January 28, 2018 John 3 - Preached at St. Paul's, Penn Yan

             I’m sure an image comes to mind the moment you hear the phrase, “I’m a born again Christian.”  Of course it’s rooted in the conversation between Jesus and the Pharisee Nicodemus where Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be “born again.”  Nicodemus doesn’t get it and the conversation unfolds in an almost ridiculous way as Nicodemus tries to figure out how to climb back inside ones mother’s womb.  But the way many people who call themselves “born again” understand it is almost as off the mark as Nicodemus’ understanding.

            The word in question is the Greek word  It has a double meaning.  It means both “born again” and “born from above”.  The way Jesus uses it requires us to keep both meanings at work simultaneously.

            Often when people talk about being “born again” they are talking about a personal conversion experience that has happened to them.  That’s not only not what Jesus had in mind at all, but it also misses the double meaning of the word. 

            The idea of being born again does indeed suggest being born into a new way of thinking and being as a human.  Including the idea of being “born from above” moves the focus to what has been done for us by Jesus.  Here are the words from biblical commentator Gail O’Day, “Contemporary usage of ‘born again’… emphasizes personal change more than the external source of that change: the cross.”  (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Pg. 555) 

I’ve met far too many people who are smug about being “born again.”  They use it like a slogan and look down long judgmental noses at people like Lutherans who don’t do much with the idea.  When someone does that he or she has completely missed the point of being born again.  Born again is not a religious conversion experience.  It is an entirely new way of recognizing reality as it has been created for us by Jesus.

We live in politically charged times.  It seems like whenever either major political party has a legislative win they hold a press conference to tout what they have done.  There may be speeches and those speeches include praise for backers and supporters.

Indeed it is good to thank people who have worked to make something possible, but there is also a lot of, “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine,” kind of thing going on.  It becomes an exchange of glory and a condemnation of opponents.  The focus is on what we did, and it tears down the losers.

The new way of recognizing reality as it has been created for us by Jesus is totally different.  There the focus is first and foremost what Jesus did for us.  When Jesus died on the cross he did not do so because he was a depressed man who felt he was worthless and had given up on life.  No, Jesus was full, strong and capable.  He could have changed things any time he wanted and in any way he wanted.  But he chose to let things happen as they did.  It is always ironic that just as the religious leaders are trying to thwart God’s plans by killing Jesus they actually are carrying them out.

A phrase I like to use is, Jesus did not give up his life.  He gave away his life.  Giving up is quitting and admitting defeat.  Giving away means that you know you have something of great value to offer and you are providing it to someone else because it will be a benefit to them.

There is a true selflessness involved when you give away and don’t have any expectations of a return.

Truly being born again/born from above – and I think it’s best that we use both, not just one, even though it’s awkward – means that you have moved your life’s orientation away from the: give and take,

I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine,

Let’s make a deal,

sort of life.  It’s when you can make every decision of your life, whether it be big or small, based on what Jesus has done for you, and you know you have been saved by his work.  Therefore everything that you are – all you skills and abilities, your money, your connections, your education, and everything becomes tools you can implement to bring about God’s kingdom.

But this is very very radical thinking.  It is a very radical way of life.

If you bought a house in your lifetime what was going through your mind as you selected it or shopped for it?  Maybe things like whether you liked the floor plan or not, or how new the roof and furnace was, maybe the condition of the electrical and plumbing systems.  Certainly things like price and location were factors in your decision.

I would love to see the look on a realtor’s face if someone went in and said, “I need to buy a house that will best equip me to share the love Jesus has for me.  What do you have that’ll fit that bill?”

How did you choose your car?  Size, age, price…  How about how well it would equip you to be an evangelist.

I’m waiting for a Christian clothing store to open up that will carry fashions designed to maximize our effectiveness at spreading the gospel.  If such a store ever opened do you think it would stay in business long?

And of course, ideally you’d choose your spouse based on which person in this world best compliments your life of discipleship in Christ – in other words, finding a partner who best helps you to work for God’s kingdom.

I can’t speak for everyone, certainly not the women, maybe you are truly better in this, but as a guy I can tell you that men don’t go checking women out and ranking their attractiveness based on the sophistication of their faith!

