Faith...

Ever had times in your life when you wish you could just sit and talk to Jesus face to face?  Wanted to hear His voice so that you knew what to do and where to go?  Many of us feel like that would make things so much better. 

If we could talk to Jesus in the flesh, we wouldn't have to worry about whether we were doing it all right, we could ask.  Living as a Christian is already so hard, it would just be easier if Jesus were here.  We wouldn't have to have….oh yes, we wouldn't have to have faith, right?

Many of us have learned since we were young that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is easy to believe in things we see.  It is a much different thing to put my hope and trust in something unseen.  What if you're wrong?  It might be all cleared up if we were around when Jesus walked…they didn't need faith, did they?

Let's look at an account told in Matthew 8:5-13

What do we see here?  Let's look at this scripture for just a few moments…

Jesus talks with a centurion, a man of military position.  He would be a Gentile (important to note) and he would most likely be in a 'middle management' type position with people who reported to him, but people above him who he reported to. 

Couple of things to note: 

This centurion comes to Jesus pleading with Him because he has a servant at home who is very ill – the Bible uses the word tormented giving us the idea that this servant was sick but truly suffering.  For the centurion to come to Jesus on behalf of his servant is the first thing.

Second, Jesus is willing to come and heal the servant, but the centurion stops him…he could have just let Jesus do what he was going to do.  The centurion tells Jesus how he is not worthy to have Him in his home.  It wasn't because he hadn't made his bed or the dishes from last night are in the sink.

He doesn't want him to come because for Jesus to go into a Gentile's home would make him ceremonially unclean.  The centurion seems to be respectful of this.

Third, the centurion seems to have some understanding of who Jesus is, which is major!  The centurion seems to understand that Jesus has the power to heal through the spoken word and that His power comes from someone above Him.  This is signified by his understanding of how his life in the military works.  He gives the commands on behalf of his superior, and he knows it gets done by his spoken word.

The disciples often didn't even get this!  Here a Gentile has gotten it.  Jesus commends his faith, talks about how he is rejected by His own people and there are consequences, and heals the servant.

This story is packed full of lessons.  What I want you to hear is what Jesus commends him for…FAITH.

But, I thought that if Jesus were walking the earth, we wouldn't have to have that? 

Jesus requires us to act on our faith.  He knows how important faith is to our lives.

It is true that Jesus isn't face to face for us to ask questions…but because Jesus died on the cross, shed his blood, and reigns on high, we get a special privilege…the helper…the Holy Spirit

We get a guide for our lives.  We get Someone who leads us personally, that is with us every step of the way.

Problem is that we don't listen!  We don't want to have faith because it requires work on our part…and who wants to put effort into it? 

We want the easy way out of everything when in reality Jesus commended the centurion for his faith and answered his request based on his faith!

If Jesus answers you based on your faith, that could answer why we don't know what to do…

We don't often put our faith in Him…we want to touch it, to see it in order to believe it.  Shame on us…when Jesus has given us so much more. 

What is your faith in?

Planks and Perspectives

Easter is such an important time to remember we serve a RISEN Lord and Savior.  Not only that, but the same Lord and Savior who died for us also lived and taught us some very valuable lessons.  Today, I want you to hear one of them.

We have this amazing knack at looking at someone else and determining if they are rich or poor, nice or not, pretty or not so much, educated or not, smell good or not and whether or not this is someone we want to associate with…it happens in a split second and we don't even have to think much about it

Christians get an extra ability – we can detect if they are one of us or one of them (Christian or non-Christian)…After all, we were given the ability to take an assessment of someone else, right? 

To top it all off, we can even give an assessment of fellow Christians.  We can look at a brother and sister and tell you if they are doing something wrong or right…whether they are acting like a Christian or not…whether they are dressed like a Christian or not…whether they talk like a Christian or not…

We have it all down pat, don't we?  We have this great system of assessing others…after all, it helps us to know who we want to be in church with…

You may be sitting there thinking about how I have lost my mind or agreeing that this is just the way it is…Unfortunately, what I have mentioned is too close to the actual truth and everything I just described is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught you and me.

But, you may be thinking about how you have to assess others so that you don’t get taken advantage of…you have to stay on guard.  We don't want to be naïve, do we?  The enemy is out there and we don't want to be overtaken by the enemy…

What I am saying is that we spend so much time assessing others that we can't even see that what we are doing is worse than we could have ever imagined.  I will explain, first by going to the Word.  Matthew 7:1-5

What is Jesus saying?  Our assessments really are simply JUDGING! 

Before you shut down, ignore me, or worry about what you are going to eat when I decide to hush, there are three things I need you to hear.  These three things God wanted me to hear and I needed to hear, so I want you to take a moment for me to share them with you:

1 – We spend so much time judging others that we don't ever take a look at ourselves.  It is interesting at how we can point out the faults in others very quickly, but have an extremely difficult time seeing our own.

If someone dare mention something we need to work on, we are offended and put off.  How dare they judge me?  Or we retaliate by telling them what they have done wrong.  If someone points out a sin, instead of taking it in and learning from it, we decide how bad they are as sinners…

What are we thinking?  We can point out that speck when in reality, we have a plank the size of Mt Everest that in our own eye that we don't even notice.  We are uncomfortable talking about ourselves.  The speck Jesus is taking about is just a small piece of something, not hardly visible – but still important.  But we have a perspective which isn't capable of helping a brother or sister out with the speck because of the plank in our own eye.  The plank…the equivalent of a major beam of a house or a major floor board.  Do you get the sense of what He is trying to tell us?

We have no problem looking at someone who doesn't have a lot and judging how they spend their money on the things they do…but I challenge you to look at your own checkbook at see if you are giving your tithe to God…You aren't just making bad decisions, you are robbing God!

We have no problem in evaluating others actions and reactions by what we think a Christian should do, but never have checked to make sure those actions we are so loudly professing as Christians really actually reflect that which is in the Bible.

We have no problem talking about what others profess to believe which seems off kilter – how could they ever believe this or that, but we never really try to learn what we really believe.  We are just going by what someone else told us many times.

Maybe we should take a look at ourselves and that plank…what is it doing to us?

2 – If we spend time judging others, we will miss an opportunity to see Jesus.

It is easy to look at those who are poor and say that if they would just…

It is easy to look at those who don't have a job and tell them to go to McDonalds. 

It is easy to look at those who sit at home because they are emotionally destroyed and tell them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get out.

It is easy to evaluate another's position in life by our standards.  But the fact is, we are not looking from the right perspective.

What we may not know is that the person who is poor is working three jobs just to make ends meet and doing way more than we ever would to make it. 

What we may not know is that the person who is living on the streets and doesn't have a job can't get a job at a fast food restaurant because fast food restaurants don't hire homeless people who haven't bathed in quite a while.

What we don't know is that the person who is at home has been beat down in life to the point that they don't see a way out and can't face the world because they have been abused and neglected all their life and they feel this is their lot in life.

Problem is that our perspective is so skewed that we don't bother to talk to the person who is poor because they aren't like us…

We don't bother to show the love of Christ to the person who stays at home because we think they are a lazy bum…

We don't bother to show the love of Christ to those in the world because we have decided that they aren't Christians and we don't have time for them…

Problem is that because there are people who will take advantage of the kindness of others, and people who will steal from you right before your eyes, and people who are only out to do evil…that we shut our doors and shut our hearts to those who really are hurting and really are in need.

If we don't help others because of our warped perspective of the world, then we have not helped the least of these…and thus not helped Jesus.

Warning…you might get taken advantage of…but if you don't ever make an effort so that you are not ever taken advantage of, how many people have you turned your back on…not showing the love of Christ…just so someone doesn't get over on you for a few dollars?

Am I telling you to be naïve?  Am I telling you to give all you have randomly and without thinking?  No…Jesus doesn't say that either. 

But what I am saying is that if we don't ever give anything because there are people out there who truly only want to take advantage of you, we won't ever show the love of Christ.   If we give with a pure heart and to glorify God, and we come together as God's people…you might find that God takes care of His own.  As Chris has often said…God takes care of His kids.  Don't shut everyone out because there is evil in the world!

3 – What if your eyes – how you see things, how you value things – were used to judge you and your actions.  Do you want to be judged through your eyes? 

We can immediately say that Jesus has compassion and forgiveness and He died on the cross for us.  He does.  He also doesn't say that He will use your eyes.  But, He said in this scripture today that if you judge, the same way you judge others will be used to judge you.  At some point, the way we look at others and judge others will be used to judge you.

That makes me take an account real quick…

Jesus is saying that my eyes could be used on me…I may see myself one way, but the way I see others is quite different. 

This is a lot to take in at one time.  What I want you to do today is begin to take the scales off of your blinded judgmental eyes…one layer at the time.  Jesus needs you and me to get up and do something about a lost and dying world.  Jesus needs us to do more than make an assessment of others.  Jesus needs us to get to work, just like He taught us to…

Will you be like Jesus?

Heavenly Moments

Luke 24:1-8; 13-35

We celebrate that Jesus is risen!  We celebrate that He has the ultimate victory!!  Knowing that Jesus is risen is a life-changing experience for you and for me.  We know that we have an opportunity at eternal life because of a sacrifice made all those years ago.  In the reading for today, we learn about two people who were on their way to Emmaus that certainly had a life changing experience…They were on the road, talking with a Man…telling Him about their experience they had just had in Jerusalem.  Little do they know they are telling the very one who had made the sacrifice!

They had a "Heavenly Moment"

How did this happen?  Let's look at several things to note about their heavenly moment…We might have some opportunities for such moments and I wouldn't want us to miss them.  First, they noticed that their hearts burned when He talked with them about the scriptures and opened them up to them.  We learn that the Word of God is just that powerful…Jeremiah talks about how if he doesn't speak, it is like fire shut up in his bones…the Word of God is powerful!  When we read and study the Word of God with the right heart and the right mind…we will be amazed at how our hearts will burn within us as well.  The Bible can give us heavenly moments!

Second, their eyes were opened to Jesus when they fellowshipped with Him..They broke bread with Him and then their eyes were opened…It is important to spend time with the Lord…fellowshipping with Him, listening to Him, communing with Him.  How does that happen?  Sometimes it is in the quiet unexpected moments that we have the 'heavenly moment'.  We least expect Jesus to show up and He does…Sometimes fellowshipping with Jesus is actually fellowshipping with people that He has sent to us…we are obedient and do what He has asked us to do and in the obedience we find a 'heavenly moment'…If we really look, we can see Jesus in the simplest of things…If we really obey, we can see Jesus all around us.  We can see Jesus in the work we are doing…we can see Jesus in the faces of those we reach out to…Most of the time, we see Jesus when we aren't looking, but just blindly following Him and allowing Him to lead and guide our lives…We sit at the table and realize that He has been there all along and we see Him in places we never expected Him to show up…We see Jesus in the 'least of these'!!

Finally, with they shared their 'heavenly moment' with others rather than keeping it to themselves…it was worth sharing.  Are you missing 'heavenly moments' because you aren't in the Word, fellowshipping or obeying??  Are you sharing these moments with others?  Tell others about how Jesus is alive and He is working through His people.  Tell others where YOU saw JESUS!! 

Easter is behind us.  What do we do now?  The celebration is technically over.  What we do now is realize that since Jesus is alive, we get to work.  We live serving a living Savior!  We live doing His will!  We keep our eyes open to the Heavenly Moments right before us!  Be careful…Don't miss it – He is alive!!

Palm Sunday

Sunday, we celebrated Palm Sunday – a day of celebration, of joy…or was it?

Mark 11:1-10

Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! – What was going on?  They thought they knew who this Man was…They probably thought that they had it all figured out.  But they didn't. They thought He would be the King…the Savior of their land…He would be the King and Savior of their souls…They could have shouted Hosanna because it seemed to be the thing to do.  It was what everyone else was doing.  Regardless..their shouts of Hosanna turned to shouts of crucify Him.  What happened to turn their cries the opposite way?  They didn't know Him.  They knew about Him…but they didn't know Him.  They may have been shouting for the Messiah…but didn't see Jesus as that fulfillment.  They thought they had it all figured out…King who 'blasphemed' so crucify…He couldn’t be the real thing, right? 

We wouldn't have done that would we?  We wouldn't have fallen in those traps, would we?  Or would we?  We seem to have fallen into a lot of traps…Traps of money and power…traps of prestige and getting what we want…We don't want a Savior, we want a wish granter…we don't want a Savior of our souls, we want a Savior of our checkbooks.  We don't want a Savior to redeem us, we want a savior to make sure that we live great, perfect lives….We are just like those people in Jesus' time.  We cry shouts of Hosanna when He is doing what we think He should…but feel like walking away when things don't go our way…We often act like spoiled, rotten, bratty children…When in reality, He calls us to a life of love and joy and peace…in HIM…which isn't the same as IN THE WORLD…If we are looking for things in this world, our focus is on the things of this world and we WILL NOT SERVE HIM…we will serve ourselves.  If we are searching for His Heart and what He would want us to do…we will find that we are doing what HE would have us to do.  It means that we do things opposite of the world…things that doesn't make sense to those around…Only when we truly know Him can we truly shout Hosanna and not turn our backs on the One who provides redemption…true redemption.  Who is Jesus to you?