Red Letter Challenge (Week Two) - Being
(Preacher: Pastor Jake Dickerhoff)
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you this day, Lord, for calling us to be in your presence, to be still and know that you are God. Lord, we would ask this day that you break your word small fit for our consumption. In your name we pray this. Amen.
Not too long after Nicky and I had gotten engaged. There was a big congregational retreat at the local YMCA Lodge. And the YMCA lodge was always a fun place to go because they had all of these high adventure things. And you could go out and you could do sailing and you could do a canoe and all kinds of fun stuff. And growing up, I used to love going out with my boy scout troop and going rock climbing or rappelling with a high ropes course that was always a highlight, and it was such a rush. And so I told Nicky, “We’ve got to do the zip line. I've always wanted to do a zip line. And this is a tandem zip line. We get to do it together. Yes!”
So we climb up this telephone pole. And we're on a platform that's just wide enough to sit on side by side with some guy standing on the backside on a two by four, hooking in our things to the pulleys. And he says, “Okay, well you just jump.” And so Nicky says “You count.” I go: “One, two…” And right as I'm about to hit three, and she's about to jump, I go, “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…!” The pole is going back and forth like this. And all of a sudden, I had never been afraid of heights until that moment.
These two little old church ladies that I'd grown up with had walked to their car for snacks and turned around and said, “We're gonna watch this!” And so I asked the guy, “Is there any other way down?” “Nope.” So with bated breath and hesitancy in my seat, but my soon to be bride at my side, we ended up jumping off together the third time. But we made it!
We have times within our walk with God where we are on the edge of something exciting, something extraordinary, something that may not have been as new and scary before but now in this moment, it looks like it is just impossible. And our feet are dangling over the edge and we've got some guy standing behind us going “Okay, there's one way. My way…” As we start to get pushed off the platform and you're going “Wait, wait, wait, wait! I'm not ready!” Well, that's too bad, because before you know it you're catching your breath and there's nothing but wind beneath you.
The world around us has changed. We have sat on the platform for long enough and we have endured the swaying from side to side for as long as we have been able. We have hesitated long enough. In many ways COVID-19 has been that push that shoves us right off of the platform and into the unknown. And it changes the game forever. That's terrifying!
See, as people, we are really good at starting things, and I won’t ask for a show of hands because I don't want to put anybody on the spot, but we all have had those times when we have made, say, a New Year's resolution… And how many of us have actually kept it until the end of the year? And instead of finishing, it ends up becoming a game of how long can you hold out. In Jon, Acuff’s book, Finish, he notes that 92% of people don't finish the goals, or resolutions that they set out for themselves. 92%!
Last week, we began this new challenge. We took on the Red Letter Challenge as we sought to know God more by being in His Word, by being in fellowship with those around us, as we studied together, through Bible study. But recognize that the temptation is there, to start strong and fizzle out quickly, before we reach the end. It's not how we start. But it's how we finish well.
We have a God that sets a different path forward for us. We have a God that in keeping his promises, becomes the God of finishing and not the God of hesitation. So though we've identified the problem and the way that we do not represent Christ well as Christians in general. And we have already stated that there's great work to be done. Do we talk about it, or do we do it? Do we actually step out of our comfort zones and into something new? And keep in mind that even if you buy a used car, it's still new to you. So it doesn't have to be a reinvention of the wheel, it just has to be beyond our sense of complacency.
Jesus invites us into a relationship. He goes to his disciples as he calls them from the work that they are doing. They're mending their nets. Simon Peter and Andrew, and James and John. And he says, “Come and follow me.” And they just leave what they're doing, their work. And they come and they follow Jesus. And if we would stop there, we would go, “Well, these guys were a bunch of lazy bums! James and john left the old man in the boat to finish mending the nets. What kind of son does that?”
We see time and time again that when things begin to bubble up inside of them, when tensions rise, guess what, they go back to what they know. They go back to what gives them comfort and peace and hope. They go back to who they are as fishermen. And even in the Resurrection accounts. We see this today in our gospel where Jesus appears to the disciples. He asked “Do you have anything to eat?” And they give him a piece of broiled fish We have a God that finishes what he begins. We can start strong by our own strength, but I definitely cannot always finish strong by my own strength.
About three quarters of the way through my Vicarage year, I called the Dean of Ministerial Formation. I said, “Well, sir, I have been reading the curriculum manual. And it says right here that the Master of Divinity isn't technically a requirement for ordination. So what do we got to do to just jumpstart this thing and not finish the program?” He goes, “No… I know you far too well and you need to finish this thing out.” I said, “But this would have been easy, you could have just gotten rid of me, right? I'm playing the game! You’ve got to send me out, I could have been less of a headache.” But he said, “No… you still would have to be certified by the faculty at the seminary. And they aren’t going to do that until you finish all their classes.”
If it had been by my own strength, I would have never finished it at all. For all those times that God tested my spirit, for those times when I questioned whether or not I was on the right path, God would constantly place people to lift me up, who encouraged me, and provided the strength that I lacked.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says,: “Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles let us run with perseverance, the race that has been marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, the author and perfecter of our faith.” In other words, if we take our eyes off of Jesus, then we cannot conceivably finish the race well, let alone at all. Jesus calls his disciples with different examples and ways to be with him. And he tells them “Abide in my word, and pray earnestly. Worship the Lord your God. Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” And he tells them, “When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.” He says, “Let us eat and celebrate.” And then he reminds them that the Sabbath was made for man. At the core of all of these actions, it drives them deeper into being with him by removing the distractions, setting aside the things that otherwise draw us away and divert our visions, and to fix our eyes upon him.
Truly following Jesus means not only hearing His words, but also abiding in them and doing the things that He asks. We see where the rich man comes in. He says, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Oh, he taught him this before and he says, “You need to go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” It's plain as day and the man just looks at Jesus and he says, “But can't there be something else? Can't you lead me out of this the easy way without having to finish well?” Jesus asked his disciples, “Why do you call Me Lord, and then not do what I tell you”” …Words without action… We’re never acceptable to Jesus!
Faith. without works is dead, faith without action is dead, because there is this funny thing that plays out when we are immersed in something, and we are giving all of our time and energy into doing something. In some ways, it just kind of becomes part of us. It becomes part of our being. And actually, we even see it reflected in our identity. And so the things that we spend all of our time doing and all of our treasures on and all of our trust in, these are the things that distract and deter us. These are the things that keep us from finishing well.
When I was in high school, my friends and I had gotten deep into punk music, and one of my friends decided that he was just going to go all the way and he had shaved his head into a mohawk. Then he tried to wear a wig to school and that didn't work, because in our school, you could only have natural hair colors and natural styles. And he had this jacket that he had put all these studs and safety pins on so he could look like a punk. And knowing that my dad would have shaved my head sooner than I could speak it, I was too afraid to dye my hair. And so I would put colored-gel in instead. Then one day, we're walking through the mall, and we kind of realized that the security guard has been with us for the last 15 minutes. I came home and I told my dad about him. He was like, “Well, yeah, because you are who you associate with” As a stupid high school kid I went “No. No, no. No.” But about a week later, I was driving his pickup truck and fishtailed it right into a fence in front of my high school. We ended up sitting in the back of the police car because it was raining and the officer didn't want to go back and forth in the rain to write the report. So there my brother and I are sitting in the back of the police car. And all of these people are driving by that my brother goes to school with and I came home and I told my dad. “Pop, I can only imagine how differently this could have gone if I had had that pink hair that I wanted.” And I could think back then. My mind just kept racing back to the security guard and knew it. I didn't want my dad to be right. I didn't want to admit that I am who I associate with.
Peter is confronted with the same dilemma. He stands in the courtyard as he watches Jesus placed on trial and these accusations then begin to arise and they say “Aren't you one of the men that was with this Nazarene?” “Oh no, I don't know the man.” “Aren't you one of those guys that was with this Jesus.” “I don't know him. I don't know what you're talking about.” Three times,he denies Jesus because he was afraid of being guilty by association.
We have this fear that we are going to get mowed over when we stop and stand still long enough to hear God's word before we get pushed off of the platform. So that we can hear him whisper, “It's going to be okay, I will catch you, if you fall. I will be the lifeline that carries you to the end of the race. I will make sure that you finish well.” In Psalm 46, it says, “Be still and know that I am God.” We struggle with how to know to be, to be comfortable in our own skin. We know how to do … we can we can go through the motions but we struggle with how to be. See for the disciples, this was something that Jesus gave them an opportunity to practice.
Before he dies and rises and ascends into heaven, He commissions them out. And they are given the power to heal, to cast out demons. And they go out two by two. And when they return, they start reporting all of these things to Jesus. And then this guy comes up and he is upset because he says “Your disciples tried to cast this demon out of my daughter, out of my child, and they have been unable.” And Jesus tells the man that it is his faith that has made his daughter well and the demon leaves his daughter, leaves his child. And the disciples come back to Jesus and they go, “Well, why couldn't we do that and worked over here worked over there. Why couldn't we do it there?” Jesus's response is that this one needed to be driven out by prayer. In other words, this had to do with being not just bearing his name. Not just speaking the right words and putting forth the right actions, but being in that relationship with Jesus, where we know that when we are weak, and we call upon God for our strength that he will hear our prayers and answer.
So if you want to act like Jesus, you need to start by hanging out with him. Spending time in His Word, spending time in worship, spending time with his people. Spending time in that Sabbath rest. Philippians (1:6)one, verse six, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” In other words, he's a God that finishes no matter what happens. They put them on a cross. And he says “Is that the best you can do?” He dies and they bury him in the ground and he says “Is that the best you can do?”
God says “No, no, no. I am not done yet.” Instead of leaving us in the dust, Jesus defeats death sin and the devil now welcomes us into redeeming and restoring the world with him. We've been pushed off the ledge. And it's scary. But as we are in that state where we are catching our breath, and beginning to see what is around us, and where God is leading us next, we know with great confidence, hope and joy that this God that finishes well. Gets the glory now and forevermore. Amen.
