February 3, 1991
Free to Be Different
(1 Corinthians 8:1-13)
Paul speaks often and regularly about the freedom of the Gospel. It is a major theme in several of his letters to the churches. One might even say freedom is one of the prominent themes of Paul’s ministry. Here in the key to the church at Corinth, Paul helps his congregation understand the implications of this radical freedom in the Gospel.
The church at Corinth, like many churches, had people with particularly strong feelings about how to live the Christian faith. Evidently, there were several factions of folk, each pushing their doctrine. After Paul had departed, doing other missionary work, several thorny practical questions presented themselves within the Corinthian fellowship.
Some issues were exciting, such as how do we deal with a man living with his father’s wife? (1 Corinthians 5:2-3) or should believers get married or not (1 Corinthians 7)? Other questions were, perhaps, less passionate: how do believers handle legal litigation, both within and outside the body (1 Corinthians 6)?
1 Corinthians 8 treats the practical question directly, “Now concerning food offered to idols …” Obviously Paul was asked to rule on this question specifically because there were two conflicting opinions on the matter. In Corinth, and many other cities of the first century, meat sacrificed in pagan temples was sold in the market. It was sold to anyone — Christian or pagan alike — who would buy it. Often, in the pagan rite only a portion of the slaughtered animal would be used.
Some Christians believed, though, that if any part of the animal was religiously tainted, then none of the meat could be eaten in good conscience by a believer. This was the group within the church that thought it sinful to eat this meat. Advocating either restraint from eating meat altogether or impractical home slaughter of meat, this group provided strict guidelines.
The opposing group within the church, of gnostic leaning, said eating this meat had no effect on a person’s religious commitment. Paul outlines these reasons — idols are not part of reality, there are no other gods, there is one God, and so on. Thus, there had developed between the two groups in the church at Corinth, what we could call “the great vegetarian controversy.”
Modern folk need to remember the urgency with which the infant church fought against idolatry. Standing for one’s Christian convictions was never easy in the midst of hundreds of competing religions. Paul alludes to this challenge of living in a religious ghetto within the larger community of unbelievers saying, “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
Paul reminds this church they are a different set of folks. Their relationship with God through Jesus Christ makes them different. 1 Peter 2:9 echoes this “set apart” theme saying, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.” Eating food with even the appearance of pagan taint was unthinkable to some Christians in Corinth.
What Paul advises the church concerning meat offered to idols was a mixture of theology and common sense. First, Paul states that eating this meat does not matter in any ultimate sense, for there is only one true God. This meat offered to other gods is an illusion and has no effect on believers.
Second comes a surprise. Paul says there is a matter that outweighs having theological knowledge (gnosis). Consideration for others not having strength of conviction is of the greatest concern. These persons may be “weaker” for several reasons: new converts, slow of thinking, unsure of the implications of the faith. Whatever the reason, Paul suggests that out of loving concern, the strong ones refrain from practices that could undermine the weaker member’s faith development.
Paul knows that being right is not always the most helpful thing for the building of community. Knowledge may be important, but it never surpasses love as the guiding principle for the Christian. Self-restraint, when done in love, builds the body. In the end, Paul would tell anyone, being right is not as important as being loving! (DM)
February 10, 1991
Called into God’s Light
(2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
Between the mountains of the Transfiguration and Calvary stands the Lenten experience of Jesus and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This liturgical day, Transfiguration Sunday, is the culmination of Epiphany. This season of the church year is represented by the color green. Epiphany symbolizes the things that green represents: new life, growth, maturation, fullness.
For the church, Epiphany also represents the mission of the Gospel. The idea of “light to the nations” prominent in Isaiah’s prophecy is a theme of the season and ties in well with the other two seasons of the Christmas cycle — Advent and Christmastide.
The Gospel’s transfiguration story is recurrently used in the church on this day. Today, though, we look at the notion of transfiguration, but not through the eyes of the evangelists. We look at transfiguration through the eyes of Paul. Evidently, from the context of Paul’s second Corinthian letter people are saying things about Paul’s motives in preaching the Gospel. Whether out of ignorance or malice, these accusations hurt Paul, but more, they hurt the cause of the Gospel.
Paul speaks to this Christian community as “letters of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3). The people are “ministers” of the new covenant spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah. They have been baptized into Christ Jesus, thus they are sent forth as missionaries and ministers. Every Christian is a minister because God sends the Spirit to empower. Being a minister and missionary is the result of this power given from God.
Sometimes, however, even people of faith can lose heart. This is what Paul is battling. His detractors are quick to point out his failings. They say Paul’s humanity is evident in his shortcomings, which according to his antagonists are legion. Paul is quick to remind it is God’s mercy alone which enables ministry.
He then speaks of those unbelievers who cannot see the light, which in this context is the Gospel. The gods of this world have blinded people’s ability to see the truth. This light image fits our Epiphany theme perfectly: Christ is now the light to the nations or Gentiles.
