What is a Christian willing to accomplish by "doing whatever is necessary"?

What are we willing to attempt to accomplish by "doing whatever is necessary"?  The answer, literally, should be nothing, for there is nothing that we ought to be willing to utilize evil in order to achieve, but when most people use that phrase they're talking about effort and sacrifice, perhaps a little stepping over the line when needed.
The following video is a test, watch it first before reading my comments upon it below.  Your reaction to this video will judge your ability to understand the purpose of the Gospel, your willingness to obey what it requires of you, and just what it is that you are willing to see blood spilled to accomplish.  The speaker in the 6 minute video is Pastor Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, a 12,000 member church.  He received a standing ovation at the end of these remarks, how will you respond?


Pastor Jeffress in response to ISIS

Did you cheer along with the audience, or did their cheers send a chill down your spine?  The words of Pastor Jeffress paint all Muslims as believers in the ideology of ISIS, saying that the Koran is full of commands to violence, while dismissing the commands of God in the Old Testament, and then following that up by saying that individual Christians need to love our enemies, but our government should blow them all to hell.  Also, where in the Bible does it say that God is against illegal immigrants and refugees, to claim Acts 17:26 as a justification for that political viewpoint is terribly poor exegesis.  Likewise, quoting a politician from the pulpit, and endorsing his viewpoint, especially a politician who has demonstrate virtually none of the fruit of the Spirit, is both foolish and dangerous.  I'm sorry, Pastor Jeffress, killing our enemies by "doing whatever is necessary" is NOT what Jesus taught his followers; not even close.  That misguided ideology led to the fire bombing of Dresden in WWII, civilian casualties be damned.  We cannot defeat radical Islam, just as we could not defeat militant communism, by lowering our moral standards and killing innocent women and children along with those who are actually a threat.  Don't we need to overcome evil with good, isn't that in the Bible, or do we get to ignore that command when the government does the killing for us?

What are you willing to accomplish by "doing whatever is necessary"?  I recently spoke privately with a friend because I was alarmed by his publicly expressed zeal to see Muslims, even if it is just militant ones, killed.  I tried to remind him that our obligation, given to us as a command by Jesus Christ, is to witness to the Gospel to everyone, our enemies included.  Sadly, the response I received later was to mock my concern for Muslims who don't know Christ, it seems some who claim the name of Christ (and thus should know better) would rather cheer while their enemies are killed by a smart bomb than sacrifice to share the Gospel with them.  If that attitude had prevailed in the early Church, the zealot hater of Christianity, Saul of Tarsus, would have been assassinated by Christians instead of hearing of God's forgiveness on the road to Damascus, there would never have been an Apostle Paul who received numerous beatings to spread the Gospel without God's willingness to forgive, God's willingness to turn an enemy of his people into a champion for his grace.
Did you cheer when Pastor Jeffress gave the government a blank check to kill as many people as necessary to stop those living among them who are terrorists?  Do you celebrate when the bombs fall, or when the knees bow in repentance?  The answer matters, there are over a billion Muslims in the world, aren't you required to present to them the Gospel of God's grace?  In the words of that redeemed enemy of Christ, the Apostle Paul, "I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some."

Sermon Video: The Law and the Gospel - Luke 16:16-17

What is the relationship between the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Are they partners, adversaries, or something else?  In a brief comment in Luke 16, Jesus indicates both the continuity between the Law and the Gospel in a prologue/sequel type relationship, and the ongoing validity of the Law.  The purpose and role of the Messiah, in God's plan, is not to abolish or even amend the Law, but to be the first and only one to actually keep it.  By keeping the whole Law, Jesus is free of its condemnation, there is no death penalty upon him, therefore he can die for another; because he is the Son of God, he can die for us all (and subsequently be raised to new life).  What are the implications of this understanding of the Law and Gospel as partners and not adversaries?  The Old Testament is thus seen as a prologue to the New, providing the foundation for our understanding of it and the history of God's attempt to reconcile humanity prior to the Advent of Christ.  In addition, the Old Covenant remains in force, Israel remains the Chosen People, and God's work for and through the Church is not a replacement of those previous promises.  Lastly, the relationship between the descendants of Abraham, and those called by grace to faith in Christ, ought never to be an antagonistic one, although to the shame of the Church it has been throughout much of Church history.  Anti-Semitism, prejudice and hatred of the Jews, from the pogroms and expulsions to the horrors of the Holocaust, are categorically and unequivocally rejected by the Church as grave sins against God, sins for which all those who have committed them will answer before God.

