Discerning Truth: Living the Fruits of the Spirit

Introduction
We are nearing the end of our series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—just a few more weeks to go.  Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount our Lord’s foundational teaching in the New Testament.  It outlines the ethics of the Kingdom of Heaven.  If you want to be a Christian, you should understand these principles in Jesus' sermon.

I challenge you to go back over Jesus’ sermon, found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7.  You can find the sermons I’ve preached on it here on this blog over the last 21 or so weeks.  These could be a resource for you as you study Jesus’ core teachings.  

Today's focus is Matthew 7:15-20, discerning what’s true from false in our spiritual journey.

Matthew 7:15
¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.

The Warning Against False Prophets
Jesus warned his people to watch out for false prophets.  Jesus' followers were poor.  They were oppressed.  They were hungry.  They were desperate.  They needed a savior.  This made them especially vulnerable to false prophets who would lie and tell people what they wanted to hear in order to use them for their own selfish gain.  Some real life examples we know of false prophets are:

• In 4 BC, Simon of Persia proclaimed himself as Messiah during the time of Herod's death, leading a rebellion against Roman rule; he was killed by Roman forces, and his movement was crushed.
• In 6 AD, Judas of Galilee led a violent resistance against the Roman census taxation, claiming to be the messiah who would deliver the Israel, ultimately leading his followers to a failed revolt and increased Roman repression.
• A false prophet mentioned in the Bible (in Acts 8) was Simon the Magician.  He used magic tricks to convince Samaritans he was full of God’s power for his own personal gain.  Simon’s influence was finally destroyed when the Apostle’s Peter and John brought the true power of God to Samaria and exposed Simon’s magic tricks as false.

One may ask why people would follow a false prophet.  When people feel desperate, they often will cling to anything or anyone who seems to offer hope.  But that’s when you need to be especially careful.  You must understand how vulnerable you are.  And Jesus gives some practical advise about how to discern if someone is a false prophet.

Slides – Matthew 7:16-20
¹⁶ You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. ¹⁹ So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Understanding "By Their Fruits"
Jesus says you can tell a tree (or a prophet) by their fruit.  That’s great advice.  It means look at the visible results of a person’s ministry.  But even here we have to be careful.  False prophets also often produce “signs” that may seem look like good fruit.  A magician can do tricks that seem like impossible miracles.  Charismatic leaders can often speak and act in ways that accomplish things that seem to be good.  You may think magic tricks are real or the accomplishment of a charismatic personality are show they are from God.  But that is not necessarily true.  You have to look closely at what kind of fruit they really produce.  

Hitler came to power in Germany during a time when people were desperate for hope.  Germans were in a state of deep economic despair, national humiliation, and the devastating effects of the Great Depression.  Hitler was a charismatic leader who could stir national pride.  He was going to make Germany great again!   And initially, Hitler had success.   Through hate, bigotry, and racism, Hitler rallied Germans to revitalize their country.  But they did so by evil means and, in the process, they committed the most terrible atrocities the world has ever seen.  Approximately 6 million Jews died because of the Holocaust.  Is that good fruit?  Absolutely not.  That’s rotten, poisonous fruit.

I want to warn you.  As you look to the leaders you admire—whether they be political or buisiness or spiritual leaders.  Consider the fruit they produce.  Is it good fruit or bad fruit?   And be careful becuase some will say the ends justify the means.  They may argue, "Yeah I wish they didn't do or say those bad things, but look at what they accomplish."  In other words, the good they accomplish is justified by the bad things the do to accomplish them.  

Jesus is clear about who to tell a false prophet that is a wolf in sheep's clothing who will tear you apart.  You have to look at their fruit.  And the fruit is not the results of their work but the fruits of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23
Galatians 5:22-23 names the good spiritual fruit a true prophet (and an authentic Christian) produces:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Just as we’ve seen bad false prophets (like Hitler, Jim Jones, and David Koresh), we have also seen true prophets lead movements to produce great fruit of the spirit (as defined by Galatians).  The early Methodists, guided by John Wesley's teachings, demonstrated the fruits of the Spirit in various impactful ways that reflected their deep commitment to living out their faith in practical acts of love and service. Their work led to:

• Evangelism:  passionately preaching the gospel in open fields, towns, and cities, reaching out to the marginalized and working-class people, leading to widespread spiritual revivals and the rapid growth of the Methodist movement.
• Social Reforms: Embodying the fruits of love, kindness, and goodness, they took strong stands against the societal ills of their time, including the abolition of slavery, prison reform, and the promotion of education for the poor.
• Visiting the Sick and Prisoners: Demonstrating compassion and faithfulness, early Methodists took seriously the call to visit the sick and those in prison to offer comfort, healing, and encouragement to those in need.
• Small Group Meetings: The early Methodist movement was marked by its innovative structure of small group meetings that met regularly for prayer, study, and mutual accountability. These meetings were essential for spiritual growth and community, fostering the fruits of peace, patience, gentleness, and self-control.

Christians can’t just believe in Jesus as an intellectual thing.  True Christians must live out an inward holiness that transforms our thoughts, words, and actions.  It’s not about moral superiority, but about being filled with the love of God and neighbor, a love that manifests in every aspect of your life.  Christian holiness is not static but dynamic and constantly growing and bearing fruit like a living tree.  It’s characterized by continuous self-examination, prayer, and participation in the means of grace, such as Holy Communion, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers.

Do you bear good fruit?  If a fruit inspector examined your life today, what would he find?  Would he find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? 

Now, we understand the life of a Christian is a journey.  Fruitfulness is not something that happens over night (just like a fruit tree does not bear fruit overnight).  But your life should definitely be heading in the right direction—toward fruitfulness.  God is the one who makes us grow and bear fruit.  But what are you doing to tend the garden in your heart that nurtures fruitfulness?  There are several things you can do to nurture the development of spiritual fruit God wants to grow in your life.

There is worship where you gather with other Christian believers and honor God.  Do you regularly in worship God with other Christians?

There is fellowship.  We may have many different groups we socialize with on a weekly basis at school and work.  But if you are a Christian whose heart's truest desire is to bear fruit for the Kingdom, other Christian friends should be your main social group.  Are you deeply involved with Christian fellowship?

Prayer is the heart of the Christian faith. Are you investing deeply in regular prayer throughout your day?

Bible Study is essential.  How else are you going to know how we are supposed to think and live unless we study God's Word--His official method for speaking to His people?

Are you in a small group where you talk about your prayer life and what you’ve read in your Bible and where people intentional hold you accountable and offer encouragement to live more fully for Jesus?

Are you practicing the means of grace Jesus specifically commanded His followers in practice in the Bible--Baptism and Holy Communion?

• Baptism is the initiation ceremony for Christians in the New Covenant that replaced the circumcision ceremony of the Old Covenant.  Baptism is a means for God to pour out His grace upon those being baptized and those who stand with them to help everyone know and walk with Jesus.  It is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.
• Holy Communion is as a means to receive God’s grace where we have our eyes opened as we experience the presence of Christ and receive spiritual nourishment for our faith journey. Communion is a sacramental act of thanksgiving and remembrance, commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, where bread and wine symbolize the body and blood of Christ. This sacred practice fosters a deeper communion with Christ and with one another, strengthening our bonds with the church and empowering us to live out our Christian discipleship in the world.

Conclusion

As we reflect on Jesus' warning against false prophets and the importance of discerning true from false in our spiritual journeys, let us be vigilant gardeners of our souls. May we not only seek to identify the fruits in others but also nurture the growth of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control within ourselves. Through worship, fellowship, prayer, Bible study, and participation in the means of grace like Baptism and Holy Communion, let us cultivate a life that bears good fruit, reflecting the light of Christ in a world often shadowed by deception. Live out the Kingdom ethics Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount, growing closer to Him and each other as we journey together in faith.

Palm Sunday - The Lord is Here to Save You

Introduction
Today is Palm Sunday.  It is the start of Holy Week, when we recall the last week of Jesus’ life on earth before the ressurection on Easter Sunday—next Sunday.  So if you’ve been reading through the book of Matthew for the Lenten challenge—we are in chapter 21.  And chapters 21-28 describe the last week of Jesus life.  So today we are in chapter 21:1-11, which describes the events Christians traditionally call Palm Sunday.  Let’s take a look.

Matthew 21:1-11
As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. ² “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”

⁴ This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,
⁵ “Tell the people of Jerusalem,

    ‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey—
    riding on a donkey’s colt.’”

⁶ The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.

⁸ Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,

“Praise God for the Son of David!
    Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
    Praise God in highest heaven!”

¹⁰ The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.¹¹ And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Explain the Passage
At this point in the story, Jesus is in his 30s.  He has spent three years in public ministry. He has done amazing miracles—healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and healing the deaf.  Jesus has the power to feed thousands, calm storms, walk on water, and even raise the dead to life again.  According to John’s Gospel, just before Palm Sunday, Jesus raised Lazarus back to life after he’d already been buried in a tomb for 4 days.  Can you imagine the buzz about Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.

Jesus tells his Disciples where to find a donkey for him to ride and he has a specific one in mind.  This is the fulfillment of prophecy from the Prophet Zechariah 9:9. They are to go find a donkey and it’s colt (a young donkey that has never been ridden before) and they are to bring it to Jesus.  If anyone asks why they are taking the donkey, they’re supposed to say, “The Lord needs it.”  That’s important.  It may be hard for us to understand, but in Jesus' day everyone knew the king had the authority to commandeer anything he needed.  Jesus is the King of kings.  He has the authority to ask for anything he needs and people will give it.  If "the Lord" needs your donkey, you let him have it.  Does the Lord have authority to take whatever He needs from you today?  What would you do if the Lord said, "I need your car." Or "I need your home or business or family..."?  Christians are fond of saying "It all belongs to the Lord."  But do you recognize the sovereign authority of God to ask anything of you?  Would you be so willing to give?

But why a donkey and why a colt?  When a king comes to attack, he comes on a war horse.  When the king comes on a donkey, it’s for peace. And a colt is a young donkey that has never been ridden. Jesus is making an important statement.  He’s a king. And He’s such a special king, He needs a donkey that no one else has ever ridden, because he is not like any king people have met before.  This King is the long awaited Messiah. 

Lastly, Jesus is saying the Messiah comes to Jerusalem for peace. I don’t know if the people in Israel fully understood what Jesus was saying.  They probably understood the prophetic symbolism; Jesus was fulfilling Scripture. And they understood He was publicly declaring Himself the Messiah—the royal heir to David’s throne. They realized Jesus was coming to the capital city to claim His throne.  And crowds of people flooded the streets to cheer him.  They waved palm branches—the national sign of victory.  They welcomed Jesus as their Messiah—calling Him the Son of David and praising God.  They begged Jesus to save them.  That’s what “Hosanna” means.  It means “Save us!”  They threw down their garments on the ground—a symbol of submission (sort of like saying, “You can ride over our clothes, just don’t ride over us.”)

They understood Jesus was the Messiah, but I don't think they understood His mission.  Donkeys are for peace and many in Israel wanted the Messiah to come for war, to kick out the Romans.  However, Jesus’ mission on earth was peace and reconciliation—for all people, including the Romans.  The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus wept as he drew near to Jerusalem. “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

Jesus came in peace, but Jesus knew Jerusalem would reject the peace He offered.  He knew that in a few more years (65 AD), Jerusalem would rebel against Rome and the Romans would burn Jerusalem to the ground (in 70 AD) and thousands of people would die horrible deaths and the survivors would be dragged away as slaves.  No wondered Jesus wept. Jerusalem literally means “City of Peace” and it was supposed to be the "City of God", but Jesus knew they wouldn’t accept the peace He wanted to brings because they wouldn't accept Him as God.

Why Does this Matter to You?
Palm Sunday is a fun tradition in the church.  It’s an upbeat, triumphant service. Kids get to wave palm branches and we get to see their smiling faces. 

I hope hearing some of this history is helpful for you, but what does it really mean for you?  Is there in practical purpose for Palm Sunday?  I think the reason the Church celebrates Palm Sunday every year is in the hope that you will finally understand something important.  Jesus came to save you.  He didn’t come to save you from some external enemy that’s oppressing you.  Jesus came to save you from you.

You see, for the people of Jerusalem, it wasn’t the Romans that were the problem.  It was the people of Jerusalem themselves—their sin; their rejection of God.  Their refusal to let God be their sovereign King.  When Jesus comes to save you, He saves your own sin and rejection of God.  
You are the problem. 
The problem is not the Devil. It’s not cancer. 
It’s not your disability or illness that’s the problem.
The problem is not the broken bones that need to mend or the pain you feel.
The real problem is not your financial debts or that the government takes out too much in taxes.
The real problem is not gun violence or racism or political division or Republicans or Democrats.
The real problem is not that those people over there aren’t living the right way.
The problem is not the UMC or the GMC or homosexuality.
Jesus says, the problem is you. You are the problem.
It’s your heart. Can’t you see. It’s full of sin.  You reject God as he absolute Lord of your life.

I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty or to make you feel bad or to condemn you.
John 3:17 says, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”  But if you can’t recognize the real problem is in you, how can the Messiah save you?

Holy Communion
Everyone loves Jesus when they think He’s come to conquer their enemies.  But what do you do when you realize you’re the enemy and He needs to conquer you?

In a few days, people in Jerusalem decided they didn’t really want Jesus to be their Messiah. 
So they arrested Him and handed Him over to the Romans to be beaten and crucified.  They traded Jesus for a criminal because they were criminals.

Jesus knew what was coming. But He also knew that darkness can never extinguish the Light of the World.  Easter resurrection was coming.  So He shared the Passover meal with His Disciples—the thanksgiving meal that celebrates God’s deliverance.  He changed the liturgy to show He is the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.  For 2,000 years, Christians have shared this meal to remember Him and to find strength in His saving presence.

We set the Communion table.  We share the Sacred Meal. 
We remember the Solemn words Jesus told His Disciples.
This is my Body given for you.
This is my blood of the New Covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in remembrance of me.

Are You Having An Identity Crisis?

Introduction
In the movie “Finding Nemo”, a clown fish named Marlin goes on a frantic search and rescue mission to save his son Nemo who was captured by a scuba diver and put in a dentist’s fish tank.  Marlin meets a blue reef fish named Dory who saw the address on the diver’s mask and knows where they took Nemo.  Unfortunately, Dory has short term memory loss.  She can’t remember her own name, let alone the address P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sidney.

The plot is a clever twist of a common theme in  many movies and TV shows.  It’s the
“Who Am I?” plot, in which a lead character has amnesia and can’t remember who they are. 
It’s an identity crisis.

Life is not a movie, but people do have an identity crisis in real life when they don’t know
they belong to God.  God’s Word reminds us our identity is greater than the superficial things of this world.  Our true identity is in Christ.

1 Peter 2:4-12
⁴ You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.

⁵ And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. ⁶ As the Scriptures say,

“I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem,
    chosen for great honor,
and anyone who trusts in him
    will never be disgraced.”

⁷ Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him,

“The stone that the builders rejected
    has now become the cornerstone.”

⁸ And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble,
    the rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.

⁹ But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

¹⁰ “Once you had no identity as a people;
    now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
    now you have received God’s mercy.”

¹¹ Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. ¹² Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

Who You Are in Christ?
“You are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple…” (verse 5)  The Holy Temple in Jerusalem was the most important place on earth to Jews in New Testament times.  They believed it was where God’s Spirit dwelled on earth.  Some had even come to idolize the Temple.  But Jesus reminded people God’s Spirit is not confined to the Temple.  In fact, people who put their faith in God through Jesus are the real residence of God’s Holy Spirit.  Therefore, Christians together make up the true Holy Temple.  What an honor and privilege!

Further more, verse 5 says “You are his holy priests…”  A priest is someone who intercedes to God on behalf of people on earth.  A priest prays for people and performs religious rituals that help people find healing and wholeness and forgiveness and purification so they can reconnect and be at one with God.  In the Old Testament, only one a certain tribe from the twelve tribes of Israel could be priests.  And even within that tribe, anyone who had a blemish or a defect was disqualified.  Only perfect people could be priests.  So for example, if you were born without a finger or lost eye in accident, you couldn’t serve as a priest.  But when we put our faith in Jesus, it is different.  We are all priest of God Most High—even if we aren’t perfect—because Jesus makes us whole.

Verse 9 says, “You are a chosen people…”  In the Old Testament, only Israelites were consider the chosen people.  Everyone else was a Gentile.  And in Jesus’ day, Jews believed only Jews were God’s chosen people.  But Jesus shows us that anyone who places their faith in Christ is God’s chosen.  So we could paraphrase verse 10 to say, “Once you were nobody; now you are God’s somebody!”  In Christ, everybody is somebody special.  Sinners become saints.  Heathens become priests.  The lame are made whole.  The blind can see and deaf can hear.  Those who were damned become holy.  This is what it means to be Christian. 

Why I Am Methodist
There are many different denominations of Christian churches in our world.  I believe God uses them all to serve a special purpose.  Communities need Baptists and Presbyterians and Pentecostals and Methodists.  

Unfortunately, when a church struggles with an identity crisis, it may begin to look around at what all the churches are doing.  They may think, "Well that church is on fire and really growing.  They must be doing something right.  Maybe we should just copy what they are doing."  Sometimes individuals have them same identity crisis.  They forget who they are or for some reason aren't happy with their life.  They look around at some other people who seem to have their life all worked out.  The temptations, the easy fix, is to just try to copy someone else.

The trouble with both of these quick fix situations--for a church or and individual--is that God created us the way we are for a reason.  God made the Methodist church Methodist for a reason to fulfill a specific need in a community.  God made you as an individual for a specific reason.  If you try to copy someone else, you won't be you and something important God wanted to give the world will be lacking.  The same true in the case of a church.  If my church just tries to copy some other church, we won't be who God wants us to be.

I am a Methodist minister, but I was not always a Methodist.  I grew up going to Baptist churches.  My grandparents and parents were Baptists and so I was a Baptist.  I started attending a Methodist church when I was 18.  My girlfriend (now my wife) and I started attending Wesley United Methodist Church in Macon, GA with her friend Laurie Stewart.

Now, I was skeptical when I started with the Methodist church.  The Baptist churches I attended as a kid taught me to be wary of churches that were overly ceremonial and ritualistic.  These, they warned, were superstitious innovation that were not necessary or biblical.  So I was concerned when the first thing I saw happen in the Methodist worship service was acolytes lighting candles on the altar table.  I eventually learned that this wasn't some magic ritual, it was a symbol to remind us that Christ, the Light of the World, is with us when we worship in church and that His light goes back out into the world as we leave (symbolized by the acolytes carrying the flame from the candles out at the end of the service).  Churchgoers follow the light out back into the world.  This is a tradition that teaches us about our faith and our purpose as followers of Christ.

I learned that the Methodist church is a church that values tradition.  We have many.  We believe we can learn from the traditions of Christians who've gone before us and wrestled with the Bible and with the Christian faith.  These tradition help us be better Christians today and help preserve the hard lessons of those who've gone before us.  But Methodist are not only a church that values traditions.

We also value reason.  Jesus told us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37).  So Methodist use the brains God have us to understand Him and how we should live.  Our intellect helps us to mature in the faith Jesus gave us.  And our intelligence keeps our traditions from becoming superstitions.  We understand that Jesus is not literally in the candlelight on our altars.  The candles are symbols for our minds to interpret.  And sometimes our reason also concludes that some tradition have outlived their usefulness and we can change them.  At other times, reason leads us to know a tradition is wrong and needs to be changed.  Methodist value tradition and reason.

Methodist also value experience.  Our relationship with God is not merely intellectual.  It is an personal experience that includes feelings and emptions and an actual relationship with God.  our relationship must be more than intellectual--just as a relationship with another person must be more than intellectual in order to be real.  So we experience God as a relationship and we learn about God and our faith through personal and communal experiences.

Methodist value tradition, reason, and experience.  However, Scripture is the foundation of all our beliefs and practices.  We understand that our experiences and feelings are limited and very subjective. We may have feelings of great love for someone today, but tomorrow we feel quite irritated with them.  And then the day after that, we may feel great love once more.  That is the subjective nature of experiential feelings.  Traditions change, reason may evolve, and experience is subjective, but the Word of God in Holy Scripture is always the same.  The Bible is an anchor that keeps our faith from floating away into the oblivion of our own human subjectivity.  Methodist have always been a people grounded in Scripture and we must always be so if we are to be true to Christ our Lord.

Thankfully, Methodists are not a group who accept Scripture blindly as fundamentalists often do.  No, Methodist read Scripture intelligently--seeking to understand the historical and cultural contexts.  We use our reason to mine the depths of God's Word.  We use traditions to remember the lessons of God's Word.  And we experience God through the lens of what Scripture teaches us is true about God.

Tradition, reason, experience and Scripture are all distinctive parts of the Methodist way of Christian living.  They are some of the reasons I am a Methodist and I think our way of following Christ may be helpful for you too.   But there is another distinctive features of Methodism that is important for our world.  I will share some of these in the coming weeks, but I want to end with one more thing today.

The Methodist church is a sacramental church.  We believe that Jesus gave the Church some sacred ceremonies that He uses to help His people.  For instance, we typically celebrate Holy Communion once a month in a Methodist church because we believe it is a sacred and special ceremony Jesus told His followers to practice.  