All of us have had the experience of holding an envelope in our hand, wanting to know the content, but not wanting to open the envelope. Even assuming our motives are pure (which in these cases they usually are not) we know the best alternative is to hold the envelope up to the light. Light is a means of revelation. To shed light on something reveals more fully the form and content of that object.
Paul concludes this passage with the image of the primeval light of God, “Let light shine out of darkness.” Recalling the creation story Paul wants to express a point: with the God of Christ, light comes to this dark world before the sun, moon, and stars are created. This powerful reminder suggests that the revelation through God’s light occurs before any other sources of light were created.
Transfiguration Sunday is a hopeful day. In the Gospel story, several quite ordinary humans, the disciples, see something quite extraordinary. Jesus is changed before these disciples. Jesus also speaks with two of the great figures in the Hebrew tradition.
The disciples realize what they have suspected all along: this is God’s own beloved. Maybe it was the light, maybe the height, but I would guess Jesus’ raiment was not the only thing changed on the mountain that day. Peter, James, and John were never the same either.
As the church prepares for the Lenten suffering of Christ, we need the hope-filled light which transfiguration provides. Life has places of darkness caused by our sin or the sin shattering of relationships effected by others. In either case, we remember we are called by God’s mercy and into God’s light. This missionary work is a privilege only the Gospel can supply. (DM)
February 17, 1991
A Universal Covenant
(Genesis 9:8-17)
Our God is a covenant making God. The Bible is a review of some of those covenants. God made covenants with Abraham, with David, with Jeremiah and the entire people of Israel. This event in Genesis 9 records a covenant of hope made with all creation. It is a universal covenant.
We remember the story of the beginnings in the Book of Genesis. God creates the world, makes land and sea, creates plants and animals, the sun and the moon, fashions all things. God determines each of them to be good. Then God creates humankind. The dual stories of creation both conclude with the crown of God’s creative skill — the making of man and woman, of Adam and Eve.
Creation does go bad. The two created beings rebel against the lordship of the Creator. They are banished from the Garden of Eden. Life continually deepens into disobedience and misery. One son murders his brother. After continued disobedience, God directs Noah to build an ark. God determines to end the evil on the earth with a flood. The only survivors will be those portions of creation on the ark.
The flood is over. Humans return to the land which the Lord has recreated through destruction. The covenant of hope is stated. God will never again destroy His creation through a flood. The tragic destruction of life has ended.
As a sign of the promise of the Almighty, a rainbow is placed in the clouds. All living things can easily see and remember the promise of God. There are some unique and significant realities about this universal covenant.
I. There is No Condition to This Covenant.
The covenant springs from the heart of God, not from the desire of Noah or his sons. The covenant is an expression of God’s care. The covenant is not created by the fearful survivors of the flood. God does not set any conditions to His universal promise. God states His intention not to destroy again by a flood. God commits the full reality of Himself to the promise.
We understand unconditional gifts. Each of us has benefited from such gifts. Our parents were our parents without condition. At least, they were if they were the best of parents. They never said — hopefully never said — “You must be right before I will love you.” They never said, “You must love me first before I will love you.” They never said, “You must dress and act properly before I will claim to be your parent.” The best of parents said, “I am going to feed you, clothe you, care for you, protect you, love you, guide you, because you are my child.”
We understand an unconditional gift. We now benefit from the unconditional and loving gift of God’s grace through Jesus Christ.
II. The Covenant is a Promise of Mercy.
Don’t you think that God would have been prudent to set some limits to this universal covenant? Wouldn’t it have been more reasonable for God to expect for life to be lived after the model of the Garden, before the fall, as a condition for His universal promise of mercy?
God did not do that. God made His promise, His unconditional promise. It was an act of mercy. Such mercy is costly. In a recent television drama, Gabriel’s Fire, the central character, Gabriel Bird, remarks at the end, “Justice only costs money; mercy is what is really expensive.” God knew the cost of His mercy.
You and I realize how costly was His mercy. God gave His own Son, gave Him over to death, even death on a cross.
III. This Universal Covenant is a Door to the Future.
I recently read the story again of a young married couple. Their car was new and a prized possession. The wife had an accident, was overcome with anxiety and anguish. She found among the insurance papers in the car a note from her husband. “Darling, if you are reading this because of an accident, please remember that I love you and not the car.”
The rainbow is a reminder not only of a divine promise and a universal mercy. The rainbow is a sign of the possibility of our loving the merciful God.
When Paul wrote to the Roman Christians, he wrote starkly of the human condition. He stated that no person has any excuse for failure to respond to God. The essential nature of God is known: His power and His majesty.
The rainbow is another sign of that God who came long ago, came in Jesus Christ, and still comes into the midst of our human circumstances. When He comes into our lives, He brings a rainbow of hope. (HCP)
February 24, 1991
A Personal Covenant
(Genesis 17:1-10; 15-19)
Our God is a covenant making God. We have seen that in our review last week of the events of the Scripture which mark the many covenants which God makes. Here in this story we read of another of those early covenants. The covenant making God makes a covenant with Abraham and Sarah, and their descendants, that is symbolized by the most private and personal of signs.
