February 19, 2012 Jesus @ Night

***The following are the notes for the message for Sunrise UMC on Feb. 19, 2012***

 

 We sometimes find ourselves stuck in same old routine

         - in our work

         - in our school

         - in our marriage

         - in our faith

What excites us? For me...learning

I found an old journal entry from back when I was a student at Pfeiffer University. It said this, "The more I learn, the more I know I don't know."

I have found that to be a more profound statement than I ever imagined. Yet, for what it is worth, the church has ordained me as the resident theologian, which, in light of that previous statement, is a scary thought. Many of my seminary professors would probably agree with that too.

Theology is the study of the nature of God and religious Truth. As a theologian, I maintain, the more I learn, the more I know I don't know.

 

Who knows who Sheldon Cooper is?

- a fictitious character on the TV show The Big Bang Theory

- holds a BS, MS,MA, PhD, ScD

- theoretical physicist at CalTech

- Sheldon is smart and he knows it

The text for this morning introduces us to another learned and smart man named Nicodemus

John 3:1-2

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

- John uses night as a metaphor of the separation from God

- leader of Judean people (had to be smart)

- addresses Jesus appropriately

John 3:3-4

3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. " 4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

- Know anyone who while is brilliant, also just misses the point?

Remember our old friend Sheldon?

-grew up in devout and fundamental Christian family

- episodes reveal he has much knowledge of Bible and Christian history, BUT

- For all that knowledge, he misses the point.

John 3:5-7

5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'

Both the NIV & KJV say, "You must be born again" but the NRSV says, "You must be born from above"

So, which is it? Again or Above?

BOTH

The word in question here is the Greek word anothen. It has a double meaning that cannot be translated into English in to just one word. But it in essence means both again & from above

Yet, Nick seems to focus only on one aspect - again

Jesus, on the other hand, takes the holistic approach and focuses on both - again & from above

- Jesus goes on to explain the from above  a bit more.

John 3:8-9

8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?

For all he had, Nick's credentials nor wisdom has opened his understanding of this point.

John 3:11-12

11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

Nick came seeking Jesus knowing Torah. He knew The Law of Moses. He had that head knowledge.

Jesus also had the head knowledge, but he came proclaiming another aspect - faith (heart knowledge)

We see by the text, Nick believes in Jesus (but not fully - head but not heart)

This quandary is found elsewhere in our history. John Wesley, the found of this movement we are a part of, Methodism, was also caught up in it.

- ordained 1725

- still struggled with faith

- March 5, 1738, Wesley wrote in his journal: "I was, in the hand of the great God, clearly convinced of unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved."

-To the question whether he should cease preaching his friend, Martin Boehler, replied, "By no means." "But what can I preach " asked Wesley. "Preach faith till you have it, and then because you have it you will preach faith."

- And so on Monday morning he offered salvation by faith to a man under sentence of death in Oxford Castle. He was deeply moved when the condemned man he again visited rose from prayer exclaiming eagerly, "I am now ready to die. I know Christ has taken away my sins, and there is no more condemnation for me." So the prisoner died in peace. Wesley on the other hand still struggled with this inner turmoil.

- Yet Wesley continued to wrestle with faith until May 24th when he was at a small group meeting on Aldersgate St, in which one just finished reading Luther's preface to Romans. Suddenly, Wesley made the connection

- Journal entry - About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Wesley mad the connection between head and heart

Text attests to this - BOTH - body & spirit = head & heart = rational & irrational

Some may be struggling - that's okay.

A few months ago, I was looking through some of my dad's notes and found one that said,  "The greatest distance is between a man's head and heart"

It is a great distance, but not a impassable barrier though. The connection can be made.

We can see this as we read through John's gospel. Nick's attitude changes over the course of John's gospel (7:50-52 & 19:39-40).

Benediction - Grow into your faith.

