turn to Christ, we no matter how good we might be will die, because we have the venom of sin in our veins. God is not judging us; we have judged ourselves. We can mope around complaining about how unfair the world is, we can complain about how unjust the world is, we can get ourselves worked up into a pity frenzy but if we have not turned to God, nothing will ever change.

And how could it change? “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

What do we do when no one is looking? There is a saying going around over the past few years, “Dance like no one is looking.” The idea is that when you feel like no one is judging you, you are free to be yourself. There is a lot of truth to that, but then there is a flip side too. Why are we hiding in the first place? Why do we act differently when we think people are watching? Even when we are not doing anything wrong, how often do we sneak an extra piece of dessert and tell people to act like they did not see it? How often do we trip, get up, and look around to see who saw us? This is what Jesus is talking about. When we live our lives in the systems of the world, we live in fear and darkness. We are constantly looking over our shoulders and hiding. How can things change if even the “good” people of the world keep secrets?

No one is good. We live our lives in discontent, dishonesty, and lack of empathy. When the mask mandates were issued what was our first response? For many of us, including myself, we complained. Why? When someone drives a bit too slow in front of you, what do you say? When we smash our finger when we hammer a nail, is it safe for kids to be around you? These are little things, but they point to something bigger. We, even good Christians, are not good enough. That venom still courses through our veins.

We like to hide and we like our privacy. We do not like it when people poke their noses into our business. But why? We fear. We are afraid that someone will see who we really are and our reputation will be ruined. And we perpetuate that fear by how we respond to others.

How do we change? The truth.

Each of us is capable of great good and great evil at any given moment. We like to think that we would never be as bad as the Soviets or the Nazis but the reality is that we are all capable of it. And the only way to change is to recognize who we are and turn to God. When I say turn to God, I do not mean merely going to church. Church is essential or I would not be here, but the church is also filled with flawed human beings and we can become distracted. Aaron, the first priest, could not enter the promised land because of sin, what makes us think we are any better? We need to be honest.

We can be good and evil. We can justify our actions to make ourselves look good, but are we being honest? Look at your lives through the lens of Christ. How good are you?

When Nicodemus came to Jesus that night, Jesus told him that, unless one is born again, they cannot see the kingdom of God. That phrase born again, or born of above, is one we hear a great deal. But do we know what it means? When the people of the desert were bitten by the vipers they knew. If they did not turn their death was imminent. For us we are more like Nicodemus, we have our definition of what it means, but do we live it out in our lives. Do we have a new nature? Do we have a new purpose? Are we living a new lifestyle? Can we see in our world something God loves?

That is the kicker right there. Do we see in our world something God loves? Do you see something worth giving your life for? That is the reality of being born again. It is seeing things with new eyes, experiencing them from a new perspective. It is seeing the things around us not as dire but as loved. So loved that God the Father sent Jesus to redeem it with His life, death, and resurrection. I began by wanting us to consider what would make God angry. I think this should give us perspective. God is angry because we do not care for what he loves. Let us think about that as we enter this time of Centered worship.

Idolatry of Good Intentions

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

March 7, 2021

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Kama ungependa kusoma nakala kwa Kiswahili bonyeza hapa

John 2:13–22 (ESV)

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵ And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸ So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²² When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

When you think of Jesus what do you see? Do you see a kind man sitting on a rock with kids playing at his feet? That is one image that was always hung up in Sunday School classrooms as I was growing up. Does our mind go to the image of the last supper painted by Da Vinci? This was a print that hung up above the countertop in my home church where all the potluck dishes were aligned for our feasting. Or is the dominate image of Christ you have in your mind the image that we have hanging here behind me? The image of Jesus praying in the Garden. I bring up these images because we all have a dominant way of imagining Jesus. For some the primary image is the baby in the manger. For others it is Christ on the cross. I am guessing that the image that comes to our minds while reading today’s passage is one that many of us rarely even imagine. How many of you have even taken the time to develop a mental image of this passage?

Of all the events that are recorded in the Gospel accounts there are only a few that are recorded in every gospel written. The events of Holy week are recorded in all gospels, although Mark does not record Jesus appearing after the resurrection, he simply says that the tomb is empty. The baptism is alluded to in every gospel, which is important because it was the initiation of Jesus into the ministry. The feeding of the five thousand is also in every account, but the walking on water is only in two. Of all the things that we think are important about Jesus, only a few stories make it into every gospel account. But of those events that every gospel writer finds as being the most important, this story, the story of Jesus cleansing the temple is probably the one we overlook the most.

We like the stories of Jesus healing people, we like the stories of Jesus feeding a multitude, we have developed holidays to celebrate Jesus’s birth and presentation at the temple, but even those events are not mentioned in every Gospel account. But this one, we do not have a holy day for.

We do not like to dwell on an angry Jesus. We do not like thinking about what caused Jesus’s anger. We shutter at the thought but why? This story is found in every gospel account but the most detailed report is found in John. I find this interesting because John is also the account that promotes the love and grace of Jesus to the greatest degree.

I want us to really reflect on this passage today. What caused Jesus to get angry enough to lash out?

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went to Jerusalem. We need to know this because it sets the scene for the whole story. The Passover was at hand. Ancient Israel had many holidays, and many of these are still celebrated today. But unlike our holidays, the celebrations in ancient Israel were not a mere day but often a weeklong festival. There were three of these celebrations that required a journey to Jerusalem, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles. Passover is the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins. It was the day that memorialized the preparation of the people for God’s redemption and liberation.

If we were to read through the account of Exodus, we would find that the night before the last plague of Egypt, God commanded the children of Israel to prepare for their departure. And part of that preparation was to put the blood of a lamb on their doorframes so that the Spirit of God as it would make its way through the land destroying the first born of all of Egypt, the spirit would Passover the houses of Israel. The Passover feast we often hear about today, is the preparation for the true event. It is the pep rally for liberation.

Passover is approaching and each day it nears more and more people are crowding into Jerusalem. They all need to be in the city by Passover so that they can be ready for the upcoming Festival week. The thing with the festivals is that everyone must be ready to celebrate. There are sacrifices that need to be made and foods need to be purchased. Basically, Jerusalem is beginning to look like Black Friday at Walmart.

John goes on to describe the scene further, “In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the moneychangers sitting there.” There is nothing remotely wrong with the selling of goods and the provision of services. These are necessary especially when there are people needing to make purchases. But the issue is seen in the first three words of verse fourteen, “In the Temple.”

The people were required to go to Jerusalem by dictate of the temple. They were required to travel to the temple for their own spiritual good. The religious leaders wanted the faithful to enter the celebration with a clean conscience. They wanted those that celebrated to have their hearts set on the right path so that they could be drawn closer to their God and deepen the collective faith of their communities. These celebrations were not only religious events but events that were to unite and build relationships among those traveling.

The celebration is not what caused the ire of Jesus to raise, but what was going on around them. In the Temple, the very place where these people were coming participate in the celebratory events, a market was set up.

Markets are a positive thing. We often hear people opposed to ideas of capitalism using this passage as a prooftext against free markets. I think this is just as wrong as capitalist totally disregarding the lessons that can be learned from this passage. Jesus is not opposed to the market, but where and why that market is there. It is in the temple. The religious leaders have turned a place of worship into a place of commerce. And as he looks at the market, he makes a whip of cords, and he drove them all out of the temple, along with the sheep and oxen. He overturns the tables scattering the money on the ground, and he pointedly accuses one of the merchants with his zeal for the house of God.

Why is Jesus so angry? The temple made the necessity of the gathering and the temple is using the event to exploit those that participate. And if you do not participate you are not part of the community. I want us to really think deeply about this. The religious leaders in control of the temple have called the people to worship. Millions of people make their way to the city, and it is difficult to travel with all the necessary products, not to mention very few people can go on vacation without forgetting at least one essential item. Usually, it’s a toothbrush or your swimsuit, but we always forget something, so we decide that we will just buy it when we get there. The temple leaders see this vast court of space where people are gathering and they think why not rent space to merchants that way we can “help” provide easier access to these necessities for the people.

It sounds like an excellent idea. What could possibly go wrong? This market most likely started with the best intentions in mind. Leaders just wanting to help provide a benefit to make the whole process easier and more meaningful. If they can buy a sacrificial animal here, they would not have to argue with venders outside and we could guarantee adequate quality. It sounds beautiful and I would probably have voted for it if it were on the ballot.

