Guest Speaker - Rev. Claire Yoder | "The Body of Christ" | A Sermon on John 6

Rev. Claire Yoder spoke at my church this past Sunday while I was a away celebrating my 32nd wedding anniversary.  Here is a transcript of her message:

The Ggospel of John, chapter 6, and I will be starting at verse 26. But I will not read the entire thing — we will do specific verses 26 and 27. Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly" — now when he says that, it means listen up, guys, I got something important to tell. "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and you were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God has set his seal."

And then we'll go to verses 33–35. "Truly, truly, I say to you, for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world." Then they said to him, "Lord, always give us this bread." And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst."

Verse 41: "Therefore the Jews were grumbling about him." So what else was new? Because he said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven."

Verse 48: "I am the bread of life." Is anybody keeping count of how many times he said, "I am the bread of life."

Verse 51–57: "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Then the Jews began to argue and say to one another, "How can this man give his flesh?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As a living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he also will live because of me."

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

---

This story from John has a few surprising elements to it. The way Jesus handles this situation is confusing sometimes, because some of the things that he is saying is upsetting his followers. It seems that he doesn't make it easier. You would think a God of compassion, a God of love, the God of wonderful things, of miracles, would want to make it easier for the people. But it gets more difficult for them most of the time.

We want to take down barriers in people's way and we want to help them get past these barriers. If someone finds something difficult to understand, what's the first thing we want to do? Explain it to them. We want them to understand. We just hop right in there. We want to make it easier for them. And if there is something in their way, especially one of our children, we want to move it. We want to take it out of the way. And certainly this is what we would expect of Jesus. But this isn't what Jesus does here. Instead of making it easier to believe, he seems that he wants to make it harder. Instead of opening a door, he seems to throw up a barrier.

Early in this chapter, Jesus has fed the multitudes. And so they follow him because they have experienced that miracle. They believe in him. They saw it happen. It's the perfect opportunity for Jesus to add to the number of his followers. They'd appear to be on his side. But Jesus says to them, "I tell you the truth. You are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and you got full. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

Now, notice here, he begins a little gently. He's healed them. He's fed them. But now he gets down to business. He points them beyond the satisfaction of their physical needs to their eternal spiritual needs. He promises to give them the bread of life of which he is speaking. But this isn't the kind of bread that they were thinking about. Jesus, if somebody says to you, "I'll give you some bread," we think about the loaf of bread that we go and get and make a sandwich with. That's the kind of bread they're thinking about. They don't get yet what Jesus is saying to them. They're as clueless as the disciples are so many times.

Jesus said, "The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." And then they respond, "Sir, from now on, give us this bread." As if they haven't already gotten it. Jesus knows they don't understand. And he says, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and who believes in me will never be thirsty." But they still don't understand the metaphor. And they are offended. The scripture says they began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."

Now, since they are upset, you'd think that Jesus would move on to something else, but he doesn't. He only repeats what he's already said, but he adds to the offense. He says it again: "I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

How many times now has he said it? More than once. We know the Jews had very strict dietary rules. There were kosher foods and foods that they would never ever think of eating. Pork was one of the meats that they'd never eat. And if they did, they would become unclean, which was a bad thing back in those days. And cannibalism. Now Jesus is saying, "You've got to eat my flesh." That's cannibalism, folks. Well, and it's a whole different category. So when he said that the bread he was talking about was his flesh, it offended them beyond words. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

Now, this really would be a good time to kind of soft pedal, but Jesus just makes it worse by saying, "I tell you the truth. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him."

How many more times does he have to say it? Because we don't know the original language, we don't really understand the provocative impact that this had on these people. Jesus makes it even worse because he changes the verbs here. Early in his statements, he uses a verb that simply means to eat. But in the last part of his statement, he uses a verb that means to chew, to gnaw, to crunch. Pretty graphic. Many of his followers turned back and no longer followed him. They never came back. Why does Jesus do this? Well, the loyalty of the 12 is even questionable at this point. And we know this because he said to them, "You don't want to leave me too, do you?"

I believe Jesus did this because he was interested in something more than superficial faith. He was not looking for numbers. You know, a lot of times pastors, churches, they want numbers. They got to turn them in at conference at the end of the year. They got to be responsible for growing the church. Except they want numbers. But Jesus was looking for true disciples. It's all too easy to want God to meet our needs and provide for us and never consider what's really important and what he really desires to do for us and in us.

Through our faith, we have to scale the barriers. Rather than trying to avoid them, rather than trying to go around them, rather than trying to pretend they aren't there, we have to face them. Life is full of barriers. And those of you that are in my category, the more mature people, we've had one or two barriers in our lifetime. I know a lot of people who are offended at God. They're mad at him and they turn away because their life hasn't turned out the way they think it should have for them. They don't face the barriers. Their temptation is, "Where was God when I needed him? Why did God let this happen to me or to my loved one?" Now, I understand these feelings, but it's a barrier that must be faced if we are to find our way. And it's not easy to follow God. The scripture tells us following Jesus is not going to be easy. So get ready for it when you make a commitment. It is not easy to follow God all the time. And we should not pretend that it is. We shouldn't go out there and tell God we have 100%, 365 days a year, 24 hours of every one of those days, and nothing is ever wrong. It just doesn't work that way. The way of God is often hard, but in the end, we see that it is better and easier than not following God.

There have always been barriers and those who have faced them with faith have become much stronger people. Ever heard of the saying, "If it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger." I think everybody has.

Let's take the Israelites for example. They're leaving Egypt. They're excited about what's to come and at the same time, they're a little anxious because they really don't know what's getting ready to happen. They're filled with the excitement of God's promises. And at the same time, there are so many barriers to obtaining their freedom. They got to deal with Pharaoh. They don't have any food. They don't have any water in the desert. And it doesn't take them long to start bickering among themselves. They're complaining already and asking Moses, "Why did you take us out of Egypt? Why did you save us?" How many years? 400 years they prayed to God, "Take us out of this forsaken place," and he answered their prayers. So you better be careful what you pray for.

Think about Job. Job is the epitome of facing his barriers with faith. He was the most tortured person I know of in the Old Testament. But he is the epitome of how to deal with our barriers and not try to avoid them. He kept the faith. How he did it, I'm not sure. I think Paul would have said to Job, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Job kept his faith throughout his entire ordeal. He never let anyone or anything weaken his faith. Remember one of his friends say, "Why don't you just forget about God?" He says, "No, no, no. That's not the way it works." He had every reason to be angry at life. He had every reason to be angry at other people. He had every reason to be mad with God. But in the end, he overcomes the barriers. And he says, "Though he," meaning God, "slay me, yet I will trust him." No matter what God does to me, I will never forsake him because he will never leave me alone. Now, how is that for strong faith?

I know people who have prayed for strength to allow their adversities to bring glory to God. They never lose their faith. They never get angry at God. But you know what? If we do get angry with God, he can take our anger. The trick is don't lose your faith. Don't lose your faith in God. He understands you're frustrated. He's going to get you through it in spite of all of your doubts. He's going to get you through it. But we must keep the faith.

I saw an interview with a man who had no arms or no legs. You may have seen it. It was quite a while ago. His name was Nick. He had a rare genetic disorder. He had two small feet attached to his torso. Now, as a kid, he had struggled emotionally and physically because his years in grammar, kindergarten, grammar school, middle school, high school were kind of miserable because the other kids didn't really accept him. He had to work on accepting his conditions. And as an adult, he said he had a ridiculously wonderful life. He has a motorboat. He loves to fish. He can swim. He's married. People are always asking him how he can claim he has a ridiculously good life. And he tells them, "You assume — have you ever divided the word 'assume'? You assume that I am suffering from what I lack. I choose to live by what the Bible says. God is the answer yesterday, today, and always. When people read about my life or witness me living it, they are prone to congratulate me for being victorious over my disabilities. And I tell them very quickly that my victory came in surrender. It comes every day when I acknowledge that I can't do this on my own. So I say to God, I give it to you, and then I give it to him, and I don't take it back."

How many of us say we're going to give it to God and two hours later we're worrying about it again? We're fretting over it. We really didn't give it to him, or if we did, we're Indian givers. He says, "The Lord took my pain and turned it into something good. He gave my life meaning when no one and nothing else could. And if God can take someone like me, someone without arms or legs, and use me as their hands and feet, he can use anybody. It's not about ability. The only thing God needs from you and from me is a willing heart."

Barriers — we all have them. I hear my grandmother who died in 1987 and she's still in my head saying, "My dear, it isn't your problems that count, but how you face them and how you handle them."

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.

---

Now, today we're going to celebrate communion. I kind of battled a little while back and forth with myself. Am I going to do a Labor Day sermon or a communion sermon? And it didn't take long for me to say communion's the important one. That's the way we're going to go. Jesus said, "Remember me every time you eat or drink." How many of you eat more than once a day? Twice a day, three times a day. Do I need to keep going? A snack in the morning, take a nap, get up, go to the refrigerator, get something to eat, get something to drink. We don't even think about it. Sometimes it's just gotten to be habit. I know some of us have an elastic arm — it just goes from there to here. Do you remember to thank God every time you eat and drink? Probably not. I don't. I should. I try to. I'm getting better at it. It took me 83 years, but I'm getting better at it.

But Jesus came to take the sins of the world on himself so that we might be saved from our sins. He continued to tell his disciples and us on that night when he broke the bread that he was coming for that very purpose — to save the world from sin. And after he broke the bread, he gave it to them and he said, "This is my body which has been broken for you." And then after the supper, he took the cup and he said, "This is my blood of the new covenant which has been shed for you and for many. Drink ye all of this."

Now, this is the Lord's table. This is not a Methodist table, a Baptist table, Episcopalian table, a Presbyterian table. I could just go on and on. But it's the Lord's table. And all who earnestly have repented of their sins and want to live as Jesus wants us to live — he invites us to come and partake in this holy meal.

The Great Commission | A Sermon on Matthew 28:16-20

Introduction

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?  What would you do with it?  I asked people on Facebook and here’s what they said:

• Patience
• Time travel - so I could hit all my grandchildren’s ballgames and not have to choose!
• The ability to heal - both yourself and others
• Omniscience - to be all knowing
• The power/charisma to convince people
• Ultimate faithfulness to be able to turn all concerns to Jesus and accept his Will unconditionally with Praise and Glory to God.
• Teleportation
• Invisibility
• The ability to fly
• be to cure cancer
• be to instill love and compassion into every person’s heart
• to be able to duplicate themselves
• Ask powerful questions that helped people reflect on how much they are loved by God such that their character would manifest the fruit of the Spirit
• To ensure that no children go to bed hungry

In our passage today, Jesus says He has been given a super power:  all authority in heaven/earth; then He tells what He wants to do with it.

Matthew 28:16-20
¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

“…but some doubted”

Before we talk about Jesus' authority and what He wants to do with it, I want to point out the first thing that grabbed me in this passage because I think it’s really important.  It says they worshipped Jesus, but some doubted.  They are with the risen Jesus, in the flesh, but some still doubted.  

That amazes to me! Then I realize I have also personally seen Jesus do some amazing things. 
He has provided for me – out of a broken, impoverished home; and I'm still here when many of my friends didn't make it.  God granted me a beautiful wife.  He helped me raise three successful kids.  He saw me through 25 years of ministry - ordination, ministry struggles (staff changes, addictions, fires, floods, disaffiliation).  God has been with me through all of this, yet sometimes I still doubt.

So, if you sometimes doubt, don’t beat yourself up.  Jesus still loves you whether you are brimming with confidence or struggling or just hanging on trying to believe.  And Jesus still gives you a mission.  The mission is based on His authority, not our certainty.   Jesus says, “ I am with you always…”

Authority

Now let’s talk about Jesus’ authority.  What would you do if you had “all authority in heaven and on earth”?  Jesus had all authority.  He could have used it to make people bow down to Him, to serve Him, to build His throne.  He even could have used His power and authority to snap HIs fingers and fix the whole world all by Himself in an instant.  But he didn’t.

Jesus chose to use His authority to commission us.  Rather than doing something all by Himself, He gives us the honor of doing it with Him.  He must have done that for a very important reason, because we’re idiots!  So, there must be something about the God of Heaven and Earth inviting His children to get involved that’s really important.  I think it is part of the healing process for us to help God in His work to save our world.

How do you use your influence?  Do you use it to control?  Protect yourselves?  Elevate yourselves?  Do you use it selfishly or do you use it to empower others?  Jesus used His authority to empower us to do something.  What exactly did He empower us for?

Verses 19-20 tell us we are to make disciples, baptize, and teach.  Let’s look at each of these.  We are to make disciples.  This is the main command but do we know what it means?  It doesn’t just mean to win converts, gain new church members, or get people to attend church.  We’re called to make disciples.

We are called to make disciple.

A disciple is a follower of Jesus.  

A disciple is someone who learns from Jesus.  

A disciple is someone who begins to live like Jesus.  

And a disciple is someone who makes disciples

Jesus also told us to baptize.

Jesus also commissioned us to baptize people.  Baptism publicly identifies a person with Christ.  It says, they are a member of God’s family.  

Way back in the Old Testament, God called Abraham to leave his home and go to a promised land he would show him.  And God said He would make Abraham the father of a great nation that would be God's special chosen people.  And God told Abraham that every child should be circumcised at 8-days old.  Circumcision would be the sign that they were God's chosen people.  Them, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul said baptism is the new circumcision--the sign that Christians are God's people.

It is our tradition in the Methodist Church to baptize our children to claim them for Christ—to say they are part of the family of God.  When they grow up, they choose Christ for themselves.  Ultimately, we baptize people because, someone who is baptized has a new identity in Christ.  People today identify themselves in all kinds of ways:  parent, American, a Georgia bulldog fan, introvert/extrovert, etc. You can be all those things, but Christ should be your primary identifier.  Baptism is the moment we say, ‘I belong to Jesus now.’

Jesus said: “Teach Them..”

Jesus commissioned us to teach people to obey everything He commanded.  We’re not just teaching them about Jesus, because knowing information about Jesus is not the same as following Jesus.  We’re to teach people to obey Jesus’ commands.

What Jesus commissioned His followers to do is like raising a child.  Think about it.  We’re called to bring people into God’s family and then teach them how to live.  Then, they go out and bring more people into God’s family and teach them how to live.

If we’re not helping people grow in Christ, then we’re not fully doing what Jesus called us to do. 

Holy Communion

So, here we are.  Some us worship.  Some of us doubt.  We do both at different times--and sometimes a the same time!  Jesus doesn’t wait for perfect faith.  He doesn’t hold back His mission.  He speaks with all the authority of  Heaven and Earth and He commissions us to make disciples, to baptize, to teach.

But before we go out into the world to serve, to try and live out this calling, Jesus invites us to come to Him.  Because it begins with what Jesus has already done for us.  

One of the most sacred ways He reminds us what He’s done is Holy Communion.  At this table:

• We remember His sacrifice
• We receive His grace
• We experience His presence

And I would remind you something we’ve learned today: 
this invitation isn’t just for people with strong faith. 
It’s also for those who still have questions and doubts.

So today, if you have confidence—come.
If you have doubts—come.
If you long to believe—come.
Because Jesus meets us right here in all of these.

The same Jesus who said, ‘Go and make disciples,’ also says,
‘Come to the table.  Taste and see.’

 

Let's Start with Weaknesses | A Sermon on 2 Corinthians 11:30 & 12:6-9

Introduction
I’ve been praying quite a bit about what to say today. This is my first sermon with you, and it’s a chance to introduce myself a little—who I am, how I think, what matters to me. But above all, as in every sermon I preach, my deepest desire is to share God’s Word and draw people closer to Him. That’s always first. Still, as I open God’s Word with you, I hope you also come away knowing me a little better.

As I prayed about where to begin, I sensed the Lord bringing to mind something the Apostle Paul once wrote to the church in Corinth. The Corinthians were a troubled church. They struggled with unity, with pride, with spiritual immaturity, and Paul wrote to them more than once to help straighten things out. And they didn’t always appreciate what he said. And when some wanted to ditch Paul in favor of other more agreeable leaders, they compared Paul to those other leaders who claimed to be better than Paul.

But instead of defending himself or trying to out-shine the other church leaders, Paul took an entirely different approach. Let’s read what he wrote. 

BTW, I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation today.  It’s what I typically preach because: 1) It’s easy to understand, 2) It’s accurate and reliable, and 3) It’s different from what most of us are used to and that's important. Sometimes, we've heard Bible stories so many times and we're so familiar with them that we don't hear them with fresh ears. Because the NLT sounds different, it encourages to hear familiar stories with fresh ears.

2 Corinthians 11:30
30 If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.

2 Corinthians 12:6-9

6 If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, 7 even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Boasting in Weakness
The part the Lord wants us to focus on this morning is Paul’s choice to boast about his weaknesses.  Rather than saying the Corinthians should follow his leadership because he was better than his competitors, Paul boasted that he was weak. 

That’s the opposite of human nature, isn’t it–focusing on our weaknesses? When we first meet someone—especially when we want them to like us—we want to put our best foot forward.

We highlight our strengths. We polish our image a little. We might even boast a bit about our accomplishments or drop a few names.  It’s human instinct to lead with the best version of ourselves.

And in Paul’s case, it must have been especially tempting. Some in the Corinthian church were criticizing him. They said other leaders were better, more eloquent, more “spiritual” than Paul. They questioned whether he was worthy of respect. If anyone had a reason to defend himself, to build himself up, it was Paul.

But instead of doing that, Paul does something unexpected. He boasts—not in his strengths, not in his successes, but–in his weakness.

My Weaknesses
What would it look like for us to boast in our weaknesses? What would that look like for a pastor to boast about his weaknesses on his first Sunday with a new congregation?

Well, I have plenty of weaknesses. I'm terrible with names. And that's tough for a pastor learning hundreds of new names in a new congregation. I care about you and I want to know your name. But I will struggle to remember them. It will take a bit of time. But even worse than that, I struggle with the names of people I have known and loved for a long time. Their names will occasionally just slip from my mind--and I mean people I really know well. And usually it happens at the most in opportune time--like when I'm praying for them: "Lord, please watch over... Him... while he has surgery today." (And the "Him" in the story is thinking, "You've known me since high school. You don't even know my name?" That's one of my weaknesses.

And I'm forgetful. I forget things. A lot of things. People will say, “You remember that conversation we had three weeks ago?” And I’ll think, I can’t remember what I had for dinner yesterday.

And it’s not just that I forget — sometimes I misremember, which is actually worse. I’ll be absolutely convinced something happened. I’ll remember vivid details. I’ll think, I know this is true.

This usually happens with my wife, Kelly. I’ll say, “Remember when we went to that town and visited your friend? I remember it clearly — I was wearing these pants, we’d just eaten dinner, and I had steak.” And she’ll say, “No… we didn’t.”

Then she’ll pull out her phone — because phones never forget — and she’ll show me pictures and say, “We were four hours away in a completely different town when you think that happened.”

And I just stand there thinking, How does that happen?  Because in my mind, it’s all so clear.  That’s how forgetful I can be.

I tend to skip things in the worship service. You’d think after doing this for twenty-five years, I’d have it all down by now. But we’ll be moving right along in the worship service, and the children’s moment is coming up… and I’ll skip right over it.  Sometimes I’ll even skip the offering (and some folks out there are thinking, Amen! Skip it!  But the finance chair is thinking, No, no, no — don’t skip the offering!)

It’s not intentional. It just goes right past me. I’m already thinking about what’s next — and suddenly I’ve forgotten what’s right in front of me.

I have trouble focusing on more than one thing at a time. I can focus in on one thing like a laser. I'm great at that. But I'm a terrible multitasker. If two people are talking to me at the same time, I can't hear what either of them are saying. If a TV is on in a room and someone is trying to talk to me, I literally cannot stay focus on what they're saying. It's a weakness of mine.

I'm an introvert. I love having deep, one on one conversations, but I struggle with mingling in large crowds. I'm socially awkward. And some people are great at working the room, but not me. You'll usually find me standing to the side talking to one or two people. And I'm just not good at making my way around the room to get to everybody.

I can be messy. My wife can say amen to that. I can be messy — not because I don’t care, but because I get laser-focused on things, and tidying up doesn’t always make the list.

At my last church, where I served for fifteen years, I just finished packing up my office about a week ago. And I discovered there were things in that office I never even unpacked when I first arrived — fifteen years ago.

I promise I’ll try to do better. But I’m not going to stand here and tell you my office is going to be the neatest one in the building.  

That said, don’t think I’m unorganized — I do have a system. Sometimes my system is: put it on my desk, leave it there until I’m done with it, and then put it away.  And if after six months it’s still on my desk and I’m still not done with it… well, that probably means it doesn’t need to be done at all. So it goes in the trash.  That’s often how my system works.

I make mistakes.  I make lots of typos–especially when texting or writing with my phone. I promise you — I am an intelligent person. I don’t misspell words because I don’t know how to spell them. I misspell them because I start typing, and my brain is already three thoughts ahead of my fingers.

So sometimes you’ll see things on the slides and think, Is that spelled right? I’m looking right now — I think we’re okay today — but every now and then, something slips through.

Emails and letters can be bad enough, but text messages are the worst. My fingers are too big for those tiny buttons on my phone. I’ll type something out, send it, and then look back at it and think, What did I just write? That makes no sense. That’s complete gibberish.

Susan can probably testify to this, because we’ve been texting back and forth quite a bit over the last few months while she’s been serving as the SPRC chair. I’d send her a message trying to say something encouraging — something like, “I’m grateful for you and excited about coming to serve this church” — and then I’d look at what I sent and think, I promise I know how to spell these words.

I make mistakes. Not because I don’t care — but because I’m human and that's one of my weaknesses.

I struggle with visiting. I want you to hear this clearly: I love you. I truly do. I pray for you.  I lose sleep over you.  But the Lord gives each of us different strengths, and I want to be honest with you about mine — and about my weaknesses. Visiting is not my greatest strength. I do it, and when I do, I value that time.  But it hasn’t been my strongest area. 

Going back over the last twenty-five years, I think every church I’ve served would say I ministered to them faithfully — and they might also say, “I wish he’d visited more.”  That’s not something I’m proud of. It’s simply an area where I’m weaker. And I want you to know that upfront — not as an excuse, but as honesty — because God often does His best work right in those places of weakness.

None of these are things I’m proud of—but they are places where I depend on God, and where I depend on others.

But I love Jesus. He is God and He created me.  And he designed me for a loving relationship with Him. And even though I started out my life trying to live to please myself and do what I wanted, not caring what He wanted, Jesus forgave me. And I am ever grateful for His mercy. And I love Him. And I know I’m a citizen of His Kingdom and He’s my King!

And I want to invite as many people to follow Jesus as I can. We're designed for a relationship with Him. We need Him just as much as we need air to breath and water to drink. It's part of our DNA.

God Works Through Weakness
And somehow, God works through me–not because I’m great or talented or more spiritual than anyone else.  God works through my weakness when I am faithful.  It brings Him glory.

God worked through weak and unexpected people throughout the Bible. Jacob was the second born twin-son. The blessing is supposed to pass to the firstborn son. But God gave Jacob the Abrahamic blessing not Esau.

Moses was “slow of speech”, but God delivered the Israelites from slavery through him.

Ruth was a foreigner and a widow, but became the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king.

David was just a forgotten shepherd. When the prophet Samuel came to Jesse's house and said he wanted to look at all his sons and choose the next king of Israel, Jesse didn't invite David to the feast. He left him in the field with the sheep. But after looking at all the other sons, Samuel said, "None of these are the one. Don't you have any more sons?" And Jesse said something like "Well, there's David, but he'll never amount to anything so we left in the field with the sheep." And Samuel said, "Bring him here! We won't start eating until he arrives!" And then he anointed David as the greatest king Israel ever had.

And David's great, great, great... Granddaughter was Mary. She was too young, too poor, and lived in an unknown, backwater town. People said, "Nothing good ever comes out of Nazareth." But God thought differntly. He sent the angel Gabriel who said, "May, the Lord has found favor with you and you will bear His son and He will be the Savior of the world..."

God is always working through the weak, the unexpected, the overlooked, and the forgotten. He doesn’t choose the strong, because they might boast they did it on their own. God chooses the weak and He gets all the glory, because people can clearly see the only way they succeed is through the power of God.

And that’s what I want as I start with you.  I want God to get all the glory.

What Does This Mean For You?
So what does this mean for us—for the people of Stark Methodist Church? It means we don’t have to pretend here.  We don’t have to impress God. We don't have to pretend with each other. We don’t have to hide our struggles.  We don’t have to polish ourselves up before we come to Christ. The same grace that met Paul in his weakness meets us in ours.

Some of you may feel strong today.  Some of you came in feeling tired, worn out, or run down. Some of you came in feeling ashamed, broken, overlooked, or forgotten. The good news is this: God does His best work right there.

Paul didn’t hide his weakness — he offered it to God. And I wonder what might happen if we did the same.

What is your “thorn”?  What is the place where you feel insufficient, frustrated, or tired?
And what about this church?  What are this church’s greatest weaknesses?

Instead of asking God to wait until we’re stronger, what if we asked Him to work right there–in our weakness?  Because God says, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

So I want you to hold your weakness in your heart as we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table.  We don’t come because we are worthy.  We come because He is gracious.
This table is not for the strong—it is for the needy.  Not for the perfect—but for the forgiven.
When we receive Holy Communion, we are reminded that Christ gave Himself fully—even in suffering—so that our weakness would never be the end of the story.

Holy Communion

The Ascension Story | A Sermon on Acts 1:6-11

Introduction
For six Sundays since Easter, we’ve been exploring powerful stories of the risen Jesus—appearing to His followers, proving He was alive, and changing lives forever.

We serve a risen Savior. Death could not defeat Him!  Today, we turn to the final moment Jesus appeared to His disciples before ascending into heaven.  It’s a pivotal scene—a farewell, a promise, and a mission—all in one.  Our Scripture comes from Acts 1:6–11.

Acts 1:6-11
⁶ So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

⁷ He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. ¹⁰ As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

The Disciples Question
The question the disciples asked amounts to this: “Lord, when are You going to fix everything?”

It’s such a revealing question. After all they’d seen—Jesus’ teachings, His death, and His resurrection—the disciples were still holding onto their old expectations.  They were still hoping Jesus would throw off Roman rule and restore Israel’s independence.  In other words, “Is now the time You’re going to fix everything for us?”

We can relate to that, can’t we? We often want God to step in and take care of everything—
to fix our problems, change our circumstances, and do it now.

The disciples weren’t wrong to hope, but their vision was far too small.
They wanted national restoration. Jesus was about to launch a global mission.
They were focused on their country. Jesus was thinking of every tribe, tongue, and nation.
They wanted comfort and control. Jesus offered power and purpose.

How often do our prayers sound like their question?  “Lord, when will You finally fix this situation?”
“When will You restore my idea of how things should be?”

Jesus doesn’t rebuke our questions, but He gently lifts our eyes to something far greater than we can imagine.

Jesus’ Response
Jesus doesn’t answer the disciples the way they expect.  He doesn’t give them a timeline.  He doesn’t lay out a political plan. He tells them two key things:

First, “It’s not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set.” In other words—“You don’t need to know the schedule. That’s the Father’s business.”  How often do we want God to give us the when and how?  But Jesus shifts their focus from timing to trusting.

Second, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”  This is the true gift—not power to take control, but power to share the Good News.

And here comes the surprising part.  Jesus said:  
“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  This is bigger than national renewal. It’s a worldwide revolution of grace and truth.

And let me ask you—have you ever thought about this?
If the disciples had clung to their small vision—if they had kept the Gospel only for Israel—you wouldn’t be sitting here today.  There would be no Pleasant Grove Methodist Church.  No Christian faith in America.  No Bible on your nightstand.  And more importantly—no forgiveness of your sins, no hope beyond the grave, no peace that passes understanding.  Every blessing you know in Christ is possible because those first followers let go of their narrow view and embraced God’s global mission.

In His response, Jesus is also saying:  “Don’t wait around for Me to do the work you’ve been called to do.  I’m sending you.  But I’m also equipping you—with Holy Spirit power—to fulfill your purpose.”

It’s not a small story about Israel anymore.  It’s God’s mission for the world.  And the Disciples—and everyone who calls Jesus Lord—is part of the mission. 
And that means you.

The Ascension
On the Christian calendar, today is known as Ascension Sunday—the day we remember that Jesus ascended back into heaven.  But that raises a question: Why did He leave? Why not just stay on earth?

First, because He belongs on Heaven’s throne.  After conquering sin and death, Jesus takes His rightful place as King—not just of Israel, but of all creation.

Second, Jesus left for our good. In John 16:7, Jesus said, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go, the Advocate [the Holy Spirit] will not come to you.”  You see, Jesus’ resurrected body is still a physical body.  Glorious and perfect, yes—but still bound by time and space like ours like all physical bodies.  That means Jesus, in bodily form, could only be in one place at one time.

But the Holy Spirit is not limited that way. The Spirit can be with me in the hospital room, with you in the middle of a stressful workday, with a mother protecting her children in Gaza, with a world leader making a critical decision, and with a high school student taking their final exams—all at the same time.

The Holy Spirit makes the presence of Jesus available everywhere, to everyone who trusts Him.
So yes—it was good that Jesus ascended to Heaven to sit on His throne so we could receive the Holy Spirit.

Finally, by ascending, Jesus passed the baton to us.  If He had stayed on earth, we might still be sitting around waiting for Him to do the work.  But instead, He gave that work to us.  We are now His hands and feet in the world.

The Promised Return
I wonder how long the disciples stood there, mouths open, eyes on the sky.  After seeing such an incredible thing, I probably would have stood there a long time.  I think that’s why two angels appeared—to snap the disciples out of their wonder.  They asked, “Why are you staring into heaven?”

In other words—don’t just stand there!  Jesus has gone, but now you’ve got a mission.  There’s work to be done, lives to be changed, Good News to share. Get going!

But the angels also offered reassurance:  “This same Jesus who saw going up to heaven will come back in the same way you saw Him go.”  So don’t lose heart.  Jesus reigns.  The Spirit empowers.  And one day, our King will return.  But until then—let’s get to work.

Holy Communion
But before we go out to serve, let us pause to remember and be empowered.  At the table of Holy Communion, we remember His sacrifice, we receive His grace, and we are nourished by His presence.  The Risen, Ascended Christ is still with us through the Holy Spirit. Come to the table, not because you have it all together, but because Jesus invites you—to be forgiven, to be filled, and to be sent.