12-18-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

ONE MORE THING

    Several years ago, our oldest son, Rob, took the SAT and the ACT tests before he went off to college. The scores he achieved were higher than the scores my wife or I achieved when we were in high school. Upon learning that fact, Rob boldly pronounced himself to be the smartest member of the family…much to the chagrin of his younger brother and sister.

    Not long after that, we all went to visit my wife’s family in Iowa.  The day we returned to Meadville, we were packing all our suitcases in the back of my truck.  Now we knew they fit because I’d managed to squeeze them all in the back of the truck on the way out.  In any case, Rob took charge of the packing. Yet somehow, he couldn’t seem to make them all fit. Finally, our daughter Mariah said, “Dad, will you please come pack the suitcases?  The smartest member of the family can’t seem to figure it out.”  She’s always been very good at biting sarcasm.

    That story is actually indicative of the recent data on Intelligence Quotients and Creativity Quotients.  Researchers at Duke University examined IQ tests of 1.7 million fifth, sixth, and seventh graders between 1981 and 2010.  What they discovered is that IQs have increased by an average of three points per decade.  Thus, theoretically, the current generation should have IQs that are about 20 points higher than their grandparents. That explains why Rob had higher test scores that my wife and I, I suppose.

    On the other hand, The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking indicates that the creative ability of American children has been trending downward over the last 20 years.  This test examines a child’s ability to come up with original ideas and put them into practice.  Call it a CQ, or, Creativity Quotient.  Perhaps that explains why Rob couldn’t seem to figure out how to pack the luggage in the back of the truck.

    The data seems to indicate that while Americans are growing smarter, they’re becoming less creative.  IQ test scores are up while CQ test scores are down.  The question I have for you now is: “How are our SQ test scores doing?” If IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient and CQ stands for Creativity Quotient…then SQ stands for Spiritual Quotient.   It’s a term I thought I made up for this sermon, but when I looked it up, I found that there actually is such a thing.  Yet the typical SQ test has little or nothing to do with Christianity.  They advertize palm reading on those websites, for crying out loud. 

    Thus, allow me give you my own unsubstantiated theory.  One’s Spiritual Quotient tends to be inversely proportional to one’s worldly savvy.  In other words, the more one seems to be in tune with the ways of the world, the less one tends to be in tune with the ways of God.

    I think a man named Graham Standish would agree with my theory.  Graham Standish is an adjunct professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and is a contributing author to an organization called The Alban Institute.  In a recent article addressing the decline of the mainline church, Standish wrote:

Many denominations, churches, pastors, and members have become mired in a series of worthless arguments in their attempts to diagnose why mainline denominations and churches are in decline.  Too many in the mainline church think the problem has to do with theological position, style of worship or the availability of programs.  So they say the decline is the result of churches being too liberal or too conservative, or the decline is due to our worship being too traditional. They say we don’t meet enough of people’s needs and we need to offer more programs.

    Ladies and gentlemen, such conclusions are the result of burgeoning Intelligence Quotients and declining Spiritual Quotients.  In other words, we truly believe we can figure things out for ourselves.  Who needs God when we’re as smart as we are these days?  Graham Standish calls this belief rational functionalism. What is rational functionalism? Rational functionalism is the belief that we can uncover all the mysteries of God and life through rational thought and disciplined investigation.  Rational functionalism ignores the possibility of spiritual experiences and miraculous events.  Rational functionalism actually has very little use for God.  And therein lies the problem.

    Consider Mary in the passage we read from the gospel according to Luke.  The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and says to her, “Greetings, favored one!  The Lord is with you.”  Then in verse 29, Luke adds, “She was much perplexed by his words…and pondered in her heart what sort of greeting this might be.” Perhaps a better description of Mary’s response would be this: “She was terrified beyond measure, and trembled at the sight of an angel in her room.”

    In any case, the angel Gabriel describes what’s about to happen to her.  She will conceive and bear a child, and that child will be called the Son of God.  Not having a husband, Mary wonders how this will be. Gabriel tells her that the Holy Spirit of God will overshadow her. Then he even tells her how her kinswoman, Elizabeth, is about to bear a son as well. Gabriel concludes by saying, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”  To which Mary then replies, “Let it be with me according to your word.” 

    Let it be with me according to your word.  No more profound words have ever been spoken.  I think of that famous line from Miracle on 34^th Street: “Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.”  Mary simply says, “Let it be with me according to your word.” 

    Ladies and gentlemen, that’s my job in a nutshell. Every single sermon I preach is basically aimed at increasing faith.  Every single sermon I preach is aimed at getting you to say to God, “Let it be with me according to your word.”   It’s the exact opposite of rational functionalism.  And it will greatly enhance your Spiritual Quotient.

    You see, I don’t think faith in Jesus Christ is just meant to get us into heaven when we die.  I truly believe that faith in Jesus Christ can solve all the world’s problems. How different the world would be if everyone loved their neighbors as they love themselves. How different the world would be if people would only say, “Let it be with me according to your word.”  We should leave room for spiritual experiences.  We should leave room for miracles.  We should leave room for God to speak and move and act by way of the Holy Spirit.

    Perhaps the question now is, “How do we leave that room?”  How do we leave room for God to speak and move and act?  Abraham Heschel addresses that issue in his book, God in Search of Man.  Listen to what he has to say:

To sense the presence of God, one must learn to be present to God.  Presence is not a concept, but a situation.  To understand love, it is not enough to read tales about it.  One must be involved in love to understand love. One must be inspired to understand inspiration. Just as we cannot test thinking without thinking, we cannot sense holiness without being holy.  Presence is not disclosed to those who are unattached.

    “We cannot sense holiness without being holy,” and “Presence is not disclosed to those who are unattached.”  Holiness and attachment: those seem like worthwhile goals for us, do they not?  Perhaps the question now is, “How do we find them?”   

    That’s what we were attempting to do in the sermon series, The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ.  I began the first sermon by making the case that Christ’s Great Commission, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew, is the reason for the church’s existence in the first place. The church is called to make disciples.  Yet it the church is ever going to make disciples, the people who habituate the church…must first become disciples themselves.  That’s what the seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ were all about. 

    The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are as follows: worship regularly, pray daily, study diligently, live faithfully, serve joyously, give generously…and witness boldly.  The first sermon delved a little more deeply into the first covenant: worship regularly. We said in essence that it was Jesus’ custom to worship, and it should be ours, as well.  Yet we should come to worship expecting God to speak, to move, and to act.  That’s what keeps our faith from being a mile wide and an inch deep.

    Then we examined the second covenant: pray daily.  There we saw that we are called to share our hurts, our sorrows, and our joys with God.  God listens to us in compassion and love…much like we do when our children come to us. And when we do that what we discover is that by praying, we learn how to pray.

    Then we examined the third covenant: study diligently.  We learned that God is responsible for the Scriptures in a revelatory way, not just in an informational way.  The Bible is how God reveals God’s self to us. It’s something we absolutely, positively never could have come up with on our own. What’s more, we learned that you’ve got to read the textbook if you’re going to take the course.

    Then we examined the fourth covenant: live faithfully.  We learned about orthopraxis, or, right practice.  People tend to pass judgment on Christianity by the way they see Christians living their lives.  It is absolutely imperative that we set a good example.

    Then we examined the fifth covenant: serve joyously.  We learned that God calls each of us to ministry. God calls each of us to an occupation or to a task that God believes we are uniquely qualified to do.  Just don’t forget that how you serve is every bit as important as who you serve.  Attitude is everything.

    Then we examined the sixth covenant: give generously. We learned that it’s our responsibility to form the framework of a world that is the unique dwelling place of the Immortal God.  Thus, Christians in important secular environments have a responsibility to see to it that what’s done with the goods of the world is done as God would have it done.  We must never take that charge lightly.

    Finally, we examined the seventh covenant: witness boldly.  We learned that the first step to witnessing boldly is to stop complaining.  Yet the fact of the matter is, we encounter situations all the time where we realize that if family, friends or neighbors just had a little faith in God, a lot of their problems would be resolved.   We need to be bold enough to invite them to share in our own life of faith.  We need to stop being so blasted afraid of rejection.

    But there’s one more thing.  The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ aren’t just about raising up disciples within the church in order to raise up disciples outside the church.   The seven covenants will also aid you in your quest for holiness…and will necessarily draw you closer to God.

    So you see, there is something in it for us.  Are you feeling unbelievable stress in your job on a daily basis?  Maybe it’s because you don’t have your priorities in order.  The seven covenants could help.  Do you feel an emptiness deep inside that you can’t quite put your finger on but that you know is very real?  Maybe it’s because you’ve drifted away from God. The seven covenants could help.  Do you feel as if your life has no meaning, and that you’re wandering around on this earth without purpose?  Maybe it’s because you’ve lost sight of God.  The seven covenants could help.

    The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ have become the vision statement for the First Presbyterian Church of Meadville.  But there’s something in it for you as well. Take them home with you.  Post them in a highly visible place.  Live them to the best of your ability. Then, like Mary before us, we just might find ourselves saying to God, “Let it be with me according to your word.”  And suddenly…the world won’t seem like such a bad place after all.  Amen.

 

12-11-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

THE SEVEN COVENANTS OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST: PART VII

    Several weeks ago my wife and I were driving in downtown Pittsburgh on our way to pick up our daughter at college.  As we approached a stop light, there was one of those airport shuttles in front of us that – when it stopped at the light – was completely blocking the crosswalk. Trying to cross the street at that crosswalk was a blind man.  We knew he was blind because of the distinctive white cane he was carrying.

    The man seemed confused.  He sensed there was something in front of him…and it was as if   he did not know what to do.  Suddenly a young woman, who’d been leaning against the side of   a building waiting for the bus, sprung to his aid.  She took his arm, whispered something in his ear, and led him around the bus to the other side of the street. Then she scurried back across the street to her post against the building. 

    When the light turned green and we began to proceed through the intersection, my wife caught that woman’s eye. She gave her the thumbs up sign. The woman just smiled. It was an absolutely beautiful picture of human compassion.  When you witness an event like that, you’ve just got to tell everyone you see all about it.  A good story like that simply begs to be told, does it not?

    So does a bad one. Listen to this. As you know, before my mother died, she wanted to see me one more time.  So I flew down to Phoenix, Arizona to see her.  Now since my brother is going blind and has no business driving, my father gets confused on the road at night, and my sister is busy with her own life, I decided to rent a car.  I rented a mid-sized car because I don’t really fit in a small car and a big car costs so much more. Yet when I went to the garage to pick up my car they didn’t have any mid-sized cars.  The man in charge told me I could take a car from the second or the third row.  The second row was full of little bitty cars.  The third row was full of Chevy Malibus and Ford Crown Victorias. I found a key in a Chevy Malibu and drove off   the lot.  I ended up getting a full-sized car at a mid-sized price.

    Two weeks later, my wife and I flew down to Phoenix for my mother’s funeral.  I again rented a car for the same reasons I expressed earlier, and I rented it from the same place I had rented the last time.  I told the man behind the counter about how I’d gotten a full-sized car at a mid-sized price and asked if it was going to be the same this time.  He said, “No.  We’ve got a full complement of mid-sized cars.”  Then he told me that for a mere $55.00 more, I could have a full-sized car.  So I agreed to pay the extra money, which with the local taxes on rental cars ended up being $75.00 instead of $55.00, and went to the garage to pick up my car.  And wouldn’t you know it?  The second row was full of little bitty cars and the third row was full of Malibus and Crown Victorias, just like it was the last time.  The good news is, I drove out of there in a brand new Crown Victoria.  The bad news is…that guy snookered me out of 75 bucks.

    Good stories just beg to be told, do they not?  Yet so do bad ones.  When we see or hear something spectacular we can’t wait to tell everyone all about it. The same is true when we see or hear something bad.  We simply cannot wait to express our sense of injustice or indignation.

    Case in point, my family and I moved to Meadville a little more than eight years ago.  I still remember how everyone told us that we’ve got to eat at…where?  Eddie’s Footlongs.  And for dessert we’ve got to try what?  Hank’s Frozen Custard.  Of course, I later discovered that there are Hank’s people and there are Casey’s people, but that’s another story.  People simply could not wait to tell us all about Eddie’s and Hank’s.  I honestly don’t think Eddie’s or Hank’s even have to advertize.  They get all the publicity they need by word of mouth.

    Perhaps the question now is: How good of a job do we do at publicizing the church by word of mouth?  Or, perhaps even more important, how good of a job do we do at publicizing Christianity by word of mouth?  Listen to this.  Many years ago, two men moved into houses next door to one another.  One Sunday morning, the two men walked out their front doors at the very same time.  The first man said to the second, “Hey, I’m going golfing.  You wanna come along?”  To which the second man replied with a hint of indignation, “No.  I’m going to church.”

    The very next week the two men walked out their front doors at the very same time again.  The first man said to the second, “Hey, I’m going golfing. You wanna come along?” To which the second man replied with a bit more indignation, “No.  I’m going to church.”

    Now believe it or not, this went on for twenty years.  Yet another Sunday morning, the two men walked out their front doors at the very same time.  The first man said to the second, “Hey,     I’m going golfing. You wanna come along?” To which the second man replied, “No!  I’m going to church!”  Then he added, “You know, it would do you a lot of good to go to church sometime as well.”  The first man looked at his neighbor and said, “You know, for twenty years I’ve been inviting you to go golfing with me.  And in all that time…you’ve never once invited me to go to church with you.”

    How good of a job do we do at publicizing the church by word of mouth?  Or, perhaps even more important, how good of a job do we do at publicizing Christianity by word of mouth?  A few years ago at a presbytery meeting, our General Presbyter said that the average Presbyterian invites someone to worship with them once every 17 years.  On the plus side, at least that was better than the Methodists.  The average Methodist invites someone to worship with them once every 24 years. Ladies and gentlemen, that has got to change.  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

    A number of weeks ago we began a sermon series entitled, The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I began the first sermon by making the case the Christ’s Great Commission, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew, is the reason for the church’s existence in the first place.  The church is called to make disciples.  Yet if the church is ever going to make disciples, then the people who habituate the church…must first become disciples themselves.  That’s what the seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are all about.

    The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are as follows: worship regularly, pray daily, study diligently, live faithfully, serve joyously, give generously, and witness boldly.  The first sermon delved a little more deeply into the first covenant: worship regularly. We said in essence that it was Jesus’ custom to worship, and it should be ours, as well.  Yet we should come to worship expecting God to speak, to move, and to act.  That’s what keeps our faith from being a mile wide and an inch deep.

    Then we examined the second covenant: pray daily.  There we saw that we are called to share our hurts, our sorrows, and our joys with God. God listens to us in compassion and love…much like we do when our children come to us. And when we do that what we discover is that by praying, we learn how to pray.

    Then we examined the third covenant: study diligently.  We learned that God is responsible for the Scriptures in a revelatory way, not just in an informational way.  The Bible is how God reveals himself to us.  It’s something we absolutely, positively never could have come up with   on our own.  What’s more, we learned that you’ve got to read the textbook…if you’re going to take the course.

    Then we examined the fourth covenant: live faithfully.  We learned about orthopraxis, or, right practice.  People tend to pass judgment on Christianity by the way they see Christians living their lives.  It is absolutely imperative that we set a good example.

    Then we examined the fifth covenant: serve joyously.  We learned that God calls each of us   to ministry. God calls each of us to an occupation or to a task that God believes we are uniquely qualified to do.  Just don’t forget that how you serve is every bit as important as who you serve.  Attitude is everything.

    Finally, we examined the sixth covenant: give generously.  We learned that it’s our responsibility to form the foundation and framework of a world that is the unique dwelling place of the Immortal God.  Thus, Christians in important secular environments have a responsibility to see to it that what’s done with the goods of the world is done as God would have it done.  We must never take that charge lightly.

    Today we examine the seventh and final covenant: witness boldly.  In his Great Commission, Christ challenged his disciples to make disciples of all nations.  To make disciples of all nations, we must spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. We begin by sharing our faith and values with family, friends and neighbors. We aspire to fearlessly encounter situations where we have the courage to speak, and our Christian witness can truly make a difference. 

    I think that is exactly what Jesus was getting at in the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew.  “You are the light of the world,” he said.  “You are the light of the world.”  In other words, your life and witness as Christian disciples is meant to brighten an ever-darkening world.  We can have all the faith in the world; we can possess the most profound theological knowledge in the world; we can have a perfect church attendance record for a decade…but if we don’t let our light shine in the world, what good is it?  Listen to this.

    Many years ago, a great legal battle was fought over a terrible automobile accident that involved a train near Blue Mountain, Georgia. The accident happened on a dark and rainy night   as a fast-moving car flew down a mountain road and ran head-first into a train. Several people lost their lives in that accident.

    In a fiercely contested courtroom battle, the railroad flagman told precisely how he had gotten off the train before it reached the railroad crossing.  He then stood on the highway, swinging his lantern back and forth, to signal any approaching vehicle.  It was a notoriously bad intersection, and on this particular night he had done precisely as he had been instructed, and has he had done on many occasions before.

    Under determined cross-examination, he consistently answered each question regarding his procedure that fateful night.  Yes, he got off the train ahead of the crossing.  Yes, he swung his lantern back and forth.  He even noted how he had had to jump out of the way of the speeding automobile just before it hit the train.  The jury deliberated and in the end, the railroad won the case, primarily because of the unwavering testimony of the flagman. 

    About a year later, that flagman was fishing on a nearby lake.  The attorney who represented the family who died in the crash just happened to be there as well. The attorney approached the flagman and said, “Hey, you were a witness at that railroad crash last year. You know, that was the best-fought trial I ever had.   I should have won that case.  You were the best witness I ever cross-examined.  I lost that case because of your magnificent performance.”

    The humble flagman squirmed a little and said, “Oh, man, I was scared that day!  I have never been so frightened in all my life!”  The lawyer replied, “Well, it didn’t show.  You were great the way you handled me.”  “Oh, I was scared,” the flagman said. “I was afraid you were going to ask the question.”  “What question is that?” the attorney asked.  “You know,” the flagman replied, “I was afraid you were going to ask, ‘Did you have your lantern lit that night?’”

    Jesus says to us, “You are the light of the world.” But if our lanterns are not lit – if our lights   do not shine – the world will remain forever dark.  Listen, I see churches all across the country advertizing for ministers all the time.  The ads are often quite similar.  They want some young, dynamic minister to come in and inspire them to grow. They’re missing the point. It’s a different age. The church is not going to grow because of some young, dynamic minister. The church is going to grow when people in the congregation intentionally invite others to worship with them.  Mass evangelism doesn’t work anymore.  Relational evangelism is what works today. Relational evangelism has to do with forming relationships with people, and then letting them walk with you in your life of faith.   If a church is going to grow, the people who populate that church must take an active, intentional role.

    Now I could go on for another hour about this.  So I’m just going to give you step one today.  I don’t think the problem with the church today is that people aren’t witnessing boldly.  People today are witnessing boldly.  But what is that about which they are witnessing?  They are witnessing about their own dissatisfaction. There is far too much complaining going on.  One person says the music is too slow. Another says the preaching is boring. Someone else says that all they talk about at church is money. Yet another says the people aren’t friendly. Who would ever want to go to a church where all the people do is complain?  Why, it’s a lot like waving a lantern that isn’t lit.  Step one to witnessing boldly is to stop complaining.

    Listen, that’s the secret that a lot of these mega-churches today have uncovered. No, their music is not for everyone.  And yes, their theology tends to be a bit shallow.  But they brag about their programs.  They brag about their staff.  They’re proud of their church and they want everyone to enjoy it with them.  Where would you rather go on a Sunday morning?  Ladies and gentlemen, you are the light of the world.  Witness boldly…and let your light shine.  Amen.

 

11-13-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

THE SEVEN COVENANTS OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST: PART VI

    Once upon a time, there was a very wealthy man who was not known for his generosity toward his church.  In fact, he was not known for his generosity at all.  There came a time when his church was involved in a major building campaign, so the fund-raising committee decided to pay him a visit.  They set up the appointment, and over to his house they went. 

     During their meeting together, the fund-raising committee pointed out that in view of his considerable financial resources they were just sure that he would want to make a substantial contribution toward their building campaign.  “I see,” the wealthy man replied.  “So you have it all figured out, have you?” Then he added, “In the course of your investigation, did you discover that I have a widowed mother who has no other means of support but me?”  Sheepishly, the committee chair replied, “No, we did not know that.”

     The man went on to say, “Did you know that I have a sister, who was left by a drunken husband with five children and no means to provide for them?”  Again the committee chair replied, “No, we did not know that either.” The man added, “And did you know that I have a brother who is crippled due to an automobile accident, and can never work another day to support his wife and family?”  The committee chair replied, “Sir, we did not know that.”

    The wealthy man then stood up and thundered, “I’ve never given any of those people a dime.  So why would I ever give anything to you?”  A man by the name of Robert Rodenmayer once wrote: “There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving and thanksgiving.  Grudge giving says, I give because I have to.  Duty giving says, I give because I ought to.  But thanks-giving says, I give because I want to.  The latter comes from a full heart.  Thanksgiving is an open gate into the love of God.”  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

    A number of weeks ago we began a sermon series entitled, The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I began the first sermon by making the case that Christ’s Great Commission, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew, is the reason for the church’s existence in the first place. The church is called to make disciples.  Yet if the church is ever going to make disciples, then the people who habituate the church…must first become disciples themselves.  That’s what the seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are all about.

    The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are as follows: worship regularly; pray daily; study diligently; live faithfully; serve joyously; give generously; and witness boldly.  The first sermon delved a little more deeply into the first covenant: worship regularly. We said in essence that it was Jesus’ custom to worship, and it should be ours, as well.  Yet we should come to worship expecting God to speak, to move, and to act.   That’s what keeps our faith from being a mile wide and an inch deep. 

    Then we examined the second covenant: pray daily.  There we saw that we are called to share our hurts, our sorrows and our joys with God.  God listens to us in compassion and love…much like we do when our children come to us. And when we do that what we discover is that by praying, we learn how to pray.

    Then we examined the third covenant: study diligently.  We learned that God is responsible for the Scriptures in a revelatory way, not just in an informational way. The Bible is how God reveals himself to us.  It’s something we absolutely, positively never could have come up with on our own.  What’s more, we learned that you’ve got to read the textbook…if you’re going to take the course.

    Then we examined the fourth covenant: live faithfully.  We learned about orthopraxis, or, right practice.  People tend to pass judgment on Christianity by the way they see Christians living their lives.  It is absolutely imperative that we set a good example.

    Finally, we examined the fifth covenant: serve joyously. We learned that God calls each of us to ministry. God calls each of us to an occupation or to a task that God believes we are uniquely qualified to do.  Just don’t forget that how you serve is every bit as important as who you serve. Attitude…is everything.

    Today we examine the sixth covenant: give generously.  The way we give of ourselves and our resources should reflect the self-giving love of God in Christ.  We begin by committing to giving a set proportion of our time, our talent and our financial resources to God. We aspire to live lives in which our giving is sacrificial. 

    Now this might be the least popular of all the covenants – the one about which people least desire to hear.  However, I want you to reserve judgment on that until you hear what I’ve got to say about witnessing boldly in a couple of weeks.  I have a sneaking suspicion you’re not going to like that one much either! 

    The sixth covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ is give generously.  Perhaps the question now is, “Why do we give in the first place?”  Most of us work hard for what we have.  Why on earth would we want to work our fingers to the bone to earn what we have…and then simply give it away?  The question is, “Why do we give in the first place?”

    I think the best answer to that question is this: “Because God said so.”  Consider the passage that Janice read from the book of Deuteronomy.  Verses 22 and 23 say, “Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field.  In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine and your oil – as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock – so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.”

    Let’s take those verses apart.  The first issue has to do with tithing.  “Set apart a tithe of the yield of your seed,” it says.  What exactly is a tithe?  The old rule of thumb is that a tithe is ten percent.  It was long believed that the concept of tithing 10% was introduced to the Church by Mosaic law.  Yet the truth of the matter is, the 10% concept probably really came to the church by way of Roman law.  Anyone who obtained a part of the public land in a conquered country automatically paid a tenth of the revenue earned from it to the State. 

    Of course, we pay a whole lot more than 10% of our income to the state, do we not?  I think of an article I once read in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “God will provide…unless the government gets there first.”  The United States government has taken on a lot of the responsibility that used to be held by the church.  Specifically, the government tends to provide for those less fortunate than ourselves. In some respects, that might be a good thing.  In other respects, perhaps it is not. But I really don’t want to get into all of that here. The point is that the government takes a whole lot more than 10% of our income.

    Yet still a lot of church leaders blindly call for ten percent.  I remember attending a conference on stewardship many years ago. The leader of the conference told we clergy to set an example for our congregations by giving 10% ourselves.  Someone raised the question:  “Do you mean 10% of gross or 10% of net?”  The leader said, “You get to 10% of net, and then we’ll talk about gross!”

    Tithing has traditionally meant 10% of our income.  Yet we give a whole lot more than that to the government, do we not? Perhaps the point is that tithing doesn’t necessarily have to mean exactly ten percent. For some people it might be less. Yet for others, it might be even more. Let me try to explain.

    The issue of tithing aside, why were the Hebrew people called by God to give in the first place?  I think we see that explained in our passage from Deuteronomy as well.  They were to bring their sacrifices – and a sacrifice wasn’t just what was left over at the end of the day – a sacrifice was something that truly cost them something.  It was meant to be the first and the best of what they had.  That’s important.  They were to bring their sacrifices to one particular place, and they were to all feast together in the name of God.    

    Do you see what’s really going on here?  God called for a sumptuous feast in thanksgiving for all he had done for them. What’s more, everyone got to partake of it. The wealthy, who probably ate well on a regular basis, feasted with the poor, who probably only ate well at this God-inspired banquet.  It was meant to be a celebration of life.  It was meant to show that God’s desire was for all to share in the bounty he provides.  Yet let me also note that all were to contribute something.  It was never God’s plan that anyone should receive a free ride.  Because truth be told, God is the source of all that we have and all that we are.  And it’s only when we sacrifice…that we truly act as if we really believe that.

    Contrast this truth with the passage I read from the gospel according to Luke.  There, a rich, young ruler approaches Jesus with a profound question.  He says, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus tells him, in essence, to follow the Ten Commandments.  To which the rich, young ruler replies, “I have kept all these since my youth.”  Jesus then looked at the man and said, “There is one thing you lack. Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  As the story goes, the man hung his head and went away sad, for he had a great many possessions.

    This passage – and others like it – have been used for centuries to disdain the wealthy.  I’m not going to do that.  I’m not going to say that the wealthy are going to burn in hell.  Because I don’t think that’s what the Bible says.  The Bible doesn’t say that the wealthy are going to burn in hell.  It only says they might.  The issue is: Is wealth a means to an end, or is wealth an end it itself? If wealth is an end in itself, then like the rich young ruler, we have completely missed the point.  But if wealth is a means to an end, then still there is hope.

    Here’s the point.  The role of the Christian minister, I think, is to communicate the gospel of God’s will to all…and to prepare those who stand in the crucial secular areas of the world to be faithful caretakers of the world’s goods.  If we teach it well, Christians within important secular environments will then be on the job to see to it that what needs to be done with the goods of the world will be done as God would have it done.  So you see, you have to pay attention in church.

I think a man named Dallas Willard sums things up quite well in a book called, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives.  Listen closely:

The church certainly is to lead the way in charitable works, and after that is to exhort and advise all public agencies concerning policies of public welfare. But this is not to be the fundamental aspect of its service to the world.  Its fundamental work is to show those who gather in its meetings how to enter into full participation in the rule of God where they are.  In this way the church will ultimately bring all nations to itself to find out how humanity can realize the universal ethical vision of righteousness and well-being.  Through vision and discipline taught and practiced, our Christian ministers and teachers should shape a people who can form the foundation and framework of a world that is the unique dwelling place of The Immortal God.

    So you see, we give because our goal is to form the foundation and framework of a world that is the unique dwelling place of The Immortal God.  It’s like we say in the Lord’s Prayer every week: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Thus, there is no shame in being wealthy or comfortable.  And I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty.  It’s really just a matter of where your priorities lie.  Amen.

 

10-23-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

THE SEVEN COVENANTS OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST: PART V

    As Christians, we often times say that God calls us to a particular occupation, or God calls us to do a particular thing. Well, what exactly is a call from God?  Frederick Buechner, in his book Wishful Thinking, defines it this way: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger…meet.” Personally, I’ve always believed that a call from God is accompanied by an inner urgency.  In other words – try as we might – a call from God is something we feel deep inside that we cannot explain…and that we cannot dismiss.

    Each and every minister has his or her own sense of call from God.  Mine occurred when I was but 16 years of age.  I was a junior in high school and was actually employed by the First Presbyterian Church in Sioux City, Iowa, as a custodian.  There were a couple of us teenagers who worked as custodians at the church. We basically babysat doors while the choir practiced, mowed the lawn, and shoveled snow.  It wasn’t a terribly taxing occupation.  It was just a high school job.  I think I made a whopping $1.40 an hour.

    One Sunday morning after worship, I was walking up the aisle of the sanctuary and the minister, the Rev. William F. Skinner, was walking down the aisle after greeting the congregation.  He said to me, “Brian, have you thought about what you’re going to do with your life after you graduate from high school?”  I thought to myself, “That’s all I’ve been thinking about!”  I said to him, “Well, I’ll probably go to Iowa State and become an engineer like my dad.”  I couldn’t think of anything else.  He said to me, “Have you ever thought about becoming a minister?”  I quickly replied, “Me?  A minister?”  I was a skinny, quiet, shy kid in high school.  It was something that I truly hadn’t considered…but I told him that I would.

    That’s how the seed got planted.  I wrestled with the idea – and in my late teens I literally ran from the idea – but I felt an inner urgency that I just could not explain…that I simply could not dismiss.  Then Bill Skinner said something to me, that his father had said to him, that really cemented the issue in my mind.  He said – and please pardon the sexist language – he said, “Use your talents in the best way that you know how to help better mankind.”  I thought that writing and speaking were the things that I did best.  What better way to utilize those talents than in the ministry?  And the rest, as they say, is history.

    That’s how I was called into the ministry.  Like I said, each and every minister has his or her own sense of call from God.  In the Christian church in general – and in the Presbyterian Church in particular – we say that ministers are called by God to serve.  Perhaps the question now is: Does God call people to other occupations as well?  Does God call doctors to practice medicine, lawyers to practice law, homemakers to make homes, and engineers to drive trains?  That’s what an engineer does, right? Does God call people to occupations other than the ministry?  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

    Several weeks ago we began a sermon series entitled, The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I began the first sermon by making the case that Christ’s Great Commission, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew, is the reason for the church’s existence in the first place.  The church is called to make disciples.  Yet if the church is going to make disciples, then the people who habituate the church must first become disciples themselves.  That’s what the seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are all about.

    The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are as follows: worship regularly; pray daily; study diligently; live faithfully; serve joyously; give generously; and witness boldly. Five weeks ago, we delved a little more deeply into the first covenant: worship regularly. We said in essence that it was Jesus’ custom to worship, and it should be ours, as well.  Yet we should come to worship expecting God to speak, to move, and to act.   That’s what keeps our faith from being a mile wide and an inch deep. 

    Four weeks ago, we examined the second covenant: pray daily.  There we saw that we are called to share our hurts, our sorrows and our joys with God.  God listens to us in compassion and love much like we do when our children come to us. And when we do that…what we discover is that by praying, we learn how to pray.

    Two weeks ago, we examined the third covenant: study diligently.  We learned that God is responsible for the Scriptures in a revelatory way, and not just in an informational way.  The Bible is how God reveals himself to us.  It’s something we absolutely, positively, never could have come up with on our own.  What’s more, you’ve got to read the textbook if you’re going to take the course.

    Last week we examined the fourth covenant of a disciple: live faithfully.  We learned about orthopraxis, or, right practice.  People pass judgment on Christianity by the way Christians live their lives.  It is absolutely imperative that we set a good example. 

    Today we examine the fifth covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ: serve joyously.  Each of us is called to ministry.  We seek the field of ministry most closely aligned with the call of God on our lives that hauntingly stirs our deepest passion. We begin by engaging in some form of ministry with others.  We aspire to create ministries in which we engage others as partners in ministry with us.

    The first – and perhaps the most important – statement in the fifth covenant is this: “Each of us is called to ministry.”  It’s not just ministers who are called.  Each of us is called to ministry.  That wasn’t always the belief that Christians held.  As Os Guinness wrote in his book The Call, “For most Christians in medieval times, the term call was reserved for priests, monks, and nuns.  Everyone else just had work.”

    Reformation theologian John Calvin helped to change all that.  In 1559, he addressed the notion of vocation or calling in his epic work Institutes of the Christian Religion. He wrote, “Wherefore no man can doubt that this vocation is, in the sight of God, not only sacred and lawful…but the most sacred – and by far the most honorable – of all stations in mortal life.”  What is that most sacred and honorable station in life?  Is it the ministry?  No.  Calvin went on to say, and I quote:

With regard to the function of magistrates, the Lord has not only declared that he approves and is pleased with it, but moreover, has strongly recommended it to us by the very honorable titles which he has conferred upon it. When those who bear the office of magistrate are called gods, let no one suppose there is little weight in that appellation.   It is therefore intimated that they have a commission from God, that they are invested with divine authority, and in fact represent the person of God, as whose substitutes they in a manner act. Wherefore no man can doubt that civil authority is – in the sight of God, not only sacred and lawful – but the most sacred, and by far the most honorable, of all stations in mortal life.

    What is the most sacred and honorable station in mortal life?  It’s not the ministry. According to John Calvin, the most sacred and honorable station in mortal life is that of the politician.  We need to remember, of course, that Calvin is not speaking of the person holding that office.  He is speaking of the office or the calling itself. Regardless of whether the person holding that office is wise or is a fool, it is the office itself that is worthy of honor.

    All I’m trying to say is that it’s not just ministers who are called by God.  Doctors, lawyers, homemakers and engineers can all be called by God as well.  Consider the passage I read from the book of Genesis.  God said to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”  Was Abraham blessed that he might hoard those blessings unto himself?  No, he was blessed that he might become a blessing to others.  The same is true of us.  We are blessed…to be a blessing.

    Perhaps our dalliance into the arena of calling should take both mental aptitude and spiritual giftedness into consideration.  Ideally, these factors should be wedded to a strong sense of mission, such that our blessedness might be a blessing to others.  Questions that come to mind now are these:

1.      What has God called YOU to do in partnership with the community of Christ?

2.      How can you fulfill your mission for Christ in the world…based upon what you feel you have the mental aptitude and the spiritual gifts to do?

    For Theresa, the defining moment came one night with an unexpected knock at the door.  At   the time, she was a teacher in a private girls’ school.  But when she opened the door that night, she found a dying woman, crumpled up on her doorstep.  Theresa took the dying woman from one hospital to another looking for help…but none of the hospitals would accept the woman as a patient.  Finally, it was too late.  The woman died in her arms.

    It was a defining moment.  It touched something deep inside her; a well of deep love and deep anger.  From that moment on, Theresa was not the same.  Her life would be dedicated to making sure that the poor people in her city died with dignity, knowing that they were loved. By the way, that woman named Theresa came to be known as Mother Theresa. She sensed what God was calling her to do, in partnership with the community of Christ.  And she fulfilled her mission based upon what she felt she was gifted to do. She felt that she was called by God to make a difference in Jesus’ name, and she dedicated her life to fulfilling that calling.

    It’s good to pay attention to such unexpected moments in our lives – moments that I think each of us have now and then – moments that reach deep down into our souls. They can sometimes become the foundation for our own unique ministries.  They can sometimes become the foundation to our own call to serve joyously.  A call from God does not refer exclusively to an occupation.  Sometimes it’s more like a task that needs to be done…a task God thinks you are uniquely qualified to do. As someone once said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger…meet.”

    Does that seem a little out of reach to you?  Are Mother Theresa’s aspirations perhaps a bit too lofty?  Listen, people in this very church have felt called by God to take action in our community as well, and they have done so. That’s how the Fairview/Fairmont low-income housing development got started. That’s how the Meadville Area Free Clinic got started as well.  People from this very community of faith felt called by God to accomplish something in Jesus’ name in their own community…and they did so.

    I think of a woman from this church who was appalled by the fact that the Meadville high school no longer held baccalaureate services for graduating seniors.  So she involved her husband, who is a teacher, she involved the student council, and she involved the Meadville Area Ministerial Association.   We’ve been holding baccalaureate services in Meadville for 8 years now and attendance has grown each and every year. That’s what it means to be called by God.  That’s what it means to make a difference in Jesus’ name.

    I think of another woman from this church who finds it disturbing that so many young people who were raised in the church…do not involve their own children in the life of the church. This kind of thing upsets grandparents to no end.  She recently formed a group that’s bit of a spinoff of a group called, Moms in Touch, and calls it, Grandmas in Touch.  A group of grandmothers now gets together to pray for their grandchildren.  I suspect God listens to “grandma” prayers.  That’s what it means to be called by God.  That’s what it means to make a difference in Jesus’ name.

    Yet one more thing needs to be said.  The fifth discipline of a disciple of Jesus Christ is not just to serve.  It is, rather: Serve Joyously!  That’s why I had Nancy read the story of Cain and Abel a little while ago.  Attitude is everything.

    As the story goes, Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve.  Cain was a tiller of the ground while Abel was a keeper of sheep.  One day they each made an offering to God.  Abel brought the best he had to offer – the firstlings of his flock.  Cain…Cain pretty much brought what he had left over.  God was pleased with Abel’s offering, but he had no regard for Cain’s.  Cain was angry about that…and in the end, he slew his brother, Abel.   Why was God pleased with Abel’s offering and displeased with that of Cain? I think it comes down to attitude.  Abel recognized that God was the source of all that he had and all that he was. Therefore, he offered up to God the best he had to give. Cain thought more of himself and his own efforts than he did of God. Giving – to him – was an afterthought…a burden.  Attitude is everything. We are called not just to serve, but to serve joyously.

    The fifth covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ is: Serve Joyously!  Each of us is called to ministry.  We seek the field of ministry most closely aligned with the call of God on our lives, that hauntingly stirs our deepest passion. We begin by engaging in some form of ministry with others. We aspire to create ministries in which we engage others as partners in ministry with us.  Just don’t forget that how you serve is just as important as who you serve.  As the Apostle Paul once put it in the second book of Corinthians, “The Lord loves a cheerful giver.”  Attitude…is everything.  Amen.

 

10-16-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

THE SEVEN COVENANTS OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST: PART IV

    Are all of you familiar with the story of Samuel and Eli?  Samuel’s mother, Hanna, had long desired to have a child.  She prayed and prayed and prayed to God…and finally her prayer was answered.  She had a son, and she named him Samuel.  Then in gratitude to God for answering her prayer, she gave her son to God.   After he was weaned, he was raised in the temple by Eli, the priest.

    One night, God called to Samuel, saying, “Samuel, Samuel!”  Samuel thought it was Eli who was calling him, so he ran to the sleeping Eli’s side, awakened him and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”  After this happened about three times, Eli perceived that it was God who was calling the boy.  He instructed Samuel to say, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears.”  And the rest, as they say, is history.

    Of this story, theologian Jack Hayford once said, “The younger generation needs the older generation to help them identify the voice of God, just as Samuel needed Eli to help him know that God was calling him.” Then he added, “Yet the older generation must also realize that God is speaking to the younger generation as well.”  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.      

    You’ve heard me mention the name of David Kinnaman in the past.  He and a man named Gabe Lyons were coauthors of a book called unChristian.  The basic premise of that book is that Christians these days are characterized more by what they stand against than they are by what they stand for, and that’s not a good thing.  Kinnaman’s latest book is entitled You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving the Church and Rethinking Faith.   In it, I believe he raises some rather profound concerns for the modern day church.

    David Kinnaman is currently the president of the Barna Group, which is a private, nonpartisan research and resource company. Though Kinnaman is only 37 years old, in his sixteen years with the Barna Group he has supervised more than 350,000 interviews with people on matters of faith, politics and social dynamics.  In other words, he knows that of which he speaks.

    Let me begin our discussion today by laying out the definitions of a few basic terms that Kinnaman refers to on a regular basis.  People born prior to 1946 are often called America’s Greatest Generation, or Baby Boosters.  Kinnaman refers to these people as Elders.  People born between 1946 and 1964 are called Baby Boomers.  Kinnaman just calls them Boomers.  People born between 1965 and 1983 are often referred to as Generation X.  Kinnaman calls them Busters.  People born between 1984 and 2002 are often times called Generation Y, or, Millennials. Kinnaman calls this group of people Mosaics.  A mosaic, of course, is a unique piece of decorative art.  Now for those of you listening in who were born after the year 2002, I offer my sincere apology. You have not yet been categorized. Rest assured, however, in the knowledge that one day…you will be.

    Okay, so we have Elders, Boomers, Busters and Mosaics. Bob Buford, in a book called Half Time, says that each generation uses about five words or phrases to describe itself.  Elders use words like: World War II and the Great Depression, smarter, honest, work ethic and respectful.  Boomers use words like: work ethic, respectful, values, morals, and smarter. Busters use words like: technology use, work ethic, conservative/traditional, smarter, and respectful.  Mosaics use words like: technology use, music and pop culture, liberal/tolerant, smarter, and clothes.

    For those of you keeping score at home, you will note that each generation refers to itself as being smarter than the previous generation. Yet when it comes to Mosaics, Buford points out, “Where has the word respectful gone? And what happened to the term work ethic?” Those are terms not chosen by Mosaics.  Perhaps this is indicative of the fact that we are dealing with a different kind of generation here.  David Kinnaman calls them discontinuously different.   In other words, there’s never been anything quite like them before, so patterns of behavior from previous generations simply do not apply.

    This is a group that, generally speaking, is missing from the pews of the church today.  Often times Mosaics were raised in the church. In fact, many of them were quite active in the church as teenagers. Yet by the time they reach their early twenties, more often than not, they are no longer active in the institutional church.  The reasons these young people drop out are very real and very personal to those who experience them. Yet the Barna Group, through a diligent research project, has uncovered a pattern to the church dropout problem.  There are three basic ways that Mosaics are lost, when it comes to the church.  David Kinnaman refers to these people as Nomads, Prodigals and Exiles.

    Nomads walk away from church involvement, but still consider themselves to be Christian.  Prodigals, on the other hand, lose their faith…and no longer describe themselves as Christian.  Exiles are still invested in their Christian faith, but they feel stuck or lost between culture and the church.

    Kelly is an example of a Nomad.  She grew up in a Protestant church.  Her father worked for Christian organizations during Kelly’s entire life and regularly teaches Sunday school.  Both of her parents are committed churchgoers. Yet Kelly describes struggling with an anxiety disorder and feeling that she never fit in at church.  As Kelly herself puts it, “The first strike against the church was the youth group where I didn’t fit in and no effort was made to help me.  The second strike was in college when the campus ministry I attended started talking about quotas for getting people saved.  The third strike was the judgments my parents received from their church friends about me. They actually told my parents that they must have done a poor job of raising me.” Yet Kelly fits the profile of a nomad because she claims she prays...and she reads her Bible regularly.  As Kelly herself puts it, “I never lost faith in Christ, but I have lost faith in the church.”  That’s a Nomad.

    Mike fits the profile of a Prodigal.  He grew up in the Catholic Church, but his love for science and razor-sharp wit – which was sometimes perceived as disrespect – often times put him at odds with parish leaders.  After a period of searching and wrestling with his faith, Mike says, “I just stopped believing in all those Christian stories.”  Time will tell if Mike will return to faith later in life, but the mindset of a Prodigal typically rejects that kind of outcome.  In my mind, we need to pray for Prodigals, not argue with them.  They believe what they believe for a reason.

    Nathan fits the profile of an Exile.  Nathan’s parents – like Kelly’s – were fixtures in the church during his childhood years. Then his parents split up.  As Nathan puts it, “I was really volatile toward church and faith for a long time…but way more so toward church than faith.”  In an interview with Relevant magazine he described his enormous cynicism toward all things having to do with institutional Christianity.  He and his friends say they are embarrassed by a lot of the Christian subculture from which they came, but not necessarily embarrassed by their beliefs.  They claim to be searching for something more from their faith.   In other words, they want their faith to make a difference.  Such is the profile of an Exile.

    There you have it: Nomads, Prodigals and Exiles.  Truth be told, I think there are Nomads, Prodigals and Exiles in more generations that just the Mosaics.  That aside, the question thus becomes: What can we do about it?  What can the church do about the questions and the cynicism that young people seem to have about the church today?

    David Kinnaman believes that the dropout problem – at its core – is a faith-development problem.  Kinnaman says, and I quote, “The church is not adequately preparing the next generation to follow Christ faithfully in a rapidly changing culture.” Then he adds, “To use religious language, we have a disciple-making problem.”  We have a disciple-making problem?  Now you know why I utilized Kinnaman’s work so extensively.

    Several weeks ago we began a sermon series entitled, “The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ.”   I began the first sermon by making the case that Christ’s Great Commission, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew, is the reason for the church’s existence in the first place. The church is called to make disciples.  Yet if the church is going to make disciples, then the people who habituate the church must first become disciples themselves.  That’s what the seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are all about.

    The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are as follows: worship regularly; pray daily; study diligently; live faithfully; serve joyously; give generously; and witness boldly. Four weeks ago, we delved a little more deeply into the first covenant: worship regularly. We said in essence that it was Jesus’ custom to worship, and it should be ours as well.  Yet we should come to worship expecting God to speak, to move, and to act.   That’s what keeps our faith from being a mile wide and an inch deep.

    Three weeks ago we examined the second covenant: pray daily.  There we saw that we are called to share our hurts, our sorrows, and our joys with God.  God listens to us in compassion and love, much like we do when our children come to us.  And when we do that…what we discover is that by praying, we learn how to pray.

    Last week we examined the third covenant: study diligently.  We learned that God is responsible for the Scriptures in a revelatory way, not just in an informational way.  The Bible is how God reveals himself to us.  It’s something we never could have come up with on our own.  What’s more, you’ve got to read the textbook…if you’re going to take the class.

    Today we examine the fourth covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ: live faithfully. Our lives should be lived with integrity and holiness.  We strive to live in harmony with the will of God.  We begin by taking to heart that which we read in Scripture, comprehend in worship and sense in prayer.   We aspire to live lives reflecting the faith we profess…looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

    I know the Presbyterian Church failed my generation, in a manner of speaking.  In Sunday school, in the early years, we were taught the basic Bible stories.  Then by the time we reached junior and senior high school – at a time when we could finally begin to comprehend the meaning behind those stories – we were taught how to apply our faith. Do you see what I’m trying to say?  In other words, our junior and senior high school Sunday school teachers were trying to build a house without laying a firm foundation.  We were taught what to do, but we were never taught why.

    In the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew, Jesus tells a parable about just such a thing.  He says, “Everyone who hears these words of mine – and acts upon them – will be like the wise man who built his house upon a rock.  The rains fell, and the floods came, and beat upon that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act upon them, will be like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand.  The rains fell and the floods came and beat upon that house and it fell…and great was the fall of it.”

    We need a firm foundation.  Jesus Christ provides that firm foundation.  That foundation is built just like we said in the fourth covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ.  We take to heart that which we read in Scripture, comprehend in worship and sense in prayer. In other words, we live what we believe.  It’s a little thing theologians like to call orthopraxis. If orthodoxy means right belief, then orthopraxis means right practice.  Easier said than done though, don’t you think?

    I think the secret to living faithfully is revealed in something a wise man from this church recently said to me.  He said, “When my wife and I got married, we both agreed to follow the rule of sixty/forty.” I said, “What’s the rule of sixty/forty?” He replied, “We agreed to give sixty and expect forty in return.  Most people think marriage is fifty/fifty.  It’s not.  We agreed to the rule of sixty/forty.”  Then with a glint in his eye he leaned forward and said, “Sometimes it’s seventy/ thirty.”  The rule of sixty/forty must work…because Chuck and Janet Koller have now been married for more than 60 years.  

    You know, the people who leave the church generally don’t do so because of the church itself.  They do so because they’ve been upset by people in the church.  They sense an incongruity between the faith people profess and the way they live their lives. We need to learn orthopraxis. We need to learn to live the life of faith we say we believe. 

    I think the rule of sixty/forty just might apply to the discipleship practice of living faithfully as well.  If we think that all of our relationships are going to be fifty/fifty, we’re going to be sorely disappointed and we’re going to feel as if we’ve been mistreated a great deal of the time.  But if we approach our relationships with the attitude of sixty/forty – and are sometimes even willing to give seventy/thirty – then we will likely find ourselves living a whole lot more faithfully than we have in the past.  And we’ll be well on the way…to living out the fourth covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

10-9-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

THE SEVEN COVENANTS OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST: PART III

    One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from a book that was written by a man named James Allen in 1902.  The title of the book is As a Man Thinketh. That title comes from the King James Version’s rendition of Proverbs 23:7 where it says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”  In any case, here’s the quote:

And you, too, youthful reader will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart – be it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both – for you will always gravitate toward that which you, secretly, most love. Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts.  You will receive that which you earn; no more, no less.  Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal.  You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration…The Vision that you glorify in your mind – the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart – this you will build your life by; this you will become.

    That, my friends, is indicative of the power of the mind.  “The Vision that you glorify in your mind – the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart – this you will build your life by…this you will become.”  The problem today is that a lot of advertisers are now well aware of that fact, as well. 

Some of them have even begun to play upon our subconscious minds in an effort to get us to buy more of their products.  Martin Lindstrom is the author of a new book called, Brandwashed.  He begins his book with these words:

Have you ever been primed?   I mean, has anyone ever deliberately influenced your subconscious mind and altered your perception of reality without your knowing it?  Whole Foods Market, and others, are doing it to you right now.

    For example, let’s pay a visit to Whole Foods’ Columbus Circle store in New York City.  As you descend the escalator, you enter a realm of freshly cut flowers.  These are what advertisers call symbolics or unconscious suggestions.  In this particular case, they let us know that what is before us is bursting with freshness. Flowers, as everyone knows, are among the freshest, most perishable objects on earth. That’s why flowers are placed right up front; to prime us into thinking of freshness from the moment we enter the store. Then the prices for all the fruits and vegetables are scrawled in chalk on little blackboards.  This is meant to suggest that the prices are subject to change daily, just as they might at a roadside farm stand.  The truth of the matter is, most of the produce was flown in days ago, and the price was set at the home office in Austin, Texas.  Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve just been primed.

    I don’t know about you, but there are few things in this world that offend me more than being referred to as a consumer. To me that suggests that human beings are nothing more than automatons who blow their hard-earned cash on producers’ products rather than precious creatures created in the image of God.  Yet advertisers are well aware of the power of suggestion…well aware of the influence of the mind.  As James Allen put it so well, “The Vision that you glorify in your mind – the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart – this you will build your life by…this you will become.”  I think of the words in that old United Negro College Fund commercial: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”   Perhaps the question now is, “Are wasting ours?”  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

    Several weeks ago, we began a sermon series entitled, “The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ.”  I began the first sermon by making the case that Christ’s Great Commission, as recorded in the gospel according to Matthew, is the reason for the church’s existence in the first place. The church is called to make disciples. Yet if the church is going to make disciples, then the people who habituate the church must first become disciples themselves.  That’s what the seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are all about.

    The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are as follows: worship regularly; pray daily; study diligently; live faithfully; serve joyously; give generously; and witness boldly.  Three weeks ago, we delved a little more deeply into the first covenant: worship regularly.  We said in essence that it was Jesus’ custom to worship and it should be ours as well.  Yet we should come to worship expecting God to speak, to move and to act.  That’s what keeps our faith from being a mile wide and an inch deep. 

    Two weeks ago, we examined the second covenant: pray daily.  There we saw that we are called to share our hurts, our sorrows and our joys with God.  God listens to us in compassion and love, just like we do when our children come to us.  And when we do that…what we discover is that by praying, we learn how to pray.

    Today we examine the third covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ: study diligently.  We study Scripture in an attempt to shape our minds to become more attuned to the will of God. We begin by setting aside a small block of time each day to read the Bible, and participating in at least one group learning experience each week.  We aspire to spend a significant amount of time in Christian study every day, and take part in two or three learning experiences each week.

    Theologian Eugene Peterson would seem to be in agreement with that.  In fact, the Silent Reflection in your bulletins this week is taken from a book by Dr. Peterson entitled, Eat This Book.  Peterson writes:

The challenge – never negligible – regarding the Christian Scriptures is getting them read, but read on their own terms, as God’s revelation.  In this business of living the Christian life, ranking high among the most neglected aspects is one having to do with the reading of the Christian Scriptures. It’s not that Christians don’t own and read their Bibles.  And it’s not that Christians don’t believe that their Bibles are the word of God.  What is neglected, however, is the reading of Scriptures formatively; that is, reading in order to live.

    The question thus becomes: “How do we read in order to live?”  Many people are fascinated by the intellectual challenges of the Bible. Our Seminaries are full of students – and professors – who study their Bibles diligently and dig out some absolutely incredible truths…but they never apply those truths to their own daily lives.  To them, the Bible is nothing more than intellectual fodder.  Some come to the Bible with more practical concerns. They want to live well, and they want their children and neighbors to live well.   The problem here…is that the issue seems to be more about us than it is about God.  Still others come to the Bible for inspiration. In other words, they want their Bibles to make them feel better.  As H. Richard Niebuhr once put it, “Too often we want a God without wrath, who brought men without sin, into a kingdom without judgment, through the minstrations of a Christ without a cross.” Truth be told, reading the Bible formatively is far more likely to keep us up at night wringing our hands in holy horror…than it is to bring us peace and relaxation.

    C. S. Lewis, in the last book he ever wrote, talked about two different kinds of reading.  One is reading in which we use a book for our own purposes, kind of like a self-help book.  The other is reading in which we use a book for the author’s own purposes.  Ladies and gentlemen, there is a significant difference.  C.S. Lewis describes that difference this way:

When we receive it, we exert our senses and imagination and various other powers according to a pattern invented by the artist.  When we use it, we treat it as assistance for our own activities…Using is inferior to reception because art – if used rather than received – merely facilitates, brightens, relieves or palliates our life and does not add to it.

    In other words, when it comes to reading Scripture, we must learn to receive it rather than use it.  We must learn to seek out the author’s purposes, and not merely use it for our own.  And that just might take a little more effort.  Perhaps the Scriptures themselves can show us how.

    In the passage from Ezekiel that Henry read, and in the passage that I read from the book of Revelation, God said to his prophets, “Take this scroll and eat it.” Or, more succinctly put, God was not merely saying to them, “Read your Bible.”  God was actually saying to them, “Eat this book!”  As the one and only Eugene Peterson puts it, “Christians feed on Scripture.  Holy Scripture nourishes the Christian community in the same way that food nourishes the human body.”

    The act of eating a book is not merely looking at the words and trying to ascertain their meaning.  The problem is that we’ve been trained these days to read books with a cool objectivity that attempts to preserve their scientific or theological truths by eliminating any kind of personal participation that could contaminate the true meaning. Yet in order to seek out an author’s purpose – in order to truly “eat this book,” that is exactly the opposite of what we must do.  We must learn to personally participate in what we read in the Bible if we’re ever going to comprehend its deeper meaning…if we’re ever going to be even remotely impacted by what we read.  We should stop and ask ourselves at multiple junctures, “What is God trying to say to me in this passage?”  And if we see the finger of God constantly pointing at someone else, then we’re not reading the book as it was meant to be read.  We’re not receiving it; we’re using it.

    Listen: however we think that the words of the Bible got written down on paper, the Christian Church has always believed that God is somehow responsible. Yet the Church has also always believed that God is responsible in a revelatory way, and not just in an informational way.  The Bible is revelation, personally revealed to us by God. It’s something we could never have come up with on our own.  In other words, God is actually letting us in on something – telling us person to person – what it means to live our lives as men and women created in the image of God.

Eugene Peterson describes it this way:

This may be the single most important thing to know as we come to read and study and  believe the Holy Scriptures: this rich, alive, personally revealing God we experience as Father, Son and Holy Spirit…is personally addressing us in whatever circumstances we find ourselves – at whatever age we are – and in whatever state we are.

    Yet in my mind, there are two great themes that typify our culture and keep us at arm’s length from God.  The first theme is the Burger King mantra: “Have it your way.”  The second theme is what anyone who was ever in the retail business had drilled into their heads.  And that theme is: “The customer is always right.”  Thus, if culture does a thorough job on us – and it turns out to be awfully effective on most of us – we enter adulthood with the assumption that whatever we want, whatever we feel or whatever we need…has come to form the divine control center of our lives.  And the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are reduced to a personal trinity of My Wants, My Feelings, and My Needs.  Could we go so far as to say that consumption and acquisition have become the new fruits of the Spirit?

    Yet the fact of the matter is – in spite of all our sophistication, knowledge and self-indulgence – we don’t know how to run our own lives.  The sorry state of affairs in many people’s lives is a tribute to the path of self-reliance. The sorry state of affairs in this country is a tribute to the path of self-reliance.  Where do you suppose we could find the God who loves us – the God who created us in his own image – revealing a better way? 

    Before I end this sermon, however, I’ve got one more thing to tell you.  A man in this church – a man who wishes to remain anonymous – was asked to deliver the eulogy at his brother-in-law’s funeral.  His brother-in-law’s name was Fred.  What follows is a part of what he said.  Listen closely.

Fred was a dedicated Christian with a strong faith.  I remember talking with him on the phone a couple of months ago and telling him about a Bible study class that I was taking at church. I said that I really didn’t know the Bible as well as I should.  He replied, “You have to read the textbook if you’re going to take the course.”

    You have to read the textbook if you’re going to take the course. My friend’s eulogy went on to say, “While living with them on 8^th Street, he encouraged me to join their church – Gloria Dei Lutheran.  I remained a Lutheran, until I married that cute pharmacy student…different denomination, same textbook.”

    The third covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ is Study Diligently!  We study Scripture in an attempt to shape our minds to become more attuned to the will of God. We begin by setting aside a small block of time each day to read the Bible…and participating in at least one group learning experience each week.   We aspire to spend a significant amount of time in Christian study every day and take part in two or three learning experiences each week.  Ladies and gentlemen, you have to read the textbook…if you’re going to take the course.  Amen.

 

 

 

9-25-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

THE SEVEN COVENANTS OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST: PARTII

    Back when I was a senior in seminary, I had what was called a student pastorate in a town called Manchester, Kentucky.  One Sunday afternoon I was in the home of one the families in my church.  Fourteen-year-old Ben was busy doing his science homework.  All of a sudden he blurted out, “Mom! Did you know that the sun is 93 million miles away?”  His mother replied, “Of course, Ben.  Everybody knows that.”  Ben scowled and said, “Well, I didn’t know that.  I just thought it came up over here and went down over there!”

    That story brings to mind the seed I want to plant in your minds for you to consider throughout the course of this sermon.  Does the sun revolve around the earth, or does the earth revolve around the sun?  And when we can’t see the sun, is it because the sun has turned away…or because the earth has turned away?  Keep that though in mind as we move on.

    Last week, we began a sermon series entitled, “The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ.”  I began the sermon by making the case that Christ’s Great Commission, as recorded in the gospel according to Matthew, is the reason for the church’s existence in the first place.  The church is called to make disciples.  Yet if the church is going to make disciples, the people who populate the church must first become disciples themselves. That’s what the seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are all about.

    The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are as follows: worship regularly; pray daily; study diligently; live faithfully; serve joyously; give generously; and witness boldly.  Last week we delved a little more deeply into the first covenant: worship regularly. We said in essence that it was Jesus’ custom to worship and it should be ours as well. Yet we should also come to worship expecting God to speak, to move and to act. That’s what keeps our faith from being a mile wide and an inch deep.  Today, we’re going to delve a little more deeply into the second covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ…the covenant that calls us to pray daily.

    A disciple of Jesus Christ prays every day.  Prayer is communication with God.  It ushers us into communion with God. We begin by setting aside at least one time period each day when we will communicate with God.  We aspire to live lives guided by God through continual prayer.

    We yearn for prayer in our lives these days…yet we seem to hide from it as well.  Why, it’s almost as if we’re drawn to prayer and repelled by it at the very same time.  Deep down in our hearts we believe that prayer is something we should do – even something we want to do – but it seems as if there’s a great that chasm stands between us and God.  Maybe we’re afraid that if we pray we might actually have to change something about ourselves. What happens then is we come to experience the emptiness of prayerlessness. 

    We’re not quite sure what it is that holds us back.  Of course, we’re all busy with work and family obligations, but truth be told…that’s really a smoke screen.  Our busyness seldom keeps us from eating or sleeping or going out on the town.  Perhaps there’s something deeper – something more significant – that keeps us from having an active prayer life.  Perhaps, in reality, the problem is that we don’t really know how to pray.

    Living in a postmodern world as we do, we assume that prayer is something we master, like algebra or economics.   That puts us in a position where we feel competent and in control.  Prayer, however, doesn’t really work like that.  Prayer puts us in a position of not being in control.  In fact, in prayer, we deliberately surrender control.  As Emile Griffin once wrote in a book called The Experience of Prayer, “To pray means being willing to become naïve.” That’s not exactly a feeling with which many of us are terribly comfortable.

    Then we wonder if what we’re asking for in prayer is proper.  Many years ago, I was leading a confirmation class at the First Presbyterian Church in Luverne, Minnesota. One of the things I like to do at the beginning of every session is to have one of the students lead the class in prayer.  That particular day, a boy named Calvin led the class in prayer.  He said something like, “Let us pray.  Dear God, bless our confirmation class. Bless all the people in this church.  And could you please make Jeanie Gamble like me?  Amen.” 

    Someone immediately blurted out, “You can’t God ask for that in prayer!”  I said, “Why not?  God can take it. God wants to know what’s really on our minds. We are free to bring the deepest, darkest longings of our hearts to God.  That’s what it means to be a child of God.”

    Truth be told, we all come before God with mixed motives.  We come before God feeling generous or selfish, merciful or hateful, loving…or bitter.  Yet Jesus reminds us that prayer is a lot like a child making a request of his or her parents. Oh, we may not be pleased with everything our children ask of us, and sometimes the answer might be no, but aren’t we always glad they came to us, just the same?

    I guess what I’m trying to say is that God receives us just as we are, and accepts our prayers just as they are.  Richard Foster calls this kind of prayer, “Simple Prayer” or, “The Prayer of Beginning Again.” In Simple Prayer we are the focus of our prayers. Our needs, our wants and our concerns tend to dominate the conversation.  And that’s all right…in the beginning.

    What Richard Foster calls Simple Prayer is probably the most common form of prayer in the Bible. I think of Moses in the wilderness when his people grew tired of bread from heaven. They wanted meat.  So Moses cried out to God, “I am not able to carry these people alone. The burden is too heavy for me.  If thou must deal thus with me, kill me at once!”  Then there was the prayer of Elisha after he took over from Elijah. Some little boys made fun of him and called him a baldhead. Elisha cursed them in the name of the Lord, and then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled the little boys. And in the 137^th Psalm the Israelites were upset with the Babylonians.  They cry out to God against their oppressors: “Happy shall be he who takes your little ones…and dashes them against a rock!” Even some of the most significant biblical exemplars of faith would on occasion let their darker sides get the best of them. 

    The point is, we can bring before God that which lies on our hearts.  Simple prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father. Thus, it was all right for Calvin to ask God to make Jeanie Gamble like him.  It’s fine if we ask God to help us pass a calculus test.  And there’s nothing wrong with asking God to make us feel better when we don’t feel very good at all. As C.S. Lewis once put it, “We should lay before God that which is really in us, not what we think ought to be in us.”  For when we pray, the real condition of our hearts is revealed…and that is when God can truly begin to work with us.  Again, when we pray, the real condition of our hearts is revealed and that is when God can truly begin to work with us.

    Perhaps the best illustration of this is Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.  He’d look up to the sky and talk about whatever was on his mind.  In the song, “If I Were a Rich Man,” he sings, “Lord, Who made the lion and the lamb, You decreed I should be what I am.  Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan…if I were a wealthy man?  Ya da da da da da da…”  Sorry.

    Don’t worry about proper praying.  Just talk to God.  Share your hurts, your sorrows, and your joys…freely and openly.  God listens in compassion and love, just like we do when our children come to us.  God delights in our presence. And when we do this, perhaps we will discover something of inestimable value. Perhaps we will discover that by praying, we learn how to pray.

    A good way to start is by getting yourself a devotional guide.  I have a devotional guide that I’ve been using for more than 25 years.  It’s called, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants, by Rueben P. Job and Norm Shawchuck. I begin every day with devotions and prayer time.  There’s an opening prayer, a Psalm and a daily Scripture reading.  Then there’s what they call “Readings for Reflection.” Those are typically snippets from spiritual classics like, The God Who Comes, by Carlo Carretto, or, The Wounded Healer, by Henri Nouwen.  And then, there’s a time set aside for prayer.  I like to practice what we call contemplative or listening prayer.

    What is contemplative prayer?  It has to do with listening for God.  Typically, when we pray, we fill the airwaves with our incessant chatter.  Contemplative prayer has to do with giving God a chance to respond.  We actually listen for God in silence.

    Here’s how it works.  Make yourself completely comfortable so that your body doesn’t become a hindrance in any way.  I like to lean back in my chair, put my feet up on my desk, rest my hands in my lap and close my eyes.  That’s why I keep my office door closed.  If someone actually saw me like that, they’d think I was taking a nap.  I’m not taking a nap; I’m praying!

    The next thing to do is to completely clear your mind.  Some people use what we call “The Jesus Prayer.”  They repeat the words, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Repeat those words a number of times, and then just clear your mind.  That’s one way.   

    I like to use a way that was taught by the unknown 14^th century English mystic who wrote a book called, The Cloud of Unknowing.  He – or she – said to do this.  Repeat the words, “God, God, God!” in your mind. Then simply clear your mind.  Allow God an opportunity to communicate with you. Shut out the noise of the world, and just listen. Trust me…you’ll be amazed at the results.

    But let me add what I think just might be the most important thing of all about prayer.  All Christian prayer should be closed in Jesus’ name.  Every prayer you’ve ever heard me say is closed with the words “We pray in Jesus’ name” or “Through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Why?  Because apart from Jesus Christ, we do not have access to God.  We pray in Jesus’ name because it’s through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross…that we have access to God.  God made a covenant with the Hebrew people through Abraham. Jesus Christ fulfilled that covenant and established a new covenant – a covenant of grace and mercy.  We are a part of that covenant of grace and mercy.  And that’s why we pray in Jesus’ name.  Ladies and gentlemen, it’s not just a formality.  It’s a theological reality.

    So let’s go back to our initial analogy of the earth and the sun. The sun is 93 million miles   away from the earth, although Allegheny physics professor Dan Willey tells me that I can’t prove it. It’s just something that we accept. The question was, “Does the sun revolve around    the earth, or does the earth revolve around the sun?  And when we can’t see the sun, is it because the sun has turned away...or because the earth has turned away?”  Science tells us that the earth revolves around the sun.  And when we can’t see the sun, it’s because the earth has turned away…not the other way around.

    Is this a good analogy for us and God?  Could we be so bold as to say that God is the center of the universe and that we are not? And could we also say that when we can’t sense God in the day-to-day events of our lives that it’s we who have turned away, and not the other way around?  I think we could say that.  I think we could say that…and we’d be right.

    The second covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ is: pray daily.  Prayer is communication with God.  It ushers us into communion with God. We begin by setting aside at least one time period each day when we will communicate with God.  We aspire to live lives guided by God through continual prayer.  Do that…and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Amen.