Pastor Sherry’s message for 10/11/2020,
Scriptures: Ex 32:1-14; Ps 106: 1-14, 19-23; Phil 4:1-19; Matt22:1-14
I have a friend, a woman who is divorcing her husband of 35 years. She has had it with his emotional abuse, his put downs, and his neglect of her relational needs (He sees no need to change since what they have is working for him). She has left their marital home but has had some difficulty finding affordable and safe housing. Her two sons invited her to move to the city where they lived, which she did. Once there, however, she determined that her son with children has too much going on in too little space, and does not need her adding to their chaos. Her other son’s significant other has not welcomed her, despite her son’s reassurances to the contrary. She does not want to move into an assisted living facility. So she is looking into either renting an apartment in a safe neighborhood; or finding a reasonable duplex; or building a “tiny home”—either in one son’s back yard, or in a “co-housing community” where all residents have separate “lodges” with bedrooms and baths, but share dining and recreational facilities with other members of the community. (I had a professor at FSU who, with her Lutheran pastor husband, built a “lodge” in just such a community in the early 1990’s. Apparently this idea has resurfaced today.) In other words, my friend wants to maintain her independence while also experiencing a sense of community.
Fortunately, she is a follower of Christ Jesus and has not lost faith in Him even though her marriage has been a huge disappointment. She has had to make some tough decisions for herself, but she has not erred like the Ancient Israelites. In today’s Old Testament passage, Exodus 32:1-14, Moses had been up on Mt. Sinai, communing with God, for about 40 days. Some of the people assumed he’d been gone so long he must have died. He’d actually gotten the 10 Commandments–and additional instructions on living a life pleasing to the Lord–as well as God’s blueprint and particular specifications for the Tabernacle. With no paper and pencil, or no laptop, these things took time.
But the folks at the bottom of the mountain made the surprising decision that they needed a new (old) god, rather than just selecting a new leader. Where was their trust in the Lord? He had said He would be with them. Where was their faith? Didn’t they remember the miracles they had observed and experienced? Even more intriguing, where was their logic? How soon they forgot!
As Psalm 106 tells us, they abandoned and betrayed God, once they got scared, despite all He had done for them. They should have reminded themselves of God’ s past faithfulness and His provision. But instead, they came up with a crazy plan—which Aaron their apparently apostate minister agreed to—to fashion a golden calf to worship. Verses 19-20 report (NLT)-→The people made a calf at Mt. Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold. They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull. They neglected to cry out to their their powerful Creator and instead decided to worship a statue they themselves had created. To me, this makes little sense.
Fortunately my friend has not abandoned God in her time of distress, and neither should we. When we find ourselves in a terrible fix, that is exactly the time to call out to our God. When we are stuck between a rock and a hard place, that is exactly the time to trust that He is there and will hear us and respond to us. In God’s foresight and provision, my friend ran into a mutual friend at a church she was trying out. She had known this woman from Florida, but had forgotten she’d moved to this very city some years back. As our God would have it, this woman invited her to live in her basement apartment until such time as she could afford her own place.
In today’s Gospel,(Matthew 22:15-22), Jesus adds to His earlier condemnation of the religious rulers of His day: In the Parable of the Great Feast, Jesus gives them yet another warning–as well as a key lesson in abiding in faith: Special guests had been invited, but they (the Jewish leadership) made their excuses and did not come. These excuses were lame and indicated disinterest, disobedience, and lack of respect. As we saw last week, the King is enraged and punishes them by destroying them and their city—again a prophesy of the destruction in 70AD of Jerusalem by the Romans. Then the King dispatches His servants to bring in those the 1st guests would have considered undesirables (deplorables), like Gentiles and prostitutes and tax collectors. He supplies wedding clothes and is angry when a guest does not come dressed appropriately. This is not a concern with fashion; it is rather God’s concern for our cooperation and obedience. The king supplied the special clothes! All the new dude had to do was put them on (i.e., say yes to Jesus). But he would not! (Yes to coming, but No to complying with God’s requirements). The head-strong, stiff-necked, disobedient guy gets tossed from the banquet. Jesus goes on to say (v.33)…”Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This is the 3rd parable of judgment on the Pharisees, elders, and Scribes. They had neglected to teach how the people should approach God’s heart in love, and had substituted scrupulous adherence to His Laws. They had replaced having an intimate relationship with the Lord with ritually going through the motions—and missed out on having a deep abiding faith in Jesus, God’s Son.
In our New Testament reading today, the Apostle Paul provides 5 ideas for how to live a joyful, peaceful life, despite our troublesome circumstances: First, in verse 1 —Rather than worry about an unknown future—which could change in a New York minute–let’s set our minds on heavenly things and stand firm in the LORD. This includes setting aside our quarrels with others. Like Euodia and Syntyche, we should figure out a way to not take offense against another Christian. Remember, I have mentioned before John Bevere’s book, Bait of Satan, in which he states that choosing to take offense against another is taking Satan’t bait and it does not serve us well. As Christians, we should forgive insults or slights from others; we should grant grace to others as Jesus has to us.
Second, in verse 4 —We are to rejoice! i.e., to celebrate! Our joy comes from our relationship with Jesus. A good habit to have is to daily think of three things you can be and are grateful for and thank God for these. This practice will help you feel better. This practice will retrain your brain to focus on what is positive rather than the negative. Noting the negative may keep us safe; but it does not lead us into peace and joy. Developing this practice will help you better note and remember the good things that God is doing in your life. If they had daily repeated 3 miracles God had done for them since leaving Egypt, the Israelites would not have fallen so quickly (40 days) into idolatry. My friend has had some rough days, but her deep faith in Jesus has pulled her through them. She has not soon forgotten God’s goodness to her!
Third, verse 6 —Rather than be anxious (or rebellious), we should pray — Bring every concern we have to the Lord. No matter is too small; if it matters to us it matters to God. Then follow up the request with thanksgiving. Notice: We are not assuming God will do what we ask every time—the “name it and claim it gospel”; but we thank Him because we trust and appreciate that He always hears and pays attention to us, and intends to answer us in ways that benefit us.
Fourth, in verse 7 —When we pray and leave our worries to God, His peace, which transcends all understanding will descend upon us. In the place of stress, we will feel His deep shalom peace. This peace depends on our relationship with Jesus, not on our current circumstances.
Fifth, in verse 8, Paul asks us to put on the mind of Christ! J. Vernon McGee calls this list of characteristics, “the shortest biography of Christ.”
(Through the Bible Commentary on Philippians, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.98).
Isn’t it accurate that Jesus is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy? When we focus on living out these attributes of Jesus, we really are putting on the mind of Christ. Our news media tend to emphasize whatever is scary, depressing, unexpected, or horrifying. This tends to lead us to believe their reports accurately depict reality. We have to remember, however, that the true, the good, the noble, the right, the pure, the lovely, and the admirable are not considered news. Some network news persons end their programs with an example of something good, but we do not hear enough of these things. If we are to live out lives that demonstrate peace and joy, we have to discipline ourselves to look for and celebrate the good! Paul saw the truth of this long ago. Secular Psychology has just recognized this truth in the past 25 years. In 1999, Dr. Martin Seligman, a psychologist famous for his research on depression, became the president of the American Psychological Association. In his first address to the profession, he said the field of psychology was “half-baked.” Psychology had spent its first 100 years trying to help people get from mentally ill to normal, from negative numbers to zero. He challenged the field to begin to research what it takes to help people become happy, and unleashed more than two decades of happiness research. The results are amazingly very Christian: forgive people who have harmed you; help someone else; practice gratitude; take care of your body, exercise, rest, and eat right; thank those who help you, etc. In a way, do those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.
God has given us, in His Scriptures, a pathway or the keys to a life of peace and joy. We don’t want to be like those faithless Israelites, forgetting God’s previous provenance every time they faced a crisis. This week, let’s be mindful of (1) keeping a heaven-mindset, standing firm in the Lord; (2) Rejoicing! Christians should not be grumpy! (3) Praying, the small and the big things, turning them all over to Jesus, leaving then in His care, and resisting the impulse to take them back. (4) We need to let go of worry while also being grateful to God for His many blessings. (5) We need to seek God’s peace and His continued blessing. And let’s remember that our retirement home is Heaven! Our invitation to the wedding supper of the Lamb came at a great price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ! AMEN!
©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams
