Monday, October 1, 2007

September 30, 2007 Sermon Synopsis

“God’s Planss – Our Plans” Proverbs 16:1-3; Luke 14:27-33

What are your plans?
A young woman brought her fiancĂ©e home to meet her parents. After dinner, her father invited the young man out on the front porch for a chat."So, what are your plans?" The Father said."I don’t have anything definite," the young man replied, “but I have some ideas.”A little concerned, the father said, “How do you plan to support my daughter?”
“God will provide," the young man explained.
“Where will you live?” asked the father.
“I’m sure God will provide a place,” said the young man."And how will you afford to raise children?" The Father asked."God’s going to provide for all our needs," said the young man.The men went into the kitchen and the mother asked her husband, "How did it go?""I’m not sure; I like him. But he doesn’t seem to have any money or employment plans," the father said. "But on the other hand, he thinks I'm God."

God will provide, but we need to put in our part . . .

BEING A DISCIPLE OF JESUS IS NOT AN EASY THING
Becoming a Christian has no cost – by grace we are saved – but being a Christian comes at a great commitment.

The scripture tells us that a large crowd was following Jesus (Luke 14:25). How did he encourage them? How did Jesus build the confidence in those who began following him?
Did Jesus say – “It’s not that hard, all you have to do is show up.”
“Don’t worry; most of the work is done by others.”
“There’s really not that much to it.”

NO - He told them the truth about just how difficult it will be.
Jesus told them, “Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27). Crosses were a fairly common sight in those days.

Being a Christian (follower of Jesus) is a commitment.

AFTER THE COMMITMENT, WE GET TO WORK
Building in God’s Kingdom: Jesus next example is about a building project.

Building is a conscious decision. The church and the Building Committee know that. It doesn’t just happen. We need to decide about the need to build, what to build and where to build. That’s just a few of the thousands of decisions that need to be made in a building project.

The first decision needs to be for Jesus. I had the children sing “The wise man built his house upon the rock.” We need to build on the Rock of Jesus. That’s important!

I had some cardboard blocks and asked the children to construct a tower.

The first time I handed each child a block and asked them to put it on the tower construction. It didn’t work out too well; the tower fell over. We all laughed. We had great resources, but no planning and no coordinated effort.

For the next attempt each child received a block and they were told to build a tower. At the count of three they all started building. The tower construction never really advanced at all. We had a good laugh. Again, we had great resources, good intentions, but no plan.

The third time each child had a block. I directed the project. Those with the larger ones place them to build a base. Each larger block was added to build a strong tower. We had great resources, good intentions, a plan and directions. We also had a tower, nothing to laugh at.

Jesus told a story about building a tower.
Suppose one of you (a follower) wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

Jesus wants his disciples to do things (like build a tower), but we need to have a plan. Where can we find our plan? God has a plan for this world; sometimes we call it God’s will. Our plans must conform to God’s plan.

The Bible has a really disastrous story about those who wanted to build a tower outside of God’s will in Genesis 11 (Tower of Babel). We need to do much better than that.

When we do things we need to prepare and “count the cost.” We need to realize that it is God’s work, not my work.

WE NEED TO SETTLE CONFLICTS (AND DIFFICULTIES) AS WE SEE THEM COMING

I pointed to the congregation and told the children that these people wanted to take our blocks. What should we do? There were a number of responses: defend our blocks! Hide our blocks! Fight to keep our blocks!

Unfortunately, the odds of keeping our blocks didn’t look very good. These people were much larger than us, and there were lots more of them.

What do you think God wants us to do with our blocks? Maybe we should share our blocks and work together.

Jesus told another story about two kings. (I’m sure he wasn’t talking about any of the Kings we know)
Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

Jesus wants his disciples (followers) to be at peace with each other. Our human nature is to conquer and take what we want. In a conflict, there is usually only one winner. Jesus wants us to be at peace with each other, there’s no other way to follow Jesus.

CONCLUSIONS
Following Jesus is a conscious decision (like building and making major decisions)
It is the first decision we need to make in our Christian lives – we cannot build a life unless we are on the foundation of Jesus.

Step 1 - Proverbs 16:3 tell us to “Commit to the Lord whatever you do.” We need to commit our lives, our desires, our plans – everything.

Step 2 - God has the resources we need – when we count the cost, we need to include God’s resources (Caution: we can only do this if we are fully committed to the Lord). People may make fun of our work, but they shouldn’t make fun of our Lord’s work.

Step 3 - We need to realize that there is only one King (and that is Jesus). In the church, we shouldn’t make ourselves the rulers – or conflict is sure to ensue. In a conflict – there is usually only one winner (usually the one with the most soldiers on his side). As we make our plans, we need to do so as part of one kingdom and under one King

Luke 14:33 tells us, to be a disciple you need to give up what you have:
- It’s not my work, but the Lord’s work
- I’m not the King, but Jesus is my King

Following Jesus takes Commitment!
Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

September 23, 2007 – Sermon Synopsis

“God’s Family” 1 John 3:1-2, 10-16 (3:12)

Who are my ancestors and relatives?
I showed the children a family tree. We talked about family and family reunions. Family reunions are fun times.

The Bible tells us that the church is a family – John 1:12 – if we believe in Jesus, we become Children of God. Jesus taught us that God is our Heavenly Father.

Every Sunday is a family reunion.

The Apostle John was the youngest of the 12 disciples of Jesus. As he grew older, he was highly revered as the patriarch of the church – the last living person who walked and talked with Jesus on this earth. He saw many changes in the churches through the years.

In many ways, the original church was not much different than our own churches. They were made up of people who had personal agendas and motives.

I’m glad that there were problems in the church. They are learning experiences. Just about all of the letters in the New Testament were written because of problems in the church. It showed that the church could come through problems and difficulties and still be a witness for our Lord Jesus.

John lived through many church fights and divisions. He wrote his first letter (1 John) as a response to a church split.
A group of Gnostics left and formed their own church. Who were they?
- those who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God (Messiah)
- those who didn’t believe in Jesus’ authority in our lives
- those who believed that sin wasn’t a problem
- those who believed that you could be a Christian and not love each other. These folks believed that their relationship with each other wasn’t an important part of the Christian life. They believed that you could come together and worship with people that you did mean and hateful things to.

Our scripture passage is part of John’s response to these folks.

You need to know something: There are problems, conflicts, divisions, fights, etc. in the world. There are people who don’t get along. They each want their own way so much that they are willing to fight for it. Do churches have problems?

A preacher once made the observation:
When there is a big crisis in the world, people start showing up in church.
When there is a big crisis in the church, people stop showing up in church.

Why is it that we look to God and the church when there are external problems, but not when there are internal problems?

Churches filled up after the events of September 11, 2002.
But as the crisis wore off, people went back to their old way of life.
These folks didn’t feel like an integral part of the church. They weren’t integrated into the life and fellowship of the congregation. They didn’t ever become part of the family.

ANALOGIES FOR THE CHURCH
In these past weeks we’ve considered analogies presented in the New Testament for the church.
The church is a body
The church is God’s employees (workforce)
The church is a building (Temple)

The church is (like) a family.

Families are the building blocks of society … that’s why it’s important to define a family right from the beginning.

The apostle John knew about family. He is one of the few people in the NT identified by his Father’s line – one of the Sons of Zebedee – along with his brother James. We know about his cousins Simon (Peter) & Andrew. Family is important to John.

I have enjoyed learning about the families of Maple Grove. Each family has it’s traits …
There are Kennels and Kings and Umbles and Stoltzfus and Kauffmans and Fishers and Smokers and etc.

This is an amazing thing to me, as one who doesn’t have an extended family heritage.
Your ancestors and relatives make you family.

John tells those of us who believe in Jesus are a family. God loved us so much that we have become God’s Children. We were adopted – that means we were chosen!

How do you know what family you belong to? By the last name: “Oh, he’s one of the Cranes” It’s as if there are certain traits that pass down through the family lineage.
Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “He’s a lot like his dad.”

How do you know that someone belongs to God’s Family?
They have some of God’s traits, character, personality.

Genesis 1 tells us we are made in the “image” and “likeness” of God.

How can you tell who’s in God’s family?
1 John 3:10 – Love for each other.
1 John 3:11 – the message we’ve heard from the start – Love one another.

Did someone say, “Hey, he must be one of God’s kids?”

SOME FAMILIES ARE DYSFUNCTIONAL

We don’t like to hear it.
There's an old joke about a man sitting in a church pew amening everything the preacher said about sinners. His amens abruptly stopped when the preacher got on the subject of loving his brother. When his wife nudged him to give the preacher another amen he said to her, "What for? He's stopped preaching and gone to meddling!"

We don’t like to hear about problems …

It started right at the beginning. The first Brothers, Cain and Abel

It’s interesting that the first murder in recorded history was over religious practice.

Sibling rivalry led to murder – not a happy family.

Today’s Sunday School lesson – dealing with dissention in the family. Abraham – what a crazy family tree: eight children with 3 different women, tracing that family heritage is very interesting.

Jesus family tree included prostitutes, foreigners and illegal aliens.

Families aren’t easy – but it’s the way God works. In spite of our differences, our dysfunctions, our problems – God wants us to live and work as a family.

The church family can also be dysfunctional. How can you change things?

Jesus! Let God be the head of the family. Let God (and God’s word) define what the family does. Let God be the authority, the leader,

When Solomon dedicated the Temple, God spoke to him … (2 Chronicles 7:14)
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face ... I will forgive and heal them.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

John continually calls the believers back to that simple premise, the one that is so difficult to do: Love each other.

1 John 3:1 – one of my favorite verses in the Scripture

I like it because it reminds me of a father that was not willing that his son should die. My dad was like that when I died. (Ask me about that sometime; I think it’s an interesting story.). I’m God’s son. God loved me so much, he sent Jesus so that I don’t have to die.

Why do we love – “Because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
God is our model – we should also love as God loved us.

How much does God love us? Jesus said, “I love you this much.” And he stretched out his arms (on the cross) and died for us.

Christ laid down his life for us. As God’s family, we should love each other, so much that we would be willing to give our life for each other.

That’s how they’ll know we are Christians: by our love.

I hope to see you at the next family reunion.