Commending Ourselves - God's Way

June 24, 2012

Fr. Philip Eberhart

4^th Sunday of Pentecost

Commending ourselves – God’s Way

As I read the lessons for this morning I was struck by the recurring theme of storms in life that are stilled by God, by the Lord Jesus Christ -  I was struck by the list of Paul’s hardships and then my eyes fell on the previous phrase, just before that list in 2 Cor 6:

Look at the reading with me for a moment:

“As servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way:”

Commend is to “represent as worthy, desireable – to recommend”

Paul’s point here, and I’ll make it right up front today, is that we “commend” ourselves in the service of God by pressing through the hardships and the terrible circumstances that come our way as well as by pressing into the character of Jesus that these hardships duly produce in our lives.

This and other sections of Paul’s letters paint a picture that is uncomfortable for us in our western form of Christianity – great endurance; afflictions; hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger.  Paul is recounting in shorthand, the tale of his apostolic ministry of church planting!

It’s interesting!  When we here in our day “commend ourselves” it’s usually in the form of a resume, while we are job hunting.  We list our accomplishments – we list what we excel at, what we’re good at, in order to show how we might meet a need that the employer has that we can fill. 

How differently Paul approaches “commending himself” as a servant of God!  We think that he should have used the list in Phil 3 here, instead of the list before us!  You remember the list right?

Circumcised the eighth day…

Of the nation of Israel…

Of the tribe of Benjamin

A Hebrew of Hebrews,

As to the Law… a Pharisee;

As to Zeal, a persecutor of the church;

As to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless!

Sounds like a great pedigree – there is much to commend Paul to his fellows here!!

But before launching into the list he says this:

(reading from the New Living Translation):    We who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised.  We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us.  We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could! Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!”

Paul is contrasting the attainments of the flesh in his lineage and life accomplishments as a Jew, a Pharisee and zealot in persecuting the church, with what he now knows to be the true basis for any “commendation” of his ministry.

He says of all his accomplishments – of his Jewish pedigree – “now I consider these things as rubbish – worthless – because of what Christ has done!”  Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ!”

As we turn back to our reading in 2 Cor 6 we can see that there are three distinct sections in the listing that Paul puts forward here as “commending ourselves”:

The section we’ve mentioned above of hardships preceeds, but is then followed by a listing that is reminiscent of other listings of the FRUIT of godly life, in both Paul’s letters and in Peter’s second letter:

“In Purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love,

In the word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness for the

Right hand and the left…”

Sound familiar?

Paul’s list in Galatians of the Fruit of the Spirit:

“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”

And the list we find in Peter’s second letter:

“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”

It seems that for Paul (and for Peter), the commendation that they seek arises from  hardship in the form of the character of Jesus -- produced by the hardships themselves.  Our commendation in life, comes in the form of character, that Jesus and the Spirit of Jesus produces in our lives through the diligence of pressing through the difficulties that come our way and into the character of Godliness and “holiness, without which no one will see the Lord!”

And another interesting thing then happens in Paul’s description in our reading:  a third section. Let me read now from the New Living again:

“We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors.  We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed.  Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.”

Can you see the progression here?

Stage 1 is just hardship – yuk, going through the hard things in life as we all do, but the message is GO THROUGH

Stage 2 is God’s grace to use the hardships of our life, the times we are “UNDER the circumstances,” to create a new kind of life in us – a JESUS LIFE.  So we are being formed, almost pressed, into His image and likeness, day by day.

Stage 3 is where we begin to see God’s purpose of fruitfulness and character in the circumstances of our lives and we begin to see that those things only matter, to the extent that they are forming us into His image!

Two chapters earlier in this letter Paul makes such a reference, beginning in Chapter 4, verse 7:

“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”

And Paul ends that section of his letter with this thought:

“For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

Friends, how can we fix our gaze on things that can’t be seen?  There are a lot of changes going on around us, a lot of people who are in difficulty or in transition, a lot of people who are ill or suffering in some way, in body or mind.  And that’s just here at REZ!  Not to mention all that is going on around us in our world, at our jobs and in our neighborhoods.   What would happen if we began to see it all differently?

What would happen if, in the midst of the storms of life, we realized that Jesus is right here in the boat with us!! 

We seem to think that when Jesus woke up and calmed the storm, the metaphor can be made to our lives, and that He will simply command all the bad stuff to go away!  Isn’t that what all that means?  Hmmm?

Isn’t this to be read as a metaphor for the storms of our own lives?

I think it wasn’t a metaphor – it was a real circumstance!  One in which the disciples were fearful and despairing of their very lives, right?  They were actually incredulous that Jesus could be asleep during such a storm!!  And they did everything they could in their own power until finally, they gave up, and woke Jesus, and appealed to Him for His input.

Now there’s the metaphor for our lives!  We row and row and row and row against the wind and the waves, our sail gets battered and torn and our boat is about to sink, and THEN we come to Jesus for His help.  THEN we cry out to Him, “Save us, LORD.” 

What would happen if we learned the lesson that Jesus is in the boat!  That all the authority and power of the universe is right here in the boat with us!!!

