Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

— 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

When we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives, we can expect to gain a new point of view. Unfortunately, we’re still in the flesh, so sometimes we still see others “according to the flesh,” or as the world sees them. We all know what worldly things are: physical appearance, income, race, age, gender and the like. We can’t help but to see others according to the flesh; it’s our first impression of everyone. But even though we may see these physical attributes, we regard them according to the Spirit.

Jesus talked about regarding others according to the flesh. In Matthew 23, He said this about the Pharisees.

But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

— Matthew 23:5-8

He was talking about people who want to make a good physical impression. I think we all fall into that trap. I wear a nice suit, I use “Rev.” in my title, and I like to be called “Pastor.” All of that is worldly stuff, according to the flesh. But according to the Spirit, we are all equal in the eyes of God. We have one Father, even God, and we’re all brothers and sisters. We have one Rabbi, even Christ, and we’re all fellow students. We talk about pastors and laymen, members and nonmembers, insiders and outsiders, Jews and Gentiles, but we’re all sinners, saved by grace if we’re saved at all.

When God sent Samuel to find a new king for Israel, he went to the household of Jesse. So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:6-7)

Paul certainly saw himself according to the flesh. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul called himself a Pharisee of Pharisees, a zealous Hebrew, blameless under the law. But after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul had a different point of view.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

— Philippians 3:7-11

I think it’s safe to say that Paul had a new attitude. Before Jesus, Paul was a persecutor of Christians who thought he had a right to have people put to death. After Jesus, Paul became a servant. He was mighty proud, but Jesus knocked him off his high horse. After that, Paul became an ambassador for Christ. He used to come with soldiers and warrants; now he comes pleading and imploring. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:20)

We still see ourselves and each other according to the flesh, and there’s no getting past it. But how do we regard each other? In Matthew, the Pharisees said that Jesus did not regard the person of men. (Matthew 22:16) They meant that Jesus was not impressed by the long robes, broad phylacteries, big Bibles, long titles or big wallets. We know that Jesus was not against these things; he met with Nichodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and also with the Roman centurian and the Samaritan woman at the well. He ate with Pharisees and Tax Collectors alike. Jesus doesn’t judge people, good or bad, according to the flesh. Like God, Jesus sees the heart.

So how do we regard one another according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh? Jesus said that when we bless everyone, friends and enemies alike, we are like our Father in Heaven, who makes the same sun shine and rain fall on saints and sinners alike. We start by seeing others as our equals, because we have one Father, and we are all brothers and sisters; one Rabbi, and we are all fellow students.

We regard others according to the Spirit when we adjust our vision with the spiritual truths we’ve learned from Jesus. We’ve learned that God made each person intentionally, in God’s own image, and that deserves great respect. We’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, so we practice humility, because we’re all just beggars inviting beggars to the banquet.

We know what it means to regard others according to the flesh – judging them by age, income, race, background, gender, profession and the like. Let’s not do that. We used to regard Jesus that way, but let’s not just regard Him as a middle-aged Jew with long hair and a robe. Jesus suffered, died, and rose again to reconcile us to God, to restore our relationship as sons and daughters of the Father. I intend to redouble my efforts to regard others as exactly that, brothers and sisters, equals in the kingdom of God.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I pray we may all see others from a new point of view.

Some Jews began to complain about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” They said, “This is Jesus. We know his father and mother. He is only Joseph’s son. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

But Jesus said, “Stop complaining to each other. The Father is the one who sent me, and he is the one who brings people to me. I will raise them up on the last day. Anyone the Father does not bring to me cannot come to me. It is written in the prophets: ‘God will teach them all.’ People listen to the Father and learn from him. They are the ones who come to me. I don’t mean that there is anyone who has seen the Father. The only one who has ever seen the Father is the one who came from God. He has seen the Father.

“I can assure you that anyone who believes has eternal life. I am the bread that gives life.”
John 6:41-48

I had a friend in grade school whose father would call him by whistle. The first whistle was my friends name: whenever he heard it, he would yell, “Sir?” The second whistle was either “Come home!” or “Just checking.” My friend knew his father’s whistle. Everybody in the neighborhood knew his father’s whistle.

That was back before cell phones and caller id. Today, we might know who’s calling by ringtone, or by caller ID. Back then, it was his father’s whistle. Sometimes people tried to trick my friend, but it never worked; he knew his father’s whistle.

They say that babies know their mother’s voices because they have heard them from inside the womb. My brother’s girlfriends used to think I was him when I answered the phone. That was a lot of fun. But his daughters never made the same mistake. They know their father’s voice.

In ancient Palestine, and even today in some places, shepherds take their sheep to public grazing lands. There might have been several shepherds and several flocks. But when it came time to take the sheep back to the sheepfold, the shepherd would call and they followed him. They knew his voice. Here’s what Jesus says at John 10:2-5:

“The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

There were other ways to direct sheep. You could use sheep dogs. You could use several hired hands to surround the sheep and keep them together. But a committed shepherd, a good shepherd, spent time with the sheep. He or she learned their habits and they, in turn, learned to recognize the shepherd’s voice. They knew the shepherd’s voice meant food and safety, so they follow the shepherd’s voice.

We hear a lot about being called by God. We say that a preacher, minister or missionary is called by God. But I’m here to tell you that every one of you is called by God. God found a way to get you here; you heard the Father’s voice, and it drew you here. You might not know that’s why you are here, but it is. And now, when we consider the teachings and character of Jesus, you hear the Good Shepherd. So on one hand, you have a choice about whether you want to join the flock, go out on your own, or follow another shepherd.

You have a choice about whether to stay or go, to follow or not. But to me, that choice is about accepting a gift. God has specifically called you, by name, and God must have a purpose for that. You have a choice about whether to follow or not, but God has a choice about whom to draw near. God has chosen you.

The way I see it, God has called me, and God has placed me under the care of Jesus. I didn’t call myself, but God called me. It is not my business if someone says they don’t hear that voice or sense that call. I can’t know someone else’s heart. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?” Paul said in Romans 14:4. “To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.”

And, the way I see it, God has called everyone else here. I might wish God had called someone else, or more people. I might wonder why God called this person or that person. But we are following Jesus, and we were given to Jesus by God. We aren’t following each other.

When I’m in church, I look around and I’m in awe. I know that I am in the presence of people who have been chosen and called by God to be here. I also know that there are people who were called but stayed home, people who got distracted by something else. But whatever else I might think about the people around me, I have to remember that God is in charge, and God called them here. They were drawn by the Father’s voice. No one was forced to come to church; everyone comes because God has called them.

In today’s scripture, Jesus is in essence releasing those who don’t believe, and telling them to leave the followers alone. You don’t know me because you aren’t my sheep, he says. My sheep follow because they know me. The message is for those who want to hear it, and that’s why they follow.

Psalm 95 says that the LORD is our God, and we are the flock under his care. In the New Testament, Hebrews quotes that Psalm: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Hebrews says to encourage each other as long as there is a day called “Today.” We are encouraged to soften our hearts, to be willing to grow and change under Jesus – in other words, to follow him.

If you ask me, we’re the lucky ones. We hear his voice, and we’ve responded. Some people might not hear that voice, and others might harden their hearts and ignore it. “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the end. As has just been said: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.’”

Here’s the takeaway; this is my point. I have awesome respect for God’s call, for God’s choices, and for God’s people. They are the people here. They are all the people here.

I grew up a rebel against the church in a very religious community. My high school classmates are shocked to hear that I’m in the ministry, because for so long I hardened my heart. Some of them wonder if I was really called, and others question the wisdom of God to call someone like me.

I don’t dare question the wisdom of God. If God calls someone like me, someone like you, someone like those other folks, into the church, then God must have a plan and a purpose. I know that God doesn’t want to change just one of us; God wants to change all of us. “Today, if you hear his voice…” Do you hear his voice? Has the Father called you?

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The people saw that Jesus and his followers were not there now. So they got into the boats and went to Capernaum to find Jesus.

The people found Jesus on the other side of the lake. They asked him, “Teacher, when did you come here?”

He answered, “Why are you looking for me? Is it because you saw miraculous signs? The truth is, you are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied. But earthly food spoils and ruins. So don’t work to get that kind of food. But work to get the food that stays good and gives you eternal life. The Son of Man will give you that food. He is the only one qualified by God the Father to give it to you.”

The people asked Jesus, “What does God want us to do?”

Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: to believe in the one he sent.”

So the people asked, “What miraculous sign will you do for us? If we can see you do a miracle, then we will believe you. What will you do? Our ancestors were given manna to eat in the desert. As the Scriptures say, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said, “I can assure you that Moses was not the one who gave your people bread from heaven. But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. God’s bread is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

The people said, “Sir, from now on give us bread like that.”

Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who believes in me will ever be thirsty.”

John 24-35 ERV

There’s a popular joke circulating these days where the punch line is, “You had ONE job!” There’s even a website: youhadonejob.org. It shows a children’s book that says “Five bananas” – only the picture shows SIX bananas. You had one job! It shows a door that opens out of the second floor, with no stairs. You had one job! It shows a red crayon with “yellow” printed on its red wrapper. You had one job! Sometimes we mess up the simplest things.

And I know the feeling. At a Bible Study, a friend Susan asked me to pray for her husband. This was a great and fervent prayer. “Dear God, we ask your richest blessings on my friend Brad. I pray you will give Brad good fortune in his job search. I pray you will protect Brad and Susan as they go through this financial challenge. Draw them closer together, and strengthen their marriage.” It went on and on, as you might imagine. “Lord, I pray that Brad will feel your presence for all his days. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

So Susan leans into me and I think she wants to hug, but she just wants to whisper. “His name is not Brad!” she said. “His name is STEVE!” I can imagine her thinking, “You had ONE job …”

We humans are so distracted, so scatterbrained. I’ll bet some of you have your own examples of a simple mistake that had a big impact. I’ve had pound cake made with salt instead of sugar. I’ve ended my day to discover I was wearing shoes from two different pairs. At my wedding, they gave me and my groomsmen the wrong tuxes and we didn’t know it. We were an odd looking wedding party. You had ONE job …

You might say that Jesus had ONE job. His job, simply put, is to forgive our sins so we can enter the Kingdom of God through faith in him. Fortunately, Jesus did his job; if it doesn’t work, it’s our fault, and not his. “God loved the world so much that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him would not be lost but would have eternal life.

We have a lot to do, but in a spiritual sense, we have ONE job. Our scripture today shows people who saw Jesus feed 5,000 with a few loaves and fish. They were so impressed, they tried to make him king. They did not see him walk on the water that night, but they did ask, “Teacher, when did you come here?” Jesus said they had come not because of the miracles, but because of the food. Jesus told them not to seek food for the body, but spiritual food. They wanted that spiritual food, which Jesus said only the Son of Man could give them. So they wanted to know, “What does God want us to do?” Jesus might have said, “Well, you have ONE job …”

“The work God wants you to do is this: to believe in the one he sent.”

In the original language, the people had asked about workS – plural – and Jesus told them about THE work – singular. To believe; that’s the job God wants us to do. If we can do more, that’s great, but if we don’t believe, then we might find Jesus saying, “You had ONE job …”

“What miraculous sign will you do for us?” they asked. “If we can see you do a miracle, then we will believe you.” It wasn’t enough that he fed 5,000 from one little boy’s lunch. Some of them had seen healings as well, even resurrections. And here they are asking for another sign. I guess they wanted to see the miracle up close, just to be sure that this was the Son of Man. Jesus reminded them that he had God’s seal of approval and that they shouldn’t need another sign. And when they asked, “Well, where’s the bread?” Jesus said, “God’s bread is the one who comes down from heaven. … I am the bread of life.”

A lot of people were offended because Jesus claimed to come down from heaven, when they knew full well who his parents were. It was a spiritual claim, not a physical one. Later that day, he said, “If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no real life in you.” He told them flat-out it was symbolic, spiritual, not physical, but a lot of people got offended and left that day. They were so close. They had ONE job …

Now, believing is more than saying we believe. If we believe, then we take the whole package. We believe in taking up our cross and following him. We believe in loving one another, our neighbors, and our enemies. And if we believe it, we do it. We demonstrate it by our love for others, but it all starts with believing in the ONE whom God has sent. Remember, we have ONE job …

We humans get antsy, don’t we? We look for something else to do. We want to fix each other, teach other, lead each other, maybe even judge each other – and that goes double for people outside the church. But we are never told to do that!

The book of Romans gives us a lot to work with if we want to judge other people. Paul tells us, “The righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith,” then God’s wrath is revealed against a long list of sins, and I guarantee every one of us is guilty of one or more things on the list. Then, Paul closes the list with this: “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (Romans 2:1)

We might think it says we can judge the sins we do not commit, but it doesn’t. It says that we can’t judge others because we are also guilty – of envy, malice, strife, gossip, boasting, or something else on the list. James said the same thing – that when we judge the law, we are not keeping the law. (James 4:11) “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you – who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12)

And, of course, even Jesus says, in the sermon on the mount: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” That is not our job. Vengence is not our job; that belongs to God: “Vengence is mine, I will repay, says the LORD.” We have one job: To believe in the one whom God has sent.

So when we testify to others, I suggest we don’t get into squabbles over the details. We’re all sinners, and as James said, whoever What must others do to be saved? They have one job … Faith in Jesus Christ leads to so many other things, and they won’t happen without faith in Jesus Christ. It looks like God has a whole host of assignments for us, but it all starts with, rests on, depends on and stems from faith. We have one job … to believe in the one whom God has sent.

It would be great to cleanse the world of all sin and unrighteousness. Unfortunately, none of us is qualified to do that. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Only Jesus can take away our sin: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) So vengeance is God’s job, and forgiveness and purifying are Jesus’ job. What’s our job? I think we’ve covered that. We have one job: “The work God wants you to do is this: To believe in the one He has sent.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, may we do the work that God wants us to do. Amen.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:2-10 NIV

As Christians, we all want to demonstrate the power of Christ. We want that power in our lives, and we want to share that power with the world. We think of that power as the power to heal, to raise the dead, to feed thousands. It is a power that blesses people and a power that demonstrates strength. That’s the kind of power I want in my life. I want a faith so strong that it can move mountains.

If we focus on the power of Christ, then we practice one form of Christianity, and we show ourselves to be one kind of person. But the story of Jesus is more about weakness than strength. Consider that story: Jesus starts life with people questioning his legitimacy. He is born in the lowly manger and to an oppressed people. The angels did not appear over the manger, but in the field, inviting the lowest of the low – the shepherds – to visit the newborn king.

That’s a powerful symbol for us, but it is the picture of glory disguised as something mundane or common. We celebrate the picture of a king heralded by angels, but the actual picture is the child of commoners born among animals and visited by shepherds. It is a blessing disguised as a curse.

And the story continues along that path. Jesus and the family runs to Egypt, then returns to settle in Nazareth because their hometown is still too dangerous. He’s raised a handiman and draws his disciples from fishermen, tax collectors and zealots. He preaches by the lake, outside of town, appearing in synagogues and the Temple just long enough to stir up trouble. He dies in a shameful execution and is buried in a borrowed tomb. His last possessions are gambled away at the cross. Even after he has risen from the dead and is being taken to heaven, he’s down to just a handful of disciples.

The story is nothing like the stories of Abraham, Moses, Joshua or David. Heroes of the Bible are almost all wealthy, well-borne, inordinately blessed and extremely powerful. Without Jesus, we might be so impressed by the riches and power of the patriarchs that we forget their huge mistakes and sad endings. Abraham died without a country; Moses died looking at the prize without getting a share; Joshua faded to obscurity and David was punished for his abuses of power.

For most of the Bible, the power of weakness is hidden in the glitz of wealth and strength. It would be easy to miss the blind faith of Abram, the stuttering shyness of Moses, or the innocence of a shepherd boy musician. We might think that the power is the important part.

In Jesus, God went straight to the point: It is not about us! It is about God, and the power of God is so great that it shines through even in ordinary lives and common clay pots. The entire Bible says that humans are weak and life is short, but God is great. In the New Testament, God hammers the message with a story of unrelenting misfortune, opposition and failure. If we aren’t impressed by the short, impoverished, ordinary lives of the early church leaders, then we might miss the point of our faith.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul also makes the point directly. He has been taken into heaven and shown inexpressible things about the glory of God. Paul has seen heaven, a vision so great he can’t put it into words. And that was not at the end, as when Moses saw the Promised Land just before death, or when Stephen saw the heavens open up just before he was stoned. Paul writes this letter some 14 years after the vision.

It’s bad enough to carry something like that, a truth so great that no one will believe you. But God tops it off by letting Satan torment Paul with a thorn in the side. We don’t know what the thorn is. We know that Paul pleaded three times for Jesus to take it away. Jesus does not just say you can live with it, or I can overcome it, but that it is part of the message. He could have just said, “My grace is sufficient for you,” and we would have to accept it. But he goes a step further: “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, for that reason, Paul is not just able to endure suffering, but he says he boasts gladly about weakness. “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.”

We should consider this list for a minute. First, there’s the thorn in Paul’s side, a physical ailment. We may have a few of those in here. Paul says he prayed three times for Jesus to remove it, so there is no harm done in praying for a miracle. But if we don’t receive the miracle of healing, we need the faith to rejoice in our hardships, to accept our physical ailments – and if we don’t let our physical ailments diminish our faith, that in itself is a miracle.

The rest of the list is not about who we are or what we do, but about those things that happen to us. We don’t ordinarily consider insults and persecutions to be that thorn in the side, but Paul includes them here on the list of weaknesses in which the power of Christ is made perfect. Likewise hardships – those unexpected circumstances that come our way — and difficulties – those tasks that just seem to be more difficult than they should be.

So the power if Christ is made perfect in physical suffering. It is also made perfect when we aren’t accepted, when we face insults and persecutions. It is made perfect when life is difficult, when we face hardships.

In his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 1:22-25), Paul said this is all foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews. “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, buy we preach Christ crucified.” It doesn’t sound like the best selling point, does it? God loved his son, yet the son was crucified. God is powerful, yet our lives might not display miraculous signs. God is wise, but our best explanations will fall short of impressing or convincing anyone. It just doesn’t sound like a very appealing religion.

But Paul also wrote that “the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” Christ, Paul says, is in and of himself “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

For those of us who believe in Jesus, there really is no power that can shake that faith and no human wisdom that will convince us to turn away. If we succeed, we thank God for the blessing. If we fail, we thank God for seeing us through it. With Job we say “Thought he slay me, yet will I trust him.”

As a practical matter, this Christian faith, this power perfected in weakness, means that we don’t give up when things look down, because we know that God can do anything. We don’t lose heart when we’re sick, or injured, or opposed, because we know that God uses these things to display God’s strength. We don’t even lose heart when the task at hand takes more strength and more resources than we can muster, because we know that the power of God is actually made stronger in our weakness.

I have reached points in my life where things were out of control and try though I might, I just could not find a way out. I couldn’t think my way out of the problem, and I didn’t get any magic signs or miracles to pull me through. All I had to rest on was the knowledge that God works things for good in the lives of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. I knew that I didn’t know, that God would work it out and probably in some way I never imagined. There’s power in strength, in wealth, in knowledge, but then there’s that other power, a power that doesn’t depend on me. That is the power of God. Paul says that Jesus IS the power of God, and that the power of Christ is made perfect in our weakness.

If we can believe this – if we can remember all the times that God pulled us through despite our weaknesses and against all odds that the world threw against us – then that power really will be perfected! We have the power of God, because Christ IS that power, and we have given our lives to him. If we remember all the times in the past that God has come through for us, and if we trust that God is still faithful, then we really can delight in our weakness and rejoice in our hardships. We fight against those thorns in our sides and we pray that God will take them away, but if we can’t fight it and God doesn’t relieve it, then you can bet that God is doing something big and exciting in our lives. We can say with Paul, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Mark 4:36-34

My first house had a down-hill slope from the front yard. One side of the driveway was lush and green. The other side was hard soil and deep shade, and I could not get anything to grow there. I plowed, fertilized, seeded and sodded that land over and over, and nothing seemed to work. It was just destined to be a bald spot.

Eventually, we sold the house and moved on. The next time I saw that yard, it had the lushest green grass all over that spot! I just had to find out what was that magic secret that turned that hard-clay hill into such a nice lawn.

So I asked the new owners, “What did you do to get grass to grow over there?”

“We didn’t do anything,” they said. “Truth is, we really liked not mowing half the yard, so we dumped gravel on it and started parking there. Now, we can’t get rid of the grass.”

Everything I know about plants did nothing to make grass grow on that yard. The new owners were good with that; they just threw gravel on it to hide what little dirt there was. But that gravel, that little roughness that would hold the dirt and keep the seeds from washing away, was exactly what was needed.

I don’t recommend gravel to make grass grow, but if you’ve ever had to fight grass growing through the sidewalk or up through the pavement, you can see how that happens. Sometimes, a plant needs that last thing we’d guess it needs. It’s one of life’s little mysteries, and that’s just the point: The Good Lord moves in mysterious ways!

How many times do we give up on someone, and the next thing you know they’re thanking you for your words and prayers? I guess pastors run across that more than other people, not because we’re any better at it, but because we try so many times with so many people.

I have a friend who was hardly a friend when we first met. He was one of those boomerang kids who moved in with Mom, then he brought his girlfriend in, and finally he started dealing drugs out of the house. My advice to his mother was kick him out NOW! She brought him in for counseling, and this man scared me to death!

Eventually, she did kick him out. I called the cops on him when he threatened the church. All that was enough to get him in rehab. He was doing pretty good when his mother died in the hospital, and I thought surely that would trip him up. But when he saw how the church rallied to honor his mother, he got even closer to God. Today, he’s a manager at a rehab facility near Atlanta, walking with the Lord and married to a girl who used to be his drug buddy. They’ve been sober more than 10 years, and he still calls me to thank me for helping him find the Lord.

When I look back, I didn’t do a thing. In fact, I sort of threw gravel on the situation. I told his mother to kick him out and told the cops to lock him up. At best, I scattered a few seeds in his life, and I never expected them to grow.

That’s what the kingdom of Heaven is like, Jesus said. A man scatters seed, and that’s all he does. If it grows, it grows all by itself, and the man doesn’t even know how. At harvest, the man gathers the produce and gets too much credit.

Jesus doesn’t explain the parable here. We read that he explained it to his disciples, but we don’t get the explanation. We probably don’t need it, because the symbolism is the same as the parable he does explain earlier in Mark’s gospel.

It’s in the beginning of the same chapter, Mark Chapter 4: “Listen!” Jesus said. “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rockey places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they whithered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” Then, Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” (Mark 4:3-9)

I love this parable, and I think it connects well to the next. Here, Jesus explains that the seed is the word. The various conditions are people, and the outside stuff is just that, outside stuff. The birds are the devil snatching away the seed. The rocky ground is shallow soil where seeds sprout quickly, then die off. The thorns are riches and the cares of this world, growing up to choke off the plant. It’s interesting that soil that’s good for the plant is also good for the weed. We have to keep the weeds out of our lives to grow in the faith.

So what does today’s parable add? I presume that the seed here is like the seed there, the word of God that we share by scattering it. Where do we plant? In both these parables, the sower isn’t very careful at all about where the seed goes. He has lots of seed, and it’s just seed. The sower throws seed willy nilly, on the road, in the weeds, on rocky ground, and sometimes on good ground. The parable today adds something to the parable: The sower does not know where the good soil is. If it grows at all, it’s an act of God, and so is the harvest. The sower thought this was a good spot, and it didn’t work. He thought that was wasted seed, and it brought forth a bumper crop!

I always called my friend a Bad Seed, and as far as I could see, he was rocky soil. But God had a need for that man in the kingdom, and that tiny bit of seed grew tall and increased a hundred fold. Yeah, I threw seed, but it was mixed with a lot of gravel, and I thought that was wasted seed. Boy, was I wrong.

The lesson here for me is that there is no wasted seed. It might get eaten by birds, and it might get choked by weeds, but without me knowing it, it might hit paydirt.

Here’s my question: Have you given up on someone? Have you thrown seed on the ground over and over again, only to watch it wash away or get eaten by birds? Don’t give up! Even if you threw gravel; even if you called the cops; don’t give up. Throw some more seed over there; God has plenty.

I know you’ve heard the old joke where God says to Jesus, “You catch ‘em, Son! I’ll clean ‘em!” Our job is even simpler than that. Jesus said He’d teach us to catch people, but sometimes it’s our job to chum the water.

Paul made the same point in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 – “I planted seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

We have one purpose, to win souls for Jesus. You’re all sowers, and water-bearers, and spotters for the harvest, but we have one Lord and one job – to tend to this field. So don’t give up. Keep sowing the Word, even when you think the ground is too rocky and the weeds are too thick. Because you never know when a seed might get stuck in the gravel, find the dirt, and bring forth the harvest.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Romans 8:12-17 NIV

On this Memorial Day weekend, it would be natural to quote a different scripture: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” That’s John 15:13. It’s an appropriate scripture, but today, I want to consider what all those men and women were fighting for. What motivates us to put our lives at risk for a country?

Today’s scripture would be considered radical in many countries. There are very religious societies that consider calling Jesus the Son of God blasphemy deserving of death. Today’s scripture goes a step further. In this passage, WE are encouraged to see OURSELVES as sons and daughters of God. Some societies would forbid such a thought on religious grounds. Others just don’t want ordinary people to elevate themselves like that.

Say what you will about our society, but let’s confess that we are free to make both of these radical statements: That Jesus is the Son of God and we are children of God. We are free, in this country, to call God, “Abba! Father!” These are not required beliefs, but they are not forbidden. Indeed, they are common, and they are concepts worth fighting for.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That’s what the Founding Fathers believed, and that’s worth fighting for. If we are sons and daughters of God, then we are inherently important and equal. The Declaration of Independence goes on to say that the only proper role of Government is to secure those rights.

The United States is not officially a Christian nation, but our founding principles absolutely borrow from Christian values. We are a living, growing nation, and when we change, we change in support of those values. At first, all White Men were considered equal; then all men; then both men and women. It does not matter what race or gender, what religion or nationality, what language we speak or what culture we practice. Somewhere deep inside we accept that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and should therefore be equal under the Law. When Peter was sent to the Gentiles, he said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right.” (Acts 11:34-35) As God does not show favoritism, our Government’s goal is to practice equality as well. That is worth fighting for.

We read about King David, called “A man after God’s own heart,” overly blessed and surely favored by God. But God didn’t let David get away with having Uriah killed in battle and sleeping with Uriah’s wife. Because of that sin, David was to be at war the rest of his life, and he was not allowed to build the Temple. Everyone is equal under the law. (2 Samuel 10) That is worth fighting for.

We are allowed to believe and teach things that some people consider wrong, unholy, or even blasphemous. We teach that everyone is welcome to take communion. We teach that we have no creed but Jesus, the Christ. We teach that our leader is Jesus Himself, and no one else.

Having said this, we remember and believe that all people are equal under the law. That means that they, too, can preach and things that we don’t believe in, that we consider blasphemous and unholy. We can’t force anyone to believe like we do. That would be illegal, and it would also go against the teachings of Jesus. Jesus praised Samaritans and Roman Centurians, whose religion was not Jewish and not Christian. Paul reasoned with Greeks and Jews alike, without condemnation. There were people in Jesus’ day driving out demons in his name, even though they were not his Disciples. The apostles complained, an Jesus said leave them alone. “Those who are not against us are for us,” He said.

Here’s what Paul said about people who don’t believe and practice exactly like we do: “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.”

There are a lot of people we disagree with, but if we convince them they are wrong, then we are responsible for the result – and we better not be wrong. It’s better to demonstrate our own faith, to show our loyalty to Christ by obeying the teachings of Jesus, than to insist on our own version of doctrine and orthodoxy.

In America, we have the right to disagree. We have the right to walk away from a debate, and to stop the debate in our own homes, in our own churches, or at our own places of business. We have the right to stand up for our rights in the public square – which means that others can stand up for themselves as well. These are principles worth fighting for.

We have every right to call ourselves Children of God. A lot of people have died to defend that right, and the rights of all others to express their own opinions and to worship according to their own consciences. So we are free to accept the teachings of Paul in today’s scripture, and I heartily endorse these teachings.

Let’s hear them again:

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

I pray that we will receive this teaching. We are children of God. We have received not a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit of adoption. We boldly cry to God, “Abba! Father!” Paul told Timothy that God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline. God has given us the freedom to come boldly to God’s throne. We live by the spirit, not by the flesh, and our brothers and sisters in the military have sacrificed to protect both the spirit and the flesh. I do honor those who have given so much to secure our freedom. But in that Spirit of boldness that God gives us, let’s express our gratitude by living in freedom, not as slaves, but as children of God.

In the name of our Father, and His Son, and the Holy Spirit …

Amen.