FIRST READING Isaiah 65:1-9
1I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name. 2I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; 3a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; 4who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; 5who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. 6Behold, it is written before me: “I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap 7both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together, says the Lord; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds.” 8Thus says the Lord: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all. 9I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there.
PSALM Psalm 3
1Lord, how many adversaries I have! how many there are who rise up against me! 2How many there are who say of me, “There is no help for him in his God.” 3But you, O Lord, are a shield about me; you are my glory, the one who lifts up my head. 4I call aloud upon the Lord, and he answers me from his holy hill; 5I lie down and go to sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. 6I do not fear the multitudes of people who set themselves against me all around. 7Rise up, O Lord; set me free, O my God; surely, you will strike all my enemies across the face, you will break the teeth of the wicked. 8Deliverance belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be upon your people!
SECOND READING Galatians 3:23-4:7
23Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
1I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
GOSPEL Luke 8:26-39
26Then {Jesus and the disciples} sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. 34When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
PEOPLE WHO ARE DOWN ON THEMSELVES
Today will complete our series on the four Core values of the NALC and of all the values, this is the easiest one to understand. So instead of devoting the entire sermon to something so straightforward, I’ll simply conclude this series by saying that being Congregationally Focused simply means, that instead of us expecting the mission and ministry of the church to happen at the National or International level, the strategy in the NALC is that we, at the congregational level, take ownership and responsibility.
In years past, the expectation was that we would send our benevolent support to the national office and they would then send those funds to the appropriate agency. It was very much a hands-off approach to ministry. It created the idea that as long as we give our money to the national office, we’ve done our part; no further action was needed or required. What this created was an attitude of, as long as I give, my job is done. I don’t need to have any further involvement in the ministry of the church. In effect, the previous practice made the Great Commission a passive activity; it promoted the idea that sharing God’s good news with others was someone else’s problem.
But this isn’t what Jesus commanded. The Great Commission is an active activity. This is what Jesus intended when He told His disciples, which includes you and me, to go. Being Congregationally Focused means we’re to be actively involved. When appropriate, we do send financial support directly to agencies and missionaries. By doing so, it means we are intimately connected with the agencies and ministries we support: we pray for them and support them because we know them personally. Being Congregationally Focused means we also understand that the Great Commission calls us to be personally involved in the ministry of our community. Jesus has called you and me to go and witness to the lost and to all those to whom we come into contact each day. It means living a Christ-Centered life out in the public sphere of our daily lives. Being Congregationally Focused means we personally accept responsibility for doing God’s work in the world. See I told you that was easy. Easier than the homework of a certain young man I read about the other day.
This young man approached his father the other day and said, “Dad, will you help me with my homework?” “I’m sorry,” replied the father. “It wouldn’t be right.” “Well,” said the boy, “at least you could try.”
Welcome once again on this Father’s Day, 2016. One thing you may not be aware of is that Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be problematic for pastors, especially Father’s Day. As many of our educators will tell you, some young people today have no real relationship with their Dads. And many others have a relationship that could be termed destructive.
Charles Sell, in his book Unfinished Business, tells about David Simmons, a former cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys. Dave’s father, a military man, was extremely demanding. He rarely said a kind word. He never permitted his son to feel any satisfaction about anything he did. He always pushed him to do better. When Dave was a small boy his father gave him a bicycle, unassembled, and commanded that he put it together. When he failed, his father said, “I knew you couldn’t do it.” Then he assembled it for him. When Dave played football in high school, after every game, his dad would go over every play and point out Dave’s errors. The stress was almost unbearable. By the time he entered college, Dave hated his father.
When colleges offered Dave a scholarship to play football, he chose Georgia Tech . . . mainly because it was the college farthest away from his home. After college, Dave was a second round team pick in the NFL draft. The first round pick, that year, was a player you’ve probably heard of, a quarterback named Joe Namath. Think about that–Dave Simmons was the second player chosen by the Cowboys after Joe Namath. That’s quite an accomplishment! His father’s only comment: “How does it feel to be second?”
As an adult Dave Simmons became a man of faith, and God’s love caused him to reach out to his Dad. It was then that he first learned about his paternal grandfather. He really hadn’t known anything about his Dad’s upbringing. His grandfather had been a tough lumberjack. He was known for his quick temper. He was also known for regularly beating his son, Dave’s Dad. This information caused Dave Simmons to feel more sympathy for his Dad. As he put it, “Knowing about my father’s upbringing . . . helped me see that, under the circumstances, he might have done much worse.” By the time his father died, Dave and his dad had become friends.
Having had a good relationship with my dad means, I think the reconciliation between Dave and his father was wonderful. I’m thankful that Dave was able to get past the problem he had with his Dad. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. People go to their graves never able to forgive or forget. It even affects their feelings about God. It’s very difficult for some people to pray, “Our Father . . .” when their entire image of “father” has been distorted. I hope this isn’t the case with anyone here because the good news is that no matter what kind of relationship we have with our earthly parents, we have a heavenly Father who is everything we’d like an earthly parent to be–forgiving, accepting, a Father who believes in us, who created us in His own image. It means that we are the apple of God’s eye.
It’s like something Max Lucado once said: “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends us flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning . . . Face it, He’s crazy about us!” Here’s how St. Paul put it in our second lesson for the day: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
One of the reasons many good people have bad times, is that they carry around baggage from past experiences or relationships. Many people have had their self-image trampled on at home, at school, or on the job. For them, it’s not simply a matter of having sporadic times of adversity. They carry their bad times within. There’s no use in changing locations or jobs or even changing spouses or friends. They cannot escape themselves. What do we do when it’s the inner self that’s been damaged?
W. Paul Jones tells the story of a woman who suffered from polio during her childhood. Many of us, I know, are too young to have ever seen a young person crippled by polio–confined to a wheelchair, or crutches–or even worse, in an iron lung. And I thank God and Jonas Salk that polio has been eradicated in my lifetime. It’s a terrible thing to happen to anyone let alone a young person.
The effect on the self-image of the woman that Mr. Jones tells about, was worse than her physical pain. Here’s how she viewed herself. She said that when, as a child, her mother would leave her in Sunday school, she would always ask her mother if she could wear her mother’s locket. Her mother assumed she had a special attachment to the necklace. That wasn’t it at all. As far as she was concerned, she said, “I knew I wasn’t worth coming back for, but I knew my mother would come back for her locket.” It’s incredibly sad that someone would feel that way about themselves.
But the truth is, there are a good many people who experience bad times because they carry around baggage from past experiences or relationships that have crushed their self-esteem. St. Paul’s words are a refreshing balm to all, who have been damaged by their past for whatever reason, “So in Christ Jesus we are all children of God through faith . . .” And he continues, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus . . .” And then there are those people who have bad times because they carry around baggage from past experiences or relationships.
Let’s face it, people can be cruel. And because of the thoughtlessness of others, some people carry around baggage because they’ve been denigrated because of their gender, ethnicity, race or some other personal characteristic. I know some here understand this first hand, and then there are some who would prefer I ignore the whole issue altogether. So let me just say this: hatred and/or a judgmental attitude toward someone else was never God’s intension for us. And this can get in the way of our call to minister to those around us. Let me give you this example.
In the book of Acts, there is an amazing story about an Ethiopian eunuch. One of the Apostles, Philip, was led by the Spirit to Gaza. On the way he encountered an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. The eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home. He was sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” So Philip ran to the eunuch’s chariot and heard him reading aloud passages from Isaiah the prophet.
Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The eunuch replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him in the chariot. Now the passage from Isaiah that the Ethiopian was reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth” (Isaiah 53:7-8). And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
Of course, Isaiah was writing of the coming Messiah. So Philip, beginning with this Scripture, told this Ethiopian the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and Philip baptized him (Acts 8:26-40).
The question the Ethiopian asked was a good one. What prevented this man from being baptized? Nothing! Not the color of his skin or his physical condition. “So in Christ Jesus we are all children of God through faith, for all who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus . . .” The truth is, God’s passion is for His entire creation. . . this includes every person on this earth. God loves us not because of our skin color, not because of our sex, not because we’re American, or physically attractive, or because of our socio-economic status. God loves us because we were created by Him. He loves us, all of us, so much that He sent His Son in our behalf. And, if God can love every person on earth, so must we.
It’s amazing to me that in a nation that considers itself a Christian nation, we’re still fighting battles over gender equality or racial equality. But then again, power struggles are nothing new; we’ll always struggle with them. No matter what, it seems no one wants to give up power and the other person doesn’t want to share it, they want it to themselves. But these attitudes aren’t unique to us as Americans. Bigotry and hatred is something everyone on this earth shares in common.
Pastor Jamie Buckingham says he was on the receiving end of rejection one time and it radically changed his attitude. In his book, Parables, Jamie Buckingham was at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Thousands of Jews were there to pray. As an obvious gentile he tried not be conspicuous. Close by was a huge fountain where the Orthodox Jews, with their beards and long side curls, dressed in their traditional rabbinical clothing, were washing their hands in ceremonial cleansing before approaching the wall. Buckingham was looking for a place where he, too, could pray, apart from the crowd. Turning, he inadvertently bumped into a young Hasidic (that is, ultra-Orthodox) rabbi.
“Gentile dog!” the young rabbi snarled. Then, without warning, he spit on the front of Jamie Buckingham’s shirt. Whirling away, the young Hasidic rabbi made his way back to the fountain where he had washed his hands moments before. Having been touched by a gentile, he obviously felt unclean and now felt forced to go through the ritual purification once again. Jamie Buckingham says the effect of being cursed and being spat upon by this ultra-religious individual was dramatic for him.
Jamie says he never in his life felt so alone, so rejected. Suddenly he felt like he knew how the Jews had felt across the centuries as they had been hunted, persecuted and killed by religious people–both “Christians” and Muslims. Only this time it was he, a follower of Christ, who was the object of contempt–scorned for not being as religious as that young rabbi. Standing in the midst of that cacophony of religious sound, he said, with spittle running down his shirt, his entire identity changed. Suddenly, he says, he felt at one with all those who had been considered less than human.
It was an amazing insight that Jamie Buckingham gained from his experience. St. Paul somehow had that same insight. Can you imagine how revolutionary it was when Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus . . .” This, of course, wasn’t the 21st century when St. Paul wrote this. This was more than 2,000 years ago. So why are we still fighting these battles for tolerance and acceptance today? The bottom line is, that there’s sin and hatred in the world. And it’s absurd–particularly for followers of Jesus. God has a passion for people–all people. Even those who choose to live a life of sin or those we see as our enemy.
With the recent attacks in Orlando, San Bernadino and Boston by extremists, I think the following story is a good reminder of how easy it is for us categorically single people out for discrimination. As self-focused people, it’s much easier for us to hate anyone who doesn’t agree with us. To vilify anyone who disagrees with the choices we make. When we hate, we don’t have to be courteous, respectful or listen to what the other person has to say. Hate is so much easier: but as Christians we’re called to love our neighbors, even those who disagree with us and/or hate us. And trust me, in light of recent event, I’m struggling with this as well.
Another pastor tells of a friend who lives in Manhattan. Every morning this pastor would have breakfast at a little downtown diner. And every morning, he would see the same crowd who also started their day at the cafe. One day, the pastor walked into the diner and introduced himself to the crowd, hoping to create a friendlier atmosphere in the place. It worked. Barriers were broken down. People began conversing with strangers. It worked for everyone but the owner. All he would reveal of himself was his name, Harry.
A few weeks passed, and as all the regular customers became friends, the pastor pressured Harry to reveal a little more about himself. So Harry reluctantly announced that his real name was Hazim, and he was from Baghdad, Iraq. Now, this was when Saddam Hussein was still in power and was considered a real threat to world security, especially Israel. A majority of the patrons of the diner were Jewish and tensions between Arabs and Jews were running high, as they have been for centuries. All the customers in the diner froze as Harry announced his national origin.
The next morning, as the pastor was getting ready, he heard a report that the United States had begun bombing Baghdad. The pastor dropped what he was doing and ran to the subway, hoping to reach the diner before Harry opened that morning. He wanted to reassure Harry of his friendship and love. As the pastor rounded the corner, however, he saw something amazing. The whole regular morning crowd was also lining the sidewalk, waiting for Harry. When Harry arrived, all the customers surrounded him with words of encouragement. Then the pastor prayed for all of them–Jews, Christians, and this recent immigrant, a Muslim from Iraq.
To me, this is how we’re to live a Christ-Center life and to work in the kingdom of God. Yes, we do need to take all things into consideration, we’re to use the wisdom God gave us and we’re to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) But we can’t arbitrarily assume things about a person just because of where they came from or what they look like. We also must remember that God loves His entire creation and we need to share God’s unconditional love with everyone around us. Yes, it’s much easier to hate.
It’s so much easier to alienate, ostracize and degrade those who don’t fit into our perceived mold. But that’s not who we are or what we’re called to be. When we place Jesus first and live a Christ-Centered life, then we will love as Jesus loves. It means that we become Mission-Driven and we actively go and share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone we encounter. And because we’re Congregationally Focused, we take personal responsibility for God’s work here in this world. Yes, it’s much easier to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, write a check and forget what God has called us to be, His church in this world. But that isn’t what Jesus called us to do. Jesus commanded us to love and to go.
Amen