Wednesday, July 25, 2007

July 22, 2007 Sermon Synopsis

We Forgive Those Who Sin Against Us – Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35

How is your relationship with God? God wants us to have a good relationship with him.

GOD WANTS US TO BE FORGIVEN

I told the children a familiar story that has been circulating ….
Johnny and Sally went to visit their grandparents on the farm. Johnny’s grandpa gave him a slingshot to play with. He went out into the fields and the woods, but he could never hit his target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for lunch.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma’s pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and scared!

In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she didn’t say anything.

After lunch Grandma asked Sally to help wash the dishes. But Sally said, “Grandma, Johnny wants to help wash the dishes.” Johnny looked a bit puzzled and Sally whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So Johnny helped Grandma wash the dishes.

Later that day Grandma asked Sally to help with the baking. Sally told her, “Johnny really wants to help you.” Again, Johnny was a little confused so Sally whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So Johnny helped in the kitchen.

Every time there was something to be done, Sally volunteered Johnny and reminded him, “Remember the duck!” After several days of doing both his chores and Sally’s, Johnny finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He went to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.

Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, “Darling, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

How do we deal with the bad things we have done? God knows everything we have done. Proverbs 15:3 tells us, “The eyes of Lord are everywhere.” The Bible also lets us know that, through Jesus on the cross, God has already forgiven us. We need to confess. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he … will forgive us.”

We are forgiven by God through Jesus – that’s good news! God has forgiven us. We can have a good relationship with God when we confess our sins. That way, nobody can bother us, “Remember the duck.”

GOD WANTS US TO FORGIVE OTHERS
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

In today’s Scripture passage Peter asked Jesus, “How many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Peter was being generous. Rabbinic tradition at the time taught that we need to “forgive for three times, on the fourth there is no forgiveness.”

Jesus told Peter he needs to be even more forgiving – 77 times or 490 times (depending on the translation). Basically what Jesus was saying, was that we should always forgive.

THERE SEEMS TO BE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BEING FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING OTHERS
The verses that follow the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:14-15) highlight that fact. “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

That’s a pretty heavy condition to lay on us if we want to be forgiven.

Peter asks, “How much is enough?” Jesus asks Peter to put it into perspective, and he tells them a story (parable).

God’s Kingdom is like this ….
A King (God) wants to settle accounts with his servants. The servants represent the disciples or followers of God – us, the citizens of God’s Kingdom.

The story talks about one particular case. A man had a debt of 10,000 talents.

A talent was a monetary unit equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius is the daily wage of a hired worker (picking grapes, for instance). If you do the math, the man owed the King a little more than 190,000 years of work – probably more than he could ever pay.

The king’s request was not reasonable – he asked the man to pay it back
The man’s offer was not reasonable – he asked for patience and promised to pay him back.
The king did the unexpected – he forgave the man’s debt.

GOD FORGIVES A DEBT WE COULD NEVER REPAY

How does the man feel? How do we feel?
God didn’t have to do it, but he forgave us our sins through Jesus’ death on the cross – Grace. Grace is an undeserved gift.

I don’t understand the response of the forgiven man.

He went out and found a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii (about 3 months wages), he grabbed him and began to choke him, demanding to be repaid.

What an ingrate!

The other man responded to the forgiven man exactly as the forgiven man responded to the King – “please be patient, and I’ll pay you back.”

But he put him in prison until he paid him back.

GOD SEES EVERYTHING
The king found out – God will always find out.

It wasn’t a happy ending, but it didn’t have to be that way.

WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE TO GOD’S FORGIVENESS?

You’ve heard the old story …
The Trustees were painting the church building. They didn’t have enough paint and there weren’t funds available to purchase more paint, so they added some water to the paint. Halfway through, they realized they still weren’t going to have enough paint, so they added some more water. Finally they finished the job – a pretty thin coat. Our Trustees wouldn’t do such a poor job.
When they were finished, a big storm came through – thunder, lightning, wind, a gully washer! All the paint washed off the building and a booming voice was heard from the sky, “Repaint and thin no more!”

Jesus often asked people to repent and to stop their sinning. Sin is going against the values and principles that God (our King) has established. Apparently it would be a sin not to forgive someone who as done something bad to you.

If we don’t forgive, God won’t forgive us. Our response to God’s forgiveness is to be forgiving of others. Not just once, twice, seven times or 490 times, but always.

After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples. Some of what he said is recorded in John 20:21-23. “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

God gave us the job to forgive sins – We go to others as God sent Jesus – to forgive their sins.

God gave us the power to forgive sins – God’s spirit is in us. Only God can forgive or not forgive.

God gave us the responsibility to forgive sins – There isn’t anyone God won’t forgive – there shouldn’t be anyone we won’t forgive, even though we have the power not to.

We need to forgive others. It’s the way God would have it.

How is your relationship with God? Have you forgiven anyone today? Your relationship with God depends on it.

May God's forgiveness be seen in your lives this week and always.

Monday, July 16, 2007

July 15, 2007 Sermon Synopsis

Forgive Us Our Sins – Scripture: 1 John 1:8 – 2:2

How is your relationship with God?

I told the children a story ….
When I was young I sneaked out and broke a cup from my mother’s favorite set of dishes. It was from a special set we used on holidays and formal dinners. I felt awful. I didn’t mean to do it. What should I do? I had a few options:
I could hide it and pretend that nothing happened. But surely it would eventually be found out. I would always think about it when I was around my Mom – not a good option.
I could try to fix it. But I wasn’t very good at fixing things and there were lots of little pieces. It would be noticed and It would always bother me when I was around my Mom – not a good option.
I could buy another one and cover up my misdeed. But where would a kid get enough $ for fine china, and it was an old piece that had been in the family for a long time. I wouldn’t have enough time or money to do this and my Mom would never trust me again – not a good option.
I could take the broken pieces to my mom and confess. This is probably the most difficult option; there would be consequences, but in the end I would feel better about it. At the end I could look my Mom in the face, hug her and feel her love for me – that’s the option for me.

How do we deal with things we do that we know God doesn’t like? We can go through the same list. The best way is to accept the responsibility, confess and accept the consequences. It’s the only way to have a good relationship with God.

1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he … will forgive us our sins.”

How do you think I felt when my Mother forgave me for breaking the cup? I was extremely relieved! I was glad it was over (including the punishment). And most of all my relationship with my Mom was restored.

That’s the way God wants us to feel all the time.
That’s why God sent Jesus.

The words “sins,” “trespasses,” or “debts” all come from the Old Testament system of making sacrifices. These offerings and sacrifices were made to cover a variety of sins in the OT penal code. These were performed on altars in high places and ultimately in front of the Temple in Jerusalem. Sin condemned a person to death. God allowed an animal or bird to die in place of the person.

The Jewish people in Jesus’ time believed that all sacrifices had to be made on the altar in front of the Temple. When John wrote the words of today’s scripture, the Temple and Altar had been destroyed. There was no altar, no sacrifice, no forgiveness – there was no hope for the Jews.

Some Jews and non-Jews in Jesus’ time began believing in a religious-philosophy called Gnosticism. The Gnostics believed that everything important and permanent existed in the spiritual realm, and that there was no connection between the two. They taught that our goal is to shed the physical to achieve the spiritual. Anything we do in the physical realm has no eternal consequence – a convenient belief. Their only hope was to escape the world we know.

What a hopeless world John lived in.

The Jews didn’t have a way to be forgiven and the Gnostics believed that anything we did wasn’t wrong.

Pop psychology today tries to pass the buck. It’s taught that the things we do are the fault of bad experiences as a child or mistreatment by parents, teachers or others. Many people claim, “It’s not my fault.”

John wrote:
(1:8) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(1:10) If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

It was always a bad situation in my home when the kids wouldn’t own up to their mistakes. We needed to hear “I’m sorry,” so we could move on. There can be no reconciliation or restoration with that first step.

John wrote:
(1:9) If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
(2:1) If anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

What’s the worst thing your children could do, that you wouldn’t forgive them? I hope you can’t think of anything.

We are God’s children. I confess, “I did it,” and I take the blame.

We have one speaks in our defense – more than that, he paid the price for our sins on the cross.

Long ago Jesus said, “Punish me for the bad things Steve does.”
He used your name too.

Jesus didn’t take the blame, but he took the punishment.

We need to take the mess we’ve made (our broken cup) to God. Maybe he won’t fix it or replace it, but we’ll be forgiven. We can count on that.

That’s the way God wants all of us to feel all the time.

How is your relationship with God?

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

July 1, 2007 Sermon Synopsis

True Freedom – Scripture: John 8:31-36

Freedom is a common term for those of us who live in the USA. It has meant many different things throughout history. Most of us think in terms of political freedom.

Jesus lived in a world that new little about freedom. The Jewish people of his day (God’s chosen ones) reacted in different ways to political oppression.

Some became Zealots and planned a violent revolution to overthrow the Roman oppressors.

Some became Sadducees and used the system for personal gain and wealth.

Some became Essenes and removed themselves from society to form separate communities.

Some became Pharisees and lived in a tension between this present world and God’s promised world. The Pharisees reacted to the situation by emphasizing a legalistic system with many strict rules for living as citizens of God’s Kingdom in a foreign land and under the control of a competing kingdom.

Jesus never really talked about political freedom … he was aligned with the Pharisees, but promoted a different way of living in this world as citizens of God’s Kingdom.

CONTEXT OF TODAYS SCRIPTURE
Jesus often found himself at the center of controversy. In today’s Scripture passage he is in dialog with Jewish believers. Jesus is in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2). He went secretly (John 7:10), most likely because there were folks out to kill him (John 7:19). At the beginning of chapter 8, the Jews were about to kill a woman caught in adultery and Jesus stopped them. He set her free from the death penalty. She was set free, but Jesus told her, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)

After this, Jesus entered into another round of dialog with the Jewish leaders. Some believed him.

ARE YOU FREE?
There’s a lot of talk about freedom this week. Are you free?

I asked the children if any of them had slaves at their house. None of them did. We talked about what a slave is and concluded that they were not free in many ways. I showed the kids a large, old key. It reminds me that sometimes slaves were locked up because they wanted to get free. The key opened the lock to set them free; it reminds me of Jesus. Jesus is the key to true freedom. Jesus sets us free from our sins.


FOLLOWING JESUS DEMANDS DOING WHAT HE SAYS
There’s a difference between believing Jesus and believing in Jesus. We need to be careful that we don’t just have a head faith (believing about Jesus). We need to have a heart faith as well (believing in Jesus).

Jesus told those who believed him, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” (verse 31) They needed to move from believing Jesus’ words, to following Jesus. They needed to be, as James put it, doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22).

A true disciple will understand and do their master’s bidding. That sounds a lot like slavery! Does following Jesus mean we trade one form of slavery for another?

Being a disciple of Jesus is different from following anything else. In verse 32 Jesus tells us, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus speaks the truth and is the truth.

BEING A SLAVE OF JESUS MEANS BEING SET FREE
Jesus was speaking about spiritual freedom, something much more important than political freedom. But the Jews were thinking in political terms. They replied, “We’ve never been slaves to anyone.”

They had forgotten about a few moments in their history: slaves in Egypt, oppressions at the time of the Judges, the exile in Babylon, and the present Roman domination of their land and people.

God had, time and time again, freed them from political slavery. It was the basis of their formation as God’s people. God freed them from slavery in Egypt.

Jesus wants them to know that slavery is much deeper than political or human control of other human beings – it’s deeply spiritual. And until the spiritual bondage is taken care of, nobody will truly be free.

FREEDOM CAME BEFORE THE LAW

The Pharisees emphasized obedience to the law. They came close to becoming slaves to the Law. The Apostle Paul spoke about this in a number of his letters.

In the history of Israel, it’s interesting to note that freedom (liberation from Egypt) came before the law (Mt. Sinai). Slaves can’t fully understand the rules.

Jesus wanted the Pharisees to know that they needed to be truly free before they could fully understand the meaning of God’s rules.

SLAVES TO SIN

The Jews claimed they were never slaves, but Jesus tells them they were, and that they are – the worst kind of slavery, the slavery that has eternal consequences – slavery to sin!

Verse 34 – “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

We understand the relationship between a slave and the master.

Slaves do what they are told, against their will, they submit without questioning, they receive minimal care, enough to increase their master’s wealth, decisions are made for them, and they never reach their potential. You can think more about this type of relationship.

When Mennonites first came to live in America, many people had slaves. Mennonites were the first to speak out against slavery (published “A Minute Against Slavery” in February of 1688). They did things differently, because they believed that God wanted them to live differently – as Jesus taught and lived.

As a master controls the slave, sin controls those who give in to sinful desires. It’s a difficult cycle to break. Just think how many repeat offenders there are in our penal system. If you go to jail, you have a good chance of going back. That’s because you have not been truly set free.

SLAVES TO JESUS
We have a different relationship to Jesus. Our understanding of a slave is very different than the kind of relationship we have with Jesus.

We give our lives to Jesus because and we obey because we want to. We’re not forced to. We obey because we understand that the law is good for us. We make decisions based on our relationship to Jesus. We can reach our potential because Jesus is our Lord.

I’d rather be that kind of slave. That’s the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with us. Jesus is the head of the church (and our lives) in a way that truly frees us. It’s not the way we understand slavery at all.

THE SON CAN SET YOU FREE

Who sets slaves free? The master or his descendents have that power. Nobody else can. The master has full decision making power over the slaves. Only the master can set you free.

Jesus said (v.36), “if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Who can set you free from the sin in your lives? Not the preacher, not the elders, not the Sunday School teacher. Nobody but Jesus. Jesus is the Key to true freedom.

SIN WANTS TO CONTROL YOU, BUT JESUS KEEPS YOU FREE

Jesus told the Jews who believed him (verse 37), “You are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word.” They wanted to kill Jesus, just like they wanted to kill the woman caught in adultery. Jesus was innocent; killing was against the 10 commandments. All of this shows that sin was still in control of their lives. They were still slaves to sin. Jesus wants them to be free.

How about you? Who (or what) is in control of your life? Jesus wants you to be free. Know Jesus – He is truth! You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

We closed our worship with the chorus “I’m So Glad Jesus Set Me Free.” I hope you are able to sing those words.