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The Discouraged and Disbelieving *

March 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment

The Gospel of the Nobodies: The Discouraged and Disbelieving *
Sycamore Creek Church
March 20/21, 2016
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

What’s your faith story? I grew up in a Christian home and was very active in church all the way through graduation from high school. When I went off to college I began to ask a lot of questions about the faith I had growing up. Those questions and my doubts and uncertainties grew to a climactic moment my sophomore year in college. I was sitting in an orchestra concert. The band was playing a chaotic piece that was a tribute to D-Day. There were trumpets placed all around the auditorium and they were making random noises. The music was intended to create the feeling of landing on the beaches of Normandy and having snipers shooting at you. The music began to symbolize for me my inner state. I felt the snipers of discouragement and disbelief shooting at me from every angle. The arrangement of that piece of music slowly but surely morphed into the classic hymn, It Is Well. The chorus from that hymn goes: It is well, with my soul. The hymn was intended to make you feel secure amidst the chaos of the beginning of the piece, but because I was uncertain about this whole faith thing and it was not well with my soul, the hymn only amplified the chaos I felt inside. I fell apart right in the middle of that big auditorium crying and sobbing into my hands so that no one would see me. Over the next several months I left the faith. I didn’t believe any of it any more. And yet, I somehow kept following Jesus. And here I am today, still following Jesus helping others follow Jesus amidst their own doubts and uncertainties.

Here’s the problem that many of us face: We think that following Jesus is for those who have it all together. But the point of this message is this: following Jesus is for the discouraged and disbelieving.

Today we continue a series called The Gospel of the Nobodies. The point of this series is that God relentlessly pursues those whom society (or even the church) considers “nobodies”: The night shift workers, the disabled and sick, the demon possessed, the prostitutes and prodigals, the homeless, and today we’re looking at how God relentlessly pursues the discouraged and disbelieving.

We’re going to do something weird today. This whole series has been a little weird. Easter is next week, but we’re going to look at some stories that take place after the resurrection. We’re going to jump to the resurrection so that when we celebrate it, we’ll realize it isn’t just for the ones who’ve got it all together.

Throughout this series we’ve been looking at the Gospel of Luke. Gospel means “Good News” and Luke tells the story of the good news of Jesus with special attention to the people that society considers “nobodies.” Let’s look at the last chapter of Luke’s Gospel:

While they were talking…Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.  He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
~Luke 24:36-40 NRSV

In the last few verses of the last chapter of Luke, the followers of Jesus find an empty tomb, but joy and excitement weren’t the first emotions. Their first emotions were discouragement and disbelief. Let’s unpack this experience that they must have been having by looking at the bigger context of the crucifixion and resurrection.

The crucifixion and resurrection took place in Jerusalem over the Passover celebration. Passover is the celebration of the Israelites’ deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Pharaoh’s heart got harder and harder as Moses kept coming back to him demanding that the people be freed from slavery. It took death to finally soften Pharaoh’s heart. The Israelites were told to take the blood of a lamb and put it over their doorposts so that the angel of the Lord would pass over their house and not kill the first-born child. Passover is the annual retelling and remembering of that moment of deliverance when God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. We learn from that story that God will be faithful no matter what.

During the celebration of Passover Jerusalem swelled from a population of about 100,000 to over a million. This was all in one square mile of land. Jerusalem is completely overrun with people at Passover. This means that at the crucifixion of Jesus, hundreds of thousands likely saw him hung on the cross. So when reports began spreading that he had resurrected there were likely a variety of responses. Thousands on the hillside of Golgotha saw him dead. Imagine the dismissive disbelief of thousands at the news of his resurrection. Then there were the devout followers of Jesus who likely would have been shocked and discouraged. The outcasts who had been welcomed, the paralyzed who was healed, the Centurion soldier’s servant who was healed, the demon possessed who had been set free, the tax collectors who had been shown love, the prostitutes who had been respected as more than just a sex object. These followers would have likely been thinking, “The only one who had ever treated me as human being was nailed to the cross, and now his body’s not in the tomb?!”

Then there is the response from the inner circle, the disciples, both the men and women who traveled with him everywhere. The women were the first to attend to Jesus’ dead body and they were the first to find the tomb empty:

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified…
~Luke 24:4-5 NRSV

They’re perplexed and terrified at the empty tomb. So they go back and tell the men what they’ve found:

But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
~Luke 24:11 NRSV

The men don’t believe them. I mean, how reliable really is a woman? Or so their culture said. All of them are disbelieving, except Peter. Kind of. Peter runs off to see what was going on at the tomb. After he finds it empty, what was Peter thinking as he walked back from the empty tomb? What have I lost over the last three and a half years? Can I get my fishing business back? What about the others? The women who experienced fear are having their hearts beginning to open up to hope. What about James and John? They’re probably wondering, “Can we show our faces in Galilee without being the laughing stock of the town?” The empty tomb is not met with joy, but outright disbelief and discouragement. Nothing was working out the way they had envisioned it would, the way they’re supposed to. That’s a recipe for discouragement.

We all experience discouragement from time to time. Some of us more often than others. Things don’t go the way they’re supposed to go. We are disappointed that God didn’t make them go differently. You invest in a company over decades and you get a pink slip instead of a pension. You go to the doctor and before she says anything, her face tells you, “The cancer has returned.” You get the late night phone call that tells you “I’m sorry, your loved one is gone.”

I experienced a bit of discouragement recently. Not quite to the level of the above scenarios but discouragement nonetheless. The night before we were to fly to Florida to visit family I got sick. Really sick. I had a 101 degree temperature. I was shivering uncontrollably. My teeth were chattering like one of those teeth-chattering toys. I had cramps in my abdomen. It felt like someone was jabbing me up under my ribs. We had to make a decision, and expecting that I was the first wave of a round of all-family illness we canceled our flight to Florida and dug into the discouragement of February in Michigan. That’s not how things are supposed to go. Discouragement.

Part of what Luke wants us to see in the discouragement and disbelief of the first Easter is for us to see ourselves in the disciples. Where are you experiencing discouragement right now?

Right about this point Luke shifts the focus of the story out of the inner circle and looks wider. We find that discouragement and disbelief don’t stop God from displaying the power of the resurrection. Besides the women, the first people Jesus appears to after his resurrection are two people with no other mention in the Bible. Two “nobodies” in the church.

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him…
~Luke 24:13-16 NRSV

Jesus appears to Cleopas and one other unnamed person who are walking on the road to Emmaus. They don’t recognize him. Perhaps this was because they didn’t know him well enough to recognize him. Jesus explains the scriptures to them, and while eating, they realize it is Jesus. (This is why we have an “open table” at communion. Many who don’t recognize Jesus may meet him while sharing a meal with him.) Notice that Jesus doesn’t appear first to the “inner circle”, the remaining eleven disciples. Jesus doesn’t appear to Pilate and the religious leaders saying, “Ha. Ha. Joke’s on you. I get knocked down, but I get up again.” Jesus showed up to the low-profile followers who aren’t mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I don’t care how much you’re known or not. I have come to bring you hope.”

Why would Jesus show up to the low-profile followers?   Because God relentlessly pursues those whom society and even the church considers as “nobodies.” Jesus had a bigger vision. It’s not just the high profile few to bring the message of Jesus’ good news. It’s not just the twelve high-profile who brought the gospel to the world. Everyday ordinary people brought the gospel to the world. People who were never even given a name.

After this encounter with the “outer circle” Jesus appears to the inner circle. Jesus appears next to his doubting and disbelieving apostles. They thought they were seeing a ghost! They were terrified.

Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
~Luke 24:45-48 NRSV

Because Jesus showed up first to the “outer circle” I think that “you are my witnesses” means all of you. Not just the “up front” people at Sycamore Creek. But the “outer circle” of Sycamore Creek. Those who may not have a “title” or even a “role” at the church, but you’re just walking on the road following Jesus. You are Jesus’ witnesses. You are those who are to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the “nobodies” of our society. Jesus is shared most expansively through ordinary everyday disciples.

Let’s consider how this works for a moment. Jeremy invited Jim Firos to Sycamore Creek. But Jim has invited countless people including Linda and John. John then invited his daughter Heather and RJ and their kids. Jim also invited Jessica and Shawn. And Jessica and Shawn invited his parents Jerry and Mary, their friend Maria and her daughter, and their neighbors Jessica and Alehandra. Alehandara invited his dad Jim. Everyday followers of Jesus being witnesses and proclaiming the good news of Jesus.

Or consider this. Jenna and Blake invited Jenna’s sister, Pam. Now Pam is full of all kinds of doubts and uncertainties about this whole faith and church thing. But she became a partner several years ago and plays and sings in the band. She invited Justin, who was baptized and is now on staff at our church. Pam also invited her friend Liz who invited her friend Brian.   But let’s not stop there. Because Pam, remember she’s someone with lots of questions about faith, also invited her friend Katie who was baptized this past summer and has joined the band. Katie then invited her wife Nikki. Katie also invited her parents Nancy and Dwayne and her sister Aubryn who played with Jeremy at Teen Fuel Café last Sunday night.

Next week is Easter. Who are your friends who are discouraged and disbelieving? Who needs to hear the good news of Jesus? What three friends can you invest in and invite to Easter? It’s not just the pastor’s job to invite people. It’s not just the “inner circle” who invites people. It’s every unknown and unnamed follower of Jesus. Who is God calling you to invite?

Prayer
God, give me faith when I don’t have faith. Give me the power of your resurrection at work in my life even when I am discouraged and disbelieving. Help me follow you. And open the door for me to invite those around me who are wrestling with discouragement and disbelief. Soften their hearts so that they might join me in seeking you as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Amen.

*This sermon is based on a sermon first preached by Glen Shoup

 

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Why Do You Doubt?*

April 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Counselor

Why Do You Doubt?*
Sycamore Creek Church
Tom Arthur
Easter 2015

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Or did he?  Maybe we’re just deluding ourselves.  Some people don’t wrestle with doubts.  They say: “The Bible says it.  I believe it.  That settles it.”  But some of us, myself included, are more naturally skeptical.  We think, “What if this isn’t true?  What if we’re being brainwashed?  What if we’re making ourselves feel better?  What if we’re being told a lie?”

The church is not always a friendly place for people who have doubt.  Church people can be mean to other church people.  If you have doubts, you may not be one of us.  If you have doubts, you may not be saved.  If you have doubts, you may not have faith.

But what I want you to know today is that if you don’t lean into some honest doubts, you may never have faith.  Is doubt the end of real faith?  I don’t think so.  Doubt can be the beginning of real faith!

Today I want to look at the story of Doubting Thomas.  Poor guy.  That’s how we know him.  “Doubting Thomas.”  Not “Faithful Thomas” or “Believing Thomas” but “Doubting Thomas.”  But what I want to show you today is that who Thomas becomes is evidence that even the biggest doubters can become the biggest followers of Jesus.  Let’s begin the story a little after Jesus raises from the dead.  He meets some of his followers on the road but surprisingly they don’t recognize him.  Eventually they “break bread” with Jesus and recognize him.  Then he disappears.  They get together with the other disciples and here’s what happens:

And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!
~Luke 24:36-37 NLT

They all saw him dead.  But now he’s alive!  I’d be freaked out too.  I’ve buried a lot of people, and if one of them showed back up, I’d pee in my pants!

“Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?
~Luke 24:38 NLT

Jesus is probably thinking, “Didn’t I tell you this was going to happen?  Did you forget?”  And guess who wasn’t there…Doubting Thomas.

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin/Didymus), was not with the others when Jesus came.
~John 20:24 NLT

Thomas missed church.  You miss a lot when you miss church.  He missed the presence of Jesus, the power of Jesus, the proof of Jesus, the “Peace be still” of Jesus.  If you haven’t been here since Christmas, you missed a lot.  A lot.

But [Thomas] replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
~John 20:25 NLT

Thomas sometimes gets a bad rap here.  He’s chastised for not having faith.  But I see something much more positive at work here.  I think Thomas is saying, “I don’t want second-hand faith…I want first-hand faith.”  So many people just kind of believe because their parents/grandparents/other people believe.  One day, something happens, and it shakes us, “Do I really believe?”  If the claims of his resurrection are true, it demands a response.  Thomas says, “If it’s true, it changes everything.”  For many, the doubt is the beginning of faith.  Thomas and many of us are saying, “I need a little more…”  Jesus doesn’t blush.

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked;
~John 20:26 NLT

That’s pretty cocky, isn’t it?  Jesus walks into a locked room. David Copperfield move there.  I don’t really get it, but it’s no crazier than being raised from the dead in the first place!

Suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
~John 20:26-27 NLT

Jesus cares about the one who wants to believe, and talks only to Thomas.  Nobody else.  He says, “Stop doubting and believe.” Jesus didn’t put Thomas in a time out: “You sit in the corner.  You can’t be my follower.”  Jesus gives Thomas what he needs.  Today Jesus is going to give some of you what you need to believe too.

I resonate deeply with Thomas and not just because we share the same name.  I grew up in the church.  I grew up believing what my church and my parents told me.  I was very active in our church’s youth group.  I chose to go to a Christian liberal arts college.  When I got there, I began to have some pretty significant doubts.  I began to ask some pretty hard questions.  I was looking for complete certainty but I wasn’t finding any.  During that time the Smashing Pumpkins covered a Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks song called Landslide.  They lyrics of that song felt like they expressed where I was at with doubt and faith:

“Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you.”

The landslide of my doubts left me without any faith.  I left Christianity for a period of time and life became very dark.  What I noticed when I went to the side of unbelief was that I didn’t gain any certainty.  I was still as uncertain as before.  The big difference was that when I believed, I had some sense of meaning and purpose and hope in life.  But when I didn’t believe, I had no hope, no ultimate meaning, no ultimate purpose.  And so in the midst of that dark place, I made an intellectual decision to believe in spite of uncertainty.  What I learned was that faith is not the absence of doubt or uncertainty but faith is the decision to believe in spite of doubt or uncertainty.  And I found that my life did begin again to have purpose, meaning, and hope.  Jesus was faithful to provide all three.  I had ended up back where Thomas ended at the end of the day:

“My Lord, and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
~John 20:28 NLT

MY.  We’re talking about a first degree faith here.  A first hand faith.  Believing Jesus, not just belief in Jesus.  This is what is going to happen to some of you today.  You’re going to receive from Jesus whatever it is that you need to have that kind of faith in spite of uncertainties and doubt.  It happened to all of Jesus’ first followers:

Peter’s Story
Peter was one of Jesus’ closest followers.  He was in the inner circle.  But when Jesus was arrested Peter denied Jesus three times.  But after the resurrection, Peter becomes “the rock.”  He preaches to thousands and thousands put their faith in Jesus.  He is ultimately persecuted for his faith and tradition tells us that he was crucified.  But he refused to share the same crucifixion that Jesus had, so he was crucified upside down.  From runaway doubter to crucifixion upside down.  Jesus gave Peter what he needed to believe.

James’ Story
James was Jesus’ brother.  What would your brother have to do to convince you he was the son of God?!  James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem.  Tradition tells us that ultimately he was pushed off the temple, but miraculously he doesn’t die.  While lying on the ground he prays that his persecutors be forgiven.  Then James is clubbed to death.  From Jesus’ brother to martyred church leader.  Jesus gave James what he needed to believe.

Paul’s Story
Paul hated Christians.  He was one of the religious leaders of his day and he was given legal permit to hunt down and kill Christians.  They blasphemed against God claiming that Jesus was God’s son.  But on his way to Damascus one day to catch and kill some Christians he meets the resurrected Jesus who blinds him.  Eventually he regains his sight and becomes the first missionary of the church of the entire Mediterranean region.  He would eventually say, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”  The persecutor became the persecuted and he was beaten and imprisoned.  Tradition tells us that he was beheaded.  From Christian bounty hunter to Christian missionary, Jesus gave Paul what he needed to believe.

Thomas’ Story
Then there’s “Doubting Thomas.”  Thomas got what he needed.  He saw Jesus.  He traveled to India to tell those who lived there about Jesus.  His message was met with resistance and he was met in a cave and speared him through.  “Doubting Thomas” believed enough to die for Jesus.  Do you believe enough to live for him?

Sometimes my faith is talking so loud, I can’t hear what my doubt is saying.  When I bring my doubts to God, God gives me faith to believe in spite of my doubts.

Recently I’ve had the chance to hear about how Jesus has given someone else what she needed to have faith and believe.  Noelle currently works in our nursery.  She started attending SCC about a year ago.  About a month ago she emailed me to tell me that she had just had an amazing experience with God and had chosen to believe.  I asked her if she’d be willing to meet to tell me more about her life and story.  Here’s what I heard.

Noelle grew up being abused in every way possible for about seven years of her childhood.  At the time she was attending church regularly with her grandma.  While there she would pray for God to make it stop but nothing changed.  The abuse continued.  She felt like God had abandoned her so she abandoned God.  The abuse made her very skeptical of men, but she still didn’t want to be alone. Over her teen years she made many unwise choices that led to lifestyle habits that she isn’t proud of.  About a year ago she met Thomas online and began dating.  Thomas had grown up at SCC but was no longer regularly attending.

One thing led to another and within a couple of weeks they were pregnant.  The pregnancy was somewhat miraculous.  They were using three different forms of birth control!  One of those forms of birth control should have caused the child to be miscarried.

A month into dating Thomas, it was time to meet his parents for the second time and tell them they were going to be grandparents.  Noelle knew that Dotty was very active at SCC.  She expected judgment, cruelty, and shaming.  What she received instead took her by surprise.  She was shown kindness, gentleness, compassion, and love.

Dotty began to invite her to church and she came somewhat reluctantly expecting more judgment, cruelty, and shaming.  But at SCC Noelle was again surprised to find kindness, gentleness, compassion, and acceptance.  She liked a church where you could ask questions and the pastor shared his own doubts and uncertainties.  She felt safe.

Noelle began to open up to Dotty about her past abuse and decided to marry Thomas while being very pregnant.  Dotty invited her to watch several “corny” Christian movies (“same actors with basically the same plot”), but one, Courageous, really touched her.  It was about four dads who made a commitment to protect their children and raise them in faith in God.  After that movie she did something she had never done: listened to God.  While listening she heard God saying: “I am here.  You are not alone.”  Noelle began to see how God had protected her and was with her through her past.

The pain has not gone totally away, but Noelle has begun to make some changes. She finds herself being more open in her relationships.  She has begun to feel that God is calling her to help others who have suffered from abuse.  As a nursery worker, she attended an abuse prevention training program for the United Methodist Church and is actively looking to help make our children’s ministry an even safer place for children.  Noelle still has questions, uncertainties, doubts, struggles, and some pain.  But she’s also experiencing some health and healing.  She knows God is with her, and she has a renewed sense of purpose in her life, in spite of the doubts and uncertainties.

Friends, doubt is not the end of real faith, it is the beginning.  Maybe right now you’re feeling that tug of God’s presence, God’s love saying, “Come home child.  Believe.  I have never let you go.  I am here.  You are mine.  I am yours.  Rest in my arms.  Trust.  Surrender.”  If that’s where you’re at, here’s a prayer:

Prayer
God, I have honest doubts.  Thank you for meeting me in the midst of those doubts.  In spite of my doubts and uncertainties, help me to believe in and follow your Son, Jesus.  I trust you.  I give myself to you.  Help me see how you never leave me alone.  Amen.

If you prayed that prayer for the first time today, or if you prayed it anew, would you let someone know?  Drop me an email (tomarthur@sycamorecreekchurch.org) or tell a trusted friend who is also a follower of Jesus.  Then would you consider taking the series challenge.  You’re here today, but when you miss church you miss a lot.  Take the challenge to come each week of this series: The Counselor.  You’ve met Jesus when he asked “Why do you doubt?”  How will you meet Jesus when he asks you more questions?  Come and see.
*This sermon is based on a sermon first preached by Craig Groeschel

 

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Getting Past Your Past – Breaking the Labels that Bind*

April 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

past

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Past Your Past – Breaking the Labels that Bind*
Sycamore Creek Church
Tom Arthur
Easter 2014

Friends, Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Today we celebrate Easter and the power of God to take that which is dead and raise it to new life.  The first fruit of that we see in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. He was dead in his past and God raised him to new life!

Today we also begin a new series called Getting Past Your Past.  I’m really excited about how God’s resurrection power is going to use this series to work in each one of our lives.  Let me give you a preview of what’s coming up.

Next week we’re going to hit on the question of how to forgive those who have hurt us.  Then in week three we’re going to be discussing getting unstuck from your past.  On week four we’ll look at overcoming past money mistakes.  Week five is a unique message.  How do you own up to your own past mistakes and apologize to those you’ve hurt?  It’s part of getting past your past.  Then we’ll wrap up the series with the topic of forgiving yourself.  It’s my hope and prayer that in six weeks you will be able to look back and see God’s grace having worked in your life to free you from the grave of your past and resurrect you into God’s future.  Today we begin the series looking at breaking the labels that bind.

