Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Everyday Saints

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 3, 2024

Scriptures: Isa 25:8-9; Ps 24; Rev 21:1-7; Jn 11:32-44

Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday.  It is the Church’s attempt to counter the secular focus on ghosts, goblins, and all matter of scary Halloween folk, alive or dead, and instead highlight those followers of Jesus—Saints–who have gone on to glory.  Halloween was originally “All Hallows Eve,” when Christians everywhere meditated on their friends and family members—saints—who had entered into God’s glory.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to think of myself as a saint.

Perhaps it is because the Roman Catholic Church has a lengthy process by which it canonizes someone into sainthood. Canonized saints had to have lived a holy life—in which they demonstrated the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity—and often were martyred for their faith.  They must also have performed some sort of miracle.  But the truth is that if we have been baptized into Christ, we too carry the name “saint.”  The academic dean of my seminary used to greet us all at every chapel service by saying, “Good morning, Saints!”

The following story provides an example of what we might call not a canonized but an “everyday saint”:

“During the course of earning her master’s degree, a woman found it necessary to commute several times a week from Victory, Vermont to the state university in Burlington, a good hundred miles away. Coming home late at night, she would see an old man sitting by the side of her road. He was always there, in sub zero temperatures, in stormy weather, no matter how late she returned. He made no acknowledgment of her passing. The snow settled on his cap and shoulders as if he were merely another gnarled old tree. She often wondered what brought him to that same spot every evening. Perhaps it was a stubborn habit, private grief or a mental disorder.

“Finally, she asked a neighbor of hers, “Have you ever seen an old man who sits by the road late at night?” “Oh, yes,” said her neighbor, “many times.” “Is he a little touched upstairs? Does he ever go home?” The neighbor laughed and said, “He’s no more touched than you or me. And he goes home right after you do. You see, he doesn’t like the idea of you driving by yourself out late all alone on these back roads, so every night he walks out to wait for you. When he sees your taillights disappear around the bend, and he knows you’re okay, he goes home to bed.”

(Contributed by Keith Wagner, Almost Heaven, adapted from Garret Keizer, Watchers in the Night, http://www.sermons.com, 10/31/2024.)

Everyday saints are big-hearted  souls like the old man in the story. .They generously  put themselves out for the benefit of others.  The young woman in the story didn’t ask him to watch out for her.  He just determined that someone needed to check on her safety, and that someone was him.  No fanfare; no publicity.  I believe a lot of us might similarly qualify as “everyday saints.”  I learned last night that my son-in-law, Job, went into action to help the police subdue some drunken, combative fans at a big football game in Jacksonville yesterday afternoon. These out of control football enthusiasts had thrown punches at the police who had come to escort them out of the game. Later Job said he helped the police cuff the drunks because he did not want them harming his family or any other observers in the crowd.  I told him this qualified him as an “everyday saint.”  Isn’t it true that so often we think, “Someone should do something about this or that situation,” and then we realize, perhaps I am that someone.

Our readings today all focus on the future home of both canonized and everyday saints.  Let’s examine them together to see what we have to look forward to.

A.  Our Old Testament reading is from the prophet Isaiah (25:6-9)—whose name means “the Lord saves.”  Imagine living out your life knowing this is what your name means.  In this passage, Isaiah is foretelling what the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ will be like for all of us saints.  When the Great Tribulation ends and Christ returns to earth a second time, He will usher in 1,000 years of peace—known as the Kingdom Age, or the Millennial Reign of Christ—as He rules over all the earth.  He will reign from Jerusalem.  He will provide for all our needs.  This is what is meant by verse 6 (NLT version): …the Lord of Heaven’s Armies [Jesus] will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world [i.e., all those who believed in Jesus while they lived] .  It will be a delicious banquet with clear well-aged wine and choice meat.  We will eat well.  Our appetites will be satisfied.

Even better, verses 7-8 tell us: He [Jesus] will swallow up death FOREVER!  The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears.  He will remove forever all insults and mockery against His land and people.  The Lord has spoken!  In our new home, in our resurrection bodies, there will be no death or grief.  Jesus’ victory over death on the Cross will be a reality for each one of us.  Since He will have “swallowed death up,” death the concept and death the reality will ease to exist!

Verse 9 tells us: In that day, the people [we everyday and canonized saints] will proclaim, “This is our God!  We trusted in Him and He saved us!  This is the Lord in Whom we trusted.  Let us rejoice in the salvation He brings!  Our new home will be a place of joy and celebration.  We will be so grateful that we trusted in what Scripture has told us about our God.

B.  Psalm 24, Like Psalm 23 just before it, was written by King David.  In it, David prophesies that Jesus, our Chief Shepherd, will–at His 2nd Coming–be the King of the whole world.  David lived about 350 years before Isaiah, but he says essentially the same thing:  He predicts that Jesus will take possession of Jerusalem and Mount Zion, the Temple Mount.  There will be no more Dome of the Rock, the Moslem mosque that currently sits where the Temple used to be.  This is all possible because as vv.1-2 state: The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to Him.  Since our God created all things, including us, it and we all belong to Him.  If He means to reclaim the Temple Mount for Himself, He will.  Given the upcoming national election, it is good for us to remember, our country does not belong to Democrats or Republicans, or to socialists, communists, or capitalists.  America belongs to God, whether we all recognize it or not.

As the remainder of the psalm asserts, the gates of the city will open for Jesus, the King of Glory.  We will be there because we loved Him and believed in Him. We everyday saints will dwell with our Great Shepherd in our glorious new home.

C.  Our New Testament passage is from the end of the book of Revelation (21:1-7).  The Apostle John tells us that after the 1,000 year reign of Christ, the devil will be destroyed, once and for all.  God will then create a new Heaven, a new earth, and a New Jerusalem.  (Some scholars believe the old earth and the old Jerusalem will be destroyed by fire.)  As our other passages have foretold, there will be… no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  All these things are gone forever. 

And, as the hymn proclaims, “Oh happy Day!”  This is what our eternal home will be like, Saints!  Don’t you want to be there?  I do.  As another anthem asserts, “Oh yes, I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in!”

D. Finally, in our Gospel lesson (John 11:32-44), we remember how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  What is so important to realize is both that (1) Jesus demonstrated His power over life and death;

(2) but also that He was so angry about death.  Yes, He was sad that Mary and Martha and others were grieved over Lazarus’ death; He Himself wept.

But He was also angry that death had not yet been defeated.  How ironic that it took Jesus’ death to break the power of death over us.

As the message has been repeated throughout our readings today, in our new home–as either canonized or everyday saints—we will no longer experience death.  The evil one will have been destroyed, and we will live eternal lives of comfort, safety, health, and celebration.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that I always want us to consider how the messages of our Scripture passages apply to us today.  These are ancient words that are still so very true.  Today, our focus is on what our new eternal home will be like. We certainly don’t want to miss out on it, do we?  We want to rejoice in our salvation and to please God.

We also want to live like everyday saints.  One example of how to do this comes from the following story:

“Several years ago, a New York City radio station ran a contest. Disc jockeys invited their listeners to tune in their clock radios. “Just for fun,” they said, “when you wake up to the sound of FM-106, call and tell us the first words you spoke when you rolled out of bed. If you’re the third caller, you’ll win $106.”

“It didn’t take long for the contest to grow in enthusiasm. The first morning, a buoyant disc jockey said, “Caller number three, what did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?” A groggy voice said, “Do I smell coffee burning?” Another day, a sleepy clerical worker said, “Oh no, I’m late for work.” Somebody else said her first words were, “Honey, did I put out the dog last night?” A muffled curse was immediately heard in the background, and then a man was heard to say, “No, you didn’t.” It was a funny contest and drew a considerable audience.

“One morning, however, the third caller said something unusual. The station phone rang. “Good morning, this is FM-106. You’re on the air. What did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?”

“A voice with a Bronx accent replied, “You want to know my first words in the morning?”  The bubbly DJ said, “Yes, sir! Tell us what you said.”  The Bronx voice responded, “Shema, Israel … Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” There was a moment of embarrassed silence. Then the radio announcer said, “Sorry, wrong number,” and cut to a commercial.”

(Borrowed from http://www.Sermons.com, 10/31/2024.)

Wow!  Are the first words out of your mouth each morning a prayer of praise to our wonderful God?  This is clearly one way to live like an everyday saint.  Like the old man in the Vermont cold, it also comes as a result of looking out for the health and wellbeing of others.  Prompted by All Saints Sunday, let’s be aware this week of demonstrating our love to God and to others in practical, generous, and maybe even brave ways.  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Humility

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 27, 2024

Scriptures: Job 42:1-17; Ps 34:1-8, 19-22; Heb 7:14-28; Mk 10:46-52

In a story borrowed from Our Daily Bread, it was recounted that…

 “Shortly after Booker T. Washington, the renowned black educator, took over the presidency of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he was walking in an exclusive section of town when he was stopped by a wealthy white woman. Not knowing the famous Mr. Washington by sight, she asked if he would like to earn a few dollars by chopping wood for her. Because he had no pressing business at the moment, Professor Washington smiled, rolled up his sleeves, and proceeded to do the humble chore she had requested. When he was finished, he carried the logs into the house and stacked them by the fireplace. A little girl recognized him and later revealed his identity to the lady. 

“The next morning the embarrassed woman went to see Mr. Washington in his office at the Institute and apologized profusely. “It’s perfectly all right, Madam,” he replied. “Occasionally I enjoy a little manual labor. Besides, it’s always a delight to do something for a friend.” She shook his hand warmly and assured him that his meek and gracious attitude had endeared him and his work to her heart. Not long afterward she showed her admiration by persuading some wealthy acquaintances to join her in donating thousands of dollars to the Tuskegee Institute.”

Another true story of a famous person who demonstrated humility is told of the great evangelist George Whitefield.  Whitefield was a friend and a contemporary of John Wesley, who, in the 1740’s, led the American colonies in a huge revival known as “The First Great Awakening.” 

“Although George Whitefield disagreed with John Wesley on some theological matters, he was careful not to create problems in public that could be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, “I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him.” 

(W. Wiersbe, Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching and Preachers,  Moody Press, 1984, p. 255.)

Both Dr. Booker T. Washington and Rev. George Whitefield illustrated the very rare virtue of humility.  We know that Jesus was humble. So too was Paul.  In Acts 20:19 (all biblical quotations cited are from the New Living Translation), Dr. Luke states that Paul asserted in Ephesus: I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews.  By the time he penned his epistle (1 Peter 5:5-6), Peter had also learned to be humble: All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” [Proverbs 3:34].  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. 

Humility is one of the marks of a true follower of Jesus. I believe our God rejoices in us when we put aside our pride and live lives characterized by true humility.

A. Job (42:1-17) is another great example of a man who learned to be humble before God.  Verses 1-6 reveal that as a result of his confrontation with God, Job humbly admits he has erred by assuming he could judge God.  He admits his sinfulness (v.6): I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance

Then, in verses 7-9, God takes Job’s judgmental friends to task.

He rebukes them for their presumptions and their spiritual arrogance—for thinking they knew God’s purposes with Job.  He directs them to make sin offerings to atone for their guilt.  And then He tells them to ask Job to pray for them. God vindicates Job before his best but wrong-minded buddies.

Finally, God restores Job’s fortunes.  Somewhat like when the Egyptians gave the Israelite slaves their “back pay” when they left Egypt, Job’s relatives and friends (v.11) are prompted to bring him silver and gold, a kind of “grub-steak.”  God himself replenishes his supply of animals: WOW!  Consider the Lord’s largesse:  14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen (really 2,000 oxen), and 1,000 female donkeys (remember donkey milk was prized then in the Ancient Near East)—twice as many animals as before.  He also helped Job procreate 7 sons and 3 beautiful daughters (not 20 kids, because he would later see the first 10 in heaven.)  And He grants him long life.  Scholars believe Job was about 70 when all of this took place, so God added 140 more years to his life.

The book of Job illustrates, among other things, that humbling ourselves before God brings us blessings.  Job lost everything, even his health, but God restored him two-fold—due to his faith, trust, repentance, and humility.

B. Psalm 34 was written by King David to express his gratitude to God for rescuing him from his enemies.   In verses 1-2, David praises God for delivering him from a king of the Phillistines (Achish, who was an Abimilech, or ruler in the Canaanite tongue).  In verse 3, he calls on others to praise God too.  David says (v.4): I prayed to the Lord and He answered me; He freed me from all my fears.  He continues in verse 8, Blessed is the man [or woman] who takes refuge in Him.  He concludes in v.19: A righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.  Just because we love the Lord does not mean we live trouble-free.  Actually, Jesus later stated (John 16:33): Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows [will not might or could].  But take heart because I have overcome the world.  It means that He will sustain us through our difficulties. 

Essentially, David’s point is that we can and should depend upon the Lord.  He can and does rescue us when we cannot save ourselves.  Holding firmly to this insight should make us humble, as we realize that we can’t but God can.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews (7:14-28) pretty much spends his [or her] entire book outlining why we humbly owe Jesus our love, gratitude, and respect.  (Many credit Paul with writing the Letter to the Hebrews, but Paul always identified himself as the author of his books and did not do so here.  Other scholars speculate it may have been Priscilla of Priscilla and Aquila fame.  She had been raised in Rome and probably had had an exceptionally good education, as the Greek used in this book is of a very high level.  We can only speculate and will have to ask in Heaven who the actual author was.)  

Whatever the case, Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, not of Levi, the priestly tribe.  But, as verse 16 explains: Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.  He became a priest through His resurrection from the dead.  As is clear from Psalm 110:4 [God is speaking]: The LORD has taken an oath and will not break His vow:  You [meaning Jesus] are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedec [the mysterious priestly king of Salem, forerunner of Jerusalem, in Abraham’s time].  In other words, Jesus surpassed the Arronic priesthood (begun with Moses’ brother, Aaron) because He is both perfect (without sin) and eternal.  And today, He is seated at the Father’s right hand, interceding for each of us, sinners though we are.  If that isn’t humbling, I don’t know what is.

D.  As a good friend of ours often states, “moving right along,” in our Gospel lesson (Mark 10:46-52), Jesus encounters a blind fellow named Bartimaeus.  Jesus is leaving the vicinity of the Old Jericho (left in ruins with a curse upon whoever might dare to rebuild it) and instead is departing from the “new” Jericho, built in a different location by Herod the Great.  Beggars often sat outside city gates, so they could solicit money from passers-by.  Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is passing and calls to Him (v.47): Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!  Jesus graciously stops and responds to the man, What do you want Me to do for you?  We suspect the guy would want to be healed.  But maybe he wanted more money, or a better place to live, or even a spouse.  Jesus often asked people to clarify their motives for themselves and for any onlookers.  But, Bartimaeus honestly says, I want to see.  And in verse 52, Jesus heals him saying, Go, your faith has healed you.

Jesus commends him for his faith.  Huh?  Jesus realizes Bartimaeus is a man of faith because he calls the Lord, “Jesus, Son of David.”  This is a Messianic title from the Old Testament.  Bartimaeus believed Jesus was the Messiah and that He was meant to bring about God’s Kingdom rule on earth.  Bartimaeus knew from Isaiah 61 that this meant Jesus would minister to the poor—of which group Bartimaeus was one—and that He would heal the maimed, lame, and blind, his particular affliction.  Notice, Jesus doesn’t touch him, but simply speaks healing into his life.  And then a sighted Bartimaeus humbly and gratefully follows Jesus.

So, where do these passages lead us?  Our God has told us back in Micah 6:8: The Lord has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you:  to do what is right [just], to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  We don’t see much humility around us these days, do we?  Instead of being humble, people tend to put themselves forward and/or brag about their accomplishments.  I, for one, am much more impressed by a proficient athlete who praises God for their successes than I am by to those who take all the credit themselves.  Scripture provides us with many examples of men and women who humbled themselves before God and people.

I think a case can be made for us each to act humbly because…

1. As Job discovered, we can question God but our minds are not capable of understanding the complexity of the universe, nor of comprehending the mind and plans of the Almighty. We need to approach God mindful of and repentant for our sins.  We should come before Him in all humility. 

2. King David says in Psalm 34, God hears our prayers and rescues us from trouble.  As Beth Moore, the wonderful Bible teacher, frequently states, “God loves to mess with our messes.”  Even if we have behaved like an absolute stinker, if we ask the Lord to redeem our mess, He will in ways beyond what we might have asked or imagined. 

3. As the writer to the Hebrews says, Jesus is powerful enough to save us and to intercede for us with God the Father.  We can’t save ourselves by our own actions.  We needed our great high priest, Jesus, to do the work of atonement for us—and He has!

4. Similarly, Bartimaeus knew he could not restore his own vision.  He needed the healing power of Jesus Christ to do it for him.

This week, let’s try to do the right thing, to love extending grace and mercy to others, and to walk humbly with our God.  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Mountain-Moving Jesus

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 13, 2024

Scriptures: Job 23:1-10, 16-17; Ps 126; Heb 4:12-16; Mk 10:17-31 

This is apparently a true story:  Years ago, a fellow wrote a letter to the president of Pontiac, a division of General Motors.  His letter spelled out a complaint he had with regard to his new car.  The guy’s family would vote on what flavor of ice cream they wanted after dinner and the man would drive his new Pontiac to town to pick it up.  If they chose chocolate, strawberry, or butter pecan, the car would crank right back up and carry the man back home.  If, however, the family chose vanilla, the car would not start.  The man could not figure out what there was about vanilla ice cream that would cause his new vehicle not to start.

The president of Pontiac was puzzled, wondering if the man was a crank, but he sent an engineer to check into it. The engineer, expecting a nut, was surprised to find a well-dressed, educated man in a nice neighborhood.  That night, the family selected vanilla, so the engineer traveled with the car owner to the ice cream store. Sure enough, the car would not start.  The next two nights, the family chose other flavors and the car started just fine. Several nights later, the family wanted vanilla again, and sure enough—following the purchase—the car would not start.

The engineer could not believe that the family’s flavor choice would have any impact on the car’s tendency to start. He thought to himself,  “Pontiacs don’t operate that way.”  So he was determined to study the problem until he solved the mystery.  Over several days’ observations, he discovered the true issue:  Vanilla, the most popular flavor, was conveniently located toward the front of the store for ease of purchase.  The other flavors were in a larger display case toward the back of the store. Those selections took longer to make, and check out time was lengthier.

Time was the crucial factor, but what relevance did that have to the car starting/not starting?  The engineer discerned that the problem was not due to vanilla but rather to a condition called “vapor lock.”  The other flavors took more time to check out, allowing the car to cool down sufficiently to start.  The vanilla choice took less time to purchase, so the car engine had less time to cool and for vapor lock to dissipate. 

(Source unknown.)

One of my church members who knows a lot about cars says this is why they invented fuel injection engines.  Now you may be wondering what vapor-lock or vanilla has to do with today’s Scripture lessons.

Nothing.  But perhaps an argument could be made that this story simply illustrates that it’s often easy for any of us to draw the wrong conclusions about what causes our troubles.  You have probably heard that many believe our 4 hurricanes in the past 13 months were due to climate change or fossil fuel emissions.  Or you may have heard that the pile up of disastrous storms is due to God’s judgment on either Florida or the USA.  Causation is difficult to identify, and difficult to prove.

This is exactly what poor ole Job is trying to pin down.

A. In Job 23:1-10, 16-17, it’s clear he doesn’t know what he has done to bring about the calamities in his life.  You see, the prevailing belief in Job’s time was that wealth and wellbeing indicated a righteous life, while poverty, chronic illness, and just plain bad luck was due to sinfulness.  This is why Job’s friends worked so hard to “help” him determine his besetting sin.

