Sermon for Sept. 13!

Word Power –

Mark 8:27-38

Being a Christian is a two-step process. The first step is to recognize that God finds us acceptable. The time that we in the United Methodist Church celebrate the good news of God unconditional grace, God’s acceptance of us for what we are, and God’s forgiveness for our flaws, is at our baptism.  But, that is only the first step. The second step is claiming that assurance for ourselves.

...each believer must respond to God’s grace and stop focusing on himself or herself and trying to seek out his or her own happiness, and instead begin to concentrate more on loving and caring for others. This is the secret ingredient to abundant living. This is the key to the Christian faith. This is what it means to be a follower of Christ. This is what is meant by the words “born again.” And this is what it means, in this passage from Mark, to take up the cross.

Jesus gets the conversation going by asking his disciples what everybody is saying about him. The disciples answer him in terms of popular beliefs, "Oh, Jesus, you know, some are comparing you to John the Baptist, or maybe Elijah, or some other prophet." "Well, what about you guys. You know me by now. What do you think? What are you saying about me? Who do you tell people that I am?"

And Peter, the one who was always looking for proof, always trying to find a way to know for sure, comes to a crossroad point in his faith journey. It is he who speaks for all of them...

.... finally truly believing deep within the most secret inner places of his soul, that Jesus is of God. He says, "You are the Messiah."

And it is then that Jesus begins to explain what kind of Messiah he is. Jesus tells them that he not going to be the popular hero. He is not going the lead their country to power or military success. They aren’t all going to become rich or famous. Jesus is not going to give them what they think they need to be happy....

. The way to fulfillment is not by saving your own life, but by saving the lives of your neighbors. I will suffer and be rejected by the world, and if you want to follow me, you've got to do the s. The way to fulfillment is not by saving your own life, but by saving the lives of your neighbors. I will suffer and be rejected by the world, and if you want to follow me, you've got to do the same.  You've got to quit thinking about what will make you happy....,

You've got to get your self out the way..., You've got to deny your self and follow me.

The reason I continue to be a part of the church, even with all its flaws, is because it is where this idea of following Christ is taught and perpetuated. I believe I need to surround myself with other people who proclaim Jesus as their Messiah because I have learned that the more I focus on him—learning his ways and trying to think like him, act like him, be like him—and the less I focus on myself...

We are not our own; therefore neither our reason nor our will should predominate in our deliberations and actions. We are not on our own; therefore let us not propose it as our end, to seek what may be expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own; therefore let us, as far as possible, forget ourselves and all things that are ours.

Our self-help culture tells us that the way to be happy is to love ourselves and focus on doing what we most want. But the church tells us that the way to be happy is to deny ourselves and take up the cross.

.... , at the core of the church is always Jesus:

Jesus, whose teachings and actions flew in the face of popular culture.

Jesus, who issued a radical call.

Jesus, who has led us on a journey that leads to true joy.

Wisdom from Above

“Wisdom from Above”

 James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

In doing my research for this sermon, I ran across a book entitled; How to Argue and Win Every time. I don’t recommend it. But obviously a lot of people have read this book because it has been on the national bestseller list several times. According to the author Gerry Spence, we were born to win arguments. The problem, says Spence, is that we have been locked up by our parents, our preachers, and our teachers. We have been taught like puppies, “Don’t bark!” Arguing sets us free, he said. Life is an argument that you either win or lose. You can win by buying his book and learning how. Here is a whopper of a quote that comes from page 15: “When we give ourselves permission to argue, we become like born again gladiators.” I suppose that for some people the idea of becoming a born again gladiator is an appealing image, but when I read excerpts from this book I came away shaking my head. This is what the book of James calls the wisdom of the world. In our passage of scripture, James is urging us to seek a higher wisdom, the wisdom that comes from above, and that is what we are going to talk about for a little while this morning. Let me give you the background. The book of James is a call for the Christian Church to live out the law of love. Jesus said that we are to love God with all our hearts and minds and strength and soul – and to love our neighbors as ourselves. In the first chapter James says, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” In the second chapter James says “If we love our neighbor as ourselves, we are doing what is right.” In the 3rd chapter James talks about taming our tongues. In our passage of scripture this morning, James is talking about arguments in the church and how we should speak and act with wisdom – God’s wisdom – when we deal with one another.

Next time you find yourself wanting to argue or fight, ask yourself why is this important. Is it because I want to win, or because I want this or I want that? All of this is what James calls being double minded. We have all these mixed motives that make us want to fight. But wisdom from above is pure or single minded. Saint Paul said to the Philippians (2:3) “Be of the same mind as Christ.” Paul said to the Romans, (12:2) “Do not be conformed to the ways of the world but be transformed by the renewal of your minds.”

 James tells us that wisdom from above is sincere, and humble. My favorite Abraham Lincoln quote comes from one of his early political debates. During the debate his opponent accused him of being two-faced. Mr. Lincoln says one thing but he will do another – he is two faced. This is the oldest political trick in the book. If you accuse your opponent of being two-faced, then no matter what they say people will think that they are being two faced. How do you respond to that? Worldly wisdom says attack back. Accuse your opponent of something worse. The best defense is a good offense. Attack, keep on attacking, and win. We all know how negative campaigning works. But that is not what Abraham Lincoln did. Rather, after his opponent had called him twofaced, Abraham Lincoln said: “If I had two faces do you think I would be wearing this one?” 

This week I want to ask you to continue  to pray that God will give you wisdom in dealing with others. James said, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to us. That is how we get wisdom from above.