Cloth Yourselves With Christ

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 23, 2013
Fr. Philip Eberhart

CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH CHRIST
(Audio Sermon File)

Have you ever been to a hotel or to a spa or gone for a massage where they have these big, fluffy, plush robes. My wife has several of them, both for herself and for clients to use, as they change in and out of dresses for fittings. You know the ones, that kind of engulf you and you sink into them – and just forget all your troubles!!


I want to explore this morning the phrase we hear in Paul’s mouth a lot, and we see it in our NT Epistle reading from Galatians this morning:
As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

What does it mean for us to be clothed with or to clothe ourselves with Christ? To Put on Christ - Paul uses this phrase over 20 times in his teaching about the life of the disciple – the follower of Jesus.

Our reading here seems to indicate that it is initiated at baptism –

Have you ever moved and had to have everything forwarded to a new address.
We have had a change of address! We are no longer “of” this world; we are now citizens of a heavenly city – we have a new address, a new home – and I might add, one that is not local!

Tied very closely to this concept in Paul’s thinking is his concept of our being “IN CHRIST.” If we have PUT ON Christ then we are IN Christ, by default. There is a whole bunch of this kind of language throughout the NT in regard to what has happened to us in our salvation experience. We are in Jesus and Jesus is, by His Spirit, IN US. The best definition I’ve seen is in one of the lexicons I looked at:

“TO BECOME SO POSSESSED OF THE MIND OF CHRIST, AS IN THOUGHT, FEELING AND IN ACTION, AS TO RESEMBLE HIM AND TO REPRODUCE THE LIFE HE LIVED”  (Thayer’s Lexicon on the Greek word ENDUO)

Over and over throughout the NT we hear this kind of language:

Let  this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…

It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me …

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh…

All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has be created in righteousness

      And holiness of the truth

Put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the

    Image of the One who created him

All of these passages speak of a change of address!  In Jesus Christ, Paul Says, we are a NEW CREATION – Old has gone!  New has come!  Paul was so excited by this reality that he camps on it throughout his letters to the churches.  It pops up in almost every letter he writes – why?   Because it is a central reality of who we are now and is the key to what we are becoming, by faith in the Grace of God!

The central picture and the reality of baptism is that we have been consumed – swallowed up – buried if you will in the act of baptism – going under the water, and we have come out of the water a new creation.  A new being emerges from the water of baptism.

The new creation is a gift of grace.  This is God’s idea, from start to finish – and His work, from start to finish.  In fact the work is already done!  That is what Jesus cry on the cross was all about – IT IS FINISHED!           

Your new creation was finished on the cross – and now the task at hand is appropriation of that finished work as we PUT ON Christ.  There is a mystery in the language here – the work is both finished in Jesus and ongoing with us, every day, every moment, as we make a choice to live IN HIM.

This is also plain in Paul’s usage of this imagery in other places in his letters:

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, PUT ON a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  Beyond all these things PUT ON love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 

Let the peace of Christ rule IN YOUR HEARTS, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful

Let the word of Christ richly DWELL WITHIN YOU, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

What a picture of the Christian’s life IN JESUS!  And the life of Jesus IN THE CHRISTIAN.

“It is no longer I who live,” Paul says, “but Christ who lives in me!  And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.”

We have been talking about faith in Sunday School for the past few weeks, and this is something that has dawned on me – that faith is coming to rest in the finished work of Christ Jesus on the Cross, and not trying to add to that work of salvation by the works that I do.  This is what the Sabbath Rest is all about – we are called to Sabbath, in order to put the work that we do in the name of Christ in the right order and perspective.  We are not working for Christ or for our salvation  -- we are working WITH HIM in his work of salvation in the world, in an extraordinary grace that allows us to partner with Jesus, day by day in every moment and every breath. 

Finally, in that work there is one more place we need to look at what we must PUT ON:  Would you like to turn with me to Ephesians 6

PUT ON the full armor of God!  Why?

So that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

We are all familiar with the passage in Ephesians 6 about the Armor of God:

Anyone who is living this life IN CHRIST will come into a position of opposition to the world, to the flesh and to the devil!  And so we need protection, which has been provided:

1. The Belt of Truth
2. The Breastplate of Righteousness
3. The shoes of the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace
4. The Shield of Faith
5. The Helmet of Salvation
6. The Sword of the Spirit (The Word of God)

Of course this is a whole sermon series in six lines!  Truth, Righteousness, the Gospel of Peace at all about Jesus!  He IS the Truth, He IS our Righteousness and He IS our peace!  Our Faith is IN HIM – Our salvation is FROM HIM – and it is HIS WORD, by HIS Spirit, that we have at our side and in our hand as a sword, the only offensive weapon we own.

Much, much, much more can be said about the armor of God, but for our purposes this morning it is important for us to hear the word PUT ON the full armor of God.

And Paul finishes these thoughts by adding, in v. 19,

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me, in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.”

Friends, if Paul needed prayer for boldness, how much more do we need to pray for boldness for each other and for ourselves?!!  And how much more do we need to be clothed in Christ?

We are clothed in Him in Baptism – it is a positional reality given us by Grace.

We are to PUT ON Jesus in our day to day walking and talking – it is a daily appropriation of His Grace for our moment-by-moment living IN HIM.  Jesus looks like the Fruit of the Spirit:  Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Long suffering, etc

We add to our faith, virtue; to virtue, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, unconditional love.   We PUT ON the character of Jesus in cooperation with the Holy Spirit who is growing these things inside of us!  It is a synergy – a partnership with Jesus in the work of a new creation --- YOU!

Finally, we are to PUT ON the full armor of God – prepare for war!  You are a soldier and you are in an army.  The only way to get out of that is to go AWOL.

And so much of the Church is ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE!  If we are serious about the work of God in the world and our part in it, then we must be aware and prepared for the opposition we will and are facing, from the world, the flesh and the devil.  But there is a chasm between this reality and most of our experience in the American church.  We have never had to go to war.  We have never had to be on the defensive for our lives – few of us have even been very inconvenienced by our faith in Christ in America – for which we can give thanks!  But it is a double edged sword, friends.  It is easy to go to sleep, standing a post where there is no perceived threat!

But the time, they are a changing.

I want to invite you to come next Sunday, as we participate in the Call2Fall – a national call to prayer by the church on the Sunday before Independence Day.  We must recover the vitality of our faith, for the sake of the nation and the future of our children and grandchildren.  Friends, the problem is not THEM, IT IS US!  As Henry Blackaby once said, “The problem is not with the darkness – its just being dark!  The problem is with the LIGHT”

Friends, we are the LIGHT of the World.  Jesus said it, and it is time for us to live into it.  We are a city set on a hill, giving light to the nation.  Come next week and pray with us for the health of our nation and for a return to God as we Fall on our knees together in prayer.

So let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the Cross, that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace.  SO CLOTHE US in your Spirit, that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do no know you to the knowledge and love of you, for the honor of Your Name.   Amen

PULPIT FREEDOM SUNDAY: ON MARRIAGE

On Marriage

June 2, 2013

Fr. Philip Eberhart

 (Audio Link Here)

This morning I want to explore the Word and our human and our religious history around the subject of marriage.

As we begin a wedding we are greeted with these words, familiar to most of us.

Dearly beloved: We have come together in the presence of 
God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and 
this woman in Holy Matrimony.  The bond and covenant of 
marriage was established by God in creation, and our Lord 
Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and 
first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.  It signifies to us 
the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church, and 
Holy Scripture commends it to be honored among all people.

The union of husband and wife in heart, body, and mind is 
intended by God for their mutual joy; for the help and comfort 
given one another in prosperity and adversity; and, when it is 
God's will, for the procreation of children and their nurture 
in the knowledge and love of the Lord.  Therefore marriage is 
not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, 
deliberately, and in accordance with the purposes for which it 
was instituted by God.

I want to consider just a few of the phrases here as we begin as this paragraph forms the basic teaching of the church on marriage:

BOND AND COVENANT, ESTABLISHED BY GOD IN CREATION

It is evident from any kind of reading of Genesis and the creation accounts that the intention of God in creation was for the man and woman to be together, to form a union and to bring forth children.

This was God’s idea and His design.  And we can argue from the very physical design of men and women, that these physical features were intended for God’s purpose, and are so designed to propagate the race and assure the ongoing joy and pleasure that is inherent in marriage.

Our sexuality is a gift of God!  It is clear that though God is spirit and as such has no physical sexual characteristics, we can see from scripture that the IMAGO DEI, the image of God includes both male and female,

According to Genesis 1:26-27:

“Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

The image of God is a reflection of the persons of the Trinity and contains the essence of both male and female.  It is in the coming together of male and female in marriage, an indissoluble bond between a man and a woman for a lifetime – created by God – that we see the most complete picture of the life of the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit!  A Holy Family if you will.  A true unity into which we are introduced by Jesus and by His Spirit, as we are given authority to become the children of God (Jn. 1:12). 

So marriage is important as an icon of the life and unity of God in our world.  It is an icon – a picture window – into the bond and covenant that forms the unity of the Trinity!

IT SIGNIFIES TO US THE MYSTERY OF THE UNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH

Paul, in Ephesians 5, is clear that there is a direct correlation between the institution of marriage and the union of Bride and Bridegoom that we read about in scripture, between Christ and the Church.

Paul is clearly talking about the relationship of a husband and wife in the same terms as he speaks about Christ and the Church.

Submission is obedience that is based on the love given and the respect that is earned by a husband.  One does not exist without the other.  These are reciprocal realities.  The proverbial “two-way-street.”

From the man’s side in the relationship come a love, like unto the sacrificial love of Christ – the love that initiates the relationship, that pursues the beloved, that sacrifices for her wellbeing, that “honors and keeps her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, is faithful to her as long as you both shall live.”  Remember those words.  That is what they meant!

From the woman’s side in the relationship comes an enduring respect, based on the experience of that kind of love!  The man in the marriage is to be the hero to his wife – the Imago Dei – the image of God, the Father, the Provider, the Protector.  If he is these things, then the respect is a natural by-product.

The problem is that we are fallen – we are broken!  And so the image is broken and marred.  But because it is marred is no reason to discard it as we are in danger of today.  Even marred the institution of marriage is the basic building block of our society.

Let’s look for a moment at God’s intentions for marriage:

INTENDED BY GOD FOR THEIR MUTUAL JOY

I’ve heard some say that that they have been happily married for X number of years – out of X+ of marriage!  We laugh because we have all been there, or are there.  Marital bliss is over-promised and under-delivered!  So today, we have stopped promising it for the most part.  Half of all marriages in our nation end in divorce.  In the church, sometimes its even more.  With such a track record, many have simply given up on the institution – given up on the idea of marriage.  Many just decide to live together to see if they can do it – live in harmony with one another, before making the “big” commitment.

This places the proverbial cart before the horse!  You see, the horse in marriage is the commitment to the relationship – that promise to be “faithful till death us do part.”  It is the power behind our coming together, and without it we are in danger of wrecking our lives, especially if we get on a downhill run – the end is usually the wagon ends up toppled and in shambles or going off a cliff.

FOR HELP AND COMFORT GIVEN ONE ANOTHER IN PROSPERITY AND ADVERSITY

No one knows me like my wife!  She is my first line of defense, when I am hurting or confused, I ask her help and prayers.  Likewise, she asks me the same.  Assuredly we can go and do go to others for advice, but that is all it is, advice.  From one another we glean the words and emotions we live by – a Word from God on occasion, and together we seek His guidance for our life, our home, our children and our church.

We are partners in this adventure!  No matter how it twists or turns:

Will you love him, 
comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; 
and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you 
both shall live?

Were you serious?  Love, comfort, honor , keep!  Be faithful.  All of these are action words that have definite implications for our behavior along the pathway of our relationship, day after day, month in, month out, year in, and year out.

Marriage is the best picture we have, the best lab that we have, for what Peterson called “a long obedience in the same direction!”

And finally:

WHEN IT IS GOD’S WILL, FOR THE PROCREATION OF CHILDREN AND THEIR NURTURE IN THE KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE OF THE LORD!

Sex has a purpose!  Why do you think that its so much fun?  God created it and purposed it for the creation of the species, the propogation of the races and the population of the planet!  That is its most basic definition.

Today our culture has corrupted it and contorted it into the reason for almost everything, from the kind of car you drive to the kind of toothpaste or mouthwash you use!

But I just want to make one point here this morning about our sexuality.  Ready?

If sexuality is the fire, then marriage is the fireplace. 

The life long commitment of a man and a woman to be together in fidelity to one another for the whole of their lives is the only proper place for the expression of our sexual nature, because of the power that it has and because of the destruction that it can wreck.

Fire is a good thing, in its place at the center of the home, controlled and contained in its proper place.  It is a great thing in fact!  But let the fire out of the fire box and it becomes something else.

It is actually one of the most destructive forces known to man.  And that is probably enough said about FIRE.  Friends, the parallels are striking and frightening – sobering for our future in this culture.

Finally I want to simply add that there is a difference between a long term relationship and one that is purposed and blessed by God.  I have married many, many people who have been together for years, some who had their children first and then came to me seeking a marriage.

WHY?

As we explored those realities, what I discovered is that God has planted within us both the capability and the unfulfilled need to have such a long-term, committed, covenant relationship.  Just as it is a picture of the love of God for us, and the love of Christ for his Church, it is the fulfillment of a part of our purpose in creation.  Marriage is the vehicle that God ultimately and deftly uses to fashion us into the people He has designed us to be – if we are obedient and faithful to seek him in the midst of our marriage.

When I do weddings, I often tell couples that the reason for the blessing of the marriage is that this is something that Only God can do!  Our best intentions fall short, just like most of our lives.  We all “fall short” of the glory of God, Paul told us.  It is only by His help and intervention in the course of a marriage that we see marriages that last 10 – 25 – 50 or more years.  Many here can testify to that fact.

Marriage is not a magic formula, it is a life-on-life process, through which God forms us into the kind of people we are meant to be – and then through which he uses us, together, to bless the world.  Just as in the original covenant God made with Abraham, we are “blessed to be a blessing” and “in us, all the nations of the earth, will be blessed.”

So let us press into the design of God for our life-long relationships –

Into His IMAGE as Male and Female, together for life and love.

Amen.

King of Glory, King of Peace

Easter 7
May 12, 2013
Fr. Phil Eberhart
 

King of Glory, King of Peace

Audio File

Happy Mother’s Day -  We will have a blessing of our mom’s during the Prayers of the People this morning and we have 4 dozen roses here at front and at the back for all of our ladies here this morning.  Please take one as a sign of our love for you and who you are in our midst at REZ as women.

I wanted to say that up front because I’m not going to preach on being a mom.  I hope you are not disappointed, but I want to preach on Jesus!  The first line of our opening prayer this morning kind of captures my theme for this morning:

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven.

This last Thursday, as I mentioned last week, was the Feast of the Ascension – the day in the church year, 10 days before Pentecost, when we mark the ascension of Jesus from the Mount of Olives into heaven.

A few verses from the 1^st chapter of Acts captures this moment:

So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

Of course we also have the words captured at the end of the gospel of Matthew as well, though its not clear that it was at this moment, it is clearly a commissioning, as Jesus said:

Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  (NLT)

Last week we talked about the great and precious promises of God, and this week I want to talk about the ONE who promised…  who promises.  The One who died to be the ground and the guarantor of the promises of God to His People.  The One who now sits at the right hand of God making intercession for His Church, His Bride – We the people, -  We His People, here on planet Earth!
 

Paul captures the weight of this in several places in his letters as well:  In Philippians, the second chapter, at the end of the Kenosis passage he says:

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And in his letter to the church in Ephesus also:

God put this [His] power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Friends the scriptures are replete with these references to the exaltation and the eternal power of Jesus Christ – of his position at God’s right hand – and of His universal power and presence with us now, by His Spirit, to effect the work of the Gospel and the spread of the Kingdom of God among men on the earth.

The Gospels and Acts are clear records of all the things that Jesus, as Luke puts it, “began to do and teach.”  But we need to know that Jesus isn’t finished, not by a long shot!  

Because of what Jesus started while on earth and commissioned before He left the earth and empowered from Heaven after leaving the earth, by His Spirit – we are encountered and empowered and engaged in the most exciting adventure in the history of humanity – my friends, we are a part of the church in the last days!

What we see in the latter chapters of the book of Acts, from our reading this morning and from the book of Revelation, that we’ve been hearing for several weeks, are the echoes of this series of events that we are in the midst of right now. The Ascension and Exaltation of Jesus Christ to his place in heaven, above every throne and name that is named – the waiting on His empowerment in these 10 days and the oneness that the infant church experienced in this time, I believe, set the stage and became the crucible into which the Holy Spirit was poured!

This church was expectant and desperate at the same moment.  They had been given a colossal commission by Jesus as He left them and He made it clear in his very last words to them, that this was not to be done in their power and their strength, but that the promise of the Father was the missing ingredient – the secret ingredient for them and for the mission of God in the world, to which they were commissioned and sent – to which WE are commissioned and to which we are SENT.

I hope that you realize that all this is not just a history lesson!  The Ascension of Jesus Christ to the eternal right hand of the Father in heaven – the Oneness He prayed for and bestowed on them in prayer – that they experienced in this 10 day period together – and the outpouring of the Spirit of Jesus, by the Father and the Son, on the Church was for one continuing purpose, until Jesus comes again!

This outpouring is the coming of the power of God, in a Person, to enable, empower and accomplish the work of the Gospel of God – the work that God has purposed from the “foundation of the world” – the reconciliation of the world to God, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, presented in heaven for the atonement of the sins of the world, and Jesus sat down at the right hand of power and glory, and together with the Father, sent His Spirit into the Church to give us the power to GO.

Friends, we do NOT GO in our own power or our own authority to do the work of the Kingdom and to spread the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus Christ.  This is still the work of the Trinity! 

The next two Sundays will highlight that fact – we will celebrate the coming of the Spirit next Sunday on Pentecost and the persons of the Trinity on the Sunday after Pentecost.  As we go, we go in the Name of and in the authority of the whole Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Jesus was clear in His commissioning of us.  And throughout the whole of scripture we see the whole action of the whole Trinity involved -  sometimes its difficult to distinguish a differentiated personhood because they are SO ONE – they are the model, in fact, of the prayer that Jesus prayed for the Church in our gospel today.

Listen again to the first part of our Gospel, from The Message:

^{Jn 17: 20-23} I’m praying not only for them But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them, So they’ll be as unified and together as we are— I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them In the same way you’ve loved me.

Friends, our unity – our oneness in Jesus Christ – is not optional equipment, no more than the Holy Spirit himself is optional equipment.  As I said last week, a prof of mine at ORU, said one time, “Having the Holy Spirit in your life is not like the choice of a deluxe or standard interior in your car … it’s the choice of whether or not you want the car to have an engine!”

In the same way, the choice of our oneness – the choice of unity with one another is not the choice of our outward trim and appearance packages, it’s the drive train and the wheels – Friends, it where the “rubber hits the road.”  It is through our unity, a visible and visceral unity – a tough unity that pushes through our differences and irritations with one another, that takes Jesus seriously when He says to us “Love One Another in the same way I have loved you.”  It takes the injunction to be in right relationship – to be “at peace with all men, as far as it depends on us,” – it takes it all seriously.

A breach in our ONENESS is a breach in our OBEDIENCE – it is a breach in our defenses as the Church.  

The picture of unity in Paul is the Roman Phalanx  - a side-by-side armored column or line advancing in the same direction.  In Paul’s treatise on spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6 there is no armor for the back side – if enemy forces penetrate the forward movement of the line, then the line collapses and moves to a back-to-back formation that is covered on all sides and able to defend from all side.

Jesus told us, in regard to our personal relationships, that the moment we had or know of anything coming “in-between” us as believer that making that right – making peace or restoring peace, is the first order of business, even before worship.

This is the reason that the peace is where it is in our service – after the confession and before the communion – giving us opportunity to respond to the conviction of the HOLY SPIRIT in our lives, when something is wrong between us as believer, to go and make it right before we come to the Lord’s Table.  Do you see the priority and necessity?

Anyone here ever had a flat tire?  What do you do with a flat tire?  Fix it / replace it. On the spot!!  And if you can’t do it you call someone who can, right now.  AAA.  I’ve been a member for nearly 20 years!!!  It’s that immediate… it’s that necessary… for us to tend to the relationships in the Body of Christ.  Why?

Listen to these words:

 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come."

And let everyone who hears say, "Come."
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

Friends, it is our witness that is at stake and if our witness, then the salvation of the world!  God doesn’t have a plan B!  If you cannot come to Him and to Each Other and to the World with Willingness – Availability – and Obedience, then we are incomplete in our witness – incomplete in our unity – incomplete in our worship.

I have to come back again and again to those three ingredients for our life.  David prayed, “Lord, uphold me with a willing Spirit.”

Let’s stop for a minute here and just do a “willingness check.”  Ask God to search you, He knows you already, and to reveal any places where you are unwilling to be his ambassador – to be in relationship to Him or to His Body – any place that you have tried to hide from Him.

Lord, I confess my places of unwillingness …  unwillingness to be a servant as you were … unwillingness to give of my time, or my talent, or my treasure to see Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven … unwillingness to be reconciled to one who has hurt me or to go to someone I have hurt to ask their forgiveness.  Lord I confess my pride and stubborn heart.

….

A little deeper we go to an “availability check.”  

Lord, I relinquish my “lordship” over my time and schedule.  Most of us don’t have complete control of our own schedule, but within our boundaries we always have some ability to choose.  Lord help us to choose You and to choose your way each day.  Show us ways and times to focus on you as we go through the paces and places of each day – as we meet with people, co-workers, business associates or those who serve us in the marketplace.  Help us to be available to You first, Lord and then to the needs of those we meet day-to-day.

….

And finally, an “obedience check.”

Lord, I acknowledge You as Lord!   I bow my knee and I confess with my mouth, “Jesus is Lord.”  (say it if you mean it)…

Lord means you own my life, my days, my nights, my waking, my sleeping, my working, my playing – you own it all, LORD.  Help me to live my life FOR YOU … in Your service and employment above all else.  Open my eyes to see the power you have given me and my ears to hear your voice whispering as I go through my day.

And when I hear you, help me to say, “YES LORD.”

YES LORD.

Amen.

Great and Precious Promises

6^th Sunday of Easter

May 5, 2013

Fr. Philip Eberhart

Great and Precious Promises

(for sermon audio click here) 

When we hear talk about the “blessings of God” our western minds almost inevitably rush to the material side of our life.  The Psalmist this morning is undaunted in his prayer: May God be merciful to us and bless us, *

show us the light of his countenance and come to us.  And he ends with: May God give us his blessing, * and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him. 

Do you ever ask God for His blessing?  Almost constantly, for me!  Most of the time it is a prayer for some plan of mine that I’ve concocted and I come running to God and ask Him to bless my plan and to be with me in my endeavor.  Have you ever done that?

But our readings this morning show us a different kind of picture.  Something other than that “bless me and my plan” kind of thing that we here in the US seem to live in constantly.  This morning I want to paint a picture of the vast expanse of God’s loving plan for us, as we have it portrayed in the readings we’ve heard here this morning.  We need look no further!

David in Psalm 67 give us a good starting place to list what he considered to be some of the blessings of God:

The light of his countenance

His presence as He comes to us

His ways known upon the earth

Saving health among all nations

His judgement with equity and

Guidance of the nations of the earth.  And finally…

The earth’s increase (its fruitfulness).

All of these things are the “blessings” of God – only one, the very last, is “material” in nature in any way.  All the others are presence-based;  the blessing of God is His very self, present with us. 

Our readings from Acts 16 and Rev. 21 & 22 are further extrapolations out of that presence-based blessing.  Paul in Acts is in the midst of a missionary journey, planting churches in Asia Minor when God interrupts his plan.  If you have your bible today, turn to Acts 16 with me.  I want to set the stage a bit by looking at the verses just before our reading:

Then they went from town to town, instructing the believers to follow the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.  So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day. Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.

Paul was going about his plan, but his plan was being thwarted.  Dr. Luke writes this from the hindsight of his memory of being along on this trip (you can see the shift from a “they” to a “we” account in these verses) because he joined the traveling band after they came to Troas.  The transition verse if the first verse of our reading, Paul’s vision in Troas of the man of Macedonia extending an invitation to “come and help us.”

My point in all of this is that sometimes God’s blessing may include a change of course for us!  It may include some frustrating days as we experience, like Paul, the “preventing” of the Holy Spirit.  Did you know that the Holy Spirit also has that gift?  John Wesley called it “Preventing or Prevenient Grace” – He applied it to those baptized as infants – taken into the community of the faithful and held there by the community and by the Holy Spirit’s ‘preventing grace’ until they could make a ‘confirmation’ of the faith of those who presented them for baptism.  Here Paul is experiencing the “preventing” grace of God’s Spirit in the direction of his ministry.

During this time he makes two significant additions to his team:  Dr. Luke as we previously mentioned, the historian/physician who would document the Gospel and write the Acts of the Apostles;  and Timothy, in 16:1, a son of mixed parents, both Jewish and Gentile, from Lystra where Paul had preached on a previous mission trip.  Paul’s ministry was expanded and solidified in these few transitional verses;  the scope of his mission was expanded to another section of the continent of Europe and the expansion of the Kingdom of God was at hand.

Can you see the “great and precious promise” of God’s presence and His guidance at work in the life of Paul here?  He does the same thing with your life.  God calls and guides us today in the same way as he did Paul, and Timothy and Dr. Luke.

Through relationships and circumstances, through visions and callings in the night, God communicates and guides us in the pathway of His work and in the furtherance of His Kingdom here on earth.  Are you listening?

And our Gospel from John this morning, actually carries some of these great and precious promises for us:  This one is worth a memory verse designation:

"Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Jn 14:23  Say it with me.  First the reference…  Jn 14:23.  Then the verse … ( -- ) then the reference again:  Jn 14:23.

And Jesus goes on in this part of his final discourse to his disciples with the promise of the Father, that Dr. Luke references:

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, `I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe."

The ‘Promise of the Father’ as Luke refers to it, is the very presence of Jesus with us in the person of the Holy Spirit.  Here Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit, who He calls the Advocate (other versions use the word Helper), the Greek work is “paraclete” – one called alongside to help or aid / one who advocates for another as in a court room / an intercessor, -- Jesus-other-self, is going to be sent upon his departure to the Father and this Holy Spirit will do specific things:

He will “teach you all things” and “bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”  How many things?   ALL Things.  And how much of what Jesus said?  ALL that I have said.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.

What a gift!  The Peace of Christ that we will share with one another in a moment is His last gift to us while on this earth.  It is other-worldly – it is from heaven – it partakes of the Kingdom of God, his Sovereignty – His kingship and his presence – so….

Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

These are very important words for these days in which we live and the days which I believe are coming.  We need to have eyes that look up – beyond the shenanigans of our government and lawmakers, beyond the forces of nature unleashed in the world, beyond the financial mire we seem to be caught in --- look up!

Peace I leave with you;  MY PEACE I give to you.

Jesus goes on: 

You heard me say to you, `I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe."

I am going away AND I am coming to you!   HUH?  WHAT?  HOW?  How can you go away and come to us at the same time?  But its true.  What Jesus is doing here is getting them ready for next Thursday!  What is next Thursday, May 9^th?  Anyone?

ASCENSION DAY!

It’s His ENTHONEMENT DAY!  Jesus ascended to the Father and took His place at the right Hand of God after 40 days of hangin out with the guys and gals in the upper room, and at the sea shore and at the mountain top.  Jesus is gone and we are told to wait.  Wait for it…. Wait for it…. Wait for it.  10 days of waiting and prayer together in unity at the instruction of Jesus.

I’m always challenged by that 10 days.  We can barely get folks to commit to an hour and I get comments when we go to an hour and 15 min.  We have a challenge to get people to commit to an hour of prayer once a month, much less 10 days of non-stop prayer together.  I experienced 4 days of prayer in a retreat, it wasn’t non-stop, but that 4 days shaped the ministries that are still impacting this city nearly 15 years later!  Things that make you go, “HMMMMMM !”   I wonder if there is a correlation between 10 days of intense and focused prayer by those apostles and believers in the upper room, and their readiness to receive the Promise of the Father on the day of Pentecost?   Just something to think about!!

And finally, our reading from John’s Revelation gives us a glimpse into the final promise – the final destination.  You know when you get on a plane the pilot comes on and says, “Welcome to flight ###, to ________________.” Why does he do that?

Because the destination matters!!  Right?

Well this passage in Revelation is our pilot, announcing the destination.  The final and greatest promise of God is the home He has prepared for us that will be with Him for ever.  What a glorious sight, what a glorious city!

No need of sun and moon, for the glory of God is its light…

All the nations and kings of the earth will bring their glory to it…

Gates are always open

There is no night

The glory and honor of the nations will be there.

No unclean thing, no abominations or falsehood.

The river flows through it – the Water of Life, flowing from the throne of God

Fruit trees on both sides, 12 kinds of fruit, producing every month!

Leaves for the healing of the nations.

Nothing left over from The Curse will be there!

It goes on and on, getting better and better, sweeter and sweeter with every word:

The throne of God and of the Lamb.

Servant (that  is us) in worship

We will see His face

His name will be on our foreheads (remember your baptism?)

No more night, no lamp or light will be needed, or sun

For the Lord God will be their light, and

They will reign forever and ever.

Are those promises good enough for you?  Something to look forward to?

But there is a line here that I skipped over… maybe you caught it.

ONLY THOSE WHO ARE WRITTEN IN THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE.

Is your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life?  You say well… maybe?  Or can you say a definitive YES!  If yes then you are an inheritor of all that we’ve been talking about this morning.  A child of God with the right of inheritance. 

If your answer is maybe or even NO it can be a certain YES. 

Just two verses to end here today:

Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God!  And  To as many as received Him, to those who believe on His name, He gave the right to become Children of God.

Today, if you are unsure if your name is “written in the Lamb’s Book of Life”  and you would like to be sure, please pray with me:

Lord Jesus,

I’m sorry for the things I’ve done wrong – the ways I’ve messed up my life.  It’s not just the way things have happened to me, its me, Lord – I’m the problem!  Thank you that you died to set me free and to bring me home to You.  Please take my life, take my heart, take my mind – take all of me, and make me into the person you designed me to be.  Please write my name in your book, Jesus.  In your name I pray.

Amen.π

If you prayed that prayer today and meant it for the first time, when you come to communion this morning, I want you to approach not with an open hand but with your hands together like so…  We will give you a prayer before you receive the elements of communion and we want to speak to you further about this decision.

All of us, need to make this decision – and it’s really a daily decision, made new every morning, to be His and to follow hard after Him.  Let us commit ourselves anew today to His word, His will and His ways.   Amen and Amen.

Looking to the Good Shepherd

Easter 4
April 21, 2013
Fr. Philip Eberhart

Looking to the Good Shepherd
(To Listen Click Here)

Well … I think that this has been one of the most interesting news weeks of the last several years! Bombings at the Boston Marathon and the ensuing manhunt, shutting down Boston, all the news and comments politicizing these events and people. We also had earthquakes here in the states, in Oklahoma of all places, 18 in a three day period. Plus ones in Iran, Japan again and in China. That prompted a discussion of Matthew 24 and the signs of the end of days. I also got a letter from a friend asking some hard questions about God this week. Like “Why so silent?” ; “Why do I feel ignored?”; “Can I feel angry with God?”

Anyone else here feeling a little unsettled this weekend, after the week we’ve had, or maybe after the month you’ve had, or even after the years you’ve had? How do we live and move and have our being in HIM, when we can’t feel or hear or see Him in action?

These kinds of times and these kinds of questions are becoming my stock in trade these days. So many of us are struggling, physically with illness or financially with making ends meet – there seems to be more month than money, most of the time.

We end up feeling angry, frustrated at God and at life. We end up with a heart that has grown cold, that quits pressing into His presence and His promises.

First, I have to say that this kind of stuff has been going on – the stuff of struggle and waiting on God, of not being able to hear his voice or of looking for it in places where it isn’t– this has been going on since time immemorial. As I’ve said before: there are two things we all do… we all struggle and suffer in some way … and we all try to get out of it! That being said, it is natural for us to feel the frustration and anger that comes with this kind of thing. God is big enough to handle our anger, by the way. What we need to do is be honest with ourselves and with Him about it – in fact that may be the best first step toward a way out.

FACTS --- FAITH ---FEELINGS

Even if we just look at our scriptures from this morning, we have enough evidence to the contrary, to begin to adjust our position. We want to ask questions, like “Does God really listen? Does God really even care about me? Is this just a one-sided relationship?” And this is especially hard when you feel you are doing all that you should do to be in the relationship… praying, reading the Word, trying to listen to God, day after day. Perhaps you can even feel His presence here in worship or when you pray, but there are just no concrete answers that seem to come.

So how do we move through the dry times, the wilderness times, the in-between times – when “the Lord is My Shepherd” doesn’t roll easily off our lips? How do we gain stamina and perseverance – how do we “keep on Keeping On!”

First we have to understand the nature of FAITH. Hebrews tells us that faith is multi-faceted:

“It is the assurance of things hoped for” -- ASSURANCE is a word here that indicates the solidity of a belief – the sure foundation of a thing that we believe.

That sure foundation is God Himself and His Word given to us in the Holy Scriptures. What that means is that when we have doubt – which is primarily a feeling of not having a foundation, we must remind ourselves, sometime over and over and over again, of the foundation that we DO have in God and His Word.

This is what Paul was talking about to the Philippian church when he told them to “Think on these things: Stuff that is TRUE, HONORABLE, RIGHT, PURE, LOVELY, GOOD REPUTE, EXCELLENCE, WORTHY OF PRAISE. Dwell on these things” Paul says. So the first step out of the depths of doubt is to shift what your eyes are looking at. In the very next chapter, after the Hall of Faith, the writer of Hebrews says we should “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.” Admittedly, Jesus did not have an easy time of it, and he himself prayed for that cup to be taken away from him – can we not find some solace and common ground with Him in that suffering. Paul seems to think it is essential training.

The second facet of FAITH is that it is THE CONVICTION of things not seen.

Conviction is another interesting word that has a couple facets to it. Conviction can be a positive for us or a negative against us, can’t it? We can feel convicted of a truth from Scripture or that something is “right” – and we can also be convicted of a sin or crime; in fact that term is typically used in our legal system. The word is also translated as “evidence.” It is that by which a thing is tested and proved.

So what we learn here is that FAITH is something that has to be tested and proved.

The question isn’t so much about God as it is about US!

Further, the writer of Hebrews goes on in the sixth verse of chapter 11 to say, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who come to God must believe that He is (Remember that His Name revealed to Moses was , I AM) – He is the One who exists, before all time and space, and who does not owe us a thing. He is the creator of the universe (v.3) creating through His Word only – EX NIHILO , out of nothing.

And finally, we see something here in this letter that is really hard for us to do: “AND that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Well, isn’t that exactly what we have been struggling with. Where are the rewards?

Look with me at the Psalm again: Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd Psalm

I can imagine David in his young years with the flock on a hillside and his guitar sitting there making up a great song about sheep and shepherds: What would the sheep be thinking about him, their shepherd?

The LORD is my shepherd – a statement of fact! Yes or No? Which is it for you?

Is He your shepherd or is He not? It’s a decision, not something that is based on whether you feel good today or whether your bank account is full or empty.

I shall NOT BE IN WANT – This is state of being, and one that is incompatible with the first part of the sentence. It is stated as another fact. Though we often feel that we are “IN” want, we must realign our thinking and get our head straight, by looking at the realities of our life. Even a “poor” life in America is one that is mostly without “want.” What has God given you? Make a list. Start with your breath and move outward from there!

HE makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.

For a sheep these are the essentials of provision from the Shepherd. How are your essentials? Your actual needs. You know --- health, food, shelter. Daily bread is what we ask for each Sunday, right?

He REVIVES my soul and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.

What is happening in your soul? Are you looking for a revival – or are you asking for other stuff? What is the desire of your heart? Are you delighting in the Lord?

And then the shepherd takes a turn in the Psalm, that we are no particularly fond of: Though I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Can’t we walk AROUND the valley? Can’t we go another way, LORD? No we can only get there by going THROUGH.

But God is with us … God is with YOU. He has a rod of discipline and a staff for guidance, the Shepherds crook, because, baby, sheep are dumb, dumb, dumb. They sometime have their head on the wrong end! They go off in any direction, with their head down, eating as they go. And so will we!

But God is with us … God is with YOU! And the promises of these last two verses are worth hearing, after this week of upset in the news and in our world – after the months and years that many have had, struggling in this economy and digging to make ends meet. Listen to the promise:

“You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; You have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over. Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

This is what its all about, friends. Paul calls what we are going through in this life, “Light and momentary affliction.” I the light of eternity and for the length of eternity, “I will dwell in the house of the LORD.”

And for the brief span of this lifetime, “Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

Those are the facts, man. Whether we are in or out of the Valley, whether we are walking Through it now or have been or will be in the future, no matter. Why?

Because The Lord is our Shepherd.

That is the settled fact. Let nothing distract us from that view, all circumstances to the contrary!

Amen and Amen.

Shall we pray:

Again we pray together our opening collect/prayer…

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.