Text: Psalm 6; Luke 24:13-32

Easter has come and gone; social distancing continues.

This was to be our 40th Anniversary as a church; postponed, and stay-at-home goes on.

Students are missing out on graduations, proms, SAT and AP and other end-of-year tests; they continue with online classes as best they can.

Grandparents, parents, and friends in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are unable to visit in-person with loved ones and must settle for the often confusing connection of a phone call or facetime (if there’s a friendly nurse to help).

While many are going stir-crazy at home, others in healthcare and essential services are working long, hard, extra hours to provide what we need to keep going.

Others are cut off from jobs and income and food and needed support.

What do you do with all this? What does it make you feel?

I decided to spend this next season of sermons on those questions. I want to look at things like grief, impatience, fear, struggle, and weariness – all things I think we are facing in different ways and to different degrees. And I want to look with you at what scripture has to say about these things. I have long believed that the Psalms were “Songs for Every Season” of life, including the most difficult. We read there of people struggling with death, loss, disappointment, grief, and the kinds of emotions we face, whether from the current situation or one of the many other myriad challenges of being human. So I invite you into that journey with me, in hopes that you will find encouragement, sustenance, support, and hope.

Today I want to talk about grief, specifically with the current context in mind. Though I believe it has been absolutely essential to follow these stay-home orders to address the rapid spread of COVID-19, we have had to give up many things. With that comes some sorrow and grief. But those feelings and experiences are not new to you or me. So let’s look at today’s scripture. One is a story about two people experiencing disappointment and grief; one is a Psalm or song about grief. In both cases we’ll see how God enters into the situation. And it is my hope that God will enter into yours as well.

Road from Jerusalem

On Easter I talked about the women who faithfully and bravely went to the tomb with spices. I talked about the disciples who were hiding out behind locked doors, though two did venture out to see what the women were talking about. One disciple, Thomas, missed Jesus when he did appear and demanded later to see and touch him for himself. But Luke tells us the story of two others who were acquainted with Jesus and were leaving with hopes dashed. We don’t know if they were regular followers or had come lately to believe his message, but they told a stranger on the road that they “were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel.” In fact, they knew about the women going to the tomb, and the angelic message that Jesus was alive. But their knowledge and their experience leaves of at “some went and found the tomb empty, but him they did not see.”

We don’t really know where they are in terms of understanding or believing that Jesus was resurrected. That Jesus went on to explain things to them makes me think they did not get it. Indeed, if they were hopeful of seeing Jesus, why would they be leaving Jerusalem to go back to Emmaus? It seems more likely to me that they were moving on. And it seems likely to me that they were disappointed and perhaps even grieving what could have been, what they had hoped would have been.

We were hoping he would redeem Israel!But he was arrested… he was executed… he died… and now his body is gone. Probably the Romans wanted to make sure he was completely done away with. There’s no need to stick around; there’s only trouble here… even his disciples are hiding out.

I think about how often things do not go the way I expected or hoped. And God can be as close as Jesus was to those two travelers that day and

Text: Luke 24:1-12; 1 Peter 2:21-25Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020

Happy Easter, everyone! Now this is an Easter like no other… at least no other that I can remember. And yet I am struck by the similarities in our situation and that of the early followers of Jesus.

I come to this passage every year – the one about the women coming at early dawn to the tomb of Jesus. I look forward to the surprise and news of the angels – that “he is not here, but he has risen.” And I give thanks for the women who took this news to the disciples and spurred them to come and see for themselves. It is Easter; he is risen; Alleluia!

Though I have been aware of it, I have always passed over one detail of the story… until this year. We often speak of it a week or two after Easter, when Jesus comes to the disciples in the Upper Room, through a locked door. But it’s tucked into this Easter morning story as well…

The disciples are staying home. All but one of them fled the scene of the crucifixion and Peter notoriously swore out loud that he didn’t know Jesus. Reading here that the women had to carry the news of the empty tomb to them, and knowing that Jesus would soon find them behind locked doors, we can surmise that they are staying home. They are hiding out. They don’t want the deadly attentions given to Jesus to fall on them.

And so they have two challenges before them: they are holed up and avoiding contact and they have mostly all abandoned their Lord, thinking him dead and fearing trouble.

Holed Up at Home

I think we know something of what it’s like to be holed away behind locked doors. Our reasons are different. We don’t fear the Roman guard coming to take us to jail or crucifixion, but we do fear contamination, sickness, and maybe even death. We are being careful and doing the things our doctors and scientists caution us to do – and rightly so. But it wears on you, doesn’t it?

They had been holed up for three days. We’ve been at it for a couple of weeks. You start to go a little stir-crazy. Maybe you even start to question what God is up to.

Maybe those questions started long before this, after the last really hard thing in life, or maybe after just getting out of the habit. I’m not sure those distinctions ultimately matter; many of us know a bit about what those disciples were feeling.

Where is God?

They thought they had found God. Actually, I’m pretty sure they were convinced of that. And then he wasn’t quite what they were expecting; and then he was arrested and executed. That definitely wasn’t expected. And now they were afraid and along some continuum of feeling disconnected from God to having abandoned their faith in God.

Starting Easter morning and on through the coming days and weeks, each one had to come to terms with those feelings and beliefs in their own time and manner. Peter and John went running to see; others stayed holed up, awaiting word; Thomas missed Jesus coming by and had to see with his own eyes and touch with his own hands.

Return to the Shepherd of Your Soul

But I am struck by the words of that same Peter, writing years later of these events. And he broadens the application and the invitation out beyond those first followers. After summarizing all that Christ had done, he writes:

You were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:25)

While a pandemic may magnify our faith-challenges, Peter puts his finger on a harder truth: we CONTINUALLY stray from God. That line from the hymn rings true: we feel it – we are “prone to wander.” That’s why the Shepherd image is so compelling. The biblical story is not one of human beings having to accomplish this task or that to make their way ever-closer to God and eventually to heaven or bliss or salvation. The biblical story is the story of the Shepherd, even the Guardian of our souls… the God who comes after us in love.

In this sentence Peter also describes somet

Text: Matthew 21:1-14

PALM SUNDAY

In some ways, this time of living under the stay-home order is a gift. Of course, there is great suffering and sorrow and every indication that it will get worse before it gets better. But in terms of bringing clarity to life and faith, it is a gift. There is so much that can ACCUMULATE in our lives and in our faith. It is so easy for things to slide in under the guise of religion and faith and actually get in the way of what is most important.

Then, in a matter of days, we can’t gather, we can’t use the building, we have to figure out what being church means in a period of stay-home and don’t congregate. Don’t congregate?? You know they call what we are a congregation?!

So while I would not wish COVID-19 on anyone and I pray for God’s mercies on us, I don’t want to miss any lessons along the way. And one of those, I think, is to be reminded of why we are here. Funny, right – why we are HERE, when we aren’t HERE? I mean why we exist as the church.

Today’s Palm Sunday text is a great focusing text on why the Church exists. And it’s such a hard message to receive most years. But I think maybe we are ready to hear it now.

The Savior We Want

Matthew 21:1-11 is the great Palm Sunday text, where the people welcome Jesus with shouts of “Hosanna!”

The crowds were welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem as a King and hero that day, shouting for him to save them (that’s what ‘hosanna’ means). The people were waiting for a Savior-King, and thought Jesus might just be that one who would set them free from the oppression and rule of the Roman army. People were looking for a political Savior rather than a personal and spiritual Savior.

There are a hundred ways we do this today. We deem one political party or the other to be “God’s side.” We are superstitious rather than faithful, praying harder or showing up more when we need a divine favor. We start to believe that the place and the programs – good as they are – are the point rather than all-out love and service to the One who is at once Creator of the Universe, Shepherd of the Sheep, and Abba Father.

