09282014 Fifteenth Sunday After Trinity

Sermon Audio

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

An image that ‘sells’

Last Sunday night we sat around the table after baptizing Justin, Cheyenne and Jacob and did what most people do in the fall, we talked about sports.  Not just any sport, but football, specifically the nice win of Nebraska over Miami, ironically they did it again last night with Illinois.  Here in the heartland the game of football is as important for some as breathing, how much rain we had and the bushel made on dry land corn versus irrigated corn.  For some famous football players of yester year, their image has been used by business to make money.  Whether Franco Harris and tossing the jersey for the Coca-Cola commercial or even the famous Clydsdales that made Superbowl history with their yearly commercials.  Or even Bubba Smith who was famous for tackling quarterbacks and later known for tearing the tops off of beer with the mantra of ‘taste great…less filling’ for ‘light beer’.  Today we are surrounded, bombarded and inundated by ads for everything from beverages to seeds to which pills we need, but the reality is all of these ads have one goal in mind, to get we the consumer to buy what they are selling, because of the image of the person on the screen.

Are we trying to ‘sell religion’?

Last week was Back to Church Sunday and we as a congregation celebrated with the Blessing of the Quilts and Layettes.  Is the church any different trying to ‘sell religion’ or the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  We try to show how we impact our world by the kits we put together and the quilts that we sew, in the hopes not only of getting more people to come and serve, but also all in the name of Jesus.  I as Pastor sometimes feel like our society at times, trying to sell church and our impact beyond these four walls.

Unless the Spirit is in us, we are ‘trying to sell religion’

But the reality is unless the Spirit of God is in me as Pastor and we as a congregation, we will not be able to bring others to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Our Epistle or New Testament reading this morning was written by Paul to the Galatians.  The Galatian people who though good followers of Jewish law were being put down by the Judaizers who believed the only way to God was through Jewish custom.  Not only did both Paul and the Jews try to ‘sell’ their beliefs, just as the big companies still do today, they were clearly making each other to be the enemy.  We are no different today, when we talk of our favorite sports teams, we know our favorites by the colors we wear and the games we attend and hold our teams as the best and favorite and others as the ‘opposition’.  Consider if you will the rivalry between the Bronco’s and Chiefs, KU and K-State, the Rockies and Royals.  We sell our teams.  Paul in the same way with this letter is trying to ‘sell’ the true benefits of being a believer in Jesus Christ.

Are you a bear or burro?  What are we to do?  “Bear one another’s burdens”

This reading clearly asks a question for us to consider, when Paul empowers the Galatian people to “Bear one another’s burdens”.  The question that came to my mind, “Are you a bear or a burro?”  We know that a bear can be protective, whether a mother bear that cares for her young or a male that is protecting his hunting grounds.  But a burro is the exact opposite, it is a beast of burden, meant to carry the heavy load of its master.  As a Christian, are we bears or burro’s?  Do we protect ourselves, our own domains, areas and interests rather than seeing the greater good for everyone?  When challenged do we swoop in like a mother bear protecting her cubs and lash out no matter how we are received?  As a Pastor, this is a personal challenge.  There are times that my personality gets in the way of the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I am not heard, whether in meetings, individual conversation or even from here in the pulpit.  This is one reason for my visits to the congregation for me to personally apologize for my being a bear and not a burro and for everyone to hear from me personally not only my confession, but my opportunity to seek forgiveness from you the people of God and become a better burro.

We are called to...do good to all people!

Paul later in the reading says clearly, “the one who sows the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life…let us do good to all people”.  This is what I need to personally and professionally hear.  Not just the admonition of Paul first given to the Galatians, but clearly proclaim, that God is calling me personally and all of us to ‘do good to all people’.  We are called to ‘bear one another’s burdens’, be the light of Christ and live the life, not of ‘selling religion’, but living the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our broken world for those who so desperately need to hear what Jesus Christ has done for them.

We are called to be a burro...bear others burdens.

We have been called by God through our baptism into the greatest opportunity, to not only ‘do good to all people’, but be a burro and bear our fellow Christians burdens.  How can we do this, it is not simple, but we can begin by answering four questions.  In the coming weeks, I will take one of these questions every week and apply it to our lesson and community here at Emmanuel.  The four questions are, Why does the church exist?  What are we to be as a church?  What are we to do as a church?  How are we to do it?  These questions I first read in Rick Warren’s book, “The Purpose Driven Church”.

Why does the church exist?

First, Why does the church exist?  Paul gives us the answer, we are to “bear one another’s burdens”.  We are called as the people of God to live a life of purpose.  Our purpose is simple not to sell the church, but to live and be the church of Jesus Christ.  We are called as our opening hymn told the story, to ‘serve Whom we adore’.  God is calling us to mission, the mission of sharing the Gospel of Salvation with all of mankind.  God will grant us the wisdom and the courage to be a model and bear the burdens of those around us and have a kingdom impact, not just in another country, but right here in Goodland.

We live for a purpose to glorify God.

Daily we encounter lives that are shipwrecked on the shoals of adversity, from broken relationships, communication that is not understood, to a lack of concern for the welfare of others or even the lack of having a role model of what relationship is truly meant to be.  But God is calling each of us to bear each other’s burdens and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ by living it out in our daily lives.  This is the mission of the church the opportunity of the people of God and our higher calling, because we are responsible for ourselves, but also for how we portray Christ in our lives.

We seek to have a ‘greater purpose’ in life.

Nowhere was this more true than for a man who was well known in football, I mentioned him earlier, Bubba Smith.  Well known for not only being a hard hitter, he also was the spokesman for beer.  “Taste’s great…less filling” the mantra that he heard even at his alma mater of Michigan State.  When returning after retirement, he heard from the stands his famous tag line and came to the realization that by his endorsing this product of beer, he was saying to young people everywhere it was alright to drink beer.  It also hit home for him on a beach in Florida while vacationing where he heard young college kids chanting the same mantra.  After this experience when his contract came up for renewal he declined the opportunity to continue the legacy he began, even though the money was good and brought him instant notoriety.  Not because he personally had never drunk a beer in his life, but because of the impact he had made and he didn’t want to be known as a promoter, advocate or cheerleader of beer and its consumption.  Bubba Smith wanted his life to have a greater purpose.

We find our purpose in Jesus Christ!

Today we are called to a life with a greater purpose in His Kingdom as God’s children.  Not only to bear one another’s burdens, but allow God to chart our path in life and trust Him to use us for His glory. Our sermon hymn today entitled, “Jesus Savior Pilot Me” clearly states what we need.  May God pilot our lives and enable us to bear one another’s burdens as Jesus Christ bore our sins on the Cross of Calvary for all of mankind, but especially all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

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090702014 Twelfth Sunday After Trinity

Gospel Audio
Sermon Audio

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

With the beginning of school and football season there are certain sacrifices and mainstays that families make to let the kids know they care and are proud of their child and the teams they play on.  Whether it is making sure that their child doesn’t miss a practice, game or match, whether football, volleyball, cross country or even golf.  Parents taking off work and driving hours to games in order to root them on.  And even buying jersey’s and other gear in order to support their team and town, we clearly sacrifice in order for our kids to feel a sense of support, accomplishment and fitting in when they head back to school.  Really this is a healthy pride we take that it is our kid, our town and our team.

It is not that our society demands this level of commitment, but as parents, we look to our schools, clubs and secular organizations to find fulfillment, a sense of family or common purpose and even a place where we are accepted and can be part of the group during the week.  This is why we wear the jersey’s, hats and colors of our teams, black and gold for the Goodland Cowboys.  The purple and gray for K-State, or blue of KU and chant the sayings, “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk”.  Or even our pro football teams like the Bronco’s or Chiefs.  We want this feeling of togetherness and sameness with people that root for ‘our team’, are on our sidelines rooting our favorite players on and celebrating when we win.

Even outside of sports in our community we see this with our selection of farm equipment, John Deere, Case or New Holland, the vehicles we drive, Ford, Chevy, Dodge or Toyota and how we farm the ground, whether strip till or no till.  Or hair styles, short or long, styled, straight or permed.  Makeup that we wear or even our jewelry of rings, necklaces and broaches.  Nevertheless the reality we find and live in is that, we all have different teams, we all have different favorite players and we all have different colors, jewelry and styles that we wear and put on.  We are unique and we are individuals as God made us to be.

But, there is one place where our differences cannot and should not divide us, here in the church.  Our collective understanding and calling of our religious community is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Weekly we come to hear what Jesus Christ has done for all of mankind and be empowered to go and share the Good News, the Gospel of our salvation with everyone we meet.  However, after coming to worship, outside of these four walls, we don’t wear a certain color of clothes that identify us as Christians.  We don’t have a chant that remains our battle cry as we depart from worship every week, nor do we have common and shared expectations of members nor about what we are expected to do once outside the doors of the church.  Our only point of commonality that we point to when here for worship is to hear our organ, see Jesus above the altar and check the box that says we were here this week.  But the reality is that we need to change our motives, our methods and our mantra.  We need to hear, see and lay claim to the truth that our adequacy is from God.  Let me state that again, “We need to hear, see and lay claim to the truth that our adequacy is from God.”  The church needs to show you how God changed the playing field for all of us and where He did it.  The church needs to pull back the cover or veil of our personal experience that covers our eyes and let us see Jesus Christ for Who He is and God for what He has done for us.  The church needs to feed you with the food of God to do God’s work.

Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians stated it clearly, “our adequacy is from God”.  We who gather here today have been empowered, not by the food we eat at our homes and tables, but we are empowered by God and His Spirit for clear action.  Paul says, “the Spirit gives life”.  Like a shot of adrenaline given when someone’s heart is not acting or beating properly, God gives us the shot of adrenaline of His Holy Spirit when we come to church to empower us to action in our daily lives and our weekly encounters outside of these four walls.

Think if you will when you watch a football team huddle up before a game.  They gather centered around their coach who not only is the cheerleader for them, but the person that they focus upon and listen to and he starts a chant and charge to get them excited, pumped up and ready to ‘go to battle’ with the other team.  The chant starts small, but builds with the excitement and anticipation that nothing is in their way and nothing can hold them back from scoring touchdowns, holding onto the ball, holding the line and insuring the score always remains with them as the victor.  That huddle is a perfect metaphor for we who gather here today for worship.

We are huddled here in our church, within the four walls built by the hands of our forefathers, focused upon Jesus Christ, our Coach, in the Word we have heard, above the altar in the stained glass and on the altar in the Sacrament, but we are empowered to begin our chant of the forgiveness that Jesus Christ offers for all of mankind, but especially all of us gathered here today.  God sends His Holy Spirit to embrace us and enliven us and give us the shot of adrenaline to pump us up in the Spirit of God to reach out to the people we encounter daily.  We have the greatest opportunity to spread the message, fulfill the mission and not put points on a board, but help and enable people’s names to be written on the book of life that God has in His possession.

But it requires us to have one desire and one focus, the glory of God and His “ministry of righteousness”.  I have been talking the past few weeks of “Back to Church Sunday”.  We are gathered in our huddle today to be empowered by the Spirit of God to seek and save the lost.  Remember the acronym that I chose to use, PAW, pray, ask and watch.  First, pray for two or three people you know that do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.  Those that don’t know Jesus Christ, or have become distant to the church.  The purpose of our praying is so God can break the hard soil of people’s hearts that have never heard the Gospel or it has been a long time and for us to pray for them to come and hear what God is offering us through Jesus Christ.

Then ask the persons you have prayed for to come and hear the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Ask them to come and hear the Gospel of Salvation of Jesus Christ and His innocent death for them and for all of us.  Ask them to come and hear clearly that God wants them to have a personal relationship with His Son.

Finally watch as God follows through.  God will work.  We sometimes just need to like at the football game, sit on the sidelines and watch.  Think about the players who during that the entire week, worked hard in the drills of agility, speed, ball handling, punt returns, field goals and the ‘two minute drill’.  They sometimes only get to see the game from the sideline.  But they have been involved in the first two aspects in preparation.  The same is true for we Christians, we need to pray and ask and then watch as God works in the persons life that we have lifted up in prayer.

We become cheerleaders and the crowd for the game that is happening in their lives.  We do not have the control of the ball, nor are we the referee’s nor the announcer.  We are on the sidelines watching how God’s plan will unfold, but we have been instrumental in the work of God in the persons life we have prayed for, asked to come and hear God’s invitation for a personal relationship and now see how God is working in their life.

Rick Warren wrote a book entitled, “The Purpose Driven Church” that was the rage in church growth in the late 1990’s.  Warren stated that drawing people into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ was like a game, in his case a baseball diamond.  In the truest sense, we are in this same game, whether we use baseball, volleyball or football, but we are together in this game and opportunity to seek the lost together.

Pastor and people, we are not alone, we are not mavericks only in it for ourselves.  We gather here not to stop after every service we have and count how many people gathered here, what the total was on the offering and make note who wasn’t here.  We gather here every week to honor God with however many people come and invite our friends to enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. We gather to personally get involved in the game of life of the people we know and love on them as God empowers us through His Word and Sacrament and invite them into the personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.

We gather here today to be fed with His precious Body and Blood and empowered to prepare for our week in the world, with the firm conviction that God is using us to reach out to the lost and all that intersect our paths.  We gather here today to celebrate and understand “our adequacy is from God”, for all of mankind including those we pray for, ask to come and watch as God sends His Holy Spirit into their lives and then into our huddle filled with the Holy Spirit and the Glory of God.  AMEN.

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