God Will Provide

The following was preached at the Veedersburg Community Worship on Sunday, March 28, 2010. The Scripture for this message is Genesis 22:1-13.

When we read through the Scriptures there are several threads that weave their way throughout the different books of the Old and New Testaments. One of those threads begins in tonight’s passage, which is sometimes refered to as the “Binding of Isaac.” What I’d like to do tonight is give you a bit of a background on what is going on with a few sides notes along the way, and then do a skeleton trace on this tread through Scripture and see why it is so important for us a we come together to remember the events of Holy Week.

We first meet Abraham in Genesis 12 when he is first told to go away from his homeland, his family and his father’s household and head into the land that God will give him. Abraham takes a big step of faith and obeys this command. He packs up everything and heads away from everything that he knows towards the land of Canaan. Abraham was 75 years old when he did this. So, just a side note here, you are never too old to set out on a new adventure, especially when God is the one leading you. Keep that in mind.

So Abraham and his wife Sarah set out for the land of Canaan, and it’s important to note that they don’t have any children. Scripture tells us that Sarah was barren. She never gave birth to a child at this point. But one of the promises that Abraham receives is that he will become a great nation. This elderly couple would be the beginning of a great nation that will bless the entire world.

After several years, with all sorts of misadventures along the way, Abraham is closing in on the ripe, young age of 100, and Sarah is 90, God tells Abraham that Sarah will conceive and give birth to a son. That in one year’s time, Abraham and Sarah will have their first child together. Talk about a promise that only God can fulfill. And true to His word, Sarah conceives and gives birth to her first son, named Isaac. Abraham is 100 years old when Isaac is born. God keeps His promises, even when we don’t think He does. Things happen in His timing, not ours.

A few years after Isaac’s birth, God once again calls to Abraham. Now, we don’t know how much time passes between Isaac’s birth and the events in tonight’s Scripture. It is clear that several years have passed because Isaac is strong enough to carry the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain, but we don’t know exactly how old he was at this point. This time, however, when God calls to Abraham, He asks Abraham to do something that we would think is totally unbelievable. He tells Abraham to take his son, go to Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering.

Put yourself in Abraham’s shoes for a minute here. Abraham left everything he ever knew behind to follow God into the land of Canaan. He and his wife must have gone through so much along the way, and finally, when he is 100 years old (25 years after God first called him out of his homeland) he and Sarah have a son together. And now, after being a father for a few years, God is asking him to sacrifice his son?

What we see in Abraham is no hesitation whatsoever. We don’t see any kind of dialogue with God, asking Him to change His mind. We don’t see any pleading or begging or bargaining. Abraham is obedient to what God tells him to do. At this point, if we don’t have an understanding of God that is shaped by His revelation in Scripture, we could easily cry out that God is nothing more than a cruel dictator here. But we know better than that. We know God is nothing like that at all, so why does he tell Abraham to sacrifice his only son? It’s a bit of foreshadowing.

When we read this passage, we have to know that God was willing to do what He didn’t allow Abraham to do. Abraham and Isaac make their way up the mountain, and Isaac very estutely observes that they don’t have a lamb to use for the sacrifice. And what does Abraham say? “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Abraham couldn’t have known what was going to happen, but he had faith in the promises of God. God promises Abraham that he will make a great nation out of his offspring, and Abraham remembers those promises. He stands on those promises, and he acts on those promises.

Abraham is obedient to God because God has yet to let him down. When he gets ready to take Isaac up the mountain, he tells his servants that they go to worship the Lord and that they will return. He didn’t know what God was going to do, but he had faith that God would provide. “God will provide for himself the lamb.” And that brings me to the thread that I want to trace.

There are a few places in Scripture where lambs are crucial. The binding of Isaac is certainly one. Just as Abraham is about to plunge the knife into his only son, an angel of the Lord tells him to stop. Abraham looks up and sees a ram caught in the thicket. God did indeed provide a lamb. The lamb was offered up as a sacrifice in the place of his son. It wouldn’t be the last time a lamb was offered in someone else’s place either.

Several hundred years later, a lamb once again plays an important role. The descendants of Abraham have multipled into the hundreds of thousands, but they are enslaved by the Egyptians. For four hundred years, the Israelites are slaves in a foreign land. And one day, a man by the name of Moses comes along, goes up to Pharaoh and says, “Let my people go.” Pharaoh has no reason to listen to this man, after all, Pharaoh is the ruler of the world at that point, why should he listen to this shepherd from across the wilderness? After nine miracles and the continued stubbornness of the Pharaoh, God gives Moses some very explicit directions to share with the people.

The people are to take a lamb for each family. They are to kill the lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts of their homes. Because that night, the angel of death was going to go through Egypt and kill all the firstborn sons, and when the angel of death sees the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, he will passover that house. Once again, the blood of a lamb would stand in the place for the blood of a son.

After this night, Pharaoh does allow the people of Israel to leave, and every year following, the Israelites were to celebrate the Passover as the great work of redemption that God did. It was the event in Israelite history. The people of Israel would always look back at the redemptive power of God in the exodus, and remember. They weren’t always faithful, but there was no doubt as to what event was the cornerstone of the people of Israel.

For years to come, the people would remember the Passover. In Jesus’ day, it was the festival of the year. And every year, a lamb would be chosen, it would be examined, and it would be slaughtered for the sins of the people. All of the people of Israel would take part in the Passover meal.

It was a Passover meal that Jesus and his disciples were celebrating prior to his arrest in Jerusalem. It was during the Passover meal that Jesus instituted what we call the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion. Jesus didn’t just decide to do this at a random meal. He did it during the most significant meal on the Jewish calendar, and it was not by accident. In celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus also revisioned the Passover meal.

No longer was it just about the exodus from Egypt, but now it took on a much greater meaning. The Passover meal was about a new covenant that God was making with the people. A covenant that allowed the people to once again enter into relationship with the Almighty Creator. And like the first covenant that God made with the people after they left Egypt, this covenant was going to be sealed by the blood of the lamb.

In the Gospel of John, we hear the words of John the Baptist as he shouts, “Behold, the lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world.” He is pointing at Jesus when he says this. At the Last Supper, Jesus tells his disciples that it will be his body that is broken, his blood that is poured out for the forgiveness of sins. There is a new Passover lamb.

John is very intentional about the details of Jesus’ death and how they coincide with what was going on at the Temple. At the very time that Jesus died, the Passover lamb would have been sacrificed in the Temple. Jesus was indeed the lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus was the Passover lamb whose sacrifice institued a new covenant for the people of Israel.

When we gather here tonight to remember and celebrate Holy Week, we gather because of what happened. We get so excited about Easter, and it’s a big celebration throughout the Church, as well it should be. But let’s not forget that the reason we celebrate on Sunday morning is because of what happened on Friday afternoon.

In the story of Abraham and Isaac, we get a foreshadowing of what God is going to do for our sake. John 3:16 sums it up so well – “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son and sent a lamb in his place. And yet, God himself did not spare His Son because His Son was the Lamb. Abraham trusts that God will provide the lamb, and God did not disappoint. We need to believe that God still provides the Lamb for us today. And He did in His Son Jesus Christ.

It leaves us with two questions with which we must wrestle. It is clear in reading the text that Isaac was the most precious thing to Abraham, but Abraham had to be willing to let him go in obedience to God. What is it in your life that is most precious to you, and would you be willing to have faith if the time came for you to let it go? As you go about your week, don’t forget these questions. Remember that God is faithful, and He has provided the Lamb.

Super Bowl Week in Ministry

demotivational posters

This week is one of the more difficult weeks in ministry. And it's not necessarily difficult because of anything in particular. In fact, maybe "difficult" isn't the best word. It's one of the busiest weeks in ministry. On Sunday, I referred to it as Super Bowl week for pastors. Here's a sample of what I mean. This week, I have to:
  • Lead worship at two worship services for Palm Sunday (check)
  • Go to Lafayette for a hospital visit (check, but may do it again)
  • Host & preach at a community worship service (check)
  • Prepare for Tuesday's Bible study (check)
  • Actually remember to go to both churches for Bible study (I forgot about Hillsboro last Tuesday night.... oops!)
  • Write a message for Maundy Thursday worship (check)
  • Make sure everything is ready for Maundy Thursday worship
  • Write a 5-10 minute "Reflection on the Cross" for community Good Friday worship
  • Write a sermon for Easter
  • Rehearse choral cantata with Hillsboro choir
  • Rehearse with handbell choir for Easter morning worship
  • Print bulletins for the Easter morning worship (probably double what I normally print)
  • Lead worship on Maundy Thursday
  • Attend & take part in Good Friday worship
  • Check in on UMW Bake Sale Saturday morning
  • Help out with Easter egg hunt
  • Take part in worship at 6:30am on Easter morning
  • Eat breakfast (can't forget that!)
  • Lead worship for two Easter services
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I love being a part of the community of faith. I love leading a community of faith. It's just a busy week for a group of people who "only work one day a week." This is the week in the Christian faith. Praise God for a calling that causes me to be this mindful of the spiritual lives of those in my charge. It is an awesome responsibility.

When it's all said and done, I might need a day to relax, and wouldn't you know it, the Cardinals are playing the Opening Day game in Cincinnati. At noon on Monday, I'll be sitting in front of the television watching the Cards start off the 2010 season! What a week!

A Journey's End

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, March 28, 2010 (Palm Sunday). The text for this week's message is Luke 19:28-40.

We are continuing our journey towards Easter today with the event that signals the beginning of Jesus’ final week prior to the crucifixion. Jesus comes into Jerusalem with the people shouting, “Hosanna in the highest!” In just a few short days, some of those same people will be shouting, “Crucify him!” I think it is so crucial for us to observe this week with a sense of the reality of what is going on.

I really want to encourage you to attend some of the other worship services that will be going on this week. Because one of the biggest traps that we find ourselves in is not realizing what is going on during this week. Sure, we acknowledge it, but do we really get it? We have Palm Sunday, and it’s a big celebration. People shouting, throwing their cloaks on the ground, rejoicing that Jesus has arrived. It’s awesome, and it’s important for us to remember this story.

And then next week, we have Easter – another major celebration in the life of the church. What can be better than to remember the resurrection of Jesus? It’s like the Super Bowl of churches – the big Sunday, the day when family from all over come in and we eat food together. But what about the week in between? Do we even really know why we celebrate in the first place?

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are significant dates on the Christian calendar as well. On Thursday night this week, we will remember the Last Supper, the last meal that Jesus had with his disciples is so full of meaning and significance, and sometimes we just forget about it. Yeah, we celebrate Communion on the first Sunday of just about every month. But is it just a part of the service that morning, or is it truly a remembrance of what Jesus did?

And Good Friday? That’s really the center of our faith. No Good Friday, no Easter. No Good Friday, no sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins, and we are stuck exactly where we have been without Jesus in our lives. We are separated from God until Good Friday. Jesus came to usher in the kingdom of God, and he does so on Good Friday by willingly giving himself for the forgiveness of our sins. But if we just go from Palm Sunday to Easter, we don’t realize this. Jesus’ ultimate destination was the cross. And we get to the cross by remembering the story. We get to the cross by traveling alongside Jesus as he enters Jerusalem on this day. And this week, we are not just celebrating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, we are seeing the beginning of the end of his journey.

As we read through the Gospel of Luke, whether we realize it or not, we are reading a travel narrative. We get some background, such as Jesus’ birth, the calling of the disciples and some basic teaching and recording of the things that Jesus did through the first several chapters, but in 9:51, a very significant phrase lets us know that we are about to embark on a journey that will end with Jesus being “taken up,” as Luke writes.

Luke 9:51 says, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” We get a sense of resolve on Jesus’ part here. “He set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus is on a journey that will end with his death and resurrection, and it all centers on the city of Jerusalem. To top it off, Jesus knew what was going to happen. Along the way, he tells his disciples what will happen, but they either don’t believe him or don’t think that it will really happen.

Let’s stop right there for just a minute. If I were to tell you that if you go to a certain place, then your life will end, what are the chances that you are going to “set your face” to go there? I’m guessing that they are pretty slim, unless there is something larger than yourself that is compelling you to go there. That was the case with Jesus. It wasn’t just about him. Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem in spite of the fact that he knew was going to happen.

So, before we even get into today’s text, we get something major thrown our way. When God calls us to do something, it doesn’t matter where the road leads or what is waiting for us. When God calls us to do something, we need to “set our faces” in that direction. It’s not an easy thing to do, and I’m not going to stand here and tell you that following Jesus is a piece of cake because we all know that’s not true. Yet, we, as a congregation, are spending this year praying, learning a little more about ourselves spiritually and trying to discern God’s will.

But I have to be completely honest with you here. We can’t do that unless people are really longing after God. We can’t do that unless people desire to follow Him. I know it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned it, but the Bible reading challenge isn’t just so that you can say that you’ve read through the Bible in a year. The Bible reading challenge is to get you to read God’s word, to get you to spend time with God. It’s to help you grow closer to God, and consequently, to help us as a congregation draw closer to God. Because it is only when we are consistently listening to God’s voice that we begin to discern His will for us.

One thing we know about Jesus, simply by him coming into Jerusalem in the first place, is that he was listening to God. He was obedient to his calling. Even in the garden, before he is arrested, Jesus surrenders his will to God. That’s why he comes into Jerusalem in the first place. And what we see in reading this passage is that even the nameless people surrounding Jesus offer some sort of obedience, whether they realize it or not. So, how do the people in this story respond to Jesus, and what does that mean for us?

The first people that we see are two of Jesus’ disciples. We aren’t told which ones, and the truth is, it’s not that important. It’s not important that we know who they are; it’s important that we see what they do. You see, the most important thing for us to learn here is that following Jesus is not about making a name for yourself. Because, quite frankly, it’s a whole lot easier to make a name for yourself by not following Jesus, than by following him. Think about music artists that you listen to on the radio. Chances are the ones that are the most popular in the realm of Christian music are barely known in the secular world. They may not be well-known in the secular world, but they are still faithful to their call. Because following Jesus is not about making a name for yourself. It is about making a name for Jesus.

Their task is pretty simple, and it is kind of odd. Jesus tells them to go into the village ahead where they will find a colt that nobody has ever sat on, untie the colt and bring it back. Many times, what we are called to do is not that difficult. People are afraid that answering God’s call means you have to end up on some island in the South Pacific proclaiming the gospel to indigenous tribes. But that’s usually not the case. Often we are called to share the gospel right where we are - in our hometown, in the workplace, at school. God puts us in positions so that we can share the gospel; it’s not difficult to find the situations.

In a different vein, sometimes, what we are called to do just doesn’t make sense. Jesus is about to make this triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and this is the animal that he is going to ride into town? What? A colt could be a horse or a donkey, but it is clear in the other gospels that this is a donkey that Jesus is going to be riding into Jerusalem. A donkey, really?

Kings don’t ride donkeys. Donkeys are small, stubborn, unresponsive. A king wouldn’t ride a donkey into battle. A king would ride a tall, strong horse. This would be like the President coming into town in the station wagon that I drove in high school. A king would want to ride into town on an impressive stallion. People think twice about attacking a man on a strong horse. People aren’t afraid of a man riding a donkey. They laugh at a man riding on a donkey. Jesus, the king of the Jews, is not a king that has come to conquer his enemies. Jesus is a king who comes into town on a humble, little donkey. He comes not to bring battle, but to bring peace.

It doesn’t make sense, but the disciples follow his directions anyway. Sometimes, God calls us to do things that don’t make sense. Sometimes, God calls us to do a simple task that will end up signifying more than we could ever imagine. It’s not up to us to improve on His plan; it’s up to us to be obedient to His call.

The next person that we see is the donkey’s owner. The disciples come up and start to untie it, and he comes out and says, “Hey! What do you think you are doing?” And the disciples say exactly what Jesus tells them to say, “The Lord has need of it.” And it’s just like the guy says, “Okay. Have fun.” Are you kidding me?

If two strangers came up to your house, got in your car and started it up. You’d probably be beside yourself trying to get them out of the car, or on the phone calling the cops. But, let’s say, you confront them about it, and they say, “Oh, God needs it.” How likely are you to just let them take it? I’m guessing that none of us would be that willing.
Now, we don’t know if Jesus arranged something ahead of time with this guy. But Luke doesn’t tell us that he did. As far as we know, the disciples simply told the owner that the Lord needed his donkey, and he let them have it. Because what we can learn from this guy is that, in the end, everything we have belongs to God. Ultimately, this building is not the property of Veedersburg/Hillsboro United Methodist Church. Ultimately, this building is not the property of The United Methodist Church. This building, like everything else around us, is God’s.

As hard as we work for stuff in this life, we can’t take it with us. Maybe this is a perspective that we need to take more seriously in our own lives. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a U-haul following a funeral procession. The Egyptian pharaohs tried to take it with them, but when their tombs were cracked open by explorers, they found all that stuff sitting next to mummified remains. In the end, everything belongs to God, and when he calls us to use our possessions for his glory, then maybe we would do well to remember the story of this nameless man who let the disciples take his donkey.

One last point to pull out of the text today. After the processional, the Pharisees come up to Jesus and tell him to rebuke his disciples for their proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah. And Jesus’ response is simple. “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” We can’t be silent. We can’t ignore Jesus. Because if we do, the very rocks will cry out. You see, we really have two options when it comes to proclaiming the message of the gospel. We can be a part of it, or we can get out of the way. Because if we don’t take part in the proclamation of the gospel, creation itself will.

We, as a church, have a decision to make. We can insulate ourselves. We can fail to share the gospel with the world around us. But that’s not going to stop the gospel. We can be on board with what God is doing, or we can get out of the way because it is going to get done one way or another. Now, I don’t know about you, but I would much rather be a part of what God is doing than be a roadblock. And the truth is, whenever we decide not to be obedient in proclaiming the gospel, we set ourselves up to be roadblocks.

Our faith really comes down to this week that is facing us. In the midst of the celebrations, let’s not forget about why we are celebrating. If Jesus was just another guy, there is no reason to celebrate. If Jesus wasn’t the Son of God who died to redeem us from our sins, why are we bothering to come here every week? Celebrate the risen king this week, but also remember. Remember that being a follower of Christ is not about making a name for ourselves. Being a follower of Christ is about remembering the story of the Christian faith, being obedient to the call that God has placed in our lives and proclaiming the message of salvation for all people.


Friday Five, 3/26/2010

The Tourney once again takes center stage on this week's Friday Five, but let's be honest most of us stopped watching just before 8 on Saturday night.

5) Milton Bradley continues to be... well, Milton Bradley
Guess Who? That's right, in a span of three games this week, Milton Bradley managed to get Ants in the Pants and in Aggravation, the umpires ejected him from two of the games. It really just Boggles the mind that Bradley is still playing the game. You'd figure the league would Connect Four dots together and just send him away on a Battleship somewhere to be somebody else's problem. You'd think he'd get a Clue and just say Sorry, but it just seems like he's trying to get the Monopoly on crazy in baseball. Okay, that was fun.

4) Eagles listening to trade offers on their QB's
The Eagles have been listening to trade offers for McNabb, Kolb or Vick this offseason. I think a lot of people were wondering what they were thinking in signing Vick in the first place. It wasn't exactly going to be a dogfight to figure out who was going to be the starting QB in Philly... oh wait, did I just say "dogfight"... oops.

3) Bizarre Opening Day starter announced
Okay, usually, when I have baseball news to report, it is usually in reference to a big story or the Cardinals; however, I couldn't help but talk about this. Mike & Mike in the Morning occasionally has a segment called "News of the Weird," and I think this qualifies in that segment. Vincente Padilla was named the Opening Day Starter for the LA Dodgers. That's right, Dodger fans, the man who has a lifetime ERA of "I suck" is going to be your Opening Day starter. Now, the only reason I figure Torre is doing this is because it would put Kershaw as the starter for their home opener. Either way, it's weird, and doesn't project a lot of hope for the 2010 Dodgers.

2) Butler knocks off the second #1 seed
Syracuse became the second #1 seed to disappoint an eager nation. And by "eager nation," I don't mean my lovely wife, who has Butler losing to Kentucky in the National Championship Game. I've already lost the Swisher Family Bracket Challenge for 2010.

1) Northern Iowa caused 60% of America to stop caring about their office pool
We had guests over on Saturday night. We were getting ready to sit down for a nice supper of spaghetti and meatballs (awesome ones at that!), when I decided to check in on the tournament. And then watched all my assumptions melt away with one critical 3-point shot. Now, I went to the University of Evansville, which is in the same conference as Northern Iowa. Therefore, as a matter of the transitive property, I have defeated Kansas, and thus killed my bracket. I don't really know where I was going with that one.

Nightline Question

Does God have a future? That's the question that Nightline is posing in their "Face-Off" series. The debate came out of a long-standing "rivalry" between Deepak Chopra and former fundamentalist, now "professional debunker of pseudo-science," Michael Schermer.

I find it very interesting in reading this article how quickly this debate became about the science of it all. And the question in the article sums up human hubris very aptly. The writer says, "Are we at a time in history when the argument can now actually be settled? Given all that we know today about the cosmos and life on Earth, is science killing God -- or can it bring us closer to him? Does God -- or should God -- have a future?"

The very way that this is all set up is to conclude that we can use science to either confirm God's existence or to debunk it. Quite frankly, in spite of all the rhetoric on both sides, the simple truth is that there is no way to know. Now, as a pastor, I firmly believe that there is a God. There have been things that happened in my life that leave me with no doubt (okay, on a bad day, there's always some doubt, but you know what I mean). But if you ask me to scientifically prove that God exists, then forget about it. I can't do that.

What I can do is look at the world around, examine the experiences that I've had in my life, and make a logical assumption based on those things. Clearly, I firmly believe that God exists, but don't ask me to start talking about neuro-science to prove it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if we can completely wrap our minds around God, then maybe our concept of God is too small. If we think we can quantify God, then maybe we have nothing more than an idol that makes us feel better about our life.

The most important three words that I can say sometimes is simply, "I don't know." I'll tell you how God has worked in my life, but I can't tell you, nor can anybody else, about the "science" behind it all. God is bigger than that, and if He is not, then He is not God.

Quest for 66, Quaterfinals

Well, sadly, the quest has come to an end. A poor start put the Illini in a 14 point hole early, and they never fully recovered as their season ended with a 77-71 loss against Dayton on Wednesday night. The Illini did make a frantic comeback, closing to 4 point with 18 seconds left, but couldn't keep the momentum going. So, the book is closed on a season that is somewhat a disappointment, but sometimes, that's just how it goes.

NFL Overtime Rule Change

Big news came out regarding the NFL today. First, an explanation, then, a rant. NFL owners voted by a 28-4 margin to change the overtime rules, at least in the playoffs to begin with. Currently, when an NFL game is tied at the end of regulation, there is a coin toss to determine possession, and it begins just like any other football game. First team to score in overtime, wins. It's pretty simple.

However, there have been a lot of rumblings in the last couple of years that this is an unfair way to do overtime. In nearly 60% of the games, the team that wins the toss wins the game. The most dramatic instance in recent memory happened in the NFC Championship Game when the Saints won the toss and ended up defeating the Vikings with a field goal to go on to the Super Bowl.

The new rule states that the team that gets the ball first can win on the opening possession by scoring a touchdown, but if they kick a field goal, the opposing team has an opportunity to extend the game with a field goal of their own, or win it by scoring a touchdown.

Rich McKay, the Competition Committee Co-chair said in a press conference, "[Sudden death] wasn't producing the fairest results based on field goal accuracy, field goal distance and drive start."

Okay, there's your explanation. Now, here's my rant.

Are we placing so much of an emphasis on offense that we are forgetting that defense and special teams have to be an integral part of the game as well? This isn't some kind of playground basketball game where you have to win by two. This is the NFL. In implementing this rule, I'm seeing two unspoken assumptions: 1) you can't expect your defense to win games late, and 2) kickers aren't really that important after all.

If you don't win the coin toss, then you need to 1) rely on your special teams to not give the opponent good field possession on the kick off, and 2) not allow your opponent to drive the ball into field goal range in the first place. Let's say the overtime kickoff results in a touchback, the offense still needs to drive roughly 40 yards just to attempt a 55 yard field goal. If you can't trust your defense to hold an offense to less than 40 yards on a drive, then maybe you don't deserve to win in the first place.

And I'm sorry, but making this rule because kickers have gotten better? Really? Isn't the job of a kicker to place the ball through the uprights? Shouldn't his team be rewarded if he can do that? Just ask any number of kickers that have missed critical field goals late in games.

When I was watching the Colts-Chargers playoff game a couple years ago, and the Chargers ran all over the Colts defense in overtime to win it, I didn't think, "Man, it's totally unfair that the Colts didn't get a chance to score." I thought, "Why can't that defense make a stop?" Your defense is a critical part of the game through four quarters, why does it suddenly become less important in overtime?

And, what's next? If a kicker hits a field goal as time expires to give his team a 2 point lead, should the other team get an opportunity to win the game? After all, it wasn't a touchdown that won it. A win is a win, and it doesn't matter if it is by 1 or 43. This new rule is not going to guarantee that 60% of the time the team to win the toss won't still win the game.

Well, bottom line: it is what it is... regardless of how stupid it is. Congratulations, NFL, you just fixed what wasn't broken.

Quest for 66, Round 2

With a second half ignited by an 18-7 run out of the gates, the Fighting Illini continued their quest to become the 66th greatest team in college basketball by tearing through the Kent State Golden Flashes like they were my club-footed turtle's AAU team. Okay, so I don't really have a club-footed turtle, but you get the point. The final in this one Illinois 75, Kent State 58.

Illinois is now in the Elite Eight of the Not Invited Tournament (NIT) with powerhouses such as: Dayton (their opponent on Wednesday), Texas Tech, Mississippi, Virginia Tech, Rhode Island, UAB and North Carolina. Could we have a rematch of the 2004/2005 National Championship game? It would be sweet, sweet revenge to take down those Tar Heels on the Maundy Thursday Championship game.

The Home Stretch

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, March 21, 2010. The text for this week's message is John 12:1-8.

We are coming down the home stretch of our drive towards Easter this week. Next week is Palm Sunday, in which we remember the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and the week after that is Easter. It seems like it is coming up on us pretty quick, doesn’t it? This week we continue our journey with a story that is found in all four gospels, though the exact details of the stories vary as we read them in the different gospel accounts. We have to be very careful to approach this story just from John’s perspective because there are some changes in the details that may seem minor, but, in fact, are quite significant.

Last week, when we looked at the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, we noticed that both the younger son and the older son took a life-detour. We don’t see any kind of resolution at the end of the story, but we are left with the picture of the father pleading with the older brother to rejoice in the fact that his younger brother had returned.

The older brother was having a difficult time doing this because he felt entitled. He didn’t think it was right that they were celebrating the younger brother’s return with the fattened calf because he had never even been given a young goat so that he might celebrate with his friends.

The simple truth in this story is that both brothers separated themselves from the father. The younger brother because of the choices he made with his life. He lived poorly. The older brother was separated because of his refusal to celebrate the return of his brother who was lost. He loved poorly. And this tension between living poorly and loving poorly is the same kind of thing that we see in the Pharisees and scribes who were grumbling against Jesus because he ate with the tax collectors and sinners.

Sure, the tax collectors and sinners were far from righteous. They made a lot of poor choices in their lives, and they had a lot of sin in their lives. But aren’t those the kind of people that need exactly what Jesus has to offer? Aren’t those the people who need forgiveness and redemption all the more? In some sense, aren’t we those people?

Quick survey: who here has sinned in their lifetime? Go ahead, raise your hands. Good. Now, look around. We are all in the same boat. We may not lump ourselves together with the tax collectors and the sinners, but the truth is, we belong in that category just as much as the Pharisees and scribes, who we have no problem identifying as sinners when we read the gospels.

It’s easy for us to identify those who need Jesus; it’s not as easy for us to recognize that we are in that category as well. And simply because we claim to follow Jesus, it doesn’t mean that we don’t run the risk of going our own way. What we see in today’s Scripture is a story of two people. We see a story of contrasting motives. We see a story of one person who has her heart in the right place, and we see a story of one who has his heart on other things.

The way that John starts the story, it is six days before the Passover. According to John’s timeline, this happens the night before the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, which we remember as Palm Sunday. Matthew and Mark have a similar story; however, their story doesn’t take place before Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of the Passover week, but it happens the night before Jesus is arrested. There has to be a reason why John places this story at a different time than either Matthew or Mark, and a clue as to why this is the case is found in another detail that is slightly different in the accounts.

In Matthew and Mark, the woman anoints Jesus’ head with the oil; however, here in John, it is his feet. One possibility is that these are simply different instances that closely resemble one another; however, it is doubtful that we would see the same conversation if they were different instances. What is important to know here is that when one was anointing a body for burial, one started with the feet and work his/her way up to the head.

In John’s very subtle way, he is letting us know that this isn’t just some grand gesture that Mary is performing; it is the beginning of what will be the preparation of Jesus’ body for burial. In a sense, it is John’s way of signaling to us that things are going to really start picking up steam towards Jesus’ ultimate purpose on earth. The week that is to come is the week that will lead to Jesus’ death, and the preparation for burial is starting.

John tells us that Mary takes a pound of pure nard, pours it out on Jesus’ feet and wiped it with her hair. There are several things going on here that are important to know. First of all, the ointment that is used was a product that would have been imported from India. Even if we aren’t told a couple verses later how much they could have sold it for, we can guess just from what it is that it was a costly perfume.

Secondly, it was no small amount that she used. The translation says that it was a pound of pure nard, and the Greek word used is litran. A litran is the equivalent of about half a liter. We are talking about an abundance of perfume here. John even says that it was enough for the fragrance to fill the whole house.

Okay, so let’s put it in today’s terms. I don’t buy a lot of perfume or cologne for myself, so I looked up a few prices on bottles of perfume. Coming out of seminary, I never thought that I would be researching the price of perfume, but I found myself doing it this week anyway. The fragrance that was used was one of the most expensive perfumes in that area during the time. So, just for comparison’s sake, I looked up today’s most expensive perfume. The world’s most expensive perfume will run you about $2150 an ounce. Half a liter is a little less than 17 ounces. So, 17 ounces at $2150 an ounce means that we are looking at about $36,550 if we put it in today’s terms.

That seems like a crazy amount of money doesn’t it? I mean, there’s no way somebody would use that much perfume all at once, especially not something that expensive. In fact, Judas’ immediate reaction is that they could have sold it for three hundred denarii and given that money to the poor. We’ll get back to Judas in a bit, but first let’s understand how much he was saying this could be sold for.

Three hundred denarii is the rough equivalent of a year’s wages for a working person. A working person at this time would make about one denarii a day. Put it in your own context now. You know how much money you bring in over the course of the year. Now, imagine using all that money at once to glorify Jesus. Did anybody’s heart just stop at that thought? This is no minor gesture that Mary is doing here. It is a major sacrifice, and she doesn’t stop there.

John tells us that Mary goes on to wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair. There are two things going on here. First, it was the servants’ job to take care of the feet of the guests. It was undignified for the host to do such a thing. This is why it is so shocking at the Last Supper when Jesus kneels down and washes the feet of the disciples, and also why Peter refuses to allow Jesus to do it at first. So, first of all, Mary is doing something undignified out of her love for Jesus.

Second, a Jewish woman would not typically let her hair down in the presence of any man but her husband. But here, as Jesus and his disciples are getting ready to eat dinner, she lets her hair down in front of all of them to wipe Jesus’ feet. It was a shocking gesture for her to do this, but she does it out of devotion and love for Jesus.

In Mary, we see an example to which we should all aspire. We could all use a little more excitement when it comes to spending time with Jesus. We could all use a little more uncontrollable gratitude for what Jesus has done in our lives. Don’t forget – just a chapter earlier Jesus raised Mary’s brother Lazarus from the dead. She didn’t do this just out of thin air. She does it in response to what Jesus has done in her life.

But hasn’t Jesus been at work in all our lives? Shouldn’t we celebrate what God is doing all around us? Shouldn’t we be filled with this same kind of spontaneous gratitude, love and devotion? Has anybody ever been to a worship service where people raised their hands during worship? Have you ever heard anybody shout “Amen!” in the middle of a sermon? There are faith traditions out there where this is commonplace. There’s an old joke in United Methodist circles – do you know why a United Methodist raises his hand in worship? To ask if he can go to the bathroom.

Now, I’m not saying that everybody has to start raising their hands while we sing your favorite hymn, or that people need to be shouting out during worship. But ask yourself – am I excited to be here? Is my life better because of what God is doing? Do I even realize that God is at work all around me? And ask yourself these questions because sometimes we forget. Sometimes we make a habit of coming to worship because it is what we are “supposed” to do, not because it is what we want to do.

Y’all, I want people here because they are excited about what God is doing. And, really, the only way to get excited about what God is doing is to open your eyes. Look around. God is doing awesome things all around us, and we need to stop sitting on the sidelines and start getting into the game. You aren’t too young; you aren’t too old. The congregation isn’t too busy, and it’s not too small. But God has us right where He wants us. We are perfectly positioned to make a difference for God. There is somebody in your life that is only going to hear the good news of Jesus Christ because you are excited about it.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed the quotes each week on the sermon notes page in the bulletin. I try to get a different quote each week, and I almost wish that I had waited a week for last week’s quote. John Wesley said, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” Now, this isn’t some kind of pyromaniac creed, it is the result of what happens when we catch on fire for God. It is the result of what happens when the love of God burns deep in our hearts. People will come for miles to see what it is that God is doing. There is nothing better in this life than to be a part of what God is doing all around us.

But too often, and really one time is “too often,” we find ourselves in the shoes of a different person in the story – Judas. Let’s not forget about what Judas has to say here. He says, “Why didn’t we sell this perfume and give the money to the poor?” It seems like a legitimate question at first. But then, we have the benefit of John’s side comments to help us out here. John, in no uncertain terms, lets us know that Judas is not a guy that we need to be trusting. He says that Judas was about to betray Jesus before he even tells us what Judas says. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, after Judas speaks, we get another sidebar from John. Judas didn’t care about the poor, he just wanted more money in the community purse so he could have a little bit more cash to take.

In spite of the fact that Judas just wanted the money for himself, his question is legitimate. Why wouldn’t they have used the money to help the poor? And what we see in this story is contrasting motives and priorities. Mary does what she does out of love and devotion. Her priority is Jesus. But Judas says what he says out of false piety and greed, and his priority is selfish gain. As with so many things, it is a matter of the heart. And John lets us know that Judas’ heart is rotten.

Priorities. When we make Jesus our priority, we are apt to do things out of love and devotion, not habit and ritual. When we make Jesus our priority, everything else falls into place. This story is not about how we shouldn’t help the poor because they are always going to be around, as some people have suggested throughout history. This story is about the final preparations in our hearts. It’s about putting Jesus first and realizing that there will be time for the other things in life. As we hit the home stretch towards Easter, let’s not forget why we celebrate in this season. First, let us not forget to celebrate in what God is doing, and second, let’s not forget that Jesus has to be the priority in our lives.

Friday Five, 3/19/2010

Welcome to this week's edition of the Friday Five! It's a big week in college sports with the Tournament field announced and games starting Thursday. Let's not forget the NIT as well!

5) Pujols for Howard rumor gets unnecessary hand-wringing going
Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard were at the center of some major rumors earlier this week. The story, originally reported by Buster Olney, was that there had been talks in the Phillies front office about a possible blockbuster trade involving the two stars. My initial reaction: Well, duh, what front office hasn't had conversations about what it would take to get Pujols. Unfortunately, for some teams, it would involve trading the entire major league roster, 4 prospects and promoting the entire Triple A squad (yeah, I'm talking to you Orioles and Pirates). On paper, does this trade make sense? Yeah, for the Phillies, but I'd give it a 0.007% chance of ever happening.

4) Joe Nathan injures arm and is possibly done for the season
The Twins had high expectations of seriously competing in the AL Central this season, but Nathan's injury just made it a little harder. If you don't think it's important to have a solid closer like Nathan in your bullpen, take a look at the 2008 Cardinals, who blew 30-odd saves and ended up just 11.5 games behind the Cubs.

3) Texas Rangers coach Ron Washington admitted to using cocaine
It came out this week that the manager of the Texas Rangers tested positive for cocaine use during the 2009 season. Washington was very apologetic and has been enrolled in the MLB's drug rehab program. Even though he has finished the program, he has asked the MLB to continue testing him on a regular basis for accountability. Of course, if you were managing the Texas Rangers, wouldn't you want some crack?

2) Illinois gets the shaft
In spite of playing well against some of the best teams in the Big Ten (including being the only team to beat Wisconsin in Wisconsin), Illinois got left out of the Big Dance. Meanwhile, the team that finished behind them in the Big Ten standings and was blown out by Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game is currently a #11 seed in the Tourney. Don't worry, folks, you can follow Illinois' quest on this blog to become the 66th best team in the country as they attack the NIT (Not Invited Tournament) as a #1 seed!

1) NCAA Tournament field is set and the upsets have begun
Thanks to teams such as Murray State, Ohio and Old Dominion, people all over the country have already lost interest in the Big Dance. However, for geniuses like myself, who still have 15 Sweet Sixteen teams alive, it wasn't all that bad.

Quest for 66

Much to my disappointment, Illinois did not get their ticket punched to the Big Dance this year. Instead the were a #1 seed in the NIT (a.k.a. Not Invited Tournament), and began their quest to be the 66th best team in the nation.

Unfortunately, in spite of the fact they are a #1 seed, Illinois had to hit the road and head to New York to take on the Stony Brook Seawolves, who have played the likes of Hartford, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire this season. A big thanks to Cirque du Soleil for forcing Illinois to go on the road for this one.

Stony Brook jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first minute of the game, but couldn't hold off the Big Ten powerhouse known as Illinois. It was back and forth for a while, but Illinois took the lead for good with less than a minute left in the first half and never looked back.

Next up on the Quest for 66: Kent State on Monday.

In Honor of St. Patty's Day

Because today is one of the most frivolous of holidays on the calendar, here is my favorite YouTube video of all time.

Getting Lost on the Detours

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, March 14, 2010. The text for this week's message is Luke 15:11-32.

We are continuing our trek towards Easter today with a very familiar story – the parable of the prodigal son. This Lent, we have been talking about the Christian faith using the metaphor of a journey. The first week, we looked at the beginning of our journey. In Romans 10, we saw that our journey begins with the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the belief that God raised him from the dead. Every journey begins somewhere, and this one begins with a confession and a belief.

In Philippians 3, we saw that there are always choices that we have to make along the way. There are forks in the road of this journey, and when we come to these forks in the road, we have to decide if we are going to continue following Jesus down the path he is leading us, or if we are going to go our own way. We all know people in our lives who have stopped following Jesus altogether, and we have to be intentional about our decision to follow him or else we end up in a similar position.

Whenever I go on a long road trip, I always like to have something to drink nearby, and last week, we looked at the invitation to come and drink. On every long journey, it is necessary for us to rest from time to time. This is even more true when we look at our Christian journey. We need to thirst after the things of God. We need to chase after things that will sustain us. And we need to spend our lives chasing after Him, not chasing after the things of this world.

As we look at this familiar passage, we come across another aspect of our Christian journey. It’s something that we all hate to see when we go on a trip, but from time to time, we come across them anyway. As hard as we may try, no matter how much we plan and no matter how much we try to stick to the original route, we run into these things. A lot of times, because of these things, we end up making a wrong turn and getting lost. I’m talking about detours.

If you are anything like me on a long trip, you hate detours. You spend so much time planning the trip, trying to be familiar with the roads, and then you get thrown a curve. It’s difficult enough to go through an area that you may not be familiar with in the first place, but to get off the main road and go down an unfamiliar path can be really frustrating. The same is true in our walk of faith. There are times when something unexpected happens and we have to go down a route that we hadn’t plan on traveling.

The thing about detours, though, is that there are different kinds. Sometimes, the main road is not ready for travel. They are paving the highway, so it’s shut down. There has been a major accident, so you have to find a different way around. But sometimes… sometimes, we take detours because we want to. We hear about a restaurant that’s a little ways off the road. The car needs a minor repair. The world’s largest ball of twine is calling your name.

Katie and I watched a show a couple weeks ago called The Middle. And during the course of the show, the family was on its way to Chicago for the youngest son’s regional spelling bee, and they let their daughter make decisions on all their stops along the way because they forgot her birthday. One of the things that she wanted to see was the world’s largest tree stump. And it was exactly what you would expect it to be, a large tree stump in the middle of a field. To say the least, some of the detours that we take are not nearly as promising or as exciting as we originally thought. When we come to today’s passage, we see a story about one particular person’s detour, but he wasn’t the only one who had strayed from the correct path. Before we jump right into the middle of this story, let’s take a step back and see what it is that prompts Jesus to tell it in the first place.

At the beginning of Luke 15, Luke tells us that tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus. Now, understand that the way the Roman tax system was set up, a person could become very rich. People were given a certain area and a certain amount that they needed to raise from those living in the area. Anything above what they had to pay went in their pocket. Well, as you can imagine, there were a lot of tax collectors who were getting way more than they were required and becoming quite wealthy because of it. Tax collectors were the worst of the worst in first century Judea. They are so bad, in fact, that they aren’t even lumped together with the sinners. They are given their own category, and there are a couple places in the gospels where you’ll see the phrase “tax collectors and sinners.”

When the Pharisees and the scribes see that Jesus is eating with these tax collectors and sinners, they start grumbling against Jesus. Jesus then goes on to tell them three parables. In the first one, there is a shepherd with 100 sheep, but one of those sheep has gone astray. The shepherd leaves the 99 behind to go after the one because each sheep is important. In the second parable, there is a woman who has ten silver coins, but she loses one, which is the equivalent of 10 days worth of wages. She turns the house upside down until she finds it and rejoices when she does. And what we read in today’s Scripture is the third of these stories. This time, it is not a sheep or a coin that is lost, but a person, or as we’ll see in a little bit, two people.

It is so obvious to us that the younger son is lost, right from the very beginning of the story. We are told that there is a man who had two sons, and the younger son comes to him and demands his inheritance right then and there. The fact that there are two sons is immediately relevant here.

Inheritances were dividing up among the sons with the eldest son receiving a double portion. If there were 10 sons, the wealth of the father would be divided into 11 parts, and the oldest son would receive two of those parts while the remaining 9 would each receive one part. In this case, with only two sons, the younger son would receive one-third of the father’s wealth, while the older son would receive two-thirds.

It was possible at that time for the father to go ahead and split up the inheritance between his sons, but it had to be at the father’s initiative, not the son’s. Essentially, when the younger son comes up to the father and demands his share of the inheritance, he is saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead.” It is a severe slap in the face.

The younger son severs his ties to the family. He shirks his responsibility to take care of his father in his old age, and shows a complete disregard for his father. In the ancient world, the father would be ashamed to have raised a son like this, and his neighbors would be grateful that they didn’t have a son like him.

What is amazing in all of this is that the father does it. He shows a lot of grace in allowing the younger son to treat him like this. He could have easily rebuked the younger son, and the matter would be over. But he doesn’t. He divides his property between his sons.

And just so we aren’t so focused on the younger son here, there is no mention of the older son through this part. He could have declined the inheritance as a sign of protest against his brother’s actions, but we don’t hear a peep out of him either. The story continues.

A few days later, the younger son takes all his newfound wealth and goes off to a distant country. Now, the phrase “distant country” probably has more to do with the story than just geography. Not only is this place that he goes physically far away from his home, but it is also a place that is culturally and morally miles away from his home.

Now, think about your own life for a minute here. Have you ever been in the younger son’s shoes before? Have you ever strayed so far away from God that it was a slap in His face? I think if we are all honest with ourselves, there have been times when we’ve done this. Through our actions, and maybe even through our words, we say, “God, we don’t need you; we don’t want anything to do with you,” and we just go our own way. Maybe, if you’re not ready to admit this to yourself, you can think of somebody in your life who has done this. It’s always easier if we can distance ourselves, isn’t it? But the truth is, we’ve all done it at some point. And maybe it didn’t last long, but it did happen.

We don’t know why the younger son decided to do this. All we know is that he did. And, Jesus tells us, that he “squandered all he had on reckless living.” We don’t know exactly what it was that he was doing, but we have some ideas. And reason that we have some ideas is because we have been there ourselves. Whether he spent it all on booze, women, gambling, shoes, extravagant living, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he failed to live up to his responsibilities to his family and wasted all he had because of his selfishness. The biggest danger that we face in this world is the fact that sometimes, in spite of all the scientific evidence against it, we think we are the center of the universe. We’re not, and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we can get back to the main part of our journey. When we realize that God is at the center, we don’t get lost on the detours of life nearly as often.

Finally, the younger son comes to his senses. He looks around and realizes how far he has fallen. He is in a distant country, absolutely broke, there is a famine going on, he is feeding pigs and is jealous about their food. He was so hungry that he was coveting the food of unclean animals that, at the beginning of the story, he would have absolutely nothing to do with. And it says, in verse 16, “nobody gave him anything.”

At the beginning of the story, he isn’t lacking anything. He probably has a pretty comfortable life. His self-centeredness causes him to destroy the relationships that were supposed to be the most important in his life, and he was given everything. And now, when his need is the greatest, when he doesn’t have anything at all, nobody gives him anything. He has hit rock bottom, and this is what it takes for him to “come to himself.”

Things will pile up on us in this world. They will gang up on us and beat us down until we can’t take it any more. And it is at that point that we often come to ourselves. We stop and realize that we are lost. Did you know that people never really know when they are in the process of getting lost? They know when they are lost, but I’ve never heard anybody say, “You know, I’m about to get lost here. I better stop before I do get lost.” We don’t realize that we are lost until we are lost.

But notice here, the younger son’s recognition that he is lost has more to do with self-interest than repentance. He realizes that his father’s hired hands live better than he is living right now. So, he starts to rehearse a story that he is going to tell his father when gets back home. It seems a calculated apology more than genuine repentance. But, it still leads him back to his father. Restoration becomes possible because he made the decision to go back to his father. So that’s what he does. He starts the journey home.

Now, I can just imagine the scene that comes next. It says that while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. This tells me a couple of things about the father. First, you don’t see something that is a long way off without looking for it. His father hadn’t given up on him, even though not single person would blame him if he did. Second, it says that his father was filled with compassion. In spite of all the bad stuff that the younger son did, his father still loved him.

If this isn’t a perfect picture of God, I don’t know what is. Because no matter what we do, no matter how bad we think we’ve severed the ties, no matter how lost we have become, God still doesn’t give up on us. In spite of all the things that we have done, God still loves us, and He will run to embrace us if we start to come back to him.

The people who hear that the father took off running after his son would be appalled by his actions because it was undignified for him to run, especially after a son who treated him so shamefully in the first place. But isn’t that how God is? It would seem undignified for the God of all creation to stoop to earth and send His Son so that we might be redeemed. But just like the father in the parable, God is not concerned with what people think. He is in the business of redemption, not public opinion. The father in this story sets the tone. The people cannot reject the son without also rejecting the father. And the father embraces him, not even giving him the chance to recite his speech. The younger son is restored into the family, and there is a great celebration. But that’s not the end of the story.

If we just stopped there, it would be a great story. We could make a Hallmark movie out of it. It’d feel-good drama of the year. But there’s more. There’s the older brother who comes in from the field only to be greeted by a great celebration going on in the house. It’s almost like he was forgotten in all the excitement. And, you see, this is where the beginning of Luke 15 is so important. Remember, Jesus is telling us this story because of the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes. In the parables of the sheep and the coin, the focus is on that which was lost. But here, it’s not just what was lost, but also the response of the older brother.

And he is mad. He is so mad that he dishonors his father by refusing to go into the party. His actions here are just as disrespectful to his father as his younger brother’s request for his inheritance. And don’t miss the irony of what is happening here. The brother who was on the outside is now on the inside with the celebration, and the brother who was on the inside is outside refusing to join the party.

Just as the father came out after the younger son, he comes out to plead with the older to come in. The father’s joy at the younger son being restored is cut short by the older son’s anger. And what is the older son’s response to his father? He says, “Listen, I’ve worked like a slave for you. I’ve never been disobedient. And you’ve never given me a young goat so that I can celebrate with my friends.” Where is his focus? It’s not on the fact that his brother is back, but on the fact that he hasn’t received what he thinks he deserves.

You see, the Pharisees and the scribes are grumbling against Jesus because those who were lost are now being found, and they are on the outside of the party. They have this sense of entitlement that causes them to look down their noses at the very people who need God the most. And that is where we are left in this story. We are left with the older brother, standing outside the house, missing the party, missing the return of his brother because he is angry and thinks he deserves more. If this were a movie, people would be dissatisfied with the ending. There is no resolution to the conflict.

The younger brother wasn’t the only one who was lost in this story. It’s just easier to see how lost he was. The truth is, at the end of the story, it’s the older brother who has broken ties to the father. There are two types of brokenness here – the younger brother with his reckless living, and the older brother with self-righteousness and lack of concern for the redemption of his brother.

So, where do you land today? Are you the younger brother who has lived the wild life, who has gotten lost without realizing it along the way? Or are you the older brother? Does your separation exist not because you’ve lived poorly, but because you have loved poorly? It’s an open-ended parable, and quite frankly, we often find ourselves in both positions. But we have a Father, who will run out to embrace us if we just start walking back to him. We have a Father who will come out and plead with us to join the party. We have a Father who loves us and is just waiting to redeem us.

Friday Five, 3/12/2010

This week's Friday Five might be missing something important. That's because it's being written on Thursday morning. In case you didn't know, I'm a very busy and important person, and I have places to be on Friday... right....

#5 - Athlete's foot is more than a fungus
Okay, probably not the best headline I've come up with. But there has been a trend this week of athlete's sticking their foot/feet in their mouth/mouths. The winners for dumbest things said - Milton Bradley (go figure), Torii Hunter (actual surprise) and Derek Anderson (who wouldn't want to get out of Cleveland?).

#4 - Nomar retires
After a 12 year career, Nomar Garciaparra (just a side note, I wrote that last name without looking it up) retired from baseball. He signed a one-day contract with the Red Sox so he could retire with the team that brought him to the Bigs. Nomar started off his career in a very promising manner, but was held back by injuries. The debate now is whether or not he is a Hall of Fame player, and quite frankly, I don't see it. Good player, great guy, but not a HOF'er. But don't worry, he's going to work at ESPN now... and he's still married to Mia Hamm.

#3 - Wofford makes first appearance in the Big Dance
It's championship week across college basketball, and Wofford won its conference so that it can have the honor of being slaughtered by either a #1 or a #2 seed in the tournament. Congratulations, Wofford!

#2 - First Tourney bid goes to an Ivy League school
In keeping with the same line as #3, Cornell (perhaps you've heard of it) was the first team to clinch a spot in the Big Dance. I have no reason to include this in this week's Friday Five other than to make the "perhaps you've heard of it" comment. Don't know why? Click on the link.

#1 - UCONN women's basketball continues ridiculously long winning streak
The women of the University of Connecticut defeated Notre Dame to win it's 71st straight game, and then proceeded to win their 72nd straight by beating West Virginia in the Big East championship game. Their last loss came on April 6, 2008 against Stanford in the Final Four, and their closest game in that stretch was a 10 point win over Rutgers on March 2, 2009. I'm fairly certain they could beat the New Jersey Nets right now.

Political Commercials

I came across this video courtesy of a friend on Facebook. Awesome stuff.

Rest Stops

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, March 7, 2010. The text for this week's message is Isaiah 55:1-9.

As we enter into the third full week of the season of Lent, I want to continue with the theme of the Christian faith as a journey. And every journey begins somewhere. Every journey begins with an intentional decision to set out. I don’t know of a single person that wants to get from Point A to Point B without thinking about how they are going to get there. And it is so easy these days to plan a trip, isn’t it? We pick a destination, punch in the address into the GPS, or into Google Maps and we get a route. Believe it or not, it is just as easy to begin the journey of the Christian faith.

Two weeks ago, we looked at Romans 10 and saw that the first step on this journey of faith occurs when we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. It’s very simple, at least on paper. There are no rules to memorize or an operations manual to read. Learning how to live the Christian life does take some time, but we have the rest of our lives to figure out those details.

Like all journeys, there are decisions that have to be made along the way. I don’t know about you, but usually the decisions I make on the road revolve around McDonald’s or Cracker Barrell. You know, the important stuff – where to eat, can I make it to the next exit before getting gas, what am I going to listen to. However, in the Christian journey, the decisions have much more eternal consequences. It is possible to abandon the journey completely. To give up and go your own way. And that certainly happens sometimes.

I’m sure every person here knows of a person who just seems to fall off the map when it comes to the faith. Maybe you feel like you’ve done it yourself from time to time. Last week, we talked about forks in the road. A fork in the road is when you have to make a decision as to whether or not you are going to continue following Jesus. Many people come to these times in their lives, and they stop following him. For whatever reason, they decide not to continue on their journey.

When we looked at Philippians 3, we saw that there were some who decided to go their own way. Paul says that their god is their belly. They allow their desires to guide them, not Jesus. And when this happens, they’ve gone down the wrong path. They reached that fork in the road and went the direction that was most pleasing to them. Let’s be straight up for a minute here, it is not always cotton candy and sunny days when we follow Christ. There are difficult times, and we have to decide which path to take.

One time, when I was in seminary, a friend and I took a handful of middle school boys on a camping trip. This wasn’t the “pull up in your car, pitch a tent next to the electrical pole and to play at the pool” kind of trip either. This was a “bring only what you can carry, hike in and find an opening in the woods” type of camping trip. We got there in the evening, set up camp, ate dinner and just hung out for a while. The next morning, we went on a hike.

To give you an idea of what this hike was going to be like, the place where we went is called Red River Gorge. At one point, there is a several hundred foot differential in elevation. There are some difficult trails in that area. I was the lucky one who got to carry the backpack with the water bottles. Now, there were six of us on this hike, and we made sure to have plenty of water for everybody, so I was carrying about 20 bottles of water on my back during this hike. One thing I remember very clearly is how thirsty we got on this hike, and how much of a relief it was to just sit down for a while, drink some water and eat a granola bar.

And what we see today in the Isaiah passage is an invitation to stop and drink the water. It is a call to eat the bread. We are beckoned to come. Four times, in fact, we see that word, “come,” in just the first verse. The tone of this passage is urgent, even excited. It’s not a demand; it’s an invitation. What we are seeing here is not the call of a person selling goods for profit, or for self-benefit. This isn’t the vendor at the ballgame selling peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

The one who extends this invitation is none other than God. God is the one who makes the invitation. But notice, it is a somewhat limited invitation. It is a limitation that is not based on who God is calling, but on the needs of the one being called. This invitation is for those who are thirsty. If you are not thirsty, there’s no need to come. I think back to that hike, and I remember what it means to thirst.

