Love – Gotta have it! Gotta Give it!
Romans 1:1-7 (Message)
4th Sermon in Rethink Sermon Series – December 19th, 2010
Jim Whittaker
I, Paul, am a devoted slave of Jesus Christ on assignment, authorized as an apostle to proclaim God’s words and acts. I write this letter to all the believers in Rome, God’s friends.
2-7 The sacred writings contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God’s Son. His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master. Through him, we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ! And I greet you now with all the generosity of God our Father and our Master Jesus, the Messiah.”
I don’t get to choose whom to love. All people are God’s children.
I got a call on the night before Thanksgiving. Dianna and I had driven into Cary to start fixing the Thanksgiving meal for our children, their spouses, and the grandchildren. A man, that I have personally helped quite a bit with bills, going after his broken down car, and with giving him food, called me. He said, “tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we have no food.” Can you help me with a Thanksgiving meal? I reminded him that he could have come to our Thanksgiving meal giveaway. I wasn’t in town, and I couldn’t help him. He basically said, what type of preacher are you that won’t give someone a Thanksgiving meal.
I got a call as we were driving into West Virginia. A person who is difficult to visit and I had already tried three times in the last few weeks, called me and said, “what type of preacher are you that won’t visit someone.”
This man and woman – these are my people. I don’t get to choose whom to love. All people are God’s children.
In the video, the FortWorth First UMC decided to do something drastic, unusual, and very generous. They decided to love the people who are overlooked, alone, and feel no love. They showed love to the homeless. The neatest part of this story is the picture on a Christmas card of that person sent back to their family. Wasn’t it touching when someone contacted the church and said they had not heard from their child in 7 years? The ministry they were doing was greater than helping those on the streets. This church demonstrated an agape love. Agape love is sacrificing. Agape love is given as a gift. It is not merited. It is given freely and if love is not given back, we love anyway!
1. God’s Extravagant Love Given to Us
I still remember that Christmas. Mom and dad had left me at home. I was quickly looking for Christmas gifts. I finally found it. In my own room, there was a hope chest. I opened the chest up and took all of the blankets out and in the bottom of the hope chest, there was an electric guitar. I kept looking and found the amplifier. I hooked everything up, and it didn’t work. I could not get it to work. I finally put everything up, and on Christmas Day, I said I knew that guitar didn’t work. Mom said, “how did you know?” Busted.
If only we were so anxious to experience God’s gift as we are to open the presents under the Christmas tree. God has given us a gift. It’s in plain sight, but many people overlook it. All we have to do is unwrap God’s gift. It would seem to me that the whole world would be opening up God’s gift – Jesus Christ to find his grace freely given to us as sinners so that we could be redeemed.
In Luke, Zechariah prophecies that God has “raised up a mighty savior.” In Mary’s song, she says God’s “mercy is for those who fear him.” God has done it. We quote the verse in Ephesians 2:8, “by grace you have been saved by faith.” God has done all there is to be done to make us right before God. This is an extraordinary act of love. Philippians 2:7 says, “but he emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
The passage in Romans describes God’s gift as an act of generosity. When I looked up the word generosity, I found this: “the willingness to give or share without coercion.” Christmas is a season of generosity. Why? Because, God started it. God was generous with us. He gave us his son. The baby Jesus. God’s gift cost him dearly. God doesn’t parade his gift around. God doesn’t put in our face – see what I did. God wants us to see clearly this one thing. God loves us. It doesn’t matter where we come from. It doesn’t matter how we were raised. It doesn’t matter how many sins we have committed. God loves you. Christmas is about God’s gift Jesus given in love.
All other gifts pale in comparison to this gift given to us by God. It’s like, It’s under all of our Christmas trees. It is in a beautiful wrapping, blood red. It has a tag on it – From God, with love. When we open the gift, when we see the baby Jesus, when we see the shadow of the cross, when it reads, “repent, believe, and be baptized,” it is a love message to us. When we accept God’s gift of love, we are changed. We become ambassadors of the gift. We want to tell the whole world. Jesus saves! Yes, Jesus saves. The gift becomes hot, it’s like a hot potato, we have to pass it on.
2. What happens when we say, we “Gotta Have it?”
When you say, I have to have that love of God’s. Here is how you enact God’s gift. All receive this gift and enact it’s gift of eternal life by obedience and trust. It’s easy to talk about all of the good things Jesus did. You believe in God’s love. You soak yourself in God’s love. You want to become one with God’s love. Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Jesus also said in I John 2:15, “do not love the world or the things in the world.” Why? It’s like this.
I am reviewing some of the basics of guitar playing. For example, the D chord on the guitar only requires 4 strings to play. I am watching video lessons by David Taube. He says when you play the other two strings, you muddy up the note. It is not the sweet music that it should be.
Loving the things of the world, will muddy up our witness for Christ. Loving the things of the world can become a priority causing us to break the first big commandment. Loving the things of the world will certainly keep us from doing what God told us to do – that is to pass on God’s love.
That is why God commands us to do something that would seem completely impossible. In Luke 6:27, we have these words: “But I say to you, love your enemies.”
We might cry out – that is impossible. There are no constraints with God’s love. You don’t have to get perfect first and then God will take you. God takes you just as you are. God will change you into whom God desires you to be. This is possible all because of grace. That doesn’t mean living it out is easy.
For example, we make plenty of lists around Christmas. There are lists of those we are buying presents for. There are those we are showing kindness to with perhaps a cake or something like that. There are those that are on our Christmas card list. If we are to love our enemies, it would seem they should be on a list as well. We will call it our “avoidance list.” The first question that we should ask is who is on it? Who are the people we try to avoid? We ought to have at least one of these people on our list.
Jesus made it his business to show love to those who felt dejected.
Case Point #1 – The woman at the well. There is a reason the woman is at the well in the heat of the day and that was to avoid other people who ridiculed her or made her feel that she was no good. That’s all she had heard when she gathered with the other women. She got the stares, the haughtiness, the I told you so look, and then the words – you got what you deserved, God is punishing you. It got so bad she avoided the other women. She was a woman who was starved to hear someone say she was a woman who mattered to God. She expected condemnation from Jesus since he was a Jew, but he didn’t give it to her. He told her that he could lead her to life eternal. He said in essence God loves you. Now it is not that Jesus approved of her sins. He didn’t. It was that Jesus did not let her sins define who she was. He saw a spark inside that was almost out. Jesus saw the possibilities. In Jesus, those sins could be forgiven. Jesus showed her love unconditionally.
Case Point #2 – Zacchaeus the tax collector. Zacchaeus had felt, heard, and received condemnation ever since he took the job of tax collector. People called him a traitor, a hypocrite, and a sinner. It would seem he was off everyone’s Christmas card list, but Jesus welcomed him. He didn’t tell him to clean up first. It was as soon as Jesus entered his presence, Zacchaeus in great gratitude, straightened his life out. He quit cheating, and he became a very generous man.
3. Called to Love as God has loved.
A few ponderings:
Have you wondered away from God’s love? Do you truly feel God’s love at this moment?
How has others seen Christ through you, this year, this month, today? A good test for us is to ask the simple question: have I been more preoccupied with my Christmas list or God’s Christmas list?
Another question to ask is have you lived differently this Christmas season? Have you rethought your Christmas giving? We as a church have given Christmas gifts to 60 children through our food pantry and we have given about 20 angel tree gifts. That’s evidence that we have been thinking of more than ourselves.
God says “I have generously loved you. Don’t waste time. Tell others of God’s generosity. Tell them now.” This is the message to the church. Oh, how I have loved you. Pass it on. Amen.
Sermon – Strength Found in Peace
Matthew 3:11-12
November 28, 2010 (Meroney) and December 5th (West End)
Jim Whittaker
Scripture:
“I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.” (The Message)
<<Video>>
In the Video, we say where a United Methodist Church from Ohio ends up with a nativity scene made out of concrete by WWII German prisoners of war. After the war was over, the prisoners of war said the concrete statues of the nativity scene were their gift to the town. Several years later, a United Methodist church is keeping up the statues and the UMM even made a storage building to keep them in and for them to be viewed. Last year, about 2,000 people came by to see them. Prisoners of war creating a scene of peace. Perhaps, it was peace that they longed for. It was a gift of peace for the town that received them.
The video shown today demonstrates a conflict. The reality of war versus the hope for peace.
1. Peace begins with me.
Luke 7:50, “your faith has saved you, go in peace.”
John 16:33, [Jesus said] – “in me you may have peace.”
Philippian 4:7, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
Lao Tzu
Matthew very clearly ties baptism with new life, kingdom life, transformation, heart change, a clean house, and the stuff not relatable to God is just garbage in our lives. In baptism, we are reminded of our vows of faith: confession of Jesus Christ, a holy life as practiced in our individual life, and a holy life as practiced in the broader community. If this could be attained in the world, that is if we people would accept Christ, and live for him, then we could attain peace in this world.
Step #1 – Receive Jesus
We have a misconception and that is we will clean our life up and then ask Jesus to come into our life. That’s backwards. You ask Jesus to come into your life. He comes into your heart. If we were to think of this in Wesleyan terms.
Jesus gives us grace before we knew it – Jesus stands at the door and knocks – Rev. 3:20
We respond to Jesus’ knocking on our heart door and open the door. When Jesus comes in, he roams the whole house. This is justifying grace. Jesus declares us holy before we are living a holy life. Did you hear that? Jesus declares us holy. We are saved at that moment, but Jesus does not want to stay at this point. A Christian that doesn’t grow may not really be a Christian. A Christian that does not practice their faith may not have any faith. Matthew says, Jesus wants to turn you old life into a kingdom life. In other words, a person whose values are like the kingdom of God. This is God’s sanctifying grace. Not only has God declared us holy, we start to become holy. Now I am asking that you go a step further than that.
Step #2 – Ask Jesus to remove anything that is unclean in your life. So you have welcomed Jesus into your heart, and now you are praying God make me holy. God make my values your values. God make my priorities your priorities. God make my decisions your priorities.
