Lift up Jesus

March 18, 2012 Numbers 21:4-9 John 3:14-21 Lift Up Jesus Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B Complain, Complain, Complain The story is told of a young man who entered a very strict monastic order. It was so strict that members were permitted to speak only two words per year to the abbot. At the end of year one the young man appeared before the abbot and spoke his two words, "bad food." At the end of the second year the young man appeared before the abbot and spoke two more words, "hard bed". At the end of year three he came to the abbot and spoke his last two words, "I quit." The abbot responded, "Well it is about time. Complain, complain, complain - that’s all you’ve done since you came here." We humans are people of darkness. People, who complain, rebel, work against the Kingdom of God. Death is all we know. Lives filled with the patterns of sin. However, God does an astonishing thing. He brings the light. He erects a cross of death that we might look up and live. He leads us out of the darkness. He loves the world and does not condemn it. He does not condemn you, if...if you will believe. It seems that no matter what the situation, no matter how many words we get to use, complaining is a part of our nature. There is always something to complain about. There is a saying which says that Jesus can take care of any situation. Jesus can do miracles, Jesus can turn water into wine, but he can’t do anything about your whining. Complaining in Numbers Interestingly enough, in many ways you can call the book of Numbers – the book of complaining. It is the story of the exodus generation. The generation of Hebrews who were born and raised in the wilderness – that is all that they ever knew of God. It could also be called the book of lost faith. Because this is the book of discouragement, and lost faith. They were following Moses, but not really sure of why. And what do we usually do when we are discouraged, and unsure of what is going on? We complain. If you read the book of numbers, there is the story of the wanderers complaining about not having enough meat – God gave them more quail then they could eat. They complained about water – and God them water. And in the scripture for today, they complained about bad food, and God sent them poisonous snakes. There is a lesson in that complaining for us – whatever it is going on in your life, if you don’t like it don’t tell God. Jesus can turn water into wine, but he can’t do nothing about your whining. But of course that does not seem like the God that we know. But if you look at the bible, later God does indeed say that he punished that nation with more exile, because they complained. More importantly it is not their complaining that was a problem, but they were more interested in being negative, then trusting God. God heard their prayer, and was working it out, and they were so busy complaining, that they could not see what God was really doing. The lesson in that for all of us But there is a bigger lesson in all of this for us – and that lesson is in realizing the power of our God. Our God can do anything. Our God is omnipotent, Our God can do anything. God caused the snakes to bite for a reason, and God gave them a cure for snake bites. The lesson for us – what does it mean to worship an omnipotent God. A God fully in charge of our lives. When the people realized their sin of complaining and Moses prayed on their behalf – God tells Moses to take a snake and out it on a pole and anyone who looks upon the snake will be saved. How do you worship an omnipotent God? A God who takes the very things that we are afraid of and makes it a tool of our healing? A God who takes our problems and makes them a part of the solution? A God who challenges us to trust our lives to him? The fiery snake parasite Parasites were a big problem in the ancient world. And in many poorer parts of the world that don’t have clean water – parasites are still a problem. There is one called the fiery serpent. Poisonous means fiery. The fiery serpent lives and grows very long in the body. It forms painful scabs on the body where it feeds on the skin. The only way to get it out of the body is to make a slit in the skin, when it starts to come out- a special healer must take a stick and let the worn wrap itself around the body. You have to be very careful though – because if the worm breaks, it will continue to grow in the body. The need for a special healer to take care of this worm – that today – it is the universal sign of healing. The universal sign for a doctor is a snake wrapped around a stick. So this story of God telling Moses to wrap a stick around the stick, so that those who looked upon it could heal. It wasn’t the snake on a stick that healed them or the person with the stick – it was God- an omnipotent God. A God who can do anything – even heal our wounds. John picks up the theme Perhaps that is why John picked up this theme in his gospel. At the beginning of the scripture for today – Jesus says And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of God be lifted up, that whoever believed in him may have eternal life.” The cross is the source of our salvation What does that mean? All lent we have been talking about the meaning of the cross. Why did Jesus have to die on a cross? What does Jesus on the cross mean for us? The cross is the source of salvation. When we sin against God – we can look to the cross, and be healed. What does it mean to worship an omnipotent God – it means that he loves us enough to be the source of our healing. Healing physically, mentally and spiritually. When Jesus was lifted up on the cross – if we believe in Jesus as the son of God, of we can look on that horrific scene and see the love of God – there is salvation for us. John 3:16 is the gospel in a nutshell For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life Other religions accept Jesus, but don’t accept the cross What does it mean to worship an omnipotent God? Interestingly enough – Jesus is not just the center of Christianity. There are many religions that see value in the gifts of Jesus Cross. Those religions love Jesus, but they hate the cross. They can’t do nothing with that cross. The Jews don’t understand a messiah who suffers and dies. The Muslims love the story of Christmas, but the story of Good Friday is offensive to them, Hindus only want to hear about the peaceful part of the story. Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh says the cross is a very painful image, it does not contain joy or peace, and it does not do justice to Jesus In order to be a true follower of Jesus – you can’t separate Jesus from the cross. If there was no Cross – there is no salvation for you. Without the cross Jesus is just a nice, wise person, not the Son of God. Jesus says that he has to be lifted up. It is in John 12 that he says that if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. God Is Seeking You in Love Fred Craddock tells the story of his father, who spent years of his life hiding from the God who was seeking him out: “When the pastor used to come from my mother’s church to call on him, my father would say, 'You don’t care about me. I know how churches are. You want another pledge, another name, and right? Another name, another pledge, isn’t that the whole point of church? Get another name, another pledge.' My nervous mother would run to the kitchen, crying, for fear somebody’s feelings would be hurt. When we had an evangelistic campaign the pastor would bring the evangelist, introduce him to my father and then say, 'Sic him, and get him! Sic him, get him!' May father would always say the same thing. 'You don’t care about me! Another name, another pledge. Another name, another pledge! I know about churches.' I guess I heard it a thousand times. One time he didn’t say it. He was at the Veteran’s Hospital. He was down to 74 pounds. They had taken out the throat, put in a metal tube, and said, 'Mr. Craddock, you should have come earlier. But this cancer is awfully far advanced. We’ll give radium, but we don’t know.' I went in to see him. In every window—potted plants and flowers. Everywhere there was a place to set them—potted plants and flowers. Even in that thing that swings out over your bed they put food on, there was a big flower. There was by his bed a stack of cards 10 or 15 inches deep. I looked at the cards sprinkled in the flowers. I read the cards beside his bed. And I want to tell you, every card, every blossom, every potted plant from groups, Sunday School classes, women’s groups, youth groups, men’s bible class, of my mother’s church—every one of them. My father saw me reading them. He could not speak, but he took a Kleenex box and wrote something on the side from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. . . . He wrote on the side, 'In this harsh world, draw your breath in pain to tell my story.' I said, 'What is your story, Daddy?' And he wrote, 'I was wrong.'” It is not until you know God is seeking you in love, not in condemnation; it is not until that moment that the gospel becomes Good News for you. What poison inside of you needs to be healed? What does it mean to worship an omnipotent God? It means that God loves you. It means that Jesus went to the cross for you. It means the lifting up Jesus- is the source of our healing. What poison needs to be removed from your body? Your soul? What healing needs to be done? Where do we need to go for salvation and healing? What does God do in order to save us? How do we worship an omnipotent God? We go to the cross – and follow Jesus to the resurrection. Let us pray….