Sermon Starters: Best and Worst of Times

Location: Silver Lake Wesleyan Camp

Text: Revelation 11:1-13 
Introduction

• The end times teaching of my childhood and 1990s: A Thief in the Night, Left Behind. These do not reflect what most Bible scholars actually think the Bible teaches exactly.
• I approach Revelation 11 with fear and trembling. But if I have it wrong, the message can be supported from elsewhere in Scripture. We preach from the whole Bible despite uncertainty of interpretation.

I. We are the temple.

• Is it the temple of John's day? Is it some end times rebuilt temple? Or does it symbolize something else?
• Most date Revelation to a time after John's temple. The idea of a future rebuilt temple is biblically dubious and theologically problematic (cf. Hebrews and Revelation 21:22).
• Clue in Revelation 12:6 -- The woman is the true Israel, the church. She has fled to the wilderness (cf. Mark 13:14) after her son (Jesus) was snatched away to God's throne. The 3.5 years in Revelation thus refers to the "church age."
• The temple is measured, protected. But the court outside is trampled by the Gentiles for 42 months, the church age.
• What does this mean? It means that we are the temple. Cf. 1 Cor. 3:16.
• A key to Revelation is that this current age is both the tribulation and the millennium, both at the same time, the best of times and the worst of times.
• We are marked, measured by God. But our courts are trampled by the world.
• When times are good, it's easy to forget that we are not of the world, that we are citizens of a heavenly country (Phil. 3:20). 
• Remember who you are. Illustration of time I was around people whose values overlapped significantly with me but still were of a different belief. I constantly reminded myself. "I don't really belong."
• That's how we ultimately are in the world. The world will trample, but we are marked by God.

II. We are the witnesses.

• Who are the witnesses? Two people from John's day? Two people from the end times? Or do they symbolize something else?
• 11:6 seems a fairly clear allusion to Elijah and Moses. Meanwhile, the mention of the two olive trees makes us think of Joshua and Zerubbabel (Zech. 4). Once again, we have tribulation and millennium.
• Moses and Elijah are the Law and Prophets, witnesses to the world. Joshua and Zerubbabel represent the rebuilt "temple" and the new covenant. For "3.5 days" they witness.
• Once again, this is the church in this current age. In other words, they are us.
• We are the witnesses. 1 Peter 3:15. Although this is often cited as a basis for argumentative apologetics, the context of 1 Peter is much more one of "exile" and persecution. We give witness when we are on trial (tribulation).
• The two witnesses face a double whammy. The beast (Rome) kills them in "the great city" (Jerusalem). Jerusalem is "Sodom and Gomorrah." What a twisted situation. Jerusalem should have been faithful but wasn't. Rome trampled on them.
• Reminds me of Jurassic World. They're being chased by one dinosaur. Then comes a T-Rex.
• It seems inevitable that the institutional church will fail us like Jerusalem failed God.

III. We are the vindicated

• The passage ends with the resurrection of the two witnesses after 3.5 days, after the tribulation, after the church age. So we will be vindicated. So there will be judgment.
• Vindication comes through the cross, not around it.
• Reminds me of Methods of Bible Study students who went through the whole course learning a painstaking method and then wrote a final paper that they could have written before the course. They went through the motions but more or less skipped the middle bit.
• Revenge is not the goal, although there are consequences in judgment on the world and "Jerusalem."
• It is a corporate vindication. There will be justice in the end. "Rome" will be judged.

Conclusion

• We are a "peculiar people" (T-shirts from my childhood youth group, 1 Pet. 2:9, KJV).
• Revelation 11 is about now. We are in a time when Christ has begun to reign. Yet we are in a time when we may face tribulation.
• Remember who you are.  We are a faithful witness. In this life we may be trampled on, but God wins in the end. 

Sermon Starters: Happy Trials to You

Preached at Mt. Edna Community Life Church, 8-3-25

Scripture: James 1:2-8, 12-15

Introduction

• I haven't gone through many trials, perhaps you have (note relatively minor worries in the vast scheme of things).
• My daughter lost 2 dogs, a cat, and a parakeet in the same year. Still, not the same as being martyred or losing a child.
• This is the anniversary of my mother's death, but she died at 98, father at 87. They both died well, and lived blessed lives.
• Still, the questions arise. Why does God allow so much suffering? Why so much evil? Why do the bad guys win so often? 
• Tim Keller -- We have small pieces of an answer but not really a comprehensively satisfying one. Free will explanation. Satan and demons explanation. We just have to trust that God is in control and that, if we could see everything, we would see that he is in fact good.
• James was stoned in AD62. Jerusalem was in between Roman governors and the high priest jumped at the opportunity.

I. Trials perfect us (1:2).

• This is one of the main answers to why God allows suffering. It can make us stronger. It can help us grow. "No pain, no gain."
• Running. If you're not training, you won't be able to make it on race day. Many times, our reaction to a sudden trial reveals whether we've been training -- by orienting our lives around surrender to God.
• A person who has had an addiction needs to surrender that area of potential temptation every day. So we should be practicing surrender long before the time of trial comes.
• We may, without thinking of it, think of God more as a candy machine than the one we are actually living for.

II. God wants to give us wisdom 1:5.

• He doesn't begrudge us asking. While God (and the Holy Spirit) stand ready to give us wisdom for anything, the context suggests God will particularly give us wisdom when we are in a time of trial.
• "Ask... seek... knock" (Matt. 7). This is "if we ask according to his will" (1 John) and are remaining in him (John 15). That is, our wills are aligned with his. And he gives us his Holy Spirit to guide us (Luke 18).
• If we really want an answer, he will give it. It may not of course be the one we prefer.
• The "double-minded person" is someone who has divided loyalties. They have not been truly surrendered to God but are half loyal, half self-loyal.
• Many of us make the "Corban" move -- we say we have given everything to God but then we decide what to do with "God's" stuff (Mark 7).

III. Sometimes we bring trial on ourselves (1:14-15).

• One reason for trials are bad choices we make.
• 1:14-15 give the anatomy of a sin -- a temptation, a choice, a sin, eventually death.
• As said, one reason we have suffering is because God gives us a choice. Then we experience the consequences.
• God is not being mean when we run into a brick wall. The wall isn't being mean. We made a choice to run into it.
• Give illustration of consequences of sin (e.g., a broken marriage because of sinful choices).

Conclusion

• Let's start getting ready to suffer now.
• Job -- never finds out about Satan's wager. He finally has to trust in a bigger picture he doesn't see.
• God allowed Job to suffer. He didn't direct it in this case.
• The bottom line -- 1 Cor. 10:31 and Col. 3:17 -- living a life fully oriented and surrendered to God

Sermon Starters: Sailing with the Wind

Preaching today at Trinity Wesleyan in Tipton.

Title: Sailing with the Wind

Text: John 3:1-8

Introduction

• My background with boats -- not much
• Idea for outline came from a recent sermon by Steve Deneff and Emily Vermilya at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana

1. The Row Boat
Whether as a church or in our individual lives, some of us try to do it all ourselves

• There's nothing wrong with effort. 
• Examples of stick-to-it-iveness. Battle of the Bulge. A recent talk I heard from the CEO of a Foundation. "If it is to be, it is up to me." 

BUT... we ultimately can't do it all ourselves:

1. Not as a church (Ephesians 4:12)
2. Not as individuals (Ephesians 2:8)

2. The Motor Boat
Systems and planning are important, but they can only get you so far. Sometimes, they can keep you going in the wrong direction.

• There's nothing wrong with having processes in place.
• Examples -- how UMC churches almost don't seem to need their pastors. having good software

BUT... what if you're headed in the wrong direction?

• Forrest Gump's boat. The pilot who lost his way. Beautiful products nobody wants.
• Values, Mission, Vision, strategic plan, but no one comes to church

3. The Sail Boat
You have a direction, but you're navigating adverse winds AND you're blown by the Spirit (John 3).

• Sometimes the wind of the Spirit isn't blowing where you think it is.
• Missional thinking -- discover what God is already doing and get on board with his mission (Joshua 5 and the angel of the LORD)
• Don't be a Pharisee in the Gospels -- had to know they were wrong but persisted anyway. Be open to course corrections.

The Bible gives us the big picture of how the wind blows.

• God won't tell you to have an affair. He won't tell you to set your neighbor's house on fire or mess up your neighbor's life. He won't tell you to let someone starve or freeze to death.
• The specifics take more discernment. Be attentive to the Wind (Isaiah 30:21). It's even better when you do it together.

Conclusion
Paul in Acts 27 -- There were the things the sailors thought were best. Then there were the things God told Paul were best. If we don't want our ships to be shattered, we need to sail with the Wind.

Sermon Starters: Funky Justice

August 13, 2023
College Wesleyan Church

Text: Micah 6:1-8

Introduction
Harry Potter, Order of the Phoenix-- Bad guys come after Harry. He uses his wand. He gets notice he is being expelled. His uncle exclaims, "Justice."

We cannot help but insert our assumptions into the text. We have these "dictionaries" in our heads. We cannot help but use them. Study helps refine them. The Spirit works with them.

The word justice is one of those instances where we have certain ideas about what it means and what it is. But if we listen to the Old Testament, it pushes us to refine our understanding a bit.

1. Justice is something you do.

• It's not blogging, for us introverts. It's about getting out there.
• "O man" -- It is both individual and corporate. Biblical language typically has a corporate emphasis, but it is also an accumulation of what we do as individuals.
• I appreciate that CWC does justice. Invitation to prey on my guilt.
• Illustration: Thinking about getting a metal chicken versus getting one

2. Justice has two sides.

• Yes, there is justice for the offender. Micah 2 -- The heads of Israel seize land and houses they want. They have the power to do what they want.
• Punish, yes. But more importantly, stop them.
• Injustice is hurting people, not breaking rules. Cultures make up so many rules -- no elbows on the table. Don't end a sentence with a preposition. Even the sin of serving other gods involved hurting other people (e.g., child sacrifice).
• Biblical justice seems even more concerned with those who are oppressed than with the oppressor. This is common failing--thinking more about the abuser than the victim.
• Restoring those off-track--widows, orphans, the poor, the stranger
• "Judge with true justice and mercy and compassion. Let each do to his brother and do not oppress widow and orphan and alien and poor. Do not plan evil in your hearts each against his brother" (Zech. 7:9-10).
• Notice the related terms that pop up both in Micah and Zechariah--hesed, compassion. Hesed is hard to translate--lovingkindness, faithfulness, sticking with someone until they are rescued
• This was the heart of Jesus' ministry as well. In the Gospels, he spends very little of his time getting people saved spiritually. Instead, he heals, casts out demons, and restores the "lost sheep" (Luke 15). 

3. Sacrifice is easy.

• Like buying flowers on your anniversary
• Rules are easy.
• Rituals are easy.
• I grew up with an anti-Catholic vibe. Kind of made fun of "vain repetitions." But have our own.
• Micah -- the heads and priests thought, just some more sacrifices
• Take more insulin before going on a drinking binge

4. This is the Year of the Lord's Favor

• Jesus's inaugural address in Luke 4 ends with "proclaim year of Lord's favor"
• Doesn't always feel like it, but then again, Luke was written after Jerusalem had been destroyed, after elite Jews had been marched through the streets of Rome and put to death. My worst day is better than that!
• My wife has a saying, "It's a great, great day if you make it that way." Or to put it biblically, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."
• The Beatitudes -- we are blessed. Sometimes we feel it now, but we will certainly feel it then.

Sermon Starters: Our Annoying God

Silver Lake Wesleyan Camp

July 9, 2023

Scripture: Jonah 3:6-4:2

Introduction

• Children's church: I feel like I only got the first two, maybe three chapters of Jonah
• Overview the story

Body

I. Jonah is not really the good guy.

• Popular preacher, no doubt
• crowd pleaser
• Nineveh was really bad -- Assyria (destroyed northern kingdom) -- THE AUDIENCE KNOWS THIS FACT!
• It's a warning to us.

2. God found the one thing.

• What’s your one thing? Following God requires total allegiance. Used to be getting called to Africa as a missionary.
• President Lewis talked about cracks in the foundation.
• If Jesus isn’t Lord of all, then he’s not Lord at all.

3. He’s both sons in the Parable of the Prodigal Son

• You know the story (recap)
• He’s the Prodigal that the Father welcomes back.
• He’s also the elder brother who hates that God forgives.

II. The bad guys are really the good guys.
a. The sailors

• They don’t know much. They just know that some God is upset. They are seekers. They want to honor God. 
• Who do you think God was more pleased with?

b. The Ninevites

• Their repentance seems more genuine than Jonah’s. 
• Who do you think God was more pleased with?

III. God is the best "guy."

• (Not literally, of course)
• Jonah 4:2 – the creed of the OT
• What a parent! Gives him shade for a bit. Then pushes him to move on. Plant and cattle
• He does not want anyone to perish. We only perish at our own choosing.

Conclusion
Where are you in the story?

• Are you running from God?
• Are you withholding something from God?
• Are you a seeker?
• Are you throwing a tantrum?
• God is gracious and compassionate

Sermon Starters: "Who are you, Lord?" (Acts 9)

Title: "Who are you, Lord?" 

Text: Acts 9:1-9

Location: College Wesleyan Church, January 8, 2023

Introduction

Old debates over standards, growing up totally convinced, wreaking havoc in relationships, praying for the Lord to show me if I was wrong, an Easter surprise.

It's very hard for us to change our minds on fundamental paradigms, and that's probably a good thing. Sometimes only the Holy Spirit can change our minds.

So it was with Paul. He was totally convinced he had God all figured out. Imagine how disoriented he was after Jesus showed him he was fundamentally wrong about the Bible.

We are trying to emerge as a church from a period of strong disagreement. If it weren't so serious, it would be funny. Two sides totally convinced they represent God, saying some of the very same things about the other, totally convinced they represent God. Two sides, both totally convinced they are being true to the Bible.

We need the Spirit to help us because we can't help ourselves. It would be great if Jesus would tap us on the shoulder. How do we move forward as a church?

1. Start with the faith you have.

Student in philosophy who wanted to throw everything out and start over. Mistake! We will not likely figure it all out from scratch.

• Pascal's Wager -- if we love God and love our neighbor, our lives and the world will be a better place even if we are wrong on something.
• God's been walking with his people for a long time (Bud Bence's church history trailer). He didn't just stop after the New Testament. The faith we have inherited probably has a lot of things right!
• Truths about God aren't just discovered. They are also revealed. Pure reason won't get you there without a lot of help from the Holy Spirit.
• The problem is that we are finite and flawed. We don't see the whole picture, and we tend to find a way to interpret things the way we want to.

2. Submit yourself to the truth, which is what God thinks.

• If you really believe in truth, you must be open to changing your mind.
• My crisis in seminary -- Would God test my faith by insisting I believe something that obviously isn't true? In the end I answered no. If you could disprove God's existence to him, he'd be the first to pack it up. God aligns with the real truth, whatever it may be. "All truth is God's truth."
• My New Testament Survey position paper assignment. My advice to pick a topic that the New Testament actually talks about. Students often submitted papers with nothing from the New Testament in them, showing that the Bible was more symbolic in their views than substantial.

3. Keep listening!

• Listen to God.
• Listen to your "enemy" (whom God requires you to love).
• Don't demonize the "other side." Let God take care of them.
• Stick to your guns. It doesn't mean we don't take a position. It just means we keep talking while we take our position, and we submit ourselves to God in case he wants to change it.

Conclusion

The story of Gamaliel. He was truly interested in the truth and in submitting to God. That meant he was willing to change his position if he turned out to be wrong. Others mistook their positon for a truth to defend no matter what. This is the very nature of a hardened heart.

Sermon Starters -- "On God's Side"

Occasion: Silver Lake Wesleyan Camp, Sunday, July 10, 2022

Text: Joshua 5:13-15 

Introduction

• Joshua is about to conquer Jericho, and the commander of the LORD's armies appears to him. Joshua asks him if he is on Israel's side. He is on neither side.
• I always found this story puzzling. How could he not be on Israel's side?
• Background: when cities and empires went to war, their gods were also going to war (Trojan War was a battle between gods. Roman practice of invoking gods of a city they were attacking)
• It dawned on me. God is on his own side. God has his own agenda. Israel's defeat of Jericho was on God's agenda. But Israel would lose their next battle against Ai. We need to be on God's side!
• Think of the time of Jeremiah, when again Israel assumed God would always be on their side.
• God is not on our side--we had better be on God's side!

1. God was on a mission long before we arrived. If Jesus tarries, he will be on a mission long after we are gone.

• Our chickens' view of the world
• Our view of space -- William Shatner's trip to space
• God made the sun! Think of some of our squabbles (Should you say "crap" or "darn"?)
• Our view of time -- getting through high school once seemed like forever. I used to be the youngest everywhere (high school at 17, college at 20, seminary at 23). Not any more. I can picture how my mom feels at 96.
• Setting dates for the Lord's return. God must shake his head. Not again.
• We are pea-brains... even with our interpretations of the Bible

2. Our earthly "teams" come and go. They are eternally trivial.

• The Corinthians -- Apollos group versus Paul group
• Do you have to be a Democrat or a Republican to be a Christian? Stories of people who've said one or the other
• Posts and feeding frenzies on Wesleyan Pastor's group on Facebook
• Hutu and Tutsi, Civil War
• At some point we need to splash some water in our faces, humble ourselves, and recognize it's not my team or their team. We had both better be on God's team.
• Paul and Barnabas knew how to agree to disagree (argument over Mark and Antioch)

3. Our team can get very upset with us when they are out of sync with God's team.

• Joshua 24 -- "You cannot serve the Lord... Who is on the Lord's side?" 
• Parenting with different children. The one that is strong willed. The one that is soft-hearted. I image God deals with us in the same way. Some of us need a little bit of holiness and fire. Some of us God is gentle with.
• Those of us who are most stubborn about our team are probably the ones who need the most reminding that God's the one in charge.
• John Snow, mercy to the people north of the wall, his murder for mercy -- something much bigger was going on. They kill him for doing the right thing.
• Full surrender can be painful. It can go farther than our pea-brains can go.
• Love God, love neighbor -- these are the principles that cut across all distractions.

Conclusion

• My own heart. I'm so convinced I know what's up. I've got to listen. I've got to be disciplined not to throw stones (or too much sarcasm). Not everyone who disagrees with me is my enemy.

Sermon Starters: God-Given Resolutions

Brookside Wesleyan Church, Wellsville, NY
January 2, 2022

Text: Micah 6:6-8

Prayer

Intro: New Year's Resolutions

• Did you make any? Have you already broken any? The person who resolved to get to start getting to work on time and overslept the first day.
• 27% break their resolutions by the first week of January.
• Most exercise resolutions are through by January 12.
• 41% don't last more than a month
• Over half have stopped by six months.
• 80% of resolutions fail by end of year.
• What if we let the Lord make our new year's resolutions? What would he set for us?

1. God wants us to do justice. (mishpat)

• Harry Potter 5, getting expelled from Hogwarts... "Justice"
• We don't always agree about what justice would be -- e.g., discussions about whether certain people should be acquitted or not?
• What is justice like for God in the prophets?
• In Micah 6:11 -- "wicked scales" -- people who cheat other people out of greed
• In Micah 3:1 -- abuse of power by leaders, those who take bribes and thus favor the rich and powerful
• Captain America -- "I don't want to kill anyone. I just don't like bullies."
• Chickens in the yard -- We have too many roosters. Our head rooster takes care of the hens.
• Zechariah 7:9-10 -- "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart."
• That's what biblical justice looks like.

2. God wants us to love mercy. (hesed)

• Hesed is perhaps the richest of all Hebrew words. It is one of the most frequent descriptions of God's nature in the Old Testament. 
• Jonah 4:2 -- "Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."
• The story of Jonah and Nineveh -- his actions and attitudes are the opposite of hesed. God wants to see Nineveh restored, even though he knows the path they are on.  

3. God wants us to walk humbly with him as our God.

• Pride in the Bible is putting ourselves in the place of authority that belongs to God.
• "The nail that sticks up is the first to get hit."
• Putting ourselves in the driver's seat -- planning to build bigger barns.
• Illustration -- "Easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission."
• Did you consult God on that project of yours?
• We are free to be servants of God.

Conclusion

• God's resolutions have more teeth than yours and mine -- we can't just throw them away when we miss a day.
• But that's not the way to think about them. God's resolutions are for our good. God's resolutions are about shaping us, not grading us.

Sermon Starters -- God of the New Year

Brookside Wesleyan Church, Wellsville, NY

January 2, 2022

(Text: Genesis 1:1-2:3)

Intro: A different way to read Genesis 1

• Brief summary of the chapter
• A different picture of God than the Babylonians
• John Walton -- the New Year's festival of Yahweh, the reinstallation of God as king of the universe

Genesis 1:1-2

1. Do you come to this year with any "tohu vavohu"?

• Genesis 1 isn't like other creation stories. Chaos but a conflict between gods.
• The world is a mess. Is your world a mess? What's not working in your life?

Genesis 1:3-5

2. God brings light out of darkness.

• Illustration (e.g., dressing in the dark)
• Walton -- the creation of time (days and nights)
• Time is a path to walk out of any sorrow.

Genesis 1:6-10

3. God clears a space in the mess. He brings dry ground.

• Hoarders
• The seas were chaos to them, full of danger and fear.

Genesis 1:11-13

4. God provides food.

• We know where the story is heading--to the creation of us. This story, after all, is for us. If God were writing it for the angels, it would look different. Let's not get too cocky. We are sparrows, after all.

Genesis 1:26-28

5. God gives us a charge in his world.

• This is the "political image of God. We should steward the world as God wants us to.
• All humans are valuable, because we are made in God's image.

Genesis 1:31-2:3

6. It's all good. God rests.

• Everything's working. (we're good)
• The world is built, God's temple. Everything is ordered. Chaos is beat. Now he can rest from creating and get down to ruling. (Walton)

Conclusion

• Is God resting over your life?
• Install him again this year.

Sermon Starters: Hidden in Plain Sight

Brookside Wesleyan Church, Wellsville, NY
December 26, 2021

Text: Matthew 2:1-12

Intro: Overview of the Wise Men story
who, where, when

1. Some are seeing but not seeing. (2:1-3)

• How is it that the wise men are the only ones who see the star?
• Three Amigos ("look up here"); Downton Abbey (nobody realizes that everyone has a crush on everyone else)
• The Star surely was visible. They saw it but they didn't see it.
• Mark 4 -- "Let those who have ears to hear hear." The filtering nature of Jesus' parables 
• What/who are we not seeing?
• What is God doing around you that you're not seeing?
• Especially we don't want to be like the goats in Matthew 25!

2. Some are knowing but not knowing. (2:4-6)

• Herod surely knows he can't fight God who has power over stars!
• Why don't the chief priests and scribes run to Bethlehem too? They know the Bible well enough but somehow it hasn't sunk in.
• Stubborn ignorance -- when we refuse to know what we know deep down
• Girl who doesn't like you.
• My easter story of paradigm shifting
• Matthew 22; Romans 13 are the key. Does it fit with a true love of our neighbor?

3. Some are doing but not doing. (2:7-12)

• Herod pretends to want to worship.
• Guy at supper in Crimes and Misdemeanors. He doesn't really believe all that "mumbo jumbo." He just attends and does the ritual.
• Luther's reaction to Rome and the Protestant Reformation

Conclusion

• Be like the wise men. See, know, and do.

Sermon Starters: God's Loving Justice

I'll backfill last week's sermon. This is the second of two sermons on God at Brookside Wesleyan Church in Wellsville.

God's Loving Justice

Text: Hebrews 12:5-11

Introduction

• Getting my children shots for kindergarten--not because we were evil parents, a moment of pain to save death or a lifetime of trouble
• We think pleasure is good and pain is bad. This is not actually the case.

Some preliminary questions about God and justice:

• God allows evil because it is better for us to choose him freely than to be forced to. But then there will be evil.
• We have to believe that God allows suffering for a greater good, though we don't often know why (relative that died of cancer, Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever")
• Abraham discussing Sodom with God--God will do what's right

1. God's loving justice gets us back on the right path.

• pain is a good thing--it is a warning
• CIP and hot stoves
• consequences remind us of the way God has made the universe
• "Spare the rod and spoil the child" -- episodes in parenting

2. God's loving justice protects others from us.

• Speed laws and seat belt rules
• Traffic lights
• Think of justice as protection rather than punishment
• Jail as protection

3. God's loving justice lets us go if we ultimately abandon him. 

• God lets go. Romans 1
• hardened hearts
• C.S. Lewis' thought experiment in the Great Divorce
• "Life imprisonment"
• Hell as letting us go to the torment of self-imposed separation from God

Conclusion

• training for a race and discipline

Sermon Starters: Dual Citizenship

Location: North Collins Wesleyan Church
Date: July 4, 2021
Text: Philippians 3:17-21

Introduction

• Joke about the man who was always telling the story of how he survived the Johnstown flood. He gets to heaven and starts to tell the story there but is warned that Noah might not be too impressed.
• Paul in Philippians 3 -- he gives his impressive earthly resume, but it is nothing when compared to Christ and the power of resurrection.
• Today we celebrate the founding of the USA. For me, it is an incredible privilege to live here. This is a place where every person is supposed to have equal rights and freedoms. This is a place where in theory everyone can prosper. But also have to keep in mind that all these earthly goods are minuscule when you put them next to Jesus and the kingdom of God.

1. "All created equal."

• A great line from the Declaration of Independence voted on 245 years ago today "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
• In practice, of course, it is not always true. The rich and the powerful almost always have an advantage over the rest of us.
• Illustration--an acquaintance from Missouri who had a good lawyer, celebrities
• Illustration--the fact that slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person, redlining, Langston Hughes poem, "America."
• It is true in the kingdom of God. Galatians 3:28. Women will not be "given" in marriage. There will be no poor. There will be no immigrant. There will be no "in-group." We will all be in the in-group.
• philosophy class -- what is a human being? roadkill? 
• The DoI was a reflection of the trajectory of Judeo-Christian values. Thomas Jefferson the Deist. It wasn't a perfect image. The equality of the kingdom will be beyond our comprehension. Some "Christians" today might not like it if they could catch a glimpse of it.

2. A Bill of Rights

• right to a trial, habeas corpus, face accusers
• In practice, of course, doesn't always lead to justice. People on death row wrongly convicted. Disproportionate number of people of color in our penal system. Penalties for drugs typically used by white people less severe than those used by black people.
• "The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Martin Luther King Jr.
• True because God gets it right every time. 
• "Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." -- includes you and me, includes presidents and kings

3. Freedoms

• religion, speech, vote, defend ourselves
• The "theology" of America here fits very well with the Wesleyan-Arminian God. In this age, God gives us the freedom to obey or disobey. I would argue that there is an impulse by other traditions to try to force the rest of the world to conform to Christ. That day will come but it is not now.
• Christians live a little differently within this context. We do not live as a community focused on our freedom but on true freedom. We do not live for ourselves but as servants of others.
• I am free to try to bend my leg forward rather than backward, but it wouldn't feel too good. The freedom of the Lord is a freedom and empowerment to "bend" the way God made humanity to bend.

4. Prosperity

• Free Enterprise system -- Adam Smith designed it to be the great equalizer, to empower the poor to become rich. My first visit to Berlin
• It has not worked perfectly to that end. Anti-trust laws. 
• Avoiding the emergency room because of cost. Avoiding doctor because of expense.
• 55% of world's wealth in US, only 17% of population. The Sierra Leone pastor who used the US as an illustration of heaven.
• Nothing compared to the kingdom of God -- 1 Corinthians 2:9 in an extended sense. The old songs, "I've got a mansion..." probably some misinterpretation going on there, but the sentiment isn't wrong.

5. A King

• Thor, Captain America listening to War Machine in Avengers
• Jesus is the king of the universe
• Roman Empire must have seemed incredibly powerful. Citizens of Philippi were citizens of Rome. Paul says, your citizenship in heaven dwarfs any privileges you have with Rome.

Sermon Starters: Great Is Your Faithfulness

 Great Is Your Faithfulness

Location: North Collins Wesleyan Church, 6/27/21
Text: Lamentations 3:19-33

Introduction

• No word from my son at boot camp. It's easy to sing, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" when everything works out ok.
• That's not the context of the verse in Lamentations. Ancient siege warfare was brutal... Think the cities of Germany after WWII.
• That's the context of Lamentations--the destruction of Jerusalem. We need to be mindful of and thankful for God's faithfulness in the great times, the normal times, and, yes, the bad times.

1. We need to be mindful of and thankful for the faithfulness of God in prosperous times.

• "There are no atheists in foxholes," but there are plenty practical ones who are well-off.
• Screwtape's advice in Screwtape Letters--"Prosperity knits a person to the world."
• A man from my childhood. Had everything. Appeared to be solid Christian. Left the Lord for years pursuing pleasure, even though he still believed all the right things. It took at accident to snap him back into reliance on God.
• Sometimes God lets us go, and we experience the trajectory of our choices.
• Job is an example of someone who was mindful of the faithfulness of God in prosperous times.

2. We need to be mindful of and thankful for the faithfulness of God in boring, ordinary times.

• A road experience I barely remember, because it turned out ok. The potential benefit of forgetting your keys.
• My dad not being chosen for a certain privilege in the army and the fate of those who were.
• The nearly unnoticed privileges we often have. I don't struggle with headaches, and I have Excedrin if I do.

3. We need to be mindful of and thankful for the faithfulness of God in really hard times.

• The author of Lamentations was. Read 3:31-33 again. God doesn't want anyone to suffer.
• Job had it right. We came naked into the world, and so we will leave. Dust we are and to dust we will return. The Lord gives; the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
• We talk about rights a lot in America. I'm very grateful for them. But really we are nothing without the Lord. If we could get that straight, we would be much more thankful in all circumstances.

Conclusion

• I don't always practice what I preach, but there was one time when some people thought I had experienced an injustice. I don't necessarily see it that way. But people made comments on how well I took the event. What I was thinking was, "I came naked into the world. I will leave the world naked. The Lord gives. The Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Sermon Starters: "Forgetting the Hatchet"

I usually store my sermon outlines here so I can remember where, when, and what I preached. I didn't put this one down from two weeks ago at Houghton Wesleyan Church. You can hear my pre-preach run through here and the live sermon here.

__________________

"Forgetting the Hatchet" (6/13/21)
Text: Genesis 33:1-11

Introduction

• Phrases you use without knowing where they came from--"burying the hatchet"
• It seems to come from a Native American practice (Iroquois?) of two warring chiefs burying their war hatchets when peace is finally reached.
• Jacob and Esau, the backstory. Jacob the trickster, Esau the non-diligent
• Now Jacob has nowhere to go. The gig is up. But all is well. Esau has been blessed beyond his needs.
• Conflict in the church right now. We need to find a way to be at peace with each other--we're family (of God).
• Like Esau, let's go beyond burying the hatchet, let's forget where that thing is buried.

1. Burying the hatchet is not denying what happened.

• When two tribes burying the hatchet, it didn't bring their sons back from the dead.
• Neither Jacob nor Esau denied what had happened in the past.
• Abusers often try to guilt the abused into being in the wrong for not forgiving--then sometimes they go on to kill the abused next time they lose it.
• The Allies forced the citizens of Dachau and other Nazi camps to walk through the concentration camp so they couldn't deny the atrocities that had been done.
• Five years ago I thought it would (fearfully) become obvious to one side or another of the church that they were in the wrong--I no longer expect this.
• We need to continue our quests for the kingdom of God, even though it may bring us into conflict with other believers who believe they are also questing for the kingdom of God.
• Yet we must also find a way to get along with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
• At this point I playfully used the Bugs Bunny cartoon of the coyote and the sheep dog. They both follow their quests, but they are still friends when they clock out for the day.

2. Forgiving is unilateral

• Ultimately, forgiveness is something we do whether we ever get a heartfelt change of mind or apology from the other side.
• Forgiving is not being stupid (see comment on abuser above).
• Forgiveness comes from self-awareness, that we cannot earn God's favor or forgiveness. We stand right before God because of God's grace to us.
• We are not Michael Jordan in the old SNL Stuart Smalley skit. We are fundamentally flawed as human beings.
• Jacob has to hit rock bottom before he can face Esau.
• An utter sense of God's grace is the place of forgiveness.

3. We can forget when we have an overwhelming sense of God's blessing.

• Esau is no longer bothered by what Jacob did to him in the past. God has blessed him so much that those wrongs seem trivial now. He may not have received Isaac's blessing, but he received much more from the Lord.
• Paul feels this way in Philippians 3. He had a really impressive CV. In his own words, those merits were like "crap" in comparison to the gracious gifts of Christ.

Conclusion

• A couple siblings who stopped talking to each other over the politics of the last few years. But they resumed as if nothing had happened when they sensed something attacking their family. So let us realize that we have far more in common in Christ than the things that are trying to separate us.
• We are family. Let's bury our hatchets for sure. Then let's forget where we buried them because we are so blessed by God.

"Face toward the Cross" (sermon starters)

"Set Your Face Toward the Cross"

March 21, 2021

McCrae Brook Wesleyan Church

Text: Luke 9:18-25, 51

Introduction

The unfolding of COVID. Fever, symptoms on Day 3. Most who go into the hospital do so on Day 7. If you make it with oxygen high enough by Day 10, you probably are going to survive. 

Long job searches where you know the process is going to take months. Your future hangs in the balance while you watch the hour hand move slowly around.

Jesus sets his face toward the cross in Luke 9, but he doesn't get to Jerusalem until Luke 19.

I. The Anxiety of Jesus

John 12:27 -- There's a whole lot that is summarized very briefly here. John gives us the superJesus, the super-confident, super-powerful, super-knowing Jesus. This verse gives only a hint of what we know from the other Gospels:

• "Now is my soul sorrowful, even to the point of death" (Matt. 26:38).
• He prayed that, if it were possible, he wanted the hour to pass from him. He asked the Lord to remove the cup from him. (Mark 14:34-36)

Let's think on this. This is the same Jesus who spoke Matthew 6:25-34. 

Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus was tempted like us. He felt anxiety about his death. It's not about the feelings. It's about the moment of decision.

II. The Temptations of Emotions

Emotions in themselves are neither good or bad, it's what we do with them that counts. It's the choices we make. Casablanca -- we don't know exactly what the Captain is going to decide when Rick shoots the Nazi. Harry Potter -- for a moment I thought I wasn't either

• Anger -- in your anger do not sin (Ephesians 4:26) -- press pause, journal, vent to others, pray
• Doubt -- find others to be faith for you, revisit moments of God's visitation in the past
• Sadness -- read psalms of lament, get it out, then tune into joy, get around people
• Anxiety -- when fear keeps us from acting in faith or wronging others -- choose courage, take the next step of courage

III. The Lord will Provide

The story of Abraham and Isaac. Jehovah Jireh. No matter what, God gives grace (James 4:6) -- he gives more grace when the burdens grow greater

Conclusion

Set your face toward the cross. Take up your cross and follow Jesus. Do it one step, one choice at a time.

Sermon Starters -- "Hard Pressed, Not Crushed"

Title: "Not Dead Yet"
Location: McCrae Brook Wesleyan Church
Date: January 31, 2021

Introduction

• The ravages of COVID, the situation in the country, possibly Monty Python skits ("I'm not dead yet")
• Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, 14, 16-18
• Prayer

The situation of 2 Corinthians:

• Paul has been wrestling with the Corinthians for three years -- disunity and factionalism.
• In one corner, the wise guys who liked Pastor 2 (Apollos) better than Pastor 1 (Paul). 
• He walked on eggshells in 1 Corinthians. Lost it in a harsh letter. Didn't know if they would listen to him after that.
• Meanwhile, he runs into big troubles at Ephesus (1:8). He's just left when he writes 2 Corinthians.
• The tone changes at the end of 2 Corinthians -- chapters 10-13. It's like he finds out they're still not with him. Romans 15:23 reads pretty somber in this light.

I. We may face trouble from the world. 

• Paul in Acts 19 -- The success of the gospel leads to persecution. On this occasion, he gets out.
• A lot of Christians are worried about persecution right now. Obviously none of us want that.
• My tendency to think I'm sick... when I'm not.
• We are not being persecuted -- Having to wear a mask is not persecution. Having to meet online is not persecution. Losing tax exempt status is not persecution. Having to take pictures at a gay wedding is not persecution.
• The American church wants to be in power, and it interprets its loss of power as persecution.
• Paul is thankful for every day he escapes Roman persecution and still prays for the emperor (1 Tim. 2:2). Remember that the emperor of Romans 13 is the same one who will later behead him. Same is true of Peter in 1 Peter 2:13.
• If we can make the world a better place, I think we should. But our hope doesn't come from a world where everything goes our way.
• "We are hard-pressed, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."

II. We may face trouble from other Christians.

• This is the big surprise. Paul is probably more troubled by the Corinthians than the Roman Empire.
• He got pounded by both "liberals" and "conservatives." I don't really like those terms. You don't really know what they mean until you figure out what people are "conserving" and what people are "liberating." In a college setting, who knows what the "liberal arts are." :-)

A. There were the "liberals" at Corinth.

• They were the ones that insisted on their freedom. "We should be able to go to pagan temples." "We're not under the Law." "This is a free religion." "A man can sleep with his father's wife." They claimed to know stuff. They thought they were more spiritual.
• This group would not listen to Paul. They mocked him. They were messing up the church he had founded.
• Paul cared for them. He does crack down on the guy sleeping with his step-mother, but his goal is redemptive. He wants to see the guy saved in the end. More importantly, he tries to show the "libertines" that Christianity is not about my freedoms or my rights. Serving God is freeing because I am surrendering to the way things are supposed to work.
• Illustration -- sliding on wet pavement. turn the wheel in the direction of the slide
• In fact, Christ calls us to give up our freedoms when they hurt others or might cause someone else to stumble. It's one thing to stand up for the rights of others, for their benefit. Christianity has nothing to do with standing up for my rights and freedoms.
• "We are perplexed, but not in despair."

B. There were the "conservatives" at Galatia.

• After Paul founded the churches at Galatia, Christian missionaries came and tried to correct Paul's teaching that they did not have to become Jews.
• They are insisting on following the Bible (as they interpreted it). Get circumcised. Follow the Law. Don't eat the wrong things. Don't touch the wrong things.  Don't eat with the wrong people.
• They really ticked him off. They were messing up the churches he founded. He doesn't consider them to be real Christians (although Luke may have--Acts 15:1).
• They no doubt felt the same, considered him a filthy liberal, a heretic. "He eats with the wrong people." "He teaches Jews not to keep the Law." "He encourages people to sin."
• This is the flavor of people that constantly is getting him in trouble with the Romans as he conducts his mission across the Mediterranean. Eventually, they will get him arrested in Jerusalem. 
• There are right and wrong answers. It wasn't clear at the time. Paul is in the New Testament. In hindsight, we know he was right. At the time, we have to endure our opposition. 
• "Pressed down, but not crushed"

III. We may face doubts from inside.

• Paul did--should I have sent that letter to the Corinthians? "Fights on the outside; fears on the inside" (2 Cor. 7:5). Paul's not usually someone to have self-doubts. But even a Paul can get to that point.
• Romans 15:23 -- Paul probably leaves the east with deeply mixed feelings. 

IV. A cruciform attitude

• One that looks at ourselves as living a life like Christ. We are crucified with Christ. We will rise with Christ.
• Read 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, 14, 16-18

Sermon Starters -- Pour Me Some Love

Title: "Pour Me Some Love"

Occasion: Victory Highway Wesleyan Church, December 6, 2020

I. Introduction

• The surprise themes of Advent
• New Testament texts of love (1 Cor. 13; Matthew 5 and 22; John 3:16)

Text: Romans 5:1-11

• Prayer
• 5:1-11 in the flow of Romans (concludes what came before, begins what follows)
• We are in between the first and second coming. Victory over individual and cosmic Sin is won, but final consummation awaits. In the meantime, we struggle with suffering and temptation.

A. God loves us -- no really!

• Often two kinds of people -- those who don't realize they don't deserve God's love and those who don't think they have it.
• The Sheldon Coopers (Big Bang Theory) -- "Could it be me? No, I'm a delight."
• The person who doesn't hear the part after the "but" ("I like you, but...")
• On the other hand, there is the person that David Seamands said has a broken antenna. 
• Reread Romans 5:6-8
• "While we were God's enemies Christ died for us."
• Some want to wiggle out of God's love for his enemies or want to redefine love to where it doesn't mean what it seems to mean. God has shown us what it means.

B. The Holy Spirit is God's love poured into us.

• Romans 5:5 is a little ambiguous -- is it God's love or our love of God?
• Probably God's love for us, in the first place
• The context is one of suffering and testing.
• Reread Romans 5:3-5
• The love of God gets us through trials and temptations.
• Victor Frankl tweet: "A person with a why can bear any how."
• We have something better than Frankl's random "why." We have the true why and purpose. And we have the Holy Spirit to power us through.
• Illustration of needing others.
• Without God, we are stuck in Romans 7.
• James 1:5 tells us to seek wisdom from God in times of trial.
• Suffering leads to perseverance leads to character leads to hope.

C. The love of God overflows from us to others

• The other possible meaning of Romans 5:5
• Illustration of overflowing (e.g., water)
• What does it look like?
• Illustration of love overflowing.
• Golden Rule is how it plays out (Matt. 7:12)
• Tweet: Love rejoices with those who rejoice. It weeps with those who weep.
• Not always easy -- your sibling, during an election

III. Conclusion

• I believe God would have come even if Adam had not sinned, because God loves us.
• Don't know what you're facing, but the love of God is ready to flow into you.
• Give love until you feel love. When you feel love, it will overflow.

Sermon Starters -- "But if not"

Title: "But If Not"
Date: November 14, 2020
McCrae Brook Wesleyan Church, Eldred, PA

Text: Daniel 3

Introduction

• We know the story--Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
• Central verses: Daniel 3:13-18
• Thesis: We don't always know what God is going to do. (We know he'll do what's best.) We just need to be faithful.

1. Sometimes we don't know for sure what God is actually calling us to do.

• The current evangelical divide -- two groups, both of which with spiritual, godly people, who are totally convinced they know what God wants to be done.
• C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle -- the Ape and the Donkey. Confusion -- after all, "Aslan is not a tame lion."

What should we do?

• Seek God's face. Prayer, Scripture, Christian community
• Love and listen to the other side of the church.
• Be faithful. Step forward in faith. You have to live by your own faith (Rom 14; Isa 30)

2. Sometimes it works out.

• The 3 Hebrew men of Daniel 3.
• Beware victory -- "power corrupts." The fake Spurgeon quote about the Baptists not burning anyone at the stake.
• The story of Jehu -- the tension between 2 Kings 9-10 and Hosea 1 -- a tale of two prophets with a different vision. Those in 2 Kings want decimation. Hosea sees a basis for the fall of Israel.
• At least to some extent, Jehu must have done the right thing for the wrong reason.
• We need to be faithful even in victory.

3. Sometimes it doesn't work out.

• God can allow defeat or persecution for some greater purpose.
• Job -- it's a heavenly bet
• The strangeness of God's blessing, when loss turns out to be victory
• Hebrews 11:32-39

Conclusion

• "One step at a time"
• Love and listen to others in the church who disagree with you.
• Seek God's face and be faithful.

Sermon Starters: The Prodigal Parent

Houghton Wesleyan Church

June 21, 2020, Father's Day

Text: Luke 15:11-32
Recording

Introduction

• Happy Father's Day. It's not technically part of the Christian calendar, but fathers are in the Bible.
• Reflected on a number of fathers... considered Eli in 1 Samuel. My son thought that would be interesting, but probably not uplifting.
• I finally felt peace about the story of the prodigal son. You'll notice I've titled the story of the Prodigal Parent. I'm not the first to notice that the father in this story may seem quite reckless in more than one way. More on that in a moment.
• A family had two sons. The daughters aren't mentioned. They must have been perfect.
• It is an ancient story, so the father had control over the property, and who inherited it.
• The elder son seemed perfect, although we will soon find not quite. He was the kind of child that you didn't have to ask if they had done their homework. You never worried about him getting a speeding ticket or getting drunk. They used to call him a "goody two-shoes" (and since I was once called that, there's nothing wrong with that :-)
• The younger son was quite different. He was the kind of child that gave you gray hairs prematurely. Notice how brown my hair is, a sign that I have perfect children. The younger son didn't do his homework. He was the kind of child that kept you up late at night worrying if he was ok. You might even get up and drive around looking for him, hoping that he was alright.

The Younger Son

• When I think of the younger son, I think of that first seed in the Parable of the Seeds, the one that falls on the path and the birds eat it up immediately. It doesn't have any time at all to take root. I call this sort of person a "spiritual Teflon head." Nothing spiritual sticks to them. They have no interest in God or spiritual things (and they're certainly not interested in the liberal arts).
• Kierkegaard considered this stage of development something like the "pleasure" stage. For those of you who grew up in the 80s as I did, you might call it the "girls just want to have fun" stage. You'll be glad to know I won't be singing it for you.
• So he comes to the father and says something like, "Dad, I noticed you're not dead. Could we pretend you are and give me my inheritance now?"
• It's quite an insolent thing to ask. I would be deeply hurt. Another father might be very angry.
• But the father in the story seems quite even-keeled about it. I was in a discussion with Houghton's Michael Jordan recently about the word confident. According to his definition, the father in the parable is a confident father who is not rattled by situations that would make other people melt in fear or blow up in anger.
• I will say that I am struck that the younger brother is receiving anything at all. You will remember the story of Jacob and Esau in the OT, where it seems pretty much all or nothing.
• This leads me to one of my first observations in this story: Our prodigal parent loves us all equally.
• By the way, I used the term "parent" in the title as a reminder that, while it is Father's Day and we are focusing on fathers, God (whisper) does not have a male anatomy. God's maleness is a picture, not literal. This story could just as well be about mothers as fathers and about two daughters as about two sons. 
• And the father gives it to him. This is quite remarkable. I don't think I would have. Somewhere we could tell another parable where the father says, "Son, it's not going to be good for you if I give this. You would later regret it if I did." Certainly the elder brother wouldn't have given it to him. 
• This brings me to another take-away from the story. Our prodigal parent doesn't always protect us from our own foolishness.
• The older brother no doubt thought this was a reckless decision. What a waste!
• You may know Cory Asbury's song that marvels at the "overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God." There are some who don't like this song (including my wife, so I have to be careful here). Mostly they don't like the idea of God's love being reckless. I've seen some heated Facebook debates about this concept (which is funny because nothing is ever heated on Facebook). The elder brother certainly didn't like that song. What kind of reckless father "leaves the 99"?
• As I reflected on the father giving him the money, a slightly different perspective did occur to me. What if the father had waited? What if the son had inherited the property and possessions after the father was gone? He would have still wasted it. But then, he would be dealing with his older brother, not his father. His older brother either would have flat out told him no or might have taken him up on his offer to become a servant. And he would have never let him forget it. By giving the inheritance now, the father leaves room for his full redemption.
• There are two reasons God lets us go. The one is the Romans 1 reason. There is nothing left to redeem in us because we have set our course and hardened our hearts. God lets us go, lets us spiral out of control, and the penalty is entailed within our own course.
• The other reason is redemptive. God wants us to wake up. This a third take-away I have from this story. Our prodigal parent is patient with our foolishness, and eagerly longs for us to wake up.
• We know the story. The younger brother goes to a far off country. He has truly left the building. I don't think we naturally get the level of offence that he does here. His world is an honor-shame world, not a world of individual guilt where it's all about being true to your principles. He insults and disgraces not only his father, not only his family, but he is an affront to his people and his God.
• The fact that he is in a place where they herd pigs is significant. I used just to think "Yuck, smelly pigs," but there is something more significant going on here. There were no pigs in ancient Israel. This is one of the ways that archaeologists can tell that an ancient site belonged to Israel and not, for example, to Philistines. There are no pig bones in ancient Israelite settlements.
• So this son has left Israel. And since the ancients lined up gods with peoples, he has left his God. He has insulted his father, his family, his village, his people, and his God.
• Finally, the son hits rock bottom. We know the story. The father takes him back, even throws him a party. What a reckless father!

