FOUNDRYcast

Did you enjoy our two sermons on the women in the family tree of Jesus? One of Chad's biggest resources during his research was a book written by Tom Fuerst called "Underdogs and Outsiders" and Chad sits down with Tom to have a conversation about the book.

When was the last time you realized you needed to stop what you were doing, reassess things and begin taking apart what you had previously done?

Sometimes reassessment is a drag. It means losing time, resources, materials, and many other things. Sometimes, we are so hard headed we think we need to keep on plowing forward and simply make it work. But that whole square peg round hole thing? Right?

That's the lesson Jesus is sharing with us in this story.

One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus.

18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, 19 but they couldn't reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, "Young man, your sins are forgiven."

21 But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, "Who does he think he is? That's blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!"

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you question this in your hearts? 23 Is it easier to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or 'Stand up and walk'? 24 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man[d] has the authority on earth to forgive sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!"

25 And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, "We have seen amazing things today!" Luke 5:17-26

This is one of my earliest memories of Jesus stories. It looks great on the flannel graph in little kids Sunday School. It has a great message about friendship and support.

But what if that is only the beginning?

This is a story full of firsts. It's the first interaction in Luke between Jesus and the Pharisee's. It's the first time we see Luke start talking about faith, one of the major themes of his gospel. And we've got this perfect gospel story of the man with his friends bracketed by the larger conflict between Jesus, the Pharisees, and who people see Jesus as.

This is a story teaching us about how we relate to Jesus. It's a story about how we relate to each other. It's a story about how we relate and interact with the whole church.

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie with a few too many characters? Every time you read or watch it, you find yourself focusing on a different person's actions and responses.

The story of Naaman is absolutely one of those stories.

Naaman was a military commander of Aram, an enemy and neighbor of Israel. As much of a top dog as he was, he had a pretty serious problem. Naaman was a leper. We coudl spend significant time talking about this, but the short of it is this…Naaman had everything and Naaman had nothing.

That's the beginning point of the story. And the rest is a complicated tale of cleansing, community, who is in power and who is actually in power. And what it means for God to heal us. Especially what it means for God to heal us.

The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

2 At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman's wife as a maid. 3 One day the girl said to her mistress, "I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy."

4 So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. 5 "Go and visit the prophet," the king of Aram told him. "I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel." So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter to the king of Israel said: "With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy."

7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, "Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he's just trying to pick a fight with me."

8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: "Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel."

9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha's house. 10 But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: "Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy."

11 But Naaman became angry and stalked away. "I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!" he said. "I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren't the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed?" So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.

13 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, 'Go and wash and be cured!'" 14 So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed! 2 Kings 5:1-14

This story is actually digging deep into the way we handle our own expectations of what God is capable of. Naaman, and his larger situation was simply outside of the scope of much of the known world. It took the faith of a little girl to return his skin to that of a young child.

When we attach self-made limitations to the life with God we end up experiencing a self-limiting life.

Doubt is a tough thing. We typically don't want to admit it, but doubt is something that sits in the back of many of our minds. What is more frustrating about doubt is how it has the ability to creep in when things should be going absolutely fantastic.

Has that ever happened to you?

Stuff should be great, but you are worried or anxious about what might happen next?

Last week we talked about the #thunderdome of the Old Testament, Elijah's showdown with the 450 prophets of Baal and their subsequent slaughter. Things are a little different in the next chapter.

The Lord Speaks to Elijah But the Lord said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

10 Elijah replied, "I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too."

11 "Go out and stand before me on the mountain," the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And a voice said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

14 He replied again, "I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too."

15 Then the Lord told him, "Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram.16 Then anoint Jehu grandson of Nimshi[a] to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as my prophet.17 Anyone who escapes from Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu will be killed by Elisha! 18 Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!"

The Call of Elisha 19 So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. 20 Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, "First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!"

Elijah replied, "Go on back, but think about what I have done to you."

21 So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant. 1 Kings 19:9-21

Doubt plagues all of us. Doubt is more complicated than we realize, having the ability to absolutely sidetrack us, send us into places where we struggle to even function, and more-so, causing us to absolutely lose track of what is most important.

Choices are hard. I remember when I was finally old enough to order for myself at McDonald's, the idea of chicken McNuggets or a hamburger in my happy meal could throw me into a fit. I am talking some serious 6-year-old anxiety. I remember when my sister and I got old enough to just split our two orders. We both could live in nugget and burger world.

There is a problem with splitting things up like this. We rarely are able to make it equal. At first, it starts out with "can I have a piece of your side of the pizza?" and the next thing you know you end up taking advantage of the 2 medium for $5.00 a piece deal at Dominos.

I really need to stop thinking about food analogies here.

This month we are looking at the books of 1st and 2nd Kings. While the title says Kings, they are really about division. And in the midst of this giant story of division and inequitable sharing, is the story of two men. Elijah and Elisha, two prophets…speaking messages of unity in the face of a divided country, a divided people, and a divided faith.

This Sunday, we are jumping straight into the thunder dome. The big lesson for us to contemplate and begin to understand how a group of people living halfway around the world thousands of years ago learned lessons about being divided. And they learned the hard way.

The center of the whole conversation, and in many ways the center of the whole book of Kings is this verse.

Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

But the people said nothing. 1 Kings 18:21

And the story gets more intense. In the middle of a 3 year drought, Elijah, a prophet of the LORD, decided to take care of things one and for all.

Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal's prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God."

Then all the people said, "What you say is good."

25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."

34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again.

"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!"

40 Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valleyand slaughtered there. 1 Kings 18:22-40

Come be part of a narrative retelling of the story and an honest conversation about how we all find ourselves attempting to live divided lives. And in spite of that, Jesus brings us together in bigger ways than we can ever imagine.

Personal ability is a funny thing. We like the idea of having a choice, free will, or whatever word you want to assign to it. But it is also terrifying. Sometimes, we get in our head and over think things, giving us the inability to take action. Situations prove to be more important than we actually think at times.

The funny thing is, when I look at the times in life I was at a precipice for tremendous change, I rarely even knew it.

Isaiah, a religious leader hundreds of years before Jesus, was in one of those moments. He knew things were about to get really different, but he (and all of the nation of Israel) was overwhelmed with how choices would have the ability to write a new future.

But a crazy thing happened.

It was in the year King Uzziah died[a] that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!" 4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

5 Then I said, "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's Armies."

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, "See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven."

8 Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?"

I said, "Here I am. Send me."

9 And he said, "Yes, go, and say to this people,

'Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.' 10 Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing." Isaiah 6:1-10 NLT

Isaiah had been a prophet already. Most folks think he came from royal blood and he also had the level of access to the temple that would give weight to the theory (only royalty and priests were allowed this deep into the temple).

In many ways, this story is about awareness. Awareness of who God is (Holiness) and awareness of what God wants to do with us (healing). It's one of those in-between moments, full of choices and change, and it gives us the ability to tell a new story about life.

So let's have a conversation about holiness and healing.

Do you have a hard time keeping up with things? I know I do. It has taken years to get into the rhythm of where I leave my keys, knife, and wallet at the house. It seems everytime I finally get it down, either we move or a piece of furniture moves!

Meredith and I don't have kids, but my sister does. Every summer we all take a trip together and we spend a day at the water park. WIth my niece and nephew, it means all of the adults (6 of us) are on zone defense. Man to man simply isn't enough. You got to double team them. I really started contemplating the idea of a kid leash this year.

When I was a kid my own parents left me at church. Since this was the days before cell phones, I simply went home with the nice women watching the nursery and at snacks. I thought I had hit the jackpot.

Kids have this innate ability to find their way to early freedom. If it's happened to you, you can relax. Even a young Jesus had the ability to sneak away and get Mary and Joseph all worked up.

Every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. 42 When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. 43 After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn't miss him at first, 44 because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn't show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.

45 When they couldn't find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. 46 Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48 His parents didn't know what to think. "Son," his mother said to him, "why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere."

49 "But why did you need to search?" he asked. "Didn't you know that I must be in my Father's house?" 50 But they didn't understand what he meant.

51 Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.

52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people. Luke 2:41-52

There is a bunch of stuff going on here, but I want us to just settle into those first words of Jesus. I've bolded them for you.

To Jesus, he was in the right place. Not just a place with good snacks, but the place where he was supposed to be. These few words give us a glimpse of all that is to come.

So let's get together and talk about leashes. The leashes we put on Jesus and the ways that he cuts them off us.