You know I think the people meant well. They had read their scriptures. They knew a Messiah was coming. Who can blame them for projecting all their deepest wishes onto that Messiah. Rome was a beast of an Empire. Taxes were ridiculous, the occupation was real, and Caesar was no friend of the Jewish people. They were just a few degrees off God’s reality.

It’s why the triumphal entry story is connected to the one that follows. I think the people in the Temple also meant well.

Get Out of the Building

Just like a similar Temple scene recorded at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of John, there is the same situation with the buying and selling of animals in the temple and the changing of money. Again we read of Jesus overturning tables and driving out the offenders. But this time, we have him speaking scripture to them. Mashing together Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, he says, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a ‘robber’s den’.” (v. 13)

It makes sense to me that it started with good enough intentions. People were expected to keep the Law and offer sacrifices at the Temple, birds and small animals. And they had to be a certain quality – unblemished and all. Much easier to buy the animal you needed there at the Temple than to travel miles and miles and days and days. It was surely a service to the people.

But it had become a business and market eclipsing the true reason for the Temple – prayer, sacrifice, offering oneself to God. And on top of that the business had turned dishonest, with sellers taking advantage of travelers to turn a profit.

So Jesus drives them out of the building. Maybe they and all those witnessing will remember the real reason they come to the Temple. It is to pray; it is to offer themselves in service to God. And like that, the story moves on t

Text: Luke 22:24-34

There is a whole series of hashtags for

failure; there’s #fail  #funnyfails …

there’s #epicfail if it’s especially stupendous. And then there is #failarmy

which gives some idea of just how much failure is out there. You can even watch

other people’s epic failures online. Well if I was going to put a modern header

on today’s scripture it might be something like…

#disciplefail

Before I get to today’s text, let me

point out what came right before it. It was the Last Supper. It was that last

special and holy meal with Jesus where he re-interpreted the Passover meal and

spoke of a new covenant in his blood for the forgiveness of sin. It’s almost

like the disciples wanted to test that out. Right after that holy moment…

really before they were even getting up from the table, a fight broke out.

That’s right… a fight among the twelve

disciples! And lest we judge them two harshly, say Amen toward your computer

monitor or phone if you’ve ever been part of a fight on the way to or coming

back from church. Right? It’s Sunday morning and we are going to worship the

Lord and we just let it all fly coming or going. It’s human nature, so don’t

judge the young fellas too harshly.

What were they fighting about?

Essentially it was about who was the best. Sounds a little like that old

sibling fight, “Mom likes me the best?” “Dad, am I your favorite?” The

disciples were arguing about who was the greatest… the best disciple.

And Jesus responded… the greatest is not

the oldest, not the one at the honored head of the table, not the so-called

“Benefactor” who seeks status from their works. It’s the one who serves – the

one who loves. And it’s not in Luke where we are reading, but if you piece

together the timeline of that last night before Crucifixion, you will see that

the next thing Jesus did was pick up the towel and basin and wash his

disciples’ feet. And then he went on to die for them as explained in the bread

and cup of the Last Supper.

#hardtimeshardtimes

If I were going to pick one more hashtag

for this passage it would be #hardtimeshardtimes. That was the name of a blues

song I shared with you last December. And it’s what the disciples were about to

face. Jesus didn’t really stop to scold them about their fighting; he knew hard

times were coming for them all.

So he reassures them: they have stood by

him and will indeed have a place of honor. That doesn’t make them great or the

best, but it is part of following him and serving as he has served.

But he warns them – Peter, in particular

– that Satan will “sift you like wheat.” Something hard is coming that will

turn life upside down and completely undo him. And he goes on to tell Peter

that he WILL fail him before morning arrives.

But listen to this… listen to this:

Jesus tells him that he has prayed for him, that his faith would not fail.

