Sermon – Malachi 3:1-20 - Refiner's Fire

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Malachi 3:1-20 - Refiner's Fire

Advent 2

December 9, 2012

Last week we saw that Christmas brings us hope. We usually fear the future and often fall into despair when we realize that what we fear the most can't be change. When this happens we need someone to save us. And at Christmas we remember God's promise to send Jesus Christ as that savior. Today we will look closely at what will happens when that savior arrives, and you may or may not like what the savior does. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

The prophet Malachi lived four to five hundred years before Jesus. Jerusalem was a province of Persia and had limited freedom provided that taxes were paid. The city and temple had been rebuilt after having been destroyed by the Babylonians. Worship had returned to the temple with the celebration of feasts and animal sacrifices. And people had begun gathering in local communities to study the word of God in what was called synagogues. Everything seemed to be going on smoothly with one big exception. The glory of God was not present in the temple.

When Solomon built the first temple it was the place where God could reside on earth. God's glory was seen in the Holy of Holies. But when the Babylonians destroyed the temple God ascended to heaven. And so far his glory remain absent. This was the problem Malachi was looking into. Why was God's glory missing?

As Malachi thought about this and looked into what was going on he began to see the problem. The people were engaging in worship, prayer and Bible study, but they were not living the way God had commanded them to live. Here is how God described the situation speaking through the mouth of the prophet.

Malachi 3:5 ⁵ "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.

So the people of Judah were hypocrites. They engaged in the form of worship, they pretended to believe, but though their works they demonstrated their unfaithfulness. People were into witchcraft and spells. They cheated on their spouses. They lied in court. They didn't pay fair wages. They didn't care for the poorest in their communities. They denied justice to the immigrants. All of this is bad enough, but it goes even further.

Malachi 3:8-11 ⁸ "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse-- the whole nation of you-- because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. ¹¹ I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty.

The people of Judah were not bringing their tithe, 10% of their income, to the temple. This was robbing God! No wonder God hadn't returned. Why would he to such an unfaithful people? This should be a warning to us. Christmas is not automatic. The savior we hope for only comes to the faithful. And if our faithlessness is apparent in the way we live our lives why would we expect a savior to come to us? And if a savior did come and we were living sinful lives like that what would he do? He would judge us. So if you are hoping for a savior to come this Christmas be careful what you wish for because you might just get it.

Malachi realized that one day God would enter into the temple and his glory would return. This would be the day of the Lord. On that day all the sinners of Judah would stand before the Lord, trembling, because of their failure to obey God's law.

But then Malachi realized something very important about God. God is like a silversmith. Let me explain. Normally silver is found in nature filled with impurities. Silver in this state is not particularly shiny and would not make a good mirror. But if you refine the silver by heating it over a fire it will bubble and hiss as the impurity, oxygen, escapes leaving behind pure silver. If you then add carbon, charcoal, to the molten silver the oxygen cannot return, and you are left with a shiny metal that can be polished into a mirror that reflects your image.

So too with us. We were created to reflect the image of God. We were pure and polished and reflected God's glory perfectly until sin entered the world. Sin is a impurity that distorts God's image in us. We can't get rid of sin any more than silver can get rid of oxygen by itself. Like silver we need a refiner who will purge the impurity of sin from us so that we again reflect God's image perfectly. Malachi said that this refiner is God, and God will purge the impurity of sin from us. Malachi described it in this way.

Malachi 3:1-4 ^NIV Malachi 3:1 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. ² But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, ⁴ and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

So according to Malachi God will begin refining us with fire, purging the impurity of sin from us when he enter the temple. When will this happen? When will God return to the temple? Hundreds of years after Malachi, God did return to his temple. The witness was named Simeon. Here is what happened.

Luke 2:22-32 ²² When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons." ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ²⁹ "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all people, ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

So the glory of God returned to the temple when Jesus was brought there by his parents in obedience to God law. And at that moment our refinement began. God has already started the process for sin to be purged away from us. Jesus is the one who came to remove sin from our lives. And this is really good news because we don't have to remove sin ourselves. It wouldn't do any good for me to wave my finger at you and tell you not to sin. You would simply ignore me and keep doing what you are doing. But if the glory of God is present here in this church your transformation has already begun. You are already experiencing a distaste of sin. You are already less likely to be unfaithful to your spouse. You are already caring for the poor and foreigners. You are already giving to the church. These are all signs that the glory of God is on you, the Spirit of God is in you, refining you, and purging your sin away.

This transformation in you is called sanctification and is the work of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is a lifelong process that refines you so that you reflect the glory of God as you were created to do. Sanctification can be nurtured by the church in worship, prayer and Bible study. So I urge you to come to worship every Sunday, study the Bible in a small group every week and pray every day. Do this and you will become more and more like Christ.

Holy Spirit I ask that you enter into my church and hearts of these people and transform them into the image and likeness of Christ. Purge from them the sin that has stained them since birth. Empower our worship, prayers and Bible studies to promote spiritual growth. And provide us evidence of that growth in the increased faithfulness of couples, an expanding concern for the poor and immigrants, and tithing to the church. This we pray in the name of the one who brought God's glory into the temple, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon – Jeremiah 33:14-16 - Promises Fulfilled

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Jeremiah 33:14-16 - Promises Fulfilled

Advent 1

December 2, 2012

Thanksgiving is over and it is time to get ready for Christmas. The church calls this time Advent. In Advent we joyfully wait for the coming our our savior. Or at least we are suppose to be joyful. But some of us are living in a world of trouble, and being joyful at this time is a hard thing, if not an impossible thing, to do. There are many people who just can't bring themselves to be joyful right now. And for them all the lights and decorations and presents are nuisances. The problem is that most people are afraid of the future. And when you are afraid of what the future might hold this fear can turn into despair. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I met a young person who was afraid of what his future might hold. This young man has a bright future ahead of him. He has straight As in school and a perfect score on the test needed to enter graduate school. Next year he will be working on a PhD in physics at one of the top schools in the country. And I am convinced that one day he will do something that will benefit the world. But he is apprehensive about his future. He doesn't know yet where he will go for his education. He is unsure about what he will study. And he has no idea what he will do with his life. So he is apprehensive about his future.

I met another person over Thanksgiving who in a different way fears the future. Up until 2009 this person had a successful business remodeling homes for the very rich in Washington DC. He made good money to support his family which includes three teenagers. But then the housing bubble burst and he couldn't find work. Unemployment compensation helped a little but not enough. Today he is doing odd jobs for a fraction of what he used to make. The strain on his family was too much. He and his wife are getting a divorce. Their home will be foreclosed on in a few weeks. He doesn't know where he will live or what he will do. He is very apprehensive about the future.

I met a woman over Thanksgiving who also was also apprehensive about the future. She had come from Korea with her husband and children to study English and hopefully stay here working as a nurse. But it is now much harder for immigrants to get nursing jobs than it used to be. Her husband is working at a place that promised to help him become a permanent resident of the United States. This would help a lot. But now they are not so sure that this will work. They may have to go back to Korea. But their children are doing well in American schools and she would like to keep them here. So she worries every day about what will happen to her family.

All of us worry about the future. We worry about whether or not we will remain healthy as we grow old. We worry about our finances and job prospects for our children. Some of us are even worrying that the Mayan Calendar will come to an end in a couple of weeks. We have plenty of things to worry about.

There are two ways that we can deal with our fear of the future. We can be filled with hope that things will turn out better than we fear. Or we can be filled with despair that what we fear will happen no matter what. Are we filled with hope or despair? If you believe in karma or fate you are doomed to despair because there is nothing that can stop what you fear from happening. You need a savior who will fill you with hope and prevent what you fear the most from.

In the time of Jeremiah the Hebrew people had fallen into despair. Their nation had fallen to the Babylonians. Their farms and cities had been destroyed. They had watched as family and friends had been killed. Many of them had been carried off to exile. Their only hope was that Egypt would come to save them by defeating the Babylonians. But it was now clear that Egypt was not coming. There was no hope, no savior, only despair.

It is hard not to face our own future with despair. We see the large debt the government is running up. We see people unemployed and companies downsizing. We see congregations getting older and smaller. We see our loved ones suffering and sick. We see no hope, and all we are left with is despair.

God spoke to the Hebrew people through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah with these words.

Jeremiah 33:14-16 ¹⁴ "'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. ¹⁵ "'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.'

God's purpose with this was to fill his people with hope that a savior was on the way. This savior would be a descendant of King David to whom God had promised an everlasting dynasty. God wanted his people to hope in the coming of a messiah who would rule in justice and righteousness.

As we look to the future are we filled with hope or despair? Do we hope that things will be better, or do we despair that they will not? The answer to this question depends on whether or not we believe that a savior in on the way. For some of you your savior is a parent or a child or a brother or sister or an aunt or uncle would will save you if the worst happens. But if your hope is in other people you will be disappointed. Others cannot be you savior because they are too busy trying to save themselves, For others, you will try to save yourselves with money or hard work or land or even prayer, worship and Bible Study. But if you try to save yourself you will fail because works and things have no power to save you from an uncertain future where you may lose your stuff and your abilities. We need a savior because we cannot save ourselves. From where will this savior come?

The Hebrews waited hundreds of years for their savior. King Cyrus of Persia allowed then to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild their city and temple. Judas Maccabeus overthrew the Greeks and made Judah an independent kingdom. But neither of these were saviors. Neither of these were descendants of David. Neither of these were the fulfillment of God's promise to David. The fulfillment of God's promise came two thousand years ago in a place where animals were fed in Bethlehem, David's hometown. God began the fulfillment of the promise he made to David with the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. Today we live with the hope of a glorious future with his promise to return to rule the earth in justice and righteousness. When this occurs God promises will be fulfilled.

This past week I was with a young couple at the hospital in Salisbury. A young man with a pregnant wife had just been laid off from Walmart the day before. He was very apprehensive about his future. He was very discouraged about having to go on unemployment again. He was bordering on despair. But a couple of hours later he called me with good news and great joy in his heart because his daughter Gigi had just been born. The birth of a child fills us with hope and promise. And so the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem fill us with hope that a new, glorious future awaits us.

The promise of scripture is that our savior, Jesus Christ, is coming. In Jesus, God's promise to David has been fulfilled. Jesus is coming and your future is bright. He will come again and we will be resurrected from our graves to live in a new creation. Therefore there is nothing for us to fear. There is no reason for despair, because we are all filled will hope that our Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. And this is why Christians are so joyful at Christmas. Even though our lives are filled with troubles we rejoice because our savior is coming.

I know that many if not all of you have fears of what the future will bring. I urge you this Advent to not despair. Be filled with hope because your savior is coming. You future is bright. So fear not and rejoice at the birth of your savior, Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus we wait you coming this Advent season. We live in a world filled with problems we can't solve ourselves. We are headed to a life of despair. We need a savior who will fill us with hope of a blesses future. Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Sermon – John 18:33-37 – Jesus Our King

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – John 18: 33-37 – Jesus Our King

Reign of Christ Sunday

November 25, 2012

Today is the Sunday we celebrate the Reign of Christ. This is the end of the Ordinary Time which has lasted since Pentecost Sunday, and today marks a transition to Advent and the beginning of a new church year. Worship today is centered on the risen Jesus Christ who rules over all of creation. As King, Jesus is due loyalty and honor from everyone on earth. And Christ stands with anyone who claims that Jesus is Lord. But people often misunderstand what it means to call Christ the king. These misunderstandings are a result of our expectations that a king is either a political or military ruler. In the case of Jesus we see that the word “king” means something different from how we normally use that word.

Sometimes two people can see the same thing, the same event, but understand it in two radically different ways. This happened just this week at Pitts Creek Church. At about 6:15 Tuesday morning I was praying in the lounge. The lights of the church were on and the door was open just as it has been for two and a half years to welcome the community to prayer. There is even a large banner out front telling people that they are welcome to come pray with us every morning at 6. Last Tuesday I heard and saw that some people had entered the sanctuary. This is what I hope for every day, that people would come into the church at dawn for prayers. But I found that the people in the sanctuary had a very different idea about what was going on. They were Pocomoke police who responded to a call that someone had left the church open and the lights on. The police entered the sanctuary not for prayer, as I had hoped, but to find out what the problem was. They saw the evidence and thought something was wrong. I saw the evidence and thought people were coming for prayer. This happens all the time in court trials, and juries have the job of sifting through the evidence and finding out what really happened.

Today we will be looking at Jesus' trial before the Roman Governor, Pilate. And we will see that different people will see the same evidence and reach different conclusions. We are the jury and we will sift through the evidence and the competing clams, but first lets pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

John 18:33-37 ³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" ³⁴ "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" ³⁵ "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" ³⁶ Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." ³⁷ "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

The issue at hand was whether or not Jesus is the “King of the Jews”. And Pilate was interrogating Jesus to find out. For Pilate the word “king” had a political meaning. A king would have control over a particular people living in a particular region. For Pilate, a king could be problematic because loyalty to a king could challenge the people's required loyalty to the Roman Emperor. Pilate's job was to make sure that there were no challenges to the Emperor's authority in the Provence of Judah. And so someone claiming to be the King of the Jews was potentially a threat, someone who could cause trouble. And trouble was the last thing Pilate needed. So he questioned Jesus to determine if Jesus was a threat to Rome.

Jesus needed to know if Pilate was using the word “king” in its political sense or in some other way. So he asked Pilate if his questions were motivated by his own needs or the needs of some other group. Pilate assured him that he was not asking these questions from the perspective of the Jewish leaders. And Jesus assured Pilate that he had nothing to fear politically because his kingdom was not of this world. Jesus is a king, but not in a political way.

Outside in the courtyard was a group of people demanding Jesus' crucifixion. They had a completely different understanding of what in meant to be the King of the Jews. The crowd understood the word “king” in an military sense. When they heard “King of the Jews” they thought of David. David had been the King of the Jews a thousand years before. He had united the twelve tribes and defeated their hated enemy, the Philistines. This ushered in a period of peace and prosperity which lasted hundreds of years. The crowd expected that one day a descendant of David would return and lead them to overthrow the Roman tyrants. And when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey it appeared to them that the son of David, the messiah, had finally come. But Jesus was not the great military ruler that they expected. He did not come with an army ready for battle with the Romans. Rather he let himself be arrested. The people thought that Jesus was a fraud, a false messiah. So they demand that he be crucified.

Jesus was neither the political king that Pilate feared nor the liberating king the people expected. Jesus was the King of the Jews, but in a different sense.

The ancient Hebrews had a king. His name was Yahweh. We know him as God. God freed them from slavery in Egypt. God led them through the wilderness as a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of fire at night. God led them as they settled in the Promised Land. And when the Hebrews needed help to defend against invaders God sent judges to form them into temporary armies for protection. God was their King. But to deal with the threat of an invasion of the Philistines and their superior iron weapons and shields the people demanded an earthly king. God allowed this provided that the people remembered that the king must always act in accordance with God's will because, in reality, God remained the King of the Jews.

This should have been the understanding of the Jewish leaders during Jesus' trial. They should have known God was their king. But they had forgotten this. They understood the word “king” only in it's political sense. And so as the crowd demanded Jesus crucifixion the high priests declared: John 19:15 "We have no king but Caesar.”

There's the trial and you are the jury. You job is to sift through what you have heard and determine the truth about whether or not Jesus is the King of the Jews and what this might mean. It seems pretty clear that Jesus is not a political king who has come to rule a particular territory for a limited time span. Jesus is no real threat to Pilate. And Jesus is not a military leader like David who will lead the people in a revolution to overthrow the Roman occupation. In what way is Jesus the King of the Jews? Of course God is the King of the Jews. If the King of the Jew is God and if Jesus is the King of the Jews then Jesus must be God. This is the conclusion that Pilate, the Jewish leaders and the crowd are all running from. The evidence it there. The truth is obvious. Jesus is truly the King of the Jews because Jesus is God.

As Christians we don't to Jesus as “King of the Jews”. Rather we use the equivalent term “Jesus is Lord,” On this Christ the King Sunday we affirm the fact the Jesus is our Lord, not in a political or military sense, but in the sense that since he is God he has authority over all of creation. The kings and presidents of this world must bow down to Jesus and do what he wants done. Businesses and schools must bow down to Jesus and follow his commands. Churches must bow down to Jesus and follow wherever he leads. And all of us must bow down to Jesus as our Lord.

According to our earlier reading from Revelation, our Lord Jesus has made us into a kingdom and equipped each of us Christians to serve a priests in that kingdom. As priests you are able to speak directly to God in worship, Bible study and prayer. Though this you come to know what the will of God is for our church and community and nation. And you are empowered by our Lord Jesus Christ to go out into the community and make God's will a reality. So bring food to distribute to hungry families this Christmas. Contribute to the relief effort for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Invite people to come to church this Christmas. Worship, pray and study your Bible to hear what God is telling you to do. And then do it because God is your king.

Lord Jesus Christ we have assembled today as your priests ready to hear what you have to say. We pledge to do whatever you want us to do. We will follow you into our community bringing your love and hope to people who desperately need it. We ask that you empower us so that your will be done on earth as it is heaven. We praise you as our heavenly God and king. Amen.

Sermon – Joel 2:21-27 – The Lord Has Done Great Things

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Joel 2:21-27 – The Lord Has Done Great Things

Thanksgiving Sunday

November 18, 2012

This Thursday many of us will gather with family and friends to give thanks to God for all the blessings we have received. It is very easy to praise God when things are going well. When your health is good and all the bills are paid and your children all have good jobs then praising God thanking him for our blessings is easy. But what if you have not been blessed this year? What if you health if failing? What if your parent died or was put in a nursing home? What if your children are out of work and losing their homes? What if tree falls on your church? At times like these it is tempting to cancel Thanksgiving. After all some of us are asking: what do we have to be thankful for? We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

This past week I met with the session of Beaver Dam church to discuss what to do about the flood in the sanctuary and the two trees which had fallen and opened holes in the floor and ceiling of our Sunday school room. I was concerned going into the meeting that the elders of the church would have difficulty dealing with all that had befallen us, and I wasn't quite sure what the pastor should do or say in a situation like that. I found though that I had nothing to fear. The elders had a plan for dealing with the problems, and they believed that even in the midst of these problems the church had been richly blessed. The trees could have fallen on our historic sanctuary. If so we might not have had enough money to rebuild and would have to worship elsewhere. But God had protected the sanctuary so worship continues. Damage was limited to the Sunday school room which could easily be repaired. The elders hoped that this disaster might actually be good for our church. It might wake us from our complacency and put us on a path to new growth and mission. All of this lifted my spirits and assured me that a couple of trees falling on a roof could not destroy a church of Jesus Christ. So we have much to be thankful for. Beaver Dam is worshiping in it historic sanctuary with a renewed spirit.

I was also lifted up by the Pitts Creek session and the presbytery of New Castle. Pitts Creek offered Beaver Dam the use of its building for meetings and worship. And New Castle Presbytery has showered us with prayers and offers of help. Even in the midst of a violent storm and flood we are richly blessed and thankful.

This scripture I have for you this Thanksgiving Sunday comes from the Book of Joel.

Joel 1:2-4 ² Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? ³ Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. ⁴ What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.

So we see that great hoards of locust have eaten the all crops in the field. Three times the fields where covered by these insects and now there is nothing left to harvest. This is truly a calamity of biblical proportions. Let's get back to Joel.

Joel 1:5 ⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips.

Oh no! The locust not only eaten the grain they have even eaten the grape vines and so there will be no wine this year. No grain! No wine! What will they do? Let's go back to Joel.

Joel 1:6-7 ⁶ A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. ⁷ It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.

The locusts have destroyed the fruit trees. There will be no figs this year. No grain, no wine, no figs, no olive oil, next year's seeds dried up, the hungry cattle, and no offerings for the Temple. People are facing starvation. Maybe they should cancel Thanksgiving. It the midst of this catastrophic failure what should they do? Let's go back to Joel.

Joel 1:13-15 ¹³ Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. ¹⁴ Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. ¹⁵ Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Joel has ordered the priests to put on sackcloth and fast. This will prepare them for what they have to do. They are also told to call a sacred assembly, blow the rams horn, and call all the people to worship God and pray. There only hope was that God would hear their prayers and respond. When everything seems to be going wrong and we have nothing to be thankful for we need to come to church for worship and prayer. This is where we come into contact with our creator and find our only hope of salvation. When the people of Joel's time came to worship this is what happened.

Joel 2:17 ¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?''

So the priests offered up prayers reminding God that he had chosen these people who are suffering so much. And now other nations are watching as the people of God suffer. This hurts God's reputation. People will think the God is too weak to save his people, or maybe God does not even care for his own people. So what did God do? How did he respond to this prayer?

Joel 2:18-20 ¹⁸ Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. ¹⁹ The LORD will reply to them: 'I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. ²⁰ 'I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea and those in the rear into the western sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.' Surely he has done great things.

So the promise of scripture is that whenever we experience misfortune, death, illness, famine or flood if we turn to the Lord in worship and prayer, God, our loving father, will care for us and see us through to better times. This is a comforting thought. We can rest in the assurance that God is there no matter what happens so long as we turn to him and ask for help.

This is what we are thankful for on Thanksgiving. We are thankful not just for the blessings we have received, the blessings of health and family and prosperity and church. But we are also thankful when times are tough because God is there, with us, to lead us to a better day. The prophet Joel shows us how to thank God even in bad times with these words.

Joel 2:21-27 ²¹ Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things. ²² Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. ²³ Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. ²⁴ The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. ²⁵ 'I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-- the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm--my great army that I sent among you. ²⁶ You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. ²⁷ Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.

The Word of God.

Let us pray. Father in Heaven we turn to you in this sacred assembly. We thank you for protecting us and the church during Hurricane Sandy. Thank you for giving us the strength and resources we need to rebuild the Sunday school room. Thank you for preserving us as your church. Thank you for comforting the bereaved and healing the sick. Thank you for this opportunity to worship and pray in your presence. This we pray in our savior's name, Jesus. Amen.

Sermon – Mark 12:38-44 – Two Small Coins

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Mark 12:38-44 – Two Small Coins

Stewardship Sunday

November 11, 2012

Today is Stewardship Sunday. This is the day each year when we remember all the blessings we have received from God. We realize that everything we have comes to us from God. And we are under the responsibility to use these gifts as God intends. To do this we discern God's will in worship, Bible study and prayer. Then we use our gifts the way we are directed to by God.

In the first reading this morning God's gifts were being misused. The teachers of the law, those who best understand what God wants, are using Temple resources for fancy robes and extensive banquets. All of this makes Jesus angry and he predicts that Temple will be destroyed because it does not do what God wants. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Here is the scripture I have for you today.

Mark 12:41-44 ⁴¹ Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴² But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. ⁴³ Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴ They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-- all she had to live on."

This has to be the saddest, most tragic story I have ever read in scripture. We were told in the first lesson that teachers of the law were devouring widow's homes and now we see a widow, with just two small coins left, and she has thrown them into the Temple treasury. Why did she do this? Was this a way of giving up? The Temple had already taken her home and all that she had and so she threw in her last penny. Or was this a form of protest. Take that you teachers of the law you can't hurt me any more. Whatever it was our hearts have to go out to this woman, who is now penniless, has no means of support, and distrust God because God's own people had violated the trust she put in them.

Widows in ancient times did not work and could not own businesses and property. They were totally dependent on their fathers, husbands and sons for financial support. And when their husbands died they had to be supported by a brother in law or son. If a woman had neither she was destitute, and had no way to support herself.

We don't know what the teachers of the law were doing by devouring widow's houses. These teachers were responsible for reading and understanding the Word of God, our Old Testament. They should have known that God wants us to care for widows. God insists throughout scripture that widows must be taken care of. But the teachers of the law have twisted scripture in some way. And now widows are losing their homes.

Jesus is telling us this story within the context of his prediction that the Temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed. Is Jesus saying that the reason the Temple will be destroyed is because that have prioritized spending on fancy robes and banquets while neglecting and sometimes abusing widows? I think that you could reach this conclusion. It certainly seems that Jesus has a preference for the caring of widows over the purchase of robes and banquets. And so it seems that since the temple is not doing what God wants by caring for the widows it is no longer functioning according to God's will and must be destroyed. This is a sober warning for the American church today. We have to ask ourselves if we are caring for the most vulnerable among us. Are we caring for our widows?

On Stewardship Sunday I am to remind you to use the gifts God has given you to serve God's kingdom on Earth. Most of the time I talk about your giving and the importance of giving to the church. Certainly you need to give to the church. But in our scripture today we are reminded that the church needs to be a good steward of what it has been given. Like the Temple in Jesus' day the church has a responsibility to use its resources to further what God is doing in our community. I don't think that Jesus would be impressed with our robes or coffee hours. Jesus would be looking at how we care for the poor, the widows, and the victims of the recent storm. And the churches that respond to what God wants done will thrive while the ones that focus on themselves will die just as the Temple did.

I know it is difficult for the church to respond to the needs of the people in their community given falling membership and income. I know that our old buildings require more and more maintenance every year. Our budgets are squeezed. But somehow we must care for our widows and those in our area desperately in need if we are to be church.

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam churches have a large number of widows and widowers who need our care. Many are in nursing homes or cared for by their families. Unlike widows in the first century our widow and widowers are cared for financially. What they need are relationships. They need people like you and me to visit them. The are hungry to hear about what we are doing in church. And they want someone to read the Bible with them and pray with them. Right now Nancy Holdren and Luella Tatum are in the Atria Nursing Home in Salisbury. David Stevens is in Manokin Manor. Emily Schlining and Ed House are in Hartley Hall. Doris Glass is with her niece. Gladys Holland and Dot Lankford have recently lost husband and now live alone at home. What could we do for these widows and widowers that would please God ? This is the key question I want you to think about this Stewardship Sunday. The answer is not money, rather it is another precious commodity we have in limited quantity, time. I think God wants us to adjust our schedules and spent more time visiting these widows and widowers, praying with them and telling them what is happening in our church.

So when you come to church it doesn't matter what you wear or where you sit. It doesn't matter if you are powerful elder or an anonymous person in the back. And it doesn't matter how much you put in the plate. What does matter is what you do when you leave this building. Are you serving the kingdom of God by caring for those in need.

The coins that the widow thew in the plate represent two important aspects of giving. One coin represents the money you give to the church, other charities and to those in need. The Bible gives us a guideline for this, a tithe, ten per cent. The other coin represents our time and how we use it for God's service. Do we care for children, the poor in our community, the victims of the recent storm, and the widows and widowers in our church? Just as we tithe our money maybe we should tithe our time. What percentage of our time should be devote to God's work? I suggest that one hour a week to show off your best clothes and sit in you family pew is not enough. What if we pledged an hour a day for service, six hours a week resting on the Sabbath, six hours a week visiting widows and widowers in nursing homes and hospitals, and caring for people in need? Just think what we could accomplish if the whole church tithed six hours a week. What if all the Christians in Pocomoke tithed six hours every week, what would our community be like? I think that if we tithed our time for service in God's kingdom our church would be blessed with rising membership and expanding budgets because God loves churches like that serves others.

Finally, I would like to tell you that spending your time with the widows and widowers in the church is not some kind of harsh duty. It is actually fun. I wish that I could spend less time in meetings and sermon preparation and spent more time with these wonderful people. Every one of them that I have talked about today loves this church. If they were physically able they would be here to worship with us. They would love to meet you. They are filled with stories about this church. And they have lots of questions about what we are doing here right now. You will have a great time with them. And you will find that the more you visit the more you want to. One hour a day may not be enough. So I urge you to visit our widows and widowers. Have a good time. Share scripture and pray. Talk about our church. And enjoy serving in the kingdom of God.

Lord in Heaven we pray this day for our widows and widowers. Bless them with your Spirit. Ease their pain and loneliness. Bless their families with prosperity and health. And fill us with your Spirit as we visit them. This we pray in your son's name. Amen.

Sermon – Mark 10:35-45 – Drink From The Cup

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Mark 10:35-45 – Drink From The Cup

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

October 21, 2012

We are continuing to listen to the conversations between Jesus and his disciples. I have been thinking this week that what we are doing is a little like listening on the old telephone party lines. Years ago I remember picking up a phone and hearing not the dial tone, but a conversation. My mother told me that we had a party line and I should hang up if I heard someone speaking. But sometimes I would listen in to hear what the neighbors were talking about. This is a little like that. We are listening in, with Mark's help, to a conversation that originally was just between Jesus and his disciples.

In the first reading today we heard Jesus with James and John discussing where they will sit when they are all gathered together in God's glory. Jesus has a little more on his mind than seating arrangements. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

In the American church today we are preoccupied with numbers. We measure attendance numbers in worship and Sunday school. We measure giving and expenses. And we try to measure spiritual growth in the congregation by recording who attends prayer sessions, worship and Bible study on a regular basis. Numbers are important.

All churches want to increase their numbers. They want more people in their pews. They want more kids, youth and adults in Sunday School. They want greater tithing so that the expenses of the church can be paid and greater funds are available for local and worldwide mission. All churches want to be growing churches. We want our numbers to get bigger and bigger.

To achieve these goals the church tries to make its product as pleasing as possible to attract the maximum number of people. So we erect beautiful buildings with ample parking and comfortable seats. We make sure that the heating and air conditioning works. We check the lighting and sound systems to make sure that everything can be seen and heard. We design quality programs for children and youth. We have music programs with choirs, organs, pianos and bands. And we hire expertly trained pastors who preach biblical sermons and make all of this happen. Our hope is that after doing all this people will come and our pews will be filled. The focus of our endeavors is on the people who come to worship, and those we want to come to worship. We want them to feel good about our worship. We want them to have a good time. We want them to tell others how good it all is.

In the 1980s the church experienced the church growth movement. The idea was simple. Sell your old building with little parking, uncomfortable seats, bad furnace, no air conditioning, and a poor sound system. Build a palace on the highway with everything state of the art. Hire a band and sing the soft rock Christian music Baby Boomers love. And you will have a mega-church.

But our experience with this was that the mega-churches did not produce new Christians. They simply took Christians away from existing churches. The result was that neighborhood churches experienced decline. And mega-churches could only grow as long and neighborhood churches had members to lose. Eventually that stopped and the mega-churches stop growing. We found through this process the important role that neighborhood churches play in the community. It the neighborhood church that takes care of the poor and widows in that community. The mega-church could never fulfill this role. And with the decline of the neighborhood church God's mission in the neighborhoods was being neglected. So we are now starting new neighborhood churches designed not for maximum attendance, but to care for the those in its community.

Our focus as church should not be on the people in the pews giving them what they want. Our focus should be on God and the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us and the mission of God to care for the needy in our community.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee were focused on themselves when they came to talk with Jesus. They were looking forward to the coming Kingdom of God. They knew it would be glorious. They had witnessed Jesus' miracles. They had heard his teaching. They had even seen Jesus transfigured on the mountain. And they were ready for Jesus' coronation as king. They wanted to be right there at his right and left participating in the glorious event.

And that is how most Christians approach worship. We have experienced miracles in our lives. We have heard Jesus' teachings. And we are ready for the coming glory. So we come to a church with plenty of parking, comfortable seats, good lighting and sound, great music, programs for kids, youth and adults, and scholarly preaching. We are all ready to sit at Jesus right and left and participate in his glory. But where we sit is not up to us. It is not even Jesus' decision. Our place in heavenly worship is God's decision. And before God decides we all have to drink from the cup and be baptized just as Jesus was. This seems pretty easy. Most of us have passed though the baptismal waters, and we have drunk from the communion cup. But we have to remember the after the cup comes a cross.

When the other disciples heard James and John asking for the best seats when they all got to the Kingdom of God they became angry with them. A fight resulted and Jesus settled the dispute. Let's pick up the party line again and listen into the conversation between Jesus and his disciples.

Mark 13:

41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

The disturbing news from Jesus is that the purpose of church is not to make you happy any more than it was to make James and John happy. They expected, as followers of Jesus, to experience the great joy of sitting at his right and left in glory. But according Jesus this honor goes not to those who just experience miracles and hear his teaching. Jesus says that to experience the joy of being a Christian you must serve others.

I am not saying that we should get rid of our building or programs. There is nothing inherently wrong with the thing we do so long as they are used for the right purpose. If we do things as church just to make ourselves happy then when are not doing what God wants. Rather if what we do brings glory to God then we hit the mark. So we need to align ourselves with God mission in the world. Church should be the assembly of God's people doing what God wants done.

So church is not about making its members happy. Rather the church's purpose is the equip its members to humbly serve others. Just as Jesus' life was sacrificed on the cross so to should we sacrifice to serve other people. We don't really need the best parking lot, the most comfortable seats, or the highest quality sound, heating and air conditioning systems. We don't need the biggest choir, or the best Sunday school program. The numbers we measure should not be our primary focus. What matters is that we serve others, the neediest in our community because if we do this the promise of scripture is that we will experience our greatest joy sitting at Jesus' right and left in God's glory.

In our baptisms we are baptized with Jesus into a life of service to others. In the communion cup we are filled with the Spirit who empowers and strengthens us to fulfill God plan on earth. So I urge you to look for ways to serve others. Be concerned with the plight of the poor, widows, orphans, shut ins, those in nursing homes and hospitals. Visit them. Care for them. Love them as much as you love yourselves. Do this and you will be richly blessed.

Lord Jesus we love to follow you and drink from your cup. Like James and John we hope to sit at your right and left in glory. We know that church is not here to satisfy our needs. Rather church is here to organize us as groups who satisfy the needs of others. Help us to maintain this focus. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.