A sermon on John 3:1-17 by Pastor David Jacobson

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A sermon on Matthew 4:1-11 by Pastor David Jacobson

A few years ago I learned that there is a Japanese TV show that’s been running for 30 years called “My First Errand.” Apparently, it’s common for Japanese parents to send their kids out on a first errand at a very young age. Kids as young as five or six are sent across town, sometimes via public transportation, with instructions about what they are to do and bring home. The TV show has hidden cameras placed along the route to track the kids’ progress. According to a 2015 article in the Atlantic about this show, the goal of this practice is to demonstrate “[n]ot self-sufficiency, in fact, but ‘group reliance,’… ‘[Japanese] kids learn early on that, ideally, any member of the community can be called on to serve or help others.’”

I think that sometimes, God will do this type of thing with his kids. God will give us a clear task, not to foster self-sufficiency, but to demonstrate God-sufficiency. God might be out of sight, but that doesn’t mean that God is far off.

The scripture says that “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.”

Jesus had just been anointed by the Spirit of God at his baptism. He had just heard a voice from heaven speak, “this is my Son with whom I am well pleased.”  

Jesus had had a powerful experience of God, to say the least. Sometimes people who have experienced God in a powerful way make the mistake of thinking that times of comfort and ease are ahead. After all, you can’t have a more powerful friend than God. Shouldn’t life be smooth sailing?

That isn’t frequently the case, though, is it? It’s very common that on the other side of a life-changing encounter with God, someone will find that they are facing profound new temptations. But we shouldn’t be surprised that an advance of the kingdom of God is often met with a counter-attack from the kingdom of darkness, if you will. 

When Jesus begins his ministry, he will be on the front lines of the battle between those two kingdoms, facing the attacks of the enemy all day, every day. And so, it seems that in preparation, the Spirit of God leads him into the wilderness to face the core temptations that would come his way. 

But Jesus’ temptation is also more than that. Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness. In Deuteronomy 8:2–3, Moses reminds the people about their years in the desert. He says, “Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart…. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, … in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Sound familiar?)

Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus spends 40 days. It’s a representative amount. Jesus fast represents Israel’s time in the wilderness. He’ll face the same temptations.

Let’s look more closely at the temptations that Jesus faced.

First: Hunger

It says that “He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.” And the devil said, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

The hunger must have been awful after 40 days in the wilderness. When Israel got hungry in the wilderness, they grumbled at God. Would Jesus require instant gratification at the end of his fast? Or would he trust God to provide?

Jesus answered the devil, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” He is remembering the words of Deuteronomy 8. I think Jesus understands exactly what is going on. His job is to succeed where Israel had failed.

The temptation for instant gratification is one of the greatest that we face. Unfortunately it’s also something that our culture values, cultivates, and enables. And obviously they’re many benefits and conveniences of our instant digital age.

But in the long run, living a life fed by instant gratification leads to despair. What we really need is a deeply dependent relationship with God combined with God’s revealed word. 

Jesus had both. He walked with God, and he knew his Bible. He was formed and shaped by this life-giving relationship with God and his word. And that’s what’s needed to stand against temptation.

When temptation comes, we don’t usually have the desire or the means to seek God and study the written word. A mind that hasn’t been deliberately formed and renewed by God will always fall for cheap instant gratification rather than choosing the difficult, but faithful path. 

Perhaps this Lent is a time for you to recommit to learning scripture well. I continue to recommend the Bible in One Year App by Nicky Gumbel as a means to do this.

Jesus’s second temptation has to do with testing God

It says

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

    ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

    and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

    so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

This is the part where we say, “Oh great, the devil quotes scripture.” It’s Psalm 91:11-12 to be precise.

From the first temptation, we know that it’s necessary to know the bible. But here we’re taught that knowing the bible is not enough. 

we need to not take passages in the bible out of context, and even morewe need to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The devil knows scripture, but he “prooftexts.” He takes passages out of context. And, more importantly, he refuses to be led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus too knows scripture. He also sees how he fits into its grand narrative. And more importantly, he’s led by the Holy Spirit. He can face temptation out of that knowledge and that relationship, and say, “Actually, devil, it says ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

We aren’t to be people who test God. We don’t come up with our own plans and ask God to bless them. We seek to discover God’s plan. God what are you doing already? I’m going to come alongside that, and in doing that, I’m going to be blessed. Amazing things can happen when we’re obedient to God. 

Finally, Jesus’ third temptation is that of idolatry, or false worship. 

“The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

    ‘Worship the Lord your God,

    and serve only him.’ ”

Jesus’ mission on earth is to bring the kingdom of God “on earth as it is in heaven.” That means reclaiming territory out of the kingdom of darkness. If the king of darkness himself surrenders and hands it all over, that would be perfect. But that’s not what’s on offer here. The devil is offering an exchange. “No one will ever have to know, Jesus. You just worship me a little bit, right here, right now, and I’ll hand it all over to you. And think of all the good you could do.”

You see the grain of truth? Jesus doesn’t dispute the devil’s power. He doesn’t say, “Oh you could never deliver on that.” 

But it is only by defeating the enemy by his cross and resurrection that God’s mission for Jesus will be fulfilled. No shortcuts. The end doesn’t justify the means. The means of self-giving love is itself essential to the mission. The means matter. People who follow Jesus should never see that their ambitions happen by any means necessary.

And so Jesus says, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”

It says, “then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.”

I don’t know where you are today. I don’t know what temptations you’ve been facing. But God knows. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Jesus’s wilderness encounter displays the truth of that. Don’t let the devil make you doubt your identity in Christ. Strive for faithfulness rather than instant gratification, physical comfort, and even false worship.

Perhaps you’ve given up on resisting the devil. Lent is a time to face the temptation head on. It’s a spiritual reset. It’s a time to get back to the basics of our Christian lives. Prayer, fasting, meditating on the scriptures, caring for the poor, and so on.

May you follow Jesus in devoting yourself to the grace-giving practices of the faith. May you face your temptations head on, resisting the devil. And as he flees, may you too find yourself ministered to by angels. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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An Ash Wednesday message from Pastor David Jacobson

Since this is a service where we do a lot of confessing– I have a confession to make. I hope this don’t scandalize anyone… I hope you don’t think less of me. Over the past few months, I’ve let my car get really messy. In retrospect I see how it happened, but along the way I hardly realized it was happening. Just a couple months ago I had vacuumed the whole thing out and it was squeaky clean. But I’ve picked up a few bad habits. First, I frequently take a can of soda with me when I get in the car. Ok, no big deal. But then, 90% of the time, I forget to take the empty can out as I exit the car. Add to that the fact that I have kids who will frequently want to take a snack in the car. We then forget to take the empty packaging out of the car. So one piece of trash at a time, my car gets messy. And of course I can’t handle having a little trash bag, so the empty soda can goes on the floor of the passenger seat. Sorry passenger. I’m not typically ready at a moment’s notice for passengers. Yes, I have a long way to go.

But today I cleaned up. I finally decided to deal with the mess that I’d made for myself.

Similarly, I’ve got all types of stuff in my basement. Things that we used to use years ago but no longer do. Even some things that we’ve never used. And so we’re in the process of cleaning out our basement. And of course we’re rummaging around for the things that are important, but forgotten, or things might have value to others, say, for a rummage sale.

So between my car and my basement, I’m thinking a lot about the ways that we make messes in our lives. At a spiritual level, we make messes in our lives. We make bad decisions. We choose to do the wrong thing. And it doesn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but just like my trash piled up one piece at a time, our bad decisions pile up one decision at a time. At some point, we have to look at the pile and say, “wow, I’ve got one big mess on my hands.”

Lent is a time for us to purge the junk that has accumulated in our lives, as well as to find some of the treasures that we’ve forgotten or neglected. Lent, of course, is the season of the church year that runs from today until Easter. And just like lots of us go and clean out our basements and closets ahead of the rummage sale, we need to do some soul clean out work ahead of Easter.

We need to deal with those things that are separating us from God. That’s what this whole service is about. It’s not a cheery service because we’re getting serious about turning from our sins. 

At the same time, Lent isn’t just about throwing out the spiritual trash in our lives. It’s also about filling our lives treasures that we might have been neglecting– with things that glorify God and cultivate a deeper relationship with God. Jesus highlights three very specific practices for his disciples that are meant to draw us into closer relationship with God. 

The first is almsgiving, which is simply giving money to the poor. Giving money to the poor means that we won’t have that money later. And so even as God is using us to provide for someone’s needs, we learn to trust that God will provide us with the grace we need to be content with less.

The second practice that Jesus teaches on is prayer. Praying cultivates dependence on God. It’s a giving over to God those situations that we either can’t or shouldn’t control, and trusting God for the result. 

Giving money to the poor. Praying. So far so good, right? And then there’s the third one…. The one that I’m pretty sure only applies to people that don’t like food as much as I do: fasting. 

Fasting is simply choosing to not eat in order to seek a deeper relationship with God. We make ourselves feel physical hunger so that we have to turn to spiritual food for nourishment. And then our prayers take on an earnest desperation: “Fill me, God. Stay close to me in my discomfort. Don’t forget those who are crying out to you because of famine.”

Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. These are all things that Jesus seems to expect his followers to do. But he also knows that all three of them can be warped to do exactly the opposite of what they’re supposed to do. They’re supposed to keep us looking at God and our neighbor, but instead they often get warped into a way of showing off how generous, how pious, and how earnest you are as a believer. And so in each of those cases, Jesus says to those people, “you’ve received your reward– don’t expect anything from God.” Jesus is essentially saying, “by all means, give alms, pray, and fast. But do these things in secret so that you’ll know that you’re not doing them for any other reason than to seek a deeper relationship with God.”

Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. I want to challenge all of us to commit to making a particular effort to do one of these things during Lent that we don’t usually do. Every time we do one of these things, we take a little treasure out of our earthly storehouse and deposit a little treasure in heaven. And so, during Lent, at the same time that we’re removing the junk that we’ve accumulated in our lives, due to sin, we’re also amassing for ourselves enormous riches in God’s kingdom. Our treasure will be with God in heaven, and that’s where our hearts will be too.

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A sermon on Matthew 17:1-9 by Pastor David Jacobson

Over the years, we’ve enjoyed reading the stories of Beatrix Potter with our kids. She’s the author and illustrator of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” and many other children’s stories. All of her tales take place in the Lake District in the northwest of England, which is somewhere that Katie and I happened to have traveled a few years back when she could catch a break from residency. 

You’ve probably heard of Peter Rabbit, but I’m guessing not as many of you have heard of the “Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.” They just don’t make names like that anymore, do they? It’s about a girl named Lucie who lives in a farmhouse. Lucie loses her handkerchief and goes searching for it. She sees some white on the mountains in the distance, and she decides that it must be her handkerchief. The mountain she went to was named Cat Bells.

The first time I read this story with Caleb, I read that, and I was immediately transported back to a moment in my life when I was absolutely awestruck. I was taken in my mind’s eye back to a reall glory sighting.  

When we’d visited the lake district, Katie and I had hiked to the top of Cat Bells. It was a rather nasty day– windy and rainy– but I didn’t mind because we were on an adventure. The hike took us up a ridge with a Lake on our left and a sheep-filled valley with our Farmhouse B&B on our right. After a relatively steady climb, mixed with periods of getting to scramble up a few rocky parts, we were rewarded the most satisfying summit I’ve experienced, despite the weather. Other summits that I’ve experienced have had things preventing a panoramic view. But on this summit (thanks to deforestation!) there were no trees or other obstructions. The summit itself was even small enough that you could look in any direction and see the ground at the foot of the mountain.) But even better than that, in the distance there was a break in the clouds. And these fantastic rays of sun shone down into the valley. I was in awe. The scene in itself was incredible, but it also pointed to the fact that the time was coming soon that the wind and the rain would stop, and bright sun would soon cover the whole landscape. 

Have you ever had a moment like that– a moment where you’re just full of awe and wonder? Words always fail to describe the experience of it. In fact, these moments can simply leave you speechless. It is as if reality– true reality– has burst into the mundane and the uncomfortable. We might even say that it’s as if the veil between heaven and earth has become thin, and we’re able to see what is usually hidden from us.

But here’s the thing, the sense of the glory of God that I got several years ago from the view on the top of a storybook mountain is dwarfed by the awe-inspiring sight of what the disciples saw on the mountain of transfiguration. On that day, in a story that shows up in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus’ appearance is changed. The word in the original greek that means “transfigured” is the same word that we get our word “metamorphosis” from. This is more than a few rays of sunlight falling on Jesus’ white clothes. Something incredible happened. And in the words of second Peter, this is not a cleverly devised myth. Rather, it is was a historical event that Peter, James, and John got to witness. 

The experience of Jesus’ face shining like the sun is impossible to capture fully in words. But the scene really just begins there. Beside Jesus, Moses and Elijah appear– two great heroes of the faith who had profound experiences of God’s glory on mount Sinai. And Peter… Peter just can’t help himself. He tries to put his feelings into words– “This is great! Let’s pitch some tents for the three of you!” Whenever I think of Peter saying that, I picture the Donkey from Shrek, played by Eddie Murphy, saying, “We can stay up late swapping manly stories, and in the morning, I’m making waffles.”

But Peter doesn’t get to go on. You would think that Peter would have ruined the moment, but instead things just keep getting more powerful. It says

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

The story up to this point in Matthew has been getting progressively darker. It’s clear that Jesus is facing opposition that will continue. And he has been sharing with his disciples about how he will need to suffer and die. Luke’s gospel shares the detail that Jesus was going up on the mountain to pray. It’s not too much of a leap that Jesus, in his praying, would ask God, simply, “am I on the right track here?” 

And so the voice from heaven says, “This is my son.” Perhaps that is exactly what Jesus himself needed to hear. As Jesus began his ministry and was baptized, God’s spoke and said, “this is my Son.” Now again, as Jesus reaches another pivotal moment in his ministry, where he is convicted that he is headed for suffering and death, the voice speaks again. “This is my Son.” 