The problem is who is in control of the market. If you go to a movie theatre there are signs that say, “outside food is prohibited.” This sign is there to limit access to the market. The theatre would like every customer to purchase food from their concession stand so that they can increase their profits. This is a private business so who can blame them. I love movies and the arts, but what if there is a statute requiring that every person is required to go to that theatre a minimum of three times a year, and that you would be required to attend movies every day for a week with each visit.

Every year you would be required to enter the movie theatre twenty-one times and purchase a ticket for each family member at $20 each. Then you would be required to make purchases within the theatre. Just for my family that law would require me to spend $1260 just to attend the movie, and approximately an additional $1260 for concessions. That law would require me to spend $2520 a year for my family to be upstanding members of my community. Like I said I love the arts, I love going to movies. The problem becomes an issue when those that have control of the market then decide to limit it even more, or to exploit those within the market.

If there was a law requiring movie attendance, what would stop the theatre from raising the price of the ticket? They would raise the price of the ticket, and they would continue to raise the price until someone put a stop to it and made a different law.  And then they would focus their attention to another required amenity until no one could enjoy the movies because it cost too much or the theatres would be completely centralized and limited that only one movie could be shown and only one concession would be offered to keep the costs down. The people had to go to the temple. And the market within the temple can only become corrupt because there are not other options. Jesus is upset because the people are being exploited in the name of God, for personal gain.

It is not the market that Jesus is upset about, it is that the market is exclusive. It is not the profit that Jesus is upset about, in several parables he speaks of increased profits as being extremely positive. He is upset because the system has moved from encouraging the community, into something less positive. He is upset because a celebration set up to honor and remember the glory of God has become a method of exploitation. Jesus is upset because those that proclaim the name of God have turned worship into a way to manipulate the masses for personal gain.

He looked at what was going on in the temple, and he made a whip out of a cord and he drove them out, but he does not stop there he then says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

I want us to really think about this in a sociological manner. The tabernacle was built to provide Israel a place to worship. They spared no expense on the craftsmanship of the tabernacle, so that it would honor the God that had done so much for them. Eventually the tabernacle was no longer glorious because the people were established in their nation what good is a tent when you are not moving? David decided that he wanted to build God a house. They built the temple. Then as the monarch demanded more from the people the temple became a symbol of division, instead of an icon directing worship.

The temple, there to honor God and unite the people, divided the north from the south, why? Is it because of God? No, people used the temple to control and divide, to force and to manipulate. This is not what God wants. When Jesus said to destroy the temple and in three days, I will raise it up, is more than just a prophecy about his resurrection. He is saying the things that we use to control and divide people; the systems and the organizations will not stop God. God does not dwell in the organization or the building, but God dwells in the hearts of humanity. And when humanity uses an organization that was started for good to cause harm to others or coerce them into do something, that organization ceases to be an instrument of God’s glory and it and all involved needs to repent.

In what ways are we causing anger in Christ? We can justify much in our own minds, but anger Christ because we take something positive and use it to cause some degree of harm. Have you ever complained about someone taking care of responsibilities because you wanted something? Have you used guilt to manipulate others? Have you thrown a fit to get your way? These are no different than the temple monopoly exploiting the masses.

In each case we are using an advantage over someone to manipulate things to our benefit at their expense. We are being dishonest and often we are being self-righteous in our dishonesty. And when we as followers of Christ use the methods of the world for dishonest gains, we dishonor the one we claim to follow.

Jesus’ anger is one of the stories that we should all spend some time reflecting on, because emotions are in our life for a reason. They are there to direct our attention to something, emotions of desire direct our attention to the amazing beauty of creation, while other emotions should cause us to examine our life. If we are angry, we need to know why because that anger is driving a wedge in our relationships that will eventually cause a split. We need to be angry at times, but we need to let our emotions prompt us to think deeper while we act. Jesus did not just drive people out of the temple he told them why. They had made money and idol, and what was going on in the temple courts was more important to them than what was going on at the altar.

As we join with each other in centered worship today, let us consider our actions and activities. Let us consider our words and our motives. Let us promote the truth and purity of the gospel and the lifestyle of Christ. Loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others.

Fight for Control

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

February 28, 2021

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Kama ungependa kusoma nakala kwa Kiswahili bonyeza hapa

Mark 8:31–38 (ESV)

³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” ³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Over the past few years, I have seen a great deal of tension among many of my friends. This is not really that surprising because it resembles the tension that is felt throughout our culture. We live among people, and we are people that have strong opinions and personalities that do not like opposition to those opinions. We struggle with our nation and our communities with ideas and philosophies and while we are struggling, we sometimes forget that those that hold opposing ideas are not enemies but our neighbors and our friends.

