Jesus met such a man. His name: Levi, (aka Matthew). Jesus, defender of the poor, should have overturned Levi’s money table or screamed in his face. A picket sign would have made everyone feel good! Attacking Levi would be justifiable anger. Anyone that would take advantage of the poor, the underprivileged, the weak ought to be put in his place. Jesus instead spoke two scandalous words to Levi: “Follow Me.”
Years ago some friends went on a short term mission trip to the poor in Mississippi. They told me about a furniture salesman scam. The salesman would go to homes with a selection of new chairs and couches, “For only $10 a month you can buy a brand new couch.” Sounds like a deal… Families with few resources could scrape together $10, so many accepted the offer to own a beautiful brand new couch. Steve and Sherry met some of these folks 15 years later, and they were still dutifully sending in $10 a month. You do the math. Wouldn’t it be fun to meet that salesman and give him an earful? What would you say to him? Can you think of anyone lower than the person who would take advantage of the poor?
Jesus met such a man. His name: Levi, (aka Matthew). Jesus, defender of the poor, should have overturned Levi’s money table or screamed in his face. A picket sign would have made everyone feel good! Attacking Levi would be justifiable anger. Anyone that would take advantage of the poor, the underprivileged, the weak ought to be put in his place. Jesus instead spoke two scandalous words to Levi: “Follow Me.”
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Everything Happens for a Reason. Last week’s scripture Jesus enters the ordinary world of Peter and the first disciples, Jesus makes a mess of their ordered lives. Now in this story the leper is rejected by society, his body literally decaying from the disease, and the messed up man says to our Lord, “If you are willing, you can make me clean…” “If you are willing, bring order into the mess of my life, into my decaying body, rock my world Lord, I am an outcast, my mind is going, my life is spiraling out of control… If you are willing…” I love the request….Last week we saw Jesus mess up the order of life…., this week we see Jesus bring order to a mess… which one do you relate to?… probably both at different times… Today I am talking to you who have messed up lives, those who need better but can’t get it together, those that feel stuck, stuck in a bad relationship, stuck with not enough resources, messed up mind, confused… The first lesson from the leper is that he recognizes his life is a mess… It is significant that the Leper comes the Lord and asks for wholeness. Just like the bedrock principle of AA, which recognizes that nobody will be helped with their alcoholism until they admit they are alcoholics, so the leper is not helped till he asks for help, and you have the very same invitation open to you. there is something about knowing your need. Clearly the man with leprosy knows his life is a mess. I know a thousand people who need to make better choices and instead choose to live chronic messed up lives. And I cannot help but wonder, what I am blind to? What sin am I keeping to myself that I don’t want the Lord to touch? What bad decisions do I still relish and delight in and don’t even know it. Make the first prayer is to ask the Lord to reveal our own weakness and sin. A powerful one sentence prayer: “Lord, do things I’m not used to.” We like to order our universe so we know what to expect. We need patterns. But we need enough wiggle room to let God orchestrate the order. In today’s scripture Jesus enters the world of ordinary fishermen doing everyday things…READ Luke 5:1-3. The fishermen are washing their nets… ask the Lord to enter your ordered world. What’s the prayer of your heart? The prayer you don’t even dare speak aloud because you don’t think God will really answer it. The prayer that is too big? I like God’s three answers to your prayers: 1. Yes. 2. Not Yet. 3. I have something better in mind. We serve and worship a God in which nothing is impossible ~ Amen. I sometimes think the only answer to prayer is number three: “I have something better in mind.” God always hears our prayers in the context of our limited knowledge, limited vision, and he creates something better. We may become discouraged, we may not understand, maybe we don’t recognize the answered prayer ~ there is an old family story from my grandfather that officiated at a wedding many decades ago, instead of giving him an honorarium as was the custom to say thank you, the couple gave my grandfather a pair of white gloves. He accepted them, stuck the gloves in his seldom worn coat pocket, and forgot about them. Sometime later when he wore the coat again he rediscovered the white gloves. As he pulled out the gloves and examined them, he discovered a $5.00 bill in each finger, a huge sum in those days. Sometimes we don’t recognize the blessings of answered prayer. It’s Christmas time. “It’s the hap, happiest time of the year.” For many people no it’s not. They are reminded of that something missing in their life, loneliness is exaggerated, discouragement, disappointments. What is supposed to be the most joyful season is a difficult season. Zechariah and Elizabeth are the main characters used by God in this year’s Christmas messages. They are faithful servants of God, living in Israel, he is a priest. Something is missing ~ they are getting older and have no children. Zechariah prays to the Lord. Even though Zechariah appears to pray without the full conviction of believing God will answer the prayer, he still prays for the Lord to do something. Zechariah expects great things from God. We can do no better than to expect great things… I am choosing today to be optimistic… perhaps in today’s vulnerable world there is no greater gift than that of hope… the promise of peace. I choose to be optimistic that in the end it will all work out… but this is no wishful thinking, my optimism is based on the character and power of God! If not optimism, what’s the alternative? I’m not sure I like where pessimism gets you… Here are two people’s opposite reactions… A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other claimed the volume needed to be turned up. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist. To see what would happen, on the twins' birthday, their father loaded the pessimist's room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist's room he loaded with horse manure. That night the father passed by the pessimist's room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly. "Why are you crying?" the father asked. "Because my friends will be jealous, I'll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I'll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken." answered the pessimist. Passing the optimist twin's room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. "What are you so happy about?" he asked. To which his optimist twin replied, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!" The optimistic person looks for the pony! Expect divine interruptions… God sometimes needs to get your attention. I have permission to tell this story: last Monday during the day Betty Boon was here in the church helping to get ready for the Mug Exchange. As she left the building out the kitchen, she doesn’t know how it happened, but she fell on her way down and broke her arm. The good news is that the break is not bad and she is already moving it to keep it mobile. This is in interruption in her life. The Boon Christmas party, helping her daughter sort through life situations, her grandkids depend on her, she was looking forward to play the piano here on the 23rd and Christmas Eve…is there ever a good time to break your arm? I keep asking Betty, is there a message in this from God? God needs to get our attention sometimes. Zechariah won the lottery. Zechariah was chosen by lot to “enter the sanctuary and burn incense in the presence of the Lord.” Many priests may never get such an honor. Zechariah was an ordinary priest, one of a thousand serving twice a year for a week at a time because there were so many priests. They drew lots to see which one would enter the temple and burn incense. We are already told Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth honored God and obeyed God, but something was missing, they had no children (Luke 1:7). Perhaps, Zechariah might think, the honor of being chosen for this sacred once in a life time act of service for God was making up for some of the emptiness in his life. A great crowd was there (Luke 1:10). This is Zechariah’s moment, a time of great honor and amazement. Jesus Healing Peter's Mother-in-law Jesus Christ is the great physician. In the church we stress the need of serving God, loving/helping others, using spiritual gifts on the front row seat of God’s Kingdom work, wonderful privileges, yet the bottom line: Jesus Christ has come to serve us. Jesus is the Great Physician able to heal the body, mind and soul. Why is it important to see Jesus as the world’s most amazing doctor? This poem titled, “And God Said If” says it well: If you never felt pain, Then how would you know that I’m a Healer? If you never went through difficulty, How would you know that I’m a Deliverer? If you never had a trial, How could you call yourself an overcomer? If you never felt sadness, How would you know that I’m a Comforter? If you never made a mistake, How would you know that I’m forgiving? If you never were in trouble, How would you know that I will come to your rescue? If you never were broken, Then how would you know that I can make you whole? If you never had a problem, How would you know that I can solve them? If you never had any suffering, Then how would you know what I went through? If you never went through the fire, Then how would you become pure? If I gave you all things, How would you appreciate them? If I never corrected you, How would you know that I love you? If you had all power, Then how would you learn to depend on me? If your life was perfect, Then what would you need me for? I heard a well known speaker tell about the time his family was traveling with him. His kids started jumping on the bed, and when he caught them they were spring boarding back and forth between the two beds in the room. He scolded them and told them they could not do it, they argued, so in frustration the father said, “You can jump on the beds if the manager of the hotel says you can.” So//they went and got permission from the manager to jump on the beds. I came up with this theory. Disagree with me if you want, I am pretty confident I am correct. What would Jesus have to say about jumping on beds? You know what I think Jesus would say? “You only live once on this earth, jump on the bed.” I also have this theory that when Jesus was a child, he himself must have jumped on the bed. Enjoy life. Immerse yourself in life. Jump on the bed. As an adult, the biggest problem I have with children jumping on beds: I’m too tall! I fall off too easy, I don’t get to join them! Story of the Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen (during the actual message only read a short portion of the text, but full story printed here) Many years ago there lived an Emperor who was so fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on them in order to be beautifully dressed. He did not care about his soldiers, he did not care about the theatre; he only liked to go out walking to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day; and just as they say of a king, 'He is in the council-chamber,' they always said here, 'The Emperor is in the wardrobe.' In the great city in which he lived there was always something going on; every day many strangers came there. One day two impostors arrived who gave themselves out as weavers, and said that they knew how to manufacture the most beautiful cloth imaginable. Not only were the texture and pattern uncommonly beautiful, but the clothes which were made of the stuff possessed this wonderful property that they were invisible to anyone who was not fit for his office, or who was unpardonably stupid. 'Those must indeed be splendid clothes,' thought the Emperor. 'If I had them on I could find out which men in my kingdom are unfit for the offices they hold; I could distinguish the wise from the stupid! Yes, this cloth must be woven for me at once.' And he gave both the impostors much money, so that they might begin their work. They placed two weaving-looms, and began to do as if they were working, but they had not the least thing on the looms. They also demanded the finest silk and the best gold, which they put in their pockets, and worked at the empty looms till late into the night. 'I should like very much to know how far they have got on with the cloth,' thought the Emperor. But he remembered when he thought about it that whoever was stupid or not fit for his office would not be able to see it. Now he certainly believed that he had nothing to fear for himself, but he wanted first to send somebody else in order to see how he stood with regard to his office. Everybody in the whole town knew what a wonderful power the cloth had, and they were all curious to see how bad or how stupid their neighbour was. 'I will send my old and honoured minister to the weavers,' thought the Emperor. 'He can judge best what the cloth is like, for he has intellect, and no one understands his office better than he.' Now the good old minister went into the hall where the two impostors sat working at the empty weaving-looms. 'Dear me!' thought the old minister, opening his eyes wide, 'I can see nothing!' But he did not say so. Both the impostors begged him to be so kind as to step closer, and asked him if it were not a beautiful texture and lovely colours. They pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister went forward rubbing his eyes; but he could see nothing, for there was nothing there. 'Dear, dear!' thought he, 'can I be stupid? I have never thought that, and nobody must know it! Can I be not fit for my office? No, I must certainly not say that I cannot see the cloth!' 'Have you nothing to say about it?' asked one of the men who was weaving. 'Oh, it is lovely, most lovely!' answered the old minister, looking through his spectacles. 'What a texture! What colours! Yes, I will tell the Emperor that it pleases me very much.' 'Now we are delighted at that,' said both the weavers, and thereupon they named the colours and explained the make of the texture. The old minister paid great attention, so that he could tell the same to the Emperor when he came back to him, which he did. The impostors now wanted more money, more silk, and more gold to use in their weaving. They put it all in their own pockets, and there came no threads on the loom, but they went on as they had done before, working at the empty loom. The Emperor soon sent another worthy statesman to see how the weaving was getting on, and whether the cloth would soon be finished. It was the same with him as the first one; he looked and looked, but because there was nothing on the empty loom he could see nothing. 'Is it not a beautiful piece of cloth?' asked the two impostors, and they pointed to and described the splendid material which was not there. 'Stupid I am not!' thought the man, 'so it must be my good office for which I am not fitted. It is strange, certainly, but no one must be allowed to notice it.' And so he praised the cloth which he did not see, and expressed to them his delight at the beautiful colours and the splendid texture. 'Yes, it is quite beautiful,' he said to the Emperor. Everybody in the town was talking of the magnificent cloth. Now the Emperor wanted to see [the clothes] himself while it was still on the loom. With a great crowd of select followers, amongst whom were both the worthy statesmen who had already been there before, he went to the cunning impostors, who were now weaving with all their might, but without fibre or thread. 'Is it not splendid!' said both the old statesmen who had already been there. 'See, your Majesty, what a texture! What colours!' And then they pointed to the empty loom, for they believed that the others could see the cloth quite well. 'What!' thought the Emperor, 'I can see nothing! This is indeed horrible! Am I stupid? Am I not fit to be Emperor? That were the most dreadful thing that could happen to me. Oh, it is very beautiful,' he said. 'It has my gracious approval.' And then he nodded pleasantly, and examined the empty loom, for he would not say that he could see nothing. His whole Court round him looked and looked, and saw no more than the others; but they said like the Emperor, 'Oh! it is beautiful!' And they advised him to wear these new and magnificent clothes for the first time at the great procession which was soon to take place. 'Splendid! Lovely! Most beautiful!' went from mouth to mouth; everyone seemed delighted over them, and the Emperor gave to the impostors the title of Court weavers to the Emperor. Throughout the whole of the night before the morning on which the procession was to take place, the impostors were up and were working by the light of over sixteen candles. The people could see that they were very busy making the Emperor's new clothes ready. They pretended they were taking the cloth from the loom, cut with huge scissors in the air, sewed with needles without thread, and then said at last, 'Now the clothes are finished!' The Emperor came himself with his most distinguished knights, and each impostor held up his arm just as if he were holding something, and said, 'See! here are the breeches! Here is the coat! Here the cloak!' and so on. 'Spun clothes are so comfortable that one would imagine one had nothing on at all; but that is the beauty of it!' 'Yes,' said all the knights, but they could see nothing, for there was nothing there. 'Will it please your Majesty graciously to take off your clothes,' said the impostors, 'then we will put on the new clothes, here before the mirror.' The Emperor took off all his clothes, and the impostors placed themselves before him as if they were putting on each part of his new clothes which was ready, and the Emperor turned and bent himself in front of the mirror. 'How beautifully they fit! How well they sit!' said everybody. 'What material! What colours! It is a gorgeous suit!' 'They are waiting outside with the canopy which your Majesty is wont to have borne over you in the procession,' announced the Master of the Ceremonies. 'Look, I am ready,' said the Emperor. 'Doesn't it sit well!' And he turned himself again to the mirror to see if his finery was on all right. The chamberlains who were used to carry the train put their hands near the floor as if they were lifting up the train; then they did as if they were holding something in the air. They would not have it noticed that they could see nothing. So the Emperor went along in the procession under the splendid canopy, and all the people in the streets and at the windows said, 'How matchless are the Emperor's new clothes! That train fastened to his dress, how beautifully it hangs!' No one wished it to be noticed that he could see nothing, for then he would have been unfit for his office, or else very stupid. None of the Emperor's clothes had met with such approval as these had. a little child at last said. 'But he has nothing on!' 'Just listen to the innocent child!' said the father, and each one whispered to his neighbour what the child had said. the whole of the people called out at last 'But he has nothing on!' This struck the Emperor, for it seemed to him as if they were right; but he thought to himself, 'I must go on with the procession now. And the chamberlains walked along still more uprightly, holding up the train which was not there at all. What My Mother Taught Me... (unknown)
My mother taught me RELIGION - "You better pray that will come out of the carpet." My mother taught me LOGIC: "Because I said so, that's why." My mother taught me FORESIGHT - "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident." My mother taught me IRONY - "Keep laughing and I'll *give* you something to cry about." My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS - "Shut your mouth and eat your supper!" My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM - "Will you *look* at the dirt on the back of your neck!" My mother taught me about STAMINA - "You'll sit there 'til all that spinach is finished." My mother taught me about WEATHER - "It looks as if a tornado swept through your room." My mother taught me how to solve PHYSICS PROBLEMS - "If I yelled because I saw a meteor coming toward you; would you listen then?" My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY - "If I've told you once, I've told you a million times - Don't Exaggerate!!!" My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE - "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out." My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION - "Stop acting like your father!" My mother taught me about ENVY - "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do!" My mother taught me WISDOM. "When you get to be my age, you'll understand." my mother taught me about JUSTICE. "One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!" THANKS, MOM! The impact of a mother’s task could be summarized: Shape Up… the desire to help hone and shape and influence her children to be better people…Shape Up! This is God’s desire for each of us as well. To become more and more like him… You first heard it from your mother! At my house, there are three major places I set down my keys and 15 minor places. How many times a week do I want to get in my van and have to go back and forth looking in all the likely places for my keys. A few weeks ago I spent five minutes wearing a path in the house searching ~ at last I brushed up against the corner of the hallway, heard a familiar tinkle of the key sound, and found them/// on my belt loop!
A few weeks ago in Sunday School, the idea was brought up in the lesson, “You long for what you already have…” like the keys on a beltloop. You already have what you need! You are discontent, wanting more, wear a path searching for that elusive something to make your life complete, and not realizing that what you are longing for is already within your grasp. “You long for what you already have”. We ask for God to make our lives complete, to rearrange our lives, add or take away, and the answer is simply to accept and appreciate and take advantage of what is already within our grasp. Stories with a purpose. We do it all the time. Parents tell stories to their children, with a purpose of warning their children to not make the same mistakes. We tell stories to entertain. Yesterday was opening day for fishing, some of you may have a “fish” story to boast. A story with a purpose.
Today we begin a journey through the book of Luke. Luke is the author: “Let me tell you a story with a purpose, a story I have carefully researched, it is the story of Jesus Christ, a story of faith. Why is this important? What is the purpose? READ Luke 1:4… the purpose is confidence/ assurance, certainty. You will find peace/strength, when you walk with confidence in the sure and certain knowledge of Jesus Christ.” Luke is the only New Testament writer that is not Jewish; he methodically studies and listens and writes down the story of Jesus Christ. READ Luke 1:3. It was May 25, 2006, Dan Mazur stood within a two hour hike of the summit of Mount Everest; a thousand feet from realizing a life-long dream. Climbers call the realm above twenty-six thousand feet “the death zone.” Temperatures hover below zero. Sudden blizzards stir blinding snow. The atmosphere is oxygen starved. A British climber had died ten days prior to Dan Mazur’s attempt. Forty climbers who could have helped, chose not to do so. They passed him by on the way to the summit. Everest can be cruel. At 7:30 AM with the air still, morning sun brilliant, and hopes high, Mazur spotted a set of “tracks.” At the end of the tracks sat a man with gloves off, chest bare, near death. This man turned out to be “Lincoln Hall”. Twelve hours earlier his team had left him on the mountain. His team thought that they had left his body on the slope; and yet, after spending the night at twenty below zero with no oxygen, Lincoln Hall was still alive. Mazur was face to face with a “miracle”. He was also face to face with a choice. Do we pass by on the other side or do we attempt a rescue. A rescue attempt would have profound risks. The descent was already treacherous, even more so with the weight of a dying man. Besides, how long would Hall survive? No one knew. The three climbers had to choose: abandon their dream or abandon Lincoln Hall. They chose to abandon their dream. Their decision to save Hall’s life stirs a great question. Would we do the same? Sacrifice our ambitions, schedules, and goals to help someone else? We all make such decisions daily. Not on Mt. Everest, but in homes with spouses and children, at school with friends, at work, and in church with fellow Christians. The Question remains the same: Who comes first, do they or do I? Two disciples on the road to Emmaus with a "stranger" “The mountains are all right I guess, but they sure do spoil the view” (caption underneath a photo of a beautiful mountain). At times our sight is dim. Believing, but not quite seeing the Lord. To miss the beauty of the mountains, to miss the Lord among us. One of my heroes of the Bible is the disciple Cleopas and another unnamed disciple. Not because these two are so amazing, but because they are so ordinary --because they are so much like me. Paul the apostle in his writings in the New Testament talks about running the race of faith and finishing strong -- I think of myself more as a plodder. That’s the best I can do – plod along, not always understanding, yet now and then the Lord has opened my eyes to see that which is amazing and wonderful, there the Lord was all along right under my nose. Like the moment you at last find the elusive puzzle piece, snatch it up, put it in place and cannot believe you did not see it earlier. The Lord is there all along. The message on June 26 is based on the wonderful story of Zaccheaus. Many folks grew up in Sunday School singing the story of "the Wee Little Man." Enjoy becoming reacquainted with the Zaccheaus song. As I talked about this song in the days before the sermon, I was surprised about how many people had never heard the song. It was a reminder than many folks around Sumas did not grow up in the church. So for some, this song may be brand new. The morning message is posted below the "read more" tab. One of Sally’s cousins said early Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving, “I can hardly wait to put on Christmas Music. But the kids are asleep. Should I wake them up…”
If you want to be technical, nowhere in the Bible does it literally say the angels sang. Some translations say they sang, but the words for singing in those cases are best just as the NIV has it: v. 13: “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying…” (Lk. 2:13). The reason I am confident the angels sang is for a simple reason: I cannot imagine anything else. |
Carl Crouse, Pastor
At SACC we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Every Sunday the worship service includes a message from the Bible. My words are an attempt to understand and apply the Bible to our daily living. I post weekly sermons and other biblical messages on this page. May you find meaning and hope as you read through each message and seek to hear God's voice. Leave a comment to ask questions or inspire others with your insights. Categories
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