​Sermon 8-12-18      Matthew 6:19-24     Got Joy?

     I want to talk about passion.  Don't worry; I'll keep it pretty safe.  What is it that really excites you? What experiences have you had that you really enjoyed; children, grandchildren, pets, vacations?  What do you see that gets you really upset? Beyond riding my motorcycle, I enjoy helping others. I get joy from giving. God has given me the ability and passion to do things for others, why in God's name would I not do that?
     I believe there is a great deal of difference between happiness and joy.  I am happy when I have my favorite meal or see a pretty sunset. Joy is that feeling of peace and contentment when my baseball team loses and I fall and hurt my shoulder but know that nothing can change my relationship with God.  I have hope and joy regardless of how my day goes.
     Our heart follows our treasures.  We talk about the things that interest us the most. Show me your checkbook or visa bill and I’ll tell you what matters to you.  I will tell you where your heart is. Suppose you buy some shares of General Motors stock.  Don’t you suddenly develop an interest in what is happening at GM? You check the financial pages and read every word you can, even though a month ago you would not have done so. We have a lot of money managers out there and I like most of what I hear, but ultimately it seems to be a heart issue. Every time we spend our time and talents and treasures, we make a statement of what we value.
     We all know people that have so much more than us.  I don´t believe that God has blessed me so I can have a better lifestyle.  God has not blessed me so I can find more ways to spend it or so I can indulge myself and spoil my children and grandchildren more, or feel more and more that I don't need God in my life.  I am blessed so I can bless others.
     Giving is about priorities.  When we fail to consciously decide what we value and then align our spending habits accordingly, a thousand other things stand ready to define our values for us.
 
     Many people give to the church and other ministries because they love what these organizations do and want the life-changing ministries to continue.  They want to make a difference in their neighborhood, their community and the world for Christ.
     People give when they understand and agree with the mission of the organization, see that the organization is really making a difference that the organization really needs the money, and the donor has high regard for the fiscal oversight of the organization.
     Too often when God speaks to someone about a new way to meet needs, the wrong question is asked.  People wonder if they can afford it. We should be asking, “Is this what God is calling us to do?” Not if only we had more, we’d be happy to be involved. Remember the apostle Paul and all that he suffered to share the good news of Jesus.  The weaker he became, the more God filled him.
     All that we have belongs to God.  All the things that we have come to us through the skills, talents and opportunities God has loaned us.  Yes, I said loaned. 100 years from now, will your name still be on the deed to your home or the title to your car?  We care for and manage things that belong to God. In most cases, when someone manages something for someone else, the manager has a legitimate right to receive something for their management, but there is a limit to what we take from the owner.
     If you send something to someone, you address it and give it to the mailman or FedEx person.  What happens if they take it home and open it and decide to keep it and enjoy it. The package does not belong to them.  They are just the middleman. Just because God puts something in our hands doesn't mean that it has to stay there.
     People give when their goals and values and purposes align with those of a church, ministry or individual.  I want to be a part of what God and others do in this world to relieve suffering, help people to trust God and move a little closer to God.  My giving is motivated by love. God has loved me so much in so many ways I look for ways I can help his kids.
     The people who listened to Jesus had a lot to worry about; the crushing military might of an occupying army, imminent poverty dogging their every step, injustice all around them, sickness and death as a daily occurrence.  That's why Jesus´ sermon about worry was so tough to hear, and even more difficult to believe—until Jesus added a twist—worry is futile. It accomplishes nothing. Nothing that is, except making people more prone to worrying more.  When it continues, fear-based anxiety becomes habit that seems to push away most other experiences in life.
     Fear keeps people locked up with a scarcity mentality—the idea that the more of something that you give away, the less you will have for your needs.  Where else in life do you gain more as you keep giving away? What assets do you never run short of? God will give you rewards far in excess of what you give.  Fear has always been one of the principles of a growing faith. We need to see that nothing good can come from anxiety, and how it changes us into something that we may not like being around.  Sometimes I am concerned that worry has invaded the way that part of our congregation works and thinks.
     Living abundantly is not really a matter of having something to live on, but something to live for.  Purpose, connection, love, service, friendship, family, generosity—these sustain contentment.
     Contentment is learning to be satisfied with what you have, rather than feeling distracted by what we lack.  Give what you have, don't feel bad because you can’t give what you don't have. How much you give is not the question, but what’s the proportion of the gift to your income?  Giving in proportion to income suggests that giving should be a priority in our lives. The real joy in giving begins when we make giving a priority.
     As we release our control of our money back to God, God will replace our financial stress with peace and abundant living as we come more and more to develop mutual support and knowing how to love and be loved.  Contentment arises from seeking that which truly satisfies.
     There are a lot of financial gurus out there and they seem to be saying the same thing. The first 10% should go to your church and other valid ministries. The second 10% should go toward paying off all your debts other than house or business and once this has been dealt with it goes into savings.  We use this money to pay cash for cars and other major expenses. And the third 10% should go into long term savings. We aren't going to be able to work forever. Regardless of who you are, we can live off of 70% and give and save the rest.
If you aren't where you and God feel is a good place for you to be in giving to others, maybe you need to take a step of growing a percent per year, or even a dollar a week.
     Why do I support my churches and other ministries?  First, I believe that God has given me enough to do this so that programs of ministry and outreach can take place. I do it because I believe that I was created to help others.
     It’s not about who has the most to the end of the game.  It’s about who you love and who loves you. I pray that God would give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to care and hands to help God’s children everywhere that we go and that we might find true joy in giving.  
 

​Sermon 7-15-18      Mark 6:14-29  
Losing Everything to Gain Everything
 
     This passage follows Jesus sending out followers to tell people about him.  News of his ministry was spreading. People were talking and excitement was growing.  Which brings us to our scripture. Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great was serving as the governor of Galilee and Palestine as Jesus was beginning his ministry.  Herod was first married to Phasaelis. He met another woman and they fell in love. Unfortunately it was his brother’s wife Herodias. Herod married Herodias even though she was still married to his brother Philip.  Oh, also, because of some complicated interfamily marriage, she was also his niece.
     Marriage to one’s brother is not very common, but marrying your niece while she is still married to your brother is pretty rare.  I guess if you are powerful enough you can do about anything.
     Many people were surprised by what happened though.  Herod Antipas had a nasty reputation. He had killed off most of his family out of fear that they’d take over his powerful position. Though he was born a Jew, he remembered his Jewish faith and its worship only when it was convenient for him. John, who we call the Baptist because he was inviting people to repent, be baptized and follow Jesus as the messiah had been going around telling everyone how terrible Herod was for his most recent marriage.
     Today I want to think about why we do things that we later regret and the relationship between our values and our actions.  
     The beheading of John was not simply a whimsical execution by a violent leader, but a deeply conflicted act that evolved from guilt and shame and which produced even more guilt and shame.
     We all know what this is like.  We do something that we know we should not do, and then we feel worse for doing it.  John was arrested because he was a political threat due to his popularity among people which the religious leaders thought might lead to some sort of rebellion.
     Intermarriage among royalty was a matter of politics in those days, necessary for building and consolidating power.  Herod’s first wife, the daughter of Arteas IV, King of Nabataea, created a strong military alliance. Divorcing her to marry his brother’s wife Herodias was seen as an insult, creating tension not only between two rulers, but also between their countries.
     Herod’s action was also unpopular in Israel.  Under Jewish law, Herod was guilty of both adultery and incest.  But no one was going to tell the Jewish ruler how wrong it was; no one that is but John, who was very vocal; and very public and eventually very beheaded.
     This was easier for Herod than dealing with his own behavior as the problem; easier to silence John than to consider that he might have made a mistake. John had also deeply offended Herodias, saying that she should not be married to her brother-in-law, Herod. Since she rather enjoyed being in power, she decided that John had to go.  Arrest was insufficient for Herodias as she demanded John’s death for exposing her scandalous marriage.
     John died because of human insecurity and to appease a guilty conscience, a malicious grudge and the desire to eliminate that which makes us uncomfortable.  The same could be said about the death of Jesus. In the end, Jesus simply could no longer be tolerated by those with power. All too often, people don’t want to hear the truth, so we try to ignore or eliminate them but when we find that we can’t, we try to squelch the truth teller.  
     We have all made promises in the heat of the moment or at a time of desperation that we later regretted.  Herod’s big talk caught up with him and ours does too.
     The challenge of the gospel is to feel guilt for our part of the problems we have, realize that God forgives us of everything that we do and then try to act differently.  Doing what God wants can sometimes bring us discomfort. Challenging popular forms of injustice and immorality invites disdain and persecution from those who prefer unjust and immoral lifestyles
     John was a truth teller who spoke for God.  Herod and his new wife, Herodias, were enraged by John’s words and had him imprisoned in order to quiet him.  Herodias, on the other hand was not happy with John’s imprisonment. John had embarrassed her and Herodias nursed her grudge and the anger built up within her. Hate can do that. It can really cripple and distort our judgment.
     Herodias sought to achieve her ends by whatever means necessary, a manipulator who acted out of her own personal ambition.  
     Mark tells us that Herod respected John, knowing that he was a righteous man, and protected him. Herod liked to listen to John and would have John brought to him from prison for late night talks.  Herod was perplexed and disturbed by John. It was as though Herod became aware that he had a conscience when he was in John’s presence, but didn’t know what to do with it.
     Herod lived a very obscene, raunchy and self-centered life.  He gave a very raunchy party for his male friends. Herodias’ daughter, Salome, came in and danced for the less than polite crowd.  In his exuberated state Herod offered her anything that she wanted.
     Salome knew how her mother felt about John so she told him that she wanted John's head on a platter.  She had no beef with John. She was just a willing pawn in her mother’s chess game skillfully executing her mother’s scheme.
     Herod was in a jam.  He had to honor his word or he would look foolish and weak in front of his friends.  He was at the mercy of his own foolish promise and the shallow, misguided expectations of his friends.  He felt compelled to do what his conscience told him was right, but he gave in to the pressure. We face pressure all the time.  The pressure of school projects, a crazy workload or schedule meetings, deadlines.  Your faith in God, no matter how strong will not completely take away the pressure of the world.  
     As we seek to understand this story, we must keep before us the truth.  What happened to Herod could happen to us. We have all been pushed and pulled in many different directions at once.  When that happens, do you allow yourself to be manipulated by the pressures of other people’s expectations and demands?  Are you able in the midst of that pressure, to think clearly and make the right decision based on your goals and those of the organization?  Have you ever ended up doing things that you didn’t believe in or want to do?
     This was the case with Herod.  People were making him do things that he knew was wrong, yet he did it anyway.  He felt compelled to act in a certain way. This has happened to me. The problem is that we can’t run from pressure all the time.  We have to learn to handle it and yet please God in the process. We have to decide what it means to follow Jesus. Can we silently look the other way all the time?
     We all face pressure.  What we do about it says a lot about us.  We face the pressure of doing things to be popular.  We all want to be liked. That’s why we give in to peer pressure sometimes.  We feel pressure at work. We want the boss and our coworkers to like us more than other employees.  It may mean a raise or promotion for us. There is nothing wrong with being liked or popular, unless we have to compromise our integrity or do unethical things against our conscience—then we’re in trouble.
     For Herod, this meant murdering an innocent man just to keep his reputation and pride.  We are constantly pressured to conform to someone else’s viewpoint, attitude, way of living, dressing, talking etc.  How many have been suckered into doing something just because you thought everyone else was doing it and you didn’t want to back down?  How many of us have agreed to do things we knew were absolutely wrong and would lead to terrible consequences, but we decided it would be less painful to deal with the consequences than to look at the sneering faces of our supposed friends right now.  
     We talk about losing our heads. This is not just when we stop thinking for ourselves. It also means that we have taken bad advice from people who don’t really know what’s right. If we give up responsibility for our decisions, then we are like loose cannons on a deck and a lot of people are going to get hurt.
     We are answerable to God for every word we say, every act, and even every thought.  The question we need to ask ourselves throughout the day is NOT “what will my friends think”, but what will God think. We should not submit to anything that is not God's plan and purpose for us.  Don’t give in. Live by God’s standards. This is easier said than done. We need to be on our toes all the time. Never mind that you might not be as popular. Dare to be yourself and do what is right.
     If you’ve been compromising, turn around and take a stand.  Pray. Get in touch with God's power. There will be people that don’t like what you’re doing or the stand that you’re taking or what you’re saying, but what the world needs are Christians who dare to take a stand for Jesus, people who do not give in to pressure, but who respond to God's truth and ways.  Our calling is to let them see Christ when the pressure is on.
     Our scripture is about some very visible people doing something that was wrong.  The response was that a lot of people whispered and mumbled, But John spoke out publicly, knowing that nothing would change unless he spoke up.  John told the truth and paid for it with his life. He knew his own mind and spoke it. He would not change what he understood to be God’s purpose for our lives.
     You say, “But John lost everything”.  No, not at all. He did not lose the two things they could not take from him; his relationship with God through Jesus and his witness to the world. And friends when our lives are over and all the pieces are put back in the box—those are two most important things to have.
 

​Sermon 6-17-18        Mark 4:26-34           The Story of the Growing Seed
Add food color to water.  A little can do a great deal.

     I love a good story.  Most people do. They help me remember things better than just a list of facts. But I’m confused by this scripture.  Is the focus of the parable on the sower, the process of growth, or the harvest?  Let’s see if we can answer this question.
     In parables, things and people in the story represent other things and people. One possibility is that the farmer stands for God who is active in our lives bringing all people into God’s kingdom.  
     Some might say that the focus is not on the identity of the sower but in the manner of growth of the seed.  In its original context it may have been directed toward those who thought that greater human observance of the law could hasten the coming of the messianic kingdom.  The parable then advocates patience and asserts that the reign of God is God’s doing according to God’s timing. We could believe that this parable deals with the end of the world and the second coming of Christ.  It is not far off, but comes a little closer with every small venture of faith by ordinary people who act in the power of the crucified and risen Christ. This venture poses a challenge to systems of power just as mustard that has gone wild can take over cultivated fields.  These efforts also benefit all creation that depends on God’s care and kindness for our existence. This subversive power of radical faith like the mustard seed is impossible to root out once it has taken hold.
     Another possibility is that the emphasis of the parable is neither on the seed or the sower but on readiness for the harvest.  This could be a parable about reassurance and of course, the parable offers assurance that the process of growth toward the end of time is proceeding according to God’s plan.