Over the past week during our daily meeting for prayer, which you can participate on our YouTube channel, the focus of the scriptures and queries have revolved around these sorts of struggles. The struggles between ideas and where these ideas come from and how we should respond to those with opposing ideas. And as I have prayed through these scriptures, I have noticed something profound. We are all wrong. We fight for control; we struggle with conflicting ideas but while we struggle have, we lost sight of what is most important?

Jesus, in today’s passage, I imagine is sitting around a campfire with his disciples as they rest from their travel. They are near Caesarea Philippi, which is in the far northern area of Israel. I have spoken a great deal about the uniqueness of this area and the cultish practices that surround it. But that is not what I want to focus on today. Jesus is talking to his disciples. They had just been through some of the most profound and miraculous events anyone could possibly imagine. They had watched Jesus feed multitudes, they had seen people healed of various diseases, they had seen those held in spiritual bondage released from the grip of evil and demonic forces. And they had just stood near what they referred to as the gates of hell, and Jesus proclaimed to them that nothing not even the vilest infestation of evil thought would stand against the kingdom.

And he encouraged them with a simple question, “Who am I?”

They discussed what people outside of their group thought. Some said John the Baptist, Elijah, or a prophet of old. We run through this exercise today as well. The various media outlets all like to proclaim what they think, especially about Jesus. The people we work with like to throw in their opinions while we discuss things at break. Our various political parties like to proclaim that they are the ones that are truly following the dictates of Christ, yet if we were to look very deep for every item on their platforms that supports Christ there is one that completely denies him. For over two thousand years humanity has discussed who Jesus is, it does not matter where we are in the world, if a community relates to others outside their own tribe, they have some opinion as to who or what Jesus is.

We can get caught in a vicious cycle of what do people say. We can go around and around for years, but the truth about it is that what people say really does not matter. I say this because they are probably wrong. The people of Jesus’s day were saying that Jesus was people from their history or even John the Baptist who had only recently died. For these things to be remotely true it would deny so much of their accepted theology that they could not even call themselves faithful while believing it. Yet it was common enough among the people for the disciples to quickly respond to Jesus’s question as to what people say about him. What people say is often wrong. It does not really matter who it is saying it. If someone is speaking about someone else, we should be skeptical because the only person that knows the truth about someone is the subject of the conversation. You might be my closet friend, but unless I personally told you something, you do not know anything about me. You might have some good ideas but the only thing you can really speak about is what you have seen me do or heard me say.

We can only speak to what we observe. Jesus asks the disciples what people outside of their group say about him, and then he asks them what they think. “Who do you say that I am?” This is a completely different questions, because the disciples have observed a great deal more than the others. The disciples say without the slightest hesitation, you are the Christ.

This statement is filled with a great deal of history and passion. Everyone had an idea of who the Christ was going to be. And with each of those ideas there would be sub sections depending on the ideas of the individual. If someone were to say the Chris is to be king, how many different views would there be? Like David, the warrior king? Like the wise king Solomon? But even those kings had aspects that were less than ideal. Maybe the king would be like a blend between a Gentile and Hebrew king, the next phase of human evolution. They may not have used those words but even the seemingly unified understanding of king is filled with personal interpretations.

Jesus and the disciples are discussing all this. And while they are talking Jesus tells them what being the Christ entails. He tells them that he will suffer at the hands of the religious leaders. He informs them that he will be put to death because of the rejection of the leaders of the religion. He even tells them that he will rise again after three days. He tells them these things, but they did not listen.

They like us had their own ideas and their own agenda. Jesus was going to be king. If not, a king he would at least be a political religious leader that could hold sway over the people in concert with the Roman governors. The suffering Jesus spoke about was not in their plans. Jesus was annoying the disciples with these words. They did not appropriate his attitude. The guy that could feed multitudes and heal the sick was not going to suffer.

Jesus had something to say about our agendas. “Get behind me Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” I want us each to think about this for a moment. I want us to think about everything we have posted on social media, every stance we have taken on a social or cultural issue, think about the plans you are making and agenda you are supporting. Where is God in it? How does it promote Christ?