The Older Son

• Most of you know the story. The older brother is not pleased at all. We might call him the "law and order" son. To him it just isn't fair. And of course it isn't.
• He seems to relate to Kierkegaard's second stage. If the younger son lived for pleasure, the younger son is oriented around duty. This is better than living for pleasure because you are living for something bigger than yourself. But because you are focused on rules rather than people, you can become oppressive to others.
• I find the Parable of the Prodigal Son deeply subversive. The father doesn't say, "Well, I'd love to take you back but first you need to find someone to pay. Maybe your older brother will do it."
• There is a kind of theology that looks at the atonement a little like this, like there is an angel accountant somewhere in heaven keeping track of the units of sin (maybe, "sin-ons") that Jesus has to mathematically atone for. Then on the cross, God calibrates the sun gun and zaps Jesus with exactly the right amount of penalty, as if Jesus has to dip his toe in Gehenna hell just long enough to pay for all that sin.
• But the parable knows nothing about this sort of necessity. The father is sovereign and has the authority simply to choose to forgive. Don't get me wrong. We need the cross even if God didn't. Perhaps C. S. Lewis gave us the best picture of Aslan's death working a deep magic. The sense that Christ's death satisfies the sense of justice God has built into the universe is also true.
• And Terry Paige would be upset with me if I didn't at some point give the original connotations of this story. It is of course a great story about how God will take us back if we leave him and how we should be happy when God forgives others we don't want to be forgiven.
• But the Prodigal Son represents the tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners of Israel. They weren't even trying to keep the covenant. They weren't even trying to follow the Old Testament. They were the spiritual cast-aways of Israel... and of no interest to religious leaders.
• There is a shorter version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Matthew. There was a father who had two sons that he asked to go work in the field. One said he would but didn't. The other said he wouldn't but did in the end. These relate to the reactions to Jesus. The tax collectors and prostitutes are those who weren't even trying to be righteous, they they accept Jesus and go work in the field. 
• The Pharisees, scribes, rabbis, and religious leaders were the "healthy" that Jesus shouldn't have needed to minister to. They were voted "most likely to be righteous in high school." But the funny thing is, they don't accept Jesus' reckless love, and they don't accept Jesus.
• But our prodigal parent is God and isn't accountable to his law and order children.
• The elder brother also disgraces and insults his father, because he refuses to join the party for the sheep that was lost and now found. We don't feel his shame, in part because we identify him and in part because we don't get the shame dimension of the story.
• The older brother in story story reminds me of the priest and Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Some scholars say they didn't have a legitimate purity reason not to help (Amy Jill Levine), so that can't be the meaning. But since when have people not used Scripture as an excuse not to do the wrong thing. I think these two were hiding behind a purity argument not to help.
• Jesus makes a Samaritan the good guy. They certainly weren't thought to be "good." Pick the person you least want to love, the person you least want to be the good guy. That's who the Samaritan represents.
• But our prodigal parent is patient with children who think they know law and order better that our reckless father.

Kierkegaard's Third Stage

• I'm not a full blown Kierkegaardian. His third stage is a blind leap of faith. But there is a stage beyond pleasure and duty. A stage of surrender to God as our reckless parent.
• The younger son in the pleasure stage only lives for himself and eventually crashes in self-defeat.
• The older son in the duty stages does live for something bigger than himself, but it is not the person of God. It is the rules, and those rules are unforgiving and rigid. 
• Our higher calling is to be like the prodigal father. We submit ourselves to our reckless Parent, who loves even those who are foolish and stubborn.

Blessing

• Now may the God who is patient with foolish prodigals and stubborn older brothers, receive you into his kingdom of reckless love and welcome you with open arms into the eternal celebration. Amen.

Discerning God's Will for Action

Here is the outline of a presentation I gave February 20 to a leadership development group of pastors in Western New York.
______________
Discernment: To Go or Stay

1. Two Personalities/Biases I've seen:

• Wait, don't act until the Lord tells you what to do. 
• Move forward and the Lord will stop you if you go in the wrong direction.

Scriptures to support both:

• "Wait on the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait, I say, on the Lord." Ps 27:14
• "You will hear a voice behind you when you turn to the right or the left" (Isa 30:21)

One instance when we are probably hearing God is when we are impressed in a different direction than our natural tendencies.

2. I shared my process in coming to Houghton.

• I had an impression of a change coming. It was both a push and a pull.
• Outside factors included an empty nest, a sense that I was not as aligned with the direction of my situation as I used to be.
• Inside was a sense that I either needed to return to teaching or move into more advanced leadership.
• Doors opened.
• There were a striking number of benefits to walking through the door.
• I had an unusual peace about it.

3. There is not one answer for every situation.

• Sometimes we have to wait because there is nothing we can do but pray. (Of course we should always be praying. We should always sit with a choice in silence before the Lord.)
• Sometimes God wants us to wait on him when we could act but it is not his will.
• Sometimes God makes it clear what we are to do and when we are to do it.
• Sometimes we need to step out in faith without knowing for sure where we are going.

4. Impressions by Martin Wells Knapp

• Scripture - "Impressions from above are always in harmony with the teachings of the Word."
• conscience - Does the impression cohere with our core Christian values (love God, love neighbor)? (I have modified Knapp here)
• providence - "If a leading is of God, the way will always open for it."
• reason - God's leading usually makes sense.

5. An impression can begin with an outside push or a pull.

• Your situation can get rough (a push).
• Your situation can change in a way that requires choices.
• A door can open and a new possibility present itself (a pull).
• There's a time to stick it out. There is a time to shake the dust off your feet.
• There can also be a time when you are ready to continue, but your influence is spent. You may want to stay but it would benefit the situation for someone else to take over.
• There's a time to step out in faith. There's a time to wait for a door to open.

6. An impression can begin with something inside.

• A "holy discontent" (but beware a personality always looking for greener grass)
• A person can have a sense of release or a sense of ongoing burden.
• God often gives us choices, gives us a say in what to choose. There isn't always just one will of God.
• God interacts with our choices. He sometimes "changes his mind about judgment" (Jonah). He gives Hezekiah an extra 15 years. Sometimes he turns toward the negative (Saul, destruction of Jerusalem). 

7. Making decisions

• An impression - peace? discontent? excitement? a possible word from the Lord?
• What does Scripture and my conscience say? 
• What doors are open and closed?
• What are the pros and cons (reason)? Does it make sense?
• What do others say, whose wisdom I recognize? Don't ignore the prophets you don't like!
• Listen to the voice behind you.

8. A prayer
Lord, grant me the peace to wait on you when I cannot or should not act…
Lord, grant me the courage to act when it is time, even if I am uncertain of the direction…
Lord, grant me the wisdom to know the difference!