     See why I am confused.
     It is a simple story about a man who goes about his normal routine: scattering seeds.  One of the things people remember about this scripture is the contrast between the tiny mustard and how it grows into what scripture says is “the greatest of all shrubs.”  Botanically speaking, mustard does not grow that large, nor is it the smallest of all seeds. What we have here is hyperbole used to drive home the contrast.  Hyperbole is when we use exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally such as saying that I want a 'mile-high ice-cream cone'.
     For some scholars, Jesus spoke this parable to his discouraged disciples to reassure them that although his ministry did not seem to amount to much at the outset, there would come a time when he would have a huge, universal following. Wild mustard is often regarded as a pesky weed, impossible to eradicate once it had infested a field. So too is the tenacious faith of those who seem to be of no account.
     This interpretation poses a disturbing challenge of the hearer—where is God’s reign to be found?  What or who brings it? Who stands to gain from its arrival? Whose power is threatened by it?
     One aspect of the first parable is that God is the source of all productivity.  The parable of the growing seed could offer an invitation to recognize God’s grace. This parable tells us about the helplessness of man.  The farmer does not make the seed grow. We can discover things, we can develop them, but we cannot create them. We do not create the kingdom of God. This kingdom is of God. We can frustrate and hinder it.  We can make situations in the world where it is given the opportunity to come more fully and more speedily. But behind it all is God’s power and will. We might also focus on the assurance that God is at work, even when the divine action seems difficult to see.
     The kingdom of God really means the reign of God.  It means the day when all the world will accept the will of God and that God’s will is done perfectly as it is in heaven.
     This is not a peaceful story about birds and seeds and plants and rhythms of nature.  Rather they pose difficult challenges to conversion. The choice must be made whether to be included with the insiders who struggle to understand and follow Jesus or to stand outside looking but not seeing, hearing but not listening.
     Nature’s growth is often unperceivable.  We do not see a plant growing. The kingdom of God is on the way. The growth may be like the growth of a plant, hard to see from day to day or month to month, but step back over a longer period and we can all see what God has done.  Nature’s growth is constant. Night and day, while people sleep, growth goes on, quietly, unceasingly as God's plan unfolds.
     Nature’s growth is inevitable.  There is nothing as powerful as growth.  A tree can split concrete pavement with its growth.  A weed can push its green head up through asphalt. Nothing can stop growth.  In spite of people’s rebellion and disobedience, God’s kingdom goes on and nothing in the universe can stop the purpose of God.
     There is a day when the harvest will come.  When the harvest comes, the good fruit will be utilized and the weeds and useless portions will be destroyed.  Harvest and judgment go hand in hand. When we think about the kingdom coming we realize that we need to exhibit patience since God has all eternity to work.  It doesn’t have to happen in our lifetime.
     The coming of the kingdom is a summons to hope.  Too many live in a day to day sense of despair. So many think that the time is about over for humanity, but I don’t know how we can think that and believe in God.  I live in patience, in hope that cannot despair and in reparation which sees life in the light of eternity which allows me to be ready for the end of creation whenever it comes.
     This story is about not being haunted by small beginnings.  It may seem that at the moment we can only produce only a very small effort, but it is that small effort that will become great.  We often feel that all that we do is very little and hardly worth doing. We have to remember that somebody has to start everything.  Nothing emerges fully grown. It is our job to do what we can and know that when added to the little things that others do, it will produce a great change. The church started with about 120 people.  Today, there are 2.2 billion Christians (31% of all human beings).  
     Jesus was a great teacher.  I have five teachers in my family. It is a teacher’s duty to not draw attention to themselves but to the subject, remembering that no teaching works if it is teached over the head of the audience.  Shooting above a target only shows what a poor shot you are. Teaching does not just consist in telling things but in letting people learn by experiencing. Truth consists of sharing and learning together.  The teacher must think with the learner’s mind and the learner’s eyes. Teaching takes understanding and patience and kindness. Teacher must always encourage and never discourage.
     On the other hand, the learner doesn't go away to forget, but to think over and discover what the learning means for life and living for God.  Above all, the learner seeks the teacher’s company whose message will always lie not so much in what he says as in what he is.
     Some say that the real point is not the gradualness of the growth of the seed, but the sureness of the growth.  The kingdom is near because of the power of God working through those who have given themselves to God. This was and is a great word of encouragement and hope, an answer to impatience and discouragement.  The disciples must have been tempted to join the Zealots and try to force a swifter and a more sure way of establishing God’s kingdom. There is always the temptation to rely on violence, force and material power instead of depending on the sure forces of God which bring forth fruit from themselves.
     The kingdom of God is set over against the alternative vision of the nations.  The kingdom of God does not replicate the kind of greatness that human nations attempt to build for themselves.
     The passivity of human figures during the growth process challenges a common reading of this parable.  They do not describe an evolutionary process by which Christians build the kingdom. The proverbial sayings warn Christians that faith cannot remain private.  We must give away what we have received. Too many think of faith as a private affair that we wear in the presence of others.
     Is the parable about God as the sower who will bring many people into God's kingdom of love where God’s plan and purpose for all people will exist? Yes.  Is the parable about the process of growth individually and corporately? Yes. Most of us don’t become fully grown followers of Jesus overnight. It’s a process of becoming more and more like Jesus every day.  Is the parable about the harvest? Yes. All people are invited to respond to God’s love in their lives and the ways we can use the gifts and talents and abilities God has given us to proclaim God’s love and assist people in accepting that direction in their lives.   

​Sermon 6-10-18   Mark 3:20-35
     Several weeks ago, we talked about how Jesus had left his family home and the carpentry business in Nazareth.  No doubt it was a flourishing business from which he could have made a living.  Then one day he quite suddenly walked away and became a wandering preacher.  “No sensible man”, his family thought, “would throw away job where money came in every week to become a vagrant who did not even have a place to lay down his head”.
     Up to this point, Mark’s gospel presents Jesus as an exorcist who also equiped his closest followers to cast demons out of people.  This unusual, behavior alarmed his family and since they doubted his ability to do this, they decided that he must be crazy. Isn’t that our normal thinking when we don’t understand something?
     In the description of Jesus’ family, Jesus is described as “son of Mary”, several brothers are named and a general references to sisters is included.  What about Joseph? The simplest explanation is that Mary’s husband had died some time before.
     Jesus’ family feared that he had lost his mind.  While his family claimed that he is “beside himself”, the teachers of the law went a step further determining that not only had he stepped out of himself, but that's something else has stepped into Jesus and was using its demonic power to rule over demons Ancient societies often used charges like this to rein in people whose extraordinary position, gifts, or behavior challenged the established order.  Many people prefer to maintain the traditional patterns in personal, family or social life rather than make radical changes that might bring greater health or happiness to a troubled situation.
     The religious leaders did not doubt Jesus’ power to cast out demons.  This was common in their days as it is today in South America, Africa and parts of Asia.  But they claimed that he was in league with the demons. All exorcists call upon a greater power to throw out the demons.  They assumed that he was using evil powers to do what he was doing.    
     Jesus’ family and the teachers of the law are not the only ones who are less than excited about Jesus the exorcist.  Many modern Christians aren’t all that excited either. Jesus the exorcist embarrasses people; Jesus dabbling with the supernatural (Isn’t that what he’s about?).  They are ok with his preaching, teaching and faith healing, but not this exorcism business. Didn’t demons go out with the middle ages? Aren’t there institutions for people who do crazy things like this?
     Persons changed with having special powers that the religious leaders did not feel came from God could be either banished or executed; such suspicions could not be left unchecked. Jesus’ opponents claimed his power to cast out demons was a sign that Jesus had received his authority from the chief demonic power, Beelzebul.  By coming to the opinion that Jesus’ work was animated and empowered by the demonic, the teachers of the law placed Jesus outside of the realm where forgiveness is possible.
     Jesus points out that it makes little sense to think that Satan would cast out his own demons and then Jesus further observed that even if what the teachers of the law suggest about him was true, Satan would not be so confused as to be pitted against himself.  This never the less would be an indication that Satan’s end was surely in sight since, As Jesus said, “A house divided against itself could not stand.”
     Jesus speaks indirectly about his own activity.  He is no agent of Satan. His actions demonstrate that demonic power are being broken up.  Jesus is stronger than Satan and is able to bind Satan and raid his kingdom. The parable of Jesus the exorcist teaches us that Jesus has exerted his power over the powers of evil and tied up the devil and is busy robbing him of his hostages.  Properly understood, Jesus’ exorcisms are evidence that God’s rule is becoming present in Jesus’ ministry.
     The saying about the Holy Spirit reveals that more is at stake than Jesus’ own personal feelings of honor or shame.  What is at stake is the truth about the saving power of God at work in the ministry of Jesus. Since the saying is directed against those who are trying to destroy Jesus’ authority with the crowds by typing him as “satanic”, the “sin against the Holy Spirit” is not a special, reserved class of sin. It occurs when we do not believe that God is who we proclaim God to be and who we know is able to do in our lives what we know God can and will do. Christians, who participate with the Holy Spirit from their baptism, should remember the words and example of universal forgiveness. People who feel cut off from God or even imagine that they have committed this sin need a word of healing.
     The interpreters that believe that this passage indicates hostility toward Jesus’ family presume that tensions between Jewish and Gentile Christians were responsible for the judgment that Jesus’ family were “outsiders” in his mission.  They also point to the fact that his mother and brothers must call to him from the outside indicates that his family were not disciples.
     Mark’s narrative does not suggest a violent break between Jesus and his family. Jesus shows those who refer to his family’s presence that the authority of our family cannot be set above doing the will of God.  Jesus says that kinship is not about flesh and blood.  He insists that his true family members are those who do the will of God and that it has to do with people sharing experiences, values, goals, opinions, beliefs, and working together and serving together.
     The issue is not opposition to Jerusalem but the danger of attachment to family, village, and traditional ties.  Readers already know that Jesus’ first disciples left family and occupation in order to follow him. Jesus had recently started a little community of his own.  The presence of women in Jesus’ description of his new family of disciples distinguishes his followers from those who surrounded other popular teachers of the law or popular philosophical teachers.
     They were fishermen, a reformed tax collector, and a fanatical nationalist.  They were not the people that any ambitious person would want to know. They were certainly not the people that who would do any good to a man who had set on a career. No sensible man would pick a crowd of friends like that. They were definitely not the kind of people a prudent man would want to get mixed up with,
     Neither Jesus or any of his followers belonged among the powerful of their society, nor did they have religious credentials.  They certainly lacked any ties to the powerful aristocrats like the king. Instead, Jesus drew on the proverbial wisdom and the religious instincts of very ordinary people.  By watching Jesus unmask the authorities and the experts of their society, such persons learned their own value in the sight of God. They may have had a better understanding of what it means to do the will of God than the experts.  In a society dominated by experts, people today constantly make decisions about how far they can trust authorities. Sometimes wisdom lies in everyday common sense.
     The crowd had recognized that a new power of God was at work and praised God. But Jesus was on a head on collision with the orthodox religious leaders of his day.  There are certain people who can do us a great deal of harm, people on whose right side it is better to be, people whose opposition can be very dangerous.  No sensible man, they must have been thinking, would ever go up against the powers that be, because he would know that in any collision with them he would be bound to come out second best.  No one can take on the scribes and pharisees and the orthodox leaders and hope to get away with it. When the religious leaders tried to trap Jesus, he became angered by their hard heartedness and pronounced a word of judgment against them.
     We should not naively suppose that life ought to be like a leisurely afternoon at the beach and then blink in surprise when some sort of evil explodes in the middle of our existence.  Jesus announced that we live in a world held hostage by formidable evil powers, powers always on the prowl.
     There is only one condition of forgiveness and that is repentance.  But if we refuse God’s forgiveness then it does us no good. As long as we love our sin (separation from God) too much to want to change and leave it behind, we cannot position ourselves to be forgiven.
     Sins can be forgiven as long as people do not cut themselves off from the force of forgiveness
By his actions, Jesus had made it clear that the three laws by which people tend to organize their lives meant nothing to him: security, safety, and the verdict of society,
     The one thing that people want more than anything is security in job and with new people and financial risks.  Secondly, I think that the default response of most people is to play it safe. They are more concerned about safety sometimes than moral quality. People instinctively shirk from anything with risk.  I also think that most people care more about what their neighbors have to say than God.  Jesus had shown himself to be indifferent to the verdict of society.  
     Abraham Lincoln rightly applied the truth that Jesus shared here about unity to our nation’s life.  It is always applicable. Take but one aspect of the nation’s life, the race question. The house of democracy cannot stand if divided between a profession of equal opportunity and the denial of rights to large groups of people.  Every day we can see more clearly that a divided house in the international world cannot stand. Must we not also see, far more clearly, than we ever have, that a divided church, split into fragments, cannot stand, and cannot be the force it should be against the world’s evil?
     Churches will never work together as long as they argue about the non-essentials such as ordination, church administration, sacraments, practices and customs.  We need to gather around the goal of knowing God better, serving God better, and winning people for Christ. The building at Urbana First United Methodist, where I served before coming here, has about 45,000 square feet. They used to have 800 in worship but were down to about 50 when I began there. It wasn’t very long until God introduced us to a wonderful Korean congregation that needed a place to worship.
     In the first 6 months they were with us, they grew from 40 to100, (mostly college students). Later we invited a non-denominational congregation that had outgrown their rented space to share ours. In three months, they grew from 150-225. Also, only about 10 were over the age of 30. The Urbana United Methodist Church had become an incubator where 135 new people came to know Jesus.
     About 11 months ago I was told that I was moving. Remember 135 new people had come to know Jesus. But they had not joined the United Methodist Church. I don’t care what “flavor” of Christianity a person is as long as they seek to know, serve and proclaim Jesus. We need to think kingdom, not just congregation. If someone seeks a relationship with God through Jesus I call them brother or sister. My job is not just to serve two United Methodist churches, but to introduce everyone that I can to my friend Jesus. That’s your job too.

​Sermon 6-3-18    Mark 2:23-3:6

     Have you ever been in a situation where everything you did was monitored, and where every move was analyzed?  This was the case with Jesus. Once again Jesus cut right across the religious rules and regulations.  One Sabbath, when he and his disciples were going through the corn fields, his disciples began to pluck the ears of corn and eat them.  On any other day it was perfectly legal for people who were traveling to take an ear or two or a handful of grain to munch on.
     The problem was that this was the Sabbath and all work was forbidden.  What was allowed six days of the week was forbidden on this day and the penalty was death, assuming that what they were doing could be seen as reaping or harvesting.
     Since people could not agree about what was work and what was not, (reading-golf-mowing grass-gardening-fishing-sewing-cooking) the different rabbis weighed in.  Some said medical care could be offered to someone if their life was in danger. If a wall fell on someone and they were alive, they could be rescued, but if they were dead, the body had to be left until the next day.  Cold water could be poured on a sprain, but a fracture had to wait until tomorrow. A cut finger could be bandaged, but ointment could not be applied on the Sabbath. Basically, an injury could be kept from getting worse, but it could not be made better on the Sabbath.
     The Pharisees believed that God had called them to make sure everyone lived according to the religious rules every day.  They figured that Jesus would immediately stop his followers when they were caught breaking the Sabbath rule.  Instead, Jesus suggested a reversal to the law, saying that people were not created to be the victims and slaves of the Sabbath laws and rules.  Jesus understood that the Sabbath was created to make life better, not worse.
     The basic difference between Jesus and the religious leaders was that Jesus did not believe that faith and belief in God’s love consisted of rules and regulations.  For too many, following Jesus is only about abstaining from work on the Sabbath, attending worship, praying, reading the Bible and acting like a Christian in everyday life.
     These are all good things to do, but love, mercy, forgiveness and service are at the heart of being a follower of Jesus.  People are more important than rituals and rules.
     In the second part of this scripture, we read about Jesus healing a man whose hand was deformed.  His life was not in danger. He would not be any worse off if he had been left until the next day.
     Seeing the religious leaders in the crowd and knowing that they were looking for something they could use to bring charges against him, Jesus anticipated their questions with one of his own about whether doing good was allowed on the Sabbath.  They said that it was. He healed the man, knowing that there was nothing they could do to him.
     For the Pharisees, it was all about rituals, rules, laws and regulations.  The Pharisees believed Jesus had broken several and had to be punished. For Jesus, it was mostly about making lives better.
     It is not that we should ignore the religious rules but how are we going to live but out the intent of the laws? They were created to help us live happy, healthy lives in community. They tried to meet needs.
     The Illinois Great Rivers Conference, of which we are one of 800 churches, is firm about pastors observing a Sabbath; and taking time away from ministry.  If I work 7 days a week, I’ll eventually burn out and be less effective. I’m not always real good at it but I try to take Friday as my day of renewal, reflection and re-creation. Jesus is not breaking the rules but demonstrating the purpose of doing good as the real purpose of the Sabbath.
     The reality was that the Disciples plucked grain to survive, not to sell or plant or keep for the next day.  Was this really work? Should we not be allowed to eat every day of the week?
     Some of us remember the “Blue Laws” when stores and gas stations were closed.  With all the people traveling on weekends and the trucks that carry products seven days a week, can you imagine what it would be like if most travel was limited one day a week?
     Historical records tell us that the man with the withered hand was a stonemason and needed both hands to do his job and provide for his family.  The man needed to be healed on this Sabbath so he could do his job.
     The religious leaders were not all bad.  Without them, the people had no legal ways to determine or interpret the laws like our supreme court does.
     The people were stretched and strained beyond the old and safe categories in ways that demanded a rethinking of Scripture, traditions, God, everything that we think we are doing for God and everything that we believe God is doing for us.
     Jesus reminded them about a time that King David did a similar thing to provide food for his troops and no one opposed this.
     Jesus seemed to be attempting to unhinge Sabbath day observances from the penalty oriented
oppressive practice that had developed.  The day had turned into a day of “work” in trying to decide what could and could not be done rather than it being a true day of rest.
     Jesus’ declaration that the Sabbath was a gift from God to humans for people’s benefit not only restores the early biblical concept of the Sabbath, but also anticipates the rabbis’ teaching concerning the sanctity and meaning of the day.  Jesus readjusted the Sabbath for renewal, reverence, obedience and expectancy Jesus reframes the Sabbath as a gift from God. A gift with strings and stipulations is not a gift but a bribe.
     Law and discipline frequently threaten to eclipse love and delight in our world, and this is what often happened when the Sabbath law was worshipped instead of God.  The Sabbath frequently turned from gift into curse. What is important however is the spirit of the law, which must be retained even through the strictest observance of the laws. Rabbi Heschel, one of the greatest rabbis of Jesus’ day once wrote, “One must sacrifice the commandments for the sake of the human, rather than sacrifice people for the laws.”  
     Earlier in Jesus’ ministry, the religious leaders wrestled with the concept that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins.  Now Jesus is declaring that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. The Pharisees were waiting to pounce on Him at the slightest infraction of the laws.
     Tradition did allow for the superseding of strict Sabbath observance in order to save a life.  The problem the Pharisee’s had was that they felt Jesus was healing UNNECESSARILY on the Sabbath. For Jesus, it was necessary that the fractured be made whole, regardless  of the day, perhaps even because of the day. For the Pharisees, what was one more day with a withered hand or demon possession?
     For Jesus, the religious leaders were no longer stewards of the day for God, they were self appointed owners of the Lord’s day, gatekeepers for what was right and what was wrong, what could and should be done and what was unnecessary to do.  From Jesus’ perspective, the Sabbath must be spent sharing grace, peace and great love.
     The cumulative effect of Jesus’ actions and attitude adds up to a need for the threatened leaders to figure out a way to eliminate him.  Already in the 3rd chapter of Mark’s story the seeds for Jesus’ end are planted and the plot is underway to kill him.
     How do we receive what God gives us while refraining from legalism and power games?  There is an ongoing need for Christians to reclaim this gift of grace and open it anew for our own benefit.
     What would it be like if we had one day a week in which we are detached from the dependence of external obligations, a day on which we stopped worshipping the idols of technical civilization, and a day on which we used no money? What if we had an opportunity to mend our shattered lives; to collect rather than to dissipate time?  What if we had a day especially for transformation and for witness to the world as to who our God is and who we are as God's covenant community? What if we made it the most special day of the week; where we really rested so we were more productive the other six days and met needs, but not wants; where we spent time with people, really caring about them and touching their souls in a caring, loving way.
     Jesus suggested that the test for all institutions including the church is “does it serve people?”  Jesus applied this test to the Sabbath. Institutions are not scared, just people. The institutions that are the most effective and longest lasting are those that are flexible and adapt to the changing needs of people. Nations exist primarily for the welfare of people, not the outmoded notion of complete sovereignty or to throw its economic and military weight around as a sign of its prestige and power to permeate injustice, no matter how entrenched by time and place.
     The question is not whether what we are doing on Sunday is work, but does it build up people, does it help to make life better for folks, does it demonstrate God’s love and forgiveness?   

​Sermon 5-20-18   Acts 2:1-21    
 
     You may find it hard to believe, but there have been times in my life when I have not been very patient.  I have never liked to wait for things. Pentecost, which began long before the first century, meant “wait”.  Jews within 20 miles were legally bound to attend. Others were strongly urged to go. It was one of the three pilgrimage feasts when entire households of Israel gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the goodness of God toward their nation.
     At this Pentecost celebration, most of the Jewish population had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate God’s love for them before they even knew about God and to look forward to and wait for the day when God would do what they could not do and exalt them to the place of honor that they felt they had been promised.  
     They called this hoped for event “the day of the lord.”  In this experience, the entire world would be shaken from its foundations and the forces of the universe would lose their cohesion and strength. This time of terror and judgment was foretold prior to the Mayans, Nostradamus and the pastors that predict the end of the world every other month.  The Jews had dreamed of the day of the Lord and now many people said that Jesus was the messiah; that God had come as a person to save the world.
     As the smell of roast lamb filled the place where they were, suddenly there was the sound of a great wind, rumbling like a tornado and pandemonium broke loose.   Everything was coming loose and people were acting crazy. Luke, who wrote Acts, described the spirit’s entrance into the house as a rushing, violent wind. It filled the entire place so that no space escaped its occupation. The wind morphed into forked tongues of fire dancing over their heads.  What was first felt but not seen became recognizable as the incarnation of God’s spirit.
     Just as the fire filled the house, it filled the people, enabling them to speak plainly in various human languages.  The people were shocked because they recognized the speakers as Galileans. The reality is that God speaks through storms, flames and exuberant utterances, but some of us hear God more clearly in quiet words of reassurance, in the promise that the spirit will be with us deeper than our troubles.  For most of us, God is not loud and overwhelming, but quiet, directing, and comforting. In Acts 2, we read that God sends God’s spirit for many to see. At the time there were about 120 disciples who followed Jesus from place to place, of course the 11 apostles (remember Judas was gone and had not been replaced); all were praying and waiting.
     Peter immediately dispels rumors of an inebriated group of speakers.  It was the third hour of the day or 9 a.m.  We know a lot more about the members of this first century house church.  They come from different social backgrounds. They did not lead lives that would be qualified as saintly and interesting; they seemed to have great conversation with Paul.  It is not simply that Paul told them what to do and they did it. They challenged Paul and offered their interpretations as passionately as Paul argued his. In the time we rely on scripture, tradition, experience, and reason. This is a healthy model for integrating dispute and disagreement into the modern church which still thinks about what it should and shouldn’t be and how it should act in this world.
     God’s Holy Spirit enabled the early followers to share the story of the risen Christ with people who did not have a covenantal relationship with a God or understand that God promised a messiah to save all people.
     Seeing the wonders of creation and providence doesn’t just encourage us to say, “Wow!  This God is pretty great.” Instead, they compel that the blight of sin be removed so that creation may be entirely what God intends for it to be.  Sin, in John’s gospel, is not about moral failings. Primarily it’s an inability or refusal to recognize God’s revelation when confronted by it. In Jesus Christ, God has indeed dealt decisively with the blight of sin, not by slaughtering sinners, but by redeeming them.
     In Psalm 104 (24-35) there’s a solid connection with the story of Pentecost.  It talks of God sending out God’s spirit for the creation and renewal of the world.  Pentecost also deals with God sending out the spirit for the creation and renewal of the church.
     We pray for and hope for God’s spirit to act in us, upon us and through us, making visible and tangible God’s promise to be present, to empower and to compel testimony about how God interjects into diverse cultures, languages and life situations.  
     In Galatians 12, we read about the Fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, greatness, and self-control. Our role as God’s people is to make God’s presence felt, heard, and seen, compelling us to interpret, as best we can, what we have felt, heard and seen.
     The recognition that Jesus is Lord, cannot happen unless the spirit is at work within the person who confesses that we celebrate that Jesus saved us and guides our life.  We cannot recognize Jesus as the messiah through our own abilities and thus have no preliminary grounds for boasting.  Rather, we’re all dependent upon the spirit in our ability to confess Christ as the director of our lives as well as the variety of gifts that we bring to the community.  
     The spirit functions as an enabling force, but the spirit also levels the playing field.  No one can pretend that they do not need the spirit to recognize the lordship of Jesus or to develop their own particular gifts.
     Too many churches have locked their doors to a vibrant understanding of the Holy Spirit in their midst.  Because of this, we are unable to bear witness to Christ in a world that is becoming less and less receptive to the call of God.  
     Maybe it would inspire us to be bold and creative witness if we saw the risen Christ miraculously pass through our barricaded doors.  But probably all it takes is for us to see that Jesus is already present, dwelling within us and eager to enlist us to carry on Christ’s work of setting people free.
     The Holy Spirit is not the private property of an enlightened few or a transitory presence. Instead, it belongs to the people of God. Remember how the spirit rested on each person. God’s spirit was a clear sign of God’s faithfulness.  Spirit filled apostles were inspired to preach, interpret scripture, perform miracles and lead the church.
     In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, we read that the gifts of this spirit are wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and speaking in tongues.  
     The early church was filled with many people who thought that the gift God had given them was pretty much the greatest.  But the Holy Spirit is not some personal gift from God. It marks people that belong to God, for the good of all people.
     Luke wanted to avoid people focusing on a particular gift to the detriment of others and excluding the people who practice that particular gift.  Christians need to move away from a state of mind in which one judges the achievements (or lack) of others. Rather, they need to concentrate on the manner in which each and every gift is used so that the earthly body of Christ can remain united and strong.
     Jesus bestowed peace upon his worried followers. Great! He filled them with the Holy Spirit. Wonderful! Jesus told them they can forgive other people’s sins. Huh?  I thought that only God could do that.
     Jesus was not appointing the church to be some sort of moral watchdog, nor did he commission it to arbitrate people’s assets and liabilities on a heavenly balance sheet.  God’s spirit gives the church dynamic power that enables the church to give effective witness to God’s love in our world.
     It’ sort of like graduation.  It’s no longer time to wait. It’s time for action and mission.  The resurrected Christ tells his followers and us that through the spirit that enables them to bear witness, that they can help people become free and release them from fear and debilitating guilt that keeps them from accepting God’s forgiveness.  We can be a part of seeing others come to believe in Jesus and what God’s spirit does in our lives.
     Last week I mentioned how God’s spirit comforts us,   It also empowers the church for world missions. Failure to bear witness, Jesus warns, will result in the opposite; a world full of people left unable to grasp the knowledge of God.  That is what it means to retain sin (the opposite of setting free). Jesus was not granting the church a unique spiritual authority. He is simply reporting that a church that does not bear witness to Christ is a church that leaves itself unable to play a role in delivering people from all that keeps them from experiencing the fullness that Jesus offers.
     God is at work in each of us, giving us different gifts that can & should be celebrated, but more importantly, used for the building up of the kingdom of God, not to create division, but unity, for we are the community of God.
     Sometimes we feel the spirit, often we hear the spirit, but always, we see the result of the spirit.  We cannot mandate how, when, where, or to what extent God will act. Like watching things in the wind, we can’t see the wind, but we can see result of the wind.
     The scripture describes a particular manifestation of God’s spirit and promise.  A heightened expectation of being renewed and reborn. Such intensity between God and us is but one result of the rich Easter confession about what happens when God raises a corpse to new life.  God acts, not far from us, but in and through us. Amen
 

Sermon 5-13-18      Philippians 2:1-13
     Many of us have friends and family who don’t believe in God. They don’t know what it’s like to never feel alone. For them, life on earth is all there is, and so it is natural that they strive for the world’s values--money, popularity, power, pleasure, and prestige.  They live primarily to impress others and bring happiness to their days.
     Often people excuse selfishness, pride, or evil by claiming their rights.  As followers of Jesus, we know that we should not selfishly cling to our rights, but seek ways to willingly serve others. For Paul, however, to live meant to develop eternal values and to tell others about Christ, who alone could help them see life from an abundant and eternal perspective.  
     This morning’s scripture addresses one of the most difficult issues of the Christian faith, the way that God entered our world as Jesus, maintaining his deity while assuming a human body and nature.  Becoming human he was able to relate better to people. The fancy word that we use for this is Incarnation.
     One of the main points that Paul made was that Jesus is part of God, but that he refused to seize for his own, the glory that belonged to him.  Instead of aspiring to a higher status, he gave up what he had. He abdicated his divine rank and assumed the form of a servant.  He did not disguise himself as a servant, but became one. He identified with us to the point of voluntarily experiencing death. In His humiliation on the cross, Jesus Christ, the savior, of the world won the victory over sin and death and the power of evil.  God the Father gave Jesus honor and glory.
     Paul compared Jesus to Adam who intended to have dominion and be like God, but who lost all this in his grasping.  In comparison, Jesus emptied himself and allowed Himself to be humiliated in order to reveal what God is like. Paul said that Jesus adopted the form of a slave, with all of its dishonor and lack of privileges.  This is the complete opposite of claiming equality with God.
     In those days, particular values were attached to names.  If a soldier took his oath in the name of Caesar, he thereby becomes Caesar's man.  To give someone a name was to give them certain status or power. The name that we give Jesus to designate this is “lord”.  The original meaning of lord was “master” or “owner”. Like a King with subjects, it was a title of respect. The name given Jesus as lord is to bestow on Jesus the name that is above every other name.  He is the king of kings and the lord of all lords and emperors. When Jesus was called “Lord”, it meant that he was in charge of all life. To honor our lord, we bow and confess who and what Jesus is to us. I wish we had a word that might speak better to modern society. Maybe Director, Boss, Leader, CEO, Mentor. Christians are baptized into the name of Jesus and thus yield ourselves to Jesus’ will and protection. To be a Christian is to confess that Jesus owns us. At the name of/in the name and power of, recognizing and believing this, everyone shall bow and allow Jesus to direct our lives.
     Jesus did a lot more than talk.  Christ modeled mutual care of others by his humiliation on our behalf.  “Be of one mind and purpose and attitude. Have the same kind of love as Christ who poured himself out for all creation through his humility and obedience.”
     Instead of beating up the early Christians, Paul said that the Philippines were children of God without blemish/fault/blame in a crooked/perverse/depraved generation and that as followers of Jesus they should be like light in the darkness, acting in ways that are straight in a world of crookedness, distortion, and warped and twisted ways.  Our words, acts, choices and priorities bring the message of God’s love and mercy.
     Paul urged the Philippians to be what they already were as followers of Christ, to think and act in ways that will not allow anyone to find anything in them to blame or find fault.  Paul invites followers of Christ to labor to the point of utter exhaustion, putting the last ounce of strength and energy which we possess into what we do and say.
     Christian love seeks the good of all, not just loving those that love us, knowing that God will give us the power to love people that we don’t like, even those we find unlovable and unlovely.
     We demonstrate our faith in Christ by counting others better than ourselves (or at least as good).  This decision to change is difficult because we have to give up feeling superior to others, and put others in line before us.
     Controversies in churches are not new. The jealousy and ambition of two women in the church at Philippi almost destroyed the first century church. The Bible doesn’t say, but I suspect it had to do with an election to some office/committee.
     The gracious action of Jesus as “Lord” requires a response, namely the obedience of faith that seeks to give God honor and praise.  Many translations say that we should “fear” God. The problem is that the word that means “awe/respect” is heard as the sort of fear and trembling of a slave about to be punished.  Fear is a good thing when it reminds us of our sense of weakness, inadequacy, and powerlessness to deal with life and temptations.  Fear does not cause us to hide from God, but to seek God, knowing that without God we cannot face life. When we love someone, we are not afraid of them as much as we are afraid that we might disappoint them or hurt them. Fear causes us to focus, to wonder and to have admiration .
     Part of the right attitude includes doing all things without useless disputing, debating, doubting, murmuring and questioning, like a mob that is about to turn on their leaders or the Israelites on the way to the promised land.
     My experience is that there are three causes of discord and disunity in groups of people—selfish ambition, desire for personal prestige (empty glory, higher seat, one’s opinion sought, known by name, listened to, flattered, fame, shelf-display, upstaging and concentration on self) and selfishness.
     Too often, people allow themselves to get in the way of the good of others.  If we are going to have healthy, happy relationship, they will spill over with trust, communication, and shared goal, attitudes, values, and purpose.  People will be secure in their sense of who and what they are as a person which leads to a healthy humility toward God and other people, not false modesty or lack of self esteem,  but recognition of the rights and achievements of others. Concern for the interests of others as well as one’s own is in line with the commandment to love our neighbor as yourself.  What I’m talking about here is unity, not uniformity. Or the difference between Unison and harmony. Unity happens when we find things upon which we can agree, loving and having the same mind set on the same thing, not being selfish and having no interest in empty glory.  It can never be about the interest of one or a few, but the needs and interests of the community or organization.
     Some say that you cannot follow Jesus unless you hold to certain beliefs, ways of worship, acts and ceremonies, creeds, sacraments, rites, or correct morals.  Following Jesus is a state of mind, a disposition that desires to know and serve God and God’s children.
     Those times when I have found myself living for myself alone was self-torture because I wear myself out nursing needless grudges and protecting my false pride.  The tensions of keeping up with the process of living primarily for our elf is more than our nerves can stand.
     It takes more than will power to save us from ourselves.  Our friends in AA have rediscovered the truth that the working of God begins when self sufficiency reaches the end of its rope.  Renovation only happens when the human will becomes weak and desperate. So long as we think that we have everything under control we remain incurable. Self sufficiency makes us religiously unreceptive. This is a common disease—self satisfaction
     Sin is anything that separates us from our life-giving God.  Being separated from God results in a hellish separation from the life we were created for and its punishment is merely the consequence of shutting out God and trying to live with an unredeemed self.
     We cannot live by the law or by trying to make up for previous failures.  The effort to be better or do better when it is motivated by fear or the threat of punishment does not succeed.  We do and do not do what we do because of our gratitude for all that God has done in our lives.
     The good news that I share today is that the self-giving spirit of God works amid broken, human selfishness as one that supports, advocates, comforts, helps, and strengthens.
 

Sermon 5-6-18    A Setback that Caused Progress      Philippians 1:1-18a
     I’ve been behind bars a few times…….. to visit someone incarcerated.  The Apostle Paul, on the other hand, spent several years in one terrible jail or another for telling people about Jesus.
     A few weeks ago we talked about Paul in jail and how through Paul, God had healed a demon possessed girl, which interfered with her master’s profit.  That imprisonment gave him a chance to make a friend of his jailer, save his life, and reunite him with God.
     Paul was seen as both a prize catch and a flight risk so he was guarded by the very best of the Roman army; sort of like the Navy Seals of that day who very soon realized that his misfortune had something to do with his religion. He believed in some new divinity called “Christ” and had brought trouble on himself by his devotion to this strange faith. Who was this Christ who inspired his followers with such willingness to suffer?
     The soldiers assigned to Paul were changed each day, and one man after another would talk about him to his comrades and the faith Paul shared, so that Paul could say quite truly that the whole guard was aware of why he was a prison and not only the guards but all who were in any way connected with the guards, civilians, and their families.  Another result of the imprisonment was that there was a church in the city, and through Paul’s imprisonment, and his example, most of its members had been stirred into fresh activity.
     Paul’s imprisonment, far from shutting the door, opened the way to new spheres of work and activity, into which he would never otherwise have penetrated.  He regarded every circumstance as an experience of grace; therefore, his first response to his imprisonment was thanksgiving, not petition. In his letter to them, he remembered the Philippians constantly—with joy, with confidence, and with a love that is more than human affection, because it derives from Christ himself.
     Paul would naturally have spoken of his affliction, but he refused to think of his experience that way.  He felt that by allowing him to suffer in defense of the gospel, God has bestowed upon him a high privilege in which the Philippians are also sharing.
     Paul said that he was a “slave” of Christ.  He had chosen to attach and to give himself, not as a servant of Christ, but as a slave.  A servant is free to come and go, to attach themself to another master, but a slave is the possession of his master forever. He laid down his life as one who is the absolute possession of Christ and he can never belong to anyone but Christ. As a slave, he would not have a will of his own.  His master’s will must be his will and his master’s decisions must regulate his life. Paul saw his time in prison as a setback that caused progress
     What he demonstrated was an expression of the Christian way, in all its heights and depths, by one who lived it out, fought it out, and thought it out under the severest pressure to the bitter end.  What had happened inside of Paul can happen in every human being and so create a fellowship of kindred spirits, a community of God where there are no longer any distinctions of race, color, position or age.
     Those who loved him, when they heard of him lying in prison, redoubled their efforts to preach, and to spread the gospel, so that the sharing of the gospel would lose nothing because of Paul’s imprisonment.
     Modern people tend to be suspicious of messages from God as some magical method of bringing knowledge that we accept without thinking.  Generations have been trained in the painful search for truth, taking nothing for granted save that which can be proven step by step, making it difficult for people to understand how special knowledge is given to be accepted on faith.
     “In Christ” should be understood not as some mystical absorption into divinity, but as being “in the power” of another.  We believe that being “in Christ” brings us peace and joy; the joy of those we love and who are dear to us, the joy of sharing Christ with someone, the joy of true Christian fellowship, the joy of being with those we love and from which we are separated, and the joy of Christian hospitality.  
     This passage is about a man who is not looking for an easier life; but one who has found what to live for because he has found what to die for.
     All too often we resent it when someone else gains prominence or a credit or a prestige which we do not receive, or we regard someone as an enemy because they do not do things our way.
     Paul knew nothing of personal jealousy, or personal resentment.  So long as Jesus Christ was preached, Paul did not care who received the credit and the honor and the privilege.  He did not care what some of the Philippians preachers said about him, or how unfriendly and contemptuous they were to him.  All that mattered to him was that Christ was preached. I am reminded of how Rick Warren began his famous book “The Purpose Driven Life” with the sentence “It’s not about you.”  
     Of all his churches, the church at Philippi was the church to which Paul was closest  so he took the opportunity of telling the Philippians how fervently he prays for them, and how much he rejoices in their kindness to him and their progress in the Christian life.  
     When Paul finally turned to making requests, they are for the Philippians, and not for himself.  He asked that God would help them know right from wrong and give them common sense. Paul prayed that they would grow in faith within their Christian lives, that their love might overflow and that it may be enriched by spiritual knowledge and spiritual insight.  You may not realize it, but I pray for you folks several times every day. I pray that all of us will grow in our love and faith and knowledge and common sense and sensitivity and common sense.
     Paul’s prayer does not imply that every occasion or part of the journey will in itself be good, but that the God who began the good work in us will complete it.  ’’Paul speaks warmly and personally to his friends. “I hold you in my heart. I yearn for you.” May your love grow more and more.
     Paul's confidence in what God will do is not just a vague hope. It is based firmly on what God has done in the past and on his conviction that God is consistent.  God has begun a good work and will not give up; it will be completed.
     Christians are people who have recognized a common gift of the undeserved love of God.  Christians are partners in the work of the gospel and partners in suffering for the gospel because of the hope that is theirs.  The love that Paul felt toward his Christian friends is nothing other than love.
     True Christian love for others is not a sentimental affection but a sincere desire for what is best for others.  Love is often said to be blind, but such blindness can stop us from discerning the deepest need of those we love.  True love, on the other hand, requires knowledge and insight in order to help people reach their full potential.
     Christians are members of a community and their commitment to each other is expressed in Christian fellowship.  Fellowship is what happens when Christians share with one another their common faith and their inward fellowship with Christ.
     God has always had people who are set aside, different from others for a special work and function.  The “set aside” are especially used of the Jewish nation itself. The Jews were the first holy nation, given a special place in the plan and the scene and the purpose of God.  But the Jews refused to play the part in life and history which God meant them to play.  When God came into our world as a baby, they failed to recognize him. They rejected him and crucified him.  
     The privileges and the responsibilities they should have had were taken away from the nation of Israel and were given to the church who became the new people of God, just as the Jews had once been, Christians are made holy.  Christians must be the different ones. Clearly, to be “in Christ” is the very essence of Christianity. Christians live in Christ like a bird in the air, a fish in the water, or the roots of a tree in the soil. To be in Christ is to live continually in the atmosphere and the spirit of Christ, to live a life where never more do we feel separated from him, but feel his presence and his strength and his power always around us and about us.
     The result of Christ’s followers seeking to be more and more like Jesus is that we find peace in spite of all the crazy things going on around us. The word for this peace is
Shalom which health and wholeness.
     As followers of Jesus or the “body” of Christ, we form a community of imperfect people, who are ready to be forgiven and forgive and who have offered themselves to be continually remade in unforeseen ways, the spirit of God extends God’s operation from Christ into the world, spreading from one individual to another, and from one family to another, from one generation to another, from one nation to another.
     We are won over by friendship, when we see faith enacted as a selfless spirit that seeks us out while we are yet in our selfishness, which suffers for our ingratitude, which takes upon itself our troubles, and which lives for our sake.  
     Paul prays for a healthy dose of common sense among the Christians so that they will choose greater values over lesser values as they grow in their faith and service.
History has turning points which are seen only as we look back to where the unexpected began.  In our private lives some minor incident, some incomprehensible misfortune may bring on consequences which reveal a larger context.  Living is like rowing a boat, moving forward by looking backward to gain the perspective of our course. So long as we cannot know the future we must depend upon a purpose that began before we came and goes on after we are gone.
     This passage is an inspiring story about an early church leader, who endured extreme hardship because of his faith, but it also suggests that the next time that life takes a funny bounce; we won’t rush to try to fix it or try to figure out how we are going to endure it or get by. Instead, we’ll praise God for everything that happens and watch as God turns our setbacks into some purpose through which God can be glorified.