God gifts a new way of life! - Sermon Lent 3B

Listen to the gospel and sermon here.

John 2:13-22

¹³The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” ¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

The story goes that there was a certain pastor of a large downtown church.  And due to the church’s size and location it was a very, very busy church.  The doors always seemed to be open, every room was booked weeks in advance for various groups, meetings, programs, organizations, classes, etc.  There was so much going on that it was near impossible to keep track, especially for the busy pastor. There were so many groups using the facility, it was getting out of control.   

Well the pastor began to notice that almost every Sunday before and after worship there would be at least 2 or three tables or booths set up in the narthex with 2 or three different groups or organizations would selling something.  Some were fundraisers.  Some were for profit.  Some were for the church, but most had nothing to do with the church.  There was always someone selling or peddling something.  He didn’t want to cause a scene, but week after week it weighed on him until his blood started to boil.  

Well on one particular Sunday, after a difficult week, he was in his office preparing for worship when his secretary knocked on the door.  Pastor, I just wanted to let you know that they just borrowed another table to set up in the Narthex.  Before she could finish her sentence he had had enough.  He threw down his Bible and lef this office with a purpose.  Where are you going?, the Secretary said?  I have had enough!  The church is not a marketplace or place of business and I am going to braid my whip and turn every last table in this church!  If Jesus can do, then God willing I can too!

He tossed open the door to the narthex and entered with a fury.  The secretary stood in the office door and waited.  A moment later the pastor returned to the office with his head down, looking both exhausted and defeated.  So, how’d it go? The secretary asked.  Did you channel your inner Jesus and kick them all out?  

No..he sighed...I couldn’t do it…and until Jesus comes back and turns over a table of Girl Scout Cookies they can stay.  

Jesus enters the temple mount this morning as the festival of The Passover approaches.   

The Passover was a major festival for the Jewish people, and at that time more than a hundred thousand people might journey to the temple to prepare for the festival. Thousands and thousands of people passing through the various temple gates.  People, animals, moneychangers, and merchants filling every corner, cove and portico.

So when Jesus steps into the outer porticos of the temple mount, it is busy busy busy with preparations.   Jesus’ blood begins to boil.  Now it’s worth noting that the business of The Passover preparations were all, for the most part, necessary.  

For the sacrifice of animals it was necessary that they be of a certain age, they had to be clean, and they had to be without blemish.  It was nearly impossible for a family to trek all the way to the temple with their animals while keeping them clean and without blemish.   So, for their convenience, the Temple was more than happy to sell you whatever animal you needed for the sacrificial rituals and traditions.  There might be a small convenience fee, but it would save the family a lot of effort.

But for many families who traveled from far away, they probably didn’t have the proper currency for acquiring such animals.   Well thank goodness for the moneychangers.   They were more than happy to exchange whatever you had into a proper currency. There might be a small surcharge, but they could work something out.  

So hundreds of thousands of Israelites journeyed to the Temple mount for The Passover, not only for tradition, but because the Temple is where God is.  So with money exchanged, a proper animal purchased, families were ready to celebrate The passover. What was intended to be a holy remembrance and ritual celebration had become an opportunity of commerce.   

And Jesus had seen enough.  The whole scene sets Jesus off and he braids a whip from chord and drives all the animals out of the Temple.  He flips tables.  Pours out the coins from their coffers.   In short, he causes a scene.  And it’s so intriguing because it’s not our “normal” Jesus.   He was upset because the Temple and the occasion had become a commercial, profitable event.  People were taking financial advantage of one other in the name of religious tradition.  And Jesus was clear to say that God’s house was NOT to be a marketplace.

So now I picture animals fleeing out the gates.  Coins bouncing like plastic cups in a cafeteria.  Tables and chairs clanging.  One by one the crowds stop what they’re doing to see what the fuss is all about.

And the Jews said to Jesus, “What the heck!? What sign can you show us for doing this?”   Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.  Now we have to respect how appalling that statement would sound.  

They’ve been building the temple brick by brick for nearly 50 years, and not only does Jesus suggest they destroy it, but also that he could rebuild it in three days.

