Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Running an Endurance Race

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 24, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 1:1-10; Ps 71:1-8; Heb 12:1-13; Lk 13:22-30

Our Gospel lesson this morning (Luke 13:22-30) is very sobering.  In it Jesus states firmly to His Jewish followers that many may know of Him, but only a relative few of them will enter His Kingdom. 

Consider this story told by Ravi Zackarias:

“On his way to work every day, a man walked past a clockmaker’s store.  Without fail, he would stop and reset his watch from the clock in the window, then proceed on to the factory.  The clockmaker observed this scene morning after morning.  One day he stepped outside and asked the man what he did and why he set his watch every morning.  The man replied, ‘I’m the watchman at the factory, and it’s part of my job to blow the 4:00 whistle for the end of the day.  My watch is slow, so I reset it [by your clock] every morning.’ The clockmaker laughed and said, ‘You won’t believe this.  That clock in the window is fast, so I reset it every afternoon by the factory whistle. Heaven only knows what time it really is.’”

(retold from The Real Face of Atheism, Baker books, 2004, p.52.)

Each man’s standard was the other guy’s timepiece. Incidentally, often before church I compare my watch and the church clock with a parishioner’s phone. My watch runs slow and so does the church clock. I know your time is important to you. I don’t want to start church either too early or too late. We figure the time on our phones is probably most accurate—but again, who really knows? Nevertheless, the point of the story is that we have to be aware of the accuracy of the standard against which we measure our behavior.

No standard is going to be as accurate as that set by Jesus. He’s on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified, teaching as He goes, no doubt imparting what He knows are the most important teachings to leave with folks.  Someone in the crowd asks, (v.23):Lord, will only a few be saved?  Whoever this is has been listening to Jesus’ Kingdom parables and apparently finds the standards the Lord sets out to be high. And Jesus answers that that person is correct in his assessment. The door by which we gain entrance is narrow—only through Jesus–though the road to Him is broad.  Not everyone who attempts to enter will be allowed in.  In fact, (vv.25-27):When the Master of the house [God the Father] has locked the door, it will be too late.  You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’  But He will reply, “I don’t know you or where you come from.’  Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with You, and You taught in our streets.’  And He will reply, “I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from.  Get away from Me, all you who do evil.” 

The door is narrow because it’s not enough to simply know about Jesus. The only ones entering His Kingdom are those with a personal relationship with Him (those who are born again): Those who believe in Him; Those who are obedient to Him. The fact that you may have heard of Jesus will not be enough. The fact that you were a nice person in this life will not be enough. Neither your DNA, nor your church attendance, nor the fact that your grandma or grandpa was a believer will be enough. You, yourself must have made a decision during your lifetime for Christ. Even more alarming is the fact that Jesus already knew many of His Jewish brothers and sisters—despite His death on the Cross–would reject Him, and yet He still trudged on toward Jerusalem. He ends the parable by saying that many Gentile believers would enter in while God’s Chosen People would exclude themselves by their unbelief. No wonder a few verses later (34-35), Jesus will weep over Jerusalem. 

Why would our Lord be so grieved?  He loves us and He desires that none should perish.  Our other lessons point out some additional reasons.

A.  Jeremiah 1:1-10 recounts for us God’s call to Jeremiah to become a prophet.  Jeremiah was probably between17-20 when God ordained him (around 626BC). His father, Hilkiah, was already serving the Lord as a priest in their home town of Anathoth, located just north of Jerusalem. Because of his age and position, scholars believe Jeremiah and King Josiah may have been friends.  King Josiah was about 22 at that time and reigned until he died at age 39, another 17 years later. Jeremiah served all during the remainder of Josiah’s reign, as well as during the reigns of kings Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim (sons of Josiah), Jehoiachin (Josiah’s grandson), and Zedekiah (a third son of Josiah’s). Josiah had been a good and godly king, and had led his people in a revival, leading their hearts back to God.  But his sons and grandsons were another story.  Because of their idolatry and wicked behavior, God allowed the last (Zedekiah) to be defeated and carried off into slavery by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  In fact, Nebuchadnezzar forced him to watch his sons be murdered before putting his eyes out.  Zedekiah’s last sight was observing his sons die, a truly cruel punishment. 

But, to return to Jeremiah, notice how God calls him into service:  Verse 5, NLT:Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.  This is pretty impressive, isn’t it?  It implies that God knows us before we are even conceived, that He calls us into being, and that He has a plan for our lives.  This is the best argument against abortion that I know.  We come into being at God’s behest.  What right have we to contradict God’s will?  The Lord tells Jeremiah He had determined that he would become a prophet to deliver to His people God’s own words.  Jeremiah, a humble and an obedient young man, tells God, (v.6):I am only a child.  In other words, “Yes, I will do it, but I am young and inexperienced; I wouldn’t know what to say!”  God’s response must have been very reassuring (v.7):Do not say,’ I am only a child.’  You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.  The Lord gave Jeremiah words and direction; and He promised to take care of him, even though He was calling him to prophesy divine judgment on Judah and her heretical kings.

So here is another reason why God grieves over us.  Our God clearly knows us and the plans He has for us as He calls us into being in our mother’s womb.  How happy He must be when He sees us choosing to believe in His Son.  How pleased He must be when we endeavor to move forward in His plan for us.  And how it must disappoint Him when we veer away from His plans and from Him.  Remember, He later tells Jeremiah (29:11, NIV):”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord.  “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

B. The psalmist who penned Psalm 71 was clearly an elderly person (perhaps King David), looking back over his life, recalling the times the Lord had protected him.  This person was a man of faith.  He remembered (v.1) how the Lord had saved him and rescued him.  He appears to need help again, and asks God to (v.3):Be my Rock of safety where I can always hide. Give the order to save me, for You are my Rock and my Fortress.   Because of his “lived experience” with God, he trusts that God will respond to him and help him once again (vv.5-6):O Lord, You alone are my hope.  I’ve trusted you, O Lord, from childhood. Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother’s womb [There it is again.  The psalmist believes Psalm 139 and what God says to Jeremiah in chapter 1] You have cared for me.  No wonder I am always praising You!

The psalm encourages us each to do the same. To trust God, not grieve Him, from our birth until our death.  We are to trust God because He knows us and loves us.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews reminds us in chapter 12:1-13, that we have to keep moving forward in our faith.  In other words, just as we can’t say, “We’ve heard about Jesus, therefore we are saved;” we also can’t say, “I’m saved, therefore there is nothing further expected of me.”

The writer to the Hebrews likens the Christian walk to a race that requires endurance and faith.  Difficulties will come to each of us:

1.) Sometimes as tactics of the evil one to discourage us and pull us away from God;

2.) Sometimes as a result of our own sins or poor choices (we reap what we sow);

3.) Difficulties may come to us for standing up for what is right.

4.) Sometimes because the Lord is disciplining us, causing us to adjust or correct our course. The Lord disciplines those He loves. We need to accept that He wants us to shape up.

No matter the reason, we are to persevere in our faith, just like the heroes of the faith listed in chapter 11. We are also to cast off whatever impedes us in this race.  We don’t run with a backpack filled with boulders.

We take frequent inventory of our sins and confess them to God.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:31:If God is for us, who can be against us?  Our fuel and our ability and our motivation to run an endurance race is God’s love.  Most of us are not called to be prophets, but our God knew each of us from the womb also. He has given us various gifts and talents. We are to use these to make our way in the world and also to build up His Kingdom. When we squander or horde our gifts, we grieve Him. Remember, in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the Master was angry with the fellow who had not used his talent but had buried it in the backyard.

God is willing to be present to us all of our lives long. He protects us and provides for us. He is present to us–only a prayer conversation away. It’s got to grieve Him to watch us suffer when He is ready to help if we would just call upon Him.

From the day we choose to follow Jesus until the day we die, we are running an endurance race. We win this race if we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. And if we don’t grow weary or lose heart.  AMEN!

©️Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

The Trouble with Judging

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 27, 2025

Scriptures: Hosea 1:1-10; Ps 85; Col 2:6-19; Lk 131:1-17

I have a good friend in ministry, a Pentecostal pastor, who preaches whatever the Lord lays on his heart.  In our tradition, however, we tend to preach the readings already chosen for us and listed in what is known as “the Revised Common Lectionary.”  Back in 1983, representatives of 19 Christian denominations in the US met and agreed upon 4 Scripture passages—one from each of the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament, and Gospels–to be read each Sunday in each of their churches.  Typically, Methodist (United and Global), Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Episcopalian, and Roman Catholic pastors preach from these selections.  They allow us to touch on much of Scripture over the course of 3 year cycles.

In my 24-25 years of ministry, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover the appointed readings often meet a congregation right where they are that very moment.  We could say that they are Holy Spirit inspired, and they are!  But so too is the method of asking the Lord what to preach.  Back before I went to seminary, in the 1990’s, I was doing nursing home mental health work in Tallahassee, Florida.  There was a very well run nursing home, called Miracle Hill, in the African American section of town that my team and I visited once a week.  All the patients and all of the staff were African American.  We learned they had a preacher come in on the day we visited to hold a service for the residents.  We heard him a time or two and discovered he did an excellent job.  So, we planned our time to complete our paperwork around his sermon time.  He would tell the patients that he and his wife had “gone before the Lord” to get the message he was to present to them.  I had never heard of this before, but I was very impressed with the wonderful messages he brought them weekly. 

This week, I have used both traditions: I have drawn the first 3 readings from the Lectionary.  But the Lord directed me to exchange the 4th reading, the Gospel, for an alternative.  That’s why it’s not what was printed in your bulletin (I know I drive a number of people crazy when I do this).

But when the Lord directs me to focus on a specific passage, I must comply.

He apparently wanted me to preach this morning on the problems with making judgments about others.  Consider the following true story:

“GUILTY AS SIN the headline read just a few years ago. The banks in New Jersey had been robbed systematically, one after the other. What made the robber stand out was his politeness. He just gave the tellers a note which said, “Please place your money in this bag. Thank you.” The newspapers called him the Gentleman Bandit!

“The widespread publicity led to a very unlikely arrest – the suspect was a Catholic priest. His church was appalled but stood beside him, saying they knew he could not be the bandit. They signed petitions, held protest marches and came up with his bail. But the police were certain they had their man. All of the eyewitnesses positively identified him. And the news media dug into his past, to find that in a previous church he had left under a cloud because of financial irregularities in the parish. For a priest he had a pretty expensive lifestyle – his own apartment and a fast car. People whispered his church was probably standing up for him because otherwise they looked like dupes.

“As people across the country watched the story unfold on the news, they were positive this priest had pulled a fast one. He probably had a sociopath personality so he could rob banks during the week and preach the next Sunday without feeling any guilt. No one outside his congregation was standing up for this guy. But then a funny thing happened. The real Gentleman Bandit was caught red-handed. As it turned out, he was the spitting image of the priest. It’s just that he wasn’t the priest. The priest was released, his church threw him a big party, and the news media and those who had prematurely judged him moved on to the next story.”   (Contributed by Pastor Sheila Crowe, http://www.sermon central.com, 7/2017.)

Obviously, one problem with judging others is that we often lack all the facts necessary to make an accurate assessment.  We may think we have correctly discerned the truth—at least from our point of view; but we can do damage to peoples’ relationships and to their reputations by passing along falsehoods we mistakenly think are true.  We especially need to be careful when sharing our views within the hearing of non-Christians.  Unbelievers tend to have heard of Jesus’ words from His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:1-2): Judge not lest you be judged, or as the New Living Translation rephrases it: Do not judge others and you will not be judged.  For you will be treated as you treat others.  The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.  The Bible comments on judging over 180 different times, so we can correctly infer from this that the topic is important to God.

In fact, in the Gospel the Lord told me to address today (Luke 13:1-17), Jesus teaches about our tendency to make judgments about others.  The context is two horrendous events that had recently occurred in Jerusalem:  Pilate had some men from Galilee killed as they offered sacrifices (i.e., were worshipping in the Temple).  The crowd was understandably upset and wanted to know how God could have allowed that to happen.  Many assumed the dead men must have been terrible sinners.

Additionally, 18 men constructing a tower near the Pool of Siloam were killed when the tower collapsed (they must not have had a qualified structural engineer overseeing the build).  Again, the people were wondering if the 18 dead men had been terrible sinners to deserve their fate.  Notice, Jesus does not answer their questions about the victims’ spiritual states.  Instead, He redirects them to consider their own spiritual condition (Matthew 7:3, NLT: Why worry about the speck in your friend’s eye when you have a beam in your own?)

Jesus then tells the crowd the parable of the Fig Tree:  It appears to be barren, yielding no fruit, at the very time the owner should be able to expect a harvest. The owner makes a judgment:  Cut it down.

The gardener (Jesus) offers another perspective:  Let’s be patient, tend it another year, and then decide.  Our Lord recommends grace instead of judgment, continued care instead of condemnation.

There are actually several morals to this story:

1.) Trouble doesn’t always come to a person due to their sins.

My first year of seminary, I saw my savings of $30,000 go up in smoke due to having no health insurance and a house that was a money pit (despite a home inspection stating it was fine prior to purchase).  I would not be so arrogant as to say I was sinless during that time, but looking back, I believe the Lord wanted me to learn He would provide for me when my resources were exhausted.  It was one of a number of similar lessons He provided until I decided I really could trust in Him regarding money-matters.  Additionally, I learned He can only fill us when we are empty (of ourselves and our own resources)!

