Believing is Seeing and Doing: Sermon Mark 10:46-52

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Well there he was Bartimaeus, blind, homeless, but this had not always been the case. He once had a family, a job, a house, kids, the whole works. He was active at the local synagogue, he never missed a Sabbath. He would tell his children stories of their forefathers. How Jacob had wrestled with God and God changed his name to Israel. He told them about how Abraham had faith in God enough to bring his own son Isaac to the altar to be sacrificed but God had stopped him just in time and about how God had used Moses to lead the Israelites out of the depths of slavery and into the light of freedom. Then things started to change, he started to get these real bad headaches and his vision would become blurry. At first he did not allow this to bother him but kept on working and living, but eventually the blurred vision got worse and worse and eventually he could barely see his wife and children. He told them to leave and go live with her father because he wouldn’t be able to support them or protect them. Then things went black and that’s the way it was.

He would struggle to find small pieces of food that were left outside of houses. He would lay his cloak on the ground so people could throw their loose change on the ground next to him. Most people avoided him altogether because in those days many people felt that blindness was caused by sinfulness either by the person or by their parents, so they were avoided. He was dirty. No one would help him find a place to bathe, no one had the time nor did they have the desire and that’s the way it was for years. He struggled to survive, always hungry and thirsty and everything always black.

Despite all the hardships that he faced he still loved God. He remember the stories that he told his children and he saw in his mind the people in those stories and how God always came through for them in the end. Now Bartimaeus always sat next to the road so he could be seen by more people and hopefully get more money and while he sat he listen to the people passing by. The conversation lately had been about this guy named Jesus who had healed people, even blind people. Some had even said that he was the messiah that had come to redeem Israel. Bartimaeus thought, “Wow, if only that Jesus guy would come around here.”

Then one day there was a commotion. There were more people on the road than usual and then he heard the name, Jesus. He was coming. Should he say something? Would Jesus come to him? Could he restore his vision? Something deep inside said “Yes, call out the name.” Bartimaeus opened his mouth.

Bartimaeus had a recognition of power and authority. We do the same thing. If we had a broken leg we wouldn’t go to AutoZone to have it fixed. We would go to the emergency room. If the doctor came in overalls, we might have a few questions, but if he was in a white coat, with a stethoscope and a pocket protector we would have no problem. Even though it might be some Joe Schmo from the street dressed as a doctor, we recognize the uniform as power and authority; we don’t ask for credentials or references, we simply accept what we experience. That’s why it is illegal to impersonate a doctor or a policeman; we recognize their authority and power without question.

Bartimaeus recognized Jesus’ authority, but how? Jesus didn’t have on a uniform, even if he did Bartimaeus was blind he couldn’t see him anyway. He had heard stories, but he had heard rumors before. No, Bartimaeus’ recognition came from a deeper place within him.

We have that some recognition of Jesus. I mean we have never seen Jesus. We see pictures of what Jesus may have looked like, but they are just artistic renditions. Our recognition originates from a different sense than sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing, but from a spiritual sense. God’s prevenient grace, which comes before anything, even before our recognition of who God is, gives us the recognition of the power of God and the power of Christ. It is grace that allowed us to have that first moment with God, when God was not just a figure in Sunday school or in the Bible but God became personal, a friend.

When Bartimaeus had a recognition of power, he still had a choice to make, act on that recognition or let it pass by. He could have let the power and authority, the grace of God, pass by and remain in darkness. Instead, Bartimaeus cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He address Jesus by name and by title, Son of David was a messianic title and was reserved for the redeemer of Israel and Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to become the redeemer of not only Israel but also the redeemer of the world. Don’t we cry out as well? When we get to the last point, the straw that breaks the camel’s back, don’t we cry out to Jesus? “Help me, Jesus.” Have mercy, Jesus” Or simply, “Jesus” When we have recognition of power, when we realize that only God can help us in whatever situation we are in, we must act upon it. God’s grace not only gives us the ability to perceive God’s power and God’s love but it also gives us the strength to respond to it. Unlike Bartimaeus however, we are not limited to a once in a lifetime response, but even as mature Christians we continually respond to the gift of grace and power in our lives.

Why does Bartimaeus cry out and why does Jesus respond to his cries? Bartimaeus had a genuine need. He was blind, poor, dirty, and alone. He had lost his family, his friends, his possessions, and his sight. Jesus responds to Bartimaeus with the same question that he asks James and John a few verses before. “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus’ reply, “My teacher, let me see again.” Why does Jesus ask Bartimaeus this question? Was it not obvious to Jesus that the man was blind? Was Jesus not very observant? Or did Jesus want to make a point. James and John had asked for something very selfish and individualistic, to be on both sides of Jesus in glory. They were blind, but not in the same way as Bartimaeus, spiritually James and John were blind and yet Bartimaeus could see clearly. Jesus’ healing of Bartimaeus was not just a healing, but a restoration. Jesus reconnected Bartimaeus to a community and Bartimaeus wanted to become a part of that community, while James and John wanted to separate themselves from the community. Do we have any needs? Are they selfish wants or selfless needs? Our deepest need, whether we want to admit it or not is a relationship with God. We are programmed from day one to be in communion with God, but God gives us the power of choice, we can accept God’s invitation to connection or reject it for our own desires. We are faced daily, even as lifelong Christians, with this choice. Am I going to do for God today, or for myself? Am I going to spend today in connection and in conversation with God or am I going to satisfy my own selfish wants and desires?

What is Jesus’ response to Bartimaeus? “Go; your faith has made you well.” It is interesting to see that Jesus says that faith is the healing mechanism and it was Bartimaeus’ faith not Jesus’ faith that made him well. It was Bartimaeus’ response to the recognition of power or his response to God’s grace through Christ that made him well.

John Wesley referred to faith as a response to God’s love. Our faith is not born out of nothing, it does not come out of thin air, but it is a response to the love of God shown in God’s grace. It was Bartimaeus’ response to God’s initial contact through grace that made him well. Our response to our recognition of power or grace is also a restoration and a reconnection. Through the death and resurrection of Christ we are reconnected to God and we are reconnected with a community called the Body of Christ, the church. We might not be blind, physically but spiritually we are waling around aimlessly. Our spiritual vision is black as night, but God still initiates reconnection through grace. We must respond to it and the power of grace, the same grace that made the first contact, gives us the power to make that response.

That’s the end of the story, right? Not quite. What does Bartimaeus do once he has been restored? “Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.” He followed him, who, Jesus. This is the birth of a disciple, because restoration, rebirth, justification, or reconnection whatever you want to call it is not the end of the journey, but only the beginning. We don’t simply restore our connection with God and then leave it be. We don’t become part of a community only to not engage in it. The cross and resurrection of Jesus is not only for restoration but it is also a place at the table. It is an opportunity to spread God’s love in the world here and now. We don’t receive the fire of the Holy Spirit, the connection with God, only to sit it in the corner or in the closet, but instead we must take it up use it and follow Jesus on the way.

We see a four step process. We must have recognition of power, a response to that power, a restoration through that power, and a continuation in the power. All of this is done in the power of grace. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Place at the Table: Sermon Mark 10:35-45

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

There was a great theologian who had been asked to give a lecture at a prestigious university. The theologian had been picked up at the airport by a chauffer driving a nice car which had been provided by the university. As they were driving from the airport they encounter some traffic and the chauffer decided to make small talk. “What do you do for a living?” the chauffer asked. “I work for such and such university as a professor of theology and I go around and speak at other places from time to time, and I am an author” the theologian had responded modestly. “Wow, it must be really nice to sit in an office and get to travel around and not have to work hard for a living, I’ve been driving this car for 15 years and all I get is caught in traffic” and the chauffer kept complaining and complaining and telling the theologian that he had it so easy and finally the theologian had enough. “I’ll tell you what, we are about the same size and I really don’t want to have to give this lecture tonight, why don’t you pull over and we’ll switch clothes and I’ll be the driver and you can give the lecture, I’ve got all my notes right here” The driver had never been one to pass up a challenge and so they traded places and head off to the school. They got there and the driver all dress up in the theologians suit got up before a packed house, over 3,000 people there to hear this man, whom they had all read but never seen in the flesh. The professor, dressed in the chauffeur’s uniform and cap snuck in the back row. Armed with the notes provided the driver, just let them have it, I mean he laid it on thicker and heavier as he went and those people ate it up, they loved it, but then came something that the chauffer had not expected the question and answer time after the lecture. The chauffer was sweating in that tailored suit, when the first young seminary student stood up and asked the first question, but the chauffer played it cool. “Why that is the simplest question I have ever heard, I cannot believe that you could get accepted into a fine school like this with such a simple mind, in fact that question is so simple I am going let my chauffer in the back of the room answer it for you.”

Sometimes ambition gets us into trouble and sometimes our need to be a little bigger than our breeches and turn around and bite us. James and John the son of Zebedee got a case of ambitiousness and walked up to Jesus. Jesus knew that something was up because they came up and said “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” That’s like going up to a parent or a spouse and saying “now don’t say no, ok.” Jesus stays cool, “what do you want me to do?” “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Can you imagine the frustration that Jesus must have felt? I mean not a few days before he had dealt with this same kind of ambition. The 12 were arguing about who is the greatest among them, and Jesus told them that if you want to be the greatest you have to be the least, if you want to be the big dog, you got to be the flea and now here we go again, James and John wanted to be on the right and left of Jesus in his glory. They might have not been that far off in asking, remember James and John along with Peter were in Jesus’ inner circle, they were with him during the transfiguration and they would be with him again at Gethsemane. They thought that they could maybe get the inside tract on this kingdom of God thing that Jesus had been talking about. They wanted the best seat at the table that they could get not at the head but the next best place which was next to Jesus. They were thinking individually and not communally.

Would it be a stretch to say that we live in an individualistic society? I didn’t think so. We have been taught from an early age that ambition is a good thing and we should strive to be the best at whatever we do. We want to be number one, just like we talked about a few weeks ago. Then disciples argued about who was number one in this life and now James and John want to be the greatest in the next life and spend it right next to Jesus. Each one of these incidents is an example of individual goals taking precedent over the needs and the good of the group or community. James and John were not concerned about the placement of the others but only for themselves. They wanted the best seat at the table without too much concern about the other 10 disciples. That is the problem of individualism. The person so wrapped up in their own success fails to see the harm their success does to the community that surrounds them. That is the danger of this kind of mentality.

This is the mentality that causes CEOs to rip off employee’s pensions or lay off working people and skate off into the sunset with millions for themselves. This is the mentality that causes companies to dump pollution into rivers and lakes and call it cost efficiency. This is the mentality that causes politicians to sell their vote to the highest lobbying bidder. When someone only thinks about themselves and their own future then the effects of their ambition are of no consequence.

This is not what Jesus had been teaching. Jesus’ whole ministry had been on of community and not about the individual. In fact Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were all about uniting God and humanity and also all humanity together. The teachings of Christ had been about the preservation of the community. The healings were done so that the isolated and rejected could be part of the community.

Jesus’ response to James and John was in the form of a question as Jesus’ responses often were, Jesus says “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” James and John respond, “We are able.” This seems naïve and almost indignant of the two looking back on it in hindsight. Jesus is referring to the cup of suffering, cup of the cross that even he himself asked God to take away from him in the garden and these two knuckleheads say oh yeah we can do it Jesus, just like you. Then Jesus says something unexpected, which the disciples had come to expect from Jesus. Jesus says yes, they will drink from the cup and they will be baptized and it will be the same cup and the same baptism that Jesus received. They won’t suffer in the exact same way as Jesus will but they will suffer for the kingdom. James, we learn in Acts 12, is among the first disciples to be martyred. This sends a message for us today.

We are baptized with the same baptism Jesus received, now I can spend a whole sermon just on the issue of baptism, but the point I want to make now is that Jesus’ baptism is a baptism of the Spirit and that is the baptism, no matter how much water is used, that we receive and through it we are reconciled with God, we are reconnected to God.

Then Jesus goes on to say that to grant the placement on either side of him in glory is not his decision to make. Now we can take this as Jesus taking the easy way out, by passing the buck onto God, but Jesus never did that so we can assume that his motivation was something different. Jesus was once again affirming that his ministry on Earth, his purpose on earth was that of service to God. His birth and baptism gave him the power and strength not to achieve individualistic ambition, but instead to become the great servant of humanity. Jesus then concludes by once again saying “but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” This makes a connection between the baptism of the Spirit which was what Jesus received and service.

So many times we see like, James and John, baptism and “conversion” simply as a one way ticket into heaven. We receive it and place it in our pockets for safe keeping until we die and then we cash it in. But I want to say this morning that this is not the case. We can given the gift of the Spirit and we have to use it, we are given the keys to the kingdom of God and we must use it in the world. Just like that gift that we want to use, just like placing our trust in God, we take it and use it to work in the world. We cannot simply wait around with our eyes toward heaven with our heads in the clouds. We must be ambassadors of God’s love and make a difference in the world. That is what Jesus taught from day one. He could have taken the power he received and used it to take over the world, remember the temptation from Satan to rule over all the kingdoms of the world, but instead Jesus knew that true greatness and true discipleship is not cheap grace but costly. We have to take what we have been given and do something here and now and not simply wait until we all get to heaven.

An important place at the table, that is what James and John wanted. They tried to ask for it, but Jesus said that you have to earn it and the only way to do it is by service to community not individual ambition. We have to insure that not only that we have a place at the heavenly communion table, but that our fellow human beings have a place at our table here and now and a share of what is prepared.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

A Matter of Trust: Sermon Mark 10:17-31

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Money, cash, bills, bones, clams, c-notes, benjamins, dollars, dough, bread, dead presidents, greenbacks, shellbacks, beans, peanuts, lettuce, moolah, bucks, mucho denerio, how ever you refer to it, our country is obsessed with money. There are songs about it, poems about it, movies about it; the American dream is to be rich right. I mean, how many opportunities are there each day to win money? There is Ed McMahon, Reader’s Digest, the Lottery in Tennessee in all its forms, we have many opportunities to get rich not to mentioned good old hard work and entrepreneurialship. Why? Why is money so important to us in our country? Professional athletes earned millions of dollars, CEOs are earning billions of dollars, and all the while most of us are scrimping and struggling towards retirement or trying to survive during retirement. We are taught from an early age both by our parents and by our culture that having a lot of money is a good thing. We need to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous. I mean what would be better than to hop in a private jet and fly to some far off place.

This is not a sermon against money. We need money to survive, it is a vital part of our capitalist economy, the exchange of money for goods and services, its as American as apple pie and baseball, both of which you can buy at Wal-Mart 24/7. People misquote the line from 1 Timothy by saying that money is the root of all evil, the line actually reads the LOVE of money is the root of all evil, and there is a big difference. The poet Oliver Wendell Holmes said to put your money in trust but never put your trust in money. That is the problem of the man in our story today.

Jesus is preparing to leave and travel on down the road when he is stopped by a man, Matthew calls him young, and Luke adds the title ruler to him, but he runs to Jesus and asks what must I do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds by saying that you have to keep the laws, do not murder, do not commit adultery, you know the Big Ten. The man replies by saying well I’ve done all this, isn’t there something else. Jesus responds by saying, ok, go and sell everything you own and give all the money to the poor and then come back and join my crew. The man walks away sad because he’s not willing to give up his wealth. Jesus is also sad and he says to the 12, look, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, in today’s language he would’ve said it is easier for a Mack truck to go through a keyhole than for a rich person to get into heaven.

Now this can be taken many ways. I can preach about the evils of money, but I already told you that I am not going to do that. I could preach about stewardship and making the collection plate a little heavier each Sunday, but I am not going to talk about that either. Instead I want to get at what I feel is that the heart of what Jesus was saying and that is a matter of trust. We can trust in God or we can trust in our money.

Remember the line in Matthew, you can’t serve two masters money and God. You have to pick one and go with it, and just the same you can’t pick to place your trust in both God and money you have to choose one. The issue of trust is also an issue of security. We want to be secure in our lives.

If you place your trust in money you are not alone. If you watch TV for any length of time you will see hundreds of commercials targeted at people who want to make more money. There are stock market traders, banks, investment experts, gold and diamond investment, 401ks, IRAs, and let’s not forget the lottery. Whatever and however we can get our hands on the cash, we will do it and we think the more money we have we more secure we will feel. How many times have you heard or said “If I could only win the lottery or go on a game show and deal or no deal it to the big time”? So what if you did win the lottery? One third of all lottery winners end up filing for bankruptcy. Many lottery winners report that they are actually worse off emotionally than before they won the money. They report increased depression and anxiety. Then there is Jack Whittaker. Jack won the biggest lottery payoff at the time, $314.9 million dollars. He had everything the thought he wanted. He quit his job, bought a big house, new cars and trucks, and even built a new church building for his congregation. However, the happiness soon ended, public knowledge of his winnings caused thieves to seek him out, things were stolen, and in 2004 his granddaughter was found murdered, all the money that he had was worth nothing to him. Here again I am not saying money is bad, but when we put our trust in money then bad things happen. Money doesn’t provide security.

When we put our trust in money we become so obsessed over money that it takes over our lives. Our relationships suffer; we worry more about the bottom line than even our own happiness and the happiness of our families. Those who put their trust in money will do anything in their power to get it. We see story after story on the news about CEOs who have ripped off worker’s pension and retirement and breeze away with millions. We see criminal after criminal trying to get rich quick but it never works out.

The man who approached Jesus had money. He felt that he was secure in this life and placed his trust in his wealth. He felt so secure in this life that he went to this new rabbi going around preaching about the kingdom of God and eternal life and asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus looked at the man and must have seen his nice clothes, his well manicured nails and hair, and his new shoes and said to him keep the laws. The man response, I’ve kept the laws since my youth, but in his mind he must be thinking, “there must be something more to it than that, it must be more complicated, it must be harder.” Mark says that Jesus looked at him and loved him, and then said “You lack one thing, take all this money and stuff you have and give it up, take all that you have placed your trust in and give it up, and then you will begin to gather up treasures in heaven. In other words, stop trusting yourself and your money and start trusting God.

Jesus talked about entering the kingdom of God, and he said that if you are rich, in other words if you place your trust in money, then it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God. Remember last week we talked about how the kingdom of God is not like and earthly kingdom with castles and lands, but it is about a reconnection. Some theologians call this instead of the kingdom of God the reign of God or the reign of God’s righteousness. The reign of God is not something we can earn or buy, but we receive it like a gift, so we have to be humble and place our trust with God.

Trust God not just for your eternal life and salvation, but start trusting God for your everyday existence. We pray the Lord’s Prayer every Sunday, and we know the give us this day our daily bread. That is a prayer of trust that God will provide bread not for a week, not for a month, but just for a day and God does it every day. Do you remember the story of the Israelites in the wilderness and the deliverance of manna from heaven? What happen to the manna if it was kept more than one day? It spoiled right. It molded and was uneatable so one couldn’t gather it up and horde it, placing their trust in their supply but instead they had to place their trust in God to provide what they needed everyday.

Now once again let me say that I am not preaching a sermon against money and I am not preaching against saving money for emergencies or for purchases, I have savings accounts, I am making plans for retirement also, but don’t place your trust in it. Because just as we have seen with Enron and many other companies, that retirement plan can go bye-bye in the blink of an eye and if you have placed your trust in that money then you will be lost. However, if you place your trust in God to provide and sustain you not just in the next life but in this life then your life becomes so much better.

God wants us to be in relationship or in communion with him. A relationship is based on trust. We trust our spouses, we trust our parents, we trust our family and friends and this trust provides us with a connection. Our connection with God is what the kingdom of God is all about, the reconciliation and reconnection between God and humanity is what the Cross is all about.

The rich do not receive the reign of God or the kingdom of God because they are rich, monetary worth has nothing to do with it. The rich do not get it because they do not trust God for it. They are not willing to give up what they placed their trust in.

Where is our trust this morning? Would we be willing to give up everything we have if Jesus asked? It’s a tough question. We have been taught to trust in ourselves and in the fruits of our labor, but who is the one that blesses us with those fruits? If we place our trust with God, God is faithful, just like he did for the Israelites he will provide daily what we need if we just trust him for it.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Child's Play: Sermon Mark 10:13-16

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Little Johnny had been misbehaving and was sent to his room. He emerged a couple minutes later and informed his mother that he had thought things over and had even said a little prayer. The mother was very happy and said, “If you asked God to help you not misbehave, He will help you.” To which Johnny replied, “Oh, I didn’t ask Him for help with that, I asked Him to help you put up with me.”

Kids say the darnedest things… That sounds like a good name for a TV show. You can always depend on a child giving you an honest answer to ANY question you might have, little children haven’t usually been taught the art of tactfulness. Sometimes they make us laugh and sometimes they frustrate us so much it makes want to pull what’s left of our hair out, and I don’t even have kids yet. Then again I know many adults who frustrate me in much the same way. I know Jesus had to feel that kind of frustration with the Disciples.

Jesus was in Judea walking along the road when a crowd gathered around him and this was nothing unusual. Jesus begins to teach the people when they are interrupted by some children who wanted to see Jesus, but before they could get to Jesus the Disciples stopped them and began to scold them. Now not a few days earlier Jesus had gathered the 12 around him and told them that if they welcome a child then they welcome Jesus and not just Jesus but God as well and here they are not welcoming but fussing about these kids. I can just imagine Jesus wanting to slap his foreheads and cry out “Were you not here a few days ago when I told you about welcoming the child, were you not listening? Come on Guys, it’s not a hard concept to get!” But instead of getting steamed Jesus takes this once again as a teaching moment, in other words the disciples had once again messed up and now Jesus was going to teach them what they did wrong. Jesus says “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” The Kingdom of God belongs to the children and if we want a part of that kingdom we must receive it like a child. We remember from last week that a child in those days was a nobody, a non-person and if we want to inherit God’s kingdom then we have to receive it like a child, a nobody, non-person. What does that mean? How can we do that? I mean how can we, now that we have all grown up, be expected to receive something like a child?

Do you remember Christmas as a child? You’re Christmases might not be as great as some, but do you remember receiving a gift as a child? I remember waking up on Christmas morning to a living room full of toys and all the stuff I had wanted and I was so excited to get them. I couldn’t by them for myself, I didn’t have a job, I had hinted and asked and even begged sometimes to get all the shiny toys, gadgets, and gizmos because that was the only way I could get them. The same can be said about the kingdom of God. We have to receive it like a child because we can’t pay for it on our own. We are dependent to receive it, just as a child is dependent on someone to get toys and clothes, and even food. We are dependent and we must humble ourselves to act accordingly.

We want to do everything ourselves. We don’t need no stinkin’ owner’s manual we can do it ourselves. We don’t need to ask for directions, we can do it ourselves, I don’t need help moving that TV I can do it myself, these are famous last words, right? We live in a culture that encourages a strong work ethic and that is good to a point, but it also means that most of us don’t want to admit when we can’t do something. It’s humbling to ask for help, you can’t be high and mighty and ask someone to do something that you can’t do for yourself.

So it is with the kingdom of God. We can work, work, work but it doesn’t help. We can’t do it on our own. We try, O boy do we try, but no matter how good we are we can’t receive God’s kingdom without admitting that we can’t get it on our own, because it’s a gift. It’s so big that only God can give it to us and God does offer it to us, freely no strings attached. When Jesus said we have to receive it like a child it meant that we had to admit to ourselves that just like a child on Christmas morning we can’t get this gift on our own.

Another thing about Christmas morning and gift opening is that it isn’t as a joyful experience as adults. We get gifts but as adults we can most things on our own with our own money and so it’s nice but it’s not the same excitement like when we were kids. I remember ripping open wrapping paper like a rabid wolverine and dancing around the room like a wild person when I saw that I got what I wanted. If we are going to receive the kingdom of God like a child then we have to receive it joyfully. Joy is something missing in a lot of churches. We sing joyful songs rather drably, with a monotone voice. We walk around in a hum drum lives barely smiling at the person we pass on the street. If we have receive this kingdom of God, which we can get on our own because it’s beyond our grasp but it is still given to us as a great gift, then we should be happy and joyful as little kids on Christmas morning hopped up on hot chocolate and Christmas cookies. We had to receive it joyfully and spread that joy to all those around us, but joy is wonderfully contagious. People around us will begin to see our joy and want it for themselves. That is receiving the kingdom of God like a child, we receive it freely, because we can’t get it one our own and we receive it joyfully because God loves us so much that despite the fact we can’t get it for ourselves, God gives it to us without strings.

We buy gifts for people because we think they will like them and we want them to use them. We spend days, weeks, or even months trying to pick out the perfect gift for that special someone, a gift they will use all the time. We do this because we don’t want to see our gift that we worked hard to pick out on the shelf in the closet never being used, or worse re-gifted to someone else. The same is true with God and the gift of the kingdom. God wants us to take this gift and use it. The kingdom of God is not like an earthly kingdom with lands and castles, but it is redemption, acceptance, and forgiveness. The kingdom of God is the gift of reconnection with God. We take this gift and use it in the world. We are reconnected and so we see things in a different way. We see the differences between the teachings of Christ and the teachings of the society in which we live. We have to reach out to those who are hurting, we have to feed those who are hungry, help those who are in need in anyway we can. The kingdom of God is not just simply a ticket into heaven but it is power to do something while we are here on earth.

A few weeks ago we talked about the vision for our church. A vision that states that we want to create a Christian home for all that desire a place at the table of God. By doing this then we are taking the gift of God and using it not just sitting back on the sidelines but strapping our armor of God and getting in the game.

Receiving the kingdom of God like a child, it’s not easy, we have to be humble because we accept it freely, and we cannot do anything to earn it. We receive it joyfully. This is God’s way of reconnecting with us, accepting us, and forgiving us, that is reason enough to be joyful. Finally we have to take what we have received and use it in the world.

We teach our children a lot. We are examples and role models for them. In this case however, we see that it is the child that becomes the role model for us, through the example of children we become children of God.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen