Pastor Sherry’s Message for September 3, 2023

Scriptures: Ex 3:1-15; Ps 105:1-6, 23-26, 45b; Ro 12:9-21; Matt 16:21-28

         I came across this little poem the other day, whose author is anonymous (perhaps by choice?):

         I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord.

                    Real service is what I desire. 

          I’ll sing You a solo anytime, dear Lord,

                    But don’t ask me to sing in the choir.

          I‘ll do what You want me to do, dear Lord,

                    I like to see things of God come to pass.

          But don’t ask me to teach boys and girls, O Lord,

                    I’d rather just stay in my class.

          I’ll do what You want me to do, dear Lord,

                    I yearn for Thy kingdom to thrive. 

          I’ll give You my nickels and dimes, dear Lord,

                    But please don’t ask me to tithe.

          I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,

                    I’ll say what You want me to say.

          I’m busy just now with myself, dear Lord,

                    I’ll help You some > convenient day.

(Chuck Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, pp. 516-517.)

This is amusing, isn’t it?  We’re ready to obey the Lord, but on our terms.  If we obey on our terms, then just who is God to us? We sit on the throne of our own lives, and obey God if and when it’s convenient—which means we have dethroned the true King.

And where does this leave us?  The comedian, George Carlin, once had a routine in which he challenged the concept of self-help.  He said, essentially, that self-help is an oxymoron:  “Look it up,” he said, “if you did it yourself, you didn’t need any help. Pay attention to the logic of the language, people.”   How about the concept of self-service?  Isn’t service something we provide to others? Again, using Carlin’s logic, is it a service if we do something for ourselves alone?

(Fairless and Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, 2013, p.213.)

The Bible is pretty clear that God prefers for us to turn from serving or helping self toward serving Him and helping others.

         A.  Our Old Testament lesson (Exodus 3:1-15) is a case in point:  By the end of chapter 2, Moses had become a grown man with   a desire to help his people, the Israelites.  So when he observed an Egyptian overseer mercilessly beating a Hebrew slave, he took it upon himself to kill the Egyptian.  We have no indication that the Lord told him to do this.

He had assumed this murder would be helpful.  But he was unprepared for what might happen when the word got out—even among the slaves–that he was a murderer.  His own people didn’t trust him.  He had been trying to help, but by his own misguided efforts.  The Egyptians wanted to arrest him and kill him.  This resulted in his having to flee for his life to the Egyptian “outback,” to the south end of the Sinai Peninsula, a place called “Midian.”

There, in Midian, the Lord placed him in a godly family and provided him with (1) sanctuary from any avenging Egyptians, (2) a lovely wife, Zipporah, and two sons, and (3) a new way to earn a living, as a shepherd.  We could say he served a 40 year apprenticeship, caring for sheep and goats, prior to shepherding God’s Chosen People.  He was also learning not to rely on self (help).  He was emptied of pride and self-will.  The burning bush incident was meant by God to teach Moses to surrender his ego, his princely prerogatives, and to trust in the name and power of the Lord.  God tends not to use those who will not yield to Him.

         B. We know God used Moses mightily, as we read the rest of Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy (the Pentateuch or Torah, the Law, from Genesis through Deuteronomy).  After afflicting the Egyptians with 10 plagues—by the way, this was the Lord going to war with the gods of Egypt and winning every time!—Pharaoh gives in and lets the Israelite slaves leave Egypt.  Scholars believe King David wrote Psalm 105, to preserve and celebrate God’s actions on behalf of the Israelites from the time of Abraham to Moses.  This psalm retells their history.

The verses we read this morning recall how the Lord used Moses and Aaron, his brother, to display His power to Pharaoh, essentially saying, Dude, you and your gods don’t have a chance against the power of the Almighty God.

We’ve all just survived Hurricane Idalia.  Think of how Almighty God intervened to help us through.  A friend in Tallahassee who did not lose power was watching the Weather Channel and heard Dr. Greg Postel say, the day after Idalia hit land (8/11/23), that they observed “curious changes” that did not match their scientific predictions:  (1) The eye wall “eroded,” or “fell apart at the middle and lost convection so that the wind weakened just before landfall.”  130 mph suddenly dropped to 85 or 90—such a huge, immediate drop is not usual.  This Category 4 killer storm reduced to a Cat 2 or 1 as it reached land.  He admitted the science could not explain this.  (2) Though the storm surge was bad, due to the full moon, it materialized as less than expected because it hit at low tide rather than high tide, as had been predicted.  Perhaps the lowered wind speeds helped change the timing of the storm with the tides.  How amazing!  (3) Additionally, the winds at ground level during impact appeared to have separated from higher, more vicious winds which operated up to 1000 feet above land.  The winds that hit us were actually lower in velocity than the higher winds in the storm mass.  We were spared the really dangerous, brutal winds.  Remember our prayers, since the beginning of hurricane season against a dangerous hurricane hitting Florida?  No doubt we were not the only Christians praying this way.

Truly we were spared the devastation of a Cat 4 storm by divine intervention.  Never doubt the power of Almighty God!  All praise belongs to Him!

         C. In his letter to the Romans (12:9-21), Paul lays out how we are to relate to other believers and to nonbelievers.

         If we are cooperating with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, our actions toward other believers will be characterized by

                  a. Sincere love;

                 b. Hatred only for what is evil;

                 c. Devotion to each other out of brotherly love (philios);

                 d. Industriousness, rather than laziness;

                 e. “Joy in hope, patience in affliction, faithfulness in prayer”;

                 f. Sharing with the truly needy;

                 g. Practicing hospitality;

                 h. Blessing rather than cursing others;

                 i. Empathizing with each other’s pain or joy;

                 j. Living in harmony with others;

                 k. And being humble.

Toward non-believers, we are to (1) refuse to exact revenge for being wronged—leaving that instead to God.  Remember, the culture says, “What goes around comes around.”  Scripture says “we reap what we sow.” It’s the same law.  Often I have seen someone receive back exactly the evil treatment they had previously dished out to another; (2) do the right thing; (3) as much as we can ensure it, we must live at peace; and (4) verse 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If we can demonstrate these attitudes and behaviors,we are truly demonstrating that we are surrendered to God.  If we can’t, we probably aren’t.

         D. Which leads us to our Gospel lesson (Matthew 16:21-28).

Jesus tells the disciples, for the 1^st time, that He is going to Jerusalem to die (about 6 months prior to His crucifixion).  He will tell them four more times before His betrayal and arrest (Matthew 17:12, 17:22-23, 20:18-19, and 20:28).  He knows and accepts that this is the future set out for Him.

But Peter is appalled!  Seven verses earlier, Peter had confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  He can’t believe that Jesus would willingly die a     criminal’s death.  Whereas his first statement was inspired by the Holy Spirit, this second one is inspired by Satan.  How quickly we can move from being in alignment with God’s will to being antagonistic to it.  Jesus loves Peter but rebukes him strongly.  Even the Son of God—who is also God—must submit His will to that of the Father.

Self-help, self-service, even self-improvement rarely work for us.  I once worked with a very bright doctoral student in Sports Psychology.  Those folks are smart as can be.  They have to learn all the psychology I did, as well as the physiology of bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons that impact athletic performance.  She suffered from depression and did not believe in Jesus.  Instead she worshipped “the goddess within.”  I wondered how she could continue to believe in the goddess within when that entity had not helped her overcome her battle with depression.  Self-improvement based on self or even on “the goddess within” is typically fruitless.  We need Jesus to heal us.   

Ultimately, we need to follow the examples of Moses and of Jesus.  We are to deny ourselves.  We are to be willing to sacrifice what we want.  We are to serve and obey God.  We are to help others.

When we can become self-less, then God has us right where He wants us.  This is the point at which He will use us to build up His Kingdom.  And, paradoxically, when we surrender to Him and pick up our cross, we gain eternal rewards—we are richly blessed.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!  Alleluia, alleluia!

©2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams