Pentecost 17 Mark 9

One of the benefits of our Lutheran School is the many lessons that are learned through out the day and through out the week. Our students are, to be sure, treated with a top notch education. They are taught (and taught well) their lessons of the general academic subjects. Our students can read and write add and subtract with the best of them.
In addition to that, however, our St Paul students are taught valuable lessons from the scriptures. They are taught to honor God through their life and conduct, to honor each other as fellow members of the body of Christ and they are taught that their salvation is accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These lessons are valuable beyond compare. They are lessons learned as they are taught and passed along by the teachers.
Teachers teach. It is what they do and Jesus, the Rabbi, the teacher, is no different. Jesus' ministry on earth was comprised of healing and acts of divine power, but the major component of his ministry was his teaching. Jesus taught his disciples, he taught the crowds, and then, when he gave his final commission to his disciples to go out and “make disciples”, this commission included the instruction that they teach, so that the teaching that He began would continue to go on in His name by those who carried His name. Teaching was an essential part of the work and ministry of Jesus.
And so here in our text we see that Jesus is teaching. He is doing what teachers do. In the preceding verses, Mark tells us that Jesus sat down to teach – he took the posture that teachers of his day assumed while they were teaching. The teaching began in our lesson from last week; it continues this week. We would-be disciples, that is to say, we who would be students of the great teacher, would do well to hear these lessons and apply them.
Jesus teaches us to regard the unity that we have in His name.
In our text, The disciples reported to Jesus that they had attempted to silence one who was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Their reason? This one did not have the proper credentials as one of the 12 disciples.
The man in question was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. He was a believer in Christ. He had heard the lessons of the teacher and he had applied those lessons – he was working to further the kingdom of God among the strongholds of the devil through the teaching and preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This was good. This is exactly what God would have each Christian to do. Satan is set back on his heals when the name of Jesus is preached and proclaimed in faith. Satan deals in lies. He clouds and confuses the truth and so when the truth is taught he cannot tolerate such things and he runs away. This man was a believer. He was one who heard the true teaching of Jesus and he applied it where it needed to be applied.
The error of the disciples was that they assumed that the truth was their truth. That they owned it, that they had rights and claims upon it to authorize who could speak it and who could not. They had no such ownership. Jesus gives his church to be stewards of His truth. We may make use of it and give it out where it needs to be given. Like charities that provide food to the hungry – the church gives the Gospel and the forgiveness of Jesus where there is need, we preach the Gospel where sinners are hungry to hear it. But it is not our Gospel. We do not own it, we do not possess it. When Christians act as though the Gospel is theirs to control, they had stopped being stewards and have claimed ownership of something that is not theirs. May we be preserved from this sin.
[These days it is popular to make the opposite error. People in our own context want to assume that anyone who says the name Jesus is automatically a disciple of Jesus. We aught to remember Jesus' warning: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name... and will deceive many.” There are and will be many false teachers. Christian need to be discerning.]
Lest we only hear the command partially, let us also understand that when Christ gives to us his name he expects us to bear it. We are to be his witnesses. When we say nothing because, as we tell ourselves, “I have not been properly trained or authorized”, keep in mind that you bear the name of Jesus. You were baptized by Him into his name. It is your duty to bear witness to that name. This is included in the lesson given by the teacher.
The teacher goes on, the lessons continue...
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great mill stone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
With this lesson, Jesus our Teacher, gives to us the command that we watch closely and carefully those things that we are teaching.
Again, it our Christian duty to bear witness to the name of Jesus. While this can happen anywhere, the primary place is in the Christian home. Parents are to be teachers for their children. Fathers and mothers are to instruct their children in the Christian faith.
Parents – put the Word of God in the hands and in the hearts of your children. Often, the only prayer that is said in the home is the meal prayer. Make sure there are morning prayers and evening prayers. Read the scriptures, the Psalms. Teach your children to pray the Lords Prayer, to confess the Apostle's Creed. Teach them the Catechism. Make sure you have a hymnal at home and teach them to sing the faith through the songs of faith. These things are all the building blocks of the Christian faith. Lay down a firm foundation for your children.
Parents, be aware that the example you set is so important for your children. Be aware of what you do, but also be aware of what you do not do. If you do not regularly go to church and make that a priority, if you don't attend bible class, if you don't take time for family prayer or for personal prayer, by your example you are teaching them lessons about the importance of the Christian faith. Remember the words of Jesus – if you lead one of these little ones into sin, you would be better off to have a mill stone tied around your neck and have it thrown into the sea. That is a stern warning. Pay attention to that warning.
And this brings us to our final lesson: Jesus' teaching about those traps that cause us to sin. Your hand, your foot, your eye that causes you to sin. Jesus speaks in the extreme – you would be better off loosing your hand, your foot, your eye rather than sustaining the temptation and loosing your soul in hell. The trouble is, however, cutting off your hand or your foot, or gouging out your eye won't preserve you from temptation. Jesus teaches us that sin and temptation don't come from our hands, our feet, or from our eyes – these temptations lure us in because our hands, our feet and our eyes are all connected to our hearts. Even if we did cut off a hand or any other part of the body, we would still have our sin filled hearts to contend with. What we need to do is repent of the sin that lives in your heart.
So beware of those traps. Those temptations. There will temptation for your hand to take or to touch those things that are not yours. There will be those temptations for your feet, to go to those places that will trap you in sin. And then there are the temptations for your eyes, so that, even if you don't go, even if you don't take, even if you don't touch, simply looking with your eyes will entrap you. Beware of those things.
Jesus, our teacher, offers to us these lessons. These lessons that pertain to him, our relationship to him and to his name. He has given to us his name so that we might be his disciples. He desires that we bear His name as we go into the whole world, as we teach and instruct our children and as we wrestle with our own sinful self that is tempted by the world. And in the classroom of our Great Teacher we have not applied these lessons! We have neglected His teaching and we have failed our exams. We have not earned a passing grade.
Thanks be to God for the love and the forgiveness of our Teacher.
These days, when we evaluate students, we do it according to test scores and academic achievement tests. In order to push students to the necessary levels we apply standards so that they learn and so that they make the grade and perform at their highest level.
Jesus does not do that with us. In spite of our poor performance, Jesus does not fail us, in spite of our bad behavior Jesus does not expel us. Instead Jesus forgives us. Jesus does not count our sins against us. He himself takes personal responsibility for our error and he suffers the consequences for our bad behavior. Jesus takes the full brunt of the wrath of God on himself and he pays for each and every one of our sins.
Jesus takes responsibility for the times that we have failed to speak his name and give a witness for the hope that we have in Christ. Jesus takes responsibility for the poor example we have set, for those times that we have neglected his word or those times that our example has led others away from His Word. For those times that we have given in to temptations, he has cover those sins as well.
Our hands have reached out for those things that are not ours so Jesus gave his hands to be pierced with nails. Our feet have taken us to those places where we should not have gone so the feet of Jesus were fastened to a cross with a spike. Our eyes have coveted and lusted after those things that God has given to others so his eyes were wet with the blood that ran down his face from the crown of thorns placed upon his brow. Because of our sin and because of our failures, Jesus has died for us. He has suffered for us. He has paid the penalty for our sin.
Jesus our divine teacher has given to us His Word for our instruction. He has made himself our teacher so that we learn and then in turn teach, pointing others to Him. Learning from his great example and having been set free from our sin, let us apply these lessons and let us be teachers and examples of righteousness in our homes and in our lives.
Amen.

Pentecost 16

This past week I received a phone call from my local bank office asking me to rate the service that I had received at a recent visit. They gave me a scale of 1 to 5 and asked to rate the quality of attention I had received while I was there, how satisfied I was with how I had been treated, how likely I was to return and how likely I was to recommend my bank to other potential customers. I was happy to take the survey and answer the questions, after all, they were wanting to know how they could serve me better. And who doesn't want better service?

That is the way it should be, is it not? Isn't that after all what we expect these days. We think of ourselves as paying customers and we want the most for our dollar. After all, “The customer is always right.” If they want a few minutes of my time so that they can better serve me, it is worth the investment. Wouldn't you agree?

Not so says Jesus, however. At least not in our text. Jesus turns this whole idea on its head. Jesus' way of thinking is upside down. The opposite, the reverse. The ones who want to be first are to be the servants. The ones who want to be greatest aught to be the lowest, the slaves – even the slaves of children. Not quite what we would have in mind as we are attempting to climb further up the corporate ladder. Jesus' way of thinking to us just doesn't make sense.

Our Gospel reading this morning is actually two – two separate readings that are closely tied together. Two separate events, two occurrences that are tied together by what Jesus wants us to know about being great and about being a servant. In the world's eyes “the greatest” is the one who is served the most. In the kingdom of heaven, the greatest is the one who does the most serving. Which one will you be?

Jesus teaches us what it means to be great; great, that is, in the Kingdom of Heaven. Contrary to everyones plans for greatness, contrary to everyone's plans for Jesus his pathway to greatness leads through suffering along the via do la rosa, the way of suffering. His pathway to greatness leads through the garden of Gethsemane where he will sweat drops of blood, through the praetorium and Pilate's judgment hall where he will stand trial and be condemned, through the chamber where he would be tortured by the Roman guards and then, the pathway of Jesus, his ascension to power and to greatness will lead to Golgotha - the place of the scull, to the cross and ultimately the tomb. For all his instruction to be servant Jesus shows us what he means – he puts his money where his mouth his when he ascends to greatness by first descending to his own personal hell on the cross.

Not what the disciples had in mind and not what we would have in mind either.

But this is the substance of the first reading. Jesus was going throughout the region of Galilee and he was repeating to his disciples that same theme that first came up when Peter rebuked him – “The son of man will be given over to the hands of men and they will kill him and when he is killed after three days he will rise.” The disciples didn't understand.

I am not convinced that we would understand either. After all, this is not the sort of thing that you and I would sign up for. We don't want to follow a team that is going to loose. Likewise we don't want to follow a leader who is going to fail. Why then would we want to worship a god who is going to die? A lot of good that would do. The disciples were too afraid to ask so they said nothing. But their lack of understanding came out soon enough.

And this brings us to our second reading..

As they were walking along the way the began talking among themselves, the way any of us would do. Oh, I'm sure the conversation began innocently enough – they always do. Peter, James and John were obviously the closest to Jesus. They were the ones who always got to go on those special little outings. They went up the mount of transfiguration. They were the ones who got to see him raise Jairus' daughter from the dead. They were probably in line for the top three positions. But put them in order – who was number one? Two or three? And then the real question, who got to be number 4? If there were 12 seats at the table, who got the best seat and who was left sitting at the end.

I can recall arguing with my siblings when we were children over who got to sit in the front seat. This was in the days before airbags and car seats so anyone could sit anywhere. Each of us wanted to be first. You and I might not argue over seating in the car – we might even enjoy a nice peaceful ride in the back seat. But look out when someone cuts in front of you while you are standing in line at the grocery store, at the bank teller window, at McDonalds. What makes them so special? They should have to wait like everyone else! Doesn't it just awaken some anger and resentment deep down in your core? We all want to be first. We all want to be treated with the basic respect that we feel that we deserve. We do, after all, share that same sinful human nature.

Or which of us would not feel a little resentment if we were always relegated to the lowest positions, the serving positions. I can remember when I was in college – I sang in the touring choir. My senior year the choir director approached me and told me he recognized my natural leadership qualities – a nice way of buttering me up. He asked me to be in charge of properties – doing the heavy lifting for the equipment while we were on tour. I was insulted and refused because I wanted to be choir president.

“If anyone would be first he must be last and servant of all.”

We are quite incapable of fulfilling this command. We are too enamored with ourselves and our own potential. So Jesus shames us with His willing service to all. Jesus shows us exactly what it means to be the least and to be the servant.

Paul tells us that Jesus did not consider oneness with God something to be held on to at all costs and so he set aside his divine nature.

The one who was there at the beginning calling the shots and calling out the work of creation, the one who watched as Adam began to take shape from a pile of dirt, the one who planned for the very conception of every single human person there has ever been, the one who was active in designing the process by which life would occur and how it would be sustained, the one who was the architect behind the night sky and hung each planet in place to shine out with just the right amount of light, the one who built the mountain ranges and then painted the landscape with vegetation of various sizes and colors, the one who filled the earth with the vast complexity of life. Jesus was there for all of it, participating in all of it, a key player in every step along the way. And Jesus – the Son of God, the second person of the trinity, the one in whom the Father delights, set all of this aside to become one of us, to suffer along side us, to feel the pain that we feel, to live through the suffering and the sadness and the grief that we live with, to be tested with the temptations that we face and to endure weakness that we are so susceptible to – Jesus lowered himself to be subject to all of it.

But even that was not enough – Jesus didn't come to earth to suffer just because he wanted to relate to us, just because he wanted to know what it was like. Jesus actually wanted to save us. Our sin – our pride, our inflated view of ourselves is the root of all of this suffering. We are only getting what we have deserved and even then we are only getting the very edge of what we have deserved. What our action truly have earned is an eternity spent in punishment in the depths of hell. But Jesus wanted to save us. To save us not just from this world and its suffering. Jesus wanted to save us from that eternity of suffering in hell. So he did. Jesus set aside the power and glory that was his as the Son of God and he took on our human nature so that he could suffer the shame and the ingloriousness of the cross. Jesus suffered hell and judgment on the cross in our place as our servant so that we would not have to suffer.

“I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.” Writes Isaiah. “I did not know it was against me they devised schemes saying “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name be remember no more.” “ The lion of Judah made himself the lamb of slaughter so that we could have the hope of a future redemption with no suffering.

You and I are so caught up in our selves that we forget that God has made us to be servants. We want the power, the honor the glory of being first. We want to head straight away to be princes and kings. Instead God has called us to be servants. To set aside our quest for glory and instead devote ourselves to serving God and serving one another. And what else could we do? After all, we are continually reminded of what our God has done for us. He did not seek for his own glory. He set his glory aside and he made himself our servant, submitting himself even to the shame of the cross.

Jesus has died for you. He has made himself your servant. He has paid for your sin. May you likewise be a servant.

Amen.

Pentecost 15 - Mark 9:14-29

Mark 9:14-29

Have you ever been afraid?

Sure we are all afraid in some way, at some time or another. Sometimes, especially around Halloween, we even think it's fun. I am not talking about fun. I am not talking about little now- it's-here-now-it's-not kinds of fear. I am talking about real fear. I am talking about, “Oh no. The demon just threw my son into the fire to kill him again” fear. Have you ever had that kind of fear?

That is real fear.

Few of us have to grapple with demon possession. That does not mean that the rest of us are exempt from fear. Certainly fear can be caused by a demon hell-bent on destroying your child. But you could find yourself experiencing that same fear at anything that would attempt to destroy your child – accident. Illness. Evil spirits or evil people. They all can cause fear. They all can destroy life, they all can ruin lives. Whether it be your son, your daughter, you sister, your husband, your cousin, your friend. Any number of situations, any number of people. There are many things that can cause fear. Have you ever felt that fear?

So when that fear comes, where do you go? Where do you turn when you find yourself enmeshed in that kind of fear? Who is able to help? Who is able to provide you with the much needed comfort? There is only one. Only one place for you to go. One person to whom you can turn. Only Jesus. Only Jesus can provide comfort. Only Jesus can provide solace. Only Jesus can offer true security and safety from your fear. You go to Jesus.

There was a young boy. He was possessed and ensnared by Satan. These days people think of demon possession as either a parlor trick, a game for trifling with, for fun at slumber parties. Or else he is thought of as a boogeyman man who comes to get you in the dark. He is neither of these. He is God's sworn enemy who desires most of all that you be destroyed in Hell. He is not for games nor is he for overactive imaginations. He is for real. And he enslaved this child.

The child's father understood the diagnosis. Certainly he exhibited signs for a clinical diagnosis of epilepsy. But this was no epilepsy. Epilepsy does not throw children into fire or into water. Epilepsy is random, it does not aim, it does not desire, it does not have a will. This spirit controlling this boy had a will. The father was powerless to stop it. For years he tried. For year he lived with this evil in his house and in his boy. For years he sought comfort and for years he existed without comfort. The father felt fear.

But then...

the father felt hope. You see, there was one name Jesus. A healer, a teacher, yes, but a healer. There were stories, rumors; others with illnesses, crippled hands and lame feat all had been healed. Demons, even demons had cried out when they saw him and then (and this was the best part) then they obeyed when he commanded them. The father had hope. Was this small glimmer of hope the beginning of faith?

The father went in search of Jesus. Instead he found the disciples. What a sore disappointment they turned out to be. Oh, they did their best. But there were of no help. They were powerless to save the child, to help the child. The more they failed, the more they argued. And then the scribes got into it. An opportunity to “one up” the disciples of the “great teacher”. They could step in a show who was really in-the-know about these religious matters. They failed, too. The father had seen failures before, he had lived through failures before.

But then came Jesus.

Jesus came walking up to the crowd. The crowd saw him and ran to him. Jesus addressed his disciples. “What are you arguing about.” A voice chimed in from the crowd. It was the father. I brought them my boy. He has a spirit. The spirit makes him mute. The spirit seizes him, thrashes him. He foams at the mouth. He grinds his teeth. He become as stiff as stone.”

Jesus paused. He looked past the father he addressed the crowd... the disciples... “you faithless generation. For how long am I going to have to put up with you?”

“Faithless...” “Faith – less” he called them. Without faith. Having none. Jesus had taught them. He had given them even authority to cast out demons. The authority was his authority. The power was His power. All they needed was faith, and in faith all they needed was prayer. For such afflictions God would answer the prayer.

All they needed was faith.

Isn't that what we tell ourselves? “All it takes is a little faith”, “You just have to believe”. “You just gotta keep going, you can't give up hope.” Sometimes we turn faith into “positive thinking”.

It's not just positive thinking. Neither is it confidence or assurance or determination.

After all, the father had none of these things.

Look at him. Did he have confidence? Did he trust? Was he the poster child for positive thinking? Far from it.

The father brought his boy to Jesus and immediately the demon went into action. The boy started to roll around on the ground, he started to foam at the mouth. The father had seen this so many times before. Seeing it even now must have torn him apart.

Jesus asked him, “how long has he been like this?”

Why? Why ask that question? What difference did it make?

Jesus asked, not for his own sake, but for that of the father.

The father was desperate. He had no where to go. No where to turn. He wanted Jesus to help. He heard Jesus could help. He hoped that Jesus could help. But deep down in side he doubted. He had gotten his hopes up before and had them dashed to pieces. This was a demon. There was no pill, no shot, no ointment you could give to make it go away. It just was. There was no man who had authority over such things. It didn't matter what he heard. It didn't matter even what Jesus said. The man doubted.

And so do you. If you have ever been afraid, if you have ever been really truly afraid, then you have doubted. You know you shouldn't. You are ashamed that you were so weak. But you doubted. You saw the object of your fear and it was big, bigger than you, bigger than you had the power to deal with.

And then you saw the object of your faith. A man. His name was Jesus. You only know about him because you read his name in a book. You haven't seen him. You haven't talked to him. You've got to be crazy for believing in him, believe that the object of your faith (a man who you can't see) is bigger than the object of your fear (a sickness, a situation that you can see).

You are like the man, the father, who saw his son writhing down on the ground, thrown into a fit by a devil with an unimpressive man standing in front of him asking him questions about how long this has been going on.

There was a war inside the man. Faith was there but it was weak, it was oh so weak. Doubt was there and the doubt was as loud and as strong as could be. The father wanted to believe but he just couldn't.

So he prayed.

“I believe. Help my unbelief.”

Jesus had just spoken of unbelief. He directed the word at his disciples. They had fruitlessly tried to cast out the demon. They flexed their own muscles and argued and bickered when they failed. This was not faith. Faith does not look to one's self. Faith looks to Jesus. Faith prays.

And so the father prayed.

“I believe. Help my unbelief.”

The father looked to Jesus. He looked to Jesus in prayer. Jesus answered the prayer. Jesus answered the man's prayer by giving to him faith.

Sometimes is our prayers we get confused between our will vs. God's will. Our will is always for healing, for prosperity, for a tranquil life. God's will is always for salvation. God sometimes allows the suffering, the crosses that we bear because he knows they are useful in keeping our hearts focused on Him and away from the World. Sometimes God allows the suffering. He always hears the prayer for faith. He always hears the prayer for salvation.

Jesus rescued the boy from the demon. He commanded the spirit: “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never return.”

The demon did not want to obey. It screamed. The scream must have made a horrible sound. But it obeyed. It left the boy. He was still. He was quiet. Almost like he was dead.

Jesus took the boy by the hand and helped him to stand. He stood up on his feet. Quiet, peaceful, and in his right mind. Jesus saved the boy. Jesus saved the father.

Jesus has saved you.

Have you been afraid? Perhaps. Have you wrestled with what God has promised and doubted? Have you felt in your heart unbelief? Pray. Confess your unbelief and pray. Jesus will answer your prayer. He will forgive your sin. He will rescue you from the grip of the devil. He will set you free from your unbelief and he will give you greater things than even those you have asked for. He will give you faith that believes Him to be your God and your savior.

Pray to Jesus. He will hear your prayer. He will respond to your need. He will save you.

Amen.

Pentecost 14 - James 2:1-18

Saint Lawrence of Rome was Martyred in the year 258 AD. Lawrence was one of the 7 deacons in Rome who was placed in charge of distributing the gifts of charity to the needy. The Roman emperor Valerian coveted the wealth of the church and demanded that Lawrence hand over the treasures of the church or he would be executed. Lawrence went out and gathered together all the poor and needy people who had been helped by the church and brought them before Valerian saying, “Here. These are the treasures of the church.” Emperor Valerian was so enraged at Lawrence that he burned him alive, roasting him on a griddle.
Lawrence is worthy of our remembering for two reasons. One, because of his faithfulness to Christ even when he was threatened with death. In today's world, where everything is relative and no one wants to stand for anything, we can learn from Lawrence who stood boldly for the truth of the Word of God and he clung relentlessly to a confession of Christ crucified for sinners. Secondly, Lawrence is worthy of our remembrance because he rightly understood how the Christian faith is put into action. The Christian Faith is not just a collection of high ideals or some helpful tips for living. The Christians faith is revealed in actions of love and mercy. The Christian faith urges us and even requires of us that we regard each other with the same love that Christ has for us.
This is the example of Lawrence. When it was demanded of him that he produce and surrender the treasures of the Church, Lawrence brought forth those things that are truly the Church's treasures: not silver or gold, not money or jewels – the treasures of the Church are those things that are treasured by Christ, the poor, the humble, Those who Jesus refers to as “the least of these my brothers”. These are the churches true treasures. Because these are the things that are treasured by Christ.
Our text reminds us that we often forget this very thing. Our text reminds us that we are so often tempted to show regard for those things that are of the least value. James writes,
“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”
My friends, haven't we all done that very thing? When some drive here to pay a visit to our church, don't we treat them with special honor if they are nicely dressed? Don't we treat them with greater respect if they have some earthly distinction.
What if Coach Tressel paid our humble little church a visit – wouldn't we go to great trouble to make sure he was comfortable. Wouldn't we want to make an impression on him so that he would come back? Wouldn't we consider it a special honor for our church if someone of his stature decided to join our congregation? Wouldn't we tell our friends and co workers that we attend the same church where the Coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes attends?
Why do we, as the Church, as the assembly of believers in Jesus, as the gathering of those who are disciples of the One who was the friend of sinners, why is it that we are so concerned about worldly power and worldly wealth? Why are we so much like the world? Why are we not more like the One who came to save us from the world?
James warns us that this preferential treatment is sin. He tells us that when we draw such distinctions we are “judges with evil thoughts.”
Evil thoughts! Have you had them? I know I have.
Instead of giving in to such evil we ought to pattern our lives after that of Saint Lawrence. We ought to look for those we can help, those we can care for. We ought to look for those places and those people to whom we can love and show mercy. Why? Because that is what Jesus has done for us.
James makes this hard and harsh statement that we often struggle with. “Faith without works is dead.” says James. “No it's not.” we say. “Faith is a free gift. Salvation has nothing to do with work. I am saved by grace.” We always want to run God's word back at him, to throw His Words in His face so that we can wiggle out from under those words that make us uncomfortable. We like God's mercy when it's directed at us. We like it less when we have to direct God's mercy at others.
Yes, our salvation is God's free gift of love and mercy. Yes God gives us this gift with absolutely no strings attached. No, you haven't done a thing to deserve it. But if you takes this free gift and treat it like you have deserved it, if you take this free gift and resent the type of people who have lined up beside you to also take advantage of it, then you have not understood the true nature of the One who came to give the gift.
Jesus came in love. Jesus came in mercy. Jesus came seeking out those who were blind, those who were lame, those who broken, those who were possessed by Satan, those whose lives were a shambles. And he came to heal them.
In our Gospel text from Mark 7, a man is brought to Jesus who was deaf. This man's friends begged and pleaded with Jesus to please heal this man. They begged and they pleaded for Jesus to touch him.
Why did they want Jesus to touch him? Because no one else would. You remember from a few weeks ago, the discussion with the Pharisees about washing. They didn't touch anyone or anything. They kept their hands off of anyone who they thought might make them dirty. They pretended to be pure as the driven snow, they pretended that their hearts were oh so nice and squeaky clean. Jesus reminded us last week that we are not made unclean by things that are outside of us. It is what is inside, it is our hearts that are unclean.
But Jesus? While everyone else kept their hands away from these poor, these crippled and lame, these defiled human beings. Jesus went to them and he touched them. And when he touched them he healed them. He took their uncleanness into himself. He made it his own. And when the unclean came away from an encounter with Jesus, they went away clean. They went away with their uncleanness scrubbed clean.
All because of the touch of Jesus.
So the unclean came to Jesus by the thousands. Crowds of them followed him where ever he went. And even when Jesus was tired, even when he was weary from all of the needs of all of the people, Jesus didn't quit. And the gospels tell us why. It was because he loved these people. He felt, deep in his heart, deep in the core of his soul great love and mercy for these people. He could do nothing else. He saw they were lost. He saw they were sick. He saw they were broken. Those who were lost, he found them and he re-oriented them so that they were moving in the right direction – they were moving in his direction. The sick he healed – he took their sickness into himself. Those who were broken, he healed them. They went away whole.
This is what Jesus has done for us. He has taken our uncleanness. He has taken our sickness. He has taken our disrepair. And he has touched us. He has placed his hand of mercy on us. He has taken our uncleanness and our sin into himself. He has made it his own. All of our suffering, all of the consequences of our sin, He has paid that price. For you and me there is no condemnation. There is no judgment. There is no punishment. There is only freedom. There is wholeness. And because Jesus has healed us, because Jesus has repaired us, because Jesus has forgiven us, there is joy. There is rejoicing, there is mercy and there is love.
This is what Jesus has done for us. For you, and for me. So then, why is it that we show such partiality? Why is it that we are so prone to judging those who are the least? Those who also have been broken? Those who also need to be healed and saved by Jesus.
I recently saw one who was broken. One who was so shamed of herself she averted her eyes from looking at anyone. She thought she was gone, that she was beyond help. She was locked up because she was arrested for drug possession. She had turned to drugs because her life had been horrible. She lived through things that we wouldn't want to hear about. We would cover our children's ears if she were to tell us her story. But she was broken.
We forget that we too are broken. We lie to ourselves and tell ourselves that we are strong. We tell ourselves that we are whole. We tell ourselves that we can do it, that we have done it. We think that the least of these aught to clean themselves up and be more like us. We aught to remember that in truth we are more like them – we have just been afforded the luxury of covering it up.
But Jesus found us. He came to us and he touched us. He came in our uncleanness and sin and he washed us. He took our sin into his own body and he paid for it on the cross. He bleeding and his suffering and his dying took away our guilt and took away our sin. We have been made clean because Jesus has not judged us as we have deserved instead he has given to us mercy.
How, then, can we share that mercy? How can we take that gift of mercy that Jesus has so generously given to us and how can we make certain that His mercy is given everywhere?
Jesus is a giver of mercy. Our God is a mercy God. Let us make St Paul a place, a clinic for the mercy of Jesus.
Amen.

Pentecost 13 Mark 7:14-23

Have you ever notice how many different categories we have for our relationships these days? Those of you who have set yourself up with a page on the online social networking site Facebook might have discovered that you can indicate your “relationship status” on your Facebook page, There are lots of different categories to choose from.

Of course you can select the typical categories of “single” or “married”, but beyond that you can identify yourself as “in a relationship”, engaged, widowed, or even the more progressive “open relationship”. And those whose love lives tend to the more turbulent can identify their status as “it's complicated”.

These are the relationship choices available on Facebook, but in today's world they are by no means exhaustive; especially when you begin to add in the generally accepted category of “preference”. Modern people will unabashedly and unashamedly identify themselves according to “preference” - GLBT is a common label being proposed these days – with a cultural attempt to make “mainstream” lifestyles that only a few years ago were consider deviant. Our relationships have certainly taken on a whole new dimension.

So this is how we have come to answer these questions within the culture. As Christians we are “in the culture but not of it”, “in the world but not of it”. So, the question is, how do we approach the issue? How do we answer the question?

Being Christians, we are not answerable to the culture. What the rest of the World decides to do has no bearing on what the Church does; on what the church thinks and how the church behaves. As Christians, as members of The Holy Christian Church, as baptized believers in Christ, we have been redeemed by Christ and we have been purchased by Him to be set apart from the world. Therefore as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven we are answerable first and foremost to our King. The Church is answerable to Christ. Therefore as members of Christ's Church, we hold ourselves to the standard of what we find in the Word of God.

So what is your relationship status? The world would offer you categories of gay or straight or even bi. The world would have you think of yourself as single, or committed, or casual, or open. Scripture doesn't acknowledge these categories. Scripture talks about the people of God as married and as single. See yourself as married to your spouse, to your husband or to your wife. If you are married, your Christian duty is to be faithful. If you are single, your duty is to be pure.

Much less complicated, is it not? Not so many categories to choose from. Not so many options to confuse the issue. It is much more simple and straight forward.

Now, to be sure, scripture does acknowledge that there are different ways to be single. There are those who are single because they are not attached to a spouse, there are those who are engaged, (scripture calls it betrothed). There are those who are widowed. The scriptural requirement for how you relate to one another as a sexual being is always the same – be chaste. Be pure. Avoid sexual temptations.

Scripture also discusses what it means to be married. We received clear instruction on this in our text last week. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Wives honor your husbands. If you read elsewhere in scripture, God's requirement for husbands and wives is that they be faithful to each other... because God is faithful to us. God does not give himself to His church and then remove the gift. God is faithful. Husbands and wives should therefore be faithful to each other.

As far as these categories of preference – do you prefer men or women or both. Scripture only and always calls this sin. Romans 1 very clearly states the following:

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, [25] because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

[26] For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; [27] and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Romans 1:24-27 (ESV)

In spite of Scriptures clear teaching on this issue, Christians still struggle. We still struggle with our sexuality. We still struggle with how to relate to one another as sexual beings. We are faced with all kinds of sexual temptations. Everywhere we turn, whether it be in books or magazines or on TV or in the movies, on the internet, in common every day advertizements, everything is saturated with sex. We always fight against it. We are always pulled in by it.

With all this sexual temptation, with all this temptation to legitimize what the Scripture clearly identifies as sin, it is helpful for us to remember what Jesus teaches us in our text.

Jesus says, “²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

We always want to think about sexual sins in terms of what we have or have not done. I have had this thought, but I have not carried through on it. Therfore I am not guilty. I have seen this movie but I didn't see that one, therefore I am not guilty. I have done this action but I haven't done that one, therefore I am not guilty.

We want to think of sexual or sinful pollution like it is something that is out in the world.

That's what the Pharisees were doing. That's what Jesus was teaching. The pharisees would go to the marketplace and treat the experience like they were your bleached white Sunday best making their way through a minefield of mud puddles. They avoided contact with anything and anyone that might make them unclean. And then, just in case, when they went home, before they ate, the did a quick little hand washing ceremony to get the sinner off the outside of their hands – like the sinner was outside, on the surface, like it came from someone or something else.

Jesus says “No. Not so.” This sinner isn't out there in the world around you. You are not pure as the driven snow trying stay clean. You are polluted swimming in pollution. You are dirt swimming with the dirty. We are a part of the problem. All those sins live in our own hearts. They don't stick to us from the outside we vomit them up from the inside. They are in our hearts and we can't get rid of them.

A few years ago, Christians would have quickly pointed out that homosexuality is sinful. These days Christians are not even so sure. “Didn't God make them that way?” We ask. “Shouldn't we love and accept everyone?” We ask. “It's not like they are hurting anyone.” We tell ourselves.

We allow ourselves to be convinced by these arguments. They sound legitimate, don't they? They do, but we buy into them because we have already used them to justify ourselves. I am only thinking, doing, saying what everyone else does. I can't help it, it's who I am. “Boys will be boys”, “I'm only human.” And besides, “I'm not hurting anyone...”

My fellow Christians we are in no position to condemn. For in condemning others we only condemn ourselves. We are all guilty. Every single one of us in one way or another bear this same guilt. Our hearts are filled with sin. What can we do but confess.

So what category are you? Married, single, widowed, divorced, in a relationship, or on the rebound. Scripture would see you as married, or single. If you are married scripture would have you to be faithful to your spouse in thought word and deed. IF you are not scripture would have you be chaste and pure in thought word and deed.

We are neither of those things. We are neither faithful nor are we pure. Regardless of what we have done with our bodies we are guilty in our hearts. But God is faithful. God is pure. In spite of the fact that we are sinful, God in not. God is perfect, completely and fully without sin. And God has not condemned us.

Remember the account in the Gospel of John of the woman who was caught in the sin of adultery. She was brought before Jesus, judged for her sin by her community. They were ready to execute judgment and stone her for her actions. Knowing the sin in her heart but also in theirs, Jesus said to the crowd let him who is without sin throw the first stone. Each one was guilty. Each one had sinned in his heart. Every last one was guilty, every last one except for Jesus. Jesus was chaste. Jesus was pure. So Jesus remained.

He said to the woman, “Is no one left to condemn you?” “No” came the reply. “Then neither do I condemn you.” said Jesus. “Go and sin no more.”

Go and sin no more! This is the command of Jesus. You who have come with an adulterous and sinful heart, you who have come stained with sin, Go. Sin no more.

Go and sin no more because your sin has been removed.

Jesus has taken your sin from you. If we are the polluted swimming in the pollution Jesus is the pure. As Jesus comes, his touch takes from us our sin and takes it into himself. He exhanges our pollution for his purity. The sin that has arisen from within, the sin that lives in your heart. The sin that you have explained away and have justified in yourself has been washed away.

Jesus, your Lord and your savior has had mercy on you. He has not condemned your sin as you have deserved. Not even the sin in your heart. Instead Jesus has taken your heart, your corrupted and sin filled heart and he has carried it with him to the cross. Your heart became Jesus' heart and Jesus died with your heart on his back. Your punishment has been served. You are set free. Go.

Go. But Sin no more. Jesus did not say, go and sin all you want. Jesus did not say Go and do what feels right. Jesus did not say Go and do what comes natural. Jesus said go and sin no more.

Yes the sin is in your heart. Yes boy are boys and girls are girls and boys and girls experience all kinds of temptations from all kinds of desires that have been born out of the sin that lives is their hearts. But, boys and girls, men and women, you have been set free from that sin. Jesus has released you from it. You are no longer its slave. Sin no more.

The rest of the world is quick to sin and quick to justify. The rest of the world is comfortable in their skin and pleased to live a life that God condemns. But not you. You have been bought and paid for. You have been set free from your sin by the blood of Jesus. Go and sin no more.

Amen.

Pentecost 9. John 6:22-35

When I get hungry I get grouchy. Maybe you do too. This past Thursday Julie and I ran a 4 mile road race in Dublin. As we have been training we have been altering our diet a little bit – eating less, limiting our snacks, cutting back on the unnecessary calories – because each extra little snack comes back to haunt you when your are out on the road logging the miles. It slows you down and causes you to be less efficient as a runner. The bottom line is that lately I have been hungry. And when I am hungry I am prone to being grouchy, irritable, and uncomfortable.
I suppose that is not unlike the Hebrews in our Old Testament text for today. They were out in the wilderness. They ran out of food. They were hungry and before you know it, sure enough, they were irritable and grouchy and angry. Looks like I share the same sinful human nature as the Hebrews, the same nature that is quick to complain when I am not fat and well fed.
In their grouchiness, they complained against the Lord. “If only we had died in Egypt, when we had meat and bread and our bellies were full. You brought us out into the wilderness to starve us to death.”
Oh the foolishness that lives in the hearts of sinful men!
God came to the Hebrews in their slavery to rescue them. In our modern sensibilities we tend to think of this freedom in terms of personal liberty. All people are endowed with certain inalienable rights – life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Hebrews were slaves. They needed to be liberated. Not too different from how we view our political processes – Iranians, Iraqis, early American colonists, the plantation slaves from our own history – oppressed people who need to be emancipated. As far as God and the Hebrews were concerned, sure that was a part of the deal, but that was just a small part of the deal. More than emancipation from human oppression the Hebrews, and the whole Human race needed to be emancipated from sin, from death and the devil. When God rescued the Hebrews from Egypt, he had in mind to save them not just from Pharaoh and his task masters – the Lord had in mind to save them from sin.
So God did. God raised up a savior – Moses, from among their midst. He called Moses to be his mouthpiece before the people and before the Egyptians and to call the Hebrews to freedom through God's saving action. God rescued them from slavery and God brought them out into the wilderness on their way to the promised land. And then God brought them to Sinai where he gave them the covenant and the promise. He would be their God. They would be His people. They would sacrifice and He would not count their sins against him. And just as he raised up Moses to save them from the Egyptians, God would raise up a Messiah, Jesus, who would save them and us from sin for all eternity.
So there they were, making their way through the wilderness. They consumed the supplies they brought with them from Egypt and they ran out. They were a congregation a million strong. They were out in the wilderness and desert of the Sinai Peninsula. There were no fields to harvest, no grocery stores where they could stop and buy food. How would they survive? How would they live? Perhaps God hadn't thought this through – bringing a million people out into the desert without provisions for food. They were better off as slaves in Egypt.
Have you ever found yourself in the same boat?
Bread and water are pretty basic needs. You can't live without food to eat and water to drink. These things are important. Beyond that, we have standard of living that we maintain – necessities for life in the United States in the 21st Century – a house, a car, utilities – electricity, telephone, and the like. We have bills to pay. Have you ever wondered where the money is going to come from to meet these living expenses? Have you ever wondered how you are going to make it and keep up and keep ahead of your bills and keep the creditors from dialing your number? That can be stressful. You, like the Israelites, might be tempted to think and to say those same things the Israelites said, that they grumbled when they found themselves out in the wilderness, without bread, and hungry. Where's God when I need him? What good has he done for me lately?
At times, like the Israelites what we want is for God to be a bread god? A God who feeds us, fills us up with earthly food, food that perishes, that is here today and gone tomorrow. We want God to fill us with food that can be taken away, that can spoil, with food that you will demand for today but turn around and throw out tomorrow.
This was the god the Hebrews wanted. When the Lord no longer suited their needs, they melted down their gold, turned it into a bread god – a golden calf, a god who they would pray to to give them what they wanted. Have you done the same? Constructed your own god that feeds your belly and pays your bills?
Hear the words of Jesus: “Do not labor for food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.”
The food that endures. These days if you want food that endures you have to fill it with preservatives. Saturate it with chemicals that make it taste bad. And even then it still has an expiration date. The best we can come up with is food that endures for a few months. Yet God gives to us eternal food. Food that does not spoil. That has no expiration date. Food that strengthens and sustains. Not just the food that fills us for today, but the food that fills us forever. Jesus tells us to labor for this food.
“But,” we tell ourselves, “there's no free lunch, right?” What will this food cost us. Doesn't Jesus even say it himself - “Labor for the food that endures to eternal life.” What is that work? What is the labor that results in eternal life?
We can't conceive of something for nothing, something that comes that we have not fully deserved. But Jesus tells us: “This is the work of God: that you believe in Him whom he has sent.” That you believe. Believe in Him. In Jesus. In the Son of God who has been sent into the world to pay for the sins of the world. This is the work that results in food that does not perish, that lasts without preservatives, that satisfies that doesn't need to be eaten over and over again, that fills us for forever. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and feed on the food that lasts forever.
Our sin that condemns us and leads us away from the Lord is our desire for the food that perishes, that fills our bellies but does not fill our souls. We want that food that satisfies our hunger pains and strengthens our bodies. We don't care how it comes or what we have to do to get it so long as it comes.
God knows that you need this food.
When the Children of Israel grumbled against the Lord in the wilderness, in spite of the fact that they were motivated by sin and selfishness, in spite of the fact that they wanted a god who would be their bread god, the Lord gave them what they needed. God hadn't forgotten that they had need of food for their bellies. God made us. God created us with bodies that need to eat and be filled. God created us with bodies that become weak when we don't eat. God doesn't want us to go without. God doesn't want us to be weak. God doesn't want us to go hungry. God found a way to feed one million hungry Israelites out in the middle of the wilderness. There were no farms or fields where they would plant and harvest. There was no grocery store out along the way. The Sinai Peninsula didn't even have one Super Wal Mart. Yet somehow God found a way to feed them. God sent bread from heaven – manna, that had all the nutrition they needed to survive and thrive out in the wilderness. And God will feed you. He will give you what you need. He will provide for you. You will have food on your table when you are hungry. “The eyes of all look to you,” writes the Psalmist, “and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”
But God has greater things to give you than just food for your mouth and bread for your stomach. God has food for your soul. The bread of God that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
God has for you Jesus. Jesus who calls himself the bread of life. Jesus who says of himself “whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
When we do the work of the Father, when we believe in the one whom the Father in Heaven has sent to us, when we are turned in faith to Jesus, believing that he is the sacrifice for our sin, believing that he is the one who was sent for us to believe in to have faith in, then he fills us up.
When our bodies are hungry, we feel empty, we feel a pit in our bellies that needs to be filled, we are uncomfortable, we are irritable. We need to be filled. We are not satisfied until we have eaten and through that meal are strengthened and sustained.
When our spirits, when our souls are hungry, when we are emptied out because of our need for salvation from sin, because of our need to be restored to our relationship to god there is an emptiness in our souls that cannot be filled, a weakness that cannot be overcome until we have eaten and been filled.
This emptiness is not filled with a mere bread god, with a god of our own making who gives us what we want of with what we think we need. Have you noticed the spiritual emptiness, the vacuousness, the desperate hunger for meaning in the world today? We live in a world with people who need to be fed and filled with the bread of God.
The food that God gives, the bread of God that he has sent down from heaven, the spiritual food that fills our souls is the food that addresses that need that no bakery could fill. God gives the food that lasts to eternity. The food that fills the emptiness, that strengthens, that satisfies, that fills and that sustains. God gives Jesus. Jesus dead on the cross for our sin. Jesus risen from the dead victorious over sin. Jesus ascended into heaven as the one who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. This is Jesus for you. This is God for you. This is salvation for you. This is your bread. May you eat and be filled of the bread of life and may you never hunger or thirst.
Amen.

Pentecost 8 - Ephesians 3.14-21

Recently within the halls of St Paul Chuckery discussions have been taking place as to the financial stability of our Church and School. Since it has been the topic of discussion in council meetings, at last Sunday's Voter's Meeting, in the news letter and in the bulletin, it is likely that you have caught wind of this already. According to our treasurer the congregation is currently about $30,000 behind in meeting our expenses. Or, to put it another way, we have spent $30,000 more than we have taken in.
If you do the tedious work of balancing your checkbook at home, you will know that it is not good to spend more than you earn. A prolonged stint of such behavior can ruin an entire national economy, let alone a small church and school in central Ohio. It has happened to others. It can happen to us.
The “how and why” of this predicament is mulct faceted. There are many sides to the issue, details to be discussed that have to do with how we fund the mission and ministry of our church and school. God has blessed St Paul with just the right people for this task. And it is a good and God pleasing thing to be wise stewards of the material gifts as God gives them. That is a discussion for a different day.
Today, what guides the proclamation of the Word of God is our Epistle text from Ephesians; God's promise through the Apostle Paul that God is able to do far more abundantly than we either can ask or can think. And this God is at work within us and among us. To Him is all glory in the church and in Christ forever. This text has something to say to us today.
Chances are, there are a number of contributing factors to our present predicament. Certainly the cost of maintaining a church and a school is not cheap. Factor in the general belt tightening that is common among most households around the nation and you begin to tap into at least one source of our congregational economic downturn. People either have less or are worried about having less money.
Our text speaks to this situation in a handful of ways. The first is to remind us as a congregation not to worry. Again, “To him who is able to do far more abundantly that we can ask or think.”
God is not worried about recessions. God is not worried about depressions, God will not loose sleep over even a full fledged economic collapse. God doesn't care about projections of economists. God is not waiting for His stimulus check. God doesn't care about tax breaks or tax hikes. God isn't up for a performance review in his current employment and he can't be fired or downsized or let go. There isn't even the option for a buy out. God is God. He sits in heaven and pulls the strings on our little recessions. And those things we refer to as “mine” or “yours” are simply just His. Therefore, when recessions effect budgets and bottom lines, they do not handicap God from accomplishing His work of preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Those things happen for free.
The money needed to pay the people who do them is God's gift. If he desires that these things occur, he is able to do far more than we can either ask or think. So don't worry. The Church as the people of God is secure. We are in God's hands and God will provide for us what we need, when we need it.
But there is more to our text and therefore there is more to be said about our congregational predicament.
Paul tells us that he gets down on his knees to pray to God our Father and that He prays for three things.
1.That according to the riches of His glory he grant to us to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.
2.That, being rooted and grounded in love we might have the strength to grasp the full breadth and length and height and depth of the Love of Christ
3.that we might be full with all the fullness of God.
So what does that have to do with the Chuckery budget?
It has everything to do with the Chuckery budget.
Usually when we think about what Christian churches have come to call “stewardship” we often make the mistake of associating that too closely with the term “fund raising” We need money. People have money. We have to figure out a way to separate people from their money. We come up with all kinds of rules and principals and assume that will do the trick.
That's not what the church does.
Here at church you give offerings. There are 2 reasons for that. First of all, you have hired help: a pastor, teachers, professional staff. These people serve you. You owe them their wage. Paul makes that point elsewhere. He tells the church that just as they owe their farm animals food for the work they do on the farm, churches owe their church workers a wage for the work they do in the church. That is your duty.
The second reason has to do with these three things Paul prays for in his prayer for the Ephesians: God's strength in the inner man, a full comprehension of the Love of Christ, and being filled up with the fullness of God.
With this prayer Paul was making the point that all Christians, both the Jews and the Gentiles were one big happy family. God is the Father, no matter who your daddy might be, no matter what the color of your skin – no matter if you can trace your family history back to Abraham or to the families who founded St Paul Chuckery. God is the Father of the One heavenly family that exist in heaven and here on earth. Through Christ we are brothers and sisters. God has filled us up with with faith. God has filled us up with the Holy Spirit. We are blessed in him with an eternal inheritance that is hidden away for us in heaven, it can't be taken away, it can't spoil, it doesn't have a shelf life or a rate of depreciation. All of heaven's glory in Christ is yours.
That is the fullness of God.
Now if God's fullness overwhelms you in His love and in his goodness and in his generosity, and if we are then connected to one another through sharing in His Gospel, how then do you suppose that will effect our attitude and our action toward one another? Paul was talking to Jews and Gentiles about being of the same identical family. There was in His time often some bad blood between the two groups. Paul called for fullness in the Gospel. Paul called for love between Christians and charity and works of mercy. Paul called for Christians to give even as they had been given to.
Again, as far as our Chuckery budget goes, there are lots of possible and plausible reasons for why we are behind in our budget. Each family must privately make their decision about what money they give and how much money they give. Each of you decides this in your own home.
As you make that decision test yourself. The human heart is above all things sinful. The human heart is plagued with stinginess. Drawing lines of “mine” and “yours”. Withholding gifts from those who we determine in our hearts are not worthy. God does not do that with us. We aught not do it with one another.
The human heart is also plagued by fear. The notion that “I can't afford to be generous because I have bill to pay.” The cattle on a thousand hills belong to God (Ps 50:10). God feeds the bird of the air so that they do not go hungry (Matthew 6:26). Why do you worry about such things? (Matthew 6:27)
Having experienced the fullness of God, we are set free to give according to what our conscience sets us free to give. There is no compulsion. There is no minimum requirement. There is no requirement at all. If your heart and your conscience leads you to give nothing at all, that is between you and God. If your heart is convicted of sin but you still struggle with fear, that is between you and a God who drives out all fear with his perfect love (1 John 4:18) but who is also patient and enduring in his love (1 Cor 13:4). If you feel compelled to offer greater gifts out of the joy and thanksgiving afforded to you through the fullness of the gospel, than God will bless your gift.
Know this: God is your heavenly Father. He loves you. He cares for you. He provides for you. He will not let you go without those things that He knows you need.
Through faith you are also joined to your fellow Christians as brothers and sisters. God also provides for their needs – sometimes he provides for them through you.
God is also the father of our Brother Jesus whom God loved so much, (John 3:16) yet in spite of this love he commanded him to go out from heaven to take upon himself our flesh and to suffer and die as less than a slave. Jesus did this gladly and willingly. Jesus shared His Father's love for you and was glad to give of himself everything that he had.
Because of God's love, because of God's generosity, because of God's grace, because of the fullness of God's love for you, He has provided for you, he has given to you, he has signed sealed and delivered to you the fullness of His love in Jesus through his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven. God has done all of this, through the fullness of His Love for you.
So here's Paul's prayer; for the Ephesians, but also for you. Be transformed in your inner man according to the Christian faith given to you by the Holy Spirit. With this as your foundation may you understand the full breadth and length and height and depth of the Love of God. And finally, may you be filled with all of God's fullness given in the Gospel.
Amen.