That, however, is the radical life reorientation that comes from truly being born again/born from above.  It is building life based on what Christ has done and then seeing everything –everything - that you are as a tool you can use to share Christ’s goodness with others.

Being born again doesn’t mean you’ve got a stamp of endorsement on your “Get into Heaven Free” card.  It is a way of being focused on what Christ has done.

            From that perspective I think we all fall short, way short.  At least I do.  Maybe you’re better than me.  Thanks be to God that God is loving and patient and kind with our sinful failings and that God will forgive us over and over and over again as we forever struggle to get it right, and seem to forever fall back into the dark ways of the world which so foolishly promise us happiness apart from God. 

The full character of God has been revealed in Jesus.  Our gospel reading included the ever famous John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that those who believe in him may not perish but have eternal life.”  God is love.  God wants there to be light, life and joy among his people.  God’s love knows no bounds.  God’s love is afraid of nothing.  God’s love can do anything. 

May you wake up every morning and remind yourself that you are loved by God, and know that you are born again/born from above.  Your life’s orientation is on what God has done in the past and what God is doing through you.

God does not want to condemn the world.  God wants to save the world.  In fact, through the cross of Christ God has already saved the world.  He invites you to live out that reality and share it, so that indeed all may know of God’s great gift and be willing to accept it.

January 21, 2018 Mark 5

             The passage we read from Mark is a wonderful collection of miracle stories.  They show the full extent of Jesus’ powers.  In the stilling of the storm we see that Jesus has power over the forces of nature.  In the casting out of the demons in the Gerasene man we see Jesus has power over chaos and evil spirits.  In the healing of the woman with hemorrhages he shows his power to cure medical problems doctors can’t fix.  And in the raising of dead little girl Jesus shows power over death.

            In each case he does it to provide people with health and safety.  At least a few of the disciples were fishermen.  They knew a bad storm when they saw one, and if even they were scared, they were in one.  Jesus provides them with safety.  The demon possessed man lived as a wild outcast away from civilization.  He was chained and restrained to keep him under control.  Jesus gives him a right mind and fullness of life.  Similarly, the hemorrhaging woman would have been considered perpetually ritually unclean and unable to participate in many religious and social activities.  And what parent isn’t devastated at the serious illness and death of one of their children?

            As the front of the worship bulletin suggests, this is all fine and good for them.  They get to have their lives miraculously fixed by Jesus.  But what about us?  Are our problems somehow less?  Are we second rate that we do not get such treatment?  Is our pain somehow less real?

Does the person suffering from chronic heart problems have less faith that her condition is not healed the way the bleeding woman was?

What about the parent who loses a son or daughter to cancer, or the boy or girl killed in an automobile accident?  Why not being raised from the dead for them?

Is the person struggling to overcome an addiction to drugs really all that different from the Gerasene Demoniac?  Maybe he or she isn’t tethered with chains, but the feeling of being out of control is the same.  Lives are ruined.  Families are destroyed. 

And what about the chaos of the person who suffers at the hands of an abusive spouse or parent?  Why when he or she prays for God to help does that help not come?  Are we not taught to pray for our enemies and do good things for them?  Why doesn’t God respond to such sincere and righteous prayers?  Is such a person’s suffering all that different from the disciples being tossed around in a boat in a storm-tossed sea?

These are all good questions.  They are fair questions to ask.  And it is okay to get mad at God for the unfairness of it all.  A look at the passage from Mark shows us that not everyone who had a miraculous healing was a faithful person.  While Jesus praises the faith of the bleeding woman, he criticizes the disciples for their lack of faith.  But both get a miracle.  The Gerasene Demoniac doesn’t even ask to be cured.  Jesus approached him without even having an invitation and sets his life to rights.

The passage we read from Mark does not give us answers, but Mark’s gospel does respond to our questions, even if it isn’t the answers we want to hear.

Here’s the thing.  We need Jesus to be powerful.  We need to know he has power over nature, and over evil, and over medical problems, and over death itself.  How could we ever trust God with our lives if we weren’t sure God was fully powerful? 

