Psalm 43:3,4; Matthew 5:13-16
June 1, 2008
One Step At a Time, Part 6
Where is a Christian to Go?
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
Way back on April 13th, we started this series of sermons entitled, “One Step At a Time.” My hope for the series was that it would be a bit of a refresher course for some of us, and perhaps a beginning course for others on the basics of the Christian faith to help us get on the same page.
We started on April 13th with the question, “What is a Christian?” Our primary Scripture was from Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is LORD, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) And we came to this conclusion: A Christian is one who believes that Jesus is LORD over all, and whose life is being continually transformed by that belief. We add that last part because the Scripture tells us that we shall know ‘them’ (meaning Christians) by their fruit (good works). A true Christian is one whose life confirms their confession of Jesus as LORD. It’s a great privilege to be a child of the King. But with the privilege comes great responsibility.
Next we asked the question: “What is a Christian to Do?” We used Romans 12 as our primary Scripture that day, zeroing in on the first verse: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” We came to the conclusion that in order for us to do all the things God wants us to do, in order for us live out our Christian lives like Jesus modeled for us, we have to be committed every day to placing our lives in his capable hands. We have to trust him enough to relax with Him. We have to be loose enough to allow his power to move in and through us. After a time, every morning, when we wake up, the first thing we think about is God – and how we can get with him, and stay with him throughout the day.
On May 4th, we asked, “How (not what) Should a Christian Think?” Romans 8:5,6 instructed us, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.” That was the Sunday I brought the little antique bird and birdcage as a teaching tool – and we concluded that we need to set our minds on God’s promises, not on our problems or our opinions or our interpretations of the circumstances in our lives. We need to get on the perch of God’s truths, and remain there singing our songs of thankfulness – taking every thought into the transforming light, and showing others the JOY of knowing Jesus Christ as LORD over all creation.
For the fourth week, we asked the important question, “What is the Church?” We used the wonderful teaching from 1 Corinthians 12 as our primary text that day. Our conclusion: The Church is a group of diverse people, who confess Jesus as LORD, who are gathered together by the one Holy Spirit, who work together for the common good, and who enjoy drinking of the Holy Spirit together! Jesus was Immanuel, God with us. We are now Jesus’ body here on earth. We are to be God to the world – using our gifts in tandem with each other to display God’s love wherever we go.
On May 18th, we asked the question, “What Should be the Motive of a Christian?” Our text was 1 Corinthians 13. Our motive for everything we do should be love for God and love for others. I need to be checking my motives all the time to make sure I’m not operating out of some self-serving motivation. I want to be in the constant habit of asking myself, “Am I doing this out of love for God and/or love for others, or am I doing this out of some selfish need or desire?” Love should be the motive for all we do.
Which brings us to this final installment in the series: “Where Should a Christian Go?”
Please listen with me to God’s Word from Psalm 43:3,4: “Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.
There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy.”
Now from the Gospel of Matthew 5:13-16, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp-stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Where is a Christian to go? Where we can be salt (keeping life full of zest and flavor, as Jesus surely did), and where we can be light in the darkness. The really awesome thing, I think, is that from Psalm 43, the writer shows us that we can and should pray that God himself will send his light and truth before us, so that we know the way to go.
• Is it a good idea to go to the Mall or to Cabellas with your credit card when your bank account is so low you’re not sure you can pay the electric bill?
• Is it a good idea to go to a party where people will be drinking alcohol and you’re not 21 yet?
• Is it a good idea to go anywhere that you know your light, that was given to you at the moment you confessed Jesus as LORD, will be dimmed or covered up by the companionship you’re choosing, by the circumstances you’re in, or by your own choice to hide who you are in Christ?
• Is it a good idea to go (and now, I’m not talking about actually traveling to a different location) somewhere in a conversation with someone that tears other people down and taints another person’s reputation? What does that do to my light?
• How about going to a house alone with your boyfriend or girlfriend when you have made a commitment to remain sexually pure?
Where is a Christian to go? We are called to go anywhere where we can shine the light of Jesus and keep shining it for others to see! We are called to go anywhere – and that “anywhere” may include the bowling alley.
In last Sunday’s Wall Street Journal, the following story was told:
“Nearly blind, Bill Hargrove bowled his last frame just a week before his death on May 5th, at age 106. The U.S. Bowling Congress, whose league records extend back to 1895, said he was the world’s oldest league bowler. Pursuing the record, which he achieved in 2006, may have helped him stay alive. “I was determined to get it,” he told reporters last year.
Each week, until he quit driving at 101, Mr. Hargrove would drive the 70 miles in the slow lane from his home in Clermont, Ga., to Atlanta to bowl with his senior-league team, Billy and the Kids. He was once pulled over by a state trooper. The trooper asked, “Sir, do you know why I stopped you?” Answered Mr. Hargrove, “Because I was the only one you could catch?”
He was an incredibly optimistic person,” says his daughter, Sandra Garnet.’
In his day, Mr. Hargrove maintained a good average in the high hundreds. But as his vision faded, he began bowling less than his age for the first time in his life. “It’s just upsetting that there’s nobody else in my age group that is still bowling,” he told the Associated Press when he set the age record.
Despite losing his wife in 1973, he didn’t want for companionship. Often rooting for him was his lady friend, Rachel Rose Lehmann, a youthful 102.
He kept his grip in shape by shaking hundreds of hands each week as head greeter and usher at Atlanta’s Grace United Methodist Church.”
Was Bill Hargrove a light in the bowling alley? Was he a light on the highway to that police officer? Was he a light in his church? Sure sounds like it to me. Just like we are supposed to be lights wherever we go. Like Paul Lim is a light, as written about in World Magazine’s May 31st issue:
“Ads last month on Ethiopian radio spoke of a "cleft clinic," a Project CURE program for children and adults with holes in their faces and their throats. I (the writer, Marvin Olasky) watched one afternoon as 20 patients, usually brought by their parents, came to Paul Lim, an American plastic surgeon who recently sacrificed security and a colossal income to move with his young family to Addis Ababa, the east African country's capital. God's mercy is evident in both the Lord's Supper and the fact that most of us are born with faces with the right number of holes. At six to eight weeks of gestation our faces usually fuse. For some reason, in some children, the parts don't fuse. They have extra holes between their noses and their lips. They need additional grace.
"We'll make his nose better," Lim (through a translator) told one mother holding her baby. "We'll make his lip better. Jesus brought us, brought me, here for him." The mom left wordlessly.
A 23-year-old who could be very pretty except for her malformation came in, looking ready to cry. She had unskilled surgery as a child and is now a teacher, with students who sometimes hoot at her. Lim: "We'll make your nose better. Jesus brought me here for you." She walked out, dazed: Will this miracle come to pass?
A teenage mom walked in holding a 1-month-old with a completely cleft lip. She sat, gazed at her baby, and smiled—no, glowed: She's in love with her baby. The father, a few years older, wearing a Michael Jordan 23 shirt, was unsmiling. When Lim said, "We will fix his lip," the mom beamed even more broadly, but the father remained stern. Then Lim said, "Jesus brought me, brought us, here for him." The man suddenly smiled, as if just getting it, and enthusiastically shook the doctor's hand.
A 13-year-old girl slipped in, holding up her scarf to cover her mouth. She uncovered her mouth only when seated before Lim—and her reason for hiding behind her scarf was immediately obvious. Lim maintained his composure, examined her, and said to the translator, "Tell her that she will need more than one operation. We will do everything we can to help. Jesus brought us here, brought us all here, for her." The girl again covered her mouth as she went out. Lim mentioned to me, "That's the first time I've seen this in person. We don't have this in the U.S.—I only saw pictures before."
A 12-year-old came in with his mouth frozen in a grimace. Malnourishment had provided the base for an infection when he was 5. Now he is missing a lot of tissue, skin, and part of his mouth. He had wanted to commit suicide, but Lim said, "We can help you. Jesus brought me, brought us here, for you." The grimace did not, could not (for now) change—but it will.
A father arrived from 50 miles away with his baby, who was dehydrated and shaking. The baby will get immediate help, and the operation will come later. Lim: "By God's grace we have an expert here on feeding children with cleft lip. Jesus brought us here for your son. That's why we are here." He says to a 7-year-old in a Yao #11 NBA shirt, "We will take care of this. Jesus brought me here for you."
Is it possible that some of the trouble people are in, is so that the Body of Christ will mobilize to shine the light of Jesus? Two thousand years ago Israelites asked Jesus why a man was born blind. He responded: "That the works of God might be displayed in him." So we ask a similar question: Why are some born with a cleft palate? The answer could be the same: So that God will be glorified through the works of those He calls to help.
Why are some living in below poverty conditions in Appalachia in and around Cosby, Tennessee? Could it be so that God will be glorified through the works of those He calls to go and help, face-to-face as Dr. Lim helps in Africa? Can we truly shine the light if we just send a check? Christians are called to go and be the light wherever God calls us to go. Surely it is true, that our Christian men and women in the military, throughout the generations, have taken Christ to places where the Gospel had never been heard. They were and are not just soldiers – they are light bearers for Christ!
Graduates, as those who have confessed Jesus as LORD, wherever you go, remember to pray as the psalmist prayed that God will send his light and truth before you, so that you can walk the Holy Highway, and shine his light in ways that are as unique and wonderful as God has created each of you unique and wonderful.
Let’s let our lights shine before others, so that they may see our good works, and give glory to our Father in Heaven! Amen.