In three days I will raise up God’s temple.  It’s easy for us to read this in light of the resurrection and see what Jesus was talking about.  But for the disciples, the Israelites, the Jewish leaders, the moneychangers, and merchants, they were unable to hear significance of Jesus’ statement.

In three days I will raise up God’s temple.  Jesus wasn’t suggesting that he could physically rebuild the temple mount, but rather in the great three days he would rebuild their understanding of faith in God.    Jesus Christ IS the temple of God.

For Jesus, God cannot and would not be confined to a temple.  For God’s temple is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God, and in the resurrection of Jesus after the great three days, Jesus would reform their understanding of the temple from a physical place to a body, The body of Christ. God’s place in the world is in the body of Christ.  That’s us.

Through the waters of baptism we are welcomed into God’s temple...into the raised body...the body of Christ. The actions and works of God’s kingdom is in the body of Christ. The transactions carried out in Jesus name through the people of God.  Jesus was proclaiming a new understanding of God’s presence in the world.

God could not and would not be confined to the temple mount, nor is God confined to the church today. We might do well to remember that the church is not a building, it is a people.  A community of faith joined by God in water, word, and wine to be present in the world.  To recognize and participate in the new kingdom of God being built here and now.  To represent and re-present Christ in the world.  God re-forming God’s people. Instructing, giving, and offering a new way of being in community, a new way of living and worshiping God.  

After all, that is what God has always done, and will always do. Several hundred generations before Jesus ever entered the Temple mount, God was already offering  people a new way of life.  As the Israelites wandered through the wilderness and desert they were tired and hungry and annoyed.  Sure they’re free from slavery, but at least in Egypt they had some food and a place to sleep.  They grumbled with Moses and with God about their current situation.  And honestly, they were questioning what kind of God would save them only to leave them hungry and homeless and lost in the wilderness? Their disgruntledness was clouding their experience of God.

So God offers them a new way of life.  God gifts the ten commandments.  We don’t always hear the commandments as a gift. We tend to hear them as negatives or rules; thou shall not...thou shall not…But I think what God is offering them, and us, is not purely a set of rules, or laws on how to live, but rather a God gifts a new way of life.

Thou shall have no other gods...God says I am the one and only true God, the God who freed you from Exodus.   You call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

Thou shall not murder...I, God, give you the gift of life

Thou shall not lie...I give you the gift of truth

Since the dawn of creation, God has always been about creating and recreating, gifting and regifting, forming and reforming.  From the commandments to the temple mount... from the resurrection to today...God continues to shape us into a new a community and a new way of life.  

In light of our texts today, we might consider two thoughts during our Lenten journey.

First, how is God shaping, reshaping, forming, and reforming your life.  As you wrestle with Lent and relationship with God, what tables is God turning in your life?  

Are their hindrances in between you and God?

Second, how is God at work in this community of faith.  Are we like the Temple Mount, busy with self-interest and personal gain...transacting the traditions of our faith, numb  the significance of God’s work. Do we misuse God’s gifts?   Do we grumble with the God who freed us and saved us?

And friends, I pray we hear these questions not as convictions of our faith and relationship with God, but rather that we hear them as opportunities for growth.  

While working at Lutheridge we were evaluated every week.  Every week we would write down a measurable goal, and on Saturday we would receive an evaluation.  At the bottom of that evaluation was a space the read “Opportunities for Growth.”  Rather than identifying and convicting shortcomings or failures, they would assess our individual and communal opportunities of growth.

Lent is a beautiful season to reflect on our opportunities for growth.  From Ash Wed. to the great Three days, we are empowered to wrestle with our individual and communal faith, acknowledging any shortcomings and self interests, confessing any sins or misuse of the gospel, all because we know through our baptism that on the third day Jesus rose from the dead for the forgiveness and mercy of all of God’s people.  

Make no mistake, Lent is a season of growth, and as God reshapes and reforms, God desires us to grow into communion with God and neighbor.  Grow into our new God-given community in the body of Christ.  To grow in our faith and understanding of God’s grace, forgiveness, mercy, and love.  

And the good news this day, in all of Lent, and always is that God never ceases in helping us grow in faith.  We are not alone nor are we ever on our own to grow in God’s kingdom.  We are the body of Christ, and together we are continuously and relentlessly being transformed by God.

Ever Feel Stuck? - St. Mark's Messenger March 2018

Read the full Messenger here.

Have you ever found yourself in a moment of confliction? Have you experienced the kind of moment that leaves your stomach turning because you’re struggling to decide between two opposite, yet appealing choices? To be certain I don’t mean choosing between steak or chicken at the restaurant, or choosing Coke or Pepsi at the gas station. I don’t even mean choosing between FSU or Florida in a big game, however gut wrenching it might be.  

I am talking about the choices that conflict our spiritual and moral values. For example, defending a belief knowing that you’ll face ridicule, persecution, or ostracism. Choosing to defy authority and act with your conscience knowing that you’ll encounter retribution or punishment. “Fitting in” with the crowd for the sake of not being the victim even though you know the crowd is wrong.

There was a vacant lot across the street from the house in which I grew up. My friends and I were very fond of this vacant lot because the heavy tree line set it apart from the road and we could ride our bikes up the embankment and pretend we were in a fort. But what really made this lot a perfect childhood hideout was the pile of giant boulders carelessly tossed into the woods. The boulders were remnants from building the house across the street. The boulders were huge! They piled on top of one another, making pathways from one rock to the next. We could crawl, climb, and jump our way around this rock-fort while our imaginations run wild. I specifically remember one giant, flat rock that protruded from the ground. It towered next to a large, car-sized boulder, and the path-way between the two was quite narrow.

One day as my friends and I were racing among the rocks I stepped perfectly into the narrow pathway.  My foot was lodged tight and I fell flat on my face, barely able to catch myself. I was stuck. Literally, you could say that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I was stuck, and as I screamed for help a full-body panic was set-off within me. I wiggled and struggled as hard as I could but it seemed that there was nothing I could do.

Our moments of confliction are much like my foot landing perfectly between the rocks. It was never my intention to become stuck, nor did I ever expect that I would be caught in such a precarious, panic-inducing situation and yet, there I was-- between a rock and a hard place.  

What is your reaction in a situation of conflict? What is your response when you are metaphorically stuck between a rock and a hard place? Each of us are confronted daily with difficult, moral and spiritual choices. We weigh the options, anticipate all reactions and consequences, and then choose.

Friends, the good news is that we are not alone in these situations and experiences. On Wednesday nights during Lent we will continue to hear, reflect, and identify with various moments of personal struggle in the Bible. Each Wednesday we will meet a character caught between a rock and a hard place. Let us continue to learn together through these Bible stories how to journey with Christ through a conflict-ridden, difficult world.  

What is your response to God’s blessing and promise? - Sermon Lent 2B

Listen to the gospel and sermon here.

Genesis 17:1-16

17When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,

⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.” ⁹God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. ¹³Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Mark 8:31-38

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

What is your response to God’s blessing and promise?   As a disciple of Christ...as a member of the body of Christ...as a child of God blessed by God….what is our response?

Let me be clear, God has blessed us, in the waters God promises to rename us as a child of God, grafting us into the eternal promise of prosperity, and everlasting life through Jesus Christ.  God blesses us with unconditional love, promises grace upon grace, blesses us with forgiveness and mercy, promises life to all who believe.  So I was just curious, what is our response to God’s blessing and promise.

Perhaps it is more occasionally appropriate to ask, How is your relationship with God this Lenten season?  Have you found yourself at all challenged?  And as a result growing?  Has Lent challenged you to confront uncomfortable sins or temptations in your life?  Reevaluate the priorities of this world?  Or has Lent compelled you to confess that you’d rather not have your faith challenged during Lent?  Regardless, Lent is an appropriate season not only for introspection and self-examination, but more so for dwelling how God is or isn’t present in your life.   Lent is a good time to ask not only how is your relationship with God, but in what ways are you responding to the blessings and promises God has bestowed on us through Jesus Christ?  

I don’t mean to be so heavy this morning, but our texts are rich with responses to God’s blessing and promise.  And all of these questions and pressure points simmer down to our Spirit-empowered response to God’s blessing and promise.  Make no mistake...God has promised.  God has blessed and continues to bless. Therefore every aspect of our lives is a response to this promise and blessing.  

Enter Abram and Sarai in our story from Genesis this morning.   Abram and Sarai met God several chapters ago when God told Abram to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”  And with his wife, nephew, and servants, Abram went.  At seventy five-years old he went.  Destination unknown, but off they went because in that convestation God promises to bless Abram.  His initial response to God’s promised blessing was a faithful and fully God-dependent response.

This morning’s story happens almost 25 years later.  Abram and Sarai have wandered and waited, not so patiently, but they’ve waited.  Throughout their waiting they’ve had their struggles.  They often question God or force matters into their own hands.    

And so in today’s text Abram is all but convinced that he will die of old age before God’s promise is fulfilled.  His only son is illegitimate through his servant Hagar and at 90 and 99 years old, he and Sarai have no descendants.  So this morning God speaks a covenant to Abram and Sarai.  The covenant is one of land and descendants...an exceedingly fruitful and numeran nations.  From which a king shall come.  An everlasting covenant to be God to him and to his descendants after him.  In this covenant, as a sign of God’s promise, God gives Abram a new name.  Abraham, meaning “father of many.”  and to Sarai, Sarah, meaning princess.  Of course they go on to laugh at God and welcome their son Isaac a year later.  Isaac becomes the father of Jacob, and Jacob is later named Israel, the father of the 12 tribes.  The covenant fulfilled.

This is the blessing and promise given to Abraham and Sarah.  Despite their old age, faithful struggles, flawed choices in their wandering, God remains faithful to God’s promise.   Their response is admirable.  

In the gospel of Mark today Jesus begins to teach that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and death so that he might rise three days later.   In this familiar passage Peter is less than happy with Jesus’ teaching and Peter rebukes Jesus.  Jesus, of course, calls Peter satan and instructs Peter to get behind him.  For Peter is setting his mind not on divine things, but on human things. 

As a disciple of Christ, it seemed completely asinine to Peter that Jesus, the supposed Messiah, would suffer and die.  

In his book, The book of God, Walter Wangerin describes the exchange from Peter’s perspective.  He writes,  “Jesus knelt down by the spring, cold from the earth.  He made a cup of his hands and scooped water.  Just before he started to drink, he said, “I will be killed in Jerusalem, and on the third day be raised--.”  … “I grabbed Jesus’ wrist and shouted, “No!” The water splashed from his hands.  “No, God won’t allow it!” I cried.”

Peter’s response is rash, abrupt, and angry.  Peter, despite all he has witnessed to this point is blinded by his own preconceptions of what God’s messiah can and can’t do.   Jesus’ teaching is not up-to-speed with Peter’s expectations.  Or rather, Peter’s expectations of God and the Messiah were selfish and uninformed.  For Peter, the death of his Messiah was about as improbable as a 90 year old and a 100 year old having a baby.

In this exchange Jesus is telling Peter, the disciples, and those around how he will fulfill God’s promise for a Messiah.  It is through the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Son of Man that the blessing and promise of God is made known to all the world.  It must and will happen.  Through the cross God will fulfill the covenant made to Abraham. 

Peter’s response is not a response of faithful discipleship but rather selfishness.  He was not prepared for, nor comfortable with having his faith challenged.  

We are a week and a half into the Lenten season.  About 10 days into a season of wandering with God.  Self-examination and assessment.  A season that challenges our response to God’s blessing and promise in uncomfortable ways.  And I think today’s texts are well-timed within our Lenten experience.  

How is your relationship with God this Lent?  What is your response to God’s blessing and promise?  

Do you experience God’s blessing and promise in a way that resembles Abraham and Sarah?  Willing to trust in God by faith that God will lead to the unknown destination.  And despite your flaws, temptations, and selfish ambitions along the way, do you recognize God’s continued presence.   Do you laugh with joy at God’s promises?  Not because they’re ridiculous but because only God can fulfill such joyous promises?  

Do you experience God’s blessing and promise in a way that resembles Peter?  Unwilling to hear and accept the call to discipleship?  Rebuke any challenge of your faith.  Prefer to focus on human desires and understandings rather than dare trust God’s ridiculous promise?    Perhaps you experience a bit of both.

In both of our stories this morning God speaks of a covenant, a promise that may sound ridiculous.  It may warrant laughter, or a rebuke.  But the truth of these stories is that their characters are forever changed by their encounter of God’s promise and blessing. These exchanges, these covenants forever shape the way they see and interact with God.  Despite their past understandings or immediate response they are changed through their experiences with God and the Son of man.  It affects how they see and hear...how they view the world...It affects, for better or worse, how they understand their faith in God.  Both characters this morning are in the midst of their own Lenten season...examining themselves and their faith in God.

Just like the characters of today’s scripture we might consider our own response in the face of God’s covenant.  Do you remember the covenant God made with you? 

“We give you thanks, O God, that through the water and the Holy Spirit you give your daughters and sons new birth, cleanse them from sin, and raise them to eternal life.  Sustain us with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both no and forever.

Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. 

Each and every day we are good to remember that God has has entered into the divine covenant of promise and blessing with each of us.  Baptism is that covenant.  In the waters we were chosen by God.   We enter into death like Christ and are raised with new life.  We are made new.  God makes a covenant with us too.  And as a mark of the covenant we are given a new name. ...child of God.  A new name that signifies a new relationship with our creator.  For all who have faith and believe in God, God extends the promise eternal life.  God blesses with unconditional love, promises grace upon grace, blesses us with forgiveness and mercy, promises life to all who believe.  We belong to God, and our new name is a calling….a calling to live every aspect of our God-given lives as a response to what God has done in Jesus Christ.  God has bestowed us with every good gift for the purpose of building up the kingdom of God. 

And like Abraham and Peter and all the saints before us, the covenant of baptism forever shapes the way we see and interact with God.  It affects and informs how we see and hear...how we view the world...It affects, for better or worse, how we understand our faith in God.  It empowers our response within the world.   And for 6 weeks in Lent we take an intentional assessment of this response.  We are invited to spend forty days examining the nature of our own covenant with God.

So friends, what is your response to God’s abundant promise and blessing?

Jesus speaks plainly to the crowd saying, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake=, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it!  For what will it profit them to to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

Jesus demands an intimidating response of faith.  Jesus instructs that we are to give up our priorities and the priorities of this world.  In the covenant we are to be aligned with the will of God in the great commandments...love God and love neighbor.  For Jesus, a response to the covenant means praying thy kingdom come, thy will be done...and meaning it.  It means dining with outcast members of society.  It means denying the prosperity of the world by finding favor with the poor and lost.  It means acting against corrupt authority, challenging oppression systems, and restoring justice.  It means risking persecution or suffering for the sake of proclaiming the gospel.  

As a disciple of Christ is your response one that is set on human things or divine things?

As a member of the body of Christ is your response to pick up your cross and follow Jesus

And scary as it may seem, there is nothing we can do to escape the blessing and promise of God in our lives.

Make no mistake, this is the blessing and promise of God.  It’s not to say we won’t have out faults or flaws.  It doesn’t mean we won’t struggle with our new name and our new way of life.  After all the generations of Abram would endure great challenges...barrenness, loss of land slavery, exile…Peter would continue to struggle with his call to discipleship. 

So as you reflect and self-assess this season of Lent and beyond, may we remember this good news: Like Abraham and Peter and all the saints before us...God’s promise is not and never will be dependent on our own faithfulness...no matter what, the covenant will not be broken.  

So what is your response to God’s covenant?  At the very least, it is a gift from God.