The lectionary gospel text for this week comes out of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” from Matthew 5. In verses 13-20 we find some stern words about what it really means to live a Christ-like (or Christian) life. Jesus begins by comparing the life of a Christian to salt and it comes with a warning not to lose your saltiness! In Jesus’ day, salt was a valuable commodity and was often used in place of money! If salt no longer is salty it loses its ability to flavor or preserve things. As Christians, we are called to make a difference in the world in which we live. When we become too much like the world we lose the effect we have on changing the world!
Jesus then switches gears and he is quoted as saying that he did not come to abolish the Law but rather to fulfill it (v17) God gave the nation of Israel the Law so that they could help people love God and love each other. Over time, these laws were being misquoted and misapplied much the same way that they are today! When Jesus talked about a “new way” to understand God’s Law, he really is trying to get the people to go back to the original purposes of the Law. Today we need to do the same. The Law can easily be divided into three parts: ceremonial law, civil law and moral law. The ceremonial law dictated how God was to be worshipped. The nation of Israel was to worship God in anticipation of the coming of Christ. Still today we worship a Holy and Just God. The civil law applied to how we are to treat others. How are we doing with that one today? Do we really love our neighbor as we are told we are to do? The final part is the moral law. The Ten Commandments make up a big part of this category. These laws are a direct command from God and are to be obeyed strictly. This moral law still applies today. Some of the people who first heard this “sermon” were experts in the Law but they missed the central point of God’s law which was simple: love God above everything else and love thy neighbor as yourself! Today those two things have stood the test of time. Now, go and do the same! Amen
This week I am doing something a little different. My sermon title is NOT complete and I am asking you how you would complete it. The first part of the title is “God Does Not Care…” and the scripture reading is from Mark 12:41-44 (the story of the widow’s mite). This story has always intrigued me and it leaves me wondering several things. First, tithing was an Old Testament “law” which required one to give one-tenth of the first-fruits of one’s labor. Sometimes today we try to skirt the issue of how much we are “required” to give. Are we to give 10% of what we make before taxes or after taxes? Are we required to give anything at all? Second, in the story of the “Rich Young Ruler,” Jesus wants all the young man has! In Matthew 19:16-22 you can read the story. A rich young man came to Jesus asking what was required to gain life eternal. After some clarification, Jesus simply said, “Sell all you have and give it to the poor. Then take up your cross and come follow me!” (v21 paraphrase mine!) At hearing this, it is written in the Greek text that “the young man’s face fell because he had many possessions!” Did Jesus want the young man to become poor? No—Jesus wanted the young man’s heart and Jesus knew that this young man’s god was worldly things, not spiritual things. Today, where is your heart? I can promise you one thing—IF your heart is right with God you will never ask how much money you should give, you will already know! Now, finish my sermon title and if you would like to share your thoughts with me, please feel free to email me at revbeason@gmail.com. Amen! In Isaiah 9:2 we read, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” Today, this world seems to me to be walking in darkness. It never ceases to amaze me how humanity keeps coming up with “new and improved” ways to do harm to fellow human beings! Just the past week, there was news that ISIS was having children under the age of 10 carry out executions by shooting their victims in the head! (“Train up a child in the way he is to go and when he gets old he will not depart from it!” Proverbs 22:6 – paraphrase mine!)
They are teaching their children the way they intend for them to go, which of course is evil at its darkest! Now, if ISIS is teaching their children to be killers, what are we teaching our children? Are we teaching them to live with their noses buried in their phones? Are we teaching them to be expert video game players? Are we teaching them what it means to live in a right relationship with God and Jesus? What are we teaching them? The other night after the NCAA National Championship game, Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney said this about what he had told his team prior to the big game, "I talked to them about letting the light inside of them always be brighter than the light that's shining on them! I take that to mean don’t let success ruin you! Sometimes our success makes us feel we are the most important person in the world and no one can beat us. The truth is, humility is a good thing! In James 4:10 we read, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” As we continue through this New Year, let this be our mantra! Amen. My oh my what crazy weather we seem to be having these days. With the snow we had last week and the much warmer temperatures for the last couple of days, our back yard is a muddy mess. This mess is made much worse by the fact that we have a 2 year old Brittany named JT who loves to run in the mud! Needless to say that when he comes back in the house his feet are a mess and that mess quickly transfers to the carpet!
As I read Psalm 40:1-11 (which is the Lectionary Psalm for this week) I can relate what the Psalmist writes here to the stains left by the mud on JT’s feet which transfers quickly to the carpet! The Psalmist writes that he is ever grateful that God has lifted him up out of the mire (v2) and God has set his feet on a rock which makes his footing sure. However, the fact remains that mud leaves stains – whether the stains are on JT’s feet or on the carpet, the stains remind me of the mud from whence they came. Our lives are just like that, except the stains of our lives do not come from mud but from sin. I know how to get the stains off JT’s feet and our carpet, but how do we get the stains from sin out of our lives? In thinking about that I am taken to John’s Revelation chapter 7, verse 14. There in that verse, the saints who have died have white robes because, “they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The blood of Jesus removes any stains that you and I have put in or on our robes. Isn’t that odd—that by putting our faith in Christ Jesus, his blood makes our robes white. I read that passage of scripture to a young woman who was dying from cervical cancer. She told me her robe was so dirty that nothing could cleanse it. I read that passage to her a second time and told her that Jesus’ blood can and will make her robe clean. With big alligator tears in her eyes, she said, “You really believe that don’t you!” My response was, “I not only believe it, it is what gives me hope!” Today, how stained is your robe? Amen. This coming Sunday, January 8, 2017 we celebrate the “baptism of Jesus.” In Matthew 3:13-17 we read the story of how this took place. If you remember, John the Baptist had been baptizing people in the Jordan River “for the forgiveness of their sins!”(Mark 1:4) Why then do you suppose Jesus came asking John to baptize him? Jesus lived his life free from sin so there would have been no reason for him to be baptized. And yet Jesus almost demanded that John baptize him.
Certainly the water of the Jordan River did not really cleanse people of their sins. Today, the waters in baptismal pools around the world cannot cleanse us of our sins. So why did Jesus feel the need to be baptized and why do we, the catholic church, baptize. (The meaning of the word “catholic” means universal, not the Roman Catholic Church.) Baptism is symbolic and it is certainly meaningful. When we, as believers of Christ, choose to be baptized, we should understand that what we are doing does not within itself “save” us or cleanse us from our sins. Symbolically, baptism indicates first that we have chosen to follow Christ and the example he set for us by stepping into the waters of the baptismal pool. Then the act of baptism itself has us being buried as we are plunged into the waters of the baptismal pool. This signifies our old carnal self has died and is buried there in those waters. Then we are raised up, pulled up out of the waters of the baptismal pool and raised to a new life in Christ. Jesus came to John the Baptist asking to be baptized so that you and I could see the importance of following in his footsteps—not just in baptism but in every facet of our lives. Today, while our baptism is important, what really matters most is that we follow the examples of how Jesus lived his life. Will we always succeed in following Him? Well, no we will fail, sometimes even daily! Jesus knows that we will fail but, because of God’s love for us and God’s wonderful gift of forgiveness and grace, we live a life that is not perfect, just forgiven! Now, this week, as you go to worship, wherever that may be, remember your baptism! Amen. |
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This blog consists of reflections written by the minister each week for the Sunday bulletin. We hope that you enjoy the musings! Archives
January 2020
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