At that point, the storms can rage all they want.  Sure the boat will be tossed, BUT JESUS…

BUT JESUS!

Jesus Christ stands in our boat today, friends.  In your boat!  No matter what the storm you are facing, be it trouble or perplexity or being hunted down, or knocked down, or suffering or in danger of death. 

Jesus Christ stands in our boat today – in your boat – through troubles, hardships, calamities of every kind: being beaten, put in prison, facing angry mobs, working to exhaustion, enduring sleepless nights, going without food.

BUT JESUS!!

Jesus is creating in us HIS LIFE and HIS CHARACTER!!  So we look to what is unseen.

The writer of Hebrews put it this way:

“…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.      AMEN.

Father's Day 2012

Father’s Day
June 17, 2012
Fr. Philip Eberhart

============================================ 

Have you ever gotten caught out on the road and a song comes on the radio that catches you off guard?  Like George Straight’s “It’s a Love Without End, Amen.”

Or worst of all, “Butterfly Kisses!”  OMG!  I’ve had to pull off the road more than once cause I couldn’t see to drive.  Especially when I first heard that song.  They should not allow dad’s of 4 year olds to listen to this music!!!

Before the girls were born, Val and I tried to watch Father of the Bride several times and were always interrupted by preterm labor!!  I wonder what that was all about.  But after they were born I couldn’t finish the movie for several years!!

I told a friend one time, and he told me that that is why God made adolescence!!  To prepare dads for their little girls to leave home!

Well, it worked a little bit, but I can tell you that I’m going to have a real problem with “giving my daughters away.”  Jus’ sayin.

Fatherhood is been somewhat of a theme in my life. 
A theme that is both ironic and iconic for me.

 Ironic, because of the 12 years that we struggled to have children, and then that prayer in the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem was answered with, “just what we ordered”:  “two, beautiful, healthy children.”  We just didn’t know to put “one at a time!”  And a Rabbi friend recently told me that we needed to actually put two separate requests in the wall!

 Isn’t God good?

Iconic, because the theme of Fatherhood has become central to my identity, not only as a “Father” in the Anglican priesthood, but because of the mantle and anointing that God seems to have placed in and on my life. 

 I took on that name out of deference to the people, many of you, at St. George’s where it was a customary form of address for the priest.  But the name has become something more, a kind of calling and an anointing.

Icons are things which we use to gain a “window” into the spiritual realm, through visual meditation and prayer.  My goal in taking on the name, Fr. Phil, was to be an icon, in this and in the wider community, of Orthodox Anglicanism, of unashamed Anglicans, who are in fellowship with the larger Body of believing Anglicans around the world. 

I have friends from many corners of the Body of Christ, who relate to me as Fr Phil, not because of an authority structure, but because of trusted and loving relationships that have been developed over years of ministry together.

And I hope, an ICON of the Father’s Love.

I got a note this morning from Aly on Facebook, the whole world’s open journal!
She wrote:  “Words cannot describe how blessed I am to have you as my dad.  You were there for my every step of my life (& Kiri’s too) and taught me a lot about everything. You are always there when I need a snuggle, someone to cry on, laugh with, or to just give the world’s greatest bear hug.  I am proud to call you my father. I could think of no one greater fit for the job than you.  Thank you for loving me unconditionally. I love you more than anything daddy.”

 Now I don’t know about you, but if I were driving I’d have to stop again!!!

An ICON of the Father’s Love!

Dad’s,

My prayer for you is that God, the Father, “from whom every father in heaven and on earth derives His name” will grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith,

 AND

That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to KNOW the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

This prayer of Paul’s is so fitting for this Father’s Day, as we consider what it is to be a father in our day.

Fatherhood in our country is under attack and has been on the decline for generations!  Fatherlessness is at the root of our greatest malady’s in our society and I believe that God is calling all men to step to the plate and swing away!!!

Our country needs men to step up.  Whether you’re a biological father or not.  We need men to be like Jesus!

Jesus said to the disciples on that last night, “if you have seen me you have seen the Father.”  Jesus was fully the revelation of the Father to our world!  Paul later wrote that he was the “visible image of the invisible God!” 

He taught more about the Father and the Kingdom of God than anything else in his three years, and he modeled for us the Father’s sacrificial, unfailing love.

As our prayer says, “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!”

Men, we must live our lives in reference to Jesus, as Jesus lived His life in reference to His Father.  Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He seed the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (Jn. 5:19)

Our lives as fathers are to be modeled on Jesus life.  It is only here that we can find the connection, the example and the power to live a life that brings glory to the name Father and to the God who is Father of all.

No we won’t do it perfectly, like Jesus did, but if we aim high, our results will certainly be better than not aiming at all!!

So let’s aim at Jesus and his example, because we know that someday, if not already, our sons and daughters will be following our example, not our advice!!

 Let us pray.

 Let the men stand, whether a ‘father’ or not.

Most merciful God,

We call you ‘Father’ and draw from your word and example in Jesus Christ, the example and power for our own lives as men and fathers.  We ask you to come, by your Spirit now, to draw our hearts near to you and to cause us to see you more clearly as we look to your Word for strength and direction.  We pray that you “turn the hearts of children to their fathers and the father’s to their children” in our land, and remove, by your mercy, the curse of fatherlessness from our land.  Let us, standing here today, be the beginning of a wave of faithfulness and unfailing love, as we come to imitate you, our Father and our God.

We ask all these things for the sake of Jesus and His Kingdom among us, by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Amen and Amen

Blueprint for Pentecost

Pentecost 2012

May 27, 2012

Fr. Philip Eberhart

Acts 2:  Blueprint for Pentecost

So often in our lives we know that we have a need – a deep seated, even sometimes desperate need – but we don’t know how to fulfill that need, or even how to get it fulfilled!  Our need of the Holy Spirit in our lives is like that.  In fact at the most basic level of life in Christ, it IS that need!

It’s very common these days to hear people asking the question, “Isn’t there more to life than this?”  People of all walks and stations of life:   rich as well as poor, accomplished people and homeless people, professionals, day laborers, shop clerks and managers – all are in the same boat, searching for that “something more” that makes life worth living.

Well friends, today is the day we celebrate the secret!  We celebrate the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world, poured out on all flesh, by the Father and the Son.  The Secret! 

The Holy Spirit himself is the Secret!  The secret to the abundant life that Jesus promised to his followers in John 10.  The Holy Spirit is the Secret to the motive power for living a victorious life as a follower of Jesus!  The Holy Spirit is not the fancy, optional equipment that makes your car special, no!  The Holy Spirit is the engine, that moves the car down the road.  

I love that Subaru commercial where the dad is leaning into the window and giving instructions about the mirror and the seat belt and the camera pans to a 5 year old in the driver’s seat – and we all panic – then he continues about the cell phone and hands his little girl the keys, only to pan back to the 16 year old, going out for her first time in the car!  That’s how I feel about my role as a pastor.

At some point in your life, you have to take the keys and put them into the ignition and fire this baby, called the Christian Life up!!  But getting “fired up” is the purview – it’s the will and the work of the Holy Spirit himself.  But you need to know that you have a part in this process, just like all of the processes of salvation, God has made you to have a volitional part in the process.  

Last week, Valerie delivered a word that the Lord had laid on her heart for our church body, but that word applies equally to this sermon this morning!  “You have not because you ask not!”  Friends, our Christian experience is anemic.  Anemia is a constant state of weakness, caused by lack of red blood cells which carry needed oxygen to the cells of the body – the carry the fuel for the fire that keeps our body going.

How willing do you think God is that we should be fully alive in Him and fully active in His Kingdom and its work?  Well, God is so willing that He sent his Only Son to die in order to wipe away all the barriers that stood in front of you – that stood between you and Him – that stood between you and asking God for ALL that He has for you!

When Jesus said, “It is finished!” this is what He was talking about.  All the obstacles have been removed – all our sin, all our bondages, all our addictions – the power of them have been wiped out and swept away in the moment of Jesus death.  “It is finished” wiped the slate clean and God reached down in that moment and tore the curtain of separation between His people and His Presence in two!

How anxious is God for you to come and ask Him for ALL that he has for you?  Hmmmm?

It’s interesting though, we are preoccupied with the old toys.  We would rather stay in the sand box and play with the dump trucks there than go and drive the real thing!  We would rather play with the cars on our indoor race track than ask Father for the keys.

Anyone here ever known a 15 year old boy?  How interested are they in cars?  Man, I was obsessed.  I had a subscription to Hot Rod Magazine!  I bought my first car the day I turned 16 – a 1966 Pontiac Tempest – appropriately named!  It had bucket seats and a big motor and could get on down the highway.  I lived, ate, slept and breathed cars.  I had all the accessories, the wheels, the big tires, the stereo tape deck – yeah, I’m that old! – but the most important part of that car was the engine.  The rest was just window dressing!

Friends, how is your engine?

The presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians isn’t optional equipment!  God has given us the most powerful force in the universe – His Spirit – to move us along in the life He has designed for us to live!!

I want to look at the outline of the 2^nd Chapter of Acts this morning as an outline that we can overlay onto our Christian Life.  This overlay will keep us focused on the main things as pertaining to the Holy Spirit and the force and direction of His life in our life and in the midst of His People.

Acts 2:1   Willingness, Availability & Obedience

All that has gone before in Acts, chapter 1, has been the orchestration of these three be-attitudes in the community of the believers and followers of Jesus.  Jesus said, several times, “stay here until…”  -  don’t get out ahead of me, don’t try to help me out by doing things out there in your own power!!  WAIT HERE –

For ten days – from Ascension to Pentecost morning, the whole company of the disciples waited and prayed.  Friends, if we did that for ten days, we would have this kind of Pentecost too!  I’m convinced that the root of our emptiness and powerlessness when it comes to the Holy Spirit is our busy-ness.  Our lack is in our preparation – in our willingness – in our availability to Him – and in our obedience when He calls, when He gives us instructions!

Acts 2:2  The Suddenly

In God’s timetable there is no suddenly!!  It is only from our earthly perception that what God does happens suddenly, but when God comes on the scene, things change!  Rushing, violent wind – tongues of fire – the gift of the Holy Spirit given to each one there – the speaking forth as God gave utterance.  

You know we can make a lot of all the phenomenology around the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Much has been made of the giving of these gifts, especially the gift of tongues.  Most all of the Pentecost experiences recounted in Acts include this phenomenon or the presence of other gifts, such as prophesy and healing, as signs of the coming of the Spirit.

The point is, friends, you will know when this happens.

The word in verse two for violent, only occurs once in the whole of scripture.  Here in Acts 2:2 – and its root only occurs another 4 times.  Its not a common occurrence that you could mistake for something else!!!  It’s like being handed the keys to the car!  Your heart is racing, the blood is pumping, the senses are keen; you put the key in the ignition and turn it and wow!!!  The suddenly happens!!

And then you turn it off.  And you turn it on again.  And you turn it off. And you turn it on again.  WOW?   NO!!!

The engine and the key aren’t just for your fascination in hearing the sound of the engine or turning it on and off to make sure it will start!  The engine is here for a reason.  Look at verse 5:  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.

Here is our first hint as to purpose!  The reason the Holy Spirit was sent, wasn’t for the amusement of the Church!  It wasn’t for the edification, the up-building, of the Church!  It was because “there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem!”

You don’t have an engine in your car so you can go out and start it and listen to it run!  Or sit and start it and rev it up, over and over and over.  Wouldn’t that seem a little ridiculous to you if you saw someone doing it?  Just revving up their car but never going anywhere?

The Holy Spirit, the engine in the Christian life, is MOTIVE power!  This MOTOR is given to you because around you live “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs” – actually lets bring it home. . . around you live residents of Arapahoe, Douglas, Jefferson, and Denver counties, residents of Aurora, Centennial, Lakewood, Littleton, Evergreen, Castle Rock, Parker, Denver, Commerce City, and you can name the neighborhoods and businesses that you work at and live in.

I had opportunity to listen to a young lady in our midst who is being given an vision for an orphanage in India – why? Because she works with a group of Indian people who have a heart for their nation and its plight, who belong to Jesus!  She is able to minister to the people from India, from the comfort of her own home!  

The Holy Spirit is sent, my friends, from God, by Jesus, to you, FOR THEM!!!

Jesus said it in Acts 1, during his preparatory teaching in his last speech ever to the disciples:  His very last words were:  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”  If we combine this with the other picture we have of Jesus last moments with the disciples, from Matthew, we see a clearer picture of our charge, our commission, as well as the power to accomplish it:

Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age!”

The rest of Acts 2 is Peter telling this story to those people.  If you want to know what to say when God sends you to the people of the world, study what Peter said here in ACTS 2.  It is the gospel in a nutshell.

And then the chapter ends with verses that are very familiar to us here at REZ!

The outcome of the day of Pentecost was a community!  A living, dynamic, growing and alive community of faith.  The rest of Acts is the REST OF THE STORY!  But it begin here in Acts 2.

“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.  And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.  Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Friends, we have not, because we ask not.  Let’s ask dad for the keys!  Amen.

Mother's Day

Easter 6

May 13, 2012  -  Mother’s Day

Fr. Philip Eberhart

Bearing Fruit In Christ

Good morning … 

And especially this morning, good morning to all of our ladies.  Today is Mother’s

Day and we pray for and bless all of our moms, but we honor all of our ladies today. The roses in the back are for you to take home and enjoy – and they are for all the ladies here today.

Today, appropriately, our Gospel reading is about bearing fruit.  And in preparing I had to ask the simple and foundational question, “What IS fruit?”   According to Strong’s Concordance the outline of biblical usage includes:

1) fruit = yield

       a) the fruit of the trees, vines, of the fields

                                         (something that we “harvest”)

       b) the fruit of the womb, i.e.  progeny, posterity, children

                                         (the physical “yield” of our oneness or union)

2) that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result

       a) work, act, deed   (e.g., the Yield of the Spirit)

       b) advantage, profit, utility  (e.g., the Yield of Righteousness)

       c) praises, which are presented to God as a thank offering  (the Yield of Thankfulness)

       d) to gather fruit (i.e. a reaped harvest) into life eternal (as into a granary), is used in

                 fig. discourse of those who by their labors have fitted souls to obtain eternal life

                                    (The Yield of a Christian’s Witness)

So FRUIT can be many things,  it can take many forms, but it is always the “yield of living.”  Jesus made a clear distinction between good fruit and bad fruit.  So our lives can, as trees and bushes and fields can, have bad fruit.  Or  NO FRUIT.  Jesus also told parables about trees and fields where fruit was not abounding.  The parable of the soils (the sower) is about the fruit that the field or soil was able to produce under certain conditions – and interestingly, even the good soil had varying levels of productivity in Jesus parable, “some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold.” 

Earlier in this very chapter is where Jesus was walking on the way to Gethsemane, through the vineyards of the Kidron Valley between Jerusalem and the Garden, and as he walked, he taught.  The disciples following along, he pointed to the vines, perhaps laden with grapes or fruit of some kind, and said:

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

This was our gospel reading last week, and then this week’s:

Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

Jesus begins this parable or teaching with one of His “I AM” statements.  “I AM THE TRUE VINE.”  And, Jesus continues, we are “THE BRANCHES.”  The Fathers role is to “dress” or tend the vine and its branches, pruning, cleansing them in order that they will produce fruit.  This is an on-going process as the goal of the process is to move us from “no fruit” to “fruit” to “more fruit” to “much fruit.”  It is God’s design and plan that you live a life that is “fruitful” in Christ.  And there is the Key -  IN  CHRIST !!!   Jesus uses the word “ABIDE.”  We are all familiar with his warning, “… apart from Me you can do …  NOTHING.”  Everything, therefore, depends on our ABIDING.   Our abiding IN Jesus Christ.  So what does “abiding” mean?  It’s used 120 times in the NT and translated half of those times as ABIDE. Its also translated with words like remain, dwell, continue, tarry, endure and so forth.  It is defined as

“to continue to be present” or “to be held, kept, continually.”  In terms of our state of being

IN CHRIST it means, “to remain as one, not to become another or different.”

Abiding means we have staying power!  For us in our century I think the greatest challenge we face is our ability to abide, especially in the face of all the distractions that we have in our world – in our day-to-day lives.  We are an ADD culture – that is we have an Abiding Deficit Disorder!!!  It is because we do not ATTEND or give ATTENTION to our life IN Christ.  Jesus often gets pushed off to the margins of our life – and this isn’t a new thing!   Keep in mind that the famous line we quote to unbelievers, about which the painting was made:  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” wasn’t written to unbelievers – It was written to the Church of Laodicea in Rev. 3, verse 20!!!  That is... TO US!

Paul’s prayer for the Church in Ephesus asked that they be “rooted and grounded in love” – listen:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Friends, THAT is abiding.  That was Paul’s prayer for the people he loved and it is my prayer for you today.  It is out of that kind of relationship that we come to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.  It is out of that kind of connection that the Fruit of the Spirit, mentioned by Paul in his letter to Galatia, grows in our lives.  We cannot produce this fruit on our own!  It is the outcome – the yield – of oneness with Jesus Christ.

Abiding is the key to fruitfulness!  It is not our part to “worry” about our fruitfulness and watch out for God, who is coming to lop us off the vine.  That is truly “fruit-less” thinking.  Abiding means turning our attention to Jesus – attending to Him and to His Life within us.  Attending to our time with Him in His Word and in Prayer.  Attending to our time in Fellowship with His people and Attending to our Communion in His Grace.

Sounds strangely like another verse that we’ve heard a lot about here:

“And they devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.”

Sounds strangely like our big three BE-attitudes here at REZ:

Willingness – Availability – Obedience  !!

Equals

Bearing Fruit, bearing More fruit and bearing Much Fruit.

Let me pray it again, after Paul:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Amen and Amen.

Easter 5
May 6, 2012
Fr. Philip Eberhart

Anatomy of a Divine Appointment



Our first lesson this morning is quite an extraordinary (to us) tale of the evangelistic enterprise of Philip, the apostle and evangelist of the early church. Acts 8 is the story of the beginning of the church, beyond Jerusalem. As he left and instructed the disciples, Jesus told them that “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power to be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to all the ends of the earth.” This is a very familiar passage to us here at REZ and we are doing our best to put ourselves in the “flow” of God’s Spirit as His work takes us out of these four walls and into the world in witness, both near and far. Its actually far easier for us, because we don’t OWN the four walls – they are a temporary meeting place, not a fortress of retreat.

This morning I want to take a look at the steps – the experience – of Philip, the evangelist, as he was led out from the home church and he went, first to Samaria and then, by divine appointment, was sent on a jaunt to witness to one person!

Have you ever been somewhere and had an encounter with someone who you knew was a “divine appointment?” Who would say that you have had a similar kind of experience? I’m not trying to gauge spirituality here, but simple experience. What we are talking about is the experience of being “led” by God in some tangible sense. You knew that you were there “for” that person – for their comfort, for their spiritual questions, for the impact that your life brought to theirs – in whatever small way. We realize that God’s economy is in play: That there are no mistakes or chance meetings – that the Spirit of God is still very, very active in pursuing and wooing those who do not know Jesus, to come to know Him in a personal and saving relationship. And we get to be a part of that plan and work!!

EXCITED?

Philip was!! He left Jerusalem when the trouble broke out after the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Look at the beginning of this chapter, Acts, chapter 8. It opens at the scene of Stephen’s death, with Saul, the young and ardent Pharisee, giving his hearty approval and taking the cause even further (in verse 3) as he began to “ravage the church” (NASB) – going from house to house, dragging off men and women and throwing them in prison.”

I love the very next verse – it wasn’t just Philip, the apostle who was an evangelist!
Verse 4: “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.” Philip went to Samaria (think Acts 1:8) and preached with extraordinary results – great crowds and great power from God accompanying the proclamation of the Gospel. Acts 8 is the Samaritan Pentecost! The story from verses 5 to 25 are the account of this event in and throughout Samaria.

But I want to turn quickly to our story from our first reading this morning, of Philip with the Ethiopian government official. Let’s begin by looking at verse 26: Right away we come across our first stumbling block: An Angel of the Lord spoke to Philip!

If I asked for a show of hands on that one, I might get a few among our group here, but by in large, we are without a great deal of experience in having an angel of the Lord speak to us! How do we translate this? Can we not go out for Jesus without a directive from God Himself? Of course we can. The point of my making a big deal of this, is we need to TUNE IN.

You need to know that Philip didn’t have this big, personal angel that talked to him all the time! We have a name for people like that, and its not Apostle!!! BUT…
Philip was listening!! Philip was TUNED IN to what the Lord was saying.

Have you ever spent time just getting quiet and trying to TUNE IN to what God might be saying to you – in order to fulfill the directive of ACTS 1:8? In order to fulfill the commandment of Jesus in MATT 28, to Go into all the World?

I believe that having that intention is key to our listening and to our hearing from God! Philip was anxious to get onto the next ASSIGNMENT, so he was LISTENING, and he heard – the voice of the Angel of the Lord, in this case, giving him direction for the next step.

“Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza”
Then there is a parenthetical remark: “(This is a desert road)” Why would that matter? This is a storyteller’s device – a way to say (the road less traveled). Philip was being sent to somewhere, where he was least likely to encounter the great crowds he had just experienced! Sometimes God has us in places where we are up front and the fun begins!! The Holy Spirit is moving and the healings are happening, the demons are jumping and people are being saved and baptized. But sometimes God puts us in quiet, out-of-the-way spots, where not many pass by, in order to reach ONE. Always remember the KINGDOM IS BUILT ONE LIFE AT A TIME!

Next line: “So he got up and went;”

Remember our three little BIG words for life @ REZ?
Willingness …. Availability …. And Obedience

Philip was all of those in these two verses! So, He got up and went!! Obedience
And what did Philip find. A chariot traveling the road – a chariot of some substance, the treasurer of Ethiopia aboard, a court official of the queen! And he just happened to be reading from the OT book of Isaiah in the 53rd chapter!!! What a coincidence!!

What is the underlying substrata – the foundational soil of this whole story?
In a word, LISTEN!

The experience of Philip here is based on his willingness to LISTEN …
To God and to another as they passed by.

Then Philip asked one question: “Do you understand what you are reading?”

Have you ever noticed that as people begin to be encountered by the Holy Spirit they often find themselves with questions? Perhaps about life or circumstances, but on occasion, conversation will turn to the subject of scripture.

If we will listen to people, often they will ask the questions!

“Please tell me … (I love that!) … “of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?”

“And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him!

How do you “preach Jesus” to someone? What are the basics? What do you tell them and what do they need to know?

Does anyone here have a bible with Verse 37 in it? In the text of the scripture itself. All of them have it, just most of the modern translations have it as a footnote.

It is not in our reading in the bulletin, but it is in the KJV. Anyone?
“And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

Why this discrepancy among the versions of our bible?
Because the KJV was written in the early 1600’s, and was based on the current Greek manuscripts and scholarship and on the Latin Vulgate. Since the 1600’s a great many new and many older Greek manuscripts have come to light, which do not include this verse 37. That is the difference that the modern biblical translators are dealing with, and why the verse is placed in the column or footnotes, rather than in the actual text of the scriptures. (Just a little aside to help you budding bible scholars.)

But the verse itself is interesting in its content: “If you believe with all your heart you may [be baptized]. And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” What we see here, if it is indeed a later addition, is an article of faith for baptism. Not unlike the words of Paul in Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

So back to our point:
Philip was willing, available and obedient to God’s voice and direction. He went somewhere that didn’t really make a lot of sense (a desert road out of Jerusalem to the south). As he went, he encountered one man, who was reading scripture and had questions about it. Philip asked a single question, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man invited him to ride along and the conversation led to salvation for the Ethiopian court official – and I might add, for many in Ethiopia!
In fact, Ethiopia, not Alexandria, is considered to be the cradle of African Christianity, and here we see the root of that work, that we take part in so gratefully today.

A Final question?

Are you listening?

Let us pray.

The Presence of JOY

Easter 2
April 15, 2012
Fr. Philip Eberhart

The Presence of Joy!

Have you ever had the experience of knowing facts but not knowing the full ramification of them … until … that moment when the light comes on! The truth dawns and suddenly, there is this presence – this fullness – of joy and rejoicing?

Can you put yourselves in the place of the disciples, during those three days?

THEN...

Three years of your life invested in the hope of the Messiah.
Three years of seeing the miraculous work of this Jesus, from Nazareth.
Three years of faith rising, every time something happened!

Jesus and Peter … all the history… his confession and the rebuke
The great catch in Galilee, the day at Peter’s house,
The healing of the man let down through the roof
The healing of his mother in law
That night on the lake – walking out there with Jesus…

His brother, Andrew and Philip – the feeding in Galilee – so many… we thought ---

James and John, the sons of Zebedee – sons of thunder he called them – their mom
So bold to ask for her sons places of honor.

All the discussions – arguments really, about who was going to sit where when Jesus… well – you know.

Now all that is just swept away.
The King and the Kingdom… swept away.
The hope and the glory… swept away.
The things he did and said … all swept away… by horrible crucifixion and death.
By shouts from the crowd, “CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!

My God … did they not understand WHO this man is … … … was?
Were we wrong? Apparently!

Now nothing remains.
We are in mortal danger, just because we come from Galilee.

Fear! Dread for our lives.
Mixed with the cup of grief and loss.

Can you get that low in your imagining of that day and those nights after the death of Jesus?

Tears and grief … a hundred plus people sitting in dank, dark, silence … like captives
in a prison cell – a sniff here and there from the women who were there – a cough heard that sounded like a rifle shot in an echo chamber.

Weeping over what has been lost – over Who has been lost.
Or at least WHO we thought He was.

All that He said to us – all the promise and hope, all the joy – swept away.

Then – morning

A report just after sunrise
WHAT? The body of Jesus is gone! But how?

Oh, its just the women. Probably hysteria or they went to the wrong tomb.

NO! Peter and John went too and the body of Jesus is gone … and the weirdest thing?
His wrappings were there! And John said, that his head bandage was folded.
Taken off and folded.

Some of the women say they saw angels and some saw Jesus Himself – alive and walking and talking to them. And He’s different … somehow … some didn’t recognize him at first!

Is it possible? O God, could it really be possible?

He raised others from the grave… but this?

------------

All day there is this tension – between unhoped hope and deepest despair.

Jesus said things like this himself – in fact, the charge that finally led to his death was, “He said, ‘Destroy this temple, and I’ll raise it up in three days.’ “ Could it be?

Several times in fact, he said this … something about rising… but we didn’t know.

-------------

And then this evening, the two from Emmaus, came back and told us of the ‘stranger’ who walked with them all the way and talked and taught them about the old sayings regarding the messiah, suffering and …

And then … at supper together … he broke bread, and they saw Him for who he was,
And he disappeared!


NOW...
So here we are, in the Upper Room, this morning – let’s say this evening…

It’s been a wild ride of emotion for the past three or four days – horror really.
But now…

And Suddenly, Jesus is standing in the room.

Let’s reread that first paragraph.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (St. John 20)

PEACE! We were so far from that!!
JESUS! We saw the wounds – His hands and side, he still bore them – the scars and the stripes. The places where the thorns, well, you know.
OH GOD! It’s really Him! All they’ve said today - it’s all true! IT’S ALL TRUE !!!!

PEACE and JOY!
How do you contain this? Overwhelming JOY…. Like a dam burst inside of me!!

Once again I am swept away!
----------

Peter would later refer to this time as being filled with “joy inexpressible and full of glory”
(1 Peter 1:8)

In fact, it is almost as if Peter is reminiscing about this passage in John and the example of Thomas when he wrote his letter:

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

Friends, I don’t really have a category to put this kind of joy into. We have joy at a birth of a baby or of an offer for a new job. We have joy at watching Tim Tebow pull another one out of the hat! Or Todd Helton, hit another walk off home run, winning the game.

But how can these things compare? I don’t have any categories for this kind of joy.

And it’s in both of our readings from John the Apostle.

In his letter he wrote:

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Friends, John writes…

All that we’ve experienced of Jesus and his life… we pass on to you … so we can be in KOINONIA – in Fellowship and so that our JOY may be complete.

My prayer for you this week is that the JOY dawns.

The joy of realizing IT’S ALL TRUE.
The joy of knowing IT WAS ALL FOR ME.
The joy of seeing JESUS, in all His humble splendor – the Crucified and Risen KING

To hear Him say to you, PEACE Be With You.
And to rejoice with the disciple in that Upper Room when they encountered

The Presence of Joy Itself … Jesus Risen and Alive in ME.

Let us pray.

Dear Jesus,

Come this day among us here – reveal yourself to us and cause us to be swept into that river of “joy inexpressible and full of glory”. Stand among us this morning, risen and living your life in our midst. Come, Holy Spirit, reveal the Risen Son to us this day as we walk in the light of His life and love. Give us communion with your Son, O God and with His Spirit, as we take His body and blood – let His life enliven us to truly live His risen life with one another and to be His Body, reaching out to the world in His Name.

For the sake of His Kingdom and for the Fame of His Name.

Amen.

Easter Message

Easter Sunday 2012
April 8, 2012
Fr. Philip Eberhart


The Last & The First Question of All

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Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!


Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!


Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!


The Lord is Risen INDEED. Alleluia!! INDEED.

The Apostle Paul tells us over and over and over in many different settings, sermons and teachings that this affirmation we have just made is the central affirmation of the Christian life and doctrine. Without it there is no faith, - no way, no truth, no life – no “Behold, I am with you even to the end of the age!”

I’ve titled this Easter message: “The Last and The First Question of All” because I believe, as Paul seemed to, that the FACT of the Resurrection is a first order fact that must be settled in our hearts and minds before anything else can be settled.

You’ve heard of the First Order Questions of Life. Right? Who am I? What am I doing here? Why me? These are all questions that we have rolling around in our hearts and minds about life and specifically, about our life… about MY LIFE!

But what I want to share this morning is that this First Order Question needs to come first, before all the rest! And this First First-Order Question is quite simple but profoundly important for our understanding of the rest of the First Order questions!!

Want to know what the question is? Okay. Here it is…      WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BODY?

You have to decide in your heart and in your mind the answer to this question-
What happened to the body of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

The facts are all in.

The eyewitness accounts from several different perspectives; the stories made up to explain this thing away; the skeptics reports and explanations. The decision we have to make is where do the facts take us?

FACT: There was no body in the tomb of Jesus, the Nazarene, on the first day of the week. Now if you don’t think that this is a fact, then you need to do some homework and find out for yourself.

Look at it through the Gospels’ lenses – 4 different men, writing to 4 different audiences, yet so much is the same, with each man, adding parts of the story – different glimpses from each perspective.

There are “historical” references to Jesus and to His death. In both the Jewish and the Roman histories of the time in which Jesus lived and died, you can see the fact of this Man; you can see the facts of the kind of death he was put to; you can see the vehemence of His enemies. But the FACT that is most telling here is that the Gospels themselves are probably the best HISTORY books in the world!

The real question is “What do YOU do with the FACT of Jesus death, burial and resurrection.”

Have you taken it BLINDLY to be true, because it is what you have been taught all your life? Perhaps its time to investigate and see what the best History Book in the world has to say!

There is no getting around this Last and First Question of All!!

What became of the body of Jesus?

There are only a few possible answers.

I. Someone stole it!

Two possible suspects: His friends or His enemies
The difficulty here is that there was a detail of Roman guards placed at the tomb of Jesus, specifically to counteract such a plot.

Matthew tells us that the guards themselves testified to the resurrection since the body was gone, but they had not fallen asleep – for to do so, on their part was an automatic death sentence!

Very unlikely that they fell asleep,,, sooo ? What happened to the body of Jesus?

Did the Jewish Rulers get it and move it? No they didn’t! How do we know. Because when the disciples began to testify to a living Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem, all they would have had to do is to go and get the body of Jesus and put it on display again for all to see! Dead messiah = dead movement!! But they could not… apparently.

And what about the disciples? What is the chance that this rag tag bunch of fishermen, tax collectors and zealots hatching a plot to steal Jesus body and make up the rest? You know that is what some people think happened!! That’s crazy! Literally - its psychologically impossible.

You know that all, save one, of the original Apostles, died a martyr’s death for this “made up” fairytale. And the one is the Apostle John, who survived being boiled in oil, and lived to die a natural death, exiled in his old age.

Just a word, a single word, would have released any one of them from the tortures of the kinds of deaths they went through. Why didn’t a one of them crack ??? Why???

Because its ALL TRUE!

Jesus didn’t faint on the cross, revive in the tomb, push his way out from behind a two ton rock, AND overpower the roman soldiers – the very soldiers, most likely, who had a hand in his “near” death. I assure you they would not have failed a second time!! Such a scenario is preposterous – it stretches logic to the point of breaking!

Neither did Jesus, just “appear” to have been resurrected. His appearances happened over a 40 day span of time, in a multitude of places, with a multitude of people, most of whom were pretty “down to earth” people, not high strung or given to visions and apparitions. Have you ever met a professional fisherman? How about an IRS officer – a professional bean-counter! These men are not given to illusion or mass hysteria to say the very least!

Jesus appearance in the Upper Room a week after the resurrection, actually turned a skeptic into a firm believer – Thomas later died for the witness of his faith, after founding the Mar Thoma Church in India. Thomas was no longer Doubting Thomas! He was believing and worship Thomas! Why??

Because its all TRUE!!

And if it was true for them, then its TRUE for us!!

Jesus Christ is Risen Today! Alleluia. We sing it and say it, but do we believe it?
The reason that the question of Jesus physical body is the last and first of the First Order Questions, is that it has to be dealt with and dealt with honestly.

What is the ramification of this FACT though, for us today – for you and for me when we leave this service?

CS Lewis once said that either the Resurrection of Christ is of no importance of all because we believe it a fabrication of deluded minds

OR

It is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE because it is a FACT. IT”S ALL TRUE!!

And if it’s all true, then it is of utmost importance, especially when considered in the array of First Order questions.

What this cannot be, is true and MILDLY important!!

Jesus never intended to leave us that option!

Easter is not simply an excuse for brunch after church. Easter is the pinnacle of history! It is the Mount Everest of the story of God’s dealing with humanity and it bears on every facet of our life. That’s why this question is the last and the first that must be dealt with.

What happened to the body?

The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed!! Alleluia.