We need Jesus, and we need to know he is powerful; but we do not need his miraculous powers in our own lives. 

Any number of times we see in Mark’s gospel that Jesus tells people not to tell about the miracles he has performed.  Sometimes, like with the Gerasene Demoniac, he does tell him to spread the word.  Other times he does not.  You’ll remember me saying before that it’s impossible to say for certainty why this is so.  But a very reasonable conclusion is that Jesus is to be known first and foremost not as the miracle worker, but as the crucified one.

In a couple weeks we’ll explore the dimensions of Jesus identity more, but for now let’s just say that Jesus wants the center of our identity with him to be, not one which is based on getting supernatural solutions to problems, but instead based on Jesus’ self-emptying love.  Your salvation came through Jesus’ death, not his miraculous powers. 

We need to know Jesus is powerful so we can trust in his promises.  Then when we truly trust in his promises they become a force that shapes our lives. 

You are what you believe.  That’s what shapes your life and forms your identity.  In Christian faith you bring God’s promises to life.  That is how God wants his work to be done.  That is how he wants his kingdom to come into reality in this life.  It is as strong as we make it. 

Why doesn’t God fix problems beyond our control for us?  It is not because God doesn’t care.  It is because he holds us in his power no matter what.  From there, we are empowered to embody God’s love.  That’s how God wants it to be real in the world.  He wants his love to be alive because we make it alive.  It can be a tough challenge, but it honors us and gives us a meaningful place in God’s work. 

January 14 Mark 4:1-34 Sermon

             We’re going to discover that just about every time we encounter Mark’s gospel there is going to be something that’s going to trip us up.  Even the biblical experts can’t make sense of it most of the time if they’re honest.  Today we read a collection of parables from Jesus.  Or maybe we should call them riddles since the word can be translated either way.  Jesus gives the riddle in public but often doesn’t give its answer, or a way to interpret it.  Then in private Jesus gives the answer to the disciples.  Fortunately we get to be an insider too and hear the answer. 

Why does he do this?  Loosely quoting from Isaiah 6 he says, “To you has been given the secret to the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in riddles; in order that, ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”

What?!?  Is Jesus deliberately teaching in a way that excludes people?  Is God damning people and hardening their hearts so that he has all the more reason to do it?  No, of course not.  That would be counter to everything Jesus embodied.  But that is just the kind of question biblical scholars wrestle with in Mark’s gospel.

Actually it gets at a bigger question.  Mark isn’t the only gospel that has Jesus quoting from Isaiah.  It also shows up in the gospel of John, in Acts, and in Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Always the question is why don’t people accept the loving Word of God as it comes to them?

I think Jesus is getting at a deep issue within people.  Why don’t people respond to the pure and simple truth?  Why can’t people believe that God loves them and then live that out?  I think we’d all like to say of ourselves that if you give us pure and simple information for our own good we’ll follow it.  Sometimes we may approach the Bible’s teachings and say, “Forget all this complex nonsense.  Keep it simple.”

Yes, that would be nice.  Or would it?  How many times has a doctor sat down with a patient and said, “Your blood sugar is too high.  You have Type 2 Diabetes.  You can control it but you have to lose weight, eat less sugars and carbohydrates, and exercise more.”  Or, “Your blood pressure is too high.  You’ll have to severely cut your sodium intake.”

Or my favorite I heard from a speaker whose name I’ve long since forgotten.  In a different lecture he had asked the crowd how many people had major bypass surgery.  And then he asked them how many people had changed their lifestyles because of the surgery.  Few had, and one guy raised a donut in his hand and said, “You mean like not eating these!?”

The sad truth is that we don’t respond to the simple pure truth.  People believe what they want to believe.  They ignore what they want to ignore.  You’ve probably heard sayings like, “Don’t bother me with the facts.”

Generally people will believe any truth that is convenient and beneficial for them.  They will reject anything and everything that has a deep cost.  That goes for religion, politics, economics, science, or quality of life.

We all remember and love to hear the things that make us feel good about ourselves and our way of life.  We reject and forget that which challenges us.

Why does Jesus preach in riddles?  Why do so many of the Bible’s authors use complex patterns and strategies and contradictions?  Why does Jesus use stories rather than straight facts?  Because maybe, just maybe, they will stick with us longer.  Maybe, just maybe, we’ll remember them later.

I wish I were a better story teller, because people remember stories and images better than facts.  When I tell a story in a sermon or relate an antidote far more people remember it than the facts I preach.

May we all have the insight to hear God’s truth, and believe it, and live it; whether it be a convenient truth or an inconvenient one for our lives.  Jesus promises good things for those who can hear God’s truth.  He doesn’t mean just in eternal life, he means for this life too.

Let’s turn to the parable of the sower.  It’s a detailed parable, or riddle.  It’s a familiar one and it’s very vivid.  Even if you’ve never scattered seed in a field or even grass seed in your lawn, you can get the picture.  You also get the absurdity of it.

If you’re seeding a new lawn you would not scatter the seed so crazily that it flies out onto the street or the sidewalk.  That’s pure waste.  And if there is a series weed problem somewhere, or too many rocks, or whatever the case may be, you’re probably not going to waste seed on those areas.  Maybe you landscape it rather than seeding it.  Or maybe you dig out the rocks or put in another layer of soil overtop them.  Whatever the case, even though grass seed isn’t overly expensive, you still don’t waste it.

But the sower in the parable does.  And we know that sower represents God.  The seed is God’s love, God’s word, and he scatters it wildly – on places no smart person would waste a valuable commodity.  I’ve never seen a person mow the grass in the street outside their house.  A bit of grass may grow in a crack in the pavement, but not a lawn.

Jesus wants all his hearers to know that God sows indiscriminately.  God’s goodness is for those who think they deserve it, and for those who people would say don’t deserve it.  God’s goodness goes where it is likely to do some good, and it also goes where it will probably do no good at all.  The key is that it goes there, because you never know.

When hiking in the Adirondacks it’s not at all unusual to come across a tree growing from the crack between rocks.  Somehow it’s there.  And often it’s even flourishing.

And flourish God’s goodness does!  Jesus says that when it truly takes root and produces the yield is incredible: thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.  Even with all the advances of modern agriculture, yields like that are almost impossible.  I think corn is about the only mass grown crop that can produce a hundredfold of what was planted.  Usually thirty fold in other grain crops is doing well.  And you can forget it when you get out of grains.

Consider our church’s garden project.  Last year we planted 150 pounds of seed potatoes.  It was a bad year, and from those 150 pounds we harvested a little over 900 pounds of potatoes.  It is said that a good potato yield is a tenfold increase, so you get ten pounds of potatoes for every pound you plant.  If it had been a good year we would have harvested 1500 pounds of potatoes.  But can you imagine if we would sometime get a hundredfold increase in potatoes?  That 150 pounds of seed would then be 15,000 pounds of potatoes!  I don’t know what the food cupboard would do with so many!  I don’t think our harvesting equipment could handle it, let alone our volunteers pick them all up!

Let’s not turn this into a prosperity gospel though.  Jesus has no teachings where those who follow him are blessed by being healthy, wealthy, and wise.  Many people think that is what being blessed by God means.  But the abundance of the kingdom is the abundance of the kingdom in God’s terms.  Ideas of wealth and prosperity are our ideas, not God’s.  How many miserable rich and prosperous people are there?  A lot!

Let’s conclude by noting an evangelism part about the abundance of the kingdom.  The fields yield an abundant harvest, the lamp is put on the bushel to give light, the mustard seed grows into a large shrub providing shelter, and on it goes.  Notice how the abundance of the kingdom has a purpose and direction that benefits more than just the listener.  Evangelism is not about embarrassing yourself and your neighbors by inviting them to go to church with you.  Evangelism is a sharing of the abundance.  It is faith that is not turned in upon its own consumption.  Rather it is turned outward so that the blessing continues.

People have a hard time believing the truth.  So our job is to not only speak it, but to share it in such a way that others benefit from it.  Provide: light, shelter, food, blessings to others.  That is effective evangelism.  That is growing the kingdom in word and deed, and in language that many people will understand.