Fellowship Reformed Church of Holland

November 13, 2016
Fellowship Reformed Church
Lindsay Small

Created to Belong: Clean Coal

Isaiah 6:1-8

 I’m not sure I really want to preach today.

 Don’t get me wrong, I love preaching. And I love you. But I’m finding this hard.

 The world is different today than it was a week ago.

 And I haven’t figured it all out.

 How about I just take you all to brunch? Even better, what if Nate takes us all to brunch?

 I’m sure we could scrape up enough Russ’ coupons around here…where’s JB?

 Oh wait…Russ’ is closed on Sunday…

 What if I said a few things that we would all agree with and then we could go out to brunch?

 I considered both options seriously.

 But then again…you know...and I know...that if we leave here today without naming a few things...without all being a little disrupted...without allowing God’s Word to speak...we will leave hungry...and we will remain hungry...

 Listen to the word of the Lord as it comes to us from Isaiah chapter 6…

 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

 St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the largest of its kind in the world.

 St. Peter’s is 610 feet long…that’s two football fields. And for those of you who have been there…you know those are some pretty amazing 610 steps. And if you want to climb to the top…your fit bit would register 491 stairs to your exercise log.

 It is an impressive building to say the least.

 And yet, given the vision we hear from Isaiah today…I wonder if St. Peter’s is a broom closet in comparison.

 The immensity of this passage cannot be harnessed.

 The Lord is sitting on the throne…in a space that seems as though it will not be confined to ceilings, walls, or floors…

 And the passage says the hem…the hem of the Lord’s robe filled the temple…

 Voices called out…the room shook…smoke filled the room. It is all too big for our small minds to imagine.

 And at the foot of it all…there stands Isaiah…

 Meek and mild? meet high and lofty.

 What would you say in a moment like this? His response is perfect…

 ‘Woe is me…I am lost!” I do not belong here! I am a man of filthy lips…and I live among people with filthy lips…I took a wrong turn!!!

 WOE IS ME…

 Lord, as great as you are is how bad I am!!!

 In the face of glory, it is a easy to see our faults.

 Our unclean lips,

 Our sinful selves…

 How can we even stand in God’s glory?

 And not just me…look around…Isaiah is quick to point the finger at those around him…”And if you think I’m bad…wait till you hear the people around me!”

 Woe to them too!

 Lord…we’re too bad to do any good.

 Woe is us.

 ——

 I think the problem with WOE…is that it often leads to NO. No…I can’t go…I’m just going to stay here. Find someone else. I’m not worthy of anything so I’ll just do nothing.

 Woe is me is often the end of our imagination…its simply an excuse to feel sorry for ourselves.

 We duck behind the curtain and allow our woe to be our ‘doctor’s note to get us out of gym class.’

 Dear God,

 Lindsay has a terrible case of the WOES and will not be able to participate in any Kingdom-oriented ministries until further notice. Please contact any less ‘Woe-ridden’ person you can find to fill her spot.

 Sincerely, Lindsay’s Self-Doubt

 I know I’m not the only one with a note like this in my file. And as always, its comforting to know that scripture holds a few Woe-Ridden characters as well.

 In Joshua chapter 7, God’s newly appointed leader tears his clothes and falls facedown to the ground after the Israelites had suffered a defeat…and he lays in front of the ark of the Covenant—-face in the dust all day…until he finally cries out, “Alas! Sovereign Lord!”

 ‘Alas’—Woe’s first cousin. Face down in the dust…a tell-tale sign of a case of the woes.

 The passage says the Lord answers Joshua…with a little tough love…“Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?”

 God will not excuse Joshua’s absence…

 We like the curtain…we’re comfortable behind the curtain…until we realize its the hem of the robe gently pushing us out the door…

 Our tendency is to take ourselves out long before God does…

 We cannot dismiss ourselves before God has dismissed us.

 We are not dismissed. No case of the “Woes” will get us off the hook.

 For Isaiah…his cure came in a strange form…a hot coal placed on his mouth…and the words…”Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”

 Once cured, Isaiah’s Woe turns to “Go.”

 No more woe…its time to go.

 Stand up…what are you doing down on your face?

 Verse 8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

 Isaiah takes on this call at a pivotal time in Israel’s history. King Uzziah has died…a king that ascended to the throne at 16…and reigned for 52 years.

 The people were lost…looking for hope and help in the midst of a tumultuous time.

 We know the feeling.

 This has been incredibly difficult week in our country…one that started with millions casting their ballot…but not just for a person to be president…as my dear friend Jon is putting it so eloquently this morning across town, “it was not just a number to be counted but a hope to be enacted, a fear to be recognized, a loss to be addressed.”

 And no matter who you voted for, the response has been troubling…both on a national level: protests in major cities around the country, a tumultuous stock market, a rise of hate crimes reported around the country.

 And a little closer to home, I heard stories of racially charged incidents at Hope College and locals schools…schools that our kids attend. This is not somewhere else…this is here.

 There are some who have mistaken the victory this week as a license for open attacks on minorities. Racial slurs, hateful speech, frightening and vandalism.

 This is not the 1940s, the 1960s, this is last week.

 The undercurrents of fear, anger, racism, and classism have been brewing in the American melting pot for decades, even centuries…but the pot tipped this week.

 The election did not create these things. They are not the sole property of one party or another.

 But the reality is they happened…they are happening…and they will happen…and its not okay.

 God’s heart is broken whenever someone is treated as though they were not created in his image.

 Woe is us…

 “My lips are unclean, and the people around me have unclean lips too…”

 How could we possibly sit this one out?

 Do we have the courage this morning to say, Send me? I’ll Go.”

 To say, “Woe is me…Now Send Me.”

 Send me…to the schools, the nursing home, the enabling residence, the community kitchen.

 Have we perhaps been laying with its face in the dust for too long?

 When it seems as thought the world is going down…this is the time for the church to go up.

 No more hiding behind the hem.

 God says, Stand up. Let’s go. It’s time to church up.

 After all, as I said earlier…the Lord could not be contained to the temple…

 Decades after this prophesy, God’s own son…in a much more humble temple…a local synagogue in Nazareth…stood up. And he read the words of the prophet who had appeared in that first throne room…

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
 because he has anointed me
 to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
 and recovery of sight to the blind,
 to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 Jesus stood up…

…and fulfilled the words of Isaiah.

 His robe was dusty,

His hem was frayed…

There were unclean lips all around him…

 But Christ goes…

 In the troubling political time of Jesus earthly ministry, his words were often unpopular and his actions frustrating. This episode in the synagogue almost ends with him being pushed off a cliff…

 No one said that being sent by God would be the popular thing to do…

 Its just the necessary thing to do.

 In a world whose diet seems to be lacking the Fruit of the Spirit…it is time for us to take our vitamins and shake us out of our Woe-mas.

 It is easy to feel small…

 It is easy to hide behind the hem…

 But the Lord needs us to go…now more than ever…

 Are you ready to say, ”here I am…send me…”

 Send me to speak against racism.

Send me to seek unity.

Send me to show others the love of Christ.

 There is not one person in this room, in this church, in this community, and indeed in this world outside of God’s grace, outside of God’s love, and outside of God’s call.

 And if we believe there is than our image of God is too small.

 He cannot…and will not be contained.

 “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The Whole Earth is full of his Glory.”

 Into this Whole Earth, with our Whole Lives…we are called to go.

 How could we possibility sit this one out? 

November 13, 2016
Fellowship Reformed Church
Lindsay Small

Created to Belong: Clean Coal

Isaiah 6:1-8

 I’m not sure I really want to preach today.

 Don’t get me wrong, I love preaching. And I love you. But I’m finding this hard.

 The world is different today than it was a week ago.

 And I haven’t figured it all out.

 How about I just take you all to brunch? Even better, what if Nate takes us all to brunch?

 I’m sure we could scrape up enough Russ’ coupons around here…where’s JB?

 Oh wait…Russ’ is closed on Sunday…

 What if I said a few things that we would all agree with and then we could go out to brunch?

 I considered both options seriously.

 But then again…you know...and I know...that if we leave here today without naming a few things...without all being a little disrupted...without allowing God’s Word to speak...we will leave hungry...and we will remain hungry...

 Listen to the word of the Lord as it comes to us from Isaiah chapter 6…

 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

 St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the largest of its kind in the world.

 St. Peter’s is 610 feet long…that’s two football fields. And for those of you who have been there…you know those are some pretty amazing 610 steps. And if you want to climb to the top…your fit bit would register 491 stairs to your exercise log.

 It is an impressive building to say the least.

 And yet, given the vision we hear from Isaiah today…I wonder if St. Peter’s is a broom closet in comparison.

 The immensity of this passage cannot be harnessed.

 The Lord is sitting on the throne…in a space that seems as though it will not be confined to ceilings, walls, or floors…

 And the passage says the hem…the hem of the Lord’s robe filled the temple…

 Voices called out…the room shook…smoke filled the room. It is all too big for our small minds to imagine.

 And at the foot of it all…there stands Isaiah…

 Meek and mild? meet high and lofty.

 What would you say in a moment like this? His response is perfect…

 ‘Woe is me…I am lost!” I do not belong here! I am a man of filthy lips…and I live among people with filthy lips…I took a wrong turn!!!

 WOE IS ME…

 Lord, as great as you are is how bad I am!!!

 In the face of glory, it is a easy to see our faults.

 Our unclean lips,

 Our sinful selves…

 How can we even stand in God’s glory?

 And not just me…look around…Isaiah is quick to point the finger at those around him…”And if you think I’m bad…wait till you hear the people around me!”

 Woe to them too!

 Lord…we’re too bad to do any good.

 Woe is us.

 ——

 I think the problem with WOE…is that it often leads to NO. No…I can’t go…I’m just going to stay here. Find someone else. I’m not worthy of anything so I’ll just do nothing.

 Woe is me is often the end of our imagination…its simply an excuse to feel sorry for ourselves.

 We duck behind the curtain and allow our woe to be our ‘doctor’s note to get us out of gym class.’

 Dear God,

 Lindsay has a terrible case of the WOES and will not be able to participate in any Kingdom-oriented ministries until further notice. Please contact any less ‘Woe-ridden’ person you can find to fill her spot.

 Sincerely, Lindsay’s Self-Doubt

 I know I’m not the only one with a note like this in my file. And as always, its comforting to know that scripture holds a few Woe-Ridden characters as well.

 In Joshua chapter 7, God’s newly appointed leader tears his clothes and falls facedown to the ground after the Israelites had suffered a defeat…and he lays in front of the ark of the Covenant—-face in the dust all day…until he finally cries out, “Alas! Sovereign Lord!”

 ‘Alas’—Woe’s first cousin. Face down in the dust…a tell-tale sign of a case of the woes.

 The passage says the Lord answers Joshua…with a little tough love…“Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?”

 God will not excuse Joshua’s absence…

 We like the curtain…we’re comfortable behind the curtain…until we realize its the hem of the robe gently pushing us out the door…

 Our tendency is to take ourselves out long before God does…

 We cannot dismiss ourselves before God has dismissed us.

 We are not dismissed. No case of the “Woes” will get us off the hook.

 For Isaiah…his cure came in a strange form…a hot coal placed on his mouth…and the words…”Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”

 Once cured, Isaiah’s Woe turns to “Go.”

 No more woe…its time to go.

 Stand up…what are you doing down on your face?

 Verse 8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

 Isaiah takes on this call at a pivotal time in Israel’s history. King Uzziah has died…a king that ascended to the throne at 16…and reigned for 52 years.

 The people were lost…looking for hope and help in the midst of a tumultuous time.

 We know the feeling.

 This has been incredibly difficult week in our country…one that started with millions casting their ballot…but not just for a person to be president…as my dear friend Jon is putting it so eloquently this morning across town, “it was not just a number to be counted but a hope to be enacted, a fear to be recognized, a loss to be addressed.”

 And no matter who you voted for, the response has been troubling…both on a national level: protests in major cities around the country, a tumultuous stock market, a rise of hate crimes reported around the country.

 And a little closer to home, I heard stories of racially charged incidents at Hope College and locals schools…schools that our kids attend. This is not somewhere else…this is here.

 There are some who have mistaken the victory this week as a license for open attacks on minorities. Racial slurs, hateful speech, frightening and vandalism.

 This is not the 1940s, the 1960s, this is last week.

 The undercurrents of fear, anger, racism, and classism have been brewing in the American melting pot for decades, even centuries…but the pot tipped this week.

 The election did not create these things. They are not the sole property of one party or another.

 But the reality is they happened…they are happening…and they will happen…and its not okay.

 God’s heart is broken whenever someone is treated as though they were not created in his image.

 Woe is us…

 “My lips are unclean, and the people around me have unclean lips too…”

 How could we possibly sit this one out?

 Do we have the courage this morning to say, Send me? I’ll Go.”

 To say, “Woe is me…Now Send Me.”

 Send me…to the schools, the nursing home, the enabling residence, the community kitchen.

 Have we perhaps been laying with its face in the dust for too long?

 When it seems as thought the world is going down…this is the time for the church to go up.

 No more hiding behind the hem.

 God says, Stand up. Let’s go. It’s time to church up.

 After all, as I said earlier…the Lord could not be contained to the temple…

 Decades after this prophesy, God’s own son…in a much more humble temple…a local synagogue in Nazareth…stood up. And he read the words of the prophet who had appeared in that first throne room…

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
 because he has anointed me
 to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
 and recovery of sight to the blind,
 to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 Jesus stood up…

…and fulfilled the words of Isaiah.

 His robe was dusty,

His hem was frayed…

There were unclean lips all around him…

 But Christ goes…

 In the troubling political time of Jesus earthly ministry, his words were often unpopular and his actions frustrating. This episode in the synagogue almost ends with him being pushed off a cliff…

 No one said that being sent by God would be the popular thing to do…

 Its just the necessary thing to do.

 In a world whose diet seems to be lacking the Fruit of the Spirit…it is time for us to take our vitamins and shake us out of our Woe-mas.

 It is easy to feel small…

 It is easy to hide behind the hem…

 But the Lord needs us to go…now more than ever…

 Are you ready to say, ”here I am…send me…”

 Send me to speak against racism.

Send me to seek unity.

Send me to show others the love of Christ.

 There is not one person in this room, in this church, in this community, and indeed in this world outside of God’s grace, outside of God’s love, and outside of God’s call.

 And if we believe there is than our image of God is too small.

 He cannot…and will not be contained.

 “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The Whole Earth is full of his Glory.”

 Into this Whole Earth, with our Whole Lives…we are called to go.

 How could we possibility sit this one out? 

November 6, 2016
Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: Malachi 3:1-18

Created to Belong: Putting God to the Test 

The drought is finally over.

After 108 years of waiting, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in dramatic style this past Wednesday in Game 7 that went to extra innings. Millions of fans crowded along Michigan Avenue for a Celebration Parade on Friday, waving flags and erupting with cheers. Yes, the drought is finally over for America’s baseball team!

If only the same could be said for God’s covenant people, Israel, and the drought they faced.

Sure, the drought we heard about last Sunday in the OT book of 1 Kings eventually came to an end. It came to an end when Elijah went toe-to-toe with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Caramel—a showdown that exceeded even the World Series in thrills and excitement.

I wish I could tell you that, after this decisive moment of victory on Mt. Caramel, there were no more droughts, that God’s people straightened up and started living faithfully before the God who was faithful to them.

But that’s not how the story goes. There would be a pattern that, if we’re honest, continues with us today—God’s people would turn their hearts back to God and resolve to be faithful. But then after a while, they’d turn away from God again and fail to keep his commandments. Droughts would keep coming, sometimes literally but most often figuratively in the sense of experiencing separation from God.

The most severe kind of “drought” was exile. Because of Israel’s disobedience, God handed them over to their enemies, who destroyed Jerusalem and burned down the temple and carted them off to a foreign land.

But God stays in the story and eventually rescues his people from exile and brings them back to Jerusalem. Today we’re going to fast forward the story quite a ways—all the way to the last book of the OT—a book called “Malachi.” Malachi, like Elijah, is a prophet—a messenger of God sent to his people to be God’s mouthpiece. In fact, the name Malachi literally means, “My Messenger.”

The “drought” of exile in Babylon is over. Under the leadership of the priest Ezra and the governor Nehemiah, God has brought his people home to Jerusalem and the walls and the temple, once in ruins, now have been rebuilt.

But the “drought” in not entirely over, I’m sorry to say. God had promised his people “blessings from heaven,” but that is not what they’re experiencing. Sure, it’s good to be home, but they are still on hard times. None of the previous prophecies about this glorious messianic kingdom have come to pass, and locusts and drought still ravage their crops. Existence remains a desperate struggle for God’s people.

And so the Israelites call God to account. In fact, they put God on trial. That’s what’s happening in the book of Malachi—it has the feel of a court room, like an episode of “Law and Order.” It’s the People vs. Yahweh. They insist God take the witness stand and give an account for why he has allowed certain things to happen. God, where are you? Why haven’t you done what you said you’d do?

And what are the first words out of God’s mouth? Not defensiveness or denial. Not a list of excuses. God affirms his love for his people, affirms his love for us. “I have loved you says the LORD, and I love you still.” Later, God will say, “I the LORD do not change”—God’s covenant faithfulness to his people has not changed, even if they doubt God’s promises and have grown cynical.

But then a sudden plot twist. God turns the table on the Israelites, and now he becomes the prosecutor and they are summoned to the witness stand. They were so quick to accuse God, to put God on trial, but God now puts them on trial.

They blame God for what is happening to them, and yet they are living selfish, disobedient lives. They’re giving God half-hearted worship at best, withholding their offerings. Hearts of family members are turning against each other, and husbands are divorcing their wives for the thrills of younger women. The poor and the most vulnerable are being neglected. And their leaders, the priests, are the worst of all! In fact, it is the corruption of the priests that leads to the corruption of the rest of the people.

It’s not a pretty picture. I want to invite you into the court room drama this morning—we get a front row seat. Here the Word of the Lord from Malachi chapter 3:

For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. 7Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

8 Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings! 9You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! 10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11I will rebuke the locust* for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 12Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

These are not easy words to hear. When God plays the role of prosecutor, like he does in this text, you can’t help but feel a bit defensive. I’m sure the Israelites must have felt that way.

But let’s not forget something that is foundational. God speaks these harsh words not in spite of his love for us but because of his love for us! God created and called the Israelites, as he has created and calls us, to belong to Him—to be his “special possession”, a people who bear witness to his life and love in the world.

The Israelites were not living as those who belong to God; they were not living their lives in response to God’s love and grace. And so God calls them, and us, to repent—to turn back to him and away from our selfishness and disobedience. “Return to me, “God says, “And I will return to you.”

The Israelites ask, “How shall we return?”

And God says, “Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me!”

The people say, “How are we robbing you?”

And God answers, “In your tithes and offerings.”

God had commanded the people to give 10 percent of the treasure he has blessed them with—their crops and livestock—and offer it in the Temple as an act of worship. The priests would take this and offer it as a sacrifice on the altar.

The “offerings” were those treasures given beyond the tithe that were given to provide for the priests and Levites, who depended on the people’s generosity to live, and then to also provide for the needs of others in their community—especially the poor and the vulnerable.

What was happening was that the people were not bringing in their full tithe nor their offerings, and they were likely withholding their best livestock and produce for themselves and giving God the left-overs—that which was blemished.

Not only was this dishonoring to God, it also meant that the needs of the community were being neglected—especially those who were most vulnerable. God is not pleased about this.

Now let’s pause here to make sure we’re clear on something important. God does not command the Israelites to bring in the full tithe and their offerings as if they need to somehow “buy” God’s love and acceptance. God is not a divine vending machine where they make a transaction—they insert their coins and then press the blessing they want.

Rather, God commands them to give the full tithe and their offerings as an act of gratitude and worship for the love and acceptance God already offers them free of charge. This was their response to God’s grace and generosity in their lives. Their way of saying to God, “Thank you!” and “We love you!”

It was also their way of acknowledging that they belong to God, and so does everything they possess. They were not owners of their treasure but stewards who were being called to glorify God by the way they handled the gifts God had given them. It makes all the difference in the world how you view your treasure—if you see it as yours or truly as God’s.

One of the most important things we see in Malachi is a theme weaved throughout the Bible, and we hear it from Jesus as well: Giving is a heart issue. Our giving is a reflection of our hearts. It is an expression of our faith. And the stingyness of the Israelites in Malachi reveals hearts that had drifted from God and were curved in on themselves.

As it goes with our hearts, so it will go with our giving.

But there is another piece to this that is equally important—the other side of the coin. It’s not just that our giving reveals our hearts; our giving can also shape our hearts. Giving is not just an expression of faith; it is a means by which God increases our faith. In other words, while it is true that “as it goes with our hearts, so it will go with our giving,” it is also true that “as it goes with our giving, so it will go with our hearts.”

Jesus said, “Wherever your treasure is; there your heart will be also.” This is so insightful—that wherever we choose to place our treasure, our hearts will follow. In the act of giving, our hearts begin to care more deeply about whatever it is that we are giving to.

This is why God calls the Israelites to return to him by becoming more generous—bringing in the full tithe and their offerings—because he is giving them a spiritual practice by which to turn their hearts back to God--to grow in their love for and trust in God. It is the path to drawing closer to God and growing spiritually.

Listen again to what God says about this: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the LORD of Hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”

It’s a startling invitation—God says, “Go ahead, put me to the test on this! Make the decision to be obedient—to give the full tithe and be generous in your offerings—and then see how I will bless you! It is the only place in the Bible that we are invited to test God. Typically, the command is to not put your God to the test. But in this matter of tithing and sacrificial giving, God says, “Go ahead, test me. And let me show you the difference it will make in your own heart!”

Of course it’s not just about our own hearts. Ultimately it’s about living fully into the purpose to which we’ve been called—and that is to live a life bigger than ourselves as a people who are on mission with God. You see, that’s the way the economy of God’s blessing works. Israel was called to be a channel of God’s blessing, not a container or safety- deposit box. God blesses them for the purpose of blessing the families of the earth through them. And the more that we open our hands to share what God has given us, the more abundant is God’s blessing poured out upon us—it overflows!

Today marks the second year anniversary of our three year capital campaign…and there is so much to celebrate! If giving reflects the hearts of God’s people, I have to tell you—your generosity in this campaign indicates much spiritual vitality. We are two thirds into this campaign, and I’m so pleased to share with you that as of today, we have nearly 80 percent of the money in from pledges! This is remarkable! Praise be to God!

So I want to say thank you to all of you who have been so generous. From the beginning, we’ve said that is not so much about the amount given, but the level of sacrifice and the joy with which the gift is given.

I also want to challenge us, as a congregation, to finish strong. We have one more year left, and the reality is, the sooner we reach our goal and, hopefully, even exceed it, the sooner we can pay off the debt and are able to use the money God has given us in other ways to impact lives.

Lastly, I want to make an invitation. For those of us who have not yet made a pledge or contributed to the building project, you can still be involved! We have pledge cards available this morning, and I want to ask you to consider how God is calling you to play your part. If our hearts follow where we place our treasure, then it is true that investing financially in some way—again it’s not about the amount but the sacrifice—will give you a sense of deeper investment and even delight in enjoying the new sanctuary and seeing the repurposing happen in the former.

There may be others of us who, because of God’s blessings in our lives, are in a position now where we can give even beyond what we pledged (or perhaps we finished our pledge). I want to ask you to consider stepping out in faith and making an additional gift.

Malachi’s challenge this morning goes beyond the scope of this building project. It is a call to live all of life as a generous people who give sacrificially and joyfully to God and God’s work. One of my deepest convictions is that growing in generosity is literally at the heart of being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. It has to do with every gift God has given us—not just finances but time and talent as well.

It’s about living all of life out of a spirit of trust and gratitude---opening our hands and our hearts to receive the downpour of God’s blessings from heaven---blessings that may not come in the form of winning a World Series or more money or bigger houses and promotions at work—but blessings from heaven that come in the form of a sense of freedom and joy. The freedom and joy of living a generous life.

Let me close with one of my favorite stories. Two years ago, leading up to our Commitment Sunday, there was a little boy in our congregation—8 years old at the time—who had received his “Imagine Envelope” in Sunday School and took it home to his parents and was so excited about it. That night, he sat down at the kitchen table and emptied out his piggy bank. He even took the money he had received a couple nights prior from the tooth fairy as a reward for his lost tooth, and put in the envelope. Then his little imagination got going—thinking about all the ways he could earn money to give. He told his parents he was going to create some artwork and sell it to family and friends and give half of it to the building campaign. Then he got another idea that he could have his mom pull out some of his other loose teeth so he could take the money he’d get from the tooth fairy and add that to his contribution. By this point, the little boy is on a roll, getting so excited about all the money he was going to give that he nearly burst out of his 8-year-old skin. With a big smile he exclaims to his parents: “I’m a givin’ machine!”

This little boy experienced what I imagine God wanted the Israelites to experience, what God wants all of us to experience—the life and joy of being a “giving machine”—opening our hands wider and wider so that we might be pulled deeper and deeper into the heart of God--into the flow of the downpour of God’s blessings from heaven.

It is at this Table, in this bread and cup, that we come to receive the generous blessings of God, poured out in Jesus Christ, so that we might be transformed into “giving machines”—a channel of blessing, dispensers of grace, those who belong to God and live all of life with open hands and generous hearts for the praise of God’s glory.

“Then all the nations will count you happy; for you will be a land of delight—you will be a people of delight, says the LORD of hosts.”

Even so, come Lord Jesus! Amen!

November 6, 2016
Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: Malachi 3:1-18

Created to Belong: Putting God to the Test 

The drought is finally over.

After 108 years of waiting, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in dramatic style this past Wednesday in Game 7 that went to extra innings. Millions of fans crowded along Michigan Avenue for a Celebration Parade on Friday, waving flags and erupting with cheers. Yes, the drought is finally over for America’s baseball team!

If only the same could be said for God’s covenant people, Israel, and the drought they faced.

Sure, the drought we heard about last Sunday in the OT book of 1 Kings eventually came to an end. It came to an end when Elijah went toe-to-toe with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Caramel—a showdown that exceeded even the World Series in thrills and excitement.

I wish I could tell you that, after this decisive moment of victory on Mt. Caramel, there were no more droughts, that God’s people straightened up and started living faithfully before the God who was faithful to them.

But that’s not how the story goes. There would be a pattern that, if we’re honest, continues with us today—God’s people would turn their hearts back to God and resolve to be faithful. But then after a while, they’d turn away from God again and fail to keep his commandments. Droughts would keep coming, sometimes literally but most often figuratively in the sense of experiencing separation from God.

The most severe kind of “drought” was exile. Because of Israel’s disobedience, God handed them over to their enemies, who destroyed Jerusalem and burned down the temple and carted them off to a foreign land.

But God stays in the story and eventually rescues his people from exile and brings them back to Jerusalem. Today we’re going to fast forward the story quite a ways—all the way to the last book of the OT—a book called “Malachi.” Malachi, like Elijah, is a prophet—a messenger of God sent to his people to be God’s mouthpiece. In fact, the name Malachi literally means, “My Messenger.”

The “drought” of exile in Babylon is over. Under the leadership of the priest Ezra and the governor Nehemiah, God has brought his people home to Jerusalem and the walls and the temple, once in ruins, now have been rebuilt.

But the “drought” in not entirely over, I’m sorry to say. God had promised his people “blessings from heaven,” but that is not what they’re experiencing. Sure, it’s good to be home, but they are still on hard times. None of the previous prophecies about this glorious messianic kingdom have come to pass, and locusts and drought still ravage their crops. Existence remains a desperate struggle for God’s people.

And so the Israelites call God to account. In fact, they put God on trial. That’s what’s happening in the book of Malachi—it has the feel of a court room, like an episode of “Law and Order.” It’s the People vs. Yahweh. They insist God take the witness stand and give an account for why he has allowed certain things to happen. God, where are you? Why haven’t you done what you said you’d do?

And what are the first words out of God’s mouth? Not defensiveness or denial. Not a list of excuses. God affirms his love for his people, affirms his love for us. “I have loved you says the LORD, and I love you still.” Later, God will say, “I the LORD do not change”—God’s covenant faithfulness to his people has not changed, even if they doubt God’s promises and have grown cynical.

But then a sudden plot twist. God turns the table on the Israelites, and now he becomes the prosecutor and they are summoned to the witness stand. They were so quick to accuse God, to put God on trial, but God now puts them on trial.

They blame God for what is happening to them, and yet they are living selfish, disobedient lives. They’re giving God half-hearted worship at best, withholding their offerings. Hearts of family members are turning against each other, and husbands are divorcing their wives for the thrills of younger women. The poor and the most vulnerable are being neglected. And their leaders, the priests, are the worst of all! In fact, it is the corruption of the priests that leads to the corruption of the rest of the people.

It’s not a pretty picture. I want to invite you into the court room drama this morning—we get a front row seat. Here the Word of the Lord from Malachi chapter 3:

For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. 7Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

8 Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings! 9You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! 10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11I will rebuke the locust* for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 12Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

These are not easy words to hear. When God plays the role of prosecutor, like he does in this text, you can’t help but feel a bit defensive. I’m sure the Israelites must have felt that way.

But let’s not forget something that is foundational. God speaks these harsh words not in spite of his love for us but because of his love for us! God created and called the Israelites, as he has created and calls us, to belong to Him—to be his “special possession”, a people who bear witness to his life and love in the world.

The Israelites were not living as those who belong to God; they were not living their lives in response to God’s love and grace. And so God calls them, and us, to repent—to turn back to him and away from our selfishness and disobedience. “Return to me, “God says, “And I will return to you.”

The Israelites ask, “How shall we return?”

And God says, “Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me!”

The people say, “How are we robbing you?”

And God answers, “In your tithes and offerings.”

God had commanded the people to give 10 percent of the treasure he has blessed them with—their crops and livestock—and offer it in the Temple as an act of worship. The priests would take this and offer it as a sacrifice on the altar.

The “offerings” were those treasures given beyond the tithe that were given to provide for the priests and Levites, who depended on the people’s generosity to live, and then to also provide for the needs of others in their community—especially the poor and the vulnerable.

What was happening was that the people were not bringing in their full tithe nor their offerings, and they were likely withholding their best livestock and produce for themselves and giving God the left-overs—that which was blemished.

Not only was this dishonoring to God, it also meant that the needs of the community were being neglected—especially those who were most vulnerable. God is not pleased about this.

Now let’s pause here to make sure we’re clear on something important. God does not command the Israelites to bring in the full tithe and their offerings as if they need to somehow “buy” God’s love and acceptance. God is not a divine vending machine where they make a transaction—they insert their coins and then press the blessing they want.

Rather, God commands them to give the full tithe and their offerings as an act of gratitude and worship for the love and acceptance God already offers them free of charge. This was their response to God’s grace and generosity in their lives. Their way of saying to God, “Thank you!” and “We love you!”

It was also their way of acknowledging that they belong to God, and so does everything they possess. They were not owners of their treasure but stewards who were being called to glorify God by the way they handled the gifts God had given them. It makes all the difference in the world how you view your treasure—if you see it as yours or truly as God’s.

One of the most important things we see in Malachi is a theme weaved throughout the Bible, and we hear it from Jesus as well: Giving is a heart issue. Our giving is a reflection of our hearts. It is an expression of our faith. And the stingyness of the Israelites in Malachi reveals hearts that had drifted from God and were curved in on themselves.

As it goes with our hearts, so it will go with our giving.

But there is another piece to this that is equally important—the other side of the coin. It’s not just that our giving reveals our hearts; our giving can also shape our hearts. Giving is not just an expression of faith; it is a means by which God increases our faith. In other words, while it is true that “as it goes with our hearts, so it will go with our giving,” it is also true that “as it goes with our giving, so it will go with our hearts.”

Jesus said, “Wherever your treasure is; there your heart will be also.” This is so insightful—that wherever we choose to place our treasure, our hearts will follow. In the act of giving, our hearts begin to care more deeply about whatever it is that we are giving to.

This is why God calls the Israelites to return to him by becoming more generous—bringing in the full tithe and their offerings—because he is giving them a spiritual practice by which to turn their hearts back to God--to grow in their love for and trust in God. It is the path to drawing closer to God and growing spiritually.

Listen again to what God says about this: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the LORD of Hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”

It’s a startling invitation—God says, “Go ahead, put me to the test on this! Make the decision to be obedient—to give the full tithe and be generous in your offerings—and then see how I will bless you! It is the only place in the Bible that we are invited to test God. Typically, the command is to not put your God to the test. But in this matter of tithing and sacrificial giving, God says, “Go ahead, test me. And let me show you the difference it will make in your own heart!”

Of course it’s not just about our own hearts. Ultimately it’s about living fully into the purpose to which we’ve been called—and that is to live a life bigger than ourselves as a people who are on mission with God. You see, that’s the way the economy of God’s blessing works. Israel was called to be a channel of God’s blessing, not a container or safety- deposit box. God blesses them for the purpose of blessing the families of the earth through them. And the more that we open our hands to share what God has given us, the more abundant is God’s blessing poured out upon us—it overflows!

Today marks the second year anniversary of our three year capital campaign…and there is so much to celebrate! If giving reflects the hearts of God’s people, I have to tell you—your generosity in this campaign indicates much spiritual vitality. We are two thirds into this campaign, and I’m so pleased to share with you that as of today, we have nearly 80 percent of the money in from pledges! This is remarkable! Praise be to God!

So I want to say thank you to all of you who have been so generous. From the beginning, we’ve said that is not so much about the amount given, but the level of sacrifice and the joy with which the gift is given.

I also want to challenge us, as a congregation, to finish strong. We have one more year left, and the reality is, the sooner we reach our goal and, hopefully, even exceed it, the sooner we can pay off the debt and are able to use the money God has given us in other ways to impact lives.

Lastly, I want to make an invitation. For those of us who have not yet made a pledge or contributed to the building project, you can still be involved! We have pledge cards available this morning, and I want to ask you to consider how God is calling you to play your part. If our hearts follow where we place our treasure, then it is true that investing financially in some way—again it’s not about the amount but the sacrifice—will give you a sense of deeper investment and even delight in enjoying the new sanctuary and seeing the repurposing happen in the former.

There may be others of us who, because of God’s blessings in our lives, are in a position now where we can give even beyond what we pledged (or perhaps we finished our pledge). I want to ask you to consider stepping out in faith and making an additional gift.

Malachi’s challenge this morning goes beyond the scope of this building project. It is a call to live all of life as a generous people who give sacrificially and joyfully to God and God’s work. One of my deepest convictions is that growing in generosity is literally at the heart of being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. It has to do with every gift God has given us—not just finances but time and talent as well.

It’s about living all of life out of a spirit of trust and gratitude---opening our hands and our hearts to receive the downpour of God’s blessings from heaven---blessings that may not come in the form of winning a World Series or more money or bigger houses and promotions at work—but blessings from heaven that come in the form of a sense of freedom and joy. The freedom and joy of living a generous life.

Let me close with one of my favorite stories. Two years ago, leading up to our Commitment Sunday, there was a little boy in our congregation—8 years old at the time—who had received his “Imagine Envelope” in Sunday School and took it home to his parents and was so excited about it. That night, he sat down at the kitchen table and emptied out his piggy bank. He even took the money he had received a couple nights prior from the tooth fairy as a reward for his lost tooth, and put in the envelope. Then his little imagination got going—thinking about all the ways he could earn money to give. He told his parents he was going to create some artwork and sell it to family and friends and give half of it to the building campaign. Then he got another idea that he could have his mom pull out some of his other loose teeth so he could take the money he’d get from the tooth fairy and add that to his contribution. By this point, the little boy is on a roll, getting so excited about all the money he was going to give that he nearly burst out of his 8-year-old skin. With a big smile he exclaims to his parents: “I’m a givin’ machine!”

This little boy experienced what I imagine God wanted the Israelites to experience, what God wants all of us to experience—the life and joy of being a “giving machine”—opening our hands wider and wider so that we might be pulled deeper and deeper into the heart of God--into the flow of the downpour of God’s blessings from heaven.

It is at this Table, in this bread and cup, that we come to receive the generous blessings of God, poured out in Jesus Christ, so that we might be transformed into “giving machines”—a channel of blessing, dispensers of grace, those who belong to God and live all of life with open hands and generous hearts for the praise of God’s glory.

“Then all the nations will count you happy; for you will be a land of delight—you will be a people of delight, says the LORD of hosts.”

Even so, come Lord Jesus! Amen!

October 30, 2016
Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: 1 Kings 17:1-24

Created to Belong: Words of Life

Words.

We live in a culture that inundates us with words. Words are everywhere; they come at us from all directions.

“Our society is full of words,” writes the late Henri Nouwen. “[Words] on billboards, on television screens, in newspapers and books. Words whispered, shouted, and sung. Words that move, dance, and change in size and color. Words that say, “Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me, sleep with me,” but most of all, “buy me.” With so many words around us, we quickly say: “Well, they’re just words.” Thus, words have lost much of their power.”

It does seem that way, doesn’t it? That words have lost their power. But then Nouwen goes on to say this:

“Still, the word has the power to create. When God speaks, God creates. When God says, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), light is. God speaks light. For God, speaking and creating are the same. It is this creative power of the word we need to reclaim. What we say is very important. When we say, “I love you,” and say it from the heart, we can give another person new life, new hope, new courage. When we say, “I hate you,” we can destroy another person. Let’s watch our words.”

I considered sending this Nouwen quote to Senator Clinton and Mr. Trump this week. But with “Election Day” nine days away, I figured it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Don’t get me going on this presidential race. The one thing I will say is that we have seen a shameful display—from both candidates—of words used carelessly, even viciously. Words used like weapons to discriminate, disrespect, attack, blame, manipulate, conceal the truth, and destroy.

So that old nursery rhyme we were all taught—“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me”—although easy to memorize is simply not true. Words can and do hurt. They can do even worse. Proverbs 18:21 cuts to the heart of the matter: “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.” (The Message). All of this is to say…our words matter.

Our story this morning from 1 Kings is a story about words and the Word, and the way in which words bless or curse, kill or give life.

Last Sunday, we heard the story of King David and how he wanted to build God a house—a temple to hold the Ark of the Covenant. But God tells David to hold off. Instead, God will build David a house, meaning that God will bless David’s descendents and God promises that David’s dynasty shall reign on the throne of Israel forever.

Today in 1 Kings 17, about a hundred years has passed since God made that promise to David. Over the years, God has kept his promise that one of David’s offspring would always be on the throne, but things are not going well. The king is supposed to represent God to his people, to lead in a way that obeys and honors God. But what we get in 1 Kings is one bad king after another—David’s descendents—speaking and acting in ways that dishonor God and negatively impact the people. The recurring phrase used to describe one king after another is this: “And _________(fill in the blank) did evil in the sight of the Lord.”

In our text today, Ahab son of Omri is on the throne. And we’re told that “Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before them.” (italics added). Ahab was a very successful king, but he was also one of the most wicked kings.

Not only did his speech and actions dishonor God, but he was guilty of idolatry. He married Jezebel, daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidionites, who was the champion of Baal worship. Baal was the rain and fertility god of the Canaanites. And Jezebel drew Ahab into the worship of Baal as well. It’s a dark time in the land. Death is all around.

But then in the darkness, God’s Word comes. The Word of the Lord comes to a prophet named Elijah the Tishbite, and God’s Spirit descends upon him. The same Word and Spirit that spoke in the beginning of creation, “Let there be light!” The same Word and Spirit that made promises to Abraham beneath the canopy of a star-lit sky. The same Word and Spirit that said to David, “I will make your name great…I will establish my kingdom through you and your descendents.”

Yes, that Word and Spirit comes. And God calls out to Elijah and makes Elijah his messenger. “Tell Ahab: As the LORD the God if Israel lives…there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

God’s Word causes a draught, a famine in the land. God makes visible the kind of draught and famine that was in the land already—morally and spiritually—through the wickedness of these kings. Baal was worshipped by the Canaanites as the god who brings rain and vegetation. The stage is being set here to show something we must not miss. At the deepest level, this story and what happens after it is really about a confrontation between two gods—Baal and Yahweh, the God of Israel. Which is the true God? Which God has the power to bring life from death?

And already we’re being shown that the true God—the God who can bring life and healing and restoration—is not Baal. The true God whose words have power is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—the God of the prophet Elijah.

Then God’s Word sends Elijah into the wilderness, to the Wadi Cherith. A wadi is a deep ravine that fills up with water during the rainy season. God provides Elijah water to drink and the sends ravens with bread to eat as a way of assuring Elijah that God’s word is trustworthy and true. All the action in this story really centers on God and God’s Word. But the other characters, like Elijah, need to make the decision to trust God’s Word. Even in times of drought and famine, we must step out in faith, trusting that God will provide us just enough. That’s what God does for Elijah here. Elijah himself is facing death, but God’s Word brings life in the midst of death.

Then what happens next? Again, we’re told that “the word of the Lord came to Elijah” and this time God says, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” Now we should know that Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife who is Baal’s champion, is also from Sidon. We’ve seen God provide for Elijah in the wilderness, giving food and water in a way that the god Baal cannot.

Now, God is sending his prophet into Baal’s home country. It’s like a sports team traveling to play on the home field of their opponent. Can God’s Word display power and bring life even on Baal’s home field? This time it’s not just Elijah’s life that is on the line, but it is also a poor widow who is on the brink of starving to death.

The widow has hardly anything—she’s scraping together a few sticks at the city gate to go home and cook the last bit of food she has for she and her son. She is desperate and has run out of options. She doesn’t have enough to feed herself and her son, let alone provide for a guest. But God tells Elijah to ask her for food and drink. And this woman, like Elijah was earlier, is confronted with a choice. Will she trust that God’s word is true and he will provide for her and her son?

Once again, Baal does nothing. He is powerless in the face of this famine and drought. In fact, Canaanite myth has it that when there was a drought or famine in the land, it indicated that Baal was dead! Notice the contrast in the story: Elijah represents Yahweh, the living God!

And so he tells the woman, “Do not be afraid; go and make me a little cake, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.” In other words, trust my words and that my God, the God of Israel, will provide for you and your son—more than enough. In a time of scarcity, when it is easy to give in to fear, trust that God will show himself to be a God of abundance.

And the widow, like Elijah, acts in faith. She goes and does what Elijah tells her, and the jar of meal miraculously did not run empty, according to the word of the Lord that God spoke through Elijah. We see it again. God provides. And by the power of his Word, he brings life in the midst of death.

There’s one last story here that completes the first two. We’re told that after all of this, the widow’s son becomes ill and he dies. The woman is deeply grieved, and she assumes, as was a common way of thinking in the ancient world, that this terrible thing has happened because Elijah’s God is angry with her and she has sinned. Other places in the Bible tell us that it is true that death is part of the consequence of living in a broken and fallen world, but it is not necessarily true that when bad things happen, it is a causal result of something we did wrong.

So we’ve seen God provide in a time of drought and famine. We’ve seen God’s word bring life out of death for Elijah in the wilderness and this widow and her son on the brink of starvation. But now comes a greater test. What about in the throes of death, when death has already happened? Can God’s Word bring life even from the ashes of the grave? Once again, Baal is nowhere to be seen or heard. How can a dead god bring the dead back to life?

But Elijah’s God, the God of Israel, is not dead. He is the living God. And so Elijah says to the woman, “Give me your son,” and he carries him up to the upper chamber and lays the boy on his own bed. Then Elijah prays—with his own words, he cries out to God, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself over the child three times, and says, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come to him again.”

In this strange act, something very important is happening here. It is a symbolic act, a way of saying, “Let his lifeless body be as my lively body.” Elijah doesn’t just speak this prayer, asking God to raise him to life, but he has so identified with God at this point, that he is offering his own life, his own breath, to be poured into the boy’s body. Of course it is God’s breath passing through and entering into the lifeless body of this child.

And God does it. God does what Baal cannot do. God’s Word, his very action through his prophet, raises this boy out of death and into life. “See, your son is alive.” Elijah says. And the woman, who has already acted in faith, now confirms her faith: “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the Word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.”

In a drought-stricken world, we so desperately need words of life! Words of truth! Words of blessing! We need a God who meets us in our places of fear and doubt, poverty and scarcity, darkness and death.

And this is the hopeful storyline of the Bible. It’s the story of a God who is sovereign, whose Word and Spirit are powerful and bring life and light into all the dead and dark places, a God who is on a mission to restore life to this whole world.

This is the God who meets us in Jesus Christ. In the gospel of John, Jesus disciples say to him, “To whom shall we go? For we know that you are the one who has the words of eternal life.”

Jesus not only speaks words of life; he is the Word of Life who forgives our sins, heals our brokenness, and raises the dead to life again!

Through Jesus, God provides. God meets us in our deepest need and revives us—brings us to life—life that begins now and is not just about heaven when we die.

Through the sacrament of baptism today we have been reminded of this—that God’s Word is true, God’s promises are sure, and that God does for us what we (and no other gods) can do—he raises us from death to new life.

And has those who belong to God in Christ, who have been marked as God’s own in the waters of baptism, in whom the Word of Life dwells, God has breathed his Spirit upon us and sends us into the world to be agents of life and blessing.

One of the ways we are called to do this is through our words—our speech. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to proclaim good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the prisoner, the year of the Lord’s favor! God calls us to use our words to join in God’s mission—to build up, heal, forgive, advocate for justice, to speak the truth in love, to speak life.

How might you use our words to do this? How might God’s Spirit desire to speak through you? In what ways are you using your own words to heal instead of harm, to give life rather than kill, to produce fruit rather than spew poison?

Whenever we use our words to join God’s work, our words are never just words. They are Holy Spirit-filled, God-breathed, kingdom-bringing words that make a difference for the glory of God.

Jesus, where else can we go? For you have the words of eternal life. You are the Word of Life. And as we are in you and you are in us, as we are your baptized sons and daughters, speak your words of life and blessing through us.

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts—in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces—be pleasing in Your sight. Amen.

October 30, 2016
Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: 1 Kings 17:1-24

Created to Belong: Words of Life

Words.

We live in a culture that inundates us with words. Words are everywhere; they come at us from all directions.

“Our society is full of words,” writes the late Henri Nouwen. “[Words] on billboards, on television screens, in newspapers and books. Words whispered, shouted, and sung. Words that move, dance, and change in size and color. Words that say, “Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me, sleep with me,” but most of all, “buy me.” With so many words around us, we quickly say: “Well, they’re just words.” Thus, words have lost much of their power.”

It does seem that way, doesn’t it? That words have lost their power. But then Nouwen goes on to say this:

“Still, the word has the power to create. When God speaks, God creates. When God says, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), light is. God speaks light. For God, speaking and creating are the same. It is this creative power of the word we need to reclaim. What we say is very important. When we say, “I love you,” and say it from the heart, we can give another person new life, new hope, new courage. When we say, “I hate you,” we can destroy another person. Let’s watch our words.”

I considered sending this Nouwen quote to Senator Clinton and Mr. Trump this week. But with “Election Day” nine days away, I figured it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Don’t get me going on this presidential race. The one thing I will say is that we have seen a shameful display—from both candidates—of words used carelessly, even viciously. Words used like weapons to discriminate, disrespect, attack, blame, manipulate, conceal the truth, and destroy.

So that old nursery rhyme we were all taught—“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me”—although easy to memorize is simply not true. Words can and do hurt. They can do even worse. Proverbs 18:21 cuts to the heart of the matter: “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.” (The Message). All of this is to say…our words matter.

Our story this morning from 1 Kings is a story about words and the Word, and the way in which words bless or curse, kill or give life.

Last Sunday, we heard the story of King David and how he wanted to build God a house—a temple to hold the Ark of the Covenant. But God tells David to hold off. Instead, God will build David a house, meaning that God will bless David’s descendents and God promises that David’s dynasty shall reign on the throne of Israel forever.

Today in 1 Kings 17, about a hundred years has passed since God made that promise to David. Over the years, God has kept his promise that one of David’s offspring would always be on the throne, but things are not going well. The king is supposed to represent God to his people, to lead in a way that obeys and honors God. But what we get in 1 Kings is one bad king after another—David’s descendents—speaking and acting in ways that dishonor God and negatively impact the people. The recurring phrase used to describe one king after another is this: “And _________(fill in the blank) did evil in the sight of the Lord.”

In our text today, Ahab son of Omri is on the throne. And we’re told that “Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before them.” (italics added). Ahab was a very successful king, but he was also one of the most wicked kings.

Not only did his speech and actions dishonor God, but he was guilty of idolatry. He married Jezebel, daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidionites, who was the champion of Baal worship. Baal was the rain and fertility god of the Canaanites. And Jezebel drew Ahab into the worship of Baal as well. It’s a dark time in the land. Death is all around.

But then in the darkness, God’s Word comes. The Word of the Lord comes to a prophet named Elijah the Tishbite, and God’s Spirit descends upon him. The same Word and Spirit that spoke in the beginning of creation, “Let there be light!” The same Word and Spirit that made promises to Abraham beneath the canopy of a star-lit sky. The same Word and Spirit that said to David, “I will make your name great…I will establish my kingdom through you and your descendents.”

Yes, that Word and Spirit comes. And God calls out to Elijah and makes Elijah his messenger. “Tell Ahab: As the LORD the God if Israel lives…there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

God’s Word causes a draught, a famine in the land. God makes visible the kind of draught and famine that was in the land already—morally and spiritually—through the wickedness of these kings. Baal was worshipped by the Canaanites as the god who brings rain and vegetation. The stage is being set here to show something we must not miss. At the deepest level, this story and what happens after it is really about a confrontation between two gods—Baal and Yahweh, the God of Israel. Which is the true God? Which God has the power to bring life from death?

And already we’re being shown that the true God—the God who can bring life and healing and restoration—is not Baal. The true God whose words have power is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—the God of the prophet Elijah.

Then God’s Word sends Elijah into the wilderness, to the Wadi Cherith. A wadi is a deep ravine that fills up with water during the rainy season. God provides Elijah water to drink and the sends ravens with bread to eat as a way of assuring Elijah that God’s word is trustworthy and true. All the action in this story really centers on God and God’s Word. But the other characters, like Elijah, need to make the decision to trust God’s Word. Even in times of drought and famine, we must step out in faith, trusting that God will provide us just enough. That’s what God does for Elijah here. Elijah himself is facing death, but God’s Word brings life in the midst of death.

Then what happens next? Again, we’re told that “the word of the Lord came to Elijah” and this time God says, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” Now we should know that Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife who is Baal’s champion, is also from Sidon. We’ve seen God provide for Elijah in the wilderness, giving food and water in a way that the god Baal cannot.

Now, God is sending his prophet into Baal’s home country. It’s like a sports team traveling to play on the home field of their opponent. Can God’s Word display power and bring life even on Baal’s home field? This time it’s not just Elijah’s life that is on the line, but it is also a poor widow who is on the brink of starving to death.

The widow has hardly anything—she’s scraping together a few sticks at the city gate to go home and cook the last bit of food she has for she and her son. She is desperate and has run out of options. She doesn’t have enough to feed herself and her son, let alone provide for a guest. But God tells Elijah to ask her for food and drink. And this woman, like Elijah was earlier, is confronted with a choice. Will she trust that God’s word is true and he will provide for her and her son?

Once again, Baal does nothing. He is powerless in the face of this famine and drought. In fact, Canaanite myth has it that when there was a drought or famine in the land, it indicated that Baal was dead! Notice the contrast in the story: Elijah represents Yahweh, the living God!

And so he tells the woman, “Do not be afraid; go and make me a little cake, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.” In other words, trust my words and that my God, the God of Israel, will provide for you and your son—more than enough. In a time of scarcity, when it is easy to give in to fear, trust that God will show himself to be a God of abundance.

And the widow, like Elijah, acts in faith. She goes and does what Elijah tells her, and the jar of meal miraculously did not run empty, according to the word of the Lord that God spoke through Elijah. We see it again. God provides. And by the power of his Word, he brings life in the midst of death.

There’s one last story here that completes the first two. We’re told that after all of this, the widow’s son becomes ill and he dies. The woman is deeply grieved, and she assumes, as was a common way of thinking in the ancient world, that this terrible thing has happened because Elijah’s God is angry with her and she has sinned. Other places in the Bible tell us that it is true that death is part of the consequence of living in a broken and fallen world, but it is not necessarily true that when bad things happen, it is a causal result of something we did wrong.

So we’ve seen God provide in a time of drought and famine. We’ve seen God’s word bring life out of death for Elijah in the wilderness and this widow and her son on the brink of starvation. But now comes a greater test. What about in the throes of death, when death has already happened? Can God’s Word bring life even from the ashes of the grave? Once again, Baal is nowhere to be seen or heard. How can a dead god bring the dead back to life?

But Elijah’s God, the God of Israel, is not dead. He is the living God. And so Elijah says to the woman, “Give me your son,” and he carries him up to the upper chamber and lays the boy on his own bed. Then Elijah prays—with his own words, he cries out to God, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself over the child three times, and says, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come to him again.”

In this strange act, something very important is happening here. It is a symbolic act, a way of saying, “Let his lifeless body be as my lively body.” Elijah doesn’t just speak this prayer, asking God to raise him to life, but he has so identified with God at this point, that he is offering his own life, his own breath, to be poured into the boy’s body. Of course it is God’s breath passing through and entering into the lifeless body of this child.

And God does it. God does what Baal cannot do. God’s Word, his very action through his prophet, raises this boy out of death and into life. “See, your son is alive.” Elijah says. And the woman, who has already acted in faith, now confirms her faith: “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the Word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.”

In a drought-stricken world, we so desperately need words of life! Words of truth! Words of blessing! We need a God who meets us in our places of fear and doubt, poverty and scarcity, darkness and death.

And this is the hopeful storyline of the Bible. It’s the story of a God who is sovereign, whose Word and Spirit are powerful and bring life and light into all the dead and dark places, a God who is on a mission to restore life to this whole world.

This is the God who meets us in Jesus Christ. In the gospel of John, Jesus disciples say to him, “To whom shall we go? For we know that you are the one who has the words of eternal life.”

Jesus not only speaks words of life; he is the Word of Life who forgives our sins, heals our brokenness, and raises the dead to life again!

Through Jesus, God provides. God meets us in our deepest need and revives us—brings us to life—life that begins now and is not just about heaven when we die.

Through the sacrament of baptism today we have been reminded of this—that God’s Word is true, God’s promises are sure, and that God does for us what we (and no other gods) can do—he raises us from death to new life.

And has those who belong to God in Christ, who have been marked as God’s own in the waters of baptism, in whom the Word of Life dwells, God has breathed his Spirit upon us and sends us into the world to be agents of life and blessing.

One of the ways we are called to do this is through our words—our speech. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to proclaim good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the prisoner, the year of the Lord’s favor! God calls us to use our words to join in God’s mission—to build up, heal, forgive, advocate for justice, to speak the truth in love, to speak life.

How might you use our words to do this? How might God’s Spirit desire to speak through you? In what ways are you using your own words to heal instead of harm, to give life rather than kill, to produce fruit rather than spew poison?

Whenever we use our words to join God’s work, our words are never just words. They are Holy Spirit-filled, God-breathed, kingdom-bringing words that make a difference for the glory of God.

Jesus, where else can we go? For you have the words of eternal life. You are the Word of Life. And as we are in you and you are in us, as we are your baptized sons and daughters, speak your words of life and blessing through us.

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts—in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces—be pleasing in Your sight. Amen.

October 23, 2016
Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-29

Created to Belong: I Will Build You a House

Tish Harrison Warren wanted to change the world.

She grew up in a wealthy evangelical church, which was full of good people, but seemed more concerned about a comfortable Christianity that focused on going to heaven when you die rather than being a part of Jesus’ kingdom revolution that was changing the world here and now.

In college, her heart was set on fire, and along with many of her friends, she was determined to live an extraordinary life—a radical life for Jesus. She was restless to do something “big” for God, to be a “world-changer.”

So she moved to a rural village in Africa to live out a radical life of discipleship, caring for the poor, spending herself for the sake of the kingdom. She saw God work in powerful ways, and it was a transformational experience for her.

But after a while, she grew exhausted and missed home, so she returned to the States. She came back to her college town, and found herself still feeling restless to do something “big” for God. So she spent time with various “radical” Christian communities, living on the edge in the inner city, giving away clothes and feeding the poor, boldly tackling systems of injustice.

But then she got married and had kids, and her life didn’t feel so radical anymore. She was pulled into the ordinary routines of changing diapers, chasing her toddler around the house, doing laundry, navigating the joys and challenges of marriage—all the stuff that makes up the “everyday-ness” of life.

What happened to that young woman who was going to give her life away for Jesus and the kingdom—do something big for God and change the world?

In a deeply authentic and provocative blog post, Tish reflects on all of this:

Now, I’m thirty-something with two kids living a more or less ordinary life. And what I’m slowly realizing is that, for me, being in the house all day with a baby and a two-year-old is a lot more scary and harder than being in a war-torn African village. What I need courage for is the ordinary, the daily every-dayness of life. Caring for homeless kids is a lot more thrilling to me than listening well to the people in my home. Giving away clothes and seeking out edgy Christian communities requires less of me than being kind to my husband on an average Wednesday morning or calling my mother back when I don’t feel like it….[In college] we were told again and again that we’d be world-changers…we were challenged to impact and serve the world in radical ways, but we never learned how to be an average person living an ordinary life in a beautiful way.”[1]

Can you relate to Tish? Something within you longs to live a life bigger than yourself—to really make a difference in the world, to be extraordinary. But when you look at your life, it feels so… well…ordinary. Nothing special. Nothing all that exciting or remarkable.

King David seems to be someone who lived an extraordinary life. He stands out as the greatest king to rule Israel, God’s holy nation. Everything about his life seems remarkable—the way he defeated the mammoth Goliath with nothing but a sling and five stones. His skills as a warrior who led Israel into countless victories. A gifted poet and musician who wrote half of the psalms. A wise and strategic leader who won the confidence and admiration of his people. David would have made a great Texan—he embodied the mantra, “Go big or go home!” He would even sin big—that whole episode with Uriah and Bathsheba. And yet, even with his shortcomings, David was characterized as a man after God’s own heart.

In the part of David’s story we heard earlier, David has seized the city of Jerusalem and made it the capitol. Then, in an equally bold and radical move, he recovers the stolen Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized God’s presence, and he brings it to Jerusalem. David the world-changer! David, the shaker and the mover!

Once he gets settled in Jerusalem, the Ark of the Covenant now home where it belongs, David takes on his next big project for God. He decides that he’s going to build a house for God—a temple to house the Ark. David is living in the luxury of his palace—a beautiful home on the lakeshore, and thinks to himself, “How is it that I can live in such a beautiful house, while the LORD is living in a tent in my backyard?”

So he shares his idea with Nathan, his pastor and a prophet, and it seems like a no-brainer. David is God’s golden boy—everything he touches God seems to bless. So why not? Nathan says to David, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”

But before David can hire an architect and get a first draft of the renderings, God speaks to Nathan: “Tell David to hold on. Give David this message: You want to build me a house? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought my people out of Egyptian slavery, but I’ve been on the move in a tent and tabernacle. I appreciate the gesture, but listen to me: I will build you a house. This is not about what you will do for me, it is about what I am doing in and through you. I took you from the pasture, when you were nobody but a shepherd. And I have made you into a somebody—a Shepherd king to lead my people. I have been with you every step of the way and have given you victory over your enemies. And now I will make your name great. But not for your glory—for my glory. If there is any building to be done, I’m doing it. I’ve been working with you since your shepherd days, building a kingdom—a place where salvation and justice and peace shall be a reality. That’s why you are here, to give visibility and representation to what I am doing, not to call attention to what you are doing.”

God goes on to promise David that he shall establish his kingdom through David’s descendents. There would be a time for the temple to be built, but David would not be the one to do it. God had a plan for Solomon, David’s son, to build the Temple.

This is such a great story. Here David is determined to do something “big” for God; but God turns around and says that God will do something “big” in and through David and his descendents.

And how does David respond to Nathan when his pastor delivers this message? “Then King David went in and sat before the LORD…” In the midst of all David’s ambitious dreaming and strategic planning, David never stopped to actually pray and ask God if his plans to build God a house is what God wanted him to do. He just assumes—he just goes for it.

But now David stops, sits, and prays. This may be the most critical action that David takes, the most important thing he could possibly do. By sitting down, David is taking himself out of the driver’s seat, and placing himself prayerfully before the true King. He is no longer insisting that God bless his plans; rather, he is prayerfully becoming attentive to God’s plans for him. David assumes a posture of surrender, letting go of his own agenda in order to humbly submit to God’s agenda.

And he’s reminded of his humble beginnings. He’s reminded that this is ultimately not about him—his own agenda and action and determination to do something great for God; it’s about allowing his ordinary life to get caught up in the extraordinary purposes of a great God.

I had a “David moment” this past week. I got away for a few days to spend time at St. Gregory’s Abby—a Benedictine monastery in Three Rivers, Michigan. I try to go a couple times of year, and it is a place for me to learn what David had to learn—to slow down, stop, sit in the presence of God, and surrender. To trade in my plans for God’s plans. To be reminded of who I am and whose I am. And to gain perspective—to get out of the driver’s seat and allow God to work in and through my ordinary life for his extraordinary purposes.

Do you need a “David moment” like this? When’s the last time you stopped, sat, and held open your heart and hands and asked God, “What do you want? What are your plans? And how can I get in on your plans rather than insisting that you bless my plans?” Maybe today could provide you the space, the moment, for that kind of prayerful surrender.

God’s promise to David is his promise to us. He will build us a house—he is building us into a house. God has established his kingdom—is establishing his kingdom—through his Son, Jesus—the descendent of David. This kingdom is breaking in now—within us and all around us.

And as we follow Jesus, as we are untied with him, we are being built up into a spiritual house (Ephesians, 1 Peter)—a kingdom people. This is not for ourselves alone but to the glory of God and for the purposes of his mission in the world. God takes us, our ordinary lives, and he wants to transform us and build us up in order to carry out his plans in and for the world. Yes, he wants us to join his kingdom revolution.

But here’s the thing about that: you don’t have to be a stand-out or live an extraordinary life. God wants to take you, in all your ordinary-ness, and work in and through you. How did Tish say it? It’s about learning how to be an average person living an average life in a beautiful way.

I never did finish reading you her blog. Can I do that now? I love this last part:

“A prominent New Monasticism community house had a sign on the wall that famously read: ‘Everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes.’ My life is really rich in dirty dishes (and diapers) these days and really short in revolutions. I go to a church full of older people who live pretty normal, middle-class lives in nice, middle-class houses. But I have really come to appreciate this community, to see their life-time of sturdy faithfulness to Jesus, their commitment to prayer, and the tangible, beautiful generosity that they show those around them in unnoticed, unimpressive, unremarkable, unrevolutionary ways. And each week, we average sinners and boring saints gather around ordinary bread and wine and Christ himself is there with us.

Tish says that she still longs for a revolution and wants to make a difference in the world. But she’s come to think differently about what this might look like:

“But I’ve come to the point where I’m not sure anymore just what God counts as radical. And I suspect that for me, getting up and doing the dishes when I’m short on sleep and patience is far more costly and necessitates more of a revolution in my heart than some of the more outwardly risky ways I’ve lived in the past. And so this is what I need now: the courage to face an ordinary day…the bravery it takes to believe that a small life is still a meaningful life…I’m starting to learn that, whether in Mongolia or Tennessee, the kind of ‘giving my life away’ that counts starts with how I get up on a gray Tuesday morning. It never sells books. It won’t be remembered. But it’s what makes a life. And who knows? Maybe, at the end of days, a hurried prayer for an enemy, a passing kindness to a neighbor, or budget planning on a boring Thursday will be the revolution stories of God making all things new.”

This reminds me of those famous words of St. Teresa of Calcutta: “God is not calling us to do great things but to do small things with great love.” Yes, that it. Courageous faithfulness that embraces the ordinary and does small things with great love. Perhaps this is the key to being an average person, living an ordinary life, in a beautiful way.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] Go to this link to read Tish’s blog in its entirety: http://thewell.intervarsity.org/blog/courage-ordinary

October 23, 2016
Preaching: Brian Keepers
Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-29

Created to Belong: I Will Build You a House

Tish Harrison Warren wanted to change the world.

She grew up in a wealthy evangelical church, which was full of good people, but seemed more concerned about a comfortable Christianity that focused on going to heaven when you die rather than being a part of Jesus’ kingdom revolution that was changing the world here and now.

In college, her heart was set on fire, and along with many of her friends, she was determined to live an extraordinary life—a radical life for Jesus. She was restless to do something “big” for God, to be a “world-changer.”

So she moved to a rural village in Africa to live out a radical life of discipleship, caring for the poor, spending herself for the sake of the kingdom. She saw God work in powerful ways, and it was a transformational experience for her.

But after a while, she grew exhausted and missed home, so she returned to the States. She came back to her college town, and found herself still feeling restless to do something “big” for God. So she spent time with various “radical” Christian communities, living on the edge in the inner city, giving away clothes and feeding the poor, boldly tackling systems of injustice.

But then she got married and had kids, and her life didn’t feel so radical anymore. She was pulled into the ordinary routines of changing diapers, chasing her toddler around the house, doing laundry, navigating the joys and challenges of marriage—all the stuff that makes up the “everyday-ness” of life.

What happened to that young woman who was going to give her life away for Jesus and the kingdom—do something big for God and change the world?

In a deeply authentic and provocative blog post, Tish reflects on all of this:

Now, I’m thirty-something with two kids living a more or less ordinary life. And what I’m slowly realizing is that, for me, being in the house all day with a baby and a two-year-old is a lot more scary and harder than being in a war-torn African village. What I need courage for is the ordinary, the daily every-dayness of life. Caring for homeless kids is a lot more thrilling to me than listening well to the people in my home. Giving away clothes and seeking out edgy Christian communities requires less of me than being kind to my husband on an average Wednesday morning or calling my mother back when I don’t feel like it….[In college] we were told again and again that we’d be world-changers…we were challenged to impact and serve the world in radical ways, but we never learned how to be an average person living an ordinary life in a beautiful way.”[1]

Can you relate to Tish? Something within you longs to live a life bigger than yourself—to really make a difference in the world, to be extraordinary. But when you look at your life, it feels so… well…ordinary. Nothing special. Nothing all that exciting or remarkable.

King David seems to be someone who lived an extraordinary life. He stands out as the greatest king to rule Israel, God’s holy nation. Everything about his life seems remarkable—the way he defeated the mammoth Goliath with nothing but a sling and five stones. His skills as a warrior who led Israel into countless victories. A gifted poet and musician who wrote half of the psalms. A wise and strategic leader who won the confidence and admiration of his people. David would have made a great Texan—he embodied the mantra, “Go big or go home!” He would even sin big—that whole episode with Uriah and Bathsheba. And yet, even with his shortcomings, David was characterized as a man after God’s own heart.

In the part of David’s story we heard earlier, David has seized the city of Jerusalem and made it the capitol. Then, in an equally bold and radical move, he recovers the stolen Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized God’s presence, and he brings it to Jerusalem. David the world-changer! David, the shaker and the mover!

Once he gets settled in Jerusalem, the Ark of the Covenant now home where it belongs, David takes on his next big project for God. He decides that he’s going to build a house for God—a temple to house the Ark. David is living in the luxury of his palace—a beautiful home on the lakeshore, and thinks to himself, “How is it that I can live in such a beautiful house, while the LORD is living in a tent in my backyard?”

So he shares his idea with Nathan, his pastor and a prophet, and it seems like a no-brainer. David is God’s golden boy—everything he touches God seems to bless. So why not? Nathan says to David, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”

But before David can hire an architect and get a first draft of the renderings, God speaks to Nathan: “Tell David to hold on. Give David this message: You want to build me a house? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought my people out of Egyptian slavery, but I’ve been on the move in a tent and tabernacle. I appreciate the gesture, but listen to me: I will build you a house. This is not about what you will do for me, it is about what I am doing in and through you. I took you from the pasture, when you were nobody but a shepherd. And I have made you into a somebody—a Shepherd king to lead my people. I have been with you every step of the way and have given you victory over your enemies. And now I will make your name great. But not for your glory—for my glory. If there is any building to be done, I’m doing it. I’ve been working with you since your shepherd days, building a kingdom—a place where salvation and justice and peace shall be a reality. That’s why you are here, to give visibility and representation to what I am doing, not to call attention to what you are doing.”

God goes on to promise David that he shall establish his kingdom through David’s descendents. There would be a time for the temple to be built, but David would not be the one to do it. God had a plan for Solomon, David’s son, to build the Temple.

This is such a great story. Here David is determined to do something “big” for God; but God turns around and says that God will do something “big” in and through David and his descendents.

And how does David respond to Nathan when his pastor delivers this message? “Then King David went in and sat before the LORD…” In the midst of all David’s ambitious dreaming and strategic planning, David never stopped to actually pray and ask God if his plans to build God a house is what God wanted him to do. He just assumes—he just goes for it.

But now David stops, sits, and prays. This may be the most critical action that David takes, the most important thing he could possibly do. By sitting down, David is taking himself out of the driver’s seat, and placing himself prayerfully before the true King. He is no longer insisting that God bless his plans; rather, he is prayerfully becoming attentive to God’s plans for him. David assumes a posture of surrender, letting go of his own agenda in order to humbly submit to God’s agenda.

And he’s reminded of his humble beginnings. He’s reminded that this is ultimately not about him—his own agenda and action and determination to do something great for God; it’s about allowing his ordinary life to get caught up in the extraordinary purposes of a great God.

I had a “David moment” this past week. I got away for a few days to spend time at St. Gregory’s Abby—a Benedictine monastery in Three Rivers, Michigan. I try to go a couple times of year, and it is a place for me to learn what David had to learn—to slow down, stop, sit in the presence of God, and surrender. To trade in my plans for God’s plans. To be reminded of who I am and whose I am. And to gain perspective—to get out of the driver’s seat and allow God to work in and through my ordinary life for his extraordinary purposes.

Do you need a “David moment” like this? When’s the last time you stopped, sat, and held open your heart and hands and asked God, “What do you want? What are your plans? And how can I get in on your plans rather than insisting that you bless my plans?” Maybe today could provide you the space, the moment, for that kind of prayerful surrender.

God’s promise to David is his promise to us. He will build us a house—he is building us into a house. God has established his kingdom—is establishing his kingdom—through his Son, Jesus—the descendent of David. This kingdom is breaking in now—within us and all around us.

And as we follow Jesus, as we are untied with him, we are being built up into a spiritual house (Ephesians, 1 Peter)—a kingdom people. This is not for ourselves alone but to the glory of God and for the purposes of his mission in the world. God takes us, our ordinary lives, and he wants to transform us and build us up in order to carry out his plans in and for the world. Yes, he wants us to join his kingdom revolution.

But here’s the thing about that: you don’t have to be a stand-out or live an extraordinary life. God wants to take you, in all your ordinary-ness, and work in and through you. How did Tish say it? It’s about learning how to be an average person living an average life in a beautiful way.

I never did finish reading you her blog. Can I do that now? I love this last part:

“A prominent New Monasticism community house had a sign on the wall that famously read: ‘Everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes.’ My life is really rich in dirty dishes (and diapers) these days and really short in revolutions. I go to a church full of older people who live pretty normal, middle-class lives in nice, middle-class houses. But I have really come to appreciate this community, to see their life-time of sturdy faithfulness to Jesus, their commitment to prayer, and the tangible, beautiful generosity that they show those around them in unnoticed, unimpressive, unremarkable, unrevolutionary ways. And each week, we average sinners and boring saints gather around ordinary bread and wine and Christ himself is there with us.

Tish says that she still longs for a revolution and wants to make a difference in the world. But she’s come to think differently about what this might look like:

“But I’ve come to the point where I’m not sure anymore just what God counts as radical. And I suspect that for me, getting up and doing the dishes when I’m short on sleep and patience is far more costly and necessitates more of a revolution in my heart than some of the more outwardly risky ways I’ve lived in the past. And so this is what I need now: the courage to face an ordinary day…the bravery it takes to believe that a small life is still a meaningful life…I’m starting to learn that, whether in Mongolia or Tennessee, the kind of ‘giving my life away’ that counts starts with how I get up on a gray Tuesday morning. It never sells books. It won’t be remembered. But it’s what makes a life. And who knows? Maybe, at the end of days, a hurried prayer for an enemy, a passing kindness to a neighbor, or budget planning on a boring Thursday will be the revolution stories of God making all things new.”

This reminds me of those famous words of St. Teresa of Calcutta: “God is not calling us to do great things but to do small things with great love.” Yes, that it. Courageous faithfulness that embraces the ordinary and does small things with great love. Perhaps this is the key to being an average person, living an ordinary life, in a beautiful way.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] Go to this link to read Tish’s blog in its entirety: http://thewell.intervarsity.org/blog/courage-ordinary

October 16, 2016
Preaching: Nate Schipper
Text: 1 Samuel 1:9-11; 2:1-10

Context before reading:

This morning… Continue our journey through the Old testament considering how God has brought people to Belong to Himself and to one another…

1.      Started back in September with message of Genesis – God created us to belong

2.      Promise of a People that belong to one another – Abraham – Family was created

3.      The story of Joseph reminded us of the humanity of this family – conflict would exist

4.      The family became a people group as they broke out of Egypt and entered into the wilderness

5.      People group was given a set of rules after being set free from rule of Egyptians to mark themselves distinctly from other people groups but as a group that belongs to God

6.      This mornings text comes from Samuel – we have jumped over a few books and now the people are settled in the promised land. The promised land does not make them an idyllic community in fact the book of Jduges which sets the stage for Samuel ends with the line “All the people did as they pleased…” Things were not good for Israel.

So our reading comes from this place – a people settled in Israel but a people in distress…

Read 1 Samuel 1-2:10 – others…

Story of Kids – mirror

Kids have a way of revealing to us our own tendencies/habits and even idiosyncrasies.

This can be both humiliating at times and comforting at others. This past week I realized a tendency I have in my prayers through the prayers of my daughter. In our normal bedtime routine we shared a prayer together giving thanks for what God had done in the day. We expressed our thankfulness to God for the things on our heart and then I asked God to be with some of our friends going through hard times. I asked Eva – Do you want to pray for anyone?
“Thank you God for my friend Evie who is sick and thank you that I don’t have any scary dreams”

Maybe some of us adults are thankful when certain people get sick in our lives but my hunch is that my 6 year old’s capacity for occasional spite isn’t that high.

Eva mirrored back to me my tendency to say “Thank you” often in my prayers. The prefix to all prayers- thanksgiving and supplication - in Eva’s mind, as modeled by her dad, is thank you…

In her memoir on life and brutally honest prayer - “Travelling Mercies,” Anne Lamott says that the two best prayers she knows are:

Help me, help me, help me, and

Thank you Thank you Thank you”

As I reflected on Hannah’s prayers from 1 Samuel 1 and 2 I couldn’t help but notice that her two prayers seem to fall in these two categories: Help me Help me Help me and TY TY TY

Help Me Help me Help me

Before the first of Hannah’s prayers in verse 11 we learn a lot about who she is….

Hannah is married to the well off Elkanah

            - Family lineage is described – not random – comes from respect

            - Annual pilgrimage to Shiloh – Tabernacles “permanent” spot until temple is built

Hannah’s problem

            - Not lack of access to resources – likely lives a good materialistic life

            - problem is she is barren

1.      Disappointment of family’s expectations for a son – an heir to Elkanah’s name

2.      Shame associated with not having kids – seen as a curse from God – can’t have kids because of something you did.

Today:

Never say someone is cursed by god for not being able to have children – know enough about the challenges of having kids and the science behind it – BUT I know families who feel a great deal of DISSAPOINTMENT and SHAME around not being able to have kids…

- Heart breaks for those who like Hannah struggle with infertility

- Incredibly Isolating experience- something so personal and so painful that it can be impossible to let others in…

- Most of the time not invited into that pain/struggle into a pregnancy is lost or the last attempt is made…

- Which is why – Christian ministries have been created to walk alongside of families

- I found it interesting that so many of their websites offered lists of what NOT to say to these families and specifically the women ---- NOT a list of ONE Liners…

Warnings served as cautions for those honored with the invitation into someone’s struggle with infertility.

Well Elkanah could have used their advice….

- He seemed to DO and SAY the wrong things…

First he shows favoritism to Hannah – good for her maybe to be honored and shown double love during her time of grief at sacrifice BUT this only fueled the flame of resentment between Hannah and Penninah. Penninah who seems to have everything - husband, kids, good life – see’s herself as marginalized in favor of Hannah who doesn’t even have kids! OF course she provokes her – you get double portion of food and sacrifce for yourself and I have to share a single portion between all my kids and I! Not only that you don’t even eat your double portion… In the midst of her insecurity she pokes fun of Hannah…

Hannah’s response is grief and sadness… She is already down and then gets publically mocked year after year as her and her husbands other family sacrifice and eat…

SECOND he says the wrong things! In the midst of Hannah’s deep sadness and pain Elkanah comes over and asks her 4 questions like the bonehead husband who wants to fix her so he can have fun!

Why are you crying? - DUH

Why are you not eating the double portion I gave you?

Why is your heart sad – wasn’t all that food enough?

And if the food thing wasn’t enough he goes on…

Aren’t I as good as 10 sons?

“I mean, look what you got in me?? Look at THIS? Ain’t I good enough for you mama?”

Elky Elky Elky…. Cmon man! In the midst of your wife’s shame and disappointment you turn the table on yourself! Reluctant to give any advice from this text but the one bit I would offer is Try not be like Elkanah – don’t spin anothers person’s pain back on yourself- don’t try to fix them and then blame them when your efforts don’t work!

Hannah- filled with pain, shame, disappointment and now has no one to turn to… Loved one’s don’t get her, no friends to turn to, and the family she longs for is absent…

Have you been there? Are you there today? Filled with dissapointment or shame about where your life is? Hurting in isolation? Grieving what could have been? Curious if your life can ever turn around? Waiting and waiting and waiting some more on God?

Hannah’s prayer is for you, for us..

‘O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death…’

Hannah asks god to remember her – don’t forget me. In the midst of my pain answer me! Hannah prays the first of Anne Lamotts favorite prayers…

HELP me Help me Help me.

How many years has she prayed? How long have you been praying for something?

HONESTLY…

Stuck here… btw hannah’s 2 prayers… This story is written with hindsight in mind.. It knows the good news of the story is that Hannah has a son… but our lives don’t have that luxury… How many of us are still praying?

How many of us still pray for a miraculous healing?

How many of us still struggle with God for a child?

How many of us still long for a better day?

How many of us wait with no sign of a miracle in sight?

How I wish Hannah’s prayer/story had some magic bullet – some way to relieve the pain you and I go through…. Some way to neatly make sense of the pain with a pithy saying to neatly tie up the loose ends of your life. I searched but I can’t find it.

Miracles do not ALWAYS happen. SOMETIMES they do, sometimes the child is born, sometimes the disease is healed, sometimes the lost come home… Sometimes they don’t

God ALWAYS does hear our prayer. God is BIG enough to hear our lament, God can handle our frustration and still calls us his children. Our prayers are heard and we still Belong to God.

(PAUSE)

Second Prayer Thank YOU

 Hannah’s second prayer to the miracle she experiences is a song of praise and thanksgiving.

OR as Anne Lamott would say in her other favorite prayer:

Thank you Thank you thank you

Her praise is not a silent prayer at the corner of the temple door post – public song of praise she can’t help but bust into…

I want to make a couple observations on her prayer and tten we will be done…

1.      Her prayer is not a prayer of thanksgiving for the gifts she was given but to the GIVER OF THE GIFTS!

a.       First verse: “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exulted in my God”
b.      Not thank you for this baby who is my hope and strength, but thank you for who you are!
c.       Her life is THEO-CENTRIC – literally centered on God – God gives and takes away she prays. It is God, as troubling as that is at times, that is at the center of Hannah’s prayer.

2.      Hannah’s prayer is so similar to Mary’s song in Luke 1 and Psalm 13 that it is fair to assume that she is praying a song (or even a Psalm) that is used in worship.

a.       In the midst of our thankfulness and in the midst of our pain we too can pray the book of prayer – the Psalms. When we do not know how to pray, when we aren’t sure what words to say, the Living word can be our prayer.

3.      Hannah’s prayer is a sign of the coming Kingdom

a.       The body of her prayer – the bulk of it right in the middle is a prayer announcing God’s justice that will someday reign fully. In the midst of Israel’s mess, in the midst of their own brokenness, and amidst their marginalization by the surrounding kingdoms, Hannah prays to the God who will:

                              i.      Break the bows of the mighty
                             ii.      Feeds the hungry
                            iii.      Breath life into the barren
                            iv.      Makes the poor rich

b.      Hannah’s prayer is a prayer of hope that a king is coming, yes the writer has in mind king david, but we know that King david is just a foretaste of the true king that would also soon be born of a woman in despair. A time is coming Hannah says, a time is coming we say, when the kingdoms of THIS world will no longer reign but God’s kingdom will reign.

Conclusion
Whether we pray Help me Help me Help me, or we are in a place where we can pray thank you thank you, we pray in the face of hopelessness to the one who can bring life out of despair, brokenness, shame and disappointment. We pray to the Triune God, Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Let’s pray

God you are the giver of life, who has been risen from the dead. Breathe your life giving spirit into our bodies that we may experience your love and grace anew. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 

October 16, 2016
Preaching: Nate Schipper
Text: 1 Samuel 1:9-11; 2:1-10

Context before reading:

This morning… Continue our journey through the Old testament considering how God has brought people to Belong to Himself and to one another…

1.      Started back in September with message of Genesis – God created us to belong

2.      Promise of a People that belong to one another – Abraham – Family was created

3.      The story of Joseph reminded us of the humanity of this family – conflict would exist

4.      The family became a people group as they broke out of Egypt and entered into the wilderness

5.      People group was given a set of rules after being set free from rule of Egyptians to mark themselves distinctly from other people groups but as a group that belongs to God

6.      This mornings text comes from Samuel – we have jumped over a few books and now the people are settled in the promised land. The promised land does not make them an idyllic community in fact the book of Jduges which sets the stage for Samuel ends with the line “All the people did as they pleased…” Things were not good for Israel.

So our reading comes from this place – a people settled in Israel but a people in distress…

Read 1 Samuel 1-2:10 – others…

Story of Kids – mirror

Kids have a way of revealing to us our own tendencies/habits and even idiosyncrasies.

This can be both humiliating at times and comforting at others. This past week I realized a tendency I have in my prayers through the prayers of my daughter. In our normal bedtime routine we shared a prayer together giving thanks for what God had done in the day. We expressed our thankfulness to God for the things on our heart and then I asked God to be with some of our friends going through hard times. I asked Eva – Do you want to pray for anyone?
“Thank you God for my friend Evie who is sick and thank you that I don’t have any scary dreams”

Maybe some of us adults are thankful when certain people get sick in our lives but my hunch is that my 6 year old’s capacity for occasional spite isn’t that high.

Eva mirrored back to me my tendency to say “Thank you” often in my prayers. The prefix to all prayers- thanksgiving and supplication - in Eva’s mind, as modeled by her dad, is thank you…

In her memoir on life and brutally honest prayer - “Travelling Mercies,” Anne Lamott says that the two best prayers she knows are:

Help me, help me, help me, and

Thank you Thank you Thank you”

As I reflected on Hannah’s prayers from 1 Samuel 1 and 2 I couldn’t help but notice that her two prayers seem to fall in these two categories: Help me Help me Help me and TY TY TY

Help Me Help me Help me

Before the first of Hannah’s prayers in verse 11 we learn a lot about who she is….

Hannah is married to the well off Elkanah

            - Family lineage is described – not random – comes from respect

            - Annual pilgrimage to Shiloh – Tabernacles “permanent” spot until temple is built

Hannah’s problem

            - Not lack of access to resources – likely lives a good materialistic life

            - problem is she is barren

1.      Disappointment of family’s expectations for a son – an heir to Elkanah’s name

2.      Shame associated with not having kids – seen as a curse from God – can’t have kids because of something you did.

Today:

Never say someone is cursed by god for not being able to have children – know enough about the challenges of having kids and the science behind it – BUT I know families who feel a great deal of DISSAPOINTMENT and SHAME around not being able to have kids…

- Heart breaks for those who like Hannah struggle with infertility

- Incredibly Isolating experience- something so personal and so painful that it can be impossible to let others in…

- Most of the time not invited into that pain/struggle into a pregnancy is lost or the last attempt is made…

- Which is why – Christian ministries have been created to walk alongside of families

- I found it interesting that so many of their websites offered lists of what NOT to say to these families and specifically the women ---- NOT a list of ONE Liners…

Warnings served as cautions for those honored with the invitation into someone’s struggle with infertility.

Well Elkanah could have used their advice….

- He seemed to DO and SAY the wrong things…

First he shows favoritism to Hannah – good for her maybe to be honored and shown double love during her time of grief at sacrifice BUT this only fueled the flame of resentment between Hannah and Penninah. Penninah who seems to have everything - husband, kids, good life – see’s herself as marginalized in favor of Hannah who doesn’t even have kids! OF course she provokes her – you get double portion of food and sacrifce for yourself and I have to share a single portion between all my kids and I! Not only that you don’t even eat your double portion… In the midst of her insecurity she pokes fun of Hannah…

Hannah’s response is grief and sadness… She is already down and then gets publically mocked year after year as her and her husbands other family sacrifice and eat…

SECOND he says the wrong things! In the midst of Hannah’s deep sadness and pain Elkanah comes over and asks her 4 questions like the bonehead husband who wants to fix her so he can have fun!

Why are you crying? - DUH

Why are you not eating the double portion I gave you?

Why is your heart sad – wasn’t all that food enough?

And if the food thing wasn’t enough he goes on…

Aren’t I as good as 10 sons?

“I mean, look what you got in me?? Look at THIS? Ain’t I good enough for you mama?”

Elky Elky Elky…. Cmon man! In the midst of your wife’s shame and disappointment you turn the table on yourself! Reluctant to give any advice from this text but the one bit I would offer is Try not be like Elkanah – don’t spin anothers person’s pain back on yourself- don’t try to fix them and then blame them when your efforts don’t work!

Hannah- filled with pain, shame, disappointment and now has no one to turn to… Loved one’s don’t get her, no friends to turn to, and the family she longs for is absent…

Have you been there? Are you there today? Filled with dissapointment or shame about where your life is? Hurting in isolation? Grieving what could have been? Curious if your life can ever turn around? Waiting and waiting and waiting some more on God?

Hannah’s prayer is for you, for us..

‘O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death…’

Hannah asks god to remember her – don’t forget me. In the midst of my pain answer me! Hannah prays the first of Anne Lamotts favorite prayers…

HELP me Help me Help me.

How many years has she prayed? How long have you been praying for something?

HONESTLY…

Stuck here… btw hannah’s 2 prayers… This story is written with hindsight in mind.. It knows the good news of the story is that Hannah has a son… but our lives don’t have that luxury… How many of us are still praying?

How many of us still pray for a miraculous healing?

How many of us still struggle with God for a child?

How many of us still long for a better day?

How many of us wait with no sign of a miracle in sight?

How I wish Hannah’s prayer/story had some magic bullet – some way to relieve the pain you and I go through…. Some way to neatly make sense of the pain with a pithy saying to neatly tie up the loose ends of your life. I searched but I can’t find it.

Miracles do not ALWAYS happen. SOMETIMES they do, sometimes the child is born, sometimes the disease is healed, sometimes the lost come home… Sometimes they don’t

God ALWAYS does hear our prayer. God is BIG enough to hear our lament, God can handle our frustration and still calls us his children. Our prayers are heard and we still Belong to God.

(PAUSE)

Second Prayer Thank YOU

 Hannah’s second prayer to the miracle she experiences is a song of praise and thanksgiving.

OR as Anne Lamott would say in her other favorite prayer:

Thank you Thank you thank you

Her praise is not a silent prayer at the corner of the temple door post – public song of praise she can’t help but bust into…

I want to make a couple observations on her prayer and tten we will be done…

1.      Her prayer is not a prayer of thanksgiving for the gifts she was given but to the GIVER OF THE GIFTS!

a.       First verse: “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exulted in my God”
b.      Not thank you for this baby who is my hope and strength, but thank you for who you are!
c.       Her life is THEO-CENTRIC – literally centered on God – God gives and takes away she prays. It is God, as troubling as that is at times, that is at the center of Hannah’s prayer.

2.      Hannah’s prayer is so similar to Mary’s song in Luke 1 and Psalm 13 that it is fair to assume that she is praying a song (or even a Psalm) that is used in worship.

a.       In the midst of our thankfulness and in the midst of our pain we too can pray the book of prayer – the Psalms. When we do not know how to pray, when we aren’t sure what words to say, the Living word can be our prayer.

3.      Hannah’s prayer is a sign of the coming Kingdom

a.       The body of her prayer – the bulk of it right in the middle is a prayer announcing God’s justice that will someday reign fully. In the midst of Israel’s mess, in the midst of their own brokenness, and amidst their marginalization by the surrounding kingdoms, Hannah prays to the God who will:

                              i.      Break the bows of the mighty
                             ii.      Feeds the hungry
                            iii.      Breath life into the barren
                            iv.      Makes the poor rich

b.      Hannah’s prayer is a prayer of hope that a king is coming, yes the writer has in mind king david, but we know that King david is just a foretaste of the true king that would also soon be born of a woman in despair. A time is coming Hannah says, a time is coming we say, when the kingdoms of THIS world will no longer reign but God’s kingdom will reign.

Conclusion
Whether we pray Help me Help me Help me, or we are in a place where we can pray thank you thank you, we pray in the face of hopelessness to the one who can bring life out of despair, brokenness, shame and disappointment. We pray to the Triune God, Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Let’s pray

God you are the giver of life, who has been risen from the dead. Breathe your life giving spirit into our bodies that we may experience your love and grace anew. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.