Each one of us has experienced someone in our past calling us or characterizing us in some way that we still carry with us.  We internalize this label and it becomes who we are.  This even happens in the way we tell stories or history.  Fill in the blank:

Attila the __________
Conan the __________
Billy the __________
Buffy the __________
Whinnie the __________
A Little Bit Off
We all have a label that holds us in our past.  I have several labels that I carry around with me.  Tom the “ungenerous.”  Tom the “holy roller.”  Tom the “over-achiever.”  But the one that really sticks with me is Tom “just a little bit off.”  This label comes from a very specific moment in my teenage years with my group of friends that I so desperately wanted to fit in with.  This group of friends started noticing that I didn’t always pick up on the cultural references they would make and the insider jokes that came from them.  The label, “just a little bit off”, came one day when they were referencing a favorite band of theirs saying, “We’re rockin with Dokken.”  Now back in the day, I didn’t know who the band “Dokken” was, and I thought they were saying, “Rockin and dokkin.”  So that’s what I said.  They thought this was hilarious and kept me in the dark about my mistake.  So for about two or three years they would say, “Rockin and dokkin” and laugh.  I thought they found me funny for some reason so I began to say “Rockin and dokkin” quite often.  They’d laugh and then say, “Tom you’re just a little bit off.”  Pretty soon they found all kinds of ways I was a little bit off.  Ironically enough, one of Dokken’s most famous songs is “Breaking the Chains.”  I didn’t break the chains.  But I am today!

Probably one of the reasons I never caught their cultural references was because I lived in a more urban environment, and they all lived in a suburban culture.  I was too busy listening to Vanilla Ice and watching his MTV videos trying to learn how to dance to have any interest in 80s and 90s hair rockers, all apologies to Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and the rest.  But what did they have on Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer, my first live concert?  Ok, so maybe I am still a little bit off.  But today God is resurrecting me from the grave of my past music choices.

The Point
So what is the negative label that usually follows your name?  Here’s a truth I want you to know today.  It’s the whole point of this message:

God’s power is always bigger than your past.  God’s truth is bigger than any current truth in your life.

Even if you own a label that in many ways is true about you, it doesn’t mean it must continue to be true tomorrow.  God can take what is and make it no longer true.  God can and will give you a new God-centered view of yourself.  Paul, the first missionary of the church and the author of many books in the Bible says it this way:

Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

As we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection today, we see that the grave can lead to the resurrection.  God can resurrect you from your past!  That which held you hostage will hold you no more.  I’d like to look at three ways that God does this.

New Name
First, God will give you a new name.  The prophet Isaiah speaks to Israel after they’ve been conquered by the Babylonian empire and taken into exile saying:

You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
Isaiah 62:3 NLT

God is in the business of giving new names.  It happens all over the Bible.  Abram and Sari wanted children, and it just wasn’t happening.  But God worked in their life and they became pregnant and God gave them both new names: Abraham and Sarah.  They became the father and mother of many nations.  Jacob means swindler or huckster or usurper.  He was always doing shady stuff with his older twin brother Esau.  God worked in his life and gave him a new name, Israel, which means “one who wrestles with God” or “God will prevail.”  Of course, if you wrestle with God, God will prevail!  Then there’s poor little Gideon.  He was pretty much afraid to stand up to his enemies.  But an angel of God showed up and called him a “Mighty man of valor” and “warrior.”  (By the way, this is always happening to me, angels showing up and calling me a “mighty man of valor.”  Always.)

So what name do you need changed?  I’ve got to say that the name “pastor” has always been a struggle for me. I’ve never really felt like a pastor.  I’m not the warm fuzzy cuddly guy you come talk to who will listen intently, nod, give you lots of encouragement, and send you on your way feeling like you can take on the world.  In an online assessment we use at our church “pastoral” is my bottom leadership trait.  But when September 11 happened I was working at a church and my pastor was on vacation out of town hunting in Colorado.  All the flights were grounded, and I was left to take care of the largest Protestant church in Petoskey.  After that weekend, the church began calling me “pastor.”  I bristled at the name, but eventually experienced a call to be a pastor.  Then I did my first internship at Reveille United Methodist Church in Richmond, VA.  When I got there they all just called me “pastor.”  That summer I became a pastor in my heart because the church looked at me as a pastor, but I still didn’t like the name, “pastor.”  Then I graduated and was appointed by the bishop to Sycamore Creek Church.  I told you all that you didn’t have to call me “pastor Tom” but some of you kept calling me it, but I never referred to myself in that way.  In the last year, you may have noticed that I’ve actually begun occasionally signing my letters “pastor Tom.”  I’m growing into the new name with you.

You will grow into your new name too.  God is going to give you a name and you will grow into that name.  You will be called “forgiven.”  You will be called “overcomer.”  You will be called “spiritual mom.”  You will be called “spiritual leader” to our kids in Kids Creek, our youth in StuREV, or to adults in a small group.  God will give you a new name.

New Purpose
Second, God will give you a new purpose.  Your new name comes with a new purpose.  One of Jesus’ followers was named Simon.  Simon was unpredictable, undependable, and wishy-washy.  He was a fisherman.  Jesus walked by his boat one day and said, “Follow me and you will fish for people.”  Simon, you may look like you’re a lowly fisherman, but you’re going to follow me and become a world-changer.  You’re going to speak eloquently to thousands and thousands of people and through you, they will come to know me. A little later Jesus gave Simon a new name:

Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
~Jesus (Matthew 16:17 NLT)

If you know the story you’ll know that Peter was not always a rock from that point forward.  He messed up again and again.  Peter denied Jesus three times.  After the resurrection, Jesus forgave and restored him.  But Peter was the preacher on Pentecost, the birthday of the church, and three thousand people came to follow Jesus on that day alone!  Tradition tells us that Peter was so rock solid in his commitment to follow Jesus that he was sentenced to death by crucifixion, and he did not feel worthy to be crucified like Jesus.  So he was crucified upside down.  The negative label that Peter was known for was turned on its head.  He was no longer wish-washy.  Now he was a rock of faith.

God can take the associated label with your name and turn it upside down.  You’re a “tightwad” and God will give you a new purpose to make you generous.  You’re “unfaithful” and God will make you know for your faithfulness.  And on and on and on.  What’s the opposite of your negative label?  That will be God’s new purpose in your life!

Out of our greatest weakness God can grow our greatest strength and purpose.

New Future
Third,God will give you a new future.  The prophet Jeremiah spoke for God to the Israelites as they were in exile in Babylon saying:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you…
Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

Notice that the word is “plans” not “plan.”  There’s not one right plan for you.  There are many good plans for your future.  So you’re “always the bridesmaid and never the bride.”  God’s plans for you may be that you become comfortable in your singleness or that one of many good godly men will come along and you’ll get married.  Or maybe you think your kids will never grow up to be anything, but God will use them in mighty ways.  Or I’ll always have this addiction, and instead you will lead people out of addiction.  Or I’ll never get out of debt, but rather you will get it together and be able to be generous with others and teach others how to do so too.  Or I’ll always be fat, and God will turn you into a P90X superman who trains and inspires others to get in shape too.  Or I’ll always be childless, and in God’s power you’ll have children or adopt or have spiritual children.  God will give you a new future.

Maybe one of the most inspiring stories in the Bible of a new future is the story of Rahab “the prostitute.”   She’s always got the label, “the prostitute.”  The label was true.  She was a prostitute, and there were two kinds of prostitutes in that day.  There was the respectable temple prostitute and the unrespectable prostitute that gets picked up on Cops.  She was the Cops prostitute, but when Israel was conquering the promised land, she helped them out and God honored her choice.  (If you’d like to see how the recent Bible series told the story check it out here.)    She hid the Israelites spies and got to know God.  God brought her a God-fearing man named Salmon and they had children.  The Rahab “the prostitute” became the Great…Great…Great…Great…Great grandmother of…Jesus, the son of God, the savior of the world.  God gave her a new future!  The same God who raised a dead Jesus from the grave, can raise your dead future and give you a new living future.

Friends, here’s the problem.  You can’t break the labels in your own power.  You’re stuck.  Each one of us is broken and wounded in some way or another.  Each of us is a “little bit off” or a lot off.  Each one of us has missed the mark of God’s will for us.  Each one of us is in a pit too deep for us to climb out on our own.  We can’t free ourselves from the labels.  You need the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead to break those labels, give you a new name, a new purpose, and a new future.

Many of you were brought here by God for this very moment.  You think that you came here just to appease your mom or your grandma who are always wanting you to go to church, and well, it’s Easter.  So you finally gave in to their nagging.  But God has another plan for you today.  The plan is that you would know the saving power and grace and mercy and compassion and kindness and love of God that raised Jesus from the dead.  God’s plan for you today is that you ask God to forgive you of your past mistakes and free you to follow Jesus into a new name, a new purpose, and a new future. Here’s how you do it.  Tell the truth about yourself to God.  Stop pretending to be someone you’re not.  God knows it anyway and God already loves you in spite of whatever you think you need to hide.  Telling the truth about yourself is less about telling God something God doesn’t know, and more about getting out of a state of denial in yourself.  Then ask Jesus, God’s son, to forgive you and lead you as a new person.  Paul says

If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
~Paul (Romans 10:9 NRSV)

Will you do that today?  If so, I invite you to pray with me.

Good and gracious God, you showed us your power in the resurrection of your son, Jesus Christ; may that same power raise me from the grave of my past and give me a new name, a new purpose, and a new future.

I’d like to challenge you today to come back and stick it out through this series.  Be here every week.  Let this commitment be the first commitment of your new life in Jesus.  If you’d like to talk more, drop me an email (tomarthur@sycamorecreekchurch.org).  May God give you a new name, a new purpose, and a new future!

 

*This series and sermon are based on a sermon series first preached by Craig Groeschel.

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Why – Why do bad things happen to good people?

April 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Why Logo 1024x768

 

 

 

 

Why do bad things happen to good people?
Sycamore Creek Church
Easter Sunday – March 31, 2013
Easter Monday – April 1, 2013
Tom Arthur

God is good,
All the time!
All the time,
God is good!

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!

The answer to the question, Why do bad things happen to good people, hinges on these two truths:

  1. God is good.
  2. God raised Jesus from the dead.

Today on Easter Sunday, we begin a new series called Why?  We’re going to explore the questions that keep you up at night, the questions that you lay in bed thinking about, the deep and hard questions of life.  Today we’re beginning with the question: Why do bad things happen to good people?

There are lots of Why? questions like this that are out there.  For example:

  1. Why did children die at Sandy Hook?
  2. Why did Katrina have to kill so many people?
  3. Why do people die from hunger every day?
  4. Why are so many people out of work?

Then there are lots of Why? questions  that are not just out there but have to do with me, with each one of us.  For example:

  1. Why am I so lonely?
  2. Why did I lose my job?
  3. Why did my spouse leave me?
  4. Why don’t I have enough money at the end of the month?
  5. Why is my family so messed up?
  6. Why was I abused?
  7. Why am I suffering mental illness?

Taylor Swift sings a powerful song asking the question: Why do bad things happen to good people.  It’s called Ronan, and it’s about a little boy who died too early.  One of the verses says:

I remember the drive home
When the blind hope turned to crying and screaming “Why?”
Flowers pile up in the worst way, no one knows what to say
About a beautiful boy who died

So why do bad things happen to good people?  I can’t in any way pretend that I can answer every possible question along these lines, and what I’d like to share today won’t cover every possible particular situation.  But I’d like to share with you some ways that Christians have wrestled with this question and some answers they have found in the Bible.  Each answer begins with the word “maybe” because, like I said, these are general ideas and may not fit your particular situation.  But they are some “maybes” that will help us to find a handhold or hook to place an answer on.  So let’s begin: Why do bad things happen to good people?

A Broken Sin-Stained World
Maybe bad things happen to good people because we live in a broken sin-stained world.  What is sin?  Most of have an innate sense that the world is not quite right.  Most of us have a longing that the world would be more just, more loving, more right than it is.  “Sin” is the term Christians use to describe the world as it.  God created the world and called it good.  But the world misses the mark of what God intended.  Sometimes this is intentional, and other times it’s unintentional.  Sin is like a train that has run off the tracks.  Sin is like a weight that burdens us down.  Sin is like an overwhelming debt that can never be repaid.

While God created the world and all that is in it good, including humanity, we rebelled against God.  We fell away.  The results of this running away from God were a broken world, a world that didn’t work the way God intended or created it to work.  And so we live in a broken sin-stained world.

Jesus had a sense of the trials that we would face in this broken sin-stained world.  He said:

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.
John 16:33 NLT

Did you catch that?  Jesus said we’ll have many trials and sorrows.  We can expect it in this world.  This isn’t always because you sinned.  Sometimes it’s because you’re the victim of someone else’s sin.  My wife occasionally says that she’s married to a thirteen-year-old-boy.  Exhibit A took place on one of our first vacations as husband and wife.  Sarah was driving us down the highway, and I was navigating with the map in the passenger side seat.  I don’t really remember what caused the argument, but pretty soon I was ripping up the map into little shreds and throwing it out the window!  This did not help us get where we wanted to go, and it did not help our marriage either.  Now why did this bad thing happen to a wonderfully good person like my wife?  Why did she end up marrying a thirteen-year-old trapped in an adult’s body?  Because she married a broken sin-stained man.  And if you ask her, she’ll tell you that I married a broken sin-stained woman.  Maybe bad things happen to good people because we live in a broken sin-stained world.

Reap What You Sow
Maybe bad things happen to good people because you brought it on yourself.  There are some natural consequences to our actions when we don’t act as God intended us to act.  There are some direct consequences.  If you have an affair, it will hurt your marriage.  If you lie to your boss and he or she finds out, it will not go well with you at work.  If you hit your child, you will have a lot of hard work to do to regain a lot of people’s trust.

St. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians:

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.
Galatians 6:7 NRSV

You reap what you sow.  I recently came across a set of pictures on the internet titled, Why Men Die First.  When you look at them, you see that the men in these pictures are putting themselves in some pretty precarious situations.  I can imagine the tragic end of their decisions meeting with the pronouncement: “He chose poorly.”

http://rense.com/general95/whymen.html

Maybe bad things happen to good people because they chose poorly and brought it upon themselves.

Something Big
Maybe bad things happen to good people because God wants to do something big in your life.  Now let me be very careful here.  I do not intend to say that everything that happens happens for a reason.  I have preached against that way of thinking.  When we say that everything happens for a reason, I think we end up making God a monster.  We end up saying that God wanted Sandy Hook to happen so that something else would happen.  I think that is about as far from the truth as is possible.  God cried with us on the day those children and teachers lost their lives.  And yet, I do think that sometimes God allows things to happen in our lives because God wants to do something big in your life.  Not all bad things happen for this reason, but maybe sometimes they do.

Let me give you an example from the Bible.  Jesus and his followers were walking along the road one day when they came across a blind man.  Jesus’ followers asked Jesus if this man was blind because of something his parents did (something bad happened to him because we live in a broken sin-stained world) or because of something he did (he brought it upon himself).  Jesus didn’t like either of those options.

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”
John 9:3 NRSV

Maybe it happened because he was the victim of someone else?  No. Maybe it happened because he reaped what he sowed? No.  It happened to bring God glory.  Then Jesus healed him of his blindness.

God often uses the lowest parts of our life to work the biggest work in our life.  Why?  Because it is at the lowest moments that we are willing to give up trust in ourselves and put our trust in God.  James, Jesus’ brother gets at this very hard truth when he writes:

My brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4 NRSV

After twenty-four hours of labor, Micah, our son, just wouldn’t come out.  I’ll never forget our doctor, Amanda Shoemaker saying to Sarah, “I love you and I have to hurt you.”  Sometimes God loves us and has to hurt us, or at least allow us to get hurt.

One of the most amazing stories I’ve heard of something like this is the story of Beck Weathers.  Beck was part of what became known as the Mount Everest Disaster of 1996.  That year eight people died trying to scale the highest mountain in the world.  A freak snow storm moved in and guides and climbers made some very bad decisions.  In the midst of this was a doctor from Texas who was so badly hurt in the “death zone” (the altitude at which it is impossible to rescue someone) that he was left for dead…twice.  Here’s a brief clip from the Imax movie Everest to tell the story.

Beck had his “right arm amputated halfway between the elbow and wrist. All four fingers and the thumb on his left hand were removed, as well as parts of both feet. His nose was amputated and reconstructed with tissue from his ear and forehead.”  In his book Left for Dead, Beck answers an interesting question: Would he do it again?  Here’s what he says:

“The other most common thing people ask me is whether I’d do it again.  At first I’d think, What a stupid question!  But as I considered at length, I realized that this is one of the deeper questions to be asked.  The answer is: Even if I knew exactly everything that was going to happen to me on Mount Everest, I would do it again.  That day on the mountain I traded my hands for my family and my future.  It is a bargain I readily accept.”

Beck had been a workaholic.  His marriage was in tatters.  He was on a course of losing his family.  Losing several parts of his body on Mt.Everest shocked him in to reflecting on what was really important in life.  It not only shocked him, but it also gave him the motivation to make some real changes.  He now looks back on those tragic moments as a moment when big changes in his life happened.  Maybe bad things happen to good people because God wants to do something big in your life.

Wrong Question
Why do bad things happen to good people?  Maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with the question.  Here’s the problem with the question from a Christian perspective.  There are no “good” people.  If you’re not a Christian, and you’re reading me saying this, you may not be used to thinking in these terms.  Christians believe that we’re all broken.  We’ve all got a will bent in on itself.  We’re all fundamentally selfish.

Maybe “bad” isn’t quite the right word, but “sinful.”  We miss the mark as I said earlier.  This is the case even from birth.  Just hang out with a toddler for any amount of time and you’ll see that selfish inward bent of all humanity.  St. Paul says:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23 NRSV

It takes being honest with yourself to get to this conclusion.  Ask yourself: What are my interior motives?  How do I manipulate language to make myself look a little bit better than I am?  Psychologists call this the self-serving bias.  When asked, “90% of business managers and more than 90% of college professors rated their performance as superior to that of their average peer.”  Something doesn’t add up.  About half of us do not have a very accurate (humble) self picture.  For example, my own tendency is to sit on the couch and let my wife handle the fussy kid, meanwhile internally criticizing her for how she’s doing it!  We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Maybe the right question should be: Why do good things happen to bad people?  This past Thursday our church gathered for a celebration of Maundy Thursday (the day when we remember Jesus washing his disciples’ feet) in the local QD Laundromat to hand out free quarters to whoever showed up.  Why did a bunch of sinful people get together to hand out free money to other sinful people?  Why did sinful people do good stuff to sinful people?

Christians believe that there was only one time when something bad happened to a good person.  It was the day that the world encountered perfect love in Jesus and ended up killing him.  Why did that happen?  Here’s why.

We were created in the image of God to be in friendship with God.  That image was corrupted by sin (missing the mark of God’s plan for us), the friendship with God was broken, and one result was that death (literal but especially spiritual) entered the world.  The only one who could restore the image and thus, the friendship, was the one who fashioned and created the image to begin with, Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the perfect image of God the Father.  Like a portrait that has been corrupted, the artist did not throw away the painting (for he loved his creation), but had the perfect model of the image, Jesus, sit again for the portrait to be renewed.  So Jesus became human to restore the image of God within each of us.  But the power of death needed to be broken for that image to be completely restored, so when the sin in the world demanded that he die, he willingly gave his life.  And yet, he overcame death when God raised him from the dead!

When we read earlier that Jesus promised us trials and sorrows, we didn’t finish the verse.  Here’s what the rest of it says:

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 NLT

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!
God is good, all the time!  All the time, God is good!

There are two extremes that people go to in responding to this Good News.  The first is to say, “I am a good person.  Why do I need Jesus?”  Until you realize your own responsibility in contributing to a broken world, you will never fully understand God’s love.  Open your heart to the conviction of God and confess your own brokenness, your own willful sin to God.

The second extreme in responding to the Good News of Jesus is to say, “I have sinned too much.  Why would God love me?”  Hear in your heart today that God’s love is given freely, that Jesus gave himself willingly for you, that he loved you so much that he was willing to conquer even death, so that no matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done God loves you and desires a friendship with you. Why?  Because God loves you and there is nothing you can do about it!

Prayer
God, help me to recognize my need for your Son, Jesus, today.  Help me to see how my own sin contributes to this broken sin-stained world.  Forgive me.  God, help me to receive the love that you have shown me in your Son, Jesus.  Help me to know that you love me unconditionally.  Restore in me our friendship that you desire and created me for so that I might be a healing presence in this broken sin-stained world.  In the name of Jesus and in the power of your Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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The Languages of Easter

April 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Languages of Easter

The Languages of Easter
Sycamore Creek Church
April 8, 2012
Tom Arthur
John 20:1-29

Jesus is risen, Friends! Happy Easter!

Today I’d like to explore the way that God talks to us at Easter.  Are you familiar with the idea of love languages?  Gary Chapman, a psychologist and marriage counselor, wrote a very influential book several years ago called The Five Love Languages.  The basic idea of this book is that each of us speaks one of five love languages.  It’s our natural way of showing and hearing love.  They are: 

  1. Words of Affirmation
  2. Quality Time
  3. Receiving Gifts
  4. Acts of Service
  5. Physical Touch

If you try to speak love in a language they don’t speak, then they won’t hear it, and your relationship love tank will be depleted over time.  If you learn what love language your loved one speaks and speak it, then you will fill up their love tank and your relationship will be full of warmth and joy.  That’s the basic idea of The Five Love Languages.