Abram lives in the land of Ur, near Haran. God calls him to go into a new place, a new land, a land of promise. Abram leaves the old familiar places and journeys to the land of Canaan. He likely could not pronounce the names of the new locations very well. He did give some new names to many in commemoration of special events. Those names were easier for Abram to pronounce, if nothing else.
God made many promises to Abram. Those promises are slow in coming to reality. Abram ages, so does Sarah. The child they hoped for is not born. Finally, Abram and Sarah take the hope instilled by God into their own hands, and Ishmael is born to the servant girl, Hagar. God reveals Himself again to Abram and makes the promise once more.
The three promises are simple. God promises Abram that he will be the father of many nations, and his descendants will be many. God promises Abram that He, El Shaddai, will be his God. God promises Abram that he will possess the land in which he lives. The land which now belongs to others is promised to Abraham and his promised descendants.
As a sign of the covenant, God changes the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. The sound is not that different, the spelling is not that different, the meaning of the names has changed little it at all. Yet this covenant which God has made with the father of the people of Israel changes everything. It changes the status of Ishmael and Hagar, it changes the names of Abraham and Sarah, it changes the future. It is a promise that will become reality because it is God’s promise. This covenant provides some clear understandings of the essential reality of the divine covenant.
I. The Covenant is Initiated by God Himself.
Abraham didn’t begin the covenant. Left to himself, Abram probably would have stayed in Haran, in Ur. Left to himself, Abram would have chosen the security of the familiar to the uncertainty of the unknown. Left to himself, Abram would have bestowed his inheritance on Ishmael, and discarded the impossible promise of another child.
God had other plans. God’s plan developed slowly. God began the relationship with Abram and Sarai. God dreamed of a great nation of people who would be His people, and He began His plan with the birth of Isaac. Whatever else you can discover in this story, you can discover that God is in charge. God is in control, God is — in fact — God.
II. The Covenant is a Watershed.
The covenant marks a new beginning. A new era is established by this covenant. Names are changed; human efforts at doing God’s work are discarded; Ishmael is replaced by a son born to Abraham and to Sarah. Nothing is the same again. What follows the covenant is different. What went before the covenant is past history.
We have lived through such watershed realities, haven’t we? We married. Our names were not radically changed but our lives were. Our appearances did not change unrecognizably, but we changed, didn’t we. A child was born and it was different. What we had been before, we were unable to be now. It was different, we were different. The child grows up and leaves to start his or her own life. And it is different. What has gone before is still true but we are different. Life is never like it used to be.
The God of the Scripture has given many watershed events in the history of humankind. God has given some in our experiences as individuals. God’s most dramatic act, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, marks the hinge of history. We name all history as either before Christ or after Christ.
III. God’s Covenant Denies any Retreat into the Past.
Once God made His new covenant with Abraham and Sarah, there was no way for them to retreat into the past. Abraham “laughs,” chuckles, expresses joy and mirth, at the promise of God. The new fact is that Abraham and Sarah do not want to go back. They no longer desire to live as they once lived.
That is a common experience of covenant grace. Once we know the love of God in Jesus Christ, we do not wish to live without it. Once we stand at heaven’s gate, there is no desire for the old way of hopelessness. Once we experience the gift of power, there is no wish to be powerless again.
Many leaders are reluctant to make unpopular choices because they fear losing the power of the present and the promise of the future. Human endeavor so often ends in a retreat into the past. While God’s covenant closes the door to the past, it opens a door into the future. It may be a future without our knowledge, but God has a vision of it.
God made a universal covenant with all creation symbolized in a rainbow. God made a specific and personal covenant with Abraham and Sarah pledged by the act of circumcision. The personal and private covenant which came from the heart of God is fixed by a personal and private act. All the covenants that God makes with us are deeply personal and intimately private. (HCP)
March 3, 1991
Ten Good Suggestions?
(Exodus 30:1-17)
I am the father of two teenagers. One thing I have noticed in teenagers is their resistance to explicit instructions. At times it seems that the surest way to get them to do something is to instruct them to do the opposite. Sometimes I want to rationalize that this rebellion is just a symptom of all of the changes occurring in their lives.
Yet, while I don’t want to discount the pressures of adolescence, I have to admit that rebellion against authority is just a symptom of being human. We hate restrictions on our freedom.
“No Trespassing” signs seem to be an invitation. A contemporary fast food advertisement seems to speak for all of us, “Sometimes you’ve gotta break the rules.” Our culture has emphasized the inherent right of individuals to make their own decisions to the extent that we resist infringement on our freedom.
Our ability to appreciate and appropriate the Ten Commandments for our lives has been diminished by our resistance to any external authority. Perhaps we need to look once again at the Ten Commandments and inquire if they have any relevance to our situation. While each one of these commandments merits the attention of a complete sermon, today we will consider the commandments as a unit.
I. The Basis for the Ten Commandments is God’s Redemptive Action.
The Israelites had lived for years as slaves in Egypt. God heard their cries for deliverance and sent Moses to redeem them from bondage. As they traveled to the promised land, Moses relayed to them God’s expectations for His covenant people. The Law was given to the recipients of God’s gracious action. Israel’s obedience to the Law was her grateful response to God’s redemption.
The Law was not intended to be a standard for the unredeemed; the Ten Commandments are guidelines for the redeemed. If we assume that keeping the rules is a way to enter a relationship with God, we have missed the point. Israel was redeemed before she even knew the rules. These guidelines for living are intended for those who have already experienced God’s matchless grace.
II. The Ten Commandments Provide Direction for our Relationship with God.
Persons who have been redeemed are to be loyal to God. God is a jealous God who will not be satisfied with second place in our lives. No other person, place, or thing is to supplant God as the object of our devotion.
Because of our unique relationship with God, covenant people are to acknowledge God as Lord of their lives. For Jewish worshippers, the Sabbath and the tithe were tangible ways to acknowledge God’s place in their lives.
III. The Ten Commandments Provide Direction for our Relationships with Others.
The covenant community needed direction in their relationships with one another. How do we implement in our daily lives the reality of our relationship with God? James makes it clear in his epistle that the way we treat others reflects our relationship with God. The way we treat people created in the image of God demonstrates our commitment to God.
The commandments which deal with human relationships deal with three primary areas: actions, words, and thoughts. Others are not to be injured through our actions (murder, theft, adultery, etc.), words (false witness), or thought (covetousness). There is no room in this covenant for a faith without moral and ethical implications.
IV. The Ten Commandments do not Reduce the Graciousness of God’s Redemption.
Just as Israel’s redemption was not based on her obedience, the continuing grace of God was not dependent on Israel’s perfect obedience to the Law. The failure to keep the Law did not automatically mean the annulment of the covenant. The Law provided for repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.
These Ten Commandments provide the context for living as redeemed people. Our salvation experience with God leaves us changed people. We have an undying commitment to God, and we treat people as expressions of God’s image. (WTP)
March 10, 1991
A Midnight Encounter With Christ
(John 3:1-21)
Nicodemus gets little respect from Christians. He was a Pharisee and who likes Pharisees? He was a member of the Sanhedrin, that Jewish council that condemned Jesus to death. He came to Jesus by night, like a coward. There is not much here to commend Nicodemus.
But Jesus, as was His custom, saw things others miss. The Gospel writer introduces this narrative with these words which close chapter 2: “Many believed in His name, because of the signs which He did. For Jesus did not entrust Himself to them … for He knew what was in man.”
Jesus knew what was in Nicodemus. What did Jesus know about Nicodemus that led Him to devote such time to him? Let us think afresh about Nicodemus and his encounter with Christ.
Jesus understood, first of all, that Nicodemus loved the Lord.
Like all Pharisees, Nicodemus was a life-long student of the Word of God. People who devote themselves to the study of God’s Word evidence by this a deep and abiding love for the Lord God.
Nicodemus, like many then and now, had a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. Nicodemus misread the Word of God and misunderstood His ways. Jesus explained that salvation was a work of God, from above, by the Spirit: “‘You must be born from above.’ Salvation is not a human work, to be gained by birth, or earned by good deeds. These things do not enable a person ‘to see the kingdom of God’.”
Jesus was amazed that Nicodemus did not understand this great truth. All of the Hebrew Bible is a witness to the great work of God: the creation, the promises to Abraham, the exodus from Egypt, the covenant at Sinai, the election of David, the prosperity of Israel, even the endurance in the Exile. It is all the work of God.
Salvation is the mighty work of God, void of human effort. Paul, another Pharisee who came to this understanding of God’s ways, wrote: “For by grace are you saved (through faith); and this salvation is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not the results of works that no one should boast.”
Just yesterday I visited a family who gave this testimony. They had grown up in a church, but never heard the Gospel. After they were saved, they were disowned, rejected by their family. After a while, however, family love prevailed and brought new openness and opportunities.
The wife said: “My parents attend church every Sunday and they love the Lord; but they have never been taught the word of salvation.” The churches and synagogues of America are full of such people; it is an opportunity to declare the Gospel of God.
Second, Jesus looked into the heart of Nicodemus and knew that he was searching for truth.
This is a rare and precious thing. Not all people are searching for the truth.
Many claim to have the truth, to know all the answers; they have quit the search for wisdom. Many others simply do not care about truth and understanding. They invest their lives in getting and spending, in eating, drinking, and making merry. America is full of such people; they sit on the pews of our churches.
Yet Nicodemus came asking questions. That is a good thing. The curious mind is a delight to any teacher, including Jesus.
