Sunday Sermon Thoughts: Perhaps Today

Today's sermon was on Matthew 25:1-13.

It's late; I'm tired; This will be brief.

This long and short of it is: Live prepared.

In the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids only five brought extra oil. When the groom runs late, five find themselves short. When they go to find more oil the groom comes. When they return, the door is locked and they may not enter.

Jesus ends the parable saying, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

The pastor went on to talk about historic wedding traditions. The parable sounds harsh to the modern world, but would have been seen differently in an age passed.

The story brings up a question: "Are you ready if Jesus returned?"

How are you living your life? Would you live it differently if you knew Jesus was returning at the end of the week? Tomorrow? Today? If you don't believe in Jesus, what if you knew the world was ending?

I liked when Pastor Brett mentioned he had a professor who used to sign his emails "Perhaps today."

Personally, I believe the Bible was literal God promised Abraham his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky. I think that human will take to space. I think we will spread and live out amongst the stars. Why would God create such a vast universe if we weren't supposed to explore it a little?

The again, I'm not God, so there's a good chance I'm wrong, too.

I believe that attitude of living life prepared is necessary. I believe that God doesn't want us to sit around and wait for Armageddon. He wants us to go out and live our lives each and every day, but do it in a way that if everything were to end we wouldn't be found wanting or full of regret.

I don't want to regret staying up all night tomorrow, so I think I'm going to call it here.

Sunday Sermon Thoughts: Red Hair and Orange Pants

The guest speaker today strode out on stage wearing only slightly less orange than a traffic cone. His hair was red and his name was Mike. Maybe we're related? Carrie seemed to like him. She was ready to run up on stage and give him a dollar.

First, the orange.

The bright clothes were part of an attempt to gather funds for hungry children. The pastor's wife didn't like him wearing orange around the house, so he figured, "How can she say 'no' if it's for work and charity?"

Carrie wanted to pop up in the middle of the service and give him a dollar. She would have, too. I hesitated. Carrie went up after the service to talk to the speaker and he said it would have been awesome.

Oops! I told her next time if she really felt called to it she could be bold.

Which was, ironically, what the sermon was about: being bold.

The pastor, Mike (great name), spoke about how boldness was part of God's plan and that boldness was what helped the church survive. Boldness was how Rome went from trying to eradicate Christianity to Italy possessing more crosses and churches than anywhere else in the world. Rome is but a memory. The Colosseum today is surrounded by crosses. The Pope leads a Good Friday procession from it.

Mike began his story in Acts; The history of the church. Peter and John were arrested for telling the Good News. The Jewish ruling council threatened them before releasing them.

The "first prayer" of the church written in the Bible:

...Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness (Acts 4:29)...

How prayers have changed. Most people pray for safe travels or for blessings, but those are not usually bold prayers if you live in the United States. Our average citizens are far richer than most of the world. Our roads have rules, cars with air-conditioning and heated seats, and emergency services if needed. Other parts of the world have lions, tigers, and insurgents on dirt roads without a McDonald's in sight.

Mike followed the story further into Acts. The apostles are thrown in jail again (Acts 5), escape, and get into their usual shenanigans (aka talking about Jesus). The officials who go to arrest them are afraid of the crowds, but the apostles go to the Sanhedrin anyway. The Sanhedrin tells them to stop talking about Jesus, flogs them, and then the boys are off and at it again.

Bold.

The men were motivated not by religion, but by an event they witnessed. Jesus died and rose again. They were not to be deterred.

Mike moved on to challenge everyone. Boldness means saying something when it may be easier to say nothing. What do you do when you witness an injustice? What do you do when someone asks you about what you believe? Have you ever asked anyone "What do you think about 'the church thing?'" Do people know what you stand for?

Then Mike had some hilarious stories. Boldness gone wrong, but better than nothing perhaps! You can look up the video for that. It's bedtime for me.

Sunday Sermon Reactions: Spiritual Discipline

This Sunday there was a guest speaker. Since Carrie and Shane were both under the weather, we tried to stream the service. I thought Shane might like the music, but zero interest.  It highlighted why Shane belongs in Sunday school instead!

The sermon was about developing spiritual discipline and how discipline was important in all areas of life: work, relationships, physical health, etc.

The story that stuck out to me the most: The pastor said he was friends with a preacher's daughter in middle school. He had a crush on her, but was friend zoned. As 'friends' do, they talked.

Girl: What do you struggle with?

Boy: I probably play Nintendo to much, argue with my mom to much, slow dancing...What do you struggle with?

Girl: I struggle with my motives.

Boy's thoughts: "Get a real sin! I mean come on! Come on! I mean, are you honestly telling me that what you struggle with is doing the right things for the wrong reason? I'm still struggling doing the wrong things..."

I think that nailed the typical reaction! It's funny, too.

The sermon does move on to talk about how motive really is something important to God.

6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. (Matthew 6:1-2)

Giving to the needy is the right thing to do; To give to gain status and appear pious is not the right motive.

The pastor moved on to talk about how motive really is important to God, and I say to anyone. If Shane knocks over a box of cookies, because he wanted to bring me one I will be much more forgiving than if he was trying to sneak one out for himself! The cookies will still be knocked over, but at least I'll know he cared!

You cannot do enough right things (wrong or right motive) to earn your way into heaven.

I love how stories can be such great learning tools.

Speaking of discipline, I still have unfinished posts from last week.

Oops.

Sunday Sermon Reactions: Commitment

I'm late putting this up. I'll backdate, so that it shows up on the right day.

Three things stuck out to me through this sermon.

Not all are very deep. Hopefully, they all read as honest.

1. Reading through the Bible last year was great. I recognize more and more of the context of the verses and where they are in the Bible. I'm not very good at remembering exact words and numbers. I tend to remember ideas, themes, and generalities.

2. The series we're in is called "Awesomely Ever After." It's about building better marriages that last. As you can imagine, this is something important to me. One of the lead questions to the sermon was "How can people be married for 25 years and then break apart?" I signed up for "unto death do us part" and "what God has joined together, let no man tear asunder."*

When Brett started talking about the researcher who could predict with 90% accuracy which married couples would be together after 7 years, he had my full attention (it sometimes wanders). When Brett mentioned the four things that the researcher looked for as signs of an unhealthy marriage, I was on the edge of my seat. "Do I do any of those?"

          Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse for Communication
          Criticism
          Contempt
          Defensiveness
          Stonewalling

The gist is that cracks in the foundation of how a couple communicates can cause problems at any time a marriage.

I've always viewed my marriage as a living things. Living things need to grow to be alive. Living things can't grow unless they're taken care of. There's no such thing as "you don't have to try any more once you're married." Living things also change. Change can be intimidating when matched to an unchanging promise.

I'm not saying I always get it right. I am saying I know it's something I have to work at.

The end goal is that Carrie goes to bed every night secure that I love her and that I hold fast to my vows. She does the same thing for me. It's a 'we' effort.

3. David was a "man after's God's heart" and he still screwed the pooch royally. We all fall. Even the best of us.

And that made me think of Tolkieen.

Yes, seriously. Doom and failure visited frequently. The Silmarilion was full of tragic endings and characters who failed. Even Frodo succumbed on the very doorstep of Mordor. I don't think I'm spoiling much for anyone at this point.

And then I thought, "I need to remember this when I write!"

Not that I have.

And so concludes a belated Sunday Sermon Reaction. The sermon is here. The website for my church is here and you can watch live on a Sunday if you're ever curious.

Sunday Sermon Reactions: Forgiveness

Forgiveness was the topic of today's sermon.

Brett started out with the parable of the unmerciful servant.

It's a parable I've heard many times. Forgiveness is a core tenant of Jesus' teaching.

Two new things stuck out to me today.

Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive. "Up to seven times?"

Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times.*"

First, Michael's child pick-up ticket was 490! I forgave him when he stuck a sticker on my leg hair. I forgave Carrie, too, when she thought it was funny and mimicked him.

Second, Brett mentioned a nuance I never thought of.

The "seventy times seven" could refer to a quantity (i.e. forgive them 490 times). Not new.

Or the "seventy times seven" could mean to keep forgiving an offense (maybe muttering "I forgive them" like a mantra) over 490 days until you really do forgive it. New.

I'm not a preacher, but both seem applicable to me.

Some transgressions are small. They're easy to forgive. They're easy to forget (when appropriate).

Some transgressions are not small. You may want to forgive someone, but it doesn't happen instantly. You may have to do your best to treat them as forgiven them while the wound heals and you truly forgive them in your heart.

Brett summed it up at the end with, "Forgiveness is free, but then Jesus expects you to do something about it." Being forgiven is not carte blanche to keep committing the same offense over and over. After Jesus told the crowd "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her," he tells the woman, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.**"

I'll hyperlink the sermon here whenever it goes up (and if I remember). I liked the part about the $10 million dollar research grant on forgiveness, and the medical effects of bitterness. Science confirms what was written down many, many years ago.

Carrie liked a lot of the studies and points Brett brought up, too. She asked him if she could look at his notes for her Batterer's Intervention course after church.

I'm going to attempt to do a quick sermon reflection each week. Writing helps me process and internalize. Hopefully, it may benefit someone who reads it, as well.

Notes:
*Some translations say "Seventy-seven."
**The full parable is John 7:53-8:11