June 1, 2008
One Step At a Time, Part 6
Where is a Christian to Go?
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
Way back on April 13th, we started this series of sermons entitled, “One Step At a Time.” My hope for the series was that it would be a bit of a refresher course for some of us, and perhaps a beginning course for others on the basics of the Christian faith to help us get on the same page.
We started on April 13th with the question, “What is a Christian?” Our primary Scripture was from Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is LORD, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) And we came to this conclusion: A Christian is one who believes that Jesus is LORD over all, and whose life is being continually transformed by that belief. We add that last part because the Scripture tells us that we shall know ‘them’ (meaning Christians) by their fruit (good works). A true Christian is one whose life confirms their confession of Jesus as LORD. It’s a great privilege to be a child of the King. But with the privilege comes great responsibility.
Next we asked the question: “What is a Christian to Do?” We used Romans 12 as our primary Scripture that day, zeroing in on the first verse: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” We came to the conclusion that in order for us to do all the things God wants us to do, in order for us live out our Christian lives like Jesus modeled for us, we have to be committed every day to placing our lives in his capable hands. We have to trust him enough to relax with Him. We have to be loose enough to allow his power to move in and through us. After a time, every morning, when we wake up, the first thing we think about is God – and how we can get with him, and stay with him throughout the day.
On May 4th, we asked, “How (not what) Should a Christian Think?” Romans 8:5,6 instructed us, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.” That was the Sunday I brought the little antique bird and birdcage as a teaching tool – and we concluded that we need to set our minds on God’s promises, not on our problems or our opinions or our interpretations of the circumstances in our lives. We need to get on the perch of God’s truths, and remain there singing our songs of thankfulness – taking every thought into the transforming light, and showing others the JOY of knowing Jesus Christ as LORD over all creation.
For the fourth week, we asked the important question, “What is the Church?” We used the wonderful teaching from 1 Corinthians 12 as our primary text that day. Our conclusion: The Church is a group of diverse people, who confess Jesus as LORD, who are gathered together by the one Holy Spirit, who work together for the common good, and who enjoy drinking of the Holy Spirit together! Jesus was Immanuel, God with us. We are now Jesus’ body here on earth. We are to be God to the world – using our gifts in tandem with each other to display God’s love wherever we go.
On May 18th, we asked the question, “What Should be the Motive of a Christian?” Our text was 1 Corinthians 13. Our motive for everything we do should be love for God and love for others. I need to be checking my motives all the time to make sure I’m not operating out of some self-serving motivation. I want to be in the constant habit of asking myself, “Am I doing this out of love for God and/or love for others, or am I doing this out of some selfish need or desire?” Love should be the motive for all we do.
Which brings us to this final installment in the series: “Where Should a Christian Go?”
Please listen with me to God’s Word from Psalm 43:3,4: “Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.
There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy.”
Now from the Gospel of Matthew 5:13-16, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp-stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Where is a Christian to go? Where we can be salt (keeping life full of zest and flavor, as Jesus surely did), and where we can be light in the darkness. The really awesome thing, I think, is that from Psalm 43, the writer shows us that we can and should pray that God himself will send his light and truth before us, so that we know the way to go.
• Is it a good idea to go to the Mall or to Cabellas with your credit card when your bank account is so low you’re not sure you can pay the electric bill?
• Is it a good idea to go to a party where people will be drinking alcohol and you’re not 21 yet?
• Is it a good idea to go anywhere that you know your light, that was given to you at the moment you confessed Jesus as LORD, will be dimmed or covered up by the companionship you’re choosing, by the circumstances you’re in, or by your own choice to hide who you are in Christ?
• Is it a good idea to go (and now, I’m not talking about actually traveling to a different location) somewhere in a conversation with someone that tears other people down and taints another person’s reputation? What does that do to my light?
• How about going to a house alone with your boyfriend or girlfriend when you have made a commitment to remain sexually pure?
Where is a Christian to go? We are called to go anywhere where we can shine the light of Jesus and keep shining it for others to see! We are called to go anywhere – and that “anywhere” may include the bowling alley.
In last Sunday’s Wall Street Journal, the following story was told:
“Nearly blind, Bill Hargrove bowled his last frame just a week before his death on May 5th, at age 106. The U.S. Bowling Congress, whose league records extend back to 1895, said he was the world’s oldest league bowler. Pursuing the record, which he achieved in 2006, may have helped him stay alive. “I was determined to get it,” he told reporters last year.
Each week, until he quit driving at 101, Mr. Hargrove would drive the 70 miles in the slow lane from his home in Clermont, Ga., to Atlanta to bowl with his senior-league team, Billy and the Kids. He was once pulled over by a state trooper. The trooper asked, “Sir, do you know why I stopped you?” Answered Mr. Hargrove, “Because I was the only one you could catch?”
He was an incredibly optimistic person,” says his daughter, Sandra Garnet.’
In his day, Mr. Hargrove maintained a good average in the high hundreds. But as his vision faded, he began bowling less than his age for the first time in his life. “It’s just upsetting that there’s nobody else in my age group that is still bowling,” he told the Associated Press when he set the age record.
Despite losing his wife in 1973, he didn’t want for companionship. Often rooting for him was his lady friend, Rachel Rose Lehmann, a youthful 102.
He kept his grip in shape by shaking hundreds of hands each week as head greeter and usher at Atlanta’s Grace United Methodist Church.”
Was Bill Hargrove a light in the bowling alley? Was he a light on the highway to that police officer? Was he a light in his church? Sure sounds like it to me. Just like we are supposed to be lights wherever we go. Like Paul Lim is a light, as written about in World Magazine’s May 31st issue:
“Ads last month on Ethiopian radio spoke of a "cleft clinic," a Project CURE program for children and adults with holes in their faces and their throats. I (the writer, Marvin Olasky) watched one afternoon as 20 patients, usually brought by their parents, came to Paul Lim, an American plastic surgeon who recently sacrificed security and a colossal income to move with his young family to Addis Ababa, the east African country's capital. God's mercy is evident in both the Lord's Supper and the fact that most of us are born with faces with the right number of holes. At six to eight weeks of gestation our faces usually fuse. For some reason, in some children, the parts don't fuse. They have extra holes between their noses and their lips. They need additional grace.
"We'll make his nose better," Lim (through a translator) told one mother holding her baby. "We'll make his lip better. Jesus brought us, brought me, here for him." The mom left wordlessly.
A 23-year-old who could be very pretty except for her malformation came in, looking ready to cry. She had unskilled surgery as a child and is now a teacher, with students who sometimes hoot at her. Lim: "We'll make your nose better. Jesus brought me here for you." She walked out, dazed: Will this miracle come to pass?
A teenage mom walked in holding a 1-month-old with a completely cleft lip. She sat, gazed at her baby, and smiled—no, glowed: She's in love with her baby. The father, a few years older, wearing a Michael Jordan 23 shirt, was unsmiling. When Lim said, "We will fix his lip," the mom beamed even more broadly, but the father remained stern. Then Lim said, "Jesus brought me, brought us, here for him." The man suddenly smiled, as if just getting it, and enthusiastically shook the doctor's hand.
A 13-year-old girl slipped in, holding up her scarf to cover her mouth. She uncovered her mouth only when seated before Lim—and her reason for hiding behind her scarf was immediately obvious. Lim maintained his composure, examined her, and said to the translator, "Tell her that she will need more than one operation. We will do everything we can to help. Jesus brought us here, brought us all here, for her." The girl again covered her mouth as she went out. Lim mentioned to me, "That's the first time I've seen this in person. We don't have this in the U.S.—I only saw pictures before."
A 12-year-old came in with his mouth frozen in a grimace. Malnourishment had provided the base for an infection when he was 5. Now he is missing a lot of tissue, skin, and part of his mouth. He had wanted to commit suicide, but Lim said, "We can help you. Jesus brought me, brought us here, for you." The grimace did not, could not (for now) change—but it will.
A father arrived from 50 miles away with his baby, who was dehydrated and shaking. The baby will get immediate help, and the operation will come later. Lim: "By God's grace we have an expert here on feeding children with cleft lip. Jesus brought us here for your son. That's why we are here." He says to a 7-year-old in a Yao #11 NBA shirt, "We will take care of this. Jesus brought me here for you."
Is it possible that some of the trouble people are in, is so that the Body of Christ will mobilize to shine the light of Jesus? Two thousand years ago Israelites asked Jesus why a man was born blind. He responded: "That the works of God might be displayed in him." So we ask a similar question: Why are some born with a cleft palate? The answer could be the same: So that God will be glorified through the works of those He calls to help.
Why are some living in below poverty conditions in Appalachia in and around Cosby, Tennessee? Could it be so that God will be glorified through the works of those He calls to go and help, face-to-face as Dr. Lim helps in Africa? Can we truly shine the light if we just send a check? Christians are called to go and be the light wherever God calls us to go. Surely it is true, that our Christian men and women in the military, throughout the generations, have taken Christ to places where the Gospel had never been heard. They were and are not just soldiers – they are light bearers for Christ!
Graduates, as those who have confessed Jesus as LORD, wherever you go, remember to pray as the psalmist prayed that God will send his light and truth before you, so that you can walk the Holy Highway, and shine his light in ways that are as unique and wonderful as God has created each of you unique and wonderful.
Let’s let our lights shine before others, so that they may see our good works, and give glory to our Father in Heaven! Amen.