Jesus goes on to say something very pungent. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up hos cross and follow me.”

Think about this. Let the words seep deep into your soul and really listen to them. What does it really mean?

It means your agendas no matter how good they might seem could be opposed to God. If we want to follow Christ we cannot think about our agendas, or how it might affect our standing in any social circle. It means we follow Jesus even if following him might be the end of everything we think is important.

What does this loom like? It is standing up for those that are marginalized. It means we must say Black Lives Matter. It means if we say we are pro l8fe we will go down to the social services office and apply to house foster children because or if we cannot or are unable to, we encourage those that are. It means we should be making attempts to come up with solutions within our own community to alleviate potential problems, and we should be part of that solution. It is not the government’s responsibility it is yours. I know that those words have stepped on a few toes mine included. But the real8ty is that following Jesus is uncomfortable and it is opposed to the world.

Everything we do. Everything we have should be used to serve the kingdom of heaven. If you have a business your profit is the kingdom. If you work for someone, you work for the Lord by serving your employer. If you are retired your time is still of value for the encouragement of the kingdom and those that serve. If you are a parent your job is to raise up servants of Christ. If you are a customer your purchases are assets of the king.

If we are to follow Christ, we must deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow him. Why? What is the point? This is exactly where the disciples were in their thinking. It does not make sense to not take care of yourself first. It does not make sense to support governmental action that goes against your best interest. It does not make sense, that is until you look at the larger picture.

What good was it for Jesus to provide healing to the lepers? They were not contributing to society, to be honest they were a waste of resources. Yet Jesus spoke to them, he even touched their unclean bodies. He made them clean, he made them whole. What good was it for Jesus to cast a legion of demons out of a man and into the pigs? He was not contributing to society; he was keeping the people from properly morning their lost loved ones and was desecrating the cemetery. Yet Jesus released him from bondage and clothed him. Why do these things when there is no gain?

Each of those that were touched by Christ, were provided an opportunity to extend the kingdom. The man freed from the bondage of demons asked to follow Jesus, yet Jesus told him to stay in that region. He remained in that area so that he could serve God there, so he could restore the relationships that were once broken and provide a testimony that God can change lives. Each of those restored individuals have a new perspective in life. Each of those individuals can now serve just as Peter’s mother-in-law served right after Jesus lifted her from her bed of fever. We are restored so that we can assist in the work of God.

But we can only assist in that work if we stop trying to do things our way and begin listening to God. God promised Abram that if he would follow him, he would make him the father of nations. He held on to that promise, his wife held on to that promise for many years. They walked by faith yet did not see the profit. Sarai knowing that God had promised an heir, decided to make her own plans and she gave her husband her servant as a surrogate for her. When the child was conceived this caused tension between the women. It caused tension because Sarai did not remain steadfast in her faith. It caused tension because Abram did not hold tight to his faith. They turned from God’s ways and began to make plans according to the ways of humanity. There was nothing morally wrong with what was done according to the traditions of that era, but it was not what God promised. When we stop listening to God, we become obstacles to his purposes.

We can know the ways of God. Scripture tells us this. Our faith tradition is founded on that revelation from Jesus’s own mouth. He tells us that we are his friends if we do what He commands. No longer are we servants because servants do not know what the master is doing, but he calls us friends because he has made know to us what the Father has said. We can know if we listen. We can know if we stop focusing on our own desires and instead focus on the desires of God. This is God’s desire: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Does this mean we need to go out of this building and give every dollar we have to the first person we see in need? No. That is not laying one’s life down for his friends. We need to first invest in the lives of those around us. We need to develop relationships with people, get to know them and encourage them in the ways that they should go. And as we encourage, we tell them what we have heard and what we know. We give our lives for them. My purpose as a father is to invest my life into my children. My purpose as a pastor is to invest my life into the ministry of this church. But those are the things I am directed to do. I cannot speak for you. Only you can speak for yourself. I cannot tell you what you should do I can only speak of what I must do in my life.

We can listen to the world and speak to their perception of who we are, or we can just focus on the truth. Who does the world say Jesus is? Who do you say He is? If we are focused on the world we are not participating in the kingdom of God. The world does not matter. Let the world do what the world wants. Instead, you focus on what is most important. Loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. If we were to make that our only desire in all of life imagine what this little Meeting could do. But that all begins with each of us denying ourselves and taking up our crosses to follow him.