Random Thoughts in Ministry

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 9

2009-11-10T09:20:00.003-05:00

This has been a fun week for me. In one league, I was matched up against a guy who decided to have his entire fantasy roster filled with players from the Detroit Lions (even on the bye week!). In another, I was matched up against my lovely wife. And in another, I was battling to hang onto first place and it was going to come down to MNF. Exciting week in fantasy land!

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish

QB - P. Manning

WR - D. Driver, M. Crabtree, Austin Collie

RB - D. Williams, J. Addai

TE - J. Witten

K - N. Rackers

DEF - Indianapolis

High scorer: DeAngelo Williams, 26.10 points

Low scorer: Austin Collie, 2.60 points

Result: Swish 109.22, Detroit Lions 51.50 (6-3, t-2nd overall, 3rd place points)

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats

QB - P. Rivers

RB - J. Addai, T. Hightower

WR - H. Ward, R. Wayne, D. Hester

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Patriots

K - M. Prater

High scorer: Joseph Addai, 22 points

Low scorer: Patriots, 3 points

Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 94, Gym Shortz Blueballs 82 (7-2, 1st place overall)

Team 3: ESPN League Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys

QB - D. Brees

RB - P. Thomas, R. Rice

WR - R. White, D. Hester, M. Crabtree

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Seahawks

K - Orlando Mare

High scorer: Ray Rice/Seahawks, 18 points each

Low scorer: Roddy White, 2 points

Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 103, Photogenic Apple Tots 92 (6-3, t-1st overall record, 2nd points)

A Little Bit of Meddlin'

2009-11-09T16:56:00.001-05:00

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, November 8, 2009. The text for this week's message is Mark 12: 38-44.

Today is one of those rare occasions when I step over the line between preaching and meddling. At least, that is the common perception when pastors preach about stewardship. Hopefully, y’all know me enough by now to know that my focus in talking about stewardship is not specifically about money. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – stewardship is not just about money.

Money is certainly involved in stewardship, but stewardship is about more than money. Stewardship is about being faithful with what God has given. Stewardship is about seeing that all we are and all we have is because of God. Stewardship is about recognizing that Jesus Christ is Lord in our lives, and that there are things in our lives that try to make themselves our Lord.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “money is the root of all evil.” It is a partial quote from Paul’s first letter to Timothy. This partial quote gives us the impression that money is corrupting; that money can bring us down; basically, that money is a problem. But the issue with this phrase, I said it twice so far and some of you know it already, is that it is a partial quote. It is taken out of its original context.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 actually says, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” Money itself is fine. After all, let’s be honest for a minute, what is money? It is specially made paper, or metal that is stamped in a specific way. That is all money really is.

In fact, in today’s modern world, we can get along just fine without ever even seeing what money looks like – there’s direct deposit, online banking, online billing, debit cards, credit cards, checks. The only thing you need actual money for these days is the vending machine and the restaurants in Veedersburg.

And yet, there is something about money that can grab us and keep us captivated. We spend a good part of our lives either trying to make money, or trying to spend it. I remember coming across a statement earlier this year that the average American spends, I believe it was, 110% of his/her income every year.

That is how we become slaves of money. That is how money can rule us. And I say this full well knowing that I am one of the guilty parties. I’m going to be spending the next 2-3 years paying off credit cards and vehicles, and the next 379 years of my life just paying off my student loans. What is the power that money has over us that causes us to work so hard to earn it and fight so hard to keep it?

If there is any sort of silver lining to the economic recession that we have been in for the last year or two, it’s that it has shown us that money cannot be trusted. We cannot rely simply on our bank accounts to get us through when things get tough. But the world we live in depends on the economic systems that we have created.

Your parents or grandparents may remember what life was like before the Great Depression. Some of y’all may have been raised not long after the stock market crashed and saw first hand what can happen when the economic system falls down all around us. You know what I’m talking about. And even if the economy is going great, there are people who go through difficult financial times on an individual level. So, where does stewardship come into play?

Again, stewardship is about being faithful with what God has given us. Stewardship is making sure we know what our priorities are. You know one of the best ways to really see what our priorities are? Look at the checkbook. Look at the bank statement. Look at the online account information from your bank. Whatever means you use to track your money are the means that help you to see what your priorities are. Stewardship is one of the ways that we can make sure that Jesus really is Lord in our lives.

In today’s Scripture, we have two stories that are tied together. These take place not long after Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, which we talk about every year on Palm Sunday. This is one of the first few days of Jesus’ final week before the crucifixion. Just before these two stories, a scribe asked Jesus what was the most important commandment, and as you may know, Jesus’ answer was to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Those two commands are bound together by Jesus. And then we see our Scripture for today.

And as he was teaching, in the temple, he tells the people to beware of the scribes. And not just all the scribes in general, but the ones who wear the long robes; the one who like being greeted in public places; the ones who have the best seats wherever they go; the ones who take advantage of those who struggle to care for themselves; the ones who use their faith as a show of their own piety. What about what they are doing has anything to do with loving God or loving one’s neighbor?

If their idea of loving one’s neighbor involves faith being a show of their own piety, or feasting on their own egotistical needs, or being part of the “in crowd,” then I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anything to do with loving my neighbor. And Jesus’ point is that we need to beware of people who do these things because we might start to get the wrong impression. We might start to think that they are just as holy as they think they are. Does that make sense? We start to buy into a false idea of holiness; an idea of holiness that cheapens what it truly means to be holy, to be separate, in this world, for God.

Our priorities begin to shift. We become more concerned with the long robes, with being well-known, with making sure everyone thinks we are holy. We become more concerned with these things than with God. Stewardship is so important because it helps keep our priorities on God. If we recognize that all we have comes from God, then we also know we didn’t do anything to earn what we have. What we have is not ours; what we have is a gift given by the true owner of all things. The One to whom we, ultimately, must give an account of what we have done with what we have been given.

In the first part of today’s Scripture, the scribes who Jesus is warning the people about are the ones who have not been good stewards. They have been given positions of responsibility, and they have abused that power for their own gain. In the text, it says that they “devour widow’s houses.” Just to clarify, there are parts of Scripture that are not to be taken literally. This is one of those times. Unless these widows lived in gingerbread houses, they were not literally eating their homes. What this means is that they were taking advantage of the hospitality offered by these widows. They maybe came and had dinner with them, and had them come up with this elaborate feast that wasn’t necessary and was a serious drain on their resources. They were exploiting these widows for their gain.

Widows did not tend to have much. Women did not usually work. Widows were often cared for by family, usually their sons or some other family member. And these scribes that Jesus is talking about were taking advantage of these women because their priorities were out of place. They were more concerned with their image than doing what was right. Sometimes stewardship has to do with what you have done with the position that you’ve been given.

Where is your circle of influence? Are you using your influence in a positive way? Could you stand before God right now and feel like you have done what you could do with your influence? Or are you using your influence in negative ways? Are you talking bad about people behind their backs to your circle of friends? Do you have a bad attitude that you are sharing with those around you? What you do with what you’ve been given – that’s stewardship. That is a reflection of whether or not Jesus is Lord in your life.

The second half of the Scripture is tied with the first half in that it mentions the actions of a widow in contrast with the scribe. In the first half, the scribe is all about drawing attention to his personal holiness, or, at least, his understanding of his personal holiness. In the second half, the widow shows holiness in a quiet, unassuming way.

Jesus sits down on the other side of the treasury and watches people put their money in the offering box. How much would everybody love that? Did you know that there are some churches where, instead of passing the plate, people lineup, walk to the front and put their offerings in a box? I’ve been to one when we lived in Kentucky. It was very interesting.

In some cultures, they even announce how much someone has put in. In these same areas, they have three-hour worship services. How much fun does that sound? We are going to try that some Sunday, and I’m not going to tell you about it. You are just going to show up one Sunday and be here all afternoon. Okay, I’m not really going to do that. Anyway, back to the story at hand.

Jesus sits down and watches people put their money in the offering box. And he sees all these rich people putting large sums into the box. And along comes this poor widow, we’ll call her Aunt Bessie, and she puts in two small copper coins. Now, I know that everyone is familiar with coinage in first century Palestine, but I had to look up the monetary value of these coins. And these small copper coins would have come up to 1/128th of a denarius, which was a day’s wage.

In today’s terms, that is the equivalent of what an hourly worker makes in about four minutes. That’s not a lot of money, but remember, widows didn’t work. They didn’t have anything. So for her to give 4 minutes worth of a day’s wage, it’s a lot. How much money does a person make who doesn’t work? And remember, they didn’t have retirement, or savings, or unemployment, or anything like that. A person that doesn’t work, doesn’t have an income in the first century. She was giving all she had.

The people who were putting in large amounts of money; they had plenty. And they were giving out of their abundance. But this poor widow, was giving out of her poverty. Her priorities were in the right place. The letter of James talks about showing your faith by what you do. She showed her faith by giving all that she had to live on.

Here’s the point this morning. I don’t want to talk about stewardship and have you walking away saying, “All that guy talks about is money.” Because 1) you know that’s not true; but 2) few things show our priorities better than our checkbook. That is a hard and harsh reality to face. I’m not talking about stewardship this morning to boost the offering. What you do with your money is your business. I don’t know how much you make. I don’t know what your current lifestyle is. And I don’t know how much you give. That’s not the point this morning. God has been faithful with this congregation, and I believe God will continue to bless this congregation, as long as it remains faithful to Him.

The reason I am talking about stewardship this morning is because it is an important aspect of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. If your money follows your heart, then your heart will always be revealed by how you spend your money. Your priorities will always be revealed by how you spend your money. Can you look at your checkbook and be satisfied with the mirror that you see? Can you look at your life and say that you were a faithful steward of all that God has given you? It’s not easy. It’s not clean and neat. But our faith must cause us to look at ourselves from time to time. And, if we are honest with ourselves, there will always be something staring back at us that we don’t like. Pray this week, that as you look in the mirror that Scripture holds up for us, that the Holy Spirit will work in your life; that you can be a good steward of what you have been given.

Why I Preach

2009-11-04T21:10:00.002-05:00

I guess the most obvious reason why I preach is because it is my job. Seriously though, I know that when I preach I am doing something that 1) I'm good at (not trying to brag, just repeating what everyone else has said), and 2) I am called to do.

If I was not a pastor, I would probably be a teacher. It is no surprise, therefore, that I am a teaching pastor. My style of preaching is conversational (some of which gets lost in translation if you are reading the sermons on this blog). I like to look at the history of the text, sometimes I go back to the original language, and I try to make it applicable. I've said before that if people aren't challenged or a little uncomfortable, then either they aren't listening or I'm not doing my job.

That being said, I came across something I found very interesting today - FunnySermons.com. I see the importance of humor; however, is the point of a sermon to be entertaining, or to speak truth into one's life? I think humor can be an element of the sermon, but it shouldn't be the focus. When I preach, I may say something funny from time to time, but my intention is not to be funny.

Here is a quote from the site: "Never underestimate the power of humor. It is the best way to gain attention and rapport. It creates entertaining and mesmerizing sermons while making a pastor look charismatic. People love to laugh. Preachers who use humor have bigger churches and are in demand for other speaking engagements. "

What??? Is that why we preach? Is the point of preaching to be entertaining and mesmerizing? Is the point of preaching to make me look charismatic? Is the point of preaching to have a bigger church and be an in-demand speaker? No. Absolutely not.

Preaching needs to affect life change. Preaching needs to help the people see how their lives are connected to the story of Scripture. Preaching needs to challenge us because Scripture challenges us. Can there be humor along the way? Absolutely! Should that be the point of a sermon? Absolutely not!

I don't know. Maybe I'm taking this the wrong way. But too often I think that people want to make worship into a production. All the bells and whistles for a worship service are nice, but they aren't necessary when it comes to affecting life change.

What do you think? Am I off base here? How important is humor when it comes to preaching?

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 8

2009-11-03T08:36:00.002-05:00

Nearly halfway home on this season's fantasy football.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish

QB - P. Manning

WR - D. Driver, S. Rice, E. Royal

RB - D. Williams, J. Addai

TE - J. Witten

K - N. Rackers

DEF - Indianapolis

High scorer: DeAngelo Williams, 15.80 points

Low scorer: Eddie Royal, 1 point

Result: Swish 68.06, Tundra Kids 67.96 (5-3, 3rd place overall)

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats

QB - P. Rivers

RB - A. Peterson, J. Addai

WR - K. Walter, R. Wayne, D. Hester

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Bears

K - J. Scobee

High scorer: Bears D/ST, 26 points

Low scorer: Josh Scobee, 1 point

Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 106, nc bison 65 (6-2, 1st place Division 2)

Team 3: ESPN League Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys

QB - D. Brees

RB - P. Thomas, R. Rice

WR - R. White, D. Hester, S. Rice

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Texans

K - Nick Folk

High scorer: Drew Brees, 20 points

Low scorer: Sidney Rice, 4 points

Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 109, The Whipping Boy 96 (tied for 1st overall, 5-way tie)

Movie Tour: Law Abiding Citizen

2009-11-02T20:29:00.000-05:00

I had Sunday evening to myself, and decided last-minute to go see a movie that I knew Katie wouldn't like to see.

Plot Summary

Gerard Butler plays Clyde Shelton, a nice guy whose family is murdered during a home invasion. Jamie Foxx plays prosecutor Nick Rice, who ends up making a deal with one of the murders primarily to maintain his conviction rate. 10 years later, Shelton begins to show the ridiculous nature of the legal system by his systematic execution of all who were involved in the case.

Review

Law Abiding Citizen is both smart and intense. As you can imagine, in a movie with a plot such as this, there is quite a bit of violence. There are only a couple of brief scenes of intense violence, and the rest of the violence is relatively tame (given today's standards). No one will confuse this for a Tarantino movie, so the violence is not terrible, but I think the best way to describe it is "brief and intense." The way that everything unfolds is incredibly smart. On the one hand, you want to root for Shelton, because you can understand why he is doing what he is doing. On the other hand, you can tell that he has gone over the edge and needs to be stopped.

Bottom Line

This is one of those movies that the more I think about it, the more I liked it. If you don't mind strong language and violence, you might like this movie. I think what I like about it the most is how the plot turns over the course of the movie. At this point, you might want to wait for it to come out on DVD and get it from your local Redbox.

Best Part

If you haven't picked up on it yet, I like how this movie blends intellectual elements with intense action. Trying to figure out what is going on over the course of the movie will definitely keep you on your toes.

Things You Can't Make Up, Part 1

2009-11-01T18:38:00.004-05:00

One of the things that Katie and I like to do, as I've probably mentioned before, is watch movies. Every once in a while, I browse through the Instant Watch movies on Netflix. Here is a movie that I came across:

Monsturd

Serial killer Jack Schmidt (Brad Dosland) is a fugitive who has the politce and FBI hot on his trail. After being cornered and wounded by law enforcement authorities, he falls into a sewage tunnel where the chemical company Dutech has also been dumping its toxic waste. The poisonous mixture of feces and chemicals mysteriously transforms Jack into a part-human, part-feces monster who sets out on a deadly rampage.

Just for the record - No, I did not watch it... as far as you know.

A Vision of Things to Come

2009-11-01T18:22:00.002-05:00

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, November 1, 2009. The text for this week's message was Revelation 21:1-6a.

Today is All Saints Day. It is the day on the Christian calendar when we stop for just a minute to remember those who have left our company and have gone on into the presence of the Lord. Certainly, we never really forget those who have made an influence on our lives, and rarely will a day go by when we will not think of them. But on All Saints Day, we want to remember those who have gone before us in our faith. And I think that it is not only important to remember how crucial they were to us in our lives, but to also remember the hope that they had, and that we have, in Jesus Christ.

I know a lot of people who are interested in Revelation, but very few who actually understand what it is saying. And that’s because it is so full of Old Testament references, apocalyptic visions, and things that are, quite frankly, way out there. But I believe we can understand Scripture if we just take the time to do so, and Revelation is one of those books that just takes a long time to understand. So, to get into Revelation, let’s look at some of the background on the book.

It is generally agreed that Revelation was written by the Apostle John; the same one who was one of the original twelve disciples, and the same one who wrote the gospel and three letters in the New Testament. It was written around 90 A.D. And, as John says at the beginning of the book, it is a vision that he received while on the island of Patmos where he was in exile.

The timing of the writing is important as well. During the time that Revelation was written, Domitian was the Roman Emperor. To put it kindly, Domitian was not known to be a pleasant person to those who had different religious beliefs. In the first century, it is believed that the worst Christian persecutions were under Nero, but Domitian came in second in that category.

The book of Revelation became more popular about ten years ago when the Left Behind books came out. The writers of the Left Behind series took a very literal view of Revelation, and it caused all sorts of theological messes when it came out. But perhaps the biggest of these messes was that people began to fear the end times. The return of Jesus was not something that was celebrated, but it was something that was used as a scare tactic to get people into churches. The problem with this type of tactic is that it is not honest.

Yes, hell is real, and it is something that we should talk about from time to time, but to use the fear of hell to get people to come to church implies that coming to church is a “get out of hell free” card, and that’s not the case. We come to church to worship God. We come to develop as disciples. We come to experience the love of Christ in the midst of those around us. And we come to hear the message of the gospel – the good news. Hell is real, but all I’m going to say that we know for sure is that hell is separation from God. To use horrific images of hell to get people to come to Jesus is saying that the love of Christ is not enough to draw people to him. And that misses the point of our faith, and the point of the book of Revelation.

The key point of the book of Revelation is not to draw out exactly what the ends times will look like. There are a lot of people out there that look at Revelation as though it is some kind of key to interpreting political events in today’s world. Go to just about any Christian bookstore and you’ll find an entire section of books dedicated to this kind of study. Of course, the problem is, given enough time, these all end up getting proved wrong, especially those that are tied to today’s political events.

You see, we aren’t the first generation that has had people believing that we are living in the end times. Every generation believes that, and has believed it since the first century. And, in a sense, that’s good. We live as though we expect Jesus to be coming back tomorrow. However, we also need to be focused on what needs to be done in the mean time.

Their fundamental flaw is one of misunderstanding our task. Our task is not to predict when the end times will come, but to live as though they are coming. We live in a time of tension right now. We live in a time of excitement about what has come, and anticipation of what is to come. We know that we live in a time when death has lost its sting, when the grave no longer has victory over those who live in Jesus Christ. And we expect Jesus to return, and all of heaven and all of the earth will be renewed. We expect that because it is one of the promises that God has laid out in Scripture, and as far as I can tell, God hasn’t broken a promise yet.

When I read through Revelation, I don’t see something that needs us to obsess about the details, I see an end result that we need to be striving to accomplish. I mentioned last week that we need to be excited about what God is doing all around us, and even more excited that God has invited us to be a part of it. What we read here in Revelation is the end result. It is something that we chase after. It is a vision of things to come. But if a vision is just something that we want to accomplish someday in the distant future, then what good is it?

A vision isn’t something that we hope to accomplish one day. It is not something that we write down on a piece of paper and set aside before going on with life as normal. It is something that guides us and pushes us forward. Let me share this quote with you: “Vision is a mental picture of what could be fueled by a passion that it should be.” It isn’t a wish; it isn’t a dream. It is an understanding that there is something bigger out there for us. It is an understanding that complacency with the status quo is not enough anymore.

As Christians, this vision of a new heaven and a new earth has been passed down from generation to generation. Creation is renewed. That which was corrupted is no more because it has been replaced by what it was supposed to be in the first place. When John had this vision, he saw what things will be like one day. And the vision that we get here is one of God dwelling with humanity once again.

Can you imagine John as he is seeing this vision? He has seen some crazy stuff to this point; some horrifying stuff at times. This wasn’t Halloween. People weren’t dressed up and asking for candy. He was seeing the real deal. And after all this stuff that he has seen, he looks around, and he sees creation redeemed. He sees the new heaven and the new earth. No longer is there a decrepit earth surrounding him, but a glorious vision of the world as it is supposed to be. He looks up and sees the new Jerusalem, the dwelling place of God, decending upon the earth. And he says that it looks like a bride adorned for her husband. Then he hears a voice.

The voice says, in verses 3 and 4, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Now that is a vision, my friends. That is what this is all about. If that doesn’t get your blood pumping, I don’t know what will.

The Church, with a big C, has been given a vision here in Revelation. It is the ultimate goal for believers. What we need to do, here on the local level, is figure out how we can get as many people there as we can. Honestly, it really is that simple. Our goal as disciples of Jesus Christ is pretty easy. We’ve even been told how to get as many people in that final scene of Revelation as possible. We are called to make disciples of Jesus Christ through reaching out, sharing our faith, and teaching the ways of the Lord.

Sometimes the structures that we put in place are cumbersome and unnecessary when it comes to accomplishing this goal. We lose sight of the vision. We get caught up in the business, and the busyness, of the church that we forget about the goal. There are things that we have to do, but are we doing them because we’ve always done them, or are we willing to step out and do something different on the possibility that someone might catch the vision and catch on fire for God?

Everything we do as a church needs to be done so that we can make disciples. It needs to be done so that people are awakened to the world around them that has God’s fingerprints all over it. It needs to be done so that those who you know and love and care about will be among the great company standing beside John, seeing the new creation. How do we do that here? That question needs to be at the core of all our discussions about what is going on at this church. It needs to be the foundation of our meetings. It needs to be in our prayers and our thoughts.

Dream with me for a minute. What if we could start from square one? There are things that we have to do as a United Methodist church, but they don’t prevent us from thinking outside the box. The systems and structures that hold us back are the ones that we have developed. Our system as a United Methodist church gives us a skeleton. We have five committees that are required by the Book of Discipline. It is up to us to put everything else together. And we can do that in a way that makes sense for this church in this community, all the while, focusing on the larger vision.

The great thing about the book of Revelation is that we know how it all ends. We’ve been given an endgame. We’ve been given something to chase after. We’ve been given the means to accomplish this goal. A lot of the conversations I would like to have this year are not going to revolve around “what have we done before,” but “what can we do now.” We will pause from time to time to celebrate our past, but we will do so with the understanding that there is something ahead of us that our past was seeking after, and we need to seek after as well.

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 7

2009-10-27T22:15:00.002-04:00

A new week, more fun.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish

QB - P. Manning

WR - M. Manningham, D. Driver, Sydney Rice

RB - D. Williams, R. Grant

TE - J. Witten

K - Neil Rackers

DEF - Indianapolis

High scorer: Peyton Manning, 21.30 points

Low scorer: Mario Manningham, 4.70 points

Result: Swish 126.30, marbleheads 120.52 (4-3, 3rd place overall)

Team 2: ESPN League, Bricksquad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats

QB - P. Rivers

RB - A. Peterson, J. Addai, B. Westbrook

WR - R. Wayne, H. Ward

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Patriots

K - Jason Elam

High scorer: Philip Rivers, 23 points

Low scorer: Hines Ward, 0 points

Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 93, county cork 60 (1st place, Division 2)

Team 3: ESPN League, Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys

QB - D. Brees

RB - P. Thomas, C. Williams

WR - R. White, Johnny Knox, Sidney Rice

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Packers

K - Robbie Gould

High scorer: Drew Brees, 21 points

Low scorer: Tony Gonzalez, 3 points

Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 77, TBAR Heels 86 (4th place overall)

When Things Fall Apart, Part 4

2009-10-26T11:40:00.000-04:00

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 25, 2009. The text for this week's message is Job 42:1-6.

This morning, we are wrapping up our series on the book of Job, and it has been one wild ride to this point. It has certainly been an emotional journey. There are so many points in the book of Job that speak to each of us in very real, and sometimes difficult, ways. I know that this series has probably been as difficult to hear as it has been to work through. It’s very personal. We all have gone through rough patches in our lives. And I don’t say that to trivialize the difficult times, but to point out that while our zip codes may differ, we all live in the same area code when it comes to dealing with suffering in our lives. So, one last time, let’s review where we have been in the last three weeks.

Job is said to be the greatest man in the east. He is certainly a wealthy man with lots of livestock and several children. He is a righteous man. So much so that, while conversing with Satan, God lifts him up as an example of a man who is blameless and upright. Satan makes two assumptions that all of us have made from time to time in our lives.

First, he says that Job is blameless and upright because he has never had to worry about anything. God has always provided for him, which is why Job has been so righteous. Job ends up losing everything in one day, but remains a righteous man. Satan makes his second assumption in saying that Job only remains righteous because nothing has happened to him personally. He assumes that one’s righteousness is based on personal circumstances. We know that both of these assumptions are false. Our righteousness is not dependent on our circumstances, but on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Next, we saw that Job was starting to wear down from the conversations that he has been having with his friends. Job starts to focus more and more on the fact that he wants to talk with God face to face and plead his case. Perhaps, just perhaps, there was some kind of communication failure, and Job was being punished for something that he did not do. You see, Job had the same assumption that his unfortunate circumstances had to do with punishment for sin; a sin he didn’t commit. In the midst of all this, Job was also failing to see God at work, although he acknowledged that God was indeed working all around him.

And in Job 38, God finally responds. As the reader, we expect to hear the answer to the reasons why bad things happen to good people. We are primed and ready to be amazed by God’s response to the problem of evil and unnecessary suffering in the world. But if that was what we were wanting, we are disappointed. There is no such answer, and that is a harsh reality to face. Instead of proving that God has punished him by mistake, Job ends up getting an earful from God. He is faced with tough questions that make him realize that he is in no position to explain God’s reasons for the things that have happened. He cannot know the mind of God, and it is wrong to think otherwise. Job is given a new perspective.

Job has believed that God’s reasons can be simply understood; that God has just made a mistake in this punishment. Scattered throughout the earlier parts of the book, Job has said that he wanted to present his case before God. Surely, if God would just listen to him, He would see that there has been some kind of mistake. But this isn’t the case when God responds. And, instead of “here is why these things have happened,” Job is told to buckle up and answer these questions: who do you think you are; where were you when the earth was made; can you provide for the animals of the earth? Of course, Job can’t do any of those things. Job was nowhere around when the earth was created. Job cannot provide for the animals of the earth. But God can. Job begins to realize that maybe God isn’t so simple afterall.

These questions serve the purpose of showing Job that he is not in a position to question God. If God had answered Job in the way that Job wanted, and really, the way we want Him to, essentially it would have put Job in a position to question God, and, quite frankly, nobody is in such a position. God does not answer to any one of us. We start to see that the book of Job isn’t about the problem of evil, but it is about correcting a false understanding of who God is.

To sum up a quote that was used last week, we get a picture in our heads of what an ideal world would look like; we imagine what the God of this world would do; and we worship this projection. There’s a term for that in the Old Testament. It’s called idolatry. God is who God is; that’s why at the burning bush, when Moses asks God what he should say when the people ask who sent him, he is to say, “Yahweh,” or “I am who I am.” Another rendering of the Hebrew could be, “I will be who I will be.” God is who God is, not who we imagine Him to be.

So, now what? We have gone on a long journey with Job. We have felt his heartache, and have asked some of the very same questions. We almost feel as though we are standing beside Job while God is asking him these questions in chapter 38. So, where does that leave us? How do we respond when it comes time for God to question us? Because if Scripture is right, and I believe that it is, there will come a day when we will stand before God and we will be asked, maybe not these same questions, but some similar ones. Who do we think we are? In Job 42, the focus is on Job’s response to God. And he essentially says three things.

First, in verse 2, he says, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” In our Bible study this past Tuesday, we talked a little bit about the sovereignty of God. We looked at the prayer that is offered by the disciples in Acts 4 after Peter and John are released from prison. And their prayer is different from most of the ones that we pray. It’s very different, because it begins by resting in the sovereignty of God. Because God can do all things.

After worship last week, Katie and I were talking about God’s speech in Job 38. And she suggested reading through it again, and instead of reading through it as rhetorical questions that God is asking Job, read it as though these are statements that God is making about Himself. Instead of “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth,” we would read it, as God saying, “I was the one who laid the foundations of the earth.” Instead of “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,” we would read it, “I hunt the prey for the lion.” Reading it that way makes explicit what the text is saying. We weren’t there, we can’t do these things, but God can. And when we get into the issue of God’s sovereignty, we have to realize something very important. God can do what we can’t. God can do the things that we cannot do. Because God is God and we are not.

The first thing that Job does is recognize the sovereignty of God. God’s plans cannot be thwarted. That doesn’t mean we just sit back and let life happen. It means that we are invited to take part on what God is accomplishing all around us. Look around you. Where is God working in your life, in this church, and in the community around us? We should be excited to be a part of what God is doing.

What we do here, in this church, as a congregation, shouldn’t be something that we just do and forget about, but it should be something that excites us, because it is something that God is doing. Do we recognize the sovereignty of God in our life, in our church and in our community? Doesn’t that get your adrenaline going? If you aren’t excited about what God is doing, the first thing you need to do is check your pulse. Second, you need to step back and re-evaluate where you are in your walk with God.

The second key thing that Job says is, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” Job recognizes that he spoke presumptuously before. He assumed he knew how God operated, but in truth, he did not, and now he recognizes that fact. This is so crucial for each one of us. We can’t assume to know God’s purposes. We can’t assume that we speak on God’s behalf. We can see what God is doing, if we are paying attention, but that’s not the same as presuming to know God’s larger purposes.

By paying attention to what God is doing all around us, we can take part in God’s larger purposes. It may be a very small role, but we can still be a part of what God is doing. But, if we assume that we know what God’s larger purposes are in the first place, we begin to miss what it is that we are supposed to be doing. Have you ever had a conversation with somebody, and you assumed you knew what he/she was talking about, and took it in a totally different direction? Sure you have. We’ve all done it from time to time, and you’ve probably had it done to you. And what happens as a result? We have wasted some of our time chasing down something that is totally irrelevant. Do you see the connection here?

When we start chasing things that are not related to what God is trying to do, we waste precious time. And when we assume that we know what God is doing, the likelihood that this is going to happen skyrockets. We have to remember that we are following God, not showing Him what needs to be done.

The final key thing that Job says is, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Hearing about God and seeing God at work in one’s life are two totally different things. There may be people here this morning that come regularly, but have never really stopped to see what God is doing in their lives. Time for some difficult questions, and these are rhetorical questions, so you don’t have to raise your hand or worry that I’m going to sit down one-on-one to ask you these questions. But you should think about them. You should think seriously about these questions this week.

Do you see church as something that takes up a handful of hours each week, or is it something that shapes who you are? Are you listening to what God is trying to tell you through worship and throughout the week, or do you rarely notice that God is even around? Do you just hear about God, or do you experience God in your life? Do you make time to listen for God? Do you look around and try to see what God is doing all around you? These are questions that we seriously have to consider. And maybe, just maybe, if you are feeling a little uncomfortable about these questions, you need to take some time this week and pray through them.

It’s when we stop hearing about God and start looking for God that things happen. Is the church a social meeting, or is it a gathering of people seeking after God? It is amazing what can happen when a group of believers join together in prayer and begin to focus on God. When we gather together and have a common vision for what God can do in the lives of those around us and in our community, we can be unstoppable. And it’s not because of any special talent or skill that we have, but it is because we are finally seeing who God is and striving after Him.

Job thought he knew who God was. Job thought he understood God. The truth is, he didn’t, and it took him being jolted out of his comfort zone in a major way for him to see this. When we come to the end of the book of Job, we don’t have any resolution as to why bad things happen to good people. We don’t have any great answers when it comes to the problem of evil. But what we do have is incredible. We have a proper perspective of who we are, and who God is. Job’s fortunes are restored, but it wasn’t because of anything that he did. It was because of what God was doing.

When you think about this church, do you dwell on the “good ol’ days” – whatever that means to you? Or, are you looking forward to what God is going to do? It’s difficult to walk forward if we are constantly looking behind us. An occasional glance doesn’t hurt anything, but have you ever tried to go for a walk and look behind you the whole time? You will trip and fall in no time. If you look to the side the entire time, you will get off course. So, let’s focus on what is ahead. We don’t have a better understanding of God than Job did, but recognizing where we fall short helps to propel us forward. Are you ready to participate in what God has in store for us?

Movie Review, DVD-style: Sugar

2009-10-21T09:11:00.000-04:00

I joined two of my favorite past times together while I was working out the other morning. I watched a baseball movie. It's not a movie that a lot of people have heard of before, but I remember seeing something about it a while back. So, when it came up on the Redbox list, I jumped at the opportunity.

Plot

Sugar follows the story of Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a young man from the Dominican Republic who starts out in a developmental league for the fictitious Kansas City Knights. He is a good pitcher, and gets an opportunity to play baseball in the States. Santos goes through all the highs and lows of attempting to achieve this dream.

Review

I thought this was a very good movie. It is primarily in Spanish, so that does sometimes make it a little difficult to follow. At times the action is lacking and the movie goes a little slow, but you really get to know Santos as a person, not just a baseball player. You start to understand what it is that he is trying to go through, not only as a young man working on a dream, but as a Spanish-speaking Domincan trying to figure out how to live in a small Iowa town.

*Potential Spoiler Alert* While it may not end the way that one would expect, it is a good reflection of what really happens to the majority of those who try to make it in Major League Baseball.

Bottom Line

Great movie. I would strongly recommend it to anybody who appreciates the game of baseball, and is interested in movies that really focus on individuals and the journey that they take in life. Those who aren't interested in these two things should probably stay away from this movie because they will not find it worthwhile.

Best Part

Santos is invited to Spring Training, and the coach gives the pitchers an idea of just how hard it is going to be. He says, "There are guys above you in the organization that are hustling to keep their spots, and guys below you who are working to take yours. We have 75 guys here, and only 50 roster spots. You do the math." That's not an exact word-for-word quote from the movie, but it captures the gist of it.

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 6

2009-10-20T12:00:00.002-04:00

Another decent week for my three teams. In one league, I had no realistic chance, even if I had played all my top scorers, but a pretty good week in a high-scoring NFL week.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish

QB - Matt Hasselbeck

WR - M. Manningham, D. Driver, Jeremy Maclin

RB - D. Williams, K. Moreno

TE - Dustin Keller

K - Matt Prater

DEF - Baltimore

High scorer: DeAngelo Williams, 29.20 points

Low scorer: Jeremy Maclin, 0.60 points

Result: The Grey Geese 110.92, Swish 71.08 (3-3, 7th overall)

*Horrible week thanks, in part, to major players having a bye week. Fill-ins - Hasselbeck, 1.68; Maclin, 0.60; and Keller, 1.60 all severely underachieved this week.

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats

QB - B. Roethlisberger

RB - A. Peterson, T. Hightower, B. Westbrook

WR - H. Ward, D. Hester

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Patriots

K - S. Hauschka

High scorer: Ben Roethlisberger & Hines Ward, 21 points

Low scorer: Steven Hauschka, 6 points

Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 129, Fla Land Sharks 84 (4-2, 1st place, Division 2)

Team 3: ESPN League Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys

QB - D. Brees

RB - K. Moreno, R. Rice, P. Thomas

WR - R. White, D. Hester

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Ravens

K - Josh Scobee

High scorer: Drew Brees, 38 points

Low scorer: Ravens D/ST, -1

Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 113, Chinese Bandits 86 (4-2, 2nd place overall).

*Great week for two players, Brees with 38 points, and Ray Rice went off for 30 points. I should have had the Packers playing on defense against the Lions instead of the Ravens against the Vikings. They scored 21 points, instead of the Ravens costing me a point. But, I'll take the victory regardless.

Movie Review, DVD-style: Land of the Lost

2009-10-20T08:44:00.000-04:00

I like reviewing movies. I like watching movies. In fact, I would almost rather watch a movie than television on any given night... except Thursday nights on NBC. Okay, so six out of seven night, I would rather watch a movie... except when Criminal Minds is on, but that's only an hour on Wednesday nights; oh, and Top Chef.... Hmmmm. All right five and a half nights out of the week, I would rather watch a movie than television.

The advent of a handy little thing called "Redbox" has made watching new movies on DVD much easier, and much cheaper than going to the store to rent a movie. Additionally, Netflix is quite handy in this capacity as well - we switched to the 1 movie at a time, unlimited Instant Watch, and it's less than $10/month.

So, to begin this new, semi-regular feature. Let's take a look at Land of the Lost.

Plot

Will Ferrell plays Rick Marshall, who is a scientist doing research on time travel. He is basically laughed out of the scientific community for chasing this dream until one day a young lady shows up and believes in his work. He ends up finishing his time traveling machine, and they go to a place in the Arizona desert where they think it will work. Sure enough, it does. What follows is a long series of events involving a new monkey-man friend named Chaka, a tour guide named Will, a smarter than expected T-Rex and an alien race known as the Sleestaks.

Review

This movie makes no sense; however, I found myself laughing at nearly every turn. It is totally random and completely goofy, and I find that to be hilarious. I heard a lot of movie critics bash the movie when it came out this summer, but it looked funny, and it came through. You may or may not know that Land of the Lost is based on a Saturday morning television show of the same name. I expected it to be campy and goofy. The language was a little worse than I expected from a PG-13 movie, but it isn't over the top offensive.

Bottom Line

If you like Will Ferrell, and if you like goofy movies, you'll like this one. Don't go in expecting to be blown away by the storyline. Go into it expecting to have a few laughs and a good time. It's out in Redboxes right now, so... enjoy!

Best Part

Shortly after arriving, the trio and their new pal Chaka are being chased by a T-Rex. They run across a bridge, the T-Rex comes up to the bridge and decides to walk away. Dr. Marshall says something about a T-Rex's brain being the size of a walnut, and the T-Rex hears him, turns around, and jumps over the chasm to continue the chase. Later that night, they here a rumbling on the outside of their cave, and they go out to see what it was, only to find a giant walnut about the size of Dr. Marshall's torso.

Good Thing He Played Basketball For a Living

2009-10-19T19:52:00.002-04:00

I heard about this happening on Jeopardy! last week, but hadn't had a chance to see the clip yet. Great stuff.

When Things Fall Apart, Part 3

2009-10-19T09:05:00.004-04:00

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 18, 2009. The text for this week's message is Job 38:1-7, 34-41.

We are now in our third week in the book of Job this month, and rapidly closing in on the end. Before we get into today’s passage, let’s take a couple minutes to review the story of Job to where we are right now.

Job is said to be the greatest man of all the people in the east. He is a very wealthy man, who has a lot of children. Job was also a very pious man. He sought after God and did his best to be a righteous man. Twice God lifts up Job as an example of a man who is blameless and upright. However, Job loses everything. In one day, he gets four messengers and suddenly, he has lost all his children and wealth. Shortly afterwards, Job himself is afflicted with sores from head to toe, and we see this once wealthy, powerful and respected man sitting in a pile of ashes, scratching his sores with the broken pottery from the garbage pile.

We talked about how important it is for us to realize that our relationship with God is not dependent on the things we own, the people we know, or how we feel on a given day. Our relationship with God is not based on our circumstances, but on whether or not we have put our faith in Jesus Christ.

Last week, we looked at Job’s friends who did the right thing by sitting with job while he was grieving, but then messed it all up by opening their mouths and trying to convince him to repent of some sin that, they thought, was clearly ruining his life. Job insisted on his innocence in the midst of everything that was going on. In his speech in Job 23, we see three key things that we often do when we are facing difficult times: we wear ourselves out looking for answers that are beyond where we are at the time; we begin to wish that we could talk with God face to face, which is a rare occurrence in history in the first place; and we often fail to see what God is doing all around us.

Job continues going around and around with his friends until we come to today’s passage, Job 38. In Job 38, God answers Job for the first time, and God’s response to Job is nothing like what Job expected, and it’s nothing like what we would expect as the reader. Job was probably expecting an opportunity to stand before God, plead his case, and then have everything restored. Job knew that he hadn’t sinned, and if he only had the opportunity to explain to God that God must have made some kind of mistake, then things would be back to the way they were. However, that is not what Job gets when God does respond. We’ll look at that in a minute, but first, let’s set the stage.

Job 29 begins what will be Job’s final defense. He begins by reflecting on his younger days. He remembers that there was a time when people actually listened to him and sought his counsel. He was a respected man among the people, and he stood up for the weak. We get the picture of Job as a person who really was blameless and upright, just as God said in the first two chapters. We have this picture of Job in mind when we get into chapter 30.

But, when we get to Job 30, the tone changes. It’s amazing the power of words sometimes. Job’s description of what his life was like draws you in, and his description of what is going on in chapter 30 just tears you apart. People no longer listen to his counsel. He is no longer a respected member of society. It is absolutely gut-wrenching to read what he is going through. He even accuses God of being cruel to him, tossing him about in the midst of these storms. It’s probably one of the more raw, emotional chapters in all of Scripture. And then God speaks. Finally, God responds to Job.

What is disappointing for us as we come to the text is the fact that when God finally does speak, we expect Him to answer Job. As the reader, that’s where we think the narrative is going. We almost are primed and ready to hear what it is that God would say in response to the problem of evil in this world. Why do bad things happen? However, we don’t get it. In fact, if you read through all of God’s speech found in Job 38, you won’t find a single reason for the suffering that Job has been going through. We start to see that maybe the book of Job isn’t about an answer to the problem of suffering in this world in the first place. What ends up getting addressed is just how small our understanding of God is in the first place.

You see, as much as we would like an answer to the problem of evil in the world, we don’t find it in Job. The book of Job approaches the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” However, it never gives a final answer to the question. Because, as we start to see, 38 chapters into the book, Job is really more about who God is, and how can we relate to Him than it is about finding answers to the difficult things in life.

I came across a quote from a professor at Candler Theological Seminary, one of thirteen United Methodist seminaries, down in the Atlanta area. He says,

The Book of Job is, ultimately, not about what it means that humans suffer. It is about what it means to be human at all when God is seen truly to be God... This great text stands over against the prevalent religious impulse to fabricate a wishful picture of the world, to imagine the sort of God who would rule benignly over such a world, and then to bow down in worship before this projection of our own sense of moral order.

In other words, this world is incredibly messy, and our understanding of how things should be and what God should be like in light of this understanding are vastly different than the reality. If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is the representation of who God is in this world, and I think that is what Scripture tells us, then we do know a few things about God. We know that God loves us, and we know that God desires to be in relationship with us; however, I think we have developed this idea in contemporary culture that God should be almost like a fairy godmother. God should grant our wishes and take away the pain that we experience in this life. That’s not what we read in Scripture.

We read in Scripture about a God who balances love with judgment, justice with mercy, sin with holiness. We read about a God who brings judgment on nations for their sins, and a God who takes on the sin of the world in Himself. We want to fully understand who God is in this world, but the truth is we have all sorts of problems trying to wrap our mind around it. Just take a look at some of today’s most popular Christian songs.

Some of the most popular worship songs right now explore the idea of God’s vastness, and you never get the sense that they fully encapsulate who God is. Listen to some of the titles: How Great is Our God, yes, God is great, but what in the world does that mean? Everlasting God, do we know what we are saying when we say that God is everlasting? Can we wrap our minds around eternity? God of Wonders, we know that God is incredible, but all of our comparisons, all of our metaphors still bring us up short of understanding who God really is. We try to come to terms with who God is, but we cannot fully grasp it.

Think about it for a minute. What images come to your mind when you think about God? When you have a conversation about God, or think about the things that God is doing in your life, what pops into your head? Scripture gives us several different portraits of God, but what does that mean?

I went to the fount of all knowledge, the internet, to find out what the definition of a portrait is. And one site says, “A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.” A portrait is not an exact representation, but it gives us an idea of what the original is supposed to look like.

Throughout Scripture, we get different portraits of God that take various shapes. God is portrayed as a creator, a king, a priest, a judge, a loving Father, a redeemer, a shepherd, and there are many other roles that we can see throughout Scripture. Which one of these portraits is right? In some sense, all of them; in another, none of them. They all give us a glimpse of the nature of God, but none of them give a complete picture. The problem comes in the finite (us) trying to understand the infinite (God). It reminds me of the end of the movie Men in Black 2.

Early in the movie, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) gets a watch out of a locker, and inside that locker is an entire world of tiny aliens. At the end of the movie, Agent J (Will Smith) opens his locker to find that K had moved the aliens there, and here’s the conversation that follows.

Agent J: Why did you put them rats in my locker, man?

Kevin Brown/K: I thought it would put things in perspective for you.

Agent J: No, K, it's actually kind of sad, really. We need to let them out of there, I mean, they need to know that the world is bigger than that.

Kevin Brown/K: Still a rookie.

[Kicks open a door to a room filled with gigantic aliens]

That is how we sometimes imagine God though. We imagine that we can understand who God is, and that He will be able to fit into that perception. When we do that, we have severely overestimated our place in the universe. God doesn’t fit into the boxes that we have created for Him in our lives. We live in a society that is so big on compartmentalization, and so we try to separate everything in our lives. Truth is, we cannot compartmentalize God. God will not fit into the boxes that we create for Him. Because what you can contain, you can control. We cannot control God. And that is what Job learns through this conversation with God. God asks Job three important questions, and really, the first one is the key.

God essentially starts off by saying, “Who do you think you are?” How’s that for us to consider when we want to challenge God on the things in our lives. Who do we think we are? Job is said to darken the Lord’s counsel by “words without knowledge.” In other words, not only is Job not in a position to assume whether God’s reasons are just or unjust, but he doesn’t even know what he is talking about in the first place. Job’s words may sound good, but they are not words of wisdom. They are words without knowledge.

Have you ever had this happen to you before? You are having a conversation with somebody who clearly has no idea what they are talking about, but they sure think they do. You know that they are just saying stuff off the top of their head, and finally, you get tired of rolling your eyes and just look at them and say, “What in the world are you talking about?” Have you been there? That’s what God is doing right now. I can just imagine Him rolling His eyes every time Job or one of his friends starts talking, and finally, He steps in and says, “Wait just a minute. Do you even know what you’re saying?”

And here’s the thing: Job thought he was right. But he had a fundamental misunderstanding about who God is. Job fell into the same trap of thinking that God blesses those who are good and brings trouble to those who aren’t. That’s why he keeps saying that he wanted to talk to God face to face; that’s why he wanted to present his case before God. He thought that there was some misunderstanding, and that was why he was getting punished. But if he could just show God that he was an upright man, then all of this would go away. He didn’t really understand God. God knew Job was an upright man. Again, two times, he presents Job as an example of one who was blameless and upright. That wasn’t the issue.

Job assumed he knew all he needed to know about God, and Job was the kind of guy that we would probably assume knew everything he needed to know about God. But the only way we can even begin to know even a sliver of what God is like is by spending time with Him. Reading Scripture, spending quiet time in prayer, being in relationship with Him through Jesus Christ; these are all good ways to start getting to know God, but they are not all encompassing by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps we need to start with the question that God asks Job. Who do we think we are? God doesn’t owe us anything, and yet, He has given us the opportunity to have everything by being in relationship with Him.

I love what God says next. He says, “Dress for action like a man.” Another translation reads, “Gird your loins.” I think He’s saying, “Buckle up, buddy. You think you know so much? Well, let’s see.” And God starts this barrage of questions that essentially come down to: 1) where were you? And 2) What can you do? The emphasis here is on the vastness of who God really is. It is about getting a proper perspective; realizing that we don’t know everything about God.

God is not limited to our understanding of who He is, but we are certainly limited when it comes to understanding God. And maybe that is one of the hardest lessons we can learn from Job. It really is a matter of gaining a proper perspective. Who is God? God is the one who laid the foundation of the earth. God is the one who measured it and laid the cornerstone. God is the one who speaks and the rains come down; who instills us with understanding; who provides for the animals of the earth. Not us. We don’t do any of that, and the sooner we learn that simple truth, the further we will be on our journey to understand just a little bit about God.

Movie Tour: Fame

2009-10-18T21:53:00.002-04:00

The last couple of years, we've decided that instead of buying something, we wanted to spend some time with our nieces and nephew. So, we have a special day just for them. When the other two get older, we are definitely thinking about doing the same thing. This weekend, Katie and I took our oldest niece out to see Fame.

Plot Summary

Fame follows a handful (six or seven) teenagers as they audition, get accepted and go through four hears of high school at a special performing arts school (I think in New York City). It traces the awkward beginning, the "coming of age," and the difficulties of their high school career.

Review

Honestly, I didn't expect a whole lot out of this movie. I love my niece very much, and that's why I went to see it. I really expected to be tearing out my eyeballs 30 minutes into the movie. That was not the case. I was pleasantly surprised. Realistically, if I just look at the movie from a "movie snob" standpoint, it wasn't that good. There is not a lot of character development, the plot is predictable and the acting isn't great. However, I'm not a movie snob.

Bottom Line

If you are a fan of music and the arts, you'll love this movie. Don't expect an Oscar worthy script or acting, and you'll be all right. Wait for it to come out on DVD, and stop by a Redbox to pick it up for a night.

Best Part

Soundtrack. Hands down. The music is incredible. I may not be a fan of hip-hop, but I am a fan of good music, and this movie definitely has it.

Movie Tour: Couples Retreat

2009-10-16T23:57:00.002-04:00

I figured that I would continue my movie review segments when I go out to see a movie (or even for the occasional rental). I enjoyed doing it this summer, and I think I'll keep it up. Last week, Katie and I saw Couples Retreat starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, and John Favreau among others (seriously, there's quite a few people in this movie that I have seen before).

Plot Summary

Four couples end up going on vacation together in what literally appears to be paradise. I'm not much of a beach person, but even I wanted to go where they were filming this movie. Absolutely gorgeous! Anyhoo! These four couples end up doing relationship building exercises together during their vacation and learn quite a bit about themselves as couples.

Review

I really liked Couples Retreat. There was certainly some objectionable material within the movie (like the yoga scene, yikes!), but I think it is not done completely out of context or out of character for the people in the movie. Again, the location was gorgeous, which almost makes the movie worth seeing right off the bat.

Bottom Line

It's worth your time, as long as you aren't going to be offended by some colorful language and mildly suggestive scenes. I think Katie and I had a real good time seeing this one, and would probably watch it again.

Best Part

One of Vince Vaughn's kids uses the bathroom at Home Depot... in a display toilet... twice. Hilarious!

A Grand Entrance

2009-10-15T08:37:00.001-04:00

If you can watch all of this video, I'll be impressed. I'll wonder what you do with your time, but impressed nonetheless. It's every Kramer entrance in chronological order.... now that I said that, I wonder what the person that put it together does with his/her time!

John Maxwell on Leadership

2009-10-14T15:16:00.001-04:00

Came across this very revealing interview with leadership expert John Maxwell. Interesting stuff.

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 5

2009-10-13T08:47:00.002-04:00

As bad as last week was, this week was significantly better.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Swish

QB - P. Manning

WR - L. Evans, E. Royal, Mario Manningham

RB - K. Moreno, D. Williams

TE - J. Witten

K - N. Folk

DEF - Baltimore

Top scorer: Peyton Manning, 23.36 points

Low scorer: Lee Evans, 1.10 points

Result: Swish 84.06, Raiders 61.78 (3-2; 4th place overall)

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats

QB - Ben Roethlisberger

RB - A. Peterson, T. Hightower, B. Westbrook

WR - R. Wayne, Hines Ward

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Patriots

K - S. Hauschka

Top scorer: Roethlisberger, 21 points

Low scorer: Steve Hauschka, 2 points

Result: Veedersburg Killer Wombats 96, Silo Nightmare 66 (3-2; 2nd place, Division 2)

Team 3: ESPN League Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys

QB - Trent Edwards

RB - R. Rice, Glen Coffee, K. Moreno

WR - R. White, L. Evans

TE - T. Gonzalez

D/ST - Ravens

K - S. Hauschka

Top scorer: Roddy White, 33 points

Low scorer: Lee Evans, 1 point

Result: Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys 103, Team Quentessentialz 72 (3-2; 5th place overall)

So, 3-0 this week after going 0-3 last week. It my second 3-0 week of the season. I feel good about my teams so far. It's when teams start getting into the bye weeks that you really have to start paying attention and watching the waiver wire.

It's looking like Lee Evans is about to get dropped though; Buffalo is simply terrible. I picked up Edwards for the Rabid Monkeys on Brees' bye week because Buffalo was playing Cleveland; turns out the Bills are just as bad as the Browns.

When Things Fall Apart, Part 2

2009-10-12T09:04:00.001-04:00

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 11, 2009. The text for this week's message is Job 23:1-17.

This morning, we enter into our second week of the book of Job. As I mentioned last week, there is some debate as to whether or not this is a record of actual history or if it is story that is intended to teach us something important. And as I said last week, in this particular case, I really don’t think it matters. What does matter is that it is included in Scripture, and that the themes of the story should concern us more than the story behind the text.

Last week, we also talked a little bit about the fact that bad things do happen to good people. I don’t think anyone has any doubt of that fact, but just so that we are all on the same page – bad things happen to good people. We also talked about the fact that there really is no definite explanation as to why this is the case. It is a fact of life that we tend to know from our own experiences. It’s intuitive; nobody has to teach us this.

We also talked about the fact that our righteousness is dependent on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and nothing else. Our standing before God is not affected by our wealth (or lack thereof); it is not affected by the people in our lives; and it is not affected by how we feel on a given day. Our standing before God is solely dependent on whether or not we have put our trust in Jesus.

When we last checked in with Job, he had lost everything. His children were dead, his livestock were slaughtered or stolen, and he was afflicted with sores from head to toe. Yet, we are told in 2:10 that he did not sin with his lips. Right after all this, Job has three friends, and if you read Job 3-22, you might question the use of the term “friends,” but these three friends come and sit with Job. In 2:13, we are told that they sat with Job for seven days, and did not say a single word “for they saw that his suffering was very great.”

Now, I know that this wasn’t part of today’s Scripture reading, but I come back to this passage quite frequently. Sometimes it is just better to be there for a person who is going through a difficult time. Job’s friends did the right thing when they just came and sat with him for a while. It’s when they opened their mouths that things started going south. Sometimes it is just best to keep your mouth shut and grieve with a person instead of saying something well meaning, but stupid. Just a little bit of Pastoral Care 101 courtesy of the book of Job, and that brings us back to today’s passage.

Job 23 is part of a third cycle of speeches and responses between Job and his friends. Essentially, his friends are arguing that there is no way Job could be blameless before the Lord, judging simply from his circumstances. Now, remember, two times in the first two chapters, God lifts up Job as an example of someone who is blameless and upright. Job’s friends are trying over and over again to convince Job to repent of whatever sin it is that is ruining his life. However, Job is very insistent that he has not sinned. He doesn’t know why all this is happening to him, but he knows that it is not a result of his sin.

As we get into the passage, we immediately begin to see that Job is tired of the discussion he has been having with his friends. He says, “Today my complaint is bitter and my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.” In other words, “I’m getting sick of complaining; it’s wearing me down.” There comes a time when we continually search for answers that we start to reach our breaking point. That is where Job is now. He knows that God is working in his life, and he is tired of trying to figure out why this is going on. There is something very important that is going on here.

To put it simply, we cannot understand God. We cannot fully understand what it is that God is doing in our lives. I was thinking a while back on the Psalm that says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” And, yes, that is a psalm, not just an Amy Grant song. But here’s the thing about God’s word being a lamp unto our feet. When it is pitch black out and you have a lantern, how far ahead can you see? Not much more than a couple of steps, right? That’s how it is with God.

We can see a couple steps ahead of us, but if we continue to try to see further than that, we are just going to stumble on what is right in front of us. We begin to get exhausted and discouraged from being unable to see too far ahead. But that is a limitation that we have to embrace. Have you ever heard the saying, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” Job has been trying to see in the dark and it is wearing him down. Job is tired of trying to see beyond who he is. He is starting to come to the point where he acknowledges that God is the one who is in control, and that’s all that really matters.

Then Job starts to wonder out loud about something that many of us have probably wondered before. If only we could talk with God face to face. If only we could hear from His lips about why this is going on at this time in our lives. If only, if only, if only. If God could hear things from our point of view, then surely He would step in and things would be different. Trust me when I say this, God knows what’s going on in your life. God is not surprised by the things that are going on in our lives. There may be times when we feel like God is being silent, but that doesn’t mean that He is unaware.

In verses 8-9, Job talks about how He does not perceive God to be near him. When he goes forward and backward, he does not see God. When he looks to the left and to the right, even though he knows that God is working, he still doesn’t see God. That is how it will be from time to time in our lives. No matter where we look, we don’t see God working, but we have to know, we have to trust in the fact that God is at work all around us, even when we don’t see Him.

There are times in our lives that we could refer to as wilderness periods. They are times of testing; they are difficult times; they are formative times. Israel had one after the exodus from Egypt; it had another during the Babylonian exile. We can read in the Old Testament about Moses going to the wilderness before leading the people out of Egypt. Elijah had a wilderness period when Israel was in a drought and he lived by a brook and the birds provided his food. Before David became king, he spent a long time on the run from Saul, and 1 Samuel records more than once about David and his men sleeping in a cave. After Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River (not exactly a hub of civilization itself), he is taken into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. In fact, the Greek in Mark could be translated, “thrown into the wilderness.” How we get into the wilderness is not always easy. The Apostle John was in exile on the island of Patmos when he had a vision that we now call Revelation. In all of these times, God may have been silent, but He was not absent. He was at work all around them.

These were all formative times. These were times that shaped what was to come, not just in the lives of individuals, but in the lives of all of Israel, and all the world. The lantern only reveals so much and the rest is revealed as we continue taking steps forward. And that is what we need to remember in the difficult times. One day at a time is all we have, so that is as far as we can move. Just take things one day at a time and trust that God is leading, even when you don’t see Him, and even when you don’t see His work. We have so much that we can learn from Job.

In verse 10 Job talks about God knowing what he is going through. He says, “[God] knows the way that I take.” Job has continued to follow after God, even though he doesn’t understand why all these bad things are happening. Sometimes, when we encounter difficult times in our lives, we may be tempted to abandon God. We may be mad at God for what is going on. There have been times like that in my life, and I’m sure that you’ve had your moments as well. You are mad, and you’re not exactly on speaking terms. Those are the times when we need to come back to Job.

Job lost everything, but he continued to live as he did before. He was a blameless and upright man before all this happens, and he continued to walk in the ways of the Lord. Verses 11-12 say, “My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.” We get a picture of a guy who was blameless and upright before losing everything. And in verses 11-12, we hear the words of a guy who continued to seek after God, even though everything around him was falling apart.

So, what can we learn from Job this morning? I think it comes down to something very simple. When we face the difficult times; when things around us are falling apart, we have two choices. First, we can push God away. We can blame God for everything that is going on in our lives and shut Him out. I’m not saying that it is the best choice, but it certainly one that we can, and sometimes have made.

Second, we can draw closer to God in the midst of our pain. We can search and search and search for the answers, but, the truth is, the search will wear us down, and we’ll wind up empty-handed. We could wish that we could talk with God face to face, but that is a very rare occurrence in history. While we may not see God at work, we have to trust that He is. We have to continue in our relationship with Him; draw closer to Him in the times of pain that we will inevitably face in our lives. Don’t give up on God, because He will never give up on you.

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 4

2009-10-11T15:45:00.002-04:00

I know that this is a late update (especially given that Week 5 is currently taking place), but as I've always said, "Better Nate than Lever!"

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish

QB - P. Manning

WR - L. Evans, D. Driver, E. Bennett

RB - R. Grant, K. Moreno

TE - J. Witten

K - N. Folk

DEF - Baltimore

Top scorer: Peyton Manning, 21.02 points

Low scorer: J. Witten, 3.10 points

Result: Swish 76.52, Darkness 86.20 (2-2, 6th place overall)

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats

QB - P. Rivers

RB - A. Peterson, J. Addai, C. Williams

WR - R. Wayne, D. Hester

TE - K. Winslow

D/ST - Bears

K - S. Hauschka

Top scorer: Philip Rivers, 20 points

Low scorer: Devin Hester, 0 points

Result: Swish 85, Ltown Eagles 119 (2nd place, Division 2)

Team 3: Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys

QB - D. Brees

RB - P. Thomas, R. Rice, K. Moreno

WR - L. Evans, D. Hester

TE - V. Davis

D/ST - Ravens

K - J. Carney

Top scorer: Pierre Thomas, 18 points

Low scorer: Devin Hester, 0 points

Result: Swish 82, Team Baker 90 (6th place overall)

Rough week overall, 0-3 for the week. Hopefully, Week 5 will be a little better.

When Things Fall Apart, Part 1

2009-10-05T08:55:00.000-04:00

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 4, 2009. The text for this week's message is Job 1:1; 2:1-10.

Back in late July, I spent some time reviewing the lectionary for the upcoming months, and putting together a plan for what I would be preaching on. When I got to October, the Old Testament readings from Job just jumped out at me. I can’t explain why, but I really felt like Job is where we should be spending the month of October. What I didn’t realize at the time was that this was going to be a difficult series to work through. And it is not a difficult book because of the language, or because it’s hard to understand. It’s difficult because it is intensely personal. It is a book that touches on subjects that, quite frankly, bring us pain. It addresses issues that we all have to deal with from time to time in our lives. Today’s reading actually has us in Chapter 2, but I think it is important to spend at least a few minutes in Chapter 1 to get us into the story.

Job is a story about a man from the land of Uz. There is some debate as to whether or not this was an actual event that happened to a man in history, or if it is just a story intended to teach the reader some important things about life. In my honest opinion, I don’t think it really matters. I know that’s a terrible thing for a pastor to say, but think about it for a minute. Are the themes of Moby Dick less important because it is a fictional story? In a few hundred years, will scholars be debating whether or not Captain Ahab was a real person, or will they be discussing the dangers of obsession? The themes of the story are no less true simply because Captain Ahab is a fictional character. The same is true for the story of Job. Whether or not it is an actual event in history is irrelevant to the point at hand.

Job is a very wealthy man. He has several children and an abundance of livestock. 1:3 says that Job was the greatest of all the people in the east. One day, God and Satan are chatting and God asks him if he ever considered Job as an example of a blameless and upright man. And Satan says, “Yeah, well, why wouldn’t he be? You’ve given him everything he’s ever needed. He has every reason to be blameless and upright. You’ve taken care of him.”

Now, I want to stop here for just a minute. Do you notice what Satan does here? He makes two major mistakes. First, he makes an assumption that many of us have made from time to time. If things are going well for a person, they must be doing something right. They must be great people because God is blessing them will all this stuff. Of course, the problem with this line of thought is that the inverse must be true as well. If things are falling apart for somebody, then they must be getting what they deserve. We even have a word for it – karma; what goes around comes around. We see this line of thinking in Scripture as well.

In John 9, there is a man who is born blind, and Jesus is asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” What a great approach to the problem of evil, right? I mean, bad things happen as punishment for the bad things that you have done. Again, what goes around, comes around. That’s what they are getting at here, isn’t it? Of course, there is a slight problem with this reasoning – it is not supported by the witness of Scripture. In Scripture, and in our own lives, we know that bad things happen to good people. Are you skeptical about that? Here’s all you need to know – Jesus was crucified. The Son of God, who lived a perfect, sinless life was nailed to a cross and died between two criminals. If you had any doubts about bad things happening to good people, let’s just put them to rest now – bad things happen to good people.

The second major mistake that Satan makes here is assuming that one’s righteousness is dependent on the circumstances around him. This, also, couldn’t be further from the truth. Whether or not we decide to do the right thing is not the product of what we own or what we lack. Rich people can sin, and poor people can lead upright lives.

So, Satan says, “Yeah Job is blameless only because you’ve blessed him. Take away what you’ve given him and he won’t be so upright anymore.” So, God says, “All right. Do what you want, but leave him alone.” And one day, Job gets four messengers right in a row, one after another, and suddenly he has lost everything. His children are dead and all of his livestock have either been killed to stolen. Job grieves, but 1:22 tells us, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” And then we hit Chapter 2.

Chapter 2 begins in the same way as Chapter 1. There is a scene with the Lord and Satan talking. Once again, God presents Job as one who is blameless and upright. And Satan says, “Well, yeah, of course he is. A man will give away everything he has if he can just hang on to his life, but if you start messing with his health, he won’t be as blameless and upright as you think.” Once again, God says, “All right, do what you want, but don’t kill him.” And so, Satan goes out and gives Job sores from head to toe. These sores are so bad that Job ends up sitting in a pile of ashes and scratching with pieces of a broken pottery.

In just a short amount of time, Job went from being the greatest person in the east to a childless, poor man sitting in a place that only the worst off in society would be sitting, scratching the sores that cover him from head to toe with the garbage. Things fall apart sometimes. Maybe you’ve felt like Job from time to time in your life. One minute everything seems to be going great, and the next you have nothing. And deep in your heart, you know that you’ve been following God. Sure, you haven’t been absolutely perfect, but you spend time with God, praying, reading Scripture and just resting in His presence. And then, for no reason, the bad stuff comes. Everyone has been there at some point. You just feel like you want to sit in the ashes and scratch your sores with garbage. We’ve all been there.

And as we come out of Chapter 2 we walk away with another false assumption given by Satan. The assumption now is that once Job starts facing something that affects his own body, then he will really fail to be an upright and blameless person. It makes the assumption that one’s righteousness is dependent on personal circumstances. And, again, this is a false assumption. Our righteousness is not dependent on our health, or on how we feel, or on how things are going in our lives on a particular day. Our righteousness is based solely on our relationship with God. By turning to God and allowing God to work in our lives, we become upright and blameless. And it is not dependent on how good of a person we are, or how much God has given us in our lives, or how things are going for us on a particular day. Our righteousness is found in our relationship with God. Let’s go back to Chapter 1 for a minute.

Job 1:5 gives us an insight into what Job’s relationship with God looked like. It says that Job’s children would often gather together and have feasts, and after these gatherings, Job would have them consecrated and offer burnt offerings for each of his children just in case they may have sinned in their hearts. And the end of the verse says, “Thus Job did continually.” We get a picture of a guy who is so focused on God and remaining righteous that he offers sacrifices on the possibility that one of his children may have sinned in his/her heart.

How often do we do that? How often are we so concerned with our relationship with God that we ask forgiveness for something that someone we know may have done? How often do we even do that for the sins that we have committed in our own lives? Unfortunately, even with the serious nature of sin, we tend to gloss over them. Do you know what word we’ve come up for sins these days? Mistakes. A mistake is forgetting to carry the one in a math problem. A mistake is turning a street too early on the way to a friend’s house. A mistake is frustrating, but it doesn’t separate you from God. That’s sin. You can fancy up snails with sauce and call it escargot, but the simple fact is, it’s still snails. Slimy, trail-leaving, backyard snails.

Job was a blameless and upright man because he understood the serious nature of sin. His heart was in the right place. He followed God; he sought after God; and he did his best to live in such a way that he pleased God. Take a look at your last week. Can you say that you sought after God? Can you say that you followed after God? I’m not going to ask for hands, because everyone knows how they’ve done. But the point is, in spite of Job’s righteousness, bad things happened to him. He lost everything. And here’s the thing – there’s really no explanation as to why this stuff happened. Was it a cosmic bet between God and Satan? No, Satan is in no position to make a wager with God. Was it a time of testing? Maybe, the truth is, it’s hard to say. I think the only definite here is that sometimes God allows things to happen in our lives; things that are difficult; things that shape us; things that potentially change us. But the bottom line is – where are we putting our trust?

Are we trusting in the things around us? That wouldn’t have worked for Job. If that is what Job did, then this story would have ended in the first chapter after he lost his livestock and servants. Are we putting our trust in the people around us? That wouldn’t have worked for Job. If that is what Job did, then losing his children and his wife’s words in 2:9 would have done him in. On a side note, I’m glad that my wife has never told me to “curse God and die.” But back to Job.

Job put his trust in the Lord. Job realized that all things belong to God; that ultimately, we are all in God’s hands, regardless of what is going on around us. At the end of today’s passage, Job basically says, “We have to take the good with the bad. We have to stick with God even though everything around us is falling apart.” And that’s the point. Even though everything around us falls apart; everything fails us at some point. But we still have Jesus.

As the hymn says, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” In Matthew we read that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. There is a song by Casting Crowns that talks about praising God in the midst of the storms in our lives. When things fall apart, we still have Jesus.

Fantasy Football 2009, Week 3

2009-09-30T07:38:00.002-04:00

Some weeks, you just run up against somebody having a good day. Some weeks, you just have a bad week. And some weeks, you get away with one. When you have three teams, that's bound to happen all at once a couple of times.

Team 1: Yahoo! League - Team Swish

QB - P. Manning

RB - D. Williams, R. Grant

WR - L. Evans, D. Driver, T. Ginn Jr.

TE - J. Witten

K - N. Folk

DEF - Baltimore

Top Scorer: Peyton Manning, 30.06 points

Low Scorer: Ted Ginn Jr., 0 points

Result: Swish 99.46, Swan 97.88 (2-1, 5th place overall)

Team 2: ESPN League Brick Squad - Veedersburg Killer Wombats

QB - P. Rivers

RB - A. Peterson, J. Addai, T. Hightower

WR - R. Wayne, D. Hester

TE - T. Gonzalez

K - N. Rackers

D/ST - Bears

Top Scorer: Reggie Wayne, 18 points

Low Scorer: Tony Gonzalez, 1 point

Result: Killer Wombats 83, Blueballs 119 (2-1, 1st place Division 2)

Team 3: ESPN League Swish's Pals - Hillsboro Rabid Monkeys

QB - D. Brees

RB - Pierre Thomas, D. Ward, R. Rice

WR - R. White, L. Evans

TE - T. Gonzalez

K - John Carney

D/ST - Ravens

Top Scorer - Pierre Thomas, 24 points

Low Scorer - Derrick Ward, 0 points

Result - Rabid Monkeys 72, Team Kermeen 73* (2-1, 4th overall)

*Ward absolutely killed me this week. I thought he would have had a good week against his former team, but he ran for a grand total of 2 yards. Had I put either Moreno or Hester in that flex spot instead of Ward, this would be a whole different story.

Well, there you have it. My least successful week in fantasy football this season, 1-2. That's all right though, now is when the managing starts to get a little more challenging, with the Bye weeks starting.

Cut It Out!

2009-09-28T09:34:00.001-04:00

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, September 27, 2009. The text for this week's message is Mark 9:38-50.

I want to spend some time this morning talking about something that we touch on from time to time, but realistically, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about it. Primarily, I want to focus on the second half of today’s passage, and look at sin and grace from a Wesleyan perspective. The simple truth is, sin is a subject that we have to look at from time to time. It is going to be slightly uncomfortable because, we all sin, we all know we sin, we all know that everyone else sins, and in some cases, we like to focus a whole lot more on everyone else’s sin because it makes us feel a little better. At the end of the morning, I don’t want anyone to be thinking, “Oh that was a great message, but it doesn’t really apply to my life.” Because that is baloney, and we all know it. I want to start off our conversation this morning by talking about sin in the most logically way possible – my car.

As long as it’s not too hot outside, I like to drive with windows down. There’s just something about the wind blowing through the car that is relaxing to me. One day, as I was driving, I went to put the window down, and there was this absolutely horrible sound coming from the inside of my door. I remember a rattle, a rattle, a clunk and a whirrrrrr. And then my window wouldn’t budge. It was already down a few inches, but it wouldn’t down any further, and it wouldn’t go up.

Because I am such a fantastic amateur mechanic, when I got home, I took out the mailing tape, pulled the glass to the top and taped it together. It actually worked fairly well, unless it rained, and then the rain would leak onto the driver’s seat and I’d have to replace the tape. And because I am such an amazing amateur mechanic, I kept a towel and extra tape in the car for just such an occasion. I’m pretty easy-going, and cheap, and it was almost winter, so I let this cycle continue for quite some time. Finally in the spring, I decided to open up the car door and see what actually happened. So, I pulled the car into the garage, got out my tools and took the car door apart to find out what was going on. I’m going to pause the story there, keep you in suspense and come back to it in a little bit.

John Wesley believed that in order for us to properly deal with sin, we have to understand what it is. In his sermon entitled “Original Sin,” Wesley compared sin to a disease. It was something that made us sick, infected us and affected us in negative ways. In order to get the right medicine, it is important for the doctor to have the right diagnosis. One of the television shows that Katie and I watch is called House. The main character is a cranky, mean-spirited doctor who gets away with things simply because he is good at what he does, and perhaps that is another issue for another time. But anyway, he is a diagnostician specialist, which means, when nobody else can figure out what is wrong with a patient, House is the one who figures it out. Invariably, by the end of the show, he gets the correct diagnosis and the patient gets along just fine. But the key is the diagnosis. The diagnosis has to be right in order to get the right treatment.

For example, you cannot cure a sinus infection with Pepto Bismol. It just doesn’t happen. I’m not talking about alternative uses for pharmaceutical drugs that actually work, I’m talking about targeting the wrong thing in the first place. You don’t use a bandage to stop a headache, and you don’t use Tylenol to stop the bleeding of a cut on your arm. You have to get the right diagnosis, and then you get the right treatment. The same is true for a car.

I really don’t know all that much about cars. It’s one of the many things in this life that I have never taken the time to learn. You want to learn how to calculate a pitcher’s earned run average? I can teach you that. You want to know how to change your oil? I’m clueless. I do have one of those books that show a complete breakdown and build up of a car, so I can figure out a few relatively simple things. But I’m no more a mechanic than I am a baseball player. However, I knew that there was something going on inside the driver’s side door, and that is where I started looking.

If I had started out by looking under the hood or in the trunk, people would have thought that I was crazy and completely wasting my time. If you start by looking in the right place, you are already putting yourself in a good position to find some of the right answers. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? The same is true when it comes to sin. We need to understand what sin is, and understand the impact that sin has had on our lives in order to get the full scope of what is going on.

In the beginning, God creates humanity in His image. Genesis 1:27 – “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.” However, something significant happens in our history. Humanity disobeyed God. You may have heard about the story of the Garden of Eden – Eve is hanging out, she starts talking to a snake, the snake convinces her to eat the apple that God told her not to eat, she gives the apple to Adam, and they get kicked out of the Garden. Now, first of all, a little sidebar here, I think Eve gets a bad rap on this one. Eve gets blamed for the whole thing, but is that really fair? Genesis 3:6, “She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her and he ate.” Eve was not alone, she was just the first one to take a bite.

Anyway, the point is that there was one commandment that was given and it was disregarded. I don’t believe the story of the Fall is just about the sin of two individuals. I think it is about the sin of all humanity. There is something within all of us that causes us to sin. It’s a disease that infects the entire human race, and gets passed down from generation to generation. Sin, ultimately, is what separates us from God. Sin is what has caused us to become a pale representation of who we are supposed to be. It mars the image of God in all of us. Sin is an issue that we all have to deal with at one point or another.

As we walk through the story of the Israelites in the Old Testament, and as we read about their time in the wilderness, we begin to see the seriousness of sin. I know this is a weird question to ask, but have you ever thought about the sacrificial system that is set up in the book of Leviticus? I know that it is strange for someone to admit this, but I tend to think about these things every once in a while. Honestly, I have no idea why, but I do. One of my seminary professors told the class once that pastors are not normal, and it’s because we sometimes sit around and think about things like this.

Anyway, what strikes me about the sacrificial system is the fact that in order to atone for sin, blood has to be shed. And I’m not talking about getting your finger pricked at the doctor’s office to check your blood type kind of bloodshed. If you want the specifics, you are going to have to read Leviticus yourself. The point is that sin is costly. And that is the point that Jesus is trying to make here in Mark 9. There is sin in our lives and we have to cut that sin out of our lives. Jesus says that if your hand, or your foot, or your eye causes you to sin, then you need to cut it off. Now, I don’t think Jesus meant this to be taken literally. But what is his point here?

Sin will ruin us if it is not taken care of. What is it that causes us to sin? It’s not our hand; it’s what we make our hands do. It’s not our feet; it’s what we make our feet do. It’s not our eyes; it’s what we make our eyes do. Sin is not a problem that can be fixed by poking out your eye. If that were the case, then there would be a lot of one-eyed people out there. The problem runs deeper than that. Sin ruins us to the very core, and it is only by the grace of God that sin gets rooted out of our lives.

Wesley taught about prevenient grace. It is the grace of God that precedes our repentance. It is the grace of God that enables us to draw closer to Him before we even come to the point of salvation. The sin that exists in us prior to our conversion keeps us away from God, but by His grace, we can enter into a relationship with Him. The first step of entering into relationship with God is repentance.

In the Greek, repentance is a fascinating word – metanoia. The meta means “to alter,” and the noia refers to the mind. Literally, it means to alter, or change one’s mind. In life we are going in a specific direction, and when we repent, when we have this changing of our minds, our lives are altered. The direction in which we are headed is no longer our destination. Do you remember me talking about direction a few months back? You will end up where you are headed. And if your life is full of sin and living contrary to God, then your destination is pretty well laid out. If we live our lives in the here and now without God, why would we want to spend eternity with God? However, repentance changes that course. It changes the direction of our lives, and we start to live in a way that honors God. We live our lives in a way that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In the old sacrificial system, atonement was made yearly. Every year an animal was sacrificed to pay for the sins of the nation, and for individuals. At the time of the Passover, a lamb was slaughtered to pay for the sins of the nation. And what we see in the story of Jesus is that this atonement has been made in such a complete and final way, that there is no need for the annual atonement anymore. The Son of God was the lamb that was slain for our sins. The message of the church in the first century was simply this – we have all fallen short of God’s standard of holiness; there is nothing that we can do to atone for our sins and draw us closer to God; out of His love for the world, God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross and show us that it is possible to live our lives in full relationship with Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. Repent and believe the good news.

It almost sounds too simple, doesn’t it? Yet, this same message has been proclaimed for centuries. Countless lives have been changed by the working of the Holy Spirit; people have come to live without the guilt and shame of their sin separating them from God. And they have come to know Jesus in a very real and personal way. Through Christ, sin has been cut out of their lives. Not because they chopped off their foot or poked out their eye, but because they have put their faith in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit has worked in their hearts to remove the sin through the process that we call sanctification. We can’t cut it out of our lives on our own, but we can draw closer to God and allow Him to work within and cut the sin out of our lives.

And the thing is – it’s hard. We may rather poke out an eye than deal with the sin that is in our lives. Because, sometimes, the pattern of sin is so ingrained into us that it feels like an extra limb; that it feels like a part of our bodies that is just weighing us down. Let’s be honest, there are some sins in our lives that we like, and we don’t want to get rid of them. But we have to; we have to let go of those things in our lives that are keeping us separated from God.

We have discovered that there is a problem. We have diagnosed the problem, and now we need to address the problem. I’ve managed to cope with the broken part in my car door. I even have it fixed to the point that I’m not using tape to keep the window up anymore, but eventually, I’ll need to get a new part to fix my car. The old part is so corrupted and messed up that there is no way that it can be used again. The same is true for our old, sin-filled lives. We can cope with them, even learned to deal with our deficiencies, but realistically, what is best for the long run is a new part. Parts of our lives are so messed up, that they aren’t doing us any good in the long haul. There are parts of our lives that just have to be cut out, and we can’t do it on our own.

I’m going to ask you to pray about a very dangerous thing this week. Pray that God will show you the areas in your life that are so filled with sin that they just need to be cut out. Pray that God will reveal to you where you are lacking in your walk of faith; where it is that you continue to shut God out. And then pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in your lives in such a way that you draw closer and closer to God each and every day.

Worst Movies of the Decade

2009-09-25T10:49:00.002-04:00

Apparently Rotten Tomatoes has put out their list of 100 worst movies of the decade. I thought I'd go through and actually admit to which ones I have actually seen. So, here they are with rank included.

98. Cheaper By the Dozen 2 - the original wasn't too bad

97. Boat Trip - Let's just say we shut the curtains and stopped watching halfway through.

94. The New Guy - Gotta love movies with DJ Qualls

90. Dragonfly - odd...

84. Thr3e - Thank you, Netflix Instant Watch

63. Yours, Mine & Ours - Actually a remake of a '60's movie; didn't think it was that bad.

59. 88 Minutes - Again, thank you, Netflix Instant Watch

49. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale - Ray Liotta, you have failed me...

36. The Whole Ten Yards - I actually like this one, it's not as good as the first, but still funny.

27. Battlefield Earth - John Travolta, you let us all down...

25. Meet the Spartans - Spoof of 300, didn't get through half of it.

7. Strange Wilderness - I did laugh frequently, but I'm not surprised it's here; total stoner movie.

I'm proud to say that I've only seen 12 of Rotten Tomatoes' worst 100 films of the decade, and most of those were near the bottom(?) of the list. In case you were wondering, the worst movie of the decade: Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever.