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.

 

9-18-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

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

    Artemus Ward was the pen name of a man named Charles Farrar Browne.  He was an early American humorist who once was called America’s first standup comic.  He lived from 1834 until 1867…and profoundly influenced another American humorist who went by the name of Mark Twain.  Anyway, in one of his routines Artemus Ward tried to describe the South Platte River in northeast Colorado.  He said it was a mile wide and an inch deep. “It would be a considerable river,” he added, “if it were turned on its side!”

    A mile wide and an inch deep…a little research reveals that that particular phrase has been used to describe politicians, writers, consultants and T.V. newscasters.  The question I have for you today however, is this: Does that statement also apply to the modern day Christian Church?  Is the Christian Church in America today…a mile wide and an inch deep?

    Recent surveys lead us to believe that 80 to 85% percent of Americans today identify themselves as Christian. One particular survey went so far as to say that 90% of Americans surveyed believe they have a personal relationship with God.   One might naturally assume, then, that the battle is won. Oh, there may be a few stragglers, but America would appear – statistically speaking – to be a Christian nation.   That’s the mile wide part.   The question now is: How deep does that river run?

    Obviously, that’s a very difficult question to answer.  There is no way anyone can get inside a person’s head and measure the depth of his or her faith.  However, a woman by the name of Yvonne Reeves-Chong has an intriguing story to tell on the subject.  She writes:

My son is a wonderful young man with an amazing love for the Lord. As a teenager he was blessed to go on two high school mission trips: one to Zambia and the other to Los Angeles.  He made a rather astute observation.  In Africa, Christianity is rare. Evangelism is simple and direct, and the fruits of conversion are very evident.  In Los Angeles, however, while almost everyone claims to be Christian…the fruit is nearly nonexistent.  Los Angelians knew the language of Christ, but they did not know the love of Christ.

    The question was: Is the Christian Church in America today a mile wide and an inch deep?  A good scientist would tell me that I haven’t proved my point because I don’t have a broad enough sample, and that scientist would be right. So let me throw in a little something else. Loren Mead is the founder and President of The Alban Institute…which might be defined as a Christian think tank.  In a book called The Once and Future Church, Loren Mead has this to say:

All the uncertainties and changes of the emerging age of ministry come to a head in the life of the local congregation.  The church was once the stable center and foundation of community and family life.  It witnessed to the deep values and commitments that made life coherent and whole. Today the local church has become merely one institution along-side all the others – competing for time and energy – and often less sure than the others… about its basic reason for being. 

    Do you understand what Loren Mead is saying? He’s saying that the church has become one institution alongside all the others.  The church is an institution like the Masons, or the Rotary Club, or the Lion’s Club or Kiwanis.  And like those other organizations, the church competes for the time and the energy – and dare we say the money – of its members.  Yet often times in our society today the church is less certain than those other organizations about its basic reason for being. 

    Perhaps fifty years ago people were aware of the church’s basic reason for existence. Or maybe they weren’t.  After all, fifty years ago it was a societal expectation that upstanding members of a community would naturally belong to a church. That is not the case today. Today people will not belong to an organization or an institution unless they have a good reason for belonging.  Thus, we need to discern the church’s basic reason for existence. The church can no longer afford to be a mile wide and an inch deep.  Its members have to know exactly why it’s here; or they won’t be.

    I think that reason is revealed in the passage Howie read a moment ago.  The church was established by none other than Jesus Christ.  He said to his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and some say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Jesus then asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” It was Peter who spoke up first.  He said, “You are the Christ, Son of the living God.”

    Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.”  The church was built on the Apostle Peter’s confession of faith. The disciples were comfortable with that…but then Jesus went and died.   As you know, they gave up on him for a time.   They gave up on Jesus, and they gave up on his dream. Then Jesus made several post-resurrection appearances to them.  In the passage Howie read, he gave them a charge as to what they should become.  He gave them a commission that still serves as the mission of the church today.  Jesus said to his disciples:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always…to the close of the age.

    There you have it in a nutshell: the mission of the church. That, my friends, is the reason for our existence.  We are to make disciples of all nations.  We are to baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  And we are to teach them to observe all that Christ commanded. Why? Because Jesus said so.

    You know, my mother used to say that to me all the time. She’d tell me to do something and   I’d say, “Why?”  She’d say, “Because I said so.”  That reason never carried much weight with me when I was a child, but as an adult I found myself saying it to my kids on occasion as well. The church does what Christ commanded…because Jesus said so.

    Here at the First Presbyterian Church, we were certain that Christ’s Great Commission is, in fact, the reason for our existence.  But we were also convinced that in order for us to make disciples, we would first have to become disciples ourselves. That’s why we spent a great deal of time and energy composing our own covenant of discipleship. We call it The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ.

    Each individual covenant has three separate components. The first component is what we call   a Discipleship Practice.  That is essentially a spiritual discipline.  The second component begins with the words, We Begin By.  In other words, this is where you start.  The final component begins with the words, We Aspire To. In other words, this is your ultimate goal. Are you ready?  I present to you now, “The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ of the First Presbyterian Church of Meadville.”

    The first discipleship practice is: Worship regularly!  Worship is integral to the life of faith.  It was Jesus’ custom to worship and it should be ours as well.  Communal worship is the primary way Christians connect with God and with each other. We Begin By: Worshipping with a congregation on a weekly basis. We Aspire To: Worship God in every moment of life and join with God’s people as often as possible.

    The second discipleship practice 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.

    The third discipleship practice 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.

    The fourth discipleship practice is: 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.

    The fifth discipleship practice 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.

    The sixth discipleship practice is: 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, talents and financial resources to God. We Aspire To: Live lives in which our giving is sacrificial.

    The seventh discipleship practice is: Witness boldly!  In his Great Commission, Christ challenged his disciples to make disciples of all nations.   To make disciples of all nations, one 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.

    There you have it: The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ.  Today we’re going to explore in a little more depth the first discipleship covenant: Worship regularly. Why do we worship regularly? I think the answer is revealed in the passage I read from the gospel according to Luke. That passage is famous for what Jesus said. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.”  This passage, of course, marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  It was from here that everything began, and that’s what preachers generally talk about when they preach on this passage.

    Yet there’s something else in this passage that’s really quite easy to overlook.  Jesus had just been baptized and shortly thereafter he went to his home town of Nazareth.  In verse 16 it reads, “…and he went to the synagogue, as was his custom, on the Sabbath day.” Jesus went to worship God on the Sabbath day AS WAS HIS CUSTOM.  Thus, why do we make the worship of God a habit?  We make it a habit because Jesus made it a habit.  There is no answer that could be more clear-cut than that.

    Yet still people say, “I don’t need a church to worship God.  I can worship God far, far better   in nature than I can in a building.”  To that I say, “That may be, but do you?”  And then there’s the old, “I’m spiritual but not religious,” routine.  To that I say, “Spiritual but not religious generally means that one turns to God when one wants something from him, but for the most part… one is pretty much content to leave God alone.” Of course, that brings to mind what has become my new favorite question of late. That question is this: Does God exist to serve us, or do we exist to serve God? I think you know the answer. We need to remember that worship is about God, not about us. 

    Craig Satterlee is the author of a book entitled, When God Speaks through Worship.  In it I think he really puts a finger on why we come before God in worship. He talks about a minister who was struggling with what God was trying to say and do in worship.  The minister says, “I have been to the mountaintop; those experiences don’t last. I’ve worked hard on the plain, and come away empty and exhausted.  I want to get wet in the river. How do I get in…and how do    I know when I’m there?”  Satterlee answers that minister’s question this way:

Simply stated, we get into the river by worshipping.  Though the extent in intensity of God’s transformation of our lives and our congregations may remind us more of a lazy river than a rapid stream, God works in worship over time to shape us and move us, as surely as flowing water smooths stones and carries them to the sea.  Even when the current of God’s reconciling love does not knock us over and sweep us away, we can worship with the expectation that God is present, speaking, and acting.   Expecting God to speak and act in worship makes us actively engaged.

    That, my friends, is how we get into the river. Perhaps that’s also how we keep it from being a mile wide and an inch deep. The first covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ is worship regularly. If we come to worship expecting God to speak, move, and act…then we will have taken the first step to becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

9-11-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

THINGS WE DON’T UNDERSTAND

    Where were you on September 11^th, 2001? That’s a question that I suspect a lot of us could answer with a great deal of accuracy. What happened on that day defined a generation, much   like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963…or the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.  Where were you on September 11^th, 2001?

    I was serving the First Presbyterian Church of Salem, Ohio at the time. That night we held a prayer service in our sanctuary.  I remember standing up and saying, “I don’t know what to say.  Let’s just spend some time in prayer.  Let’s just let the Holy Spirit intercede for us, as the Apostle Paul says, ‘in groans that words cannot express.’”  And that’s exactly what we did.  We sat there in stunned silence, not knowing what to say.  Some sat for close to an hour.

    About six months later, my family and I took a trip to New York City.  While we were there, we went on a bus tour of the city. We sat in the open top of a double-decker bus. Our tour guide told us that we were going to be the first tour bus allowed to go past the original site of the Twin Towers. I remember the tour guide saying, “We would appreciate it if people would give the site the reverence that it is due.”  

    We then went by the original site of the Twin Towers.  It was nothing but a pair of gaping holes filled with rubble.  And everyone on the bus was completely silent.  No one could bring themselves to say a word.  In a manner of speaking, we found ourselves on holy ground.

    The events of nine-eleven shook up our nation.  It seemed as if everyone’s faith was impacted…one way or another.  On the one hand, the Sunday after nine-eleven, churches all across this great nation of ours were packed to the rafters.  It was a spiritual revival that lasted for nearly a week. For many others, however, faith was impacted in a negative way. The question was asked time and time again, “How could a God of love have allowed this to happen?”

    Theologian Serene Jones describes trauma as something that happens not just to those who directly experience violence. She says our minds are like offices. They store incoming information in one of the thousands of files we have created to make sense of the world.  When trauma occurs, the incoming information is so overwhelming…that we don’t know where to store it.  It fits none of our categories and we are left stunned and confused.

    Traumatic events then come to affect our faith.  They affect our faith…one way or another.  In times of crisis, some will turn to God with renewed fervor. Others will turn away from God, disgusted with the way they perceive God operates.  Along those lines, I have a story I want to tell you now.  It’s called, Potatoes, Eggs and Coffee Beans.  I think it’s really quite pertinent to the subject matter at hand.

    A number of years ago a woman was going through some very difficult times.  She complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she just didn’t know how she was going to make it.  She was tired of constantly struggling just to keep her head above water.  It seemed to her as if – just as one problem was solved – another one cropped up to take its place. 

    Her father listened, nodded, and said, “Come with me.” They went into the kitchen where he filled three pots with water.  He put them on the stove and turned the flames up high. Once the pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in the first pot, eggs in the second pot…and coffee beans in the third.  He let them sit and simmer without saying a word to his daughter.

    The woman waited impatiently, crossing her arms and tapping her foot, wondering what on earth her father was doing.  After twenty minutes or so, he turned the burners off on the stove. He took the potatoes out of the first pot and placed them in a bowl. He took the eggs out of the second pot and placed them in a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out of the third pot and placed   it in a cup.  Turning to her, he said, “My dear, sweet daughter, what do you see?”

    “I see potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she snorted.  “Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.”  She did so, and noted that they were now very soft.   He then told her to take an egg and break it.  When she did so, she observed a hard-boiled egg.  Then he told her to take a sip of the coffee.  The coffee was good, and its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.  “But Daddy,” she said, “what has this got to do with all my problems?”

    He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and the coffee beans had each faced the same adversity.  Each had been placed in boiling water. The difference, however, is that each one reacted differently.  The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting…but in boiling water it became soft and weak.   The egg was fragile, with a thin outer shell protecting its soft interior, until it was put in the boiling water.  Then the inside of the egg became hard and unyielding.

    The coffee beans, however, were different.  After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and became something new. “Which are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks upon your door, how do you respond?   Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?”  In this journey we call life, many things will happen all around us, and many things will happen to us.  Perhaps the thing that matters most is what happens inside us.

    Back in 1978, M. Scott Peck catapulted onto the American literary scene with his best-selling book, The Road Less Travelled.  The book was labeled, “A new psychology of love, traditional values, and spiritual growth.”  Yet perhaps the key to its success was embodied in the very first sentence.  The book began with these words: “Life is difficult.”

    Life is difficult.  Traumatic events will occur in our lifetimes that will make us or break us.  I think of something Billy Graham said at The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. immediately after the events of nine-eleven.   He said, “God is sovereign…even in things we don’t understand.”  God is sovereign, even in things we don’t understand.  With those words as the foundation of our faith, we are far more likely to persevere in the face of adversity. We are far more likely to be a coffee bean than we are an egg or a potato.  The question is, how do we get there?

    The answer is simple, but the process is complex.  I think the answer just might be something that a friend of mine in this church recently said to me.  He believes he received a message from God.  And frankly, to me, it sounds exactly like something God would say.  He said, “Read your Bible, and pray to Jesus every day.”  Read your Bible…and pray to Jesus every day. 

   When we read our Bibles, it will come to shape our minds in accordance with the will of God.  We will read the ancient stories of faith. We will see how God was active in the lives of faithful people who went before us.  And we will begin to comprehend the way God works in the world.

    When we pray every day, we will come to be in communion with God.  As someone once said, “Prayer doesn’t change God.  Prayer changes us.”  And that might be the best part of all.  Perhaps we will come to be transformed into a man or a woman of God.

    Like I said, I think the answer is simple but the process is a bit complex.  Let me try to explain.  Fourteen years ago my wife was diagnosed with Sartoli-Leydig cell cancer…a particularly deadly form of ovarian cancer.  Every woman over the age of 40 diagnosed with this particular cancer had died.  She was 35 at the time.

    It was the summer of 1997.  Our oldest son Rob was eight, our daughter Mariah was five, and our baby Travis was three.  I was faced with the prospect of having to raise three children   all by myself.  She was faced with the prospect of not seeing them grow up at all. It was a particularly trying time in our life of faith.

    Back then, I was just learning about what we call contemplative prayer.  Contemplative prayer is listening prayer.  In other words, instead of filling the airwaves with my incessant babble, I actually took the time to listen for God.  During one of those periods of contemplative prayer – thinking about my wife’s situation – I sensed four distinct words. I did not hear voices; I wasn’t losing my mind.  I sensed four distinct words.  Those words were, “She will be fine.”  My immediate response was to ask, “Does that mean she’s going to live?” And again I sensed those four distinct words: “She will be fine.”  Then suddenly I knew – that whether she lived or whether she died – she would be fine.  And if she would be fine…then perhaps the kids and I would be fine, too.

    That was the singularly most profound spiritual thing I have ever experienced.  My faith literally moved from my head to my heart as I came to realize that the promises of God are true. We call that the move from secondary faith to primary faith. We move from secondary faith to primary faith – in other words, our faith moves from our heads to our hearts – when we come to realize that the promises of God are true because we have experienced the grace of God for ourselves.  And in light of such an event, we come to develop a spiritual memory.  When we have a spiritual memory, we come to believe that…if God was faithful in the past, then why would we think God might not be faithful in the future as well?  Again, if God was faithful in the past, then why would we think God might not be faithful in the future as well?

    Perhaps M. Scott Peck put it best when he said, “Life is difficult.”  Life is difficult.  Yet if we read our Bibles and pray to Jesus every day, perhaps we will manage to persevere.  Perhaps our faith will move from our heads to our hearts as we come to realize that the promises of God are true.  Then, as Billy Graham put it so well, we will know in our hearts that God is sovereign…even in things we don’t understand.  Amen. 

 

9-4-2011 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

THE WAY: EPILOGUE

    Back on the 15^th of May, we began a sermon series based upon John 14:6.  There Jesus says to his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” From that simple statement theologian Eugene Peterson derived the following theory: “The Jesus way wedded to the Jesus truth brings about the Jesus life.” While countless battles – and even wars – have been fought over the Jesus truth, very seldom do we invest much energy in discerning the Jesus way.  Well that is precisely what we are attempting to do in this series of sermons. The question thus becomes, “What is the Jesus way…and how do we go about following it?”

    From the time of Abraham to the time of Jesus Christ, the Hebrew people – our ancestors in   the faith – lived in proximity to a succession of some of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known.  There was Sumeria, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.  Their leaders stand tall in the leadership hall of fame: Hammurabi, Ramses, Tiglath Pilesar III, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great, and even Caesar Augustus.

    But think about this.  For many centuries, with all this empire-building going on around them, the Hebrew people kept to their own ways, and maintained a unique counterculture.  It was a unique counterculture in terms of the way they worshipped God and the way they lived their lives. Ultimately, however, they wanted to be like everyone else.  They wanted a king of their own.  Finally God acquiesced. The prophet Samuel was called to anoint Saul to be the first king over Israel. Then David became king. Then Solomon became king. Then it all fell apart over the course of the next five hundred years. When all was said and done,    there were no more kings over Israel.   In fact…there was no more kingdom of Israel at all.  And it was all because they abandoned their unique counterculture.  It was all because they came – in time – to neglect the ways of God.

    Then Jesus came and showed the world how to live in what he called the kingdom of God. That’s what we need to recover. That’s what we need to rediscover. As Christians, we need to become a unique counterculture once again.  We should be different than the world around us.  We should have alternative priorities. We should seek to live the Jesus life by encountering the Jesus truth and following the Jesus way.  Perhaps then people will see us and say of us as they said of Christians some 1800 years ago: “See how those Christians love one another, while we ourselves are ready to kill one another.”  Ladies and gentlemen, that’s what the Jesus life looks like.  It looks like Christians who love one another.

    As we noted initially, however, the Jesus truth – in and of itself – is not enough to bring about the Jesus life.  Jesus calls us to follow the Jesus way as well. Then we noted that the Jesus way is not a list of rules and regulations. The Jesus way cannot be codified or simplified or summarized.   The Jesus way is meant to be lived.

    When we examined the life of Abraham, we discovered that the Jesus way involves testing and sacrifice.  God has a way of sifting people when he wants to use them to accomplish great things for his kingdom.   When we examined the life of Moses, we discovered that God has a unique purpose for our lives. What’s more, that purpose is subject to change from time to time and we have the responsibility of continuing to seek out God’s purpose for our lives in spite of whatever changes might take place.  When we examined the life of David, we discovered that living a Godly life in spite of all our imperfections is part and parcel to walking the Jesus way.  God may not expect perfection from us, but God does expect noble intentions.   

   When we examined the life of the prophet Elijah, we discovered that the Jesus way involves making choices.  The question at the heart of the matter is this: Do we possess an insatiable desire to get our own needs fulfilled, or are we willing to simply be present to God?   When we examined the life of the prophet Isaiah, we discovered that God’s primary work in us is not condemnation, but rather, God’s primary work in us is forgiveness.  Then when we manage to live our lives in light of God’s grace and mercy, what we find are the roots of holiness. 

    And finally, when we examined the life of the unknown preacher we refer to as Second Isaiah, we uncovered the concept of Midrash, or interpretation.  In other words, what do we see when we look at God?  Do we see an angry, vindictive, judgmental God, or do we see a loving, forgiving, grace-filled God?  What do we see when we look at the world?  Do we see a frightening place filled with nightmares and terrors around every corner, or do we see a place filled with boundless potential and loving hearts just waiting to be unlocked?  It all depends on Midrash.  It all depends on how we interpret it.

    Of course, at this point in time, a lot of you have to be saying to yourselves, “Those Old Testament characters lived way before the time of Jesus Christ.  What do they have to do with the Jesus way if they didn’t even know him?”  They may not have known him, but Jesus certainly knew of them.  The Jesus way is his perfection of the righteousness of the holy ones who went before him.  Unfortunately, Jesus did not give explicit lectures and seminars on how to LIVE in the kingdom of God.  Jesus simply said, “Follow me.”  We have seen that Jesus was anticipated by some 2000 years of men and women who walked in the way of righteousness.  Some of their stories we know. We know of the stories of patriarchs and prophets like Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah and Second Isaiah.  That’s why we considered the paths of their lives.  Yet perhaps the issue now is what they had in common. How is it that Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and Second Isaiah were able to walk in paths of righteousness? What was the key to their exemplary lives?

    In a word, it was discipline. Their lives were guided by what we call spiritual disciplines. In other words, if we want to live our lives the Jesus way, then we’ve got to practice the spiritual disciplines as well.  Just what exactly are the spiritual disciplines?  A man named Dallas Willard outlines them as well as anyone I’ve ever encountered.  Dallas Willard was a professor at the University of Southern California, and an ordained Southern Baptist minister.  He divides the spiritual disciplines into two distinct categories.  There are Disciplines of Abstinence, and there are Disciplines of Engagement.

    Roughly speaking, the Disciplines of Abstinence counteract sins of commission, while the Disciplines of Engagement counteract sins of omission.  In the Disciplines of Abstinence, we abstain to some degree from the satisfaction of what we generally regard as normal and legitimate desires.  In the Disciplines of Engagement, we involve ourselves in activities that are beneficial to our spiritual growth. The Disciplines of Abstinence include: solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy and sacrifice. The Disciplines of Engagement include: study, prayer, worship, celebration, service, fellowship, confession and submission.

    That doesn’t sound like a cakewalk, does it?  That’s why we have more and more churches these days that aim at being consumer-oriented.  For example, a minister friend of mine by the name of Hal Shafer recently sent me a cartoon with a church billboard announcing “The LITE Church.”  That’s L-I-T-E…just like the beer.  The cartoon read: “The LITE Church.  We have 24% fewer commitments, 10 minute sermons, 45 minute worship services and only eight commandments.  It’s everything you ever wanted in a church…and less!”  Does that sound appealing to you?  Be truthful, now.

    I was doing some research on preaching a number of years ago.  I came across the most interesting statement in my Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.  It said in essence, “If you’re preaching the message that Jesus preached, then you’re going to be met with the same reactions with which Jesus was met.” In other words, if you’re preaching the message that Jesus preached, you’re going to be met with ridicule, disrespect, scoffing, insults and the like.  Preaching Jesus… will not make one popular.  It might even breed animosity.

    Once upon a time, a Catholic priest and a Presbyterian minister were fishing in a creek near a road.  The two of them were clearly visible from the road.  They made a sign and placed in on the roadside to make people turn around from imminent disaster.  The sign said: “STOP!  THE END IS NEAR!  TURN YOURSELF AROUND BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!”

    It was a quiet road and there wasn’t much traffic.  Pretty soon a car finally did come down the road.  The driver read the sign and was incensed by it.  He yelled at the clergymen, “Leave us alone, you religious fanatics!  Just keep your faith to yourselves!”  The clergymen heard the man’s angry words as the man drove off, and then they heard a big splash. The priest said to the pastor, “Maybe we should have just written, ‘Bridge Out.’”  Like I said, abiding by the Christian faith will not make one popular. And preaching the way of Jesus Christ…can make one even less so.

    Still, theological integrity is important to me.  Someone recently said to me, “You’re one of the five best preachers in the country.”  I said, “I don’t know about that.  I’ve heard many of the so-called best preachers in the country, and I don’t know if they’re any better than I am.  That’s probably a matter of personal opinion.  But here’s the difference between them and me. They’re all a lot more politically savvy than I am!”  By that I mean…I don’t have sense enough to know when to leave well enough alone. I say what I think I should say and then let the chips fall where they may.  Sometimes I have a bad case of what I like to call foot-in-mouth disease.  Perhaps it’s God’s way of keeping me from being popular.     

    So I’m going to do it again.  I’m going to say what I think needs to be said about the Jesus   way and let the chips fall where they may. You may not like what I have to say, because it’s     far from Christianity LITE.  Walking the Jesus way requires discipline, and there’s nothing easy about it.  It requires dedication, hard work and sacrifice.  So here goes…

    Here at the First Presbyterian Church, we have devised what we call The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ.  Each covenant has a Discipleship Practice, which is a spiritual discipline.  And each covenant has a line that says, “We Begin By” and “We Aspire To.”  In other words, one is where you start and the other is your ultimate goal.  Are you ready?  Here   are The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ. 

    The first discipleship practice is worship regularly.  Worship is integral to the life of faith.  It was Jesus’ custom to worship and it should be ours as well. Communal worship is the primary way Christians connect with God and with each other.  We begin by: Worshipping with a congregation on a weekly basis. We aspire to: Worship God in every moment of life and join with God’s people as often as possible. 

    The second discipleship practice 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.

     The third discipleship practice 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.

    The fourth discipleship practice is 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.

    The fifth discipleship practice 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.

    The sixth discipleship practice is 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, talent and financial resources to God. We aspire to: Live lives in which our giving is sacrificial.

    The seventh discipleship practice is witness boldly.  In his Great Commission, Christ challenged his disciples to make disciples of all nations.  To make disciples of all nations,       one 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. 

    There you have it: The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ.  They reflect how the patriarchs and prophets who went before us lived, and they are the source through which we can once again create a unique counterculture.  But perhaps most important of all, follow them...and you will be well on the way to living your life the Jesus way.  Amen.