Will Rice - Sermon #57 - "Baptism of the Lord"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Matthew 3:13-17

We are reading today from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 3, starting with verse 13. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we were doing something similar to watching a television series out of order. We did something like this: Jesus was born, the wise men left, then the wise men came. Well anyway, according to Matthew, what happens next is Jesus’ baptism. In Matthew’s account, we miss from, from what we can guess, Jesus at age two, to Jesus as an adult, leaving us to guess whether or not Jesus was a difficult toddler and whether or not the Son of God as a teen ever snuck out and went hot-roding with Joseph’s mule.

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

I get a question about this passage a lot which goes something like this, “I know what baptism means to Christians, but what were the Jews doing here?” Remember, John the Baptist was a Jew. In this scene these are all Jews coming to be baptized. What is going on? If we turn to the Old Testament, we will see.

You see for us, as Christians, the waters of baptism are part of a central sacrament of our faith. As people are brought into the community, they are baptized in the name of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. But water had powerful ritual importance in the Jewish tradition as well.

In Exodus 40, God is instructing Moses as to how to make an offering to God once the tabernacle is completed.

¹²Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water, ¹³and put on Aaron the sacred vestments, and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest.

If we look in the book of Leviticus, there is a whole section in Leviticus 8 on the ordination of the priests where it tell us that Moses,

⁶Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward, and washed them with water.

This is clearly a ritual washing. There was clearly an understanding that one had to be clean to enter in God’s presence. The idea of ritual washing was not only for priests. The Jewish law is very concerned with the idea of clean and unclean. There were many things that could make one ceremonially unclean. For instance, touching a dead body. Now, the way to get ceremonially clean again was to follow the ritual which included: Leviticus 19:19(b)

Then they shall wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water, and at evening they shall be clean.

The Jewish ritual of cleansing, Mikvah, unlike our Christian baptism was a repeatable rite. It could wash away impurity, it could wash away sin, it could restore one into community. Let’s back up in Matthew a little bit to get some perspective on what John the Baptist is doing here. Matthew 3:4-6:

⁴Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, ⁶and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

So basically what John the Baptist is doing is not the same as what we do, but this Mikvah has the similar idea. Baptism, for us, is a sacrament. We define a sacrament as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. We believe that God has given us physical representations of things that we can’t really see. John wasn’t actually washing sins away, he was using water as a sign of what was going on. In baptism, God is at work through the Holy Spirit and water is the means by which we see it.

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

This is one of the most truly awkward moments in the Bible. John knew exactly who Jesus was and knew that he had no need to be ritually cleansed. John’s water was washing away sin and Jesus didn’t have any. John was aware of what would be later written in Hebrews 4:15:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.

“I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

But Jesus is quite insistent.

¹⁵But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

There is a lot in this passage. In fact, I could preach a whole hour just on that phrase,
to fulfill all righteousness, but today on this occasion of the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, we come to take the opportunity to reaffirm the commitments we made in baptism. As United Methodists, we do not re-baptize, because we believe baptism is God’s work and therefore cannot ever be undone. Unlike the Jewish Mikvah, baptism is not a repeatable write. But, just like the Jews who returned to the river, we can fall away from our side. We can wander away from our baptismal vows, whether for a moment, or for a day, or for a year. When that happens, when we are not following our side of the bargain in baptism, God is still faithful to the promise. On days like today, we can take the chance to reaffirm what we believe and allow the water to be a powerful reminder of the cleansing grace of God.

Before we reaffirm our commitment to God and allow the water to wash over us, let’s look back at our scripture. John gives into Jesus’ request.

Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

There is so much going on in this passage. You should count yourself lucky if you have been here the last two years to hear John the Methodist preach on it. But I just want to point out one more thing in here.

¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

In this moment, the boundaries between heaven and earth grow strangely thin. This is one of those moments in scripture when God’s kingdom seems to be breaking into our world in an unnervingly powerful way. The boundaries of separation between God’s reality and our reality are, for a moment, not so clear.

¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Something I believe about the sacraments of the church, Holy Communion which we celebrate nearly every week and baptism which we will take a time to remember this morning, is that, in them, this same sort of thing happens. When we come to the table, when we come to the water, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the boundaries of heaven and earth grow strangely thin and if we listen, very closely, through the ordinary things like bread and wine and water, if we listen very closely, we can hear the almighty God speak clearly to us.

John the Baptist used the water as a sign of people’s repentance for sin. The water represented a washing away of sin. For Christians, it is the death and resurrection of Jesus that truly washed away our sin. But the water is the outward sign of that amazing gift. Water has amazing power. While God never turns away from the promise of baptism, some of us turn away again and again and the water has the power to bring us back.

Pastor John and I are about to do something you might not all like, we are going to get you a little wet. We are not going to baptize you. We are not going to rebaptize you. We are simply going to sprinkle you with water. Here is the invitation: Let this water wash over you. Let it remind you of your baptism, how the water poured over you claimed you and named you as a child of God and how it is still at work in you continuing to re-create you in the image of likeness of God. If you have never been baptized, let this water wash over you and hear it as God’s invitation to you.

After we are done with the water, you are invited to a time of prayer. There will be no formal benediction today. After we are done with the water, you are welcome to pray in your seat. You are welcome to come to the rails. Come considering the promise that God made to you in your baptism, to love you with an everlasting love that will never let you go. And consider the promises you will proclaim to God again today.

Will Rice - Sermon #56 - "Thre's More to the Story"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Matthew 2:13-22

I have a miraculous piece of technology hooked up to my television which allows me, with the touch of a button to record a television show and watch it later. Ours is called a DVR, some people have a thing called a TiVo. I probably shouldn’t watch much television, but without this little box, I doubt I would watch any. In case no one has ever noticed, as a pastor, I work some pretty strange hours and am not often home during prime time. My wife, Alisha is the resident expert on this device and I count on her to record shows that I might want to watch. Because of my schedule, I might not have time to watch a show until Alisha has already recorded four weeks worth of episodes. We have to be very careful when we do that so that we are sure to watch them in order. If you watch shows, especially dramas out of order, you can get a little confused. If you watch CSI, you might wonder why they are still investigating a case the solved last week. If you watch House, you might wonder why a character who got fired last week is still there.

That is sort of what we have going on with scripture this week. Next week, according to the church calendar, we will celebrate Epiphany Sunday, the coming of the Wise Men. This week, however, is appointed a scripture that takes place after they the Wise Men have already left. So try not to be too confused.

¹³Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

Matthew’s gospel is not nearly as poetic about the birth of Jesus as Luke’s. In my introductory Bible course, people are often surprised that most of our understanding of the birth comes from Luke. In Matthew, this is pretty much what we get:

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea…

But for today’s purposes, that tells us what we need to know. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, one of the most contentious places on earth. A little background on Bethlehem: Bethlehem was the hometown of David, the shepherd boy who was anointed King of Israel. That’s why Mary and Joseph were there in the first place. There was a census taking place and, according to Luke’s gospel:

⁴Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.

Bethlehem, like the rest of the Middle East is a tinderbox. Today it is under control of the Palestinian Authority under the watchful eye of the Israelis. It is at the center of the ongoing conflict over God and land between the Israelis and the Palestinians and the Palestinians and other Palestinians and even among the Christians.

As Bethlehem is believed to be the city of birth of Jesus it is home to the Church of the Nativity, built on the spot where Jesus is believed to be born. (Obviously the barn was torn down.) Every year, of course Christmas Eve services are held there and this year, they were followed by a massive brawl between Greek Orthodox and Armenian Priests. The fight was seemingly about Greek Orthodox ladders encroaching on Armenian space while the priests were cleaning. Two Palestinian policemen were also injured in the melee.[1]

Bethlehem is a tinderbox.

As an aside, Bethlehem is also where Rachel is buried according to Genesis 35:19. Don’t worry, we will come back to that.

So Joseph, in a dream, is told to leave this dangerous place,

¹³Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

Silent night, Holy night, all is calm, all is bright ‘round yon virgin mother and child, holy infant so tender and mild. Run for your lives!

Joseph and his family aren’t the first ones to find safety in Egypt. There was another Joseph, the son of Jacob. Genesis 37 (12-36) tells us how his brothers sold him into slavery and how he was taken to Egypt and how Egypt eventually became a place of refuge for his family from the famine in Canaan. (Genesis 46-47)

Our Joseph is told to go and he listens.

¹⁴Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

If we look at the prophet Hosea, chapter 11, verse one, we see the scripture being quoted here. The author of the Gospel is using this prophecy as sort of a proof, pointing to Jesus as the chosen one. But it is more than just proof, it is poetry.

Remember I said this isn’t the first Joseph to go to Egypt? Let me remind you of what happened with that. Things went well in Egypt until a new Pharaoh came to power who wasn’t so fond of Joseph and his people and forced them into slavery until God raised up a prophet Moses who led God’s people out of Egypt. God, through Moses, called his people out of Egypt.

God saved God’s people by calling them out of Egypt led by the prophet Moses. God will again save God’s people with a savior who is called out of Egypt. There is wonderful poetry and symmetry in the Bible stories.

The Bible is very cool when you read closely.

Then something horrible happens.

¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.

Today, we call this sort of thing genocide. It seems Herod was acting out of paranoia here. We see a better picture of what set him off if we back up to the story of the wise men but remember, we are watching episodes out of order. In simple terms, he senses a threat to his power and lashes out. He is not sure who the threat is, so he kills all the boys. Though there is evidence that with the size of Bethlehem at the time, this was not of the scope of genocides in our lifetime. However, this doesn’t make the scene of Roman solders barging into homes to kill babies any less horrifying.

I just don’t know what people were thinking assigning this text when we are still singing Christmas carols. There is symmetry here though as well. This has happened before. Exodus chapter 1 tells us that when the Hebrew people were in captivity in Egypt,

²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live."

Pharaoh sensed a threat to his power, the Hebrew people were becoming too numerous, too prosperous, too powerful, so he lashed out.

You may have heard that one of these boys survived by being put in a basket on the Nile. He was found by Pharaoh’s daughter who named him Moses, the guy who led God’s people out of Egypt.

¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ¹⁸“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

Alright, just a little more background, I promise. This quote is from Jeremiah 31:15, which I have to tell you, needs a whole sermon of its own because it is so full of poetic references to other stories in the Bible.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.

You may remember I mentioned earlier that Rachel is buried near Bethlehem, Genesis 35:19:

¹⁹So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), ²⁰and Jacob set up a pillar at her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day.

If we back up even further in Genesis we read about Rachel. Rachel was Jacob’s second wife after he was tricked first into marrying her sister Leah. Leah had many children but Rachel had none. Rachel finally bore Jacob a son, whom he name Joseph, the one who ended up in Egypt. Rachel became pregnant again, but died in childbirth. Before her death she named her son Beneni, “Son of my sorrow.” Jacob renamed the son Ben-jamin, “Son of my right hand.”

Jeremiah is talking about Rachel in terms of the exile, the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of God’s people into captivity, one of the most horrible events in the history of the people of Israel.

Just look at all these connections. Our Joseph takes his family to Egypt, just as another Joseph was sent into Egypt and helped his people survive a famine. Jesus escaping a massacre of the innocents, Just as Moses escaped a massacre by of innocents being sent down the Nile in a little boat Jesus escaping into Egypt so that he be called out of Egypt to save God’s people, just as Moses was called out of Egypt to save God’s people. Over the top of this Rachel is weeping from her grave outside Bethlehem at this tragedy which echoes the tragedy of the exile which echoes her own sorrow.

Joseph, blood, escape, Egypt, Rachel, Joseph.

Which all raises the question, what happened to, “Joy to the World?” Christmas seemed so simple just a couple of days ago. This seems like such a shameful event to have in the Christmas story and it just gets more complicated the deeper we dig in.

It ties us into the history of God’s people, a history stained with blood and sorrow. A history in which God many times intervened to work through prophets like Moses and leaders like Joseph to save God’s people.

When we see Christmas in the framework of the history of God’s people, we see why Christmas is so cool! If the world was all sunshine and lollypops, what difference would it make if God came into it? That God came into a world like this, now that is impressive. That God chose to be born in a city where rulers fly into a paranoid rage and where priests get into fist-fights on Christmas Eve, now that it my kind of God.

On Christmas Eve, after being here all day, I went and wasn’t yet sleepy. I flipped on the television and caught the middle of one of many televised midnight masses. There in the pews of this huge church sat people in dresses in suits and ties and dresses, while an orchestra played and a choir sang and people yawned.

That helped me fall asleep that night but doesn’t well reflect the Christmas story that tells of Jesus being born in a city that was witness to a massacre, a city that to this day whose holy sites are guarded by blast-proof walls and men with automatic weapons.

This is the story that makes Christmas, Christmas. I mentioned on Christmas Eve how Christmas is about God coming into our dark and scary world. This shows, right from the beginning that God did not come into a world of light, but brought light into the world.

So if Christmas is about God coming into a scary world, what are you doing about it? If Christmas is about God’s entry into a bloodstained world what does that mean for us?

I want to end with two questions.

Are you letting God’s light shine into the darkest and scariest places of your life? I guess that some of us don’t let God into some of the places in our life where we most need God. These are the same places we don’t let our friends, family and spouses into. It is too easy to hold onto this picture of God who is all about polite conversation and moral behavior, but Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Are you letting God’s light shine into the darkest and scariest places of your life? I

Are you willing to go to dark and scary places to be the hands and feet of the savior? I think it is hauntingly and terribly poetic that the Church of Nativity in Manger Square, on the spot where many Christians believe Jesus was born, is riddled with bullet holes from a siege in 2002. Jesus is not the savior of winsome sanctuaries and polite services. Jesus is not eh sort of savior we leave behind when we leave church. Jesus is the sort of savior that causes us to risk our money, our popularity even our lives to bring the good news of his birth to our world. Are you willing to go to dark and scary places to be the hands and feet of the savior?

Your homework this week: An essay question. I know people like short answer, but here we go anyway. It is one question:

What are you going to do about Christmas? Knowing God came into our scary world, was born into the continuing history of God saving God’s people and was born into the midst of political intrigue and intense danger, what are you going to do in response? What are you going to do about Christmas?

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[1] “Priests brawl at Bethlehem birthplace of Jesus” http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071227133441.5ue4z6fy&show_article=1

Will Rice - Sermon #55 - "Christmas Light"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Christmas Eve 2007

What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

I contend that even if we didn’t have Christmas, we would have Christmas lights and we would probably put them up about the same time of year. There is something about the end of the year. There is something about the cold (the little we get of it here in South Texas). There is something about the dark. There is something about the end of the year that has the tendency to plunge many of us into an emotional and spiritual darkness.

There is something about a tiny, twinkling light that has some temporary ability to pull us back out of that darkness. My wife and I love to take our little boy and our two not-so-little dogs out walking at night, especially when there is a little chill in the air. The other night we were out around 7 o’clock and it was already very dark. We were on a street with no functioning street lights. I have to tell you with a toddler in a stroller and two dogs, walking in the dark is a little tricky. I was having trouble keeping the whole caravan together when we rounded a corner and found our path lit by about four houses with enough lights to bring a bit of daylight to our journey.

For those of you who are new to us tonight, I have to be upfront, this is only my seventh Christmas since becoming a practicing Christian. I grew up in a home where we did not go to church on Christmas or Easter or any other time for that matter. But we did put up Christmas lights. My Dad hung them every year from the roof of our porch. We did have a tree, we bought it in town, a different child got to pick it each year. Of course we had presents and stockings and candy canes.

Some people like to differentiate between this idea of a “secular” Christmas and the real Christmas. But, in some ways they are the same thing. Whether we are hanging Christmas lights, buying a tree, hanging stocking, buying presents, or coming to church, most of us are doing it for the same reason. We are doing it for some light in the midst of darkness.

The world we live in can be a scary place. As a pastor, I get to walk with people into some dark and scary places and I get to go to some on my own. This year I have watched people stand by the graves of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses and even children. I have watched people struggle with finances and addiction, divorce and troubled children. And on this night of nights, people in our country and in our world are dealing with really frightening things. Homes are being foreclosed upon in America and lives are being threatened in Africa and the Middle East. Some of our very own brothers, sisters, sons and daughters are in harms way in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We all need a little light in the darkness. So when December comes, we put up lights.

But for all of us, those who call ourselves Christians and those who just like the ritual of celebrating Christmas, the light is more than just light. It is a light that represents hope.

We all put up lights because we are all looking for the same thing.

Here in the Christian church we know what that thing is. We know that the hope, the promise, the life and the light comes to us in Jesus Christ. We believe a very important truth about this dark and scary world. We believe that God is so in love with it and with us that he came into it. True God of True God, decided to be born, in poverty, in a stable, in a world where people suffer, where people die and where people are frightened. We celebrate at Christmas that God came into this world in Jesus Christ. We celebrate that this miracle grew into a young man who loved God’s people so much that he hung around with the poor, the outcast, the sick and the mourning. We celebrate that in Jesus, God lived with us, not to condemn us, but to save us, to bring some light into the darkness.

I have been preaching for a few years, but this is my very first time preaching Christmas Eve. I now understand the temptation that leads many preachers to try and preach the whole Bible on Christmas Eve. There are so many faces, many I know, many I don’t. I want to be able to tell you the whole story. I want to tell you the full meaning of the incarnation, God’s coming to us in Jesus. I want to tell you everything Jesus said and did, especially how he loved people so much, especially those who were hurt, sick, mourning or outcast. I want to tell you how his love for us didn’t end when we nailed him to a cross. I want to tell you how, in Jesus, God would not allow death to have the final word and gave us our other major celebration we call Easter. I want to tell you all about all of this, but you are here to celebrate.

But on this night of nights, I want to offer you an invitation. God is with us in Jesus Christ. The miracle of Christmas is that the creator of all there is came to be with us. I want to invite you into the journey of discovering what that means. Some of you here tonight have been Christians all your life, some may be sitting in a church for the first time tonight. To all of you I make the same invitation: I invite you, starting tonight, to really enter in to the journey of discovering what it means that God came to dwell with us in Jesus. What does that mean about God? What does that mean about us? What does that mean about how we are called to live our lives?

What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

In just a couple of weeks, my wife and our little boy and our dogs will take that same walk in the dark on that same street and the Christmas lights that once lit our way will be off and packed neatly back in people’s garages and attics. I will be reminded that while the light has come into the world and while the darkness did not come overcome the light, the darkness is still there. As we celebrate the coming of God into our world, I remember the world God came into. I remember that next year, I will again walk with others to scary places. That until that day that Christ comes again in final victory, there will still be death and despair and addiction and brokenness. All that stuff is still here and that is exactly why we so badly need Christmas, we so badly need Jesus and we so badly still need our Christmas lights.

Will Rice - Sermon #54 - "Patience"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

James 5:7-10

“Patience”

Christmastime, for me, is the most ironic time of the year. There is something about this time of year that brings out the absolute best in us and the absolute worst in us. While Christmas comes loaded with amazing amounts of generosity and love and kindness, it also comes wrapped with rampant consumerism, greed and impatience.

I was reflecting with my small group the other night that, for me, Advent, which gives me a chance to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas, is at its heart, counter-cultural. The consumerism, greed, impatience and other ugly stuff of the holidays is what culture has made of the season. It is our job to prepare for Christmas by centering on the radical message of love that is at the heart of the Gospel.

So, we are looking today at a rather odd passage from a book we don’t spend much time in, the Letter of James.

Before we look at it, let’s think about what it is. Scholars argue about this but what we may have here is a letter written by the brother of Jesus Christ. This seems to be a general letter, not to one individual but to Christians in general. It is a letter of encouragement and direction. So, practically speaking, this is a letter as much to us as it was to its original readers, except that they read it in Greek and we have to read it in English.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

Some more background. It is hard to get an exact date of when this letter was written, but we might guess around 60 A.D. Anyway it is some years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The earliest Christians lived with the belief that Jesus would come again and very soon. In fact, the Gospel accounts give us some clues to this. Jesus says before his death in Matthew 16:28:

28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

And speaking of his triumphant return in the second coming in Matthew 24:34, Jesus says,

34Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.

Now, around 60 A.D. the generation is starting to pass away and Jesus has neglected to return and people are getting impatient and this is what James is writing about.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

I mentioned the original hearers of this letter heard it in Greek and we are
listening in English so let me try to make this clearer.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

Be patient (makrothumia) – remain tranquil. Literally the word means big spirited. So this sentence conveys more than the limited sense of the word patience we commonly consider.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

I love this example. One writer proposes that the opposite of patience is panic. Have you ever been sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to change and you are late for something? Either to yourself or out loud you are saying, “Come on, come on!” Think about it for a moment, no one tries to be impatient, right? Think back to a moment when you have just felt that impatience brewing inside of you, sort of taking over control. What happens in the moment, which feels an awful lot like panic is that you are trying with all your might to gain control of a situation you have no control over.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

I love that example. It sounds kind of ridiculous to think of a farmer out in his field saying “Come on grow!” Just as if my impatience will get the signal light to turn green faster.

This is such an interesting time of the year to talk about patience because this is the time of the year when it is often most lacking. The reasons for a lack of patience are pretty real. Most of us live these lives that are already over-taxed and the Christmas season can just push us over the limit. It is a though throughout the rest of the year we have had all this free time and finally we can use it buying a tree, hanging lights, buying presents, wrapping presents, mailing presents, signing cards, mailing cards, planning parties, going to parties, etc. And everybody is doing this same thing at the same time so it builds.

I am not the most patient person on the planet around Christmas, especially this year. Through amazingly good planning, the month of December for me is just crushing. Between the church, my ordination process, our efforts to adopt Joshua, it seems every day had a form to turn in or another meeting to go to. I was not particularly patient picking out our Christmas tree. I was not particularly makrothumia, tranquil, big spirited.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

“Strengthen your hearts” kind if misses a bit of the idea. Sterizo! It actually means fix or establish.

Let look at the word used in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 9, verse 51:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set (sterizo) his face to go to Jerusalem.

Jesus fixed his sights, he set his face, he put Jerusalem clearly in the crosshairs.

8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

How do we do that? It is really easy to say, “be patient.” But it is harder to be patient. But the answer is right in there. Strengthen, fix, establish your hearts. Fix, establish your hearts on what? On the prize on the coming King. That is what James is telling his readers. Don’t be impatient, fix your eyes on God and wait for it. I tell you, preparation for Christmas is a wonderful parable for Advent.

We get impatient because we have lost control and we are in an unconscious panic to regain it. “Come on light, turn green!” Here is the thing: in Advent, as we are trying to be patient for the coming of the King, by setting our eyes on God, we are actually preparing ourselves to be able to handle not being in control.

When we become impatient, we try, with little avail to control something beyond our control. We do that in line, but we also do that waiting for God to act. Remember, James is writing to a community waiting for Christ’s return and they are growing impatient. What are they doing? They are panicking, trying to regain control of something they can’t control. Just like us, that panicky attempt to regain control manifests itself in improper behavior. As is evidenced by what James writes next.

9Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors!

The preparation surrounding Christmas is a perfect parable for Advent. We are trying to be patient, big spirited, which is the opposite of panicked, trying to gain control of something out of our control.

And who is coming at Christmas, who is it that James audience and we are waiting for? Someone who will ask us to totally let go of our lives to give control over to someone else.

Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel, 8:35-36

35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

At the heart of the Gospel message and contained in nearly every sermon I preach is this idea that our relationship with God is about letting go, trusting in the abundance, trusting in the grace, trusting in the promises of God, letting go of control.

We need to be patient. I am not a counselor or guru, so I am not going to give you techniques. I am not going to tell you to count to ten when you feel impatience bubbling up inside you. I am not going to even tell you to let go and let God. I am just going to say, that during this time of Advent, as we try to patiently await the coming of the Christ child, that we need to try to strengthen our hearts, set our hearts toward God and live in the promise of Christmas.

Will Rice - Sermon #53 - "A Revolution of Love and Grace"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Luke 23:33-43

The Christian calendar is a little different than the secular calendar. As the world begins seriously winding down the year we, as Christians are starting a new one. This week marks the final week on the Christian calendar. We start a new “liturgical” year next Sunday as the first Sunday of Advent. As Christians, there are certain ways we set ourselves apart from the world and our understanding of time is one of those. As the world is still counting down to the end of the year, we will already be beginning a new one. But like the rest of the world, as we come to the end of the year, it is good to reflect on the year that has passed. That is sort of what Christ the King Sunday is all about.

Over the years, I have learned to love Christ the King Sunday. Here is why: It has become, for me, a Sunday of reflection about the Christian year that is ending. Next week is the first Sunday of Advent. In Advent, we prepare ourselves for the coming of God into our world in Jesus Christ.

While television and retail outlets are telling us it is time to sing “Joy to the World.” While we will still be singing “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” Advent is the time when we prepare our heart and minds, our churches and our homes for the arrival of the new born King.

Before we enter into a time of looking forward, as we end this one year and prepare to enter another one, have we yet figured out who this king is? During another Christian year we will celebrate the birth and sing,

Hark the herald angels sing, “glory to the new born King”

But what does that mean? We will see Jesus praised by the wise men and treated like royalty,

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain. Gold I bring to crown Him again, King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign.

But why?

We will stop thinking in kingly terms when we hear of him calling his disciples and teaching and healing. He will look more like the leader of a rag-tag revolution as we are led up to his confrontation with authority and his arrest and crucifixion. Then the kingly image will seem more appropriate as he is raised from the dead. Royal yes, but king implies a kingdom to rule over. His resurrection will cause us to look back at what he said and did. His ascension will remind us of that he reigns with the Father and Holy Spirit now and always. And then we will end up right back here, at the end of the year, ready again to prepare our hearts for the promised coming and will we yet know what kind of king we are expecting?

So today, we look at a piece of scripture that may seem to belong closer to Easter than Christmas and reflect on Christ the King. This scripture may seem out of place and time, but it is right on because as we question the passage questions and, in doing so, reveals a lot of what we may seek.

The passage begins:

³³When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

What a way to start, but what a clue! We will call this clue number 1: the crucifixion. Today as we reflect on what it means to worship Christ as King we see that we that our King is a crucified King. What kind of king is crucified?

³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

It is beyond the scope of today’s message to really go into what Jesus is saying here, but let’s consider this clue number two: Jesus is asking forgiveness for those who are hanging him on a cross. What kind of king does that?

And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

Clue number three. This is one we might miss. It is clearly a reference to the Old Testament and shows us an understanding of the author of Luke’s gospel that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Old Testament, foretelling the coming of a deliverer for God’s people. Psalm 22:18 reads, “they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” This King is part of a larger plan.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”

Clue four. No one comes forth to save this King and the leaders scoff at him. What kind of king is ridiculed and questioned? Kings are powerful.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” ³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” ³⁸There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” ³⁹One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

Clue five: Listen to these words being thrown around, “King of the Jews,” “Messiah,” “Chosen One.”

Let’s look at those in order of appearance.

Messiah - o` cristo.j – one who has been anointed

Chosen One - o` evklekto,j

King of the Jews - basileu.j tw/n VIoudai,wn – basileus means one having royal authority over something. Jesus was one with authority over way more than just the Jews. But it is interesting that kings were anointed. They were anointed as a symbol of their taking office.

Here is the clue: Even the ones who are making fun of Jesus are getting it right. He is King. He is anointed. He is chosen.

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Clue six: Even the criminal next to him sees he has done nothing wrong. This King has ended up in the gallows for doing things like healing, forgiving, loving and teaching.

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Clue seven: The criminal knows the reach of Jesus’ rule as King. Jesus reign will not be endedon the cross!

So, let’s add up the clues and see where we are. When we say Christ is King, we are talking about a crucified king. If we think of a king as one who is empowered over us, this doesn’t work for most of us. Think about it: next year is an election year. One of the things candidates need to prove is that they are powerful, that we can trust them to keep us safe from our enemies. Jesus is different. Jesus is a crucified king. Can we accept that kind of king?

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who is crucified for what? For doing what is good and pure and true. Jesus ended up in this place by creating a movement that made the religious and state rulers of the day nervous. The religious rulers were nervous because he was messing with the status quo. The rulers of the state were nervous because he was starting a movement. There was some confusion at the time over what kind of movement. When we are talking about a king who is a messiah some were thinking a military deliverer. That would have been bad for Rome. But truly, with Jesus, a much more powerful movement was afoot.

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who forgives his enemies even as they are still doing things that make them enemies. Wouldn’t most of us be “happier with a powerful King who got even with his enemies, rather than forgive them?”[1]

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who is part of God’s plan of redemption of God’s people. Most of us can go along with that. Though it might cause us to consider the rest of what God has in mind. Especially when we reflect and consider what I just said, that this King was crucified, for doing what was good and pure and true and that his response was to forgive. If that is part of God’s plan to save God’s people what are we going to have to do? And what is being saved and redeemed going to look like?

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who rules this world and beyond and a king whose reign did not end on the cross.

When we say Christ is King we say a lot. When we say Christ is our King, we say even more. We are saying that the Lord of our life, the ruler of our existence is a crucified, forgiving, redeeming, appointed one of God who came to change the world, accepted the punishment for such action and whose reign never ends.

When we say Christ is our King, we need to reflect on what that means for us. Does that mean we are ready to follow him to the cross? That we are willing to accept punishment for doing what is good and pure and true? That we are willing to forgive even those who harm us? Are we willing to react to those who are against us with compassion and love rather than violence and retribution? I mean are we really ready to accept all that? We really need to think about that because we are about to start a new year that will get us ready for the birth of a savior. We will be decorating and singing and sharing presents and all that stuff leading up to the birth of a little baby King who will call us to follow him in a revolution of grace and compassion.

I have tried to say it in a many different ways, but Jesus is coming to save us, but not just as individuals, not just to ensure our safe trip into paradise upon death, but to bring a revolutionary change to the world. This whole scene that we read on this Christ the King Sunday just doesn’t even make sense if we think of Jesus as simply our own personal ticket to salvation. The scene could have been shorter. He could have simply said from the cross. “Don’t forget to believe in me so that you get to heaven.” But that is not what we have, we have this complex interaction that shows us the depth of this Christ we call King.

So, what are we supposed to do? I have two homework assignments this week. They are different because it depends who you are.

Perhaps, you are someone, who needs to know that this is the King of kings who is coming at Christmas. The holiday season is not a joy for everyone. There are always those among us who are struggling, struggling with loss, depression, loneliness, financial burden, anything that hurts and makes it hard to live in a season that is seemingly so much about family, prosperity and joy. For you, your homework is to spend some time this week just realizing that King Jesus is coming and is already here for you. King Jesus is leading a revolution of love and grace and compassion. We are in the midst of a season that seems to be solely about joy and family and presents and shopping and money, but it is really about King Jesus who is here to walk with you through your loss, bind up the wounds of your depression, give you comfort in your loneliness and even, in the word Jesus reads earlier in Luke’s Gospel, “Bring good news to the poor,”

Maybe that is not you. Maybe you love this season. Here is your homework. I want you to, this week, consider one thing you can do as we end this Christian year and begin another year with our time of preparation for the coming of the baby King one thing you can do that will start this new Christian year off on the right foot following the King that leads us in a revolution of love and grace. What might that look like? I don’t know. I do know that Americans spend a lot of money this time of year. What if we diverted some of it away from material objects that give us a quick fix of joy and then just fill our homes? What if some of our money went somewhere else? Let me give you a couple of examples. One, today is Harvest Sunday. You can give in the envelopes in the bulletin or at the rail and that money will go to feed hungry people in the valley, in San Antonio, in Palestine and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some of you are still praying over your estimate of giving cards for 2008. What a way to enter into a new Christian year, knowing that you have already committed to be a part of the revolution of love and grace here at this church. You will be committing to support ministries that reach out into our community to say that Christianity is not about judgment and wrath but about the abundant, unmerited gift of love in God’s grace.

How about something completely different? Alisha and I have really struggled over the years about how to handle Christmas gifts. We want people to know we love them and care about them but we also want to remember what this is all about. A number of our friends over the last couple of years have starting receiving gifts from Heifer International. All my friend Tina got last year was a card but the card said that the money I would have spent on her bought a flock of baby chicks that was shipped to a poor village in South America, Africa, Russia or even here in America along with the training to teach someone how to raise and care for those chicks to create a sustainable food supply that will allow a family to bring themselves out of abject poverty. One good hen can lay up to 200 eggs a year. We have been mostly sending chicks and ducks but we are working our way up to sheep and cows.

These are just some ideas, but how you complete the assignment is up to you. Just think of one thing you can do that will start this new Christian year off on the right foot following the King that leads us in a revolution of love and grace.

And have a happy new year.

---

[1] Brian Stoffregen, “Luke 23.33.43, Christ the King Sunday – Year C”, Brian P. Stoffregen Exegetical Notes at CrossMarks Christian Resources, online at www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke23x33.htm, accessed 21 November 2007, internet;

Will Rice - Sermon #52 - "Never Enough... Always Enough"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

I think scripture usually makes points much more clearly than I do. So today, I am going to read scripture to you. I am going to interject a little to help you connect with the text, but really I want the text to do the talking.

Exodus 16:
1The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

Just for background: God’s people have just been led out of slavery in Egypt through the mighty power of God and through the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron. They are a couple of months out into the desert in what will become a legendarily long journey.

2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

Some days leadership is not all it is cracked up to be. Two months ago Moses and his brother Aaron were heroes for helping to free God’s people from slavery. Now they are the bad guys. Moses really should have seen this coming. These folks were complaining before they ever really got out of Egypt. We read in Exodus 14, just prior to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, the people see Pharaoh’s army coming and they panic and say:

“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Better to be in bondage than to risk freedom.

And here are the Israelites complaining again in today’s text:

3The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Fleshpot – there is a word we use a lot. Just think of a large caldron that was used to boil meat. What they are saying here is, “we had all we wanted to eat.” They were saying it was better to be in slavery and have plenty to eat that to be free and hungry. Man that is a sermon right there. Would I rather have abundance and be a slave to my abundance or would I rather be free and hungry?

4Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.

There is food on the way. But notice that, each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.

In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.

Oh great! A test! Think about that. If we were out in the desert starving and suddenly there was a ton of food everywhere and I said, go and gather food, but just enough for today, would you listen? I imagine some of you might stock up a little in case there wasn’t a repeat the next day. But this is a test.

5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”

God is going to tell them that they will get no food on the seventh day because it is a day of rest so there is one day that they can stock up.

6So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?” 8And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord.

I had to look at this a few times. I want to read it to you in another translation:

7Tomorrow morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard you grumble against him. We are nothing, so you are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord."
Remember at the beginning it said:

2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

Moses and his brother Aaron are saying here “When you are complaining to us, you are actually complaining to God.” I love that and I am going to try it. Next time some one calls me to complain about the service or something I said, I am going to try, “I am nothing, so you are not grumbling against me, but against God.”

So Moses tells Aaron to tell them how this is going to work.

9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’“

Yeah right, if I thought God had really overheard my complaining I would head the other way.
10And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 12“I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’“

13In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.’"

An omer is around one or two liters just in case you stopped listening because you were wondering what an omer was. But now let’s think about two things. First of all, this is a test right?

In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.

Now let’s also remember that they are in the desert, starving. There is now plenty of food, just take what you need. Have you ever seen images of food being delivered to where people are starving? It is usually being unloaded by or at least guarded by soldiers. Because when people are starving they are not always rational.

17The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less.

Was no one listening? I don’t know what was wrong with those who gathered less but those who gathered more weren’t listening. But they were acting quite human. Let me ask you. Do any of you have extra of anything?

We had a community garage sale last weekend and Alisha and I got rid of some stuff. It always amazes me how much extra stuff we have. I have extra clothes, extra shoes, extra tools. I realized that I had two identical brooms in my garage. You know just in case. Just in case my broom breaks and I can’t crawl the quarter mile to the place where I can buy another one for about two dollars. Now don’t think this is going to lead me to say I should be wasteful and just throw it out. But why did I ever buy a second broom?

It is not that we shouldn’t be prepared, but a lot of us have this overwhelming need to stockpile, to have, not enough but more than enough and what we find is this: there is never enough.
18But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.
Here is the surprise to the story. No matter how much some tried to stock up, they only had enough. Nobody had any extra. That is really interesting. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I never have enough. If I just made a little bit more money, if I could live in a little bit bigger house, if I could save a little more for retirement, I could go on a better vacation.
We live in a really complicated world. I really struggle with passages like this because they can seem so black and white.

Some gathered more and some gathered less and they all had the same amount.

We live in America and I think our grand experiment with capitalism has a lot of flaws but we basically have gotten along pretty good with the idea that, when it comes to possessions and money we don’t just say, “everybody gets the same amount.” So let me be clear that I am not sharing this scripture to make a point about economics. I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.

I also don’t want you to read this too literally and think, “Oh it doesn’t matter what I do, God will take care of me.” “Those who gathered little had no shortage.” Read that carefully, “Those who gathered.” It doesn’t mention those who stayed home and did nothing because “Dancing with the Stars” was on. I think most of us know the reality that if you don’t work, if you don’t gather, you may struggle to have enough to eat.

But I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.

As I said, we live in acomplicated world. Not many of us would feel secure if we went out each day and made just enough to pay for our expenses that day. Not many of us would be content to have just enough food and money to last until tomorrow. We work hard, we stock up, we save. We try to get on solid footing so if something happens we won’t go into debt and we try to put something away so when we are older we can retire. This is good stuff. But there is still never enough.

I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.

The theme of our emphasis on stewardship this year comes from Psalm 116:

I will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord; I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Psalm 116:17-18

If we read this wrong we might think that God is a little short and needs us to sacrifice in order to make ends meet. But God doesn’t need our money. God needs us to let go because as long as we trust in our possession we don’t really trust in God. As long as we trust in what we produce we are really nothing more than slaves to what we earn, make and buy.

‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

18But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.

For those who tried to stockpile, there was never enough. But there was always enough.
I love when people give money to the church because it means we can do amazing ministries that touch lives. And if you give because you like that you can help spread the good news of God that is great, I want you to keep doing that. But I want us to go deeper, I want us to give because God has been trying to teach us since we were wandering in the desert actually since we were in the garden that we have to stop grasping for more trying to create our own abundance, our own security. God is the only true source of our abundance and security.

This is not just the message of this passage of Exodus. Some of you may remember that Jesus disciples once asked him to teach them to pray. Christians love that prayer. Here at Grace, we pray it together every week:

Our Father, who art in heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.

Oh no. It doesn’t say “secure my retirement.” It doesn’t say “give me a bigger house.” It doesn’t say, “give me an iPod.” It goes right back to today’s passage. “Give me enough bread for today and let me trust God for tomorrow.”

The message God was giving his people in the desert is the same message Jesus had to give us again. Although we live in this complex world and we have to do certain things to survive and plan and take care of our families, at some point we have to remember to let go and trust in the true source of our life and being.

Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel, Mark 8:35-36
35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

You know my generation is much more intrigued by images than words, examples rather than explanations. So whenever I think of holding on versus letting go, trusting in my own created abundance rather than the abundance of God. Whenever I think I need to gather enough bread for tomorrow and the next day and the next day instead of trusting resources into God’s hands, I don’t think of what Jesus said, but we he did. He didn’t hold back anything, but let go of his very life. I think of what God did. For God so loved the world that he have his only Son. Bread from heaven. For us.

Will Rice - Sermon #51 - "Running for the Goal Line"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Philippians 3:10-14

Let me ask, have any of you ever been to a football game? Let me ask another question, how many of you went to the game, maybe went to the concession stand, got some popcorn and a nice cold, bubbly, diet coke, found your seats, got settled in then watched as the captains and the refs came out on the field, listened for the captain to call the toss, then watched to coin fly up in the air and come down and then listened for the ref to announce it and tell who would be kicking off? And then how many of you, at that point, got up and found your way out of the stadium and home?

How many of you have ever watched a football game on television? I used to love Monday night football before it moved to ESPN. I swear they spend a couple million dollars just on the introduction. How many of you flipped that on, listened for the “Are you ready for some football?” and as soon as the players took the field, shut the television off?

Not many people do that because they would miss the game.

As we come closer to the end of our Friday Night Lights Sunday Morning Insights sermon series, I want to propose that many of us, in our Christian journeys are unintentionally missing out on the best part of the game.

On the wall of my office is a simple, black frame. Inside it is a parchment colored document complete with a golden border and the words, “Certificate of Baptism.” Below that is my name, some fancy words and a date, “January 16, 2000.”

I remember the day I got that certificate, that day that water was drizzled over my head. Honestly, in my excitement of discovering the love of God in my life, that day, I don’t think I really knew what was going on and that is certainly fine because God did and none of us really ever understand what is going on in baptism. But, I certainly didn’t understand that I was only beginning a journey. Looking back, I guess I sort of thought that what was happening was an act of completion, the end of my search for meaning that led me to church. I somehow believed that my journey toward God had been completed. I was now a Christian, I could relax.

But the trip wasn’t over. My personal journey has taken me through a discernment process, through seminary and nearly all the way to my ordination. During my journey, I have become aware that the misunderstanding I had about what was going on wasn’t just mine. It reflected a deeper misunderstanding among my fellow Christians, throughout the denomination and throughout modern Christianity.

Alright, if any of this is going to make sense, we are going to have to have a little review of grace. Pastor John gives a much in depth and certainly more accurate account of this whole thing but we just need a little background for today.

Grace is the unconditional unmerited love of God. Let me expand that. Unconditional, meaning it is for everyone. Unmerited, in other words, you can’t earn it. Grace is really one thing, but we have sort of dividing into three kinds to better understand it.

First of all, we believe that God’s grace is constantly being poured out on all of God’s children, whether or not they have an intentional relationship with God. We call this prevenient grace. Prevenient just really means “comes before.” I love this kind of grace, because it is this grace that calls us in, pulls us toward God and it is always working in us whether or not we know it or accept it or do anything about it. This the sort of grace that was in my life in the 26+ years I spent outside of the church, with no relationship with God (that I knew of.) When people ask me, what was it that made you decide to finally go to church? There is the long complex answer about a feeling of emptiness and a journey seeking a way to fill that. But then there is the short answer, “God’s prevenient grace.” God pulled me into relationship and that took place in the context of a church. (A church that had plenty of seats by the way.)

Second, we believe that as God pulls into relationship there is a moment (and I use that word loosely) that God’s justifying grace goes to work in us. This is what people often refer to as conversion or for some being “born again.” I said that you can’t earn grace, but you can choose whether or not to accept it in your life. When we do, we are justified or put into right relationship with God. “When we experience God's justifying grace, we come into that new life in Christ.”[1] Justifying grace accepts us, pardons us, forgives us and restores us into right relationship with God.

I think for a lot of Christians this part is pretty clear. Even if you are new the whole Christianity thing, this may make some amount of sense. God’s grace is always reaching out to you and at some point it convinces you and you accept it and you are changed. But it is this next part that I think we get a little fuzzy.

You see, third, we believe that after we accept God’s grace, after we allow our hearts to be accept God’s justifying grace, God really gets to work in us with something that we call sanctifying grace.

To show you how important this is let me use an analogy that is fairly weak but makes the point. In the life of a Christian, if prevenient grace, that grace that draws us in is the pre-game show and justifying grace, that grace that, if we accept it, put us in a right relationship with God is the opening kick-off, sanctifying grace is the whole rest of the game and even the post-game show.

It is very clear in the writing of John Wesley, the spiritual founder of this movement we now call the United Methodist Church that Christianity is a lifelong journey and that we are constantly in process. Although there may be a radical change and “new birth” in our justification, we have only just begun. “Sanctification is begun in us, Wesley teaches, as soon as we receive God’s gift of pardon and the Holy Spirit. But it is only begun, and most of us have a long way to go before it is completed.”

John Wesley spoke of this grace at work in us as a moving onward toward perfection. To our modern ears, that is an unfortunate turn of phrase that causes many of us to give up before we start. After all, nobody is perfect, right? But Wesley’s goal for us was that we grow into perfect love of God and neighbor. Wesley helped us to understand that God wanted to begin a lifelong relationship with us, a relationship through which we would be constantly recreated in the image of God. And his picture of this continual process of growth is straight from scripture.

Let’s look back at our scripture for today. I love this because, in my opinion, Paul is one of the most arrogant characters in scripture. But even he says.

¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. ¹²Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Let me read verse 12 again.

¹²Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, who felt that Christ had personally converted him and had personally delivered the true gospel to him, who had been preaching, converting, starting churches, he knew that not even he was done yet.

¹³Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Let me try this in a different way. Many of us believe that at the moment we accept Christ into our hearts we have crossed the goal line. Actually, when we accept Christ into our hearts, we have just caught the kick off and we are at our own 20 yard line.

Sanctifying grace, sanctification. This all comes from a Greek word, a[gioj which means set apart as sacred to make holy. That’s another term that can be extremely unhelpful, holy. In one of my classes we do an exercise of defining holy and I have to tell you, a lot of the definitions are negative in nature. The word has gotten a little hijacked, but let me try to reclaim it. I think it has gotten a bad connotation because a lot of people and things claim themselves as holy that aren’t so holy. Revelation 14:4 reminds us about what is truly holy:

4 Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.

You see only God is truly Holy and only God can make us more holy. God seeks to “perfect” us, sanctify us, to make us more like God.

Here is the good news: on this journey of sanctification, this journey of holiness, this journey of perfection, God is doing all the heavy lifting. Our task is not to make ourselves holy, it is to find a way to allow God to make us holy.

Reading from a little earlier in this letter, from Philippians 2:12-13

¹²Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure

As I said, grace cannot be earned and we cannot make ourselves holy. But, “Wesley taught that there were significant practices that put men and women squarely in the path of that grace.”[2]

Wesley referred to these as the means of grace and this is how I am going to wrap up today. You are on a journey and we are all in different places. I hope there is someone in here who is still experiencing God’s prevenient grace calling you into relationship. If you are ready, I hope you come to the Why Grace? class at 1:30. There may be someone who is in the midst of or about to be or just has experienced God’s justifying grace putting them into right relationship with God. The rest of you: you are being sanctified. God’s grace is at work at you. All you need to do it put yourself squarely in the path of that grace.

John Wesley had two main categories for these means of grace, these ways of keeping ourselves in path of God’s sanctifying grace: acts of piety and acts of mercy. Let me run through some of these, I bet you could find some you can do, starting with works of piety (spiritual disciplines). And you know what, so these don’t sound like these unachievable things, I am going to add to each one what the church does or is doing to help you with these.

Prayer both public and private – We just finished up our course called prayer 101 and are in the midst of another class, The Way of Prayer. Also, you are going to hear next week about another opportunity to come together to pray.

Reading and meditating on scripture – We are about to start another session of Bible 101. The deadline was Friday. But I have a few more spots if you let me know today.

Celebrating Holy Communion – We do that every week in two of our services and once a month at the other.

Christian Community – Small groups, Sunday School, etc

Wesley also talked about works of mercy as means of Grace as ways of putting ourselves in the path of sanctifying grace, that grace that continually makes us more like God. Once again, with ways the church supports you in this:

Visiting the sick – We had twelve people come out this week to learn how to deliver the sacraments of Holy Communion to our homebound members. There will be another training in the spring.

Feeding and clothing people – We have food pantry that supplies very limited emergency food to folks in need. You might not realize the power of our thrift shop. Not only do they sell clothes to folks for pennies, when people come in need, they are able to give them what they need. If you want to feed people locally and around the world, you can support CROP walk.

Giving alms – Every week at our communion services you have a chance to give money to those in need. Our communion rail offering supports our five star mission goals which support various causes for the needy among us.

Consider this. Even if you have been a Christian all your life, compared to the glory that God has in store for you, you are deep in the back field; you have just caught the ball on the twenty. You have eighty yards to run for the end zone. But, if you pay attention, you will realize that God wants to carry you those eighty yards. You just need to put yourself in the path of God’s amazing sanctifying grace.

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[1] “God's Preparing, Accepting, and Sustaining Grace” , John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life – A Spiritual Growth Resource, The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, online at http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/walk.stm

[2] Dan R. Dick and Evelyn Burry, A New Kind of Church, A Systems Approach, (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2000-2006) 17