Evangeliving

John 17:3-4, 1 Thessalonians 2:8
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.

What are the important things in our lives? Is there one thing we would give our very lives for? What is so vitally important in our lives that we can’t keep it just for ourselves? What do we possess that is so valuable that we have to share with everyone?

What is it? Is it your home? Is it the money you have sitting in your certificates of deposit? Is it the food you have stored in your pantry? Or is it something that no one can see?
Here we are sitting in our comfortable padded pews. Jeremiah is in jail, the rich man is in torment in Hades, Lazarus is resting in the bosom of Abraham, and Timothy is being told to live a life of rich simplicity. And we are being asked, what do we possess that is of the greatest value to us.

Whenever I ask myself these questions I always come back to a question I’ve asked for a long time, “Why am I here? What purpose does God have for me being here?”

Why do you think we’re here? What is your purpose for living? I don’t believe that we are all here to gain more possessions or great wealth. I don’t believe that we’re all here to raise families and work at jobs that pay us a good wage.

I have quite a few questions today. If you have answered the question why we’re here then let me ask you another. What is you’re greatest hope? Or this, “In what do you place all your trust?”

Have you placed all your trust in your financial investments? Or have you put all your trust in real estate? Or have you placed your trust in something that is intangible?

What are the lessons to be learned from today’s scriptures? Why is Jeremiah buying land when he’s been telling everyone in Jerusalem that someone from the north is going to defeat their armies and take everyone into captivity?

Could it be that God has told him that as bad as things are going to get it won’t stay that way forever. Someday it will all get better and they will be able to come home again. At least some of them will be able to come home.

He bought the land because God told him that he should do that. Not because it was a good time to buy land because the market was depressed. No, he was to buy the land because it gave him hope for an end to God’s punishment. He trusted in what God told him.

The Message from the epistle is that a devout life will bring us wealth but not the wealth that the world desires. The writer is saying that a life of rich simplicity being ourselves before God will bring us rewards beyond anything we can imagine.

This wealth doesn’t come easily. Timothy is told that he needs to run hard and fast in the faith and seize the eternal life he was called to. Anytime the words run and seize are used I just know there’s some strenuous physical activity involved.

So, what are we to do and how do we do it? That’s the real question isn’t it? Well, we know that we can’t do it like the world around us would have us do it. We know that we have to change our lives. We have to repent.

And once we do we have to spend time with God. We have to allow Him to become an intimate part of our lives. Once we do that we find that there is more we are compelled to do. We discover that we can’t keep quiet about what God has done and is doing in our life.

Our lives have changed. We act different. We talk different. Our attitude about everything isn’t like it used to be. Without realizing it we have become evangelists. We’ve started to evangelive.

Yes, you heard that right, evangelive. We have started to evangelize just by changing how we act and talk when we are out in the community. And people notice that. And they want to know why we’re different.

They might even be brave enough to come to us and ask what’s the reason for the change. And then we might have to use words to explain the transformation in our lives. That’s evangelizing. Telling our testimony, our story, of what God has done to change our priorities. What was number one isn’t any longer.

Because we’ve changed we also see people differently. We don’t classify people like we did before. We don’t think about the poor or the homeless or the aliens in our country as being any different from us. In fact they become our sisters and brothers and we begin to care about the things in their lives.

We actually notice them as the lay in our doorways. We pay more attention to them when we see them in Walmart or at garage sales. Their skin may be a different shade than ours but that doesn’t make any difference now.

Will any of these changes guarantee a place in eternity for us? No, they won’t. Our only guarantee is when we give our lives 100% to Jesus and pray that he will grant us his grace.

We have been commanded by Jesus to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. We have the best chance of achieving eternal life if we keep these commandments and give our lives to Jesus asking him to forgive us for our sins, for turning our backs on him for so long.

Friends, those are the things we should be striving for. Those are the things that should be very most important to us. Will we ever get it right? I doubt that I ever will but I trust in Jesus to intercede for us before God. I trust in God’s good grace.

So good friends, let Jesus come into your heart and allow him to transform you. Go out into the world, tell God’s story, your story, to all who will listen. Pay attention to those who are struggling in this world. Feel their pain and take a risk. Invite them into your lives. Sit with them and listen to their story. Love them and care for them.

Friends, that’s why we’re here, that’s our calling, to be ministers to God’s children, to make disciples, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God for his loving, forgiving grace. Amen.

Unjust, Dishonest, Prudent, or Shrewd

Okay, you have just listened to a parable Jesus told to his disciples about a manager who had been taking advantage of his position in order to gain more wealth. You see the owner of the property may have been living in the big city, Jerusalem. That may be the reason he hired someone to oversee the mundane tasks of taking care of the orchards, the fields, and the livestock. He may have owned many such properties and wasn’t able to manage all of them so he hired managers to do that for him.

Because someone brought charges against the manager he decided to have the financial records audited and found to his surprise, or maybe he suspected, things didn’t quite add up. And so he told this dishonest manager to get his affairs in order and prepare to leave because he no longer had the authority to spend the manager’s money caring for the property. His employment was terminated immediately.

Jesus doesn’t explain why but this shrewd manager called in those who were indentured to the property owner and had them creatively change their liens, one was halved, another was reduced 20 percent. Of course that made those who owed the landlord much happier. And they may have assumed that it was the landlord who had authorized this reduction.

How would you feel if the mortgage on your house was reduced by half or your operating note at the bank was cut by 20 percent? You might begin to believe that the banker actually had a heart. You might begin to be happy to see him arrive because now it looks as if you might finally be able to get out from under this debt.

The manager in this parable had definitely been fired but he still had time to call in those who were renting the different parcels of ground and have them adjust their rental contracts. And that is what Jesus said that he did.

So when he took the financial records back to the landowner he knew that the shrewd manager had taken some liberties with the contracts. And he knew that the renters assumed that the manager was making these adjustments with the full authority of the owner.

The owner could have let the renters know that he wasn’t the one who had authorized these changes but then they would have been ready to hang him. And right now they thought he was a pretty decent landlord since he had reduced what they owed him when the harvest came in.

Being the astute businessman that he was he knew better than to get his renters all riled up and so he commended the unjust manager for what he had done.

So what is Jesus saying to us in this parable, that we should be shrewdly dishonest like the manager in this story? What do you think it says?

What was the manager doing exactly when he had the renters make the changes to their contracts? Wasn’t he forgiving them a portion of their debt to the Master? And by being generous in his forgiveness and not expecting anything else from them, at least at the present, he was protecting his position. It was a huge risk because he didn’t really know how the Master would react and if one of the servants had come in while he was transacting this business he could have been found out by the renters and he would have been out on his ear right away.. But it was a chance he was willing to take.

So the question for us is would we be willing to forgive people who owe us, or who we believe owe us, so unconditionally? What would happen to the community in which we live if we could forgive like this without condition? What would the world be like if people could forgive and grant mercy without condition to someone who, say, killed four people because he was four times over the legal limit? What would the world be like if forgiveness could have been given to those who are responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf? What if forgiveness had been offered in response to terrorists acts? What if? How would our world be different today?

Is that what Jesus is saying here? Is it about forgiveness? What does the unjust manager expect to get by being forgiving? He hopes that he doesn’t have to resort to digging or begging. Do you think he succeeded? Jesus doesn’t really tell us. He leaves it to our imagination.

So, do you suppose we could negotiate a deal like this with God? Or maybe it’s already been done for us in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Our debt has been paid and we have been forgiven.

Are we willing to let our Lord do that for us? Are we willing to risk everything to follow the One who paid our debt? What’s more important, our possessions or eternity? Each of us has to answer that question in our own hearts. That’s between us and our God.

Thankfully he is patiently waiting for us to make that decision. Thanks be to God for his patient, compassionate grace. Amen.

Lost? Who, Me?

Have any of you ever been completely, totally lost? Have you ever been so turned around that you had no idea how to get to where you needed to be? Have you ever lost all sense of direction and couldn’t be certain where north, south, east or west were?

I’ll bet that everyone here is remembering a time when you were traveling somewhere and became turned around. You’re remembering sometime when you were so lost you couldn’t even find anyone who could tell you where to go.

I think we’ve all been there at one time or another. I have and it’s sure not any fun, especially if you’re all alone and no one speaks you’re language.

Every time it’s happened to me I feel so stupid. How could I not know where I was going? How come I can’t tell north from east? How come no one understands what I’m saying?

Are you lost today? Did you find your way here today hoping to get some directions that would get you home? Have you lost your point of reference?

I wonder if there’s anyone here who can help those of us who are lost. I wonder if there’s anyone here this morning that’s been in our predicament.

By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m not talking about being physically lost, though that can still happen to some of us. I’ve been told that Daniel Boone said that he’d never been lost but he’d wandered around for a few days before he came home.

Friends, I’ve been lost. I’ve been so lost that I thought I’d never find my way back. There have been times that I didn’t think God would ever find me. And still today, I get off the path. If it weren’t for God and his grace I’d probably not be here today.

I could very easily be one of those sinners that Jesus ate with. I could have been one of those the Pharisees were grumbling about.

You see I’ve not always followed Jesus’ footsteps like I should have. In fact I strayed a long way off the path a few times. If it wasn’t for God calling me home I wouldn’t be here today. I know there was nothing I did that helped me find my way back.

I’m not sure I could use Paul’s excuse that I didn’t know better. I knew better. Just like the Israelites I got stupid and went and did my own thing. I got lost.

So, are any of you lost today? Have you wandered off the path and don’t know where to go to get back on?

I believe that if you’re here today it’s because the One who created you, the One who loves you has been searching for you and in his own way has brought you to this sanctuary. Friend, God has found you and brought you here so he can help you get your bearings.

None of us have all the answers but together, like a family, we can help each other when we wander off the path. And we will stray. We’re not so much different than the sheep Jesus referred to in his parable. We put our heads down and go our way never looking up. And when we do we find we don’t know where we are or how we got here. Pretty much like sheep.

Friends, I don’t think we’re stupid but I do believe we can be pretty hard headed or hard hearted and that’s why we get lost so often.

I don’t get so scared anymore when I get lost because I have hope that the One who loves me will find me and bring me home. My trust is in the One who died to save me, the One who defeated death so I no longer have to fear it. I always hope that this is the last time but it isn’t.

Now there may be some here who have never been lost. And for you I’m eternally grateful because you are the ones God sends to help us who get lost all the time. I thank God for you.

Friends, if you never have been lost. If you’ve always known your directions, then I believe God has given you a great gift. You are the ones he uses to find the lost. You’re probably the ones who find us sinners and eat with us and love us unconditionally. Thank God he’s put you here. Or maybe it works this way, you know where you’re at when we’re lost and then when you’re lost we know where we’re at and therefore we help each other.

I don’t really know. I just trust in God’s grace to find me, and you, when I’m lost. And however that’s accomplished I’m grateful to the One who keeps me in the shadow of his wings.

Thanks be to God for his gracious love that finds us when we’re lost. Amen.

You Cannot Follow Jesus

You cannot be my follower…Why can’t I be your follower? I love you! I’ll do anything you ask!

Put me first, Jesus says. Love me more than these, he says. Give up everything you have, he says; otherwise you cannot be my follower.

Put you first? But I have a family. Linda needs me. My children still need me. I have grandchildren who need me. Lord, you are first but I have to take care of my family too. Won’t you let me do both?

Lord, you know everything about me. Surely you understand the predicament this Message puts me in. What do you mean, give up everything, everything like my bike, my routers, my books, my computer, my dog, everything? I must be misunderstanding what Luke’s written, everything?

I cannot be your disciple unless I give it all up? Jesus, that doesn’t sound fair. How can I possibly give up everything?

Friends, these are questions I’ve asked Jesus many times. How do you understand the lesson from Luke today? What’s it saying to you? Does he really mean that we have to hate our parents and our siblings and our children, even our own lives? Hate is such a strong word and my mother taught me not to use that word. But Jesus uses it here. Hate, are we reading that right? We have to hate before we can be His follower? We must not be reading that right.

Following Jesus costs more than we realize, at first. And at first we think the cost is too much. We try to barter with Jesus. We try to negotiate an easier package but He won’t budge. It’s all or nothing. Jesus will not back down until we’ve consented to giving him all our attention, all our desire, all our love.

What does it mean to you to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus? How much has it cost you? Who comes first in your life? If Jesus calls you and your spouse calls you at the same time, who do you follow? Where are your priorities?

Before you committed your life to Jesus did you sit down and calculate what it was going to cost you? If you’re following Him today is it what you expected it to be?

What’s happening to those who can’t give it all up? They cannot follow him, so what now?

I wouldn’t give up hope. God is like the potter. He made us and he can reshape us if we haven’t turned out like he planned. It isn’t without some pain and discomfort, this reshaping.

Have you ever watched a potter at work? They begin by cutting a chunk of clay from a big block. Then they add water and beat and hammer that lump with their fists until the block becomes a little more malleable. They add more water and beat and shape and hammer and push with fingers and fists until they have a ball.

Then they throw the ball onto the wheel. More water is added as they begin to spin the wheel keeping pressure on the ball with their fingers and palms. More water and the potter keeps the wheel spinning. Soon there is a cone. Fingers push into the center of the cone and, it’s a miracle how it happens, there’s a bowl.

Friends, it’s a whole lot of work. There’s a lot of pressure exerted on that lump of clay. And if it doesn’t turn out exactly as the potter planned he just pounds it down, reshapes it, and begins again until it comes out like he wants it.

So, good friends, there’s still hope for us. We may not be exactly as God planned for us but he’s just like that potter, he can and will reshape us. But it isn’t without a lot of pressure and not a little pain. If we give up and don’t let him shape/reshape us then, well we cannot follow him.

So, can we give it all up to follow Jesus? Are we willing to pay the price to be a follower? Do we trust the One who came to save us?

If we’re struggling with these questions what is it that we find so hard? Is it giving it all up? It’s not really ours you know. None of these things can we take with us when he calls us home. So why do we find it so hard to let them go? What’s it costing to hold onto them? That’s the real question, isn’t it.

Jesus says, “If you don’t give up everything you cannot follow me.” Tough love, but friends it is love. He has our best interests at heart. He loves us and he knows we aren’t able to do it right by ourselves.
Friends, Jesus wants our all, otherwise we cannot follow him. Are you ready to give him all of you? He’s waiting for our answer. What’s it going to be, yes or no?

My prayer is that you will be a follower of Jesus and give it all to him. Thanks be to God for his patient, forgiving, compassionate grace. Amen.