As I was reading the Easter story this year, I began to notice a similar thing going on with each of the characters in the story: John, Mary, the Disciples, and Thomas.  Each one seemed to believe in a different way.  Could each one of them have a different “faith language”?  As I studied and reflected more, I began to see that not only do each of them have a different faith language, but amazingly, God spoke to each person in language that they could understand.  While I didn’t find five faith languages, I did find four.  I’d like to look at them one by one this morning and see how God gives to each person exactly what they need to have faith that Jesus really was resurrected from the dead.  So let’s dive into the story and hear how God speaks different languages at Easter.

Simple Faith – The Beloved Disciple (John)

John 20:1-10 NLT
Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and I don’t know where they have put him!”

Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying to the side. Then the other disciple also went in, and he saw and believed —  for until then they hadn’t realized that the Scriptures said he would rise from the dead. Then they went home.

We see three different characters in this story and they all experience the same thing: an empty tomb.  Mary Magdalene sees the empty tomb and thinks that his body has been stolen.  We don’t really get what Peter thinks when he sees the empty tomb.  But “the other disciple” which is John’s way of talking about himself has a very distinct response.  We read:

Then the other disciple also went in, and he saw [the empty tomb] and believed.
John 20:8 NLT

What? John sees an empty tomb and believes? Why not have Mary’s response: they’ve stolen the body?  Why not ask a million questions about what could have happened?  Why does he simply believe?  The answer is: because John speaks the language of simple faith.  He doesn’t need a lot of explanation.  He simply believes.

We all know people like this.  We may even be a person like this.  The person who speaks simple faith simply believes.  Questions about this or that don’t get under their skin.  They’re content trusting that God knows the answer even if they don’t.  The person who speaks the language of simple faith is often said to have the faith of a child.  In this moment, God speaks a language in the empty tomb that some of us with simple faith can clearly hear.

Simple Faith – Today

Two examples come to mind of people more recently who have this kind of faith.  One is Corrie and Betsy ten Boom.  OK, the ten Booms aren’t exactly alive today, but they lived during the Nazi invasion of Netherlands.  They were Dutch Christians, and they hid Jews in their home.  Eventually they were raided and the two sisters were carted off to a concentration camp.  Betsy died in the camp, but Corrie lived and ended up traveling the world telling their story and sharing their faith.

Another example of this kind of faith today is Bethany Hamilton.  Bethany has become known through the book and movie Soul Surfer.  Let’s let her speak for herself:

[This video can’t be embedded so go check it out and come back to the message.]
http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/bethany-hamilton/

Personal Faith – Mary

John 20:11-18 NLT
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels sitting at the head and foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw someone standing behind her. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned toward him and exclaimed, “Teacher!”  

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.” 

Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

Mary initially sees the empty tomb and thinks that Jesus’ body has been stolen. Unlike John, she does not simply believe.  Then as the story unfolds, she runs into some angels and still doesn’t believe.  Next she runs into “the gardener”, or that’s who she thinks she’s talking to.  She is completely confused about what’s going on until Jesus says her name:

“Mary!” Jesus said. She turned toward him and exclaimed, “Teacher!”
John 20:16 NLT

Mary speaks the language of personal faith.  Personal faith needs a personal encounter with Jesus to believe.  Mary needs to hear her very own name spoken.  It is not enough to  know that God knows the name of every star in the universe, the one who speaks the language of personal faith needs to hear their name spoken personally to them by the God of that universe.  In the Easter story, we see that God speaks this language to Mary.

Personal Faith – Today

Two people who jump out at me today that have this kind of faith are Louis Zamporini and Brian Welch.  Zamporini has become well known lately by the book titled Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  Hillenbrand also wrote Seabiscuit.  In Unbroken, Hillenbrand tells of how Zamporini was an Olympic runner ready for the 1938 Olympics when WWII broke out.  Instead of going to the Olympics, he joins the United States Air Force, ends up going down in the Pacific Ocean, sets a new record for surviving in the ocean, is picked up by the Japanese Navy, is tortured in a POW camp, eventually is set free when the Allies win the war, comes back to the states, becomes an alcoholic, attends a Billy Graham crusade, and encounters Jesus.  Following this personal encounter, he throws out all his alcohol and his life is completely transformed.  Like Corrie ten Boom, he begins traveling to tell his story and share his faith in Jesus.

A similar story to Zamporini’s is Brian Welch, the former lead guitarist for the nu metal band, Korn.  After an exceptionally successful run with Korn, Welch finds his life hitting rock bottom.  Let’s hear how he tells the story:

[This video can’t be embedded so go check it out and come back to the message.]
http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/brian-welch/

Communal Faith – Upper Room

John 20:19-23 NLT
That evening, on the first day of the week, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see, and he showed them his side. They were filled with joy when they saw their Lord!  He spoke to them again and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  Then he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven.”

So after all this craziness the disciples, the closest followers of Jesus, are out proclaiming Jesus, right?  No.  They’ve locked themselves in a room because they’re scared.  They are circling the wagons.  All of a sudden as they are gathered together in community, Jesus shows up among them:

Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.
John 20:19 NLT

It isn’t until they are together that Jesus shows up and they believe.  Some of us hear God most fully in the voice of others in small groups or as we gather together in worship.  Something about the community gathered attunes the person who speaks the language of communal faith to hear God’s voice clearly.

Communal Faith – Today

One example of this kind of faith today is Enuma Okoro.  Enuma is a friend of Sarah and me and has recently written a book titled Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody, Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert’s Search for Spiritual Community.  Listen to her and some others speak about their experience with God:

Did you hear how she choked up talking about experiencing God in the Eucharist or communion?  These moments of worship with others “confirms that God is real.”  Some of you really get that.  You experience God in that way too, communally.  In another telling of the Easter story, Luke shares how some disciples are walking on the road to the village, Emmaus.  Jesus shows up and walks with them, but like Mary, they don’t recognize him.  They only recognize him when they sit down for a meal, for the breaking of bread:

As they sat down to eat, he took a small loaf of bread, asked God’s blessing on it, broke it, then gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!
Luke 24:30-31 NLT

Another modern-day person who has aspects of this kind of faith is Anne Rice.  She is best known for her Vampire Chronicles.  Rice grew up in the Catholic Church but became an atheist later in life.  After many decades as an atheist, Rice began an intellectual exploration of ancient Judiasm that eventually led her to ask some questions about Jesus.  She began attending mass again, but not taking the Eucharist.  In her spiritual autobiography, Called Out of Darkness, she tells the story of how in the midst of celebrating the Mass, she felt “united to God again” (pg. 198).  Rice has since wrestled with this community of Christians, but the experience remains, she heard God again through the community gathered for worship.

Reasoned Faith – Thomas

John 20:24-29 NLT
One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. He said, “Peace be with you.”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” 

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway.”

Thomas is my favorite character in this story.  Probably because we speak the same faith language.  Thomas is a skeptic.  He isn’t going to go for any of this wishy-washy simple, personal, or communal faith.  He wants evidence that he can see and touch.  He won’t believe until Jesus shows up and lets him put his fingers in his wounds and poke around a little to make sure he really was dead and really is alive.  While you’re at it, let’s hook him up to an EKG, run him through an MRI, and get some blood samples for DNA testing.  Let’s make sure this guy really is alive and really is the same guy.

So one day when the disciples were gathered again, Thomas was with them and Jesus shows up:

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”  “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
John 20:27-28 NLT

Thomas needs reasons to believe, and here in the moment, Jesus gives him real reasons to believe.  Thomas speaks the language of reasoned faith.

Reasoned Faith – Today

If you’re this kind of person, like me, I’d like to recommend a couple of people to you.  The first is C.S. Lewis and especially his book, Mere Christianity.  Lewis was an Oxford Don and an atheist.  Through the reasoned encouragement of his friends, including J.R.R. Tolkien, he eventually came to believe that Jesus was who he claimed to be: the Son of God.  Mere Christianity provides a step by step argument for the basics of Christianity that all Christians hold.  Lewis’ children’s books, The Chronicles of Narnia, were instrumental in my own faith journey during a time of crisis when I let of go of my faith and was wandering around in the darkness of life without God.

Another person today who follows in the footsteps of Lewis is Francis Collins.  Collins was the director of the Human Genome Project and is now the director of the National Institutes of Health.  In his book, The Language of God, he describes how science and scientific exploration uncover a kind of language that God speaks to us about himself and who we are.

Now we’re to the rub for the person of reason.  Aren’t faith and science contradictory?  Isn’t faith built on blind trust and science built on hard evidence?  You can’t be a scientist and a Christian.  Or can you?

If you are a person who speaks the language of reasoned faith, you need reasons and evidence to believe, I want to encourage you to come back and join us for our next series: Big Bang Faith.  We’re going to be exploring how faith and science intersect in many different ways.  I’m going to interview different scientists each week throughout this series who are also members of our church.  We’ll see what they have to say about God and science.  On the final week of the series, we’ll be showing a video after worship called Test of Faith and inviting these scientists and you to respond to the video.  Here’s a taste of what’s to come:


The Most Important Questions

So which language do you speak?  Simple, personal, communal, or reasoned faith?  There’s one more answer to this question: some of us simply aren’t even listening for God.  Some of us have our ears plugged up. No matter what language God speaks, you won’t hear it if you’re not listening.  There are two basic questions that are the most important questions in all of our lives:

  1. Is there a God?
  2. Does God love us?

God speaks different languages at Easter, but gives one answer to these questions.  It is Easter’s answer.  Paul, one of the writers of the Bible, answered those two questions this way:

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39 KJV

Are your ears open?  Are you listening for God’s voice, for Easter’s answer to the most important questions of life?  If you listen the Easter story shows us that God will speak in a language that you can hear and have faith.  Have you heard your faith language spoken today?

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Easter 2012 – The Langauges of Easter

March 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Languages of EasterSunday, April 8th

What do you need to believe?  We all speak different faith languages.  Some of us just believe.  Simple faith.  Others of us need to experience God personally.  Personal faith.  Some experience God in the voices of others.  Communal faith.  And some of us need evidence for faith.  Reasoned faith.  Does God speak your language?  Find out as we celebrate Easter 2012.

Meeting at Lansing Christian School
3405 Belle Chase Way
Lansing, MI 48911
517-394-6100

Sunday Worship & Nursery – 9:30 AM & 11:15 AM
Kid’s Creek and StuREV – 11:15AM

Map

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Holy What?

March 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Languages of EasterHoly Week.  You’ve heard of it, right?  Since ancient times, Christians have remembered the last week of Christ’s life, his death and resurrection, by worshiping on special days of the week leading up to Easter.  This year we’ll be having several special worship celebrations and times of prayer on some of these special days.  Consider joining us for one of these worship services and begin thinking and praying about three people you’ll invite to our awesome Easter service: The Languages of Easter.

Day 1: Palm Sunday – Luke 19:28-40. Holy Week begins with the celebration of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the people sang and waved palm branches as if for a king. They thought he would be a political ruler who would conquer their Roman enemies. But Jesus came to conquer sin and death, to be king of our hearts. Palm Sunday reminds us that someday Christ will return to reign on earth as he reigns in heaven.

Worship with Sycamore Creek Church: 9:30 or 11:15 AM (Lansing Christian School) – We’ll be wrapping up a series on prayer and the Psalms – Prayers that Stick: DUH (Prayers of Confession)

Day 2: Holy Monday – Zechariah 9:9 and Psalm 118

Day 3: Holy Tuesday – Luke 19:41-20:47

Day 4: Holy Wednesday – Luke 21

Day 5: Maundy Thursday – Luke 22. Jesus spent his last evening with his friends sharing in a special meal known as the Passover (see Exodus 12:1-28). At Passover the Jews remember how, when they were slaves in Egypt, the angel of death “passed over” their homes if they placed the blood of a sacrificed lamb on their doorposts. Jesus deepened the meaning of the meal by referring to the sacrifice he would make for us. The word “maundy” comes from the Latin “mandatum,” meaning mandate, commandment—because on that night Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment as he washed their feet, that they “love one another” (John 13:34).

“Serve Service” & Communion: 7:00 PM at the church office. We’ll gather for communion then head out to offer free quarters for washing clothes at local Laundromats.  Get it?  Jesus washed…

Day 6: Good Friday – Luke 23. Jesus was arrested on false charges late Thursday and faced a grueling trial before religious leaders in the middle of the night. Early the next morning he was turned over to the Roman authorities, who eventually authorized his execution by crucifixion. He died a slow, painful death and then his body was taken away for burial in a nearby tomb. As the poet T. S. Eliot wrote in Four Quartets, “Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.” We know that Christ’s obedience and suffering has taken away our sin.

Good Friday Prayer Vigil (All Day) and Prayer Service (7-8PM at Pastor Tom’s house, 5058 Glendurgan Ct., Holt).  Sign up in the Connection Café (or call the church office) for one or more 30 minute slots for the prayer vigil.  Consider fasting this day (Full no-food-fast, Daniel fruit-and-vegi-fast, or other).

Day 7: Holy Saturday – Psalm 22.

Day 8: Easter Sunday – Luke 24. Because of the Sabbath, Jesus’ followers had to wait two whole nights before they could return to the tomb and prepare his body properly for burial. Early on Sunday morning, they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Jesus had conquered death and was alive! Even though Sunday was the first day in the Jewish week (and the first day of creation in Genesis 1), ancient Christians called Sunday the “eighth day” because Christ’s resurrection constituted a new reality, a new creation. (Have you ever seen an eight-sided baptismal font? That’s why!) Through his resurrection, we claim the promise that death will not have the last word. Christ is risen: He is risen indeed!

Worship with Sycamore Creek Church: 9:30 or 11:15 AM.  We’ll be exploring The Languages of Easter: Simple, Personal, Communal, and Reasoned Faith.  Invite a friend or family member!

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Easter Hats and Bow Ties

April 11, 2010 by

Easter HatSycamore Creek is a wonderfully laid back and informal church.  I love getting up on Sunday morning and putting on something comfortable to come to church for worship, but on my first Easter, I thought twice about what I should wear to church.  Would SCC dress up?  I decided to stay with jeans, but I noticed that several of those at worship did dress up.  If you’re going to dress up for church, Easter is about the best time to do it.

Bow TieI just came across this video on the Washington Post’s website.  It’s about the Easter clothes that members of Shiloh Baptist Church wore on that resurrection morning.  Before Sarah and I came to SCC, we attended a black church in Durham, NC and this video made me miss that church a bit on Easter morning.  Oh the hats and bow ties!  I think its well worth watching and contemplating a different perspective on what clothing might mean in relation to spirituality and Christian worship and celebration.

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