May 2011 Newsletter

FROM THE PASTOR:   1895 8^th Grade Final Exam

May is graduation month for some.  Do you remember when grandparents and great-grandparents said that they only had an 8^th grade education?  Check out some of these questions from the 8^th grade final exam in Salina, Kansas in 1895. Could any of us have passed the 8^th grade back then?  The whole exam was 44 questions and it took 5 hours to complete. 

1.     Give 9 rules for the use of capital letters.

2.     Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.

3.     Name and define the fundamental rules of Arithmetic.

4.     What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?

5.     Show the territorial growth of the United States. 

6.     Name the events connected with the following dates:  1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

7.     What are the following, and give examples of each—trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals.

8.     Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.

9.     Name and locate the principal trade centers of the US.

FELLOWSHIP DINNER

The fellowship dinner for May will be held Wednesday May 4^th at 6:30 pm in the fellowship hall.  Everyone is welcome, even if you don’t have time to make something to bring.

FELLOWSHIP BIBLE STUDY GATHERING

Those interested in a time of sharing, praying, and fellowshipping together are welcome to gather at the home of Henry Procopio on Wednesday May 18^th at 6:30 pm.  This is a monthly gathering but anyone is welcome to come whenever they can come. The group is studying the Gospel of Mark.  You can start at any time.  Desserts are provided.

MOTHER’S DAY

Sunday May 8^th is Mother’s Day.  We will have a special gift for all mothers present that day.

HERITAGE SUNDAY

Sunday May 22 is Heritage Sunday and we will honor those who have been members of our church for 25 years or more on that day.

UPCOMING DATES

June 4^th     Community Fun Day Fundraiser

June 25^th    Church Picnic at Dee Randolph’s

CHURCH CLEANING SCHEDULE

For May 1^st                        Gene Biggs

For  May 8^th                       Matt & Renee Huestis           

For May 15^th                      Charles & Barbara

For May 22^nd                     Donna & Trent

For May 29^th                      Jennifer Lee

For June 5^th                       Brenda & Tony

 

COMMUNION

We will celebrate Communion on Sunday, May 1^st.

MEMBER ADDRESSES NEEDED

The church is responsible for keeping up with its members’ addresses even if they move.  We are missing addresses for the following members:  Charlie Brown, Johnetta Brown, Mitch and Vickie Skelton, Lois Harper.  If you can get an address and phone number for any of these people please write it down and give it to the pastor. 

WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY

It requires proper planning to avoid probate and minimize estate taxes for your family at your death.  When you are doing this planning, remember to make a gift to your church.

COMMUNITY FUN DAY PLANNING MEETING

On Tuesday May 3^rd at 6:30 there will be a planning meeting for the June 4^th  Come ready to volunteer! Community Fun Day Fundraiser.

MISSION PROJECT OF THE MONTH

In the next several newsletters we will highlight the different local and foreign mission projects that our church supports through our weekly offerings.  One of the local projects that we support is the Joelton Hope Center which we read about monthly in our newsletters. 

One of our church’s foreign mission projects is Shores of Grace.  This is Nic and Rachael’s ministry in Curitiba, Brazil.  Nic leads a school of ministry there for pastors and church leaders similar to the Methodist School of Supernatural Ministry that Aldersgate Renewal Ministries offers here in America.

Nic and Rachael also lead street outreach to prostitutes, transvestites, bar bouncers and street children praying for them and leading them to Jesus.  They also minister in the favellas (slums) and lead worship at various Christian gatherings there in Brazil. 

Nic and Rachael will be singing and speaking at Forest Grove on Sunday morning July 17^th.

JOELTON HOPE CENTER –Neighbors Helping Neighbors

The Hope Center is located 212 Gifford Place, between Curves and the Laundromat.  There are now over 115 client families being helped by our center.  In January 36 families [138 individuals] received food boxes. 

A barrel is in the entryway of the church to receive donations for the Joelton Hope Center.  [You can also take them directly to the Hope Center.]  For the month of May we will be collecting pasta (canned or dry—all kinds) and condiments—ketchup, mayo, mustard, salad dressings.

The Hope Center is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10-4 and 10-2 Saturday.  The Hope Center Board set a goal of being open 6 days a week in 2011 so additional volunteers are needed any day Monday-Saturday.   Dee Randolph has recently started volunteering again there.  She would love for others from Forest Grove to join her. 

NEW SERMON SERIES

Pastor Billman begins a new sermon series this month called Getting to Know God.  Individual messages in the series are:  What God Knows About You; Where Is God When You Need Him?; God’s Power In Your Life; Our Unchanging God; The Amazing Grace of God; Letting God be God; Can God Be Trusted?; and Let God Love You.

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

Last week, I took my grand-children to a restaurant.  My six-year-old grand-son asked if he could say grace.

As we bowed our heads he said, "God is good, God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if Nana gets us ice cream for dessert.  And liberty and justice for all!  Amen!"

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country.  Kids today don't even know how to pray.  Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!"

Hearing this, my grand-son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"  As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job, and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table.

He winked at my grand-son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."

"Really?" my grand-son asked.  "Cross my heart," the man replied.

Then, in a theatrical whisper, he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream.  A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Naturally, I bought my grand-children ice cream at  the end of the meal.  My grand-son stared at his for a moment, and then did something I will remember the rest of my life.

He picked up his sundae and, without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you.  Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes; and my soul is good already." 

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

Five (5) lessons about the way we treat people

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.
During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student   And had breezed through the questions until I read the last one:
"What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"
Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the
Cleaning woman several times. She was tall,
Dark-haired and in her 50's, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question Blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.
"Absolutely, " said the professor.. "In your careers,
You will meet many people.  All are significant. They
Deserve your attention and care, even if all you do
Is smile and say "hello.."

I've never forgotten that lesson.. I also learned her
Name was Dorothy.

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain
One night, at 11:30 p.m.., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an   Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.
A young white man stopped to help her, generally
Unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960's. The man
Took her to safety, helped her get assistance and
Put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his
Address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a
Knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a
Giant console color TV was delivered to his home.
A special note was attached..
It read:
"Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway
The other night. The rain drenched not only my
Clothes, but also my spirits.  Then you came along.
Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying
Husband's bedside just before he passed away... God
Bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving
Others."

Sincerely,
Mrs. Nat King Cole. 

(to be continued in next month's newsletter) 

May 2011
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1 9:30-Sunday School 10:30-Worship COMMUNION	2	3 6:30-June Fundraiser planning meeting	4 6:30-Fellowship Dinner	5	6	7
8 9:30-Sunday School 10:30-Worship	9 Pastor Frank and Peg	10 are gone to Brazil 'til	11 May 17th	12	13	14
15 9:30-Sunday School 10:30-Worship	16	17	18 Pastor Frank gone to  6:30-Bible study at Henry’s	19 Eastern PA AC	20	21
22 9:30-Sunday School 10:30-Worship Recognition of Long Time Members	23	24	25	26	27	28
29 9:30-Sunday School 10:30-Worship	30	31

 

 

April 24, 2011 Sermon - Easter Sunday!

To listen to today's sermon, click here.

MORE THAN SURVIVORS         Romans 8:28-39

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son that he might be the first born among many brothers.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?  It is God who justifies.  Who is he that condemns?  Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written:  “For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Luke tells us in his gospel, On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.  They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body f the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!...” 

It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that draws us together this Easter morning.

A family received a letter from a neighbor who was visiting the Holy Land.  The 6 year old asked I wonder if he saw the rose.  What rose?  The parent asked.  You know, like the Bible women saw. The Bible says that they went to that garden where Jesus was buried and they saw Christ had a rose!

Today we celebrate the holy season of the year when throughout the world Christians are rejoicing in the central fact of our faith that Jesus Christ is risen.  Those of you who have come to worship today, because it is Easter Sunday, have chosen to come on an important Christian holiday.  Of course Easter would not have happened without Christmas, but if Easter did not happen, nothing else matters.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, nothing else matters.  That’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.  I commend you on your recognizing the importance of this day.

A French thinker once told Thomas Carlyle that he was going to start a new religion that would replace Christianity.  That’s fine, replied Carlyle.  All you will have to do is to be crucified, rise again the 3rd day, and get the world to believe you are still alive.  Then your new religion will have a chance.

It’s Easter Sunday.  So What?  What does it really matter?  How does the fact that Jesus rose from the dead over 2000 years ago have anything to do with my life today?  What practical difference does the resurrection make for my everyday life?

Randy Reid, a 34 year old welder, was working near the top of a newly constructed water tower outside Chicago when he slipped and fell 110 feet to the ground below.  Barely missing bricks and debris, Reid landed on a 6 foot high, soft pile of dirt near the base of the tower.

Within minutes rescue workers responded to the 911 call made by Reid’s panicked co-workers, who had watched him plummet to the ground.  Miraculously, a bruised lung was the only injury the shaken construction worker sustained.  Ironically, as he was being carried to the ambulance on a stretcher, approximately 3 feet above the ground, he looked into the faces of the paramedics and nervously pleaded, “Please, don’t drop me!”

Can you imagine!  A guy falls eleven stories to the ground and lives, only to be concerned about a stretcher ride a few feet off the pavement?  Where was his trust in the ability of those professionally trained paramedics?  There is no way they would be careless with their grateful client.  And yet here was a man who felt it difficult to trust his care-givers.

But, on second thought, do you realize how much we resemble Randy Reid? How often do we question God’s ability to carry us?  There are so many things we are concerned about.  The health of our marriage.  Our children’s safety. The loneliness of involuntary singleness.  The rising cost of health care.  Our job security.  Investments gone sour.  The rejection of friends.  The storm clouds of depression.  When overwhelmed with the fears of failures and concerns we are inclined to cry out to God, Please, God, don’t drop me!

When we stop and realize all God has done to save us from the ultimate fall, our fear of being dropped from the cot of our concerns and anxieties is unfounded.  Because Easter is true, because Jesus was raised from the dead, because he is seated at the right hand of the Father, the seat of power and authority, because he is there praying for us, we are more than survivors!  Because Jesus has risen from the grave, we are more than conquerors!

Our scripture passage this morning from Romans 8 rehearses the theme of what it means to be in relationship with a promise-keeping God. 

In The Message Eugene Peterson paraphrases the core idea of this passage in this way: So what do you think?  With God on our side like this, how can we lose?  If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?”

In his letter to the first century believers in Rome. Paul wrote to people a lot like us.  People whose hopes for living what they say they believed were held hostage by an incomplete understanding of the power of the resurrection in their lives.  People who hadn’t fully come to terms with the meaning of the resurrection.  Unable to fully embrace with their minds that they had been saved from a fall much worse than one from a water tower, a fall that had been broken by a bloodied corpse at the foot of a Roman cross.  A fall with a curse that had been broken as well when that bloodied corpse stood up to death, refusing to take it lying down.  In Christ’s death and resurrection, he has not only broken our sure and fatal fall, once alienated from a holy God, we are now guaranteed forgiveness and unbroken fellowship with him when we die.  And beyond that, his love will concern itself with the issues that concern me.

In these last several verses of Romans 8, Paul allows us an unrestricted view from the stretchers on which we lay into the face of God himself.  And it’s a smiling face.  God isn’t mad at you!  He loves you.  He even likes you!  Those loving eyes reassure me that since he spared no expense to break my fall from sin, he will not drop me now.  He will not leave me to my own weakness and good intentions.  He provides me with his Spirit.  The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will empower me.  He will even help me to pray when I feel overwhelmed and don’t know what to say. 

Paul says very clearly--God is for us.  We who have trusted in Christ were pre-destined to be conformed to the image of his Son.  He called us.  He justified us.  According to Romans 8:15, God has already given his Spirit and claimed us as his children.  In other words, we are not just accidental survivors from our fall into sin.  God had our salvation in mind all along.  Whereas Ralph, the construction worker, may not fully understand how he survived, we know why we are still here.  God saved us to fulfill his purpose in us.  All things in our lives are drenched with meaning because God is committed to incorporating them into his master design.  He will use everything, even bad things for our growth.

In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who want to live according to God’s purposes for them.  In all things God works for the good of those who love him, even when they slip and fall, because we have been rescued and we can trust the one who rescued us.

And knowing that our rescue from the degrading consequences of a life separated from God was God’s idea, we have a reason to believe that he saved us for what he yet desires to do for us and through us.

Bill Gaither wrote a song back in the 70's that describes God’s investment in us of which the cross and empty tomb are but a down payment. He wrote: He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown.  He didn’t build his home in us to move away.  He didn’t lift us up to let us down!

According to this chapter in Romans, Christ’s accomplishment on the cross includes more than just a ticket in our name at heaven’s will-call window.  In verses 31-39, Paul makes a case for the fact that salvation is more like a whole-life insurance policy than term insurance.  It is much more than a death benefit.  For Paul, the extent to which God went to save us from sin conveys a father-like interest in our well-being.  It’s an interest that touches every area of our daily life.  Paul says, He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us ALL things?

God’s love is not limited to a love for the world at-large.  He cares for you and your world.  King David likens himself to a lamb and pictures God as a shepherd carrying him. But David is not the only lamb for whom the Lord is a shepherd.  I too, believe that we are tucked in the crook of his arm. And when he carries me, he carries what I carry in my heart.

Paul must have smiled as he dipped his pen one last time into his ink and visualized what he was about to commit to parchment.  Just before he rehearses a great crescendo of human fears and calamities that would seem capable of separating us from God’s love, he boldly announces that those who have been rescued from sin are more than survivors.  More than conquerors.  Given the purpose of his plan for your lives and the investment he made on the cross to bring about that plan, we are not to view ourselves as having barely escaped.  We are, in Paul’s understanding, thoroughly equipped for whatever comes our way.

The context of the passage suggests that we will experience trials and tests and hardships and sorrows.  What we fear may very well come to pass. The construction worker survived, but he did have the fearful memory of that fall and he had to heal from a bruised lung.  Paul had to endure a thorn in his side from which he suffered for the rest of his life.  Easter doesn’t vaccinate us from the problems everyone else faces, but it does promise that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ.  Nothing can strip us of our identity as conquerors.  His love will attend to our needs, no matter what. Even when we fail to live what we say we believe, the stretcher of his grace will carry us.  His grace will help us stand up again when we fall.

Several hundred years ago a group of German Christians hammered out a catechism with which they hoped to teach their children the basic doctrines of the faith.  It was called the Heidelberg Catechism.  It reminds us that Jesus will provide us with the necessary resources to live what we say we believe.  What he bids us to do he enables us to do.

The Heidelberg Catechism asks, What is your only comfort in life and in death?  And the answer declares, That I belong body and soul in life and in death, not to myself, but to Jesus Christ who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil, that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head.  Indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation.  Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Is that powerful or what? And it’s true!  After saving us from the fall, there is no way God is going to drop us now!  That is what Easter guarantees.  The resurrection, the empty tomb means that what Christ promised in his death on the cross has been achieved.  And by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead on Easter morning, God will enable you to do all that he is calling you to do.  What he calls you to do, he empowers you to do with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. 

But for this to be more than just theory, for this to be more than just a vague belief, you need to meet Jesus personally.  You can’t just believe Jesus rose from the dead.  You have to meet him personally and follow him faithfully.

Even the devil believes that Jesus rose from the dead.  You need to come to Jesus and say Jesus, I believe that when you died on the cross, you died for MY sins.  And I believe that you also rose from the dead and that you are alive right now.  I open my heart and ask you to come in and make me a new person.  I give my life to you.  Do with it what you want.

Paul’s promise in our scripture is to work all things for the good of those who love him. It is not a general promise to everyone.  It is a promise to those who love him.  Are you one who loves him?  Do you know Jesus and do you love him?  Those are very personal terms.  And they are supposed to be.  Jesus wants a personal relationship with you so he can enable you to fulfill your destiny.  He has plans for your life that he wants to fulfill in you.  But you have to first come to him and tell him that you want to love him and have him fulfill those plans in you.

But even after you have come to ask Jesus to make you a new person, and to commit your life to him, you have not arrived.  That is not the end.  That is the beginning of a journey with Jesus.  You have changed and you have started a process of changing even more.  But life around you has not changed.  And you begin the process of the Christian walk.  As you read the Scriptures about life in Christ you read words that speak of a process rather than an end result.  Words like: walk, run, seek, follow, grow, wrestle, pray, confess, beware, continue, wait, read, fight, endure, persevere, watch.  These are words of instruction for the trip, not the destination.

God doesn’t promise that once you give your life to him, that all will go well for you.  There is no scripture to suggest that.  In Hebrews 11:35-38 the Bible says Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.  They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

What he does promise is that he will provide you the strength to endure and grow through even the bad.  He will go with you all the way.  He will not drop you!

The very last thing that John reports Jesus as saying to his disciples at the Last Supper is In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world. In this world you will  have trouble.  Not you MIGHT encounter some problems.  Not some trouble MAY come your way.  Jesus says to his disciples, those who wanted to follow him, In this world you WILL have trouble—but take heart!  I have overcome the world.

And what was to be true for the disciples is true for pastors as well.  As some of you know, we struggled with a son in serious trouble for 10 years.  How many of you know that 10 years is a long time?  In October of 1994 problems started with our oldest son, Luke.  It started with getting in with the wrong crowd of people.  It progressed to running away from home and involvement with drugs and crime.  He was sent by the courts to two different programs to straighten him out.  He was in juvenile jails and adult jails and finally was in a state prison for 2 years.  So for 10 years, every day we struggled with problems in our family that were like an emotional roller coaster.  Signs of hope would appear on the horizon, only to be dashed once again by further problems.  It is something that we had to deal with every day of our lives for 10 years. 

And I was asked numerous times, How do you do it?  How do you keep going?  How do you get up each Sunday and preach with all of this painful stuff going on in your life?  How can you get up there this Easter Sunday morning and preach, after just going to see your son in jail the day before?

And I have to say first of all, that many people struggle with painful things in their lives every day.  Painful abusive marriages. Unemployment and financial struggles to survive.  Serious health problems in their own bodies or in that of another family member that they are responsible for.  There are many people who struggle with pain more severe than that of our family. 

But some of these people don’t make it.  Some don’t cope with it.  Some are not survivors.  Some commit suicide.  I had a friend whose wife had pancreatic cancer and whose son had cystic fibrosis and he went up to the mountains, pulled over to the side of the road, and blew his brains out.  Others just withdraw and become bitter.  Others slip into depression.  Others abuse drugs or alcohol to deaden the pain.

And I am basically no different than any of these folks.  I hurt just like they do. It’s not much fun to visit your child in prison.   I am really no stronger than they are.  The difference is, I know and trust a God of awesome power, power enough to raise Jesus from the dead.  Power enough to make me more than a survivor.  Power enough to make me more than a conqueror.  I am able to live one day at a time through the power of the risen Christ.

I know Jesus and I trust Jesus with my life and I trusted him with the life of my son.  I trust Jesus with my world and I know he is strong enough to hold it.  I know he will not drop me. Jesus is faithful.  He gave me all the love and support and encouragement both from the church and outside the church that I needed to see me through, and he revealed to me a bit of what my son was to become, something far different, far better than a convicted felon sitting in prison.  Now Luke is totally transformed by the power of the resurrected Christ.  He is a trophy of God’s grace. 

In this world you Will have trouble.  That was true for the disciples.  That was true for me as your pastor.  That is true for your missionaries in Brazil, Nic and Rachael Billman. 

Just this past Friday, Good Friday, our oldest grandson, Christian, who is 10 was sexually molested by a neighbor in Brazil.  Being a missionary family does not exempt you from being hurt by others living in this broken world.  But there is this promise from our Scripture passage from Romans that when these kinds of things happen, God will not drop us!  He will use even terrible situations for his glory by the power of the resurrected Christ. 

I want you to know that this stuff really works.  It is not just church talk.  It is not just preacher talk.  It is not just Easter talk.  It really works.  I know it really works because I have seen it work in my family.  I know what the power of God can do to help hurting people overcome their pain. 

It worked for me and my family.  It can work for you too!  If you are hurting, if you are worried that God will drop you, if you don’t have the strength to deal with what you have to deal with, if you don’t think you can be a survivor let alone a conqueror I would like to pray for you.

 

Jesus will not let you down.  The Lord God omnipotent reigneth!  That’s why we can be more than survivors.  That’s why we can be more than conquerors.  That’s why I could get up and preach week in and week out in spite of the pain in my world, because the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, That is why Nic and Rachael can go on in Brazil when their son is molested.  Jesus Rules!  He will not drop me and he won’t drop you either.  Come and join us in celebrating the resurrection power of Jesus Christ this morning. 

I thank you all for coming this morning.  I hope you will come back next week when I will begin a series of messages on Getting to Know God.

After our closing hymn this morning you will be dismissed and I am going to remain up front at the communion rail to pray for anyone who wants prayer this morning.  Maybe you are in an overwhelming situation where you are afraid of being dropped.  Maybe you are someone you love needs the resurrection power of Jesus to bring change to a situation.   After we sing you come and I will pray for you.

April 17, 2011 Sermon

To hear this week's sermon, click here.

The Weeping King         Luke 19:37-44; Mark 11:12-21

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”  As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.  The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.  They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you. Lk.19:37-44

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.  Seeing in the distance a fruit tree in leaf, he went to find out of it had any fruit.  When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.  Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”  And the disciples heard him say it.  On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  And as he taught them he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?  But you have made it a ‘den of robbers.’” The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.  When evening came, they went out of the city.  In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.  Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look!  The fig tree you cursed has withered.  Mark 11:12-21

The first inquiry concerning Jesus Christ in the Gospels is:  Where is he that is born King of the Jews?  The last formal introduction before his death on the cross was worded on the sign placed upon that cross—Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.    On Palm Sunday we remember the triumphal entry of King Jesus into Jerusalem and the events that surrounded that entry.  It is an event so important that it appears in all four Gospels of the New Testament. 

In his temptation experience, Jesus was offered the kingdoms of this world on the devil’s terms.  He rejected kingship on that basis.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus described the nature of his kingdom and the characteristics of the citizens of his kingdom.  Throughout his ministry Jesus demonstrated kingly authority over demons, over disease, over destructive forces of nature, and even over death.

There were times when his followers wanted to make him a king.  They were thinking of his being a nationalistic and political king, who would re-establish the sovereignty of the nation of Israel as a political force in the world.  Jesus rejected that kind of kingship.  Even at this entry into Jerusalem the people were calling for this kind of king.  The cry Hosanna meant Save Now!  And there is even a political undertone in the cry Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Because the words the king of Israel were added in John’s version of the story.

In his triumphal entry into Jerusalem Jesus boldly and compassionately offered himself as the king of love and grace.  He was making a bold declaration that he was indeed the Messiah, and he was claiming to be the Christ, the anointed one of God.  He came into Jerusalem not to assert his rights to the throne of David’s political kingdom, but to declare his kingship in the hearts of those who would trust him and follow him.  

Jesus came lowly and riding on the colt of a donkey.   That is significant because in the culture of the day, that meant something.  When a king was entering a city as a political conqueror he rode in on a horse.  The horse was the mount of war.  But the donkey was the mount of peace.  So, when Jesus claimed to be king, he claimed to be the king of peace.  As Isaiah had prophesied, he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And Zechariah prophesied [9:9]  Behold your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt. Jesus showed that he came not to destroy, but to love; not to condemn, but to help, not in the might of arms, but in the strength of love. 

Luke describes one experience in connection with the triumphal entry that is not recorded by the other Gospel writers.  Luke records As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Here we see the king weeping over the city. 

This is the second time that the Scripture records Jesus as crying.   The first was at the grave of Lazarus.  So why was he weeping here?  The king was not weeping for himself.  These were not tears of self-pity, remorse, or personal failure.  They were the tears of a king suffering for his people, the tears of a heart breaking.

The king was weeping from compassion.  His heart was filled with compassion for his people.  He was experiencing the pain of a shallow acceptance, which did not deceive him into believing that the people were willing to accept a king of love, grace, mercy and righteousness.  He knew that the cries of Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed be the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Would soon change to Crucify him! Crucify him!  Give us Barabbas! Crucify Him! Matthew tells us that Jesus said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 

That tender picture shows that Jesus wants to have a close, loving relationship with us.  He is longing for us to have an intimate relationship with him, to know him personally, to love him, to want to be with him.  Is Jesus weeping for you because you are not willing to do that?

The king was weeping because of the blindness and deafness of the city.  Throughout his earthly ministry Jesus restored sight to the blind and made it possible for the deaf to hear.  By doing this he hoped that people would see the need to really use their eyes for seeing what God was doing and use their ears for hearing what God was saying. 

Jesus sought to minister to a group of people who were preoccupied with their own ways and goals and were unwilling to open their minds to new truth about God.  They were spiritually and morally blind and deaf and would not permit themselves to see and hear.  This caused the king to weep on their behalf.  Is Jesus weeping for you because you preoccupied with your own agenda and you are not hearing what God is saying or seeing what he is doing?  Are you even looking for that?

The king was weeping because the city was on a collision course with disaster.  He describes this in Matthew 24 where he foretells the destruction of the temple and the calamity that was to befall the city.  His predictions became reality by 70AD when the Roman general, Titus, captured the city and destroyed the temple.

Mark points out another concern that was on the mind of Jesus; one that may also have caused his weeping.  It was the judgment of a church.  Mark makes it clear that the survival of religious institutions is not guaranteed by God.  They can become expendable.  They can be dismissed from history.

This is the urgent warning sounded in the story of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple.  This fig tree story may strike us a bit strange.  Mark tells us that Jesus was hungry.  He sees a fig tree in leaf and went to see if it had any fruit on it.  When he got up to the tree he was there was no fruit, only leaves, so he cursed the tree and it withered and died.  This is not the gentle Jesus meek and mild remembered from Sunday school days.  This is the king who calls his people to make decisions that have consequences.

Now that is strange enough, but Mark also notes that this was not the season for figs.  Jesus having lived all his life in that area would know when the season for figs was.  Doesn’t that seem rather unreasonable to curse and kill a fig tree because it was not bearing fruit out of season? 

But Jesus was giving us an acted parable here.  You see in the spring leaves begin to appear on the fig tree.  Around this same time quite a crop of small knobs spear called taqsh.  They are not the real figs, but a kind of early forerunner.  They are also edible.  When these come to maturity they fall off and the real figs appear about 6 weeks later.  But if the leaves appear and these knobs are not there, that is a sign that there will be no figs.  Since Jesus found nothing but leaves, leaves without the taqsh, he knew that it was a hopeless, fruitless fig tree.

Jesus actions had the same lesson as the spoken parable of the fruitless fig tree in Luke 13:6-9.  In that spoken parable a landowner came three years in succession expecting fruit from a fig tree on his property, and when, year in and year out, it proved fruitless, he had it cut down because it was using up the ground to no purpose.

In both of these parables the fig tree represents the city of Jerusalem and especially the temple there.  The people there were majoring in minors.  Jesus said, You tithe mint, dill and cumin and neglect the weightier matters of the law.  Big issues and petty issues were getting confused. 

The story is told of a little boy who was watching a western on TV.  His mother happened to come into the room just as the hero was entering a saloon.  The little boy said to his mother, O don’t worry, Mom, he’s not going in there to get a drink.  He’s just going in to shoot a man! 

The temple was designed to bring people closer to God, that they might become more like God.  Jesus expected to find fruit there from God’s investment in the temple, but he did not.

On the last Sunday of each year, Pastor Stevens would begin his sermon with the same question.  People in the congregation heard it year after year, yet never tired of the inquiry.  In fact, that Sunday became a favorite, precisely because of this yearly tradition.  The question was certainly predictable, but it never grew old.  It was one of the most relevant questions asked of them, a short of checkpoint for their spiritual pilgrimage.  As faithful as the changing year, Pastor Stevens would say, Beloved, another year is almost gone.  Have you become more like Jesus?

With that single question, the pastor identified the main goal of Christian discipleship—becoming more like Jesus.  Day by day, month by month, year after year, followers of Christ are to change.  Christians are never to stay the same. 

Is Jesus weeping over you because you are not drawing closer to him, or becoming more like him?

We in the church need to stop and think that Jesus was here judging the worship of these people.  When I was on a trip to Israel, one of the hotels I stayed in was right on the Mount of Olives.  You got a beautiful panoramic view of the city of Jerusalem from there.  It is the view that Jesus would have seen that day, without the modern buildings.   And the part of the city that is most obvious from the Mount of Olives is the temple area where the gold topped  Dome of the Rock Mosque stands now.  When Luke tells us that Jesus came to the Mount of Olives and wept over the city it would have been the temple that was most in his view and the outer temple area was the first place he went as he entered the city.  No doubt it was the temple and what was going on there that caused him to weep.

Jesus said they turned the temple into a den of thieves.  It is important to see clearly what the issue was here.  The issue has nothing to do with church dinners or bazaars.  The issue was the court of the Gentiles, that part of the temple reserved for Gentiles, the only part of the temple in which Gentiles could worship God and gather for prayer, that sacred space symbolic of God’s intention to save all people.

That is precisely where the merchants had set up shop.  They didn’t care about having any space to remind them of their world responsibilities, to bring the Gentiles to God.  They didn’t expect to have any Gentiles there, and they didn’t even want them.  Gentiles were not their kind of people.  They had lost sight of God’s vision of a house of prayer for ALL people.  By allowing the court of the Gentiles to become a noisy, smelly marketplace, the Jewish religious leaders were interfering with God’s provision for non-Jewish people to come and know him. 

If world evangelism is not on your heart, you are out of touch with the heart of God.  Forest Grove UMC is here because someone had a heart for world evangelism.  There were plenty of needs to be met at home in England in the late 1700’s but in spite of those needs, John Wesley had a heart for world evangelism.  He said the world is my parish.  He went to the American colonies, to Georgia, as a missionary.  He was not too successful at that point, but he still had the heart to reach the unreached in the Americas with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He believed in a God big enough and with enough resources to meet all the needs at home and abroad.  All he needed was people willing to step out in faith and follow him. 

Later John Wesley sent Methodist preachers to America to spread the gospel here, to win people to Jesus Christ and to make them into his disciples.  And back in the mid 1800’s some Methodists thought that there were people outside their community, way up in Joelton who needed Jesus, so this church was started.  If John Wesley and the Methodists of England had been satisfied to say We have plenty of needs here at home to respond to. We don’t need to concern ourselves with needs outside our country.  Then Methodism would be just some denomination in England and there would be no Forest Grove UMC.  Is Jesus weeping over you because your concern for others is too narrow and your vision is too small?

It is important to understand why the sellers of animals and money changers were there.  People coming to the temple had to buy animals for sacrifice.  Otherwise those coming from long distances would have to bring a goat or calf or whatever the sacrifice was going to be with them all along the way.  And Jerusalem was an international city with people coming there from many different parts of the Roman empire with many different types of coins.  Just like international airports have places to change foreign money into the money of the country the money changers were there to do that.  Only the bronze temple coin was acceptable.  Pagan coins were not.  But they were cheating the people right in the temple of God.

When the disciples of Jesus saw the temple they were quite impressed.  Look teacher, what wonderful stones, what wonderful buildings, they said.  And, no doubt, it was a splendid sight, covering 13 acres.  Herod the Great, for all his horrible faults, was a great builder.  But Jesus told his disciples that not one of those stones would be left upon another.  He said that with a great deal of sadness.  Jesus loved the temple.  It was designed as an important part of God’s plan for salvation.  It was a place where people could have their sins forgiven.  It was a place where they could meet with God.  It was precious to him.  But the temple was not as precious as the God to which it pointed. 

Although many Christians participate in worship services on a regular basis, few have a clear understanding of worship.  Ask believers to define worship and they will refer to attending church services, singing, praying, listening to a sermon. The focus is upon the MEANS of worship—what people DO in the service.   

But worship is supposed to be a meeting between God and his people.  God becomes present to his people who respond with praise and thanksgiving.  The worshiper is brought into personal contact with the one who gives meaning and purpose to life.  From this encounter the worshiper receives strength and courage to live with hope and power in a fallen world. 

Our English word worship comes from an old English word meaning worth-ship.  To worship, then, is to ascribe worth to God.  Believers come into his presence and actively declare his worth.  Worship is a glorious celebration of God and all he has done in creation and redemption.  It is meant to be a wondrous celebration of God’s self-giving in which believers energetically declare his worth. 

But the activities of the temple had become so bound up in rules and regulation and corruption that true worshipers were hard to find at the temple.  As Jesus watched the rich people bringing their tithes to the temple he noted that it was a poor widow who only gave two small copper coins who really made contact with God.  God said through the prophet Isaiah, These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.  [29:13]

When you come to worship are you a spectator or a participant?  Do you actively praise and thank and worship God yourself, or do you watch and listen to what is being done for you?  When you sing hymns and choruses do you just mouth the words or do you sing them as YOUR words to God?  When you pray the Lord’s prayer do you really pray those words or do you just repeat them along with everyone else?  Do you just go through the service following the bulletin point by point and leave without ever really getting in touch with God?  Is Jesus weeping over you because you honor him with your lips but your heart is far from him?  You probably all know the song Jesus loves me from your childhood.  Well there is another verse to that song that goes like this:

I love Jesus, does he know? Have I ever told him so?

Jesus wants to hear me say, that I love him every day.

Yes, I love Jesus!  Yes, I love Jesus! Yes, I love Jesus!

Because he first loved me. 

Is Jesus weeping over you because you have not told him that you love him for a long time?

It is ironic that this king that entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was all powerful in creation.  John tells us that nothing that was created was made without him.  This king was all powerful in keeping the machinery of the universe in perfect coordination.  Paul tells us in Colossians that in him all things hold together.  But this king has no power in human hearts until he is invited to come in and take the place of authority.  He is not king in our heart unto we crown him king in our lives. 

It is easy for us to be critical of those who rejected the claims of the king during his earthly ministry.  Before we condemn them, however, we need to ask ourselves if we too have rejected or ignored the kingly claim of him who conquered death and the grave and who will someday come back as the king of glory.

Jesus was born to be our king.  We need to make him the Lord and king of our lives.  We need to let him be the Lord of love in our homes. We need to let him be Lord in our jobs.  We need to let him be the Lord of our decisions.  Is Jesus weeping over you because you have not yet given your whole life over to him, allowing him to guide your everyday life?

Let’s pray: 

Would you all bow your heads and close your eyes?

If you would say in your heart, Jesus might be weeping for me.  I need to draw closer to him.  I need to go deeper in him.  I need a change of heart.  I need to crown him king in my life, will you just lift your hand and put it down again.  I want to pray for you.