2.) Another important lesson is that becoming a follower of Jesus does not inoculate us from trouble.  Instead, the evil one paints a target on us.  We need to persist in our faith that the Lord protects us and sees us through whatever trouble the devil sends.

3.) Finally, when trouble comes to someone else, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that we are morally superior to them.  Consider the Central Texas floods.  Did you at any time wonder what they had done to experience such widespread death (135 by the latest count), with over 60 still missing?  Do you think they thought the same thing last year when our area experienced 3 hurricanes?  We are not to judge others.  Instead, the Lord expects us—as with the barren fig tree–to extend prayer and  compassionate care as we are able.

Finally, Jesus demonstrates His compassion for the bent over woman.  She doesn’t even approach Him.  She has been bent over, almost in half, for 18 years.  How uncomfortable and inconvenient this must have been for her.  He sees her in the synagogue, and has mercy on her (on the Sabbath).  He tells her (v.12), Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness [such wonderful words!].  And she stands straight up (no weeks of physical rehabilitation for her!).

The guy in charge of the synagogue gets mad.  Notice he doesn’t directly address Jesus but instead tells the crowd to come any other day to be healed.  He has judged that the Sabbath is for worship alone, so Jesus and this woman are in the wrong.  Jesus correctly calls him—and those who value rules over a person’s well-being–a hypocrite.  He has missed the point of God’s mercy (remember the parable of the barren Fig Tree.)

Now, compare this with the adult life of the Prophet Hosea:  God calls him to be a prophet (1 of 7) to the morally corrupt Northern Kingdom.  But He gives him an especially tough assignment. He is to live out for the Israelites how God feels being in covenant relationship with them.  He is told to marry an unfaithful woman—actually a prostitute (YIKES!  This is a pretty strong statement about how the Lord regards Israel at this time.) Hosea’s lived experience is to remain faithful to someone who is not faithful—with all the attendant heartbreak, humiliation, and public shame and ridicule that entails.

Hosea is remarkably obedient.  He marries Gomer and they have one child, a son.  Some scholars believe this child was truly his son, but others are not convinced.  God tells Hosea to name the child, Jezreel, which means the Lord will scatter—clearly a warning of the invasion and captivity to come.  But it also means not pitied, and bastard.  Poor kid!  None of these translations would be easy to live with.  Since Gomer is adulterous, Hosea has no idea if the next two kids are biologically his:  A girl named Lo-Ruhamah, or Not Loved; and a second boy named Lo-Ammi, not My People.  God is making some strong statements to the wayward Israelites.

Are Hosea or his children to blame for Gomer’s infidelity/sin?  No, God is using them as object lessons to His people—they represent His pain due to their spiritual adultery.  Imagine what Hosea’s neighbors probably had to say; imagine their judgments of Him.  He would have been a laughing stock and considered a weak, spineless man, a “cockhold.”  Imagine what they probably said about each of his children.  They were no doubt bullied and ridiculed by the other kids.  This is yet another reason why we want to be cautious of judging others. 

Think of the falsely condemned Catholic priest.  Thank God the true bank robber, his look-alike, was found and arrested!  Let’s remember we will be judged by God according to the measure we used with others: (Matthew 12:37, NLT): The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.

Let’s pray:  Lord Jesus, we need Your help with this!  Help us to see others with Your eyes.  Help us to speak words of grace and mercy, rather than of judgment and condemnation.  Help us to leave the judgments to You, the One Who sees and knows all, and Who judges with righteousness.  Amen! 

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Conquering Temptations

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 9, 2025

Scriptures: Deut 25:1-11; Ps 92:1-15; Ro 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and playwright of the mid to late 1800’s once said, ”I can resist everything but temptation.”  Probably many of us can say the same.  Another fellow from the Funny Papers complained to a pastor, “How come opportunity knocks once, but temptation beats down my door every day?”

(Charles Swindoll, the Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, pp.560, 562.)

It would seem that there is no end to things that tempt us:  Perhaps you have given up cussing for Lent, then accidentally trip over your dog, or close your hand in your car door?  Immediately you find yourself swearing away

Or, you plan to forgive a certain aggravating person, do so, and then find they aggravate you all over again the very next time you meet up with them?  I was once told by a person enrolled at one of the service academies that their honor code was so widely adhered to that you could leave a $100 dollar bill out on a desk and no one would take it.  I truly hope our war-fighters-in-training are as honorable; but I have to wonder if laying out a temptation like that—even among honorable persons—is very smart.

Our adversary, the Devil, comes at us with temptations.  He loves to try to make us doubt God’s goodness.  But if that doesn’t work, he’ll come up with a temptation to pull us away from our part in God’s story.  (Think of the word history.  As a former high school history teacher, I have come to the conclusion that the passage of time carries God’s story—He oversees history; it is His story and He invites us to participate.)  The Apostle Peter knew this well.  He famously warned us (1 Peter 5:8, NIV)  Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

So how are we to avoid the traps he sets for us?  What’s the secret to frustrating the evil one?  What strategies does Jesus model to enable us to conquer our temptations?

Let’s take a look at our Gospel lesson (Luke 4:1-13) for some valuable pointers.

Today’s passage begins with Jesus being sent—by the Holy Spirit—into the wilderness for a time of testing.  The Father knew our Lord needed to be tested before He began His earthly ministry.  Both Jesus and the Father knew He needed to prove that He could recognize Satan’s temptations and resist them.  In a sense, the Father had Jesus begin His public ministry just as Adam and Eve had begun the human story, with a test.  They were commanded not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  And we now know they failed the test.  Satan seduced or tempted them; and to their and our everlasting regret, they fell for it.

If we read Dr. Luke’s genealogy of Jesus at the end of Chapter 3, we see that Jesus, the Son of God, is descended from Adam (on His mother’s side).  He could be said to be the Son of God and also a descendant son of Adam.

Paul and others call our Lord the 2nd Adam.  Will He be taken in like the 1st Adam was?  Will he fall for Satan’s ploy to feed Himself by turning stones into bread?  Notice the situation is similar, but the setting differs.  Adam and Eve were ensconced in a beautiful garden where all their needs were met.

But Jesus is tempted in a barren wilderness.  His ancestors, the Israelites, wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.  God is inviting Jesus to re-enact, in 40 days, not only Adam and Eve’s trial, but that of Jesus’ Israelite ancestors as well.  And we see—Praise God!—that the 2nd Adam, the perfect Israelite, does it better.

Normally, our Lord would want Jesus to eat when He was hungry. But during this 40 days (the precursor to Lent), He had dedicated Himself to a fast.  (This is why so many Christians decide to spend these 40 days of Lent in some sort of fast.)  Jesus was focusing all His attention on His relationship with His Heavenly Father.  But He was most likely also physically and emotionally depleted.  Isn’t it just like Satan to come at us when we are particularly vulnerable because we are tired or hungry?  He was also alone, away from the potential support of home and family.  I think this latter factor plays into marital affairs on business trips. There is no one around and a person becomes vulnerable due to fatigue and stress and no reminders of a family waiting at home.

