New Promises for a New Day

March 22, 2015 Jeremiah 31:31-40 Promises Year B Fifth Sunday of Lent Have you ever known someone who never had anything positive to say about anything? Everything was negative, gloom and doom. Everyday they gave you some warning about life. My grandmother was like that. She had a negative story for every occasion in life. Every day she would tell me a story of woa and beware. She had a warning for everything. One day I burst out and told her to just leave me alone and let me make my own mistakes. Learning from my mistakes in life was much better than having to listen to you mouth every day. I was 13 years old when that happen. There were several times that year when I would say, Grandma you talk too much, why don’t you just shut up. Today I stand here amazed that I am still alive to tell that story. Amongst her other good qualities, grandma was amazingly kind, patient and forgiving to her favorite grandchild. She never said a word to me in my outburst, she would just quietly wait for me to finish, and go on. Jeremiah was that irritating person for the Isrealite people. He never had anything nice to say to them. Everyday he had a warning about his behavior, everyday he warned them that if they didn’t get any better that the wrath of God would be upon them. He reminded the people of their own sinfulness. They did more then tell him to shut up. They persecuted him all of his life. Jeremiah came from a family of priest of the temple. He says that he was called by God to be a prophet very early in his life. He says that God put charcoal on his tongue to cleanse his words, and touched him to speak truth to the people. The thing is, people didn’t want to hear the truth. Even his own brothers beat him up for talking too much. The king would order him to be thrown out of town if he didn’t shut up. One day the people got so mad at him that they through him into a cistern, a water tank and left him there to die, but he did not die and he did not shut up. Eventually they got so tired of hearing his warnings that they exiled him to Egypt – He spent the rest of his life there, no one knows what happened to him. But his words survived. Just as now I treasure every word that my grandma said, and I wished that I had been mature enough to listen more carefully. Jeremiah became one of the most important prophets to the Isrealite people. They learned to treasure his words, and they recognized that he was truly a prophet from God. Jeremiah is one of the second most important prophets in the bible. One day things got so bad, that he realized that there was nothing else that he could say. Instead of preaching gloom and doom, he had to give the people words of hope, a word from God that punishment will only last so long, and that things will get better. Our scripture for today is known as the hope scroll. God made a promise to each of us a long time ago – a promise that he would love us unconditionally. As we go through lent season we are always reminded of God’s promises to us. THE COVENANTS Eternal covenant, Heb 13:20—The redemptive covenant before time began, between the Father and the Son. By this covenant we have eternal redemption, an eternal peace from the ‘God of peace’, through the death and resurrection of the Son. Edenic covenant, Gen 1:26-28—The creative covenant between the Triune God, as the first party (Gen 1:26), and newly created man, as the second party, governing man’s creation and life in Edenic innocence. It regulated man’s dominion and subjugation of the earth, and presented a simple test of obedience. The penalty was death. Adamic covenant, Gen 3:14-19—The covenant conditioning fallen man’s life on the earth. Satan’s tool (the serpent) was cursed (Gen 3:14); the first promise of the Redeemer was given (3:15); women’s status was altered (3:16); the earth was cursed (3:17-19); physical and spiritual death resulted (3:19). Noahic covenant, Gen 8:20-9:6—The covenant of human government. Man is to govern his fellowmen for God, indicated by the institution of capital punishment as the supreme judicial power of the state (Gen 9:5-6). Other features included the Abrahamic covenant, Gen 12:1-3; confirmed, 13:14-17; 15:1-7; 17:1-8—The covenant of promise. Abraham’s posterity was to be made a great nation. In him (through Christ) all the families of the earth were to be blessed (Gal 3:16; Jn 8:56-58). Mosaic covenant, Ex 20:1-31:18—The legal covenant, given solely to Israel. It consisted of the commandments (Ex 20:1-26); the judgments (social) - (Ex 21:1; 24:11) and the ordinances (religious); (Ex 24:12-31:18); also called the law. It was a conditional covenant of works, a ministry of ‘condemnation’ and ‘death’ (2 Cor 3:7-9), designed to lead the transgressor (convicted thereby as a sinner) to Christ. Palestinian covenant, Deut 30:1-10—The covenant regulating Israel’s tenure of the land of Canaan. Its prophetic features include dispersion of disobedience (Deut 30:1), future repentance while in dispersion (30:2), the Lord’s return (30:3), the restoration (30:4-5), national conversion (3:6), judgment of Israel’s foes (30:7), national prosperity (30:9). Its blessings are conditioned upon obedience (30:8, 10), but fulfillment is guaranteed by the new covenant. Davidic covenant, 2 Sam 7:4-17, 1 Chr 17:4-15—The kingdom covenant regulating the temporal and eternal rule of David’s posterity. It secures in perpetuity a Davidic ‘house’ or line, a throne, and a kingdom. It was confirmed by divine oath in Ps 89:30-37 and renewed to Mary in Lk 1:31-33. It is fulfilled in Christ as the World’s Saviour and Israel’s coming King (Acts 1:6; Rev 19:16; 20:4-6). New covenant, Jer 31:31-33; Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20; Heb 8:8-12—The covenant of unconditional blessing based upon the finished redemption of Christ. It secures blessing for the church, flowing from the Abrahamic covenant (Gal 3:13-20), and secures all covenant blessings to converted Israel, including those of the Abrahamic, Palestinian, and Davidic covenants. This covenant is unconditional, final and irreversible. On first Sunday when we have communion – we repeat the words of Jesus when he says that this is the new convenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus Christ is the new covenant – the new promise. The Old Covenant made provision for sin to be covered, whereas the New Covenant cleanses it. It's the same difference as covering a dirty shirt with a jacket or having it totally cleansed. God does not look at us through Christ so that His blood covers our sins. Rather, Christ's blood completely removes our sin. ________________________________________ You're in the middle of dinner, about to go out to a special function where you are the guest speaker. You spill tomato sauce all down your front. You have two choices: you can either put on another shirt, or you can just wear a jacket to cover up the stain. The blood of bulls and goats that were such a prominent feature of the Old Covenant, could never do anything to the stain of sin except cover it up. But the blood of Jesus cleanses that stain completely. Now you may ask, what makes the new promise of God so different than the old promise of God. Afterall a promise is a promise. And God did indeed promise to love us. God did indeed say that he would do all of the hard work of the promise and all that we had to do is to follow along and do what he said. Accept his love and life our lives with his love in mind. God didn’t break his promise to us – we broke our promise to God. We didn’t hold up our end of the bargain. So God made a new covenant with us. The difference this time is that God gave us the ability to be faithful. He paved the way so that we could actually keep our promise and live in the new covenant of Jesus Christ. He did that by forgiving us, by evening the playing field. So that we did not have to live in the consequences of our own actions, we could know that we are forgiven and have a chance to start all over again. This time the laws of God are not things out there that we have to obey, they are things in here that keep us going and guide our actions. Jeremiah says that the laws of God will be written in our hearts. We don’t remember them we can live them. We’ve talked about the eternal and daily nature of our covenant with God. The problem is that while we can understand the reason behind the covenant, as long as we are deciding what to do in our minds, we won’t make changes to live out the covenant. That is why the prophesy explains that God will write the new covenant on our hearts. Only when we move from our brains to our hearts will we become the Christians God is calling us to be. Author Ray Bradbury says: “If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.” When we hold something in our heart – we treasure it. It affects our feelings and our being. For the ancient jews, the heart was the center of you whole being. It represented who you were as a person. You don’t fall in love with your mind, you fall in love with your heart. Last night Darnell and Gwen Brown renewed their marriage vows and celebrated their marriage of 18 years. And we are grateful that they made this service an important part of their wedding and invited so many guest to be present today. This story of marriage reminds me of them. There was a couple who had been married for some time, when the husband went away to war. When he returned, he decided that their marriage was over and that he wanted to enter in a relationship with another woman. Devasted, his wife explains that she married him because he made her a promise. And that promise made up for all of his faults. And that she too made a promise to him and that promise made up for everything that she did wrong. The husband was not convinced and still wanted to leave. And she still asked him to hold on. She told him that he had to get that promise back. They made a promise to be together for better or worse. So it was not comfort that they were looking for, they had suffered together. It was the promise that they were looking for. And it was that promise that brought them back together. And they were able to make their marriage work. Just as in marriage, the love of two people can overcome a multitude of sins. The love of God can overcome anything that we have done in life. God is saying it is okay, I forgive you. All I am asking is that you remember the promise that I wrote on your heart. Remember you first love in life. Remember that I am the center of your being and of all that you do. You don’t have to do anything just allow god to love you. God transforms our hearts from the inside out. There are some people who remember every bad thing that every happen to them. God is not one of those person, he forgets it all – so that we can have a chance to start again. Amen. Children’s Sermon What do I have here – a heart. We also have a hear inside of us – do you hear it beating. When you think of hearts like this, what does it remind you of? Love Usually we hold the things that we love in our hearts. What are some things in life that are near and dear to our hearts? Usually when we care about something we also say that we know it by heart. Many of you have learned the Lord’s prayer by heart. What are some other things in life that you know by heart? The scripture for today says that we will know the love of God by heart, because God’s rules will be written on our hearts. How many adults know the Lord’s prayer by heart? Some of us do and some of us are still learning just like some of you. But one thing that we do know is that God loves us and that God shows us his love in so many ways. So it is important for us to know God by heart. Let us pray….

October 30, 2011 20th Sunday after Pentecost Year A Matthew 23:1-12 Are you a professional or amateur Christian? The Sports world today There is a lot going on in the sports world today. I don’t want to get in trouble again by sounding to knowledgeable. But I know that the St. Louis Cardinals just on the World Series, the Bears are 4/3, and that the basketball season has not started benefits. We love our sports – sports are a big part of life wherever you go in the world. Young Boys playing soccer and professional soccer team One of the most beautiful pictures that I got in South Africa was a picture of the boys playing soccer on the beach promenade. There were playing in the dark, and many of the boys did not have shoes on, they didn’t have any fancy equipment. All they had was a ball and a desire to play. That seems true of boys everywhere – they don’t need any fancy equipment, as long as they have a ball – they will play their game. And usually it is a very respectful, orderly game. Rev. Trevor Hudson is one of my spiritual leaders. He is a white Methodist pastor from South Africa. I first heard him at the 2007 World Methodist Conference in South Korea. And got a chance to study under him personally as a part of our spiritual retreat for pastors for the last two years. At our last gathering two weeks ago, he talked about the boys of South Africa, who are willing to pick up a game of soccer wherever they can, just as long as they have a ball. He contrasted that to the national soccer team – professionals- those who get paid to play soccer. They are now on strike- because they want more money. Sounds like a familiar story here in America – with the professional basketball players being locked out, and yet there are boys here on the streets who just want to play basketball. Being that Rev. Hudson was talking to a group of clergy – he had a warning for us, not to take our jobs too seriously. Not to become such a professional Christian that you are more concerned about your salary- than you are about serving God. When there are people out there who are serving, just simply for the love of God. Trevor’s talk on being a professional or amateur But I want to talk a little more this morning about what it means to be a professional, and what it means to be an amateur. Because I think that issue goes far beyond the issue of the service of clergy and the service of laity. There are lots of laity who get stuck on being professional Christians. Their whole identity starts to revolve around the titles that they hold the pew that they sit in, the donations that they have made. They start to believe that God owes them for the service that they give, instead of just doing things for the love of service and the love of God. Rev. Hudson’s message to us was to always remain an amateur in your heart. To be in service to God, just for the love of it, and not so much for how God has blessed us. The Occupy Movement Another big story in the news seems to be these Occupy movements. It started out as occupy Wall Street in New York, and then the next thing I know that was an Occupy Chicago, when we were in Maryland – the news talked of Occupy Baltimore. When I was in Nashville – there was an occupy Nashville. And now I hear that St. Paul’s Cathedral in London is shut down because there is an Occupy London. But I have to admit that I have a hard time with that whole concept of only 1% of the world holds all of the wealth and that I am a part of the 99%. One of my colleagues made a comment about how she was a part of the 99% because everything that she had in life she had to earn and had to work hard every day to earn it. But the trouble I had with her statement was that she just got this big promotion – she may have to work hard every day – but she earns over $100,000 a year. She has a PHD – she was a fantastic job, she owns her own home, she has her own business in spite of that, she just picked up and moved to Boston. She may be a part of the 99% but she is blessed pretty well. When we look outside of our American bubble – there are people in the world who don’t have anything. They are starving, they have lost everything, they are worried about their families, and they are living in tents. – And yet they go to church every Sunday and them thank God for what they do have. They love God in spite of the tough times. Who is the professional Christian and who is the amateur who serves out of love for God? Why I don’t need to participate People have asked me if I am going to be a part of the occupy Chicago movement – and at this moment I truly don’t need to be a part of the 99%. Yes I am struggling, just I have debt to pay, yes I understand the injustice that I have suffered in the world – but on the other hand I have a safe house to live in, the heat is on, there is food in the refrigerator, and there is gas in my car. Now if I were to lose any of that I may be tempted to go sleep outside in the cold and take of messing up my record by getting arrested for trespasses. But as far as I am concerned, I am truly blessed – with what God has given me. There are too many people who are much worse off than me, to cry about what I don’t have. Who is the professional and who is the amateur? Jesus and the pharisees It would appear that in our gospel lesson today that Jesus has a message for professional Christians. We know that Jesus has been arguing back and forth with the Pharisees, while he is in Jerusalem. In order to be a Pharisee you had to go through rigorous study for years. We have no record that Jesus ever went through all of that training, and yet he had the nerve to go out into the streets and teach the masses. Who was the professional – and who was the amateur? For awhile Jesus took that questioning, but now he comes down hard on the Pharisees- telling his disciples not to be like them. The three problems that Jesus had with the disciples was that they we overly concerned about titles and their places of honor, they made up stringent rules for others to follow, and they didn’t practice what they were preaching to others. There is a saying which says that if you want to know what is in a person’s heart – don’t watch their mouth – watch their feet. On the other hand Jesus says that they are on the Moses seat – they know what they are talking about. They are right in their teaching. The problem is they don’t live it themselves. Were they being professionals or amateurs? Pharisees are laity Now you have to also know that Pharisees were not clergy. They were intentional lay persons. They took a vow in their everyday lives to uphold the laws of God. There were 613 laws of God – they vowed to live according to all of them – to be an example to others – to help them understand that it was possible to do. That God’s laws ordered your life, and made it better. When Jesus was alive, there were many groups of committed laity groups – the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Essenes. When the temple was destroyed in 70 AD all of these groups died out. But it was the Pharisees who held onto the Torah faith. They remained faithful in their task – to show others that it was possible to hold onto God’s law even in the midst of tough times. Their faith became rabbinical Judaism – that still maintains living out those laws today. At the same time they were developing what it means to be a modern Jew. The disciples were establishing the church. Matthew was writing his gospel – long after Jesus was gone. Matthew is really criticizing church folk The church people did what we church people do best – we look at other people and criticize them and talk about how glad we are that we don’t have to live like that. Matthew’s church loved to hear Jesus talk about the Pharisees. Don’t do what the Pharisees do – they love to sit in honored places in the synagogue, the love to wear big phylacteries, But what happens when we replace Pharisees with church leader, and synagogue with place of worship and phylacteries with our devotional material? A criticism of them becomes a criticism of us. What Matthew was really asking the church was – who was the professional and who was the amateur? Christians become the ones who say the right things, but don’t really live it. The only one worthy of a title is God as Our Lord, the only teacher we have is Jesus Christ, and the only greatness we have is on our desire to serve others. We are to lead through humility We have to lead through humility, generosity, and equality. Not our titles, authority, and expectations. It was the beginning of the school year, and Mr. Jones needed to be there to help the freshman in college move into his dorms. His wife was worried about his working in the hot sun all day. But he told her that was what he needed to do. He helped family after family. And being a black man in the south, the families assumed that he was a part of the custodial staff obligated to help out. When the day was almost over he invited some parents to sit down and rest and have a coke with him. Someone asked if he was helping because he had a child starting school. He responded that in a sense – they all were his children. He was the new president of the university. What does it mean to be a professional Christian? What does it mean to be an amateur? We are both professional and amateur Anthony Munoz – played for the Cincinnati Bengals. He was a 3 time NFL offensive player of the year. Undoubtedly he is a professional athlete. Yet he turned down the chance to do an interview for Playboy magazine. His reason was that it came down to his relationship with God. He had read the bible, he heard to teachings of Jesus, and he was very clear about what God wanted him to do. Who was a professional? And who was an amateur in the word because he loved God? The truth is I think that whether we are clergy or lay – I think God calls us to be both a professional and an amateur. Professional in that Loving God is what we do for a living. We are to uphold the high moral standard of our teacher, Jesus Christ. We are to receive our blessings, and we can claim the title of a child of God. But we must always be amateurs in our hearts – always do it for the love of God. Let us pray….

Leave the Son Alone

October 23, 2011
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
“Leave the Son Alone”
Year A

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, ...........

So begins one of the most well know love poems in the entire English
language. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote this poem, and many others,
to her husband Robert while they were secretly courting. She could
hardly believe that the handsome Browning truly loved her, for she was
an invalid. She only showed the poems to him after their

marriage and he encouraged their publication because he considered them
the finest sonnets written since William Shakespeare’s penned his.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.”
And “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

These are probably some of the most well known words of scripture. They
are not unique to Christianity though as words like them are to be found
in many different religious traditions.

How do I love thee, let me count the ways. Someone asked that question of us, way before Elizabeth Barrett Browning or Shakespeare. God asks that question of us each and every day. God does everything that God can to show us that he loves us. He courts our hearts and souls in many ways. How do we acknowledge the love letters that God sends us. The beauty of fall, a love letter from God. The nudge to get up in the morning, a love letter from God, a friend that you haven’t heard from in awhile, a love letter from God.
God sent an even more sentimental love letter to the world, when God sent God’s son to the world, and allowed him to die on the cross, for us – we were saved even before we were sinners. Because God loves us.
What does the word Love mean today? How do we define it? In answer to my question, Sherry, my son's wife, sent me the results of a question-and-answer session held by a group of professional people with an bunch of 4 to 8-year olds, where they asked them, "What does love mean?" Some of the answers I selected will both amuse and startle you.

Karl, age 5, says: "Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving lotion and they go out and smell each other."
Elaine, age 5, says: "Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer then Robert Redford."
Mary Ann, age 4, says: "Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Tommy, age 6, says: "Love is like a little old man and a little old woman who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Bobby, age 5, says: "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Jenny, age 7, says: "There are two kinds of love. God's love. Our love. But God makes both kinds."
That last answer is worthy of a philosopher. Maybe we should listen to children more than we do. They see the world around them with clear, fresh eyes, and interpret it with clear, fresh minds.
Many of us as adults couldn’t come up with a better definition of love – sometimes adults just don’t know what love is. And we express our ignorance in the midst of what we call our wisdom.

The Pharisees thought they were being wise in their questioning of Jesus. We have been going through this for a few weeks now. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he started teaching the masses. There would have been nothing wrong with that – but they started listening, they started having hope, they were moving beyond the despair that had held them hostage. Life was going on, and as religious leaders of the community- they had nothing to do with it. And they needed to know more about this man. Was he really a jew? More importantly, was he teaching orthodox teachings? Or was he just misleading all of these people? So the questions started. Remember – by what authority are you speaking these things? Is it okay to give God money that is given to man? – and in this text we get the most important question of them all. What is the greatest commandment? - do you all know? Love - love the lord your God with all of your heart, your soul, your mind. With everything that you are. Jesus adds the second commandment to it – you must love your neighbor as you love yourself. In other words, if you don’t love he people around you, then you really don’t love God. Two different loves – that cant be separated. They have to come hand in hand.
But I want to stick to my point for a minute. We have moved from love to questions. A nobel peace prize winning scientist was asked about his success. He said that it all came down to questions. When he would come home from school, his mother would not ask how was school, she was not interested in hearing about what he learned that day. The one question that she would ask – what question did you ask today. His interest in his learning came down to his questions. As an adult he said that his entire career came down to learning how to ask good questions.
By what authority do you speak, who is more important God or man, even what is the greatest commandment – are all good questions. And the truth is they may not have been trying to hurt Jesus by asking him these questions. To ask someone a question of faith is the greatest honor that you could bestow on them. They would ask these questions of anyone. Their relationship with God was determined by their ability to question God. Do you really want to destroy your people? God why have you forsaken me? My favorite one – God how long before you vindicate me? God loved his people enough to answer their questions. I just got a bit of jewish wisdom the other day – the power of our prayer in in our belief that God hears us our prayers, and will answer them. We question god each time that we pray. God is always obliged to answer – now that is love.
The good news is that Jesus is able to answer all of those questions. He gives the right answers. He has read the scriptures, he has talked with the rabbis, he has prayed to God – so he is able to give the “right” answer. Yes he is a jew, yes his understanding of life is orthodox, yes he does love God. Jesus even has a question of his own – The messiah – whose son is he? Is he the son of God or the son of David? He references psalm 110 – when he asks why David calls his own son My Lord? Matthew has already proven that Jesus is the son of David – he comes from his lineage. Matthew does better, not only is Jesus a son of David – Matthew shows that he is the son of Abraham, he is the son of adam – he is the son of God. He gets his jewishness directly from the source. The creater of the questions. Questions designed to bring us all closer to God.

There is nothing wrong with asking questions. You don’t have to be afraid of an enemy who is willing to ask you questions – if they are willing to ask you questions that means that they are willing to be engaged. They are willing to have some type of relationship with you. The problem begins when they stop asking questions. When they stop asking questions, you cant read them.you don’t know what is going on. You don’t know what they are planning next. Unfortunately for Jesus – these were the last questions that they would ask. The conversation ends. Scripture says that when Jesus asked them about eh messiah – no one had an answer. “No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.” Jesus continues to teach and to give parables – but the Pharisees have stopped listening…..what does that mean? What are they plotting against him?

But let me ask you another question - what does it mean to be an apostle? Do you know the difference between an apostle and a disciple? I have been told that a disciple is a follower of Jesus. An apostle is someone who has seen Jesus for with their own eyes. Someone who received their call directly from Jesus.

So if Paul never met Jesus face to face – how can he be an apostle? Good question. It was a question that many asked Paul – and it seems that Paul spent his ministry answering that question. He didn’t see Jesus in the Flesh, but he knew Christ in the spirit. In 1 thessalonians Paul says that he comes as an apostle of Christ. I hope that I will have more time to talk about Pauls ministry to Thessalonica. Salonica as it is called, is a really cool large urban city, with a unique ministry. But our theme for today is the love of God. What does it mean to love God? How do we show the love of God? For Paul to love God is to live God, and if we live God we are an apostle – a witness to Christ in any age.
Not everyone who hears Paul likes him or welcomes him. Sometimes the gospel can challenge us in ways that we don’t want to deal with. But the gospel is not about us – it is aboutGod. Spreading it is not our message – it is God’s message.
In the face of resistance – Paul gives us this example of being an apostle. In every other epistles Paul will verbally defind his apostleship. Today he gives us an example. To be a witness to God. To be an authentic follower of Christ – we have to show kindness, integrity, acceptance and courage. In the midst of people who didn’t want him, Paul gave himself and all that he was. He was an authentic Christian, because he knew what it meant to love others – show kindness, integrity, acceptance and courage.

what is the greatest commandment – love the lord your God with all of your heart, mind and soul. What is the second – love your neighbor as you love yourself.

What does it mean to love the lord? Spread the gospel with all that you all – show kindess, integrity, acceptance and courage. Let us pray…..