A thorough understanding of the Gospel makes for thorough converts. Those who come too quickly to Christ often fall away as quickly. Nicodemus, with his slow search for understanding, is contrasted with those believers mentioned in chapter 2 who converted quickly because of the miracles. In the end, it was they who deserted; and it was Nicodemus who endured. Those who come slowly to Christ are often those who stand most sure.
Nicodemus sought from Jesus words of logic and reason. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus of mystery and revelation. The deepest things of life are mystery; the wind, a birth, the edge of space, the human spirit. God must reveal some things. Jesus said: “I speak that which I know and bear witness of that which I have seen. … No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man.”
Third, Jesus saw that Nicodemus had a true insight into Jesus.
Nicodemus said, “We know that you are a teacher who has come from God.”
It is not always easy to know who speaks for God. In ancient Israel and in modern America many voices clamor for our attention. Who speaks the truth? John Paul II? or Chairman Mao? or Robert Schuller? or Shirley McClaine? It is enough to confuse preachers and theologians! It is of great advantage to know that Jesus is a teacher sent from God.
How did Nicodemus know this? I do not for a moment think this episode recounted by the Evangelist is the first meeting of Nicodemus and Jesus. Nicodemus, no doubt, had listened to Jesus teach. He had seen the great miracles. He watched Jesus and noted how His lifestyle conformed to His teaching. He noted His compassion for the weak, the poor, the unlearned. And he came to Jesus for answers.
How did Jesus answer him? He talked about the cross! Not about glory, and resurrection, and success; but death, and sacrifice, and the cross. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must I the son of Man be lifted up. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
We do not know when Nicodemus was converted. But the Gospels tell us that on the day Christ died, Nicodemus was there. The crowds were gone, those who had been enamored by the miracles of Jesus. The disciples were gone, those who had pledged to Christ their loyalty. Jesus died. And Nicodemus was one of four faithful followers who took Jesus down from the cross and gave Him the dignity of a burial.
Now picture this: Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, looking for answers. Now, he came to Jesus by day, having found a savior. The Pharisees were there, sneering at the defeat of Jesus. The Sanhedrin was there, gloating at their success. The soldiers were there, having done their meanness. And before them all, and before God and the holy angels, Nicodemus made public his profession of faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus understood Nicodemus; and so should we. (DAM)
March 17, 1991
Getting to the Heart of the Matter
(Jeremiah 31:33)
I’ll never forget the time George Sweazey, my preaching professor at Princeton, opened one lecture with these words: “Preach each sermon as if it is the last sermon you will ever preach.” While I have sometimes felt a particular sermon could qualify as my last, I wouldn’t mind if this was my last sermon because the covenant between God and Jeremiah gets to the heart of the matter.
“The time is coming,” God told Jeremiah, “when I will make a new covenant…. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant. … I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. … They will know me. … I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Getting to the heart of the matter, God’s covenant with Jeremiah included God’s confession, God’s comment on human capabilities, and God’s compassionate promise to care for His children.
God’s covenant with Jeremiah included God’s confession.
“The time is coming when I will make a new covenant. … It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt.” The reference was to the Sinai covenant or God’s big ten commandments. They were perfect. But as this little limerick by Oliver Wendell Holmes laments:
God’s plan made a hopeful beginning,
But man ruined his chances by sinning.
We trust that the story
will end in God’s glory;
But at present the other side’s winning.
Indeed, the very human response to God’s big ten has always been akin to the woman who received a form letter from a bank which read, “Your account appears to be overdrawn.” The woman wrote back, “Please write again when you are absolutely certain.”
God’s big ten were and remain perfect. The only problem is that nobody has ever perfectly kept them. God knows we’re so human. So God confessed, “I will make a new covenant. … It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers … because they broke my covenant.” The old covenant of law didn’t work. That much has always been absolutely certain.
God’s covenant with Jeremiah included God’s comment on human capabilities.
“They broke my covenant.” The old covenant of law didn’t work because it couldn’t work. When you’ve got folks who use demons, devils, satans, and the like as nicknames, God knows He is dealing with some deluded and difficult dudes. I remember speaking to some of the most wonderful saints of the church when one especially dear fellow said, “Just for the sake of argument, let me play the devil’s advocate.” I said, “Well, if you feel comfortable in that role, it’s your soul.”
I remember hearing of the time when Dr. Hodge of Princeton was lecturing on the great free will versus predestination debate and noticed one student who was dozing off. Hodge called out the student’s name and asked, “How does one reconcile free will and predestination?” The young man sprang to his feet out of his stupor and said, “I’m sorry, Dr. Hodge. I knew yesterday but I have forgotten today.” Hodge sadly shook his head and said, “What a pity! The only man who knew and he forgot!”
Then there is the story of the three priests who were confessing their deepest and darkest sins to each other. The first said, “I confess I have dipped into the offering on occasion.” The second said, “I confess I have been seeing the Mother Superior.” And the third said, “I confess I’m a gossip.”
Sometimes like nicknames, we innocently play the devil’s advocate. Sometimes like the student who forgot, we ignorantly play the devil’s advocate. Sometimes like the gossiping priest, we insidiously play the devil’s advocate. Whatever the reason, we know what Paul meant when he said, “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing” (see Romans 7:7ff).
“They broke my covenant,” God told Jeremiah. God knows human capabilities. We may want to do what is right but so often we get it all wrong. We’re so human.
There are, unfortunately, some folks who see everyone’s sins but their own. You know the kind. They are speck inspectors. They are usually looking at the brush fires in the yards of their neighbors while their houses are burning to the ground. And it has always been my experience that those folks most obsessed with the sins in others are hiding some really big and juicy sins of their own.
That’s why I’ve always liked one particular story from the desert fathers of Egypt. According to Yushi Nomura in Desert Wisdom (1982), “Once a brother committed a sin in Scetis, and the elders assembled and sent for Abba Moses. He, however, did not want to go. Then the priest sent a message to him, saying: Come everybody is waiting for you. So he finally got up to go. And he took a worn-out basket with holes, filled it with sand, and carried it along. To the people who came to meet him he said: My sins are running out behind me, yet I do not see them. And today I have come to judge the sins of someone else. When they heard this, they said nothing to the brother, and pardoned him.”
“Say, dad, did you go to Sunday School when you were a little boy?” “Yes, son,” the dad replied, “Regularly!” “Well,” said the little boy, “I’ll bet it won’t do me any good either.” The truth is we should not expect a perfection from others which we cannot attain for ourselves. Moreover, as Jesus said, it would be best to “take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (see Matthew 7:1-6).
God’s covenant with Jeremiah included God’s compassionate promise to care for His children.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. … They will know me. … I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
God moves from stones of law to honoring hearts. As we’ve noted before, God wants the heart. God wants us to want to be perfectly His. That’s the kind of perfection God expects of His children. God doesn’t expect actual perfection but He demands attitudinal perfection. The folks who want to be His, the folks who decide that they will do everything they can while depending upon God for the rest to honor God in creed and deed, are His.
“I will be their God,” the Lord said to Jeremiah, “and they will be my people. … They will know me.” Carlo Carretto explained it this way in / Sought and I Found (1984), “When anyone asks me, … ‘Brother Carlo, do you believe in God?’ I answer: “Yes, I tell you in the Holy Spirit, I do believe.’ And if my questioner’s curiosity is aroused, to the point of inquiring further: ‘What evidence do you bring forward for asserting so great a truth?’ I say, to conclude the conversation, ‘Only this: I believe in God because I know Him’.”
Carretto concluded, “I experience His presence in me twenty-four hours out of twenty-four. I know and love His word without ever questioning it. I am aware of His tastes and preferences, His way of speaking, and, especially, His will.” That’s what Paul had in mind when he said, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). And that can be everybody’s experience. It is everybody’s experience who worships, prays, reads the Bible, and hangs out with God’s people. Everybody who wants to know God knows God. Or as God promised through Jeremiah, “They will know me.”
The greatest part of knowing God is knowing His compassionate care for us through the saving ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the new covenant. In the words of Hebrews 8:6-7, “But the ministry Jesus received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.”
What was wrong with the old covenant was the inability of God’s children to keep the law. So a new covenant was needed. A new deal needed to be struck. That’s where Jesus came in or, better said, where God came to us in Jesus. Ever since Jesus, there has been only one thing we must perfectly do to be right with God. And that is to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. (RRK)
March 24, 1991
When will we Understand
(John 12:12-16)
Volunteer missionary, Jeanne Franks, stepped down from a van into ankle-deep mud. She was on a weekly trip to the market place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Beggars closed in around the retired missionary and her two traveling companions. She was overwhelmed by the physical needs of the people. Her first thought was: “Don’t crowd me! Give me room to breathe! I cannot help the whole world!”
Then Jeanne Franks came to her inner sense of understanding, and she breathed this prayer: “Help me realize how wealthy we appear to them, and help me to do all I can to introduce them to a living Lord. They are so bound by traditional religion which offers no hope. We have the good news to share.”
If the life of Jesus were written as a dramatic play, the triumphant entry into Jerusalem would be “last act, scene one.” He rode through the streets and observed a multitude of people who were imprisoned by traditional religion which offered no hope and no good news. Jesus had come to “help” the whole world, but the world and the disciples misunderstood the Savior (12:16). Jesus had sacrificial redemption in mind while they could only envision a kingly reign.
I. We must understand our motive.
The throng of Passover pilgrims which lined the streets leading into Jerusalem were caught up in a mob-like hysteria. All reason and logic had been abandoned for the excitement of the moment. Temporarily, the crowd could forget that Jesus was an outlaw sought by the authorities. For the present they would welcome Him with the conquerors psalm (Psalm 118). After all, Jesus was gathering a significant following because of His miracles. The first century “sensational seekers” viewed Jesus with a modern day Hollywood mentality. He was a “hot item” or “prime property.” Their enthusiasm did not last long. It waned before the echoes of their voices faded in the valleys around Jerusalem. Five days later hosannas turned to “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Do we want Jesus to be the conqueror of the moment or king of our whole life?
II. We must understand our Savior’s motive.
Both the preparations and the reception had all the marks of royalty about them. However, Jesus had not come to be their king with a court and a throne. He had come to offer them a towel and a basin (John 13:1-9). Instead of places of honor in an earthly kingdom, Jesus would call His followers to service in a kingdom not of this world. How then could the disciples of all people misinterpret Psalm 118:25-26? Surely they understood that it was a cry for deliverance and for salvation not at the hands of a political leader but by the self-giving of God’s Messiah.
The desire was present then and is present now in all of us to be free from the oppression of dictators and governments who violate the human rights of individuals. Yes, it seemed that “the whole world had gone after him” (verse 19), but the world had misunderstood the Savior’s motives.
III. We must understand the glory of the Savior.
John says it was not until Jesus was glorified that understanding came, even for the disciples, concerning all that had happened. When Jesus was enthroned at the right hand of the Father, the disciples gained a new and fresh depth of spiritual discernment. Now they understood! Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the colt of an ass was not an appeal to gain the kingship of mankind’s thrones, but His final appeal for the kingship of each person’s heart. Now they understood! Jesus came not in the might of weapons of war, but in the strength of pure and steadfast love. Now they understood! Jesus had made His final appeal to His people for open hearts, not open palace doors. May He find our hearts open when He comes to us in triumphant faith. (REN)
March 31, 1991
How Jesus Transforms Tears
(John 20:10-18)
Martin Luther King Jr. has always been one of my heroes. It all started when I heard him say on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in our nation’s capital on August 28, 1963, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
And though that day has not yet arrived, it is coming. That day is coming because God’s children know that all of the things that separate us — be it class, culture, color, denominational pride, or socioeconomic segregation — rise heavenward as a stench in the nostrils of God. God’s children will never rest nor be satisfied until that day when all of God’s children come together in that good and pleasant unity described in Psalm 133.
One of the most powerful sermons I have ever read was King’s “Shattered Dreams.” It is included in a collection of his sermons titled Strength to Love (1963). And certainly he knew what shattered dreams are all about. Much of his life and ministry were spent in intercession for a people with shattered dreams. And yet this particular sermon addressed the issue of shattered dreams in a more general and inclusive way.
“One of the most agonizing problems with our human experience,” said King, “is that few, if any, of us live to see our fondest hopes fulfilled. The hopes of our childhood and the promises of our mature years are unfinished symphonies. … Is there any one of us who has not faced the agony of blasted hopes and shattered dreams?”
King said that shattered dreams can cause meanness, detachment, and passivity. Those are very natural responses. But there is another natural response that King did not mention which certainly precedes all of those negative and destructive reactions to shattered dreams. When our dreams are shattered and we feel hopelessly and helplessly captive to the crippling circumstances of life, most of us say or at least think, “I could just cry.” Or how about this one, “If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry.” Life can be tough. And sometimes we feel like crying.
Mary Magdalene cried. Though there has always been a lot of silly speculation about Mary Magdalene, we really don’t know too much about her. She came from Magdala on the west bank of the Sea of Galilee. She had some spiritual problems. But then she met Jesus and her life changed.
Of course, once a person meets Jesus, life can never be the same. She saw His miracles. She heard Him preach. She looked into His eyes. Yet she, like everybody else before His resurrection, didn’t know really who He was or what He had come to do.
And like everybody else who didn’t know who He was or what was happening, Mary’s dreams were shattered when Jesus was arrested, executed by crucifixion, and buried. Naturally, she cried. “Mary,” wrote John, “stood outside the tomb crying.”
What made it worse was that the tomb was empty. It had not yet dawned on her or been revealed to her that Jesus had risen from the dead. So she thought somebody had stolen His body. Again, she was acting quite naturally. Jesus was her friend. Nobody likes to see a friend die. And God forbid that grave-robbers should come along and snatch the body. We would cry too. We do. We know what it’s like to live with shattered dreams. We could just cry. And we do.
But sometimes when we cry, we can’t see straight. Our vision is blurred. And we look down at the ground rather than up to the Lord. That’s what happened to Mary. Jesus met her in the garden outside of the tomb but she didn’t recognize Him. Tears blurred her vision. She looked in the wrong direction.
“Woman,” He asked, “Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” “Sir,” she replied while still looking in the wrong direction through a flood of tears, “if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.”
Jesus said, “Mary.” The voice jolted her out of her despair. Joy filled her soul. It was as Jesus had said, “He calls His own sheep by my name and leads them. … His sheep follow Him because they know His voice” (see John 10). Her tears were transformed into rivers of living water as she turned toward Jesus and cried out in unparalleled joy, “Rabbi!”
Then “Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!'” When Mary saw the risen Lord Jesus Christ, her tears were transformed into rivers of living water and her hopes and dreams were more than restored. They were realized.
Seeing God heals shattered dreams. Seeing God brings joy and peace. Seeing God enables us to say, in the words of that great old Gospel song, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”
Some say those words are a touch too anthropomorphic. That’s a highfalutin way of saying they are corny. But for everyone who has seen God, they know the words describe an experience that is real. God in Jesus Christ through The Holy Spirit is real and He walks with us every step of the way. Or as Jesus promised in one of His parting words, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
How can we see God? How can we feel His presence every step of the way? How does He transform our tears? Looking at Mary Magdalene’s experience within the context of our saving faith, seeing God is a matter of the head and the heart.
I. Seeing God is a matter of the head.
As time goes by, I have come to realize there are lots of things I don’t know. There’s plenty of room for growth. But I do know one thing. I know Him. I know Jesus is Lord and Savior. And that’s all we really need to know in the end.
“Believe in Jesus,” said Paul and Silas to the Philippian jailer, “and you will be saved” (Ads 16). Knowing Him, we’ve got our heads together. Knowing Him, we’re headed in the right direction. We may get sidetracked along the way but we’re headed in the right direction.
When Mary finally looked in the right direction, she was lifted up and out of her despair. Jesus transformed her tears. It happens whenever we turn toward Jesus and move in His direction. When we turn to Jesus, our hopes and dreams are more than restored. They are realized.
Do you remember that great race called “The Miracle Mile” on August 7, 1954? I was still in diapers but I’ve read about it. But it’s a great story about fixing one’s focus in the right direction. The race was between English medical student Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes (3:59.4 on May 6, 1954), and Australian John Landy who ran it in 3:58 on June 21, 1954. Landy led the entire race. But with only about one hundred yards to go, he looked over his shoulder to spot Bannister. As he turned, he stumbled and Bannister surged past him to victory. “If I hadn’t turned to look at Roger,” Landy later said, “I would have won.”
Seeing God is a matter of the head. When we are headed in the right direction toward Jesus, we see God.
II. Seeing God is a matter of the heart.
During a trip to Israel in 1985, I bought a cross for David. When I gave it to David, he held it up in front of me as if I were a vampire. B.J. yelled from across the room, “David, if you don’t have faith, it won’t work!” If you don’t have faith, it won’t work. Not bad for an eight year old!
Seeing God is a matter of the heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart,” said Jesus, “for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). To be pure in heart is to acknowledge and affirm the unique saving Lordship of Jesus Christ. And to be pure in heart is to be attitudinally or motivationally pure. It means we trust the saving Lordship of Jesus Christ and at least want to honor Him perfectly through our confession, countenance, and conduct.
It doesn’t mean we are actually perfect. If we could be actually perfect, then Jesus wouldn’t have had to come into the world to bridge the gap between the Father and us caused by our inescapable sinfulness. King David wasn’t perfect. But he had a heart for God and so God revealed Himself to him. If we have a heart for God, if we want to honor God, we will see God.
Mary was devoted to the incarnate God in Jesus. And when He died, she died. But her heart did not stop at the cross. She went looking for Jesus. Her heart pulled her toward Him. And He revealed Himself to her again. This time it was for keeps.
Do you feel like crying today? Have some of your dreams been shattered? It’s O.K. to cry. Big boys and girls do cry when they hurt. But Jesus can transform those tears.
He did it for Mary. When she turned toward Him, her soul was refreshed. That’s what happens when our heads and hearts are in the Lord. When our heads and hearts are in the Lord, we live triumphantly amid the meanness, madness, and misery of life in the modern world. When our heads and hearts are in the Lord, we triumphantly survive those lion’s dens, coliseums, crucifixion, ups and downs and in-betweens of life.
When our heads and hearts are in the Lord, we see God. And when we see God, we experience a holy communion that enables us to say with Paul, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). When we see God, we’re not afraid of anything nor anybody anymore. When we see God, we have a peace and calm that cannot be shaken by the storms of life.
Jesus “had much to do and far to go,” wrote Frederick Buechner in a note on this text {Peculiar Treasures, 1979), “and so did she, and the first thing she did was go back to the disciples to report. ‘I have seen the Lord,’ she said, and whatever dark doubts they might have had on the subject earlier, one look at her face was enough to melt them all away like morning mist.” When we see God, our tears are transformed into rivers of living water. And everyone can see the difference we feel. (RRK)
Sermon briefs in this issue are provided by: David Mosser, Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Georgetown, TX: Harold C. Perdue, Development Officer, Texas Methodist Foundation; William T. Pyle. Assistant Professor, Southeastern Seminary, Wake Forest, NC; Dwight A. Moody, Pastor, North Park Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, PA; and Robert R. Kopp, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Winston-Salem, NC.

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