The Challenge of Following Christ

June 21, 2020 Matthew 10:24-33 4th Sunday of Pentecost Father’s Day Year A The challenge of following Christ Children’s Sermon Object: A set of scales and a calculator. Good morning, boys and girls: (Father's Day) Have you ever heard someone say, "He's worth his weight in gold." That is one way of measuring value. Suppose I ask you to stand on a scale to find out how much you weigh. If you multiply that number by 16, you can find out how many ounces you weigh (multiply it). You weigh ( ) ounces. Gold recently sold for $1600.00 an ounce. That means you are worth ( ) in gold. That's a lot of money. Actually you are worth more than that. To your parents and other people who love you, you are worth more than all the gold in the world. Jesus was trying to explain to people how much each of us is worth to God, our Heavenly Father. He took a tiny sparrow. A sparrow was practically worthless to most people. You could buy two sparrows for penny. He said to them that God loves sparrows so much that when one of them falls from the sky, God knows it. Then Jesus turned to his listeners and said, "You are many time more important to God than are the sparrows." How much are we worth? You and I would walk a little taller and feel a little more important if we knew just how much we are loved. We are loved more than all of the gold on earth, more than all the birds in the air or fish in the sea. There is no way to measure how much we are worth to Sour parents or to God. In fact, God loved us so much that he gave His own Son in our behalf. Wow! We are loved. Now let's pass that love on to others. That is what people do when they know that they are loved. They pass it on. Why don't you find someone whom you can make feel like they are worth their weight in gold today as well? Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan\\ Prelude Opening Prayer Good morning, this is the first Sunday of summer. One of the longest days of the year – 17 hours of sunlight. As we begin worship this morning, I want to offer this special prayer for the summer God of all light, life and love, through the visible things in this world, you raise our thoughts to things unseen. You show us your power and your love. From the heavens where your dwell, refresh our hearts and renew our love with the lifegiving water of your word. Help us to see a new heaven and a new earth through the eyes of Christ resurrection! Stewardship Moment Scriptural theme for today is being sent out in mission. Knowing that it will not be easy, but that God will be with us. When we give, God will support us. We all know that there are a lot of hurting people – how can we support them? Being faithful with our offerings. Give to God in prayer and gifts and ask God to give relief and know that God hears our prayers. Giving to church is a part of our faith. On this lovely day, at the end of the month of June, we praise and thank you, O Lord. We bring before you our gifts, our lives, our talents. Take all these gifts and use them for work in your kingdom. Bless the gifts and the givers of all gifts. AMEN. Scripture Matthew 10:24-39 Common English Bible (CEB) 24 “Disciples aren’t greater than their teacher, and slaves aren’t greater than their master. 25 It’s enough for disciples to be like their teacher and slaves like their master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, it’s certain that they will call the members of his household by even worse names. Whom to fear 26 “Therefore, don’t be afraid of those people because nothing is hidden that won’t be revealed, and nothing secret that won’t be brought out into the open. 27 What I say to you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, announce from the rooftops. 28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a small coin? But not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father knowing about it already. 30 Even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 Don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. Confessing Christ to people 32 “Therefore, everyone who acknowledges me before people, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. 33 But everyone who denies me before people, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Trouble in the family 34 “Don’t think that I’ve come to bring peace to the earth. I haven’t come to bring peace but a sword. 35 I’ve come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 People’s enemies are members of their own households.[a] 37 “Those who love father or mother more than me aren’t worthy of me. Those who love son or daughter more than me aren’t worthy of me. 38 Those who don’t pick up their crosses and follow me aren’t worthy of me. 39 Those who find their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives because of me will find them. Footnotes: a. Matthew 10:36 Mic 7:6 Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon I have been a Christian for all of my life. My faith has grown throughout my life for various reasons. One of those really important times was my freshman year in college. I received a phone call very early in the year asking if I wanted to participate in a student led bible study. I am not even sure of why I said yes, but the next week I was in the room of Erica and Kathy studying the bible. I didn’t really consider Erica a big sister, but the bible seemed to make so much sense when she talked about it. I was really encouraged to read the bible for myself. For some reason, the first book that I started with was Matthew. Now, today as a pastor, I don’t know if I would encourage a new Christian to start out learning about the faith through the book of Matthew. As I read each chapter, I became more and more convinced that it was impossible for anyone to be a Christian. You have to give up all your possessions, them walk away from your family, you will be persecuted, all in the name of God. That does not sound like any fun. The good news is that 35 years after reading Matthew – I am still here a faithful Christian. I was willing to overcome all of the threats in order to follow God. That is the message of Matthew – God is bigger than all of the negative things that life can bring. Our lesson for today – chapter 10 is the story of Jesus teaching this first lesson to the disciples. Jesus is talking to the disciples about going out into the world and spreading the good news. There are five major lessons that Jesus teaches in Matthew. We know these five stories, because they all begin with the words “ Jesus teaches his 12 disciples this lesson” I have read these five stories over and over again for the last 35 years. But this time, I was really struck with what Jesus was really saying. Jesus uses familiar sayings to teach a new lesson. There are 4 sections of this scripture with 4 different lessons. And I have to warn you, they get worse not better. The first lesson – the teacher is not greater than the student. On the surface it seems that Jesus is telling us that we need to know our place. Let the teacher do all of the talking, and just sit an listen. Honor the pecking order, you have to earn your spot and wait your turn to lead. But what Jesus is really doing is preparing his disciples for real life mission. Jesus us saying that if they call the teacher a devil, then the students will be called devils also. If you go out in ministry be prepared to get attacked, be prepared for criticism. Each of these lessons is a threat of what happens when you help others, Jesus gives s threat and a promise. The promise is that criticism and painful words cannot stop the mission of God. Even when people are negative – God’s mission will prevail. The second lesson – don’t be stopped by fear. No matter how hard we try we cannot eliminate fear. Fear is a part of our DNA as persons. Fear, just like any other emotions teaches us valuable lessons about the world. Jesus does not tell us to get rid of fear – he tells us to redirect it. Our fear should not be directed at people on earth – but to God in heaven. People can take physical things away from us, but God can take away our soul. Which is a greater loss? Material things can be replaced. Once we lose our soul, only God can replace it. Fear of God keeps us honest and grounded. Throughout the bible – when God has a job for a person, God sends an angel to speak to that person and to tell them not be to afraid. Usually these conversations are said in private one on one to the person. Jesus chooses to shout from the rooftops – be not afraid, God is with you through all of this. Speaking of privacy – Jesus 3rd lesson is that all that is said in private will be eventually made public. Jesus start to meddle in this next lesson – Jesus like most people in his day – lived in a small community where everyone knew each other’s business. As a matter of fact, it was an expectation that you knew your neighbors business better than you knew your own. In that kind of atmosphere, in order to stop others from knowing your business, you would often lie or mislead people about what was going on in life. Which meant that you never knew if your neighbor was telling the truth or protecting their privacy. Which is why in the book of John, whenever Jesus makes a statement he started out his sentence by saying – truly truly I tell you. – in other words you can believe what I am telling you. In a small town where everyone knows your business- how can you develop a trusting community. Jesus says that everything that is said in private will be made public. If you love God in private it will come to light. Who's In Charge Here? A colleague shared about a church he served in Tennessee where an eccentric and flamboyant elder impressed him with her intense commitment to the faith. She did not have a pietistic bone in her body, but her devotion was nonetheless clear and articulate. One evening at a dinner party in her home we were animatedly discussing some theological idea. In the midst of the give and take her teenage daughter, probably frustrated with all of the high-blown discussion of religion, asked, "Mother, you talk about religion all the time. Why are you so religious anyway?" This query brought a loud hush to the dining table. Her mother paused dramatically, pushed her chair back from the table, stood and responded, "Every morning before you are awake, I rise and walk into the living room. I lift my arms and ask, `Who's in charge here?' The answer always comes back: `Not you!' That's why I am religious. Because I am not in charge!" Religious life begins with the realization that we are not in charge, and from there we can proceed to align ourselves to the One who is in charge. Jesus is declaring to the disciples: Go into the world knowing who is in charge and what it will mean to act upon that knowledge! Jesus is clear, however, that to act on that knowledge is not always easy. Author Unknown Now that last lesson is the one that I had a problem with when I first read Matthew – anyone who is not willing to give up family is not worthy to be a follower of Christ. Give up your family? Today, like Jesus times, family is everything. Every culture in the world recognizes the importance of family loyalty. A religious professor tells of a letter he got from a colleague. His sister has ALS and he had to watch her deteriorate. So a note from a colleague reminding him that it was good they were going through this as a family meant everything to him. He knew that bible, but was not afraid to say that his sister was everything. There was not anything that could take his loyalty to his sister away. For most of us family is everything. But family is also the place where tensions arise. Jesus says that he will bring strife between families. He specifically say that he brings a sword to come between parents and children. First you say we have to give up our family, and now you say that you will be the source of family fights. What is the good news in that message? The promise is that God is bigger than our family loyalties. If both sides are focused on God they will come together in Spirit, even though they have differences. Often times parents and children are parts of different generations, with different experiences and different value systems. Someone explained it sort of like in the summer, when cold air meets hot air, a front of resistance develops, and that front develops into a storm. Times of chance are always stormy. Whenever the old order and way of doing things encounters the new way of doing things there is resistance which turns into a storm. Parents and children are at each other’s throats. Yet God is bigger than the storm. God is in the storm. God takes us beyond the stormy weather. We don’t have to lose our families, we can find our families in the spirit of God. If our loyalty lies with God and not our family – we find true loyalty and love. So there you have it – the 4 truths of being a follower of Christ. You cannot overcome struggles of life, you cannot escape fear, you cannot escape small town gossip, you cannot escape family strife. The good news – is that God is in the midst of all of the struggles. We have to learn to love God more than the struggles of life. One person said we have to learn to invite our dragons to tea. A father tells of the time when their family went on a camping trip with their toddler. One morning that mother had to go into town, leaving the father and the son to play together for the day. In the afternoon, the father got tired and wanted to take a nap. The toddler wandered off into the forest by himself. Rather than call him back, the father decided to follow him to see what would happen. For a little while the toddler was having the time of his life, playing with the animals, playing in the grass. But all of a sudden the toddler realized that he was alone. He got quiet and sat on a log. The father showed up to tell his son it was okay – the son did not seem a bit surprised or moved – he expected his father to be there for him when he got lost. In life, we can learn to live with that same assurance, that when we are lost – God is already looking and found us. God is a part of the process. God is with us so that we can be there for others. My final story Another Sunday School story. Two very modern little girls were solemnly discussing the lesson while coming home after church one day. One asked, "Do you believe in the Devil?" The other promptly responded, "No, of course not. It's just like Santa Claus - he's your father." Hmm. Happy Fathers Day. David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons My only point in that story is to say Happy Father’s Day! Let us pray…. Prayer Father, we come before you today humbled and in awe of Your grace and mercy. Lord, we thank You for the way You have designed what a family is supposed to look like and the specific roles You have ordained to a mother and a father of how to lead their children. Yet Lord, through our sinful ways we have taken what You have made holy and created our own version of today’s families. Because of this, our children are suffering. It is for the fathers, families, and children of our nation that we do pray today. Lord, we pray specifically for fathers and fatherhood across our land. Your Word clearly instructs fathers to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). God, we thank You for the men who are leading according to Your statutes and the ones that are laying their lives down for Your purposes. We pray that You will continue to use these men to lead their families and other men. We pray You will strengthen the fathers of our nation and that You will continue to empower churches, organizations, and individuals to invest in fathers and fatherhood for the sake of our children. Announcements The reopening health team has been meeting diligently within the last week, and after church council will have a special announcement about worship on the first Sunday of July. There should also be some other options for worship upcoming. When we go to a version of in person worship, we will still have online options. There will be a special church council meeting this Thursday June 26th at 7pm – to talk about in person worship Happy Fathers Day to all fathers today. Benediction God has given you all that you will need as you reach out in love and caring to others. Go into God’s world bringing the good news of redemption and hope. In Jesus’ Name, go in peace and may the God of Peace go with you always. AMEN. Chrysostom's Commitment Chrysostom was the patriarch of Constantinople in the fourth century. One of the stories surrounding this faithful witness concerns the occasion when the Roman emperor had him arrested and charged with being a Christian. If Chrysostom did not renounce Christ, then the emperor would have this Christian leader banished from the kingdom. Chrysostom responded to the threat by saying that the emperor could not do so, “because the whole world is my Father’s kingdom.” “Then,” replied the emperor, “I will take away your life.” To which Chrysostom said, “You cannot, for my life is hid with Christ in God.” Next threatened with the loss of his treasure, this saint replied, “You cannot, for my treasure is in heaven where my heart is.” The emperor made one last effort: “Then I will drive you away from here and you shall have no friend left.” But again Chrysostom responded, “You cannot, for I have one Friend from whom you can never separate me. I defy you for you can do me no harm.” Living as we do in our Western, religiously-tolerant society, we may never face a crucial moment such as Chrysostom 16 centuries ago. We do, however, face similar temptations to renounce our faith, ignore our commitments, or compromise our loyalties. We will be tempted to deny we ever heard of the one called Jesus the Christ. We will be enticed to deny his power over our lives with phrases like: “Come on, everyone else is!” or “It will be fun, and no one will ever know.” We are daily forced to choose between the easy way, the quick fix and the promise of glamour and the way of Christ. Those who choose to acknowledge Christ must do so not just with lips but also with hearts and minds. Larry M. Goodpaster, Like a Breath of Fresh Air, CSS Publishing Company No Higher Duty Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual writer was going to a monastery for a retreat. The monks observed vows of silence and the retreat was to be meditative and prayerful. Nouwen was delayed and was late getting to the monastery on that miserable, rainy night. He rang the bell, well after bedtime, and was met at the door by one of the brothers. The brother warmly greeted him, took his wet coat, brought him to the kitchen and made him a cup of tea. They chatted in the late night hours and Nouwen began to relax and feel ready for the retreat. But he knew this monk was supposed to observe silence, so he finally asked him, "Why are you willing to sit and talk with me?" The monk replied "Of all the duties of the Christian faith and the rules of my order, none is higher than hospitality." J. Burton Williams, The Reward of a Disciple A New Social Order By the fourth century, the churches in Rome were feeding an estimated 20,000 poor people each week. The church at that time presented to the world a visible alternative to the prevailing social order. As Georges Florovsky has written in "Empire and Desert: Antinomies of Christian History": Christianity entered human history as a new social order or, rather, a new social dimension. From the very beginning, Christianity was not primarily a "doctrine," but exactly a "community." There was not only a "message" to be proclaimed and delivered and "Good News" to be declared, but there was, precisely, a New Community, distinct and peculiar, in the process of growth and formation, to which members were called and recruited. Indeed, "fellowship" ("koinonia") was the basic category of Christian existence. Jay M. Terbush, The Significance of the Insignificant Sent to the Lost Sheep A number of years ago I heard the story of a country preacher who asked his new little rural congregation to obey the call of Christ Jesus. He gave them all index cards in worship and asked them to write down the names of every family member, every neighbor, and every co-worker they knew that didn’t go to church anywhere. He stopped long enough for them to do just that in worship. When they got through writing, they had identified 1200 names. Then the preacher asked them to begin to pray for all the people on their card – to place it on the refrigerator or in their Bible as a prominent reminder to pray daily for these people. Then he asked them to invite the people to come to worship, and keep inviting, and keep inviting, and keep inviting. That dying little church suddenly had new life, because the disciples in that little church had been sent to the lost sheep of their community! The Church is not about us. It’s about God. God wants to save us from ourselves. God knows who among us have been possessed by unclean spirits (somebody is going to all those so-called adult video stores and so-called gentlemen’s clubs; somebody is frequenting those prostitutes that keep getting arrested). God knows who is sick and what’s ailing them. God knows who is dead in their faith and damned near close to death in their bodies. God knows who is a modern-day leper and needs to be healed. God knows what kind of demons have hold of lives, and God wants to save people from hellish lives and from hell itself. And you may have been sleepwalking through worship so long that you don’t know that God cares about all that stuff! Samuel Zumwalt, Scattered Reign How We View Our Fathers 4 years: My daddy can do anything. 7 years: My dad knows a lot, a whole lot. 8 years: My father doesn't quite know everything. 12 years: Oh well, naturally Father doesn't know everything. 14 years: Father? Hopelessly old-fashioned. 21 years: Oh, that man is out-of-date. What did you expect? 25 years: He knows a little bit about it but not much. 30 years: Must find out what Dad thinks about it. 35 years: A little patience, let's get Dad's meaning first. 40 years: What would Dad have thought about it? 50 years: My Dad knew literally everything. 60 years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more. Paco's Father There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers. Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, p. 13. We All Need Dads! Some years ago, South Africa's game managers had to figure out what to do about the elephant herd at Kruger National Park. The herd was growing well beyond the ability of the park to sustain it. And so they decided to transport some of the herd to a nearby game park. A dozen years later, however, several of the young male elephants (now teenagers) that had been transported to the game park began attacking the park’s herd of white rhinos, an endangered species. They used their trunks to throw sticks at the rhinos, chased them over long hours and great distances and stomped to death a tenth of the herd--all for no discernible reason. Park managers decided they had no choice but to kill some of the worst juvenile offenders. They had killed five of them when someone came up with another bright idea. They brought in some of the mature male elephants still residing in the Kruger Park and hoped that the bigger, stronger males could bring the adolescents under control. To the delight of the park officials, it worked. The big bulls quickly established the natural hierarchy and reduced the violent behavior of the younger bulls. "The new discipline, it turned out, was not just a matter of size intimidation," says Raspberry. "The young bulls actually started following the Big Daddies around, yielding to their authority and learning from them proper elephant conduct. The assaults on the white rhinos ended abruptly.” Raspberry's point was that young males--whether they are wild animals or human beings--need Dads. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com, adapted from October 11, 2005, Washington Post Writers Group. I'll Always Be There for You! It's a fascinating story that comes out of the 1989 earthquake which almost flattened Armenia. This deadly tremor killed over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the midst of all the confusion of the earthquake, a father rushed to his son's school. When he arrived there he discovered the building was flat as a pancake. Standing there looking at what was left of the school, the father remembered a promise he made to his son, "No matter what, I'll always be there for you!" Tears began to fill his eyes. It looked like a hopeless situation, but he could not take his mind off his promise. Remembering that his son's classroom was in the back right corner of the building, the father rushed there and started digging through the rubble. As he was digging other grieving parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying: "My son! "My daughter!" They tried to pull him off of what was left of the school saying: "It's too late!" "They're dead!" "You can't help!" "Go home!" Even a police officer and a fire fighter told him he should go home. To everyone who tried to stop him he said, "Are you going to help me now?" They did not answer him and he continued digging for his son stone by stone. He needed to know for himself: "Is my boy alive or is he dead?" This man dug for eight hours and then twelve and then twenty-four and then thirty-six. Finally in the thirty-eighth hour, as he pulled back a boulder, he heard his son's voice. He screamed his son's name, "ARMAND!" and a voice answered him, "Dad?" It's me Dad!" Then the boy added these priceless words, "I told the other kids not to worry. I told 'em that if you were alive, you'd save me and when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised that, Dad. 'No matter what,' you said, 'I'll always be there for you!' And here you are Dad. You kept your promise!" Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul he Flip Side of Love A lot of damage can occur in a family. Parents can be hurt. Children can be hurt. But there is always hope in a home where forgiveness is present. John R. Aurelio, in his book Colors!, gives us a beautiful portrayal of this side of God. On the sixth day, God created Father Adam and Mother Eve. On the seventh day, as God was resting, they asked Him if He would give them something special to commemorate their birthday. So God reached into His treasure chest and took out a sacred coin. Written on it was the word "LOVE." On the eighth day, Father Adam and Mother Eve sinned. As they left the Garden of Eden, they asked God for an assurance that He would not abandon them. "You have the coin," He told them. "But, the coin says LOVE," they answered. "We have lost love. How ever will we find it again?" "Turn it over," God said. On the other side of the coin was written the word "FORGIVENESS." Aurelio goes on to say that there is no love without forgiveness and no forgiveness without love. They are the two sides of the same coin. John R. Aurelio, Colors!, New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1993, p. 133. Is God Like Daddy? Think of a four-year-old coming home one Sunday after a lesson that taught about God as our Heavenly Father. Sound theology would quickly note that God is neither male nor female, but youngsters do not concern themselves with theological niceties. A four-year-old hears "Father;" the only father he knows anything about is the one that lives with him and says, "Pass the biscuits, please;" so he asks..."Is God like Daddy?" Wow! What a heavy load! But a good load to consider on Fathers' Day...and a good one to consider when we realize that what Daddy is can become a role model for our children's concept of God. David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com When James the Sixth threatened to hang or exile Andrew Melville, Melville’s answer was: “You cannot hang or exile the truth.” When the Christian is involved in suffering and sacrifice and even martyrdom for his faith, he must remember that the day will come when things will be seen as they really are When James the Sixth threatened to hang or exile Andrew Melville, Melville’s answer was: “You cannot hang or exile the truth.” When the Christian is involved in suffering and sacrifice and even martyrdom for his faith, he must remember that the day will come when things will be seen as they really are Further, this passage tells us that there are things which are worse than death; and disloyalty is one of them. If a man is guilty of disloyalty, if he buys security at the expense of dishonor, life is no longer tolerable. He cannot face men; he cannot face himself; and ultimately he cannot face God. There are times when comfort, safety, ease, life can cost too much. “Almighty God, give us grace to be not only hearers, but doers of thy holy word, not only to admire, but to obey they doctrine, not only to profess, but to practice thy religion, not only to love, but to live thy gospel. So grant that what we learn of thy glory we may receive into our hearts, and show forth in our lives: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”