So Satan’s first temptation to Jesus was to have something He was not meant to have.  There nothing sinful about bread, in and of itself.

But eating at this time would have distracted Him from His retreat with His Heavenly Father.  So it is with us, isn’t it?  There’s nothing wrong with good food, nice clothes, a beautiful home, a snazzy car, a prestigious job—unless our pursuit of them comes between us and God.  Jesus knew He wasn’t to eat then, so He refused Satan’s temptation, and quoted Scripture to him🡪NLT, Deuteronomy 8:2 & 3 Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these 40 years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey His commands.  Yes, He humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown by you and your ancestors.  He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.     

Jesus’ 2nd temptation was to be someone He was not meant to be.  Satan thought to tempt Jesus with becoming an earthly ruler.   Satan is the Prince of this world, but He did not then and does not now have the power to make someone king of the world.  Only God can do this.  So, notice, Satan was lying, wasn’t he?  He will also lie to us.  Jesus says in the Gospel of John that Satan is the Father of Lies and that lies are his native language. 

He will tempt us to become something we are not meant to be.  It might be to become popular, famous, rich, or influential.  It might be to be married, or to raise a household of kids.  God may even have these things in mind for us—but not just now, or not under our current circumstances.  Additionally, the cost of caving in to the temptation is turning our backs on God’s plan for our lives.

Again, notice that Jesus quotes Scripture in his response to Satan: (NLT, Deuteronomy 6:13 & 14) You must fear [revere, worship] the Lord your God and serve Him.  You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, for the Lord your God, who lives among you is a jealous God.  Jesus wisely only wanted to please God.  Jesus wisely determined only to worship God.

His 3rd temptation was to do things He was not meant to do.

Satan wanted Jesus to perform a miracle and save Himself from falling/suspending the law of gravity.  But our Lord knew He was not to get ahead of the will of the Father.  Satan believes he has the victory when he tempts us to act carelessly or recklessly, assuming God will rescue us from whatever is foolhardy.  Jesus knew it is not our place to test God by taking ridiculous risks to see if He rescues us from our own foolishness.  We were not meant to abuse our bodies and minds with alcohol or drugs; engage in sexual relations outside of marriage; explode with anger; cheat, steal from, or lie to God or another, etc.

The truth is that each of Satan’s temptations—of Jesus and of us—is to shortcut God’s plans for us.  He wants to seduce us away from God’s story for our lives.  He promises the easy way of no hardship, no suffering, and no Cross.  But Jesus stood strong against Satan.  He said, essentially, that His life was about more than satisfying His bodily appetites;more than having worldly power; and more than personal safety.   He made it clear that His life was about doing His Father’s will.

A preacher named Bryan Wilkerson once wrote, “So Jesus was tempted along these three lines—to have something, to be somebody, and to do something other than [what] God intended. In other words, Jesus was being tempted to break away from God’s story.”  And so are we.

(Sermon on Jesus’ Temptations, http://www.PreachingToday.com, 3/5/25.)

Fortunately, He also teaches us to conquer temptations by asking ourselves the following:

1.  Is what we want something God would not want us to have?(Or not to have yet, at this exact moment?

2. Is it to become something God does not mean for us to be?

3. It is to do something God would not want us to do?

In studying this passage, I firmly believe that all of our temptations can be put in one of these three categories.  Just stopping to consider which category a given temptation exists in might be just enough to help us avoid it.

Jesus also models…

1. Relying on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

2. Knowing and following Scripture,

3. And checking things out in conversations with the Father. There are some excellent strategies for turning away from temptation.  May we remember these this Lent, and always.  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Alleluia, Alleluia!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Forgiveness: A Difficult Command

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 23, 2025

Scriptures: Gen 45:3-15; Ps 37:1-11, 39-40; 1 Cor 15:35-38, 42-50; Lk 6:27-38

Dr. Harry Ironside (1878-1951) was a gifted pastor who first served in the Salvation Army, then became the long term minister, and famous preacher, at the Moody Baptist Church in Chicago.  He told the following story:

On the Lord’s day a group of missionaries and believers in New Guinea were gathered together to observe the Lord’s Supper. After one young man sat down, a missionary recognized that a sudden tremor had passed through the young man’s body that indicated he was under a great nervous strain. Then in a moment all was quiet again. The missionary whispered, “What was it that troubled you?” “Ah,” he said, “But the man who just came in killed and ate the body of my father. And now he has come in to remember the Lord with us. At first I didn’t know whether I could endure it. But it is all right now. He is washed in the same precious blood.” And so together they had Communion. It is a marvelous thing, the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Does the world know anything of this?” 

(Borrowed from http://www.sermons.com, 2/20/25.)

I heard a similar story told by a man involved in Chuck Colson’s Prison Ministry.  He said a young fellow had killed this woman’s son, and was tried and sent to prison for the murder.  Some months later, she felt compelled—perhaps she had read this very Gospel account—to write to him and tell him she forgave him.  That’s extraordinary, isn’t it?  She send him 5 letters, and he returned each one to her unopened.  Finally, he responded to her following her 6th attempt to reach him. He was amazed that she would be willing to forgive him for his crime and wanted to know what compelled her to do so.  She wrote back, telling him about Jesus Christ.  They corresponded for a time and she led him to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  They then decided to lead a Bible study in the prison, together, helping others come to a place of confession and forgiveness.  By several years after this, they had become such good friends that the woman asked to adopt the man who had killed her son.  He agreed.  This is the kind of extraordinary forgiveness that can only be accomplished by those who love Jesus and are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Demonstrating forgiveness is difficult for any of us.  It’s easy enough to talk about, but very hard to practice.  I have said here before that it often feels like the emotional equivalent of curling your toe-nails backward.  We hope there is an easier way. I remember a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon from some years back in which the 6YO Calvin was telling his stuffed Tiger—who came to life when the two of them were alone—how bad he felt for calling a little girl names and hurting her feelings.  Hobbes was a very wise tiger and so he suggested that Calvin apologize to her.  Calvin thought about it for a moment then said, “I keep hoping there is a less obvious solution.”  Like Calvin, we just don’t want to experience the emotional pain of subduing our pride and admitting our fault.  In other words, we hate to humble ourselves, because forgiveness strikes at our pride.

Two of our passages today deal directly with the difficulty of forgiving another, or even ourselves. 

A. Jesus gives us His take on forgiveness in our Gospel lesson, Luke 6:22-38, , a continuation of His Sermon on the Plain.  Our Lord directs us to (v.27, NLT)—…love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.  This is really a difficult command, isn’t it?  At the least, would just like to avoid them forever.  But at our worst, we want to avenge ourselves.  The typical human response is to want revenge.  The young man in Dr. Ironside’s story had to forgive the cannibal who killed and ate his father–YIKES!  Forgiveness like this is truly beyond our human abilities.  It requires the supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit.