But Job was pretty clear that he had lived a righteous life.  So, he wanted to meet up with God to try to understand what was going on.   In verses 3-4, he says—If only I knew where to find Him [God]; if only I could go to His dwelling!  I would state my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.  Job wants to meet with God, but can’t find Him.  He wants to plead his case and fall upon God’s grace.  Afterall, other biblical greats did:  Abraham bargained with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if 10 righteous persons could be found there (Genesis 18:20-32).  Sadly there were less than 10 so God wiped the two cities out.  Moses successfully bargained with God not to destroy the rebellious, idolatrous, and ungrateful Israelites (Exodus 32:9-14; Numbers 14:13-20).

In today’s passage, it appears that Job is beginning to believe God is testing his faith (v.10)—But He [God] knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.  Even so, he appears to be depressed.  He worries that God has rejected him.  Chris Tiegreen, the contemporary Christian author of over 60 books, and a successful blogger about biblical themes, writes—Few things are more painful than rejection.  Deep in the heart of every human being is a longing to be known, to be understood and appreciated.  That’s one reason judging others is such a dreadful sin; it rarely takes into account their true selves, and it amounts to a rejection of their value.  From the Garden to the grave, rejection has been at the core of human relationships and fears. 

(Chris Tiegreen, “Job’s Rejection,” www.Filament.com, 10/9/2024)

We can identify with this, can’t we?  To me, rejection ranks right up there as the worse of all emotional hurts.  So here is Job, feeling rejected by God, but still trusting Him enough to want to meet with the Lord and hash things out.  He is still hopeful.  He has not given up on God, despite his troubles.  This is such a good example for each of us.

b. The message of Psalm 126 is actually very similar:  This is a “Psalm of Ascents,” sung by Hebrew pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem, which was essentially up hill.  Verses 1-3 celebrate Israel’s return to the Promised Land from exile in Babylon.  Babylon was not their home; exile means being away from our true home.  Refugees from Hurricane Milton in our area now are in a sense exiled from their homes.  Hopefully they will be able to return home soon.  When we humans can’t locate our true home, we often create for ourselves false homes, like money, pleasure, influence, fashion, fitness, power, etc.  

Verses 4-6 are essentially a prayer for full restoration from a troubled world to the conditions of the Garden of Eden.  When that happens, when Jesus comes again, we will all be so happy to be home.  Real return from exile comes from finding and following Jesus.  Job knows he is far from “home.”  He aches to return to a deep connection with his Lord.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews (4:12-15) wants us to know it is “home-safe” (as in baseball, or with my home security system which tells me I am “home safe” when the system is turned on) because Jesus Christ is our great high priest!  The Old Testament high priests could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year on Yom Kipur, the Day of Atonement.  They went into the holiest place in the Temple to intercede in prayer for the nation.  No one could go in there except the high priest; they firmly believed anyone else would die.  In fact, in case the high priest had not made sacrfices for his sins, he had bells attached to his hem, and a rope tied to one foot.  If the bells stopped ringing, the other Levites there knew he had died behind the curtain.  Since no one else could go in to reclaim his body, they would have to pull him out by the rope.

But Jesus Christ so far surpasses human priests that He has entered into Heaven, the true Holy of Holies.  He is continuously in the presence of God, not just on Yom Kippur.  And He makes active, effectual intercession for us with God the Father.  Again, Jesus, God’s Word made Flesh, is able to rightly discern our motives and behaviors, but loves us and forgives us anyway.

 We can count on our Mountain-moving Jesus.  Like Job, we never want to give up on God.  Job’s our model for enduring in the face of hardship.  Even if we don’t understand why we are being smacked again and again by devastating hurricanes; even if we don’t understand why we are so often sick, or in debt—seemingly unable to “get ahead”–or struggling with troubled relationships with family or coworkers, our God wants us to keep the faith.

Remaining connected to Christ is our “true home.” It’s where we experience God’s grace and mercy.  It’s home-safe for recovering from fear or rejection.  It is home-safe for feeling loved and secure.

This is where the rich, young ruler from our Gospel (Mark 10:17-31) missed out.  He claimed to have kept the last 6 commandments, the ones having to do with how we relate to and love others—the horizontal arm of the Cross.  He apparently didn’t keep the first 4, having to do with loving and worshipping God, the very important vertical of the Cross.  His wealth insulated him from needing God.  He’d found security in a false home such that he could not give it up in order to follow Jesus.

I would like to close with this poem about the mountain-moving Jesus:

Lord, I’ve never moved a mountain and I guess I never will.

All the faith that I could muster wouldn’t move a small ant hill.

Yet I’ll tell you, Lord, I’m grateful for the joy of knowing Thee,

And for all the mountain moving down through life You’ve done for me.

When I needed help You lifted me from the depths of great despair.

And when burdens, pain and sorrow have been more than I can bear,

You have always been my courage to restore life’s troubled sea,

And to move these little mountains that have looked so big to me.

Many times when I’ve had problems and when bills I’ve had to pay,
And the worries and the heartaches just kept mounting every day, 

Lord, I don’t know how You did it, Can’t explain the where’s or why’s.

All I know, I’ve seen these mountains turn to blessings in disguise.

No, I’ve never moved a mountain, for my faith is far too small.

Yet I thank You, Lord of Heaven, You have always heard my call.

And as long as there are mountains in my life, I’ll have no fear,

For the mountain-moving Jesus is my strength and always near.  Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

When God is Hidden, Part 2

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 6, 2024

Scriptures: 10/6/2024, Job 1:1-22, 2:1-10; Ps 8; Heb 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mk 10:1-16

I recently came across a list of laws on the books in various states that are both funny and even weird.  Apparently, it is illegal in…

1. Alabama to wear a false mustache that causes laughter in church. 

2. Delaware to whisper in church.

3. Alaska, to push a live moose out of an airborne plane.

4. Arizona to let a donkey sleep in a bathtub.

5. Arkansas to mispronounce Arkansaw as Ar-kansas.

6. Speaking of Illinois, to take a nap in a cheese factory.

7. Georgia to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket.

8. Louisiana to eat more than 3 sandwiches at a funeral wake, or to let a snake loose at a Mardi Gras parade. 

(Jack Browning, www.onelegal.com , 4/7/2024.)

People can enact some pretty strange rules by which they want us to behave, can’t they?  We have been looking to the Bible this past month to discover what constitutes true wisdom.  Remember, from God’s perspective, wisdom is godly or righteous behavior (just think What Would Jesus Do?) and foolishness is anything but. We’d have to look hard to discover the wisdom behind some of these laws I just mentioned above.

The writers of the Old Testament, the Jews, considered the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job to constitute Wisdom Literature.  Someone has said that Proverbs is optimistic and teaches us that we benefit most when we try to live lives pleasing to God (when we utilize wisdom).  Ecclesiastes claims that human wisdom has its limits, and a life not centered on God is meaningless.  And Job argues that, while God may be hidden as we–even if innocent of wrongdoing–undergo human suffering, we need to remember that (a) Satan is actively making every effort to discourage us from loving God; (b) there is meaning and purpose to our human suffering; and (c) God has not abandoned us but rather is rooting for us as we persevere in faith.

So, this brings us to a second consideration of what we are to do when God appears to be hidden.  Our Scripture passages today provide some powerful answers. 

A.  In Job 1:1-22, 2:1-10, we are introduced to Job—> This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.  In Chapter 1, God (the Father) holds Job up to “the Satan” [in the Hebrew, “Satan” is a title which means he is the embodiment of all evil] as His prime example of a truly good man.  Notice we are told that the Satan had been busy (v.6)—>  …roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.  What’s that mean?  It means that he was sticking his nose in peoples’ business, trying to catch them at their worst so he could accuse them before God.  This is why Scripture calls him “the accuser.”

So what’s he say to God about Job?  “Well, yeah, Job loves You and does what You want him to, Lord, because You have greatly blessed him.

Let me get ahold of him and make his life miserable, and watch how quickly he blames You and turns his back on You!  Wow!  Notice the Satan’s pride?

He is saying, in essence, “I know humankind better than You, God.  I’m sure this guy can’t really love You minus the good things YOU do for him, that is, without all the perks you bestow on people, You aren’t worthy to be loved.”

YIKES!  God is love and God is good.  No wonder pride was the reason Satan was kicked out of heaven.  He hasn’t learned much over the millennia, has he?

God agrees to let Satan test Job, but He places a limit on what the Satan can do to Job–he cannot kill him.  So, poor Job suddenly gets word that Sabeans (raiders) have taken his 500 yoke of oxen (1,000 altogether); his 500 female donkeys who provided milk that was highly prized in those days; and killed all his herdsmen except the lone messenger.  In quick succession, Job also learns his 7,000 sheep have been hit and killed by fire from the sky (lightening? a meteor? a volcano?).  Additionally, Chaldean raiders have swept in and taken off his 3,000 camels.  And worst of all, a tornado hit the house where his 7 sons and 3 daughters were having dinner, and killed them all.  Job is hit with a series of tidal waves or tsunamis, one following hard on the heels after the other.

Job’s amazing response is (v.21)—> Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; May the name of the Lord be praised.  Strickly speaking, Satan (not the Lord) caused Job’s stock market to crash and all 10 of his children to simultaneously die.  Job seems to understand this and so he does not blame God.

Next, we pick up in Chapter #2,with a second test for Job.  Satan asserts to God, “Well, I ruined his finances and his family, but he still loves You because he has his health.  God allows Satan to take Job’s health and watches to see what he does.  Again, do we all notice who is responsible for the dirty work?  Again, it’s Satan, not God.  Furthermore, God believes in Job…think about that: God trusts in Job’s love and fidelity.  Wouldn’t we all love for Him to trust in us to that extent?  So, Satan covers Job’s body with painful, itchy boils.  Job sits on an ash heap, a sign of mourning.  He’s thoroughly grieved and he does not really understand why so many bad things have happened to him, but amazingly he still doesn’t blame God! Instead his wife–who may have only married him for his wealth, etc.—says to him (v.9)—> Are you still holding on to your integrity?  Curse God and die!  She’s really supportive, isn’t she?  Instead of comforting and encouraging Job, she very disrespectfully blows him and his grief off.  Maybe leaving her around while all their children were killed was another part of Satan’s dastardly plan.

Job actually presents an excellent model for us:  We need to remember his story when trouble comes to us.  It is the evil one who causes our troubles.  God allows them as a test, but meanwhile, God is for us, not against us.  Indeed He provides us what we need to meet and even overcome the test.  I am reminded of the present response to the victims of Hurricane Helene in the western Carolinas.  The federal government has been slow to respond, but churches, neighbors, and many non-profit agencies have marshalled resources to rescue, water, feed, and provide shelter to those who have lost so much.

B.  Psalm 8, written by King David, is a hymn of praise to God for creation.  It begins and ends with those wonderful words, O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!  Then it goes on to celebrate God’s formation of the cosmos, from planets and stars to humans and infants.  We could call this a Messianic psalm because it speaks to a time when all persons will revere our Lord Jesus.  As we know, the names of God and of Jesus are not everywhere honored today; many even use them as curse words.  But with Jesus’ 2nd Coming, all will know that God is real, that He exists, and that He rules in power and might.  Those who love Him and believe in Him will discover the truth of what the prophet Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 29:11—> ”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to proper you and to give you a hope and a future.”  Again, our God is for us and not against us.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews (1:1-4; 2:5-12) wants us to know that Jesus Christ is superior in position and power to all of the prophets who have lived and to all of the angels in heaven and on earth.  Previously, God had spoken to humankind through prophets He ordained to communicate His thoughts to us; less often, through angelic beings who came with specific messages to particular persons; and, then through the 40 Holy Spirit inspired authors of the Old Testament written for our edification over 1500 years.  But with the birth of Jesus, the Father has spoken to us through His Son, the full revelation of God.  Or, as Peterson paraphrases it (v.3)—> By His Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end.  This son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature.  He holds everything together by what He says—powerful words.

(Eugene Peterson, The Message, NavPress, 2002, p.2181.)

God has put everything into subjection under Jesus’ authority. And He has made us sons and daughters of God.  This is our position, no matter what life or the Satan throws at us.  For this reason, we can trust in God the Father and we can trust in God the Son, even when we experience trials and tragedies. 

So, when God’s purposes escape us, or when His actions—or seeming lack of action—frustrate us, let us remember…

(1) God is good and God is love.

(2) Thus, His plans and purposes for us are always good.

(3) And when He seems to be hidden from us, we can still, like Job, trust in Him and remain faithful to Him.  Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

When God is Hidden

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 29, 2024

Scriptures: Es 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22; Ps 124; Ja 5:13-20; Mk 9:38-50

For several weeks we have examined the choice between living righteously for God—which the Bible calls ”wisdom”— and living foolishly for self.  The story is told of a burglar who cased a particular neighborhood, looking for evidence of folks who left their house unattended.

He observed one family loading suitcases into their car and decided to return to break into their house that night.  He rang the doorbell and waited for silent confirmation that no one was home. He then picked the lock on the front door and crept inside the home.

He called out, “Is anybody home?”  Expecting silence, he was shocked to hear, “I see you and Jesus sees you.”  Startled and frightened, he called out, “Who’s there?”

The voice again answered, “I see you and Jesus sees you.”

The burglar then switched on his flashlight in the direction of the voice and located a parrot.  He was relieved to hear the parrot say once more, “I see you and Jesus sees you.”  The guy laughed his head off as he switched on the lights.  That was when he saw the Doberman Pincer sitting under the parrot’s cage, beginning to growl.  At this point the parrot said, Attack, Jesus, attack!”

(Chuck Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, pp. 594-595.)

I apologize for using a joke that seems disrespectful to Jesus.  I can’t imagine naming a pet after our Lord.  I mean, come on!  But perhaps the owners rightly viewed the dog, like the Lord, as their protector and guardian of their safety.  And certainly the burglar was unwise to have broken into that house.

To me this story also raises the issue of how we are to act when it appears to us that God is hidden.  The dog owners were not home, but the dog—and the parrot—were both at work.  Jesus prayed to His Father, in Matthew 11:25-26—> I praise you, Father, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned [the religious experts of His day] and revealed them to little children [we believers].  Yes, Father, for this was Your good pleasure.   Jesus appears to be saying that the Father does not always reveal His intentions to us at the time He is working.  But, if we have the faith of little children He does eventually reveal Himself and His actions.

Let’s look at how this truth plays out in the Scripture lessons appointed for today:

A.  Esther 7:1-10; 9:20-22 tells the amazing story of how a young woman (counseled by her wise uncle) saves the Jewish people living in the Persian Empire, post Babylonian Exile (500’s).  Unknown to King Xerxes of Persia, he chooses a beautiful Jewish woman to become his wife/queen.

Haman, the King’s “Prime Minister,” hated the Jews, especially Esther’s Uncle Mordecai, a palace scribe.  (Haman is descended from the Amalekites, long-term enemies of the Jewish people.)  He furtively manipulates the King into passing an edict that would allow citizens of his entire empire to attack and kill the Jews on a certain, future date.  Not realizing his queen is Jewish, Xerxes foolishly signs the edict into law.  Once he does so, according to Persian custom, his edict could not be rescinded.

Uncle Mordecai gets a message to Esther encouraging her to ask her husband to overrule his original edict with another which would allow Jews to defend themselves.  Our passage today describes her strategy: She invites the King and Haman to two banquets.  During the first, she does not make her request.  Xerxes is so pleased—and Haman is so flattered—that the King is willing to give her up to half his extensive kingdom.  But she simply invites the two men back to a second banquet.  At the second, she reveals that she is Jewish and asks that the king spare her people who are set to be annihilated.  The King has a short memory and he fails to realize he signed a death warrant for all the Jews in Persia.  Until Esther confronts Haman, Xerxes fails to remember the idea originated with his Prime Minister.

The King is furious and “takes 5” to mull it over.   Haman appears to attack the Queen as she is reclined on her eating couch.  Perhaps he was only frantically begging for clemency.  When Xerxes returns, however, he believes Haman intends to rape his wife in his own palace.  Ironically, Haman is immediately sentenced to death—for abusing the queen—on the very gallows or pike he had erected to hang or impale Uncle Mordecai!

Paul states for us “The Law of Sowing and Reaping” in Galations 6:7-8—> Do not be deceived:  God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  I think you would agree the Esther/Haman story is a dramatic example of the boomerang effect of the Law of Sowing and Reaping.  What we hurl out to another can and often does come right back at us.  Other scriptural examples include…

(1) Old Testament Jacob who tricked his blind father, Isaac, into believing he was his father’s favorite twin, Esau; later Jacob’s 10 sons tricked him into believing his favorite son, Joseph, was dead.

(2) Jacob cheated his brother, just as Uncle Laban later cheated Jacob, over and over again.

(3) Paul appears to have authorized the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen; later, Paul is stoned, almost to death on his 1st missionary journey.

If we choose to do the devil’s work, the same kind of evil often later boomerangs back to us.  God’s hand may be hidden in the outworking.

We often only realize He was involved after we look back from the distance.

B. Psalm 124 recounts what happens to those who choose to love God—He protects them!  King David reviews Jewish history and notes how often God has protected His people.  He asks the rhetorical question (vv.1-2)—> If the Lord had not been on our side [what would have happened to us?].  He accurately credits God with having saved Israel from (1) enemies (vv.1-3); (2) The deep and broad waters of the Red Sea and the raging waters of the Jordan at flood stage (v.4). (3) And other overwhelming circumstances of life are also implied—like hurricanes and too much rain, As we and the folks of North Carolina have just experienced with Hurricane Helene.

David is quick to give God the glory in his famous last line:  Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.  When we choose to honor God, to trust in God, He blesses us in a positive boomerang.

C. In James 5:13-20, the practical disciple reiterates King David’s point.  God is trustworthy and takes care of us.  If we love and serve Him, He answers our prayers and rescues us from trouble; He listens when we pray intercession for others; and He delights in our praise.  James gives the example of Elijah whose God-directed prayers prevented rain in Israel for 3.5 years.  Then, when again directed by God, his prayers brought on the rain.  James reminds us in verse 16b—> The prayer of a righteous man [woman] is powerful and effective.  There was a period in my life when I believed God was not answering any of my prayers.  I knew enough to pray to Him but I was not living for Him.  Once I turned my life over to Jesus, the Lord began to answer my prayers.  Voila! Righteous living results in prayers that are effective.  What a fantastic, positive, boomerang effect!

D. In Mark 9:38-50, Jesus spells out both a positive and a negative result of the Law of Sowing and Reaping:  Verses 39-41—> Blessings come to those who do miracles and provide physical refreshment to others in Jesus’ name.  Even if the person is not clearly identified as a member of our crowd of Jesus followers, if that person is doing good deeds in Jesus’ name, they and their efforts are blessed.  They may not be of our denomination, ethnicity, citizenship, etc., but if they are for Jesus, we need to be for them.

Conversely, in verses 42-48, Jesus states what happens to the one who causes the innocent to sin—> it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.  It brings to mind pedophiles and child-sex-traffickers, as well as drug dealers, doesn’t it?

There may be a special level of hell for those folks.  Again, if you/we perpetrate evil, it will boomerang back on us.  That concept is so important that we want to make every effort to keep our sin list with the Lord short.

We want to remain committed to Christ.  We probably need to ask His forgiveness daily.

Our God does not always take obvious credit for His work in our lives.  Just because He chooses to remain hidden does not mean He is not working on our behalf.  We can ask for eyes to see how He is at work in our lives.  And we can ask for faith to believe until He reveals Himself.

Meanwhile, this week, let’s try to be aware of the Law of Sowing and Reaping.  The Law of Sowing and Reaping is, like King Xerxes’ edicts, immutable.  Once our actions have put evil into play, we run the dire risk of having it return to us.  But, on the other hand, when we put blessings into play, blessings come back to us. 

With a thought toward reaping God’s best, this week let’s be aware of doing our best toward Him and others. Amen! May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

True Wisdom, True Greatness

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 22, 2024

Scriptures: Proverbs 31:10-31; Ps 1; James 3:13-4:8; Mk 9:30-37

A pastor was delivering a children’s sermon one Sunday in which he was trying to get them to tell him how a person might make it into heaven. 

He said, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?” 

“NO!” the children all answered.

“If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?”

Again, the answer was, “NO!”

“Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my wife, would that get me into Heaven?” 

Again, they all answered, “NO!”

“Well,” he continued, “then how can I get into Heaven?” A five-year-old boy shouted out, “YOU GOTTA BE DEAD.”

(illustration borrowed from www.sermons.com, 9/20/2024)

I love this story because it demonstrates the practical, literal wisdom that children sometimes exhibit.

Our Scriptures today all speak in some way about wisdom, with the Old Testament, Psalm, and New Testament readings forming the backdrop, or context, to Jesus’ Gospel lesson.  Let’s examine how this is so:

A.  Psalm 1 provides us with God’s take on wisdom.  Inspired by the Lord, the psalmist presents us with a dichotomy, a choice between two opposing options: (1) We can choose the way of sinners, the way ungodly folks behave (Psalm 19 calls this way “foolishness”); Or (2) we can choose the way of righteousness, the way a godly person behaves.  It’s one way or the other, no in between.  The Lord wants us to choose to live a life focused on Him—a life of righteousness.  The wise person, man or woman, chooses to align his/her life with God’s teaching, not that of the culture.  The wise person is a servant of (surrendered to) Christ.  The foolish person, on the other hand, is captured by the wickedness and sin advocated in the culture.  The righteous—those blessed by God—ultimately prosper, but the foolish come to a very bad end.

B. Proverbs 31:10-31 is ascribed to someone named King Lemuel.  Biblical scholars believe the description of the wise woman was told to Solomon by his mother, Queen Bathsheba.  They think “King Lemuel” was her pet name for him.  They believe this because there was never a king of Israel of this name.  They also believe this because many of us give our kids nick-names.  I called my son, David Morgan, “Rooney” when he was little; and my daughter, Meredith Claire, “Merry Sunshine.”  So, I can imagine the name, Lemuel, was a private joke between Solomon and his mom.

Mama Bathsheba was trying to convey to her son what he needed in order to live a good life.  God bless her for trying!  By the time he died, he had accumulated 700 wives and 300 concubines!  But she wanted him to realize he only needed one good woman.  He didn’t need multiple beautiful wives or dozens of women who would bring with them grand political alliances.  Instead, he would have been so much better off with one virtuous wife, a woman of character, strength, and real ability: someone faithful; a helpful partner to her husband; a woman who was energetic, not lazy; someone who would spend the family money wisely and who would manage the household (including raising children) well; someone kind and generous; someone wise in the ways Solomon was not.  Too bad that, as history bears out, Solomon did not listen to his mother (There could be a sermon in there somewhere)! 

This set of proverbs emphasizes the wisdom in joining ourselves to a wise spouse, and by logical extension, to wise friends.

C.  James, Jesus’ half-brother, is in total agreement with the author of Psalm 1.  In James 3:13-4:3, he reiterates that there are two kinds of wisdom in this world: (1) Heavenly, or Godly wisdom; and (2) earthly, unspiritual wisdom.  James says earthly, unspiritual wisdom is characterized by disorder and evil behaviors.  Consider the example of rap music star P. Diddy—if he is guilty of what they have alleged he has done, this is truly evil behavior.  He is currently in jail, on a suicide watch.  Is he suicidal because he has been caught or because he has come under conviction for his sins?  We need to pray for him to come to Jesus.  You see, earthly, unspiritual wisdom is more than us just being our “bad old selves.”

J. Vernon McGee writes, “the wickedness of the world is not merely human, but human plus something” [the devil].  (McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on James, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.86.)

In verse 15, James says (people who are bitter, envious, or selfishly ambitious have chosen a ‘wisdom’ that)—>…does not come from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.  As with Psalm 1, James says we are presented with a choice as to which kind of wisdom we pursue.  People will be able to tell which we have chosen by the way we live our lives.  Those of us who seek Godly wisdom will live lives that are (v.17) pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive [surrendered to God], full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. 

Finally, James (vv.7-8) urges us to submit our lives to God, and to resist the devil…knowing he and his minions whisper into our ears all sorts of ideas intended to lead us astray.  We need to recognize that these sinful or destructive thoughts come from him, and then tell him to beat it, in Jesus’ name!  True wisdom means sticking as closely to God as we possibly can, and returning to Him in repentance when we blow it.

D. Our Gospel lesson today comes from Mark 9:30-37.   Jesus has just told the twelve that He must suffer and die to complete His earthly mission, but they act as though they have not heard Him.  I have seen this phenomenon at work in therapy.  If I offer an interpretation of a client’s behavior before they are ready to receive it, they deny it.  I realize I have moved too quickly and have to wait to restate it later when they are less defensive.  Sometimes people just cannot receive a truth that is too different from their usual way of thinking.  

Instead of considering what Jesus has said to them, His disciples foolishly get lost in which of them will take on what positions when He ushers in His Kingdom (in an earlier sermon on this passage, I have suggested the following):

a. No doubt, Judas wanted to be Secretary of the Treasury;

b. Peter, Secretary of Defense, of Homeland Security, or perhaps Chief of Staff;

c. Doubting Thomas, the “show me” Apostle, for Attorney General;

d. The loving, charitable John, Secretary of Health and Human Services, or perhaps Secretary of Education.

e. And so on.

In another of Jesus’ surprising reversals of cultural values, He tells the 12 that true wisdom is allot like how kids behave.  If you want to be greatest, be like a child, the servant of all.  If you want to be first, make sure everyone is served before you.  In other words, be humble, loving, and not hung up on yourself.  The true story is told of St. Paul’s School of Theology in Kansas City, MO.  They had launched a search for their next dean president, and had whittled down the pool of applicants to five.  Someone on the search committee then suggested that rather than comparing the candidates’ resumes or vitas, they send a member to their current positions to locate a janitor and ask him or her what they thought of the person.  They did this and selected a fellow whose janitor raved about his kindness and goodness.  When reporting their selection, the committee stated, 

“Those who live close to Christ become so secure in His love that they no longer relate to other people according to rank or power or money or prestige. They treat janitors and governors with equal dignity. They regard everybody as a VIP.  Children seem to do this intuitively; adult Christians have to relearn it.”

(“The Measure of Greatness,” www.sermons.com, 9/20/2024.)  

Jesus is teaching that true wisdom comes from dying to or denying self— obeying God, just as Jesus did and loving others, Just as Jesus did.

This is one of those difficult lessons Jesus poses for us.  It’s so counter to our typical way of thinking.  We don’t want to die to self!  That seems as painful as turning our toe-nails backward.  YIKES!  But perhaps it might be helpful to look at it this way:  The story is told of a long ago tribe of Native Americans who lived in Mississippi. 

“They lived next to a very swift and dangerous river. The current was so strong that if somebody happened to fall in or stumbled into it they could be swept away downstream.

“One day the tribe was attacked by a hostile group of settlers. They found themselves with their backs against the river. They were greatly outnumbered and their only chance for escape was to cross the rushing river. They huddled together and those who were strong picked up the weak and put them on their shoulders; the little children, the sick, the old and the infirm, those who were ill or wounded were carried on the backs of those who were strongest. They waded out into the river, and to their surprise they discovered that the weight on their shoulders carrying the least and the lowest helped them to keep their footing and to make it safely across the river.”

(King Duncan, “Carry Someone With You,” www.sermons.com, 9/20/2024.)

Jesus is teaching the 12 and us that whatever positions there are in God’s Kingdom—and we don’t even know what those may be—are not based on strength, power, worldly wealth, influence, or even skill or gifting.  Wise persons know that to lead, we must become a servant like Jesus. Wise persons know that we need to exhibit childlike joy, faith, and love.

Wise persons know that, “If you want to walk on secure ground in this world it helps to carry someone with you.”

(Duncan, Ibid.)

Let’s close in prayer:  Father God, we bless you, we praise you and we love you.  Lord, please give us the practical, childlike wisdom to be humble and painfully honest with ourselves.  Empower us to live out the Christian virtues of faith, joy, love.  Help us to become and live out our lives as true servants of Christ.  Amen.  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Pick Up Your Cross

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/15/2024

Scriptures: Pro 1:20-23; Ps 19, James 3:1-12; Mk 8:27-38

What do you think of when you look upon the Cross?  We have a cross both inside and outside our church.  The one inside is plain, crafted by Leonard Young, commemorating Jesus’ death and resurrection.  It’s empty because Jesus has risen from the dead.  The one outside is especially resplendent on Easter Sunday when we deck it out with flowers, symbolizing Christ’s victory over sin and death.

Coming home to Live Oak from seminary in Pittsburgh, I had to drive through West Virginia.  That state is very hilly!  Interestingly, on nearly every hill you will see 3 crosses:  The taller, central one for Jesus; the other two—often shorter–for the criminals crucified with Him.

The people of Siauliai, Lithuania, however, demonstrate a special devotion to the cross.  Sometime during the mid-19th century, they began to erect crosses in a particular place called “The Hill of Crosses.”  (Look it up on the internet and you will be amazed at the number and variety of crosses collected there.)  The Cross is the major symbol of the Christian faith.  To Lithuanians, it also represents the 3 major Christian virtues:  faith, hope, and love. 

When Lithuania has been under communist domination, the atheistic  communists have totally destroyed the crosses on this hill 3 times (in 1961, 1973, & 1975).  Each time, people clandestinely hurried to replace what had been destroyed.  Since 1980, and especially since the independence of Lithuania from Russia in 1991, more than 200,000 crosses of many materials and of many sizes, have been erected at this site.  So, to them, these crosses also represent persisting in their faith, despite persecution.

The Cross represents Jesus, Christianity, hope, love, persistence in the faith, and also courage➡️the courage to defy evil oppression.

(Billy D. Strayhorn, “At Cross Purposes,” www.sermons.com, 9/15/2024).

Like last week, our Scripture lessons offer us plenty of good advice on how to live life wisely.  Today, however, I want to focus on our Gospel lesson, Mark 8:27-38. Jesus covers quite a bit of theological ground in these 11 verses:

A.  First, He challenges the 12 about His identity.  They have just seen Him minster healing to two Gentiles.  On the road to Caesarea Philippi (present day Jordan), He asks them who folks are saying He is.  The answers suggest folks outside His inner circle think He is one prophet or another, brought back to life.  But since they are His closest followers and the most knowledgeable of His friends, He wants to know what they think.

Have you ever Googled yourself on the Internet?  It can be, surprising—even distressing–to see what information on you is circulating out there.

The story is told of a self-absorbed man who arrives at a hospital emergence room.  He rapidly  grows impatient with the long wait to be seen approaches the nurses’ station, and demands to be taken back to see a doctor, all while shouting, “Don’t you know who I am?”   The veteran, no-nonsense nurse at the desk calmly picks up a mike and states over the loud speaker, “I have a gentleman here who doesn’t know who he is. Can someone please assist him in finding out?  Thank you.”

(Stephen Sizer, “Who Am I?” www.sermons.com, 9/15/2024.)

Getting back to Jesus, Peter offers an inspired response (v.29)➡️You are the Christ [God’s anointed One; the Messiah].  Bravo, Peter!  He’s right!  And Jesus immediately asks the 12 to keep this truth to themselves.

B.  Then He proceeds to tell the 12 what will happen to their Messiah:  In roughly 6 months’ time, He will suffer many things.  He will be rejected by the religious authorities of Israel; even worse from their perspective, He must be killed; but after 3 days dead, He will rise again.

Peter, for one, cannot conceive that the Messiah would be killed, so he challenges Jesus.  Most Jews held that the Messiah would arrive as a conquering King and free Israel from the Roman’s oppressive regime.

Even though they had the Suffering Servant passages from Isaiah 43, 44, & 53—which so perfectly describe Jesus–they never believed these passages predicted what their Messiah would endure.  So Peter essentially tells Jesus He is wrong.  YIKES!  If we ever think God is wrong, we need to examine our own hearts and heads.  God/Jesus personify Truth/Wisdom➡️Our God is never wrong!

Peter had just previously answered so insightfully and brilliantly, but now he is just badly mistaken.  Jesus rebukes Peter for reciting thoughts inspired by Satan.  Satan excels in rebellion against the plans and the will of God.  Just as the evil one can manipulate Peter—a man who spent 3 years with Jesus and witnessed all of His teachings, healings, and miracles—so too can he tempt us to say and do things we later regret.  Without truly understanding God’s purposes, Peter is trying to talk Jesus out of obeying His Father.  Peter’s agenda, you see, is not the end or goal of God’s plan, but the means of securing Peter’s (and that of Judas).  Probably, without realizing it, Peter was using Jesus to get what Peter wanted.  None of us can do that!

C. This then leads Jesus into a teaching on what it means to pick up our cross and follow Him.  The pathway of true discipleship travels right through suffering (v.34)➡️If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.  First, we must deny ourselves and seek God’s will in place of ours.  This, in and of itself, may involve suffering. That’s the next requirement…take up your cross.  In what ways might you have suffered for Jesus?  Have you lost money?  I know a missionary who used to planted Walgreens drug stores.  He scouted out new locations for the retail store chain, and was headed up the corporate ladder, until God grabbed ahold of him.  I met him in Turkey in 2010 while on a short term mission trip.  He and his wife had taken a year to learn Turkish, then another 3 years to learn Parsi, the Iranian language.  His ultimate assignment was to minister to the more than 700,000 Iranian refugees who had fled their country to live in Turkey.  Among these immigrants, he had planted 18 Christian churches!  Since then, he now heads up a mission agency that plants churches in Moslem countries.  He may have lost money he might have earned from corporate America, but instead, he has brought many middle Easterners to a saving faith in Christ.

Have you lost opportunities to rise professionally?  Do your family and friends fail to understand you?  I have had friends shake their heads when I say I do not have a “Five Year Plan.”  I wouldn’t presume to make one, knowing that the Lord could change it radically tomorrow.  My 5 year plan is to follow Jesus.

Have some folks written you off as a religious nut or an intolerant bigot?  It’s interesting to me that our culture today considers Christians intolerant.  That’s exactly what the Romans used as an excuse to persecute followers of Jesus 2,000 years ago.  By refusing to proclaim, “Caesar is Lord,” or to worship the Roman panoply of Gods, the Roman authorities decided those who loved Jesus were narrow- minded and fanatically bigoted.  

Jesus is saying to the 12—and to us—“I am a King but not like any king you ever imagined.  I am a king who must die.”

(Timothy Keller, King’s Cross, Dutton, 2011, p.102.)

Additionally, if we refuse to travel the road to suffering for Christ—trying to save our lives—we will lose out in the end.  The Greek word Jesus uses here for life is psyche, which also means identity, personality, or our sense of self.  He is not calling us to allow our identity to be absorbed into some sort of cosmic soup, like most Eastern religions do.  Rather, He honors our unique identities—after all, He created them—but insists that we must leave off trying to control our destiny ourselves.  

He is also saying Jesus is saying we should not build our identity on the things of this world.  Collectivist cultures like those of Jesus’ time, and the Middle East now, base identity on honoring the family and on having children.  Individualistic cultures like those of modern Europe and America, claim our identity comes from our status, individual success, a fulfilling career, or the amount of money we make.  In both approaches to life, a person’s identity is based on their performance to please family or please self.  Jesus is saying this will never work for us, never satisfy or fulfill us.

What will satisfy and fulfill us is basing our identity on our love for and faith in Christ.  What will satisfy and fulfill us is basing our identity on Jesus and the Gospel.  We could say then that Jesus went to the Cross—He had to die—so that we would not have to strive in life, but rest in His completed work for us.

(Keller, King’s Cross, p.105)

So, if we lose our lives—by letting God lead, guide, and direct us—we will have eternal life.

And, additionally, if we can truly grasp this truth, we will realize how very much we are loved and how incredibly worthwhile we are.  I am often frustrated by those who weekly preach “hellfire and damnation.”  Yes, we are sinners who need to repent, but the Good News is that our God loved us enough to die in our place.  We are precious to Him.  Furthermore, if I base my identity on a romantic relationship, who am I if the relationship ends?  If I base my identity on a profession, who am I if I lose my job?  Instead, basing our identity on the Lord, we can firmly state, “Yes, we’re sinners, but the King of the Universe loved us enough to die for us!”

So what does the Cross mean to you?  Yes, it was an instrument of torture.  Yes, it is to many a symbol of hope, faith, resistance to oppression, and persistence despite persecution.  But it also represents for all time… 

Jesus’ submission to the will of the Father (There is no atonement for sin without the shedding of blood); our importance to God; an end to our need to strive; and Jesus’ sacrificial love for each of us.

Commenting on the meaning of this Gospel passage, C.S. Lewis wrote the following in his book, Mere Christianity (McMillan, 1943, p.168):  “The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ.  But it is far easier than what we are trying to do instead.  For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call “ourselves,” to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be “good.”  We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way—centered on money or pleasure or ambition—and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly.  And this is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do.  As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs.  If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat.  Cutting the grass may keep it short:  but I shall still produce grass and no wheat.  If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface.  I must be ploughed up and re-sown. “  The challenge to us all, just as Jesus stated it, is to  deny ourselves, pick up our Cross, and follow Jesus.  Amen!  May it be so!    

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

How to be Good at Life

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 8, 2024

Scriptures: Pro 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Ps 146; Ja 2:1-17; Mk 7:24-37

The story is told of a rancher in Colorado who received 9,374 notices from a magazine company that it was time to renew his subscription.  This was, of course, a mistake.  The company had changed its software responsible for tracking subscriptions.  Their new software obviously had a colossal glitch!  Imagine if you had been the one to receive 9,374 mailings from the same company?  Would you have been annoyed?

Stupefied?  What had it cost the company to send out so many?  Would you have felt furious?  After delivering 25 separate political and charitable solicitations to my mailbox one day recently, my mail carrier said he would be glad when the November 5th election was over.  (Me too!)

What’s hilarious to me, however, is that the Colorado rancher finally sent the magazine company a letter in which he signed up for a subscription!  He had never even been a subscriber!  But in his letter, he wrote, “I give up!  Send me the magazine.”  Their infernal persistence, like “Chinese water torcher,” had won him over.

(Borrowed from www.sermons.com, 9/5/2024)

Interestingly enough, this tactic is what also wins people over to Christ.  However, it is less about what we say to them and more about how we live our lives, daily, persistently.  Do they see us behaving in ways that are kind?  Do they experience us as listening to them uncritically, or without interrupting them to give our advice?  Do we respond to them with a warm smile, hug, or handshake?  Are we a consistent friend, rather than one who likes the person one day but turns on them the next?  Is our faith evident to them, especially when we go through tough times?  There is an old saying you may have heard before: “You may be the only Bible someone else ever reads.”  As Christians, we have a responsibility to so good at living life that we inspire others to follow Jesus.

Once again, our readings today all focus on living a wise life, one that reflects well on us and is a strong witness to others of the benefits of loving Jesus. 

A.  The book of Proverbs contains many pithy sayings that teach us how to be good at life.  Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 urges us not to play favorites:  (Verses1-2)—>No matter our differences in race, creed, gender, economic status, or whatever, we were all created by God.

This is an important way in which we are all the same.  All of humankind shares this in common.  Nevertheless, as J. Vernon McGee says, “God created us all but He is not the Father of us all.”  Only those who love His Son may call Him “Father.”

(Through the Bible Commentary on Proverbs, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.190.)

Verses 8-9 state that wicked people will come to a terrible end, but generous people will be blessed as they bless others.  And verses 22-23) assert that anyone who exploits the poor and the needy will be punished by God.  Remember, our God sees all and knows all.  There are no deeds kept secret from Him.  Our God wants us to live lives that are radically different from our culture due to our love and respect for others.

B. Our Psalm (146) implies that we are good at life when we habitually praise God for His goodness.   This psalm is considered one of several Hallelujah Psalms.  Literally, the word, Hallelujah, means, Praise ye the Lord!  We praise the Lord because He has given us life, and He has saved us.  Verse 3 reminds us—>Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men [or women] who cannot save.  We also praise God because unlike human agents, He is always trustworthy.  And He relates to us with love, justice, and mercy.

The book written by James, Jesus’s half-brother, contains 12 practical teachings on how to be good at life.  Our passage today (James 2:1-17) highlights two of these:  In verses 1-13, he tackles the issue of showing favoritism to the rich and influential.  He warns us not to do this because it springs from evil motives (We honor them so they might reward us somehow).  It also violates God’s command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18).  And, as Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount, if we are not merciful to others, God will not be merciful to us—>(Matthew 6:14-15)—>For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.  We are forgiven in the measure to which we forgive others, just as we are blessed in the measure to which we bless others.  This is God’s economy.

In his second lesson from our passage today (vv. 14-17), James defines genuine faith.  Real, true faith in Christ demonstrates itself in loving actions toward God and others.  In an article entitled, “The Results of Faith,” a commentator on James—Mark Norton–writes—>”Believers ought to be examples of heaven on earth.”   

(Cited on the website www.Filament.com , in his article on the book of James, 9/2024.)

D. As He always does, Jesus demonstrates in today’s Gospel lesson (Mark 7:24-37), authentic Christian responses to two “outsiders” considered “unclean.”  The first person is an unnamed Syro-Phoenician woman.  Some claim she was Greek; others say she was a Canaanite (she lived in present-day Lebanon).  Whatever the case, she was not a Jew. This is important because, as Jesus says, He came to save the Jews (the children of Israel) first.  She is desperate to have her little girl freed from demonic possession, so she seeks out Jesus.  She is humble but also quick witted.  Like the magazine company I spoke of at the beginning of this sermon, she is also persistent.

Jesus appears to be insulting her, equating her with dogs.  Jews then viewed many Gentiles as unclean and as dogs.  Jesus appears to be stating what He knew His disciples may have been thinking.  But she does not take offense.  Instead, she enters into His metaphor and replies that even the puppies get to eat what the children drop from the table.  He rewards the faith of this outsider and heals her daughter.

Next He encounters a man in the Decapolis, a region known for its 10 cities. It had originally belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, but they so intermingled with non-Jews that the area in Jesus’ time was primarily occupied by Gentiles. A deaf mute is brought to Him to heal (due to the faith of his friends?).  Jesus heals him using His saliva, which was thought by folks then to have healing properties.  The man receives both his hearing and his speech is restored to normal rhythm and cadence that he had not been previously able to comprehend.

By healing these two outsiders, those considered by the Jews to be unclean, Jesus was extending His love and mercy to Gentiles. His half-brother, James, would say the Christian who is living the good life is kind to those not like him/herself.  This is how we love others as we love ourselves.

We can learn how to be good at life—living the good life, a life pleasing to God—by following the lessons spelled out for us in God’s word:  (1) Proverbs—>Don’t play favorites but love everyone as you love yourself.  (2) Psalm 146->Adopt the habit of praising God daily for creating and saving you.  (3) James 2—>Again, don’t give special attention to the rich and famous, but demonstrate your faith in Jesus by performing acts of kindness to all sorts of people daily.  And (4) Mark 7—>Our Lord did this.  So should we.  This week, let’s try hard to be good at life. Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Watch Your Mouth!

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 1, 2024

Scriptures: Song of Songs 2:8-13; Ps 45:1-2, 6-9; Ja 1:17-27; Mk 7:1-23

The following is a true story out of Charlotte, NC, that I shared six years ago.  I want to share it again because it is such a great example of truth being stranger than fiction.  A guy bought a box of very expensive cigars.  He also took out insurance on them against “decay, spoilage, theft, and fire.”  Then he proceeded to smoke the 24 cigars in the box over the next few weeks.  When he finished the box, he filed a claim with his insurance company, stating that the cigars were lost in a series of small fires. The insurance company rejected the claim (You can almost hear them say, “Oh, come on!”). But the guy sued the insurance company in civil court.

In an astonishing turn of justice, the man admitted he smoked the cigars, but still won his claim because of a technicality: the insurance company had failed to specify what sort of fire was excluded, and the jury awarded the fellow $15,000 in damages (Don’t forget, he had also enjoyed smoking the 24 fine cigars). However, when he exited the court, he was arrested and charged with 24 counts of arson.  After all, he had admitted to setting “the series of small fires” which had caused his property loss.  This time, the North Carolina court convicted and sentenced him to 2 years in jail and fined him $24,000.  His spurious lawsuit cost him 2 years of freedom, and a net loss, after legal fees, of $9,000.  This guy bet on the letter of the law instead of the spirit of the law, and lost.  Don’t we wish that courts would act similarly, all over the country, in such nonsense, nuisance law-suits?

(J. Fairless & D. Chilton, The Lectionary Lab, Year B, 2014, p.286.)

Our Gospel today, Mark 7:1-23—and this story—point to the danger of following the letter of the law while violating its intent.

Just prior to today’s passage, Mark describes Jesus’ multiplication miracle of feeding the 5,000 (maybe more like 15,000, if women and children were included in the count); Jesus’ walking on water miracle; and His healing an unknown number of people on the other side of the Lake (Sea of Galilee).

This event predates by about a year or two the confrontations with the Pharisees I preached about last week.

A committee of Scribes and Pharisees had come out from Jerusalem to observe and to test Him.  He is teaching and they challenge Him because His disciples do not wash their hands before eating.  They question Him (v.5)➖Haven’t You, Jesus, taught Your disciples the correct customs regarding cleanliness?

Now we know that hand-washing is not a bad practice. Prior to the Covid outbreak, the habit of hand-washing had been abandoned by many.  Since then, we have re-learned that washing our hands, especially before eating, helps to eliminate germs and to limit contamination.

Now Jesus was an observant Jew who treasured the Law of God. The Law was a gift from God, not a burden. In the Code of Hammarabi, a contemporary Mesopotamian set of laws, it was stated, for instance, that if you somehow knocked down your neighbor’s wall, he could rebuild it with you and your family plastered into the repair. The provisions for revenge were severe. But God’s Law put a humane limit on revenge. Furthermore, it didn’t just protect the rich and the powerful, but also safeguarded the poor and disadvantaged.  Our Lord intended for the Law to cut down on the extent of retribution, but especially to demonstrate the believer’s obedience (set-apartness) to God. The Hebrew Law demonstrated that God values human life, and that slaves, widows, orphans, and the poor—not just the rich and the influential—had rights that were to be respected.  At the time, these attitudes/provisions were unheard of in other religions or law codes. 

What Jesus confronts in today’s passage is that the Pharisees chose to obey the rules without remembering the relationships underlying the rules.

Don’t we do this too?  Should baptism be done by dunking or is sprinkling okay? Our tradition is to sprinkle water on infants. At what age should children be allowed to take communion?  Some want to wait until 10-12 years old, considered to be the “age of reason.” This way we can be sure the child understands what the bread and wine represent. I have a friend who was the chaplain at a preschool. They provided communion to the little ones at their chapel services. A mother complained. The chaplain asked her 3 year old son if he knew what was in the bread and the cup.  He replied, “Jesus is in there.”  That settled the argument. 

The story is told of a father of two teenaged sons who proudly bought a “Dodge Touring Car,” in 1918 for $785.00. It’s hard to imagine a new car for that sales price now. By three years later, however, he had grown frustrated over his sons’ increasingly hostile arguments regarding whose turn it was to drive it. The rule was that they shared and each could drive the car on alternate Saturdays. When the boys resorted to fist fights to settle their dispute, the father locked the car in a garage and pocketed the keys. Four decades later, a museum purchased the car—it was covered with dirt and chicken manure, and only had 1800 miles on the odometer. The father had gone to great lengths to teach his sons about the value of relationships over rules.

(J. Fairless & D. Chilton, The Lectionary Lab, Year B, 2014, p.288.)

Consider how many court cases get thrown out because some procedure (rule) was not followed exactly. The guilty are spared at the potential expense of keep citizens safe.  You see, the problem isn’t washing before eating, the right way to baptize, how to correctly discipline teens, or even keeping people safe. The real problem is the condition of our hearts!

To the Hebrew mind, the heart was where all moral decisions were made.

The prophet Jeremiah laments in Jeremiah 17:9➖The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?  The prophet Ezekiel asserts God’s intentions in Ezekiel 36:24-25➖I [God] will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a..  And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Our faulty human hearts must be transformed by God. Jesus lets the Pharisees have it because they have forgotten this important fact:  It’s not about rules, it’s about relationships; our relationship with God, our relationships with each other. There was no law from God that they must wash their hands before eating.  This was a tradition they had adopted. They were criticizing Jesus for not conforming to their traditions.  To address that issue, He tells them what goes into us is not the critical issue—like how clean our hands are, or what types of food we eat. The crux of the problem is rather what comes out of our mouths—which has its origins in our hearts.

Put rather crudely, it’s not what we excrete that causes sin problems, but what we vomit.

In the 300’s, St. Augustine said, there is a hole in our hearts that only God can fill, and our hearts are restless until they rest in God.  We have a sin problem, and we can’t fix it by living according to a set of religious rules.

Being a celebrity or a fantastic athlete won’t cure it.  Even rigid religious systems that require people to accumulate merit badges of good deeds do not address it.  Politicians can’t legislate it.  Having taught US History and World History for 15 years, I can safely assert that Socialism and Communism don’t work because they operate in ways counter to our built in “heart issues:” our tendencies toward self-justification, self-centeredness, and self-absorption.  We have a serious “I” problem.

To correct our sin problem, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to change our hearts!  We acknowledge that the shed blood of Jesus Christ makes up for our sin and replaces it with His righteousness.  And, as James teaches us in our New Testament lesson, we cooperate with the Holy Spirit by increasingly shunning sinful attitudes and behaviors, and living out attitudes and behaviors pleasing to God.  We need to approach God and others with love.

A child’s response to Sesame Street is a great illustration of this point.  In a live audience of kids watching Sesame Street, the kids nearly always watched the muppets rather than the grown-ups who manipulated them—even when they could see the puppeteers seated on the floor.  One little boy even saw Big Bird take off his top half and watched an actor step out.  Rather than focus on the fact that Big Bird was not real, the child told his mother, “Mom, Mom!  Do you think Big Bird knows he has a man inside?”  

(J. Fairless & D. Chilton, The Lectionary Lab, Year B, 2014, p.289.)

You see, the goal of the law was/is to remind us that we have a sinful human being inside us, in our hearts, in our souls, in the center of our being. This part of us is not focused on our relationship with God or with others. It just wants what it wants, when it wants it. Unfortunately, everyone else has a similar human inside of them as well. Fortunately, however, we also have inside us that part of us that longs for God…that finds its rest in God alone.

Perhaps you have heard of the Native American legend of the black wolf and the white wolf. The wise grandfather tells the grandson that we are a mix of both, but the one that comes to dominate our character depends upon which one we nurture or feed. If we want to please God, we need to watch our mouths to discover or to observe what is in our hearts. We accept that Jesus paid the price for the sinful human inside us; and we allow the wonderful Holy Spirit to remind us not to give our sinful hearts power over us, but rather to honor relationships over rules; and to live out of a loving vs. a self-centered or fault-finding nature.

Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

This Ole House

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 25, 2024

Scriptures: 1 Kgs 8:1, 6, 10-12, 22-30, 41-43; Ps 84; Eph 6:10-20; Matt 23:27-24:2

This Ole House

How many of you remember a song by Tennessee Ernie Ford called “This Old House”?  (Rosemary Clooney also recorded it).  The lyrics go like this:

This old house once knew my children

This old house once knew my wife

This old house was home and comfort

As we fought the storms of life

This old house once rang with laughter

This old house knew many shouts

Now it trembles in the darkness

When the lightning walks about.

Chorus:

Ain’t gonna need this house no longer

Ain’t gonna need this house no more

Ain’t got time to fix the shingles

Ain’t got time to fix the floor

Ain’t got time to oil the hinges

Nor to mend the window pane

Ain’t gonna need this house no longer

I’m getting ready to meet the saints!

This old house is getting shaky

This old house is getting old

This old house lets in the rain and

This old house lets in the cold

My old knees are getting chilly

But I feel no fear or pain

‘Cause I see an angel peeping through

The broken window pane

Repeat Chorus

When I heard this song as a child, I thought the man was talking about his home, a wooden house. But, the song is not really about a structure, is it? It’s a metaphor for the singer’s body, especially as he deals with old age. In Hebrew, the word “house” is also translated “Temple” or “Tent” or “Tabernacle.”  It can mean God’s special dwelling place on earth. And it can also mean our own bodies, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20—Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.

Let’s consider together what the Scripture passages appointed for today have to say to us about the Temple.

A.  Our Old Testament reading, 1 Kgs 8:1, 6, 10-12, 22-30, 41-43, focuses on King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the 1st Temple in Jerusalem.  It had taken 7.5 years to build.  30,000 Israelites worked on it, together with 150,000 others, mostly Phoenicians.  Their king had agreed with King David to supply the cedar and the workers.  The Temple was made entirely of stone and richly ornamented with gold, cedar, mosaics, and beautiful embroideries.  But, unlike pagan temples, it held no statue of God (The second commandment outlawed idols, including sculptures and paintings trying to depict God.)  King David had devised the plans and collected the materials.  King Solomon, his son, oversaw the construction.

It was meant to house the Ark of the Covenant and the other holy furnishings from the Tent of Meeting.  Neither David nor Solomon viewed it as God’s dwelling place.  David understood that God is omnipresent–in a sense, He cannot be contained or “housed.”  People throughout the ages have tried to put Him in a box of their own understanding, but He will not be confined to a box or to a house, even one built especially for Him.  Later, the prophet Isaiah would write (6:1)—I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple.  Note that just his train filled the temple.  God himself in all of His immensity, in Isaiah’s vision, must have hovered over the Temple.  So David rightly conceived of the Temple as God’s footstool (Psalm 99:5).  It provided a space for prayer, worship, and animal sacrifices to atone for sins.

In today’s passage, King Solomon dedicates the Temple with a prayer of praise containing 7 petitions.  Solomon reminds God of His promise that David’s descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel (provided they are obedient to God and maintain their covenant with Him).  He asks God to hear the prayers of His people from the Temple.  He asks that He will (help Solomon) render fair verdicts in cases where there are no witnesses and only the word of the defendant (another plea of Solomon for wisdom).  He prays that if God brings drought due to the people’s sins, that He will forgive them and restore the land if they confess their sins and repent.  He hopes that the same will hold true if there are others kinds of disasters caused by individual or corporate sins.  Finally, he prays that Non-Israelites will come to know the Lord and develop a close relationship with Him.

For the Israelites, in Solomon’s time, the Temple represented a place where worshippers could approach or meet with God, individually and in large groups.

B.  Psalm 84 was written by some descendants of Korah.  This is important to know because Korah had led a rebellion against Moses, and was judged for it.  He and his family were jealous of Moses and Aaron, enlisted help and rose up against them.  God had the ground open up and swallow them…YIKES!  (The message was “don’t touch God’s anointed!”)  But, by God’s grace, some descendants of Korah, Levites who served in the new Temple, had been appointed as gate-keepers (bouncers).  In verse 10, these doorkeepers joyfully sing—Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

The psalm is a song of praise sung by pilgrims walking to Jerusalem, celebrating their enthusiasm for being able to come into God’s presence in His Temple, and their deep desire to meet with and worship Him there.

Additionally, verse 9, is a reference to the coming Messiah, Jesus—Look upon our shield [earthly king], O God; look with favor on Your Anointed One [Messiah, Jesus].

C.  Paul’s concern in Ephesians 6:10-20 is that we all be aware that our enemies are not humans, per se, but the demonic spiritual entities that act through them.  He wants us to guard our spiritual house, our Temple, by putting on spiritual armor.  The pieces of the armor are reminiscent of what Roman soldiers wore.   A foundation of peace, the shoes come first.  Then a belt of truth (pants aren’t mentioned, so I like to think of perhaps the lycra shorts that competitive bikers wear); a breastplate of righteousness, to protect our heart and other vital organs; the helmet of salvation (to protect our mind); the shield of faith, with which to defend us from Satan’s ideas and insinuations; and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Scripture). The Bible and prayer are our only offensive weapons. The spiritual armor guards and protects our physical and spiritual house/temple from assaults from the evil one.

D.  Just before going to the Cross, Jesus lambasts the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matthew 12:27-24:2).  He knows they are going to torture and kill Him soon, so what does He have to lose?

He publically, before crowds in the Temple, blasts them for misrepresenting God’s will and God’s heart to God’s people.  This is a serious sin—of which they seem to be oblivious—and they have thus incurred God’s judgment.

In this passage, He calls them out for (1) their desire for prestige; (2) their abuse of their teaching authority; (3) their false teachings on doctrine and practice; and (4) their preoccupation with teaching the people to focus on ethical minutia while overlooking the main points of God’s love, grace, mercy, and justice.  In the final episode of season four of “The Chosen” this is portrayed so well. Two Pharisees have joined Jesus at Lazarus’ home in Bethany to ask Him questions. One of them rejects Jesus when He disagrees with a human rabbi the man has quoted. The Pharisee is in the presence of God but refuses to believe in Him because he is wedded to the ideas of a human “authority.” The commentator, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, says Jesus implies that the Pharisees and Scribes are “spiritual zombies,” and that they are headed to Hell.

(Thru the Bible Commentary on Matthew, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p. 122.)

Jesus also predicts that this 2nd Temple (rebuilt through the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, and further spruced up and enriched by King Herod) will be destroyed, which it was by the Romans in 70AD.  He takes no joy in that; in fact He weeps over Jerusalem.  He knows because the religious leaders of Israel have rejected Him and the warnings of the prophets sent before Him, that all of Jerusalem will also be demolished.

But He will raise this Temple—meaning His body–in 3 days.  This means that no human or spiritual force can annihilate Jesus.  Nor can any human or spiritual force eradicate His Church.  (Matthew 16:18—And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.)  Both Jesus’ physical body and the Church, His spiritual body, are eternal temples.

So, please remember that you are not just “an ole house,” but you are a Temple of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit lives within each of us who love Jesus and who claim Him as our Savior.  We may need sprucing up and repair from time to time, but we are loved and we are saved.  We bring our individual temples to this house to worship God each Sunday.  And, hopefully, we meet with God daily through prayer and Bible reading.  We want to armor-up our personal temples (our body) daily also.   And we want to be humble but alive followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams