I don’t remember whether I heard this from a coach on The Voice or a judge on American Idol, but one of them told a
contestant that people want to have fun and enjoy the music, and that success
comes from making it possible for people to enjoy what you’re singing.I think that’s true.If the person is struggling, we struggle with
them.If they’re enjoying their
performance, we enjoy it too.
I think this is also true about church.People want to enjoy God.God wants us to enjoy him.The more we encourage one another to
celebrate God’s presence together, and we meet Him in those moments, the more
there is joy like nothing else, and as a result we are encouraged.
Unfortunately, so often at church (or anywhere else) we’re
too worried about offending one another, or getting the words or music right,
or whether we’re wearing the right thing, and that takes our attention off of
enjoying the One we’re there to celebrate, and keeps us from experiencing the
encouragement of God’s love and grace.
To keep focused on encouraging one another, it helps me to
remember how I got here, that day I first told someone that I had discovered
God in a new way and that I wanted everybody to know how cool God is.I had let down the walls and let God in more
than ever before.I had expected
judgement, and instead I found grace, and love that was beyond what I could
imagine.I wanted everybody to know that
same love and grace.
I didn’t know the theology yet, but I was experiencing the
Holy Spirit, the encourager, the paraclete.
I can’t resist having a little fun with that word and
pointing out what you probably already noticed – how much paraclete sounds like parakeet.Paraclete is Greek for helper[1],
but dictionaries trace parakeet to
the Italian word parrocchetto which
means “little priest,” or parrucchetto
which refers to head plumage.[2]
Since many priests wear special hats, I can see the connection.Parakeets also have head plumage.
We also often use a bird as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, but
usually it’s not a parakeet, it’s a dove.I must say that has always seemed like a bit of a misrepresentation to
me.Doves are pretty and quiet and soft,
and sometimes the Holy Spirit’s nudges are like that, but for me that mostly
means I’m just not listening enough.When I am really listening to the Spirit, the blazing fire and loud wind
that the disciples experienced when the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost fit so
much better (Acts
2).
In the story of Jesus’ baptism, the gospel writers say
people saw the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove (Mark 1:10; Luke
3:22; John 1:32), but maybe the term describes the movement more than the
actual vision. Doves are white, the color of purity, so I see how that
represents God’s goodness and righteousness. Parakeets are colorful, playful,
and smart.[3]God is omniscient…the smartest of smart.God is joyful….which is like playful. And since
we’re made in God’s image and we know how to laugh, we must have gotten that
from God, too.Parakeets come in many
different colors,[4]
and I am continually amazed at the different hues of God that I discover as I
continue to learn and grow.
As birds go, maybe the one that fits even better is the
phoenix.In Greek mythology, this bird
lives forever because it is continually reborn.It dies in flame and is resurrected out of the ashes.[5]Isn’t this what happens to us?God refines us in fire like silver or gold,[6]
and makes something beautiful out of the ashes.
To
all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous
blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their
righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his
own glory. (Isaiah 61:3)
Whichever bird works for you, birds remind me of hope
because of the poem by Emily Dickinson:
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the
words -
And never stops - at all...
Hope is like a bird, and encouragement is how we help each
other to have hope.There are lots of ways
to encourage one another, and the Holy Spirit works in us through all these
things.
The word paraclete
also means advocate, like a lawyer.The
Holy Spirit intercedes for us, facilitated by the work of Jesus on the
cross.That amazing grace and love we
experience as we draw near to God is because Jesus Christ died for us,
conquering our sin and obtaining forgiveness for us all.
Today and every day, I pray that you are encouraged through knowing
the grace and love of God that we have through faith in Jesus Christ who lives
in us through the Holy Spirit, our encourager.
This is a sermon I preached on Sunday, May 20, 2018 at United Presbyterian Church in Sterling, KS.
Listen to the sermon audio here.
Read Acts 2:1-13 & Matthew 9:32-38 here.
Choosing Now Over Later
Today
is the last week in our series Thrive@United.Each week of this series, there has been a choice.
We
started with “choosing life over death,”
maybe a rather obvious choice.Next
we chose community over isolation,
then fun over drudgery, bold over mild, and frontier over fortress.Last week we even had the opportunity to put
into practice our choice for frontier by going on a prayer walk out into the community.Now, today we have the choice between now or later.