Step #3 – Allow God to transform your heart – “Do not be conformed to this world, but by ye transformed by the renewing of your mind in Christ. This is when we will find peace in our heart. Romans 12:2
When we are no longer running from the hound dog of heaven, but fully embrace the creator of the universe our savior who paid the price for us so that we could be saved. This is when we will find peace.
2. Share Peace
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Theresa (1910-1997)
Well, how do we live this Kingdom Life that God has called us too. One of the things we are told to do is as the disciples did and as given in Acts 10:36 – You know the message Jesus preached – it is peace by Jesus Christ because he is Lord of all.
The world badly needs to hear the message of peace. Our video showed a complicated story where German Christian soldiers in a prison camp made a nativity scene out of concrete and now a Methodist Church in Ohio has it. The prisoners said it was a gift.
The reality is we have difficulty in keeping peace. We as a country are in two wars right now. Perhaps, you could make the argument that we are maintaining peace in war. What a world this is when violence is the way to keep peace. We have not taken God’s word seriously enough. What did Matthew say, God wants to light a fire within you. If we want to do away with war, then we need to get busy and spread the salvation good news of peace in Jesus Christ.
The devil has used our affluence against us. Nobody wants to do things boldly. We might risk losing the standard of living we have become accustomed too if we shared the gospel message like Jesus is commanding.
Jesus said we need a fire lit under us. It happens through the Holy Spirit. It begins with our baptism, which is an outward sign of the inward grace we have received in Jesus Christ.
So let’s get real? When was the last time you invited someone to church? When is the last time you invited someone to accept Jesus as their savior? When is the last time you asked someone are you saved? There is one thing for sure if we are not asking these type of questions, then we will not see God’s kingdom grow. We have to share.
Matthew is telling us about the work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s go to the book of John ch. 15, who talks extensively about the Holy Spirit. What will the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit will remind us of God’s word. The Holy Spirit will testify of the saving grace in Jesus. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sin. In the High priestly prayer in John ch. 17, Jesus says first you sent me, now I send them. What does Jesus pray? He prays that the world may get to know Jesus through the love scene in his disciples.
3. Do Peace
We need to realize that Jesus didn’t save us just so we could become good people. He saved us so that in tasting God’s goodness, we would want to share God’s goodness with others. So in sharing peace, we talked about how we must tell others about Jesus’s saving grace, but we must also realize that Jesus calls us to do something. In other words, if we truly say we are a people of peace, then we must act on our convictions.
War
There never was a good war or a bad peace. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war. Cicero (106-43BC)
War maybe necessary, but it should always be a last resort and there should always be ethical behavior even in war. War should also have to through a thorough process to prove that it is justified. We as Christians should be the last holdouts in involving our country in war. We as a whole have been too quick and too willing to take up arms against our neighbors.
Christians in the early centuries took one of two positions either the position of pacifism or the Just War theory. Where are we? These issues are too in depth to cover now, but do we as Christians take a view or do we just take whatever comes our way.
Prejudice and Racism
I believe if there is anything that gives a bad taste in the world’s mouth is when Christians show hatred and prejudice toward people of different ethnicities, and colors. All people are God’s children. In God’s eyes, we all speak the same language and we all look the same. We as Christians should be the first to standup against any prejudicial behavior.
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave nor free, there is no longer male or female. For all are one in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:28.
Socio-economic systems
In the political realm whether you are on the right or the left, we need to question any system that keeps the poor poor and the rich rich. The gap between the rich and the poor has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. If you want to reduce crime, then let’s not keep people in the poor house.
We need to first help people that are in need, and then we need to ask why are they in need? Is it them, or is it a system that works against them?
Peace be to this habitation;
Peace to all that dwell therein;
Peace, the earnest of salvation,
Peace, the fruit of pardoned sin;
Peace that speaks the heavenly Giver,
Peace to wordly minds unknown;
Peace divine that lasts forever;
Peace that comes from God alone.
Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
If we are to do peace, it must move us to action. Peace begins with me.
Sermon – I am Hoping for a Christmas with Meaning
Romans 13:11-14
November 28, 2010
Jim Whittaker
Romans 13:11-14 But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! (The Message)
Luke 14:23, “go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled” (NRSV).
<<Video>>
The subject of this worship video, Purity Muthoni, lost both parents and wondered where her next meal would come from. On the first Christmas after her parents died, she ate nothing for Christmas.
Hope by definition means to believe that the outcome can be different. Somehow Purity received hope. That somehow is Jesus Christ made real through the ZOE program supported by our local church.
What is your deepest hope this Christmas?
Hope can get lost in a bad economy. The hope given because God came in the flesh in the baby Jesus might get lost in the concern over decorations, Christmas meals, and presents or financial distress. Have we lost Christmas in our Christmas expectations? Christmas is one of the most busiest and stressful times of the year. Expectations run high. Everyone wants a gift or would like to have one. It is a time when we save the store owner’s year through all of our shopping. If we are not careful, we can end up with a Christmas hangover, because in January the Christmas bills will come. Surely there is more to Christmas than our excessive celebrations. Our Romans passage warns us to not get so self absorbed in getting ready for Christmas that we miss Christmas. Instead, it gives us this profound message:
Wake up and see what God is doing!
1. Our hope in God begins in our worship of God.
Acts 24:15, “I have a hope in God – a hope that they themselves also accept – that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous” (NRSV).
Psalm 122:1, “I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Let’s rethink how we worship at Christmas.
We received a message of hope in our time of worship in church. The hope is new life. No wonder the Psalmist said, “I was glad when they said let’s go to church.” The highest attended church service in America is now the Christmas Eve service. It is a time when you are most likely to get visitors. It is a time when people are most likely to respond to your invitation to come to church with me.
Wake Up! God is using the Christmas Eve service across America. We are warned to not get so self absorbed in our own activities that we do not have time to hear the message of hope given at a time of the year when people are the most likely to hear it.
Don’t doze off the night is about over!
Now let’s think about our own worship practices. Do you have to reschedule anything that you do so you can worship? Do you tell anyone that I can’t make that event because I am going to worship Jesus my savior.
Action Step: Come to the Christmas Eve service because God is working in this service across our county. At the very least, take time for your family to do a personal advent devotion. If you are not worshipping at Christmas, then you have lost the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about getting connected to God.
The three wise men gave gifts to Jesus not the other way around. The three wise men bowed down in humble adoration. The angels came and sang God’s praise. The lowly shepherds came to worship Jesus. Do not miss this point: Jesus is to be worshipped at Christmas – not us nor our families.
We receive hope in our worship. Let’s begin to take Christmas back. You are not going to tell the world anything different if you are not worshipping for Christmas.
2. Worship will lead us to action
Romans 5:5, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (NRSV).
Matthew 25:42, “I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” (NRSV).
Let’s rethink about actions around Christmas.
God gives us hope. God moves us to act to give others hope. Rudy Rasmus pastor of St. John UMC in Houston says people are suffering in poverty. The church is in the unique position to help those in poverty and all poverty is not physical. There is a spiritual poverty as well. Are we going to answer God’s call to move to action or be condemned by the words found in Matthew 25. I believe we have chosen the path of action.
We cannot afford to waste time.
People are literally dying in this world. We must move to change the world. We have taken our food ministries to new levels this year with the food panty and the Fuel Up program. These programs are a necessary emergency line of help to give hope to those who might have lost hope.
A Chinese proverb says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Not only do we need to give handouts but we need to recognize that it is only a band-aid. At some point, the real problem has to be addressed. When we give food away it is an act of mercy. When we try to change the outcome it is a work of justice. Both require us to be filled with compassion.
The easiest way to change the system is to touch the children. Programs like the Fuel Up programs, tutors, and literacy programs can change the outcome. That is they can change the physical outcome.
But, there is a spiritual need as well. How are we doing in giving an everlasting hope to the hungry, the poor, and the children? Is there more that we could do?
Action Step
Every church member and attender give a meal per week to the work of the food ministry. That would allow us to give 100 meals away weekly or 400 meals away monthly.
A second mile step is to go onto the website: Bread for the world’s website:
www.bread.org and take action.
Our actions will help us to give others hope in their physical needs. Take Christmas back – let us make our actions more about helping others than helping ourselves to a second serving of food or another shopping trip to give ourselves and our family things that we could do without.
3. Our Action will lead us to Invitation
Luke 14:23, “go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled” (NRSV).
Let’s rethink our witness around Christmas.
Face the facts: secular culture has taken over Christmas. Most people can relate to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase. It is a man filled with all of his shortcoming dreaming of a perfect Christmas with the family, but it is the family that make his Christmas far from perfect. As much as we like decorating Christmas trees, drinking Apple Cider flavored with cinnamon, going to see Santa, and playing Christmas music, it is very possible that we would never see Christ in all of those celebrations. You don’t have to be Christian to celebrate Christmas.
I used to play tennis with a Jew. I asked him, so are you going to have a big Christmas. He said Jim we don’t celebrate Christmas. I said you don’t, then what do you do? He said we celebrate Hannauka. I thought for a moment and said, do you still give Christmas gifts. Yes, we exchange gifts he said.
It is because of Christmas that we have hope in this world and the world to come. The book of Romans tells us:
Get out of bed, get dressed, and get ready.
If we are not inviting people to church at Christmas, will we invite them any other time of the year. Are we willing to do as Jesus commanded and beat the bushes? Do we have a message of hope or not? Are we keeping it to ourselves? If you don’t know anyone to invite, why is that? Jesus said invite.
Action Step
Our last action step is about sharing the hope spiritually. Next Sunday is the Cantata. We have two more Sundays of advent. We have our Christmas Eve serve. Ask someone, let me pickup you and let’s go to church. Christmas in it most basic essential message is about finding the savior of the world. How can we be quiet? Your action step – invite and look around the church – who is not here?
So are we going to “Rethink Christmas” this year?
Let’s take a test: What will our actions say?
Is Christmas about ourselves or about Christ?
Is Christmas about feeding others or feeding ourselves?
Is Christmas about inviting others at all costs or a time of convenience about ourselves?
Let’s take Christmas back. We have a message that the world needs to hear. Let it begin with us. Amen
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Love – Gotta have it! Gotta Give it!
Romans 1:1-7 (Message)
4th Sermon in Rethink Sermon Series – December 19th, 2010
Jim Whittaker
I, Paul, am a devoted slave of Jesus Christ on assignment, authorized as an apostle to proclaim God’s words and acts. I write this letter to all the believers in Rome, God’s friends.
2-7 The sacred writings contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God’s Son. His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master. Through him, we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ! And I greet you now with all the generosity of God our Father and our Master Jesus, the Messiah.”
I don’t get to choose whom to love. All people are God’s children.
I got a call on the night before Thanksgiving. Dianna and I had driven into Cary to start fixing the Thanksgiving meal for our children, their spouses, and the grandchildren. A man, that I have personally helped quite a bit with bills, going after his broken down car, and with giving him food, called me. He said, “tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we have no food.” Can you help me with a Thanksgiving meal? I reminded him that he could have come to our Thanksgiving meal giveaway. I wasn’t in town, and I couldn’t help him. He basically said, what type of preacher are you that won’t give someone a Thanksgiving meal.
I got a call as we were driving into West Virginia. A person who is difficult to visit and I had already tried three times in the last few weeks, called me and said, “what type of preacher are you that won’t visit someone.”
This man and woman – these are my people. I don’t get to choose whom to love. All people are God’s children.
In the video, the FortWorth First UMC decided to do something drastic, unusual, and very generous. They decided to love the people who are overlooked, alone, and feel no love. They showed love to the homeless. The neatest part of this story is the picture on a Christmas card of that person sent back to their family. Wasn’t it touching when someone contacted the church and said they had not heard from their child in 7 years? The ministry they were doing was greater than helping those on the streets. This church demonstrated an agape love. Agape love is sacrificing. Agape love is given as a gift. It is not merited. It is given freely and if love is not given back, we love anyway!
1. God’s Extravagant Love Given to Us
I still remember that Christmas. Mom and dad had left me at home. I was quickly looking for Christmas gifts. I finally found it. In my own room, there was a hope chest. I opened the chest up and took all of the blankets out and in the bottom of the hope chest, there was an electric guitar. I kept looking and found the amplifier. I hooked everything up, and it didn’t work. I could not get it to work. I finally put everything up, and on Christmas Day, I said I knew that guitar didn’t work. Mom said, “how did you know?” Busted.
If only we were so anxious to experience God’s gift as we are to open the presents under the Christmas tree. God has given us a gift. It’s in plain sight, but many people overlook it. All we have to do is unwrap God’s gift. It would seem to me that the whole world would be opening up God’s gift – Jesus Christ to find his grace freely given to us as sinners so that we could be redeemed.
In Luke, Zechariah prophecies that God has “raised up a mighty savior.” In Mary’s song, she says God’s “mercy is for those who fear him.” God has done it. We quote the verse in Ephesians 2:8, “by grace you have been saved by faith.” God has done all there is to be done to make us right before God. This is an extraordinary act of love. Philippians 2:7 says, “but he emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
The passage in Romans describes God’s gift as an act of generosity. When I looked up the word generosity, I found this: “the willingness to give or share without coercion.” Christmas is a season of generosity. Why? Because, God started it. God was generous with us. He gave us his son. The baby Jesus. God’s gift cost him dearly. God doesn’t parade his gift around. God doesn’t put in our face – see what I did. God wants us to see clearly this one thing. God loves us. It doesn’t matter where we come from. It doesn’t matter how we were raised. It doesn’t matter how many sins we have committed. God loves you. Christmas is about God’s gift Jesus given in love.
All other gifts pale in comparison to this gift given to us by God. It’s like, It’s under all of our Christmas trees. It is in a beautiful wrapping, blood red. It has a tag on it – From God, with love. When we open the gift, when we see the baby Jesus, when we see the shadow of the cross, when it reads, “repent, believe, and be baptized,” it is a love message to us. When we accept God’s gift of love, we are changed. We become ambassadors of the gift. We want to tell the whole world. Jesus saves! Yes, Jesus saves. The gift becomes hot, it’s like a hot potato, we have to pass it on.
2. What happens when we say, we “Gotta Have it?”
When you say, I have to have that love of God’s. Here is how you enact God’s gift. All receive this gift and enact it’s gift of eternal life by obedience and trust. It’s easy to talk about all of the good things Jesus did. You believe in God’s love. You soak yourself in God’s love. You want to become one with God’s love. Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Jesus also said in I John 2:15, “do not love the world or the things in the world.” Why? It’s like this.
I am reviewing some of the basics of guitar playing. For example, the D chord on the guitar only requires 4 strings to play. I am watching video lessons by David Taube. He says when you play the other two strings, you muddy up the note. It is not the sweet music that it should be.
Loving the things of the world, will muddy up our witness for Christ. Loving the things of the world can become a priority causing us to break the first big commandment. Loving the things of the world will certainly keep us from doing what God told us to do – that is to pass on God’s love.
That is why God commands us to do something that would seem completely impossible. In Luke 6:27, we have these words: “But I say to you, love your enemies.”
We might cry out – that is impossible. There are no constraints with God’s love. You don’t have to get perfect first and then God will take you. God takes you just as you are. God will change you into whom God desires you to be. This is possible all because of grace. That doesn’t mean living it out is easy.
For example, we make plenty of lists around Christmas. There are lists of those we are buying presents for. There are those we are showing kindness to with perhaps a cake or something like that. There are those that are on our Christmas card list. If we are to love our enemies, it would seem they should be on a list as well. We will call it our “avoidance list.” The first question that we should ask is who is on it? Who are the people we try to avoid? We ought to have at least one of these people on our list.
Jesus made it his business to show love to those who felt dejected.
Case Point #1 – The woman at the well. There is a reason the woman is at the well in the heat of the day and that was to avoid other people who ridiculed her or made her feel that she was no good. That’s all she had heard when she gathered with the other women. She got the stares, the haughtiness, the I told you so look, and then the words – you got what you deserved, God is punishing you. It got so bad she avoided the other women. She was a woman who was starved to hear someone say she was a woman who mattered to God. She expected condemnation from Jesus since he was a Jew, but he didn’t give it to her. He told her that he could lead her to life eternal. He said in essence God loves you. Now it is not that Jesus approved of her sins. He didn’t. It was that Jesus did not let her sins define who she was. He saw a spark inside that was almost out. Jesus saw the possibilities. In Jesus, those sins could be forgiven. Jesus showed her love unconditionally.
Case Point #2 – Zacchaeus the tax collector. Zacchaeus had felt, heard, and received condemnation ever since he took the job of tax collector. People called him a traitor, a hypocrite, and a sinner. It would seem he was off everyone’s Christmas card list, but Jesus welcomed him. He didn’t tell him to clean up first. It was as soon as Jesus entered his presence, Zacchaeus in great gratitude, straightened his life out. He quit cheating, and he became a very generous man.
3. Called to Love as God has loved.
A few ponderings:
Have you wondered away from God’s love? Do you truly feel God’s love at this moment?
How has others seen Christ through you, this year, this month, today? A good test for us is to ask the simple question: have I been more preoccupied with my Christmas list or God’s Christmas list?
Another question to ask is have you lived differently this Christmas season? Have you rethought your Christmas giving? We as a church have given Christmas gifts to 60 children through our food pantry and we have given about 20 angel tree gifts. That’s evidence that we have been thinking of more than ourselves.
God says “I have generously loved you. Don’t waste time. Tell others of God’s generosity. Tell them now.” This is the message to the church. Oh, how I have loved you. Pass it on. Amen.
Sermon – Strength Found in Peace
Matthew 3:11-12
November 28, 2010 (Meroney) and December 5th (West End)
Jim Whittaker
Scripture:
“I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.” (The Message)
<<Video>>
In the Video, we say where a United Methodist Church from Ohio ends up with a nativity scene made out of concrete by WWII German prisoners of war. After the war was over, the prisoners of war said the concrete statues of the nativity scene were their gift to the town. Several years later, a United Methodist church is keeping up the statues and the UMM even made a storage building to keep them in and for them to be viewed. Last year, about 2,000 people came by to see them. Prisoners of war creating a scene of peace. Perhaps, it was peace that they longed for. It was a gift of peace for the town that received them.
The video shown today demonstrates a conflict. The reality of war versus the hope for peace.
1. Peace begins with me.
Luke 7:50, “your faith has saved you, go in peace.”
John 16:33, [Jesus said] – “in me you may have peace.”
Philippian 4:7, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
Lao Tzu
Matthew very clearly ties baptism with new life, kingdom life, transformation, heart change, a clean house, and the stuff not relatable to God is just garbage in our lives. In baptism, we are reminded of our vows of faith: confession of Jesus Christ, a holy life as practiced in our individual life, and a holy life as practiced in the broader community. If this could be attained in the world, that is if we people would accept Christ, and live for him, then we could attain peace in this world.
Step #1 – Receive Jesus
We have a misconception and that is we will clean our life up and then ask Jesus to come into our life. That’s backwards. You ask Jesus to come into your life. He comes into your heart. If we were to think of this in Wesleyan terms.
Jesus gives us grace before we knew it – Jesus stands at the door and knocks – Rev. 3:20
We respond to Jesus’ knocking on our heart door and open the door. When Jesus comes in, he roams the whole house. This is justifying grace. Jesus declares us holy before we are living a holy life. Did you hear that? Jesus declares us holy. We are saved at that moment, but Jesus does not want to stay at this point. A Christian that doesn’t grow may not really be a Christian. A Christian that does not practice their faith may not have any faith. Matthew says, Jesus wants to turn you old life into a kingdom life. In other words, a person whose values are like the kingdom of God. This is God’s sanctifying grace. Not only has God declared us holy, we start to become holy. Now I am asking that you go a step further than that.
Step #2 – Ask Jesus to remove anything that is unclean in your life. So you have welcomed Jesus into your heart, and now you are praying God make me holy. God make my values your values. God make my priorities your priorities. God make my decisions your priorities.
Step #3 – Allow God to transform your heart – “Do not be conformed to this world, but by ye transformed by the renewing of your mind in Christ. This is when we will find peace in our heart. Romans 12:2
When we are no longer running from the hound dog of heaven, but fully embrace the creator of the universe our savior who paid the price for us so that we could be saved. This is when we will find peace.
2. Share Peace
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Theresa (1910-1997)
Well, how do we live this Kingdom Life that God has called us too. One of the things we are told to do is as the disciples did and as given in Acts 10:36 – You know the message Jesus preached – it is peace by Jesus Christ because he is Lord of all.
The world badly needs to hear the message of peace. Our video showed a complicated story where German Christian soldiers in a prison camp made a nativity scene out of concrete and now a Methodist Church in Ohio has it. The prisoners said it was a gift.
The reality is we have difficulty in keeping peace. We as a country are in two wars right now. Perhaps, you could make the argument that we are maintaining peace in war. What a world this is when violence is the way to keep peace. We have not taken God’s word seriously enough. What did Matthew say, God wants to light a fire within you. If we want to do away with war, then we need to get busy and spread the salvation good news of peace in Jesus Christ.
The devil has used our affluence against us. Nobody wants to do things boldly. We might risk losing the standard of living we have become accustomed too if we shared the gospel message like Jesus is commanding.
Jesus said we need a fire lit under us. It happens through the Holy Spirit. It begins with our baptism, which is an outward sign of the inward grace we have received in Jesus Christ.
So let’s get real? When was the last time you invited someone to church? When is the last time you invited someone to accept Jesus as their savior? When is the last time you asked someone are you saved? There is one thing for sure if we are not asking these type of questions, then we will not see God’s kingdom grow. We have to share.
Matthew is telling us about the work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s go to the book of John ch. 15, who talks extensively about the Holy Spirit. What will the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit will remind us of God’s word. The Holy Spirit will testify of the saving grace in Jesus. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sin. In the High priestly prayer in John ch. 17, Jesus says first you sent me, now I send them. What does Jesus pray? He prays that the world may get to know Jesus through the love scene in his disciples.
3. Do Peace
We need to realize that Jesus didn’t save us just so we could become good people. He saved us so that in tasting God’s goodness, we would want to share God’s goodness with others. So in sharing peace, we talked about how we must tell others about Jesus’s saving grace, but we must also realize that Jesus calls us to do something. In other words, if we truly say we are a people of peace, then we must act on our convictions.
War
There never was a good war or a bad peace. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war. Cicero (106-43BC)
War maybe necessary, but it should always be a last resort and there should always be ethical behavior even in war. War should also have to through a thorough process to prove that it is justified. We as Christians should be the last holdouts in involving our country in war. We as a whole have been too quick and too willing to take up arms against our neighbors.
Christians in the early centuries took one of two positions either the position of pacifism or the Just War theory. Where are we? These issues are too in depth to cover now, but do we as Christians take a view or do we just take whatever comes our way.
Prejudice and Racism
I believe if there is anything that gives a bad taste in the world’s mouth is when Christians show hatred and prejudice toward people of different ethnicities, and colors. All people are God’s children. In God’s eyes, we all speak the same language and we all look the same. We as Christians should be the first to standup against any prejudicial behavior.
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave nor free, there is no longer male or female. For all are one in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:28.
Socio-economic systems
In the political realm whether you are on the right or the left, we need to question any system that keeps the poor poor and the rich rich. The gap between the rich and the poor has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. If you want to reduce crime, then let’s not keep people in the poor house.
We need to first help people that are in need, and then we need to ask why are they in need? Is it them, or is it a system that works against them?
Peace be to this habitation;
Peace to all that dwell therein;
Peace, the earnest of salvation,
Peace, the fruit of pardoned sin;
Peace that speaks the heavenly Giver,
Peace to wordly minds unknown;
Peace divine that lasts forever;
Peace that comes from God alone.
Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
If we are to do peace, it must move us to action. Peace begins with me.
Sermon – I am Hoping for a Christmas with Meaning
Romans 13:11-14
November 28, 2010
Jim Whittaker
Romans 13:11-14 But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! (The Message)
Luke 14:23, “go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled” (NRSV).
<<Video>>
The subject of this worship video, Purity Muthoni, lost both parents and wondered where her next meal would come from. On the first Christmas after her parents died, she ate nothing for Christmas.
Hope by definition means to believe that the outcome can be different. Somehow Purity received hope. That somehow is Jesus Christ made real through the ZOE program supported by our local church.
What is your deepest hope this Christmas?
Hope can get lost in a bad economy. The hope given because God came in the flesh in the baby Jesus might get lost in the concern over decorations, Christmas meals, and presents or financial distress. Have we lost Christmas in our Christmas expectations? Christmas is one of the most busiest and stressful times of the year. Expectations run high. Everyone wants a gift or would like to have one. It is a time when we save the store owner’s year through all of our shopping. If we are not careful, we can end up with a Christmas hangover, because in January the Christmas bills will come. Surely there is more to Christmas than our excessive celebrations. Our Romans passage warns us to not get so self absorbed in getting ready for Christmas that we miss Christmas. Instead, it gives us this profound message:
Wake up and see what God is doing!
1. Our hope in God begins in our worship of God.
Acts 24:15, “I have a hope in God – a hope that they themselves also accept – that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous” (NRSV).
Psalm 122:1, “I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Let’s rethink how we worship at Christmas.
We received a message of hope in our time of worship in church. The hope is new life. No wonder the Psalmist said, “I was glad when they said let’s go to church.” The highest attended church service in America is now the Christmas Eve service. It is a time when you are most likely to get visitors. It is a time when people are most likely to respond to your invitation to come to church with me.
Wake Up! God is using the Christmas Eve service across America. We are warned to not get so self absorbed in our own activities that we do not have time to hear the message of hope given at a time of the year when people are the most likely to hear it.
Don’t doze off the night is about over!
Now let’s think about our own worship practices. Do you have to reschedule anything that you do so you can worship? Do you tell anyone that I can’t make that event because I am going to worship Jesus my savior.
Action Step: Come to the Christmas Eve service because God is working in this service across our county. At the very least, take time for your family to do a personal advent devotion. If you are not worshipping at Christmas, then you have lost the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about getting connected to God.
The three wise men gave gifts to Jesus not the other way around. The three wise men bowed down in humble adoration. The angels came and sang God’s praise. The lowly shepherds came to worship Jesus. Do not miss this point: Jesus is to be worshipped at Christmas – not us nor our families.
We receive hope in our worship. Let’s begin to take Christmas back. You are not going to tell the world anything different if you are not worshipping for Christmas.
2. Worship will lead us to action
Romans 5:5, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (NRSV).
Matthew 25:42, “I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” (NRSV).
Let’s rethink about actions around Christmas.
God gives us hope. God moves us to act to give others hope. Rudy Rasmus pastor of St. John UMC in Houston says people are suffering in poverty. The church is in the unique position to help those in poverty and all poverty is not physical. There is a spiritual poverty as well. Are we going to answer God’s call to move to action or be condemned by the words found in Matthew 25. I believe we have chosen the path of action.
We cannot afford to waste time.
People are literally dying in this world. We must move to change the world. We have taken our food ministries to new levels this year with the food panty and the Fuel Up program. These programs are a necessary emergency line of help to give hope to those who might have lost hope.
A Chinese proverb says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Not only do we need to give handouts but we need to recognize that it is only a band-aid. At some point, the real problem has to be addressed. When we give food away it is an act of mercy. When we try to change the outcome it is a work of justice. Both require us to be filled with compassion.
The easiest way to change the system is to touch the children. Programs like the Fuel Up programs, tutors, and literacy programs can change the outcome. That is they can change the physical outcome.
But, there is a spiritual need as well. How are we doing in giving an everlasting hope to the hungry, the poor, and the children? Is there more that we could do?
Action Step
Every church member and attender give a meal per week to the work of the food ministry. That would allow us to give 100 meals away weekly or 400 meals away monthly.
A second mile step is to go onto the website: Bread for the world’s website:
www.bread.org and take action.
Our actions will help us to give others hope in their physical needs. Take Christmas back – let us make our actions more about helping others than helping ourselves to a second serving of food or another shopping trip to give ourselves and our family things that we could do without.
3. Our Action will lead us to Invitation
Luke 14:23, “go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled” (NRSV).
Let’s rethink our witness around Christmas.
Face the facts: secular culture has taken over Christmas. Most people can relate to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase. It is a man filled with all of his shortcoming dreaming of a perfect Christmas with the family, but it is the family that make his Christmas far from perfect. As much as we like decorating Christmas trees, drinking Apple Cider flavored with cinnamon, going to see Santa, and playing Christmas music, it is very possible that we would never see Christ in all of those celebrations. You don’t have to be Christian to celebrate Christmas.
I used to play tennis with a Jew. I asked him, so are you going to have a big Christmas. He said Jim we don’t celebrate Christmas. I said you don’t, then what do you do? He said we celebrate Hannauka. I thought for a moment and said, do you still give Christmas gifts. Yes, we exchange gifts he said.
It is because of Christmas that we have hope in this world and the world to come. The book of Romans tells us:
Get out of bed, get dressed, and get ready.
If we are not inviting people to church at Christmas, will we invite them any other time of the year. Are we willing to do as Jesus commanded and beat the bushes? Do we have a message of hope or not? Are we keeping it to ourselves? If you don’t know anyone to invite, why is that? Jesus said invite.
Action Step
Our last action step is about sharing the hope spiritually. Next Sunday is the Cantata. We have two more Sundays of advent. We have our Christmas Eve serve. Ask someone, let me pickup you and let’s go to church. Christmas in it most basic essential message is about finding the savior of the world. How can we be quiet? Your action step – invite and look around the church – who is not here?
So are we going to “Rethink Christmas” this year?
Let’s take a test: What will our actions say?
Is Christmas about ourselves or about Christ?
Is Christmas about feeding others or feeding ourselves?
Is Christmas about inviting others at all costs or a time of convenience about ourselves?
Let’s take Christmas back. We have a message that the world needs to hear. Let it begin with us. Amen
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