This Thursday we’re beginning our 8 week prayer course. We we’re using a video series featuring a British pastor named Pete Greig, who wrote the “How to Pray” book that we’re reading together as a church this year. 

One thing that Pete Greig points out is that most often when God speaks to us, God speaks into our identity rather than our destiny. We want God to answer the questions about where, when, and what. We want to know where to go, and what to do. And we want to know when it’ll happen– because “it better be soon God!” But as we ask the where, the when, and the what questions, God’s responses frequently seem to be about the who, the how, and the why. 

I ask God for guidance in a situation, and God says, “You are my child.” I ask God for wisdom to do the right thing and God says, “spend time with me.” I ask God “why?” and God says, “I love you.” 

The voice from heaven doesn’t just reveal something about Jesus and affirm his identity. The voice also reveals something about the disciples identity too. They hear the voice and what do they do? They fall on their faces, awestruck.

The disciples have a true glory sighting. The reality of things– their true reality– bursts onto the scene. The disciples might spend their days walking and talking with Jesus, but they and we need to remember, this is the Son of God. All of the wonder, majesty, power, and authority of the Godhead are present within this human being, Jesus of Nazareth. This is the King of Glory. We might go around singing “what a friend we have in Jesus!” And rightfully so. But let’s not forget that this is what the voice of God does.

Have you ever, truly been in awe of God? I long for us to come to worship, or even just to go through life, expecting to be in awe of God, expecting to be surprised by God. Sadly so many will miss the opportunity to encounter the glory of God.

Some time ago, I remember Katie telling me that as she was walking out of the store, there was an incredible double rainbow. When Katie saw it, she told me that it stopped her in her tracks. She just had to stop and say “wow.” But almost as striking was how most everyone around her was busying to and from their cars as if the sky wasn’t telling the glory of God at that very moment. God I hope that I’m never so busy that I don’t have time to enjoy your glory through creation.

Have you ever been in awe of God? Are you able to balance the idea of walking and talking with Jesus with the idea of falling to the ground before the sound of God’s voice? This is the one of whom the prophet Nahum said, “The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt.” The psalmist says, “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it came to be.” When Ezekiel saw “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD,” he “fell on [his] face.” 

Jesus goes over to his disciples and touches them and says, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

You’ll notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say, “There was no reason to be afraid.” No, you get the feeling that the disciples were going to continue on with their faces in the dirt until Jesus told them that the cloud of God’s glory had lifted from that place. Awe is the appropriate human response to a glory sighting– to God’s holy presence. 

Fear is like awe. Throughout the Bible, it is consistently the response of the faithful to the presence of God. God told Moses that “no one can see me and live.” If you find yourself in God’s presence, it’s worth noting that you may be one glance away from death. Our limited, fallible, and sinful humanity simply cannot take in the fullness of God’s glory unmediated.

And so here is the shocking thing; The transfiguration shows us that God’s glory streams from our friend Jesus. Look at Jesus, and see God’s glory. It’s as if God gives us darkened eclipse glasses so that we are able to gaze at the Son. 

And the testimony of scripture is that we hold this image together with another time when God’s glory is shown in Jesus– in his suffering and death. The transfiguration and the crucifixion go together. Bible scholar N. T. Wright speaks of this more concisely and poetically than I ever could. He says, 

“Here, on a mountain, is Jesus, revealed in glory; there, on a hill outside Jerusalem, is Jesus, revealed in shame. Here his clothes are shining white; there, they have been stripped off, and soldiers have gambled for them. Here he is flanked by Moses and Elijah, two of Israel’s greatest heroes, representing the law and the prophets; there, he is flanked by two brigands, representing the level to which Israel had sunk in rebellion against God. Here, a bright cloud overshadows the scene; there, darkness comes upon the land. Here Peter blurts out how wonderful it all is; there, he is hiding in shame after denying he even knows Jesus. Here a voice from God himself declares that this is his wonderful son; there, a pagan soldier declares, in surprise, that this really was God’s son.”

We must learn to stand in awe of the glory of Christ. Not only Christ of the transfiguration and the resurrection, but Christ of the cross. At the same time we need to see the suffering in the transfiguration. It’s not like everything was smooth sailing when Jesus headed up to the mountain. It’s clear to Jesus that there is more suffering ahead, not less. But he goes up the mountain to spend time with God. And just like the rays of sunlight broke through the nastiness of our day on Cat Bells, pointing to a brighter day in the near future, God brings transfiguration to Jesus in the midst of the difficulty, pointing to Christ’s final victory. 

And what’s more, the voice that tells us “This is my beloved son, listen to him,” is telling us to take seriously the voice of Jesus, who said “if you want to follow me, take up your cross.” Jesus could not be more clear: the path to share in his glory is the path to sharing in his sufferings.

Perhaps you have some suffering in your life right now. We have a good, good God, and I don’t blame God for suffering. But sometimes, seasons of pain and difficulty are where we are best able to hear God’s voice and to perceive God’s presence. By all means, pray for the the suffering to end. Pray for cures, and open doors, and well-lit paths for the way forward. But also take time to listen to the voice of the God of Glory saying, “You are my son, you are my daughter,” “I love you,” “Spend time with me.”

This Wednesday begins the church season of Lent, where we spend 40 days, not including Sundays, preparing ourselves to stand in awe of the risen Christ. But we won’t have eyes to see the glory of Christ in the resurrection if we don’t first travel with him the path to the cross and the tomb. 

It’s nearly a 40 day journey to Golgotha, where Christ is crucified. Bring all your burdens. Bring all your suffering. Stand in awe of your savior, who died for you. Because the good news is that when we do that, God transfigures our suffering, and turns it into God’s glory.

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A sermon on Matthew 5:21-37 by Pastor David Jacobson

Katie, my wife, will tell you that I’m not exactly Mr. Handy Man. But from time to time, with the help of my Dad, I’ve taken on some pretty sizable renovation projects, particularly in our previous house on Stratford Rd. in Academy Heights. Our basement bathroom was original to the house, which was built in 1950. The shower walls were made of sheet metal, so it sounded like a thunderstorm whenever you showered. And if that weren’t bad enough they were this queasy green color, that someone had apparently decided was so trendy that they thought that they would paint the bathroom walls AND ceiling in the same color.

That bathroom desperately needed a renovation. And so my Dad and I started the hard, but rewarding work of demolition and reconstruction. It took us quite a while, but the end product was a new bathroom that was as beautiful as it was functional. 

My sermon topic today is the “renovation of the heart.” That phrase, and a lot of what I have to share today, come from “Dallas Willard,” whose books have challenged and grown me as much as any I’ve read.

What I’d like to do today is first to persuade you that you need a renovation of your heart. Then I will try to show briefly 1) what that renovation would look like once it happened, 2) the importance of actually making a decision to have a renovation done, and 3) the actual means through which the renovation will take place. 

So first, I want to convince you, in love, that you need a renovation of your heart. If your heart is pure and free from sin, then you may disregard this section of my message. Otherwise, I urge you to continue listening. 

Four times in the reading for today, Jesus says, “you have heard it said… but I say to you.” Sadly, I can’t talk in depth about each of these statements today. But I do want to simply point out that each time, Jesus takes a prohibition about some external behavior prescribed in the Old Testament law and he turns it inward and takes it deeper.

You’ve heard it said “don’t murder”… but I say to you “Don’t be angry or [insult others]”You’ve heard it said “don’t commit adultery”… but I say to you “don’t lust”You’ve heard it said “When a man divorces his wife, he should give her a certificate of divorce,” but I say [to paraphrase] the marriage bond cannot be broken easily, so “Don’t divorce for cheap reasons.”You’ve heard it said “don’t swear falsely” but I say “don’t swear at all”– basically be a person who means what they say and says what they mean.

In every case, Jesus seems to be saying, “this isn’t just about external behaviors, it’s about intentions. It’s about the heart.”

But here’s where the really tricky part comes in. Mere human will is never enough to get our hearts to the right place. I can’t will myself into not being angry with someone. I can’t will myself into not lusting. We can control our external behavior to a degree, and thank goodness for that, but we can’t control what comes out of our hearts. 

What all of our experience teaches us is that when we aim to will ourselves into acting like Jesus said we should, we fail. That gritted-teeth method of forcing ourselves into right behavior is what Jesus called “the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” earlier in Matthew chapter 5. The scribes and Pharisees were very exacting at holding to the letter of the law. But Jesus scolded them, saying, “You are like whitewashed tombs. They look beautiful on the outside. But inside they are full of dead bones and all kinds of filth. In the same way you look righteous to people. But inside you are full of pretense and rebellion.” In other words, “People look at the outward appearance [and you look impressive indeed], but the Lord looks at the heart [and there finds you lacking].”

Jesus said to his disciples, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” I really believe that what he is saying is that “your hearts must be transformed.”

Later in the sermon on the mount, Jesus will say “a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” Jesus builds on this image in Luke’s gospel. He says, “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”

No point expecting a bad tree to bear good fruit. You need a different tree. In the same way, there’s no point expecting a heart “bent to sinning” to love and serve God. We need a new heart. A clean, renovated heart. 

So what we have here is the problem of the sinful human heart that has no human solution. It’s impossible to get good stuff to come out of a heart that has been formed by sin rather than God. That was what Jesus says the scribes and the Pharisees were doing. In Matthew 15 he says to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’”

Jesus is looking for a people whose hearts are near to him. Jesus is saying you can have all of the external obedience in the world, but your heart can still be in rebellion against God.

We need a renovation of the heart. Are you convinced?

So what will this transformation look like once it has happened?

Well, the transformation should result in what John Wesley called, “Scriptural Christianity.” 

Jesus came announcing nature and availability of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the domain where God’s will is done. And so we can expect that in entering into the kingdom of God, we will be able to do God’s will, not just in the sweet by and by, but here and now. Our heart will be all love for God and others. 

The transformed heart looks like the person described in the sermon on the mount: pure in action and in intention. People who exhibit what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Obedience to Jesus’ commands will come out of who we are, not by gritting our teeth and trying harder. The renovation we seek is the kingdom of God, that Paul says is, “Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Jesus came announcing the good news of the the kingdom of God. He says, “for this reason I was sent.” 

A transformed, renovated heart   is overflowing with love for God and others. It is the answer to the prayer that we so regularly pray at the beginning of our worship, “cleanse the thoughts of our hearts… that we may perfectly love you.”

That’s life in the kingdom of God. That’s the transformation that we seek. 

Once we understand what we’re talking about, we have to understand the importance of actually making a decision to have a renovation done.

We can’t make ourselves live out the kingdom life, but we can decide that we want to. We can trust Jesus. And trusting in him means intending to obey Jesus’ teaching. We don’t stop at believing things about Jesus. James says, “even the demons believe!” But we need to actually decide that we’re going to do what he says.

In the words of Dallas Willard, “you can no more trust Jesus and not intend to obey him than you could trust your doctor and your auto mechanic and not intend to follow their advice.” Moreover, “People who do not intend to be inwardly transformed, so that obedience to Christ “comes naturally,” will not be.”

However, if we do, in fact, intend every area of our lives to come under the Lordship of Christ, we can be confident that it will happen. As Jesus said at the beginning of chapter 5, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

It’s possible that you’re hearing this and you’re thinking “I don’t know that I’m up for all that digging around in my heart at the moment, but having a new heart that overflows with love for God and others is something that I’d like. So, if you’re not ready to say, “I want it!” But can you at least want to want it?

Finally, once understanding what the renovation will bring, and making a decision to pursue it, we must actually use the means that God has given us to pursue it. 

We cannot renovate our own hearts. In that sense, transformation is out of our control. The action of God for me and in me is not something I will ever have control over. But God has given us means to pursue transformation and he intends for us to use them. And when you have a vision for what the transformation might look like and you actually decide to pursue it, then these actions become full of expectation and purpose.

For example, I can study and meditate on the teachings of Jesus and on the rest of scripture. If I really intend to follow the teaching of Jesus, this isn’t an optional extra. Yes, I read to learn and I study to gain better understanding. That’s absolutely foundational. But I don’t stop there. I let God’s word search me. I let it change my plans. I prioritize obedience to the way of Jesus in my life.

I can pray. Sure, I have the on-going conversation with God throughout the day, but I also can set apart time in my day where I can expect to be empowered and formed by God until I am actually transformed.

I can also make use of opportunities to receive prayer. As I pursue a heart renovation, I have to stop caring so much about what other people think. “Maybe they’ll think I have some huge problem,” the enemy will whisper in one ear. In the other ear the enemy will say, “Oh, look who thinks they’re super spiritual and special.” Silence the voices and get prayed for. The most profound acts of God that I’ve seen, both spiritual and physical, have come through prayer ministry. If you can’t get prayed for in church, where can you?

I can fast. I know it’s not popular, or fun. But I can set apart a day where I will remind myself that Jesus is Lord, not my stomach. I won’t die. It’ll be ok. And fasting won’t only be a means of grace for me personally, but it will remind me of our need for God as I intercede for the United Methodist Church in this uncertain time.

Things that the church calls spiritual disciples are called disciplines because you simply have to make the habit of doing them. You have to decide, “I’m going to do this.” And then you do it. You can’t change your heart, but you can change how you spend the first 30 minutes of your day. And through that time, God will form you, and ultimately transform you.

In Romans 12, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Our minds can get so twisted into unhealthy, harmful patterns of thought. I can’t control what my mind gravitates to– not at first. But I can control what I let myself consume. Remember, this isn’t a new law to oppress you. This is a means that God may use to transform you. In the world of the spiritual life, “garbage in, garbage out.” Jesus needs to be Lord of my screen time, my Netflix queue, and whatever else I consume.

Spiritual transformation is possible, and in fact, it was the reason that early Methodism spread across Britain and America as it did. Lives were being changed, and people noticed. We need to restore our sense of expectation about what God is able to do in us. Because God is able.

“The greatest need you and I have, the greatest need of collective humanity, is renovation of our heart.” People with transformed hearts will transform the world. We must decide that we desire to be transformed and pray “Come, in Lord and do the work of renovation!”

“Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.” The person who persistently prays that prayer will be the person to whom transformation comes. 

The post February 16, 2020 – Renovation of the Heart appeared first on Catonsville United Methodist Church.

A sermon on 1 Corinthians 2: 1-12 and Matthew 5:13-20 by Rev. Carroll Gunkel

The post Feburary 9, 2020 – You Are the Man appeared first on Catonsville United Methodist Church.

A Sermon on Matthew 5:1-12

Have you ever heard someone give a testimony of Jesus bringing radical transformation? My church experience didn’t have much of this growing up, but from time to time, I’d hear stories about people addicted to drugs or alcohol who’d find Jesus and their lives would be changed. They’d say they were “born again.” For some reason, those stories never really landed for me.

I’ve been trying to figure out why that is. I think I had this sense in the back of my mind, like, “Well, good for them, but I’m not addicted to anything, so I guess I’ll probably never describe myself in that way?”

In other words, I wasn’t sure I was a bad enough person to need Jesus like those folks did. And so, in my mind, there were two types of Christians: 1) those whose lives were out of control because of the really bad stuff they’d done, whose lives get turned around with the help of God, and 2) the rest of us who are in control of our lives, that get salvation without having to hit rock bottom. 

But what if the first group just realizes something that the second group doesn’t. What if we’re actually all lost and out of control without Christ’s transformation?

Today, we’re looking at a section of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” as it’s called, known as the Beatitudes. Jesus highlights eight surprising situations where you can receive God’s blessings. I’m pretty much stuck on the first one, though:“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

Someone who is poor in spirit knows that they don’t have it together, and so, in the words of Micah 6:8, they walk humbly with their God. Their spiritual poverty makes them desperate for God’s intervention. Saying that someone is poor in spirit is a way of describing a certain posture of the heart. I think of the old hymn Rock of Ages, and how well it describes that posture:

      Nothing in my hand I bring,      Simply to thy cross I cling;      Naked, come to thee for dress;|      Helpless, look to thee for grace;      Foul, I to the fountain fly;      Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

Is that too harsh, or is it reality? I think it’s reality. The spiritually poor person says “I don’t have anything to bring to you, God. I’m messed up. But I’m done wearing my mask. You know that I struggle not to do things that are wrong. You know that even the good things that I do, I do with mixed motives. The person prays along with Psalm 51, which says “Create in me a clean heart and put your Holy Spirit within me!

Pastor Rick Warren talks about the Beatitudes as “the road to Recovery.” As his church was launching Celebrate Recovery, he preached through the beatitudes. Those sermons were made into book called “Life’s Healing Choices,” by John Baker. Next month during our Sunday School hour, a group is going to be working through the beatitudes with that book . I want to share with you the opening sentences of Pastor Rick Warren’s forward to that book:

“Do you ever eat or drink more calories than your body needs? Do you ever feel you ought to exercise but you don’t? Do you ever know the right thing to do but don’t do it? Do you ever know something is wrong but do it anyway? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you’ll know without a doubt that you are a citizen of the human race. As fellow members of the human race, we all deal with life’s hurts, hang-ups, and habits. And Jesus, who left heaven to become one of us so that He could minister to those needs, said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Here’s the hard truth: if you think you have it all together, Christ really doesn’t have anything to say to you. But what he does with the first Beatitude is to say, “you are invited to admit to the reality that you are poor in spirit, that you don’t have it all together.” 

It’s our tendency to not want to admit that we have any problems. We don’t want to admit to others that we have problems. We don’t want to admit to God that we have problems. And we don’t even want to admit to ourselves that we have problems. But the reality is that we need God, and without him, we’re sunk. And the good news is that God wants us to come to him, problems and and all.

With me, I didn’t know how messed up I really was until God transformed my heart. Now I don’t pray because it’s the right thing to do. I pray because without him, I’m a mess. With him though, I have the strength I need to choose the right thing.

As humans, we get stuck in our sin. We try to manage it but we fail. We are most certainly not in control. We’re not in control, but we really want to be. We want to act like we are. In John Baker’s words, “We want to decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. We want to make our own choices, call our own shots, make our own rules…. In essence, we want to be God.” And “We play God by trying to control our image, other people, our problems and our pain.”

We control our image because we care what other people think, and we’re scared about what they would think if they knew what was really going on in our lives. Whether it’s simply hiding behind our well-groomed selves while we’re a mess on the inside, or it’s carefully curating our facebook and instagram pictures to keep up appearances, we seek to be in control of our image.

We also try to control other people. Parents and children try to control one another. Spouses try to control one another. Coworkers try to be in control. We use guilt, anger, fear, or the silent treatment in attempts to gain control over other people.

We try to control our uncontrollable problems. Have you ever said:  “it’s not really a problem, I don’t need any help. I can quit anytime I want to.” Or what about saying “God will forgive me” and then doing it…

We try to control our pain. Some people try to avoid it by eating. Others try to postpone it by drinking too much, using drugs, or   taking too much prescription medication or pills that don’t belong to them. 

But sooner or later, reality will set in. We are not in control. And when we actually realize that and admit that, we become “poor in spirit.” We can finally stop trying to play God and we can start progressing in the way of Jesus. 

Being poor in spirit starts out the beatitudes because it’s absolutely essential anything that God wants to offer you through Jesus. We all must start here.

Rick Warren and John Baker, in line with the first beatitude, say that “Choice #1” of Life’s Healing Choices is “Realize I’m not God.” On the one hand that feels obvious, but what it means is , “I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.”

If that’s not an admission of spiritual poverty, then I don’t know what is.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get to a place as a church where it will be ok to admit to one another that we don’t have it all together? I’ve been having conversations with quite a few people in our congregation who are realizing, “Hey, there are a lot of us that are really struggling. Wouldn’t it be nice if people didn’t feel like they had to hide their hurt in church, but they could be honest about it.” After all, the church isn’t meant to be a museum for perfect people. It’s supposed to be a hospital where the hurting can come and find healing.

What about you? Would you consider taking this first step of admitting that you are spiritually poor? If you do, Jesus says you’ll be blessed. He says that the kingdom of heaven belongs to you. In other words, before you is available all of what Paul calls righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. You can exit the life of struggling for control and fear of being discovered for who you really are. This is for everyone.

And if you’d like to explore these concepts further, look out for our “Life’s Healing Choices” class that starts up in March. It’s ok to come as an “interested spectator.”

And as we approach communion, there is no better place to be than in the knowledge that we are spiritual poor. It’s God who supplies the meal where Christ will meet us and sustain us.

The post February 2, 2020 – Are You in Control? appeared first on Catonsville United Methodist Church.

When I was 11 years old, I had an experience that I’ll never forget. One school night, my sister and I hopped in the car with my Dad and drove to DC. He took us down to the old Executive office building, where we were met by a white house staffer that was a relative of my Dad’s coworker. He led us through the security there, and then through a tunnel. The next thing I knew, we were in the West Wing of the White House. 

Now, I don’t know what the situation has been lately, but at the time, since the West Wing is a busy office during the day, the only way to get a tour of the West Wing was to be invited by White House staffer willing to lead you on an after-hours tour.

Since that was precisely what we had, I ended up being in places that I would have had no right to be if it weren’t for our guide. I stood behind the podium in the press room. I went into the cabinet room. We walked outside in the rose garden. When we were out there, I have a vivid memory of looking onto the west wing colonnade and seeing Socks, the Clinton’s cat, out on a late night prowl. That was the closest we got to seeing a member of the first family, even though I was able to stick my head through the cracked door into the oval office itself.

Now, of course, I didn’t have any right to be there by myself. I only had the privilege to be there because I was with someone who belonged there. Someone who sacrificed his evening to do a favor for a family friend– a favor that I would never be able to reciprocate. And for me, this trip to the White House was an opportunity for me to learn that old life lesson: “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” 

It’s a dynamic that we see at work in the reading from Matthew. Jesus is calling all sorts of people to follow him who haven’t in any way merited their call.

Who does Jesus call first? He calls fishermen. Later he’ll have Matthew, a tax collector. He’ll even have Simon the Zealot– perhaps a member of a political party of revolutionaries. They’re not society’s elites. They’re probably not the go-to great speakers. They’re not necessarily the smartest.  Honestly, they might have already been rejected as disciples by other Rabbis. But it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Or maybe it’s not what you know, but it’s who knows you. 

Peter and Andrew are approached by someone great and invited to follow. Nobodies like them can become apprentices to Jesus himself. They’ll get to see things in life that they have no right to see, apart from Jesus. It’s an opportunity like none other. And it’s worth taking. It says that Peter and Andrew left their nets and followed Jesus.

They didn’t take their nets, but they left them. Why was that move important, or even essential?

On a purely logistical level, you can imagine the ridiculous scene of Peter, Andrew, James, and John mozying into a new inland village with Jesus to announce the kingdom of God, healing the sick, but Peter’s carrying this heavy net behind. It’s not useful for the new type of work, Peter. Why are you dragging that thing around?

But we all know, I think that there is something deeper going on here. It’s a symbol of a clean break, isn’t it? They had been fishermen– most likely their whole lives. And so, what was their net worth? It was everything. It was their livelihood. It was their expertise. It was everything they knew.

And yet at the call of Jesus they drop the life they knew and they follow Jesus. They’re master fishermen, most likely, but they give up their expertise to become brand new apprentices to Jesus. Is there a net in your life that Jesus is calling you to abandon for the sake of following him?

The hard thing for us to handle is that nets are good. We have a tough time imagining that following Jesus would ever mean needing to leave something good.

At the same time, I love how Jesus has a way of redeeming what we give up for him. Jesus calls the fishermen to fish for people. The fishermen are used to sweeping up fish in their nets. Now they’re going to learn how to sweep people up into the kingdom of God. It’s a type of fishing that doesn’t require a net. It requires something completely different: knowing Jesus and learning to be like him. And so they leave their nets behind.

Are there nets that you need to abandon? What’s your net worth? It’s a pun. Don’t get mad.

Following Jesus takes time. Following Jesus takes sacrifice. Gregory the Great, the 6th century church leader, said, “The kingdom of heaven has no price tag on it: [but] it is worth as much as you have.”

These first disciples of Jesus are completely unremarkable, normal people, except for one thing. They responded to the call of Jesus. When they saw him coming they didn’t put their hands over their ears and shout “la la la, I can’t hear you!” They listened to the call and they responded.

Throughout Christian history, many of Jesus’ most effective disciples have been relative nobodies. That’s good news. You don’t have to be a “somebody” in the world’s eyes to be a somebody in God’s kingdom.

Franky was born to working class parents in England. He wasn’t formally educated. He apprenticed as a metal worker. But at 14, he made a commitment to Christ, and got connected with this group of Christians called the Methodists. By the time he was 22, he was a Methodist lay preacher. Four years later, he offered himself to be sent to America as a missionary. Franky went on to travel some 265,000 miles on horseback. Under his leadership, the number of Methodists in America grew from 1,200 to 214,000 members. Franky went from being a completely normal, uneducated metalworker, to becoming “Francis Asbury!” the father of American Methodism.

The disciples left their nets. Franky left metal working. All for the purpose of knowing Jesus. 

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”

And your net, whatever that may be, is worth leaving to know him.

“But Pastor David, how do I get to know Jesus?” You always ask such good questions!

(Do you want the long answer or the short answer? Don’t answer that!) I’ll give you the short answer. We need to pray. And not just “dear Lord, help me to know you more.” But that times 1000.

That’s why we’re calling this a “Year of Prayer.” We’re seeking to get to know Christ better, not just in our heads, but in our hearts. To be clear, I’m by no means anti-intellectual. I’m 100% for learning and study. 

But think of it this way: if wanted to know George Washington, I’m sunk. I could learn about him. I could read everything he ever write and everything anyone who knew him ever wrote and I still wouldn’t know him. He’s dead. (Sorry if that’s news to anyone)

But Jesus is alive, and I can know him through prayer. I’m still going to read about him and learn as much as I can from those who knew him. But I want to know him myself. I’m tired of the type of faith that depends on somebody else’s faith story to keep me attention. I want my own stories. I want to know him for myself. I also want other people to know him.

Some of you say, “this obviously doesn’t apply to me because, um, I already know Jesus.” Wonderful. The Apostle Paul, arguably the greatest missionary in the history of Christian missionaries, said this in Philippians 3:10: “I want to know Christ.” You think to yourself, Paul, how can you say that? You literally met him in person. But Paul knows that he isn’t there yet. 

Here’s my point: the call to know Jesus is for everyone, from the person who still can’t quite figure out why they came to this room with the funny seats today to the person who has been seeking to follow Christ a long time.

The thing about prayer is that we all know how important it is, but, if we’re honest, we’re pretty bad at it, aren’t we? It’s hard. We get distracted. We don’t know what to say. We’d rather be doing other things. But we learn to pray by praying. You don’t have to be a particular type of person. You learn by doing.

We might have to leave some things behind to get better at prayer. We might need to leave our nets– our net-flix, our social net-work apps, our inter-net browsing habits, not to mention our bassinets and our bayonets, and maybe even our cornets and our cabinets. But those things and more are worth leaving behind to follow Jesus, to know him and to make him known. 

My brothers and sisters, we need revival. We need the new life that Christ offers not only in our congregation but in the United Methodist Church, and in our society. We need revival. If we’ve ever needed one before, we need sure to need one now. Christian revival historian J. Edwin Orr said, “History is silent on revivals that did not begin in prayer.”

So may you make use of all the opportunities to grow that this year of prayer will afford. May you seek to know Christ more. And may God give you the grace to leave whatever net you need to leave, and follow after the one who’s calling you. Amen.

The post January 26, 2019 – What’s Your Net Worth? appeared first on Catonsville United Methodist Church.

A message on John 1:29-42

The DoveSeveral years ago, a dove started hanging out under the awning over our back porch. I’d look out my kitchen window, right next to the back porch, and see the bird flying in and out.

At one point, I turned to Katie, and asked “What’s with the dove? It really seems to like to perch on our porch.” Katie said “hmm,” as she walked outside to investigate. Sure enough, on the porch she found the beginnings of a nest in a hanging basket we’d left outside for the winter. Apparently our porch seemed like a safe place to build a nest.

Last week, we looked at the story of Jesus being baptized by John in Matthew’s Gospel. That story was told from Jesus’ perspective. It said that when he came up out of the water, one of the things that happened was that “he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove.” In today’s reading, John the Baptist recounts the event, so we actually get John’s perspective and interpretation of what happened. John says, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

When I first noticed this imagery of “the dove,” I asked the same question that I did that day when I saw the dove fluttering around my porch. “What’s with the dove?”

So what is with the dove? The Holy Spirit is frequently depicted as a dove on church banners, bulletins, and other places, and so it would be understandable if you thought that the Dove was a common image for the Holy Spirit in the Bible.

As it turns out, though, this story of Jesus’ baptism in the four Gospels is, in fact, the only place in the whole Bible where the Spirit is explicitly described as a Dove. The precursors are there in other places though.

The Dove BroodsIn Genesis 1, the first chapter of the Bible, it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

The word that was used for “hovered” in the original Hebrew is also used to speak of a bird brooding, or hovering, over its eggs. Around the time of Jesus some Rabbi’s expanded this image, and when they told the story of Genesis 1, they’d say that “the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters like a dove.”

The Dove Brings New Creation

The next time we see a dove in the scriptures, Noah has sent one out to hover over the face of the flood waters. When the waters subside, the dove returns to Noah with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. The dove carries new life with him. And when the Dove, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, he brings new life. A new beginning. New creation. It’s a fitting metaphor.

The Dove Brings Purification

Doves were also a sign of purity and innocence in the ancient world. That’s one reason that, when Jesus sends his disciples out, he tells them to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. And within the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, doves are frequently used for offerings made for the purpose of purification. This aspect of the Holy Dove’s work continues in the New Testament, where purification and sanctification are often attributed to the Holy Spirit.

The Dove Perches in a suitable place

In the Old Testament, the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, only came into the Temple once everything about the Temple had been cleansed with blood. In the same way, the Holy Spirit only comes to rest upon a person who has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. In the case of Jesus, he was never tainted by sin, and so the Spirit was pleased to come and rest on him.

The Dove Remains

John’s Gospel has a striking little detail about the dove as it recounts Jesus’ baptism. John the Baptist says “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

It remained on him. Isn’t that a strange little detail? Why was it worth mentioning?

The Dove is Sensitive

Well, back to the dove on my back porch. As much as I enjoyed the presence of the dove, it wasn’t constantly on my mind. And so from time to time, without thinking, I’d bang some pots around in my kitchen, and out of the corner of my eye I’d see the dove flutter away. The same thing would happen when I walked out my back door quickly and the latch on the storm door would make a loud *snap* sound.

Doves are quite sensitive, apparently. And so I learned to remember the dove. When I walked out the door, I’d do it carefully, and if I didn’t mess it up, the dove would stay brooding in her nest and we’d have a good look at each other.

The Dove descended on Jesus and remained. Think about what that must mean. It means that Jesus lived in such a way that the dove, the Holy Spirit, just wanted to stay put on him. He was never startled away. He was never offended, so that he would leave.

Jesus: A Spirit-empowered human

Let’s step back for a second and remind ourselves that Jesus is 100% human. Part of the miracle of Christmas is that the Eternal Son of God limited himself to operate as a human. Jesus frequently refers to himself as the Son of Man, or “the Human One.” Jesus is God in the flesh, yes, we understand that. But on earth Jesus operates as a human empowered by the Holy Spirit.

I’ll probably have to speak a full message about this sometime, because it’s actually a really big deal. If we jump right to, “well Jesus is God,” true as that is, we see what Jesus does and we turn into interested spectators. 

But if Jesus is a human empowered by the Holy Spirit, now I’m really interested. Here’s an example that I can follow. Jesus models for us what human life looks like for someone who 1) is clean from sin and 2) is continuously empowered by the Holy Spirit. By the shedding of his blood on the cross, Jesus’ can cleanse you from sin, in order that the Spirit can come and you can have an intimate relationship with the Father and the Son.

Visualize a Dove

The Dove descended on Jesus and remained. Pastor Bill Johnson, at Bethel Church has this great image. Imagine if I had a literal dove sitting on my shoulder. How would I move around so that I wouldn’t frighten the dove away? Carefully. Or to put it another way, I’d take every step with the dove in mind. If I really valued the presence of the dove, every move I made, every word I spoke– they’d all be aimed at protecting the presence of what I value most. 

I love when he’s resting on me. I love when he’s near me. I want to know him more. It’s not primarily so that I can do great things, fun as that is. But I want to know him. That is what I long for as a Christian.

It also helps that experiencing the presence of God resting upon you is truly the best feeling in the world.

Better than Drugs

A few years ago, I met a guy named Chris who’d been a Christian for about a year. He said to me, “I’ve been with lots of women, and I’ve done all kinds of drugs, but none of it even remotely compares to what I’m experiencing now.” That’s what I’m talking about. This isn’t just some heady theology that I’m talking about here. I’m talking about an experience that this guy says is better than drugs.

Value the Dove. Don’t startle him. Don’t give him a reason not to remain.

Someone who follows Jesus’ example says “I want the Spirit to descend on me and remain.” I want to be a place that the dove loves to perch. And not only that, I want the Dove to come and brood and continue to bring about new creation in me.

What startles the Dove?

Before I close, I just want to try to answer this question: what startles the Dove? What is the spiritual equivalent of banging pots around or slamming the door?

Perhaps the best window into this is Ephesians chapter 4, verses 30 through 32. Paul says, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.” Okay, don’t grieve the Spirit of God. Don’t startle the Dove. Paul continues, “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice”

That’s the stuff that the Holy Spirit won’t hang around for. Bitterness: it grieves the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit sees bitterness in someone’s heart, he says, “Actually, I think I’ll just go somewhere else.”

And bitterness never wants to keep to itself. It poisons those around it, as well. It spreads like a virus. It wants to fill the space and push out the presence of God. We need to guard ourselves against any bitterness if we want to host the Spirit of God, both as individuals, and as a church.

Bitterness is first on Paul’s list, but he also talks about wrath, anger, wrangling, slander, and malice. The Spirit does not bless people or churches who are clinging to these things. They’re not loving emotions. They don’t come from God. God does not bless them.

So what does Paul encourage us to do instead? What is the opposite of grieving the Holy Spirit? He continues, saying “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”

When the Spirit sees a body of believers who is kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving of one another, it’s as if the Spirit says, “This looks like a nice place for me to land. They’re striving to be like Jesus. I think I’ll come rest there.”

Is the Holy Spirit resting upon you and remaining? You’ll know if he is… the same way that you could tell if a dove were on your shoulder in the dark. You feel it. You smell it.

One final thought. [In a moment we’ll sing Spirit Song,] which was written by a pastor named John Wimber in 1979. He was very interesting character, to put it mildly. He had been a keyboard player for the band The Righteous Brothers in the 1960s. He got into all the bad things that rock musicians tend to get into. But then he met Jesus. He had a radical conversion and became a pastor.

His song, “Spirit Song” continues to be one of the more popular songs in the United Methodist Hymnal. He wrote:

“O let the Son of God enfold you with his Spirit and his love. Let him fill your heart and satisfy your soul. O let him have the things that hold you, and his Spirit like a dove will descend upon your life and make you whole.”

What is it that’s holding you today? Grief? Pain? Bitterness? Anger? Let Jesus have the things that hold you. They’re not worth holding on it. They’re killing you. And they’re keeping the Dove from coming to rest on you. Let him have the things that hold you. Because when you give Jesus the things that hold you– whatever sin you’re carrying– whatever you can’t get out from under — his Spirit like a dove will descend upon your life… and make you whole.

The post January 19, 2020 – Remain appeared first on Catonsville United Methodist Church.

A Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17

“May I see your ID?” Just this week I was asked that question when I went on a hospital visit. I have to admit that most of the time I take it for granted that I have an ID. 

It wasn’t always that way, though. I remember going with my parents to the MVA to get photographed for my first ID. It wasn’t even a driver’s license. It was some other photo ID. I don’t remember why I needed it. But I remember the feeling of getting handed that state-issued piece of plastic. This sounds kinda crazy to say, but in some way, it was really validating. Like, “I have an ID! I’m somebody!” I even have the little hologram to affirm that it’s real!

It wasn’t like I suddenly “became somebody” on the day at the MVA. But my identity was affirmed in a new way. I think I’ve probably felt similarly with every other ID I’ve gotten since that one. My driver’s license, for sure. My college ID at the University of Maryland– I was definitely really proud of that one. My government ID, when I worked for the government. Even when I became a card-carrying Methodist pastor. There’s just something validating about getting an ID.

Of course, IDs are just one thing that makes up identity. Presumably if you wanted to steal my identity, you’d benefit from having my social security number, my mother’s maiden name, and probably some other things. 

I wonder what you consider to be core pieces of your identity. 

For some people it’s the work that they do. And our culture feeds into that, doesn’t it? What’s one of the first things that you tend to ask someone when you meet them? “What do you do?” 

It seems that we think that if we want to know who someone is, we have to know what they do.

Our identity can be based on lots of other things, too. Maybe it’s your political party. Or your number of instagram followers. Maybe it’s that you make a good salary. For students, maybe it’s that you get good grades. What is your identity based off of?

Identity is actually front and center in the story of Jesus’ baptism. 

Again, this is how Matthew says what happened: 

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

The Father speaks from Heaven and the Holy Spirit comes to affirm Jesus’ identity as God’s Son. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, seen in one act at the same time. It’s such an amazing moment.

But do you know that something very similar happens when someone is baptized as a Christian? We don’t typically get the heaven-rending spectacle that Jesus did, but in a very real way, in our baptism, the Father speaks a word over us: “This is my daughter. This is my son.” And the Holy Spirit comes to affirm our identity as God’s own child and to empower us to do God’s will.

Jesus is God’s Son in a unique way. But Christians are God’s adopted children. When you adopt a child, you don’t love that child in a second class child type of way. You love that child as you would love your own biological children. Paul says, “you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” The Holy Spirit comes to witness to us the reality of our identity as children of God. The Holy Spirit is the hologram of authenticity on the ID that the Father gives you. 

I love that when Jesus was baptized, he hadn’t really done anything at all yet. All he’d done is show up to be baptized, because it was the right thing to do. His ministry hadn’t launched yet. There were no healings, no signs and wonders. And yet, God speaks and says, “This is my Son.”

That’s how it is at your baptism, whether as a baby or as an adult. It’s not about what you bring. It’s about God’s declaration over you and God’s Spirit upon you. You need to know that you are a child of God. 1 John 3:1 says, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.” That’s your ultimate identity.

I pretty much take it for granted that I have a state-issued photo ID. Do you take it for granted that you have a God-issued identity?  It’s a truth that needs to be affirmed over and over again. 

There’s something else you need to know. Yes, you have an identity, but there is an identity thief. There is someone that wants to come an snatch your God-given identity and replace it with a lesser, more vulnerable identity.

Immediately following Jesus’ baptism, Matthew chapter 4 says this, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Let’s review: The heavens cracked open and a voice declared Jesus as God’s Son. And then a few moments later, along comes the devil saying, “If you are the Son of God…” The devil is a rather bold liar, isn’t he?

One of the devil’s primary tactics against God’s children is to make them doubt their identity as children of God. It’s a tactic that’s particularly effective in derailing the faith of new Christians, but it’s also employed against more seasoned saints.

We need to guard our identity as children of God and not let the lies of the enemy snatch it away from us. Being a child of God isn’t just one more identity among many that you have, it is your primary identity. And if it’s not your primary identity, you’re missing out.

If the enemy can convince you to willingly put your primary identity somewhere else, then he can put you in a position to take you out. Because our primary identity is our primary source of validation. And your heart will follow after your source of validation.

If your identity is in a human relationship, when that relationship fails– not if, but when– your identity will be in a shambles. If your identity is in your work, your world is going to implode if you lose your job. If your identity is in the number of social media followers you have or how many likes your latest post gets, then your identity and self-image are literally at the whim of a crowd. Not to rub salt in the wound, but if your identity is in rooting for a winning football team… Hey don’t send me email, just receive the point. 

But when your primary identity is in your relationship with God, that God is your Father and you are God’s child, your identity is on rock solid ground.

So how do you get this identity? Well, it typically happens through your baptism. God’s word is spoken over you. God says, “You are my daughter.” “You are my son.” 

And the seal of your identity is the Holy Spirit. Now, don’t push this analogy too hard, but sometimes the hologram can fade if you don’t care for your ID by reaffirming your identity as a child of God. 

Do you feel worn out? Or do you feel like you’re just not sure that your faith and identity in Christ is authentic? What you’re looking for is the Holy Spirit. You know how I felt validated by getting my new plastic IDs? The Holy Spirit’s validation is like that… times a million. The Holy Spirit brings a sense of deep belonging. Unfailing love. A peace that passes understanding. Think about what it would mean if it were actually true if you were a child of God. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring the benefits of being a child of God into your experience of life.

You can actually ask for that work of the Holy Spirit in your life. We don’t repeat a water baptism, but there’s nothing to stop you from asking to receive that work of the Holy Spirit again and again. It’s one of our primary defences against identity theft.

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