To watch the sermon video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: One sinner who repents - Luke 15:1-10

We live in a world where a 99% success rate is considered to be extraordinary, unheard of in most cases.  When Jesus is challenged by the Jewish religious leadership because he is socially accepting of outcasts like tax collectors and "sinners", he responds by telling two parable that illustrate God's unwillingness to write off anybody as the cost of doing business or an acceptable loss.  In the first parable, one out of one hundred sheep is lost prompting the shepherd to leave the ninety-nine in the care of another and search for it until it is found.  In the second parable, one out of ten coins is lost, prompting the owner of the coins to search the home diligently until it is found.  In both parables, the search goes beyond what we would normally do with such a loss, and the rejoicing that follows once the lost is found certainly goes beyond what we would do if we found one sheep or one coin.  The two parables are used by Jesus to illustrate God's perspective regarding hopeless cases and lost causes when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat, or in this case, when a lost soul is snatched from the gates of hell.  When Jesus secures that victory, saving a lost sinner by rescuing him/her and bringing them home to God, the result in heaven is a rousing chorus of rejoicing, a party worthy of the triumph of the Son.
What do we take from these parables?  Three truths stand out: (1)  There are no "sinners", all have sinned, all are sinners, all need a savior to carry us home.  (2) There are no outcasts, none that we are not obligated to treat with dignity and kindness, none that are too far gone to be saved by Jesus.  (3)  The Gospel will save them, it can go anywhere, into the darkest places of our world and the darkest of human hearts, it can find lost sinners there and by the blood of the Lamb of God, it can save them.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

The peril of fear mongering among Christians

In a recent interview with Time magazine, the president of Faith and Action, Rob Schenck, a noted anti-abortion activist, spoke of the danger posed by fear mongering when it is used by conservative politicians and pastors, he said this: "Within our conservative ranks, there seems to be an almost rampant fear mongering that's used as a device to build audiences and readership.  And I think it's contrary to the optimism of the Gospel."  It doesn't take much searching to find a self-proclaimed conservative or evangelical politicians whose primary rhetorical tool is utilizing fear.  The same holds true, sadly, for several prominent conservative and/or evangelical pastors, and many less prominent ones.  Many congregations are given a steady dose of fear from the pulpit, fear of the government, fear of persecution, fear of the future.
There are two major problems with this use of fear, first that it doesn't represent reality, as Schenck went on to say, "Christians, especially evangelicals, often fear persecution by government.  And that does occur in other places.  So we project it here."  I've heard many a well-meaning Christians, and perhaps some not of noble purpose, speaking as if America is one small step away from being Nazi Germany, as if the government were compiling lists of Churches to raid and shut down, as if storm troopers will soon be in the streets.  There are things that require legitimate concern about our culture, our government, and our future as a Church and a nation, but when such fantastic claims are made, when the spectre of persecution is raised to frighten those who don't know better, not only are the real issues buried by fear and obscured, the far too real and deadly persecution of Christians around the world is trivialized by American whining and paranoia.
The second problem inherent in the fear mongering is that it is used primarily by those interested in your vote or your money.  The motive behind the appeal to fear is almost always a dark one, the response that it breeds in people is far more likely to be hatred than love.  It is contrary to the Gospel.  In the first century, the Church faced far more difficult circumstances, Paul was beaten and left for dead, unjustly jailed, and ultimately put to death, but he did not give in to fear, nor did he spread it, he responded with hope.
As I have said many times before, and will continue to say as often as need be, the Church is not a castle under siege, a timid force hiding behind a moat; the Church of Jesus Christ is an army, conquering in his name, by his power, a force that the gates of hell will not prevail against.  Why, oh why, do we let ourselves be led by men (and women) whose pessimism and appeal to fear is leading the Church from proclaiming the Gospel proudly to hiding in fear, fear of a persecution that isn't even real.
Lastly, Schenck's interview ended with a sentiment that deserves an amen from anyone who believes in the necessity of the Gospel as the sole path to salvation for humanity, "the deepest of moral, ethical and spiritual questions can't be answered by a political party."  Nor, I might add, by a politician or pastor looking for votes, book sales, or donations.

