As we move on into our series on the Sermon on the Mount, I want to take us back and remind us who Jesus is speaking to. He is speaking to the crowd and his disciples. They will not be seen by many as the movers and shakers of their day. Yet in the beatitudes, Jesus inverts the world’s view of happiness and replaces it with his own. Here again Jesus turns it all upside down and says that those listening to him are the ones who light the world and give it flavor. They are salt and light.

Some observations: They are said to be salt and light. I don’t like this designation. I do not like being told I am the exemplar. How can this be so? I know myself too well. How does this work?

One, It’s not so much about my perfection as it is about Jesus’ perfection. What makes that crowd and the disciples so special? They are at the feet of Jesus. You are salt and light because of who you follow. However imperfectly we do this, you are salt and light when you follow Jesus.

Two: Think of it this way. When I accepted my first position as a preacher did that make me one? Yes and no. Did I really know what it is to be a preacher? Not fully. I have had to learn and grow into being a preacher. Jesus declares us to be something and then we learn to become it. If we spend our lives waiting to be ready, we will never get anything done.

Three: What happens at the feet of Jesus is what really changes the world. We may not see ourselves as very important in the big scheme of things, but really we are. We are in an election season right now. Discussion of politics and who will be the next president are already becoming daily news. It’s easy to be fooled into thinking that that’s where the real influence and power is and for some things maybe so. However, we are talking about Jesus and his kingdom and in that we are the movers and shakers.

So learn to live boldly everyday knowing that your influence as a follower of Jesus is more powerful than you have ever imagined.

So what does this text have to do with growing spiritually. It comes from realizing you have been called and growing into your call. You are salt and light. Now go live like it.

If you have any thoughts to add, please comment below.

Barry

Sorry about last week.  I did not get my thoughts about the sermon settled until late in the week.  The response was good and it caused me to give some more thought to the idea of growing our faith so that’s what we will continue to look at this coming Sunday.  Here is what I have so far.

We will continue the series I started Sunday morning, but in looking at Matthew I have decided to take one detour before we move past the beatitudes and get into the sermon on the mount. Turn back a couple of pages in Matthew and go to the end of chapter 3. This is where Jesus is baptized.

This seems to me to be the best starting place for a series on how to grow your faith. Faith is relational in nature. At least when we are talking about another person or say God. It is something that grows. I notice three things in this passage. Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. I do not know if I can get all the things meant by this out in one sermon, but for our purposes think of it as this: Jesus was accepting the mission God had for him. Jesus did not need to be baptized, but in doing so, he affirmed that he was ready to go to the cross. I also notice the presence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You will need all three of these to grow in faith. The third thing I notice is the phrase “This is my son, whom I love: with him I am well pleased.”

How do we grow spiritually? By trying to please the father. Have you ever had someone you wished to please? How did that affect how you lived? Did it change anything? Did it cause your relationship with that person to grow? To grow our faith we must first want to please God.

Barry

In Acts 19 there is a story about some Jewish exorcists who tried to drive out an evil spirit in the name of Jesus. It didn’t work and the evil spirit ended up beating them severely. I want to take a look at this story this Sunday with this as the main point: It’s not enough to know who Jesus is, you need to know Jesus. That’s where the power is.

You see in the story in Acts the Jewish exorcists tried to drive out the spirit in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches. It seems to me from the story that they didn’t know Jesus. I have watched too many times in my life when someone wants the power or peace or comfort that Jesus can give, they cannot find it. I have wondered if it’s because they have spent a lifetime not really getting to know Jesus and building their faith. So when the storm comes, they are not ready for it and growing faith in the middle of a storm is really hard. Often during life’s storms, we need to lean on our faith.

I am not trying to say that faith cannot grow during hard times, but that we need to prepare for these hard times by being faithful and growing our faith before the storm hits. Jesus is not a cosmic magician who comes when we call him to get us out of a mess, yet I have known people who have treated Jesus like a magician. The problem comes and then someone gets very faithful about church and prayer and Bible reading and whatever else they think is necessary to get Jesus to act on their behalf. Often they wind up disappointed. Is it because Jesus doesn’t have power? I don’t believe that.

Why do you think we often end up disappointed with Jesus?

This is what I want to explore this Sunday.

Any thoughts?

Barry

This Sunday the elders want to recognize the many who serve in various ways in this church.  Following worship they will be providing a meal to continue their thanks.  I’ve always like to tie in the preaching with what’s going on in the church so this Sunday I want to talk about service.  I’ve thought about lots of things to say and with each I find myself thinking it’s been said before and while I realize that a lot of preaching is about saying what we already know and encouraging us to keep doing it, I’m not sure I can really say anything much new that will really be helpful.

So, my current thought is this:  I think the main thing that drives Christian service is the idea that we have been served first.  We have been blessed so we do not let the blessing end with us but endeavor to pass on blessing as well.  So that has started me thinking about the many in my life who have blessed me and the many I am not aware of who have blessed me.

In just a church context I think about Bible class teachers who taught.  There they would be every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening taking time out of their lives to put up with me and a bunch of others who did not really appreciate what they were trying to bring us.  I can remember the elder who stood at the hallway to the entrance of the Bible class wing who would greet us by name each Sunday morning.  There he was all those years every morning saying hello.

I have sat in enough elders meeting to know the hard job those men do.  I don’t think anyone can ever fully appreciate what they do for years on end.  The prayer, struggle and yes also the joys that come from serving in that capacity.

Just taking communion every Sunday means that someone prepared it and made sure it is ready for Sunday.  The one who has to organize and make sure everyone is in their place Sunday morning and knows their job to do.

You get the point so I’ll stop elaborating.  What I am thinking about doing Sunday morning is share some stories of unsung heroes I have known through the years who have just simply and quietly served.  I don’t want to embarrass anyone here so I will not go into anything from this congregation, but I suspect that the stories will sound the same and you will know others who have done the same things.

Does this sound reasonable?  Or do I need to come up with a “regular” sermon instead of share stories?  If your vote is for stories, do you have one you would like me to share?  Someone you have known from the past who served and made a difference?  I would love to share that too.

Let me know your thoughts.

Barry

It just seems to go without saying that Christians should love Jesus.  Love obviously means a lot of things, but one thing I have learned in life is that what one person thinks of as loving is not necessarily seen by someone else as loving.  I have known women who love to get flowers.  If you want to make an impression, send or bring some flowers.  I have know others women who don’t really get all that excited about flowers.  Why spend all that money on flowers.  They will just die.  If you want to say “I love you, then clean the bathroom.”  That says I love you.

Who is right?  Both!  So the question is:  Does Jesus give us any idea of what he thinks of as love.  What can we do for him that says I love you?

John 21 and Matthew 10 are a couple of examples where Jesus says what it means to him to be loved.  He asks Peter three times if he loves him.  Peter says yes.  Jesus tells him to “feed my sheep.”  In Matthew 10 Jesus asks that we “take up the cross.”  In these two cases I suggest he means that we join him in his mission.

I have tried to think of it in various ways.  One way is that we make a list.  Jesus should be at the top.  OK.  I like lists.  They help keep me organized.  Great.

Another way I think about it looks something like this:

Pardon my attempt at computer drawing.  Here we see Jesus at the center along with other important things.  Hopefully we keep Jesus as the biggest circle and keep him at the center.

However what about this picture?

Keeping Jesus first on your list is legitimate.  So is keeping Jesus at the center and the biggest.  However I find myself drawn to this model a but more than the others because it means Jesus encompasses all that we are involved in.  In this model, we take Jesus with us (or take his mission to all these areas of our life).

Which model do you prefer?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?

Barry

For this Sunday let’s take this idea of being made in God’s image one step further in Genesis. It’s really fundamental it seems to me that if image includes in its meaning being God’s representative here on earth, then we should carry this over to something very important in our lives: marriage. If we see ourselves as having a purpose bigger than ourselves, then I think it we should take this thinking into our marriages also. I like Gary Thomas’ statement that “Marriage is not about making you happy but making you holy.” My marriage is about something much bigger than myself or Kelly.

Follow the thinking out: If we see image as representative of God with a job to do here, then God says it’s not good for man to be alone it’s about more than loneliness. It’s also about there is a job to do and it’s bigger than one man can do. So he needs a helper. Not only a helper, but a helper that can help him create more helpers. The marriage has to be about more than the couple.

If you are married, what are your goals that are bigger than yourselves?

What are you consciously doing to serve God? I guess I need to keep this short. Any thoughts for Sunday?

Barry

I know it’s been a long time since I have posted, but with vacation and all the other activity going on i’m working on getting back into a routine. So here goes.

I want to continue what I began two weeks ago when I looked at Genesis 1:1 and explored the idea that the first thing we know about God from scripture is that He is a creator. He creates. I left off asking everyone to consider what it means to be made in His image and if there is any relation to the idea of God being a creator. When God decides to make man in His image there are a couple if things expressed for man to do: He is to rule and subdue the earth.

Look at Genesis chapter one and what do you see God doing. God is bringing order out of chaos. Maybe that’s the primary meaning of being made in God’s image. To be God’s bringer of His will to the earth. Think of it this way. Why would an ancient ruler place an image of himself all over his kingdom? So that everyone would know that he is the king. To know that this area is his and is subject to his control.

Can we all agree we live in a world of chaos? How much of your energy is devoted to keeping things organized in your life so you can function. Do you observe that things get better on their own or worse without intervention and someone working at it.

So what I want to explore Sunday morning is how do we bear God’s image in this world? How do we help God take back this world. How can we also create? Everyday you either will bring order or chaos. What do we need to be creating in this world? How about this for starters?

Peace

Love

Kindness

Beauty

What else can you think of and how do we do this?

Barry

The story of Ruth is short and you can see why it is such a favorite with so many.  It’s about love, faithfulness, devotion, kindness and many other things.  The passage about “your people will be my people…” is famous and rightly so.  As I look at this story and think about how to preach it for Sunday I find myself drawn to several things.  Here are a couple.

One is the treatment of strangers.  Naomi and her husband travel to Moab.  They are strangers, yet seem to make a life for themselves there.  The boys find wives and they live.  It sounds like there was some level of acceptance of the Moabites of this family of strangers.  Naomi looses to death her husband and sons and hears that there is food again back home so she returns.  She entreats her daughter’s in law to remain, but Ruth decides to return with Naomi.  So now it’s Ruth’s turn to be the stranger.

How we treat strangers is important in the Bible.  Hebrews 13:1-2 is one admonition.  The Israelites are reminded that they were strangers in Egypt and that they should treat strangers well when they are among them.  What ideas can you see for preaching this?  How important is this in our lives today?

Does something like this have any bearing on immigration?  This has definitely been in the news with Donald Trump’s comments.

How do we encounter strangers today or do we completely keep our lives in a bubble so that we do not have to encounter them.

How does our treatment of strangers say something about us?

Should I just leave this approach to Ruth alone and try this one?

As I have been reading through Joshua, Judges and Ruth I noticed this about the story.  Joshua and Judges are about what happens at the top.  These are stories about the movers and shakers:  the leaders. the obvious ones.  Ruth shifts our focus to something more mundane but at the same time just as important.  How God is at work in ways we never see.  Joshua tells the people that God will do amazing things.  With Gideon God goes out of His way to make sure everyone knows who won that battle.  Here in this story it starts out looking like God is not doing much.  In fact, Naomi feels like God has caused her misery.  She now wants to be called Mara or bitter.  Yet we can see because of our hindsight that God was at work and that through Ruth God brings David and Jesus into the world.  God is at work with the “important” in our world and culture and He is at work among the least and seemingly least important.

Is this the better way to go?

This Sunday we are going to look at Gideon. You can find his story beginning in Judges 6. Plenty to look at here, but let’s focus on the early part of the story. Gideon’s call.

Here are my early observations:

1. 6:10 Listen to God  I know it’s not every time, but how often have you found yourself in a big problem, maybe even one that lasts for 7 years and it’s because you didn’t listen?  Why don’t we listen?  How does complacency slip into our lives?  Is it because we start to think we are so independent?  I guess there are lots of reasons.  Which ones can you think of?

2.  Gideon seems to be kinda brash.  I observe and the Bible tells us right up front in the story what the problem is.  The Israelites did evil.  Yet, Gideon has the audacity to ask why things are going wrong.  I guess sometimes in the middle of a problem we don’t see so well what’s causing it.  Sin has a way of blinding us.

3.  Be careful about complaining to God or asking why unless you are prepared to be part of the solution.  Gideon wants to know why God has not acted for them in the mighty way He has for them in the past.  He doesn’t realize that God is about to and that God is going to use him.  In fact, Gideon resists the idea.  We all want great things done and we are willing to watch it happen.

4.  “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.”  Couple of observations about this.  One is that God can see great things in us that we cannot.  Mighty warrior is prophetic.  This is what God is going to make out of Gideon.  We need to ask ourselves what God is going to make out of us.  We need to look at others and imagine what God can do with them.  Weakness is not a problem with God.  In fact, He revels in using weakness.  The story of Gideon is all about weakness and God doing something great in the middle of his weakness.  The other observation is this:  in the midst of weakness and vulnerability the one thing we need to remember is that God is with us.  He is there even when it is not obvious or clear.  He is there and is getting ready to do something great.

5.  Go do what you are supposed to do.  It will be scary.  Gideon tore down the altar at night and I get the impression that he was in hiding the next day.  It was his father who had to confront the crowd and turn them away.  Do not let fear keep you from doing what you should.

These are some thoughts to start us out.  Let me know what insights you see in this story.

Barry

I am finding that to preach about Jericho this Sunday I will have to pair it with the story of Ai also. I can’t just do one and not the other. This will naturally have to include the story of Achan so there is a lot to cover for Sunday. A couple of verses caught my eye as I was reading. 3:5 where Joshua says “the Lord will do amazing things among you” sounds like a great text to preach. But, also check out this:

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” 15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Chapter 5

I get why Joshua would ask this question and it takes me by surprise. I expect the answer to be “I have been sent here to fight for you Joshua.” But the answer is “neither.” For all the triumphalism in Joshua to this point it sounds rather ominous. Maybe commander is saying that he does whatever the Lord commands and he has not been given a command except to show up. Is it helping to make the point that we better be very careful about assuming that God is on our side in any fight we get into. During the American Civil War both sides prayed to God asking for his support and assuming He was on their side.

We can see in this story of Jericho and Ai that we can easily go from victorious to defeated very easily. Then there is the story of Achan. How his act of taking what belonged to the Lord caused the defeat of the Israelite army. Sin in the camp effects everyone and not just the one who sinned.

I should keep this shorter than last time.

Here are some of the possibilities I see for Sunday:

God is fighting His own battle and not yours. Any victory we have is because we have aligned ourselves with His cause. The victory always belongs to the Lord. There was a certain cockiness that was shown at Ai that cost them dearly.

I wonder if Achan would have lived if after the announcement that something devoted to the Lord had been taken and during the day of consecration if he had just come forward and admitted it if he could have been forgiven. Making them go through the whole process of discovery sealed his fate. The sin of one effects all.

To see God do amazing things we are going to have to risk amazing things for God. We cannot play it safe in our lives and expect great things. Risk is necessary for a life of faith.

What possible lessons do you see? It may be tough this week narrowing it down.

I just can’t seem to do just Jericho without the follow up story of Ai. It seems too much like life as I have experienced it. A great victory followed by a tragedy because I can’t seem to follow through and consistently live as I should. I start thinking it’s all about me.

Barry