Sermons

Romans 8:28-30

There was a little boy named Johnny; a good boy to be sure. He loved hanging out at the local 7-11, so much so he offered to sweep the store once a day for free just to be able to hang out. The owner wasn’t sure if Johnny had some kind of problem, but he noticed that other boys would constantly tease him. They would say Johnny was two bricks shy of a load, or two pickles short of a barrel. To prove it, they would offer Johnny a choice between a nickel and a dime. Johnny would always take the nickel; they said, ‘because it was bigger.’

One day after John grabbed another nickel, the store owner took him aside, “Johnny, those boys are making fun of you. They think you don’t know the dime is worth more than the nickel. Are you grabbing the nickel because it’s bigger, or what?” Slowly, Johnny turned toward the store owner and a big grin appeared on his face and said, “Well, if I took the dime, they’d stop doing it, and so far I have saved $20 worth of nickels!”

Good things happen to good, and in this case smart, people.

Last week, I talked about what the Bible has to say about why bad things happen to good people. Today I want to talk about how and why good things happen to good people. To do so I want to return to the verse I made mention of last week; Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the ‘good’ of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”

This verse assures of something that most of us instinctively know; that as we live our lives for Christ, good things are going to come our way. When we cooperate with God by allowing Him to work in and through us by the power of His Holy Spirit, we will by and large lead good, if not great, lives. Good things will naturally come our way.

Not always of course; I reminded us last week that the Bible is very realistic in letting us know that no one is exempt from trouble and heartache.

But the Bible also indicates that a person who follows God will find more blessing in life than those who do not. Psalm 84:11: “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no ‘good’ thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

Matthew 28:1-10
Corinthians 15:1-4, 12-22

As the pastor introduced his children’s sermon on Easter, he asked the little ones, “Do you see anything different about our church today?”
Little Heather quickly figured out the difference and blurted out, “It’s full!”

A guy attended church one Sunday and became increasingly annoyed as the pastor preached. After the service, he decided to speak to the pastor about it: “You really have to do something about your sermons; every time I come here you speak about death and resurrection.”
The preacher shot back, “What do you expect, you only come on Easter.”

Death and resurrection; sounds like a good theme to me. Let’s start with death.

In AARP’s magazine a couple of years ago, (not that I get it) Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin were interviewed about their feelings about death. Tomlin, 80, recalled a time when she was four-years-old, visiting her grandmother in rural Kentucky. A little girl had died and they laid the body out in the house. “Everyone was oohing and aahing over her,” said Tomlin. “Death didn’t make sense then, and it doesn’t make any more sense now.”

Jane Fonda, 82, had a very different reaction. “I feel the opposite,” she said. “Death is inevitable, so why not try to make peace with it? ¹

In the same article, John Mellencamp, 65, said, “I intend to make my ending good. I’m hoping it’s one of those long, lingering deaths. A lot of people go, ‘Oh, I hope I just die quick.’ Not me; I need time to put things right.” ²

And then there’s Sting, winner of 16 Grammy Awards. In a recent interview for Rolling Stone, the 64-year-old admits that he spends a lot of time thinking about death. He often stares at old photos of family members passed on. He also thinks about all the rock music icons who have died. “I’m 64; most of my life has been lived already, I have more days behind me than in front of me. Most people die in panic, there must be a way to die peacefully.” ³

Whether you have more days behind you or in front of you doesn’t really matter. The simple truth that we are all aware of but choose to ignore is that someday all of us will lose consciousness, our hearts will stop pumping blood to our organs which starved for oxygen will begin to shut down and we will be pronounced ‘dead.’

I am sorry to remind you on this otherwise glorious Easter morning of the cold, stark reality of that which awaits us all.

But how else can we truly appreciate the words of Paul? “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died” (I Corinthians 15:20).

Of course, not everyone believes what Paul proclaims.

Luke 19:28-40
Mark 14:26-72

Derek Lam is a courageous young Christian leader living in Hong Kong, who has entered The Crucible. In August, 2017 he wrote in The New York Times about the suppression of human rights for Christians in China:

Since I was 16 years old, I have wanted to be a pastor. I was raised in a Christian family in Hong Kong that urged me to live by biblical principles and it is for that reason that I am likely to be jailed next month and that I will be barred from ever becoming a pastor. There is an unprecedented erosion of Christian religious freedom in Hong Kong, believers forced to worship in underground churches, the government tearing down church buildings. The only way to avoid trouble, Lam says, is for Christians to bow down to the current leader of China—Xi Jinping. I won’t make Jesus bow down to Xi Jinping. Although there is nothing I would love more than to become a pastor and preach the gospel in Hong Kong, I will never do so if it means making Jesus subservient to Xi Jinping. Instead, I will continue to fight for religious freedom in Hong Kong, even if I have to do it from behind bars.” ¹

According to Cambridge Dictionary a ‘crucible’ is “a container in which metals and other substances can be heated to a very high temperature” ² In that regard, crucibles come in various shapes and sizes and are used for the processing of metals and/or crystals.

Thankfully, Derek Lam didn’t enter a literal crucible. The word ‘crucible’ can also be used figuratively to describe being in a life situation that presents an opportunity for, according to Mr. Webster, “severe testing.” ³

History is replete with stories of people who have suddenly and often without warning found themselves in a crucible of severe testing.

Today’s history places our beloved Saint Peter in the crucible. The pressure must have been intense as Peter fears his reaction to the query about his relationship to Jesus could very well carry life or death consequences.

When re-live Peter’s story or hear stories of people who have suddenly found themselves in the crucible, we often wonder what we would do in similar circumstances.

I Chronicles 29:1-18
Luke 12:13-21

A fellow was riding a bus when he suddenly realized he needed to pass gas. The music was really loud, so he decided to decrepitate with the beat. After a couple of songs, he felt better much as he approached his stop. As he was leaving the bus, people were really giving him the stink eye. And that’s when it hit him; the music he’s been tooting to is coming through his own ear-buds.

You could say that he needed to brush up on his ‘SA’; Situational Awareness.

The term ‘Situational Awareness,’ simply knowing what is going on around you, was coined first during the Korean War as it concerned aircraft and naval vessels. But it began to make its way into our everyday vernacular about 10 years ago as it concerns the ability to survive in an emergency situation. Today the term now includes Cyber SA, Emergency Response SA, Healthcare SA, Nursing SA, Plant Management SA, and so on.

It seems to me the term Situational Awareness can be adopted for use in the church as it regards our spiritual lives. For us to faithfully live as Jesus wishes us to, requires a sense of SA. This can be applied to many aspects of our life with God. Two weeks ago, I didn’t mention Situational Awareness, but it was implied as we talked about avoiding temptation. Last Wednesday, the Senior’s watched a video that reminded us that no matter how bad things might become, Situational Awareness remind us that God is closer than we think.

However today, I want to apply SA to Christian stewardship; that is our use of our resources, possessions and particularly money. If we are going to be faithful to God in this regard, then it is imperative that we are Situationally Aware.

And for us to be Situationally Aware as it concerns our use of money, we must come to grips with the Bible fact that GOD OWNS IT ALL!

Acts 6:1-7
I Thessalonians 5:12-13

Reader’s Digest Life in These United States: A week after a father applied to enroll his son in a private school, he received a questionnaire. One of the questions was: “Is your son a leader or a follower?” He thought about it and then indicated his son was a follower. A couple weeks later, he was informed his son was one of 200 students accepted. The letter also said, “You may be interested to know that of the 200 accepted 199 were marked as leaders and only 1 follower.”

What is that old saying? Too many chiefs and not enough Indians?

Every organization has to have leaders who will initially define what that organization is about, how it is going to function effectively by encouraging participation by the people of that organization and then monitor it to make sure that it does.

That applies to the largest of organizations; take the good old USA, for example, which was organized by our Founding Fathers, who took the responsibility for drawing up principles set forth in the Constitution that would govern these United States of America.

Manufacturers and businesses have CEO’s/CFO’s/managers, etc. who are responsible to create, implement and monitor policies and procedures that will enable that business to function profitably and effectively.

What’s good for countries and manufacturers and retail businesses is also good for the church. Every church must designate leaders who are responsible for creating and then implementing policies and procedures that will enable that church to function effectively.

That’s exactly what Luke is describing in Acts 6. The early church was growing in numbers, quite dramatically. The 12 Apostles were up to their ears with too many responsibilities so they made a wise decision to recruit other folks who would help them out so that they could focus on what they felt they were gifted and called by God to accomplish. It is probably true that Numbers 11 had some influence over their decision. In that chapter, Moses is the overwhelmed leader who takes the advice of his father-in-law, Jethro, to recruit others to give him a hand.

As it was with Moses before them and then the Apostles in the early church, so it is now.

Matthew 28:18-20
Romans 10:1-15

As a young couple’s wedding day neared, both grew increasingly nervous over secret problems they had never shared with anyone. Privately, the groom-to-be approached his minister. “I have really smelly feet—and am afraid my fiancée won’t be able to take it.” “Look,” his pastor said, “Wash your feet twice a day and wear socks all the time.”

Meanwhile, the nervous bride had privately approached the minister’s wife. “I’m so worried, I have really bad breath when I wake up each day!”
She replied, “Set your alarm just a few minutes before your husband wakes up. Run to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and gargle before he gets out of bed.”

So for several months after marriage, they managed to keep their issues a secret. Then one morning, the husband awoke before dawn to find that one of his socks had come off in the night. Frantic, he searched the bed, afraid of what might happen if he didn’t find his sock. His bride woke with a start, and, without thinking, blurted out, “What in the world are you doing?”
“Oh, dear!” the young man wailed. “You swallowed my sock!” ¹

On a scale from 1 to 10, what would you assign the beauty of your feet? Maybe we need to take our shoes and socks off and check them out?

Would you believe that the Bible has a prescription for having more beautiful feet?