Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – Luke 16:1-10 – Called to Service
Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Churches
September 19, 2010
Today I will be continuing with my third sermon on the subject of our calling from God. Two weeks ago we looked at our call to discipleship and considered the cost. Last week we looked at our call to repentance and found that this causes great joy in heaven and on earth when we turn from sin and turn toward God. Today we will look at our call from God to serve others. But before we get to this important work please pray with me.
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)
Luke 16:1-13 NIV Luke 16:1 Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' 3 "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg-- 4 I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' 5 "So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 6 "'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' 7 "Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?' "'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' 8 "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? 13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
The traditional interpretation of this Scripture goes like this. An Estate Owner hires a new manager to care for his affairs. The new manager is dishonest and squanders the Estate Owner’s resources. The Estate Owner decides to fire him. But first the new manager writes down the debts of his customers feathering his own nest and squandering even more of the Estate Owner’s wealth. And the Estate Owner and Jesus commend him for acting shrewdly.
This parable from Jesus is one of the most difficult to understand. In it Jesus seems to be commending a dishonest manager. Jesus seems to be saying that we, children of the light, should be shrewder with money like the children of the world. Jesus seems to condoning both theft and lying provided that you use your ill gotten gains to make friends and take care of yourself. Jesus seems to be telling us to be unethical. How does this make any sense? Why would the preacher choose a passage like this for Sunday worship?
Let me tell you the story in a little different way to illustrate what I think Jesus is trying to say.
A wealthy Estate Owner enjoys the view from his penthouse apartment on Park Avenue in New York City. After checking in with the office Friday morning he intends to join his wife at their home in the Hamptons. He has come a long way since growing up on a farm in rural Virginia as the son of a poor farmer.
Through some very shrewd land deals he has been able to buy up most of the small farms around the one he inherited from his father. He did it in this way. He gained control over the companies that supplied the farmers in that community and the companies that brought what the farmers grew. The farmers, many of them his old friends, went heavily into debt paying the Estate Owner high prices for seed, fertilizer and feed, and receiving low prices for their crops, chickens and eggs. And when they could not pay their debts they lost their land. As a result many of the farmers were now leasing, from the Estate Owner, land they had once owned, and they were still accumulating debt.
The Estate Owner rarely went back to Virginia. He knew that he had taken advantage of his old friends and that he would not be welcome back home. So he hired a new manager to supervise the estate and make sure that the money needed to support his lavish lifestyle continued to flow.
The job of the new manager was to carry on all the business of the estate. He was to make sales and loans, and collect, forgive and pay off the debts of the Estate Owner. He would maintain the relationship with customers, and collect receivables and rents. He would be paid by a commission on these transactions. And he was required to make careful records of each transaction.
The new manager saw how the tenant farmers were suffering with high costs and low revenue. He saw how they were going even deeper into debt every year. And he tried to help his friends. He changed contracts to be more favorable to the tenant farmers. He forgave rents in bad years, and he paid top dollar for the grain and chickens that were produced.
Because of this the Estate Owner saw a decrease in his revenue and ordered an audit of the entire operation. The new manager knew that what he had done would be discovered and he would be accused of squandering the Estate Owner’s resources. He knew that he would be fired from his job for being dishonest. But he also knew that somehow he would have to remain friends with the people of the community who had been cheated by the Estate Owner and saw the new manager as the face of an unjust system. So he came up with a plan to protect his reputation and restore the relationships he had with his friends. Before the auditor arrived and before he would be fired, he would write down all the debts owed by the tenant farmers to the Estate Owner to manageable levels. And that is exactly what he did.
After the audit was complete the Estate Owner returned to his rural home to fire the new manager for squandering his resources. He was apprehensive about returning home knowing how many of his old friends now hated his guts. But he had to take control of the estate if he was to continue living in Manhattan with all the perks he was used to. So he flew in his private jet to Salisbury where his Bentley was waiting for him.
When the Estate Owner arrived home after an absence of many years he was shocked by what he saw. His old friends came up to him to thank him for forgiving their debts, lowering their rents, and charging lower prices in his store. His old church threw a party in gratitude for what he had done. The Estate Owner realized that his new manager had restored the relationships he had with his friends that had been broken years before, and now he was welcome at his old home.
By forgiving unjust debts the new manager had been a faithful to his responsibility to the Estate Owner because he had protected the assets that really mattered, the love shared by the Estate Owner and his friends. And so the Estate Owner commended his new manager for a job well done.
What the new manager had discovered was his calling from God. God had not called him to serve the interests of money. Rather he was called to serve the interests of the people in his community as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and accept the high cost of this calling. In doing so was able to restore the relationships that had been broken. He helped the Estate Owner to recognize his own sins and accept his call to repent which resulted in great joy in heaven and in his old community. Both the Estate Owner and the new manager realized their true calling from God. This was God’s call to serve not money, but to serve one another in love.
In twenty first century America we take a very short term view of the world. We are focus on quarterly financial reports that tell us how we are doing. Our goals are to maximize the income on each of those quarterly reports as we build up our own wealth. So we pour over quarterly mutual fund and bank statements and try to find ways to generate a little more investment income. We also try to maximize our income from our farms and businesses and jobs. Obtaining maximum income and investment returns is an obsession with many people. But God is not calling us to serve money. Rather we are to keep our attention forward toward the heavenly kingdom where all debts are forgiven and old friends live together in harmony. And the promise of scripture is that we can have a piece of this new kingdom right now. But first we must love our neighbor even more than we love our money.
The Estate Owner sold his Manhattan Condo and house in the Hampton. He built a new home
on his father’s farm near the river. He bought a boat and a golf cart. He started attending his old church and committed the rest of his life to caring for the people in the community who had been harmed by his business practices. And he experienced the great joy of being a repentant sinner and a disciple of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Sermon – “Called to Repentance” – Luke 15:1-10
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church
Sermon – “Called to Repentance” – Luke 15:1-10
September 12, 2010
Today I will be continuing with my series of sermons on our calling from God. God calls us in many ways through the world we live it, through scripture, and through our dreams and consciences. We respond to God’s call with prayer and service. Last week we looked at God’s call to discipleship and considered its great cost. Today we will look at God’s call to repentance, which when we respond, brings God great joy. We will investigate what repentance is, and what God’s response is to repentance. But before we embark on this journey let us 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 morning I will be doing more of a Bible study than a sermon. So you may want to open your Bibles and leave them open to Luke chapter 15 while we go through the scripture together. This technique will be familiar to the men who attend the Friday Morning 6am Breakfast at Our Place Restaurant because we have been studying Jesus’ parables for several month and this is how we have been doing it. So open your Bibles to Luke 15 and let’s take a look at the first ten verses beginning with the first two.
Luke 15:1-2 NIV Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
The setting for our scripture today is around a table, probably a great feast. The religious leaders of the day, the Scribes and Pharisees are concerned because Jesus is eating with the least desirable people. The tax collectors and sinners were people who notoriously disobeyed God’s law. By eating with them Jesus was tainting his own reputation.
Several years ago there was a Catholic priest who would go into a local bar in Bethesda MD every Friday night for Happy Hour. He led a Bible study in the back room of the pub. People would order their drinks at the bar and then go into the back room with the priest to study scripture together. The priest called this “Theology on Tap” and it is still happening in many Catholic dioceses today. I remember thinking, as a Presbyterian, how awful it was for a priest to hang out in a bar and for people to be drinking while studying the scripture. But now I realize that this is the perfect place to go to communicate God’s call of repentance to sinners.
Repentance does not mean “I am sorry for something I have done.” That would be “regret”. Repentance literally means to turn around. You are walking in one direction and you turn around to go the other way. The call to repentance therefore must go those traveling the wrong way calling them to turn around and go in the right direction. And to issue this call Jesus, or the followers of Jesus, must go to where the sinners are and give them God’s call to turn around. The Pharisees and the Scribes just didn't understand that eating with sinners is just where Jesus was supposed to be.
Now let’s look at verses 3 through 6. This is a story Jesus told to illustrate God's desire that we all repent. This story is the familiar Parable of the Lost Sheep.
Luke 15:3-6 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
You have four chicken houses with over a hundred thousand chickens, and you discover that one has escaped and you follow its tracks from the door of the chicken house into the woods. You enter the woods. There you spend three weeks hunting for that lost chicken while ignoring the needs of all the other chicken who are suffering without food and water because you are wandering around in the woods. Would any of you chicken farmers do something stupid like this? Of course not! But God would. God is so passionate that everyone be saved that God will search for every one that is lost no matter how many more have already been saved. God is compulsive about this. God wants all sinners to repent, turn around, and follow God’s lead. So God would leave all of us sitting here if it would mean that one person in Pocomoke would turn away from sin.
This image of God searching for the one lost sheep is a powerful one for the church. For two thousand years, the church has adopted as its own symbol the shepherd’s staff. In some denominations the shepherd’s staff is literally carried by the bishop signifying his role in gathering up the lost sheep. In our Reformed tradition we call Ministers of the Word and Sacrament “pastors” which is just another way of saying “shepherd”. I have placed next to the communion table this morning a picture from the Beaver Dam dining room. It is a picture of Jesus as the good shepherd cradling the lost sheep in his right hand and carrying his shepherd’s staff in his left. This picture, at one time, graced many Sunday school classrooms across America. The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd must always be in our minds
This brings us to verse 7 where Jesus explains meaning of the parable of the lost sheep. Let’s take a look at what it says.
Luke 15:7 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
And so we see that the reason we need to repent, to turn from our evil ways and follow God. It is so that God and all the angels of heaven may rejoice with a great feast, with singing and dancing because a sinner has been saved. And we in worship are privileged to join in the celebration with God and angels along with those who repent. This is really good new that turning from evil ways lead to a great festival with God.
Now let’s turn our attention back to our Bibles and take a look at the next parable in Luke, the Parable of the Lost Coin, verses 8 – 10.
Luke 15:8-10 8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
You have been laid off and you are down to your last few bucks. There is just a one more night at this rundown hotel before your money runs out and you are living in your car. Every day you count your money and pray for a job. But today you are ten dollars short on rent for this dingy room. You search everywhere for an extra $10. You walk into every business in town, asking to do anything they need for $10 with no result. You stop in every church asking for $10 – nothing. You are so desperate you actually think about stealing the $10. You want that $10 more than anything. God wants everyone to turn from sin and be saved more than anything.
The image of God as a woman sweeping the floor is not one that a male dominated church has emphasized over the centuries. We usually don’t think of God as a woman. An elder once complained when I used the pronoun “she” while referring to God in one of my sermon. But Jesus wants us to understand God both as a man and as a woman. That’s why he gave us these two parables. And the great symbol of God as a woman is the broom. No one has ever painted a picture of God as a woman with a broom weeping the floor even though many of the prophets talked about God with the metaphor of sweeping. But here in the Gospel of Luke the broom is of equal weight with the shepherd’s staff. Both the broom and the shepherd’s staff go together to form an image of women leaving their houses and men leaving their herds to participate with God in finding the lost.
Jennifer Copeland, the Methodist minister at Duke University, once told a story about a prominent woman. She had been the first woman to hold a senior level in her organization. There threw a lavish party for her. And all the women coming to the party wanted to bring a symbol, a divine symbol, because they were all Christians. So they all brought brooms. Some bought new brooms just for the occasion, others just picked up an old one from the kitchen cabinet. The brooms signified their freedom from an ancient stereotype. With a broom God not only searches for the lost, but she also cleans away the dirt. Imagine, if you will, God using her broom to sweep away all the dirt and sin that has accumulated throughout our lives.
Worship is the time when we join with God and the angels of heaven in rejoicing over the repentance of sinners, and that why it is so important for us to talk with sinners and invite them to receive the blessing of forgiveness if they turn from their evil ways and turn toward God. Each time this happens we are entitled to join with God in rejoicing. So get out your shepherd staffs and your brooms and let’s get to work finding the lost and rejoice with those who repent.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for this wonderful image of God with a shepherd staff and a broom searching for lost sinners. Let us join in the search and help up to proclaim the good news of forgiveness for those who repent. Then let us celebrate with you every time and sinner turns from sinful ways and turns to you. Amen.
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church
Sermon – “Called to Repentance” – Luke 15:1-10
September 12, 2010
Today I will be continuing with my series of sermons on our calling from God. God calls us in many ways through the world we live it, through scripture, and through our dreams and consciences. We respond to God’s call with prayer and service. Last week we looked at God’s call to discipleship and considered its great cost. Today we will look at God’s call to repentance, which when we respond, brings God great joy. We will investigate what repentance is, and what God’s response is to repentance. But before we embark on this journey let us 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 morning I will be doing more of a Bible study than a sermon. So you may want to open your Bibles and leave them open to Luke chapter 15 while we go through the scripture together. This technique will be familiar to the men who attend the Friday Morning 6am Breakfast at Our Place Restaurant because we have been studying Jesus’ parables for several month and this is how we have been doing it. So open your Bibles to Luke 15 and let’s take a look at the first ten verses beginning with the first two.
Luke 15:1-2 NIV Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
The setting for our scripture today is around a table, probably a great feast. The religious leaders of the day, the Scribes and Pharisees are concerned because Jesus is eating with the least desirable people. The tax collectors and sinners were people who notoriously disobeyed God’s law. By eating with them Jesus was tainting his own reputation.
Several years ago there was a Catholic priest who would go into a local bar in Bethesda MD every Friday night for Happy Hour. He led a Bible study in the back room of the pub. People would order their drinks at the bar and then go into the back room with the priest to study scripture together. The priest called this “Theology on Tap” and it is still happening in many Catholic dioceses today. I remember thinking, as a Presbyterian, how awful it was for a priest to hang out in a bar and for people to be drinking while studying the scripture. But now I realize that this is the perfect place to go to communicate God’s call of repentance to sinners.
Repentance does not mean “I am sorry for something I have done.” That would be “regret”. Repentance literally means to turn around. You are walking in one direction and you turn around to go the other way. The call to repentance therefore must go those traveling the wrong way calling them to turn around and go in the right direction. And to issue this call Jesus, or the followers of Jesus, must go to where the sinners are and give them God’s call to turn around. The Pharisees and the Scribes just didn't understand that eating with sinners is just where Jesus was supposed to be.
Now let’s look at verses 3 through 6. This is a story Jesus told to illustrate God's desire that we all repent. This story is the familiar Parable of the Lost Sheep.
Luke 15:3-6 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
You have four chicken houses with over a hundred thousand chickens, and you discover that one has escaped and you follow its tracks from the door of the chicken house into the woods. You enter the woods. There you spend three weeks hunting for that lost chicken while ignoring the needs of all the other chicken who are suffering without food and water because you are wandering around in the woods. Would any of you chicken farmers do something stupid like this? Of course not! But God would. God is so passionate that everyone be saved that God will search for every one that is lost no matter how many more have already been saved. God is compulsive about this. God wants all sinners to repent, turn around, and follow God’s lead. So God would leave all of us sitting here if it would mean that one person in Pocomoke would turn away from sin.
This image of God searching for the one lost sheep is a powerful one for the church. For two thousand years, the church has adopted as its own symbol the shepherd’s staff. In some denominations the shepherd’s staff is literally carried by the bishop signifying his role in gathering up the lost sheep. In our Reformed tradition we call Ministers of the Word and Sacrament “pastors” which is just another way of saying “shepherd”. I have placed next to the communion table this morning a picture from the Beaver Dam dining room. It is a picture of Jesus as the good shepherd cradling the lost sheep in his right hand and carrying his shepherd’s staff in his left. This picture, at one time, graced many Sunday school classrooms across America. The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd must always be in our minds
This brings us to verse 7 where Jesus explains meaning of the parable of the lost sheep. Let’s take a look at what it says.
Luke 15:7 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
And so we see that the reason we need to repent, to turn from our evil ways and follow God. It is so that God and all the angels of heaven may rejoice with a great feast, with singing and dancing because a sinner has been saved. And we in worship are privileged to join in the celebration with God and angels along with those who repent. This is really good new that turning from evil ways lead to a great festival with God.
Now let’s turn our attention back to our Bibles and take a look at the next parable in Luke, the Parable of the Lost Coin, verses 8 – 10.
Luke 15:8-10 8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
You have been laid off and you are down to your last few bucks. There is just a one more night at this rundown hotel before your money runs out and you are living in your car. Every day you count your money and pray for a job. But today you are ten dollars short on rent for this dingy room. You search everywhere for an extra $10. You walk into every business in town, asking to do anything they need for $10 with no result. You stop in every church asking for $10 – nothing. You are so desperate you actually think about stealing the $10. You want that $10 more than anything. God wants everyone to turn from sin and be saved more than anything.
The image of God as a woman sweeping the floor is not one that a male dominated church has emphasized over the centuries. We usually don’t think of God as a woman. An elder once complained when I used the pronoun “she” while referring to God in one of my sermon. But Jesus wants us to understand God both as a man and as a woman. That’s why he gave us these two parables. And the great symbol of God as a woman is the broom. No one has ever painted a picture of God as a woman with a broom weeping the floor even though many of the prophets talked about God with the metaphor of sweeping. But here in the Gospel of Luke the broom is of equal weight with the shepherd’s staff. Both the broom and the shepherd’s staff go together to form an image of women leaving their houses and men leaving their herds to participate with God in finding the lost.
Jennifer Copeland, the Methodist minister at Duke University, once told a story about a prominent woman. She had been the first woman to hold a senior level in her organization. There threw a lavish party for her. And all the women coming to the party wanted to bring a symbol, a divine symbol, because they were all Christians. So they all brought brooms. Some bought new brooms just for the occasion, others just picked up an old one from the kitchen cabinet. The brooms signified their freedom from an ancient stereotype. With a broom God not only searches for the lost, but she also cleans away the dirt. Imagine, if you will, God using her broom to sweep away all the dirt and sin that has accumulated throughout our lives.
Worship is the time when we join with God and the angels of heaven in rejoicing over the repentance of sinners, and that why it is so important for us to talk with sinners and invite them to receive the blessing of forgiveness if they turn from their evil ways and turn toward God. Each time this happens we are entitled to join with God in rejoicing. So get out your shepherd staffs and your brooms and let’s get to work finding the lost and rejoice with those who repent.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for this wonderful image of God with a shepherd staff and a broom searching for lost sinners. Let us join in the search and help up to proclaim the good news of forgiveness for those who repent. Then let us celebrate with you every time and sinner turns from sinful ways and turns to you. Amen.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sermon – Called to Discipleship – Luke 14:25-33
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – Called to Discipleship – Luke 14:25-33
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church
September 5, 2010
This morning I am beginning a series of sermons on the topic of calling. Our creator God calls us in many ways and we respond with prayer, worship, tithing, service, and study of scripture. So everything we do starts with God’s call. And today we will be looking at God’s call to discipleship and its cost. But before we get to all of the please pray with me.
“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)
A week ago Saturday an extraordinary event happened in Washington DC. A radio and television talk show host, political commentator, comedian, and entertainer hosted a rally on the mall. Many people expected this to be a political rally, but this was not Glenn Beck’s purpose. Rather he organized the rally to call Americans back to God. Beck has assumed the
role of prophet for our nation. A prophet sees the reality of the situation a society faces and calls that society to return to God.
For too long America has refused to count the costs. States and localities thought they could provide excellent retirement benefit for police, fire and teachers without counting the cost. But now they find themselves unable to pay for both essential services and retirement benefits and they look to the federal government for a handout. Corporations thought that they could offer generous benefits to their union workers without counting the cost, but this has led some to bankruptcy and federal bailouts. And many individuals thought that they could acquire possessions without counting the cost and are now buried under a mountain of credit card debt and home mortgages that they cannot afford.
Even the federal government in Washington has failed to count the costs of wars, Social Security, Medicare, and other services and is faces with accelerating debt and the bleak prospect of depression if it squeezes all of the money out of the economy or inflation if it prints money it does not have.
Glenn Beck has seen all of this clearly and realizes that the solution for all of this lies not in the political process which has led us to this place. Rather the solution rests in our returning to God.
In the scripture that you hear earlier, Jeremiah 18:1-11, another prophet was speaking at another time, but the similarities to today are striking. The people and the government of Judah had indulged themselves for centuries without counting the costs. Their extravagance had finally caught up with them. There was no money left to care for the poor. This injustice was eating the society from the inside just as Assyria was threatening from the outside. Jeremiah was sent by God to call the people to discipleship and count the cost before it was too late.
Five hundred years after Jeremiah God sent another prophet to call the people to discipleship. In the first century BC, King Herod became envious of the great cities of the Roman Empire. He embarked on building programs without counting the cost. He built new cities, new palaces for himself and his family and greatly enlarged the temple in Jerusalem. But as costs increased he heavily taxed his people. The government failed in it responsibility to care for the poor and people became primarily concerned for their own families and their own possessions. People went further and further into debt. Then a prophet arrived and taught the people to pray to their God saying, “Forgive us our debts and we forgive our debtors.” Jesus saw all of this clearly and called the people of his day to discipleship. Listen to what Jesus said about discipleship and counting its cost.
Luke 14:25-33 25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Jesus was calling people back to God. No longer were they to focus solely on their families, their lives and their possessions. No longer were they to fail to count the cost. Rather they were called to be disciples of God and this required following God's lead at whatever the cost regardless of what happens to families and lives and possessions.
This is a hard message for us in twenty-first century America. We have become used to not counting the costs. We have assumed that everything is free. Consider the church. Someone else will pay for it. Someone else will volunteer. Someone else will pay for our salvation with his life. We enjoy the worship and Bible study but a debt is piling up. We have ignored the cost of being a disciple of God for too long and now the debt is quite high. What are we going to do about it? I am going to suggest four ways we can pay the costs of becoming disciples of God.
The first way we could pay this cost is self denial. Self denial is not the same thing as engaging in self destructive practices. I don’t want you to start drinking alcohol or having sex outside of marriage. Rather self denial is a gift from God that frees us from the deadly poison of love of self. Self denial is a release from selfishness. Maybe you don't need that new car this year. Maybe that vacation should be put off for a little while. With this gift of self denial we are free to love God and our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.
The second way of paying the cost of becoming a disciple of God is cross bearing. Cross bearing is the part of the gift of self denial that allows us to bear suffering. Cross bearing means that we obey God even if it leads to our own suffering of pain and loss. The image of Christ on the Cross helps our imagination to give us patience in bearing pain. We experience cross bearing in a hospital room with a loved one or at a visitation in a funeral home. Cross bearing helps us to heal from the diseases and injuries we suffer, provides punishment and correction for the mistakes we have made, and comforts us when persecuted knowing that Christ is with us in injustice.
In addition to self denial and cross bearing there is also the third way we can bear the cost of becoming a disciple, meditation on eternal life. Meditation on eternal life invites to contemplate the mystery and share in the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Meditation on eternal life brings us to greater faith which will divide families and communities because radical faith in our risen Lord forces us to make a commitment that surpassed the commitment we have made to our families and to our communities. Sometimes our families and neighbors won't understand our commitment to Christ and and church. We must always remember that anything we might lose when making our commitment to Christ pales in comparison to the rich rewards awaiting us in heaven.
When we contemplate on self denial, cross bearing, and meditation on eternal life we arrive at the fourth way of paying the cost of becoming a disciple, proper use of God’s gifts in our lives. The Bible teaches us that God has given us many blessings for our needs and our delights and we are to use these blessings in the proper way. We should live simple lives balancing undue severity and excessive indulgence. Calvin gave us four rules for living simple lives. First, we should indulge ourselves as little as possible. Second, if we have limited resources we should do without those things patiently. Third, we must remember that everything has been given to us as accountable stewards. And finally, in everything we do we look to our calling from God.
Today as we face rising household and government debt, growing unemployment, and falling stock markets and real estate values we must remember that we are called as disciples of God. We are called to deny ourselves by stopping our practice of assuming that someone else will pay for our needs and desires. We are called to love God and our neighbors even more than ourselves. We are called to face suffering honestly. We are called to faithful stewardship of God’s creation. We are called to use God’s gifts appropriately. Our response to these calls is the cost we pay for discipleship.
Lord Jesus, we follow you as disciples. Prepare us for what this commitment means. Prepared our families and friends to understand our greater commitment to you.
Bless us with self denial, cross bearing, meditation on eternal life and proper use of God's gifts which are the costs of being disciples. And we pray that these gifts of discipleship will pour down on America so that our nation will turn to you. Amen.
Sermon – Called to Discipleship – Luke 14:25-33
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church
September 5, 2010
This morning I am beginning a series of sermons on the topic of calling. Our creator God calls us in many ways and we respond with prayer, worship, tithing, service, and study of scripture. So everything we do starts with God’s call. And today we will be looking at God’s call to discipleship and its cost. But before we get to all of the please pray with me.
“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)
A week ago Saturday an extraordinary event happened in Washington DC. A radio and television talk show host, political commentator, comedian, and entertainer hosted a rally on the mall. Many people expected this to be a political rally, but this was not Glenn Beck’s purpose. Rather he organized the rally to call Americans back to God. Beck has assumed the
role of prophet for our nation. A prophet sees the reality of the situation a society faces and calls that society to return to God.
For too long America has refused to count the costs. States and localities thought they could provide excellent retirement benefit for police, fire and teachers without counting the cost. But now they find themselves unable to pay for both essential services and retirement benefits and they look to the federal government for a handout. Corporations thought that they could offer generous benefits to their union workers without counting the cost, but this has led some to bankruptcy and federal bailouts. And many individuals thought that they could acquire possessions without counting the cost and are now buried under a mountain of credit card debt and home mortgages that they cannot afford.
Even the federal government in Washington has failed to count the costs of wars, Social Security, Medicare, and other services and is faces with accelerating debt and the bleak prospect of depression if it squeezes all of the money out of the economy or inflation if it prints money it does not have.
Glenn Beck has seen all of this clearly and realizes that the solution for all of this lies not in the political process which has led us to this place. Rather the solution rests in our returning to God.
In the scripture that you hear earlier, Jeremiah 18:1-11, another prophet was speaking at another time, but the similarities to today are striking. The people and the government of Judah had indulged themselves for centuries without counting the costs. Their extravagance had finally caught up with them. There was no money left to care for the poor. This injustice was eating the society from the inside just as Assyria was threatening from the outside. Jeremiah was sent by God to call the people to discipleship and count the cost before it was too late.
Five hundred years after Jeremiah God sent another prophet to call the people to discipleship. In the first century BC, King Herod became envious of the great cities of the Roman Empire. He embarked on building programs without counting the cost. He built new cities, new palaces for himself and his family and greatly enlarged the temple in Jerusalem. But as costs increased he heavily taxed his people. The government failed in it responsibility to care for the poor and people became primarily concerned for their own families and their own possessions. People went further and further into debt. Then a prophet arrived and taught the people to pray to their God saying, “Forgive us our debts and we forgive our debtors.” Jesus saw all of this clearly and called the people of his day to discipleship. Listen to what Jesus said about discipleship and counting its cost.
Luke 14:25-33 25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Jesus was calling people back to God. No longer were they to focus solely on their families, their lives and their possessions. No longer were they to fail to count the cost. Rather they were called to be disciples of God and this required following God's lead at whatever the cost regardless of what happens to families and lives and possessions.
This is a hard message for us in twenty-first century America. We have become used to not counting the costs. We have assumed that everything is free. Consider the church. Someone else will pay for it. Someone else will volunteer. Someone else will pay for our salvation with his life. We enjoy the worship and Bible study but a debt is piling up. We have ignored the cost of being a disciple of God for too long and now the debt is quite high. What are we going to do about it? I am going to suggest four ways we can pay the costs of becoming disciples of God.
The first way we could pay this cost is self denial. Self denial is not the same thing as engaging in self destructive practices. I don’t want you to start drinking alcohol or having sex outside of marriage. Rather self denial is a gift from God that frees us from the deadly poison of love of self. Self denial is a release from selfishness. Maybe you don't need that new car this year. Maybe that vacation should be put off for a little while. With this gift of self denial we are free to love God and our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.
The second way of paying the cost of becoming a disciple of God is cross bearing. Cross bearing is the part of the gift of self denial that allows us to bear suffering. Cross bearing means that we obey God even if it leads to our own suffering of pain and loss. The image of Christ on the Cross helps our imagination to give us patience in bearing pain. We experience cross bearing in a hospital room with a loved one or at a visitation in a funeral home. Cross bearing helps us to heal from the diseases and injuries we suffer, provides punishment and correction for the mistakes we have made, and comforts us when persecuted knowing that Christ is with us in injustice.
In addition to self denial and cross bearing there is also the third way we can bear the cost of becoming a disciple, meditation on eternal life. Meditation on eternal life invites to contemplate the mystery and share in the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Meditation on eternal life brings us to greater faith which will divide families and communities because radical faith in our risen Lord forces us to make a commitment that surpassed the commitment we have made to our families and to our communities. Sometimes our families and neighbors won't understand our commitment to Christ and and church. We must always remember that anything we might lose when making our commitment to Christ pales in comparison to the rich rewards awaiting us in heaven.
When we contemplate on self denial, cross bearing, and meditation on eternal life we arrive at the fourth way of paying the cost of becoming a disciple, proper use of God’s gifts in our lives. The Bible teaches us that God has given us many blessings for our needs and our delights and we are to use these blessings in the proper way. We should live simple lives balancing undue severity and excessive indulgence. Calvin gave us four rules for living simple lives. First, we should indulge ourselves as little as possible. Second, if we have limited resources we should do without those things patiently. Third, we must remember that everything has been given to us as accountable stewards. And finally, in everything we do we look to our calling from God.
Today as we face rising household and government debt, growing unemployment, and falling stock markets and real estate values we must remember that we are called as disciples of God. We are called to deny ourselves by stopping our practice of assuming that someone else will pay for our needs and desires. We are called to love God and our neighbors even more than ourselves. We are called to face suffering honestly. We are called to faithful stewardship of God’s creation. We are called to use God’s gifts appropriately. Our response to these calls is the cost we pay for discipleship.
Lord Jesus, we follow you as disciples. Prepare us for what this commitment means. Prepared our families and friends to understand our greater commitment to you.
Bless us with self denial, cross bearing, meditation on eternal life and proper use of God's gifts which are the costs of being disciples. And we pray that these gifts of discipleship will pour down on America so that our nation will turn to you. Amen.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sermon – Faith, Love and Hope - Colossians 1
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – Faith, Love and Hope - Colossians 1
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
July 11, 2010
Listen to this sermon.
Listen to the Beaver Dam Worship Service.
Listen to the Pitts Creek Worship Service.
Today, I will be starting a series of sermons drawn from the New Testament book of Colossians. This book was written by the Apostle Paul during his imprisonment at Ephesus or Caesarea or possibly Rome sometime before 61AD. The church at Colossae had not been established by Paul. Rather he had commissioned an evangelist, Epaphras, who went to the Lycus river in Phrygia (modern day Turkey) and established three churches at Laodicea, on the river, Hierapolis, about five mile north, and Colossae, about 12 miles to the southwest. This should sound familiar to us as our own founding in 1683 occurred as missionary Francis Makemie established churches along the rivers here on the Eastern Shore.
The church at Colossae met at the home of a man name Philemon. We know about Philemon because his slave, Onesimus, ran away and went to see Paul. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon in the custody of Tychicus with a personal letter for his former master and a general letter for the church. We have both of these letters in the New Testament the Books of Philemon and Colossians. And we will be looking at the Book of Colossians, Paul’s letter to the church.
In this letter Paul says that he was praying for the church at Colossae. He was praying for their faith in Jesus Christ. He was praying for their love for one another. And he was praying for their hope in the salvation of Jesus Christ that in his death on the cross they are reconciled with God and will live for eternity in heaven. Faith, love and hope are the characteristics of all of Paul’s churches. The source of their faith, love and hope is the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that Epaphras had so faithfully given them. The proclamation of the gospel is like planting a seed that blooms into faith, love and hope.
But Paul was praying for even more, not only that faith, love and hope would bloom in their live, but with wisdom and the knowledge of God’s will they would also grow into saints, holy ones set aside for God. And so he prayed that the Holy Spirit would strengthen them to live lives pleasing to God. Our ability to live holy lives is based on the solid foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed by apostles, evangelists, teachers and pastors.
The gospel that has the power to bring you faith, love and hope is about Jesus Christ. From Epaphras the church at Colossae had already heard the stories about Jesus, how he came from Galilee, taught with authority, healed the sick, and befriended sinners. This Jesus had been arrested in Jerusalem, crucified on a cross and buried in a tomb. And on the third day rose to new life and ascended to heaven. These stories were amazing and brought people to faith, love and hope. And this brings us to today’s lesson. But first please pray with me.
“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)
Colossians 1 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. 24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness-- 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
The gospel or good news of Jesus Christ is that he came to reconcile us with God. This is the mystery that had been kept secret for ages. Our sin had alienated us from our creator since Adam. But with the death of Jesus Christ on the cross our relationship with God was restored. We are no longer stained with sin or liable to accusation from our judge. Rather, we have been washed clean, made holy and ready to stand before God. This is the gospel that Paul and Epaphras had been proclaiming, the gospel that was bringing congregations around the Mediterranean to faith in Jesus Christ, with love for one another and with hope in our salvation, our reconciliation with God. Faith, hope and love:
There is an old story about faith. A prospector was crossing the desert when he ran out of water. He saw a shed and went inside. There was a pump but to use it, it had to be primed with a little water. Looking around the shed he saw a jug of water and a note. It read, “Use this water to prime the pump. If you drink any there will not be enough to get the water started so use all the water to prime the pump. The pump has never failed. When you are finished fill the jug for the next traveler.’ What do you think he did? Did he have faith in the note and pour his only water over the pump? Or did he drink the water so that none would be left for the next thirsty person? And what about us? Do we really put our faith in our savior Jesus Christ?
Now let’s turn to a story about love. When the USS Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans the sailors were forced to sit for hours alone in a room. One day a North Korean entered the room and beat the person sitting in the first chair. The next day the same thing happened and the other sailors realized that their companion in the firs t chair would not survive many more beatings. They decided to take turns sitting in the first chair to protect their friend and share the pain together. They did this because of their love for one another. Jesus loved us by laying down his life for us. Do we really love one another?
So much for faith and love here is a story about hope. In 1965 James B. Stockwell was one of the first naval aviators shot down over Vietnam. The Vietcong tortured him to break him and force him to renounce the United States. He was chained with his hands above his head so that he could not even swat the mosquitoes. This went on for seven long years usually in isolation from other prisoners. When asked later how he withstood such treatment Stockdale replied that hope kept him alive, hope that one day he would go home. Our only hope that in Jesus Christ we are reconciled with God and promised eternal life. Do we really have this hope?
We all want genuine faith, love and hope. But where can we get if? We can’t find it at Wal-Mart or online. We won’t inherit it from our parents or grandparents. We can’t dig it up on the beach or trap it in a pot. Faith in Jesus Christ, love for one another, and hope in salvation, can only be obtained in the hearing of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why it is so important to be in church every Sunday and meditate on scripture every day. Because it is through church and scripture that we that we hear the proclamation of the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection and through this proclamation grow in faith, love and hope.
The early Christians sang many songs about the good news and Jesus Christ. One of the early hymns was recorded for us by Paul in the Colossians. Here it what they sang.
Colossians 1: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Lord Jesus Christ, we believe that you were crucified for our sin on the cross. You took our place and rightful punishment. Because of your great love for us we now have love for one another. Strengthen our faith and our love. And we are filled with hope for a future free from guilt because you have taken our punishment wiping our slate clean. So we thank you for the faith, love and hope you have given us through revealing the great mystery of the ages, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Sermon – Faith, Love and Hope - Colossians 1
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
July 11, 2010
Listen to this sermon.
Listen to the Beaver Dam Worship Service.
Listen to the Pitts Creek Worship Service.
Today, I will be starting a series of sermons drawn from the New Testament book of Colossians. This book was written by the Apostle Paul during his imprisonment at Ephesus or Caesarea or possibly Rome sometime before 61AD. The church at Colossae had not been established by Paul. Rather he had commissioned an evangelist, Epaphras, who went to the Lycus river in Phrygia (modern day Turkey) and established three churches at Laodicea, on the river, Hierapolis, about five mile north, and Colossae, about 12 miles to the southwest. This should sound familiar to us as our own founding in 1683 occurred as missionary Francis Makemie established churches along the rivers here on the Eastern Shore.
The church at Colossae met at the home of a man name Philemon. We know about Philemon because his slave, Onesimus, ran away and went to see Paul. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon in the custody of Tychicus with a personal letter for his former master and a general letter for the church. We have both of these letters in the New Testament the Books of Philemon and Colossians. And we will be looking at the Book of Colossians, Paul’s letter to the church.
In this letter Paul says that he was praying for the church at Colossae. He was praying for their faith in Jesus Christ. He was praying for their love for one another. And he was praying for their hope in the salvation of Jesus Christ that in his death on the cross they are reconciled with God and will live for eternity in heaven. Faith, love and hope are the characteristics of all of Paul’s churches. The source of their faith, love and hope is the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that Epaphras had so faithfully given them. The proclamation of the gospel is like planting a seed that blooms into faith, love and hope.
But Paul was praying for even more, not only that faith, love and hope would bloom in their live, but with wisdom and the knowledge of God’s will they would also grow into saints, holy ones set aside for God. And so he prayed that the Holy Spirit would strengthen them to live lives pleasing to God. Our ability to live holy lives is based on the solid foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed by apostles, evangelists, teachers and pastors.
The gospel that has the power to bring you faith, love and hope is about Jesus Christ. From Epaphras the church at Colossae had already heard the stories about Jesus, how he came from Galilee, taught with authority, healed the sick, and befriended sinners. This Jesus had been arrested in Jerusalem, crucified on a cross and buried in a tomb. And on the third day rose to new life and ascended to heaven. These stories were amazing and brought people to faith, love and hope. And this brings us to today’s lesson. But first please pray with me.
“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)
Colossians 1 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. 24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness-- 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
The gospel or good news of Jesus Christ is that he came to reconcile us with God. This is the mystery that had been kept secret for ages. Our sin had alienated us from our creator since Adam. But with the death of Jesus Christ on the cross our relationship with God was restored. We are no longer stained with sin or liable to accusation from our judge. Rather, we have been washed clean, made holy and ready to stand before God. This is the gospel that Paul and Epaphras had been proclaiming, the gospel that was bringing congregations around the Mediterranean to faith in Jesus Christ, with love for one another and with hope in our salvation, our reconciliation with God. Faith, hope and love:
There is an old story about faith. A prospector was crossing the desert when he ran out of water. He saw a shed and went inside. There was a pump but to use it, it had to be primed with a little water. Looking around the shed he saw a jug of water and a note. It read, “Use this water to prime the pump. If you drink any there will not be enough to get the water started so use all the water to prime the pump. The pump has never failed. When you are finished fill the jug for the next traveler.’ What do you think he did? Did he have faith in the note and pour his only water over the pump? Or did he drink the water so that none would be left for the next thirsty person? And what about us? Do we really put our faith in our savior Jesus Christ?
Now let’s turn to a story about love. When the USS Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans the sailors were forced to sit for hours alone in a room. One day a North Korean entered the room and beat the person sitting in the first chair. The next day the same thing happened and the other sailors realized that their companion in the firs t chair would not survive many more beatings. They decided to take turns sitting in the first chair to protect their friend and share the pain together. They did this because of their love for one another. Jesus loved us by laying down his life for us. Do we really love one another?
So much for faith and love here is a story about hope. In 1965 James B. Stockwell was one of the first naval aviators shot down over Vietnam. The Vietcong tortured him to break him and force him to renounce the United States. He was chained with his hands above his head so that he could not even swat the mosquitoes. This went on for seven long years usually in isolation from other prisoners. When asked later how he withstood such treatment Stockdale replied that hope kept him alive, hope that one day he would go home. Our only hope that in Jesus Christ we are reconciled with God and promised eternal life. Do we really have this hope?
We all want genuine faith, love and hope. But where can we get if? We can’t find it at Wal-Mart or online. We won’t inherit it from our parents or grandparents. We can’t dig it up on the beach or trap it in a pot. Faith in Jesus Christ, love for one another, and hope in salvation, can only be obtained in the hearing of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why it is so important to be in church every Sunday and meditate on scripture every day. Because it is through church and scripture that we that we hear the proclamation of the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection and through this proclamation grow in faith, love and hope.
The early Christians sang many songs about the good news and Jesus Christ. One of the early hymns was recorded for us by Paul in the Colossians. Here it what they sang.
Colossians 1: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Lord Jesus Christ, we believe that you were crucified for our sin on the cross. You took our place and rightful punishment. Because of your great love for us we now have love for one another. Strengthen our faith and our love. And we are filled with hope for a future free from guilt because you have taken our punishment wiping our slate clean. So we thank you for the faith, love and hope you have given us through revealing the great mystery of the ages, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Monday, July 12, 2010
Pastoral Letter
July 12, 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
A fellow Christian is in need of your help. Mrs. Joo Hyun Lee of Salisbury MD, a member of Salisbury Korean United Methodist Church, has been denied permanent residency in the United States and has been ordered to return to South Korea within 30 days.
Mrs. Lee and her husband filed for permanent residency in 2002. Legal fees have exceeded $60,000 which has exhausted their resources. Her husband became a permanent resident in January of this year. They have two children ages 4 and 6, both born in America and both citizens of the United States. So her entire family has a permanent right to live here, except her. If she leaves for South Korea, the family will be broken apart.
Please contact your US Senator or Representative for help in this matter. For those in Maryland this would be: Sen. Barbara Mikulski (410-546-7711), Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (410-962-4436), and Rep. Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. (410-334-3072). Ask them to contact the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to reconsider Mrs. Lee’s case and approve her application for permanent residency. Please refer to her case: Application Number (receipt number) EAC-0228450246 or A-95-641-843.
Thanks you for your efforts and concern. May God bless you.
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard, Pastor
Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Presbyterian Churches
Pocomoke MD
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
A fellow Christian is in need of your help. Mrs. Joo Hyun Lee of Salisbury MD, a member of Salisbury Korean United Methodist Church, has been denied permanent residency in the United States and has been ordered to return to South Korea within 30 days.
Mrs. Lee and her husband filed for permanent residency in 2002. Legal fees have exceeded $60,000 which has exhausted their resources. Her husband became a permanent resident in January of this year. They have two children ages 4 and 6, both born in America and both citizens of the United States. So her entire family has a permanent right to live here, except her. If she leaves for South Korea, the family will be broken apart.
Please contact your US Senator or Representative for help in this matter. For those in Maryland this would be: Sen. Barbara Mikulski (410-546-7711), Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (410-962-4436), and Rep. Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. (410-334-3072). Ask them to contact the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to reconsider Mrs. Lee’s case and approve her application for permanent residency. Please refer to her case: Application Number (receipt number) EAC-0228450246 or A-95-641-843.
Thanks you for your efforts and concern. May God bless you.
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard, Pastor
Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Presbyterian Churches
Pocomoke MD
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Sermon – A Kingdom under God – 2 Kings 5:15-27
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – A Kingdom under God – 2 Kings 5:15-27
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches
July 4, 2010
Listen to this sermon.
Good morning and welcome to Beaver Dam Presbyterian church on this Lord’s Day and the day we remember our independence as a country and our own liberty and freedom as people. Today our nation salutes the flag with patriotic songs, fireworks and the Pledge of Allegiance. To whom do we as Americans give our allegiance? The pledge states our reality succinctly; we are “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” This statement put us where we need to be with our government under the authority of God. And because of this we have been and are now richly blessed. Please pray with me.
“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)
Today I will be concluding my series of sermons drawn from the Old Testament Books of First and Second Kings and focusing on the ministry of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. We have seen a great struggle between the King of Israel and the God of Israel for control over the people. The King had attempted to change the object of worship of his people from the true God to a false weather god to enhance his own power and control over the people. The king had abrogated the covenant between God and the people where the people were blessed with good land, ample rain, and sunshine that made the crops grow; and the people in return worshiped God and made sure that the poor and needy never go hungry. But Ahab the King was seizing the land and putting the crops into storehouses for trade and to feed his army while the poor and needy go hungry. The prophets have predicted an end to this evil Omri dynasty, and by this time in our story King Ahab has already been killed in battle, and his son Joram was on the throne of Israel, holding on by a thread. This is what a kingdom without God is like. It is based on false worship and greed. But today is Independence Day so let’s look at what a kingdom or a nation “under God” is all about.
In the story that you heard earlier the main character was Naaman, the top general of the army of Aram. Aram was the great enemy of Israel and Naaman had been responsible for the death of King Ahab in battle. He and Joram represent kingdoms without God at war with each other. Let’s compare and contrast kingdoms without God with kingdoms under God:
1. In a kingdom without God Naaman would be considered an enemy, not trusted, and wanted dead. There is no way he would be healed by his enemy. But in a kingdom under God even an enemy is welcome to receive the blessing of healing. And so Elisha offered healing to Naaman.
2. In a kingdom without God a young slave girl would be an object of abuse. No one would ever pay attention to her or put any trust in what she had to say. But in a kingdom under God she is listened to for her wise advice and her relationship with God. And Naaman is blessed by listening to and following her advice leading him to Elisha and healing..
3. In a kingdom without God a request for healing is seen as a threat. The letter from the king of Aram to the king of Israel must have been considered some kind of trick. But in a kingdom under God an enemy’s request for healing is seen as an opportunity to demonstrate God’s power. And God’s power was demonstrated in the healing of Naaman.
4. In a kingdom without God even an offer of healing would not be trusted. Naaman was about to leave when Elisha did not do what was expected. But in a kingdom under God there is faith that God does heal. And ultimately Namaan did believe and did what Elisha instructed him to do and he was healed.
And so Naaman was healed by God, in the Jordan River where the kingdoms without God was overcome by the kingdoms under God. And that brings us to today’s scripture.
2 Kings 5:15 - 27 15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant." 16 The prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused. 17 "If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. 18 But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also-- when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this." 19 "Go in peace," Elisha said.
After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him." 21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked. 22 "Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'" 23 "By all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. 24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.
25 Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha. "Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked. "Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered. 26 But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? 27 Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.
We see from this passage the biggest difference between a kingdom without God and a kingdom under God. This difference is:
5. A kingdom without God is based on greed. Gehazi could not handle a gracious offer of free healing and thus demanded payment. But a kingdom under God is founded on grace which has no cost. Elisha knew that God had healed Naaman from leprosy and this healing was blessing from God which required no payment.
We must not be too hard on Gehazi. After all he was just trying to make a little profit for his master. He knew the rules of the game in a kingdom without God: Make money any way you can. But he didn’t realize that the rules had changed. Greed was no longer acceptable. In a kingdom under God, greed is replaced by thanksgiving for all the blessings that we have received from God.
This Independence Day we have been giving thanks for all of our blessing of living in a nation that is under God. In our first hymn today we gave thanks for all the men and women who have served in the armed forces of our country protecting our liberty. We sang the Navy Hymn. In this hymn we sang to the triune God for protection for the sailors who protect us over perilous waters. Then we sang “My Country Tis of Thee” and gave thanks for all those who have gone before us giving us faith and freedom in this good land. In it we acknowledged that we are a nation under the God of our founding fathers.
In 1893 a professor of English literature at Wellesley College in Falmouth, Massachusetts went to Chicago for the Columbian Exposition. She wrote these words about her journey from New England to Chicago, “O beautiful for patriot’s dreams that sees beyond the years. Thy alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears.” She then continued her journey through the Midwest, ascended Pike’s Peak and wrote this, “O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.” And she concluded her poem with a prayer, “America, America, God shed his grace for thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.”
The meaning of this July Fourth Holliday is that we must be ever vigilant to keep our nation under God. In an age when atheists keep prayer out of our schools, people say “Happy Hollidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, and when Hollywood makes fun of the faithful we are fast becoming a nation without God. And as we have seen from the Book of Kings that this would bring God’s wrath upon us. So we must remind ourselves that this nation has been richly blessed because we acknowledge that God is our leader. If we want our blessings to continue we must continue to be under God.
Two hundred and thirty four years ago today a group of courageous men met in Philadelphia to draft a document to separate themselves from a nation without God and create a new nation under God. It begins this way:
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …
And the Declaration of Independence ends with this:
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States … And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Lord Jesus, help the United States of America to continue to be under God and to recognize that God is our leader and source of our blessings. On this Independence Day we thank you for the blessings of freedom. And to keep this nation under God we too pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. Amen.
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Sermon – A Kingdom under God – 2 Kings 5:15-27
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches
July 4, 2010
Listen to this sermon.
Good morning and welcome to Beaver Dam Presbyterian church on this Lord’s Day and the day we remember our independence as a country and our own liberty and freedom as people. Today our nation salutes the flag with patriotic songs, fireworks and the Pledge of Allegiance. To whom do we as Americans give our allegiance? The pledge states our reality succinctly; we are “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” This statement put us where we need to be with our government under the authority of God. And because of this we have been and are now richly blessed. Please pray with me.
“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)
Today I will be concluding my series of sermons drawn from the Old Testament Books of First and Second Kings and focusing on the ministry of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. We have seen a great struggle between the King of Israel and the God of Israel for control over the people. The King had attempted to change the object of worship of his people from the true God to a false weather god to enhance his own power and control over the people. The king had abrogated the covenant between God and the people where the people were blessed with good land, ample rain, and sunshine that made the crops grow; and the people in return worshiped God and made sure that the poor and needy never go hungry. But Ahab the King was seizing the land and putting the crops into storehouses for trade and to feed his army while the poor and needy go hungry. The prophets have predicted an end to this evil Omri dynasty, and by this time in our story King Ahab has already been killed in battle, and his son Joram was on the throne of Israel, holding on by a thread. This is what a kingdom without God is like. It is based on false worship and greed. But today is Independence Day so let’s look at what a kingdom or a nation “under God” is all about.
In the story that you heard earlier the main character was Naaman, the top general of the army of Aram. Aram was the great enemy of Israel and Naaman had been responsible for the death of King Ahab in battle. He and Joram represent kingdoms without God at war with each other. Let’s compare and contrast kingdoms without God with kingdoms under God:
1. In a kingdom without God Naaman would be considered an enemy, not trusted, and wanted dead. There is no way he would be healed by his enemy. But in a kingdom under God even an enemy is welcome to receive the blessing of healing. And so Elisha offered healing to Naaman.
2. In a kingdom without God a young slave girl would be an object of abuse. No one would ever pay attention to her or put any trust in what she had to say. But in a kingdom under God she is listened to for her wise advice and her relationship with God. And Naaman is blessed by listening to and following her advice leading him to Elisha and healing..
3. In a kingdom without God a request for healing is seen as a threat. The letter from the king of Aram to the king of Israel must have been considered some kind of trick. But in a kingdom under God an enemy’s request for healing is seen as an opportunity to demonstrate God’s power. And God’s power was demonstrated in the healing of Naaman.
4. In a kingdom without God even an offer of healing would not be trusted. Naaman was about to leave when Elisha did not do what was expected. But in a kingdom under God there is faith that God does heal. And ultimately Namaan did believe and did what Elisha instructed him to do and he was healed.
And so Naaman was healed by God, in the Jordan River where the kingdoms without God was overcome by the kingdoms under God. And that brings us to today’s scripture.
2 Kings 5:15 - 27 15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant." 16 The prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused. 17 "If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. 18 But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also-- when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this." 19 "Go in peace," Elisha said.
After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him." 21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked. 22 "Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'" 23 "By all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. 24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.
25 Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha. "Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked. "Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered. 26 But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? 27 Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.
We see from this passage the biggest difference between a kingdom without God and a kingdom under God. This difference is:
5. A kingdom without God is based on greed. Gehazi could not handle a gracious offer of free healing and thus demanded payment. But a kingdom under God is founded on grace which has no cost. Elisha knew that God had healed Naaman from leprosy and this healing was blessing from God which required no payment.
We must not be too hard on Gehazi. After all he was just trying to make a little profit for his master. He knew the rules of the game in a kingdom without God: Make money any way you can. But he didn’t realize that the rules had changed. Greed was no longer acceptable. In a kingdom under God, greed is replaced by thanksgiving for all the blessings that we have received from God.
This Independence Day we have been giving thanks for all of our blessing of living in a nation that is under God. In our first hymn today we gave thanks for all the men and women who have served in the armed forces of our country protecting our liberty. We sang the Navy Hymn. In this hymn we sang to the triune God for protection for the sailors who protect us over perilous waters. Then we sang “My Country Tis of Thee” and gave thanks for all those who have gone before us giving us faith and freedom in this good land. In it we acknowledged that we are a nation under the God of our founding fathers.
In 1893 a professor of English literature at Wellesley College in Falmouth, Massachusetts went to Chicago for the Columbian Exposition. She wrote these words about her journey from New England to Chicago, “O beautiful for patriot’s dreams that sees beyond the years. Thy alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears.” She then continued her journey through the Midwest, ascended Pike’s Peak and wrote this, “O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.” And she concluded her poem with a prayer, “America, America, God shed his grace for thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.”
The meaning of this July Fourth Holliday is that we must be ever vigilant to keep our nation under God. In an age when atheists keep prayer out of our schools, people say “Happy Hollidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, and when Hollywood makes fun of the faithful we are fast becoming a nation without God. And as we have seen from the Book of Kings that this would bring God’s wrath upon us. So we must remind ourselves that this nation has been richly blessed because we acknowledge that God is our leader. If we want our blessings to continue we must continue to be under God.
Two hundred and thirty four years ago today a group of courageous men met in Philadelphia to draft a document to separate themselves from a nation without God and create a new nation under God. It begins this way:
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …
And the Declaration of Independence ends with this:
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States … And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Lord Jesus, help the United States of America to continue to be under God and to recognize that God is our leader and source of our blessings. On this Independence Day we thank you for the blessings of freedom. And to keep this nation under God we too pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. Amen.
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Sermon – 2 Kings 2:1-14 – A Double Share of Spirit
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – 2 Kings 2:1-14 – A Double Share of Spirit
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
June 27, 2010
Listen to this sermon.
Good morning and welcome to Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church on this hot and steamy Lord's Day. I will be continuing today with my series of sermons drawn from the book of Kings. We have been looking at the prophet Elijah, the cosmic struggle between Yahweh the God of Israel and Baal, and the political struggle between Ahab the king of Israel and Elijah the prophet of God. These struggles in heaven and on earth are still going on and have profound significance in our own lives. But before we start looking at all of this please pray with me.
“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)
2 Kings 2:9-15 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." 10 He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. 15 When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
In recent years preachers have avoided this passage in 2 Kings. After all what can you do with a whirlwind and a chariot of fire in a sermon to modern people. These things make up a nice story, but is there any relevance for us today? In times past fundamentalist pastors would tell their congregations that they must believe in the literal truth of a chariot of fire and a whirlwind taking Elijah to heaven because the authority of scripture demands it. Liberal pastors, on the other hand, would tell their congregations that the whirlwind and the chariot were fanciful images included in a mythical story about the transfer of authority from one prophet to another. Neither of these approaches really get at what was happening in Elijah's time and what is happening today. Let me explain.
So far in the books of First and Second Kings we have witnessed a contest. At first there seemed to be a cosmic struggle between Yahweh, the God of Israel and Baal the so called weather God. But we saw that this was not the real contest because Baal did not exist. Then we thought that the struggle was between King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and the prophet Elijah. But since the king had the power of the state and a mighty army under his control this was really not a contest at all. The contest all along had been a struggle between God and the king over who would control God's people.
This struggle between God and king began with the Egyptian Pharaoh. Pharaoh decided that the people of God would be his slaves. The king would have total control over his people. But Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, demanded total allegiance from his people. God would tolerate no other either god or king. So God sent the prophet Moses to lead the people away from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land where God would be their king.
But as time went by the people forgot that God was their king. They demanded a king for protection from their enemies. And these kings abrogated the covenant that God has established with his people. The king seized the land to increase his own wealth and power with no concern for the poor who were going hungry. The king encouraged people to worship a false God who placed no restrictions on the king's authority. God did not permit this to occur, and today's scripture is a stunning symbol of Yahweh's power. God could assemble a heavenly army equipped with chariots of fire to defeat any king and any army on earth.
By receiving a double share of Elijah's spirit Elisha succeeded Elijah as the prophet of God with responsibility of leading God's people back to God. Elijah found out this was a dangerous assignment because the king viewed allegiance to God as a challenge to his own authority. But this was Elisha's task. And he was up it to as a prophet of God.
In modern times we have seen other kings try to usurp God and rule by their own authority and power. For example, Karl Marx saw the church as a hindrance to his communist objectives. So he advocated that religion be transformed from worship of the true living God into a watered down faith that just made people feel good with the real authority in the church resting in the state. Marx called this watered down religion that made people feel good the “opiate of the people”. The communists who seized Russia and the National Socialists in Germany both tried to take over churches so that people would worship strong leaders like Stalin or Hitler rather than God. But God sent modern day prophets with a double share of Elijah's spirit to bring his people back.
In 1932 the National Socialists in Germany established an organization called the “German Christians”. They initiated the “Faith Movement” and published their guiding principles: anti-Marx, anti-Jew, anti-internationalism, anti-freemasonry, and racial purity. They advocated what was called “positive Christianity”. Few Christians saw any problem with this at the time. They saw some problems with the Nazi government but thought that in the long run that cooperation with the government would benefit the church. A few courageous Christians came forward to condemn what the German Christians were doing. Christians, Leopold Klotz and Paul Tillich, warned that the church was preaching a gospel of nationalism and an ideology of blood and race. They called the church back to it's true mission as a witness for God.
But in April of 1933 Adolf Hitler appointed Ludwig Miller to from the Reich Church. This church would cooperate with the German Christians. All Protestant churches and religious organizations in Germany were to come under this umbrella. On the day this new church was formed all German political parties, except the National Socialists were abolished. Eventually the German Christians took control of the Reich Church with Hitler's full support, and Ludwig Miller became the Reich Bishop.
In response to this a Lutheran pastor with a double share of Elijah's spirit, Martin Niemoeller, organized the Pastor's Emergency League with over seven thousand pastors becoming members. They spoke out from their pulpits protesting what Hitler had done. On May 29, 1934 a group of committed Christians met in northern Germany to deal with the Nazi takeover of the church. The “First Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church” met to determine who would be the Lord of the church: God or the state. Theologian Karl Barth was asked to write a response to the German Christians. He produced the “Theological Declaration of Barmen”. Barth was responding to what he saw as the errors of the German Christians and the Reich Church which were harming the church and breaking its unity. Barth demonstrated from scripture that Jesus Christ alone is the head of the church, Lord of our lives, and the only source of our salvation. The government had no scriptural warrant to usurp any of these functions.
So we see in our own time the same problems encountered by Elijah and Elisha nearly three thousand years ago. This means that we have to be ever vigilant to prevent government from controlling our churches and our lives. Our churches and our lives are subject only to the authority of God who is revealed to us in scripture as Jesus Christ. And whenever government tries to either replace Jesus Christ as the head of the church or convince us to worship our political leaders we must resist and pray for a Prophet like Elijah or Elisha or Barth to lead us back to true faith in Jesus Christ.
Martin Niemoeller, that courageous pastor who organized that first opposition to Hitler wrote these words after the war: “In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
As we watch the government of the United States grow ever larger and assume more and more power we have to be prophetic. We must be grounded in our faith that Jesus Christ is the head of our church and the Lord of our lives. When we see government trying to control the church we must speak out. When we see government trying to have people worship its programs and leaders we must stop it. When we see government persecuting Christians because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ we must risk our own lives to preserve our right to worship and declare the Jesus Christ alone is our Lord.
So the battle between God and the earthly governments continues. And God annoints prophet to boldly speak out. These prophets will have a double share of Elijah's spirit. And always remember that the Kingdom of God is near.
Elisha went on to complete the task God had given to him and Elijah. He restored lands to the rightful owners. The wicked Omri dynasty was defeated and Jehu was annointed as King of Israel to lead the nation back to the worship of it's God.
So no matter what happens God is faithful and will send the leaders we need to turn our
nation back to God.
Father in heaven we need prophets with a double share of Elijah's spirit to lead us back to you. Forgive us for following false gods and welcome us back as your people. We pray Lord for the day when you will be our king. In Jesus's name, Amen.
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Sermon – 2 Kings 2:1-14 – A Double Share of Spirit
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
June 27, 2010
Listen to this sermon.
Good morning and welcome to Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church on this hot and steamy Lord's Day. I will be continuing today with my series of sermons drawn from the book of Kings. We have been looking at the prophet Elijah, the cosmic struggle between Yahweh the God of Israel and Baal, and the political struggle between Ahab the king of Israel and Elijah the prophet of God. These struggles in heaven and on earth are still going on and have profound significance in our own lives. But before we start looking at all of this please pray with me.
“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)
2 Kings 2:9-15 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." 10 He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. 15 When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
In recent years preachers have avoided this passage in 2 Kings. After all what can you do with a whirlwind and a chariot of fire in a sermon to modern people. These things make up a nice story, but is there any relevance for us today? In times past fundamentalist pastors would tell their congregations that they must believe in the literal truth of a chariot of fire and a whirlwind taking Elijah to heaven because the authority of scripture demands it. Liberal pastors, on the other hand, would tell their congregations that the whirlwind and the chariot were fanciful images included in a mythical story about the transfer of authority from one prophet to another. Neither of these approaches really get at what was happening in Elijah's time and what is happening today. Let me explain.
So far in the books of First and Second Kings we have witnessed a contest. At first there seemed to be a cosmic struggle between Yahweh, the God of Israel and Baal the so called weather God. But we saw that this was not the real contest because Baal did not exist. Then we thought that the struggle was between King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and the prophet Elijah. But since the king had the power of the state and a mighty army under his control this was really not a contest at all. The contest all along had been a struggle between God and the king over who would control God's people.
This struggle between God and king began with the Egyptian Pharaoh. Pharaoh decided that the people of God would be his slaves. The king would have total control over his people. But Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, demanded total allegiance from his people. God would tolerate no other either god or king. So God sent the prophet Moses to lead the people away from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land where God would be their king.
But as time went by the people forgot that God was their king. They demanded a king for protection from their enemies. And these kings abrogated the covenant that God has established with his people. The king seized the land to increase his own wealth and power with no concern for the poor who were going hungry. The king encouraged people to worship a false God who placed no restrictions on the king's authority. God did not permit this to occur, and today's scripture is a stunning symbol of Yahweh's power. God could assemble a heavenly army equipped with chariots of fire to defeat any king and any army on earth.
By receiving a double share of Elijah's spirit Elisha succeeded Elijah as the prophet of God with responsibility of leading God's people back to God. Elijah found out this was a dangerous assignment because the king viewed allegiance to God as a challenge to his own authority. But this was Elisha's task. And he was up it to as a prophet of God.
In modern times we have seen other kings try to usurp God and rule by their own authority and power. For example, Karl Marx saw the church as a hindrance to his communist objectives. So he advocated that religion be transformed from worship of the true living God into a watered down faith that just made people feel good with the real authority in the church resting in the state. Marx called this watered down religion that made people feel good the “opiate of the people”. The communists who seized Russia and the National Socialists in Germany both tried to take over churches so that people would worship strong leaders like Stalin or Hitler rather than God. But God sent modern day prophets with a double share of Elijah's spirit to bring his people back.
In 1932 the National Socialists in Germany established an organization called the “German Christians”. They initiated the “Faith Movement” and published their guiding principles: anti-Marx, anti-Jew, anti-internationalism, anti-freemasonry, and racial purity. They advocated what was called “positive Christianity”. Few Christians saw any problem with this at the time. They saw some problems with the Nazi government but thought that in the long run that cooperation with the government would benefit the church. A few courageous Christians came forward to condemn what the German Christians were doing. Christians, Leopold Klotz and Paul Tillich, warned that the church was preaching a gospel of nationalism and an ideology of blood and race. They called the church back to it's true mission as a witness for God.
But in April of 1933 Adolf Hitler appointed Ludwig Miller to from the Reich Church. This church would cooperate with the German Christians. All Protestant churches and religious organizations in Germany were to come under this umbrella. On the day this new church was formed all German political parties, except the National Socialists were abolished. Eventually the German Christians took control of the Reich Church with Hitler's full support, and Ludwig Miller became the Reich Bishop.
In response to this a Lutheran pastor with a double share of Elijah's spirit, Martin Niemoeller, organized the Pastor's Emergency League with over seven thousand pastors becoming members. They spoke out from their pulpits protesting what Hitler had done. On May 29, 1934 a group of committed Christians met in northern Germany to deal with the Nazi takeover of the church. The “First Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church” met to determine who would be the Lord of the church: God or the state. Theologian Karl Barth was asked to write a response to the German Christians. He produced the “Theological Declaration of Barmen”. Barth was responding to what he saw as the errors of the German Christians and the Reich Church which were harming the church and breaking its unity. Barth demonstrated from scripture that Jesus Christ alone is the head of the church, Lord of our lives, and the only source of our salvation. The government had no scriptural warrant to usurp any of these functions.
So we see in our own time the same problems encountered by Elijah and Elisha nearly three thousand years ago. This means that we have to be ever vigilant to prevent government from controlling our churches and our lives. Our churches and our lives are subject only to the authority of God who is revealed to us in scripture as Jesus Christ. And whenever government tries to either replace Jesus Christ as the head of the church or convince us to worship our political leaders we must resist and pray for a Prophet like Elijah or Elisha or Barth to lead us back to true faith in Jesus Christ.
Martin Niemoeller, that courageous pastor who organized that first opposition to Hitler wrote these words after the war: “In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
As we watch the government of the United States grow ever larger and assume more and more power we have to be prophetic. We must be grounded in our faith that Jesus Christ is the head of our church and the Lord of our lives. When we see government trying to control the church we must speak out. When we see government trying to have people worship its programs and leaders we must stop it. When we see government persecuting Christians because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ we must risk our own lives to preserve our right to worship and declare the Jesus Christ alone is our Lord.
So the battle between God and the earthly governments continues. And God annoints prophet to boldly speak out. These prophets will have a double share of Elijah's spirit. And always remember that the Kingdom of God is near.
Elisha went on to complete the task God had given to him and Elijah. He restored lands to the rightful owners. The wicked Omri dynasty was defeated and Jehu was annointed as King of Israel to lead the nation back to the worship of it's God.
So no matter what happens God is faithful and will send the leaders we need to turn our
nation back to God.
Father in heaven we need prophets with a double share of Elijah's spirit to lead us back to you. Forgive us for following false gods and welcome us back as your people. We pray Lord for the day when you will be our king. In Jesus's name, Amen.
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