As we walked through the woods for hours, the thick Kentucky summer air made it difficult to breathe at times. And the worst part about it is that the first half of the hike is easy. It was down hill most of the way. We made our way down to a creek that was a few miles from our campsite, and spent some time there skipping rocks and exploring the area. But then it was time to head back.

And after a while, a backpack full of water bottles, 90 degree heat and the humidity of the gorge were wearing me down. Add to that the fact that we were hiking uphill at this point, and I began to really understand what it means to thirst. Your mouth gets dry, the conversations become less, and the heavy breathing sets in. At that point, there is nothing better than taking a break and getting a cool drink of water. Have you ever been that thirsty? Have you ever been so thirsty that you can’t think of anything but water? It consumes your every thought.

The invitation that we read about here is for those who are thirsty. It is for those who have their thoughts consumed by the need for a drink. Our thirst is a physical craving, but what we see more often than not in Scripture is that hunger and thirst point to something more than just the physical needs of our bodies. In Matthew 5, Jesus says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed because they will be filled. Thirst serves as a metaphor for spiritual longing.

The simple truth is that those who are thirsty see more appeal in this call than those who are not. Those who have plenty to drink do not thirst. Those who realize their true standing before God, they are the ones who thirst for God’s righteousness. The people who are happy with where they are spiritual, those who are self-satifsifed and self-righteous don’t thirst for God’s righteousness because they think they are already in pretty good shape. I came across a quote this week that said, “You can have no greater sign of confirmed pride than when you think you are humble enough.” Think about that for a minute.

Our spiritual pride can hold us back. Our spiritual pride is the part within us that is saying, “This message isn’t for you. This message is for all those other people that don’t have it all together.” Do you thirst for God’s righteousness, or are you satisfied with where you are? Do you hear the invitation here in Isaiah 55 and think, “Yes, that’s what I want in my life!” Or are you thinking, “Are we going to run over today? I wonder what’s going on this afternoon. Did I turn off the light in the bathroom before we left?”

Those who think they have it all figure out have a problem. Especially those who think they have their spiritual lives figured out. As we continue our journey towards Easter during this season of Lent, I want to remind you of something that’s very important. The ones who eventually put Jesus up on the cross, weren’t those who were thirsty. They weren’t the ones who were responding to the invitation that we see here in Isaiah 55. They were the ones who were satisfied with where they were. They weren’t the scum of society; they were the best of the best. This is so crucial for us to remember as we continue our journey in the Christian faith. We need to always remember to thirst after the things of God.

The invitation is for those who have no money to come, buy and eat. There’s almost this image of a great banquet that is going on. This is even more significant when we understand it in its original context. In the ancient world, when a new king would assume the throne, he would often issue an edict declaring all debts to be cleared. He would call for a great banquet that would be enjoyed by the people of the kingdom. God is still God, so there is no new king on the throne, but He is declaring an edict that releases us from our debts. He is calling us together for a great banquet that will be enjoyed by all the people. It is a new day, and it is a day that is here because of Jesus Christ.

In verse 2, we are given a question to consider. God asks, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” We do this all the time, don’t we? We invest our lives into things that don’t really matter. Bread helps to sustain life, but we seek after so many things that don’t sustain life. We seek after stuff, after privilege, after power, recognition, glory, fame, and wealth. Whatever it is it does not sustain us. Why do we spend so much of our lives investing in things that don’t matter?

Our culture tells us that it’s all right go into debt to get the things that we want right now. Show me a single department store that doesn’t have a credit card of some kind. Even Wal-Mart has a credit card now. Our society tells us that we can have whatever we want whenever we want it. But these things do not sustain us. I have never heard of a single person whose life was saved by a larger television.

Now hear me out on this one. I’m not saying that it is bad for us to have things in this life. The problem is when those things become the focus of all our energy. People become workaholics so they can have more stuff. People stress out about their jobs so they can pay off the debt that they worked themselves into to get the stuff in the first place. I believe the expression is “keeping up with the Joneses,” but what happens when Jimmy and Jane Jones realize that they are still not satisfied with the stuff in their lives. I don’t know of anybody who felt like they finally had everything they wanted in life.

Think about the sports figures that have multimillion-dollar contracts, and hold out for more. Just a couple years ago, Alex Rodriguez opted out of a $25 million/season contract, and then re-signed with the Yankees for $27.5 million/season. What is he going to do with that extra $2.5 million? Is that going to bring him satisfaction in life? Doubtful.

When asked, “How much money is enough?” John D. Rockefeller famously answered, “Just a little bit more.” Rockefeller is also quoted as saying, “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends coming in.” And, “It is wrong to assume that men of immense wealth are always happy.” The first quote is from a person seeking after the things in this life that will never satisfy. The last two reveal the dissatisfaction of that same man. You see, when we constantly chasing after the stuff in this life, there’s always just a little bit more that we think we need.

Can you imagine what this world would look like if people chased after God with the same fervor that they chase after stuff? What would this world look like? And yet, in spite of the fact that God is the only thing that satisfies in this life, we are constantly seeking satisfaction elsewhere. We need to hear the invitation. We need to know that the things of this world will never bring us satisfaction because they can never sustain us. Only God can do that.

So let me ask you something today. Are you thirsty? Do you thirst after God? Does your heart leap when you hear the invitation to come and drink? Or are you satisfied? When you hear this call, do you say, “Nah, I’m all right. I don’t need anything right now.” We need to be people who realize that our sustenance comes from God. When Jesus is tempted in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry, he tells Satan that man does not live on bread alone, but on the very word of God. The physical bread that we eat can sustain us for a while, but it is only God who brings us to life.

Retiring Jordan's Number?

I was fiddling around on ESPN.com this evening, and came across a question on the SportsNation polls that was asking whether or not the NBA should retire Michael Jordan's famous #23. I imagine the question was sparked by the story that LeBron James filed paperwork to change his number (currently #23) next season.

Now, I think that Jordan was a heckuva player. He is definitely one of the best to have played in the NBA... ever. However, I don't think we should go out of our way to make him so sacred in the temple of basketball. I think retiring a number from the game entirely is something that should not be taken lightly. It should be reserved for players that have transcended the game in a major, sociologically and culturally significant way. Simply being perceived as the best is not enough.

To my knowledge only one number has been permanently retired in the major sports - Jackie Robinson's #42 was retired by Major League Baseball a few years ago. That was a person who made an impact that goes far beyond the game itself. When Katie and I went to Cooperstown in 2007, one of the displays that was the most awe-inspiring was about Robinson. He paved the way for so many of the game's best players, and wasn't too bad of a player himself.

Many people will argue that Babe Ruth, or Hank Aaron, or Willie Mays (and down the road, Albert Pujols) are the best players in the game. And realistically, you can make a case for all three of those guys. However, none of their numbers have been retired throughout the whole game.

So, essentially, what I'm saying here is - don't do it, NBA. Don't even consider it. Jordan was indeed one of the games greatest players, but how do you then justify retiring his number and leaving out other greats such as Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, Russell, or fill in the blank with your best player of all time. Jackie Robinson made a difference in American culture, not just in baseball. Michael Jordan is no Jackie Robinson.

Friday Five, 3/5/2010

Welcome back to this week's Friday Five! All sorts of excitement going on in the sports world, so let's dive right in!

#5 - Barry Zito and the Giants can't let things go.
So, apparently the Giants can't seem to let things go. After winning a game against the Giants in the 12th inning with a home run, Prince Fielder and his Milwaukee teammates scripted a little bowling sketch (maybe it was a cannonball, who cares?) that was so awful it could've ended up on SNL. The Giants felt slighted because, since signing Barry Bonds in 1993, they haven't been allowed to have fun on the baseball field. As a result, Zito drilled Fielder in the back with a first-pitch fastball in the first inning of their SPRING TRAINING GAME!!!! You'd figure a team with a weed-smoking Cy Young winner would know how to chill and let things slide.

#4 - Brittney Griner throws down... in more ways than one.
Apparently Baylor University's women's basketball program is becoming more and more indistinguishable from the men's basketball program. Brittney Griner has been making some waves for the #14 Lady Bears. She is one of the first females to dunk consistently on the basketball floor, throwing down some YouTube-worthy jams. Unfortunately, she did something the other night that was also YouTube-worthy. She threw a punch at a Texas Tech player, whose name I don't care enough to look up. Griner has been suspended for two games for the punch, which I don't believe was Hawaiian.

#3 - Jake Delhomme released by the Panthers
Who saw this one coming? Just over a year after signing a "lucrative" contract extension, the Carolina Panthers have released their QB Jake "the Snake" Delhomme. I was just thinking that maybe we should change his nickname to "the Quake" because the coaches trembled with fear every time he went to throw a pass. In all fairness though, I don't think this release was the right thing for Carolina. After all, it was Delhomme's horrible passing that turned them into a running team featuring Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams.

#2 - Canada beats Team USA on overtime goal by Sidney Crosby
The Olympic closed out on Sunday (finally!!!!!) with the men's hockey final between Canada and the US. As you can guess from the headline above, Canada won it on an overtime by Sidney Crosby. Upon returning to the home ice for the restart of the hockey season, Crosby was playfully booed by the hometown Pittsburgh fans, who apparently like it when Crosby brings them a Stanley Cup, but don't like it when he denies the US a gold medal.... bandwagon fans. They, however, may be excited to hear that the Pirates are considering making Crosby a midseason acquisition to extend their streak of losing seasons to 18. Because, let's face it, the Pirates aren't going to get anybody in the seats at the end of the season without such shenanigans. Seriously, I went to a Sunday afternoon game last September that couldn't have had more than 10,000 "fans" there.

#1 - Spring Training games have begun!!!!!
Baseball has returned!!! The Cards did manage to drop their opening Spring Training game to the Mets, but in their defense... nobody cares, it's Spring Training. The two clubs are meeting again today, and this time Pujols and Holiday will be in the lineup for at least two innings. It's showtime!

A Fork in the Road

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, February 28, 2010. The text for this week's message is Philippians 3:17-4:1.

Last week, we talked a little bit about the journey of the Christian faith. And it really is just that, a journey. In our Wesleyan theological tradition, we have an understanding of God’s grace that is shaped by this idea of a journey. We talked about the beginning step in our journey as we looked at what Paul had to say in Romans 10. The beginning of our faith journey is when we confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. At the point when we make that confession, that Jesus Christ is Lord in our lives, God’s justifying grace declares us not guilty of the sin in our lives. Justification is a legal term that points to the absolution of a crime. It is as though it never happened. But that’s just the first step in a journey that we go on for the rest of our lives.

The rest of the journey in the Christian faith is about drawing closer and closer to Christ. It is unrealistic to have the expectation that once you confess Jesus as Lord in your life that things will automatically get easier and everything will just fall into place. In fact, often, it is quite the opposite. When a person first comes to faith in Jesus Christ, things seem to stack up against that person. Times of crisis in our lives are the times when we are most vulnerable. Those are the kinds of times when we come to a fork in the road on our journey in the faith. We have decisions that we have to make.
What we are going to see in today’s passage is that there are two different paths that we can travel when it comes to faith.
There’s one path where we can press forward in spite of all the difficulties and continue to imitate Christ, and consequently become more and more like him. But there’s also another path where we fall away from the faith. On this path, we become less and less like Christ, until we have even forgotten the very confession that caused us to follow him in the first place. To begin with, let’s get some background information on Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi.

As with all of the books of the New Testament, there is some debate as to exactly when and where this letter was written. Reading through the letter as a whole, it is clear that Paul was in prison when he was writing it. There are references to him being “in chains,” as well as the imperial guard and Caesar’s household. A majority of scholars would place the letter as being written around 62 A.D. from Rome.

Philippi was one of the first churches that Paul founded in modern-day Europe. And you can read about that in Acts 16. Philippi was an important city in the Roman Empire. Luke tells us in Acts 16 that it was the leading city in the district of Macedonia, and that it was a Roman colony. It is significant that Philippi was a Roman colony because that meant all who lived in Philippi were considered Roman citizens. They did not need to pay taxes, and they were under the protection of the Roman army. In fact, there was a Roman garrison that was stationed in Philippi. It was also a key city along the Egnatian Way, a major trade route in the Roman Empire. To say the least, Philippi was an important city in Paul’s time.

Typically, as we read through Paul’s letters there is almost always some kind of issue that is being addressed. However, in Philippians, there really isn’t an issue that Paul is teaching about. Philippians is primarily a letter of encouragement from Paul to the Christians in Philippi. Paul has been in prison, but the Philippian church has continued to support him. What’s important to know about Roman prisons is that they were not a place where one was punished. They were a place where one was held until the end of one’s trial. They were holding tanks. A person in prison would be fined, beaten, exiled, executed, or released. That was about it. At this point, Paul doesn’t know what will happen to him. And yet, in spite of all that is hanging over his head, Paul is writing a letter of encouragement to the Philippians.

Throughout the letter, Paul encourages the Philippians to press on in their faith. There is going to be difficult times ahead, and they needed to hear this message from somebody who is in the middle of facing difficulties. When we get to today’s passage, Paul is telling them to be imitators of Christ. Actually, what he says is that they should imitate Paul and his fellow workers in ministry, who, in turn, are imitating Christ.

What is really neat here is the imagery that Paul uses at the end of verse 17. The word that is translated as “walk” is understood in the sense of how a person lives; how a person carries himself in life. And the word for “example” is sometimes understood as a stamp or a mold. In other words, Paul is encouraging the people to mold their lives in such a way that they are following his example of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And the thing about a mold is that it is something to which one must be shaped. Think about that imagery for a minute.

When the U.S. Mint makes a coin, it doesn’t just pour out the metal and hope that it comes out in the right shape. They are very intentional about making a pattern, heating up the metal and pouring it into that mold, so that when it does cool, it is in the shape that they want it. It is an intentional process. The same is true for those who want to be followers of Christ. People don’t follow Christ by accident. It has to be a very intentional decision to follow Christ, and to continue following Christ. The first step in the journey of the Christian faith is to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, but there is going to come a point, maybe even multiple points in this journey, when a person is going to have to decide whether or not to continue following Christ.

In Bible study this past week, we looked at a turning point in the Gospel of Mark. Follow me here, and I promise this will come back together. Jesus asks the disciples who people say that he is, and then he makes it more personal and asks them who they say he is. Peter replies, “You are the Christ,” and he’s absolutely right, but he doesn’t fully understand what he is saying when he makes this confession. And that is so true for many people today as well. Many people make the confession that Jesus is the Christ, but they don’t really understand what that means.

And so, Jesus defines what that really means – that he will have to be rejected, suffer and die, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead. Peter pulls Jesus aside at this point, and Mark tells us that Peter rebuked Jesus for his misunderstanding of the role of the Messiah. It is actually kind of comical if you think about it. Peter declares Jesus to be the Christ, and then proceeds to tell Jesus what this means. In response, Jesus rebukes Peter and calls the people over for some serious teaching of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

In Mark 8:34, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” The short version of the discussion that we had on this verse is that there are really two things going on here. The first is self-denial and the second is cross bearing. If these two are in place, then following Jesus is the logical result. And one cannot follow Jesus without either of these two things. You can’t just do self-denial and follow Jesus, and you can’t just do cross bearing and follow Jesus. It has to be both.

The Greek word for “denial” points to an intentional act of disassociation. So, when Jesus is saying that a follow needs to deny himself, he is saying that one must disassociate from the things that put oneself head of Jesus. We can’t be like Peter. We can’t pull Jesus aside and let him know how things are supposed to go. That’s not following Jesus. That is using Jesus to justify your self-desires. Big difference. And now, as we come back to Paul’s writing, we see that there were some who didn’t practice this self-denial.

There were some who Paul calls “enemies of the cross of Christ” because they went their own way. They were more concerned with their wants and their desires, than they were with following Jesus. In verse 19, Paul says that their god “is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” In other words, their desires guide them, not Jesus. And notice something very important here, Paul is not talking about non-Christians. He is talking about people who once made the confession that Jesus is Lord, but have now gone their own way.

These are the people that came to the fork in the road, and instead of following down the narrow path that Jesus is on, they decided that the broad path looked a lot more fun. They decided that the broad path looked easier. It was more pleasing to their personal desires. But here’s the thing, but paths go somewhere. We make the decision as to which path we travel on our journey, but let’s not be fooled into thinking that both paths lead to the same destination because they don’t. Paul is very clear where that broad path leads. It leads to destruction. This is not an easy word to hear. Is anybody else uncomfortable this morning?

Thankfully, this is not where Paul leaves us today. In contrast to those who decide to follow their own desires, those whose end is destruction. Paul comforts the Philippians by letting them know that those who continue on the narrow path, those who follow after Jesus have their citizenship in heaven – the ultimate destination on the narrow path. And remember, citizenship was serious business for the people in Philippi.

Citizenship is the definition of where our loyalty lies. Paul is reminding us that ultimately, our citizenship, our allegiance, our loyalty has to be to Jesus Christ. Earlier in the letter, in 1:27, Paul tells the reader to “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” This can also be translated “behave as citizens worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Ultimate allegiance is seen in our self-denial and decision to follow after Christ, even when it is difficult, even when the consequences of following him are dangerous. That is cross bearing, the second component of what it means to follow Jesus.

We bear our cross when following Jesus, following the will of God causes us to face consequences that seem disproportionate. For the first disciples, bearing their cross meant execution for every last one of them. For many Christians in the Roman Empire, bearing their cross meant facing the lions in the Coliseum. For many Christians in today’s world, bearing their cross means facing prison time for sharing the gospel, or capital punishment for converting to the Christian faith. But the simple truth is that we have to decide.

Do we want to live our lives on the broad path? Do we want to live a life chasing after our own desires, or having our belly as our God as Paul says? Do we want to have our minds set on the concerns of this world, things that will pass in time and have little to no bearing on eternity? Or do we embrace the words of Jesus? Do we confess that Jesus is Lord and live our lives in such a way that we are following Jesus? Do we remember that our citizenship, our final loyalty, is in heaven? Y’all, that is what the season of Lent is about.

It is about entering into the Christian community. It is about coming back into the Christian community. And truly living life, an abundant life, in relationship with our Creator. When it is all said and done, we do have a choice. It is one that has to be made, and when we don’t make it, we have made it. I’m not going to stand up here today and tell you that it is going to be easy because it is not always easy to follow Jesus – that’s why it is a narrow path. If it was easy, more people would go on it, and the path would be much broader. So as we continue our journey towards Easter, make a decision. Make a decision as to which path you want to be on, but know this – each path does have a destination.