February 12, 2012 Jesus @ the Wedding

****The following is a draft of the message for Sunrise UMC on February 12, 2012***

Have you ever noticed how often things don’t go exactly as you have planned?  For me, it seems to be a common occurrence. A couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready for a good and productive week...coming off a great time with our Bishop and District Superintendent, getting ready for the first Church Leadership Council meeting tonight, starting this new series Jesus @, starting the study on Heaven is fro Real...but then, I started getting a little tickle in the back of my throat. No problem: I'll just take some meds and also a couple of home remedies and I will be just fine. Now, here we are about twelve days later and I am still recovering. And, I am behind on sooo much!

Just another one of those things that you just have to deal with when your plans get suddenly changed. That happens a lot, doesn't it? Take weddings for an example. You expect some normal problems to arise in the wedding planning period, but some you don't.

Over the sixteen years of my ministry, I have had the pleasure to officiate over many weddings and there is one thing that I have learned about this perfect and memorable event – it’s unlikely that all will go as planned.  For instance, several years ago, I married Tony and Sue.  During the solo that was being sung in their precious moment, the Matron of Honor looks at me and mouths, “I lost the ring.”  Not quite fully understanding what was being told to me, I looked at her and said, “Huh?”  This time she slowed down and exaggerated her mouthing, “Tony’s ring, I lost it in the grass.”  For once in my life, my mind actually worked a little quick and I slipped my ring off and showed it to her that we’ll use this one.  Now, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately,  Sue didn’t know what had happened, so when the time came, the Matron of Honor simulated handing me the ring and I then gave it to Sue.  Up until then, everything was working fine.  Then came the first problem, Sue tried to put the ring on Tony’s finger and he being a good six inches taller and bigger than me, so the ring wouldn’t fit.  Sue looked startled a first, then to my horror, a look of sheer determination came across her face as she began to force my ring over his knuckles.  I could just imagine having to go home and explain to Karen why either my ring had to be cut or why I just got married to another man!  Luckily, I quickly intervened and was able get Sue to stop before the ring got to a point of no return. 

That’s just one of those things that you don’t plan for and is just a quirk and won’t happen again, right?  You would think, but...at another church just a couple of months later, I was asked to do another couple, Tony and Pat's, wedding.  Speaking with them, I noticed how nervous Pat was and so I tried to ease her mind by telling her about the ring incident.  We all laughed about it and it seemed to ease Pat’s tension somewhat.  During the wedding, I looked at the Matron of Honor, who also knew the story and she smiled; all was okay.  We began the section of the liturgy of the exchanging of rings and I asked for the rings.  The Best Man handed his and then I heard, CLINK.  I knew what had happened.  I slowly looked at Pat, whose eyes were now as wide as soup bowls and she just was frozen in panic.  The Matron of Honor stood right next to her, mouth hanging open as she dumbfoundedly gazed down at the ring, at the bottom of the air return that she was standing over.  No doubt about it – once again, off came my ring to save another wedding.

The one day that more sweat and tears, as well as money, is invested in has to be a wedding day.  It was that way with my wife and mine; it was that way for Tony and Sue and Tony and Pat.  It was probably that way for most all of you who are married and will probably will be for those of you getting married.  Regardless of when people get married, we all have the same dream about the wedding - we all want everything to go off without a hitch and to be perfect.  Some may have it that way, but for the most, something unexpected happens and the stress levels skyrocket.

Sound familiar? It might. It is quite similar to a dilemma Jesus' mother, Mary, once faced.  Let's take a look at this story as told in the Gospel of John 2:1-11.  Hear now the Good News: 

John 2:1-11

1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now." 11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

  

[Prayer]

The wedding was rocking. The guests were partying and having a great time but all of a sudden...the wine was gone; and that was a big problem. You see, back in those days, wine was like the wedding cake and can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to run out of wedding cake? Well, they couldn't imagine a wedding without wine.  So at this wedding, Mary was facing one of those problems that may be trivial in the grand scheme, but for the present moment one that makes you want to run a hide your face in shame.

But isn’t that the way it is with most of the problems we face?  Very rarely do we ever face problems that affects the outcome of the world or nation.  As a matter of fact, the majority of our problems never concern anyone else or at least not for very long.  Usually the waves that we ride are made by pebbles, not by boulders. We're late for work (again). We lock our keys in our car. The computer crashes - again. We forget to relay a message. The waves rocking our lives are not life threatening - yet. But they can be. A poor response to a simple problem can light a fuse. What begins as small flickering flame can become a raging inferno unless proper attention is given.

So I believe it may be good for us to note how Mary handled the situation.  Her plan is one that most corporate managers could learn from.  She simply goes to Jesus and says, "They have no more wine."  That's it. That's all she said. She didn't go ballistic.  And she did not begin to whine about it. She simply assessed the problem and took it to Jesus.

The great American philosopher, educator, and psychologist of the 20th century, John Dewey, once said, "A problem well stated is a problem half solved." Mary would have agreed with that assessment because that's what she did. She saw the problem for what it was.  Think about it; she could have exploded.  She could have screamed, "Why wasn’t this planned better? There's not enough wine! Whose fault is this anyway? You guys never do anything right. If anything is to be done right around here I have to do it myself!"  Or she could have imploded: "This is my fault. I failed. I'm to blame. I deserve it. If only I was like [insert name] and had everything planned and organized. I'm a failure in life. Go ahead; do the world a favor. Tie me up and make me sit through another episode of Jersey Shore. I deserve it."

You know, it's so easy for us to focus on everything but the solution. We try to make mountains out of molehills - but not Mary.  She simply looked at the problem, assessed it, and took it to the right person, saying, "Jesus, I've got a problem that I can’t handle."  She took the problem to Jesus before she took it to anyone else.

I have heard of a church council meeting that was getting a little heated over a rather difficult problem. Apparently there was more agitation than there was agreement, and after a lengthy discussion, someone suggested, "Let’s pray about it, right now" to which another retorted, "Has it really come to that?"

What causes us to think of prayer as the last resort rather than the first? I believe Max Lucado surmised two of the best possible reasons: feelings of independence and feelings of insignificance.  Sometimes we're independent. We begin to think we are big enough to solve our own problems.

A couple of realities have hit our home recently. Yesterday, Katie turned twenty! How can that be when Karen and I are still in our twenties? But it goes on. This fall, Karen and I will become empty-nesters when bot Katie and Emily will be in college. All of this has us becoming nostalgic. We remember those milestone moments when both of our girls learned to wash themselves and their hair, dry and dress themselves, and try their own shoes.  Then they were  able to ride their bikes on their own and swim without us having to actually hold on to them.  With each achievement they have delightedly pointed out, "Look, Mommy, Look Daddy, I can do it on my own." Karen and I clapped at and celebrated each accomplishment our daughters have made. While all of this is good and necessary, I hope they never get to the point where they are too grown up to call on their daddy for help.  Guess what friends, God feels the same way about us.

At other times we don't feel independent; we feel insignificant. We think, "Sure, Mary could take her problems to Jesus. She's his mother. But he doesn't want to hear my problems. Besides, he's got famine and disease to deal with and at least a couple of million prayers about the presidential race.  I don't want to trouble him with my messes." If that is your thought, I’d like to share with you a verse that you need to hear.  It is from Psalm 18:19, “Because he delights in me, he saved me."

And you thought he saves you because of you come to church each Sunday.  You thought he saves you because you help out with the missions or some of you other good works.  You thought he saves you because of your good looks or good attitude. You thought Jesus save you because you stay awake during the sermon.  Nope.  Sorry friend. If that were the case, you and I would be in a world of hurt, literally.  Now, there are many reasons God saves you: to bring glory to himself, to appease his justice, to demonstrate his sovereignty. But one of the sweetest reasons God saved you is because he is fond of you. He likes having you around. He thinks you are the best thing to happen – well, since broken bread.

Jesus first miracle was this, changing the water into wine.  Changing the ordinary into the extraordinary.  He can do that.  It’s within his power.  It is also within his power to change ordinary people like you and me into extraordinary champions in his kingdom.  And all it takes is for you to be like the servants in the scripture reading today and allow it to happen.  Won’t you do that today?  Or again today?  Let Jesus have those problems that hold you down.  Whatever has you whining today, let him take the despair out of your life, take that “H” out of your whining and give you a glass of celebration and joy.  Afterall, he is the One who knows you the best and loves you the most.

[Communion]