Additionally, in verse 29, Jesus commands us to famously “turn the other cheek.”  J. Vernon McGee tells the story of an Irish prize fighter who was converted and became an itinerent pastor. 

“He happened to be in a new town setting up his evangelistic tent when a couple of tough thugs noticed what he was doing. Knowing nothing of his background, they made a few insulting remarks. The Irishman merely turned and looked at them. Pressing his luck, one of the bullies took a swing and struck a glancing blow on one side of the ex-boxer’s face. The former boxer shook it off and said nothing as he stuck out his jaw. The bully took another glancing blow on the other side. At that point the preacher swiftly took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and announced, “The Lord gave me no further instructions,” Whop!” 

(As related by J. Vernon McGee in Charles Swindoll’s Tale of a Tardy Oxcart, 1998, p 214.)

Jesus later, in Matthew 18:22, tells Peter the trouble with forgiveness is that we are to forgive the same person not 7 times but 70 X 7—or an unlimited # of times.  He sums it up in today’s passage by charging us to (v.31)—Do to others as you would like them to do to you.  We are not to seek revenge or repay evil with evil.  Instead, we are called to treat everyone– even enemies– with love and mercy. 

Furthermore, He exhorts us just beyond this passage (vv.37-38)—Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For, with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

In A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World, “Ron Lee Davis retells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace, no sense of God’s forgiveness.

In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and He with her. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, “The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary.” The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?”
“Yes, he did,” she replied.
“And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?”
“Yes.”
“Well, what did he say?”
“He said, ‘I don’t remember'”


We all need to remember that whatever God forgives, He chooses to forget.  The God who knows everything—He is omniscient—choses to forget our sins when we confess them and ask for His forgiveness.  The poor priest was hanging onto to guilt that God had excused years ago. 

According to Jesus, we are blessed in the measure to which we bless others.  The trouble with un-forgiveness—even of ourselves–is that it blocks our ability to receive the blessings our Lord wants to give us, including healing.  Additionally, when we forgive others, and even ourselves, we experience a deep release of tension we might not even know we were holding in. 

B.  Jesus’ admonitions to forgive, not judge, and not condemn are so beautifully lived out by Old Testament Joseph (Genesis 45:3-15).  Recall that Joseph’s 10 brothers by other mothers had sold him into slavery (at age 17).  They fully expected him to die in Egypt. They then compounded their sin by lying to their father about Joseph’s supposed death, causing Jacob inordinate grief.   Joseph, after 14-15 years of slavery, correctly interprets Pharaoh’s dreams–Remember, 7 years of plentiful crops, followed by 7 years of devastating, region-wide famine. Two years into the famine, his 10 treacherous brothers arrive in Egypt to purchase food.

Unbeknownst to them, their lost brother Joseph has survived—by the design and grace of God—and is now second in command of all of Egypt  They fail to recognize him because he is clean shaven rather than bearded; dressed in Egyptian clothing, wig, and jewelry; 39 years old, 22 years older than when they last saw him; and speaking the Egyptian language while talking to them through an interpreter.

Now, with his brothers gathered around him in all his splendor as Prime Minister of Egypt, he sees/discerns/and reveals God’s purposes in the brothers’ crime against him.  At first, they can’t believe it is their brother.  Then they fear his retribution.  But in a truly Christ-like way, he reassures them, [The Message] (v.5+)—I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt.  But don’t feel badly, don’t blame yourselves for selling me.  God was behind it.  God sent me here ahead of you to save lives.  There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years—neither plowing nor harvesting.  God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance.  So you see, it wasn’t you who sent me here but God.  He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt.  God uses Joseph to save his Father, his brothers, and his extended family (90 folks), as well  untold numbers of Egyptians and other gentiles in the region. 

Forgiveness, though difficult, is imperative.  Christ requires it of us.  Jesus modeled it for us, forgiving His murders from the Cross.  And He tells us in several places in Scripture that He forgives us to the degree we forgive others.  If we want God to forgive us, we need to be willing to forgive others.  Both OT Joseph and Jesus saw the blessings that flow to us from our forgiveness of others.

Finally, think about this story from the life of Martin Luther (1483-1546):

“In a dream, Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther’s sins, and held it before him. On reaching the end of the scroll Luther asked the devil, “Is that all?” “No,” came the reply, and a second scroll was thrust in front of him. Then, after a second came a third. But now the devil had no more. “You’ve forgotten something,” Luther exclaimed triumphantly. “Quickly write on each of them, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, cleanses us from all sins.'”

(Kurt Koch, Occult Bondage and Deliverance, Knegel Publishing, 1972, p. 10.)

Without a doubt, the main blessing is that God forgives us.  He covers our sins with the blood of Jesus Christ and he remembers them no more!  I attended a healing conference at the church of a friend of mine Friday night and Saturday morning.  The speaker said that not all illnesses are caused by forgiveness, but a great many are.  We tend not to think there could be spiritual roots to some diseases, but I have experienced for myself, as well as seen others healed when they made a list of all those they have not yet forgiven and pray forgiveness for them.  It’s a great practice!  Make a list of those you know you resent and need to forgive.  Then forgive them and watch and see what God does.

Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

©️2025 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

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

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

What’s Our Standard?

Pastor Sherry’s message for 7/28/24, 

Scriptures: 2 Sam 11:26-12:23; Ps 51:1-12; Eph 4:1-16; Jn 6:24-35

What’s our Standard?  What yardstick do we use by which to measure our behavior?

Many people today recommend human reason (including scientific findings) as their standard.  They maintain that we can solve all of our social, economic, and political problems by just agreeing with certain “experts”—even social media—and acting on what they recommend.  But I have to say I don’t really trust human reason all that much.  

In my counseling office over the years, I have heard people justify all kinds of wrong behaviors:  theft; betrayal; harming or ignoring the needs of a child; continuing an addiction; and even murder.  Isn’t it true that we can do all kinds of wrong things for what we may consider right reasons?  We justify lying to keep someone from firing us or leaving us. We justify stealing because we think we need or deserve whatever it is.  We have to remind ourselves that in God’s Kingdom, the ends never justify the means.

And haven’t we learned since the outbreak of Covid that the supposed facts of Science can be altered to support a particular political agenda?  We learned later on that masking, social distancing, and business, church, and school closures didn’t really help.  I’m glad I didn’t die from Covid—I’m glad that no one in this congregation died from Covid–but the second vaccine shot eliminated my sense of smell—thank God it wasn’t my eyesight—and I still can’t smell much of anything after all this time.  I maintain a healthy skepticism of human reason.

Another standard some folks tend to trust in are traditions. These are time-tested ways of thinking, believing, and acting. Some traditions are worth adhering to: Giving to the disadvantaged at Thanksgiving and Christmas; and patriotism for our country, thanking our service men and women for their service, and respecting our flag. But some are misguided and passé. The traditional view that the world was flat, and the belief that you would fall off if you sailed too far, restricted world exploration by sea for centuries. Wrapping a feverish person in multiple blankets to aid him/her in sweating out a fever, instead of trying to cool them off, probably killed a lot of folks. How about blood-letting to allow harmful “vapors” to escape an already weakened patient?  I just learned that General Stonewall Jackson of the Civil War did not die from having his arm amputated but from being told by field doctors to lie flat as he recovered.  As a result of his bed posture, he died of Pneumonia.  Singing “We are the Boys from Old Florida” at the start of the 4th quarter of Gator football games, when many UF students and fans are women, is fun but outmoded.  

I’m as careful about evaluating traditions as I am about accepting human reason. Hold off your acceptance. Take time to carefully evaluate human reason and traditions.  For my money—and I believe for yours too—I find the Bible provides us with the truest and best standards to follow.

Our Scriptures today all express this truth:

A.  In our Gospel lesson (John 6:24-35), Jesus conveys several profound and trustworthy truths:  (1) He is able to correctly perceive human motives.  He knows the crowd has followed Him across the lake for more food.  He tells them (v.24, NLT)—I tell you the truth, you want to be with Me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.  Just previous to this, He had fed the 5,000 (including uncounted women and children, the number was more like 15,000) at the Sermon on the Mount.  Rather than (2) appreciate Jesus’ multiplication miracle, or (3) His authority over material things, they come looking to see if He would again manufacture food for them.  Instead, He directs them to (4) believe in Him because He is the Bread of Heaven (All of His I AM statements in John’s Gospel are Jewish ways for Him to say He is God.  Because He is God, He is able to create food enough to feed a multitude from just a little (5 loaves + 2 fish +Jesus= food for 15,000 and 12 baskets of leftovers).  The truth is Jesus is God.  He loves us and He can supply all our needs. (He may not supply all our wants, but He does take care of our needs.)

B.  King David, in our Old Testament reading (2 Samuel 11:26-12:23), provides us with a set of colossal sins and David’s Biblical responses to them. He has sinned by coveting and entering into an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife; and by arranging for Uriah’s death when their adultery results in a baby.

Though his sins are state secrets, Scripture records he did not get off “scot-free.”  Only Bathsheba, the servants who David sent to gather her, and Joab, David’s general, know of his treachery, and they are not talking! They realize he could have them arrested and executed.  His secret sins are relatively safe, but nevertheless, King David feels wretched. Several of the psalms he wrote at this time, including today’s psalm, Psalm 51, tell of his great, private shame, remorse, and misery: (v.4) For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  In Psalm 31:10, he wrote—My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.   Similarly in Psalm 32:3—When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  We could say that the Holy Spirit has brought him under conviction and he is suffering the resulting emotional and spiritual anguish.

The only One who knows of his sins besides those who refuse to talk is the Lord. Notice that God does not abandon King David. Instead, He sends the brave prophet, Nathan, to call him to account. Nathan tells David a story about a poor man taken advantage of by a rich man.  David, thinking this is a report about someone in his kingdom, is outraged! He wants the rich man brought to justice. So Nathan confronts him (v.7)—You are the man!  The story was only a metaphor. Nathan conveys God’s disappointment in David. God had given him so much!  In fact, he already had 6 wives by this time; Bathsheba made #7. (How many wives does a man need?  Often one provides enough drama and interest.)  But David’s sinful actions convey to God that David instead lacks gratitude to and has contempt for the Lord. What a novel way to consider sin: Our sins show our contempt for God. YIKES!

Now David has 3 choices in the way he could respond:  (1) He could deny his sin altogether—as so many government leaders do today (This is an example of human reason at work).  (2)  He could have had Nathan executed—as any despot or dictator would (a “time honored” but ignoble tradition).  (3) Or he could admit the truth, the Biblical standard. This, and the fact that David never was an idolater, is what makes King David a man after God’s own heart.  He desperately desires to recommit himself to God.  So, He admits his sin, he repents, and he asks God to forgive and restore him.

Remember, this is a saga from the Old Testament. It predates the saving work of Jesus Christ.  God graciously forgives David and Bathsheba.  He spares them the punishment for adultery (and murder) which would have resulted in them both being stoned.  But God does not prevent the grave consequences of David’s sin from affecting him. Notice how the Law of Sowing and Reaping then plays out in David’s life:  (1) The child born to Bathsheba, a firstborn son, dies after birth (his death for Uriah’s death).

(2) Later, one of David’s other sons, Amnon, covets and rapes his beautiful step-sister, Tamar (a sexual sin, rape, for a sexual sin, adultery).   (3.) Absalom, Tamar’s full brother, kills Amnon out of revenge (another death for a death).  (4.) Still later, Absalom will try to wrest the throne from King David (lawlessness and rebellion against David for lawlessness and rebellion against God).

C.  King David models for us in Psalm 51, that we can return to a close relationship with God when we honestly acknowledge our sins.  As we read responsively verses 1-12, it is clear that David has sincere grief and regret over what he has done.  He openly begs for God’s forgiveness, asking for mercy.  He also recognizes that it is only God Himself who can cleanse him (v.10)—Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.   He affirms his faith that God will forgive him because he has asked (v.15)—O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise, and (v.17)—The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken spirit and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  

D.  Paul advises his protégé, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:2-4a—Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction—for the time will come [and is now here] when men [and women] will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth….. In our Ephesians reading today (Ephesians 4:1-16), Paul asserts that we grow up or mature in our faith when (v.14)–>…we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.   In other words, we become mature Christians when we are able to discern Biblical truth from human reason or tradition.

The Truth is contained in Scripture.  Jesus Christ is the way, the Truth, and the life.  Our standards are spelled out for us in the words of The Bible and in the way that Jesus modeled for us.  Remember back in the 1990’s when many people wore bracelets that said “WWJD”?  That stood for “What Would Jesus Do?” There’s our standard.  Let’s be skeptical of human wisdom and of human tradition. Let’s look to our Lord for how we should live and what we should believe.  AMEN!  

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Counterculture

Pastor Sherry’s message for April 28, 2024

Scriptures: Acts 8:26-40; Ps 22:15-31; 1 Jn 4:7-21; Jn 15:1-8

Years ago (in the early 1970’s), I was teaching Sociology in a Catholic Girls School in Newport, Rhode Island.  I was a new teacher, trying to impress upon my high school students—all 12th graders—how difficult it is to not conform to societal expectations.  It seems to be true that most of us conform or go along with what is expected, most of the time, so as not to be singled out or harassed by “the crowd.”  You would not usually drive the wrong way on a one way street, for instance.  Most of us would not deliberately walk out of a store without paying for what we found there.  My biggest fear in high school was that I would show up to “Wear Your Pajamas to School Day” in my pj’s, only to discover I had the wrong day.  People are doing more outrageous things in public now than was true back in the 70’s…but most people, most of the time, do what we call is normative or normal. 

So I asked my girls if they would be willing to try a harmless experiment in not conforming.  They wore school uniforms, so there were very few ways they could modify their dress to be unique.  I challenged them to do something simple like wear ribbons in their hair (not a trend at that time).  No one was willing to do even something this tame.  When I led them in a discussion as to why that was, they replied that they did not want to “stick out.”  I considered the experiment a success because they had to seriously consider the personal cost of not conforming to cultural expectations, and decided the potential embarrassment wasn’t worth it.

I bring this up today because, as Christians, we sometimes forget how countercultural Jesus was, and how countercultural He expects us to be as well:

A.  Let’s look at Acts 8:26-40.  In this passage, Dr. Luke describes deacon Philip’s encounter with a fellow returning to Ethiopia.  Persecution against Christians had broken out in Jerusalem.  One would think, “This is terrible!”  But in a countercultural, counterintuitive way, God uses it to begin to push the disciples out into Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (to begin to fulfill the “Great Commission”).  Philip (not the Apostle, but a deacon) goes to Samaria.  In verses 5-8, before this passage, we are told that he preached the Word, healed the sick, and cast out demons.  He was doing an excellent job!  The culture would say, “He’s a success. Keep him there!”  But God, through the Holy Spirit, sends him off in a countercultural direction.

Philip was serving the Lord in Samaria, to the north, but was suddenly sent to the Gaza Road, way to the South.  The Holy Spirit directs him to the Ethiopian Treasury Secretary.  The guy was a North African believer in Judaism.  Notice:  He has already encountered the Word of God in the Old Testament.  He is reading Isaiah 53, the last of the 4 Suffering Servant Songs—all of which predict Jesus—but he does not understand it.  Philip, in a divine appointment, offers to help him.  The Holy Spirit has already prompted the Ethiopian official to be curious about Scripture.  Then God prompted Philip to be right there to explain.  Philip does such a good job of explaining the Gospel that the guy wants to become a Christ-follower.  He asks to be baptized.  They are in what is essentially a desert, but miraculously spy water—is this a divine appointment or what?–and out in broad daylight, before any passersby, in a countercultural, not-to-be expected way, Philip baptizes him.  Wow!

Wouldn’t we expect, then, that Philip would continue to hang out with the guy, to be sure any other of his questions were answered?  But no, the Holy Spirit immediately whisks him away to a Philistine city, Ashdod, to evangelize others.  Our God seems to delight in doing the unexpected.

In fact, I think He enjoys surprising us in countercultural ways.

Scripture is silent about how many Samaritans or Philistines came to Christ through the ministry of Philip.  But Early Church history tells us that the first big Christian church was built in Ethiopia!  That Ethiopian must have gone home and told many others about Jesus.  Even today Ethiopia is a majority Christian nation surrounded by Moslem nations.

In 1 John 4:7-21, John, the Apostle of love, sets out several countercultural realities about AGAPEO love—the love of God poured out upon us–not philios [brotherly ] or eros [sexual] kinds of love.  In verse 7, we are told that agapeo love comes from God, because God is love.  Love is not our initiative; we humans did not invent it.  So, it makes sense that, as stated in verse 12, when we demonstrate love, we are imitating God.  God demonstrated His love for us (verse14) by sending Jesus to redeem us.  Verses16-17 remind us that one of the ways we see or experience or cooperate with God is by doing things that are motivated by love. 

Aren’t we touched when we see a TV ad (like for Tunnels to Towers or St. Jude’s Childrens’ Hospital), through which generous people provide homes for disabled servicemen, pay off mortgages for police widows, or pay for treatment for kids with cancer?  James writes in 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  In other words, if you are moved to do something generous or kind—like contribute to one of these charitable organizations–it is because the Holy Spirit has inspired you.  Watch the news.  It’s hard to see any evidence of love in action.  Loving actions are countercultural and our God wants us to get into the habit of behaving this way.

John adds in verse 18—There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear.  Knowing God loves us can keep us from caving in to fear.

God’s perfect love for us casts out our fear.  If we live on a daily diet of the broadcast news, we can become fearful of many things…everything from nuclear holocaust, to being mugged or car-jacked, or to losing our homes, health, or incomes.  But if we can focus on God’s love for us, we can enjoy freedom from these kinds of anxieties.  The peace that passes all understanding—not dependent upon our circumstances, but on our relationship with Jesus–is clearly countercultural.

C. Our Psalm today, (22:25-31), reminds us that God’s rule is universal.   If we are aware of what is going on in the world currently, we might be skeptical that this is true.  Anti-Jewish protestors are swarming our college campuses nationwide, threatening the safety of Jewish students; and causing graduations to be cancelled for the very students who missed their high school graduation ceremonies due to Covid lockdowns.  There are wars in Ukraine and between Israel and Arab Terrorists.  Our economy is shaky and the cost of gas and groceries is sky-high.  Wherever we look, it appears as though what we call wrong is seen as right by the culture, and what we see as right, the culture condemns.

The psalmist, King David, wants us to be reassured that the day will come that (vv.27-28)—All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations.  This view is countercultural now, but we who believe in Jesus Christ, and in His 2nd Coming, trust that this prediction will come true.

D. Finally, we have our Gospel lesson, John15:1-8—I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  In this lesson, Jesus is referring to Himself as the “genuine Israel.”  All throughout the Old Testament, the vineyard or grape vines are a metaphor for the Jewish people.  If Jesus is the authentic Israelite, it is because He has loved His Father, been obedient to His Father, and loved His people. 

Additionally, He is saying that we can do nothing of any significance apart from Him.  Our culture would have us believe that might makes right; that the one with the most money, biggest social network, or most political power/influence wins. But, counterculturally, we know that none of that stuff will get us to Heaven!  Money, power, fame, even health can all be lost. But a vital relationship with Jesus will see us through this life and safely into the next.

If loving Jesus today makes us nonconformists or even dinosaurs, well I say, so be it!  I don’t know about you, but I would rather love Jesus and live outside the current norms than be a cultural conformist.  Remember, as my little experiment with my high school students demonstrated, the pull or power of the culture over us is very strong.  Wearing ribbons is not a sufficient motivator to behave in a countercultural manner, but being a follower of Jesus Christ is—or should be!

This week, try to be aware of times and events when our faith runs counter to the culture.   Look for the opportunities that exist when God provides you a divine appointment.  Let’s try also to be countercultural people who daily demonstrate God’s love.  Amen and amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

SMART SHEEP

Pastor Sherry’s message for April 21, 2024

Scriptures  Acts 4 5-20; Ps 23; 1 Jn 3 16-24; Jn 10 1-18 

The story is told about a woman calling for help from a small plane. She and her husband were flying a small plane to dine with friends, perhaps from Live Oak to Cedar Key.   Once airborne, the husband got sick and fainted.  Scared witless, she radioed for help, saying she didn’t know how to fly. Lots of people provided lots of advice as to her location, her altitude, how to find out how much fuel remained, and how to turn on her landing lights. A flight instructor out at a nearby airport heard the radio chatter. He jumped into his plane and took off. He wisely waited for a lull in radio traffic, then told others who he was and to stop transmitting. He introduced himself to her and told her he would try to coach her down safely. When he saw her plane, he told her to turn her landing lights off. Then he came alongside her and taught her the basics of flying. He also called ahead for an ambulance for her husband and then helped her to land safely. The woman and her husband were saved because she obeyed the voice of the flight instructor.

Our Psalm and Gospel readings both reference us as sheep, and the Lord as our Shepherd. At first blush, referring to us as sheep is not very flattering  they are notoriously helpless, often grazing their way lost; they are skittish, fleeing when frightened; they are prone to over-eating (along with goats, they will even eat kudzu); and, if they fall into running water, their heavy coats will become waterlogged and they will drown.   However, they do recognize the voice of their particular shepherd.

Do you know there are over 700 references to sheep and shepherds in Scripture?   In the Old Testament, the Good Shepherd was God, the Father 

1.) 23rd Psalm The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want (Peterson expresses it this way in The Message  I don’t need a thing!).

2.) Psalm 100  …we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

3.) Isa: 40

:11  [God] tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young.

4.)   In Ezekiel: 34, God the Father lambasts the kings, prophets, and priests of Israel, calling them bad shepherds. He accuses them of abusing, neglecting, and even preying upon His sheep. He promises to save His flock.   In verse 23, He declares  I will place over them one shepherd, My servant David, and He will tend them and be their shepherd.   Now Ezekiel lived about 400 years after King David, so he wasn’t talking about David per se.   Instead, he was prophesying about Jesus (who, like David and out of his lineage) is a Shepherd-King.

In the New Testament, the Good Shepherd is Jesus, God the Son   Our Gospel today is from John 10 1-18.   Scholars say this is the climax of John’s Gospel because Jesus identifies Himself as “The Good Shepherd” (v.11), thus calling Himself one with God the Father. In verse 14, Jesus says  I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me. God the Father called Himself “I am that I am.”  Every time in John, when Jesus makes an “I am” statement, He is admitting that He is God.

We find Him in today’s passage teaching in the Temple during the season of Hanukkah.   He identifies for His audience the bad shepherds  They victimize God’s sheep; they are thieves and murderers; and they are not willing to die to protect their sheep. Then He describes what a Good Shepherd does. Back in Jesus’ day, sheep from several flocks were gathered into a sheepfold at night (a kind of roofless barn bordered by a rock fence). The shepherd would lay across the opening to this structure to make sure the sheep stayed within and that predators would remain outside. So He is saying that He is willing to lay down His life for the benefit of His flock [us].   Unlike a hired hand, he does not flee when confronted with danger.   He is invested in the welfare of His sheep [gain, us].

How do we know we are the sheep of the Good Shepherd?

First, we are baptized into His flock (we become children of God).

Second, we learn to hear His voice  our God communicates with us through our spiritual ears, a kind of knowing that just comes into our heads. He also speaks to us through His written Word; by His Holy Spirit (the still small voice); in our dreams–We know many Moslems have come to Jesus in recent years because He has appeared to them in their dreams– through song lyrics, bumper stickers, billboards; sometimes through other people, even including overheard conversations; and often through our particular circumstances. He speaks to us and He wants us to communicate with Him in return. We talk with Him by praying—it’s just having a conversation with Him. We also talk with Him through our worship and praise. 

Third, we come to realize we are each known by Him. He has known us from before we were born. Psalm 139 says  O Lord, You have searched me and You know me.   You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.   Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely, O Lord…for You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb…When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.  Jesus adds, in Luke 12 7  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered!  God knows us intimately, better than we know ourselves  He knows our every action; our every plan; our thoughts, even before they are fully formed; our words, even before we utter them. This is such a paradox    all of us are members of His flock, but He views us individually as well (I once saw a humorous bumper sticker that read, “Jesus loves you, but I’m His favorite!”).  

Fourth, if we are smart sheep, we follow Him. Shepherds in Jesus’ day led their flocks, from the front. They did not push from behind. They whistled and called the sheep by name. The shepherd’s job, as Psalm 23 says, was to lead them to green pastures (healthy, plentiful food), beside calm, clean waters, to calm them down and settle their fears, and to protect them from predators.  When we follow Him, we go where He wants us to go, we do what He wants us to do.   Because He is the Good Shepherd, we can trust in His intentions for us.  He wants only the best for us, as Jeremiah 29 11 says  ”For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.   “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future.”

When we follow Him… we are to be obedient. Most of us are not too keen on obedience; we prefer to do things our own way (We have all heard toddlers say, “Me do it!”).   This kind of independence starts young.   Beth Moore shared that her 3 year old daughter once stood on the third step of the staircase, with her hands on her hips, and defiantly declared, “I am the boss of me!” But Jesus is clear, saying in John 14 23-24  If anyone loves Me, He will obey my teaching.   My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.   He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.

We obey His teaching by putting our love into action! Christian love cannot be just a sentiment, a feeling. Christian love must be a Love Relationship–with the members of this body; with the people of this community; with those who do not yet know Jesus. Jesus blesses us when we obey His commands and love one another.

Fifth, smart sheep know Jesus is Lord!   Our Acts passage demonstrates, once again, that Peter and John were so emboldened by the Holy Spirit, that they were brave enough to confront the Jewish religious leaders (the Sadducees), despite their power to jail them. The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection and did not want them teaching the Jesus had been resurrected.   His resurrection did not fit their narrative, so they denied it. After discussion these leaders let them go, but warned them not to continue to teach anyone about Jesus.   Peter replies, (vv.19-20)  Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.   For we [Peter and John] cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.   In so many words, what Peter means is, “I know Jesus is Lord so I will obey Him in spite of your threats or intimidation.” 

John writes in his epistle (1 John 3 16-24), Christian love means being willing to give your life for the welfare of another (verse 16). Christian love is not just words, but actions (verse 18)!   Smart Sheep demonstrate this by the way we go about loving others.

Just as the lady in the plane lived to tell the story because she listened to and trusted in the flight instructor, we too are best off when we do what our Lord asks of us.  Like the flight instructor, He keeps us on course and guides us to safe landings.  But better than that flight instructor, He knows us intimately and loves us.   This week, let’s remind ourselves that we have a shepherd Who knows and loves us, intimately; Who cares for us generously and graciously; and Who desires that we serve and bless those around us.   For His love’s sake, we want to be smart sheep!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Smart Sheep Hear the Shepherd’s Voice