(Wait, didn’t it?) And then Jesus goes on to say, “When once you have turned

again, strengthen your brothers.” Did you catch all that? Jesus prayed that

Peter would not fail then said that it would… and there would be a way back

from that, not just for forgiveness, but for good purpose – to strengthen the

others.

#lemonade

Of course you know that old saying:

“when life gives you lemons… make lemonade.”

Jesus told Peter that he would be sifted

like wheat… hard times, testing times, unraveling times, failing times would

come. But then Jesus described a way back from that to something healing,

helpful, nurturing, and nourishing to others.

I want to suggest, if it’s not to

cutesy, that Jesus said when life sifts you like wheat, that God can make bread

from it… something good, something nourishing and nurturing, something that

will bless others.

Friends, our time is coming; surely right

now is one of our times of sifting. It’s almost comical to look back at our

arguments before a pandemic and stay-at-home orders. We Christians and

Americans sometimes fight about the silliest things in the big s

TEXT – Luke 17:11-21

Today I want to tell you a STORY… about giving God GLORY… and how giving THANKS helps us turn back to God again and again in an attitude of worship.

Story

Here’s the STORY: You probably know the short version. Jesus healed ten men with leprosy and only one comes back to say “thank you.” Actually, upon hearing their cry for mercy, Jesus sends them to the priest to verify that they are healed and on the way they are healed. It is at that point that one of the ten stops and runs back to Jesus to thank him. This story is often lifted up as an example of the importance of being thankful, and rightfully so. But there is a lot more going on here than we usually realize. For one there is a wonderful picture of the interplay between human prayer (“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”), a godly response that is not instantaneous, but involves our faith and participation (“Go and show yourselves to the priests.”), and a miraculous answer to prayer (“as they were going, they were cleansed.”)

There is also the whole dynamic of the one who returned being a Samaritan. In fact, this was probably the main point for including this story, as Luke includes the reaction of the Pharisees in conjunction with this interaction with a doubly-unclean man (leper AND Samaritan). That won’t be our focus today, but don’t miss this central point: God is at work beyond the walls of our churches. That’s something that takes on fresh meaning now as we are no longer meeting within the walls of our church. We must continue to look for God’s presence and work far outside our comfort zones. And that is what is meant by God’s “glory”.

Glory

When we talk about God’s GLORY we mean God’s goodness (what God has done) and God’s greatness (who God is). Our other scripture readings from Psalm 105 and Isaiah 12 celebrated both these aspects of God’s glory. Each walked through God’s deeds and God’s character, God’s goodness and greatness.

God’s Goodness – When the man realized he had been healed of the terrible and isolating disease of leprosy, he turned back from his mission to see the priests and have himself declared healed and he returned to Jesus and “gave thanks to him.” (v. 16) In response to his prayers for mercy or help, Jesus had responded and God had been good to him. The man was thankful and immediately went to say so.

God’s Greatness – The man in the story was also thankful for God’s greatness, or who God is. We see this expressed twice: in v. 15 when he is found “glorifying God with a loud voice” and in v. 18 when Jesus describes his thanks in terms of “giving glory to God.” Jesus equates “giving glory” then with thanks.

This shows thanks to not only be a “thank you for what you did for me” but an “everybody look how amazing and awesome God is!” Indeed, the man is public with this expression of thanks, as he offers these words (and perhaps gestures) “with a loud voice” on his way back to see Jesus. Said another way, this kind of God-oriented thanks – publicly focusing on who God is – is a form of worship because worship is simply “declaring God’s worth.” We see another aspect of this worshipful thanks after all the public glory-giving, when the man falls on his face at Jesus feet, also an expression of extreme humility and respect, and appropriate to a posture of worship.

Thanks

That leads to a final comment. The Pharisees were missing it. They had asked Jesus when God’s kingdom was going to come. (v. 20) Jesus said it would not be with “signs to be observed” – that’s stuff like comets and alignment of planets and such – nor would it be ‘here’ or ‘there.’ Instead, he says, “Behold (look!) it is in your midst.” In other words, it is already here and it’s all around you. That’s the assumption behind my favorite question: What is God doing and how can you be a part? I assume, with Jesus’ teaching, that God is at work in and around us, in the church and outside the church. And right now “outside the church” is all we’ve got! What a great opportuni

Text: Luke 13:1-9

This has been a week! A week ago I advised you about washing hands and avoiding hand-to-hand contact. I said that the Session would meet on Tuesday to talk about sensible precautions related to COVID-19, and they did. And the insert you have today is what came of that meeting. In summary, we decided to significantly MODIFY all meetings and practices to ensure that we reduced and minimized risk. We committed and continue committing to close MONITORING of all health warnings and developments, ready to take further precautions as needed. And we will be diligent about COMMUNICATING with you.

That monitoring this past week has led the Session to further action as of this morning. This will be our last in-person gathering for worship until further notice. I would love to think we would be able to be back together for Holy Week and Easter, but we will have to see. We will use the same monitoring and communication process to make that decision as we have this past week and today.

While we do want to speak to logistics and take advantage of being together this morning for some key communications, I also want to share God’s Word with you. This might have been one of those days when I would have changed my previously selected text to choose something to fit the extraordinary situation of the day. But as God would have it, I think the text I chose some 6-8 weeks ago is right on target. So let’s look at that together.

In Luke 13 we read of two calamities of Jesus day and we have the opportunity to hear Jesus’ response to them. Wow – could this text be any more on point? I want to look at each calamity and how Jesus responded, and then at a parable he told immediately afterwards.

Two Calamities

Jesus had been teaching the crowds and we read that some present came and reported to him about Pilate having killed some Galileans, presumably while making their Passover sacrifices. Most people typically only know of Pilate’s role in the trial of Jesus when he examined the claims made against Jesus. But we see here that Pilate is no friend of the Jews. Galilee was the northern, rural part of the country – where Jesus was from and where he conducted much of his ministry. Pilate was the Roman governor over Judea, and had the Roman army to back him up. We don’t know any more about this execution of Galilean Jews than this obscure reference, but it’s enough for us to see the way Jesus responds.

He responds, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?” It’s the same kind of perspective that Jesus addressed when his disciples asked him about the blind man, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born this way?” One of our quick go-to explanations of tragedy is that someone did something wrong; someone deserved it. That’s part of what can fuel racist fears and responses to Chinese or Asian people around COVID-19. Or it can fuel responses like some televangelists who might see this as God’s judgment on the world. But like the rain falling on the just and the unjust, this virus will not have regard for someone’s godliness.

Jesus offers this somewhat cryptic conclusion: “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” I’m going to come back to that.

Jesus goes on to add another story of calamity – also obscure to us: “Do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?” Again, when that natural disaster happened, were they somehow deserving of that?

This particular virus is more dangerous and deadly to older adults and to those with existing health conditions. Are they somehow less worthy of life than the young or the healthy? It’s easy to become self-focused: “I’m not at risk… I don’t need to pay that much attention to this” unless you ARE one of those at risk. Then it gets scary pretty quick.

Jesus offered the same cryptic response: “I tell you,

Text: Luke 4:9-13; Exodus 17:2-7

I remember standing there on the plank of wood facing away from my friends. They were in two lines behind me with their arms crisscrossed and holding on to form a human net. I was supposed to fall over backwards while keeping my eyes closed and they were going to catch me. I started to lean back and caught myself, looking around at them. Were they all paying attention? Were they all positioned the way they were supposed to be? My youth leader said I didn’t HAVE to do it, but that I would be glad if I did do it. I had to make a decision. I could either keep testing the situation, stopping myself and turning around to make sure they were ready; or I could fall, leaning back and losing control. But I couldn’t do both. Either I’d continue to test or I’d trust.

Today we are looking at a third time that Jesus was tempted by Satan during his forty days fasting and praying in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry. Two weeks ago we looked at the first temptation: to trust oneself over God’s Word and Truth. Last week we looked at the second temptation: to serve anything or anyone (including self) rather than God. Both times Jesus demonstrated the wisdom and blessing of listening and loving God, something we can do as well when faced with temptation. This third temptation is to test God rather than trust God. We’ll look at what it takes to turn from a testing mind and heart to a trusting mind and heart.

The Third Temptation

Satan challenged Jesus to throw himself off the top of the Temple in Jerusalem, saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.” Now I realize this might be confusing because of its seeming similarity to the trust fall I’ve described. But this was not youth group in the 80s and the nature of the trust at stake was entirely different. In fact, Satan’s temptation reminds me much more of a more recent youth trend. I have seen teenagers (and perhaps even some less than mature adults) engage in a strange variation of the trust fall. In this more recent variation a single person falls backwards toward another person and shouts out “catch me.” It is demanding something that has not been offered; it is truly a ‘test’ and one that may or may not work out well for the one falling!

This is what Satan was asking Jesus to do! Satan was daring Jesus to demand God show His power. And for the first time Satan quoted scripture to Jesus, an interesting strategy and (as a side note) a caution that scripture can be misused out of context. Satan declared, “For it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you to guard you… on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Satan is quoting Psalm 91 but misuses it. That Psalm is an affirmation of God’s sheltering and helping hand for those who trust Him and are hard-pressed and in need. It is not a formula for hurling oneself into danger. To some extent, Psalm 91 is like the organized trust fall, telling the one about to fall to do so because “we’ve got you!” Satan’s twisted version of Psalm 91 is like the 11-year-old flinging himself backwards yelling “catch me.” It is no wonder that Jesus responds by saying, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” The point of Psalm 91 is that God will provide for those who trust him; it is not a recipe or instruction for demanding holy intervention.

With his response, Jesus provides a little more information. He quotes again from Deuteronomy 6 (as he did with the second temptation). The rest of that passage reads as follows:

You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah… you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord… (vv. 16-18)

Jesus is again affirming obedience to God’s will and Word. This has been his response to all three temptations, and it is our way out as well.  But let’s also track down the reference to Massah, which was a very well-known story to God’s peop

Text: Luke 4:5-8; Deuteronomy 6:10-14

Today is the first Sunday of Lent and the first Sunday in a series that will run to Easter. Lent is a “season” in the life of the church in which we prepare for Easter by considering our sinfulness, God’s invitation to trust and turn to Him, and God’s provision of grace, forgiveness, and salvation. In January and February we looked at what precedes repentance – how God goes before us and works in us to prepare us to turn to Him. In this series we are going to look at repentance – at that “turning” – and what it means for our lives.

Last week Zach looked with you at Satan’s first temptation of Jesus. That temptation was for Jesus to turn the stones into bread, to rely on his own authority and power rather than to first seek God’s Word and purpose for him. Today, we look at the second temptation. We do so not just to learn about Jesus, but because Hebrews describes Jesus as being tempted in all ways as we are, yet doing so without yielding to sin. We will also see how we are tempted in this particular way – toward idolatry – and consider the way that God’s Word, Jesus’ example, and Jesus’ faithfulness invite us to turn away from that temptation and toward worship.

Tempting Jesus

The context of these verses is a 40-day period in which Jesus went to the desert to fast and pray. This was the beginning of his traveling and teaching ministry, and he was beginning it with prayerful attention to God’s Word and will. Throughout his ministry there is a tension between the Messiah-expectation of the people around him and Jesus’ own understanding of being God’s anointed. Many looked for him to be a revolutionary and take on the military power of Rome. Satan’s temptation was not just a “you can have all this” line, but a short step away from the already existing expectations for the Messiah.

This is also the deal that endless stories have been based on. It’s the “sell your soul to the devil” story: “If you will only worship me, you can have it all.” It’s the deal at the crossroads, and Jesus resisted by standing on God’s Word.

He quoted Deuteronomy 6, as he also did in response to the other two temptations. He said, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Worship is the first and highest purpose of being human, and Jesus refused to give away his humanity. Rather, he leaned on God’s Word and declared his intent to love, obey, and serve God alone.

The Human Story

This temptation is one of those most common to humanity. Even when God is the one promising or giving the riches and blessing, Satan would rob God of worship. That’s the bottom line. The “stuff” is just the carrot, but Satan does not want God to be worshiped or served. In the passage Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6, God is telling His people not to fall into the worship of a false god. Listen again to what is going on there:

…when the Lord your God brings you into the land… great and splendid cities… houses full of all good things… cisterns… vineyards… olive trees… and you eat and are satisfied… then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord. (vv. 10-12)

Listen to the next part, in verse 13:

You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. You shall not follow other gods…

When surrounded by plenty, even God-given plenty, how easy it is for human eyes to wander!

It reminds me of the story of the first humans, Adam and Eve. They were in Paradise, and yet they heard the same whispered temptations from Satan: “Listen to me; do this; you can be like God!”

How much we desperately need Jesus to make a way for us! He has shown us the way through and he is the way through!

Tempted by Idolatry

I think this temptation translates into our lives in more than one way. One is the confusion between “success” and “blessing.” Even within Christianity, maybe even particularly there, these are confused as many teach a “prosperity or health-and-wealth gospel.” But God seems clear about t

Text: Matthew 4:1-4; Psalm 19:7-11

JamaicaLast year I had the privilege of leading our church’s high school mission trip to Jamaica. One of my favorite memories from that trip was when we visited an infirmary. They gave us an hour to explore the infirmary and talk to the people there. As I walked around I noticed an old Jamaican man lying on his bed. So I sat next to him and introduced myself, instantly recognizing that he was blind. I also noticed that he looked a little thin, as if he was malnourished.

Since we had such a short amount of time together, I only got to learn a little about his story. For most of his life he worked as a slave in some corn fields. He never married and never had kids. In his old age he had become blind and all of his relatives had passed away. With no money and no one to support him, this infirmary was the only place he could go to receive care. I would have felt heartbroken and despair for him, except that while he was sharing all of these details with me, he was smiling and laughing. I started to think that maybe he had gone crazy while at this infirmary.

After he indulged a few of my questions, he asked for a favor from me. Before I left, he wanted me to read him his favorite chapter from the Bible, one of the psalms. So I pulled out the Bible app on my phone and began to read to him. As I read, he recited the whole chapter with me from memory. This time his smile was even greater than before.

Shortly after that, our group had to leave, but I was so moved and challenged by this elderly Jamaican man. He had every right to be angry, bitter, and cynical toward the world and especially toward God. Yet there he was, thankful for his life and filled with love for God. He was in need of money, food, clothing, assistance, and love, yet he didn’t ask me for any of those things. Instead he asked me to read his favorite chapter of the Bible to him because he truly believed that he needed God’s word in his life more than anything else. I could clearly see that this man loved God with all of his heart. And I was able to recognize that in the first 15 minutes of knowing him.

The Big Idea

Do we live like this? Do we live as if our Bibles are the most precious possession we have? Does God’s word impact us and make a difference in our lives? Let me phrase that question a little differently. Would we notice a difference in our own lives if we completely stopped reading the word of God? If I removed God’s word out of your life, would anything change?

I personally believe that your answer to this question reveals how you view or see the Bible and what you do with it. If you have a high view of scripture then it will be at the center of your life. If you have a low view of scripture then it will be non-existent in your life.

And the point I want to make today is this: God’s Word invites and connects us into a loving relationship with our heavenly Father. The more you treasure and abide in God’s word, the closer you will be to God. If you want to grow in your relationship with God, then you need to start with your Bible.

Matthew 4

And who had a closer relationship to God then His Son, Jesus? If anyone didn’t need to read or memorize scripture, it was Jesus. He was one with His Father, being the very imprint of God’s nature and radiance of His glory, yet Jesus still memorized the Bible. Throughout His earthly ministry He constantly quoted or taught on Old Testament scriptures. He wasn’t just making up new stuff on His own, He was teaching scripture. He would often say “it is written” and tell a story or do a miracle to illustrate that passage of scripture and how he was fulfilling it.

Let’s look at an example in Matthew 4, the story about the devil testing Jesus. Verse 3 tells us that after 40 days of fasting from food, while Jesus was at His weakest, the devil came and questioned His identity: “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered him by quoting Deuteronomy, “Man shall

Text: John 9:1-7; Job 4:1-9

“Will work for food!” Or sometimes just, “Need food.”

That person on the side of the road, at the intersection – with the sign wanting food – ever wonder what they did wrong to end up there? I will admit to that line of thinking. How about you?

We are in good company… that’s essentially the question Jesus’ disciples asked him in John 9. They were leaving the Temple after something of a confrontation there. That’s a story for another day, but it ended with some taking up stones to throw at Jesus for blasphemy – claiming too much about himself and God. And as he and the disciples left the Temple, they passed a man blind from birth.

The disciples asked him whose fault it was the man was blind. Did he sin, or did his parents sin, to cause the blindness? I’m not even sure how that would work for it to be the man’s sin, since he was born blind. But this was a common belief of the day, that difficulties in life, like blindness, were a direct result of sin.

In our day we typically do not believe that sin causes things like blindness or deafness, though I suppose there are some choices like drug use that can cause physical manifestations when a baby is born. What is much more common and pervasive, though, is looking at someone like the man or woman with the cardboard sign and assuming they must have done something wrong – sin, if you will.

We’re going to look with that assumption today. It is founded on a “misplaced hope” that we are the source of our own salvation. That may sound strong, but let’s unpack that a bit.

Whose Fault is It? (John 9:1-2)

Now human sin CAN cause suffering, like the consequences of driving too fast may be a wreck. Or the consequence of drug use may be physical harm or loss of a job or homelessness. But that’s a little different than what the disciples asked Jesus. They made an assumption that ALL suffering is caused by sin, and that is simply not the case. Jesus makes that clear.

Neither does Jesus say that the man or his parents had not sinned. The scriptures make it pretty clear that everyone sins – all fall short of the glory of God. Rather, Jesus re-directs the conversation. He is interested in something else altogether. In fact, were Jesus to be in the car with us when we come to the intersection, I think he would say two things to us as our questions and judgments bubbled up.

I think he would say: “Don’t assume this person’s history and choices based on what your eyes see. Don’t look first for DEPRAVITY.”

And I think he would say: “Look at this person through God’s eyes; see the opportunity. Look first at DIGNITY.”

Why do I think that? It’s because of his response to the disciples. He said, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents…” (that’s not the right question!) It was “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Do you hear how radical a statement that is? Do you hear how counter that goes to our vision of others? What Jesus sees first in this person that others judged as depraved or sinful is someone in whom God will work and display His glory. That is the definition of dignity – that we are image-bearers of God and made for worship and giving glory to God.

With the disciples, we see a mess and God sees a canvas for a masterpiece.

With Friends Like That: the misguided counsel of Eliphaz (Job 4)

So this story reminded me of the story of Job. And I want to look at that because it clarifies the issues at hand even more starkly. Job was as close as it gets to a “good man.” And Job loses everything in increasingly dramatic and tragic degrees. He loses his wealth and property, he loses his family, and he loses his health. And yet he still refuses to curse or blame God.

And into that tragic situation his friends come to see him. And they offer counsel in a series of encounters. One friend, Eliphaz, offers the same kind of perspective as the disciples in John. Now everyone who knows Job knows he’s as good as a man can be. But Eliphaz offers what is a common