What
are you hearing in the choice between now and later?
My
husband Rob heard candy.
Now
sounds trendy. “Live in the NOW.”
Now
sounds parental.“I told you to do your
chores and I said NOW!”
Now
sounds urgent. “We need help NOW!”
In
the world of churches, now sounds . . . unusual, doesn’t it?Because churches aren’t always so good at
doing things right now.We need to do
things decently and in order.
We
need to take it to committee.We need to run it by session, the board.
We
need a motion, and a second, and then we need discussion.
We
need to work together to make a plan
and follow the plan together.
None
of that happened on Pentecost.
By
the time the disciples got to Pentecost, they already knew their plans had gone
right out the upper room window when
Jesus was crucified.That was in God’s
plan, but they hadn’t understood the plan quite that way.While they’re still trying to figure out how
the plan had changed, Jesus was resurrected.
Then
Jesus told them that the next step in the plan was to go out and tell the world
about what happened, go everywhere and make disciples . . . but first,
wait until you receive power from
the Holy Spirit and then go out and tell the world.So they waited, and while they were waiting, they prayed.
What
else could they do?
Jesus
didn’t tell them when the Holy Spirit was coming.
Jesus
didn’t tell them how the Holy Spirit was coming.
Would
they have understood even if he had told them?
On
the day of Pentecost, they were together celebrating the Jewish feast of
Pentecost, and doing what they had been doing every day – praying.And that’s when things
got a little crazy.
First there was the wind.Here in Kansas everybody knows about wind.Wind is strong.Strong wind is loud.Really strong wind is really loud.
Then
came the tongues of fire, and then
everyone began speaking in tongues.That
also was loud.We’ve been in
crowds.We know how loud they can be.
It
was so loud that everyone in the neighborhood came running to see what was
happening.
Nobody
planned it.Nobody sent out invitations.Nobody made refreshments. Nobody put together a program or arranged for extra
chairs and tables.
This
was just happening and it was happening NOW. Because sometimes the Holy Spirit
does unexpectedthings at unexpected times
in unexpected ways.
Not
surprisingly, people had lots of questions.Why is this happening?Why are they talking like that?What
does this mean?
Peter
didn’t have time to run home to do some exegesis to prepare a sermon to answer
their questions and explain the meaning.In a surprisingly brilliant move,
he just stood up and started explaining about Jesus who died and was
resurrected.
Peter
knew the scriptures well enough to use them to show that the Prophet Joel had predicted this
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and King
David had written a song (Psalm 16)
about the resurrection, and though they didn’t quite understand God’s plan from
these scriptures before, it is now clear
that Jesus, the one who was just crucified, is God’s plan to bring about the salvation of us all.
Hearing
all this, the people were amazed, and asking, “What are we to do now?”
Peter
immediately had the answer for this question:
“Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.“ (Acts 2:38 MSG)
He
didn’t say, “Go home and think about it.” Or “Go home and pray about it.”This challenge was for right now.He kept on urging them to act now.And that day 3000 people were baptized.
And
all the rest of the crowd was left in a quandry, arguing with each other.Did he say, “Yanny?Or did he say Laurel?”[1]
Silliness
aside, the first and most important way we “choose now over later” is to turn to God, say yes to Jesus and welcome
the Holy Spirit.
There’s
no reason to wait.This is exactly how
Jesus began his ministry in Mark’s gospel, telling people that now is the time
to repent.
Jesus said: “Now is the fullness of time,” … “and the
kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins, and believe in the Good
News!” (Mark 1:15TLV)
Now is the time to say yes to Jesus.If you’ve been putting this off, don’t delay
any longer. Just say yes.
Choosing now over later means we
1.Turn to
God
2.Pray
3.Do
We do put things off.We can come up with all kinds of
reasons.There’s always tomorrow,
right?Or is there?
The end of all things is near. 1 Peter 4:7
We
laugh when we read that because Peter wrote those words about 2000 years
ago.The end of all things wasn’t as
near as Peter thought.On the other
hand, how many of the people who heard or read those words have already met their own “end of all things”?
The Holy Spirit prompts us and we need to act.
Do it now – because we don’t know what
tomorrow will bring.
Yet you do
not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist
that appears for a little while and then vanishes. --James 4:14
Do not boast
about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. --Proverbs 27:1
For
instance, we might be thinking that one of these days I’ll tell my friend how much Jesus loves them, but that day never comes
because he dies of a heart attack.
Sometimes
it’s blazingly clear that we need to act now.If we’re thinking about adopting a dog that’s due to be euthanized
tomorrow at the animal shelter, now is the time to get ‘er done![3]
What
do you see when you look at a crowd of people?In Matthew 9, our gospel reading this morning, Jesus looks out at the
crowds of people and has compassion for them. He sees people who are ready to
hear about God’s amazing love and forgiveness.He says, “The harvest is ready.”
He saw people looking for a shepherd.He saw people he loved and wanted to
help.He saw people whom he wanted to
know that God loves them.And so he
says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest to
send out workers.”
That’s a call to pray.
1.Turn to
God
2.Pray
And then
3.Do
Jesus said to ask God for workers, and then he
commissioned the disciples, giving them the authority to heal people and cast
out demons, and then he sent them out to tell people about the good news of the
gospel. (Matt 10:1ff)
Choosing now means we turn to God, pray, and do.
If we don’t know what to do, we pray until we
do.
If
we do know what to do, we pray and then do it.
Do
it now
– because otherwise we will miss the opportunity to be a part of what God’s
doing.
I’ll
never forget the first time I realized that I’d missed it.I had this brilliant idea for a ministry, a
way to serve people in the community where I lived at the time.I knew it was inspired by God, but I
hesitated. I wanted to pray about it some more. What if . . .this?What if . . . that?When?How?It’s ok to think things
through, but I got too bogged down in all of that, and the next thing I knew
somebody else was announcing their plan to implement my brilliant idea. Because it wasn’t my idea.It was God’s idea.And He made sure it DID happen.
It
isn’t always easy to know what to do and when to do it. Sometimes it’s very
clear.Like when a kid gets brought into
the emergency room barely hanging on to
life.If they waited to find the
parent and get permission to treat, the kid would die, so they don’t wait.They act immediately to make sure the child
is stabilized.
Sometimes
it’s not so clear and we have to act on faith.So often we hesitate because we
don’t like not knowing what the outcome will be.We try to see into the future and predict, but
only God truly knows, and we need to
trust him for the outcome.To get better at this, it helps to practice.
1.Turn to God
2.Pray
3.Do
This
will sound silly, but one of the ways I
practice is choosing what to wear in the morning.I used to waste a lot of time trying this
outfit, and then another outfit.I’d
stand in the closet forever trying to make up my mind while the clock just kept
on ticking.So God inspired me to turn to him, ask for help, and go with the
first thing I thought of next.Most
of the time I wear one of three colors – black, blue or green.I have red shirts because I have bought them
over the years to wear on Pentecost, Christmas and the 4th of July,
but other than that they just sit in my closet.One morning as I was getting
ready to go to a worship conference I was in a quandry.I didn’t know what to expect going to a place
I’d never been before and so I didn’t know what to wear.The first thing I thought of after I asked
God for help was my red shirt.
I
argued.No, God, please, not the red shirt.It’s not a holiday.I didn’t hear
a voice, but the feeling I had was a lot like when a parent gets frustrated
with child who is arguing.The feeling
felt like this:“Just wear it.”
So
I did.
Guess
what the main topic was at the worship conference that day?Trusting the Holy Spirit.And I was all ears because I was wearing my
Holy Spirit red and I had trusted the Holy Spirit about wearing it. Choosing a shirt is such a little thing, but
it’s a little thing that made a big difference in my life.It’s helped me practice listening and
trusting.We practice with the little
things so we’ll be better prepared to handle the bigger things.
It’s easy to say that things need to change.
It’s
hard to see that what needs to change is us.
Turning
to God and praying is always clear and simple.“Hey, God, help.”
When
we DO know what to do, we’ll need God’s help.If we do things only on our own, we will fall short and tire out and fail.
We
can’t do it on our own. Only God knows what tomorrow will bring, and only
God can change hearts.
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If
you remain in me and I in you, you will [thrive]; apart from me you can do
nothing.
We
stay connected to Jesus because of the Holy Spirit and we practice listening to the Holy Spirit when we pray.So I’m asking you today as an exercise of this to keep praying for 40
days.On your way out today pick up a
40-days-of-prayer booklet.*
Now
is the time to turnto God, pray, and do.
If
you know what to do, ask God for help to go do it.
If
you don’t, keep on praying and listening and getting ready to do whatever God has in store for us to do.
Jesus is risen. The harvest is ready.The
Holy Spirit is here.Let’s
let him work in us right now so we can thrive
as God’s people doing God’s work in the world.
Good fences
make good neighbors. And yet, in Acts 2, we see people breaking down
fences,
sharing everything.We typically read
this scripture and hold it up as the example of the perfect church.We talk a lot about the “Acts 2 church.” It’s
a beautiful, idyllic picture.They are
devoted believers, filled with awe.They
are always together.They share
everything.They are glad and sincere,
and they are growing. They are the beloved community.
There are no
fences in this picture, and yet they are getting along fabulously.They are still in their honeymoon phase as a
fellowship.Just like the first year
with a new spouse, or the first year with a new pastor.But as we read on in Acts, and in the rest of
the New Testament, we see that it wasn’t long before things started to fall
apart.I find it encouraging, actually,
to read 1 and 2 Corinthians and see that many of the problems we have in
churches today are practically the same as the problems they were having in the
early churches.It’s easier in the
beginning to get along, but as time goes on, the real work of community
happens.
Early on in
my life I learned a valuable lesson – if we take the time to talk to one
another about our issues, we’ll be able to understand one another better and
then everything will be fine.But it’s
not always quite that easy.And so it
sometimes is just easier to build fences.
Or walls.It’s a practice that has
lasted through history.Millions of
people go to China to see that great wall. They began building it all the way
back in the 3rd century BC. It’s 13,000 miles long and was built to
protect the people of China from being attacked by people they referred to as
“barbarians”.[3]
There’s another ancient wall in Great Britain called Hadrian’s Wall.It was built in AD 122 very near the border
between England and Scotland in anticipation of the first visit of the Roman
emperor Hadrian.This wall is 80 miles
long.There’s no good record of why it
was built, but historians think it was probably built to keep out the attacks
of the people they referred to as “barbarians.”[4]
We may not
have walls like these between us and our neighbors.If we do
have fences here, they’re usually to keep our pets or livestock in rather than people out.But we still build these kinds of walls around our hearts.
“Something there
is that doesn’t love a wall,” says Frost in his poem. He muses that it might be
elves or nature that keep knocking stones out of the wall.In our
hearts, though, it’s the Holy Spirit.
That’s why
last week, our first week in this series called Thrive@United, we talked
about how we choose life, how we choose to allow the Holy Spirit to work by
saying yes to Jesus, by continually talking to God, and by moving when the
Spirit says move.
The Holy
Spirit is vital because it’s the Holy Spirit that keeps us connected to our
source of life, Jesus Christ, and it’s
the Holy Spirit that helps us see one another through God’s eyes.It’s the Holy Spirit that gives us eyes of
grace.It’s the Holy Spirit that helps
us to choose community over isolation.
Before we talk
more about that, let me ask you, how many people does
it take to build a wall?It depends how deep you stack them.
We choose community over isolation because God knows how
we’re made and he knows that we need to. . .
Be together.
Don’t stop meeting together with
other believers, which some people have gotten into the habit of doing. –Hebrews
10:25
I know I’m preaching to the choir in some ways with this one
because you are here.Today you chose to
come to worship and in doing so you chose community over isolation, and many of
you make that choice faithfully every week.Thank you for being here.It
makes a difference that you are here. The Holy Spirit works among us when we
are gathered together, and especially when we pray together.
Jesus says in
Matthew 18:20 “Where two or three gather
in my name, there am I with them.”
Where
two or more are gathered, God is there, and his presence brings joy, and
therefore that joy is multiplied when we’re together.“Shared joy is double joy.”[5]
People are
not always good at being together. That’s why the Bible is so full of
instructions for us about how to be better at being together. Let’s look at a
few of those.
Be listeners.
To answer before listening is foolish and
shameful. Proverbs 18:13
James says
it, too.“Everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (1:19)
One of the
reasons we sometimes avoid getting together with other people is that we don’t
know what to say and so it’s awkward.Here’s the perfect solution: Listen first.In seminary, in the class on pastoral care,
this verse from Proverbs was the one thing the professor wanted to make sure we
always remembered.He made us recite it
at the beginning of every class.It was
on every exam.Say it with me…
Similarly,
when we get together, we need to…
Be encouraging
Another
reason we avoid getting together is that people say hurtful things to one
another.Sometimes on purpose, and
sometimes not.If we listen more than we
speak, we avoid that.Another way we
avoid that is to be careful about what we say.
Do not let any
unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building
othersup according to their needs, that it may
benefit those who listen. –Ephesians 4:29
We thrive
when we receive encouragement, but we shrivel when are criticized.It can be easier to be critical than
encouraging. That’s why I often include this verse in my prayers.God, guard my lips…
Another
important part of making community work it to...
Be forgiving
Bear with each other
and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive
as the Lord forgave you. -- Colossians 3:13
We have a
hard time being forgiving if we don’t accept it for ourselves, so we need to
accept forgiveness, so we can pass it on.Plus, it’s circular.Jesus said…
For if you forgive
other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive
your sins.Matthew 6:14-15
Have a face
of grace.
When Thomas
Jefferson was president, he and a group of companions were traveling across the
country on horseback. They came to a river
that had left its banks and washed the bridge away. Each rider was forced to
ford the river on horseback, fighting for his life against the rapid currents,
and face the very real possibility of death. A traveler who was not part of
their group hesitated to attempt it, and instead to stopped to watch. After
several had plunged in and made it to the other side, that traveler asked
President Jefferson if he would carry him across the river. The president
agreed without hesitation. The man climbed on, and shortly thereafter the two
of them made it safely to the other side. As the stranger slid off the back of
the horse onto dry ground, one in the group asked him, “Tell me, why did you
select the president to ask this favor of?” The man was shocked, admitting he
had no idea it was the president who had helped him. “All I know,” he said, “is that on some of your faces was
written the answer ‘No,’ and on some of them was the answer ‘Yes.’ His was a
‘Yes’ face.”[6]
A yes face
is a forgiving face, a face of grace. Let’s ask God to help us have yes faces.
Be available.
This week, I’m asking you to choose community.Choose to be available to the Holy Spirit
leading us to grow in the way that we are connecting with other people, growing
in our relationships with people in this church and in our community.Here are some ways we can do that:
1.Join a small group.
a.There’s one starting this Tuesday night led by Arn Froese and
Andy Giorgetti about reading the Bible in light of contemporary
issues.It’s a great opportunity to have
conversations about what’s going on in our world and in our lives in a safe
environment.If you would like to go to
that, please let us know on the yellow card along with your name and email
address so that we can put you on the list for that group.
b.There’s another opportunity starting
in a few weeks on Sunday evenings led by
Ginger Reed.This group will be
studying a book of the Bible.If you’d
like to be on the list for that group, let us know on the yellow card.
There are
others opportunities in the works, and there will continue to be, because this
is a very important part of growing together as God’s beloved community.
In both our
scripture readings today, food is an important part of how people connect, just
like it is in the church.In Luke, it is
not until Jesus eats with the two men that they recognize him.Here’s some ways to put food into the equation.
2.Invite someone to coffee or lunch
a.Ask God to help you decide who to
invite.It might be someone inside the
church that needs your encouragement or would be good encouragement to
you.Or it might be someone outside the
church who doesn’t know Jesus or is struggling to follow Jesus.Pray about it and see what name comes to
mind.
3.Coffee Time
a.Starting in May, I’m going to be
hanging out at Broadway Market on Thursdays.Come join me and let’s get to know each other better.
b.Or if you’d like to meet with me at a
different time or place, put a note on the yellow card and we’ll set something
up.
4.Make Eye Contact
a.It sounds so simple but it’s an important step in choosing community, but
if we aren’t intentional we don’t do it. When we’re among other people we often
avoid eye contact, but if we will make eye contact, we are speaking volumes to
them.We are acknowledging that they
exist and are not invisible.We are
respecting them as fellow humans.We are
opening the way for further contact – maybe just a hello, maybe more.
Four good
ways to start choosing community and to work on being together:
being
listeners, being encouraging, being forgiving and being available.
I love this
question that Henry David Thoreau asks in his book Walden:
“Could a
greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an
instant?”[7]
That miracle
happens through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, working among us,
working through us, drawing us together, and helping us to be like the
beautiful community in Acts 2, helping us to see with God eyes, eyes of grace.
----
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement
give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so
that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ.” -Romans 15:5-6
