...pay attention to what Dr. Hodes said. He said that when he came to a tough decision point, like the decision to adopt those two desperately sick boys into his own family, the answer that came to him was like God himself offering him an opportunity to help these boys. Don’t say no,” said his heart. “Don’t say no” to God.
Say what you want about the end-times views of these 19th Century reformers, but don’t miss the point that our forebears firmly believed that the way they lived their lives…the manner in which they served Christ…and the way in which they shared with their neighbors actually enabled them to (as Barack Obama might say): “put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.” They believed that their actions influenced the coming Christ and the coming Kingdom. They saw themselves as participants in the heavenly drama. They weren’t hanging around waiting for God to straighten everything out. They were co-workers in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said that this command is the greatest, the heaviest. Why? Because if you miss this one, you have no hope of understanding anything that comes after, and you have no need to search any further. On these two commandments, the whole Gospel hangs, or hinges. This command to love God is the lynchpin, the top hinge, the first stone in the foundation. If you never learn to love God, you’ll never understand his heart. But if you fall in love with God, a lot of other things will come into focus. At its very core, the kingdom of God is not about thinking correctly, or keeping the right rules or even believing all the right things …it's about being in love.
We live in perilous times. This month we added to our litany of gripping national problems: wars, hurricanes, and global warming a new crisis-- we’re now in the midst of a financial meltdown that economists tell us is every bit as desperate as the problems the United States faced in the late 20’s. So staggering is the scope of the problem, we’re losing our ability to be shocked by the numbers…You need a check…today…filled out for 700 billion dollars or it’s back to living in caves? Can we charge it to our grandkids?
Panic hasn’t hit our neighborhoods yet…although the investment bankers and financial gurus’ hair has been aflame for some time. But shortages and high prices have us shaking our heads. I was supposed to meet with some preachers near Asheville on Friday. Two of them called to cancel the meeting…there was no gasoline in their towns. No gasoline to be had. Have you ever known that to happen before? Are harder times ahead? Are we due for a serious lifestyle re-adjustment? What will that mean for us?
God found some of you at 7:00am. Your folks probably got you up and had you ready—perhaps they taught you the importance of a lifetime of service in the landowner’s vineyard, and when the truck rolled into the market, you jumped on. Some of you he found at 9:00am or even 12 noon. You took a little longer to come around, but gladly got to work when you were called, and you’ve been plugging away ever since. Some of you weren’t found until 3 pm, or even 5pm, when the Lord walked in on your card game at the marketplace. You’d given up any thought of work for the Master, and were shocked when the door flew open and the Landowner stepped through with a smile and said: “What in the world are you hanging around for? Come on, let’s make something of this day.” So here you are, hoe in hand, at work in the Master’s vineyard. You’re a little embarrassed that it’s so late in the day, but it’s great to be found by Him.
What does it mean for us to take up our crosses daily? What do Jesus’ words for us mean at 9:00am on Monday morning? At 12:00 at night? When you’re alone…when you’re in a crowd?
What does it mean to “lose your life for Jesus?” I’m good at losing things. I have lost sunglasses in fourteen states and three continents. But how do I lose my life, on a daily basis? And how do you lose your life by trying to save it?
It was Abraham who first gave us the notion that faith calls for us to “venture out.” Humans are almost by definition creatures on the move. The word for “human” in the Tibetan language means “one who moves.” Someone once suggested that the scientific name for humans should not be “homo sapiens,” but “homo mobilius.”
Today’s scripture, from the twelfth chapter of Genesis, describes the call of Abraham to move...to travel...to venture out with God. I don’t think there is a more important text in the entire Old Testament. This is where the history of the people of God really begins. This text marks the end of primeval history, and the start of God’s historical relationship with Israel.
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Many of us here this morning are a little uncomfortable with commands...or at least certain commands? We chafe under the seeming inflexibility of “the rules,” we bend God’s commands and sometimes break them and try to explain them away or just plain ignore them. Sometimes rules seem dusty and out of date and senseless anyway. Did you know that in Tennessee, it is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle? In Indiana, it is against the law to shoot open a can of food. (So that’s why they make pop tops!) In Kentucky, it is a crime to use a reptile during any part of a religious service. “I don’t care if it is testimony time...put that snake away!”
“Thin places.” In every age, in every land, people who seek the divine have always believed special places exist . . . sacred spaces where the Spirit of Life comes near. “Thin places.” Those were the words a Scottish gardener used to describe the island of Iona, just off the Western coast of Scotland. That rocky, windswept island was home to the radiant Columba, who in the sixth century founded a monastery that became the beating heart of a missionary movement that eventually stretched all the way across the dark lands of Western Europe. “Ah,” said the gardener, “Iona is a very thin place!” Asked to explain his words, he remarked, “There’s very little between Iona and the Lord.”
Have you found “thin places,” where the barriers between heaven and earth are permeable...where anything could happen, where God comes near?
Philemon, a man of some means, had lost one of his house servants, a man named “Onesimus” or “Useful” had run away. Philemon had traced the runaway’s path, but the trail grew cold. Now where does he show up but in the company of Paul, the servant of Christ. “I’m writing to you about ‘Useful,’ who has become a son to me while I’ve been in jail,” Paul wrote. “Now before you call 911 or send the Bounty Hunter, I want you to read this letter in its entirety. I know you probably want to change your servant’s name from ‘Useful’ to ‘Useless,’ but I believe that he might become ‘useful’ to both of us, and perhaps that’s the Lord’s doing. ‘Useful’ has become a man of faith, a servant of Christ, a helper to me in my present condition. Nevertheless, he belongs to you and I’m writing to tell you that I’m sending him home.”
“Now--before you break out the handcuffs and the chains, listen to this old man, who has been a father in the faith to you, and a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beg you to do something for me. Have mercy on ‘Useful.’