We call it Holy Communion while many other denominations prefer the term The Lord's Supper.  We prefer Holy Communion because of the notion of communing with Jesus.  You see, some denomination would prefer to call Holy Communion an ordinance, while we call it a sacrament.  An ordinance is something you are supposed obey (sort of like a city ordinance).  So some denominations practice the Lord's Supper primarily out of obedience to the ordinance Jesus gave that they such celebrate the meal.  Methodists, on the other hand, celebrate Communion as a sacrament.  We believe it is a sacred moment when God is actually doing something.  So yes, we practice Communion out of obedience, but also because God does something.  We base our believe that God does something on several passage from the Bible where God acted through the celebration of Holy Communion.  For instance, the understanding of the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) was illuminated when Jesus broke the bread of Holy Communion. 

Methodists believe Holy Communion is sacred, but we also believe it is accessible to anyone.  We practice an "open table" where anyone can receive Holy Communion even if they are not a mmber of the church or even if they are young children.  We believe God is infinitely sacred, but He is not something that must be kept separate from people.  Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross--shedding His blood to purify us--God has torn the veil that separates us from in two.  We can come boldly into his presence and so we do this symbolically by welcoming everyone to His table in Holy Communion.  It is a beautiful sacrament that nourishes the spirit just as food nourishes the body.  God impart grace to help His people through the celebration of Holy Communion, and we want everyone to receive this blessing if they are willing.

I hope you will follow this series as I continue over the next few weeks to discuss the identity of the Methodist people and what I believe we have to offer the world.  Perhaps, you may also discover your identity and maybe even choose to be a Methodist Christian as well.

Love Rejoices With the the Truth

Introduction
We’ve been studying 1 Corinthians 13.  Last week, Rev. Donna Lucas was gracious to continue the theme of our series while I was away celebrating my son’s marriage, preaching “Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs”.  It was a wonderful weekend celebrating their love.

1 Corinthians 13 is popularly known as the “love chapter”.  It is the number one scripture read at weddings and it certainly does give invaluable advice to a husband and wife about how they should love each other.  However, this chapter was not originally written for weddings or newlyweds.  It isn't specifically about romantic love at all.  1 Corinthians was written to correct a dysfunctional church.

The Corinthian church had a lot of serious problems.  There were power struggles and jealousy among the members. Some were claiming spiritual superiority and expecting special treatment.  Some were abusing the sacrament of Holy Communion and getting drunk on the communion wine while others were being left out of the meal altogether.  In Corinthians 5, we read that one Corinthian man was sleeping with his father’s wife (his stepmother) and the church ignored his sexual immorality.  Paul writes, “You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.”

Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians to reprimand the church and try and bring them back to authentic Christianity.  The letter comes to a climax in the 13^th chapter as Paul explains that the most important thing is love.  It all comes down to love.  But the kind of love we’re talking about is not some wishy washy, warm and fuzzy kind of love.  It’s a deep, sacrificial love—the way God loves us, a love demonstrated best by Christ when He died for sinners on the cross.  Let's review 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
¹ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Love Does Not Rejoice About Injustice
The NLT says, love “does not rejoice about injustice”.  The NIV translates it “Love does not delight in evil…”  The world today has a warped idea about “Love”.  People today value tolerance, so naturally they like the idea of love being patient and kind.  But, most people would prefer to chop off that part that says love does not delight in evil. Biblical love holds people accountable to God’s Holy Truth. 

A big part of the problem is how people define what is evil.  The world has one standard, and that standard changes from generation to generation.  Things that were considered evil when I was a child are accepted and even praised as  good and wholesome today.  However, God’s standards of good and evil never change and they are preserved in God’s Holy Bible. 

Christian love holds people accountable to God’s standards of good and evil.  That is why the Apostle Paul can write to the Corinthian church about love and also say in the same letter: “It isn’t right for a man to sleep with his stepmother.  You need to remove this man from your church if he won’t repent of his sin.”

Real love doesn’t put up with evil and injustice; it holds people accountable.   

We see a lot of evil and injustice in our world today.  And Christians who are loved by God in Christ and who also profess to love God and love our neighbors ought to call out evil and injustice whenever we see it.   

We should start with ourselves--as individuals and then as the Church.  Jesus once said, “Why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” (Matthew 7:3)  So where do we see evil injustice in our own lives?  Don’t let pointing the finger at someone else’s sin be an excuse to ignore your own.  Examine yourself.  Ask the Lord to reveal where you have fallen short.  Repent of your sin and ask the Holy Spirit to reform you. 

On the other hand, don’t let your own imperfection be an excuse to rejoice about evil and injustice in the world either. Some will shy away from calling sin “sin” because they are too ashamed of their own sin to say anything to someone else.  So they keep silent and their silence condones what is evil. 

Love Rejoices Whenever The Truth Wins Out
But love doesn’t only go around telling people how wrong they are.  Love “rejoices” when the truth wins out.  Love is happy when people finally get it.  Love is overjoyed when it sees someone earnestly repent and turn to God.  Love celebrates with a feast when a prodigal son comes home and reconciles with his estranged father.  Love looks for the good and celebrates it every chance it gets!

Jesus is the very best example of true love.  I guess this is because God is love and Jesus is God so Jesus is Love in Love’s purest form.  Jesus never condoned evil.  Yet, in love, Jesus knew how to call out evil and call people to repentance and also to rejoice whenever the Truth won.  

I want to close with a story from Jesus’ life that I think illustrates how love "does not delight in evil but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.”  It comes from Luke 7:36-50. 

Luke 7:36-38

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. ³⁷ When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸ Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

I learned in Sunday school a couple months ago that this jar of perfume was probably used by the woman as part of her “trade”.  Her trade was probably the oldest profession (prostitution).  If so, she would want to use perfume to make herself more attractive to her clients.  When Matthew and Mark tell this story in their Gospels, they say the woman smashed the jar of perfume—symbolic showing she was never going back to her sinful life.

Luke 7:39-48
³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

⁴⁷ “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

When we have the privilege of celebrating the sacrament of Holy Communion, we rejoice that the Truth has won.  Jesus, gave His life so that we can repent of our sins and return to God as Lord.  When we accept God as rightful Lord of our life and surrender to His will, we are saved by the sacrificial love of Christ.

Examine yourself now, and ask, “Lord, show me the sin for which I need to repent today so that I may come to Your table and celebrate how Your Truth has won the victory in my life today.”  

May the Lord show you and may you repent and follow Christ. Amen.

The Names of God - Yahweh-Shammah

Introduction

Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.”  God’s names reveal His character and help us to know Him.  Today, I want to consider the name Yahweh-Shammah, which means the Lord is there. We will see it is a name for God and also for a great city that Christians hope to inhabit one day.

Ezekiel was a prophet of Israel that lived in captivity in the time of the Babylonian Empire. Babylonia conquered Jerusalem and set up a puppet government that promised to be loyal to Babylonia. Then, Babylonia took several important people captive as hostages back to Babylonia. Ezekiel was among the captives. A few years later, Jerusalem rebelled and Babylonia returned to reconquer and destroy the city. When Ezekiel and the Israelite captives in Babylon heard the news of Jerusalem's destruction, they were devastated. But God gave them a vision through Ezekiel. God said Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed because of Israel's sin of idolatry. However, God was going to one day build a new eternal city and temple and Israel's heritage and way of life will be built into the very walls of the city.

Ezekiel 48:30-35
³⁰ “These will be the exits to the city: On the north wall, which is 1 1⁄2 miles long, ³¹ there will be three gates, each one named after a tribe of Israel. The first will be named for Reuben, the second for Judah, and the third for Levi. ³² On the east wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, the gates will be named for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan. ³³ The south wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, will have gates named for Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun. ³⁴ And on the west wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, the gates will be named for Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.

³⁵ “The distance around the entire city will be 6 miles. And from that day the name of the city will be ‘The Lord Is There.’”

Slide – Yahweh-Shammah
The New Living Translation translates the Hebrew Name for God and the eternal city as "The Lord Is There".  The original Hebrew word was Yahweh-Shammah.  Yahweh means "I Am" or "I Am Who I Am".  Usually, this is translated into English as LORD with all capital letter to indicate the original word was Yahweh.  Lord is decent translation; it captures something of the original meaning.  A lord is sovereign.  You can't tell a lord what to do; the lord tells you what to do.  God (Yahweh) is Lord of all.  He is sovereign over everything.  He is who He is.  We can't control or manipulate Him.

Shammah means There.  Ezekiel 48:35 is the only time Shammah is used in the entire Bible.  

Yahweh-Shammah is the last word of the last sentence of the last chapter of Ezekiel.  The Prophet ends his vision of God’s restoration of the broken dreams of God’s people with this hope:  “Something new is coming.  I know our homes have been destroyed.  Our culture is demolished.  Our city and temple are gone and we are prisoners in a foreign land.  But One Day the Lord will build a new city and it’s eternal name will be “The Lord is There.”

Do you know the Lord is there?
Do you know the Lord is there?  Some people struggle to know the Lord is there.  Thy think of God as an old man in the sky, or a distant deity, or some ethereal energy or spiritual force.  However, the Bible repeatedly tells stories that reveal God is real, tangible, and personable. 

God spoke to the prophets.  God was a friend to Abraham. Genesis says God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden during the cool of the day.

If that weren’t enough, God took the form of a man and came down to earth.  He was born as a baby named Jesus.  We read how Jesus was dedicated at the Temple.  Luke tells us about a time when Jesus got separated from his parents during a trip when he was 12.  The Gospels tell so many amazing stories about Jesus’ miracles and teachings, but it is also clear that, in Jesus, God is a man with flesh and blood who gets thirsty and hungry and who, in the end, even bleeds and dies.

So God is real and He is there.  God is not something vague or far off or impersonal. He is there.

God is there when a baby is born and a new life comes into the world.
God it there with the mother as she struggles through the pain of childbirth.
God is there with the father who can't do anything but watch and pray as the woman he loves gives birth.
God is there when your kids go back to school in uncertain times and with the teachers trying to educate them and keep them safe.
God is there when a young couple gets married or when a person struggles to remain single.
God is there when you start a new job—with the uncertainties and the hopes for the future.
God is there when you lose a child and you feel like your heart is utterly broken and you don't knwo how you can go on.
God is there when someone betrays you or when you are the betrayer.
God is there loving you even when you are being disciplined.  He was with the Israelites consoling and encouraging them with a new vision--even as they learned their homeland had been destroyed.
God is there when we celebrate, when we laugh, when we cry, when we live, and when we die.

Ezekiel and his people were devastated when the temple was destroyed.  For them in their time, the temple was where God lived.  The temple gave the people access to God’s presence.  The temple’s destruction meant they no longer had a place to be in God’s presence.  However, Ezekiel shared a vision for a new city called, Yahweh-Shammah, “The Lord Is There”.

Jesus came to start building that city in our hearts.  Do you remember how Jesus once told the religious leaders, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19).  The people thought he was crazy.  It had taken them 46 years to build the Temple.  However, Jesus wasn’t talking about a physical temple.  Jesus was talking about His body, which the Bible says was crucified and buried in a tomb and rose back to life on the third day.

This is part of a New Covenant God made with people.  If you repent of your sins and turn to God as your Lord, He forgives your sins and He is there for you.  In fact, His Holy Spirit lives in your heart!

You don’t have to travel to Jerusalem and seek God’s presence in some ancient temple.  God is right here, right now.  1 Peter 2:4-5a says, “⁴ You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.  ⁵ And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.”

When Christians gather together, we form a spiritual temple where God is present.  Isn’t that amazing!  Remember how the presence of God filled the two holy places in the Old Testament.  First, there was the Tabernacle in Exodus.  As the Israelites were living in tents traveling from Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land, God also lived in a tent called the Tabernacle.  It was the Israelites first Holy Place to worship in the presence of God.  The presence of God was revealed through a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night.  Later, when the Israelites were settled in the Promised Land, King Solomon built the first temple and dedicated it to the Lord as the holy place where people worshiped in the presence of the Lord.  And the Lord revealed His glorious presence to the people through a great cloud of smoke that filled the temple.  Then we fast forward to the New Testament, to the book of Acts in the second chapter.  Jesus' disciples are gathered together in an upper room and the sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the place as the Holy Spirit filled the believers and it was as if tongues of fire were dancing above each disciple's head.  It was just like in the Old Testament stories, except this time the presence of God did not inhabit a building; God filled people who believed in Jesus!  Christians are no the temple of God!

What’s more, Ephesians tell us the church is the body of Christ.  When we put our faith in Jesus, we are His body and His temple and the Lord is there.

A Future Hope
We still long for a day when all that is wrong with the world will be made right.  That Day is coming.  It is closer today than it was yesterday.  Jesus promised He would return One Day to separate the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the weeds--His faithful from the unfaithful.  That Day is coming and no one knows the day or the hour, so we have to always be ready.

One Day, God will make a New Heaven and a New Earth where everything is the way it was meant to be.  In that day, we will live together in the City of God on Earth.  Picking up on the vision God revealed to Ezekiel, the Revelation of John describes the New City named “God is There.”

Revelation 21:1-4
¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Holy Communion
Whenever we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, it reminds us of what Jesus did to reconcile us to God.  It also reminds us of His presence with us now.  Finally, it reminds us of our role to be the Body of Christ in this broken world until He returns.