Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Keep it Humble, Honey!

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 4, 2021

Scriptures: 2 Sam 5:1-10; Ps 48; 2 Cor 12:2-10; Mk 6:1-13

    I came across a number of stories this week in which folks turned defeat into victory:

    1.) Originally, Will Rogers’ stage specialty was rope tricks. As his luck would have it, in the middle of his act one day, he got tangled up in his lariat. Instead of getting upset, however, he drawled, “A rope ain’t so bad to get tangled up in if it ain’t around your neck.” The audience roared. Encouraged by this, Rogers began to add humorous comments to all his performances.  It was his jokes rather than his rope tricks that eventually made him famous.

    2.) Some years back, a guy named Jim Burke was promoted to head up a new products division at Johnson & Johnson.  One of his first assignments was to develop a children’s chest rub (perhaps a forerunner of Vick’s Vapo-rub).  His prototype, however, did not live up to expectations and Burke anticipated that he would be fired. When he was called in to see the CEO, though, he was very surprised by his reception. “Are you the one who just cost us all that money?” asked Robert Wood Johnson. “Well I just want to congratulate you. If you are making mistakes, that means you are taking risks, and we won’t grow unless you take risks.”  Some years later, when Burke himself became the chairman of J&J, he continued to operate by that philosophy.

    3.) After the horrible carnage and the Confederate retreat at Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee wrote the following report to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy: “We must expect reverses, even defeats. They are sent to teach us wisdom and prudence, to call forth greater energies, and to prevent our falling into greater disasters.”

    When we are experiencing a failure of some sort, we tend to look only at the immediate fall-out.  Our instantaneous responses are probably grief or anger.  We may blame others or our circumstances.  We may be embarrassed or feel like a failure.  I know that I felt like a failure during and just after my divorce.  I thought to myself, “Obviously I don’t know how to make a marriage work.”  I felt defeated and embarrassed.  But as I have come to know God better, I think that He—like the persons in the 3 examples I just provided–invites us to view defeat or failure in another light.

Let’s see how the individuals in the Scripture passages appointed for today respond to frustration, and what God appears to be teaching them and us through our disappointments.

    The context of 1 Samuel 5:1-10 is that David, anointed king by the prophet Samuel back when he was a teenager, had been chased down for years by a jealous and paranoid King Saul.  By the time of our passage, Saul has finally died, so the logical assumption would be that David would now reign.  He does, but over his tribe of Judah only (1 of 12 tribes of Israel).  He has settled Hebron, south of Bethlehem, as his headquarters.  Up to the north of Jerusalem, an important general loyal to Saul, Abner, puts Saul’s only surviving son, Ish-Bosheth on the throne of the 11 remaining tribes.  Thus ensures civil war for 7 years!

    Finally, in the 7th year, David’s cousin, Joab (acting on his own as a loose cannon), ambushes and kills Abner.  Then two of Abner’s underlings, Rechab & Baanah, take it upon themselves to murder Ish-Bosheth in his sleep (a vicious and cowardly act).  Like the goofball who claimed to have killed Saul, these two bring Ish-Bosheth’s head to King David, expecting him to reward them for ambushing Saul’s last son and roadblock to a unified Israel.  Instead, David is outraged by their crime and has them executed.

    By this point, the other 11 tribes realize it is foolish to continue to resist David’s kingship.  (Did anyone think 7 years earlier to check in with the Lord to see what He wanted?  No.)  A delegation from the eleven tribes approach David, waving a white flag of peace.  They remind him that they are his extended family, a fact they could have remembered earlier.  David accepts their allegiance and  becomes, finally, the King of Israel.  He is 30YO when this takes place.  His first act as king is to move his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem.  The arrogant Jebusites, the clan with control over the city, taunted him saying he would never breach their defenses. They underestimated him and they underestimated God.  David sent his troops up their water supply, an underground cistern, surprised them, and took over the city.

    What are we to learn from this?  David was anointed the new king, in place of Saul, when he was about 15-16YO, a teen.  But he has had to wait on the Lord’s timing (15 years) to take the throne.  Many times, he seemed defeated, but he persisted, in faith, and relied upon the Lord.  During his wait, he also gained experience in leadership, military skill, popularity with the people (because he was a winner), and he clearly knew his kingship was granted to him by God–not due to his own efforts.  You see, David had developed humility.

    In 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, we see Paul come to a similar understanding.  Paul reveals, indirectly, that he had been taken up into heaven.  He calls it “the third heaven.”  The first heaven is our sky, the environment of clouds, birds, bugs, and apparently UFO’s.  The second heaven is outer space.  The third heaven is God’s dwelling place.  I find it interesting that folks say our spacecraft have never encountered heaven during their pioneering ventures into the second heaven.  My response is that they didn’t find it because they weren’t invited in!  Do we really think human beings can storm the third heaven?

    Only three persons in Scripture have ever returned to earth from the 3rd heaven:  Jesus, the Apostle John, and later, the Apostle Paul.  Both John and Paul had been “beamed up” into God’s throne room.  John was told to write what he saw, which he did in the Book of Revelation.  Paul, however, had been told not to relate what he saw there.  But imagine what seeing heaven would do for your faith.  No wonder Paul was such a long suffering and highly motivated zealot!

    So, Paul writes, in verses 7-9 (according to Eugene Petersen’s modern paraphrase, The message ) Because of the extravagance of these revelations [what he learned from seeing heaven], and so that I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.  Santa’s messenger did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees.  No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it.  Three times I did that, and then He told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need.  My strength comes into its own in your weakness.  In other words, Paul realizes that God is using the “thorn in his side” to keep him humble.  God has answered his prayer with a “NO!” and yet Paul comes to view his “thorn” as a gift!  He sees setbacks and disappointments as a way God uses to keep him dependent on Christ.  Truly, the weaker he gets—or we get—the stronger he and we become in Jesus.  Wow, If only we could each learn the same thing!  Sometimes I have it, then I forget it for a time.  Perhaps you do too.  Paul’s attitude reminds me of the a college football coach who once said regarding how to deal with failures: “When you’re about to be run out of town, get out in front and make it look like you’re heading a parade.”

    Last, but certainly not least, let’s look at Jesus’ example in today’s Gospel, Mark 6:1-13:  In what is apparently a 2nd trip back home to Nazareth, Jesus is again rejected.  The 1st time, recounted in Luke 4:14-30, He read from Isaiah 61, His job description prophesied some 700+ years before His birth. His former neighbors and friends spoke well of Him until He chastised them for their lack of faith. Then theytried to throw Him off a cliff, but He miraculously escaped.

    This time, they were again amazed at His teaching, until they reminded themselves that He was a hometown boy.  Apparently they didn’t believe the Messiah could come from their town—in a way, they thought so little of themselves, that they could not afford Him the benefit of the doubt.  They did not believe.  Look at the results of their unbelief:  The Great High God of the Universe could only heal a few sick people and could do no miracles there.  He would not override their free will.  In effect, their unbelief handcuffed His power to heal them.

    Now critics would and did say that Jesus was a failure in Nazareth.   And I am sure that Jesus was saddened that folks He’d grown up with and did business with would consider Him a fraud.  But what do you think God the Father was teaching Him–and us–through this?

Jesus says, (v.4) Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house, is a prophet without honor. He recognized that it is difficult to change people’s perceptions once they’ve formed an idea of who a person is. He also realized He would not succeed with everyone. Sadly for us, our unbelief, our lack of faith, also limits what Jesus and the Holy Spirit can do in our lives. And for those of us trying to lead others to Christ, it means that if Jesus Himself did not succeed with everyone, why would we expect to either? We know that not everyone we share with about Jesus is going to come to faith. Nevertheless, our failures teach us wisdom, patience, endurance, faith, and strengthen our character.

This week, let’s remember that both Will Rogers and the Johnson and Johnson exec learned that growth and success arise out of making mistakes. As Robert E. Lee said, our mistakes also teach us humility, patience, and caution. God knows all of this and redeems our defeats so that we learn to lean on His strength, and to keep it humble, Honey!

©️2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Respect and Grace, Not Revenge.

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 27, 2021

Scriptures: 2 Samuel 1:1-27; Psalm 130

We live in a time when we are encouraged to get our revenge on our enemies, political or otherwise. Recently I heard a news commentator, Trey Gowdy, do a monologue on why he prefers sports to politics. (Gowdy used to be a US representative from South Carolina, but did not run for re-election due to his disgust over the corruption he encountered while serving in D.C.) He compared our national situation to a choice between golf, baseball, and professional wrestling: He said that in golf, players call penalties on themselves (The best golfers own their mistakes. No one respects the ones who lie or cheat.). In baseball, all agree to abide by the rulings of an umpire, and we all hope the umpire is fair to both sides. But in professional wrestling, there are no rules; no fairness; the end justifies the means (do whatever it takes to win); the outcome is fixed; and it is less a sport than entertainment.

Gowdy strongly implied that our national government is currently run more like professional wrestling than we might think or want. Political wrongdoers lack the integrity to hold themselves accountable or to admit and apologize for their wrongs. There is no national umpire/referee to enforce the rules fairly. And one’s political ends clearly appear to justify the means.

Nevertheless, Gowdy went on to opine that he has hope for America, due to how we tend to behave in sports:

1.) He reported having seen a woman in pro-golf recently pull for her opponent to sink a crucial putt.

2.) He related how another woman golfer–who had led the tournament only to lose at the end–did not blame others, the course, or her circumstances, but graciously thanked the fans for lifting her spirits.

3.) He shared how the Alabama softball team’s coach responded at the college world series. They interviewed him as his team was losing (This seems like kicking a guy when he is down, but reporters do this all the time). Rather than display anger or a vengeful attitude, the coach praised 2 other coach-peers who were retiring after the series.

The commentator hopes we will, as a nation, respond more like the sportswomen and the coach he referenced and less like politicians who do not congratulate or pull for their opponents; who only appreciate their followers but castigate those who disagree with them; and who blame anyone else for their defeat and desire revenge against their opponents.

A similar story is told about General Robert E. Lee, from about 150 years ago now. It appears that General William Whiting, a confederate peer, loudly and critically criticized Lee behind his back. You might think that Lee would wait for an opportunity to seek revenge upon the man. In fact, an opportunity presented itself one day when President Jefferson Davis summoned Gen. Lee to meet with him. The President asked Lee what he thought of Gen. Whiting. Without hesitation, Lee commended Whiting with high praise for his military abilities. Another officer who was present at the meeting called Lee aside to suggest that he must not be aware of the unkind things Whiting had been saying about him. Lee answered: “I understood that the President desired to know my opinion of Whiting, not Whiting’s opinion of me.” General Robert E. Lee was a man of integrity and a true gentleman—and a personal hero of mine. Lee could have potentially cost Gen. Whiting his career, but chose to take the higher road, instead.

Our Old Testament lesson today (2 Samuel 1:1-27) speaks to how our God wants us to take the higher road as well. The context finds Saul, his sons, and the Israelite army at war once again with the Philistines (about 14-15 years after David had defeated the Philistine champion, Goliath). David, not yet king and trying to maintain some distance from the murderous Saul, has been fighting the Amalakites.

As our passage opens, David has defeated his Amalakite opponents and returned to Ziklag, a town now unknown but reputedly somewhere south of Jerusalem.

It was there that he learned that Saul and Jonathan had been killed at Mt. Gilboa, in southern Galilee (to the north of David). Jonathan, as well as his two brothers, Abinadab, and Malk-Shana, was killed in battle. Saul himself had been seriously wounded but chose to fall on his own sword (to commit suicide) rather than being taken captive by the victorious Philistines.

David is severely grieved at the death of his dear friend Jonathan, but also very distressed at King Saul’s death. He had had 2 opportunities to kill Saul himself but had held off because he knew Saul was “the Lord’s anointed”. 1 Samuel 24:6 The LORD forbid that I should do this thing [kill Saul], to the LORD’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD’s anointed. The Lord had agreed to Saul’s kingship. The people chose him and God had the prophet Samuel anoint him king. David reasoned the Lord would remove kingship from Saul when He, not David, determined. Notice: David waited on the Lord, the theme of our psalm today, Psalm 130.

Saul’s death was a big deal—he was the 1st King of Israel. We might equate his death with another: Back in March of 1991, one of the oldest and largest Redwoods in California died and fell to the ground. Locals called thetree “the Dyerville Giant,” and apparently it still lies where it landed. The tree had been 362 feet tall (the height of a 30-story building). They measured its diameter at 17 feet and its circumference at 52 feet. Experts somehow estimated its weight to exceed one million pounds and believe it was probably 2,000 years old. (My daughter has a degree in forestry and has told me that trees do have a life span. Like us, they grow old and die—no matter how well we water or fertilize them–just as this amazing redwood did.) When the Dyerville Giant hit the ground, people from a mile away said thought they had heard a train wreck. The vibrations were felt 10 miles away, and no doubt some thought they had experienced an earthquake. The death of this tree had a huge physiological impact on many. Additionally, people were touched and saddened at the demise of something so monumental.

But, sadly, in our contemporary view of things, there is no such respect—like for Saul or even for this tree–for those in authority with whom we disagree. We speak badly about them. We dismiss them or hold them in contempt when they fail to meet our expectations, or disappoint our hopes. And, in the extremes of “the cancel culture,” we target them for revenge, even when they are out of power, blasting them and castigating them in the press and on social media; trying to prevent them from getting new jobs, eating lunch peacefully, or just going about their lives; intimidating them with nuisance lawsuits and even threatening their lives.

Notice how David responds to the Amalekite man who brings him Saul’s crown and bracelet. (Obviously this guy does not realize that David has just been battling his own people.) Not understanding David’s godly forbearance for Saul, the guy mistakenly thinks David will reward him for falsely claiming he killed the king. Instead, David has the fellow killed, saying, (v.15)à Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, “I killed the Lord’s anointed.”

Then, David writes a lament which he intends for all the archers in Israel to memorize and recite as they each work on their bows. He expresses his grief:

1.) He curses Mt. Gilboa for being the site of Johnathan’s and Saul’s deaths. I looked this mountain up on the internet and saw where it is to this day only barren rocks and soil. Nothing seems to grow on it, over 3,000 years later.

2.) He praises Saul for the good he did, especially for bringing such prosperity to Israel that women could dress in red cloth (expensive due to dying techniques of that day).

3.) And he mourns for his close friend, Johnathan, who had proven more devoted to him (not in a homosexual way) than had most of his wives—including Johnathan’s sister, Michal, who Saul had given to him in marriage as a reward for killing Goliath.

4.) He seasons the lament with the repeated refrain, How the mighty have fallen! (which reminds me of the tree!)

I must admit, I am not always very respectful of those in power who make what I consider bone-headed decisions for our country, nor am I often kind to sports opponents. I wonder if the Lord is chastening me to be more respectful and grace-filled toward those with whom I disagree. I do believe that we are all called by Christ to offer grace and to respect the rights of those we consider our opponents. That’s part of the Gospel message, isn’t it? We are to love our enemies and pray for them. As Paul says in Romans 12:19-20àDo not take revenge, my Friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge. I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

While our culture may currently resemble professional wrestling, this is not God’s desire for us. This week, let’s try to be like a good golfer and admit our faults and correct our failings on our own. Let’s also remember we do have an eternal, heavenly, perfect umpire/referee who enforces the rules fairly; offers grace and forgiveness to us all; and who doesn’t miss a thing!

In closing, I would ask you to consider the former custom of a prehistoric tribe in New Guinea. When they prepared to confront an enemy tribe in battle, they would preface their attack with what they called “murder songs.” As they sang these songs, they named before their gods the specificpersons they wished to kill. However, once they converted to Christianity, instead of shouting the names any people they hated, they shouted the names of the sins they hated, and called on God to destroy these sins. We could take a lesson from these Paleolithic tribesmen! Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Alleluia! Alleluia!

©️2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

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Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Faith Like A Mustard Seed

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 13, 2021

Scriptures: Mark 4: 26–32

In 2010, 8 of us from Servants of Christ Anglican Church, in Gainesville, Florida, went on a mission trip to Turkey.  There we worked with a missionary who ministered to Iranian refugees.  Through the missionary/interpreter, I was able to interview a 24 year old man who had recently been baptized.  His name was Navid.  I wanted to know how he had come to faith in Christ.  Now bear in mind that the missionary and his wife had studied Turkish for 1 year, then Farsi—the language of Iranians—for 3.  He would present my question to Navid in Farsi, then share Navid’s answerwith me in American.  It was a time-consuming but very elucidating conversation.  

Navid shared that his father had been an Islamic cleric who was desperate for him to become a pious Muslim. His father went so far as to offer to set him up in his own business—a shoe manufacturing concern—if he would just agree to worship Allah. But, like many young people from Iran at that time, he associated the poverty and rigid governmental controls with his father’s religion, and wanted no part of it. We learned that young Iranians were opting to dive into the drug culture, obtaining high quality drugs from over the border in Afghanistan, or were finding their way to Jesus and other faiths. Navid admitted a peer had approached him to consider Jesus, but he was not interested in any form of religion. That very night, as he slept, he had a dream in which Jesus appeared to him. Jesus told him three times, “I want you to reconsider.” I asked, “How did you know it was Jesus?” He answered, “You just know.”

​Somehow Navid obtained a copy of the New Testament and began attending the only authorized Christian Church in Tehran.  He read the Gospel of Matthew to the end and wanted to be baptized.  The church pastor told him he could not baptize him or they would both be killed.  Soon thereafter, the authorities did find him exiting the church and beat him severely.  He waited 3 days until he was feeling good enough to move and fled the country with his wife, Camilla.  She was so precious.  I asked the missionary to ask her what made her come to Christ.  She too had not been very interested in Christianity until she saw how knowing Jesus Christ had changed her husband.

I tell you this story to illustrate that the Kingdom of God—which is God’s rule over not just us on earth but over the universe—moves forward one person at a time. Sometimes it moves quickly, as with the 3,000 on the day of Pentecost. But I find it usually is a slow work, requiring patience, time to develop relationships, and lots of prayer. Let’s see what our Gospel lesson has to say about the gradual but compelling way in which God’s Kingdom advances.

Mark 4:26-32 contains two parables involving seeds:

​The first, peculiar only to the Gospel of Mark, involves scattering seed on the ground.  No matter what the farmer does, waking or sleeping, the seed “does its thing.”  The man may apply some fertilizer or water, but God superintends the growth!  The seed takes root, then sends up a shoot which erupts through the earth.  This little seedling becomes a stalk, which continues to grow, and then it “bears fruit” or ripens.  The farmer or the planter harvests what God has caused to grow.

​Notice the role of the person.  He or she broadcasts the seed, but he/she cannot really control the growth.  In God’s Kingdom, that part is left up to God.  As St. Paul later writes in 1 Corinthians 3:6, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  This is the same point made again.  We do our part, but real growth only comes from the Lord.

​As a pastor, I consider myself a “water-er,” an irrigation system if you will.  Probably someone before me has introduced you to Jesus.  They spread or planted the seed.  I have then come along to explain God’s Word to you.  I can also demonstrate my faith by the way I live my life and by my personal testimony as to how loving God has changed my life for the good.  This is the kind of irrigation or watering of the Word that I do.  But neither the one who sowed Christ into your life, nor me as the “water-er,” can really control your growth as a believer.  I can’t make you love Jesus.  I can’t force you to read the Bible or to pray daily.  I can’t compel you to tell others who don’t know Jesus yet about how essential He is to your life.  In God’s Kingdom, that part is left up to God the Holy Spirit, and to you, cooperating with Him.  Recall that a young man tried to tell Navid about Jesus.  He rejected that invitation.  He accepted Christ when Jesus Himself appeared to him.  Nevertheless, I believe the unnamed peer sowed a seed that Jesus caused to take root in Navid.  In ways perhaps imperceptible to Navid, in ways inscrutable and supernatural, God then began to work in his life.  Today he has been granted Canadian citizenship, lives up North, and I understand he is now a pastor and a church planter there.  Jesus has really grown his faith, hasn’t He?!

​Consider who sowed into your life:  As we approach Father’s Day, was it your Dad or another Father-figure (a Spiritual Father) who introduced you to Jesus?  Perhaps it was a Spiritual Mother.  My grandmothers told me about Jesus.  My paternal grandmother was a Presbyterian who saw to it that I was baptized at 3YO.  She took me to Sunday School and read me the Bible.  My maternal grandmother was a Pentecostal Holiness who taught me many of the old hymns we sing today.  She also helped me learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Maybe it was the example of a peace-filled or joy-filled Christian friend who convinced you.  You may want to thank whoever it was.

The second parable is the famous one of the mustard seed. My paternal grandmother gave me a necklace containing a tiny, yellow mustard seed, when I was a child. I understood it meant that my faith might start small, but like the tiny seed, it could grow into a large tree if I nurtured my relationship with Jesus. Later I wondered if she meant to remind me that God likes to use little things, even little people, to do great works. Both of these interpretations of the mustard seed are correct, but they also seem just a little too tame!

Consider that Jesus taught in parables in order to challenge people’s thinking. He seemed to delight in overturning their usual assumptions, to frustrate and then transform them–and us:

​1.) It was a hated Samaritan who nursed the Jewish man back to ​​​health.  No Jewish listener in the crowd would have expected the ​​rescuer to be an enemy.

​2.) The shepherd leaves the 99 to go rescue the one lost sheep.  Who ​​​leaves 99 to go after one?  Surely He left other caretakers in ​​​charge or had the 99 penned up in a corral, but Scripture is ​​​silent on this.

​3.) The Father forgives the rascally prodigal son and reinstates him, ​​​while the righteous, well-behaved elder son sulks.  Both sons are ​​disappointments, but the Father loves and forgives each one.

​4.) The last laborer gets the same pay as those who toiled longest.  To ​​our American sensibilities, this seems most unfair!

Pick your favorite parable. Jesus turns human logic on its head. So we want to look for what might be radical about a mustard seed, or for the ways in which Jesus might just be challenging our common conceptions.

What if we have generally interpreted this parable from the perspective of mustard seeds that are cultivated, or “tame mustard” seeds? These are planted in neat rows in order to harvest mustard for medicinal purposes, or to be made into spices and condiments.  This interpretation doesn’t really seem authentic as it involves too much human control.  What if we thought, instead, of “wild mustard” seeds?  These varieties are the Biblical equivalent of Kudzo!  They are a weed that you would hate to take root in your yard or garden.  If you have ever struggled with getting rid of bamboo, or ivy, potato vines, or dandelions, you know what I mean.  Wild mustard just takes over!  (My farmer son-in-law tells me there is wild mustard growing here in Suwannee County!)

​Normally, cultivated or tame mustard grows in shrubs that reach about 3-4 feet high.  Wild mustard can, however, become tree-sized, if allowed to run amok.  Could our Lord be telling us, tongue in cheek, I’m not saying God’s Kingdom grows like a tame and cultivated variety of plant, carefully shaped by humankind into something resembling an English garden (or clipped and snipped to look like Mickey Mouse or Goofy at Disneyworld).  Oh no!  I’m talking about God’s Kingdom reaching out and overtaking people.  Maybe not with allot of noise or commotion.  Maybe not even in a way you and I can see and evaluate as it’shappening.  The Kingdom of God—or God’s reign in the human heart—is notsomething you or I can limit or manage.  Like the seed described in the first parable, it moves at the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Our God looks within and works from within. As with the seed, from the first parable, our growth in Christ starts inside and works up and out. My prayer for you this week is that our love of Jesus may spread, like the Kudzo-like mustard seed, out of Wellborn United Methodist Church into Wellborn, Live Oak, over east to Jacksonville or west to Tallahassee. May our love of Christ transform us and take over our communities. AMEN! May it be so!

©️2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Semantic Spin Revisited

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 6, 2021

Scriptures 1 Sam 8:1-20; Ps 138; 2 Cor 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35

Three years ago, when these Scripture passages appeared in the Lectionary, I preached about “Semantic Spin,” and the distinction the media and politicians were making at that time between a “spy” and an “informant.” I referred to that as a real life example of defining something one way to deflect criticism, when in truth it is actually the opposite.  Despite the 9th Commandment, which prohibits lying–or bearing false witness against another—isn’t it all too frequent that we find our politicians, media, business leaders, educators, and neighbors, spinning lies to in an attempt to manipulate our cooperation/compliance/agreement?  Some notable examples recently include: 

​​1. Critical Race Theory—now embedded in our school curricula, government, military, and corporations—and touted as truth, it defines human history as a struggle between oppressors, usually white, against everyone else.  This is Marxism with a new spin.  Rather than breeding a spirit of unity in our country, it actually promotes racial division and hatred.

​​2. We were told the Group “Black Lives Matter” exists to encourage and strengthen black families; but it is actually a front for funding and fomenting civil unrest and hatred toward America.

​​3. We were told Covid-19 did not originate in a Chinese Virology Lab, so as not to offend the Chinese Communist government. But now a significant amount of evidence supports the conclusion that it was manufactured by the Chinese and escaped containment.

​​4. The power elites advocate that, contrary to science and to God’s order, there is no such thing as two genders.  Kindergarteners in some school districts are being taught this as truth.   They are also recommending that kids as young as 8YO should be allowed to opt for sex ​change surgeries and authorized to use powerful sex change hormones.

​​5. President Biden’s proposed Budget for 2022 resumes federal funding for abortions because they are considered by some as a women’s health issue.  What about the health of the unborn baby?

6. 1 year ago, segregation was immoral, but now we are going to segregate those who have declined taking the Covid vaccine from these who have taken it. If we begin this sort of discrimination, what might be next? Will we segregate those with Hepatitis-C, with TB, or with HIV-Aids?

Radical influences in our culture would like us to set human will above human nature or even common sense, let alone good theology.

My favorite news commentator often ends his show by stating that his program is “the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and group think.”  These four are all good things to oppose and are currently rampant in our culture.

​Our Scriptures today provide two further examples of Semantic Spin, and how God responds to it:

1 Sam 8:1-20àThe Israelites are unhappy. The Prophet Samuel has reached retirement age, so the question has arisen as to who should replace him. Like Eli’s sons before him, Samuels’ two sons did not walk in the ways of the Lord. They were either not believers at all, or they knew better–but lacked integrity–and sold their influence to the highest bidder. The people did not want these two young men to lead them. Up until this point, there had been no king in Israel. God had appointed a prophet (or a judge) who was to hear from God what He wanted, then convey God’s will to the people. So rather than ask the prophet to inquire of God who God wanted to lead them, they ask for a king. Notice, Samuel could have inquired of the Lord but he didn’t. And now the people have an excuse they spin to justify getting a king: A reliable prophet has not been assigned us.

So, we’d like to be like all the other countries of the known world, and have a king.  What they really mean—but don’t say—is that we want to do things our way rather than be led by the Lord.

​In verse 9, God tells Samuel not to take it personally—God knows they are actually rejecting Him, not Samuel—but to warn them what having a king might mean for them.  God has a special house, the Tabernacle, but they will have to build another special house for the king, a palace.  This will cost them money, which means they will be taxed.  A king will want to have his own army, which will result in higher taxes.  And their sons will be conscripted into the army, while their daughters will serve as palace maids, artisans, and possibly wives and concubines.  Samuel warns them in verses13+àHe [a king] will take the best of your fields and vineyards and give them to his attendants….He will take the best of your menservants, maidservants, cattle and donkeys….He will take a 10thof your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.

​Nevertheless, despite all these arguments against it, the people still demand a human king.  What were they thinking? God is not fooled!  They can spin it however they want, but they are rejecting God’s leadership.

We gotta have a king…is a semantic spin on disobedience.  It’s a “no confidence vote” for God—we don’t trust The One who is the same today, yesterday, and forever—so we want to place our trust in a human, fallible, possibly self-focused leader.  REALLY?  YIKES!  They will get a king but at considerable cost.  Accepting semantic spin is ultimately expensive.

​In our Gospel lesson, Mark 3:20-35, Jesus is teaching in Capernaum, 30 miles from Nazareth.  He’s been so swamped by ministry at this point that He has ducked into a home to get a meal (probably Peter and Andrew’s house). But the teachers of the Law have followed Him, to accuse Him:  This time they claim He is doing His miraculous work by the power of Satan.  Good gracious!  Think of this:  They are saying the 2ndPerson of the Trinity, who stands before them, is doing work inspired by the Father (Person 1), through the power of the Holy Spirit (Person 3)—and they are claiming He is instead drawing on the power of Satan.  Even Satanists will tell you their power comes from the Devil.   What an insulting charge! What an outrageous spin!

​But Jesus responds to them calmly and logically.  Essentially, He says, I am casting Satan out of people; why would Satan want Me to work contrary to his goals?  He asserts in verses 23-26àHow can Satan drive out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.  Then He warns them—I am doing what I do by the power of the Holy Spirit.  If you call what I do a work of Satan, you have blasphemed/falsely accused both the Holy Spirit and Me, two persons of the Trinity.  This is not smart. This is in fact an unforgivable sin because it credits the Work of God to Satan; and it indicates a heart already taken over by Satan.  Again, semantic spin is very expensive!

​Now He’s really said it, hasn’t He?  The crowd is murmuring, no doubt speculating how long Jesus has before the power elites arrest Him.  Some gossip, or perhaps even some well-meaning person, runs the 30 miles to Nazareth to get Mary, James and Jude to rescue Jesus before He is arrested.  No doubt they cry, He’s talking crazy!  He’s making them mad!  They’ll arrest Him for sure!  You better go see about Him!  Afterall, John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, has already been arrested and jailed.  His family knows what tends to happen to religious zealots.  They’ve suggested Jesus is crazy, but He is just honestly challenging the illogical arguments of the teachers of the Law.  He’s being defined as out of His mind—semantic spin–

but He’s actually exercising His power as God to define what is true.

Nevertheless, Mary and her grown sons rush to rescue Him. When Jesus is told that His family has arrived, He responds in an unexpected way. We/they would have expected Him to go greet them. Instead, Heredefines the concept of family: Verse 33àWho are my mother and my brothers? Verse 34àWhoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother. He is saying the spirit-ties of those who believe in Him actually form a closer relationship to Him than blood ties do. Haven’t you found that this is so? I share much more in common with the Body of Christ than I do with my blood kin who do not accept Jesus as Lord. I can and do love them; but there is not the same meeting of the mind and heartwith them that I enjoy with my fellow-believers. We have heard, “Blood is thicker than water.” But here Jesus is saying that the waters of Baptism are supernaturally “thicker than the blood of family.”

So, let’s return to the business of “semantic spin revisited.”

There’s a lot of this going around in our culture today. We need to know God’s Word to discern the truth. We need to call upon the Holy Spirit to pare away fiction or lies from the truth. We can ask the Holy Spirit for spiritual gifts of wisdom and discernment. He can and will help us identify—and resist–lying, pomposity, smugness, and group-think.

​​

Let’s pray: Gracious Lord, please lead, guide and direct us. Help us not to be taken in by those whose motives are to tear down another and advance their own cause. Help us to discern truth and to recognize semantic spin. The enemy tried so many times to accost you with lies, Lord Jesus. We appear to be similarly bombarded with lies today. Reveal to us the truth in every political and governmental situation. Bring integrity and truth-telling back into the halls and agencies of our national and state governments. Rule and overrule the hearts of anyone who is corrupt or who is advancing an evil plot. Bring all lies and corruption out into the light of Christ, we pray in His all-powerful name. AMEN

©️2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

God is on His Throne

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 30, 2021

Scriptures: Isaiah 6:1-8; Ps 29; Rom 8:12-17; John 3:1-17

Today is Trinity Sunday. Nowhere in Scripture is the word Trinity used, nor is the concept explained. It is simply assumed as “a given.” However, there are a number of direct and indirect references to the Trinity in today’s lessons:1.) Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (“Us” means “more than one.” The ancient Hebrews never used the royal prerogative of later European kings and queens, whereby they referred to themselves in the plural.) So this means there is more than one person in the Godhead.

2.) Romans 8:12-17 (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.) In verses 13-14, we are to be led by the Holy Spirit; and in verses 16-17, we are sons [and daughters] of God the Father, thus…heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

3.) John 3:1-17contains Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus. In verse 5, Jesus tells Nicodemus that…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. In verse 16, He instructs the Pharisee that…God [the Father] so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Thus, Jesus mentions His Father, Himself, and the Holy Spirit.So we have these references to the Trinity, but what is it and how does it work?

Our passages today do not explain how God is 3 in 1. Since Easter, we have been studying the roles of the 3 persons of the Trinity, and especially, since Pentecost, the function of the Holy Spirit. To get any clearer, we would have to borrow a line from my Aunt Vona: She was a dear heart who would talk on the phone with her friends for hours. When it came time to end the call, she would invariably end the conversation by saying, “I would tell you more, but I already told you more than I heard myself.” It’s certainly OK to do so in human discourse, but we have to take care with God and not say more than we know. How the Trinity operates is what the Roman Catholics would call a “Holy Mystery.”Mystery.”

Since I cannot really explain the Trinity, what I want to focus on today is Isaiah’s encounter with it, especially with God the Father (or perhaps the pre-incarnate Jesus).

Isaiah 6:1-8 contains Isaiah’s call to be a prophet.

Jewish tradition tells us Isaiah’s father, Amoz, was a brother to King Amaziah (a.k.a., King Ussiah). This would make Isaiah Uzziah’snephew. Isaiah appears to have loved and respected his uncle. Uzziah had assumed the throne in Jerusalem at age 16 and reigned for 52 econd, when we are years! Under him, Judea became very prosperous. He is particularly remembered for having defeated and subjugated several long-term enemies of Israel: the Philistines, the Ammonites, and the Arabians! In fact, he was considered the last of the great kings of the Southern Kingdom–until he became proud and took it upon himself to offer a sacrifice in the Temple (a task God had ordained only priests to perform). He had usurped a prerogative of the religious officials, so God disciplined him with leprosy. This made him ritually unclean; therefore, he could no longer enter the Temple. Ultimately he died of leprosy.[1]

No doubt Isaiah was grieved both by Uzziah’s grave sin and by his punishment and death. No doubt he thought, “He was a great king! What will become of us now?” Perhaps he feared for the nation and for himself. Nevertheless, because Isaiah was first of all a priest, he goes to the Temple to pray and he actually sees the Lord, the True King of Israel.

The Temple is filled with smoke and the building trembles—signs of God’s presence. Back in Exodus 19:18-19 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently…. The smoke was a sign Isaiah and others could see.

The trembling, like an earthquake, could be felt and heard. This was a theophany (a God-sighting), with fanfare. Biblical scholars don’t believe Isaiah really saw God the Father because no one can see God the Father and live—but what he did see was awe inspiring. He probably saw the Pre-incarnate Christ, seated on the throne, surrounded with bright light much like what St. John saw in the throne room of heaven and described in Revelation 4.

Isaiah saw the train of God’s robe fill the Temple, indicating the vastness, the immensity of God. And he saw and heard the seraphim, greatliving creatures (a type of angel) with 6 wings. He heard their loud voices proclaiming God’s holiness. The word seraphim comes from the root word meaning to burn. Their job appears to be to search out–and call out–sin. They are accompanied in the throne-room by cherubim—another form of angelic being—whose job it is to protect the holiness of God.

Since he is in the presence of the sin-seeking seraphim, Isaiah is immediately made aware of his sinfulness: Verse 5 Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord almighty!

He is both grieved and afraid. He fears he is in mortal danger. He knew that (Exodus 3:6) Moses hid his face from God, and that God’s presence filled Job with self-contempt and repentance (Job 42:6). Later saints like Peter and Paul are similarly struck with their unworthiness in the presence of God: In Luke 5:8, Peter asks Jesus to …depart from me for I am a sinful man. In Romans 7:24, Paul says, What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? We can assume from these examples that all those who stand in God’s presence are immediately made aware of their sinfulness.

But, thanks be to God for His great grace! The Lord provides a way for Isaiah to become cleansed from his sin. A seraph brings a burning coal from the altar and touches it to his lips. His sins appear to be what comes out of his mouth as he is made aware—as though he sees his soul as in a spiritual mirror—For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…. He’s not burned, but is cleaned up! (Verse7)…See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. The coal cleanses him spiritually. Remember how I have often told you, the Old Testament predicts, or points to the New Testament? Thus the coal is seen by Biblical scholars as a symbol of both the purifying power of the Holy Spirit and the redeeming work of Jesus Christ as He took our sins upon Himself on the Cross.

Then Isaiah hears God ask, (v.8) Whom shall I send? Who shall go for us? God presents Isaiah with a call beyond being a priest. He is to be a prophet; He is to serve the Trinity, the “Us.” Isaiah obediently agrees…Here I am. Send me!

In Psalm 29, King David praises God’s voice, likening it to what we perceive in a fierce thunder storm (maybe a hurricane):

1.) Verse 3 The voice of God thunders;

2.) Verse 4 The voice of God is powerful and majestic;

3.) Verse 5 The voice of the Lord breaks mighty trees (Apparently the Cedars of Lebanon then were like the Sequoias of today);

4.) Verse 7 The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightening;

5). Verse 8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;

6.) Verse 9 The voice of the Lord twists the great oaks.

What King David is saying poetically is that God is great! God is powerful!

Who can contend against Him? No one who is smart! Who can overcome Him? No one at all!

So what do these 2 passages mean for us today?

First, our God is still present to us in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, when we pray, we pray to the Father, through the intercession of His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in Romans that even when we lack the words to say, the Holy Spirit interprets our very groans to God in heaven.

Second, when we are upset by either national or personal events, we—like Isaiah—should pray! Isaiah provides us with the perfect example of a response to grief or fear: Seek the Lord! We can and should put our confidence in God. Governments, human beings, family feuds, all come and go. But our God is on His throne eternally.

Finally, our God is strong and able. He can manage anything we are struggling with: My spouse is unfaithful; my spouse has died; my child has tuned against me, our family, and/or God; my job is killing me! My job has been eliminated! My body is failing me; my mind (or my memory) has gone off somewhere and I can’t find it. We can put our trust in God with regard to all of these concerns. Give to Him each one. Trust in Him to be present with you and to act in your very best interests.

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

[1] He reigned for 52 years (792-740);

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©️2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Come, Holy Spirit!

Pastor Sherry’s message for Pentecost Sunday—May 23, 2021

Scriptures: Acts 2:1-21; Ps 104:24-35; 1 Jn 3:1-7; Jn 1526; 16:5-15

In 1995, Mark Batterson and a small team planted the National Community Church in a movie theatre on the Metro line (subway) in Washington, DC. It has since grown, through prayer and sovereign moves of the Holy Spirit, to 7 locations in and around DC, and ministers to around 3,000 members. This week, I reread 2 books Batterson has written: In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase.

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is based on 2 Samuel 23:20-21 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab’s best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

Benaiah, a mighty Hebrew warrior, chases a lion into a pit on a snowy day and kills it. Why would anyone do such a thing? Adult lions weigh about 500 pounds. Let’s guess that Benaiah weighed about 180. Clearly he was out-weighed by about 320 pounds. Add to that the fact that a lion’s paws, claws, and teeth were better suited to combat in a slippery environment than a man with no rifle or semi-automatic (but perhaps Benaiah had a spear or club). Whatever his weaponry, Benaiah slays the lion. Now I believe the Holy Spirit must have both led Benaiah to the pit, and empowered him with the courage and the skill to overcome the lion. This feat becomes the most prominent feature of his impressive resume. He is subsequently hired by King David to lead his body guard. Later, he rises to become the commander of the king’s armies.

Essentially, Batterson encourages us, in this book, to become “Lion Chasers,” pursuing the divine appointments, the God-given opportunities our Lord provides of us. He also points out how often “lion Chasers” are rewarded by the Lord.

In his book, Wild Goose Chase, Batterson distinguishes between a wild goose chase and chasing a wild goose. We tend to think of a wild goose chase as a fruitless endeavor, a waste of our time.

But the Celtic Christian name for the Holy Spirit is An Geadh-Glas, or the Wild Goose. Please understand that the Celts meant no disrespect. (The Lakota Sioux thought of the Holy Spirit as a buffalo, upon whom their plains existence depended entirely.) Like a wild goose (or a buffalo), the Holy Spirit is unpredictable, and out of our control—and sometimes even scary. But if we chase after Him, if we follow His nudges and urges, the Lord leads us into some amazing adventures.

Given this background, let’s look at our 1st reading, Acts 2:1-21: the empowerment of the HS at Pentecost. The context of this passage is that the 120 disciples, men and women, are praying in the Temple. Jesus had told them (Acts 1:4)àDo not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So they are being obedientàthey waited, they prayed. On Pentecost, 10 days after Jesus’ ascension, the Holy Spirit shows up! This is a theophany! A God-sighting! And He arrives with significant supernatural fanfare, or signs and wonders.

(1) 1st sign (which was heard)àSuddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind. This was no gentle breeze! Like tornados, it probably sounded like dozens of freight trains. God had done this beforeàEzekiel 37:9àGod sends the wind to raise the dry bones of Israel to life. When I was baptized by the Holy Spirit, I was at the beach with a group of friends who were praying for me. A moaning wind came up in my face. It was so strong that I could hardly breathe. Afterward, my friends denied having heard or felt it!

(2) 2nd sign (which was seen)àThey saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. Imagine if you had been there! Fire over your head, fire over the heads of your friends, no one burning up! Wow! But God had done this before, tooàExodus 3:2-5àMoses and the burning bush. The bush was on fire, but it did not burn up. God used that bush to light a fire in Moses. In Isaiah 6àIsaiah’s callàIsaiah realizes he is a sinful man called to serve as the Lord’s prophet. An angel brings a burning coal and applies it to hislips and tongue. He is purified without being burned. He did, however, get fired up to serve the Lord!

​(3) 3rd sign (which was again heard)àAll of them were filled with the HS and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  They were all supernaturally empowered to do something they had never done before, speak ​in a foreign language.  Parthians, Medes, and folks from other nationalities visiting Jerusalem heard them praising God in their native tongues—and according to scholars, with the correct accents!  These foreign visitors realized something extraordinary was happening as they recognized the 120 as simple folk from Judea.  Now God had done this before as wellàIsaiah 50:4àThe Sovereign Lord gave me [Jesus and the prophet Isaiah] an instructed ​tongue; i.e., inspired speech.   I have heard of a number of incidents, especially from missionaries serving abroad, when they suddenly either spoke or understood a language they had never been taught.  Peter quotes the prophet Joel,(Acts 2:28)à[The Lord, speaking thru the prophet Joel, promises],…I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

The Holy Spirit did show up, big time, on the Day of Pentecost! But why would God go to all this trouble? (wind, fire, inspired speech?)

(1) Pentecost marks the birth of the Christian Church (Big C, all Christians despite denominational differences) and inaugurates “the Church Age” (which begins with Pentecost and will continue until the Rapture).

(2) The Holy Spirit empowers us to tell others about Jesus. The disciples were waiting, praying, in the Temple, when the Wild Goose manifested in these very surprising ways. Jesus had given them the Great Commission, Matt 28:18àGo and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Now, filled with the HS, the disciples began telling anyone who would listen about Jesus. Like Benaiah jumping into the pit, they rushed out, with great urgency, to share with others what God had done for them. Like Benaiah jumping into the pit, we need supernatural help to share our faith with others. We need God-given opportunites, divine appointments so we know with whom we are to share the Good News. We need instructed tongues, so we know what to say when we do share.

(3) Empowerment to do the kinds of things Jesus did for the building up of God’s Kingdom. Through our prayers and faith, God can use us to heal others. My friend and seminary buddy, Hazel, had a healing ministry in Charleston, SC. Through her prayers and those whom she trained, one person grew back a kidney; another had their gall bladder healed. A third was healed of Bi-polar Disorder; a 4th had a brain tumor shrink to nothing.

Similarly, Agnes Sanford, the wife of a clergyman, also had the gift of healing. Her parents were missionaries to China in the 1930’s and 40’s. Agnes laid hands on a crippled Chinese man when she was 3YO and he was healed. Her parents did not understand her gift (their theology taught that all the gifts of healing ended with the Apostles), and told her not to do it again. Later, as an adult during WW2, she suffered from depression until a pastor friend released her to work in her gifting. She laid hands on injured GI’s, prayed for them, and they were healed of either their physical or emotional problems.

Graham Cooke, a present-day British Christian healer has a gift of “prophetic healing.” In other words, in the healing conferences he leads, God tells him what is wrong with a person as they are coming forward to him for prayer. He relates the story of a man who came forward suffering from a long-standing porn addiction. As the man approached him, the Holy Spirit told Graham that God intended to heal him of his addiction. Indeed,Graham prayed and the guy was set free.

Through our faith and our obedience, we can be equipped by God to do things we would never have thought possible. The 120 were waiting in anticipation, but I bet when they awoke on Pentecost, they never thought they would be evangelizing in foreign languages later that morning. I doubt Benaiah anticipated slaying a lion with only a spear or a club that day. I grew up wanting to be a mother and a teacher, then later—when my high school students kept coming to me with their problems–a psychologist. God has given me gifts of teaching and wisdom to impart to those I counseled. Yet, here I am now serving Him and you as your pastor. The Holy Spirit also gifts us for specific ministries at different times of our lives.

Moving at the nudge/inspiration of the HS is like chasing a Wild Goose (the Celtic An Geadh-Glas). It is an adventure! We wore red in honor of Pentecost today. Red reminds us of the tongues of fire. Red reminds us of one of the ways God chooses to show up. This week, be sure to be aware of how God might show up in your life. Savor your divine appointments. Write them down so you remember them. Share them with others, as God directs you.

Let’s remember this week—and always—that our God empowers us through His Holy Spirit to both tell others about Jesus and to operate in the gifts He has given us. Even if it seems as scary as jumping in a pit with a lion on a snowy day, let’s look for God-given opportunities and divine appointments. And let’s ask Him for the courage of a Benaiah—and of a Mark Batterson–the courage to do what the Lord has given us to do.

©️2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

 

Thanks to the Geiger family for Pentecost altar flowers.

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Depend Upon the Lord

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 16, 2021

Scriptures: Acts 1:15-26; Ps 1, 1 Jn 5:9-13; Jn 17:6-19

​Bishop Alf Stanway was the first Dean President of the seminary I attended in Ambridge, PA (just west of Pittsburgh).  He had passed away by the time I got there, but stories about him abounded.  I learned much that deepened my faith from his approach to life.  One of my favorites came from his tenure as the Principal of a Christian Boarding School in Kenya.  Besides teaching the usual academic subjects, this school also trained the students in skills they could use to make a living.  Alf had just assumed his position as principal when he ​learned they needed someone skilled to teach tailoring.  The only tailors anyone could think of in the area were Muslims.  Alf wanted only Christian instructors at his school, so he worked tirelessly to locate a Christian tailor.   None of his efforts, however, yielded an appropriate applicant.

He was soon called away to attend a conference but found he could not concentrate on the speakers due to his anxieties about locating a Christian tailor to teach his students. He knew he had to let go of his worry and so he prayed that God would take it away. What an interesting prayer. How often do we consider asking God to remove a particular worry from us? Aren’t we usually praying, instead, for the solution to what is plaguing us?

God so completely removed his worry that it was only as he re-entered his office at the school that he remembered he still had no one to teach tailoring. Classes were set to begin in 3 days! YIKES! He greeted his clerk, Joseph, and asked what he thought could be done about a Christian tailor. Joseph responded with a big smile—some Kenyans have very dark skin and very white teeth, so when they smile it is dazzling! Joseph smiled and replied, “There is now a tailor in the sewing workshop. Go see for yourself if you think he is qualified.” While Alf had been away, a Christian tailor had heard of the vacancy and had come to check it out. Joseph had asked for a demonstration of his skills. Alf took a look at the man’s tailoring and hired him on the spot.

Not only had God removed Bishop Alf’s worry, but He had sent him a Christian tailor. God answered the spoken prayer, and also met the attendant, unspoken need.

​Our Scriptures today all remind us that we can, like Bishop Stanway, safely depend upon the Lord:  

In our Acts 1:15-26 passage, Peter and the 119 other disciples are praying. Jesus has ascended into heaven after having told them to wait upon the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So, they obediently meet daily to pray together and to encourage one another. On this particular occasion, the topic of a replacement among the 12 for Judas Iscariot comes up. Peter addresses them all and explains both how Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent suicide had been predicted in Scripture, as well as the consequent need for a replacement Apostle. This would be like having a JV or 2nd stringer elevated to Varsity status. They determined that the primary requirement was having been an eye-witness to Jesus and His work. The newly elevated candidate had to have been with Jesus from the beginning of His earthly ministry (His baptism), through His crucifixion and resurrection, and including His ascension–which we honor today. In other words, they were united in searching out a legitimate witness—just as Bishop Stanwaywanted only a Jesus-believing tailor.

The group no doubt talked it over and then arrived at two candidates, Joseph Barsabbas (also called Justus) and Matthias. Both men met the criteria. However, rather than taking a Roberts Rule of Order vote, they enlisted the guidance of the Holy Spirit through casting lots. The idea was that the Holy Spirit would superintend the process and lead them to the “right” person. I experienced how this works some years ago—prior to attending seminary–when I served on a “call committee” whose job it was to select a new pastor for our church. There were 12 of us and we decided all issues by unanimous vote—assuming the Holy Spirit would lead us all into agreement. Over a year, we narrowed our focus from 99 contenders to two. When we tried to take a vote on the final two, we were repeatedly stymied at 11-1. I was the lone dissenter. I believed firmly that I had been told by the Lord to “stand firm” for this particular nominee. Our committee took several votes, all of which resulted in the same impasse. Someone suggested we drop the unanimous rule for this decision, but I reminded them we would need a unanimous vote to do so and I would not agree to such a change until after this decision had been made. (Hadn’t we learned somewhere, “Don’t change the horse in the middle of the stream?”)

Finally, after much frustration and even anger expressed towards me, someone suggested we cast lots. Knowing this was both Biblical and that the Holy Spirit would guide this process, I was willing to go along with it. We agreed to fill a basket with 12 gold wrapped and 12 purple wrapped hard candies, the gold indicating the one candidate, the purple representingthe other. A clerk passed the basket around above our heads and we each had to reach up to draw out our selection. I was there and I saw all 12 of us draw the same color! The probabilities of this happening—without the guidance of the Holy Spirit—are so miniscule as to be impossible. The one we selected was the one I had held out for. But now all of us knew that candidate must have had the approval of the Holy Spirit.

So the lesson is clear, both from Scripture and from my experience 25some odd years ago, that we can depend upon the Lord to help us make a right choice.

Psalm 1àContrasts for us the behavior and destinies of godly and ungodly folks. The godly or righteous person does not…

(1) Listen to those who leave God out of their lives. Six years ago, I was teaching Psychology in a community college nearby. I noticed that my three sections each semester were loaded with the maximum of 35 students. I asked the department secretary why I had so many students when other adjunct professors had fewer. She told me it was because the kids had learned I am a Christian. Students knew of non-Christian professors who would ridicule them publically for their faith. They assumed I was safe, so they piled in. They wisely did not want to listen to—or be graded by—those who exclude God from their lives.

(2) Exclusively hang out with the godless. We need to interact with those who do not know Jesus so them we can tell them about Him. But if we hang only with them, we are likely to be brought down by our associations. Remember when we were either raising teens or when we were a teen. We knew that associating with “bad actors” would probably lead us into trouble. My college students who tried to quit smoking for their “Self-Change Project” I assigned each semester, soon learned they had to stop hanging out with the smokers in order to truly kick the habit. Associating with smokers just continually tempted them to smoke again.

(3) Join in with the jeering of atheists. Similar to point (2), it is all too easy to find yourself a victim of group think; that is of conforming with the dominant views of the group and becoming contemptuous of God if you hang out with a crowd who expresses contempt toward Him.

What the godly person does is meditate on Scripture. This word, meditate literally means chew the cud, like a cow. The godly person reads the Bible carefully and over and over again. Each reading is made with a view toward understanding both what it meant to the folks living in Jesus’ time as well as what it means for us now. As you read a passage, askyourself, “What is God saying to me through this passage?”

The godly person also derives his/her blessings from being planted in Christ, or being born again. This keeps us connected to the vineàJesus.

This keeps us drinking in living wateràJesus. The psalm goes on to state that the ungodly person does not do these things. The ungodly person does not stay connected to Jesus. The ungodly, or the wicked, therefore, will be judged and will perish.

So, the question Psalm 1 provokes is, “Are we going to live like godly persons or ungodly persons?” The choice is ours.

In 1 John 5:9-13, the Apostle John makes it abundantly clear that the key to eternal life is Jesus. We have life if we trust in the testimonies of 3 kinds of witnesses:

(1) People All of those who lived with and followed Jesus. 500 eyewitnesses encountered Him after His resurrection, and countless thousands during His years of earthly ministry. They knew He was/is the heaven-sent Son of God.

(2) God the Holy Spirit He was present at Jesus’ baptism (in the form of a dove hovering over His head), and at work in all of His miracles.

(3) God the Father He audibly affirmed Jesus at both His baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration. He also restored Him to life in the Resurrection and empowered His ascension into Heaven.

According to John, we have life if we believe in Jesus Christ (verses11-12) And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

This lesson is straightforward and clear. We can depend upon Jesus to honor our faith in Him. If we love and believe in Jesus, we are Heaven-bound.

Finally, in our Gospel lesson, John17:6-19, we are eavesdroppers on Jesus’ great intercessory prayer for us believers. He has completed the Last Supper and is probably on His way to the Mount of Olives when He prays to the Father for us (obviously out loud so that John could overhear).

He reports to His Father that He has been obedient to complete His mission: the Rescue Plan. He has said to His followers what the Father told Him to say. He has taught them what the Father told Him to teach. While He came to save the world, He is here praying only for those who believe in Him.

Verse 9 I pray for them [believers]. I am not praying for the world.

Amazingly, we are among His final thoughts before He goes to the Cross.

He also asks the Father to protect us…not to take us out of the world because we have ministry to do; but, rather, to be kept safe from the Evil One and from wicked people while we remain here. He asks the Father to sanctify us, consecrate us. Set us apart as those who believe in the Truth, the Truth He taught us. Jesus makes it clear that He continues to intercede for us and that we have a mission to the world. He defends us to the Father against the accusations of the Devil. He prays for our success with godly living, and in sharing with others what Jesus has done for us.

I hope that you, like me, find this tremendously comforting! Who better to plead our cause than Jesus? As Paul says in Romans 8:31à…If God is for us, who can be against us? And again, in verse 35àWhoshall separate us from the love of Christ? These are both rhetorical questions. They don’t require an answer because the answer is obvious:

no one!

We can depend upon our God because He meets our needs, both spoken and unspoken. He can and does lead us to make wise decisions. He teaches us, through His Word, how to remain connected to the Source of eternal life. He gives us eternal life when we choose to believe in Jesus. Jesus intercedes for us daily before the throne of His Father.

​We can, like Bishop Stanway—and many Christ-followers just like him—depend upon the Lord. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ! Alleluia, alleluia!

©️2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

You Know You’re a Christian if …

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 9, 2021

Scriptures: Acts 10:44-48; 1 Jn 5:1-6; Jn 15:9-17

 

​This week, I came across a list on the internet that describes 25 ways a person can tell you come from (or are a “naturalized citizen” of) Florida (I’m an import, but my kids are natives).  Here are a few:

You know you are a Floridian when…

​​1. You only wear socks when you go bowling;

​​2. You search for parking places that have less to do with the ​​​​distance to a store, but everything to do with locating ​​​​shade;

​​3. You have burned your hand on hot seat-belt latches or hot ​​​​steering wheels;

​​4. Anything below 70 degrees is considered chilly;

​​5. Your winter coat is denim—or a sweater;

​​6. You’ve driven through Yeehaw Junction;

​​7. You know that no other grocery store is as fine as Publix;

​​8. You are on a first name basis with the hurricane list…not ​​​​Hurricane Andrew or Hurricane Matthew, but Andrew, ​​​​Matthew, & Katrina, etc.;

​​9. You know that anything below a Category 3 is just not worth ​​​​bothering about;

10. You know the 4 seasons are tourist season, love bug season, hurricane season, and summer.

​​11. And “Down South” means Key West. 

 

​But can you tell as easily that you are a Christian?  If you didn’t wear a cross, would others think you follow Jesus?  Given that we may be the only Bible non-believers ever read, what would they understand about Jesus by observing us?  In your heart of hearts, do you identify yourself as a Christian?  If so, how so?  What attitudes and behaviors visibly demonstrate your faith?

​Our Scriptures today have a lot to say about what best sets us apart as Christ-followers.

 

​In Acts 10:44-48, Peter has been directed, by the Holy Spirit, to journey to Caesarea to the home of a Roman Centurion, Cornelius.  Now, Peter had been staying with Simon the Tanner in Joppa (present-day Tel Aviv).  While there, 3 men arrive at the door asking for Peter to travel to Caesarea with them, to meet with the Centurion. These 3 guys are Gentiles.  And Caesarea is 30 miles to the north, and headquarters of the occupying Roman Army.  Pilate made his home there.  But the Holy Spirit tells Peter to answer the call—it’s a “divine appointment” as I described last Sunday.

True, Cornelius is an army commander of at least 100 soldiers. He leads soldiers who are natural enemies of Israel. But we are told he himself is …verse 22 a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. In other words, Cornelius treats the Jewish people fairly. He gives generously to their charities. Interestingly, he is also knownas a man of prayer. In addition, Peter is told that an angel directed Cornelius to send for him. When Peter obediently arrives, he finds Cornelius awaiting him in his home, with family and friends gathered around.

 

In today’s passage, Peter is interrupted mid-sermon. He has explained the Gospel and taught them how Jesus Christ is the long-awaited Messiah. Then Dr. Luke, the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles relates, (v.44) while Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. Peter is stunned that the Holy Spirit would fall on Gentiles (Some scholars call this the “Gentile Pentecost”). He goes on to exclaim, (v.47)àCan anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So, Peter authorizes their baptism and stays a few more days to help them deepen their new faith.

​​​​​

​Now what makes this so awesome is that Peter would not have been predisposed toward saving Gentiles.  Culturally, he held them in low regard. The Jews were the “Chosen People” of God; therefore they assumed everyone else was of a lessor order.  He probably fell into the camp of new Jewish Christians who believed that all Gentiles must become Jews 1st before they could then become Christians.  But, upon further consideration, he must have also recognized that God had (a) Sent him to them; (b) Already sovereignly baptized them in the Spirit—giving them His seal of approval;and (c) Remembered that Jesus meant for His disciples to leave their Holy Huddle in Jerusalem, and journey out among the Gentiles too (see Acts 1:8b) in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

​

​So one way we can know we are Christians is to be obedient to the nudges/the urgings of the Holy Spirit.  Another way is to love people enough to share with them what we know and have experienced with Jesus.

 

In 1 John 5:1-5, the “Apostle of Love” is pretty clear about what demonstrates we are Christians: Verse 1 We are children of God (Christians means little Christs) if we believe in Jesus. Verse 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands. There we have the Cross again: Love God(the vertical) and love people (the horizontal). In other words, John is telling us to love (God and others) and to obey God.

 

​Not surprisingly, Jesus states essentially the same thing in our Gospel passage, John 15:9-17:  We stay attached to the vine (Jesus) by obeying Jesus’ commands.  This includes the 10 Commandments, but also all the ways He both taught and lived out how we are to be.  His point is not for us to be sinless—we can’t !  Rather we recognize when our sin has cut us off from the vine, repent, ask God’s forgiveness, and trust we will be supernaturally reconnected.

 

We stay attached to the vine (Jesus) by loving others. Jesus says in verse 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Later, He reiterates this concept in verse 17 This is my command: Love each other. Jesus learned to love from imitating His Heavenly Father, with whom He was in frequent, prayerful contact. John and Peter learned it from listening to and imitating Jesus. They knew they were to love Jews who love Jesus, and those who didn’t. Similarly, they were to love Gentiles (that’s us) who love Jesus, and those who don’t (that’s a lot of folks they and we interact with daily).

 

​So then the question becomes, just how do we walk this out?  

It’s fairly easy to love those who love and respect us. It’s a good deal more difficult to love…

​1.) The rude and the disrespectful;

2.) How about Democrats or Republicans with whom you disagree?

​3.) How about Gays or Bi’s or Trans?

​4.) How about Muslims?

​5.) Or the Chinese communists who are harvesting human ​​​​​organs, without consent, from political dissidents?

​6.) What about liars, adulterers, thieves, rioters, and murderers?

​7.) The power-elites who have tried to buy off elections, restrict the ​​​right to carry guns, and to censor our free speech.

​8.) What about your neighbor whose dog barks all night or pulls ​​​​out the garbage from your trash can?

 

Love and obedience are very important to God.  He talks about both all throughout Scripture.  Even if we can’t feel the emotion of love, we must make the decision to love.  (Love is first of all a cognitive decision—as is forgiveness; the feeling follows, sometimes quickly, and sometimes it takes a long while to catch up.)  Notice that Jesus had to command us to love one another maybe precisely because it is often so hard to do. GK Chesterton, the British satirist, said once, “Jesus told us to love our neighbors.  In another place, He told us to love our enemies.  This is because, generally speaking, they are the same people.”

 

​One way to develop the discipline of love is to pray for those who bug you.  Years ago, I was exiting the public library, not really with my mind on my driving but on other things, when I pulled out in front of a car full of college students who were driving too fast.  They laid on their horn and all four of them “flipped me the bird” out their windows.  I had my doctorate and even taught college students, so I was shocked that they would behave so disrespectfully toward me.  I hadn’t yet learned this principle of love so their behavior made me mad.  Two days ago, I was taking a walk through my neighborhood (it was a beautiful day!) when a car cruised by blasting their music out for the world to hear.  Instead of interpreting that as a prompt to get angry, I saw it as a nudge to pray for the occupants of the car.  I prayed that their ear drums would not be damaged and I prayed that they would recognize that not all of us shares their enthusiasm regarding their favorite music at that volume.  You know what happened?  Immediately, they turned the volume down!  I think the Lord meant it as a lesson to me and an example for us all to pray instead of getting irritated.  When I was in seminary in Pittsburgh, I learned of a pastor named Sam Shoemaker who came up with what he called the “Pittsburgh Experiment.”  He suggested that when we get mad at another, or dislike their behavior, to pray for them for 30 days as an experiment.  He challenged us all to watch and see what happens.  He believed if we prayed for them for 30 days, either they would change, or we would change in such a way that their behavior would no longer bother us as much.  His point was that our prayer changes things, in us and in others.  Try it out for yourself.

​

​The same is true for obedience.  Even if we don’t want to obey, we choose to do so because we know that God is good and we trust that God is always right.  And, as with love, we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us.  He loves to help us love others!  He also loves to help us obey Jesus or the Father.

 

​Back in the 1980’s, Tina Turner immortalized a song entitled, “What’s love got to do with it?”  When I first moved to Tallahassee to begin my doctorate at Florida State, I took my kids to a Tina Turner concert.  What a voice and what fantastic long legs!  Whew!  The answer to her question in song is everything, Tina!  Love has got everything to do with it! Love is essential to us.  Love is critical to God.  Throughout the Old Testament and the New, He emphasizes it again and again.  He gives us many examples of people who loved well and those who did not.  It is clear from these examples, as well as from His love for us, that we please Him when we choose to love.  We also disconnect from Him when we don’t.

 

Obedience is also very important to God. This week, let’s observe ourselves and try to be more loving. Let’s also continue to try to be more obedient to Him—especially to those nudges from the Holy Spirit. Peoplemay recognize us as Floridians because we wear flip-flops or sandals, even to church, or because we all have at least one article of camo clothing, but this week, let’s be mindful of how they might recognize us as followers or our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Anomalies for Christ

Pastor Sherry’s Message for May 2, 2021

 Scriptures: Acts 8:26-40, 1 Jn 4:7-21; Jn 15:1-8

         The other day I bumped into an old friend, a pastor I have          known for years.  We chatted about our families and our churches.  Then we got to laughing about our surprising career paths.  He has been called out after 4+ years of retirement to serve his former church again (as they search for another pastor); while I, an Anglican, am pastoring a Methodist Church.  He commented that it seems a happy fit—since I’m in my 6th year here at WUMC.  I bragged on you, telling him that you love Jesus, love Scripture, and love each other (& me, I        hope).

         Thinking over the unusual turns my life has taken, he said, “Sherry, you have always been an anomaly.”  Now I could have been insulted as an anomaly can be       defined as a defect.  But since he’s a big tease, I knew he was probably thinking more along the lines of “being different,” “unique,” “unexpected,” or     “outside the norm.”  My Anglican Bishop has said he thinks I have “the spirit of Deborah,” the only female judge or national leader in the book of Judges.  She was certainly unique and so clearly outside the norm.

         Though I have chuckled over my friend’s assessment, it has since struck me that following Jesus makes us each an anomaly.

Think about it:  If we love Jesus, we live out values different than the mainstream; we behave in such a way that we almost no longer fit in with present day American culture.  I have another friend who often says our Christian values so set us apart that we are like cultural dinosaurs (Though neither extinct nor obsolete).  Knowing y’all, I don’t think you would disagree.

         Our Scriptures today share some ways we are gonna be countercultural–we are gonna be anomalies–if we love Jesus:

         Acts 8:26-40 In this passage, Dr. Luke describes deacon Philip’s encounter with a fellow returning from Jerusalem to Ethiopia.  The context of this encounter is the persecution against Christians—followers of “The Way” as it was first called–that had broken out in Jerusalem, beginning with the stoning of Stephen, another deacon.  One would think, “This is terrible! What a tragedy!”  But remember that Jesus had told them they were to take the Gospel beyond Jerusalem into Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  Instead, they had remained in a “holy huddle,” hunkered down with like-believers.  God uses the persecution to scatter or push the disciples out into other Jewish then non-Jewish areas.

         Philip (not the Apostle, but a guy in the 2nd tier, a deacon) goes first 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’s not God but–empowered by the Holy Spirit–he is doing the work Jesus did.  And he was doing it very well!  Secular wisdom would say, “He’s a success. Keep him there, growing the church bigger and bigger!”  But God, thru the Holy Spirit, sends him off in another direction.

         The Holy Spirit sends Philip on a divine appointment.  Have you ever had one of those?  You are frustrated when your car breaks down, but then have an opportunity to talk to the tow truck driver, or the mechanic, about the Lord.  You are about to leave the house when a distressed friend calls in a dither. You speak to them, calm them down, and pray for them.  In these and similar events, you realize after that those were not coincidences.  No, they were nudges to kindness and service, divine appointments, ordained by God.

         Philip was serving in Samaria, to the north, but was then sent to the Gaza Road, way to the South.  The Holy Spiritdirects him to the Ethiopian governmental official.  The guy was a North African believer in the God of the Jews.  Notice:  He has already encountered the Word of God.  As he is chauffeured along in his chariot (perhaps the equivalent of a stretch limo) he is reading Isaiah 53, the last of the 4 Suffering Servant Songs—all of which predict Jesus.  However, he is understandably confused.  Is the prophet Isaiah talking about himself or of someone else?  He already has a hunger to know more about God.  Running alongside the chariot, Philip offers to help him.  Notice: the Holy Spirit has prompted the Ethiopian official to be curious about Scripture.  Notice again: God has prompted Philip to be right there to explain.  This is truly an appointment that God has arranged.

         Philip does such a good job of explaining the Gospel—Jesus lived, died for our sins, and came back to life, all so that all of us who believe in Jesus could become close to the Father—that the guy wants to become a Christ-follower.  He asks to be baptized, and Philip obliges him (and the Lord).

         Interestingly, instead of continuing on toward Ethiopia, Philip is then whisked away to a Philistine city, Ashdod, to further evangelize.  We have absolutely no idea how many Samaritans or Philistines came to Christ through the ministry of Philip.  Early Church history does tell us, though, that the first big church was built in North Africa!  That Ethiopian went home and told many others about Jesus.  Even today, 2100 years later, 62.8% of Ethiopians are Christians (while 34.6% are Muslims).

         1 John 4:7-21 John, the Apostle of love, sets out several counter-cultural realities about AGAPEO love (not philios [brotherly or sisterly] or [sexual] eros).  In verse 7 he affirms that love comes from God, because God is love.  In other words, love is not our initiative.  Human beings did not invent it.  In verse 12 he states that whenever we demonstrate love, we are imitating God.  In verse 14 he reminds us that God demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus to redeem us.  Furthermore, in verses 16-17 he assures us thatone of the ways we see/experience/and cooperate with God is by taking loving action.   Aren’t we touched when we see a TV ad as touching as the old Budweiser ones?  Remember the one featuring the Clydesdale pony who, as a grown up horse, leaves the parade to find and to nuzzle his former trainer?)   How about those rare TV news stories in which someone has done something generous or unexpectedly kind for someone else?  Those are examples of love in action.

         Now James, Jesus’ brother, states in his epistle (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, it is because the Holy Spirit has inspired you to do so.  And this is counter-cultural.  Without God in our lives prompting us to love, Isa 64:6 …all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags.  If youwatch the news, it’s hard to see any love in action.  I think ofSilicon Valley CEO’s and Wall Street magnates who behave unscrupulously then donate a huge amount of cash to some charitable enterprise.  Their actions look loving, but unless Jesus is at the center of their giving, according to Isaiah their gifts are like “dirty diapers” (the literal translation of filthy rags).  Loving actions are anomalies our God wants us to demonstrate all the time.

Finally, in verse 18, the Apostle writes, There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear.  Knowing that God loves us can keep us from caving into fear.  God’s perfect love for us casts out our fear.  As a survivor of repeated childhood trauma, I grew up always afraid of the dark.  This changed for me when I developed a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I still pray for Him to keep me safe at night.  He hasn’t ever let me down. I’m no longer afraid at night.

         Now, if we live on a daily diet of the news, we can become          fearful of many things–Everything from nuclear holocaust to being mugged, to dying from the Covid.  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 is clearly countercultural—and if we abide in it, we will be perceived as anomalies.

         In John 15:1-8 Jesus asserts that, I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener.  Last Sunday, in a terrific sermon, Ken told you about Jesus’ 7 I am statements in John’s Gospel.  Any believing Jew of that day would have known that God the Father referred to Himself as I am (or The Great I AM).  So any Jew paying attention to Jesus’ 7 I am sayings would understand that He was equating Himself with     God. Since many of them did not believe He was God, they charged Him with and executed Him for blasphemy.  We know He was speaking the truth because He is God.

         Not only this, but He is referring to Himself as the true or genuine Israel.  All throughout the Old Testament, the vineyard or grape vines are a metaphor for the Israelite nation.  If Jesus is the authentic, genuine Israelite, it is because He has loved His Father, been obedient to His Father, and loved and served His people.  They have not done likewise, though that is what God wanted from them.

         Additionally, He is saying that we can do nothing of any significance apart from Him.  This is so congruent with the concept from Isaiah 64:6.

Our culture would have us believe that “Might makes right”; or “The one with the most money, most expensive toys, or the most political power wins.  But we anomalies know that none of that stuff will get us to Heaven!  We can take no U-Hauls with us into the afterlife, right?  In this life, 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 makes us anomalies, well 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 without Him.  Remember those critters called lemmings?  When they overpopulate, they run themselves off cliffs into the sea to drown.  I wonder if any unique, non-normative lemmings stand off to the side and say to themselves, “What are you all doing?  That way leads to death!  Not me, Buddy!” 

         This week, try to be aware of when God shifts your direction; when He provides you with a divine appointment.  Let’s try also to be countercultural people who daily demonstrate God’s love in word and in deed.

©2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

True Christian Fellowship

Pastor Sherry’s Message for April 11, 2021

Scriptures: Acts 4:32-35; Ps 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2

            In the early 2000’s, the denomination into which I had been ordained jettisoned Scripture as its foundation.  Those of us who were faithful to the Bible were horrified and decided to meet together—at a large church in Plano, Texas–in an attempt to discern what to do.  As it turned out, the response to the meeting grew so sizeable that they had to move it to the Civic Center in Dallas! At that time, I was serving a large church in Philadelphia.  The Bishop there was a heretic.  He could not say the words of the Creeds because he no longer believed in them.  He would not pray the Lord’s Prayer.  I began to dodge his clergy meetings because he wanted to end each with a celebration of communion to both God and “the goddess.”  YIKES!  This sounded like idolatry to me.   Others went along with it, but I could not.  I realized quickly that my “orthodox beliefs” isolated and marginalized me in that diocese.

Thankfully, my particular parish was Biblically conservative.  They were great folks and I loved serving them.  My boss, however, had by then become both emotionally and spiritually abusive of me.  Knowing the nonbelieving Bishop would like nothing better than to discredit him, I realized I could not look to the Bishop for help.  Here too, in the church I was serving, I felt isolated and alone among the four clergy.

When I expressed a desire to attend the Plano Meeting, my boss wouldn’t permit me to go.  Due to the deterioration in our relationship, I had expected this response.  He changed his mind, however, when I shared with him an email from one of my female seminary professors, urging all ordained women to attend.  Since he had already made plane and hotel reservations for a large contingent from our staff, it was now too late for me to join in with them.  They flew to Dallas with connections through Atlanta; while I made my own arrangements, connecting through Chicago, O’Hare.  Once again, I was feeling lonely and marginalized.

As God would have it, however, there were 2 male pastors aboard whom I got to talk with on our O’Hare layover.  I’d never met them before but I quickly recognized they, too, had been feeling as isolated and alone as I had.

We spent time in the aisle encouraging each other.  When the crew began boarding the connecting passengers, I noticed a significant number of folks in collars.  I watched, amazed, as they poured in. It turned out that many students and faculty I knew from my seminary in Pittsburgh were all on that flight! As they sought their seats, we greeted one another with joy and hugs!  They appeared to be as happy to see me as I was to see them!  I felt like I had come in out of the desert.  I began to weep, realizing how much I had missed the kind of community I had experienced with them in the past.

Even though I was on my way with them to Dallas, I felt like I had come home. I knew in my heart that these were my people.  This was true Christian fellowship!  We were united in our love for Jesus, our love for each other, and our respect and reverence for God’s Holy Word.

This kind of Koinonia or Christian fellowship is the point of our Scripture readings today:

Acts 4:32-35 In these few, short verses, Dr. Luke shares that the post-Resurrection, post-Ascension disciples were operating at a high spiritual level!  They met together daily, speaking of Jesus boldly and openly.  Amazingly—just like the folks I encountered on that Chicago plane–(v.32), All the believers were one in heart and mind.  They were united in their belief that Jesus is Messiah.  And they were determined to tell others the Good News of Salvation.

Additionally—and this is truly amazing—they shared their financial resources with each other, so no one was needy.  Dr. J. Vernon McGee says this probably didn’t last long.  He believes the 1st century Church quickly devolved into normal human selfishness.  But remember, they were initially filled with the Holy Spirit and with great joy.  If I had had much money I would have shared it with those on that plane that day—or at the conference in the 3 days that followed.  We all felt in the grip of something greater than ourselves!  Our prayers, Bible studies led by Rev. Dr. J.I. Packer, and corporate worship–and the unforgettable testimonies we heard–were just sublime!  Like those early disciples, I was just so happy to be there and to be included.

Additionally—and this is truly amazing—they shared their financial resources with each other, so no one was needy.  Dr. J. Vernon McGee says this probably didn’t last long.  He believes the 1st century Church quickly devolved into normal human selfishness.  But remember, they were initially filled with the Holy Spirit and with great joy.  If I had had much money I would have shared it with those on that plane that day—or at the conference in the 3 days that followed.  We all felt in the grip of something greater than ourselves!  Our prayers, Bible studies led by Rev. Dr. J.I. Packer, and corporate worship–and the unforgettable testimonies we heard–were just sublime!  Like those early disciples, I was just so happy to be there and to be included.

Psalm 133 was written by King David.  It is often referred to as a “Song of Brotherhood.”  David compares true, God-centered fellowship to abundant oil and to life-giving water. The precious oil that anointed the first High Priest, Aaron, setting him apart for ministry at his ordination ceremony, flowed extravagantly down his head to his beard, spilling over his collar.  To our modern ears, this sounds like a mess.  But the point is that the oil of blessing was extravagant.  Similarly, the water that begins as dew on the highest mountain peak in Israel, and then eventually flows down to the Jordan River, brings life-preserving moisture to an arid land.  God, through King David, is saying that Christian fellowship can and should be abundant and life-giving.

The 1st heresy arose out of Gnosticism, in about 67AD, just after the death of Paul.  It derived from Greek philosophy (the predominant belief system of the Roman world).  Anything spirit was considered good;but matter/the body/the material world were all thought to be bad.  So they reasoned that Jesus could not have been fully human.  For God, Spirit, Divinity to dwell within a human body was to them unthinkable. This belief left them in a terrible dilemma:  Christianity says Jesus was fully God and fully man.  But they didn’t believe God could or would tolerate being a person.  John is writing to tell the church congregations of the day that this Greek philosophy was an error, a heresy!

The Church stands firm in its belief that Jesus Christ was both fully man and fully God.  In verses 1-2, John reminds us he was an eye-witnessàThat which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.  The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  He is both asserting Jesus’ humanity and referencing the beginning of his GospelàIn the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  John is making it very clear that Jesus was/is God (divine); and that Jesus was really human—after all, John and the others saw Him, heard Him, looked upon and touched Him.

John was also determined to show us how to enjoy true fellowship with God (and with our fellow believers).   Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God through His death and resurrection.  But because we are sinners, or as AA says, “we are all bozos on the bus,” we are going to break relationship with Him and with others from time to time.  We do what we know we shouldn’t.  And we fail to do what we know we should. So, what’s going to get us back into right relationship with God?

John begins to tell us how in verse 5-7 God is light.  In Him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with Him [the Father] yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.  God knows we are going to succumb to the enticements of the world, our flesh, and the devil, from time to time.  But here is the antidote to sin: Honesty and ForgivenessàWe need to honestly take stock of our sins; v.8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  It’s a good practice to daily make a list of where we have fallen short of the glory of God; then check it twice.  AA calls this the 4th stepàWe make a searching and fearless moral inventory.  We bring our sins into the Light of Christ.

Then, v.9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness.  Folks, this is great, Good News! When we fall out of fellowship with God, we just need to quietly and privately tell God we are sorry for having offended Him.

And what happens when we do?  (1) He forgives us!  (2.) Then He purifies us!

So then, John, ever the Pastor says in Chapter 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.  But if anybody does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.   There is no sin any of us has committed that is too great to be forgiven!  Additionally, John goes on to remind us, we have an Advocate at the throne of the Father in Heaven.

Like a great defense attorney, Jesus Himself pleads our case.  He took our sinfulness at the Cross upon Himself and traded us His righteousness.  Thanks to Jesus, the Father sees us through the lens of Christ.

So how do we live into Christian Fellowship?  We recognize our great need for it. 

If you don’t have it, you can feel spiritually dry, isolated, and marginalized and even depressed.  The church I served in Philly was a wonderful body of believers; but because of my abusive boss and unbelieving Bishop, I felt alone, like I was wilting there.  The plane trip from O’Hare and the Plano Meeting helped me realize the importance of true Christian fellowship to my spiritual and emotional health.

But if you have it, you know you are loved and that you belong to a community of like-minded persons. These people are glad to see you! These folks miss you when you are absent from them, and you miss them as well.

I think we can all thank God for the fellowship we enjoy here at WUMC!  This is a body of believers who loves Jesus and who loves one another.  Let’s hold onto this and continue to live this out.  Thanks be to God for drawing us into koinonia through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Alleluia, alleluia!

©2021 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams