Let Us Be Satisfied at the Lord’s Supper

podcast 9-24-17

Let Us Be Satisfied at the Lord’s Supper (John 6:35-59)

If you follow social media or even read newspapers or magazines or watch television, you’ve probably wondered, “Is anybody ever really satisfied?” Every day we are bombarded with articles and images showing apparent perfection. Perfect homes. Perfect careers. Perfect children. Perfect lives. And these portraits of perfection, which we’ll never achieve, make us a tiny bit envious. Maybe a little bit dissatisfied with our own lives. Recent research suggests that spending a lot of time on social media is linked to a higher incidence of depression, and is that surprising? Holding up our own experiences against the exciting, amazing, spectacular photos and accounts other people are sharing can lead only to dissatisfaction and regret. Our previously “good enough” lives pale by comparison.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus talked a lot about the danger of getting too attached to material things. Most people can quote his words from Matthew: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . . But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19-21). But what follows is just as important. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” If we train our eyes on what we don’t have, those images of illusory perfection all around us, the light of Christ fades within us. When we constantly feed our appetite with such deceitful beauty, we consume only the empty promise of perfection, leaving us even more hungry than ever for what we do not—or cannot—have.

Just before this passage in John, Jesus had fed more than five thousand men, plus women and children, with five barley loaves and a couple of fish from a little boy’s lunch box. The next day, some people from that crowd searched for and found Jesus. He told them, “You’re looking for me not because of the miracle but because you ate the bread and now you’re hungry again. Don’t bother with food that spoils. Instead, choose the food that endures to eternal life.” The conversation that followed was confusing to them. He told them that only by consuming his flesh and blood could they have everlasting life. But the law prohibited eating human flesh and drinking human blood. What was he talking about? Who was this man, this son of Mary and Joseph who claimed to have come down from heaven? How could he call God his father, and how could believing in a man give them eternal life?

Jewish law required many sacrifices. There were voluntary sacrifices—burnt offerings, grain and drink offerings, peace offerings—and mandatory sacrifices, the first of which was the sin offering. Its purpose was to atone for sin and cleanse the sinner. For this, an animal was killed and its blood was drained and sprinkled on the altar, some of its organs and fat were offered to God, and the rest of the body was either burned or prepared and eaten by the priests, the Levites, and sometimes the people for whom the sacrifice was offered. Blood was not to be consumed. The Jews that Jesus was conversing with in this passage were familiar with the sacrifices. But they didn’t understand that Jesus himself was going to be a sin offering on their behalf. “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” His words were cryptic, to say the least. In fact, many people who had followed Jesus to this point abandoned him because they could not accept what he told them.

In a year, Jesus would go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover with his twelve closest disciples. He would tear the bread and offer it to [...]

Rev Jake Parks

9-17-17 Podcast

 

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Let Us . . . (Hebrews 20:19-25)

If you’ve ever watched a marathon or a long bike race, you’ve probably noticed one runner or rider pulling ahead of the rest of the racers early on, maintaining for a long time an impressive lead over everyone else. “That’s the winner,” you might think. “There’s no way anybody can beat him (or her).” But then, as you continue to watch the race, near the end that lone athlete begins to lose the lead and eventually falls farther and farther back. The winner will be someone who likely was near the front, sometimes in the middle, but pulled ahead in the final seconds of the race, to victory. How did this happen?

In this letter or sermon, the writer exhorts his brothers and sisters in Christ to persevere. With a sincere heart, the full assurance of faith, freedom from guilt through the sacrifice of Jesus, and oneness with Jesus and each other through baptism, the church could endure, grow, and thrive. He encouraged his flock to draw near to God, to hold on to hope, to keep meeting together, and to encourage one another. His words are as relevant for us today as they were to the early church.

Our world is a dark and broken place. Discord and divisiveness seem to be the order of the day. Sometimes we have to dig deep for some positivity in the news or our social media feed. Perhaps the writer of Hebrews would say to us, “Stop looking out there for the light. You carry the Spirit of God, the light of the world, within you. Others are looking to YOU for it, so shine!” The world was not such a wonderful place in his time, either. As long as there are human beings on earth, there will be sin and evil. But he reminds us, as he reminded the early church, that thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus we can enter the presence of God, no longer cut off by our sin from his holiness. Thanks to his blood we are washed clean and given new life. Instead of looking to the world for justification, we need look only to Jesus, whom we now are free to serve with our whole heart.

It’s hard to be a solitary Christian. We weren’t created to live the faith alone. Just as a runner or bike racer draws on the energy of the pack, we also need the community of faith for strength and support. When you stay out in front in a race, you’re on your own to determine your pace, to ration your physical resources, and to keep yourself motivated. It’s a lonely and, as we see in televised races, ill-fated strategy. Trying to follow Jesus outside the fellowship of believers is lonely. When we worship, learn, and serve together we grow together. We’re stronger together, better able to withstand the world’s forces against us. And when we encourage each other, lift up each other, even correct each other, we grow closer to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to God himself. Like the racers, we can spur each other on through the synergy we experience as members of the church, the body of Christ.

The world may be a dark place, but we carry the light. Through us, Jesus offers hope and healing to everyone. In the end, all of creation will be redeemed. Knowing that we have a part to play in that redemption should be humbling, yet empowering. Although we are individually saved and sanctified, we are bound to one another in love. Any one of us can make a difference in our circle of influence, but the corporate body of the church, a thriving community where each person shares with and serves others, is God’s example to the world of kingdom living, a powerful witness to his love and grace. Through the church we can persevere and win the race, and although we are buffeted by the many storms of this life we can remain strong in Christ. Together. With our fellow Christians, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

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The Secret of Contentment (Exodus 20:17, Philippians 4:10-20)

What would it take for us to be content? Maybe our neighbor’s house or yard? Our friend’s car, boat, or motorcycle? Our third line manager’s salary? How about our cousin’s perfect children? Somebody else’s spouse? Winning the lottery? We can all think of things that we imagine might make our lives better, especially when there’s strife in our home or trouble at work. If only we made more money. If only we had married someone else. If only our kids were better behaved. If only we had more. If only. Is it wrong to wish for a different life? To long for what might make us happier? That depends.

The tenth commandment prohibits coveting, which means desiring something with evil motivation. To be covetous is to be greedy or grasping. To place our own wants above everything else, regardless of the harm we might do to others or to ourselves. Wanting things and wishing our lives were different isn’t necessarily bad. But when we covet, we are blind to what we already have because we are so focused on what we lack. Covetousness and contentment cannot exist together in the same heart. The good news is that we get to choose which one we allow to take up residence in us.

Paul endured more than most of us will ever have to endure. He was lashed, beaten, and shipwrecked. He was hungry, cold, imprisoned, and persecuted. If he had coveted his neighbor’s warm bed or full pantry or security we could have understood. But he didn’t. “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Paul knew that contentment is not found in material possessions. We don’t earn it through our achievements or the achievements of our children. We don’t find contentment in the right wardrobe or car or house. More money doesn’t guarantee contentment.

The only source of contentment is Jesus. Earlier in his letter to the Philippians Paul wrote that our attitude should be like that of Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing . . . .” In his life here on earth, Jesus did not lord his Lordship over people, shaming them or making them feel small; instead, he became God’s obedient servant, sacrificing himself to save them and us. Paul put his faith completely in Jesus, not in money or power or influence. Not in himself. Only in Jesus.

Is it possible for us to be content? Our world is so dark and broken. The human race seems overwhelmed by sin. We long to make a difference, but we don’t know how. The problems feel too big and impossible for any one person to solve. The future seems bleak. When we think of the enormity of the world’s troubles, we feel ill equipped. Where do we even begin? If Paul were here today, working in missions, what would he say? No doubt the same thing he wrote to the church at Philippi: “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

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To Be Able To Trust (Exodus 20:16, Acts 4:32-5:11)

When you look at the Ten Commandments, do you ever wonder why they’re ordered the way they are? Wouldn’t it make more sense to rank them according to their severity, from least to most serious? After all, our judicial system considers murder worse than theft. Even within a category of crime there are degrees: first degree murder is worse than involuntary manslaughter, and grand theft auto is worse than petty theft. As citizens, we are conditioned to view lawbreaking in degrees of crime and punishment. But back to the commandments. Why do adultery, theft, lying, and coveting come after murder in the “you shall not” list? Could it be that the Law handed down from God to his people through Moses is not simply about public safety and the protection of property? We’ll revisit this in a moment.

In Jewish law, according to Deuteronomy 19:15, “One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” One person might bear a grudge against a neighbor and accuse him or her of wrongdoing simply out of spite. But if two or more people witness wrongdoing and are willing to testify, their testimony is enough to convict the wrongdoer. Of course, as we saw in last week’s story of Ahab and Jezebel, witnesses can be persuaded to testify falsely against an innocent person, so the law is not perfect. The commandment, however, is clear: you shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. Perjury is a prosecutable crime in the modern court system.

We like to think that there are degrees of lying, just as there are degrees of theft. Our legal system differentiates among the criminal forms of falsehood: perjury is bearing false witness in court; calumny is filing a false police report; defamation is spreading lies about someone to damage his or her reputation. But other than those, lying is not illegal. And we all do it. We tell little white lies to protect ourselves or to spare another person’s feelings. We lie to avoid unpleasantness or to keep the peace with our spouse or other loved ones. We lie to get ourselves out of a bad situation. Is lying really so wrong? At least it isn’t murder, right?

God gave Moses the Law, the Ten Commandments, not simply to ensure public safety and the protection of property but to enable his people to live in harmony with God and each other. Every commandment is equally important, and every sin addressed by the Law is equal in God’s eyes because each one has the same result: broken relationship. Living in community requires trust, and lying violates that trust. The account of Ananias and Sapphira is instructive because their offense doesn’t seem so bad to us. Living in a community of believers who shared their possessions was hard. Following the example of Joseph from Cyprus, they sold a piece of property but then, unlike Joseph, held back a portion of the proceeds for themselves. This was not wrong—there was no law prohibiting it—and they did not specifically tell the apostles they were giving all when they actually weren’t, according to scripture. But apparently they made it appear that they were giving all, which was a lie. Peter saw their deception and called them out. “You have not lied to men,” he said, “but to God.” And their lie cost both Ananias and Sapphira their lives. Under God’s Law, there are no degrees of lying or theft or killing. Any violation of the Law has the same result—broken relationship—and the same penalty: death.

The Good News is that Jesus has paid that penalty for us. Even though we continue doing wrong, if we confess our sin and accept his gift of salvation, we can never be prosecuted in the court of heaven for our transgressions against God. With grateful hearts, we must respond with humility and a [...]

Stolen Identity (Exodus 20:15, 1 Kings 21:1-16)

In 1986, Robert Fulghum published a small book that went on to sell more than seven million copies and spend 110 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It’s still a popular book, and it has inspired many parodies (books, TV shows, movies, and others) and even a musical production. Perhaps you’ve read it: All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The title essay is a list of simple rules for life that most children are taught at a very young age, from “play fair” and “clean up your own mess” to “live a balanced life” and “be aware of wonder.” Of course, there’s “don’t take things that aren’t yours.” Even children know that stealing is wrong.

Perhaps Israel’s King Ahab and his wife flunked kindergarten. Clearly they did not learn the lesson about theft.

A man named Naboth owned a vineyard close to Ahab’s palace, and Ahab wanted the land to convert it to a vegetable garden. So he asked Naboth for the property, offering to pay whatever the land was worth or to give him a better vineyard. But Naboth refused. He believed that God owned the land and had granted Naboth’s family a lease on it, thereby making it his family’s permanent inheritance. The kings of other nations could simply take whatever they wanted, but the rulers of Israel were not allowed to confiscate privately held property. And Naboth would not insult God by giving away what God had given him. So King Ahab went home to sulk. When his wife, Jezebel, saw him and heard his story, she reassured him. “I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

So Jezebel cooked up a scandal. She had two men falsely accuse Naboth in public of cursing both God and the king, a capital offense, and the people dragged Naboth outside the city and stoned him to death. Then she told Ahab to get up and take the land he wanted. Problem solved. End of story? Not quite. There will be consequences for what Ahab and Jezebel did, as there are always consequences when we break the law. Not only did they steal Naboth’s land, they also stole his good name and reputation and his life. Naboth was an honorable man. He followed the law, living in harmony with God and his neighbors. Ahab and Jezebel broke God’s commandment, disregarding the value of relationship with God and with the people the king was supposed to lead and serve. There will be a price to pay.

Some people treat stealing as a lesser crime than, say, murder. But we see in this account that one can easily lead to the other. Taking what doesn’t belong to us deprives the owner of his or her property, but it can also ruin reputations and destroy relationships. And what God greatly desires for us is that we live in harmony with our fellow humans, loving and supporting them. He wants us to play fair and clean up after ourselves. He wants us to honor him by treating our fellow humans with kindness and compassion. Unless we are in a right relationship with one another, we cannot be in a right relationship with God.

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People of Faithfulness (Exodus 20:14, Ecclesiastes 5:1-7)

“You shall not commit adultery.” The seventh commandment is simple and straightforward. Sure, you could argue about what adultery means, but its traditional definition is also straightforward: “voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her lawful spouse” (www.dictionary.com). Why would this need to be a commandment? Shouldn’t consenting adults be able to do whatever they want? Where’s the harm?

When two people marry, they vow to love and honor each other for the rest of their lives. To be faithful to each other until one of them dies. They cease to be two separate, single people and become one. Of course, we live in a fallen world, and there are sound reasons for divorce. But God intended marriage to be an earthly reflection of his relationship with his people, the church. As the bride of Christ, the church pledges loyalty and faithfulness to God, and not even death can separate us from his love. However, as adultery destroys trust between spouses, faithlessness is equally damaging in the church.

The word adultery comes from the Latin adulterare, “to corrupt.” We talk about contaminated food or medicine being adulterated, which means spoiled or impure. The marriage relationship is to be pure and holy (set apart), as is God’s relationship with us. Faithlessness ruins the trust between people in such an intimate partnership. Adultery is utter selfishness that corrupts or spoils a love that is intended to be pure and holy. To be faithful to our spouse is to put that person ahead of ourselves and our own plans and desires, including work or hobbies or even our own children; to be loyal: to stand by him or her no matter what; to defend: to take his or her side, even against our own birth family. Only God is to come before the one to whom we have pledged ourselves.

We could blame modern culture, with its provocative advertising and sexually charged entertainment, for the temptation toward adultery. But the fact that this commandment was given to Moses and the Israelites thousands of years ago tells us that faithfulness in marriage has always been a concern to God. He knows that marriage is difficult. Putting another person, even one we love, ahead of ourselves isn’t natural. Standing by the one we married can be, at the very least, inconvenient and, at most, burdensome. Being faithful to a spouse can cost us time, money, and ego. The same is true for being faithful to God. Ultimately, faithfulness can cost us our very lives. God, though, demonstrated his faithfulness to us on the cross. Through his sacrifice, Jesus showed us how much he loves us, and that love is unconditional and everlasting. How can we be faithless to such a God?

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Valuing Life (Exodus 20:13, 1 Samuel 26:1-25)

Scientists estimate that since the earth’s beginning, more than five billion species, ninety-nine percent of which are now extinct, have called our little blue planet home. Diversity is the hallmark of creation. Take birds, for example: there are thirty-five types of sparrows alone in North America, each a little bit different from the others. And insects: more than a million species populate the earth, and that doesn’t even include spiders (which are actually arachnids). Our world is teeming with wonderful, diverse, fascinating life.

Think about the people you’ve met. Aren’t they all different? Even identical twins aren’t identical in every sense. But there is one thing we all have in common. In Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let us [the triune God] make people in our image, in our likeness.” Despite our differences in gender, skin color, hair color, height, and every other way it is possible to be different, we are all created in God’s image and likeness. How can that be?

The image of God, or imago Dei, must be something in us that can’t be seen by the eye. It is the thing that animates us, that makes us alive. Genesis 2 says that God formed all living things from the dust of the ground (accurate because all life on earth is carbon based), and into man “he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” When God created humans in his own likeness he instilled something of himself in us: life. Therefore, all life is God-breathed and precious.

God’s commandment against murder in Exodus reminds us that all life has value. Even if we intensely dislike another person, even if another person has harmed us in some way, even if revenge seems justified, God forbids murder. Taking away the spark of life that God instilled drives a wedge between us and God and between us and our fellow human beings. How can we expect to live in harmony with one another if we utterly disregard the value of any person’s life?

Yet, as terrible as depriving a person of physical life is, there is something worse: the separation from God that results from rejecting his gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Our mortal bodies will die, but our immortal selves will live forever. Jesus sacrificed himself so that we could live. We have a choice about how we will spend eternity. Will we choose darkness and despair, or will we choose light and hope? Death or life? It’s up to us to decide.

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Sabbath Healing (Exodus 20:8-11 and Luke 13:10-17)

Sleep is something of a mystery. Even though we spend up to a third of our lives doing it, we know very little about the biological purpose of sleep. Thanks to the invention of some pretty sophisticated medical equipment we do know what happens when we don’t get enough sleep: we can’t form or maintain the pathways in our brain that enable us to learn and to make new memories. Without sufficient sleep, every part of our body suffers. Scientists believe that only during sleep does the brain perform its housekeeping chores, eliminating toxins that build up while we’re awake. Only when we’re asleep does our body heal the damage inflicted to our muscles, organs, even our very cells, during our waking hours. We might not understand all the ins and outs of sleep, but we know good, regular sleep, and enough of it, are critical to a healthy brain and body. Sleep rejuvenates us.

What does any of that have to do with our scripture?

Let’s back up. In Exodus, God commanded the Israelites to remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy or set apart from the other days of the week. They had six days to do their work; the seventh was to be a day of rest. After God had created everything, he reminded his children, he rested on the seventh day, not because he was tired but because his work was complete. He took the seventh day to look over his creation and admire it, pronouncing it good. And he named that day the Sabbath, the gift of a day of rest for his children. Was there still work to be done? Sure. But people are human, and sometimes we have to be reminded that we need a day off for our physical, mental, and spiritual health and renewal.

In Luke’s account, the synagogue ruler tried to use the fourth Commandment against Jesus. “There are six days for work,” he reminded the people. “So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” Jesus had paused in his teaching to free a woman who had been bound by an evil spirit for eighteen years. Could he have healed her any other day? Of course. But he saw her then, and rather than leaving her in bondage any longer, he healed her then. The synagogue ruler knew the law, but his interpretation might have been a little faulty. Was healing considered work for Jesus? “You hypocrites!” Jesus answered the ruler. “Don’t you untie your ox or donkey and lead it out of the stall to give it water on the Sabbath?” Why, then, would you leave this woman, who has been bound for eighteen years, in that bondage? Isn’t a child of God worth at least as much to you as a donkey?

Many of us are also in bondage, maybe not to an evil spirit but certainly to our schedules. To our workplace or our kids’ sports team. To our to-do list. To our cell phones or social media. To whatever we feel anxious about when we try to step away from it. The woman in the synagogue that day didn’t ask Jesus to heal her. She’d been in her condition for so long, she might have figured it was permanent. But Jesus saw her. He noticed her in the crowd, and he reached out to her, offering her healing and freedom. Jesus sees us, too, and he reaches out to us, offering us healing and freedom from whatever binds us. His healing is to our spirits what sleep is to our bodies: rejuvenation, a word that means to put new life into, to make young again. We need this desperately, even if we don’t admit it. God knows us. He knows that we would just continue living our regular lives seven days a week, so he gives us the Sabbath. Freedom. Healing. We need it and the rejuvenation Jesus offers us. Accept the gift.

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Remember Who You Are (Exodus 20:7, Exodus 3:1-15)

What’s in a name? When Juliet posed the question to Romeo, she ascribed all their relationship challenges to his heritage. To her, a name was an artificial and meaningless convention, and whatever one was called had no bearing on who one truly was. If only he had been born a Smith or a Jones and not a Montague, they would have been free to live happily ever after. Family feuds aside, how important are names? Are they simply a social convention?

Most of us receive our names at or shortly after our birth. Perhaps our parents were inspired by an ancestor or other relative, a friend, a famous person, or even simply a creative thought when they chose our name. Some people seem to grow into their name and embrace it; others can’t wait until they are old enough to change it. In addition to our given names, we may also be called Mom, Dad, Bro or Sis, Cuz, or even Mr. President, Your Highness, or Your Holiness. Then there are the affectionate names: Sweetheart, Honey, M’love, etc. Those words do more than simply name us: they also describe who we are in relation to someone else. And like it or not, our names influence who we become, how we see ourselves, and how others see us. The way people use our name says a lot about what they think of us, so we all hope to hear our name spoken respectfully and not misused.

God has many names. In the Old Testament, the Israelites knew him as The Lord God Almighty, the Most High, Master, Our Righteousness, Banner, Shepherd, and Sanctifier. They knew him as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Everlasting God. Moses asked what name he should tell the people when they asked who had sent him, and God replied, “I AM.” The Eternal One. The One True God. As people we are unique, but unless our parents got extremely creative with the alphabet and punctuation, our name is not likely to be one-of-a-kind. God’s names, however, like God are unique. Nobody else can claim to be who he says he is. He is holy, and his name is holy. He is powerful, and his name reflects that power. He is loving, merciful, and just, and his name reveals those qualities. To use his name casually is to treat him casually. To curse or swear by his name is an insult to his character. We are commanded to respect his name as we respect him.

Throughout scripture, the Israelites were reminded what God had done for them. He delivered them from slavery. Kept them alive in the desert. Preserved them as a people. Defended them from their enemies. As their Father he also disciplined them. Whenever they forgot who and Whose they were, he reminded them, sometimes in ways we might consider harsh or excessive. But it was crucial that his people remembered who God was and who they were in relation to him: his chosen people. His adopted children. We also need to remember that we are his children. In ways we don’t even know or understand, he has delivered us from slavery. Kept us alive in our own desert times. Preserved us and defended us. He also disciplines us, as any good father does, because he loves us. So when we speak his name, it should be reverently, respectfully, and with humility and gratitude. Would we do less for anyone else we love?

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