Ken's Message

Christmas Concert Meditation(11Dec2011)

2011-12-10T14:28:00.000-08:00

Christmas Concert Meditation December 10-11, 2011
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ken Shigematsu. I'm one of the pastors here.
The theme of our concert is journeys. We have been singing about the wise men following the star.
Have you ever wondered why the wise men set out to bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to this new born baby in the first place?
Sure, they saw the star and Ancient Near East court astronomers believe that stars announce the births of great kings.
But why did they set out such a long journey from modern-day Iran to Bethlehem, a distance about the same as Vancouver to Winnipeg – but without the benefit of the TransCanada Highway, a journey which on foot and camel may have take between 6 months and a year?
These were educated, successful, wealthy men—they had it all—probably not kings, but senior advisors to the kings.
Why did they set out on such a long trek?
Longing…
They had all that they could have possibly wanted and still there was an inexpressible, inconsolable longing deep within them. As deep as the stars in the sky… a longing for meaning…a longing for fulfillment…a longing for a blessed life and so they follow the star.
The Wise men, the wise men, as we read in Scripture bring the baby Jesus: gold, frankincense and myrrh, but the truth is they were looking for a treasure in him. They were looking for the one in the words of the famous Christmas carol in whom: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met.”
We all have longing for a treasure and we seek to follow some kind of star.
When I was a young boy living in London, England, I remember standing in the backyard of our home. I was standing on the patio beside a rusting red wagon fantasizing about finding an old treasure map left by pirates with a big X in the middle (Use prop.) that would lead me to a treasure chest filled with diamonds, rubies, pearls, and lots of gold coins—or maybe I just wanted to live in a world where adventure on the high seas was possible.
We go through life looking for some kind of treasure, seeking some “star to follow.”
For me as a young boy it was a Pirate’s treasure.
For our three-year-old son Joey – he recently unwrapped a Toys "R" Us flyer and began to flip through it in search of some treasure – a fire engine and an adventure of his own.
We may call it by a different name. We may call it happiness, meaning, or significance. Aristotle said, “All people seek happiness. There are no exceptions.” (The word that he used in the Greek was which is often translated “happiness,” but can also be rendered “human flourishing” or translated literally “to be cared for by a benevolent deity.”) So, in Aristotle’s view we all seek happiness; we all seek to live a life of good fortune or blessedness.
Whether we believe in God or not, we seek happiness or significance--perhaps in sport, a special relationship,
As a young boy for me it the hope of finding a treasure left by pirates. As a somewhat older boy in high school treasure was accomplishing something in sport. As a teenager I was a big football fan and my hero was the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, Joe Montana. When our son was born, we named him Joe mostly after Joseph in the Bible, but also partly after Joe Montana.
When I had the unexpected opportunity to become starting quarterback on our high school football team – though it was just high school, at the time it was significant.
When I was in my twenties, I wanted to meet someone special and fall in love.
I felt really hard for someone. And here's a follow-up, I couldn't stop thinking about her. So you can iwise menne my happiness when we reconnected 10 years later. She asked, “Oh, Jeffrey right? From Berkeley.” “No, I’m Ken. From Canada.”
We didn't get off on the right foot, but ended up getting married.
We seek happiness or significance perhaps in sport or art, or in a special relationship, success at school and work, maybe a trip to an exotic, tropical place in the middle of the winter, maybe your dream car or even dream house. Perhaps that something brought you happiness initially, but then you got used to it, and you started looking for something else on the horizon to bring you happiness, or meaning, or real fulfillment.
The truth is that there is a part of the human soul that is so deep, so very deep, that nothing on this earth can fully satisfy us. We find ourselves searching.
Research conducted by Harvard psychologist professor Daniel Gilbert demonstrates time and time again we overestimate the amount of happiness we expect to receive from any given situation. We quickly get used to the new thing we thought would bring us happiness and it no longer gives us the same satisfaction.

But, the Christmas story is not a story primarily about the Wise men’s journey for meaning, or even about our search for happiness. The Christmas story is about God’s journey for what he considers to be a treasure of priceless worth.
Jesus of Nazareth told a parable about a person who discovered a priceless pearl and then sold everything that he had to buy the pearl. The living God considers us a priceless pearl. On that very first Christmas he, in effect, sold everything that he had…
The Scriptures tells us that God left the glorious splendor of heaven—shrank himself down, way down to the size of a single fertilized egg, an ovum, entered into the womb of a peasant teenager. God was born into poverty—under the gaze and the steamy breath of the sheep and cattle in that stable and was placed in a pile of hay that had been placed in the cattle feeding trough. When God, who had become a human being, was 33 years old, he voluntarily died on a Roman cross for our sins so that we could be forgiven…so that we could have a new beginning…so that we could enjoy a life with God and become an instrument of God’s peace and justice in the world.
We are on a journey in search of happiness, significance, meaning, treasure, but God’s story—the Christmas story—is a story about his journey to find a treasure…and that treasure is us.
If we find in our heart a restless yearning for something more, we can find rest in the Christmas story because the Christmas story tells us that the only one who can satisfy the deepest part of our soul, the God who became a human being to know us, has come for us in Bethlehem, and he comes to us tonight and if we would like, we can receive this gift.
You are searching for the treasure, but the treasure has come to you.
If would like, you can pray these lines from one of our famous Christmas carols:
O Holy Child of Bethlehem descend on us we pray,
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us today.

Simply Christmas(2011Dec04)

2011-12-05T15:56:00.000-08:00

Series: Advent M2 11 12 04
Title: Simply Christmas
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu with Randy Hamm
Text: Luke 2:1-16, 24
BIG IDEA: In contrast to our consumer culture, the Christmas story leads us to a simple life.
When I was a boy, one of my favourite TV programs was The Six Million Dollar Man. (Show image.) Steve Austin was an astronaut who experienced a malfunction in his rocket as it was launching…. He says “I've got a blowout, paper three, I can’t hold it, she's breaking up, she's breaking up…” He nearly died as a result of this accident.
In the opening narration we hear:
“Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.”

And back in that day they spent $6 million dollars rebuilding Steve’s legs, his right arm and one of his eyes so that he functioned in part like a robot. He could run up to 60 miles an hour. He could throw a football 150 yards with the flick of a wrist. His right eye was like a telescope.
As a boy, not only did I love that show, but from time to time I fantasized about having a bionic arm so that I could throw the football further and with more accuracy, or bionic legs so that as a receiver I could outrun the coverage. If I had the opportunity to design my own arm strength and speed, I would choose to be The Six Million Dollar Man, the bionic man.
If you had the opportunity to design your life, your strength, your appearance, your socio-economic status before you were born, how would you use that power? If you chose to come to earth as a guy, would you want to look like Brad Pitt (Show photo.)

Or as woman perhaps like Halle Berry (Show photo.)

Would you want to have the net worth of someone like Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey?
The one person in history who had the opportunity to design exactly what he would look like before he was born, and exactly what his net worth would be before he came into the world, was God, when he decided to become a human being in Jesus Christ.
The Scripture tells us in Isaiah 53 that Jesus Christ would have no beauty and nothing in his outward appearance that would make us want to be with him. We are also told that he had no majesty, no trappings of royalty…. no procession or carriage, like Prince William and Kate:

… that we would be drawn to him. In fact, quite the contrary. When God becomes a human being in Jesus Christ and decides to enter the world, he leaves behind the unimaginable splendor of heaven, shrinks himself down to the size of a singular fertilized egg, an ovum, and lodges himself in the womb of a peasant teenage girl named Mary.
We know from this story when God becomes a human being in Jesus Christ, he voluntarily chooses to be born into poverty. He chooses not to be born in a clean, private hospital room at BC Children's in 2011, nor even into a proper home, but according to Luke 2 he is born into a kind of stable under the steamy breath of the cattle and sheep. After he was delivered and his umbilical cord was cut, he doesn't have a proper crib so he's placed on a pile of straw, in a cattle feeding trough.
We know from the sacrifice that Mary and Joseph made at the temple after Jesus was born, when they offered “the pair of doves,” that they were offering something that was permissible only for the poorest of families.
So when the King of kings, the president of presidents, the prime minister of prime ministers, the God of the universe decides to become a human being, he moves from unimaginable splendor and wealth to poverty. He becomes human in the most dramatic of ways, like no-one else ever before or after him--he voluntarily plunges downward.
This why the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8:9
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
First Christmas is about God voluntarily becoming poor.
In sharp contrast to that, ironically so much of today’s Christmas is about consuming, about buying… accumulating. Not all of that is wrong. There can be a beauty in giving a thoughtful gift or expressing our gratitude to someone.
But the trajectory of the Christmas story, and the arc of the way of Christ, however, is one where we are called to move toward simplicity—toward a simple life: though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
I know that the most famous and successful churches in North America like Lakewood Church in Houston pastored by Joel Osteen does many great things, but if you listen to him and some other mega church preachers who promote what is billed as “the health and wealth gospel,” you will hear that if you follow the way of Jesus, you are going to become more successful, more healthy, more wealthy. The health and wealth gospel is a very popular message if you are in North America, in Africa, and certain parts of the developing world, but it is not a biblical message. The Bible clearly shows us that God in becoming a human being chose the way of simplicity.
I have been powerfully impacted by the teaching of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish follower of Christ who lived in the 16th century and founded the Jesuits. St. Ignatius talked about the three degrees of humility.

The first degree of humility: always obey the Word of God by living a life of integrity. As we saw last week when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ, the mother of God, even though she knew that that decision as an unwed teenager would cause her to become mired in great scandal, as it would appear that she had been unfaithful to her fiancé Joseph, she simply replied, “Yes, may it be to me as you have said.”
In the first degree of humility we are called to say “yes” to God whenever he asks us of something, or asks us to do something, or to not do something.The first degree of humility means we would never do something that would cut us off from God.
The second degree of humility: be completely open to will of God. According to Ignatius, it is that when you are presented an option in life, you strive to be free in our spirit, completely open, in a sense indifferent or detached. We don’t want to lean heavily toward a particular option, but rather open to whatever life presents. So, we have a choice that would bring wealth or riches, honor or dishonor, long life or short life; we are just open to the will of God.
In the third degree of humility: choose the path of Christ, the most perfect way, according to Ignatius, where you consciously seek to follow in the footsteps of Christ. This is going to sound crazy and I certainly have not been able to embrace this in any significant kind of way, but Ignatius would say, “If you have the option between riches and poverty, between honor and dishonor, between a long life and a short life, lean toward the latter. Lean toward poverty; lean toward dishonor; lead toward a short life—because that was the way of Jesus.
Now, I know that sounds absolutely crazy and perhaps even sick to some, but for those who have chosen and have been open to this path, they have found a surprising freedom and joy. Even for me, and this may surprise you because I am a pastor, but as my wife and people who know me well are aware, I have always been an extremely competitive person in sport and in other areas of life. Ignatius’ three degrees of humility have freed me from my need to climb some kind of ladder of worldly success. I feel greater peace. I feel a real gift in that.
When we talk about moving toward a simple life in a way that is consistent with the true Christmas story--who though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich, and not the commercialized Christmas story, and the true trajectory of Jesus Christ, not the arc that is articulated by “health and wealth” preachers, it may sound crazy, but I believe that Jesus wants to show us a different way of life that is ultimately richer, more fulfilling, and deeply more satisfying.
When a monk enters a monastery, they take a vow of poverty and give away their worldly possessions to the order, to their family and friends outside the monastery. Some people think they have gone crazy. Others feel sorry for them. The monks themselves don’t see it that way at all.
James Martin, now a Jesuit priest, graduated from the prestigious Wharton School of Business and then worked in finance for General Electric. He describes his experience of entering into the Jesuit community as a novice and giving away his possessions:
My money and car went to my parents. My suits would sit in my parents’ house in case the novitiate didn’t work out. (I wasn’t taking any chances.) The rest of my clothes went to Goodwill Industries, which would distribute them to the poor. My books went to friends who dropped by one sultry afternoon to scour my bookshelves. "I wish more of my friends joined religious orders," said one friend….
[Writing more than 20 years later] I can still remember the initial burst of happiness I felt. How liberating it was! No more worrying about whether my suits were the proper shade of gray, my shoes the right brand, my ties the appropriate hue, no more worrying about whether I should rent an apartment or buy one. No more worrying about whether I needed a new this or a new that.
While most of us will not take formal vows of poverty like James Martin, we can also feel the joy that comes from simplifying our lives: by giving away what we don’t need (if I haven’t worn something in a year—as long as it’s still in good shape, I give it away to the Salvation Army. I love it.)
My older sister lives in the Silicon Valley near Stanford University. She and her husband are executives in a high tech firm. Since my sister was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago, she took chemo and radiation, and as far as we know she is in the clear, she has wanted to de-clutter her life. She recently sent me an e-mail and said that she had just got rid of bunch of stuff including a pile of CDs—and felt so good.
Part of the reason it can feel so right to de-clutter and simply our lives is because we will find that some of our material possessions not only do not bring us true lasting fulfillment, but in some cases can actually come between us and God. We may find ourselves joy uncluttering our lives so that we are spending less time and energy cleaning, maintaining, protecting, and worrying about our stuff so that more of us is available to God and others.
Randy Hamm, who for several years served as our pastor of small groups and for the last year or so has served as our pastor of family ministries, is a wonderful brother in Christ. We have so appreciated his loving spirit. His official pastoral ministry will come to an end at the end of this year. On December 18 we will take more time to honor him at all the public services.
Today I am going to invite him to come and talk a little bit about how he and his family have simplified their lives for Christmas.

RANDY:
When I think of Christmas one image that comes to mind is the Bright Lights at Stanley Park – great event to raise money for the Firefighters Burn Fund – go support them. One year in the midst of bright lights, hot chocolate and crowds of people, we found a nativity. Most of the characters were there, but in random order – but there was no Jesus – not even a manger.
Perhaps you’ve felt like that – I know I have – when you get to the end of Christmas – lots happened but we’ve missed what is most important. As a family we make some intentional choices to focus in the gift of Christ with us at Christmas.
We are intentional about where and how we shop. Instead of going to the mall, with its relentless consumerist message and usually very cheesy Christmas music, we opt for the all homemade craft fair with a social justice bent to it. Or we go to fundraisers like the Living Waters auction where we get great gifts and the money goes to a cause we believe in. We’ll shop on Main Street, places we can walk or bike to. We challenge ourselves to get creative and make something – a painting, craft or woodwork. And sometimes we give the gift of time, with a coupon book of experiences or tickets for an event we can share with the person.
We love to consider who we are shopping for and give them something that to is meaningful to them. One year I had my dad and instead of just getting him another tie, or sweater or dvd to sit on the shelf, I found something in the world vision catalogue that caught my attention. A gift to someone who really needs it on behalf of your gift recipient. Have you seen these? Used them? My dad was a teacher – so I gave kids in Africa school books and all he got was a certificate thanking him. At first he was confused, then his eyes lit up. He loved it. (and probably loved not getting another sweater). You can even create your own wishlist online – go on and buy me goat! When I talked to my parents this week they mentioned how they donated a bamboo house for someone in Thailand as their gift to each other!
We also teach our kids about Christmas – including St. Nick – the real one and how he gave gifts to the poor – those who really needed it. That’s the spirit behind Santa. BTW Dec 6th is the day the church traditionally celebrates St Nick– so this is a great time to consider who you could give to so that you love all.
Easing up on the craziness of the Christmas schedule is another way we simplify. We do it so we can focus on relationships. Its not about how good the party is or how well we’ve decorated, its about the depth of relationship that happens.
A couple years ago I found out about Advent Conspiracy – a group of people that are fighting for the real message of Christmas. They teach us to spend less, give more and love all – as I’ve talked about, but they also encourage us to Worship Fully at Christmas. In Matther 6 Jesus said For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Yes – we love the parties, the gift giving, the music – we’ll watch the Grinch and Charlie Brown, we’ll go shopping. But that’s not where we want our hearts. That’s why we simplify – to keep our focus. Last week we pulled out our advent tree and began reading through the story of Scripture to remind us of why Jesus came. Daily we turn our thoughts to the gift of Christ and how we can help others. As a friend, husband and father – that’s what I want to remember this Christmas. When we come to Boxing Day – I want know that Jesus was front and center. That we’ve grown in relationship with Him and others.
So this Christmas – may you Spend Less, Give More, Love all and above all – Worship Fully.

Show Advent Conspiracy video

Simplifying our lives isn’t just something that makes our lives lighter and more joyful, but it really gives us an opportunity to bless others.
As Randy and the Advent Conspiracy put it, we can spend less, we can give more and worship fully.
Sarah, as some of you might remember, and her husband Ziggy were actively involved in Tenth while Ziggy was pursuing a master’s degree at Regent College. During that time, Sarah served on our office staff here at Tenth. One day we got talking and Sarah told me part of her life story.
She said that when she was 20 years old and a university student, she loved drinking wine at parties and boldly extolling the virtues of Nietzsche’s philosophy. And how secretly on the inside she was afraid of leading a meaningless, mediocre existence. So when she was invited to go on a mission trip to a very poor part of Nepal with a Christian mission called Operation Mobilization, she went.
Sarah said, “I was absolutely blown away by the generosity of the Nepalese people. They were destitute. They had no money, and yet they gave sacrificially to each other. But, when they had me over for dinner, they would always give their very best.”
At the end of the summer, Sarah met with the leaders of the mission. She had been so deeply moved and so profoundly touched by “the unbridled kindness and hospitality of the poor” in Nepal, she asked her leaders, “How can I express my gratitude for all that I have experienced this summer? I want this summer to be more than a fleeting experience, more than just another page in the photo album of a tourist.” One of the mission leaders said, “Why don’t you make a commitment to living simply, and to giving generously? Why don’t you assess what you will need to live on and then plan to give the rest away?” (This is a practice sometimes described as proportionate giving.)
Up to that point in her life, Sarah had been a student and had been giving 10% of her income away, but no more—a tithe—which for the Christian is the biblical starting point. ‘That felt painful,” Sarah said. Ziggy, who at the time had been a friend at university and is now her husband, said, “If our financial giving ever stops being painful, then we are not giving enough.” Though Sarah was just an undergraduate student at the time, she made a commitment to giving generously. She said, “Some years are more financially uncomfortable than others, but we find that we can always afford what we truly require. Every year regardless of our combined income, we’ve made an effort to increase our giving. To be sure that is always a little painful. Our goal is to give 80% of our income away. We’re not there yet, but last year we upped our giving by 5%.”
Knowing that Ziggy was a student and Sarah was working as receptionist at our church, and I knew how little she made, I asked, “How is that possible?” She said, “We dipped into our savings to give more to missions.”
Ziggy and Sarah would say, “Our commitment to simple living and to giving as generously as we can, sometimes in the moment feels a bit painful, but don’t feel sorry for us. We love this way of life.”
There is a purposefulness and a sense of joy in their lives that is apparent to all who know them. Again and again, Ziggy and Sarah have stepped out in faith. And they have testified how God has miraculously provided for them.
That, of course, is not just true for Ziggy and Sarah, and when people make a commitment to follow in the way of Jesus, to simplify their lives, to de-clutter, to give as generously as they can, there is a sense of adventure, a sense of gratitude and joy, and a sense that their life has is being used for a higher purpose.
For so many human beings we have a tendency to grasp and to hold on to what we have. But there is a beauty and a joy and an attractiveness in living simply and to giving generously.
Do you remember June 15 of last year? That morning I went bike riding with a friend here in Vancouver. His family has season’s tickets for our hockey team. We were riding on the morning when our Canucks would be playing in a historic game seven of the Stanley Cup Final. I asked him, “Are you going to the game tonight?” “No – I decided to give my tickets away [which people would have paid thousands of dollars for].”
Knowing he’s a hockey fan, I asked him, “Are you okay with that?” I thought he must have experienced a tinge of wistfulness, but he simply said, “I wanted to show kindness to this person… (The person isn’t a Christian. I want in some small way to demonstrate the way of the Gospel.) And so I was glad to get away the tickets…” and he beamed with joy.
There is joy in the way of Jesus: though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
There is joy in simplifying our lives so that we can make others rich.
When we live this way, we will not experience a nativity scene without the Christ as Randy did at Stanley Park.
As simply Christmas, spend less, give more, and worship fully, and we will experience Christ at Christmas.

Prayer:
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

S

Connecting the Dots at Christmas(2011Nov27)

2011-11-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

Series: Advent M1 11 11 27
Title: Connecting the Dots at Christmas
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Text: Galatians 4:4; Luke 1:26-38
BIG IDEA: We are called to entrust ourselves to the sovereign story of God.
Haddon Robinson, a professor of mine at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, who spoke here several years ago, tells the story about a married woman from the mid-west who decided to take a trip on her own around the world. She was planning to fly from North America east to London, then to Paris, on to Rome, Vienna, and so on. When she got to London, she phoned home to ask how their dog Lucky was doing. Her husband said, “Lucky died.” The man’s wife started weeping, then got angry. “You thoughtless, insensitive brute! Why did you have to tell me Lucky is dead!”
Her husband said, “What was I supposed to tell you?” She said, “Well, you could have told me that Lucky was walking around on the roof. When I got to Paris, you could have told me that Lucky fell down from the roof. When I got to Rome, you could have said that Lucky is not feeling very well. And when I got to Vienna, you could have said, ‘Lucky died’.” Then his wife asked, “How is mother doing?” “She is on the roof.” The woman thought that her husband’s timing in telling her the news about her dog being dead was bad.
Have you ever felt that something in your life had bad timing? Or some person or circumstance entered your life at the wrong time?
Today marks the first Sunday of Advent. And I wonder if Mary, who would go on to become the mother of Jesus, ever thought that the timing of her pregnancy was bad. Some of our best biblical scholars say that Mary was probably only 14-15 years old when the angel Gabriel approached her to tell her that the Most High would come upon her and that she would become pregnant with the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Malcolm Muggeridge has pointed out that if Mary had become pregnant today the baby inside her womb would likely not have been allowed to live and experience birth. Mary was a teenager when she got pregnant. She was poor. The father was unknown. All of these factors would have made Mary an obvious candidate for an abortion today. People now would say, “Mary, you cannot raise a child. You are a teenager. You have no money. You have no education. Stop talking about being impregnated by the Holy Spirit or you are going to get a one-way trip to the psychiatric ward.”
As Kristen Rumary pointed out in her wonderful sharing a couple of a weeks ago, when we together addressed the theme of being single and spiritual, because Mary lived in a much more traditional time, and for her to become pregnant during her betrothal period when it would have been considered scandalous for her to be perceived to having had sex during that period would have mired her in an avalanche of shame, and if the letter of the law was followed exactly, even the death penalty. To make matters worse, Mary’s pregnancy occurred during a massive Roman census which required the Jewish people to travel to their places of birth to register. Even a pregnant woman would be required to travel. So Mary, who was expecting a child, and Joseph were forced to travel to Bethlehem to register as part of the census.
That trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem would have been over 100 kilometers. It would have been a trip further than Vancouver to Whistler. Remember that is on foot, perhaps with the aid of a donkey.
You know the story in Bethlehem. Because there so many people crowded in the small town for the census, there was no room for them in any hotel or motel. They didn’t even have any friends or family with available floor space, and they were forced to find shelter in a cold cave, with the stench of the cattle and the sheep in their nostrils.
If we focus the lens of our camera on Mary alone, we can easily conclude that given her age, the fact that the census would force her as a pregnant woman to travel, the fact that she would find no suitable place to give birth once she got to Bethlehem, we can easily conclude that Mary’s pregnancy was ill-timed. Maybe at times Mary whispered, “God, are you sure about the timing of all this?”
Have you ever had an experience where you felt like saying, “God this is bad timing!”? When my friend Sam Rima who was staying with us last weekend sensed God calling him to attend seminary, he was in his early 20s, fairly recently married, without much money and no medical insurance and then three weeks before he was going to enroll seminary in Southern California where he and his wife new no one--his wife Sue announced, “I'm pregnant.” About three weeks before we were to leave for seminary, Sue found out she was pregnant! San cried, "How could you do this to me!!" Sue’s dad said to Sam, "Surely you won't be going down there now – you could probably get your old jobs back." Have you ever experienced something felt like bad timing?
As we focus the camera lens on Mary’s life, we could conclude from our human perspective that the timing was off. But when we read Galatians 4:4 and with the benefit of hindsight, we can understand: 4But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law (Galatians 4:4 KJV).
In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son. What does the expression “fullness of time” mean? It means that there was a perfect time for Christ, the Saviour of the world, to be born. Learning from the beginning of time, if you scroll way back to the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, God says to Adam and Eve, after they sinned in the Garden of Eden, “I am going to send you a Saviour.” Later in Genesis, Chapter 12, God approaches a Middle Eastern nomad named Abraham and tells him to leave his country, his relatives, everything that was familiar to him, and to go to a land that God would show him. God promised that through Abraham’s seed all the nations of the world would be blessed. The seed that God was referring to would be Jesus. God promised to one of Abraham’s great-great-great-great grandsons David that he would send a Saviour trhough his family line, and through the prophet Isaiah God promised that a Saviour would be born miraculously of a virgin. The prophet Micah foretold that the Messiah would be in Bethlehem.
From the very beginning of human history God had whispered that he would send someone who would fulfill “the hopes and dreams of all the years.” And God always knew when the fullness of time would be to send his Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
As we look back from the perspective of history, we know that the timing of Jesus’ birth was perfect. It was the right time politically for Christ to be born. The Roman Empire in many ways was at its Zenith. The empire, of course, had many flaws. But it had some virtues too. One of its virtues was that it was fairly tolerant of other religions. The Roman Empire had conquered many different nations with people of different races and religions, and the Roman Empire for the most part was fairly tolerant of different religions as long as they would proclaim that Caesar was God. This worked for most of the ethnic groups, but there was one exception--the Jews. The Jews said, “We worship only Yahweh.” The Jews were so adamant about this that they would not change, even after decades of being intimidated and, in some cases, martyred. So the Roman Empire finally said, “We will grant an exemption for the Jewish people.” The Romans did not require the Jews to declare Caesar as God.
During this privileged position where they did not have to proclaim that Caesar is God, a freedom that was present at the time of Jesus’ birth, and was present in the world until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Roman Empire did not force the Jewish people or the Christians (they assumed that Christianity and Judaism were the same thing), they did not force Christians to proclaim that Caesar was God.
In this environment of freedom, Christianity, for this and many other factors, spread like wildfire.
Jesus was born into a time of relative peace. When the emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated there was great civil war in the Roman Empire. As his reign closed and Caesar Augustus came to the throne, which was about 25 years before the birth of Christ, peace broke out throughout the Roman Empire and there was relative peace for the next 200 years. Because of this time of peace, the Roman men were not tied up in battles, so they were free to build roads throughout the Roman Empire. Travel was safe. People could travel with ease. Hence, the expression was coined: “All roads lead to Rome.” In this environment the gospel was free to spread to the known world.
It was also the right time culturally. Because of the time, conquests of Alexander the Great before Christ was born, 350 BCE, many people spoke Greek. Greek language and culture brought an element of cohesion to society. More people were being educated and more people than ever were able to read than ever before. So when the New Testament was written, it was written in Konie Greek, the language the majority of the people understand. Because it was culturally oriented, the message of Jesus spread more quickly.
And it was the right time spiritually--there was the spiritual openness. Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle had done a wonderful job raising questions about the meaning of life. Some people say that Greek philosophies plowed the fields and Christianity came and sowed the seeds of meaning.
The average Roman citizen was tired of the same old religions. The mythological gods of Greece and Rome were losing their grip on many people. Everyone was hungry for something more. It was a time when people were longing for a relationship with God that was real, and more than just about keeping certain rules.
So we see in the Christmas story the perfect timing of God, that in the fullness of time God sent forth his Son. Some of us may say, “Well, that may be true of Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God, the Saviour of the world, but would that be true for me?” Would God's timing be perfect in my own life?
In Proverbs 16 vs. 1 we read: In human beings belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the proper answer of the tongue (Proverbs 16:1).
Then in verse 9: In their hearts human beings plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps (Proverbs 16:9).
In Acts 17:26 we read: From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands (Acts 17:26).
This does not mean that our lives will be free of stress and suffering. As we just noted, Mary’s pregnancy as a poor, unwed teenager in a very traditional society would have brought great shame upon her, yet God was fulfilling his purpose in and through her.
For Jesus, the will of God meant going to the cross, serving as a sacrifice for our sins. And his destiny for us may be a cross as well, but as was true for Jesus God will create good out of it and find a way to bring glory to his name. We see this throughout Scripture.
In Genesis we read that Joseph’s brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery. They told their father that Joseph had been killed by a wild beast. Joseph, who became a slave in Egypt, was unfairly accused for making a sexual advance toward the wife of his boss Potiphar and was thrown into prison. He was eventually released and worked with such wisdom and effectiveness that he became the prime minister of Egypt.
Then there was a great famine in the region. Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to get food from Egypt. They ended up meeting with the prime minister, who was Joseph, but whom they did not recognize. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and said, “Look! I am your brother,” his brothers were deathly afraid. They were terrified. They thought Joseph would have them all executed. But Joseph said to them:
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you ( Genesis 45:4-5).
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Genesis50:20).
In ways that we are not aware, God is guiding our lives.
If you read the book of Esther, even though the word “God” isn’t even mentioned once in this book of the Bible, we see God’s providential hand throughout. In a story similar to Joseph’s, Esther ended up being nominated and winning the Miss Persia contest. The king does not know that she is a Jew. Then one of the king’s evil pawns aspires to have all the Jewish people exterminated because one of them offends him. Esther as queen is urged by her uncle Mordecai to intervene and to plead on behalf of her people. And he says, “Who knows, perhaps you have been elevated to the position of queen for such a time as this.”
In ways that we may not be fully aware of, God is guiding our lives. As is true of Mary, as is true of Joseph and Esther, that doesn’t mean that we will be free of suffering, but it does mean that God is for us, even in the estranged and difficult times of our lives. As one pastor puts it, God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up, he is plotting the course of managing the troubles for far-reaching purposes, for our good and his glory.
It is a mystery how God uses our free choices to serve his eternal purposes. As esteemed theologian J. I. Packer puts it in his book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God: “The tension between our free choice and God’s sovereignty is a paradox and an apparent contradiction that our minds cannot fully comprehend.” Those of us who were raised in the West have a difficult time with paradoxes and seeming contradictions. But as people from Asia and developing world can fully appreciate, the Scriptures which affirm both-- as J. I. Packer puts it is an antinomy, a paradox, a seeming contradiction in terms. He points out that light has sometimes been observed as a "particle" and at other times as a "wave," yet we accept with this apparent paradox.
In God sovereignty gives us free choice and yet guides our lives to serve his purposes of history.
Last weekend as I mentioned my friend Sam Rima was staying at our house:
When Sam and Sue arrived in LA. Sue was hoping to work as a waitress (the only job she had ever had) to put them through seminary – not a promising prospect for someone who would soon be six months pregnant. They also were uninsured and realized that costs would likely be upwards of $7,000 in 1982. They were running out of money. It was during a recession and both of them had looked for over a month for work, but they received rejection after rejection. Sam says, “I remember Sue and I laying in one another's arms on our bed weeping uncontrollably...”

The next week Sue was out looking for work again and after numerous rejections she sought refuge from the August 100 degree heat by stepping into the lobby of a Home Savings of America to enjoy the air conditioning (their car didn't have any) and get a drink of water. While at the drinking fountain an older gentleman asked if she was a customer of the bank and she said no. He asked, "Well what are you doing here then?" She explained her husband Sam had come down to attend Talbot Seminary, and just needed to get out of the heat. He introduced himself as Mr. Oney, a Regional Sr. Vice President of the bank and a member of the Talbot Seminary Board of Directors. He told Sue if she needed a job, he would find her a job. He took her back to an office and began making calls to branch managers throughout southern California. After a few calls, he said the downtown LA branch would give her a job if she wanted it (heart of downtown at 7th and Figeuro). The branch manager told Sue if "Mr. Oney wants you to have a job, you have a job!" On the way home Sue began leafing through the personnel packet they gave her to check out the insurance coverage that the bank’s insurance company was the only insurance company in southern California that covered pre-existing pregnancy 100% after a three month waiting period.
Here’s a picture of Sam and Sue their daughter Jill in the middle who is now an adult and mother herself…

Even if you don’t believe in personal God I believe God can still guide us.

Steve Jobs didn't believe in a personal God, but believed that some good a powerful force was guiding his life:

In a graduation speech at Stanford he said:
“I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.”
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something.”
You have to trust something….
You have to trust something….

Why not trust in the living God?
God can even use world events to shape our individual story in powerful ways.
We see in this story of Mary, Joseph and Esther, and in the lives of countless people who have looked back thoughtfully over their lives, there is a force greater than ourselves, a personal being in the universe—God—who is shaping the course of history for our ultimate good and for the glory of God.
Paul says in Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Some of us want to be the general manager of the universe, or at least our universe. But, there is no way that our limited mind can do a better job than an all powerful God, who is running the universe. God calls us to do all that we can in our power, but then invites us to surrender or destiny to him.
Someone has said that when you come to the edge of all that you know, you must believe that there will be earth to stand on, or that you will be given wings to fly.
When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, though she knew her life would be severely disrupted forever and never the same, she simply said, “Yes, may it be as you have said.”
That’s what God is calling us to. He is calling us to say “yes” to him and “May it be as you have said.”
The reason that we can do this is because of the One that Mary would give birth to—Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ was 33 years old, as a human being he died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins so that we could be forgiven and reconciled to God.
The Apostle Paul says in the Book of Romans: He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all the things?(Romans 8:32).
God’s will is being revealed to us very day, sometimes through a surprise, sometimes through an inner nudging, sometimes through an ordinary circumstance, And as we say “Yes! Yes! Yes!” to God, he will weave something beautiful in our lives.
I close with a prayer of Thomas Merton:
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

Singleness and Spirituality(11Nov2011)

2011-11-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Series: Relationships M1 11 11 06
Speakers: Ken Shigematsu and Kirsten Rumary
Title: Singleness and Spirituality
Text: 1 Corinthians 7:25-35
BIG IDEA: Singleness offers a vacancy in our heart for the Lord and a unique freedom to serve him.

Connections Dinner announcement:

Introduction
In an episode of the popular TV show Friends, a crotchety neighbour named Mr. Heckles dies and leaves everything “to the two noisy girls in the apartment above mine, Monica and Rachel.” (Show photo)

As his friends go through his apartment they find memorabilia that includes Heckles’ old high school yearbook. They find out that Heckles was the class clown, played the clarinet in the band and was extremely picky about the women he dated—just like Chandler.

show photo of Chandler (next photo) only if the video does not work

(USE PHOTO OF CHANDLER ONLY IF VIDEO DOESN’T WORK).

Chandler goes into a personal crisis because he sees that Heckles’ finicky dating habits kept him alone all his life. Heckles had kept pictures of women he dated with comments about why he rejected them: “too tall,” “big gums,” “too smart,” “too loud,” “makes noise when she eats.”
“This is me!” Chandler exclaims. “This is what I do! I am going to end up alone, just like he did.” “Come on, Heckles was a nut case,” Joey reassures Chandler. “Our trains are on the same track. Okay?” Chandler responds. “Yeah, I am coming up 30 years behind him. All the stops are the same! Aloneville, Bittertown, Hermit Junction!” (show video) Chandler says, “And now I have to get a snake! I am going to be a lonely old man. I am going to need a thing! I’ll be the crazy man with the snake…crazy snakeman. And I’ll get more snakes and call them my babies. Kids won’t walk past my place. They will run away from crazy snakeman.”
For Chandler the worst that could possibly happen to him is to grow old and die alone.
While Chandler’s feelings are amusing to us because they are so extreme, many people resonate with his concerns. Am I going to die alone? What if I never find somebody or a community to become part of?
The Scriptures do NOT share Chandler’s feeling that being single is a catastrophe. In fact, the Scriptures, in the New Testament in particular, honour the single life. It is really clear from the teaching of the New Testament that we have the freedom to remain single. We have the freedom to marry if we have desire and the opportunity to do so. But we also have the freedom to choose stay single.
Many people in ancient Israel, who lived who lived in what we would call Old Testament part of the Bible, did not feel free to remain single. Singleness for them in a real way felt synonymous with death and extinction. But now through the teaching of Jesus the unique son of God on the reality of a world to come, we are now truly free to be married, but we are also truly free to choose singleness.
Most of the people at Tenth Church, like most of the people in Vancouver and most of the people in North America, as of a few years ago, according to the New York Times, are single. And for those of us here who are married, the chances are that one day we will be single again, either through a possible divorce as much as we would not want that to happen about half of all marriages end in divorce, or through the death of our spouse. Occasionally a couple dies at exactly the same time—plane crash—but that is rare.
Jesus clearly taught that in the world to come people will not be married to each other – there is only a marriage between God and his people. This is hard to hear for people who are happily married to hear. But in the world to come I won't be Sakiko's husband; she won’t be my wife – we will be married to God. According to the Scriptures, the most enduring relationships that we have are not husband and wife but as brother and sister – as siblings in Christ.
And so I believe this message on singleness and spirituality as we begin the three-week series on relationships has relevance for all of us.
If you married and/or if you have children, we would like to invite you to our conference two weekends from now with Paul and Virginia Friesen.
The New Testament not only affirms our freedom to remain single in a way that wasn’t as true in the Old Testament times, but ennobles the single life. When God became a human being in Jesus Christ, he chose to remain single. One of the greatest people of history, the Apostle Paul, was a single man.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to 1 Corinthians 7: 25:
25 Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.
29 What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who are married should live as if they were not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
In verse 25 when Paul talks about virgins, he is referring to single people who have not been married. In their culture, unlike ours, people, particularly women who were not married, were virgins (and this is why the term virgin and unmarried were used interchangeably Paul's world).
Paul prefaces his comments in verse 26 by talking about this present crisis. Paul, along with many Jewish people of his day, anticipated a time of great suffering. They expected the world, at least as they knew it, to end. And of course with the siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D., the Roman army led by the future emperor Titus besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem. The siege led to the destruction of the famous temple in Jerusalem.
In the light of this, and in times of great periods of suffering in general, for example in wartime, when it was very possible to lose your spouse and children, the same kind of bias toward singleness and not having children applies. That’s why Paul says, “Because of this present crisis I think that it is good if a man or a woman is single to remain as they are.” He counsels people, “In this present crisis do not look for a spouse.” But he also says in verse 28: “But if you do not marry, you have not sinned.”
Then in verse 32, Paul says:
An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.
Clearing Paul is honoring the choice people might make to remain single – particularly given the present crisis that was facing his world.
Choosing to remain single is an honorable choice before God.
During spring break in my first year of undergrad, I went on a mission trip to South Carolina. We were there to help build a school for some underprivileged children in the African-American part of the community. One night around the fire pit, I noticed how the pastor who was leading the mission trip, a person whom I really admired, was unable to interact with the students on the mission trip because he had to look after two of his toddlers who were with him on the trip. He obviously had to attend to them. I remember watching this and praying “Lord, if you want me to remain single, I am open to that. If this would be best, lead me in that direction. Or if you want me to be married but to not have any children of our own, please lead me in that direction.” I wasn't consciously thinking of First Corinthians 7 at the time, but I intuited that as a single person or as a person without children of my own I might be freer to serve the Lord.
I was briefly engaged in my late 20s, but we broke up – she didn't feel led to move our relationship toward marriage and I didn't feel I wanted to keep dating her. When I became pastor here is a single person, as you might imagine, I knew that it would be difficult and complicated to date given my role. This is still back in the mid-1990s when eHarmony didn't exist. So I thought well maybe I will be single. And though there were struggles at times of loneliness, there was also great freedom (freedom that I can more fully appreciate looking back).
Then I got married. Just over year into our marriage Sakiko became pregnant and experienced a pregnancy complication which made us think that it would be difficult for us to have a child. It was hard at first, but then we embraced what we thought was our destiny and enjoyed the intimacy and the freedom of a married couple without children.
(And then to our great surprise along came Joey. And while parenting is rich in its own way, who also lost some of the freedoms we had before and while our marriages blessed. We’ve missed some of the unique closeness that a couple can have when they don't have children or are empty-nesters).
And speaking as one who is happily married and grateful to be a parent, I can also see why certain people choose to remain single, or married but not have kids. There are gifts and those stations of life.
A woman from our community here at Tenth named Beth Allinger served as a single missionary in India and Nepal for nearly 40 years. She has shared with me personally but also in public settings how as a younger woman here in Vancouver she had several suitors – young man who wanted to marry her, but who didn't share her vision to serve the Lord in South Asia. So she chose to remain single.
John Stott was a very respected pastor in England who recently died. His writings, teaching and a couple of personal conversations with him have had a great impact on my life. John Stott remained single throughout his life. According to a friend who asked him about his singleness, Stott never felt a particular call to singleness, but he never felt called to be married either.
John Stott also said, “The liberty of singleness is that single people experience the great joy of being able to devote themselves, with concentration and without distraction, to the work of the LORD.”
Single people have a special freedom to serve God and other people in a much more focused way. So if you're single, are you using your freedom in this way?
As will be true in the life to come, single people now have a special vacancy in their heart for God.
I recently read a beautiful book entitled The Long Retreat by Andrew Krivak. (Show jacket cover and photo)

Andrew Krivak was a poet, and an ocean lifeguard, who felt led to pursue the long retreat of entering into a process to become a Catholic priest and to join the order of the Jesuits. Near the end of his 8-year training, rather inconveniently, but rather naturally and beautifully, while he was studying at a seminary in Boston, he met a young woman named Amelia who had recently completed her undergraduate degree at Harvard and to whom he became attracted, and she like Andrew was deeply devoted to God.
In his memoir he writes: “Maybe it was her willingness to listen. Maybe it was the fact that she was so cute, with her silky ponytail, green eyes and wide grin. I began to test caution and let myself feel the desire that I had for so long pushed down inside, a feeling that I was being handed something I was certain I had lost forever, a loss of my own making. I committed it to prayer every day.”
As their friendship grew through their cautious gestures of friendship, a mutual affection was clearly deepening.
One day they were sitting on a stone bench and Andrew asked the question, “What is this we are feeling? Is it love?” She breathed out a prayer-like sigh. “It is,” she said, “at least for me.” And they watched swans float like white schooners across the lake.
And one day as they were standing along the banks of the inky Charles River which runs along Harvard College, Andrew looked into the river, took a breath and said nothing. And then he said this: “I think I never believed that anyone could love me without one day walking away,” Andrew said, looking into the water. “Not because of any great trauma. I guess because of those collective moments we have all had. After enough time, priesthood seemed like the best guarantee.” Then he turned to her, “I belong to somewhere or to someone, and that someone would be God. Love would be my love to Christ and you have to admit it’s a pull that’s pretty compelling.”
We have the freedom to choose singleness.
If you are unmarried, or if you are married without children, in some cases those are chosen states. In other cases they are not voluntarily chosen but are the result of circumstances. My friend Catherine from seminary shared with that from the time she was a young girl she wanted to remain single, to not become a biological mother, so that like Mother Teresa every child could become her child.
But, there can be real disappointment around these circumstances for some single or married people without children who didn’t choose these stations in life. But these states, whether voluntary or not, also provide a freedom with which to love and to serve God and others.
It’s different if you have chosen that particular path versus being on that path through circumstance you have not. But as Jesus and Paul affirm there are unique freedoms and gifts on that path.
KIRSTEN RUMARY:
At this time I am going to invite Kirsten Rumary to come forward. Kirsten is a long-time member of the Tenth community and she is going to share part of her journey with us today.

Singles Talk at Tenth – November 2011
My story:
_ Singleness
o Talk at Tenth on Freedom and Loneliness
_ Three years ago, I had the opportunity to speak on singleness here at Tenth. I had been thinking about the topic for a while, and decided to do a “survey” of other singles for fun, to find out what was the “best and worst” things about being single. After sorting through hundreds of replies, I distilled that the best thing single people enjoyed was freedom in all areas of life, and the worst thing was perceived loneliness. POWERPOINT.
_ So I decided to explore how Jesus dealt with the freedom and loneliness he would have known, being a single man in ancient peasant Hebrew society, and I spoke about how it helped me to embrace my singleness and the call to discipleship in a greater way - to choose to let Jesus' life inform HOW I live in my singleness. That is a pretty broad topic, there's so much more I could and did say three years ago, so if you'd enjoy reading that you can find it on Ken's Message Blog in the month of November 2008.
_ Today Ken has shared about the benefits of choosing singleness, I want to talk about my experience of NOT choosing it.

_ Engagement
o Craig

_ Since that time three years ago, I started dating a man I had known for a number of years through work connections. I really liked him. He really liked me! The way he communicated his affection for me was so extravagant I felt like being a plant being watered – it affirmed me in a way I had never experienced in relationship to a man before.
_ Christmas of 2009 we got engaged, and the whirlwind of wedding planning and pre-marital counseling sessions began. Three months after our engagement, my fiancé and friend that I loved, panicked and broke off our engagement very suddenly with little warning (two phone calls in a 24-hour period), and then refused to speak to me.
_ As you can imagine, this sudden and unexpected break was a terrible shock. In trying to explain that time in my life, it was as though I was in a boxing ring and someone hit me with a knockout punch. For a while I was just down for the count, I couldn’t even get up, and thank God for my family and friends who rallied around me and loved and supported me until I could feel and believe that I was on firm enough footing again.

_ Singleness
o This current undesired state of affairs
_ So here I find myself, a year-and-a-half later, in a position that not only did I not choose for myself but that I do not want to be in. This was NOT where I thought my life would be today. I’m supposed to be living in another country, doing work I love with someone I love, building a life together. The opportunity has been thrust upon me to think about my life and my singleness in an even deeper way (the same truths about freedom and loneliness and how Jesus' life informs how I choose to live still applies – but the questions I’m asking now are closer to my heart).

_ Am I significant? Do I matter?

_ Am I lovable? The man who said he couldn’t imagine being with anyone but me, walked away from me - is there something wrong with me?
_ Would it make a difference if I decided to be with just anyone now, so that I wouldn't have to be alone?
o Transition:
_ Now, I realize my story is singular in that it’s an extreme situation that not everyone would have experienced, but I think it is universal in that at the core of it, many of us who are single find ourselves so without necessarily wanting to be there, and we are faced with some of the questions I’ve posed, among others
_ Even though New Testament writers (like Paul) commend the state of singleness, it would seem that few are called to a life of celibacy in the modern-day church. (Celibacy as defined as the calling to choose never to marry in order to devote one’s life to God, as opposed to the calling to all believers to abstinence while unmarried, according to the scriptures). So I would make that distinction.
_ So for those of us who are undesirably single, how do we embrace God’s call on our lives while single – not assuming we are called to singleness for life?
_ (I want to be clear about one thing - I’m not saying God broke up my engagement because His call is for me to be single. Sometimes circumstances of life ambush us and it can be difficult to understand why things happen. Well-meaning people can default to saying “you know, Kirsten maybe it’s just God’s will that you be single.” (Or that this or that happened to you) I don’t equate what happened as God’s will for my life. I think a decision was made out of fear that impacted my life and placed me in the situation I now find myself in.)

_ Tragedy happens. Disappointment happens. It’s not necessarily God’s will, but can I still choose to respond to him in the midst of this place I find myself in?
_

The Comfort of Mary’s Story
_ As I was thinking about speaking today, a friend suggested that I read the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her experience of having her “life interrupted”. His words: go for coffee and “take time” with Mary. As I did that I found her story strangely comforting.
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
_ Mary finds herself in these circumstances that are “strange and troubling”, enough so that the angel takes the time to reassure her.
_ Then the angel gives her this news about what is going to happen to her, this miraculous work of God. We have the advantage of looking back 2000 years and seeing the whole story of Jesus’ life and the outcome that we all benefit from, but for Mary in that moment, her life has just been interrupted with an invitation she didn’t ask for, with circumstances she couldn’t have foreseen, an interruption that would have had significant consequences for her life:

o Some she would have known
_ The social backlash to getting pregnant in the “betrothal period” (technically married for one year, but not yet having sex) – the cultural shame and potential punishment
_ Fiancé had the right to leave her and there was the possibility of severe punishment

o Some she wouldn’t have known
_ Couldn’t have known they would have to flee for their lives when Herod ordered all babies under 2 to die
_ Couldn’t have known that she would watch her son die

_ Still, Mary chooses to open herself to the invitation to let God’s plan be carried out through her
o Opens up her emptiness (womb) to be filled by God
o Her choice to embrace the circumstances and possible consequences of this offer changes the whole world – mother of the Savior
o Her response to the angel seems so simple, but I can’t imagine that it was just a naïve response of a young girl who didn’t know better. This is what comforts me: that she chose a difficult thing for her own life that we get to know the wonderful outcome of. She didn’t run from the circumstances she found herself in, she didn’t curl up in fear and hide; she didn’t complain and worry and fret. She chose to be open.
_ In light of her response, I am wondering: can I be responsive to God’s call in my life as I find it now and be open to Him in the troubling circumstances I find myself in? This is not something I have perfected by any stretch of the imagination. I’m doing my best as I go.

_ 3 areas where I sense God calling to me right now are:
o Choosing a more intimate love-relationship with Him.
o Choosing what kind of work I will do in the second half of my life

o Choosing to build on the relationships I will have

_ Choosing to build intimacy with him: I’ve been seeing a spiritual director, someone who is helping me to look/listen for God’s “movements” in my life, and how to be responsive to that movement.
o For example, I am a very tactile person, so she is teaching me how to respond physically when I sense God’s presence close to me by creating something with my hands. I'm not this fabulous artist, by any stretch, but there is something about using my hands that helps me feel like I am talking to God, just not using words, and I experience it as being very intimate between Him and I.

_ I’ve also chosen to see a counselor to look at how the loss of my fiancé has affected me, so that my intimacy with God isn’t clouded or impeded by the trauma of that. Our experiences of hurt from the past can carry over into the way we relate to God, (if we perceive that God arbitrarily allowed the situation to happen or that it's His will that we only know loss), and I want to keep making sure that I don’t see God through that distorted lens of human hurt.
_ These two things are a means of building intimacy with him that are easier for me to devote my time to, because I am single

_ In terms of my vocational calling, in light of the fact that I won’t have my own children and the legacy of a family, the value of what I choose to do is taking on an even greater importance to me.
_ This isn’t to say that married people don’t do valuable work or have that desire – but sometimes they don’t have the freedom because they have to take into account what their spouse wants to do and they have to provide for their children (my parents).
_ I have tremendous freedom to choose what I want to do and respond to God calling me to a particular kind of work.

o For example, in the last year I got an offer to take a particular career path that would guarantee an increase in income, but I actually feel called to the work I'm doing now and it gives me the opportunity to contribute to others in a way that feels more significant.
o Again, if I had a family, I might not have as much freedom to choose in this way.

_ Lastly, in choosing to build relationships, I can find that difficult or disappointing as an aging single person. I choose to be in a small group where I can grow and be challenged in my walk with God, and I do have a few close friendships, but I struggle with feeling my “aloneness”. I can get caught up in feeling that only a marriage relationship is going to meet my need to not be alone. How I see my relationships as a single person must shift or I am in danger of becoming embittered by what I don’t have. Any time I choose to live as a “have not” the enemy has access to tempt me to choose less than God’s best for me, to try to meet my needs outside of God’s provision for my life. (I think of Adam and Eve, and the enemy tempts them with the one thing they can’t have, making them feel as if they were “have nots”, that God was holding out on them).
_ I have to choose to build on what I do have, the relationships I do have, and not let bitterness and envy take over in my heart, or I'm in danger of becoming a bitter, shriveled-up old lady. God in His tenderness invites me to choose to come close to Him if I start to travel down "Bitterness Road" and let HIM water and affirm me.
_ I believe that for every single person here today, God is wanting to draw close to you and water you

So In Closing – Come Back to the Angel’s First Words to Mary:
_ It’s significant that his first words are words of affirmation, reassurance, and then affirmation again

o We know that every human being needs to know the depth of their value – everyone here needs to know that they are prized possessions in the eyes of God.
o But I believe for the purposes of today's talk that the single people here need to know at a core gut-level, as people who stand alone, that they are "enough" and that they are "chosen".
o I have to know in my core that the answer to my question: “Am I lovable?” is YES. I have to own that YES from God alone. (My family and friends were a huge part of my recovery after the breakup - I felt their love in a very tangible way) but that deeper knowing of my worth must come in relationship to God alone or my tendency will be to find my core value, my identity, in other places in my life (like work and relationships to men)
o Before Mary hears anything about what is to come, she is affirmed, reassured, and affirmed again. Even Jesus at his baptism is affirmed by God, before scripture records him doing anything of great significance. If God felt it important to affirm Mary and Jesus, how much more would He know that I need to hear those words, know them in my gut, particularly if I am going to choose to follow him with integrity as a single person, and invite deeper intimacy with Him in these circumstances I didn't choose for my life.
PRAYER

Growing in the Belly of the Fish(2011Oct16)

2011-10-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

Series: Jonah’s Journey M3 11 10 16
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Growing in the Belly of the Fish
Text: Jonah 2:1-3:6
BIG IDEA: Suffering in the belly of the whale can prepare us for our life work.
Ignatian seminary announcement.. we can learn from Catholics… Father Thomas Green… prayer, Scripture and imagination… in prayer.
One Halloween a mom came to the door of someone I know to trick or treat. Why didn't she send in her kid? Well, the weather's a little bad, she said; she was driving so he didn't have to walk in the mist.
But why not send him to the door? He had fallen asleep in the car, she said, so she didn't want him to have to wake up.
This person I know felt like saying, "Why don't you eat all his candy and get his stomach ache for him, too—then he can be completely protected!"
Some of us are part of a generation of adults called "helicopter parents," because we're constantly hovering over our kids ready to swoop into our kid's education, relations, sports life, etc., to make sure no one is mistreating them and no one is disappointing them. We want them to experience one unobstructed success after another.

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt had a hypothetical exercise: Imagine that you have a child, and for five minutes you're given a script of what will be that child's life. You get an eraser. You can edit it. You can take out whatever you want.
You read that your child will have a learning disability in grade school. Reading, which comes easily for some kids, will be difficult for yours.
In high school, your kid will make a great circle of friends, but then one of them will die of cancer.
After high school this child will actually get into the college they wanted to attend. While there, there will be a car crash, and your child will lose a leg and go through a difficult depression.
A few years later, your child will get a great job—then lose that job in an economic downturn.
Your child will get married, but then go through the grief of separation.
You get this script for your child's life and have five minutes to edit it.
What would you erase?
Wouldn't you want to take out all the stuff that would cause them pain?
If we could wave a magic wand and erase every failure, suffering, and pain—are we sure it would be a good idea? Would it cause our child to grow up to be a better, stronger, more generous person? Is it possible that in some way people actually need adversity, setback, maybe even something like trauma, to reach the fullest level of growth?
In order for us to prepare for our life calling, like Jonah some of us are going to have to spend some time in the belly of a whale.
We are in a series in the book of Jonah.
To recap the context, God has called the prophet Jonah to go to the Ninevites, the arch enemies of his people, to call them to turn from their violent ways and to seek the Living God.
But Jonah doesn’t want to go.
Jonah does not want to go because he does not want to fail in his preaching mission: he doesn’t want to be mocked and killed by the Ninevites. He doesn’t want to fail in his mission, but even more he doesn’t want to succeed. He does not want the Ninevites to respond favorably to the message and turn to God and experience God’s mercy, so instead of going east to Nineveh, he bolts west to Spain, the Hawaii of his day, he boards a ship, goes down into his cabin, and falls asleep. He ends up drifting into great storm. The sailors cast lots to see who is responsible for the storm, and the lots fall on Jonah. Jonah suggests they throw him into the sea to quell the storm. Reluctantly, the sailors do so. The raging sea grows calm.
The LORD provides a huge fish (Jonah 1:17) to swallow Jonah and Jonah is in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
We read in (Jonah 2:1) that in his distress Jonah begin calling out to the LORD. From the deep and the realm of the dead he begins to cry out to God for help.
In verse 5 we read: “The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around my head.”
We read in verses7-8: “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you in your holy temple.
Then we read in Chapter 3: 1-6:
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
Chapter 3 begins with the words: “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’ ”

When Jonah was called the first time to go to the great city of Nineveh and to preach against it, as we saw, Jonah bolted the other way. Then after being thrown overboard and then after being swallowed by that great fish, the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. He is told second time to “go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I gave you.’

As we look at the book of Jonah, and as we look at the Scriptures at large, we see that God calls us on a mission. Jesus’ last words to his disciples were:
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
A major focus for many of us who live in a place like Vancouver and especially for those of us who are part of generation X or generation Y, also called the millennials, i.e., roughly speaking people who are 40 somethingish and younger, is to experience the cool “sensations” that come from mountain biking, rock climbing, and snowboarding. And there is nothing wrong with these things. I personally love being outdoors and sport. But part of what the story of Jonah tells us, part of what the entire Scripture tells us, is that we were made for something that’s bigger than simply “cool personal experiences”—whether in the outdoors, through music or art or entertainment or travel to exotic places which are all good things. But, we were made to take part in a mission from God of bringing his love and justice to the world--something bigger than ourselves.
Whether you know it or not, if your life becomes connected to God you will have something for which to give your life. Look at every person who drew near to God in Scripture: Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, Esther, Mary, John. God invited each of them to participate in a mission that was bigger than themselves to bring God’s light and love to the world, something worth giving their lives for. And we see in the book of Jonah that God gives his reluctant, rebellious prophet Jonah a mission bigger than himself—a call to go and preach to the people of Nineveh, one of the great cities of his day.
We see in the story of Jonah that God prepares Jonah for his life mission by allowing him to inhabit the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights. God allows Jonah to go to sink to the very heart of the sea (verse 6), literally the place of sheol, the place of the dead, and then to be swallowed by the great sea monster – that is to suffer – to prepare him for his life mission.
What are some areas in Jonah’s life that need to be transformed?
Jonah himself in the belly of the whale acknowledges that he needs to experience change.
In chapter 2, verse 8, Jonah says, Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit God’s love for them. The Hebrew word for “love” is the word hesed, which can be translated loyal love or grace. Jonah in saying “those who cling to worthless idols” forfeit the grace of God that could be theirs. Jonah here is really confessing here his own idolatries.
What were Jonah's idols?
One of Jonah's idols was professional success.
As I said a couple of weeks ago, Jonah was a prophet who was afraid of professional failure. God was calling Jonah to walk into one of the most dangerous cities of the world and to call the people to get on their knees and humble themselves before God. It would have been like asking a Jewish rabbi during World War II to go and preach to Hitler. The most likely outcome: Jonah is either mocked or killed. A prophet or a preacher does not want to go to a place where they are almost certain to fail professionally.
One of the places where many of us need to experience transformation is in our need, our vain selfish need, to succeed professionally. Now of course we can be motivated by noble reasons to succeed. We can be motivated to succeed to contribute to the world, to develop and fully use our talents and opportunities. But we can also be motivated to succeed professionally for vain or superficial reasons. We can be motivated to succeed so that we will become personally financially prosperous or to achieve validation in our own eyes or respect in the eyes of our parents or someone is important to us.
Nathan Hatch, the president of Wake Forest University, admitted what educators have seen for years. A disproportionate number of adults have been trying to cram into the fields of finance consulting, corporate law, and specialized medicine because of the high salaries and the aura of success that these professions now bring. “Students were doing so with little reference to the larger questions of meaning and purpose,” said Hatch. That is, they chose professions, not in answer to the question “what job helps people to flourish?” but “what job will help me to flourish?” As a result there is a high degree of frustration expressed over unfulfilling work.
There is something about suffering, something spending time in the belly of the whale, that gives us perspective and frees us of our vain and selfish need to succeed professionally.
Steve Jobs the founder of Apple who recently died said:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
He then of course contracted pancreatic cancer and said:
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
And Jonah was in the belly of that great fish and he realized that his utter nakedness—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure –all of the professional idols to which he was clinging, fall away in the face of his death, leaving only what is truly important: God’s call to bring light and love to the world.
As we see in the story, Jonah was afraid of professional failure – of being mocked, of being killed. Spending three days in the belly of a great fish freed him from his fear of failure. It at least healed him enough… so that when the fish vomited him up on the beach and God called him to go preach to Nineveh, he was willing to do so.
A second reason that Jonah was reluctant to preach to the Ninevites was not that he was only afraid of failure, but he was also afraid of success. The Ninevites, the people of Assyria, were, as I said, the arch enemies of Israel. They were a cruel and violent people. The empire was already demanding a tax tribute from Israel, a kind of international protection money. The Ninevites were these violent, murderous people who showed off their violent prowess by using the skulls of their enemies as decorations in their homes.
Jonah hated the Ninevites. He felt racially, culturally, and morally superior to the Ninevites. Part of the reason that Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh is that Nineveh was full of Ninevites, people of a different race, different culture, different value system; people who value violence over compassion, power over mercy.
In Jonah 2:8 he refers to his idols.
One of Jonah's idols was professional success.
Another idol he had was his race and cultural identity.
In order for Jonah to be freed of his idol of race cultural identity, from his superiority complex, he himself needed to experience the radical mercy of God.
When Jonah runs from God, is tossed into the heart of the raging sea by the sailors and then is miraculously rescued by that great fish, he realizes in the belly of the great fish that while the Ninevites were violent murderers he is also a sinner. He has been running away from God’s call on his life to bring God's light and love to the world. He was racist. He had a superiority complex and God had been merciful to him by rescuing him with this fish, so he figures somewhere in that fish’s digestive tract “God has been merciful to me for my running from him, from my racism, why couldn’t God be merciful to the Ninevites for their violent and murderous ways?” and he’s willing to go. (and Jonah BTW was partially, not completely, healed, as we will see in two coming weeks… But healed enough to go to Nineveh.)
When we spend time in the belly of the whale, when we experience suffering and then the mercy of God in the midst of our suffering, we will, among other things, become more humble, more compassionate, and more loving, and therefore less racist, less classist, less sexist.
It is a hard thing for us to admit that from the time we were little children there is a part of us that finds it difficult to live with ourselves the way we are, and so we need to make ourselves feel better by thinking of ourselves as superior to at least some of the people on the planet-- kids can be kind, kids can also be cruel to their peers, putting them down. It's hard for us to admit this, but from the time we were little we have had the psychological need to look down on someone. And all of us do this to some degree. In Jonah we see this prophet who feels better about himself as he sees himself as racially and culturally and morally superior to the Ninevites.
But, looking down on others because of your race or their race is just one way to make you feel better about yourself. If you are not particularly racist, you may feel better than people who are obviously racist (that racist redneck). If you are well-to-do, you may look down on people who are poor and see them as being lazy and irresponsible. If you are poor, you may look down on people who are rich and see them as arrogant and oppressive. If you are liberal, you may look down on people who are conservative. If you are conservative, you may look down on people who are liberal. If you are educated and cultured, you may look down on people who are into popular culture. If you are into popular culture, you may look down on people who are into high culture as snobs.
As Canadians we’re likely too polite to say it out loud, but each of us here probably looks down on someone or on a particular group of people.
And when we look down on a person, we can justify, if not putting them down outright, at least quietly despising them or ignoring them.
The Bible says that when we realize our true condition as spiritual failures before God and receive the undeserved favour of God or grace, we can be healed of our racism, of our classism, our sexism, our sense of superiority, whatever form that may take, when we realize, like Jonah, that the only reason that we have been received by God is because of his sheer mercy and grace, we will deeply humbled and healed of our any sense of superiority we might we have..
Sometimes God comes to us through a storm and allows us to spend time in the belly of the whale, a place of darkness, a place of suffering, a place with seaweed wrapped around our head, so that we recognize God’s extraordinary grace in delivering us. And in the belly of the fish we recognize his grace and we can be healed of our need to succeed for selfish reasons and of our attitudes of superiority.
Let me clarify. God may allow you to go through some kind of suffering, perhaps through no direct fault of your own, like the sailors on board who suffered through the storm because of Jonah’s disobedience. You too may suffer as a kind of innocent bystander because of someone else’s sin or just because of just the radioactivity of sin in the world.
The question is: How will you respond to suffering? Will you allow suffering to humble you and awaken you afresh to God’s grace? Or will you allow your suffering to make you bitter? Will you allow your suffering to make you a deeper person? Or will you allow suffering to make you a more superficial person by denying your suffering and trying to mask it with an addiction? Will you allow your suffering to make you more sympathetic of to the suffering of others, to make you turn inward and become self-absorbed? Will you make your suffering prepare you for you for your life mission, or disqualify you?
Sometimes when God wants to prepare us for our life mission, he allows us to go through suffering so we go on our mission to bring God’s light and love to the world humbly, without a sense that we are the Saviour, just someone who re-presents him. As God allows us to be humbled, don’t go with the sense that we are doing this world a big favour; so that we don’t go on our mission with a patronizing, paternalistic attitude, but so that we go humbly, just as one beggar telling another beggar where we found bread.
God is calls us to something bigger than ourselves and he prepares us through the belly of the whale. Even if suffering, as was true in Jonah’s case, comes from our failure, God can prepare us by allowing us to become humble through failure and more dependent.
The word of the LORD comes to Jonah a second time telling him to preach to the people of Nineveh. God had asked Jonah already to preach to the people of Nineveh and Jonah said no and ran the other way. He boarded a boat and heads for Spain, the Hawaii of his day, and sails into a storm, almost drowns at sea, but God saved him with a great fish and gives him a second chance. And God asks him again to go to Nineveh.
A word caution here. There are times when it seems that God does not give everyone a second chance, but there are times when we read of people in the Bible who disobey him and the door is closed. But, the over-riding nature of God is to give people second, third, fourth chances. The Bible tells us in Psalm 103 that God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. I am not encouraging us to presume on the patience and grace of God. It is dangerous to ever willfully disobey God, but if we have disobeyed him and wondered about God’s will for our life, we can take hope in the Jonah story because God forgives him for disobeying his call to Nineveh the first time, and he gives him a second chance through this failure. As I said, when Jonah sailed into that storm, and was then thrown into the heart of a raging sea, and miraculously saved as God provided a great fish to swallow him, Jonah recognizes that he has been running from God. He realized that he too was a sinner who had received the mercy of God. And if he had received the mercy of God for running from God, for not being willing to preach to the Ninevites because of his racism and sense of cultural superiority toward them, he figured, “Well, then God can be merciful and compassionate toward the people of Nineveh in spite of their violence.”
And it may well be that part of the way that God prepares us for our life mission is by giving us a new sense of God’s favour by forgiving us of our past failure. If we have chosen to disobey, there is something about failure and grace that can prepare us for God’s mission.
When I was in seminary in Boston, I was able to get to know a pastor of a nearby church. This pastor in years gone by had a reputation for being gifted, but rather pretentious and arrogant. This person went on to become president of a very well-known Christian organization. Shortly after becoming president, it was disclosed that he had a brief sexual affair and was forced to resign.
It was some years after this that I got to know this man. One day over breakfast with him outside of Boston, I said, “You seem really capable and confident. Is there anything you are afraid of?” And he said, “You are looking at a man who destroyed the ministry opportunity that God gave him. He had no-one to blame, but himself. But after I had sinned and God in his grace allowed me to come back to him and receive his forgiveness and after some time away from ministry, God allowed me to enter into his work again. I have a deep, deep, deep sense of tenderness and gratitude. And I fear that I will lose that one day.”
I didn’t know this man before his failure. I believe that his ministry, while less well-known now than before his fall, is humbler, deeper and more powerful than ever before.
George Verwer, a respected missions leader and the founder of a worldwide mission called Operation Mobilization, who spoke here a some years ago at Tenth, has said that God can use failure as a backdoor to real success.
While my failures, by God’s mercy, have not been as dramatic as my friend’s in New England, there have been times when my vision has been blurred and when I have been vulnerable and tempted and experienced failure. Some years ago there was a season when I questioned whether I really had the character to be a minister of the Gospel. I went to see an old man who had the reputation of being very wise and very candid. I said to him very frankly, “In my past there have been some boundary violations.” I was very explicit about this. I said, “I can see myself working for a corporation and pursuing a career in journalism as my father did, and given my theological framework, I don’t see working for a corporation or in the media as being any way inferior to being a church minister.” This wise person said, “It may be that your life is prophetic in some way and it may be that you are called to pastor a church where people have failed in some way but are welcome. A pastor for those who are broken will find healing. It may be that God will use your past to prepare your way for your future.”
This may be true in your unique call in your life, as well. Through your weakness or vulnerability, or even maybe through the failure, or maybe just because of some suffering you’ve faced may become the pipeline that God uses to bring his life and love to the world.
Even when you feel like you failed, or have been crushed by life circumstances, or as good as dead – in the belly of a whale… God has a way of coming to us in raising us from the dead as he did for Jonah. See Jonah was not only an instrument of God's life, he was a recipient of God's life and love as well. And God wants to use you not only as an instrument of his life in love in the world, but wants you to be a recipient of his life. So if you feel like you failed, feel like you have died in some way, God can raise you from the dead.
God is in that business. When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees to give them a sign that he was the unique son of God, Jesus said, “The only sign you'll get is the sign of Jonah. I will die and three days later God will raise me from the dead.” God is in the business of taking that which is dead, and lifeless and considered worthless to the world and raising it to new life and to new purpose.
If you are a kind of helicopter parent simply fretting over how things are going for a family member or loved one, know that he can use that person suffering and even their failures and redeem them for his purposes.
And God can use your failure or our sufferings to prepare you for some new life and new purpose, so we more fully radiate his light and love in the world.
The God of Jonah saved Jonah, the God who raised Jesus from the dead, can take the broken glass of your life, the broken pieces of clay and make it into a beautiful mosaic for the world.
Will you let him do that?

Forgiving Others at Work(2011Sep 18)

2011-10-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

Series: Thank God It’s Monday! M3 11 09 18
Speakers: Ken Shigematsu and David Bentall
Title: Forgiving Others at Work
Text: Colossians 3:13
13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
BIG IDEA: When we realize that we have been forgiven by Christ, we can be people who forgive others in our workplace.
(Connections Dinner announcement with slide)
Once in a while I am asked by someone who is considering entering vocational Christian ministry, or someone who is just curious, what it is like to work as a pastor?
I always say that being a pastor is like playing a contact sport. If you are called to it, it is the greatest thing. It can be fun and fulfilling, but you are also going to get hurt. You might notice that sometimes I walk with a bit of a limp. I might say, “I was driving through the paint trying to get to basket to the hoop, I drew lots of contact... getting hit, falling to the floor. Several times I sustained torn ankle ligaments.” Or I may say, “Look at my nose. It is crooked.” In Grade 10… I was playing quarterback, got hit hard and my helmet protective bar went right through my nose.
Pastoring is great, but like basketball or football, you are going to get hurt.
I would say the same thing about work, in general. Work is great. Work is a gift from God, first given to Adam and Eve before the curses of sin and their radioactive effects of sin came into the world. But when Adam and Eve did sin and fall away from God, as we see in the book of Genesis, everything in the world, even work, was compromised by the radioactive effects of sin. It became harder to farm the ground. Thorns and thistles started to grow. We find that sin and its effects pollute our work: computer servers crash, we get SPAM, there is office politics, gossip, we may get looked for a promotion, we may experience betrayal at work.
Studs Terkel, in his book Working, wrote in the introduction: “This book, being about work, is by its very nature about violence---to the spirit, as well as the body.” And though his book Working written in the 70s is somewhat dated, many people today experience work as being violent to their mind, body, and spirit. If you pursue a working life, whether in a business, school, hospital or even some kind of church or Christian organization, you are going to get hurt somewhere along the way.
When we are hurt, it is good to acknowledge our anger, to grieve and at times be willing to confront the person who hurt us, but we are also called to walk the road of forgiving others.
Those of us who belong to Christ have been given unique, powerful resources to forgive others. As we read about Jesus and his ministries in the gospels, we see that he faces increasingly threatening attacks and ultimately is crucified on the Roman cross. He is killed by human beings and yet, in spite of our unjust judgment of him, Jesus absorbs our sin and evil without passing them on. We are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
In Colossians 3:13:
13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
It is out of the experience of being forgiven by Christ that we ourselves are forgiven and we are to forgive others.

At this time I am going to invite David Bentall to come and speak.
David and his wife Alison worship with us from time and time at our third service. If his name rings a bell, it is because his family company, as he will share, built the Bentall high rises which are in the heart of the financial district here in Vancouver. They also built what is now called Rogers Arena, the home for our Canucks.
He will be sharing more of his work and life experience so without any further delay let me invite David forward.
David Bentall:
As Ken mentioned, work is a contact sport, and people can get badly hurt on the job. Not the usual physical kind of injury, but the emotional, relational kind of hurt. Unfortunately, I have often been hurt in sport, as well as at work.
When I attended Magee High School, and then again while I was at UBC, I had the extraordinary privilege of playing on two championship rugby teams. I know, from first- hand experience, rugby is certainly a contact sport. With the Rugby World Cup now on, some of you may have already been reminded of how physical a game it is. A lot of people think that those of us who play the game are actually crazy.
During my many years playing the game, I broke my nose five times. All of our kids think it's pretty funny that this happened repeatedly. However, I have explained to them that I actually never broke my nose, but rather it was other people who broke my nose. Regardless, it really hurt. While touring in Japan, I received 7 stitches to close a gash in my forehead, and 7 more to patch up a cut above my right eye. During my playing career, I also suffered a separated shoulder, and a torn medial collateral ligament, that put me in a cast from my ankle to my hip. By most rugby players standards, I was relatively injury free.
However, in my work experience, I have been hurt much worse than anything that ever happened to me on the rugby pitch. Please permit me to explain.
I will share two stories from my life to illustrate this: one from our family company and the other from my experience working with the Olympic bid committee.
My grandfather owned, and for 40 years was president of Dominion Construction. The firm was once referred to in a magazine article as “the company that built Vancouver”. My dad worked for the firm for 50 years, and was the driving force behind the development of The Bentall Center, in downtown. The idea that I might follow them, and work in the family business was first discussed when I was in grade 5. Dad came into the den, and told me to turn off the TV and to do my homework. I said, “Dad, I'm watching Casper the friendly ghost. Leave me alone.” My dad didn't threaten to spank me, or to take away my allowance. Instead he simply said, “Son, turn off the TV, you can't be president unless you do your homework.” Beginning that day it was just assumed that I would spend my working life with our company.
For four decades my dad worked closely with my uncle Bob in the business. Sadly, in the end, they had a very bitter falling out. I was caught squarely in the middle of the crossfire. As a result, both my dad and I found ourselves involuntarily on the outside, looking in. It was a tragically painful experience for my dad, and a traumatic one for me.
After completing a degree in urban economics, I had joined the family firm straight out of university. I then worked in virtually every division of the company, and in essentially every geographic region. Over the next 10 years, I worked hard preparing to succeed my uncle as president. Then, all hell broke loose, to put it bluntly! I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me. My career with our company was arbitrarily cut short, and the financial picture for our family was permanently altered in a very negative way.
A business executive who is very close to the situation watched with interest, as I was surgically removed from our family enterprise. Seven years later when we met for the first time, he explained that he'd been looking forward to meeting me for a long time. I asked him why. He said that he was there when they were plotting everything that they did to me. He said that I must be a very special person, and my faith must be very special, because I'm the only person he knows who would not have committed suicide based on what happened.
I don't think I'm special, nor do I think my faith is special. However, had it not been for God's sustaining strength, I think I might not have made it through. During this horrifically painful time, my career, my life my identity and my self-esteem were in tatters. I often felt despair over what was going on. No matter what I did, I seemed powerless to fix the situation. Like an animal caught in a trap, the more I tried to wriggle free, the worse the jaws of futility tightened around me.
However, during this time, God's presence in my life made a significant difference. In spite of the bleak circumstances, I never lost hope. I had trusted God with my life, and I knew, somehow, someday, God would deliver me from the pain, and that there would come a better day. In addition, as I asked God to show me where I had gone wrong, I learned a very powerful lesson.
When I was born, I think God blessed me with a good mind. A mind capable of critical thinking. This was helpful for me, as it is for any leader, because a critical mind is necessary to enable us to make good decisions. However, what I discovered during this challenging time was that right beside a critical mind, lives a critical spirit.
Unfortunately, as a young man, I was so confident in my own opinions, that I became a harsh critic of those around me, and in particular my uncle, who was our company president. No wonder the company leadership decided they needed to get rid of a loose cannon like me. Bentall Real Estate Services has over 1000 employees across North America, with over $17 billion in assets under administration. I aspired to lead that enterprise, and in fact, I would have given my life for the place. However, because of my critical spirit, I forfeited my opportunity
Clearly, I am still disappointed that I made a mess of things. However, I'm grateful that God helped me to learn from the experience. Rather than blaming those who radically altered my career, God helped me to realize that I needed to go and ask them for their forgiveness.
As CS Lewis wryly observed, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”
He was right. Forgiveness is not easy, because In order to forgive we need to let go of stuff. This may include letting go of our rights, or maybe our need to be right. In some circumstances we may need to let go of our desire for pay back, or revenge. One of my mentors, who I worked for in Toronto, was an advocate of finding ways to “get” those who had crossed him. He was fond of saying: Don’t get mad, just get even. I suppose, in a way, this may be an effective strategy for dealing with anger….but it’s not God’s way.
Here are some things I learned from this painful experience:

1) We ought to be forgiving towards others, in light of our own failings. In other words, we should forgive, because we ourselves are in need of forgiveness.
We are reminded of this every time we say the Lord’s prayer for we are asking God to… “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors “ (Matthew 6:12).
2) We should abandon trying to figure everything out. We don’t know what the future holds, and so rather than trying to imagine how God will bring justice, we should trust our Heavenly Father for our circumstances. In the words of Proverbs Chapter 3 ( verses 5&6 ) we are invited to trust God “with our whole heart, and lean not on our own understanding.” In essence, we should quit trying to be God, and let Him look after things.
3) Finally, we would do well to focus on how we need to change and grow, rather than focusing on other people’s faults. Put another way, we should focus on our own imperfections as our first priority. Jesus stated this bluntly when he asked the question: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye, and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? “ ( Matthew 7: 3) Frankly, I think most of us assume that the other person is the one with the plank, and so we often fail to honestly examine our own failings and shortcomings.

Instead of holding on to our hurts, God wants us to place them at His feet, and let go of the wrongs that have been done to us. In short, to forgive. Then He wants us to trust Him to bring justice, in His own way, and in His own time. Finally, he wants us to focus on our own imperfections and seek to become more loving…… “better people, instead of bitter people.”
I think Abraham Lincoln must have understood much of this, because his response to his enemies was remarkable. Apparently, during his presidency, when perhaps half of the population of the country disagreed with his leadership, he received a lot of hate mail. In response, he wrote a letter of rebuttal to every critic. He then put each letter in the top drawer of his desk, never to be mailed. Likely this was cathartic. But more importantly, this legendary leader didn’t lash out in anger, instead he let things go!
(I assume that he was trusting God, in prayer, to deal with things in His own way, in His own time. )
As I have endeavoured to walk the path of forgiveness, I have been freed from bitterness. In addition, much to my amazement, God has taken all the pain and disappointment in my career, and is now allowing me to use these experiences to help others. Over the past 10 years, it has been my privilege to assist well over 50 other families in business, as they seek to manage the interface between business and family. I also routinely teach workshops and courses on the subject. In a sense, God has redeemed all those seemingly lost years, and as a result, I have been prepared to serve others
As I have explained, my pain and disappointment were almost more than a person could bear. However, others have had much more difficult challenges than I, and yet have been able to forgive.
Consider for a moment, Miroslav Volf. He is a theologian who teaches at Yale Divinity School. His thinking about love and forgiveness was forged in the crucible of Serbian and Croatian violence in his country of origin. His parents modeled for him, and for all of us, what forgiveness looks like, when they had to come to terms with the death of his sibling. At age 6, Miroslav’s little brother was killed, apparently by the carelessness of a Croatian soldier who was playing with him. He states….My parents “ just forgave him. Everything in you cries for justice, for revenge, yet somehow, in the deep recesses of your soul, a soul that was shaped by what God has done for us, you have the strength to forgive.”
He then goes on to say: “If I say I forgive you, I have implicitly said that you have done something wrong to me. But what forgiveness is, at its heart, is both saying that justice has been violated, and…” yet…”I release the offender from what the justice would demand to be done.”
No matter what challenges we may face at work, surely it is less difficult to forgive than the death of a child. I have not suffered like this, and I pray that I never will. However, I did have another challenging work experience after leaving the family business, which called on me to learn again the hard lessons of forgiveness.
In 1998, I received a phone call from the Chair of the 2010 Olympic bid committee, Arthur Griffiths. I first got to know Arthur when we were building GM Place ( now Rogers Arena ) for his company. Arthur asked if I could assist him in working on the domestic bid for the Olympics. Having just left the family business, I was on sabbatical, and therefore had the time to help out. Initially, there were just four of us working on this; Johnny Johnson, Bruce MacMillan, Arthur and myself. It was my privilege to be responsible for all the venue planning and budgeting. It was great fun to dream about where we should have each of the events, and my background in real estate and construction enabled me to pull together preliminary plans and estimates for all of the new building that would be required.
As we prepared to make a presentation to the Canadian Olympic Association, we were faced with stiff competition from the cities of Calgary and Québec. Calgary had already hosted the games once before, and therefore had experience and a solid track record. The city of Québec, was a well-known international destination, with a world renowned reputation for the arts and culture. These were important factors the IOC traditionally considered in the selection process.
In order to win the support of the COA, we needed to secure the majority of their 76 voting delegates. Along with Johnny Johnson, I volunteered, with no remuneration, to crisscross the country making presentations to various sport organizations, each of whom had a vote. In addition to the winter sports, we met with numerous other groups, including representatives for baseball, gymnastics, track and field, etc. It was an exhilarating time, and although I was originally quite sceptical, I gradually became more convinced that Arthur's dream might actually be achievable.
When the big day came, to present our bid in person, Glen Clark, our premier, and Ian Waddell, our Minister of tourism, travelled with us to Toronto to make the pitch. Former Olympians Steve Podborski and Silken Laumann also joined us. My job was to present the heart of our bid, including both the expected costs and revenues. Regardless of whether you're in favour of the Olympics or not, you have to admit it was an honour and a privilege to be at the center of this historic delegation.

On the first ballot, we squeaked by Calgary, by just two votes. Quebec had the most. However, on the second ballot, most of Calgary’s support swung to us. Consequently, we obtained the endorsement of the COA, by a slim majority. In hindsight, I think it is fair to say that those 30 presentations, which I had made as a volunteer, likely had an impact in helping us to get those two decisive votes.

Alison, and our four children sat in the front row, part of the crowd gathered at the Robson Square Media Center, when we received the exciting news. I was euphoric. Having overcome this first major hurdle, we were quite confident that we could ultimately obtain the support of the IOC to bring the2010 games to Vancouver.

Shortly thereafter, Arthur Griffiths recommended to the board of directors, that I be hired to be the CEO of the bid corporation, to lead the international bid. However, because this was a public endeavour, the selection of the CEO needed to be a public process. Consequently, applications were submitted by executives from all across the country, and I was just one of 100 people who applied for the job. The selection committee created a long list of 50, then a shortlist of 12. Finally, five of us were interviewed. I came in second, when they chose someone else for the top job.
Soon, much to my astonishment, Arthur was removed from the board of directors, and someone else was appointed Chair. Johnny Johnson was no longer responsible for sport liaison, and Bruce MacMillan, who had worked full-time for over a year preparing our bid book, was also shunted aside. None of us were asked to be involved in any way, and we were all deeply hurt. In fact, the four of us felt a bit like soldiers who had captured the hill, planted the flag, and then when the reinforcements arrived, they took the flag, and shot us all.
As we sat on the sidelines, nursing our wounds, others took over, and led the initiative which ultimately secured the right to host the games.
As a token of appreciation, when the games were awarded to Vancouver, I received a signed copy of the bid book, sent to me by one of the bid corporation’s vice presidents. The words he scrawled on the inside of my limited-edition copy of the bid book actually stung. They said, “Those of us who know the true story, recognize that we would not have had a chance to even make a bid, had it not been for you and Arthur.”
At first, I was just disappointed to have been left out. However, over time, as I brooded over what had happened, I began to complain about the injustice of it all. I began routinely lamenting my case to anyone and everyone who would listen. One afternoon, my wife Alison jarred me back to reality with a series of questions. David she began:
Did you work on the domestic bid to bring the Olympic Games to Vancouver? Yes I did.
Did you want to win? Yes, of course.
Were you successful? Yes, we were.
Did you also want the international bid to win, so that the games would come to Vancouver? Yes, I did.
When I confessed that of course all of these things had happened, my wife, the sage, then offered the following advice….”Then be thankful, and stop your complaining!”
At the same time that Alison challenged me to make a decision to never complain, she was also asking me to be thankful for the good things that had happened. Of course she was right, this is what I should do. But knowing the right thing to do and being able to do it can be quite a different matter.
Then I remembered Peter Klassen. Peter moved here from Paraguay 46 years ago. I got to know him, because his wife, Berta worked as a housekeeper for our family for over 42 years. When he died a few years ago, I went to his memorial service. His nephew spoke eloquently about Uncle Peter. He reminded us that when Peter came from Paraguay, he had been an accountant. However, when he got to Canada no-one would accept his credentials, and was unable to find work in his profession. The best my dad could do to help, was to offer him a job, pushing a broom, in our millwork shop. For many years Peter worked hard, doing the lowest form of labour available in our company. After about 10 years, he was promoted to forklift operator, a role he occupied for 30 years. When he retired, Peter’s deteriorating eyesight made it harder and harder for him to see, and soon he was unable to read. With that his favourite pastime was gone. Having lost his profession and now his eyesight, Peter of all people, would have had lots to complain about.
After he passed away, his nephew found Peters’ Bible beside his bed. In between a couple of the well-worn pages, he noticed some notes from a sermon written many years earlier. The following words caught his attention. “Never complain. Complaining doesn't make anything better, and it only makes you feel worse. “ Having known Peter for over 4 decades, I can say, along with his nephew, neither of us ever heard Peter complain. He had lots of reasons to be disappointed with his lot in life, but he didn't waste his breath, or our time, telling us about his disappointments.
In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks about some of the hard times he faced. He notes that he was shipwrecked three times, beaten with rods, imprisoned, and suffered 39 lashes on several occasions. He doesn’t mention all these things as complaints. Rather, he is pointing out God’s sufficiency in spite of all these hardships.
This is the same Apostle, who, in his letter to the church in Philippi, says he had learned the secret of being content. I believe that what he had discovered, included four of the things he encouraged the Philippians to do. In chapter 4, he says…
1) Rejoice always ( v. 4)
2) Be thankful ( v. 6)
3) Pray about everything ( v. 6)
4) Think about good things… those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, excellent, etc. ( v.8))
If you don’t think that this is practical or realistic, I would encourage you to think again.
Jim Murphy, the author of Inner Excellence, has spent over 10,000 hours researching the connection between what we think and how we perform. He asserts that it is not possible to worry and be thankful at the same time. No wonder God commands us to be thankful. It’s the perfect antidote to worry. Similarly, I believe that it’s not possible to rejoice and at the same time to harbour bitterness.
Therefore, when, in God’s word, we are exhorted to PRAY, REJOICE AND BE THANKFUL ALWAYS….we are not being offered pious platitudes. Rather, we are being given very practical advice for daily living. This is an inspiring strategy that can be directly applied to dealing with the hurts and disappointments we may encounter at work.
I also love the fact that when God provides divine guidance, He doesn’t just say…don’t do this…but He also offers direction as to what to do instead…Rather than just saying don’t harbour un-forgiveness, God invites us to cultivate a life of prayer and an attitude of thankfulness.
One of my best friends, Dave Phillips, has explained to me that if I do not forgive, I will provide an opportunity for bitterness to grow in my heart. If I hold onto my inner feelings of anger, I may reason that at least I am not letting “them” off the hook too easily. However, one day, I will wake up and realize that the cage that I have made imprisons not the person who hurt me, but rather I will have imprisoned myself. I will have become the prisoner, held captive by my own bitterness. I am not hurting the other person, I am only hurting myself.
I'm so thankful that Dave encouraged me to become a man of forgiveness, and that my wife Alison encouraged me to stop complaining. I'm also thankful that both the Apostle Paul, and my friend Peter Klassen modeled for me how to live this kind of life. Most importantly, I am thankful that God, by His Spirit has enabled me to learn to forgive those who have hurt me in my work experience.
My career didn’t turn out at all like I thought it would, but I am thankful that God, in his grace has given me an amazing new business. Just ask the members of our family….they will tell you, I LOVE MY WORK!
In fact, I say that almost daily….because it is such a privilege to do the work I do teaching and helping others. It’s far more rewarding than building buildings ever was.
When the Olympics came, I was a bit frustrated that I had virtually no tickets to attend any events. In the week prior to the arrival of the torch, I was really tempted to pout. However, by this time, I had over 7 years to practice being thankful, in spite of my circumstances, and so I prayed, and tried to put it out of my mind.
The day before the opening ceremonies, I got an unexpected call from Arthur Griffiths. He had been given two ALL EVENTS PASSES for the games, and he wanted me to have one. As a result, I had the awesome privilege of attending , 17 events during the two weeks of the games. I was even on the slopes when Alex Beladeau won the first Olympic Gold Medal on Canadian soil.
I only had one ticket, so I attended most of the events on my own. I was profoundly thankful, not just to Arthur, but more importantly to God. I didn’t see the tickets as some kind of divine vindication, nor were they necessarily deserved. But in a way, I felt like God had stooped down to kiss me….to let me know He understood my disappointment, and that He was looking out for me.
Now, I don’t want to promise any of you that if you obey God’s word, and walk in the path of forgiveness, that you will be given VIP tickets to attend the Olympics. However, I can promise you, based on my own experience, that if you forgive others, you won’t need to spend your days complaining, imprisoned by your own bitterness. God wants us all to be free. I encourage you to take Him at His word.

Ken:
Is God calling you to forgive someone? Or stop complaining about some hurt in your life. Is God calling you out of prison or least to take a step toward the prison door?
The British author C. S. Lewis realized and made the following note in his journal: “Last week while at prayer I suddenly discovered---or felt as if I did---that I had really forgiven someone I had been trying to forgive for over 30 years. Trying and praying that I might.”
Forgiving others requires patience. Sometimes forgiveness, as Lewis discovered, is something that we only realize in looking back, perhaps after years of struggle. And yet perhaps this morning, (or this evening) God is calling you to take the first step to forgive someone that may have hurt you at work, at school, in your home, or in your childhood.
Reflect on how Christ has forgiven you. Give thanks for it.
Pray that God would help you move toward forgiveness...

Amen.

Running from God(2011Oct02)

2011-10-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

Series: Jonah’s Journey M1 11 10 02
Title: Running from God
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Text: Jonah 1:1-17
BIG IDEA: Running from the call to be a light to the world is hard and God, in his love, sends us a storm to bring us back.
At our home when someone rings the doorbell there is a small TV monitor in the hallway between our kitchen and our dining room that lights up and we can see who is at the door (when I was traveling more—I wanted to create a greater of sense of security for Sakiko).
From time to time usually around dinner time the doorbell rings, I look at the monitor and there is someone there with a clipboard. (Use prop) My first thought is, “This person is part of some political campaign, or someone wanting us to change our gas plan from Fortis to some other energy broker, or with Green peace and wants a donation.” They tend to come right around dinner time (or maybe it just seems that way because I try to be home for dinner.) So as soon as I see someone with a clipboard, there is a part of me that says “I don’t want to answer the door.” So I typically talk to them through the monitor, and think, “Whatever their pitch, I will say ‘actually now is not a good time.’”
Have you ever had that experience? Or if you do not have a monitor in your house or apartment maybe you have caller ID on your phone. You know who is calling and you just don’t want to answer the call from this particular person.
Well, this is how the prophet Jonah felt back in about the year 600 BC when he saw that God was at his door with a clipboard, asking him to go to Nineveh and to call those people to repent; that is, to turn from their violent ways and follow the Living God. Instead of going to the front door and opening it, Jonah, in effect, says to himself, “Now is not a good time,” runs out the back door, through the back yard, into the garage, gets into his car, squeals down the back alley, or goes down to the docks east of Canada Place, and catches a cruise ship.
Now our story may not be as dramatic, but have you ever sensed that God was calling you to be something, or to do something, or to become something, or take a new direction, and you also felt like fleeing from God? When Father Moe who spoke last week felt called to remain a single man and to serve as medical doctor in the jungles of Peru, I wonder if he resisted at all. If you know Jesus Christ, but sense calling you to be more open about your faith in your workplace or school is there are part of you that feels like running the opposite direction? Or perhaps you are considering the possibility of committing your life to Christ, you wonder if you'll be rejected by your family or friends… There's a part of you that wants to have a life of God, but there's also a part of you that wants to run.
At some point we all face the temptation to run from God.
We are beginning a new series today in the book of Jonah. If you have your Bibles, please turn to the book of Jonah, Chapter 1:1-17. Listen to the word of the LORD.

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”
7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
We read in vs. 2 that the word of the LORD came to the prophet Jonah, “Go to the great city Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

Jonah flees from the LORD and heads for Tarshish. He goes down to Joppa where he finds a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he boards the ship and sails for Tarshish to run away from the LORD. God tells Jonah to preach to the great city of Nineveh and Jonah bolts the other way. Jonah is in Israel, Nineveh is east of Israel in the area of modern day Iraq, but Jonah catches a ship west, going to Tarshish which is modern day Spain.

Tarshish was a place, according to 1 Kings 10, full of gold, silver, ivory, monkeys and peacocks. It was a distant, exotic paradise… think of Hawaii.

Jonah bolts to this exotic paradise in Spain, to lie out in the sun, to drink cocktails, and forget God’s call for him to preach to Ninevites. Why? Well, two reasons likely: 1) Because he was afraid of failure. It was unlikely that his preaching mission to Nineveh would be successful. They were a violent, hardened people and it was almost certain in his mind that his preaching would not only be rejected, but that he might be killed. It would be like you're being asked to go on a preaching mission to the Hells Angels. What do you think your chances of success would be?
So one reason that Jonah did not want to go and preach to the Ninevites is because he was afraid of failure. 2) He didn't want to go on to preach to the Ninevites because he was afraid of succeeding – unlikely though this was. If his preaching was successful and he got through to the Ninevites and they turned from their violent ways, he knew that God, being merciful, would spare them from his intended judgment.

So why didn't Jonah want the Ninevites to turn to God and experience God’s grace?

Because he hated the Ninevites. Because the Ninevites were a cruel and savage people, and Israel’s arch enemies. Did you ever see the movie, The Apocalypse Now? The movie is an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s famous book, Heart of Darkness. In the story, Captain Willard played by Martin Sheen is sent up a river by the army to kill one of its own men, Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, who has become a savage. As Captain Willard journeys along the river toward Colonel Kurtz’s outpost, he sees literally hundreds of skulls piled along the riverbank. The people of Nineveh would decapitate their enemies and pile them up like basketballs to show off their prowess.

Asking Jonah to preach to the Ninevites was be like asking a Jewish rabbi to go to Berlin during World War II and call Hitler to repent from his sins.

We recently remembered the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. Asking Jonah to preach to the Ninevities. would have been like asking George W. Bush on September 12, 2001 to go unarmed and call Osama Bin Laden to turn from his ways.

Or asking a mouse to preach to a cat.

So Jonah bolts the other way. As we see he rather die, commit suicide than preach to the Ninevities

As was true for Jonah, God calls to us to serve as his light in the world and sometimes we don’t want to serve as his light and we resist. We don’t want to become a light in the world.
Some years ago I visited what’s considered the largest church in the world in Korea. Paul Yonggi Cho has been pastor there. Some years ago, as his ministry was becoming international, he told God, "I will go anywhere to preach the gospel, except Japan." He hated the Japanese with gut-deep loathing because of what Japanese troops had done to the Korean people and to members of Yonggi Cho's own family during WW II. The Japanese were his Ninevites.
Through a combination of a prolonged inner struggle, several direct challenges from others, and finally an urgent and starkly worded invitation, Cho felt called by God to preach in Japan. He went, but he went with bitterness. The first speaking engagement was to a pastor's conference of 1,000 Japanese pastors. Cho stood up to speak, and what came out of his mouth was this: "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you." And then he broke and wept. He was both brimming and desolate with hatred.
At first one, then two, then all 1,000 pastors stood up. One by one they walked up to Yonggi Cho, knelt at his feet and asked forgiveness for what they and their people had done to him and his people. As this went on, God changed Yonggi Cho. The Lord put a single message in his heart and mouth: "I love you. I love you. I love you."
When God calls us to do something we don’t want to do, when he calls us to serve as light in his world, as was true of Jonah and Paul, there will always be a ship ready to take us to take us in a different direction; there will always be a boat ready to take us to Spain. There are times when we want to take that ship and go our own way because we think it will make life easier for us.

For a time, Jonah’s decision to run from God’s plan seemed to make his life easier. He got into a boat, slipped into his cabin and fell sound asleep, dreaming about spending time sun-tanning on the beaches of Spain and drinking cocktails and doing the Macarena. But all would not be well. A storm breaks out at sea and threatens his life and the lives of those around him.

Sometimes on the surface, following God’s will appear difficult, but long-term following God’s will is actually easier than not following God’s will. The Bible tells us that the way of the transgressor is hard (Proverbs 13:15). The way of the sinner is difficult. When we run from God’s plan for our life, at first we may think things are great…that we are free at last. Free from the shackles of God and his ways, but as was true of Jonah in that boat, we may, in fact, be slowly drifting into a storm.

In some cases, this is obvious. I remember seeing Johnny Cash, the country singer, being interviewed by Larry King. Johnny Cash said, “When I was young, I thought illegal drugs were God’s gift to me. They could bring me up when I wanted to go up and down when I wanted to go down. I discovered that drugs were really the devil in disguise.”

And people think drugs will make them feel better, and of course for a while they do. But our brain adjusts to the high the drug brings, so the next time we need just a little bit more of the drug to get the same high. Our brain achieves a certain level of tolerance, and we need more of the drug to get the same high until and find ourselves trapped in an addiction cycle.

I have heard people say, “I have been working really hard and doing a lot of good things. I feel like I deserve a break now and I want to enjoy some internet pornography.” At first it may seem like such a great escape, but people find themselves trapped in a porn addiction and swamped in shame.

There is a cost to walking outside of God’s will…outside of his call to us to be a light to the world. Sometimes it is not necessarily a choice between an obvious sin like drug use or pornography, sometimes a choice somewhere between something good and God’s best for us.

Ignatius of Loyola was convalescing from a cannon ball wound to his leg in the early part of the sixteenth century. While lying in bed bored, he wanted to read romance novels and fantasized about a life of gallantly pursuing a certain woman of the court. He also read biographies of Jesus and the saints and envisioned walking in the footsteps of Christ. In both scenarios he experienced an immediate sense of excitement, but as he envisioned chasing a noble woman of the court, though he had an initial sense of pleasure, he was left feeling restless and unsatisfied. But as he pondered pursuing a pilgrimage with Christ, he felt a sense of enduring joy and peace.

Sometimes choosing something good, but is out God’s will for us, is harder because we simply forfeit the deeper and more enduring joy and peace that comes by responding to God’s call on our lives.

A mentor of mine says, “Obedience is difficult, but disobedience is impossible.” Obedience can be difficult at first, but disobedience over time will prove impossible. If we are a son or daughter of God, running from God’s call to be his light in the world will prove difficult because it runs against the grain of who we are. It is not easy to go against the grain of who we are and we will find ourselves going down.

We read in verse 3 that Jonah went down to Joppa where he found a ship that was bound for the port in Spain. Ajith Fernando, the respected Bible expositor from Sri Lanka, points out that the word “down” is used four times in the King James version. Verse 3 states he went “down to Joppa.” Then he went “down” into the ship. In verse 5 we are told that Jonah had gone “down” into the sides of the ship. Then in 2: 6 Jonah says, “I went ‘down’ to the bottom of the mountains.”

Down, down, down, down.

Fernando believes that the repetition of the word “down” is very significant. The person who wrote Jonah was a literary artist, and in Hebrew when a word is repeated, we do well to pay attention because it likely means that the author is seeking to emphasize something.

To move away from the will of God, to not become a light in the world is to go down. I am not sure that the author of Jonah was using the term “down” as a metaphor, but I do believe that Fernando is right when he says when we go away from his plan to be a light in the world, we are going down.

Going away from God’s plan may look like we are going on a cruise to Spain, to somewhere attractive and exotic. But even if it looks like we are going up, up, up, if we are moving away from the person that God wants us to be, the light he wants you to become, we are really going down, down, down. It’s possible to be going up, up, up as far as the world is concerned but you to be going down, down, down as far as God is concerned.

Conversely, as we see in verse 8, when we follow God’s will for our life, even when it seems like we are going down, down, down, we are going up, up, up.

It is not uncommon to hear a testimony where someone basically says, “My life was really messed up in all kinds of ways. I met God and I became a better person. I had been struggling financially and now my business is prospering or I had been unhealthy and now I am really healthy. I have been healed.” I don’t want to discount those testimonies, but sometimes when we are on the path of God’s will for us, from a worldly perspective it may look like our life is going down, down, down. But in God’s economy our life is going up, up, up.

If you were here two weeks ago, you would have heard David Bentall talk about how as a younger man he aspired to become the president of his family’s construction company, a company which now has some 17 billion dollars in assets. But through a painful experience of betrayal he found himself on the outside of his family’s company looking in. He also talked about how he had aspired to be the CEO of the Vancouver/Whistler bid corporation and how out of 100 executives who applied for the job, he came in second for that position. He then shared how he is involved in the vocation of teaching families about running a family business effectively but also with integrity and honor, and how he feels like he is in the will of God, how through his work he is able to shine as a light for Christ. In a worldly sense he has taken some steps down in his career, but in the economy of God he has actually gone up.

When my wife Sakiko was in her mid twenties, she committed her life to Christ. At the time she was an editor at Newsweek Magazine. But she felt called to start a not-for-profit publishing company creating Christian books in Japan. From a worldly perspective her career was going down. She took a huge salary cut, but in following God’s will she was really going up, up, up.

I want to offer some “advanced content” to those of you who are longer time followers of Christ.

Ignatius of Loyola the founder of the Jesuits wrote about the 3 degrees of humility.

He says the first-degree of humility, if you are a follower of Christ, is absolute obedience in the time God speaks to you.

And by the way, if you're wanting to be directed by God, the most important foundation is to obey God in the things that are clear. Follow the light that you have in the small things and the big things tend to take care of themselves.

This would be a different message, but finding the will of God is not like trying to hit a 97-mile-an-hour fastball from Mariano Rivera… Something it just whizzes by you as you are rubbing your nose. If you are open to God in the small areas of your life, he will be guiding you even when you don't know.

Loyola says the second degree of humility comes into play when you have a choice between poverty and riches, honor and dishonor, a long life and short life: he says in the face of such possibilities we should not be leaning strongly towards one or the other, but be differentiated, indifferent, and open-handed.

He says the third degree of humility, which I'm nowhere close to, says that if you are faced with poverty and riches, honor and dishonor, a long life and short life we ought to lean toward poverty, dishonor and a short life – because that was the way of Christ.

In Jesus we saw as he hung on a cross it looked like he was going down, down, down, but he was redeeming the world… and in God’s eyes going up, up, up.

The way of God, the way of Kingdom is often upside down if we compare it to ways of the world.

When we run away from God, it is hard because we are going down, and it is hard because God will eventually come after us. God eventually came after Jonah through the storm and he will come after us if we depart from him.

How does he come back after Jonah?

He comes to him through a storm.

He comes to him through the sailors who wake him up.

He comes to him as the sailors identify him through the casting of lots.

He comes to him through the waves.

He comes to him through the whale.

He comes through 5 different ways.

There is a man I’ll call Steve. Steve loved fishing and fishing is wonderful, a gift from God. Jesus helped his students fish. But for Steve, though he believed in God, his fishing was coming between him and God. There were times when he was out fishing he thought, “As long as I'm fishing I don't need God.” Then we sense God moving toward him.

“It started five years ago with my annual (fly) fishing trip….

This yearly pilgrimage has always been for me a time of consummate pleasure, a banquet of beauty with deep friendship and adventure. Then it all began to unravel. I had scheduled a few days on the Frying Pan River in Colorado in late May. The fishing there is legendary, and recent reports had been phenomenal. But as a friend and I drove up to the river, it began to rain. Not to worry, I thought. Late spring often brings rain. It’ll blow over in an hour or two. As we climbed into the mountains, the rain turned into a snowstorm (this is in May) that lasted the entire trip.

I began to play chess with God. The following year, I planned our trip for July to eliminate all possibility of snow. I booked several days at a private ranch that caters to fly fisherman, with a guide to take us out to the upper Rio Grande. The night before we were to leave, I received a call telling me that no, it had not snowed, but thunderstorms had created mudslides and the fishing was impossible.

I sensed that God had made a countermove, and that my king was in danger. Grabbing my phone book, I found the number of another guide on a different river and called him. Yes, the fishing was fabulous and yes he could take us out tomorrow. I hung up the phone with a smile. Your move, God. When we arrived early the next morning, the fellow told us sadly, ‘It’s the strangest thing, but they opened the dam last night and the river’s flooded.’

The next year after that it was the drought; the year after that we still didn’t know what happened. High in the meadows of the Eastern Sierra, the fish seemed to vanish from the San Joaquin. I was losing the game. But I hadn’t been cornered; not yet.

Last year I was invited to a place near Bend, Oregon. It is a place very dear to me, full of memories from childhood. The Deschutes River flows from there, and I was looking forward to some great time on the water with my new fly rod. I made what I felt would be my winning move. A friend had arranged access for me to a private stretch of the Deschutes, a ranch visited each year by only a handful of people. The caretaker was an old master fly fisherman. When the owner of the shop in town learned where I was headed, he looked around furtively, leaned across the counter and whispered, ‘Mister, that may be the best one hundred yards of fishing in the North America.’ Something smiled in my heart and said “check.”

Old Bill was a marvelous fisherman, and as we walked down to the water, he realized, “I’m thinking…. let’s see…. You’re the first guy to fish here since October, 6 months ago…’ I thought, this is going to be incredible…’ You know what’s coming next. Nothing. We caught nothing. Bill had a funny look on his face. ‘John’ he said, people come from all over the world to fish this ranch. I’ve never had a day like this… ever. Feeling for all the world like Jonah, I said, ‘Bill, this is not about you. This fishing will be great after I’m gone. Check mate.’”

Fishing for John had become his god and God in his love came after him.

When God sends a storm there is love beneath the waves. The storm may feel violent as did for Jonah and John… It may seem that God is angry, but there is love beneath the waves. He sends a storm to draw us to him because he knows if we don’t come to him in our lifetime, not only will we miss the chance of lifetime to be his light in the world, but we miss the joy of an eternity with him.

Sometimes, as he did for Jonah, God sends storms into our lives so that he will fulfill his purpose for us to be a light in the world.

Has God ever allowed a storm in your life to draw you to him and to make you a light in the world? Can you see love beneath the waves?

It is hard to run from God because it goes against the very grain of our being. Even when running away may seem like it is up, up, up, but we are going down, down, down. The great irony is that when we run from God to be free, we are never free without him. When we are finally willing to give ourselves up to God like Jonah, to experience checkmate, when we are willing to cast ourselves in the sea for God in that moment of abandon, when all is lost, we are free.

The reason we can cast our self in utter abandon before God is because God in Jesus Christ allowed himself to be thrown into the sea for us so that we might be saved, so that our sins might be forgiven. 2000 years ago he allowed himself to enter into the storm of the cross so we could be free from our sins and forgiven.

When we know that, we can cast ourselves in utter abandon into the ocean of God’s purposes for us and become his light in the world.

Pray:

(God can use our disobedience. God is a redeemer, as he did with Jonah to draw the sailors to him, but in a much fuller way if we are fully on board with him.)

Finding God in Our Work(2011Sep11)

2011-09-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

Series: Thank God It’s Monday! M2 11 09 11
Speakers: Ken Shigematsu and Betty M
Title: Finding God in Our Work
Text: Colossians 3:23-24
BIG IDEA: We can find God in our work as we take time for Sabbath, pray and remember the Cross.

INTRODUCTION
The founder of McDonalds, Ray Kroc, was asked by a reporter about his priorities. "I believe in God, my family, and McDonald's," he said. Then he added, "When I get to the office, I reverse the order." Though he was likely speaking partly tongue in cheek, when people enter their work world their stated priorities often change and they become unconscious of God.
But does that have to be the case?
Do we need to compartmentalize our work or school life from the rest of our life?
Do we need to forget God or our family or what’s most important to us when we’re at work or school?
As we alluded to last week as we began our series on work, Thank God It’s Monday, because of sin and the radioactive effects of sin in our world, thorns and thistles grow from the ground and we experience frustration in our work: broken photo-copiers, computer servers that break down, office politics, gossip… but work itself is also a gift to us, a gift that was present in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned and fell away from God.
And work can also serve as a primary place where we grow in our relationship with God.
Dallas Willard, respected author on the spiritual life, would say that the primary place of our spiritual formation is not in our church or small groups or 15 minutes of reading the Bible and praying through practicing the presence, but our work place or school or the work you do at home changing diapers.

In his book The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard says (this is a paraphrase),

If we restrict our discipleship (our becoming more like Jesus) to special religious times, the majority of our waking hours will be isolated from the conscious presence of God in our lives. To not find your job to be the primary place of discipleship is to automatically exclude a major part, if not the most, of your waking hours from life with him. The gospel turns your work into a spiritual formation training center.

As I’ve said before, work is not just the place where we get things done, but a place where God gets us done.

How does discipleship or growing more like Jesus happen in our work or school?
How does work become, not only a meaningful part of our lives, but a significant part of our spiritual lives or our life with God?
Please turn to Colossians 3:23-24.
The apostle Paul says:
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
How do we become people like this--people who work with all our heart, as working for the Lord and not for human masters?
One of the ways that we can become people who work with all our heart as we work and do our work unto God, ironically, is by not working… by learning to do what I hope we are doing today---taking Sabbath, taking a 24-hour period which ideally includes the practice of not working: unplugging from our computers and electronic gadgets, worshipping together in community, taking time for rest, recovery, and play.
I know we talked about Sabbath as a gateway to rest and worship, but Sabbath is also a gateway to work.
“Sabbath does as much for your other six days of work as it does for your one-day of worship,” says long time pastor and writer Eugene Peterson. (2X)
Sabbath is as important to our work as it is to worship. Without Sabbath, we will find work grinding us down. By honouring Sabbath we will have renewed energy for the other six days.
After a sermon series on the Sabbath a few years ago, Caitlyn, a university student who has been part of our community, approached me glowing and said, “For the first in my life I have started taking a 24-hour Sabbath. I feel great. I used to procrastinate. Now I find I can really focus on my studies. I have this surplus energy now, so I have decided to do some volunteer work on campus.”
Not only does Sabbath give us renewed energy for the work that we face, Sabbath also enables us to reflect on the meaning of our life and work. The rabbis taught that the Sabbath was given to us to contemplate the meaning of our work and our life beyond work. The rabbis observed that if we had one day of rest in seven, or 3640 days in seven years, that we have ten years of Sabbath rest in a lifetime which would help us reflect on the meaning of our life and the work that we do, as well.
So through Sabbath, unlike Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, we can become conscious about God during our other six days. By taking Sabbath we can on the one hand avoid overworking, but when we do work we can work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Another way we can become conscious of God as we work is by seeing our work as prayer.
The ancient monks viewed their everyday work as a form of prayer. They really sought to live out Saint Paul’s admonition in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray continually, and literally tried to pray without ceasing. The Desert Father John Cassian encouraged the brothers under his care to engage in simple manual labour, such as weaving baskets in a cave, so that it was possible to engage in constant prayer while they were working. But this proved to be exhausting for most monks. Even Cassian would later admit that this method was harder than he expected.
In contrast, St. Benedict who lived in the 6th century had a slightly different perspective on how we pray in our work. As part of my graduate studies, I have been reading the rule of Benedict, and many have summarized Benedict’s approach to work with the famous dictum in Latin: “to work is to pray.” For Benedict, work, whether he and monks were farming, maintaining the buildings, preparing meals in the kitchen, scrubbing floors, in and of itself had value as a devotional act toward God and didn’t require literal unceasing prayers to be offered at the same time. Benedict believed that work done for the purpose of glorifying God was prayer, in and of itself.
Part of the way that his monks began to see their work as prayer was by having a rhythm of prayer throughout their day. This rhythm of prayer made them more conscious of God in their everyday work of harvesting the crops, repairing the roof of the monastery, placing books on the shelves of the library.
Unlike Benedictine monks, we are not going to be able to pause, in all likelihood, 5 or 7 times a day to engage in formal prayer. But, we can pray. We can have rhythms of prayer in our day that make us more conscious of God as we work, it can help us work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
When I completed my undergraduate degree, I began working in my first corporate job with the Sony Corporation in Tokyo. After a simple breakfast of eggs and tofu, I would slip into my uniform---a gray or navy suit, and leave my apartment at about 7:00 am and catch the subway downtown. I would spend the day teaching English, Western culture and business protocols to salary-men, i.e., corporate soldiers, some of whom were being dispatched to North America or Europe. I would arrive home at about 11:10 pm, sometimes later if I was invited to socialize at a bar with some salary-men. Although I was making far more money than I had ever made before, I was unhappy and felt like my soul was withering.
Although I had never heard of monastic rhythms of life or rules of life, clumsily I began to throw one together out of sheer desperation more than anything else. I made a decision to not work on weekends, to have a kind of Sabbath, got involved in a small local church about a ten-minute walk from my apartment. And during my morning commute, although I was nodding off and half asleep, I would spend some time praying and offering my workday to God.
That rhythm of praying in the morning and offering my day to God slowly changed the way I worked. Over time, I began to focus less on the money I was making and my professional advancement, and came to see that I was doing my work not just for a company, but for God.
I had this energy, this motivation to do well, not just to advance my career, but to honour my Maker, I was able to work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
After a couple of years working for the company, I was entering a time of change in my life, as I was preparing to go to Boston to go to divinity school. As I was cleaning out my desk getting ready to leave, my manager said, “If things don’t work out for you at school or in the ministry, we’d love you to come back. You would always a job here.” One of my younger sisters was visiting me in Tokyo at the time, and she had a chance to briefly talk with my manager Sasaki-san one-on-one. Afterwards, my younger sister said, “Your manager said you are his best guy and he is really going to miss you.”
I hadn’t been working just for a company, just for my career advancement, but working for the Lord, not for human masters.
And if we see our work life as a prayer, as an offering to God, and bring the same kind of discipline, energy and devotion to our work that we would to our relationship with God, we may not be the number one person in the company. We may not make CEO or partner. That kind of worldly success isn’t that important to God. But we will work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Keeping Sabbath rhythms will help prevent us from overworking. A rhythm of prayer, will help us see our work as prayer, as an offering to God. When this happens we can work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Brother Alphonsus was a doorkeeper in the seventeenth century at a Jesuit College in Majorca, Spain. Each time someone knocked that the door he would run toward the door and say, “I am coming, Lord!” This practice reminded him to treat each person with as much respect as if it were Jesus himself at the door.
A man named Howard I met while in seminary sat in a plane that was delayed for take off. After a long wait, the passengers became more and more irritated. Howard noticed how gracious one of the flight attendants was as she spoke with the passengers. After the plane finally took off, he told the flight attendant how amazed he was at her poise and self-control, and said he wanted to write a letter of commendation for her to the airline. The flight attendant replied that she didn't work for the airline company, but for Jesus Christ. She said that just before going to work she and her husband pray together that she would do her work for Christ.
Working for Christ makes a difference and helps us work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Last week, we heard from Leighton Cantrill who talked about how he experienced a sense of working for God as he worked as a day laborer on a construction site building houses.
At this time I am going to invite Betty M to come and share. Betty M is a member of our community and sits on the Board of Elders here. It has been a real gift to have her at Tenth. She has also served a key role for Olympic business development for a financial services company during and in the lead-up time to the Olympics. You may have seen her featured in the newspapers in that role.

I interview Betty

So we can become people who are conscious of God in our work, who work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters: by honoring Sabbath, having some kind of rhythm of prayer, by meditating on Jesus Christ and his work for us. We do can this as we prayerfully read the Gospels, or as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper:
When we honor Sabbath, pray and remember what Christ did for us, we can become conscious of God. We can work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
There is a church here on the West Coast where I know some of the pastors.
One of the pastors is named Kevin Kim.
Listen to part of Kevin’s story:
“I remember my first job. When I was in high school I worked cleaning a motel with my parents, and I hated it! We had to start early every day, around 7:00 in the morning, and we had to clean around 20 rooms. My mom would go in and scrub the toilets and the bathtub. My job was to vacuum. I remember being so resentful about having to work with my mom, because none of my other friends had to work, and I wanted to be hanging out with them.

The last thing I wanted was to clean up someone else's mess with my mom, and my mom knew this, so whenever she could, she let me off the hook, and she would do the extra work. But there were times when she needed help, and she would ask me, and I would come with an attitude. I’d come begrudgingly… But when I was in college, something changed.

My mom thought I needed a car, and so she saved up some money to buy me one. We shopped around and found this beautiful used '89 black Acura Integra. It was stick shift and a hatchback. It had plastic, chrome rims, and it was $3,300. I knew our financial situation. I knew this was an incredible sacrifice on my mom's part, and so I was thankful. I was psyched about the car.

I sat there beaming in the seat, thinking, Man, I got my ride. And as we were finalizing the sale at that used car dealership and the salesman left to go get some paperwork, my mom reached over and grabbed my hand. She had tears in her eyes, and she said to me, ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t buy you a nicer car.’

As a kid, you always know your parents love you, but you just don't realize how much love and sacrifice there is behind the scenes, and I got a glimpse of it that day. I never looked at my work the same way again; it changed my perspective. From that point on, I looked for ways to help out at the motel. I’d ask my mom what I could do for her, because it wasn’t just a job anymore. The work wasn't just a job; it was a way for me to express my love and gratitude in response to my mom's sacrificial love to me.”

If you understand the gospel, if you get a glimpse of the sacrificial love of Christ, it will change and transform your job, because it won't just be a job or a paycheck or climbing a ladder. It will be a way for you to express our love and gratitude to a God who loves you enough to die for you.

Our work will be an avenue of worship. Your place of work, whether you’re working as a student or at a job or at home, will be a place of worship, where you work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

When we know that Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice for us, died for us so that we might live, when we know how he literally worked to death for us to give us rest, to give us Sabbath in our souls, we can work for Christ while we work, and finally when we know that we will receive a reward for our work… Paul says…we can work with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters… since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
The greatest reward we can receive in our work is not a huge salary or a prestigious job title, but a reward from Christ. He is the greatest person for whom anyone can work and he will reward those who work for him: this text speaks of an inheritance, other texts speak about a crown of life, but our greatest reward will be the knowledge that we are did our work for Jesus and hearing him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
When we know we are working for him, for this, we can work with all our heart, working for the Lord, not for human masters.

Holy Sweat(Sep05,2011)

2011-09-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

Series: Thank God It’s Monday M1 (11 09 04)

Ken Shigematsu with Leighton Cantrill

Title: Holy Sweat: Reflecting God in Our Work

Texts: Genesis 1: 1-4, 6, 9, 14, 24; 2:8-15; Matthew 13:55; 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

BIG IDEA: In our work we reflect a God who works.

During the 1960s primaries in the United States a senator named John Kennedy was campaigning. He was standing by a mine shaking hands with the miners. One miner came to him and said, “Is it true that you’re the son of the one of the richest people in the country? Kennedy said, “I guess so.” The man asked, “Is it true that you’ve never really done a day’s work with your hands?” Kennedy nodded his head. Then the miner said, “Let me tell you this. You haven’t missed a thing!”

Many people feel that work, particularly hard manual labor, is a kind of necessary evil—something that people would not choose to do if they didn’t have to.

Many people in white collar jobs can feel the same way about their work.

I had coffee with a friend who told me that when he was a university student he made it his goal to work as a stock broker and then retire when he was forty, or earlier. Now as a stock broker who’s approaching his forties, he says, “With the downturn (in the markets), I likely won’t be able to retire until I’m forty-five… I don’t like work. I’m looking forward to my life beyond work.” People talk about “Freedom 45 or 55,” meaning they hope to able to retire at 45 or 55 from work and be free.

People say, “I live for the weekend…” that is my real life occurs when I’m doing something other than my work.

But does work have to feel like a prison sentence, like some penitentiary where we “do our time” and from which we seek an early escape?

If we’re a typical person, we will spend most of the waking hours of our lives working.
Throughout history, people have usually viewed work as something unpleasant that has to be done.

If you look at the Eastern accounts of creation, like the Enuma Elish there is this great battle of the gods, and Marduk, the king of the victorious group of gods, creates the world from the body of a defeated god. Then the other gods say to Marduk, "Uh, don’t you realize how much maintenance it would take to run this place?” Marduk replies, "I will produce a lowly, primitive creature called Man to do the work."
But how does the living God view work?

Please turn to Genesis 1-2:
In the very first page of Genesis we see God the Father working. God gets his hands dirty creating human beings (soil). He blows into man’s nostrils the very breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Adam literally means “from the earth.” We also see in the opening pages of Scripture God working as a gardener, planting trees, and crops. (shovel) He’s engaged in what we would call blue collar labour.
We also see God working as an engineer designing the universe. He’s involved in what we would call white collar work.
God the Father engages in blue and white collar work. And so does God the Son.
Jesus spent most of his adult life on earth working as a carpenter. We don't know much about Jesus' life between the time he was age twelve and thirty. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus followed his foster father into his trade as a tekton, which is usually translated "carpenter," but can also be rendered "craftsman." As Jesuit priest James Martin points out tekton may have also been used to refer to what we would today call "a day laborer." This could have meant that Jesus not only worked with wood, but also did day jobs: working on construction sites, hoeing fields, and harvesting crops.
During Jesus’ final three years as a human being on earth he, of course, worked as mentor and a teacher.
Because God only does what is good and because God engages in work—both manual and mental—we can know that work is intrinsically good.
White collar workers can look down on blue collar workers, believing they are employed in an inferior form of labor.
Conversely, blue collar workers can view those of us who with white collar jobs as having never put in a “real day’s work.” Someone spontaneously dropped in on me at home while I was working in the garden. When she saw me down on my knees pulling weeds, she blurted out, “It’s good to see you finally doing some real work!”
According to the Scriptures, we are made in God's image. We re-present in what we do. When we work, we re-present what God is like.
But specifically how do we re-present God?
In Genesis 1:1 we read:
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The expression “formless and empty” in Hebrew is tohu wabohu (sounds like a Japanese appetizer.)
It means formless and empty, something chaotic, disordered, something uninhabited and lifeless.
And we read also in verse one that darkness was over the face of the chaotic, primordial, wasteland.
Then we read God said,
“Let there be light,” and there was light and he separated the light from the darkness. (vs. 3)
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” (vs.6)
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” (vs. 9)
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years (vs. 14)
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” (vs. 24),
So in these verses we see God separating light from darkness, water from ground, he’s creating order (rule of life).
In creating the stars, the sun, and moon and the land with trees and all kind of plants, he’s creating beauty.
He creates plants and animals and finally us he’s creating life.
Whenever we work and create order, beauty, and life we are re-presenting God.
Let’s take “order,” for example:
When create order, we re-present God.
Sometimes creating order is obvious.
When a carpenter builds the frame of the house, he or she is creating order from wood, steel, and concrete. They are re-presenting God.
When a teacher is teaching, she or he is creating order and coherence in the minds of the students. They re-present God.
When an accountant prepares a tax return for a person or prepares financial statements for company, he or she is creating order with numbers and re-presenting God.
When we bring order from the Tohu wabohu, we re-present God.
When we create beauty, we re-present God.
I was talking to someone recently about the fact that she left her secure well-paying job to become an artist, a photographer. It is not as secure as her previous job, but she loves what she does. She's creating beauty. She is re-presenting God.
A couple weeks ago my wife and I saw my brother Tetsuro act in an outdoor play in the Steveston, called Salmon Row. The play reenacted the experience of Japanese and Chinese immigrants and First Nations people who came to Steveston to fish during Salmon runs in the early part of the 20th century.

The story featured the plight of individuals and families who had immigrated to BC were facing discrimination and struggling to make ends meet as fishermen… and how they had to for low wages as fisherman.

The play retold an important part of our British Columbia history in a beautiful, poignant and poetic way.

If you're an actor or an artist and are creating beauty you are re-presenting God.
When we create life, we we re-present God.
In some cases it's obvious. If you work as a doctor or a nurse you’re supporting life.
Shirley works as a housekeeper at a 250-bed hospital. She says “If we don’t clean with a quality effort, we can’t keep the doctors and nurses in business; we can’t accommodate patients. This place would be closed if we didn’t have housekeeping.” Shirley has “connected the dots” and understands that her work of housekeeping is serving people—literally helping to keep them alive.

Have you “connected the dots” in your work (now think in terms of paid or unpaid work) so you can see how your work brings life?
In some cases it's less obvious, if you work as a farmer growing crops, it's obvious how you are working to support life. But if you work in a factory that creates the boxes for the food (prop) to be packaged it's not as obvious, but it's a necessary part of the process that helps feeds people because there is a time lag between what you do and when it directly benefits people. Look down the line – does your work support life? If so, you are re – presenting God?
(Now, if say you are working as a drug dealer, or you are working in the sex trade (I realize you may be doing this against your will and you may feel trapped), or you are in the gambling industry, as you trace your work forward, while you may say that it seems like my work creates pleasure for people or some entertainment, in the balance if your work seems to bring people more death rather than life, it may that you need to consider the possibility of changing your line of work if you can.)
When we work, we not only re-present God, but with co-create with him as well.
Co-creators with God
In Genesis 2:15 we read, “The LORD God then placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Until this point in the history of the world, no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground (Genesis 2:5, emphasis added).
God can create order, beauty, and life out of nothing, but in his mysterious providence he chose to create through us. According to Genesis, in the garden of Eden there were not certain shrubs and plants because there was no human being to help plant and raise them.
There are certain things in the world that simply wouldn't be in the world if there weren't human beings to create them or co-create them with God.
TESTIMONY: Leighton Cantril
For those of you who don’t know me I am a regular here at Tenth, arriving in the country from Melbourne in March 2010, just after the Olympics. My wife, Sarah, and I came here for the Easter service last year – and just decided to stay!

As those of you who were in the job market in the 6 months following the Olympics know, a combination of seemingly lots of extra people in the marketplace with VANOC or Vancouver 2010 on their resume, and a slump in the amount of available work made it difficult for us to find work in our “regular fields”. We put in much effort and energy put into our job search; however nothing was paying much dividends.

And we were feeling the weight of living on our savings that we had brought from another country.

So I tried my luck with a temp agency called Labour Ready. As I found out, employers call Labour Ready at any time of day and you get work for a half or full day of work. It usually ends up being the hard work that no-one onsite wants to do – lifting, digging, cleaning etc. At the end of the shift you then trek back to the office to pick up your cheque for the day.

So I would wake up in the wee hours, catch public transport, and go and wait in a plain large office filled with enough plastic chairs for about half of those that turned up to sit on, and then everyone else sat on the floor.

The office opens at 6am, you put your name on the available list. I soon learned that if I am going to get up really early for work that I am definitely going to work that day – so may as well make sure I was in line by 5:30 or earlier - whatever it took!

Most days this plan worked, but I recall one day I arrived, and sat from 6 in the morning on the hard floor, one hour, two hours, three hours. Others were getting work,. But they stopped calling people’s names before they made it down the list to me. I left the office around 10:30... pretty discouraged. No work and no money that day.

My first “half day” of work was unloading truckloads of boxes of frozen seafood from New Zealand and ginger from China onto pallets in refrigerated storage near Holdom skytrain station. Thousands of boxes – at 10-15 pounds a box…gets very heavy. I was lucky that I got the job because I was tall (6ft or over they requested) – a lucky break. My first pay cheque in Canada was $38.07 (SHOW PHOTO) for that half day of work. But for some reason, in spite of the muscle pain, early morning, and smelling like seafood AND ginger, there was a sense of satisfaction. Getting my job done, being part of the system that sent NZ seafood to restaurants and people’s tables. It was a cool feeling to be a small part of helping perhaps a mum and dad and their 3 children sit around the table and ordering NZ muscles, the special of the day to celebrate a birthday. I was a (small) part of them celebrating that day.

A few days later working for Labour Ready, 4 of us started working on a construction site where townhouses were being built... (SHOW PHOTO) we arrived in the pouring rain, which (being Vancouver) continued for most of the day. We were shoveling heavy gravel that had been mixed with clay. One of my workmates said that there was a chance that we could be “called back” if we worked hard I decided that grueling work was better than no work and put a really solid effort in. I left the job site knowing that I was getting a call back to that site the next day as they had seen my commitment to work – it felt really, really good!

I ended up working on that job site for about 3 or 4 weeks – building townhouses at 33rd and Main. Being the “extra hands” on the site, any of the “heavy lifting” work would come my way.

And in the midst of the digging, the lifting and the cleaning up, there were some moments where I actually saw my (small) role in the bigger picture. When my lifting and shoveling and pushing dirt made more sense. I was helping to create order and structure and safety for someone to live there, a family, maybe a couple. . (IF THERE IS ONE—SHOW PHOTO)
There was a community of people who were going to be based there, using it as their base, their shelter against the world. Where they would wake up in the morning and head to work, and where they would invite friends to watch the big game or a movie
Although initially I was unsure of the meaning of my being employed as a labourer for this time, God was able to show me through the sweat and rain how exciting it is for me to be a piece of the piece of the puzzle – knowing that it was and is God’s business to use his people to create and re-create using our minds and bodies.

Towards the end of my time working on these townhouses, I remember stopping for a moment to look around and think – wow – how incredible it is to take a pile of timber, siding, shingles and pipes and turn them into a house – where people can live. To stack boxes on pallets and know that it helps families celebrating life together. It is great to be able to play a role with my mind and body – God celebrating our echo of His great work.

In my hammering and lifting and shoveling there was opportunity to mirror the work of my Father in heaven who created order out of nothing, to the world that we live in today.

Ken Shigematsu: We live in a modest home not far from here. Not a day goes by when I am not grateful for our home. I've never met them, but I'm grateful for the people who poured the concrete, built the frame of the house, laid the pipes and the dry wall….

As meaningful as work can be when we understand the order, beauty, and life that's generated through it, work can also be hard, frustrating, even degrading and dehumanizing.

In the book of Genesis we see that work was present in the garden in Eden before sin came into the world, work is not a punishment for sin, but as we later see in the book of Genesis the gift of work has also been tainted by sin and radioactive effects of sin.

When we are in a really mundane or hard job, sometimes we can lose sight of the order, beauty, and life we are helping to create in the end.Ken,

And we can create order, beauty, and life through our work itself, but we can also help foster order beauty and life in the people that we work with.

I’ve been blessed by the wisdom of the Jesuits. James Martin a Jesuit Priest in his excellent book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything describes one of his summer jobs as university student.

He worked on an assembly line in a local packaging plant. It was one of the worst jobs he'd ever had. His job involved standing on conveyer belt line standing in front of the deafening, machine taking the smaller boxes that came down the conveyer belt and put them into bigger boxes, and cover them with plastic shrink wrap.

James said, "I hated it. Everyone hated it. Every 10 minutes I checked the clock on the wall to see how much closer lunchtime was. After lunch, I watched the clock and prayed for (or at least anticipated) the end of the shift at 4 PM. The high point of his week? At least once a week, someone threw a piece of wood into the machine to shut it down temporarily. Then everyone got to take a break while someone called the repair man. That was the highlight of the work week!”

But surprisingly, three women on the line laughed almost the entire day. They had worked at the plant for several years, and knew one another and spent the day chatting about their children, their husbands, their homes, their plans for the weekend. Gradually James says these women drew him into their circle. By summer's end, James says, "They were ribbing me about all sorts of things: how slow I was, how young I was, how skinny I was, how much dust got into my hair, especially how afraid I was of sticking my hand in the machine to fix it when it was jammed. "Is you a man or is you a mouse?" one would tease. They hated their jobs but they loved one another.”

Even if we hate our job, and forget how the work itself in the end is creating order, beauty, or life, we can relate to other people in our work in ways that bring order, beauty, and life to them, and thus re-present God.

Say you don't like your job, say you’ve forgotten that your work creates order, beauty and life from the tohu wabohu and you work all alone, if you are earning money from your job that money can help create order, beauty, and life for someone else. Work helps put bread or rice on your table.

When my wife Sakiko was a high school student in Japan, she had the opportunity to study in Chicago for a year as part of a student exchange program. She did her home stay with a family of four: the parents were Bob and Judy and they had two daughters Julie and Jeannie. Sakiko was struck by the fact that though this family had a modest home and didn't have a lot of money, they seemed really happy. Bob was a family man, a salt of the earth kind of guy. He ended up working his entire career-for 40 years or so as an account with the same company: one that made tractors and buses. You might think as I thought, he must have really loved his job to stay at his whole working life. But, if you asked Bob, “Do you love your job?” He would have said, “No not really. It's a job.” “Why did you stay at it for so long?” Then you have showed you photographs of his wife Judy and his daughters Julie and Jeannie.

Through our work we can help create order, beauty, and life through the work itself, in some cases for the poor people we work with, and in other cases for a work we can help create order, beauty, and life for love ones: we can pay rent, put on the food table, and may help a little bit school.

We can honor God in our work, but we can also honor God with what is achieved through our work for others.

Earlier in the message, we talked about how Jesus worked as carpenter and a teacher.
But his greatest work was as a convict. He was convicted for his claim to be the Son of God. They flogged him and crucified him. The result: through his death on the cross, which was mysteriously paying the penalty for our sins, our sins can be forgiven and we can be restored into a relationship with our Father in heaven—and we can experience an order, beauty, and a life we've never known

When we experience that we can do our work not only with meaning that comes from knowing that we are bringing order, beauty, life for others, but we can do our work with joy as a way of saying thank you to the one whose work involved dying so that we might live.

That's another sermon that will be the focus of next week: Finding God in our Work which I will present with Betty MacLeod a member of our church, former VP of Olympic Business at RBC.

Let’s pray.

Full of Grace and Truth(Aug282011)

2011-08-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

Surprised by Grace Series: 11 08 28
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Full of Grace and Truth
Text: John 1:1-5, 16-18; John 7:53-8:11
BIG IDEA: In Jesus Christ we experience the fullness of grace and truth.
Philosophers talk about binary opposition (SLIDE 1) which refers to a pair of related terms that are, or at least appear, opposite in meaning such as hot-cold, good-bad, darkness-light. We may not use the actual technical philosophical term, but we might refer to things that we assume are binary opposites by using the expression: “Those two are like oil and water.” (Prop: flask of oil and one of water)
Or we may think of sumo wrestlers and skinny people as binary opposites (Powerpoint image). (SLIDE 2)
But there is such a thing as a thin sumo wrestler. I have seen them in Japan. (Show photo.) (SLIDE 3)
There are times when we can think two things are binary opposites, but they are not. Many people in our culture assume that rational and emotional, for example, are binary opposites. That is, if you are a rational person you won’t be emotional, and if you are emotional you won’t be rational. As we know, people are not that simple. There are those who are deeply rational, but who also feel deeply, people who possess strong emotions and yet are also rational. (There are also some who are neither thinking nor feeling!)
So it is in our perception of God.
There are those who view God as being a stern celestial cop… someone who is into the law… ready to ticket someone who did not come to a full stop at a stop sign. There are others who view God as a kind of indulgent grandfather in the sky… plump… with a white beard…silver-rimmed glasses…sitting in a rocking chair and around December 25 says, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” a lot.
Well, according to the Scriptures, truth and grace, law and love are not binary opposites, but they converge in God and are seen in the example of his Son, Jesus Christ.
This summer we have been in a series called Surprised by Grace, surprised by the grace of God in the Old Testament. Many people who have read just the Old Testament perceive God as being this stern cop, this javert figure who is into the law…into the truth. But as we have seen in the stories of such people as Adam and Eve, Abraham, Hagar, Moses, David, Josiah, Jacob and Isaiah, the living God is not only a God of truth, but also the God of grace.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to John 1.
As we are concluding our series this morning Surprised by Grace we’re going to cross into the New Testament, I will seek to show how God in the person of Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth as illustrated in Jesus’ encounter with a woman caught in adultery.(2x)
In John 1:1 we read:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (SLIDE 4)
Last week I was in a long conversation with someone in New York City about faith. I invited him to tune in to our podcast. So, if you are listening, Dennis, “Hi!” He described his faith journey and said, “I have respect for the Scriptures, but I can’t believe that Jesus Christ was the divine Son of God. I don’t believe that he was God.” Some of you have expressed to me you have difficulty believing that Jesus Christ is God. But this passage makes it clear that the beginning was the Word, which refers to God. The Word was God, and the Word was with God and he was with God in the beginning.
Then we read in verse 14, the Word, which is God becomes flesh and blood and moves into the neighborhood.

In verses 16-18 we read:
16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (SLIDE 5)
In verse 16 we read, “Out of his fullness we have received all grace in place of grace already given.” A good translation. In the Greek this phrase literally reads that in Jesus Christ we have received “grace instead of grace.” (SLIDE 6)
What John likely means is better grace. What he likely means by this is that we have received this fresh grace, this undeserved favour from God (to quote Sharon Smith who preached earlier in the series) which replaces the old grace—with a newer and greater grace.
I have some family who live on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and I have been to the North Shore. I love watching the waves build and crash. Sometimes a relatively small wave will build and crash on to the beach. Then a bigger wave will follow it and crash and submerge over the waters of the smaller wave. And John likely means that yes, there was grace in what we call the Old Testament through the law, but this greater wave of grace has come to us in Jesus Christ.
In verse 17, we read, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Notice it doesn’t say the law was given through Moses, “but” grace and truth came though Jesus Christ. There is simply a semi-colon, because the two are related. The law that God gave us through Moses and the grace and truth that came through Jesus Christ are not binary opposites. They are related.
Last fall we did a series on the Ten Commandments. If you were not here, you can go to our website and download those messages as mp3s. Last year as we began our series on the Ten Commandments I talked about how the Ten Commandments are more than just ten words engraved on a stone tablet. They are the verbal expression of the holiness and the love of God. They reflect the very character of the living God.
The truth in the Ten Commandments and the grace that we find in Jesus Christ are not binary opposites.
In the mid 1990s while many of the institutions in Eastern Europe were stepping out from under the shadow of communism and finding a new way, I was invited to Kazakhstan to give a series of lectures to public school teachers and administrators on how to teach ethics in a post-communist society. As a pastor, I chose as my text for those lectures the Ten Commandments. I wasn’t supposed to do this, but at the end of my lectures I said, “The Ten Commandments are so lofty, beautiful and succinct. 3300 years later we can’t really improve on the Ten Commandments. Many of us want to live by them, but we can’t live by them by just trying really hard to live them out. In order to fully live out these Commandments we need to meet the one person whose life perfectly embodied them: Jesus Christ.” I went on to briefly explain why Christ came as the one full of grace and truth, and invited those who wanted to do so to invite Christ to become part of their lives.
Grace and truth came through the Ten Commandments, but grace and truth came with greater fullness in Jesus Christ. He was the greater wave that submerged the lesser wave of the Ten Commandments.
One of my favourite pictures of Jesus embodying grace and truth comes from John 8:1-John 8:11. As you may see in your copy of the Scriptures, you may have this footnote in your Bibles: “The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-John 8:11.”
Some of the best biblical scholars do not believe that this story was part of the original Gospel of John. But there is also wide consensus that while this story of the woman caught in adultery was not part of the original Gospel of John, it was something that happened in Jesus’ life. I believe that it actually happened in the life of Jesus, something that we can learn from.
Let me read this story from John 8:
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. (SLIDE 7 to verse 13)
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman,[a] where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
(John 8:1-11)
Let me describe the setting of this story.
People from all over Israel and Jewish people from different parts of the known world would gather in the capital city Jerusalem to celebrate the most joyous of all the Jewish feasts, The Feast of Tabernacles, often called the Feast of Booths, or what we might call the Feast of Tents. Jewish law required all men who lived within 30 kilometers of Jerusalem to the city for this feast. Because it was such a time of great celebration, joy and fun, people literally poured into Jerusalem from all over the country and beyond. The Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Tents, celebrated God’s grace, his kindness toward his people.
As you may know, if you have read the Book of Exodus, there was a time when the people who were part of the nation of Israel, the descendants of Jacob (later named Israel), lived in the desert as they were making their way from Egypt, the land where they had been slaves to the promised land of Canaan. While they lived in the desert, they lived in tents. How did they eat? God miraculously provided food for them in the form of quail, a bird, and manna, a kind of a honey-flavoured wafer. Then after 40 years of living in the desert God brought his children to a land flowing with “milk and honey,” a place of abundant harvests.
So at harvest time each year the Jewish people came together in Jerusalem to give thanks to God for their blessings. They were reminded that their ancestors had endured real hardship in the desert, and the people built little tents made from palm and willow branches. So Jerusalem resembled a happy version of a tent city here in Vancouver.
Tents made of palm branches sprang up everywhere—on the streets, in public squares, on the top of flat roofs…everywhere. And there was a lot of joy and celebration in the streets, much like we felt when we hosted the Olympics, and after we won the gold medal in the final of the men’s hockey. Many of the Jewish people of Jesus’ day weren’t particularly religious. As is true of many people in North America today, even though Christmas is a religious holiday many people don't worship God but instead focus on exchanging presents and partying. In the same way during the Feast of Tents, while some people worshipped, for many it was just a time to eat and drink, party and dance.
So, much like Mardi Gras which precedes the Christian season of Lent, in places like New Orleans, it had become a time of eating, getting drunk, partying and dancing. Our story takes place near the end of Mardi Gras week in Jerusalem.
There is young woman who is apparently a betrothed virgin. She is engaged to be married to someone. (We can deduce this from the Mishnah, an authoritative part Jewish law.)
We don’t know anything about her fiancé. Perhaps he was out of the country on business. Transportation in the first century was very slow. Long trips would not take days or weeks. They would take months. He may have been away for several months on end, with some weeks yet to go. Here his fiancé was alone at Mardi Gras, the Feasts of the Tabernacles, one of the happiest times of the year.
Maybe, this is speculation, she went with friends one night to a party, and they sang and danced into the late hours of the evening. And maybe, and again this is speculation, at this point she meets a young man tanned from longs hours of harvesting in the fields beyond the city walls. (CREDIT Nancy Hardin in the sermon outline as I am drawing on her imagination here). He was alone and had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. Their eyes connect and there’s instant magnetism. As the music was playing and the sun was setting, maybe this city girl began to show this tanned farm boy how to dance. She feels attractive, energetic and happy. They began to make their way through the crowded streets going from one party to another. Maybe they happened to end up in front of his tent—it’s really late and it’s more convenient for her to spend the night there. We can only imagine what happened, but we do know that in the early morning hours they experienced physical intimacy with each other.
But as the sun rose onto the hills of Jerusalem, passing through the streets on their way to the temple, a group of Pharisees, highly-respected religious men and scribes, spied the young couple through the loosely tied branches of their tent.
One of them recognized the young woman as being engaged to another man, and perhaps might normally have looked the other way, but thought that we can use this act to corner Jesus.
As Nancy Hardin whose imagination I have drawn upon in this retelling says, “Why don’t we catch Jesus between his love for the rabble and his regard for the law? If he chooses the woman, the crowds will begin to question his teaching. If he chooses the law, he will lose his following.” The Pharisees decided to use the lovers as a bait to trap Jesus.

He comes into the tent grabs the young woman. Startled and afraid, she grabs her garments to cover herself, and perhaps at this moment the young man gets up and runs and sprints down an alley. She begs the men for mercy, but they drag her from the tent of palm branches to the street.
Fear grips her. What would become of her? She feels humiliated…ashamed. Would they stone her to death? If she lived, could she ever face her fiancé again? The men dragged her into the temple courts. They saw a small group gathered around Jesus. He was sitting among them, explaining the Scriptures. They exposed this woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus:
“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him (John 8:4-6).
But we know from verse 6 that the real intent of the Pharisees and the scribes was not to better understand some obscure part of the law, but they wanted to use this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing Jesus. We know the Jewish leaders were already plotting to have Jesus arrested and punished for his teaching. The Pharisees knew that it would not be easy to pin a crime on Jesus. The best way they figured would be to trap him in his teaching…
The text tells us that he stooped down to write in the dust. We don’t know what he wrote. Some of the ancient manuscripts add a line that does not appear in our Bibles: “With his finger he wrote on the ground the sins of each one of them—hypocrite, liar, gossip, dishonoring parents.” He would have known their sins. It is possible that he wrote them on the ground.
Perhaps he was writing the Tenth Commandment which said, “You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife.” This text would declare them all guilty of adultery. Or perhaps he was writing out part of his own Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said thou shalt not commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
In verse 7 it says when they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said, “Let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Then we read that those who heard him began to go away, the older ones at first, and the only one that was left with Jesus was the woman standing there. He said, “Woman, where are they? Has no-one condemned you?” “No-one, sir” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” As she looked at Jesus, she knew she was a free woman fully forgiven. No condemnation in his eyes or voice. She was clean and restored.
In this story we see Jesus’ grace and truth. In this story we see this beautiful convergence of grace and truth in God as a human being in Jesus Christ. Grace and truth are not binary opposites, but they come together in Jesus Christ.
He welcomes the woman caught in adultery. He does not condemn her. He forgives her: grace. But then he tells her to go and sin no more. Sin will break you and your relationships: truth.
Perhaps you are here and you carry the burden of the guilt of sin inside you. Maybe you have committed adultery or some sexual sin or some other kind of sin, and you wonder if God could forgive you. Perhaps you feel your sins are too dark… too many…too often.
Jesus spoke to the woman in the temple long ago. He speaks to you. He says to you, “Neither do I condemn you.” Grace. “Go and leave your life of sin.” Truth. He can say: “I forgive you because 2000 years ago I hung on a cross, I in effect, was stoned to death on your behalf. I bore the punishment for sin that you deserved so that you could be forgiven and set free.”
If you have never turned to Christ, you can right now. And he will say, “Neither do I condemn you. I forgive you. Go and leave your life of sin.”
If you are here and you are a long time follower of Christ, let me ask you this: How are you growing? How are you becoming like Jesus, a person of grace and truth?
Earlier this month my siblings from here in Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Montreal came here with their families for our annual family reunion. During the family reunion we celebrated our parents’ Golden Wedding anniversary—50th anniversary. (SHOW photo of family) (SLIDE 8)
We chartered a boat and took a cruise out to Eagle Bay in West Vancouver. When we came back on the dock of a marina here in False Creek, we had a little service where we offered tributes to our parents for their 50th wedding anniversary.
My older sister Rie (SHOW photo) (SLIDE 9) described our parents, without using the actual words, as being people of grace and truth:
When I was 15 years old. We had just come back from a trip and I wanted to go out to our local teen disco and my dad said "no." I was so mad at being denied that I decided to run away from home. I didn't get very far though. I just walked to the end of our street and then didn't know where to go, so I came back and sat in our back yard, very upset, crying my eyes out. Eventually my mother came out to find me and said "Rié, even if you don't agree with what your father said, it's very important to respect his position. If you can't get along with your dad, you will never get along with your future husband." That was something that really hit me and I decided that I really wanted to have a successful marriage, some day and so I went back inside…
Grace expressed by my mother walking to my sister; truth… telling her about the importance of respect.
(She’s a happily married today.)
One of my younger sisters, Setsu, spoke: Show photo of Setsu.(SLIDE 10)

Thank you for raising us in a home with unconditional love and transcendent morals.

(Or put another way): with grace and truth.

Dad, I will always remember that you told me that you would buy me as many books as I wanted to read. In doing so, one of the many lessons you taught me, dad, was to not only value knowledge but to value even more knowledge with humility. For clearly, for you, the point of knowledge was to acquire a kind of wealth, not measured in terms of riches and status, but a different kind of wealth of intellect that translates into graciousness, and generosity.

Then speaking about mom and noting she had graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with honors and then Columbia, she said, “One thing that you have impressed upon me is how we would talk about all the different kinds of people you have known, which would include so many people of exceptional intelligence, and accomplishment, but you have taught me that even as intelligence is important, what is more important is kindness.”

(Or in other words truth and grace).

(Setsu is now a professor at the University of California and a social activist—advocating on behalf of women, minorities and prisoners—seeking to walk in the way truth and grace).

Mom, in a word, I’ve always described you to everyone, as a saint. By this I mean that you are the epitome of a self-sacrificing mother, and someone whose life has been devoted to caring for us and for dad. And this gift to all of…

As I have said before, the only tragedy in life is to not become a saint, a person who is whole and full of light, because this is something that is possible for all of us as we walk with Jesus Christ. It is not a tragedy to never have lots and lots of money, or to have never lived in a big beautiful home, to never have travelled to exotic places. The only tragedy in life is to not become a saint because we all have this opportunity with Jesus Christ. This could be a different sermon altogether, but as I look at my own parents, in my estimation, and in the view of my four siblings, they have saint-like character. How did they become this way? I believe two factors.
When we were living in England, our life seemed financially comfortable. Dad was working as a broadcaster for the BBC and Mom was tutoring diplomats and studying at Cambridge. I remember growing up in England we had people help with cooking and cleaning, basically servants. I remember how my Mom and Dad threw these cocktail parties in our home, and as a 4 or 5-year-old boy after these parties were over, I would sneak down into the party room with my siblings and start knocking back the left-over glasses of sherry and alcohol.
Then when Dad’s contract with the BBC expired, we ended up moving to Canada, first to Vancouver and then to Coquitlam, and later to Surrey. We seemed to be well-to-do in England, but we seemed poor in Canada.
During our first years here in Canada, in the years before he started working as a journalist for the CBC, dad was working as a writer of a Canadian economic newsletter for Japanese companies. It didn’t have many subscribers. I remember one day my mother was stressed out in the kitchen. She said that she was not sure we could afford to buy groceries. We might have to start eating dog food. My wife Sakiko and I have only one child, but I can imagine the stress of being a parent of five children and not knowing if you would be able to feed them.
This week my mom told me that when you lose what is most important to you, then God can become the most important thing for you; when you lose what you depend on most, you can learn to depend on God. You become open to grace.
If you lose something really important to you, something that you depend on, you will suffer, but in your suffering God can become more precious to you, someone you depend on more... Your suffering can open you to grace.
When I was a teenager creating all kinds of stress for my parents through my shoplifting, drug use, and joy-riding, my mother re-committed her life to Christ and my dad gave his life to Christ for the first time. My dad would have called himself as a Christian “in name,” but he did not really know Christ personally, but when I was a teen he really turned his life over to Christ. Christ moved from the edges of his life to the center. My mother re-met Christ and dad met truth in Christ: not truth in the form of abstract idea, but truth embodied in a person, truth embodied in Jesus.
Is there a part of your life where you are being invited to experience God’s grace?
Is there a part of your where you are being invited to experience the truth of Jesus? (Pause)
Grace and truth have helped my parents grow more like Jesus; and grace and truth can have same effect in your life as well.
Jesus Christ is the one who came full of grace and truth. If you don’t know him, turn to him and receive the cleansing and the new life he offers. And if you do, embrace the suffering that God may bring into your life and turn to him again and again.
Walk with him and become like Jesus, the one who is full of grace and truth.
Walk with him and become a saint.

Next Sunday we begin a new 4-week series for September called Thank God It’s Monday: How we find God in our work. It will be a great series to invite a friend to.

Live While You Live(19June2011)

2011-06-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

2 Peter M8 11 06 19
Speaker Ken Shigematsu, with Tetsuro Shigematsu
Title: Live While You Live
Text: 2 Peter 3:10-14; Revelation 20:11-12
BIG IDEA: We worship God by living in such a way that prompts his applause.
If you follow sports, you know that you at some point in a game a goal, a save, even a hit can change the flow of the game – and even the flow of a whole series.
So it is in our lives.
From time to time, we have we have game-changing moments.
If you have been part of our community for a while, you likely aware of what was the most important game-changer in my life.
I was a teenager. I had invited my friend Charlie, the middle linebacker on the school football team and one of the most popular kids at school, to go to Kmart (a smaller version of Wal-Mart) with me. I was going to show him how easy it was to shoplift. I had a Canucks jacket with holes in the inside liner of the pockets, so I could steal things and hide them between the outer shell and the inner liner of my jacket (show how I did this). We walked over to the sporting goods section and I slid a baseball batting glove into my pocket, I lifted a small rubber ball, and started stealing things that I didn't need, like ear rings, just to show off.
We walked out of the store together, someone walked up behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I am a store detective, come with me.” My friend Charlie looked at me and said, "I gotta go.”
The store detective takes me to a small back room, and says I don't know if I should call the police or your parents… He ends up calling just my parents and telling them what happened. That night I remember sitting in my room Asian style (kneeling like this) with my parents. They told me how I had brought shame on them and our whole family. My mom was crying and my dad struck me a couple times (it was good for me, I deserved it).
I remember later that night standing at the top of the stairs in our house and thinking to myself-- my life must change – I don't want to ever do anything that will bring that much pain to my parents. About a year later, my dad who had just been introduced to Jesus Christ took me to a Christian youth conference here in Vancouver. On the last day of the conference, the speaker explained that because Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, we could have a new beginning, a clean slate with God. The speaker invited us to receive the gift of a new life with God, by offering our lives to God. I hesitated because I knew that doing this would likely compromise my social life. But I did it.
And as I look back across my life, I see the biggest game changer for me was being caught shoplifting, and my dad and mom disciplining me and opening me to the way of God.
Now years later, as an adult (and I don't just say this because it's Father's Day), but one of the things that motivates me most to tend not screw-up (or F up) my life is the desire not to bring pain to my dad (or mom).
For me, it's not a negative thing. It's not like I am afraid that my dad will reject me or kill me or hire someone to kill me. It's just that I have such a healthy respect for him and that I don't want to do something that would bring him a lot of pain or disappointment.
I'm really grateful for my dad and part of the motivation for my life stems from a desire – I think it's a healthy desire – to honor him.
As a community we've been in a series in 2 Peter, Chapter 1.
Peter says in Chapter 1 out of gratitude for God's grace in your life, out of gratitude for being adopted into the family that is God, the family of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as Lee put it, out of gratitude for being enveloped in God's love, and receiving a new heart, we need to make every effort to progress in our friendship with God…
So at the beginning of the letter Peter says out of gratitude for the love that your perfect Father in heaven is shown you, make every effort to progress in your journey with him.
But at end of the 2 Peter he says our motivation to develop our life with God also comes from our anticipation of the final Day of Judgment.
At the end of 2 Peter, we read about a judgment that we will all experience at the end of time. Peter writes in Chapter 3, vss. 10-11:
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
One of the most respected commentators on the book of 2 Peter, Richard Bauckman, points out that while the language of fire and the earth melting are dramatic and are likely metaphors, Peter’s emphasis here is not on the precise details of what will physically happen to the earth at the end of time, but rather how on a coming day of judgment everything will be revealed and laid bare and where the works of human beings will be made known.
I recently heard a new metaphor for this judgment day from a source an unexpected source—my younger brother.
One of the liabilities of being the sibling of a pastor is that you might get asked to speak on faith. My brother who is a filmmaker spoke on art and faith recently at a City in Focus breakfast at the Vancouver Club:
TETSURO:
I wonder if any of you are familiar with Chick Tracts. Those irresistible miniature comic books that Christians hand out to strangers in order to spread the Word.
(Show powerpoint).

When I was a young boy, we had these in our home.
My favorite Chick Tract of all time: This Was Your Life. The premise of this particular tract is from a verse in Revelation 20:12: “And the dead were judged according to their works.”
In this little comic book this verse was dramatized in a vast celestial movie theatre where God, all the angels, and every person who ever lived gathered to watch the Movie Of Your Life.

As someone who has always been interested in cinema, this has always been an intriguing premise. It made me wonder; what format of film would my life demand?

• Is my life such an epic adventure that it would take a 6-storey Imax screen to capture all the action?

• Or, am I leading a life of such quiet desperation that a stationary black and white security camera would suffice to document the narrow scope of my existence?

Throughout my life, especially when I’m about to take yet another major risk, I’ve always found, that the experience of my reality feels split down the middle. I have the sense, that not only am I existing here and now, but that another half of me is existing within the realm of eternity.

Because once you begin to see your life from the perspective of eternity, and if you knew
that in the end, we all make it safely to the other side, if you knew that’s there’s a velvet seat, and a tub of popcorn with your name on it; wouldn’t that impact the way you wanna live your life? For me, it makes me want to live my life according to whatever makes that numinous audience out there stand up and cheer.
Sometimes it means, standing up against a bully in public, sometimes it means doing the right thing. But almost always it means not taking the safe route, taking a risk.
KEN:
The Bible teaches that the end of time, we will give an account for how we have lived.
God is our Father and because of that, and you’ll know this from deep experience if you are a parent, our lives can bring him either pleasure or pain.
Part of the way we honor God is by living before him in such a way that brings him pleasure and makes him want to stand up and applaud.
Let me clarify. Our motive should not be fear or duty as if we were relating to an angry, impossible-to-please dad. Our motive instead should be love, respect, and gratitude. If you had a good father (or mother), as I did, or if you had a good teacher or a good coach or (or if you can just imagine this if you never had this experience), out of a healthy respect and gratitude you wanted to please your dad (or mother) or your teacher or your coach. So it is with God, our desire to please God and have him stand up and applaud in the stands of our life is motivated out of a healthy sense of respect, and gratitude for all that he is done for us.
Part of the way that we please God is by truly living while we live. We don’t tend to think of sin this way, but to not truly live while we live is a great sin.
In our society, in a way that probably wasn’t as true in Peter’s first century world, we have the temptation to not live our own lives, but to vicariously or imaginatively live through the life of someone else as we watch them live their life. God wants us to move from being a spectator in life, if that has been our posture, to being an actor in life.
I was recently talking to my younger brother Tetsuro at his place.
He was telling me that when our family was living in Montreal, our sister Setsu took him to a play put on by the National Theatre School in Montréal.
He was so struck by the magic of that theatrical evening, he realized it wouldn't be enough to continue sitting in the audience. No, he would have to step on stage and walk beneath that proscenium arch and join his new family. He became an actor.

KEN: “Can you tell us is there a difference between watching the play and being in the play? What is the difference?”
Tetsuro from the audience with a wireless mic (Ken Nixon please make sure he has one) banter back and forth):
When you are on stage suddenly your time horizon tanks down to just a couple of seconds. There is no past or future, there is only the present. It is a heightened state of awareness, and you have no choice but being mindful of everything that is going on. It is a state of quiet exhilaration.
KEN:
The point is not to encourage all of us who are theatre-goers or movie-lovers to become actors, but this is really a metaphor to encourage us to become actors in the play of our lives, not just spectators.
Isn’t it true that we live in a time where so many people seem content being a spectator of some kind or another, rather than an actor in the play of their lives? The television shows The Bachelor

and

The Bachelorette (powerpoint)

have been wildly popular for nearly a decade now. There is a big difference in being entertained by someone else’s romance, someone else’s heartbreak, watching love unfold for two other people, and experiencing it for yourself. The show Survivor (Powerpoint)

has been hugely popular, but there is a big difference between watching someone else experience an adventure and tasting it yourself from direct experience. (Yes, some of you are saying, “I’d rather watch someone else being voted off the island than experience being voted off myself.”) There are risks to being a participant, rather than a spectator.
As we have just witnessed through the Stanley Cup finals, almost everyone in our city has been riding this hockey wave. The banners in Rogers Arena have proclaimed, “This is what we live for!” (Powerpoint).

I can understand those words coming from an actual player like Ryan Kesler, Henrik Sedin, or Roberto Luongo because they are playing the game with great dedication, skill and effort (playing goalie in the NHL must one of the most challenging roles in sport).
Players who believe in God are seeking to play that game as a way to honour their Maker. But, if we are not actually playing that game, the slogan “This is what we live for!” is not the best slogan for us because it suggests that we are living through someone else’s story, when God wants us to live our own story. (There is nothing wrong with being a fan. I have been a fan of the Vancouver Canucks since I was a boy. I remember going to some games at Pacific Coliseum and during the pre-game warm up going down to the blue line, standing on the boards, and stretching over the glass looking (when the glass was lower) and shouting out to people like Don, Harold, or Caesar, “Can I get your autograph?” and they would actually come and sign our programs.)
But if we live for what our sports team does, or live for what some reality TV show character does, or even for what a pastor or some well known spiritual figure does – we will fail in some way to live our own lives. Part of the way that we live our lives in a way that honours God and and causes him to stand in the stands of our lives and applaud is by truly living the life that God has given us.
Peter here is a great example of how to live. Peter was one of Jesus’ closest students and disciples. One night at about 2:00 am, Peter was on a boat. He was a fisherman. He was with some of the disciples when a furious storm broke out on the lake.
They could hear the howling of the wind and feel it whipping in their faces. The waves looked taller than they were. They looked out on the water and saw what appeared to be a ghost gliding on the water. These rugged fishermen are terrified. The one gliding on the water looks at them and says, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
They wondered, “Could that be the LORD?” Peter asks, “LORD, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” says Jesus. And Peter climbs out of the boat and begins to walk on the water and move toward Jesus. He looks at Jesus and for the first time in his life Peter, who has obviously never water-skied or barefoot-skied in his life, feels the sensation of the water under the soles of his feet. Part of him is deathly afraid, but another part is excited. He senses that something or someone is holding him up. And then Peter turns his head and focuses on the wind and the waves, and he thinks, “What am I doing? This is impossible! Am I crazy!” And he begins to experience all kinds of doubt and anxiety. He literally feels himself sinking into the cold water... Jesus comes to him and grabs him by the arm and pulls him up. I imagine Jesus’ face smiling and laughing.
We can look at Peter and say he was a failure. He took his eyes off Jesus. He began to doubt. But that picture of Peter walking on the water for a brief moment is a great picture of what it means to live while we live. It makes me want to stand in the movie theatre of Peter’s life and applaud.
It would have been much safer if Peter had simply remained a boat-potato and watched Jesus walk on the water himself from the side of the boat.
But he got out of the boat and began to walk on the water. And for a short time in his life he walked on water--did something that could only be explained by God.
I don’t know about you, but I want to live the kind of life where from time to time I walk on water—that is, where I do something that can only be explained by God’s presence in my life.
For that to happen I can’t simply be a boat-potato. I can’t be a spectator of someone else’s journey. As John Ortberg says, “If ever I hope to walk on water, I need to get out of the boat.”
So what does it mean for you to get out of the boat and walk on water… to live while you live... so that you God stands up and applauds?
Pause:
Let me share some ways in which I feel led to step out of the boat… and live while I live:
Ever since we became followers of Christ, Sakiko and I have been committed to giving financially to the work of God—to tithe, give the first tenth (plus). We now feel called to practice what has been described as proportionate giving, where we basically want to cap our life style. As some more resources come our way (and as pastor it’s highly unlikely that I am going to be financially rich in North American standards. I don’t play Lotto 649 either.), we will give those extra resources away to God and others.
Here’s another way we feel called to step out of the boat.
It looks like we are going to be able to do something next month that we have never done before. When I read the passage in the gospel of Luke chapter 14 where Jesus says when you have people to your home, don’t invite just your family and your friends who will repay you, but also invite the disabled, the poor, those who can’t advantage you in any way. I felt that has been a lack in my own life. I lead a church which is known for its justice and compassion, but I don’t really have friends in my life, acquaintances, but not really friends that are truly destitute and poor. Next month, through friendships we have with Servants Vancouver, we have the opportunity to host some homeless people in our home for dinner. What a privilege that will be.
I also feel called in a fresh way to be open to sharing about the difference Christ has made in my own life with others as opportunities naturally come in my life.
As some of you may know, a couple months ago I tore the ligaments in my left ankle while running. I am hoping to participate in a triathlon next month so I've been getting some laser therapy.
I asked my laser therapist Dan how he became a laser therapist. He described how as a teenager he had been a big partier and drinker and how he ended up dropping out of school… After a few years, he realized that his life was headed in the wrong direction. He began exercising and experienced his exercise as a form of meditation. He ended up going back to school and became a kinesiologist.
I was interested in this story and reflected on how I had had a kind of conversion experience myself. I related the story of my shoplifting, being caught, dad’s discipline and how he took me to a Christian conference where I was exposed to a new path with God...
I love to hear the stories of others, and as the opportunity presents itself I love to share the difference that God has made in my own life.
(For 9:30 a.m. and maybe 10:30 a.m. only: Julie Joe, a mother of a couple of youth here at Tenth, in her Practicing the Presence article last Sunday wrote about how a dad in the youth group had shared with the other parents how he had come home exhausted from work and really just wanted to chill out and watch the Canucks, but his teenager boy came to him out of the blue and asked him to talk. Torn, he chose to spend time with his son. They talked late into the night for the first time in ages. That father chose to not be a boat potato, but to be a player in his son’s story and in his own.)
Do you sense God calling to you to step out of the boat and live into something new?

When I was a teenager, one of the positions that I played on the football team was wide receiver. Around that time, and I don’t remember all the details of this story, but I remember hearing the story about a high school player who was a also receiver maybe second or third string, but definitely not a starter. One day before a game he asked his coach, “I I am not a starter. Other players have more talent than I do, but would you please just let me start today?” The coach, seeing the passion and the earnestness and the desire, figured, “Well, even though Steve is not my most talented guy, he looks like he really wants to play today and maybe that passion will spill over and inspire my other players to play their best.” But in the first few plays of the game, Steve threw some great blocks. He ran his passes with such precision he got open. He caught every ball that was thrown in his direction. The coach kept him in for the whole game. I don’t remember; whether the team won or lost, but he became what you call an impact player. He made a difference in the game.
After the game, the coach said, “Steve, you played a great game. What happened to you? I have never seen you play like that. If you played like that all the time, you could be a starter. You could be a star.” And Steve said, “My dad has always been my biggest fan, but today was the first time he actually saw me play.” The coach was puzzled. “How come he has never seen you play?” Steve said, “… my dad was blind and last week he died. So today was the first day he was able to see me play. Today I was playing for him.”
You live your life before God who is your biggest fan, who loves you more than you can imagine.
As with Peter, with the gift of God’s love and kindness and in light of the day of judgment, make every effort to climb over the side of the boat and walk on water. Get off the bench and on to the field. Get out of the theatre seat and into the play.
Live your life while you live…
Do it for your Father who loves you and sees you.

A New Kind of Kindness(05June2011)

2011-06-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

2 Peter 1 M6 11 06 05
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: A New Kind of Kindness
Text: 2 Peter 1:1-8
BIG IDEA: By receiving the kindness of Jesus Christ we will see others as brothers and sisters and show kindness to them.
In the summer of 1989 I was traveling through Romania when it was still behind the Iron Curtain—when it was still under the iron-fisted rule of Nicolae Ceausescu. I was part of a covert mission to teach the Bible and smuggle medicine. I remember how we had been driving for hours through the winding roads of the countryside, occasionally passing by small villages, and how on a country road in the middle of nowhere we ran out gas.
We didn’t know what we would do. There was a small grey shop on the side of the road. So, I walked over and approached a young man who has working there and said (gestured) can you come with me. We walked to our car and I said, “We’ve run out of gas.” (I pointed to the gas tank and gestured that it was empty.) He said, “Wait” (we had nowhere to go). But, he came back 15-20 minutes later, with a container of gas (I think he was a kind of mechanic or at least worked on cars) and he had taken apart one of his cars to give us some of his gas.
We were so grateful, we offered him money, but he refused it.
He said in broken English, “We must be kind to each other.”
He was a young man who by our standards was very poor, a complete stranger to us but showed kindness to us – believing that we must be kind to one another.
In our world, we tend to define greatness as: having a certain kind of appearance, of being able to move really fast across ice and slide a black circular piece of rubber into a net, or being able to make a great film or book, or having the ability to make lot of money.
But, in God’s eyes, true greatness is showing kindness.
Our world doesn’t really regard kindness as that important—but God does.
God pays King David the highest compliment by saying, “David is a man after my heart” (1 Samuel 13:13-14). Part of the reason he says this is because David, though a man of real power and charisma, was also a man of great kindness.
When David became King of Israel, it was at a time when it was customary and strategic for new kings to kill all of the family members of the previous dynasty—so as to eliminate the possibility of any member from the previous royal family from making a claim to the throne. But, David, out of gratitude for the way God showed kindness to him through his friend Jonathan, went to the house of the former King Saul, who was the father of his friend Jonathan, and asked a servant named Ziba, “Is there anyone in the house of Saul left to whom I can show kindness?” (2 Samuel 9:1)
The servant in Saul’s household answered: "There is still a son of Jonathan: Mephibosheth, but he is lame in both feet."
David has Mephibosheth brought out to him and Mephibosheth was cowering in fear certain that King David would have him executed. Instead David says, “You will always eat at my table”—which in his culture it was a way of saying, “I want you to be part of my family.” “Because God showed kindness to me through your father Jonathan, I will show kindness to you.”
David was a man with a heart after God, in part, because he was kind. And he was kind because when David was a nobody, when he was just a lowly shepherd in a small town then unknown called Bethlehem, God had shown kindness to him.
Kindness is one of the fruits of God’s character. According to Galatians 5, Paul says the fruit of the Holy Spirit, or the fruit of God’s character, is (among other things) kindness. Peter in our text today says add to your faith, kindness or mutual affection.
If you have your Bible, please turn to 2 Peter 1:1-8:
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In vss. 1-4, Peter says because of the grace, the sheer kindness of God, we can participate in the divine nature, that is, we can become part of the family that is God. We can join circle of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and be enveloped in his love and experience the gift of a new heart—and as that happens one the things we do to respond is add the quality of kindness to our lives (vs. 7).
It’s a natural response to God’s gift.
St. Augustine defined sin as Incurvatus in se – turned in on oneself.
This is a theological phrase which describes sin as a life lived "inwardly" for self, rather than "outwardly" for God and others.
Experiencing the love of God can help us straighten our soul so that instead of us living only for ourselves we live for God and others (show this through a gesture).
Having received the gift of the love of God, Peter says now respond to this by adding brotherly or sisterly kindness, or as the TNIV renders it, “mutual affection.”
The Greek word that Peter is using here is philadelphia—which, as you may know, means “love of brother” or “love of sister.” When I was a boy, I remember how the hockey commentators called Philadelphia’s hockey team the “Broad Street Bullies” because they were tough and mean. They commented that it was ironic the Philadelphia Flyers were such bullies because they played for the city whose name means “brotherly love,” but there wasn’t much love coming from these brothers.
Peter, in verse 7, says, “Add to your faith brotherly or sisterly love (mutual affection).”
Now agape love (which Jade will elaborate more on next week) is not a completely different kind of love from philadelphia. Agape love has less emphasis on our emotions, and more on our will, but philadelphia suggests an affectionate love among brothers and sisters who follow Christ.
Family in biblical times was defined much more broadly than the way we define family today. For most of us here, when we think of family we think of the nuclear family—mom, dad, son, daughter. (As theologian Rodney Clapp points out, our idea of the nuclear family streams down to us primarily from a model of the 19th century European bourgeoisie family. The average household today in North America is between 2 and 3 people, but the average Hebrew household was often between 50 and 100 people and included non-blood relatives)
Jesus called people beyond his nuclear family--his family. He said anyone who does the will of God is his “brother, sister, mother.” (Matthew 12:50).
So, the word philadelphia means—brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, moms, dads – but it refers to something that is broader than just our nuclear, biological family – it refers to our brothers and sisters – may be of different races, social, and economic backgrounds who have a common Father in God.
In the first centuries the love that Christ’s followers had for one another was so powerful that the Roman world took note.
Lucian of Samosata, a writer in the second century, was complaining about how unbelievably openhanded and generous the Christians are to everyone. He wrote: “The earnestness with which the people of this religion help one another in their needs is simply astonishing. They spare themselves nothing for this end. Their first lawmaker put it into their heads that they were all brothers [and sisters].”
In the ancient world, when you walk past garbage dumps you probably find on those garbage heaps newborn babies left out to die. The sewers of ancient Antioch were clogged with one-day-old discarded baby girls. We have letters from the ancient world, where people say, “If it's a boy keep the baby, if it's a girl discard the baby.” And those babies would be consumed by dogs and crows. In some cases owners of slave houses would come and take the babies to raise so they could sell them as slaves; or people who ran brothels would come and take the babies to raise them to become sex slaves. But then along came the Christians who rescued the babies and raised them as their own because they knew that these babies were made in the image of God and had a common Father.
In the second and third centuries two great plagues swept the Roman Empire. People fled in the thousands from cities to try to find safety in the countryside. They often abandoned sick relatives on the way. If a family member seemed too sick, they would just throw them off to the side of the road.
One group that was different was Christians. Some of the Christians would stay behind to care for these sick people, and often all that was needed was just a little bit of care and they would come through.
The Church Father Tertullian reported that the Romans would exclaim about the Christians “see how they love one another!”
When early Christians did not have enough food for the hungry people at their door, the entire community would fast until everyone could share a meal together. The world had never seen this kind of love before. It is estimated that in the year 250 A.D. in Rome under Pope Cornelius, 10,000 Christians fasting 100 days a year may have provided a million meals to the poor.
We might say, “Those people were incredible.”
In one sense they were. In another sense they were ordinary people like you and me, who were touched by an extraordinary God, and saw people as brothers and sisters and treated them with kindness.
You don’t need to be a “super saint” or a fully matured person to show kindness.
When my wife was a ___ year old girl she won a writing contest in Japan and the prize was the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa. Though she was just a girl she remembers vividly how Mother Teresa told a story of visiting a very poor town in India and a 5 year old boy coming out stretching out a fist to her and saying “This is for the poor children.” And he opened his fist and out poured a small handful of sugar. Later his mother said to Mother Teresa, “When my son heard you were coming to town, he said I want to give sugar to her for the children.” (They were so poor that they didn’t have any candy—but each day the mother let her son lick his finger and dip in the sugar and have a finger of sugar as a treat. He told his mom to take the sugar he would have eaten for 5 and give it to Mother Teresa.)
You don’t need to be this seasoned, mature person to show kindness.
You just need to have experienced some kindness from God to show it, or “pay it forward.”
And you start to see your fellow human beings as made in the image of God—they are your brothers and sisters—and show them kindness.
When we have been shown the kindness of God as Peter says, we can “pay it forward.”
As have seen in this series our love and kindness for others is rooted in God’s love for us. It is a response to grace. One of Peter’s good friends the apostle John writes:
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
In this series, we've seen how in response to the sheer kindness of God, his sheer kindness of opening his arms to us and inviting us to enter into the family that is God, that is, the circle of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to receive the gift of being included in the love of God, we are to then respond by adding certain things to that gift. One of those additions, according to Peter, is kindness.
As was true of David, we show kindness to others because God has shown kindness to us.
And in some cases that kindness might be dramatic like rescuing babies, or advocating on behalf of a sex trade worker, or standing beside a person who is very sick.
It might be as simple as offering someone a smile, showing hospitality opening our home or heart to someone. It might mean that you talk to someone after service that you don't know, or invite someone to do something with you – I don't necessarily mean it has to be out on a “date” just invite someone to do something with you.
(note to Penny—this will seem like a tangent--but I’ve been asked recently by a few different people to address this—let me know if you have some feed-forward here):
(I did my undergraduate studies at a private school just outside of Chicago--I have a feeling this story will make into an all church camp skit!--at a place in the Midwest, and a time when young people still dated. I remember how during my first semester my RA named Rob--the student head of the dorm-- said, “Ken, I think you're experience here will be enhanced if you take the time to date.” I thought about it. I thought about how in my high school students really didn't date. We hung out in groups and occasionally students paired up as couple. I hadn't dated in high school; I just hung out with friends. But, I took Rob's advice, and I decided I would not let my natural shyness and very real fear of rejection hold me back, and I started asking girls out. They weren't romantically charged dates, I didn't spend a lot of money… it was more hanging out, going somewhere I want to go anyway, but just with a girl. Sometimes I'd have two dates on a weekend, sometimes one--often none. And occasionally it could be a little awkward, because I was in the habit of asking girls out that I didn't really know. I remember a couple of cases where I asked girls out and they responded, "Uh, I’ll get back to you.” And then a few days later after classes she would say “can I talk to you for second” and she’d pause and say, “Uh, I have a boyfriend… but I'm glad you asked me out. It feels really good to be asked out.” I never had a serious girlfriend as an undergraduate, but going out with girls from time to time was one of the best things about my student experience – I should've studied a little bit more. Now, I know that Vancouver is not a dating culture, but if you're like me and are naturally shy and are afraid of rejection why not overcome that and invite people out for coffee, or go for a run, whatever it is you like to do – and even if the person can’t make it, it’s nice to asked out when you ask someone without any pressure.)
So kindness could be advocating on behalf of a woman or a child who is vulnerable to the sex trade, sitting down and having a meal with the homeless person, but it could also being gracious to a hotel maid as Ken Pierce said last Sunday, inviting someone out to do something with you with no pressure. It could be showing kindness to a member of your family.
At this time, I will ask Penny Crosby, who’s been an active member of our community here at Tenth as a Bible study teacher and as someone who’s opened her home many times to the Tenth Church board and staff and others in our community, to come and share part of her journey.
PENNY’S testimony:
Growing up my Mom has always been my greatest fan. She totally adores me and while I don’t think she is blind to my failures they just don’t matter – maybe they make me even more lovable to her. I realized one day a few years ago that our conversations were always about me. How was I doing? It was Mom asking me questions, taking an interest in me and my kids, telling me I looked good, supporting, encouraging, and delighting in me.
Well Mom is now 87 years old and has Alzheimer’s leaving her disorientated from loss of memory and confusion. She went through a very challenging stage where she seemed to have a hard time even thinking a nice thought let alone saying one. It was a big blow to me. The kid who could do no wrong became the adult who did EVERYTHING wrong. Mom was threatened by me, angry at me and just plain old didn’t like me. It was at this point that I was really called by God to step up to the plate with Mom. It is pretty easy to love a person who is loving to us but what about someone antagonist? It was a very painful transition for me…
As I think on this I realize that this was just another way Mom and I were being asked to change roles. So the Mom I grew up with is my role model in loving her now. I think of all the teenage years where I rolled my eyes and looked with antagonism at Mom. The times I was so consumed with myself and just accepted that she was there for me that I did not support her personally. Now the tables have turned. It is my turn to notice that mom looks beautiful – and she does! It is my turn to ask her about her day, to be interested in what she is interested in, to draw her out… Yes, even to take care of her physically. Recently Mom and Dad moved into the apartment building that Wayman and I live in so that we can be close. So that I can cover for Dad and see her out of bed in the morning and give her her medications. To make her breakfast while she showers and to sit and engage her about her day. I take her to doctors appointments, help with her personal care and care for their home. I am so blessed to have had such good training in this from the one who now needs it.
This loving stuff in the Bible is not always easy or pretty! Sometimes I get really frustrated when she tells me the same thing for the 20th time. I don’t always understand why she can’t make her own cup of tea. I get irritated when I want her to move faster. I am impatient and can easily be mean. There are times when I have to do what the passage here tells me – to make every EFFORT and it is great effort – to be kind, to be gracious, to be patient. My Dad is the most amazing role model for me. I refer to my Dad as the grace tap. The more challenging my Mom’s situation becomes the higher the grace tap gets turned on. These days he seems to gush out grace to mom.
One of the biggest blessings through this is the indescribable joy that comes from loving another. It is not the kind of delight that comes from “I help you so then you help me” and there is an “evenness” to the give and take. It is a kind of joy that fills you just I think because you are doing the thing that God has told us to do. In the movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell says, “I feel God’s pleasure when I run” – I feel God’s pleasure when I love and care for my Mom. I think that this is the part of second Peter that we have been talking about that God has given us a new nature, it is the God part. Sure I am required to make every effort to care for another but I am blown away sometimes as I recognize the joint effort of God and I working together.
The more firmly I am grounded in the Lord’s great love for me, the more I am connected to Him as my source, the more able I am to love unconditionally, to not get caught up in the emotions and ups and downs of the other and to be drawn into their moods, frustrations and trials. As I rest in the Fathers love for me I am free to give and to care without worry for myself… that is a lovely place to be!

Thomas Merton once said the great Saints were not those who love much, but those who knew they were loved much by God.
Do you know that you are loved much by God? Have you received this grace of God? If so, extend that grace to others through acts of kindness.

Moving Forward(22May2011)

2011-05-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

2 Peter 1 M4
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Moving Forward (after getting hit)
Text: 2 Peter 1:1-8
BIG IDEA: By expecting suffering, embracing in the faith that God will use it, and by having our eyes on Jesus Christ we can persevere through trial and suffering and remain faithful to him.
As a kid one of my favourite movies was Rocky 1. In that movie Rocky is a struggling boxer who dreams of making it to the big time. When the heavy weight champion of the world Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to show how kind he is by giving a struggling boxer, who goes by the name the “Italian Stallion” or simply Rocky, a chance to fight the champion of the world. They advertise this fight as a chance for a “nobody” to become a “somebody.” The match is supposed to be won easily by Apollo Creed but Rocky takes it seriously and trains with all his heart. He gets up early, eats raw eggs, runs in his grey hoodie and grey track pants… He works at a meat shop and trains by punching the slabs of beef that hang in the shop.
In the final Rocky movie, simply entitled Rocky Balboa, Rocky is now in his fifties and ESPN features a virtual fight (SHOW IMAGE)

between the current heavyweight champion of the world, Mason Dixon and Rocky, when they would have both been in their prime, and the virtual fight shows Rocky winning the fight.
Mason Dixon, who sees this virtual fight, retaliates by challenging Rocky to a boxing match. To the surprise of his friends and to the dismay of his son, Rocky agrees to come out of retirement and face an opponent who is obviously much faster, stronger, and 30 years younger than he is. The odds are stacked against him and his son pleads with Rocky to not get in the ring and to not embarrass him, his son:
One evening Rocky meets him on the street and says (SHOW CLIP).
Rocky and his son:
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.
Rocky was not only a good boxer, he was great preacher, too. He says to his son, “The world is a mean and nasty place. I don’t care how tough you are. It will beat you to your knees and it will keep you there permanently if you let it. Nobody’s going to hit as hard as life, but it ain’t about how hard you get hit. It’s about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward.”
As Lee pointed out last Sunday, Peter's name had been Simon – which means shifting sand – but Jesus renamed him Peter which means rock or Rocky.
Peter knew that life has a way of hitting you hard.
He knew that his brothers and sisters, that is, those who were also following Christ with him, were getting hit hard in life. In 1 Peter 2:18-19, he says he is aware of their brutal working conditions. In that same chapter, Peter says he knows how they had been falsely accused and blamed for things they had never done. He says he knows that he knows they have been mocked by their neighbours who see their faith as crazy (1 Peter 3:3). Peter says he knows how disappointed that they are with a God who seems to be slow in keeping his promises (2 Peter 3:9).
This morning, as we continue our series in 2 Peter, we are going to look at how God through Peter calls us to perseverance.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to 2 Peter 1:1.

1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me briefly review the context. If you haven’t been here the last few weeks you can download the sermons off our website.
Peter begins this passage (verse 1) by saying, “You can have a faith as precious as mine.” A remarkable statement. Peter was one of Jesus’ closest friends. He saw Jesus, heard Jesus’ voice, was touched by Jesus, was powerfully forgiven by him, used by him. And Peter is saying you and I can have a faith, a connection with Jesus, just as close, just as life-changing as his.
How does this happen?
As we see in vss. 2-4 it’s through grace or sheer gift, through the gift of a friendship with Jesus Christ participate in the divine nature, as Lee spoke about last Sunday, we enter into the circle or the family that is God, and by being enveloped by God--we can become like Jesus Christ.
So there is grace, a gift that enables us to become like Jesus.
But, as Lee said, it is also a role that we play.
We can to add to our faith--perseverance.
Peter says for this very reason respond to God’s grace by adding to your faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, and to self-control perseverance.
This morning I we will focus on perseverance.
Why is perseverance in this particular list? Because Peter knows that the people he is writing to are experiencing the world, as Rocky points out, as a mean and nasty place. The people that Peter was writing to had decided to follow Christ at a time and place where it was dangerous and costly to follow him. People around them were suspicious and hostile towards them. They regarded them as strange. Cannibals maybe, because they had these meals where they talked about eating the flesh and blood of their leader.
In Peter’s first letter he mentions suffering 17 times. In fact, it is arguably the theme of the 1 Peter.
Peter says to these brothers and sisters who share a common faith in Jesus Christ, “Persevere.” The word that Peter uses for persevere is hypomone, which literally means stand your ground…maintain your position. Hypomone was typically used as a military term to describe a soldier holding a position. A soldier, of course, then as now, might be tempted to abandon their post when either all hell was breaking loose or when nothing seemed to be happening, and days were stretching on and on. Peter is saying, either way, when all hell seems to breaking loose or when nothing of spiritual significance seems to be happening to you, stand your ground and hypomone, persevere.
How do we become people who persevere? That is, people who hold our ground and who even keep moving forward when we are hit hard in life?
First, as we said in vss 2-4 it is by receiving the grace of God by entering into a life-changing relationship with Jesus, allowing the divine nature to envelop us, and give us a new heart.
That’s God’s part.
What’s our part in the coming people who persevere?
Part what we can do to become people who persevere is to expect suffering.
First, Peter would say, expect suffering.
As Rocky says, the world can be a mean and nasty place.
In 1 Peter 4:12-13a, Peter writes: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come to you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ…”
Peter goes even further in 1 Peter 2: 21. He says that were called to suffer: “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
Peter wasn’t just talking about suffering as some kind of armchair theoretician. He knew what it was to suffer firsthand for Christ. He had been beaten for his faith, imprisoned, and he would eventually die as a martyr for Jesus Christ, crucified upside down.
We too will face some kind of suffering if we live long enough: we may go through a relationship conflict, a breakup, some kind of illness, some kind of financial challenge, the death of a loved one, the loss of a baby, the sense of God being absent. And when we go through something really painful, we will have the temptation to run, to desert our post.
Part of the way we become people who persevered is by simply expecting suffering. But when I ran the Vancouver marathon, and about 30 K in the race, I'm running up the second Narrows Bridge (coming in to Vancouver from North Van) just gassed, totally exhausted, but I remember how people who have run marathons have told me that you will likely “hit the wall,” but then you get a second wind. Anticipating that I would hit the wall at about 30 K, didn't make that part of the race easy, but it help me persevere and at about 32 or 33 K, sure enough I felt the second when I came into the Vancouver siding could see the downtown skyline I felt a surge of energy was able to finish strong.
Something about being able to anticipate suffering life, that enables us to keep moving forward.
How do we persevere?
One of the ways we stand firm and keep moving forward is by expecting suffering. This why Peter says, “When you are suffering, don’t see suffering as if something strange—this is part of your calling.”
How do we persevere? By expecting it and second by embracing suffering in the faith that God would use our suffering to make us more like him.
One of the many gifts of offering our life to Jesus is that none of the suffering that we experience in life as a friend of Jesus will be wasted – he will take that suffering and shape us into the kind of people that we long to be.
This is why Peter says to this group of people who are friends with Jesus in 1 Peter 1:6-7: “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a while you have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith –of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Peter is saying here that suffering can act like fire that refines our faith… (use lighter) purifies it like fire purifies gold…removing the dross, making it more precious. Suffering has a way of transforming us.
Often we want God to deliver us out of suffering, but God may have a different plan. Instead of delivering us out of our suffering, he may deliver us, in and through our suffering, that is. In some cases he does not save us from our suffering, but he saves us in the midst of suffering; that is, he refines us through the suffering. This why Peter says in first Peter, that suffering is part of our all in following Christ.
Many would ask why would we ever follow someone who might call us into suffering?
Why would anyone voluntarily suffer? Some of us do it on a regular, voluntary basis in another sphere of our lives. Going to gym is a kind of voluntary suffering of sorts. Through our “suffering” we become stronger.
I was at one of the Mt. Pleasant gyms some years ago before I became a parent and I had a little more time to go to the gym. One of the fitness instructors walked up to me and said, “Hey, Ken, I have been watching you work out. Can I give you some advice?” I said, “Sure. I have never really received any kind of training on weightlifting.” He said, “I notice that you are starting with relatively light weights and then you gradually are moving up toward heavier weights. I don’t know what it is like to be a pastor, but I imagine that you must be really busy. You probably want to be into the gym and out of the gym as fast as you reasonably can and get a good workout.” I said, “Yeah.”
He said, “This is what I would advise you to do. Instead of starting with the light weights, start with the heavy weights. After a brief warm up, put on the heavy weights and then lift the weights 10 or 12 times, whatever the number is until you just feel absolutely exhausted and tired and you can’t lift any more. (In other words, voluntarily suffer.) And then, if you want to get an even better workout, go on to slightly weights and lift those until you feel absolutely exhausted and tired. Then you will have had a good workout in a short period of time.”
(It has changed the way I work out now. I don’t spend a lot of time in a gym these days as the parent of a toddler. But this is what I do to increase the weight resistance at home when I have a minute or two. If I am doing a regular push-up like this (DEMONSTRATE), I use a chair (PROP) and put my feet on it, and then start doing push-ups. If I want a little more resistance to start with, I will look for my 2 year old Joey and do it in front of him. Then I will say to Joey, “Joey, Daddy not a horsey,” and that will be his cue to jump onto my back….38 pounds. Then I will start doing push-ups. Start with the heavyweight and then go lighter.)
In the gym of life when we suffering, it is then we become stronger.
And here is the paradox. When we feel really weak, when we are lifting weights or exercising, we are actually becoming stronger.
So it is when we feel weakened by suffering, it is then we are actually in a position to grow. The apostle Paul said, “When I am weak, then, by God’s grace I become strong.”
How does this actually work out in life?
You get a roommate, or housemates, or you get married, or you have children, you really embrace community life a place like Tenth, and you’ll find yourself getting irritated, your selfishness is exposed, and you have the opportunity to grow: to pray “God envelop me” before I kill someone and have an opportunity to grow in patience and love.
This is why the ancient monastic talked about living in community as a “school of love.” There's something about entering into the irritation, and the suffering that inevitably occurs when were living in close relationships with people that creates a school for us to grow in love.
Or take suffering through an illness.
As a pastor, I had a kind of front row seat gracious, winsome, unforced, but he's clearly an unashamedly testified to the difference that Christ has made him in his suffering people have gone through cancer, heart attacks, significant physical suffering.
There someone in this community (who has given me permission to share his story). He has been diagnosed with cancer, gone through chemo. As I have observed him, suffering though he would've never chosen it has given him priceless gifts. His wife, has remarked that while her husband did read the Bible before being diagnosed with cancer, he's reading the Bible more than ever before. When he comes home from work, after dinner he stood edge out by watching TV. These days she sees that he's opening his Bible and reading it. He's a person who's always loved his wife and his daughter – but through this cancer he cherishes them now more than ever. He works for a famous that you all have heard of, but I've observed that since he's had the cancer, his witness for Christ has become bolder – graciously, winsomely, and naturally he has freely shared about how Christ has enabled him to walk through this very difficult chapter of his life.
Praise God is now cancer free.
A woman named Anne spent helping me in my life as a student had a friend named Pam who was dying. Pam's doctor always gave Anne straight answers whenever she asked about Pam's condition. When Pam was going through some distressing developments, and talk to Pam's doctor hoping that her doctor would put a positive slant on what she was going through. She didn't – she couldn't. But this is what she told Anne, “Watch Pam carefully right now because she is teaching you how to live.”
People who suffer particularly those who were dying (the truth is were all terminal on the bus of life), can teach through their lives how we are to live.
And if you're wondering if a loving God would ever really call you to suffer, chances are he will.
Even though I started to follow Christ when I was 15 or 16, quite young really. At 15 or 16 from the perspective of a teenager, I felt like I had come late into the game. I said, “God, you know how mean I can I can be and how much of a snob I can be and how I tend to cheat in sports (God‘s still working on that one). God, I know that you have come into my life. I feel like my sins have been forgiven, but, God, please put me on the fast-track. Please transform me more quickly than you are, because it feels like it is really, really slow.”
Let me give you some context here.
Up to that point, God had come into my life in a powerful, tangible way. If you never experienced that, the only analogy I can offer is falling in love. When you fall in love, if you have ever had that experience you know that actually you feel more physical energy, not just emotional energy. You have this joy and this silly grin on your face…this glow. Food tastes better. When the clouds in Vancouver part, you can see the mountains and the beauty of the ocean. They seem even more beautiful when you are in love.
That is exactly how I was feeling when Christ came into my life. I felt more alive…a sense of joy…a greater sense of security…and more comfort in my own skin. Amazing! And then I prayed, “God, you are not changing me fast enough. Please do something dramatic to change me.” The very next day or the next week, within a few days, I felt that God was completely absent. Up to that point, I had felt God so strongly that I had more energy, I had more joy. The world seemed more beautiful. I was happy, but somehow God seemed completely and totally absent. I had committed no sins that I had not confessed. I hadn’t committed any willful sins. As far I knew, the absence of God’s presence was not because of some sin. It was not like I was physically sick. I just felt like God was completely absent.
One of the great sufferings that those who know Christ can that God sometimes leads us through is a sense of God being utterly absent. According to people like St. John of the Cross, someone whom I had never heard of at the time, this is part of God’s plan for us—to suffer from a sense of his absence so that we are not following Christ just because we have these groovy sort of vibes around him; so that we are not just following Jesus because of all the benefits we get from the relationship with him, but we are following Jesus because we love him.
It is also true that in a marriage, typically early in a romantic relationship, you are in that in love phase. It is really easy to be creative, to be thinking about dates, things that you will do with your partner. It does not take a lot of effort. But when you have been together for a number of years and that initial glow wears off, you maybe have some fights, you have a baby or two, you maybe lose a job, at times you just don’t feel that glowiness any more. But if you really love your partner, you will love them in spite of the fact that you feel you are not receiving a lot in this moment. That gives your relationship an opportunity to mature. The feelings of love can return, but in a different more mature way. It is an important part of the progression of a relationship.
So it is in our relationship with God. One of the ways we can suffer his absence. God may allow that into our lives—or may allow some other kind of suffering--as part of his plan for us, so that our relationship with him deepens, and it isn’t just about Hey ! I love you because of how I feel around you or because what you are doing for me, I love you because are God.
God may call us into suffering – and by the way don't recommend that you pray for suffering as I did – now I'm too much of a chicken to pray that God would increase my suffering…
But God will call us into suffering even if we don't directly ask for it…
Peter knew about this. After Jesus had died on the cross and risen from the dead Jesus spent time walking with Peter on the beach.
Jesus made it clear that he had forgiven Peter for bailing on him the night before Jesus went to the cross. He loved Peter. But as they're walking, Jesus said when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
When Jesus said when you are old will stretch out your hands and someone will lead you or you do not want to go, he was prophesying that Peter would die by crucifixion. According to church tradition, Peter died for Christ as he was crucified upside down… likely not long after he had penned this letter.
Part of the reason that Peter was able to persevere through suffering part of the reason that he was able to get hit and keep moving forward, was because he anticipated suffering – Jesus had warned him and the other disciples that they would suffer for following him and Jesus and Peter's case went to far as to predict the kind of death he would die. The Peter was also able to move forward after being hit the suffering because he embraced his suffering when it came. As Jesus told him the end of John suffering would be an opportunity for God's glory to be more fully manifest in and through. Finally Peter was able to endure his suffering because he kept his eyes on Jesus and followed him.
When Peter was walking with Jesus on the beach and Jesus predicted that he would suffer in his death that he would be led somewhere he did not want to go Peter looked over his shoulder and noticed that another student of Jesus name John was following Peter pointed to him and said “What about him?”
And Jesus replied, “What is that to you?”
“Follow me.”
And he calls us to do the same. He says there will be times in life where you will be led to a place you don't want to go. And some of us are there now or will be one day. Some of us are physically in a place where we do not want to be. Were suffering from some kind of chronic pain. Or some of us are socially in a place where we do not want to be. Maybe we long to be in a certain kind of relationship and that just doesn't happen for us. Or maybe we are in a relationship with someone that we wish were different. Or maybe were not in the place we want to be spiritually. Perhaps we sense this absence of God's presence or absence of his action.
Jesus says to us expect suffering. When it comes (assuming that you're not being led to step out of the suffering and you may be led to step out of the suffering different sermon) embraced allow me to refine you through the suffering. Finally he says as she suffer keep your eyes on the, don't compare yourself to John or Jane, follow me.
How can we stretch out our arms and follow Jesus and through our suffering?
We can do this because Jesus stretched out his arms for us on the cross and he suffered for us he bore our sins in his body, he allowed himself to be utterly separated from his father God for us for us and when we realize that Jesus has stretched out his arms and suffering for us so that we could be forgiven so that we we could be reunited with God when we realize that that is what he has done for us then we can stretch out our arms and be willing to follow him through suffering…
And as we do so we do so in the faith that is the Scriptures tell us if we suffer with him we will also rise and reign with him.
As Rocky said, "you can get a hit hard in life.”
But as the first century Rocky said we can keep moving forward as we expect suffering, as we embrace it in the knowledge that God will transform us through the suffering, and as we keep our eyes on Jesus and follow the one who suffered for us.
Pray:

Knowing God(8May2011)Mothers' Day

2011-05-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

2 Peter 1 M2 11 05 8 (Mothers’ Day)
Title: Knowing God
Text: 2 Peter 1:1-8
BIG IDEA: By adding “heart and head knowledge of God” to our faith we can grow more like Jesus Christ.
Props—tin soldier, 2 Maps, compass
INTRODUCTION
Rory was a pediatrician. He led the hospital’s intensive care unit for babies. He was also a workaholic who was hardly ever at home – he typically slept at the hospital on average 20 nights a month. He didn't know the names of his children's friends or even the name of the family dog. When someone asked him where the back door to the house was, he turned to ask his wife, Lisa.
When Rory and Lisa went to see Dr. John Gottman, a highly respected marriage therapist, for counsel – Dr. Gottman encouraged Rory to create what Gottman calls a “love map.”
A love map is Gottman's term for the part of our brain that stores all the relevant information about our spouse’s (or partner’s or friend’s) life. A love map contains information about your partner's life history, daily routines, likes, and dislikes, hopes and dreams.
For example, if a couple hopes to meet up for dinner at a restaurant and he's running behind, if your love map is well-developed, she'll know what kind of salad dressing he would like. Or if he's on his way home and decides to swing by Blockbusters, he'll know what kind of DVD she wants to watch. If his love map is well developed and they are about to participate in a family reunion together, he will know what relative she feels closest to and the ones she feels most uncomfortable around. She'll know what his hopes and dreams are.
According to Gottman’s extensive research, if we have a detailed love map into our partner (or friend’s) lives, we will have a happier relationship and will be able to weather difficult life passages such as having a baby or losing a parent. The knowledge a person has about their partner (or friend) makes a huge difference – it acts as a powerful predictor as to whether the relationship would thrive or fail.
And so it is in our relationship with God – a powerful factor that will help us determine the quality of our relationship with God is our love map or personal knowledge of God –and we will unpack more of what knowledge of God means in this sermon.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Second Peter, Chapter 1:
2 Peter 1
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In verse 1 Peter says: “To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours…”
This is a remarkable statement. Here in verse 1 Peter is saying that we can have an experience with God as life-changing as Peter did—extraordinary. As Mardi noted last week, Peter was one of Jesus’ closest disciples, along with James and John. He had seen Jesus in the flesh. He had heard his voice. He had touched him with his hands. He had seen Jesus raise a man named Lazarus to life after he had been dead four days.
On the night that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, it was clear that Jesus’ life was in grave danger. Peter followed him. But then when he was approached by three different people who asked “Are you one of Jesus’ followers?” Peter denied three times that he knew Jesus and wept bitterly as a result. And yet after Jesus rose from the dead, he experienced Jesus’ forgiveness.
And then on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was released on the earth, Peter was filled with the Spirit and preached a bold, impromptu sermon about Jesus Christ. 3000 people gave their lives to Jesus Christ. 3000. And a church of about 150 at the time grew to more than 3000.
Peter is saying in verse 1, “You can have a faith just as life-changing as mine through the work of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Peter clearly affirms here, by the way, that Jesus Christ is God. Then he says, “Grace and peace to you to many times over through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ.” In verse 2 the way that Peter is using the word “knowledge” is not just head knowledge, but it implies personal knowledge, experience with Jesus Christ. Sometimes the Scriptures use the word “knowledge” in a kind of an intellectual, cognitive knowledge. (We will talk more about that later.) The Bible also uses the term “knowledge” to mean to “know intimately and personally. And that is the way Peter is using the word “knowledge” here. He is saying, “Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen your personal knowledge and experience with Jesus Christ.”
Having affirmed the role of God's grace in their lives, he now calls on them to respond to God's grace. He says: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.” Peter then writes, “My brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election” (1:5-7).
On our own, we cannot come into a deep personal knowledge of Christ, but God has invited us to play a role in our spiritual progress.
On our own, we cannot manufacture a relationship with another human being. But as Gary Chapman has pointed out in his popular book, The Five Languages of Love, there are certain practices that we can engage in that can help us foster a deeper connection with someone: we spend quality time with the person; we can offer them words of affirmation, appropriate touch, gifts, and acts of service.
In the same way we cannot manufacture a deeper relationship with God, but there are certain things we can do to encourage a deepening relationship with him.
This is why Peter, after he talks about the grace of God flowing freely into our lives, encourages us to make every effort to do what we can to build on the grace that God has given us.
Peter is saying we have received grace, an unmerited gift from Jesus Christ that can and will change our life, so now build on what we have been given, complementing our relationship with him, our trust in him by becoming a good person – not just a person who does good things, but a person who is good – Mardi talked about that last Sunday.
“Grace,” as Dallas Willard observes, “is not opposed to effort, but earning.”
We will focus in on the word “knowledge” today.
The word “knowledge” shows more than once in our passage. Let's look at the way the word “knowledge” is used in verse 2.
If we go back to verse 2, we see the word “knowledge.” Peter speaks of the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. Here, the way Peter is using the word “knowledge,” as we alluded to a few minutes ago, refers not only to intellectual knowledge, but to an intimate relationship with God which is a result of being transformed through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
It is a knowledge that enables us, as Peter says in verse 4, to participate in Jesus’ divine nature. This means, that while we do not become God as Mardi clarified last Sunday, but, in a mysterious way, as our lives are joined to Jesus Christ's we are filled with his Holy Spirit and begin to take on some of the essential qualities of God. Participating in Jesus’ divine nature means that we actually become like him.
In Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis writes, “God doesn't want to make us ‘nice people’ but ‘new people.’”
Did you ever think, when you were a child, what fun it would be if your toys could come to life—sort of like in Toy Story?
Lewis says take a tin soldier and turn it into a real in-the-flesh human being (use prop).
I can become nicer if I'm making an effort, studying etiquette and manners. When Robert was a trader at Goldman Sachs, he was told by a superior that he was very talented and had great potential to advance in the firm but that he was seen as a jerk. He was impatient, abrupt, and rude. So he worked on being nicer and as a result he was promoted and eventually became a senior executive in the company. But Robert became nicer out of self-interest and as a result of self-effort.
But God's intention isn't to make you a nicer person, but a new person – a new person you can become through a relationship with him. In Peter's words a new person because you are a "participant in the divine nature."
Let me now give a couple of examples of what becoming a new person looks like:
John Wesley, the famous preacher and founder of the Methodist Church, was in many ways a very devout undergraduate student at Oxford. He connected with a number of his fellow students who wanted to seek God and organized them into a group called The Holy Club. No joke…The Holy Club. Not the most marketable name today. The name of the club suggested that they wanted to live lives of disciplined purity before God. They regularly prayed. They studied the Scriptures. They regularly took Holy Communion. They went to the local prisons to visit the prisoners. They prayed with people who were dying from tuberculosis, which was a deadly disease in their day.
After John Wesley graduated from Oxford, he went on a mission to the mission field of Georgia which was at the time a relatively newly inhabited colony. He was preaching to the First Nations People, but on his trip back to England on the ship he wrote in his journal: “I went to America to convert the Indians, but, oh, who will convert me?” Back in England he was sitting in a small group and someone was reading Martin Luther’s preface to the book of Romans, which was actually so boring, but God used the reading of those words to open up Wesley’s heart, and allowed him to sense God ‘s forgiveness of his sin. He wrote in his journal: “My heart was strangely warmed.”
His conversion was summarized well in his brother Charles’s famous hymn, And Can It Be. Verse 4 begins
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
The knowledge of God that Peter speaks about refers to an intimate and personal knowledge of God so that we become a new person, a participant in God's very nature.
Let me give an example that is a bit more contemporary.
My friend, Joanna Mockler, shared with me about her own conversion to Christ. Joanna had attended an elite women’s college on the East coast. She was very sophisticated and skeptical about religion. She married a man named Coleman who went on to become the Chief Executive Officer of the Gillette Corporation.
While Joanna was in her 30s, a mother of young children and a full-time homemaker, she told me she was a little bit bored. So when someone in her neighbourhood invited her to participate in a small group Bible study, Joanna thought, “I am too smart and sophisticated to believe in this stuff, but this would be a good way to have some adult conversation.” So she joined. They began studying the gospels and Joanna told me that she, for some reason, believed in the resurrection and Jesus, but could not believe in the miracles. But she was deeply impressed by Jesus.
One day she was in her kitchen and she just started to weep. She said to Jesus, “I believe in you, but I don’t love you.” In that moment her heart was opened and changed. Now she is person who deeply loves Jesus and makes a profound difference in the world with the lives of underprivileged children. She serves as an active trustee for World Vision International.
Joanna experienced a personal, intimate knowledge of God, which enabled her to become a participant in God's nature, a knowledge that made her new.
Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher and theologian in New England in the 18th century, wrote in his book, Religious Affections, that it is possible to have a deep respect for the power of God, and yet not know him personally. The only way you can truly love God’s holiness is if you know him personally.
So the question I want raise gently is not “Do you respect for God’s power?” It is possible to have respect for God’s power and to not know him personally. But do you truly love him and his holy purity in a personal intimate relationship with him? Is he precious to you?
When the apostle Peter talks about knowledge in vs. 2, he is talking about this personal, intimate, life-changing knowledge that springs out of a relationship. Here in verse 5 this personal intimate knowledge of God is assumed by Peter. Then he says, “…add to your faith goodness, and to your goodness knowledge.”
The Greek word Peter uses for knowledge here in vs. 5 is a general one. Knowledge can apply to almost any area of life. A person can be knowledgeable about history, cars, or snowboarding. Here, he is not talking about just knowledge in general, and not even the intimate knowledge of God he speaks about in verse 2.
Here, the best commentators point out he is likely referring to the ability to discern God’s will and to align one’s life in accordance with God’s will. Knowing and doing God's will is part of what enables us to grow deeper in our relationship with God. In John 14 Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will love you and show myself to you.”
The path to knowing God personally comes primarily through prayer…surrendering our self to him…over and over… attuning ourselves to his voice.
But because our capacity to discern God's voice through our intuition is limited, if we rely only on prayer to know God, we may find ourselves spiritually drifting into a kind of amorphous spirituality.
While personal knowledge of God does come primarily through prayer, our knowledge of what God's will is comes primarily through the Word.
We need both. We need the heart knowledge of God that comes through vital prayer life, but we also need what we might call an intellectual knowledge of God's will which comes primarily through the word of God.
To put it in simplistic terms, there's a danger in being all heart – a danger of drifting into a vague subjective spirituality... There's also a danger in being all head… Having a perfect theology, but a frozen heart. So we need both: prayer, but also the Word. We need prayer to warm our hearts and we need the Word to ground and guide us.
I am just a beginner sailor, but I remember being out on the water with my instructor Bob – who is truly a master sailor – and asking him if it would be possible – way down the road – if he could teach me how to navigate by the stars.
I remember him saying, "I know it sounds great to be able to navigate by the stars, but it's not a good way to find your direction. Depending on the time of year, where you are in the world, the stars slightly may appear different to you.” You are better off with a compass and map." (use prop) "What about a GPS?" I asked. "GPS is good– but sometimes a satellite is down or your battery may die or lightning may harm your GPS—so you're actually better off mastering the old way – use the compass and map to locate yourself.”
So it is for us. It may sound romantic and cool to navigate our life "by the stars" – I don't mean in a New Agey kind of way, but by using our powers of observation and intuition to make our way through life. But as is true of the sailor, sometimes our observations and intuition are skewed by our life circumstances so we make a poor judgment, a judgment not based on reality, but on our perception of reality.
So we need a compass, we need a map to guide us.
And the Scriptures are a God-given time-tested life map for us.
Now I'm aware that certain people have a knee-jerk reaction against the Bible. They find that it is filled with all kinds of offensive things. A couple weeks ago, for example, I heard someone object to the Bible because of the story about a man named Jephthah in the book of Judges who asked God to help him in a battle against the Ammonites and then promised to offer the first thing he will see him when he returned home from battle as a sacrifice to God. The first thing Jephthah sees when he comes back home from his victorious battle is his daughter—who walks out the door to meet him. He ends up sacrificing her to God (which was a fairly common practice among the people who practiced pagan religions in his day).
The person who was offended by this story assumed that it was God's will for Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter. But, as Dan Matheson pointed out last summer in his sermon on Jephthah, Jephthah was not following God's will in sacrificing his daughter, he was in fact clearly contradicting God's word in Deuteronomy 12 to not sacrifice your children. The story of Jephthah is not the kind of story where God says follow the example of Jephthah, go and do likewise. No, it is a tale of warning of what not to do. Or what can happen when we don’t know the Word, but only the practices of our culture.
If we are new to the Scriptures, we need to be careful not to judge Scripture too quickly. Scriptures do have stories of atrocity, examples of people who are full of contradiction – but the Bible is not necessarily endorsing these things or people—someone is just describing them.
Part of what it will mean for us to grow in the knowledge of God is to not too hastily dismiss Scripture because of things that appear on the surface to be problematic.
Tim Keller, one of my teachers and someone who served as an important mentor to me particularly when I was a new pastor here has said:
“Many years ago, when I first started reading the Book of Genesis, it was very upsetting to me. Here are all these spiritual heroes—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph—and look at how they treat women. They engage in polygamy, and they buy and sell their wives. It was awful to read their stories at times. But then I read Robert Alter's \The Art of Biblical Narrative. Alter is a Jewish scholar at Berkeley whose expertise is ancient Jewish literature. In his book he says there are two institutions present in the Book of Genesis that were universal in ancient cultures: polygamy and primogeniture. Polygamy said a husband could have multiple wives, and primogeniture said the oldest son got everything—all the power, all the money. In other words, the oldest son basically ruled over everyone else in the family. Alter points out that when you read the Book of Genesis, you'll see two things. First of all, in every generation polygamy wreaks havoc. Having multiple wives is an absolute disaster—socially, culturally, spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and relationally. Second, when it comes to primogeniture, in every generation God favors the younger son over the older. He favors Abel, not Cain; Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau. Alter says that you begin to realize what the Book of Genesis is doing—it is subverting, not supporting, those ancient institutions at every turn.
When I read Alter's book, I then reread the Book of Genesis and loved it. And then it hit me: What if when I was younger, I had abandoned my trust in the Bible because of these accounts in Genesis? What if I had drop-kicked the Bible and the Christian faith, missing out on a personal relationship with Christ—all because I couldn't understand the behaviour of the patriarchs? The lesson is simple: Be patient with the text. Consider the possibility that it might not be teaching what you think it's teaching.”
Because the Bible was written in a time in cultures that were very different from our own, there are certain passages that are very difficult for us to understand. It can be helpful to take time to study some of the historical background and context and the author’s original intent in writing a particular book in Scripture.
But there are parts of the Scriptures that are really clear to understand and bother us. It was Mark Twain who said,
“It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
Part of what it means to allow the Scriptures to lead us into the knowledge of God and into the knowledge of his will for us is to allow it to challenge us at some point.
Before I speak or write something that will be circulated in public, I always vet my material past at least one other person – and it's usually a small group of people.
I tell them while I appreciate your affirmation, what is really most helpful is if you would challenge me on my thinking. I will not be able to grow or learn if you don't feel comfortable disagreeing with me and even challenging me.
Many of us here have the same attitude. Whether it's something we've written, whether it's our form as we do Pilates or yoga – we want people to give us their honest feedback and even challenge is so we can improve.
How much more should we allow the God to do that through the Scriptures for us!
If we don't trust the Bible enough to let it challenge and correct our thinking, how could we ever have a personal relationship with God? In any truly personal relationship, the other person has to be able to contradict you. For example, to borrow an illustration from my teacher Tim, if a wife is not allowed to contradict her husband, they won't have an intimate relationship. Remember the movie The Stepford Wives? (show jacket)

The husbands decide to have their wives turned into robots who never cross the wills of their husbands. A Stepford wife was wonderfully compliant and beautiful, but no one would describe such a marriage as intimate or personal.
Now, what happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will? If you pick and choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you? You won't! You'll have a Stepford God! A God, essentially of your own making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction. Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination. So an authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God. It is the precondition for it.
The Book of Isaiah reminds us:
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The purpose of our knowledge of God is not knowledge for the sake of knowledge—that according to the Bible simply "puffs us up” (1 Cor. 8:1), but knowledge for the purpose of knowing God and his son Jesus Christ more deeply and becoming like him.
Peter says:
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness… so that through them we may participate in his divine nature…( 2 Peter 1:3)
Peter was one of the disciples that was closest to Jesus... He walked on water. He was used by Jesus to draw many people into our friendship with Jesus... Peter is calling us into a relationship with Jesus that was as intimate as his…
We can have this by having a heart knowledge of God through prayer and by having a head knowledge of God through his Word….
Do you want a relationship with God as close as Peter’s?
If so, are have you become a new person—someone who participates in the divine nature?
How’s your love map with God? Are you growing in your knowledge of God? Do you know Jesus’ likes, dislikes, what concerns him, what his hopes and dreams are for you, for the world?
Are you growing in your love map of Jesus, your knowledge of him through both prayer and the word?
Let’s pray:
I am offering you a prayer from Peter’s friend and fellow apostle Paul:
Paul in Colossians a writes:
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:9-10).

Hope Rises(24April2011)

2011-04-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Series: Loving God by Following the Way of Jesus
The Way of Jesus M12 (11 04 24) (Part of the Easter Celebration Service)
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Hope Rises
Text: John 11:1-44
BIG IDEA: Jesus’ rising from the dead proves to us that tragedy, and even death, can be reversed.
Last month we witnessed the devastating tsunami unleashed by Japan’s biggest recorded earthquake. We saw the footage of homes being carried by the water, cars swept away, and even large trucks and freighter ships being flipped over like small toys.
Then, in the days that followed, we saw scenes of the drooping skeletal remains of buildings, and images of the flooded streets.
Some of our extended family were in Sendai when the earthquake hit, my wife Sakiko’s closest aunt and her aunt’s mother. For four or five days we had not received any word from them—they didn’t show up on any of the lists of people who were in the shelters. Their son had worked for IBM—and is tech savvy—so we figured he would have been able to reach them. Things were not looking good after 4 or 5 days. At the dinner table, I turned to Sakiko and asked, "Do you think they're dead?" "I think they may be dead," she replied.
Then the following day, we heard that they were OK.
I am originally from Japan and my wife was born and raised there, and as we saw the houses being carried away…. I was in tears and my wife wept.
Sakiko’s dad was twelve years old and living in Osaka when the World War II ended. He said, “Japan looks like it did after the war.” The war, of course, with the exception of Kyoto, reduced Japan’s major cities to ashes…
And seeing the recent images of the skeletal building of Japan after the earthquake and tsunami, like a massive bomb had exploded, I felt grief, but I also thought about how the country and the people were able to rise from the ashes of the war.
Sakiko’s parents’ and my parents were children--about 12 years old when the war ended.
During the war and just after, they were very hungry much of the time. I remember my mom telling me how she (usually when I refused to eat my veggies as a boy) how she and the other children were so hungry that they walked out to the river to pick flowers and ate them (I told her we have would have flowers on the platform today and asked her to make sure she had breakfast before coming). With the help of foreign aid they were able to re-grow their crops, rebuild their roads, their houses, and their businesses.
Through that experience of great adversity, arguably Japan’s greatest generation emerged. Our parents’ generation literally and metaphorically –rebuilt the country. And as a result of that tragedy, people were opened to new spiritual realities, and my mom and some members of our family came into a life-changing relationship with the living God.
We, of course, don’t have a crystal ball to see the future of Sendai and Fukushima. People are saying that just like after World War II it will take about 30 years to rebuild.
I don’t want in any way to diminish the pain and loss that Japan has experienced.
But we do know from history that people do rise from the ashes. We know that people who appear beaten down, like seeds that are cast on the ground, stepped on, and forgotten, in time have a way of rising.
So Easter is not just a story for us here in Vancouver, but it is a story of hope for people in places like Japan, Tunisia and Egypt, Libya, and the Middle East. It is a story of hope for all people, particularly for those who have experienced suffering and have been touched by death.
Easter is a story about Christ rising from the dead, but that resurrection, of course, would not have happened, without Christ first having gone through what appeared to be a tragic, senseless death.
We would not have Easter if we did not have Good Friday. What is Good Friday? Why do we call it good?
Good Friday looks back to the day when Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God, was nailed to a Roman cross. The cross, of course, is such a famous symbol today. People wear it around their neck. But, it was certainly not a beloved symbol in the Roman world of the first century. It was equivalent to the electric chair. Worse really. When a person was nailed to cross, everyone would have assumed that they had committed a violent, heinous, crime. In fact this tortuous death was considered so gruesome, so degrading that by Roman law a Roman citizen no matter how monstrous and evil a crime they had committed would not be subject to death by crucifixion.
When Jesus was on the hanging cross, those who did not know him assumed that he was dying as a criminal for a sin that he had committed.
But according to the Scriptures he died as a sacrifice for our sins. So we could be forgiven and free to know God.
The Japanese people who have volunteered to work on the frontlines to contain the nuclear radiation are acting in a way that gives a window into what Christ did for us.
There are certain government regulations, of course, that limit the amount of radiation a worker can be legally exposed to. A typical worker is only allowed to work for about 15 minutes while trying to contain the nuclear radiation. Our friends in Japan tell us that a disproportionately high number of people volunteering to work on the frontlines to contain the radiation are followers of Jesus Christ (the number of Christians who have volunteered is surprisingly high—as you may know there are very few Christians in Japan). And they are begging their supervisors to let them work longer than legal 15 minutes… for much, much longer so they can make more headway. In some cases it means that they are being exposed to 20 times, that’s 2000 % of the radiation in a day that they are legally allowed to face in a year. The reason we know of this is that some of Christian front line workers have asked my wife and me to pray for them.
Seth Grae, the CEO of a North American based nuclear consultancy company has been observing what these men are doing and says, “What we are seeing now is, really, heroic.”
These workers are voluntarily willing to lay down their well-being and maybe their lives to contain the nuclear radiation so they can protect their communities, their country, and the world.
They walk into death`s door and hope rises.
And likewise so in a mysterious way when Jesus Christ was dying on the cross, it was like he was absorbing in his body all the radioactivity of our sins--so that no matter what we have done in the past, no matter what our sin, we can be forgiven. Jesus absorbed the radioactivity of our sin in his body on the cross, so that we could enter into a relationship with God without guilt or shame, so that we could be free of spiritual contamination, so that we could be adopted as cherished daughters and sons of God.
Jesus walks into death and hope rises.
On Good Friday Jesus died—Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Three days later he rose from the dead.
On the Sunday morning following Jesus’ death, friends felt deep grief much like someone in Sendai who had lost their father, or someone in Egypt or Libya who had lost a mother or daughter, or maybe as you felt if you have ever lost a loved one.
But their grief turned to laughter and delirious joy when they saw Jesus three or four days later risen from the dead.
But what did it mean—what did his rising mean? This is the question of Easter.
In order to unpack the meaning of the Christ rising from the dead, let me take us to an event in Jesus’ life 2 or 3 months BEFORE—he died on the cross and rose again. It gives us a glimpse of what his rising from the dead would mean for us… and a window into the meaning of the Easter.
In the gospel of John, Chapter 11, just a few months before Jesus dies on the cross, Jesus receives news that his friend Lazarus is very sick. Lazarus was the brother of Martha and Mary, two of Jesus’ closest friends. After receiving news that Lazarus was seriously ill, Jesus stayed where he was for a couple more days before going to see him. His friend Lazarus ended up dying. And when Jesus arrives he finds that Lazarus has already died and has been in the tomb for four days. Martha, Lazarus’ sister, comes out to meet Jesus. She said, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha responded, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Martha here is referring to the great final Day of Judgment when every person will rise up from the grave and stand before for the living God. She is referring to a future final day.
But, listen to what Jesus says:
“25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).
Jesus suggests that the resurrection –i.e. rising from the dead – can also occur now.
Jesus asks, “Where have you laid him?” They took him to the cave where Lazarus was buried.
And Jesus wept.
The Greek here word for wept suggests that Jesus was deeply distressed and angry. The Greek word describes a horse that snorts in anger. When someone we love dies there is grief, tears, sadness, but like Jesus we can also feel anger.
And when God sees devastation and anger, he also weeps and experiences anger.
Jesus says, “Take away the stone.” But Martha, the sister of Lazarus, says, “By this time there is bad odour for he has been dead for four days.” Martha, who was a very straight forward kind of woman, says in effect, “Jesus, you don’t want to go near his body. It is going to stink.” People in Jesus’ day believed that during the first days of death the soul would kind of hover around the body, but on the fourth day even the soul was saying, “I’m outa here!” But Martha was just warning Jesus to stay away from the body because it had already begun to decompose and smell.
Jesus approaches the tomb and simply says, “Lazarus, come out!” No long incantation. No abracadabra. Simply “Come out!” Lazarus comes out in his grave clothes. In Jesus’ day when a person died you would wrap him or her in over a hundred pounds of linen strips. And here comes Lazarus—dead man walking, a walking mummy coming out of the tomb.
Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead was of kind of a glimpse of what was to come.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” Jesus says he or she who believes in me even though he or she dies will rise to eternal life.
When the religious leaders asked him to prove his claim to be the one who could raise us from the dead, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple [meaning his body] and I will raise it up on the third day.”
When God raised Jesus from the dead, it was God’s way of saying, your sin have been paid for. You and, i.e., us can rise from the dead to eternal life as well.
Jesus' death and rising from the dead was a glimpse of what would happen to us if we put our trust in him.
Because he walked into death, hope rises for us.
Earlier in the service, Kahlil Ashanti portrayed part of C. S. Lewis’s famous children’s story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
One of the children, Edmund, betrays Aslan the Lion, the Christ figure, and his friends.
And so the White Witch says to Aslan the great Lion, the Christ figure, “You have a traitor here. You know the deep magic says that every traitor belongs to me. His life is mine. I have the right to kill him...”
Aslan bargains with the witch to exchange his own life for Edmund's. So, the Witch ties Aslan to the Stone Table, shaves off his great mane, and then kills him with a knife.
Susan and Lucy, two of the children who were hiding behind a bush witness the horrific death of Aslan are now walking about aimlessly…
At that moment they hear from behind them a loud noise, a great, cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a huge stone. The stone table on which Alsan was killed was breaking into two pieces cracking from end to end.
They looked around and there shining in the sunrise was Aslan, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane.
“Oh, Aslan!” cried the children staring up at him. “What does it all mean?” asked Susan, when they were somewhat calmer.
“It means,” said Aslan, ‘that though the witch knew the deep magic, there is a deeper magic still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back into the stillness and darkness before time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a victim who had committed no treachery was killed, though in a traitor’s stead, the table would crack and death would start working backwards.”
We celebrate Easter because Easter means because of Christ’s death, Christ who committed no treachery and was killed in a traitor’s stead—our stead. Death works backwards.
Aslan walks into death and hope rises.
Jesus walks into death and hope rises.
Easter means that even death the worst and last enemy is defeated.
I have a grandmother who is 97 and just recently retired from playing tennis. Some years ago she was bragging to me that she was ranked the #2 tennis player in the nation of Japan in her age category. And I said, “Yes, but in your age category there are probably only 2 or 3 of you still playing.” I thought that was a pretty funny thing to say until she showed me her backhand. My grandmother has been extraordinarily healthy and fit for her age, but recently she is showing signs of forgetting. She is showing signs of early dementia. I wonder how much longer she will live for.
I am reminded as I watch her how, of how fleeting our life on earth is. But, I know that because her life is in Christ’s hands and that she too will one day rise from the dead.
Even as death encroaches, because Jesus walks into death and hope rises.
Christ’s death and rising again doesn’t just mean hope for us rising at the end of time. It can also mean a reversal of fortune for us in this life.
If we live long enough, we will experience some kind of pain and suffering, usually directly, but if not directly through the experience of someone we love and care for. Pain in not being admitted to a particular school or a company, the loss of a job, unreciprocated love, a breakup with a partner, pain because of accident or an illness. Suffering can feel deep and awful, and at the time can feel never-ending.
Jesus’ dying on the cross and rising again means that all of our fortunes can be reversed.
It means our suffering can be redeemed in this lifetime, and if not here, certainly in the life to come.
The Scriptures teach that when our lives our joined to him, God begins to work out all things for our ultimate good—even tragedy.
It’s a like when an artist like Michelangelo joins his brush to ours and begins to work with our brush on the canvas of our life so that it even the black spots become part of a larger masterpiece.
This is why followers of Christ, look back and say I thought it was the worst that ever happened, but I now see how God has redeemed it and how he has given me beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness.
No matter how tragic something appears, Jesus walks into death and hope rises.
And if that seems impossible, listen to what the novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky said in the Brothers Karamazov:
"I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage… that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all suffering…."
Dostoyevsky is saying that in the end God will choreograph something so precious that all of our suffering will be healed and redeemed so that even the worst kind of suffering will vanish like a mirage, as if we are waking up from a bad dream.
Because Jesus walks into death and hope rises for us.
When first married I used to have this reoccurring nightmare. I would dream that my wife Sakiko had died. Then I would wake up and see with a sigh of relief and that she was still asleep beside me. But, I’d watch to see if the duvet would rise and fall once or twice just to be sure. (But the challenge is we have a pretty thick duvet--so Sakiko, in case you been wondering all these years why every once in a while I jerk you awake without any reason, now you know why.)
Now as the parent of a rambunctious 2-year-old, I have a dream from time to time that I have lost Joey somewhere in a crowd--all of a sudden I can’t see him anywhere. (This actually has happened…. in real life… While entering Science World, when I was just turning away to hang up his coat, and then turned around, Joey was nowhere to be seen. I ran outside to look for him on False Creek. He wasn't there. I ran inside and quickly scanned the entrance way. I couldn’t spot him. I contacted one of the staff members who told me to stay where I was--near the entrance--in case he tried to run out of Science World. The staff member got a description of him from me and then walkie-talkied that information to the staff: (look to the side) start looking for a Japanese looking 2 year old, wearing a blue sweatshirt or a maybe a green shirt, or maybe it’s brown… or it could be yellow. It was definitely a color. After about 6 minutes (which felt like about 60) somebody found him.) That really happened, but I have dreamed about him being lost, and my feelings of panic and depression feel incredibly real because in my nightmare I know my wife Sakiko is going to be inconsolable over our son's kidnapping or even death, and I am also sad and frightened because I know she is going to kill me too.
Then I wake up from the dream and I see Sakiko lying beside me… (And I think I will let her sleep). I know Joey’s sleep in his bedroom at the end of the hallway dreaming of cupcakes.
Because of Christ's resurrection –if our lives are joined to him – one day everything that has ever happened to us that’s bad–will be so healed, so completely redeemed that its memory will fade as if we were waking up from a dream.
In the great story Lord of the Rings Sam believes that Gandalf has fallen off a cliff and has died. But at the end of the story, Sam has been asleep for a long while and then he begins to wake up. As he wakes up Gandalf stands beside Sam, his face glistening in the sunlight and says, “Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?” Sam, laying on his back, stares with open mouth and for a moment between bewilderment and great joy cannot answer. At last he gasps, “Gandalf, I thought you were dead, but then I thought I was dead. Is everything sad going to come untrue? “
“A great shadow has departed,” said Gandalf, and then he laughed. Sam said, “I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves, and all the songs I have ever heard.”
Christ’s dying and rising again means everything sad things that happened to us, everything tragic, will be healed and redeemed so like waking from a bad dream, every sad experience will come untrue.
Jesus walks into death and hope rises.
This is why we celebrate the promise of Easter. This is why we have hope. This is why we, along with one-third of the world, celebrate Christ’s rising.
If you are here and you are not sure that you believe, one of the ways that you can begin to believe is by asking Jesus to give you a little glimpse of the resurrection that you can one day experience.
My wife and I had two wedding ceremonies, one in Japan and one here in Vancouver. Before the ceremony in Japan, Sakiko, whose job it had been as a writer to go restaurants and write the restaurant guides, and her dad, who was a food executive who sampled food in his work, went to the hotel where we were going to be having our reception and they sampled the food: the appetizers, the main course, the wines and the deserts. It was a glimpse, a foretaste of what was to come.
When Martha’s brother Lazarus had died, Jesus came to see her. She said, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” He said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha responded, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
She is referring to a future event.
But, Jesus says:
“25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).
Jesus suggests that a resurrection –i.e. a rising from the dead – will occur in the future, but can also happen right now. He is saying we can begin to experience a spiritual rising to new life now. When he says anyone who believes in me, that is anyone who trusts in me will live even though they die and whoever believes in me will never die – he is talking about a spiritual life that can begin in us now and that will never die out.
So if you would join your life to Christ – not only will you experience the resurrection at the end of time – you will experience a spiritual rising to new life today.
Has this happened to you? Has your heart changed—has God brought new life to you, a spiritual resurrection?
If your life is joined to Christ, you will rise again as he did. But that resurrection does not have to begin only then. It can begin now if you will turn your life to Christ and ask him to bring new life to you.
The risen Jesus stands ready to walk into the pain and even tragedy of your life and can bring you comfort and new life and as he does in hope will rise for you.

If so, and you would like to do that, you can pray with me, “Christ, I don’t understand it all, but I believe you died on the cross and rose again for my sins. You absorbed the radioactivity of my sin in you so that I could be forgiven and restored to God. I turn to you. Help me to experience a new life now and in the days to come.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Servant King(17April2011)

2011-04-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

Series: Loving God by Following the Way of Jesus
The Way of Jesus M11 (11 04 17)
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Servant King
Text: John 13:1-17
BIG IDEA: We are most like God when we are sanctified and serve.
When I was in my going into final year of seminary, I was elected student body president.
During my year, as student president, I occasionally met with the board of trustees.
Before meeting with them, I was always clearly told by senior level staff member not to bring up anything that would embarrass the administration and nothing that would blindside them—“no surprises.”
Before meeting the trustees, I get a list of their names and found out what they did…
Part of list went something like this:
C Firestone from California—of the Firestone Tire family.
J Talcott who lives not far from us in Boston. He’ll introduce himself as a cranberry farmer, but he owns Ocean Spray Drink Company.
Billy Graham…
2 or 3 times that year, I’d attended these cocktail parties (without real cocktails) with the trustees and special guests of the seminary.
At one of these parties I started chatting with an elderly woman standing nearby… After talking for a few minutes, I discovered she was Mary Rockefeller (of the Rockefeller family).
I thought, “She looks like an ordinary person. She’s dressed modestly. She’s not at all pretentious. She’s warm. Like an elegant grandmother.” She said, “I am not really qualified to serve on this board. I don’t know anything about theology.”
I thought—didn’t say—I know exactly why you’re on the board.
As I became acquainted with her, I found her to down to earth, and very generous—to the school and contributing to big projects and small ones—I recall how she would gave a fund account to help students with families at the seminary to pay for babying sitting and go on dates… who otherwise couldn’t afford to.
I thought if I didn’t know who she was, I would not know that she was Mrs. Rockefeller.
If you saw Jesus… on first glance, you might not recognize him as the unique son of God. According to the Bible, he had no outward beauty that we naturally be attracted to … He had no worldly wealth… He never postured as the leader with symbols of status, nor did he refuse to do something lowly, considered beneath the dignity of leader.
Today, we’ll see a picture of the Jesus we are called to follow and, with God’s help, to become like.
If you have your Bibles please turn to John 13.
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
In John 13 Jesus is in an upper room in Jerusalem with some of his closest friends the night he is betrayed, the night before he was nailed to the cross. We read in verse 1 that it was just before the Passover Feast. The Passover Feast was considered the most important of the Jewish feasts. It celebrated the time when God delivered his people, the Hebrew people, through the leadership of Moses, out of the land of Egypt where they had been slaves for 400 years.
The population of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus was roughly 80,000, but at Passover it might swell to some 3 million people—the streets crowded like downtown Vancouver after we won the Olympic gold medal in hockey (and some of you are saying like it will when the Canucks win the Stanley Cup this year). Word had spread that Jesus, who lived in Bethany, a community less than 2 miles away, had raised a man named Lazarus to life after he had been dead for 4 days. And Jesus, who had performed all kind of miracles, was coming through Jerusalem.
People were anticipating that Jesus would reclaim the throne of his great great great great… grandfather David, and become the king, the Messiah who would liberate his people.
So, as we might expect, when he came into Jerusalem on a donkey, people shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! Blessed is the King of Israel! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David!” Hosanna means “save now,” but is the equivalent in our time of “God save the King.” And Jesus is a King. He is the ultimate King. According to the Scriptures he is God in human flesh. But, as we will see, he is a very different sort of king than what people expected.
Here in the Upper Room, Jesus and his friends had gathered for a meal the night before he goes to the cross. Since the roads of Palestine were not paved like ours, but made of dirt, in dry weather there would be a lot of dust, and in wet weather the roads would turn to mud. People in Jesus’ day wore sandals, so when you would walk out in the streets your feet would become dirty. Just inside the doorway in most homes in Jerusalem would have been a basin of water and a towel. (USE PROP) In a Jewish home, typically a slave (who was not a Jew—the Jews were not supposed to ask a Jewish servant to wash their feet—too demeaning) would greet the visitors and wash their feet.
When Jesus gathered his students for a meal, none of them voluntarily carried out this lowly task. They were fantasizing about what kind of cabinet positions they might hold in Jesus’ administration. In fact, according to the gospel of Luke, Jesus’ students were arguing about which of them would be greatest in the kingdom that Jesus would soon inaugurate. As they were jockeying for position and status, no one, of course, dared to stoop and take on the role of the servant and wash each other’s feet. Doing something so slowly would be a tacit admission of who was on the bottom of the totem pole.
And then something astonishing happened! The disciples are reclining, sitting in the Upper Room, some of them are lying on their side, some are seated on the floor. They are in a horseshoe shape. Here in the Upper Room Jesus and his students reclined on the floor, and their feet are covered in grime.
Having loved his own in the world (vs. 1), Jesus now showed them the full extent of his love. Jesus knew that his Father (vs.3) had put all things under his power, that he had come from God and that he was returning to God. So (NOT BUT, but SO… or therefore)… as one with all power, who knew where he had come from and where he was going, got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Jesus is a king, in fact, he is in fact the King of every king, the Prime Minister of every prime minister, the President of every president, but he is a very different sort of king. He washes feet. In Jesus’ day, we have no example in ancient literature of a rabbi stooping to wash to wash his disciples’ feet. In that day a peer would never wash a peer’s feet. It was considered too demeaning. And if anyone needed their feet washed that evening, it was Jesus. He was just hours away from a cruel and violent lonely death. If anyone needed to be served and cared for that night, it was Jesus. But it was Jesus who took off his outer clothing, wrapped the towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and began to wash his students’ feet, drying them with a towel that was wrapped around him.
What enabled Jesus, the King of kings, the unique Son of God, to do what was considered to be such a demeaning task? So—Jewish… it is done by Gentile slaves.
There is a clue in the passage where we read:
3 “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God and SO he got up from the meal…. And began washing their feet….”
Jesus knew that God had put all things under his power, and that he was returning to the Father. Jesus lived in the security that his Father loved him, and that his Father had given him all authority and power. That sense of security, that sense of being loved, that sense of personal power in the best sense gave Jesus the freedom to do something that was considered humiliating…to wash another person’s feet.
And when we have a relationship with God the Father, when you realize that you have been chosen by him, that you are a beloved son or daughter, we are filled with his Spirit. When we know where we have come from and where we are going, then we are secure enough to humbly serve others. (If we are insecure, we will only feel free to serve in prestigious or glamorous ways, and we achieve only a superficial kind of greatness. But if we are secure in God’s love for us, and if we are confident in the power that God has bestowed upon us, we can descend to true greatness-- greatness in God’s terms.)
We see in vs. 1 that Jesus loves his students by washing their feet. Love in the New Testament is more than just a feeling—it is an action.
In a moving scene Jesus looks around and begins to wash the feet of Thomas, a guy who’s been close to Jesus for three years, has seen amazing miracles Jesus has performed, but doesn’t really believe in Jesus yet. Thomas has doubts. He doesn’t believe Jesus will be able to do what he claims he will do—rise from the dead.
Jesus washes Peter’s feet. Jesus knows, according to verse 38, that in less than 24 hours Peter will deny 3 times that he even knows him. In fact, he knows each of them will desert him. Then, of course, he washes Judas’s feet. Judas is Jesus’ CFO. Judas literally sells him out, saying in effect “you are less than 30 silver coins to me.” He knows all this. Jesus knows he is going to be betrayed or sold, but he loves him anyway.
His act of washing his disciples’ feet, as amazing as this was, was this really a kind of trailer to what he would do for them the following day, something far greater than washing the feet of his disciples? There is a part of us that when we read the words “that Jesus having loved the people in the world, and now showed the full extent of his love,” then Jesus stooping down to wash their feet, that says “That’s it?” Amazing and humble. It would be like saying, “On their fiftieth wedding anniversary, Steve showed his wife the full extent of his love by mopping their bathroom floor.”
As amazing as Jesus’ washing of feet is, Jesus clearly has something more in mind here. In the next 24 hours he will not just remove just his shirt. He will strip right down. He will allow himself to be nailed to a cross, executed in the most painful, humiliating way imaginable, a kind of capital punishment so degrading the Romans—no matter how evil a crime of one their citizens had committed--would not subject their own people to that kind of death. His washing of feet was a prelude to his more humiliating act of service--to laying down his life on the cross, a death only fit for the worst kind of criminal—a death for his disciples and for us, a death bearing our sin and shame in himself so that you and I could be clean and forgiven.
We know his washing the feet of his disciples points to a greater cleansing he would achieve for them through his conversation with his student Peter.
When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said, "Master, you wash my feet?"
Jesus answered, "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."
Peter persisted, "You're not going to wash my feet—ever!"
Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you can't be part of what I'm doing."
Master!" said Peter. "Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!"
Jesus said, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one of you is clean.
Life has a way of making us dirty. Sometimes we make a choice to jump into the mud and manure. Sometimes our feet just get dirty because we are walking through dusty roads of the world and we feel that we have been, if not corrupted, at least compromised in some way.
If we want to have a part of Jesus, the holy and pure Son of God, we need to ask him to wash and cleanse us. We need to ask him to give us a spiritual bath.
This week I just heard the story a young man who said when he was baptized he felt he was being given a bath from the inside… he felt… (and couldn’t find the word right away)… “Clean…. Cleansed. Cleansed from the inside.”
And the King of kings is a servant King. He serves us by washing us…cleansing us. The technical word used in the New Testament is “sanctify,” which simply means to make holy, to make pure, to set apart for God.
This is possible because he served in the ultimate way when he died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins—absorbing our sin and shame upon him. The Scriptures tell us in Isaiah 53:5:
But he [Jesus] was pierced [on the cross] for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
When we come to Jesus and confess our sins, in Scripture we are told:
In 1 John 1:9 we read: 9 he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins (based on Christ’s work) and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Part of what it means to follow the servant King Jesus is to be cleansed (or sanctified).
The second part of what it means to follow the Servant King is to serve.
In verse 15 we read:
15 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
Jesus says, “I have set an example that you also should wash one another’s feet.” Then Jesus says, “Now that you know these things you will be blessed if you do them.”
As you may know some Christian communities take Jesus’ commandment to mean that we are to literally wash one another’s feet. They hold foot-washing services on Maunday Thursday. The moms’ group that gathers here on Thursday mornings with young children, led by Karla, recently washed each other’s feet. When our team went to Cambodia in November and contributed to the final training of emerging pastors there, who were graduating the Diamond Leadership program, the Cambodians who are very conscious of hierarchy and authority decided to kneel before our team and wash the feet of our team members as a way to show that they as pastors are called to serve, and then the our team knelt and washed their feet. People were crying because in Cambodia and even Canada washing another person’s feet is so counter-cultural.
In verse 15 Jesus said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Jesus here shows us that the King of the world, loves us by serving us.
As NT Gordon Fee has pointed out commenting on Philippians, Chapter 2, “Precisely because Jesus Christ was in very nature God, he didn’t consider equality with God something to be used to his own selfish advantage, but he poured himself out, taking on the very nature of a servant.” (USE THE JUG and the WATER HERE.)
We are most like God when we empty ourselves and love others through service. Because we are made in the image of God, we are most fully human when we faithfully mirror the nature and character of God. He says in verse 14, “14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”
If we had not read this passage just now and you had not read it before, you might have anticipated Jesus saying “now that I have washed your feet, please wash mine.” As we saw, if anyone needed his feet washed it was Jesus! He was about to die a cruel, violent death.
But, if Jesus had said that, his disciples would have been fighting over the privilege of being first to wash his feet. But Jesus says instead, “You should wash one another’s feet.”
Lesslie Newbigin has served for many years as a missionary in India. He said that Jesus’ command here literally changes our whole idea of relationship. Newbigin says (I paraphrase), because Jesus laid down his life for us, we owe him a debt, but he calls us to repay the debt by serving other people.” In the parlance of the popular movie some years ago, having been served by Jesus we are to “pay it forward.”
I owe Jesus Christ what he has done for me. But he calls me to repay the debt by serving others. My wife Sakiko. Our son Joey. So are the members of my community here at Tenth and our neighbours. It is an unique way of understanding our world. It reverses the values of our world—it’s upside down.
In my message a few weeks ago on loving children, I talked about how Jesus flips the values of the world upside down. People tend to move toward people who have money, status and power and conventional beauty and those can advantage us in some way. Jesus calls us to serve the people right around us, whether or not they have money, status, power or conventional beauty, whether or not they can advantage us.
He calls us to love people by serving others, particularly those who can’t repay us. Jesus washed the feet of Judas, a man he knew would betray him, in fact…. of all his students—each of whom would desert.
In our world we tend to “love” those who can advantage us in some way.
We tend to “love” people we are attracted to. We may be attracted to a person’s appearance. Or their intelligence. Or their lifestyle. Or their social network.
But when we love that people we are naturally attracted to, we at least in part are going to them to get our needs met.
When we “love” those we are naturally deep drawn to, our own needs our met.
What we often describe as loving another person, but often we are loving ourselves—getting our needs met through that person.
Dr. Peter Ritter is a psychiatrist who has written on the subject on the “them” ethics for doctors and people in the helping professions. He sometimes comes across psychiatrist colleagues who are sleeping with their clients (most aren’t). When Peter challenges them by saying that’s an abuse of power and illegal and unethical and deeply damaging to them and you, the psychiatrists will respond by saying, “I am such a loving guy (it’s almost always a man), that I need to serve these women with low self esteem by loving in a physical way.” When Peter probes a little further, the psychiatrists divulge that all the women they sleep with are young and attractive. Then Peter says, “ If you’re having sex with your clients to boost their self-image why don’t you sleep with clients who are old and/or ugly? They need self-esteem boost most.” They’ll say, “ That’s disgusting. I have standards.” Peter will say, “You’re not sleeping with your clients for them, you’re doing for you to get your needs met. So, don’t call that love.”
That’s an extreme example. But isn’t it true that in the world…we tend to “love” people we are attracted to. It may be not be in a physical, sexual way. We may be attracted to their mind, their money, their lifestyle… their connection, and so we what call love is often a case of getting our needs met—the focus is us, not them.
Jesus here redefines love as not getting our needs met through another, but by serving others—in the most humble way---even those who can’t advantage us.
Jesus said, “Now that you know these things blessed are you if you DO them.” Love is not just an attitude, but it is something we do. It’s like love—love is not simply a feeling, it’s something we do.
A pastor in the San Francisco Bay area I have taught with named John has a friend, who according to him, would not do well in a contest for high piety. He has deep wounds that still affect him in many ways. He had virtually no father growing up. His mom was a difficult person. She married five different men, none of them lasting long. She had little time for his friend and failed to give him encouragement. He’s a man now, and several years ago his mother developed a degenerative muscular disease and gradually lost almost every physical capacity. None of her children would have anything to do with her, and not one of the men to whom she’d been married even acknowledged what she was going through.
This man, however, decided to serve her. He took her into his home and cared for her, feeding her by hand, combing her hair, and cleaning up after her messes. When John was in his home, about all she could do was cry and moan incessantly. He wondered, “How can he stand this. I thought, I’ve been given blessings – the church, Scripture, family – exponentially greater than this guy, and I don’t know if I could love like this.”

When she died, 16 people came to her funeral. Not even all her kids came. But this man was there, and on a little toy tape recorder he played a tape of his mom singing a Christmas carol. He talked about how she loved Christmas and how when he was a kid he used to play
the guitar and she would sing with him.

He didn’t love her perfectly… But he loved her when loving was hardest.
He loved her when no one else would love, and he remembered her with kind words.
That’s what it looks like to serve like Jesus.

Jesus serves like that… when we were hardest to love, when we offered him no advantage. The Bible says. “God in Christ demonstrated his love for us in this world, while we were still sinners, enemies of God. He laid down his life for us in Christ.”
You see loving and serving in Jesus’ way isn’t about “loving” so it can advantage us some way. It is about loving those when it is hard to do--through action…
Let Christ sanctify and serve you… so we can love as Jesus loves.
Open up some space… is there anyone you know of that you need to serve?

Essential Spirituality

2011-04-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

Series: Loving God by Following the Way of Jesus
The Way of Jesus: M9 (11 04 03)
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Essential Spirituality
Text: Matthew 23:4; 23-28
BIG IDEA: An essential spirituality will involve justice, inner purity, and playfulness.
(Easter story: radio, dinner and the vision)
Joey, our two-year-old son, my wife and I had an interview for a preschool we were hoping that he would be admitted to. When we walked into the preschool, the teacher who was interviewing us pointed to a miniature plastic tea set on a tray. She said in our preschool we teach children good manners like how it's polite to pour tea for others before pouring your own tea. Sakiko and I are nodding our head and I’m saying “Yes, yes, good manners to us Japanese are really important—shared values.” At this point our two-year-old son Joey grabs the plastic tea set and throws it really high into the air and starts laughing his head off. He then runs full speed over to the sliding door on the other side of the classroom--loses one of his shoes on the way and starts to open and slam shut the sliding door over and over--laughing his head off. I was sorely tempted to say, "He's not normally like this," but I knew that would be a bold-face lie.
When Sakiko and I were driving home we said, “The interview didn’t go very well.” I said, "On our application, you should list that you were trained in traditional Japanese tea ceremony. That might give us a chance of getting admitted.” Sakiko said, "I am not going to put that on our application – I've forgotten everything that I learned." I said, "I have a BA. I've forgotten most of what I learned during undergrad. But I have no problem putting on my resume have a BA or a Masters degree.” We got into an argument. She said, "What if they ask me to teach the kids Japanese tea ceremony?" I said, “Well just close your eyes and say I don’t remember everything, but as far as you know this how to do it… then bow and start pouring really slowly…. (no one will know).
The fact that we were willing to have a fight this over this shows that it was important for me that Joey get admitted to preschool – we only applied to one school. Our fight also showed that it was important for Sakiko to act with what she considered complete integrity and to not be put in a position where she was going to be asked to do something that she couldn't deliver on. (BTW, we didn’t put that on the application. Amazingly, he was admitted. They figured we need to teach the boy some manners.).
When you see someone in an argument or fight, you get a window into something that is really important to that person. What are you willing to fight for? Whatever that something is, is something really important to you.
In our Gospel text today we see Jesus in a fight with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (the equivalent of lawyers of his day). You might think, "Why would you preach on a text where Jesus is in a fight?" Because as we see Jesus in a fight, we see what's really important to him. Because Jesus is God in human flesh, as we see what's important to Jesus, we see what's important to God.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Matthew, Chapter 23.
In Matthew 23 we see that Jesus rebukes the teachers of the law, the scribes, and the Pharisees, or the lawyers of Jesus’ day, who had multiplied the Law of Moses into hundreds of rules and regulations. Their traditions went well beyond what Moses actually taught so that the life of the Israelite person was burdened.
If you have your Bible, please turn to Matthew 23:4.
4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
In this passage Jesus is attacking the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, not only because they do not practice what they preach, but because they unnecessarily place heavy loads on people’s shoulders.
In Matthew 23 Jesus says over and over, “Woe to you!” Today we don't really use the term, “woe” in our language. What does it mean? When he's using it in this context against the Pharisees, he is stating that what the teachers of the law and the Pharisees are doing is appalling. If you think I'm overstating this, Jesus calls the teachers of the law and the Pharisees “snakes” and a “brood of vipers.” (Sounds like the cultural equivalent of swearing and telling them off.)
In Jesus’ fight with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, we not only see what he finds deplorable, but we also see what is deeply important to him.
In his fight, we see how important justice and inner purity are to Jesus.
Please turn to Matthew 23: 23.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

In this message we’re going to look at how important justice and inner purity are to Jesus and therefore how important justice and inner purity are for anyone who wants to develop a relationship with Jesus.
In vs. 23 we hear Jesus say:
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24
In Leviticus 27 and Deuteronomy 14 we read that God commanded tithes (tithe simply means a tenth) of herd and flocks, corn, wine, and oil. Some people in Jesus’ day, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, wanted to do more than what God had commanded to show how serious they were. Moses’ law did not specifically command the tithing of green herbs like mint and dill, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were commanding people to tithe on these things, as well. So the teachers of the law and the Pharisees were pressing people to do what the law did not even require. But Jesus says, “But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”
Jesus is saying here that tithing (giving a tenth to God) is a good practice. Don’t neglect it, but don’t let tithing or giving become a way to practice spiritual one-upmanship. It is important, but don’t let that become the centre of your spirituality. Focus on the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness…
Justice (Slide)
The best commentary on Jesus’ words may be Micah 6:8.which of course, these were spoken about seven hundred of years before:
8 He has shown all you people what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy And to walk humbly with your God.
Then Jesus says, You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were so fastidious that they wanted to avoid impurity caused by a dead insect in their drink. And again though this was not commanded in Scripture, the Pharisees would strain out a tiny insect before it died in order to maintain the purity of their water. Jesus said, “You will strain out the smallest insect, but you will swallow a camel. You focus on the tiniest detail, but you have missed the big point of God’s law.”
That is vs. 23, “justice, mercy, faithfulness.”
In Jesus’ fight with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, we see that justice and mercy are profoundly important to Jesus. Therefore, justice and mercy will be profoundly important to anyone who wants to develop a relationship with Jesus.
Now justice and mercy are words that are somewhat abstract. Why are they so important to Jesus? Why they so important to God?
Well, perhaps a couple of simple, homey examples may help.
When I was 12 or 13, I was very close to one of my younger sisters, but we also had an adversarial relationship. When I was 5 and she was 3 we were in my grandmother's back yard. I persuaded her to get into a box that I had placed by edge of my grandmother’s fish pond. I told her it was a boat. I pushed the box into the pond. The pond was very shallow. Maybe that had something to do with our adversarial relationship.
When I was about 12 and my younger sister was about 10, we got into this fight. I can’t remember what we were fighting about, but I felt that she had wronged me in some way. I announced to her that I was going to pay her back by messing up her room. I ran from the living room to her bedroom and messed her room up. When I came back to the living room, I remember seeing my mother crying in the living room. She was really upset by what I had done to my sister and by our fighting in general.
God is the Father of all, and when we hurt another human being, whether we are related to that human being or not, it brings pain to God’s heart because God loves that person. That person was created by God and is a child of God. On the other hand, when we serve another human being, it brings joy to his heart.
Someone who was working at Stanford University hospital described how a little girl named Liz was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother who had amazingly survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the question, “Are you willing to give your blood to your sister?” The boy hesitated for a moment, before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes--if it will save Liz.” As the transfusion progressed, he lay in the bed next to his sister and weakly smiled, as we all did seeing the colour return to her cheeks. His face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked in a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away?” Being just 5 years old, the boy thought he was going to give his all of his blood and then die. I wasn’t at the Stanford Hospital when this happened, but I imagine that the boy’s parents and other relatives who understood what was going on would have been deeply moved and blessed by this young boy’s willingness to not only give his blood, but in his own mind give his life to save his sister.
So it is when we are willing to make a sacrifice for one of God’s children in need--it brings joy to his heart. Even if that person is not a brother or a sister to us, that person was created by God, is a child of God and is loved by God. It brings joy to his heart when we bless one of his children. I don’t say this to try to stir you up, but when we give to people who have been affected by some great tragedy, when we sponsor a child in the developing world (as many of you did last Sunday—when I asked Jay Calder from World Vision how he felt Sunday at Tenth here in terms of child sponsorship response here. Over and over again he said, "It was off the charts. It was off the charts. Incredible.”), when we stand against the building of a casino in our city because we know it will foster addiction and end up being a tax on the poor (on those who can least afford it), when we advocate on behalf of women and children who are vulnerable to be trafficked into the sex industry, we are blessing God’s children and it brings joy to God’s heart.
In fact, when we share a cup of cold water (use prop) with someone who is truly in need, we are told in Scripture that God regards us as having given that cup of cold water to his unique Son Jesus. In harrowing passage, just two chapters later in the gospel of Matthew, we are told that when we offer a drink to someone who is thirsty, food to someone who is hungry, clothing to someone who is naked, when we serve someone who is considered the least, we really doing this for Jesus. And if we fail to do this, it's as if we haven't done this for Jesus.
There is part of Gospel of Jesus Christ that we might call “liberal” (and later we’ll see there’s a part of the Gospel that we might call “conservative.”) Social justice is a key part of Jesus’ Gospel. How we treat each other, particularly people in need, really matters. I know this can sound abstract, so let me illustrate with a couple of simple examples.
Someone who works closely with City Hall recently told me that it's not just Christians who were involved in serving the homeless in Vancouver – there are people from other faith communities that are involved in serving, and some not of the faith community at all – but then he added, “I know it is politically incorrect to say this, but the overwhelming number of people who are involved in serving the homeless in Vancouver are Christians.” That surprised me because there are relatively few Christians percentage-wise in Vancouver. But then it shouldn't have surprised me because the followers of Jesus believe that when they serve the poor, there also serving Jesus.
It should come as no surprise that the followers of Jesus have led the way in starting orphanages, schools for impoverished children, hospitals and hospices. It should come as no su surprise that the person who led the way in Canada so that people whether they are rich or poor would have access to medical care through Medicaid was a follower of Jesus Christ, a former pastor named Tommy Douglas.
Tommy Douglas

it should come as no surprise that the person who emerged as the primary leader of the civil rights movement in the United States the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (show photo).

Because followers of Christ know that when they are serving the poor and those who have been the victims of racism and other forms of injustice, they know that they are not only serving God's children but Jesus himself.
We see in Jesus is fight with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees that justice and mercy are deeply important to him and therefore will be important to those who develop a relationship with Jesus.
There's a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is deeply concerned with social justice, there's a part of the gospel lines up with what we might call "liberal,” but there's also a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is associated with what we might call a “conservative.”
Jesus is deeply concerned about social justice (something we might associate as a liberal value), but he's also concerned about inner purity (something we might associate as conservative value).
In his fight with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, Jesus says in Matthew 23:25-28.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness
The Pharisees were concerned with outward purity so they washed their cups and vessels, as well as themselves in rituals baths. The Pharisaic School of Shammai (the majority school in this period) said the outside of the cup could be clean even if the inside was not. Jesus was concerned Inner purity…. Jesus also wants the inside of our cup to be clean--(use prop's).
Inner purity mattered to Jesus.
Inner Purity (Slide)
When the Canadian priest Ron Rolheiser in his reflections on spirituality, which have shaped my own life and this sermon, was a graduate student at San Francisco, he helped pay for his studies by serving as the chaplain at a hostel in an economically depressed section of San Francisco. While working there, he became friends with a guy named David, a young social worker in the area. David was Roman Catholic, but he attended church only occasionally, had no prayer life, and no longer even tried to live out the Scripture’s teaching regarding sex. He was, however, deeply committed to the Scripture’s teaching on social justice and was sacrificially generous towards the poor.
One day David asked Ron Rolheiser, “Do you really think God gives a damn whether you say your morning and evening prayers, whether you hold a grudge against someone who hurts you, whether you masturbate, or not, or whether you share your bed with someone you are not married to? Do you really believe God cares about these petty little things? As Christians we are always so hung up on these little private things that we neglect the big picture—the fact that half the world goes to bed hungry every night and no one gives a damn. Justice, not our petty little prayer lives, is what is important.”
Justice is important, as David rightly points out, but so is our inner life, our inner purity, our life with God, our integrity before God. Jesus makes it clear in the Sermon on the Mount that it is not just our outward actions that matter, but the state of our heart. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, quotes the Ten Commandments, saying “You have heard, it was said, ‘You shall not be murder,’ but I tell you if anyone is angry with his brother without cause he will be subject to the judgment of God. (The Greek word that is used suggests that Jesus is talking about an anger that we choose to hold on to and nurse.) I tell you, Jesus says, ‘Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery’ with her in his heart.” In the Greek the word “lust” isn’t the word for healthy attraction, but it suggests we are staring at someone to arouse our sexual desires such that we would take them if we could.
So, according to Jesus, it is not just our outward actions that matter, but it is also our inner purity, and in particular the motives of our heart.
In vs. 27 Jesus says, “You look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”
Seven times in his fight he calls the teachers of the law and the Pharisees hypocrites.

The 19th century British pastor Charles Spurgeon tells this story:
Once upon a time there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot. So he took it to his king and said, "My Lord, this is the greatest carrot I've ever grown or ever will grow. Therefore I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you." The king was touched and discerned the man's heart, so as the gardener turned to go the king said, "Wait! You are clearly a good steward of the earth. I own a plot of land right next to yours. I want to give it to you freely as a gift so you can garden it all." And the gardener was amazed and delighted and went home rejoicing. But there was a nobleman at the king's court who overheard all this. And he said, "My! If that is what you get for a carrot—what if you gave the king something better?" So the next day the nobleman came before the king and he was leading a handsome black stallion. He bowed low and said, "My lord, I breed horses and this is the greatest horse I have ever bred or ever will. Therefore I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you." But the king discerned his heart and said thank you, and took the horse and merely dismissed him. The nobleman was perplexed. So the king said, "Let me explain. That gardener was giving me the carrot, but you were giving yourself the horse."
To Jesus, justice matters, but so does inner purity—doing the right thing for the right reason. And if we want to develop a relationship with Jesus, justice and inner purity will matter to us.
If we are focused on social justice and inner purity, as important as these are, one of the risks is that we can become overly intense and serious. Gustavo Gutierrez, the father of liberation theology, suggests if we have a healthy spirituality we will feed our souls in three ways: practicing justice, through prayer, and by having those things in our lives: good friendships, good food and wine, and healthy leisure that keep our soul mellow and grateful.
A call to focus on social justice and inner purity can sound overwhelming! It’s not meant to be a heavy burden. As we saw in Jesus opening words to the Pharisees – Jesus is against putting a heavy burden on us. Because God who brings justice through us and makes us pure—we can rest and play.
(Raise the glass prop)
Joyful Play (Slide)
We know that joyful play was part of Jesus’ life. As we saw last Sunday, Jesus took time to enjoy the company of children and presumably play with them.

Last week I saw the movie Of Gods and Men, (Show the poster.)

Of Gods and Men is a slow moving, but beautiful film about eight French Trappist monks who are caught in the cross fire of the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. It is based on a true story. The monks for years have run a medical clinic in a mountain village in Algeria, and the local Muslim villagers have come to rely on them and love them—like the Jesus they follow the are committed to social justice and mercy (use cup). But Islamic extremists begin to terrorize their village, murdering a group of Croatian immigrant laborers and others. The monks debate with each other and in their souls about whether they should remain at the monastery, risking their lives, or whether they should leave. They pray, they share their doubts, they sing, they agonize – they want to live, but they will also want to do the right thing for the right reason before God—like the Jesus they follow they are committed to inner purity (use cup).
At one point when they realize that their lives are in danger, they have a meal together. One of the brothers brings out two bottles of wine and instead of the customary reading of the Bible, the monk plays Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. (use cup). (Play a brief clip of Swan Lake)

These brothers are deeply committed to social justice and inner purity before God, and yet even in an intense time where their lives are at risk they take an evening to enjoy wine and beautiful music. It is an incredible scene—this scene alone is worth seeing the movie for.
Now a little closer to home. Francis Chan, a pastor in California, describes how every time he has money in the bank, he wants to give it away to people who are in greater need than he is. He was driving in his car and he was praying, really expressing the tension he was feeling in his heart, saying, “God, I want to give my money to people who are in more need than me, but I also want to take my family on vacation.” He was wrestling with it and the very next day he received a cashier’s cheque in the mail—no name on it—for $2000 and on the cheque there was a sticky note that simply said, “Use this for your family.” So he took them on vacation because he would have felt guilty about not using it for his family. That was the wish from whoever gave him the cheque.
God seemed to be saying to Francis I love the poor, but I also want you to play with your family, to enjoy them, as I enjoy you. Play, for some people can become the dominant part of our lives, an idol, but in our spiritual life I believe that Ron Rolheiser is right when he says that three essentials for healthy life with Jesus are commitment to social justice, inner purity, and to cultivating a joyful heart through play and healthy leisure.
But how do we become people who are committed to social justice, experience inner purity, and have a joyful, playful spirit?
Sounds pretty much impossible – the only person who really truly ever completely lived this out was Jesus Christ, and he was the unqiue Son of God!
As some people have observed, people who are liberal tend to not be pious. People who are pious or holy tend not to be liberal. It is rare when a person both committed to liberal and holy. In the rare cases where a person is liberal, i.e. committed to justice and holy, they tend to be serious and not playful. So how can we become liberal – committed to social justice, holy or inwardly pure, and playful, as well? As we've seen in the sermon by Lee and Dan on the Good Samaritan, as we saw last Sunday in a message on what it means to be a child before Jesus, we can become people who are committed to social justice, inner purity, and people who maintain a joyful and playful as we join our life to Jesus Christ's.
In second Corinthians 5:21 Paul writes:
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
I know the word righteousness has negative connotations in our society. It can imply self-righteousness. But righteousness in the Scriptures simply means to be in right relationship with God and in a right relationship with one another.
Because God became a human being in Jesus Christ, and suffered for our sins on the cross, we too can become people who are free from sin and live in a way that's right with God and each other.
Because God became like us, we too can become like him. Because God became a Son of Man, we can become a son of God, a daughter of God. Because God became a human being we can become the hands, feet, and the heart of Jesus Christ—we can become the body of Christ on earth.
We can live with inner purity before God, we can live out social justice, and we can have a joyful, humble heart before God.
In Jesus’ fight with the Pharisees, we see what is essential to him, to God.
As I said, summarized perhaps best by the prophet Micah in Chapter 6:8:
8 He has shown all you people what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy And to walk humbly with your God.
Walk with Jesus and become this, become like him.

Like a Child(27March2011)

2011-03-25T18:30:00.000-07:00

Series: Loving God by Following the Way of Jesus
The Way of Jesus M8 (11 03 27)
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Like a Child
Text: Mark 10:13-16
BIG IDEA: Jesus calls us to bless children and those who cannot repay us.
As a 10 year old—even though I was underage—I talked my way into getting a paper route with the Vancouver Sun… I was told by the paper shack manager I was too young… I responded by saying, “Sir, I’ve wanted to be a paper boy ever since I was five years old… how many of your other carriers can claim, they’ve been wanting to do their job for half of their life? I may be small, but come rain, snow, sleet or hail… I shall deliver…”
At least that’s what I remember… probably what I really said… “Come on… please give me the job!” I don’t remember how many papers I had on my route. I do remember in the front of my BMX, I had an ET style paper rack bolted to front my handle bars, filled with so many papers my bike ended up steering itself. Sometimes, I also had two paper bags one slung over each shoulder—like a Mexican gun fighter with really big guns and sometimes I wore one Sherpa style on my back with a strap over my forehead.
I know we don’t get many white Christmases here, but one year here in the Lower Mainland there was a big snow fall… too much snow for me to ride my bike… even too much snow for someone to drive a car… I remember looking out the window and dreading the fact that I would have to walk my entire route dragging my load behind me…
My mom tried to cheer me up by saying… “I can see how anxious you are, don’t worry… In the garage, there’s a sled… and I’ll help you pull…” At the age of 10 I didn’t know who God was, but looking there in snow, I had chance to see “God with some skin… wearing with mittens.”
This morning we're going to see a text which shows us how much God loves children. We see his love for children in the face of Jesus Christ who the Scriptures affirm is God with some skin – God in human flesh. As Dale Bruner has said all that God wants to show us about himself – he shows us in his Son Jesus Christ.

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Mark 10, verse 13:
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
We read in the text how people were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them and bless them, but Jesus’ disciples rebuked them. At this time Jesus’ students are hoping that Jesus will set up a kind of political kingdom where he will free the Jews from under the oppressive fist of Rome. So Jesus’ students naturally feel that Jesus should not be wasting his time with little children who do not wield political power, who can do nothing to advance their campaign, so they begin to hover around Jesus like over-scrupulous secret service agents with sun glasses and earphones and shoo away parents who want to bring their children to Jesus and have him bless them.
But Jesus is irate and he says, “Let the children come to me. Anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter in.” Then we read that he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them, and blessed them.
In Jesus’ day children were socially powerless. In his day, because many people were impoverished and living day to day, children would often die before reaching adolescence. In the poorest places like Egypt, scholars estimate that perhaps one-half of those born died by the age of twelve. Though this was not true of the Jews, poor families of some other cultures in the Roman world had a practice of discarding their babies if they thought they would be unable to support them. So many people in Jesus day didn’t feel children were necessarily a good long term investment.
Jesus again flips the values of the world upside down. He treats people--who are considered unimportant by the world--as precious.
Though there are many differences between Jesus’ first century world and our own, and there are many things that are still the same. In Jesus’ world, as in ours, people valued those with money, power, and beauty. That is certainly true of our world. Before becoming a parent, I travelled more often and most years I would achieve some kind of special elite status with Air Canada. I (unlike now) was regularly upgraded to executive class. When I discovered that I was going to get a free upgrade to executive class, I would feel happy. I thought if I fly today, the flight attendants will be nice to me. They will be attentive. I am not going to get treated like I am a nuisance (unless, of course, I act like one). I have never bought an executive class ticket. I can’t see myself ever buying one of those. They are so expensive. But when I have flown executive class, flight attendants assumed I must have money or be someone special. I got treated that way.
Jesus flips this value upside down. He treats people without money, without power, without prestige like they are passengers in first class. As we follow him, we are called to do the same. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be a counter-cultural community. One of the ways we do that is by treating children, our elders (who in our time—unlike the ancient world—often feel invisible as they age), people of minority groups who have been discriminated against in our society (like the First nations people who have likely experienced more injustice than any other group in Canada)… like they are first class passengers…like they are really precious to God…because they are. It is very subtle and often unconscious, but we human beings, like those first disciples of Jesus, are drawn to treat people with money, power, beauty, status more favourably because we think they can advance us in some way.
Some days I do a morning workout at one of the near-by gyms. There is a young woman at one of the gyms I work out at who is very athletic. She’s attractive. And I notice that the guys in the gym are eager to talk to her, eager to spot her when she is lifting weights. The other day she did a countless number of reverse pull-ups. I was impressed (for the 3rd service. As I was working out with Antonio one time, I was getting prepared for a chin-up in my workout. I was able to do 26 in his presence motivated by the fear of not wanting to be humiliated in the presence of our boot camp instructor.) But she did a countless number that morning. I was curious and wanted to walk up to her and ask, “How many pull-ups have done thus far?” If you are attractive and athletic, you are just going to get more attention in the gym and in other social contexts.
What if we followed Jesus and adopted his upside values and treated people like they were precious, like they were first class passengers, like they were beautiful, as all people are in God’s sight, regardless of whether they had money, power, status or beauty as defined by the advertising industry? If we followed Jesus and really loved kids and our elders, those who are poor, and those who aren’t conventionally a beauty as defined by the advertising industry, those who cannot advance us in a worldly way our community would have a unique air in Vancouver. We would be different.
Here in the passage, we see that Jesus welcomed the children. He took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Here we see Jesus offering children, these powerless little people his time, his touch, his voice, his prayers.
Some of you may know Max and Esther Depree. They have a granddaughter named Zoe, the Greek word for life. Max said, “She was born prematurely and weighed one pound, seven ounces, so small that my wedding ring could slide up her arm to her shoulder. The doctor who first examined her told us that she had a 5 to 10 percent chance of living three days.” When Max and Esther scrubbed up for their first visit and saw Zoe lying in her clear plastic incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit, she had two IVs in her navel, one in her foot, a monitor on each side of her chest, and a respirator tube and a feeding tube in her mouth.
Max continues, “To complicate matters, Zoe's biological father had jumped ship the month before Zoe was born. Realizing this, a wise and caring nurse named Ruth gave me my instructions.”
"For the next several months, at least, you're the surrogate father. I want you to come to the hospital every day to visit Zoe, and when you come, I want you to rub her body and her legs and arms with the tip of your finger. While you're caressing her, you should tell her over and over how much you love her, because she has to be able to connect your voice to your touch."
(Zoe miraculously survived and thrived.)
Children, our elders, and the forgotten people of the world need God’s voice and touch and so he gave us not only Jesus Christ, but wants to bring his voice and touch through us. Saint Teresa of Avila has said, “Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.”
(BTW, we never quite out grow our need for God’s voice and touch. Henri Nouwen perceptively observes: Success, popularity, and power are great temptations, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. We pursue success, popularity, power—but what we really want is the love and respect that come from these.)
But our text today is primarily about loving children and the young—and by offer children our time, touch (I know this is a sensitive word—but I obviously mean appropriate and not boundary violating touch), our voice and prayers.
A survey taken recently here in Canada shows that for young people today, family and friends, people in their faith community have greater impact as role models than celebrities: Taylor Lautner (in the Twilight Movies) or Miley Cyrus, or Justin Bieber.

A poll taken this year asked teenagers in US identify the person they admired most as a role model, other than their parents. More than two out of three of the teenagers said that their role models are the people they know best: a relative, a teacher, a coach, someone in their faith community, friends. (The survey also demonstrated that for most teenagers their primary role model was not a celebrity, a singer, an actor, an athlete, a politician.)
And like Jesus as we welcome children and offer them our time, touch, voice and prayers we never know the impact that we will make. Usually in the short-term we have no idea.
Forty years ago a Philadelphia congregation watched as three 9-year-old boys were baptized and joined the church. Not long after, unable to continue with its dwindling membership, the church sold the building and disbanded.
One of those boys was Dr. Tony Campolo, author and Christian sociologist at Eastern College, Pennsylvania. Several years ago he preached here at Tenth.
Tony Campolo remembers:
“Years later when I was doing research in the archives of our denominations, I decided to look up the church report for the year of my baptism. There was my name, and Dick White's. Dick now a missionary. Bert Newman, now a professor of theology at an African seminary, was also there. Then I read the church report for 'my' year: "It has not been a good year for our church. We have lost 27 members. Three joined, and they were only children."
We simply don’t know the impact we can have when we offer a child or a young person the gifts of our time, touch, voice, and prayers.
In this our passage we’re looking at today we see that ministry to children is very close to Jesus’ heart and therefore very close to God’s heart. If you are a parent one of your most important ministries is your family.
Mother Teresa was once approached by a woman named Colleen Evans. Colleen had just heard about Mother Teresa’s work among the poor in Calcutta, India. Colleen was inspired. She wanted to do something significant for the kingdom of God. She approached Mother Teresa and asked, “Mother, you are doing something great for God. I want to do something great for God. Can you give me some word of counsel?” Mother Teresa looked at her and said, “Are you married?” Colleen said, “Yes.” She said, “If you want to something great, go home and love your husband. Do you have children?” “Yes.” “Go home and love your children.”
Many women and men, of course, will have a vocation that is broader than simply the immediate family. We can be called to another occupation, perhaps a ministry beyond our family. But if we are parents, one of the greatest ministries we will ever have, and likely one of the least glamorous, is to serve as a pastor to our own children—to offer them our time, touch, voice, and prayers. Whether we do or do not have children of our own, we can love children.
As a number of people have observed, it’s often someone other than a parent who has the greatest spiritual impact on a young person life because the parent-child relationship can become so complicated. So, if don’t have children don’t think you can’t have an impact on a child. Your very presence in someone’s life can make an impact—even when they seem not that interested.
When I was single, I used to spend time with a few kids. One of the kids was about 10 years old. One afternoon when I was at his house, I saw that he had a football in the garage and picked it up. “Do you like football?” I asked. “I really don’t know how to play football,” Ethan replied. (One of the reasons, he may not have known how to play football was that his dad died when he was a younger boy.) It had been a long time since I had played football, but I grabbed the ball and showed Ethan how to how to spread his fingers across the laces, cock the ball behind his ear, and release it and snap his wrist counter clockwise. We spent part of the afternoon throwing the football back and forth. He didn’t seem that interested, but it was a way to pass the time. A few weeks later, his mom told me that he keeps telling her, “Mom, this is how you throw a ball.” He took the ball with him wherever he went--including tagging along with his mother on a grocery store errand.
Sometimes, kids may not seem that interested when we’re them. Sometimes they may seem a little bored, but the impact can be greater than we are aware at the time.
Why do we have all kinds of ministries to children? It’s because children are precious to Jesus and the kingdom of God belongs to people with childlike qualities:
We are starting a new ministry called LiveWire (show poster) in May, and we are hoping that many kids in Grades 6 and 7 will come to the church after school, 3 days a week, to hang out.
Alvin Ram (show photo) will serve as the ministry leader. Alvin is from Vancouver, and has been involved in youth ministry at his church in Victoria (where he has been living while completing his BA at UVic) and through the Youth Custody system where he has been helping troubled youth make life and faith choices. He loves to use basketball as a way to reach out to youth. Our hope and prayer is that through sports, art, cooking, and other fun activities, Alvin and his team will build mentoring relationships with kids from grade 6 and 7 in our neighbourhood.
We want to impact these kids before they reach high school, to help them envision their future as a good place where they can make a positive difference in the world. We will encourage them to become part of the Tenth community, and respond to God’s love for them and his good plan for their lives. If you are interested in getting involved, offering some your time, touch, voice and prayers please contact our children’s ministry pastor Catherine at Catherine@tenth.ca
Another way that we can touch a child’s life is through sponsorship.
Moses Pulei Massai is a man I know from Kenya. Moses grew up a Massai in a home made of cow dung and sticks, and as an adolescent had to kill a lion with his hands as part of his ritual toward manhood. He started school late because his dad doubted it was possible to hold a spear and knife in one hand and books in the other. But his mom really wanted him to get an education, so about age 9 with the sponsorship of World Vision he was able to attend school and also had access to medicine that his family otherwise could not afford when he was sick. During his final year in high school, Moses became a follower of Jesus at a World Vision sponsored youth camp in my senior year of high school. He was eventually able to come to North America and got a PhD in theology. He now teaches theology in both North America and Africa.
Later on in this service you are going to have an opportunity to hear about an opportunity to sponsor World Vision children—many of you are already sponsoring a child through World Vision, or Compassion, or through International China Concern, or through some other ministry organization. If you are not in the practice of sponsoring a child, and you would like to, there is no pressure, this is simply an opportunity to serve a child.
Before that, how do we become people who welcome children, who welcome people who do not have power, status or beauty in the worldly sense (who have an open heart toward our elders)? How do we follow Jesus and become counter-cultural? How do we become his hands, his feet, his eyes, his heart in our world?
In our passage, Jesus says that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Jesus looked at the children, welcomed them, and said, “The kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Jesus doesn’t say the Kingdom of God belongs to these children, but to such as these. Jesus is saying that in order to receive the gift of God’s kingdom and of God’s life, we must become like children.
Jesus says, Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Unless we become as a little child, we will never enter the kingdom of God.
This is, of course, a metaphor. Jesus here is not romantizing children. Jesus had many younger siblings, so he knew first hand that children can be irritating. They can be annoying. They can be selfish. He is not idealizing children. He not saying “become childish.” He is saying become childlike.
In what ways?
A young child is completely dependent on a parent or a caregiver for their existence. Our 2 1/2 year old son Joey is completely dependent on us as parents. His favorite expression “Mommies—apple juice… Mommy… hungry.”
Joey cannot make macaroni and cheese for himself or even cut an apple for himself. He is dependent on us – and especially on his mommy.
Young children can't negotiate (slightly older children can be very persuasive negotiators).
In the same way, if we are to receive the kingdom of God, if we are to experience life with God, then we need to be utterly dependent on him. Like a young child we can’t negotiate. We can’t say “I have accomplished this and that, therefore you must accept me.” Like a child we come to God utterly dependent, acknowledging there is nothing we can do to scrub away our sins. We acknowledge that we are completely relying on Christ’s sacrificial death for us on the cross for our sins in order to be forgiven. We are wholly relying on the Holy Spirit’s presence in our life to guide us into the way of God.
In order to receive the kingdom we must become childlike in our dependence on God.
There is also another quality of childlikeness that comes to mind. Again, one of the things that I am observing about our 2 ½ year old son Joey is that he lives with an air of confidence that he will be loved by everyone. When he talks, even though most of his talk is gibberish, he expects people to listen and find him interesting. There is a part of me that is fully aware that he will be rudely awakened by the reality of the world at some point. He will be rejected. He will be hurt by someone. But as a little child he expects that people will love him.
And that is the way we are to relate to God—utterly dependent, but also confident of his love for us. As we grasp how deep his love for us is, we will become people who are able to love children, our elders, people without money power status, or worldly beauty.
As I have shared with some of you before, when I was a teenager in high school, I was incredibly insecure. I know most teenagers are insecure, but I was far more insecure than most. I made it my goal to become part of the popular crowd, to become part of the “in” crowd, to be part of the bad boy athlete crowd. I worked really hard and I made it in…just barely, but I did make it in.
One of the things that irked me most was when some kid, some nerd, some loser would try to sit in proximity to our group. I made a point of trying to shoo them away or saying to my friends “we just can’t let people like that sit close to us or our image is going to tank. What will people think?”
Then I met Jesus Christ and my life began to change. One of the kids in my high school who was considered uncool, a nerd, someone who we actually shooed away from the part of the hallway that we “owned,” gave his life to Christ and started coming to my church and our youth group. I started having lunch with him in the school cafeteria. A couple of people started coming up to me and to my sister, too, who started going to the school, would whisper, “Why is it that you are not hanging out with the cool crowd anymore and you are hanging out with this guy?” I thought, “Here is a great irony. I was part of this really popular group and feeling so insecure, but because now that I have this deep sense that God loves me, for the first time in a very, very long time, I am feeling secure and good about myself.” So I had the freedom to connect with this person who is not doing anything for my social image, but I want to connect with because he is my brother in Christ.
It is as we meet Jesus Christ, as our hearts are filled with a sense of his love for us, as we come to Jesus like a little child, and let him bless us, then we can turn and offer our time, our touch, voice and prayers and our blessing to children, to elders, and people who are on the margins of our life. We can give kids and others our time, touch, voice and prayers to people who can do nothing to advance us – because in Christ we have already been advanced – in Christ we've already been offered everything that matters.
(Jay Calder and World Vision Video)

Living for Christ When Dying Is Gain(13Mar2011)

2011-03-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

Series: Loving God by Following the Way of Jesus
The Way of Jesus M6 (11 03 13)
Speaker : Ken Shigematsu
Title: Living for Christ When Dying Is Gain
Text: Luke 9:18-27
BIG IDEA: In Christ we have something to die for and something to live for
When I was at a new follower of Jesus Christ at age about 15 or 16 years old and living in North Surrey, I remember watching a film at our church based on a true story called The Cross and the Switchblade. I remember how a young pastor named David Wilkerson from the countryside had read an article in LIFE Magazine about how a teenage gang in New York City had brutally murdered an innocent adolescent. Though he didn't want to go, David sensed God was calling him to work with those troubled teens in New York City and share the love of Christ with them. I don't remember all the details of the movie, but I recall how in one scene David was interacting with a group of gang members and one of them sneered at him and said something like, "You got shoes. I don’t got no shoes.” David then took off his own shoes and gave them to this teenager. David was eventually accepted by gang members in New York City and began a ministry called Teen Challenge.
At the end of the movie, I heard that there was a branch of David's ministry Teen Challenge on Granville Street downtown not far from the Vogue Theatre. On Friday evenings I began volunteering for Teen Challenge. I remember one of the first conversations I had on the streets downtown. It was dark and I was with a man who had long black hair, tattoos on his arms. While I don't remember all the details of the conversation I do remember this vividly. Several times in our conversation he kept asking me, "Have you ever seen someone killed?” “No--I can't say I have.” "I have. I’ve killed someone." My heart began to beat faster, and I tried to appear as calm as possible, but I was intimidated, I was scared. I know this sounds irrational, but I wondered, "Is my life going to end tonight?” While volunteering for Teen Challenge, I got to know people that I would have never become acquainted with otherwise. From time to time, I had the opportunity to talk about the difference that Christ had made in my life or to help refer a young person struggling with drugs or to teen challenges halfway home in Richmond.
Through trial and lots of error, I was learning to engage people whose backgrounds were different from my own, I was learning to share my faith when the opportunity came up, I was keenly aware of how dependent on God I was, and I felt like I was growing spiritually through this experience. As a student leader in my church's youth group, I started inviting my peers to head downtown to Granville Street near the Vogue Theatre to engage other young people… Sometimes it was scary, but it was also exciting too and our faith was becoming alive to us in new ways. But… some parents expressed concern –to me through their children. I remember peers saying to me, "My parents don't want me going downtown on Friday nights--they think it's too dangerous."
I said to my peers: “It's actually more dangerous for you spiritually to be hanging out in the shopping malls on a Friday night or playing video games at home than it is for you to be engaging other young people with a love of Christ downtown.”
One of the paradoxes of the spiritual life is that sometimes choosing what seems safe is actually dangerous for the soul. And sometimes choosing what seems dangerous is actually safer for our spiritual life.
If we overprotect our children or ourselves, ironically we may be exposing ourselves to real danger.
On the first Sunday in January I cited a study from the New York University (NYU Child Study Centre) which reported that educators and research scientists have found that financially-privileged adolescents (defined as coming from households with incomes from $75,000 to $160, 000) are showing growing rates of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. In the last thirty years adolescent suicide in this group has doubled. The irony is that parents who are only committed to giving their children privilege and safety may be raising children that will become bored, have a sense of entitlement, and look for adventure in the wrong places.
Jesus, on the other hand, invites us into a place of adventure, risk, and danger, in the best sense. He gives us something worth dying for and therefore worth living for.
We’re in a series in what it means to follow the way of Jesus.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to Luke 9:18-27.
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self? 26 If any of you are ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is praying in private with his disciples. He looks up and asks the question: “Who do the crowds say that I am?” One of his students replied, “Some say John the Baptist. Another said, “Elijah.” Someone else said, “People say you are a prophet from long ago who has come back to life.” And Jesus looked at them and said, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are the Son of the Living God.”
Eight days later (as we saw a few Sundays ago), Jesus was transfigured on the Mount of Tabor. His appearance became as bright as a flash of lightning. Moses (who lived 1400 years before that time), and Elijah (who lived 900 years before that time), miraculously appear. And yet God says of Jesus. “This is my beloved Son. This is the One I have chosen. Listen to him.”
Gifted commentator Dale Bruner says that God is saying to us here and in Jesus’ baptism, “All I want to say, I will say through Jesus, all I want to show you about me I will show you through Jesus. If you want to get to know me, get together with Jesus.”
If Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, the Saviour of the world, as God the Father affirms and as Christ himself claims, then in Christ we have someone to live for and someone to die for. If we have something for which to die, then we have something for which to truly live. Perhaps the reason why so many people feel like they have nothing to live for, perhaps part of the reason that suicide rates are so high among privileged young adults, perhaps part of the reason, not all, but part of the reason why so many people of all ages in North America are depressed (some are depressed for biochemical reasons) is because they have nothing to die for, and therefore have nothing to live for.
Jesus Christ gives us something to live for and something to die for. He says, “ Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
If anyone other than Jesus Christ was saying this, this would sound incredibly arrogant. If I as a Christian minister were to say, "If you want to learn from me, you must daily sit in your electric chair ready to die for me”– you would need to dismiss me as a crazy megalomaniac. If Christ were only a good teacher or only a great prophet we too would have to dismiss him as a nutty, megalomaniac because he is calling his followers to die for him. Because Jesus said be willing to die for me, because he said things like "I saw Satan fall from heaven" we can't say that he was simply a good teacher or a prophet. He was either less than these things or he was more than these things. He was either a lunatic or he was who he claimed to be – the unique son of the Living God. And if he is the unique son of the Living God, if he is in fact God in human flesh, the Messiah the Savior of the world, then he has the right to call us to lay down our lives for him. And this is precisely what he's calling us to do.
The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t, as some preachers suggest, a path through which you will be assured of material success or perfect physical health. That message is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about self-improvement. It is not about becoming your best self right now. The gospel, according to Jesus, is “take up your cross and follow me.” As a German pastor, Dietrich Boenhoffer, who laid down his own life as he led an underground resistance movement against Hitler, said, “It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”
In Christ we have something to die for and something to live for.
Yes, there is a cost in following Jesus Christ. It will cost you your life, but there is also a much greater cost in not following Jesus Christ. There is a greater cost in non-discipleship. In not following him, you will lose your only opportunity for true life in this world and in the age to come.
Jesus said,
. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?
What good is it, Jesus says, if a person gains the whole world and yet forfeits their very self. Here he is referring to our true self, that inner part of us, the core of who we are that lasts forever. I recently watched the BBC documentary called “Big Silence,” which follows 5 ordinary people taking time out of their daily lives to go on an 11-day silent retreat with a monk. One of the people is a guy named Jon, who is a very successful entrepreneur about 50 years old, drives a black Mercedes, and doesn’t believe in God. He is an agnostic. But he says, “All of my life I have wanted to get money and power and now I have lots of both… I’ve been married twice… I have kids. But something is missing in my life. I haven’t found satisfaction.” So he goes on this silent retreat with a Benedictine monk, hoping to find an answer.
As Jesus says, what good is it if a man or a woman gains a whole world, and forfeits their soul in this world and in the age to come?
What does Jesus mean when he says, “Take up your cross”? As of this past Wednesday, we have been in Lent and I don’t want to in any way belittle people who sincerely observe Lent. I do so myself and find it helpful. When Jesus says, “Take up your cross,” he is not referring to giving up chocolate or wine for the 40 days of Lent. When he says, “Take up your cross,” he is not referring to enduring the snoring of your spouse or your roommate, or the anxiety you are experiencing because your aunt has Alzheimer’s. I am not saying those are not difficult experiences, but that’s not what Jesus means when he says, “Take up your cross.”
When Jesus said, “Take up your cross,” in his context it meant being willing to take up an instrument of violent execution (use the cross as prop and put on your shoulder). It wouldn’t mean to put on your shoulder a horizontal beam, an instrument of violent and painful execution and carry it to a site of public execution, usually past a jeering mob. Jesus is saying, “If you want to follow me, you must be ready to face literal scorn as you walk to your death.” Voluntarily picking up a cross means you are willing to deny yourself and lay your life down,
For some of our brothers and sisters, it will literally mean actual death.
Michael Ramsden who is from Saudi Arabia, shared this story at a conference in Capetown, South Africa that I had been invited to, but could not attend. I saw to his message online.
“A man and his wife were driving through a remote part of a certain country that Michael is not free to name. As they stopped to buy water, the wife looked and saw a man with a long beard with a machine gun leaning against the wall. She turned to her husband and said, ‘You need to give that man a Bible.’ The husband looked at the bearded man with the gun and said, ‘No, I don’t think it is right.’ She said, ‘No, I am sure it is right. Go over there and give him a Bible.’ She put a Bible in her husband’s pocket, and said, ‘Make sure you give this to him.’ The man went into the shop and bought the water. The man with long beard with the gun followed him into the shop. The husband came out of the shop carrying bags with bottles of water. The man with the gun came out of the shop, and then leaned against the wall again. As they drove away, the wife said to the husband, ‘You didn’t give him the Bible, did you?’ He said, ‘I prayed about. It’s not right thing to do.’ ‘You should have.’ ‘No, I shouldn’t have.’ They had a fight. She bowed her head in car and prayed out loud, ‘O LORD, on the Day of Judgment may that man’s blood be on my husband’s head, and not mine. He was the one who want not give away the Bible.’
At this point the husband stopped the car. They had a friendly marital discussion. With that, the husband said, ‘If you want me to die, I will.’ They drove back into town. He walked up to the man with the gun and presented him with the Bible. The man took it, kissed it on both sides, and said, ‘I do not live here. Three days ago I had a dream in which I was told to wait here for someone to give me a book, the Book of Life. Thank you for giving me this book.’ Five years later that man was martyred for his faith.”
Jesus Christ demands everything … He says, “Me… My gospel is something worth living. It is something worth dying for.”
Taking up our cross may mean we expose ourselves to danger in serving others.

In Christ we have something to die for and something to live for.
A little closer to home, what does is it mean for us to take up our cross and follow him? In a parallel passage in Matthew 10, Jesus talks about how anyone who wants to follow him must take up their cross and follow him. He says, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” These words would have sounded shocking to most of Jesus’ hearers--loving family members, especially their parents, was one of the highest duties in Judaism. Family loyalties were much stronger in Jesus’ day than in ours. Jesus makes it clear that in order to follow him he must become more important than our relationships with our mother, father, son, daughter and even our spouse. You have probably heard stories of people who decided to follow Christ in other parts of the world. Stories in North America are not as dramatic—there can be a cost here too.
I hear the stories of young people who say their parents would rather have them partying, having recreational sex and using recreational drugs than have them become a follower of Jesus Christ. I know someone who gave his life to Jesus Christ when he was in high school. One day he brought a Bible home. His dad became so angry with him that he started shouting at him and picked up his Bible and threw it down the hallway. For some young people, the greatest act of rebellion they can commit against their own families is to follow Jesus. But Jesus says, “I must be more important than your family.” He says, “Yes, of course, love your family. Honour your parents. But if you have to make a choice between honouring your parents, your spouse, your children and me…choose me.”
If you are a parent or become a parent, part of what it means to put Jesus first means that Jesus, and not your child, is the most important priority in your life. If your child is the absolute highest priority in your life, the irony is that is not going to be best for your child, as the NYU study suggests. A mentor of mine has said, “The best thing you can do for your spouse is love God. The best thing you can do for your children is to love your spouse.” If you put God first, then you are going to love your spouse and your kids. “The irony is that for your kids—it is best for them not to put them first.
Taking up the cross means that Jesus comes before your family. Taking up your cross means that Jesus comes before your career. It might mean living with integrity in your workplace in a way that is going to cost you something…
This past week I came across the story of Christian woman named Jana, an experienced nurse, who had recently switched jobs. Her first evening as a nurse a young mother came with her 18-month-old son. He needed his final shot for a routine immunization.
Jana gave the boy his shot when Jana went to record the vaccination on the boy's chart, she noticed that the seal on the vial inside her lab coat was unbroken. Quickly Jana realized that she had given the boy the wrong vaccine.
She had given him a shot from a different vial—a routine vaccination for children, but the boy had already completed that series of shots months earlier.
Jana told said she gasped when she realized her mistake and then went into shock… Here is the sequence of her thoughts, according to what she told me later:
"No one will ever know. No harm done."
"This is my first day on the job."
"I can't tell the doctor."
"The doctor will think I'm incompetent."
"It can't hurt him, can it?"
"It doesn't hurt to be immunized twice for the same thing."
"What will the mother say?"
"But I will always know, and so will God."
Jana weakly paced outside the room.
When the doctor appeared, Jana told him her mistake, almost vomiting her confession. "Let me think about this for a moment," he said. After a few moments, he walked back into the room, told the mother what happened, and asked her to schedule another time for her child's immunization.
There's a part of Jana, like there is a part of me and you, that wants to make a good impression, that wants to appear competent in our work – especially on our first day on a new job. Jana as a Christian decided to die to that particular desire, she took up the cross, and she followed Jesus in that position.
In Christ, even in the small things of our lives we have something to die for and something to live for.
For a student who may not have begun their career yet, picking up your cross might be sharing your faith in Jesus Christ with your friends when the opportunity naturally comes up – much like you talk about music you like or anything else in your life that is important to you. And if you're a young person, chances are what is most important in your world is your friendships and whether you are accepted by your peers – that was certainly the case for me. So part of what it might mean for you to take up your cross is to be willing to share your faith in Jesus Christ when that opportunity naturally presents itself when you feel that God has opened the door for you.
And you die to that desire to need to be accepted, the need to be cool, the need to not be different.
You have something to die for and something to live for.
Taking up your cross, might mean adopting a simpler lifestyle so that you have more to give to God and the world. You can die to that part of you that once desired creature comforts, so you can make more of a difference for God and others.
If we love Christ more than life itself, we will live as if we have nothing to lose. If we love Christ we a treasure in him that we can never lose.
You have something to die for and something to live for.
I want you to now see the story of an 18-year-old girl named Kyung Ju from North Korea who spoke at the Cape Town Conference.
(DVD: TESTIMONY: NORTH KOREAN GIRL)
Kyung Ju’s dad was willing to lay down his life for Christ, and she is willing to lay down her life for Christ, not only because they know that in laying down their lives for Christ they will find them in the end, but also because they know that the one they follow laid down his life for them.
We don't become people who are able to take up our cross because we psyche ourselves up. We become people who are able to lay down our lives when we look into the face of the one who laid down his life for us. We look into the face of Jesus Christ and see how on the cross he offered his life as a sacrifice for our sin so that we might be forgiven, so that we might discover our true life here on earth and in eternity. As we look into the face of the one who died for us, we recognize that in Christ we have someone to die for and someone to live for.

A Prayer for All Time(06Mar2011)

2011-03-05T16:09:00.000-08:00

Series: Loving God by Following the Way of Jesus
The Way of Jesus M5 (11 03 06)
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: A Prayer for All Time
Text: Matthew 6:1-15
BIG IDEA: The Lord’s Prayer can become a pattern for our prayer.
When I was about to meet my future parents-in-law for the first time in Japan, I was nervous, I didn’t know what to say. I asked my parents who were born and raised in Japan, what I should I say when I’m with them. They said, “Say nothing. Remember silence is golden in Japan.”
I remember someone I know who grew up in a time when going on actual dates as a teenager was more common—a time when young people still watched the Oscars—and she said I was petrified before going on a date because I was so shy and didn’t know what I might say to keep conversation going. My mom gave me a few simple questions to ask my date and that made it a lot easier…
Sometimes we don’t know what to say in a conversation with people. Sometimes we don’t know what to say in a conversation with God. Today Jesus helps us know what to say in prayer.
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve talking about prayer. Last Sunday we looked at the story of Mary and Martha and considered how we can discern how to give Jesus a gift he really wants and can actually use (if you were snowed in, you are welcome download the message from our website). Today we’re going to look at a prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray. His disciples according to the Luke version of the prayer ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Prayer certainly can be spontaneous. You don’t need a university degree in prayer to pray, but we can also learn to pray. The Lord’s Prayer is more accurately “The Disciples’ Prayer.” It is the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray and it is the prayer that teaches us how to pray.
This prayer can either be prayed word for word, but also as pattern for our prayers.
Here is Jesus’ teaching. If you have your Bibles please turn to Matthew 6:5:
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
14 For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
In verses 5-6 Jesus says, “When you pray don’t pray to impress other people, but pray in private to your Father who is unseen.” Jesus was not condemning public prayer. He himself prayed publicly. But in a culture where people admired pious, religious people, in a way that it is not true today, people would sometimes pray to impress other people. Jesus is saying here that the motive for prayer is not to impress other people but to know God more deeply.
Jesus said in verse 7, “When you pray, don’t keep on babbling like the pagans.” In Jesus’ day, for example, Greeks would pile up as many titles of the deity as possible, hoping to secure his or her attention. Pagan prayers typically reminded the deity of the favours or the sacrifices they had offered in an attempt to get a response from the god on some contractual ground. Jesus says, “Don’t do this.”
Prayers do not have to be long prayers. For some people, several brief times of prayer throughout the day work better than a half-hour block of prayer. If you find yourself constantly thinking about when your prayer will end, it may be time to pause and move on to something else. Part of the gift of this prayer is that it can be prayed briefly. It can be stretched out over an hour or several hours. It can be prayed literally over an entire lifetime. But the Lord’s Prayer can also be prayed briefly. I find that after a swim when I sit in the sauna for 3 or 4 minutes I often recite the Lord’s Prayer in silence.
Martin Luther says, “How many people have prayed the Lord’s Prayer a thousand times? If they were to pray the Lord’s Prayer a thousand more times or ten thousand more times, they wouldn’t really have prayed or tasted it at all. They don’t get comfort or joy from its proper use.”
Martin Luther is saying the Lord’s Prayer is incredibly rich but people run by it like a mine with jewels in it--gold, diamonds, rubies--but no one seems to know how to mine its treasure.
Today, I hope we can gain four windows into the Lord’s Prayer: Abba, Adore, Accept, Ask 2x.
First, Abba:
The prayer begins with the words “Our Father in heaven…” Commentator Dale Bruner says, “The greatest gift of the Lord’s Prayer is the simple phrase, ‘Our Father’.” I have heard some people say that you should not encourage people to say “Our Father,” because some people have such a terrible image of their earthly father that they have no idea what a good father is. But even if your earthly father was terrible, you are able to intuit what an ideal father would be like. In fact, the only way you could know that your earthly father was bad was if you had some ideal in your mind that you were comparing your earthly father to. Whether our fathers were great or terrible or something in between, we can imagine an ideal father.
The New Testament was originally written in Greek, but Jesus spoke in Aramaic, a dialect of Hebrew. The consensus among modern scholars is that the Lord’s Prayer begins with the Aramaic word “Abba,” and that Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Aramaic, rather than in classical Hebrew. As you may know, the word “Abba” is a very personal word—less like father actually and more like daddy or poppa. It’s the kind of word that is so personal that you can only use it to refer to your own daddy, not if you are speaking about someone else’s father. It is a personal intimate word that you can use when referring to your own daddy, but could not presume using when referring to someone else’s dad. You then have to use a more formal term.
God is a king, as we saw a few weeks ago, a king with a kingdom. In modern language we might say he is a prime minister (if we think of our Canadian context or a president). In order to have access to a king or a prime minister or a president, you have to have accomplished something great or have something amazing to offer. The Vancouver Canucks are on a roll this year. If they win the Stanley Cup, the coach might get a phone call from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The team might get an invitation to 24 Sussex Drive. Or I am guessing that is more likely to happen if the Calgary Flames were to win the Stanley Cup. But you have to have done something or be someone great to come before a prime minister, a president, or a king. The exception would be if you are a son or a daughter of that person. The image that comes to mind is the picture of John Kennedy, Jr. behind the desk in the Oval Office of President Kennedy.

Before John, Jr. achieved anything he had access to the President; he had access to the Oval Office; he had access to the President because he was the son. The same would have been true for Caroline, of course. If we are sons and daughters of God, we have been adopted into his family because we have received the forgiveness Christ offers us and the invitation to become part of his family. We have access.
We pray “Our Father in heaven…” When Jesus prays “our Father in heaven” he refers to God’s position as King, not just president of the United States or Prime Minister of Canada, but Lord of over all the universe, but he is also our loving Father, our Abba, and so we have access. So when you pray “Hallowed be your name…” or when you pray “Our Father…” remember that he is your Father. You have access to him, not because of something you have done, but because of something that Christ has done on your behalf. He died on the cross so that you could be a son or a daughter. You have access as a child.
Abba
Adoration
We pray “Hallowed be your name…” The word “hallowed” literally means “to make holy” or “to set apart.” There is a sense in which God’s name is already holy. It is already set apart—it is already exalted. So praying that God’s name would be made holy, as Ken Bailey says, is a bit like praying for wood to become solid or fire to become hot, when wood is already solid and fire is already hot…and God’s name is already holy.
Even though God is holy, many people don’t recognize God’s holiness, so we pray God will manifest his holiness before people. This is why in Scripture in places like Ezekiel 20, God says, “I will manifest my holiness among you.” So when we pray “Hallowed be your name…” we are praying that God would manifest his holiness to people and that his name which refers to his person would be recognized as holy.
In the film version of Babette’s Feast a renowned opera singer from Paris named Papin visits a remote Danish coastal town. He enters a church service and hears Philippa singing in the pew as a member of the congregation in her extraordinary voice. He wants to teach her how to sing and bring her to Paris to sing for the opera, but Philippa feels like she is unable to move from her small Danish town to Paris. The renowned French singer Papin tells Philippa, “In paradise you will be the great artist God intended you to be. How you will enchant the angels!”
Have you ever known someone who had great talents or great virtue, but for whatever reason their life circumstances would likely never be recognized for all they are? We have a yearning for them to be discovered and recognized. When we pray “Hallowed be your name…” we are praying that God’s name would be discovered as holy…as great. It is a prayer that people would recognize how amazing God is.
I’ve been in conversation with someone who wants to cultivate an experience of more spiritual reality in her life—but says, “I am not so sure about Jesus.” There’s a yearning in my heart that she will one come to discover how amazing God is through the face of Jesus. Jesus is the visible image of God.
We started with Abba, moved to Adoration, and now we move to Acceptance.
Then we pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”
The phrase “Thy will be done…” is reminiscent of Jesus’ own prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane who in his humanity did not want to go to the cross, but prayed “not my will but thy will be done.” It is a prayer that let’s go of our will on a particular matter and asks God to take over. In this part of the prayer we don’t always recognize what God’s will is for us and what is best for us.
If you are a parent, or become a parent, you will understand there are times when a young child wants something that is not necessarily in their interest. Our two-year-old son hates to be physically restrained in any way. There is a park not far from our house with a wooden bridge for kids. When I walk over it holding his hand, he wants to break free and run across it all by himself. One time when he was in one of those moods where he really wanted to walk it by himself, I let him walk over the bridge by himself as I stood under the bridge. He ran right off the bridge, falling head first—7 feet high. Thankfully, I caught him before his head hit the ground. (A woman walking by said, “Nice catch.”)
If you give a young child whatever they want, they can end up in the hospital and maybe dead. The gap between a parent and a young child is far closer than the gap between us and God. Someone has said that God gives us what we would give ourselves if we knew all the facts, if we had the perspective of all eternity in mind. Like Jesus, we pray, “Thy will be done.”
The reason we can pray “thy will be done” is because Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane—when in his humanity he didn’t want to face a gruesome death on a cross and bearing the sin of the world in himself… but he did—for us, so we could be forgiven and freed from our sin—so we could call God Abba. When we recognize God is Abba and in Christ died for us—when we recognize how deeply we are loved, we can say thy will be done—we can accept.
It’s a prayer not just for us to accept God’s will in our lives, but prayer for the world too. It’s a prayer for his will—for his justice, peace, and love accepted among the people of Libya and Egypt and in Christchurch, New Zealand… for people to accept God’s will so that there is economic justice, racial equality, women’s rights, for the well being of refugees.
Abba, Adoration, Acceptance, and Ask.
Ask
Nearly half the prayer focuses on God, but then the prayer shifts as Jesus ask Abba to provide for your needs.
And so we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…” The first part of the prayer is focused on the character of God and the will of God. The second half of the prayer focuses on our needs: “Give us this day our daily bread…” We cannot serve God without food. It’s hard to get food without work. So this prayer is for food, work, clothing, shelter. It is not a prayer for cake…it is a prayer for life’s basic necessities. “Give us this day our daily bread…” There is not consensus on what the Greek word translated “daily” means. It can be translated “give us today our food for the day,” or “give us today our food for tomorrow.” Perhaps it is best translated “give us today the food we need.”
In the ancient world this was a very relevant prayer as people by the standards of today were impoverished, so they were praying either give us our food for today or give us today our food for tomorrow or give the food we need.
Remember, it says “our daily bread.” This may be surprising to us because we live in such an individualistic culture, but nowhere in the Lord’s Prayer does Jesus say “pray I…” It is okay to pray I, but he teaches us to pray “our.” So we pray “our daily bread…” It is not just a prayer where my need for bread would be provided, but our need for bread would be provided—a prayer for our neighbours who are in financial need and for people around the world.
Ken Bailey who spent 40 years living and teaching the New Testament in places like Egypt, Lebanon and Jerusalem and whose cultural insights I’ve drawn from for this sermon tells this story about Mother Teresa.
Mother Teresa writes: “I will never forget the night an old gentleman came to our house and said there was a family with eight children and they had not eaten, and could we do something for them. So I took some rice and went there. The mother took the rice from my hands, then she divided it into two and went out. I could see the faces of the children shining with hunger. When she came back I asked where she had gone. She gave me a very simple answer: ‘They are hungry also.’ And ‘they’ were the family next door, and she knew they were hungry. I was not surprised that she gave, but I was surprised that she knew….I didn’t have the courage to ask her how long her family hadn’t eaten, but I am sure it must have been a long time, and yet she knew—in her terrible bodily suffering—she knew that people next door were hungry, also.”
This woman, Ken Bailey says, with the eight children may not have known the Lord’s Prayer, but there was only ‘our rice’ and not ‘my rice’ even when her children were hungry. The prayer for our bread includes the neighbours. There is our Father and our bread. The Father is not our personal saviour. He is the Saviour of the world, and it’s not our bread we pray for, but bread for the world.
This prayer also seems to assume that we are truly dependent on God for our material needs. For those of us who are wealthy, and we may not think of ourselves as wealthy, but if our income is $25,000 a year, we are wealthier than approximately 90% of the world’s population. If our income is $50,000 a year, we are wealthier than 99% of the world. Remember almost half the people of the world live on than $2 a day or less. If you don’t feel wealthy, it is because you are comparing yourself with people who are in the 99th percentile of wealth.
What it means to be able to pray this prayer from our heart if we are wealthy, frankly, is to be giving our money to God and to the poor at such a rate that we are actually dependent on God.
It doesn’t mean that we never save, but it means that we actually trust God with our money. There is a tension between responsible saving and living by faith—I don’t claim to have the answer, but I know if God is our Abba we are called to trust him and take a risk.
When I was working for a large corporation in Tokyo as a single person, even though the cost of living in Tokyo was extremely high, I was making far more money than I needed to live on. So I was giving away considerably more than a tithe. My Japanese pastor came to me one day and said, “Ken, I know you are thinking about going into the pastoral ministry one day and you are planning on going to seminary to prepare. Don’t feel like you have to tithe, because you will need the money for seminary and you are probably wanting to be saving your money for that.” I appreciated his concern for me, but my response was, “Look, if I can’t trust God with a simple tithe now, first of all, I have no business going into the Christian ministry. If I can’t live by faith, I have no business calling others to live by faith either.” I ended up giving God substantially more than a standard tithe…. As I look back, it was a gift to me because the money I gave away seemed to miraculously come back. God provided all that I needed for my seminary education, and just all that I needed.
Let me give a example a little more current. My wife and I are more liberal arts people than math people. We are not quantitative enough or organized enough, so our charitable giving is driven by a tax return calculus. But, partly because there have been substantial needs at our home church and around the world, we have received a significant tax refund (relative to our income) for the last several years. There’s a part of us that wants to sock that away for a rainy day, but there’s also a part of us that feels it’s a rainy day for someone else in the world, and we are putting away some money for our son’s education (we’re Japanese, after all). So nothing close to heroic, but there’s a part of us that says there is a rainy day for some else. God’s been so faithful to us… let’s have a little bit and give most of this away. Every New Year, my wife looks back across and the year and writes the things for which we were most grateful. My wife said, “Because of our tax we were able to give a gift to a project for kids in a certain part of the world.” I said, “Oh yeah, that’s great. I’ll add that to my list, too”.
The assumption of this prayer is, if we are wealthy by world standards, give at a rate where we actually having to trust God for our money.
And we pray, “Forgive us our debts….” Debts are a metaphor for sins. As we are forgiven, we forgive those who sin against us. In Jewish rabbinic tradition it was thought that every sin accumulated is a kind of debt before God. This is a prayer to ask God to remove our debts from him. We thank God that because of the work of Jesus Christ paying off our debts through his death on the cross for our sins, God is much more willing to forgive our debts than Visa or Master Card.
PAUSE: Is there anything for which we need forgiveness? TAKE A MOMENT.
We pray that God would forgive our sins. Just as we need food for the health of our body, so we need forgiveness from God for the health of our soul. As we receive forgiveness, we in turn forgive those who have sinned against us.
The great reformer Martin Luther says: “This is not so much a precondition for forgiveness as it recognition that we, in fact, have been forgiven.” We are forgiven, and so we forgive others.
Remember five years ago--the morning of October 2, 2006, a troubled man named Charles Carl Roberts barricaded himself inside the West Nickel Mine Amish School, ultimately murdering five young girls and wounding six others. Roberts committed suicide when police arrived on the scene. It was a dark day for the Amish community of West Nickel Mines, but it was also a dark day for Marie Roberts—the wife of the gunman—and her two young children.
But on the following Saturday, Marie experienced something truly amazing while attending her husband's funeral. That day, she and her children watched as Amish families——came and stood alongside them in the midst of their own blinding grief. Despite the crime the man had perpetrated against, the Amish came to mourn Charles Carl Roberts—a husband and father and to comfort this family.
Donald Kraybill is an expert on the Amish tradition. He teaches at Elizabethtown College, near Nickel Mines. In an interview, he explained how forgiveness, in the biblical sense, is love letting go when wrong has been suffered. "To a person, the Amish would argue that forgiveness is the central teaching of Jesus. They will take you to the Lord's Prayer—where we affirm that we forgive others—even as we ourselves have been forgiven…”
As we pray for forgiveness, we pray to be delivered from the sin that caused us to need forgiveness in the first place.
The prayer “Lead us not into temptation…” can perhaps be better translated as “do not permit us to go into temptation.”
In the Garden of Gethsemane the night before Jesus goes to the cross, Jesus says to his sleepy student Peter, “Watch out and pray that you don’t fall into temptation”(Mark 14:38). This petition of the Lord’s Prayer is a request to God to help us avoid this self-destructive tendency. John Calvin wrote: “It is a prayer where we are conscious of our weakness and ask to be defended by God’s protection so that we have strength to prevail against the forces of darkness and our soul from Satan.” As a mentor of mine says, “A ton of suffering may not hurt us, but one ounce of sin can destroy us.” A ton of suffering may not hurt us eternally—it may refine us, but one ounce of sin can destroy us. My professor Haddon Robinson prays: “When I am given the opportunity to sin, take away my desire to sin. And when I have the desire to sin, take away the opportunity.”
Ask for our bread, bread for the world, and forgiveness.
The postscript “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” was probably not in the original manuscript of the gospel. It was probably added by a scribe later. It is actually an illusion to David’s prayer (1 Chronicles 29:11) where David prays: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom.” It was likely a prayer that was used in the early church and added by a scribe to some of the New Testament manuscripts.
When we reflect on how great God is--that he is Abba, worthy of Adoration, trustworthy to Accept his will, and asks us to Ask for what we need and when we recognize all that he has provided for us, what else can we see say except: “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”
Take time to pray the Lord’s Prayer, petition by petition.
(Lord’s Prayer on the powerpoint)
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”