Thoughts on Pope Francis' speech to Congress

There are only a handful of people in our world today who could receive glowing coverage from CNN and Fox News at the same time.  The recent visit of Pope Francis to the United States saw such a confluence of the American political right and left, both of whom see something in Pope Francis that they would like to claim as their own (either through genuine admiration or hope of politically co-opting his popularity), and at the same time, both sides also see things in what he says and does that trouble them, things that they would rather ignore.  In this reaction, cheering for what we already believe and pretending not to hear what we disagree with, I see a microcosm of how Christians too often respond to the claims of the Gospel.  We embrace those portions of it that conform to our own ideas and try to ignore or twist into something they are not those portions that would require us to change.
For example: Republicans cheered when Pope Francis said, "I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without.  Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family."  Republicans saw this as a criticism of the legalization of gay marriage in America, they cheered, the Democrats were silent.  Elsewhere, however, it was the turn of Democrats to cheer and Republicans to sit on their hands when Pope Francis said about those hoping to travel north to America, "We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation.  To respond in a way which is always humane, just, and fraternal."  The same pattern existed, among Congress, and no doubt the audience watching at home, when mention was made of protecting the environment, abolishing the death penalty, halting the arms trade, and having an economy that "seeks to be modern, inclusive, and sustainable."
Politicians are happy to claim the Pope's popularity when it suits them, and just as quick to dismiss his ideas on the economy or social issues when what he says would challenge their political beliefs.  It is not necessary to agree with the solutions offered by Pope Francis to any particular issue, but we must, as Christians, at least be intellectually honest with ourselves by admitting when we too, like the politicians, are only listening to what we want to hear.
The teachings of Jesus Christ do not fit in cozily with the political views of either the Republicans or the Democrats, both of whom have made Faustian political compromises for the sake of expediency, Republicans with business interests at the expense of the poor, and Democrats with the intellectual class at the expense of the unborn, just to name the most obvious failure of each camp to follow the Gospel's declaration of the dignity and brotherhood of all men.  You cannot be an honest follower of Jesus Christ and ignore the need to help the poor.  You also cannot be an honest follower of Jesus Christ and ignore the sanctity of life and marriage.  It is not acceptable for Republicans to dismiss Pope Francis' cry to help the poor against the abuses of Capitalism by calling him a Socialist, and it is not acceptable for Democrats to drown out Pope Francis' plea for the unborn by calling the decision to end that life a "choice" or a "right".
Disagree with Pope Francis' politics if you want, this is America and he is just a man, even if he does have a fancy hat and a cool car, but dismiss the claim that the Gospel has upon you to protect the poor, the vulnerable, and the innocent among us at your own peril.  In the end, I'm glad that Pope Francis made both the Republicans and the Democrats uncomfortable in their turn, for as a representative of the Gospel, speaking to a culture in need of its transformative power, their is plenty in American politics and culture that Pope Francis has rightly diagnosed as being in need of change.

Sermon Video: "Let us rejoice and be glad" - Revelation 19:6-9

This text was chosen for our Easter worship service because the event that it talks about, the future "wedding of the Lamb" is actually the long-awaited victory party for the triumph of Jesus' resurrection.  The Apostle John's vision of the Last Days includes a vast multitude which gathers to rejoice and praise God because the reunion of God with his people is finally to come about.  The symbolic wedding of Christ with his bride, the Church, demonstrates the complete removal of the barrier of sin that once stood between humanity and God, as such it is a time of joy that is has no parallel in our world, a world where all victories are only temporary or partial.  It was the resurrection of Jesus, following his willing sacrifice on the Cross, that sealed this victory and guaranteed that all those who put their trust in him will one day not only be at the wedding, but be among the great multitude that collectively constitute the bride of Christ.  The question then for us all is simple: will we be invited to this wedding to take our place in the family of God, or not?  The means of securing an invitation are equally simple: put your trust and hope in Jesus; he died to pay for your sins, he was resurrected open the way for us to new life after death.  Let us rejoice and be glad.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video

What is the secret that allows churches to work together?

What is the secret to working together with other churches in order to multiply the resulting impact within the community?  The answer is exceedingly simple, but often difficult for some Christians or churches to accept: Don’t care which church benefits.  If you, or your church, are more concerned with your numbers on Sunday morning than you are with fulfilling the mission of the Church to care for the poor and needy, you might as well continue to do what little you can on your own.  If ten churches work together to run a food pantry, a pantry that will physically be housed in one of those ten churches, and as a result, new people who are served by that pantry end up going to the church that is the host, that is a cause for praise for all ten churches because the Church of Jesus Christ is the beneficiary.  There is no reason for each church to try to have its own food pantry, clothing collection and distribution program, after-school ministry, home repair team, or whatever other avenue of ministry you can think of.  Each church should find out what their passion is, through serious introspection and assessment of talents and resources, and focus on that area while at the same time lending a significant hand to the area of focus of other churches through financial and volunteer support and in turn allowing those other churches to contribute to your focused ministry.  The end result should have one church running the food pantry, with all other contributing, one church running a clothing program, with all other assisting, one church running an after-school ministry, etc.

                Why shouldn’t such ministries be duplicated in each church?  The practical objection is that it is a waste of resources, as each does far less than the sum of them could do together.  The PR objection is that is shows the Lost, those we aim to share the Gospel with, that we’re in competition with each other and not cooperation.  What does that say about the love of fellow Christians for each other when they can’t even work together?  The spiritual objection is that it fosters the false belief that we own our local church, that we aren’t part of the universal Church of Jesus, as well as depriving Christians of the positive impact in their own faith walk of being part of a collective effort that will actually make a difference in your community.  Last, but not least, it is in keeping with the prayer of Jesus before his passion began that his followers be one.  We certainly aren’t “one” in structure, but we can at least be “one” in spirit and “one” in cooperation.

                There’s another benefit to being a part of ecumenical ministry for your congregation:  It allows the men and women of your church to take part in a ministry that they’re passionate about even if your church doesn’t have that type of ministry.  The alternatives are that they don’t utilize that gift/talent/calling because no outlet for it appears to exist, or that they leave to go to a church where they feel they can contribute.  Does either of those options appeal to the pastors and church board busy building a moat around the church building to keep other Christians out?

                In the end, the final evaluation is beyond dispute: Are more people shown the love of Jesus Christ when churches work collectively or when they work alone?  You know that the answer is clearly when collective efforts exist, how can a disciple of Jesus Christ, a committed servant of the Kingdom of God, fail to set aside whatever objection he/she has to ecumenism and start working with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?  Whatever the excuse is, it isn’t good enough.

Sermon Video: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" - Luke 10:25-28

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  That question lies at the heart of mankind’s hopes to stand before our Creator without fear.  Connected to that question is the related question of, “What is the greatest commandment?”  Jesus interacted with those two questions on multiple occasions in the Gospels, and always came around to the same answer, whether he was answering the question himself or simply agreeing with the answer of someone else: Love God with everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself.  These two summations of the duties and responsibilities of the Law of Moses are recorded in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.  That these two requirements of total love, for God and our neighbor, are an effective summation of the Law was one of the few things about which Jesus and his adversaries among the ruling religious clique of Jerusalem could agree.  The answer to the question is not in any doubt, in order to stand before God, we must love him with everything we have, body, mind, soul, and strength, AND we must love that which he loves, people created in his image, as we love ourselves.  This is what God requires of us, the stark difference between Jesus and the self-righteous leaders who opposed him is that Jesus knew full well that humanity was incapable of even approaching this standard of perfection, let alone accomplishing it.

                “What must I do” is a failing proposition from the beginning.  Because God is holy, our effort will always fall far short.  If we cannot “do” anything to save ourselves, are we simply left without hope?  From the very beginning, when God promised Adam and Eve that he would one day send a redeemer, the answer to mankind’s dilemma lay with God.  The Messiah, God’s own Son, was sent to remedy that which we could never do.  What mankind is incapable of, Jesus did, what we could not do for ourselves, he has done for us.  Where does that leave us?  Grace, God’s grace, that is our hope and our trust, when we put our faith in what Jesus has accomplished, the Spirit of God can begin to transform us, washing away our past sins, and starting us on the road, through his power, to becoming a people that loves God with everything we have and loves our neighbors, all of them, as ourselves.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video

Sermon Video: Acceptance and Rejection - Luke 10:3-16

History is full of people who believed an idea so much that they felt justified in utilizing force to get other people to accept it.  From Tomas de Torquemada with the Spanish Inquisition, to Vladimir Lenin’s dream of a worldwide Communist revolution, to Osama Bin Laden’s vision of a global Islamic Caliphate.  These men, and countless others, utilized coercion, manipulation, and outright violence in order to advance their cause.  As Jesus prepares to send out his 72 followers to spread the Gospel, he tells them that their methodology will be far different, they won’t utilize for or power at all, but rather be “like lambs among wolves”, and they won’t have vast resources at their disposal to accomplish the mission, rather they will rely upon the generosity of strangers.

                The Church learned the hard way that the corrupting influence of power and money are extreme hazards to our ability to fulfill our mission.  As a Church, or as an individual Christian, our ultimate battle is not in the physical realm, we do have to account for it by planning and prudent stewardship, but are true battle is in the spiritual realm.  If God has people filled with love and compassion, living pious lives and dedicated to his service, he will accomplish an amazing harvest no matter what resources they have to work with.  Conversely, if God’s people fail in the spiritual realm through lack of prayer, immorality, or complacency, it won’t matter how much money is spent in our ministry.

                After telling his followers what to do when they’re received with generosity, Jesus continues by telling them what to do when they’re not even welcomed in a community.  The culturally appropriate thing for them to do is to shake of the dust of their sandals before leaving town to show how serious the rejection of the Son of God truly is.  To illustrate this point, Jesus tells them that the city of Sodom, destroyed by God due to its excessive wickedness, will fare better on the Day of Judgment than a much more moral city like Capernaum that even with all of the benefits of the Law and the Prophets and Jesus’s words and miracles, still rejected the Messiah.  To reject Jesus, is to reject the Father as well, what else is there to say?

To watch the video, click on the link below:

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Sermon Video: "Always be prepared" - I Peter 3:15

How did you come to have faith in Jesus Christ?  For the majority of Christians, the answer involves the influence of a family member, friend, co-worker, or neighbor, in other words, a personal relationship with someone who was already a Christian.  In I Peter 3:15, we find Peter’s instructions for the preparation necessary for Christians in order to be ready to answer questions about their faith.  For his original audience, the situation involved persecution, for many Christians around the world that holds true today, but for Americans it is often complacency or apathy that stand in the way of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

                For Peter, step one in sharing the Gospel is ensuring that our own hearts and minds are ready.  Our hearts need to recognize that Jesus is Lord, an attitude that influences our priorities and how we live, and we need to prepare our minds by understanding our faith, what it means and how it saved us, for how else can we share that critical information?

                Once our own house is in order, Peter encourages us to be prepared to answer questions, which is the opposite of most approaches to evangelism which focus upon the Christian initiating the conversation.  Peter anticipates these questions because he knows that the hope that Christians have within them will prompt questions from people living in a world without it.  Hope is a rare commodity, and a valuable one, so when Christians live without despair, because they know who holds the future, and they live for tomorrow by investing in others, because they are servants of God, it gets noticed by others.

                When the question is asked, whatever form it ends up taking, how are we to respond?  Peter makes it clear that the sharing of the Gospel must be with gentleness and respect, which seems to be an area that we as Christians have failed often enough to live up to.  How can we ensure that we have the right attitude as we share the Gospel?  Before thinking about how you will respond, try listening to the person asking the question first, when you dignify the person asking the question by taking that question seriously, rather than itching to give a pre-determined response, the results will follow.  We must be prepared, we must be ready, and we must have hope overflowing in our lives so that others will ask us that all important question.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
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Christmas Eve Sermon Video: "the true light that gives light to every man" - John 1:9

It is fitting that we surround our celebration of Christmas with light, there was much light at the original Christmas, from the brightness of the angles speaking to the shepherds, to the star which guided the magi.  The prologue of the Gospel of John also speaks of the light of Christmas, John calls Jesus, “the true light that gives light to every man”.  Humanity was living in darkness, Jesus brought the light with him because he was the light.  During his lifetime, the light of Jesus was clearly visible to those who knew him, but after his departure back to the Father, what light was left among men?  The light of Christ now shines forth through his people, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to likewise illuminate a dark world and let the truth of God’s love be known.  It is indeed fitting to celebrate light at Christmas, that is a light everyone needs, and the people of God must share.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
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Sermon Video: "The Word became flesh" - John 1:14

“The Word became flesh”, those words begin John 1:14 and themselves are filled to overflowing with meaning.  The incarnation of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God now joined together with human flesh and blood in a Bethlehem manger, becomes the pivot point of history as divinity is combined with humanity in God’s all-out effort to restore humanity to fellowship with him.  This dual nature of Jesus, far from being just an interested fact, is an essential element in the Gospel message itself that cannot be watered-down because the essence of the Good News is that our faith is IN Jesus Christ, the God-man.  What he accomplished while here on earth is entirely connected with who he was.

                The phrase after that first one is equally full of implications, “and made his dwelling among us.”  To Jewish readers, this harkens back to the term used to describe God’s portable dwelling with his people, the Tabernacle.  God tabernacled with his people, dwelling among them, but in a very unapproachable way, within the Holy of Holies, only accessible once per year on the Day of Atonement, and only by the High Priest.  Now, with the incarnation, God through Jesus is reaching out, letting the children sit on his lap, talking with people, having lunch with “sinners”, and even reaching out his hand to touch the untouchable lepers.  God is “with us” in a far more dramatic way, a step that paves the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to dwell within those who follow Jesus.

                The last third of the verse speaks of the glory of Jesus, an example of the unique glory of God, and the grace and truth that he brought with him.  The glory revealed within Jesus is another reminder of how far short humanity has fallen from that of our Creator, the coming of the Christ was an act of grace designed to rectify that deficit, and the truth preached by Jesus is that he himself is the way through which we can be saved.  Thus Christmas is indeed a time for celebration, a time to commemorate the coming of the Way, the Truth, and the Life to dwell among us, to be one of us, and to save us.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video

What if we fail to act?

The parable of the talents, located in Matthew 25:14-30, and Luke 19:12-27, has been interpreted in a variety of ways, some taking the talent literally and focusing on our use of money, others using the coincidence in English to talk about talents as our skills and abilities, still others focusing on our time or energy.  For the most part, these various interpretations focus upon the obligations and responsibilities of the followers of Jesus Christ as individuals.  The local church, and the Church in a community, as well as the Church as a whole, likewise has a responsibility to utilize its talents, whether that be money, abilities, facilities, or whatever other resources, for the kingdom of God.
What happens when a single church, or a whole community of Churches, instead sits on the sidelines and doesn't do much with what they have been given?  The same response that Jesus explained in the parable for individuals applies to the collective body of Christ as well.  If we fail to act, if we fail to be a part of the solution for peace, justice, dignity, and the value of human life, we will have failed in an integral part of our task as the Church of Jesus Christ.  Our primary focus is, and must always be, the reconciliation of the lost to Jesus through faith in his death and resurrection, but that cannot be the only thing we care about as a church nor the only thing we devote ourselves to working toward.  The passage that immediately follows the parable in Matthew contains Jesus' encouragement and warning that "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  There is fear in some evangelical circles of mixing the proclamation of the Gospel with social causes, lest concerns for poverty or social justice overwhelm the spread of the Good News, but there is an equal danger of sterilizing the proclamation of the Gospel and robbing it of its power to transform not only individuals, but communities and society too, if we remove Jesus' often repeated concern for the needs of the "least of these" from our efforts.
What will it cost us to properly proclaim the Gospel?  We will certainly have to invest our time, money, labor, and love in the lives of other people through efforts such as: food and clothing pantries, disaster relief, utilities/housing assistance, and whichever other ways we can strive to help those in need.
There is one other area that we will have to stretch in order to fulfill our calling as the Church of Jesus Christ:  We're going to have to work together.  Individual churches will not be enough, the problems are too big, we need the whole power of ALL of the Church, not just those portions of it with which we feel comfortable, not just those portions of it that look, feel, and sound like us.  The calling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ demands more from us than that which we are comfortable giving, if we truly hope to multiply our talents and hear one day, "Well done, good and faithful servant", we've got to get serious as local churches about working together.

Who is responsible for the poor?

Whose responsibility is it to help the poor, the government or the Church?  Prior to the Industrial Revolution the answer was the Church by default, nobody else had the resources to help much, even if the various kings or emperors had wanted to.  After Constantine, the Church had grown in influence, wealth, and power, eventually receiving tithes in the forms of taxes and taking on the responsibility to help the destitute.  After the French Revolution, that arrangement began to change, modern constitutional governments were more efficient and the horrors of Dickensian working conditions in overcrowded cities cried out for universal protections against misfortune.  By the time of the New Deal and Great Society, the Church had taken on a much smaller role in poverty relief, relegated to running the occasional shelter or food pantry, organizing disaster relief, perhaps helping out with an electrical bill or overdue rent. 

                But what if the answer to the question of helping fight poverty wasn’t either the government or the Church, but instead the government working in cooperation with the Church?  What if government could tap into the willingness of faith inspired volunteers to help their fellow man, and the churches could tap into the resources of government for help with financing and administering that volunteer spirit?  It would take a degree of trust from both parties.  The government would have to understand that fighting poverty requires a spiritual element alongside all the others in order to find long-term success, and the churches would have to understand that their call to make disciples is best fulfilled when real help in the name of Jesus Christ is included.

                This isn’t just a hypothetical, it has been tried with success in a variety of places and circumstances, recently here in Western Pennsylvania where the Human Services Department of Venango County has partnered with dozens of churches to work together to help the most vulnerable living amongst us.  The resulting leap of faith created Mustard Seed Missions of Venango County, a non-denominational para-church organization which in two years has helped nearly 300 clients by harnessing over 6,000 hours of volunteer labor and multiplying a local government grant, as well as charitable grants and donations from churches and individuals, by at least four-fold.  The answer to poverty isn’t the Church OR the government, the answer begins with trust and cooperation from both of them.

Sermon Video: The Sower and the Seeds - Luke 8:4-21

The teachings of Jesus are far more difficult to live by than they are to understand.  When Jesus taught the parable of the Sower, he utilized an analogy about farming that his audience would have readily understood.  The focus of the parable is on the variable types of ground that the seed falls upon and how receptive it is to the seed.  There are four types of ground mentioned by Jesus: path, rocky, weeds, and good soil, only one of which is capable of nurturing the seed and allowing it to grow to maturity and produce a harvest.  The first three types of soil all have external or internal issues that are detrimental to the seed and thus fail to produce.  The fourth type is called “good” in that it actually multiplies the seed in the end by giving the farmer a harvest.

            Jesus explained this parable to his disciples and reminded them that not everyone who hears his message is actually listening to it.  This episode touches about a difficult subject for us: Why do some people accept the Gospel while others reject it?  On the surface one person may seem as likely as another, but one accepts the message and continues in it while another either fails to maintain that commitment or outright rejects it.  The parable gives reasons why the three types that rejected the offer of God’s grace did so, but in the end excuses won’t help because they all equally failed to reproduce the seed.

            What is our purpose as Christians?  How do we ensure that we are creating a bountiful harvest for God?  The conclusion to Jesus’ parable is contained in his response to the arrival of Mary, James, and his other half-brothers, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”  The harvest that God requires is nothing new or surprising, it is simply obedience; to hear the word of God and obey it.  This is, we know, a process that can only be done by faith and the power of the Holy Spirit, but it must be accomplished.  If we are to be good soil, if we are to fulfill our purpose, we must obey the word of God.

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Sermon Video: The Limits of Apologetics, Luke 7:24-35

The term apologetics comes from the Greek word, apologia, which means “speaking in defense”.  The most famous Greek apologia was that of Plato who wrote in defense of his mentor Socrates in the famous, Apology.  Socrates was innocent, and if Plato’s retelling of the tale is accurate, his defense was brilliant, but the mob sentenced him to death by Hemlock anyway.  A well reasoned and delivered argument can work wonders, but it has limits.  Humanity cannot always be persuaded by the truth, even when it is well presented.

            Jesus explains this same truth in reference to the people who were willing to accept both John the Baptist’s message as well as his own, and those who had rejected John’s message and subsequently rejected Jesus as well.  The significance of this double acceptance and double rejection is made clear by Jesus when he recounts the objections that were made by those who rejected both messengers: They rejected John as being too fanatical, too serious, and at the same time rejected Jesus for being too friendly and open to the needs of the ‘sinners’.  The approaches of John and Jesus were nearly opposite in their style, yet they were both rejected by the same group of people with the excuse that style was the problem and not the substance.  Jesus is making it clear that it is the substance of the message that is being objected to, not the form.  The actual content of John’s message of repentance, and Jesus’ message of repentance, is the same.  It is not the messenger that is being rejected, but the message, and because both of these men were sent by God, it is ultimately God who is being rejected.

            Does form and style matter in evangelism, outreach, and worship?  Of course it does, we should always strive to be the best version of the Church and individual Christians that we can be in order to showcase the Truth of the Gospel, but we must also realize that these things have limits.  To those willing to listen to God, the Truth will speak in a variety of settings and styles, but to those whose hearts and minds are close to God, it won’t matter how many different church styles they try, the substance is being rejected behind all of them.  In the end, it is the grace of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that is necessary to break through the barrier of a hard heart and melt away the resistance to the Gospel.  We must do our part, God will do his.

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Sermon Video: Personal Responsibility - Acts 18:1-17

Personal responsibility is sorely lacking in the majority of society’s ills.  This should be no surprise to us as it is a consistent theme of God’s message to his people in Scripture.  When Paul arrived in Corinth he was faced with insufficient support to allow him to be a full-time missionary.  The need was far greater than he could ever hope to fulfill in his lifetime, but for a while at least, Paul was forced to return to the trade of tent making in order to survive.  While this situation continued Paul didn’t give up on his missionary efforts, he still reasoned with the local Jews in the synagogue each Sabbath.  When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia they brought support from the church in Philippi that enabled Paul to return to serving God full-time.

            At this point in his missionary career, Paul has now traveled throughout Asia Minor and Greece attempting to plant churches by beginning at the synagogue in each city.  He has been beaten for his efforts, scourged, thrown in jail, and left for dead after been pummeled with stones.  When the people of the synagogue, his fellow Jews for whom Paul cares deeply, responded to his efforts in Corinth with abuse, he made a difficult decision.  Paul shook his clothes off in their presence (a cultural sign of dismissal) and said, “Your blood be on your own heads!  I am clear of my responsibility.  From now on I will go the Gentiles.”  The first phrase, “Your blood be on your own heads”, is used throughout the Old Testament as an indicator of responsibility for serious matters.  In Leviticus 20 it is connected to capital offenses where the death of those who commit them is their own fault.  In Joshua it is used when the spies make their deal with Rahab, in 2 Samuel by David after the unjust death of Abner.  All of these situations show how very serious Paul’s invoking of this phrase was.  The rejection of the Gospel message by the people to whom the Messiah was sent is a matter of grave consequences (as it is for anyone to whom the message comes).

            When Paul declares that he has fulfilled his own mission, he hearkens back to the commission of Ezekiel as the “Watchman” over Israel where the phrase “blood on your own heads” is once more used.  By sharing the Gospel message, repeatedly and at much personal cost, Paul has fulfilled his obligation as a disciple of Christ to warn the unrepentant of their need of God’s forgiveness.  The obligation to warn belongs to us, the results belong to God.

            Lastly, Paul decides that his message is too important to continue to push against such opposition, he then resolves to take the message directly to the Gentiles who have made up the bulk of his converts thus far.  These decisions are in no way easy for Paul, and his failure to reach his own people with the Gospel will continue to haunt him, but the choice is clear to Paul, he has a responsibility to focus upon those willing to receive God’s offer of grace.  For us, this lesson is also a hard one.  We never want to give up on anyone or any church program just because we don’t see success.  Paul’s example doesn’t require us to give up on individuals, but simply reminds us that we must be open to new opportunities.  So continue to hold out hope for that stubborn relative or friend, perhaps God’s grace will reach him/her before the end, but do not close your eyes to the chances we all have in our lives to share God’s love with more or unexpected people.

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