" The Little Red Toy Syndrome"

                               "THE POWER OF MATERIALISM LEARNED EARLY"

Sept 18, 2016  Readings:  Luke 16: 1-13, Psalm 79 and 1 Tim 2: 1-7

Let me begin with a modern day parable to ponder.  A young boy of 7 years approaches a sand box where some other children are playing and asks if he can join in with them.  After hearing a “no” the boy wanders off feeling slightly rejected.  He returns the next day to the same sand box and tries again.  The quick answer is “no” but as the boy turns to walk away someone in the crowd notices the bright red dinky toy in the boys hand.  “Just a minute”, said a voice from the crowd , “come here”,  what’s that in your hand, you can play with me.  Now I ask you who or what holds the power of persuasion here.  The boy, the voice from the crowd, or that little bright red dinky toy. 

  Today’s reading is all about the proper and improper use of money friends and material possessions.  

As strange as it may seem to us in the parable of the shrewd Manager Jesus actually commends the dishonest man for his cleaver thinking because the manager has realized the power he holds in his hand, this man is not stupid.    He knows that by offering to ease the burden of others, others will find favor in him and he believes that his actions will at least secure his future in this life, because it is the right thing to do, to ease the burden of others,   but you and I know that this dishonest method of doing so will eventually bring the shrewd manager nothing but heart ache and condemnation.   

Here in lies the first point for today lesson.  Jesus explains for us “ the wise use of worldly wealth”.    In verse 9 of the parable Jesus says “ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when your worldly wealth is gone, you will be welcomed into the eternal home.  Jesus is telling his listeners that goodness, good work, and generosity have their place not only in this life but also in the next.   Jesus points out that the managers shrewd thinking is not wrong, the use of money or material wealth to lighten the burdens of others is the right thing to do,  but illustrates in the next few verses that the use of a dishonest method to achieve favor in the eyes of others will eventually crush and condemn the man.  Have you heard the modern day proverb, what goes around comes around.  This is also illustrated in the writings of Paul as found in Galatians 6:7  Here we need to pay attention to use of material wealth in our own lives. 

Then Jesus goes on to make the second point in today’s lesson “Trustworthiness is measured by Character”:  Verse 10 tells us “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.  So if you have not been trustworthy in worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?  And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own”  The true riches of life are not about money, position, or power for the real riches of live can be found in peace of mind, contentment, and a good reputation, 1 Timothy 3: 7.   This person can be trusted by all.  Here we need to pay attention to who and what attracts our adoration in this life.  Take a moment to reflect upon the beginning story, a modern day parable. 

The third point in today’s lesson is “Our Service Must Be Singular”.  No servant can serve two masters.  Verse 13 tells us: either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  We cannot server God and satisfy the world.  We can either be a slave to our money, the economy, material possessions, or we can we serve God in all we have and in all we do.   Putting God first frees us from worldly entanglement, but not from serving as, we are called to serve both God and one another in the world.  It is there and only there that you will find true peace and contentment.  Contentment will not live in the house of wanting, greed or self-centredness, nor will peace live in the house of lies, kayos or war, it is impossible to serve both masters at the same time.  Just look at our world today.  Here we need to pay attention to how content, selfless, and at peace our lives or the lives of our families are today. 

Many continue to be deceived by the lure of power, wealth and worldly possessions in their lives.  These masters of disguise can lead us to make very unwise decisions, as illustrated in the parable {Luke 16: 1-13}.  They can become fertile ground for greed and self-centeredness, for kayos and war.   We all have the potential within us to feed the spirit of fortune and self-preservation.  It has an unquenchable thirst for power and control usually at great cost to others.  As a footnote I would also like to add, I think that we can use personal knowledge or cleverness to get out of life what we want, but it should never be at the cost of anyone.  God wants us to enjoy life.   We were given dominion over all things for our use and everything was meant for our pleasure, but not at the cost of others or of creation itself.  We were meant to be responsible stewards over all this wonderful planet and its natural environment.  As I mention earlier in the modern day parable, generally we learn very early on in life, the manipulative power material possession and money can give us over others.   Lord help us to be good stewards of creation and our material world.  Help us to share what we have to lighten the burdens of others around us.  

  

"Found But Not Aware"

September 11, 2016  Psalm 14 VU 735, Luke 15: 1-10

If someone in our community goes missing, what is the reaction of the community?   We are all affected to some degree, how?   What is the reaction when the one lost is found?   

That’s how it is in the household of God.   We can all relate to loss in some form or fashion and have experienced feelings of emptiness and despair at some point in our lives, but will rejoice if by some miracle or stroke of luck what was lost is found or what seemed lost is given a reprieve for the moment.  

Jesus introduces us to the nature of God in the parables of lost and found as we read from Luke Gospel today.  Here is a nugget for you if you have the ears to hear. Your spiritual nature and God’s nature are one within you.  That is why Jesus could make the bold statement: “I and the father are one.”   In fact you could make the same statement and it would be the truth.
 God’s nature is to love us no matter what our circumstances, to forgive, and restore us because we are God’s children.  Within that same nature God is constantly searching to help and find the lost.  From the very beginning God didn’t stay in Garden, Genesis 2 but came out to rescue humanity which chose to become the lost.  From the very beginning God didn’t stay in Garden, Genesis 2 but came out to rescue humanity, which and I repeat, chose to become the lost.
 It is still that way today folks, we choose to go it alone but God seeks to save and rescue us from ourselves.  God does not have a dualistic mine.  There are no winners or losers because unconditional love can’t lose, it is programmed to win and God always wins.  If God loses in your mind, your God is just to small.  Richard Rohr would say it is so simple that it is hard to teach.  None of God’s children are beyond salvation.  God’s grace is poured out on all both good and bad.   Jesus challenges the hearers to consider what it means to be a community of lost and found, are there boundaries, what boundaries does our community uphold.  In doing so he invites us to consider what God is like by considering our own personal experience.  

The crowds are pressing in around Jesus to hear his teachings.  All manner of people make up this community, and they gather around Jesus for a variety of reasons.  The Disciples to receive instruction, the Pharisees and Sadducees to keep tabs on Jesus’ radical teachings:  and the people who do not really belong anywhere because they have lived so much of life on the fringes of societal norms.  They are described as prostitutes, thieves, liars, murders, sinners was the word used by them, same today.  Meaning that they are the people that no one of stature should be caught hanging around with, for fear that their reputations will somehow stain them also.  This stereo typical idea comes from a very common saying that is believed to be by many true.   “You are known by the company you keep”.  Ever heard it before from a parent or relative. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth. 

Somehow these outsiders have crowded into their community and Jesus has completely thrown the community into a panic.   This was hardly a dinner list that anyone of any salt would put together, can’t you imagine the talk: “and here they fellowshipping with, eating and talking with Jesus”.   If anything was to place a wedge in the Jesus community this would be it and I’m sure side conversations began immediately, just as they do today.  “Who Invited “THEM”  why would Jesus embrace this man, or that woman?  “Does he not know who they are, the way they live and earn their keep.”  “Jesus talks of godly things on the one hand and yet he eats and makes company with the likes of these”.   What’s going on here?  Watch out folks, for you might just catch yourself in that conversation.  

Perceiving the growing division in the crowd Jesus speaks of God’s nature in parables, 3 parables in particular, about losing something, something they valued.  He wants them and us to begin thinking of what is most important in our lives.   For instance in the story of the lost sheep, the shepherd values the health, and safety of his flock, after all it is his source of income and stability.  The woman who loses a coin values the hard earned money she has scraped and saved to feed her family.  In the parable of the lost son which is next in the series of lost and found, the father never loses sight of his own, he values his children not matter what their circumstances or behavior might be.  God’s love keeps no records of wrongs. {1 Corinthians 13: 5-6}  God’s is the nature of goodness {Mark 10: 18} and unconditional love, a love so true that no one could possibly refuse it once you have experienced it.  So then who can remain lost in the presence of God especially we who understand that God is everywhere and in every person and thing.  All are found but many are just not aware of it yet, so, Jesus gives us that job folks, of making others aware.   

What for you is the most precious thing in your own life?   What it would be like to lose it?   It makes no difference how, whether it be through carelessness, theft, or circumstances beyond your control.  You would be devastated, maybe even to the point where you would feel that you could not continue on.   That life without it would seem empty and meaningless.    

According to Jesus’ teachings, the nature of God is to seek the lost and never give up the search.  God values everyone and when one goes missing or strays off, God goes into search mode. The nature of God is unconditional love and  rescue, a love that is tirelessly searching for its own.  Woven right in to the very seed that produced you is God’s nature and when we stray from it we feel the loss.    Scriptures tells us we are all like lost sheep waiting to be rescued.    Did you know that sheep when they stray, even though they are able to baa for help when in distress, out of fear they will not?   Instead a lost sheep from the flock will curl up and lie down in the wild brush, hiding from predators.  It is so fearful in it seclusion that it cannot help in its own rescue. 

Have you ever consider this?  Even though we are able to cry out in distress, fear also holds us back.   In this way we are like lost sheep gone astray and full of fear.   Why?  Instead of shouting out loud, we go quiet, turn inward trying to hide from our mistakes, our weaknesses, or shame, as did Adam and Eve in the creation story.    Often we feel unworthy of God’s love, lost and alone we curl up and hide within ourselves.  We are so afraid immobilized or lost that we cannot help in our own rescue.  For we all like sheep have gone astray the scriptures tell us.  Folks it doesn’t say some but we all have gone astray.  Therefore we are all in need of being rescued.  So God sends us a shepherd and the shepherd will carry the full weight of the sheep home.   If you are working through circumstances in your life that have immobilized you, may I suggest that you call on your Shepherd.  For God loved humanity so much that God gave to us a Savior found in Jesus the Christ and it is that love that has never give up on you.  

"Sacrifice for Sin Debunked"

Sept 4, 2016

How many of us have said yes to a commitment without thinking it through very clearly, without really weighting the costs involved, then found out it was more then you bargained for?  Example, joining a social group like the Lyons club, joining a religious group, church, getting marriage, having children, or taking on what seems like a lifetime mortgage.  

Well here is a question for us to consider this morning.  When you made your commitment to follow in the ways of God, what unexpected costs did you discover? 

Sept 4, 2016 Jeremiah 18: 1-11 Psalm 139 Luke 14: 25-33

Often we committee ourselves to a cause or organization without really weighing out the costs involved personally especially when it comes the commitments of time and to be a responsible participant.  We are all programed with a need to belong and often have not really considered the commitment we are actually making in order to belong. 

Today’s scripture readings are really all about surrendering to and the costs involved in making a commitment to follow in the ways of God.   May I suggest that when we make the commitment to follow in the ways of God, God must become the center piece in our lives?   In the metaphor found in Jeremiah this morning in order to be molded and shaped by the potter, first we would need to surrender ourselves as does the clay completely to the potter’s creative hands.  This is one commitment that even the most faithful struggle with, letting go and letting God direct your life.  We must learn to let go so God can mold and remake us.  It was then and still is today all about the commitment to a way of life that was taught by Jesus to the people of Judea both Jew and Gentile.   How to live in the world but not of the world.  Part of the cost of becoming a disciple for Christ is to become a server at the table of the love feast not just a participant.  We graduate from being a pupil to become a teacher, teaching others not just by words but by being the example, putting teaching words into actions.   The message is clear folks, there are costs attached to following Jesus and becoming one who is committed to God’s Way.  Let us take a critical look at what our commitment entails.   May I suggest that John Calvin born in 1504 provides us with a classical resource that can help us come to terms with our commitment to follow Christ?  It is broken down into 4 disciplines.   

1.  The discipline of self-denial:  This particular perspective or biblical understanding for self-denial has often been missed interrupted and miss used over the centuries.   May I offer this perspective to consider?  How many of us like goodies, or have a sweet tooth as we sometimes say.  Many of you know mine.  Without the discipline of self-denial for many of us, indulgence would have no cap.  Indulgence is not bad, but without self-denial our sweet tooth could lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and many others unforeseen problems.  Without self- denial there would be no reason to limit or to stop as indulgence turns into blind stupidity, entanglement, bondage or even worse addiction.  Over indulgence always leads to desensitization.   Without the discipline of self-denial we become selfish, self-centered, even self-destructive.  Our human nature can over power our spiritual nature, as we become desensitized to vulgarity, discernment, indecent behavior, poverty, killing and war.   Self-denial becomes for those who practice this discipline a great sense of freedom-from.   Self-denial does not mean that we deny ourselves the basic pleasures and needs of life, but it does require us to think about how we treat our bodies, and respect of self, neighbor and our natural environment.  To share and not to hoard or accumulate for ourselves any amount of excess.   This is not only good for us, but also good for our neighbor and for the planet.  If you have the wisdom to see this truth then self-denial offers you a freedom that no other discipline can offer and it is part of the cost of discipleship. 

2. The discipline of Cross bearing:   Here again, we may have missed this particular perspective of the biblical meaning of “pick up your cross and follow me”   Often in the early church and even today suffering was and is often self-inflicted.  People of religion often tormented their bodies with such as self-flagellation or extreme fasting almost to the point of death.  Our religion is rooted in the idea that we must suffer like Christ in order to get into a closer and more intimate relationship with God or Jesus.  Self- inflicted suffering and pain is not what bearing you cross is all about folks.  In fact Jesus debunks both animal and personal sacrificing within his teachings about servant-hood and unconditional love. There is no cost in being accepted by God, God loves us regardless of our foolishness.   God wants the opposite for us, our bodies and our health are sacred gifts to be cherished and respected not sacrificed.   Our scriptures tell us our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and not to be abused.  Bearing Your Cross according to John Calvin’s interpretation of scripture is simply the ability to retain your faith, while the storms of life are raging all around you.  Remember when Paul was in prison with his companions, they sang praises to God even though the threat of death was knocking at their door, in fact praise and gratitude are miracle drugs that stop fear from taking over your mind.   Cross bearing here means nothing can steal away your faith in God or in His Son not even death itself.   No one escapes the hardships and difficult circumstances of living, be it by accidents, losses or tragedy.  We must learn that suffering here means no matter how bad it gets, we never give up on God’s saving grace found through Jesus the Christ.   For those who have faith the Cross does not symbolize suffering and death folks, it is all about God’s amazing love and saving grace.  Bearing your Cross means never to allow bad circumstances or despair to steal away your hope found in Christ Jesus.

3.  The discipline of meditation:   The mystery of an after life is not something we can fully understand or even comprehend but by meditating on the words found in our scriptures, the promise of resurrection will become your reality.  All the self-help books and the advice of new age thinkers, will not sustain you if you cannot make the connection between their wisdom tips and the truth found within our scripture.  If the connection is not there, may I suggest, beware false prophets folks.   By constantly trusting and refreshing our faith through the words of scripture and meditating on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, it strengthens our faith which in turn helps us to bear our cross.  

4.   Proper use of God given talents and gifted-ness.    Our giftedness and talents were not mean to be horded or used only for self-interest or worse evil purposes.  

We were meant to be good stewards of our personal resources and the resources of our natural world. Here we could learn much from our aboriginal brothers and sisters. This discipline for the affluent and corporate society, can seem to be very costly and difficult to find a balance in life, especially where the demands of corporate profits and shareholders are involved.  Our human nature wants us to inventive and be progressive.  Our spiritual nature wants the same but not for profit at the cost of others or for selfish interest.   There is a cost to discipleship but for those who have chosen the way of Christ, the benefits outweighs the cost every time.    I guess it leaves us with this question:  Are you a fan of Jesus or a follower?  
                              "This is no Sacrifice, here's my Life"