First thoughts on Lent 3
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
> Moneychangers were needed to convert provincial, Roman, and Galilean currencies into Tyrian coinage that the sellers of sacrificial animals would accept.
> Most people didn't bring animals with them; instead, they bought them when they arrived in Jerusalem.
> "Forty-six years" since Herod's renovations began places Jesus' words in A.D. 27-28. The temple wasn't completed until A.D. 63-64, only six years before its destruction.
> Jesus becomes a "temple" in which Jews and Gentiles are joined together.
> "Zeal for your house consumes [eats] me": Intensive form of esthio, not used elsewhere in John, can mean not only "consume"/"eat" but also "destroy"/"rip apart."
> Naos (vv. 19-21) as opposed to hieron (vv. 14-15) usually refers to central sanctuary rather than entire precinct.
> Zechariah 14:21: "No longer shall there be traders in the house of YHWH Sabaoth."

Notes for Lent 2
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
SIX STEPS TO STOP SINNING 2 of 6
Review: Stop trying to stop sinning, start living as God's friend.
MOTIF
> "Jesus is the answer": Is he? What if someone's question is, "How can I get rich? An easy life? More pleasure"? Is Jesus still the answer?
> Yes---but he isn't the answer that we may want: Riches not of money but of satisfaction with what he's given, ease not of a life without troubles but of finding rest in him, pleasure not of physical ecstasy but the sheer joy of knowing God of universe.
DILEMMA
> What if our question is, "How do I live as God's friend?" Is Jesus the answer? Yes---but it may not be the answer we expected.
> Abraham: "the friend of God" [James 2:21-23].
> Let's look at Abraham and find out how God answers the question, "How do I live as God's friend?"
TEXT
> Read Genesis 16:15---17:17 and pray.
> So far, Abram's attempts at stopping sin, living as God's friend, have not gone well ...
--> Gn12 [does leave, but arrives in Egypt and lies, saying his wife is his sister]; Gn16 [immediately after this, he has a son not with wife Sarai but with her servant Hagar---still doesn't trust]
--> Why? Focused on problem instead of on living as God's friend: First words when God appears in Gn15: ?Oh Lord, how can this be? You haven't given me what I've asked for.?
--> For Abram, ?friend? means ?do what I want.?
--> ?Abram? means ?exalted father?--which feels like a mockery. His wife's name Sarai means ?one who second guesses?--this is closer to the truth.
> In Gn17, God doesn't give Abram the answer he expects?he gives him the answer that he needs to live as God's friend.
--> 17:1: 99? 86? 13 silent years. Ever been in those years?
--> 17:2: ?I am El Shaddai.?: First time this name for God appears in Scripture!
-----> El: God/Shaddai: [could mean ?mountains?] Sh'e: ?One who is?/D'ai: ?Sufficient? or ?Enough.?
-----> God's answer to, ?How do I live as your friend?? is not, ?I'll do what you expect.?
-----> God's answer is, ?I am sufficient, enough, all you need.?
> Every sin begins with a single lie: ?God is not enough.?
--> Began in Garden of Eden: ?Has God said?? ?Is God really enough??
--> Abram: Lied about wife: God's not strong enough to keep safe/Questioned God: God's not strong enough to give child to 86 ... /Has son with Hagar: God is not sufficient to do what he promised.
--> Answer? El Shaddai?God who is sufficient, God who is enough!
> What does God do to remind Abraham? He gives a sign.
--> Circumcision: ?You want me to do what? Why not a secret handshake or a decoder ring? Why this??
--> Two things: Sacrifice/separation: ?When truly recognize I am enough, your life will become a sacrifice and you will be separated, different from the world.?
--> Circumcision is not part of joining God's people today?which is good because if you think it's difficult to get people for certain committees, imagine if we had a Circumcision Committee.
--> We are called to sacrifice and separation?when we live as if God is enough [sacrifice of our expectations/separation because we live by different values]
> What else does God do to remind Abram? He changes his name.
--> Name is identity ... we still recognize that a little ... wouldn't change name without an excellent reason: CLASSIFIED AD RE: GRAVE STONE.
--> In ancient world, when you named someone, you possessed power [Adam and animals]??Abram, you are my special possession.?
--> 17:4: ?Exalted father?>?The father of many?: God places his promise?the promise that he is enough?in the middle of Abram's name.
--> ... and not only for Abraham: ?Sarai?: ?Contentious,? ?second-guesses?>?Sarah?: ?The princess.?
-----> Dream of every little girl/Anastasia/?You're a princess.?
-> God does this to remind that he is enough??I am enough to turn you into father of many, to turn you into princess!?
-> God does the same for you: Rv2:17; 3:12.
-> What does this mean? It's your reminder that El Shaddai, God is enough.
> Abraham breaks down: 17:17-18: Why does he laugh? The first birth that Medicare will have to pay for, first couple to find themselves buying Depends and Pampers in same trip to Wal-Mart! Both parents and baby eat the same strained vegetables because no one in the family has a tooth in their head.
> This is too good to be true! But it comes true because El Shaddai?God's friendship is enough.
RESOLUTION
> You cannot live as God's friend until you trust that God's friendship is enough to fill your deepest needs.
> Problem: Throughout your life, you experience times when a person or circumstance wasn't sufficient: Parents whose love wasn't enough, tainted with abuse or selfishness/Time when you didn't have enough to get by/Time when someone you trusted took advantage, were not protected enough ...
--> Each of these leaves a scar, a point of emptiness where you feel empty.
--> Every sin you commit is a vain attempt to fill these points of emptiness: [Looking for father's love/Looking for security in possessions/Trying to fill the pain of abuse with one more relationship or to numb the pain with one more drink].
--> When you come to faith in God, you are faced with a crisis: Will I trust that God is enough to fill this need? Do I believe that God is El Shaddai?
--> You cannot live as God's friend until you trust that God's friendship is enough to fill your deepest needs.
> This is difficult in a culture that tries to convince us that we never have enough: Commercials [highlight our points of emptiness, convince that what we need is product] ... we are addicted to the main tool that works this into lives: [[[No? Hide remotes, hide Bibles, see which one gets noticed first/Remote with beeper/Industry is built on convincing you you don't have enough.]]]
-> ?If I have God as my friend, I have all that I need because El Shaddai.?
APPLICATION
> Think about sins you struggle with: What need are you trying to fulfill? El Shaddai.
> You can't beat the sin until you live as God's friend, and you cannot live as God's friend until you trust that God's friendship is enough to fill your deepest needs.
[STILL LOOKING FOR CLOSING ILLUSTRATION]

Lent 2
Mood:  hug me
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Initial thoughts and research ...

Genesis 17:1-17
> Between 16:16 and 17:1, there are 16 years of silence. Ever been in those years?
> "El Shaddai" may come from "s'e day" [s'e is a relative particle and day is "enough"; thus, "The One Who Is Enough." It could also stem from sade which is related to "breast" or "mountain"---"One of the Mountains." I tend to think that the former meaning makes the most sense.
> "Abram" is "exalted father"---which must have felt like a mockery when he has no child with his wife; "Abraham" means "father of many"---God has placed his promise in the middle of Abraham's name.
> "Sarai" meant "contentious"---"one who second-guesses." "Sarah" means "the princess."
> According to Ugaritic law, nomadic merchants from other nations could not purchase real estate in Canaan (see C.H. Gordon, "Abraham and the Merchants of Ura," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1958). Yet Yahweh says that he will give him the land of Canaan.
> What you named you possessed power over. [Adam and the animals]
> There is no parallel in the ancient world to a covenant between a deity and a human!
> Circumcision: Because of the shedding of blood, there was a sacrificial aspect to this ritual/separation was also implied.
> Why did Abraham laugh? It was too good to be true---the first birth for which Medicare would have to pick up the tab, the first people to buy Pampers and Depends in the same shopping trip, both parents and baby ate the same strained vegetables because none of them had a tooth in their head.
> When God told him about circumcision, "My hearing's not too good anymore. You did not just tell me to do what I thought you told me to do, did you? Okaaaaay ... okay, God, could we just have a secret decoder ring or a secret handshake, but no knives, not at my age."
> God did away with this; we show ourselves to be sacrifices and separated through baptism---I'm glad he did. You think it's bad, on Nominating Committee, finding people for Preschool Ministry Team? Think about if we had a Circumcision Committee.
> When Abraham sins later, it is because he forgets "El-Shaddai"---he forgets that God is enough, that God is sufficient, that God can provide.
> We think we have to have everything, to make our lives easier, as we have more the more things we have the more they make us think we need more [[[Remote that beeps ... some of you ...]]]
> Name change: Classified ad about grave marker, change name to be able to use it.
> See Isaiah 62:2; Revelation 2:17; 3:12.

Lent 1
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
> BUMPER-STICKER THEOLOGY: Problem is that there's never enough room on a bumper sticker for the whole truth.
--> "Christians aren't perfect just forgiven."
--> True---Christians are not perfect, "nobody's perfect," chances are we won't be perfect until we are enjoying God's presence for eternity---BUT ...
--> The problem is, we become okay with that---sinning is a natural part of life, "I'm not perfect," "God will just have to understand."
--> We may be okay with that, but God isn't. ["Be perfect," {not saying perfect scores on every test but complete obedience to God} "Be compassionate," "Be holy"]
--> Not only that, if you have trusted Jesus Christ, you are already dead to sin: [Rom. 6]: Your Christian life should be a process of becoming what you already are in Jesus Christ.
> Because you are dead to sin, because the same Spirit that empowered Jesus lives in you, you can choose NOT to sin.
--> Why then do we still choose to sin? We don't stop sin where it begins. Sin never begins with your choices; sin begins in your mind. [Anger is rehearsed in your mind long before it explodes in your actions/Sexual relationships outside of marriage happen in the mind before they happen in the body/Revenge happens in your fantasies before it happens anywhere else.]
--> [[[Like bugs in a bug-zapper, we think we can get close to it in our thoughts but not affect our actions]]]
--> "Thoughts form choices, choices form habits, habits form your character, character forms your destiny."
--> I don't know about you, but I'd like to stop sinning ... I'd like to stop sin where it begins ... Will I be perfect before Easter? Maybe not---but I can do better, and so can you.
--> Between now and Easter ... SIX STEPS TO STOP SINNING.
> COMMON PROBLEM WHEN TRYING TO STOP SINNING: Illustrate: Do not think about a Koala bear, especially not in a pink dress, especially not with a lightsaber.
--> Why was it difficult not to think about it? (1) I caused you to focus on NOT thinking about it. (2) I put temptations in front of you to cause you to think about it.
--> "I'm not going to do it again": The sin becomes your focus; whenever the sin is your focus, no matter how much you don't want to do it, you will go back to it. Why? The same reason you couldn't keep from thinking about a koala---because what you focus on, you eventually do, and because the world around us constantly places reminders of the sin in our paths.
--> A sect in Jesus' day called "the bleeding Pharisees" because, to avoid lust, they made their entire focus in life never even to let their eyes rest on a woman: "He makes as if he shut his eyes, that he may not look upon women, and so runs and dashes his head against the wall, till the blood gushes out." Yet, in their minds, nothing was changed: [Matt. 23:27].
> STEP 1 TO STOP SIN WHERE IT BEGINS: Stop trying to stop sinning ... because as long as you're focused on the sin, you will never escape the sin.
--> "Don't try? I can do that!"---there's more, but before we can get there, [PSALM 25].
TEXT
> Read Psalm 25 and pray.
> Complex poem: (1) Acrostic/(2) Chiasmus: 1st and last will be similar, 2nd and next-to-last ... what is most important to writer, very middle.
--> Vv. 2 and 21: "I trust in you"/"I hope in you."
--> Vv. 2b and 20: "Put to shame."
--> Vv. 2c-3 and 19: "Enemies."
> Center: Verse 11: "For the sake of your name, Yahweh, wipe away my sin---there are so many of them." Sometimes, David's "enemies" are people; in this case, his enemies seem to be his sins.
--> "How do I deal with my sin?"
>> V. 9: Be honest, humble---admitting the real darkness that's in our minds.
>> Vv. 16-18: See what sin does. Sin wrecks relationships. [Vv. 2, 20: Shame]
--> When you're ashamed of something, natural response is to lie about it.
--> Why shame? When we sin, we become less than we were created to be.
--> That's why God despises sin in his people's lives---wrecks our relationships, break our hearts ... WOLF: Lick blade ... no matter how small, eventually some part of your heart/life/relationships will be left broken and bleeding by it.
>> Vv. 21, 5, 3: Stop looking for a quick fix. It doesn't happen instantly---that's what we're waiting for sometimes. It happens through the slow, hard work of seeking God.
>> V. 14: Look for God's real purpose: "Secret," "counsel": What you share with a friend: "Friendship with God is for those that fear him."
--> God's goal is NOT just that you stop sinning. God wants you to stop sinning so that he can enjoy a deeper friendship with you.
--> Whenever you have a deep friendship with someone, you want to get rid of things that stand between you---the primary goal isn't the stuff between you, it's the deeper friendship that you want to share.
--> "Fear"/"Friendship" seem contradictory: With God, there is fear---all-powerful, glorious, unable to be looked upon, despises sin---but there is also friendship, because this God delights in us.
--> James 2:21-23
RESOLUTION
> First step: Stop trying to stop sinning, start focusing on being God's friend.
> Everything you do, ask, "What will this do to my friendship with God?"
APPLICATION
> Fill your mind with that thought: When turn on TV ... / Cue song on CD ... / Respond to spouse or children ... / Click mouse on website ... / Look at someone ... : "I am God's friend. How will this affect my friendship with God?"
> COBRA, E.N.T...., Ortberg: "The most dangerous moment is when you're letting it go."

Thought for a future week ... No desire is bad in and of itself; God created your desires. What can be bad is how we fulfill that desire. Every sin you commit is an attempt to fulfill some unfulfilled need in your life. Bro. Lawrence: "Our sanctification does not depend as much on changing our activities as it does on doing them for God rather than for ourselves."

Thoughts about a Lenten Series
Mood:  blue
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Inclement weather caused Epiphany 7 to get moved to Transfiguration Sunday. I want to start Lent "on time," so we skipped the Transfiguration this year. Oh, well. Maybe we can experience transfiguration twice next year.

I know that I'll need to answer the question, "What's Lent anyway? And what does it have to do with Baptists?" So, the pre-intro to Sunday's message will run something like this ...

> Lent has nothing to do with what you find in your navel.
--> Lent is a season, 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.
--> People with ashes on their foreheads this past Wednesday?
> The word "Lent" comes from the same root as "lengthen"---it refers to the time that the days are growing longer.
> There's a paradox in Christian faith: In these 40 days as the days grow warmer and longer---the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday---we think about our own shortcomings, become honest about the darkness that's in our hearts, remember the suffering that our sin caused on the cross. We consider the darkness while nature is growing lighter. Why? Because our new life comes not from nature but from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
> As with many of our symbols and rituals, this one gets twisted. "Since we remember our sins and repent of them during Lent, let's sin as much as we can on the day before Lent!" Mardi Gras---Fat Tuesday---is the result, which completely misses the point. It's a time that we focus on dealing with sin so that we can live in God's grace and joy throughout the entire year.

Notes for Epiphany 7
Mood:  happy
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
SEUSS 3
MOTIF: Review ... Horton Hears a Who.
> This is the longing of every human heart: ?See who I am---no matter how small or insignificant I may seem---and treat me as if I matter.?
DILEMMA: That's what Jesus did, that's why he attracted such vast crowds.
> How do we do the same? How do we care for people like Jesus did? [Some thoughts, Ortberg]
TEXT AND PRAY: 2:1: ?At home?: Which home? Simon Peter and Andrew's! (cf. 1:29-34)
> Archaeologists have excavated this house [basalt, built 50 years earlier].
> At first, I imagine Peter's pretty proud of this fact: ?Me and Messiah? Tight, man!?
> This was great for a while: Peter's mother-in-law gets healed, makes his wife happy! Jesus teaches in a new way, makes the people happy! But, then, things start to get out of hand.
2:2: The crowd, ?no room? ... living room's packed ... messy, disruptive ... Jesus is becoming highly inconvenient.
> WHENEVER YOU INVITE GOD INTO YOUR LIFE, YOU ALSO INVITE EVERYONE THAT GOD LOVES. Because, after all, a person's a person no matter how small.
> Simon: ?Jesus is great---but the rest of this riffraff??
> The same thing happens to us: ?'I'm fine with loving Jesus'---but ... loving Jesus means loving people ... and not just people that are easy to love. We find out: God needs someone to help him make better choices about who he loves. Some of the people that God loves can be real jerks.? Suddenly, loving Jesus becomes highly inconvenient.
--> God loves people with AS IS tags: Pasts: 1 Cor. 6:9-11/Still struggle in present: Heb. 12:1.
2:3: This day, someone showed up in Simon Peter's house with a huge AS IS tag (6'x3').
> ?A paralytic ... four men?: From perspective of culture, this man did not matter [no hope for surgery/no jobs for disabled/no Social Security program/lay on mat, cloak outstretched, hoping for coins/TREATED AS A NON-PERSON]. He was too small to matter, too shattered to be healed, too insignificant for most people to take the time to notice.
> From perspective of leaders, afflictions such as this always resulted from sin (cf. John 9:1-3).
> Four friends: Decided to take him to Jesus ... no way in.
--> Organizational guy: ?Brainstorm! No stupid ideas.? Youngest: ?Let's climb on roof, tear a hole above Jesus, lower him down.? ?Okay, I take it back ... at least one stupid idea.?
2:4: Roof was made of thatch, ladder going up the side ... still, this is not normal!
> At first, flecks of plaster ... Jesus needs some Head & Shoulders. Pretty soon, no one's listening to Jesus.
> Simon thought he was hosting Bible study; what he gets instead is a skylight. Everyone else is staring in awe; Simon's staring at his State Farm policy to see if this is covered. About the time mat touches floor, Simon's on his cell-phone with agent: ?Jesus is here! Doesn't that qualify as an act of God??
2:5: ?Their faith?: Not just the friends' but also the man's ... FAITH IS SOMETHING YOU SHARE ... you cannot be Christian alone anymore than you can get married alone. It requires you not only to believe in Jesus but also to believe with others. [A grit: ?Honey, they don't come by themselves.?]
> ?Son, your sins are forgiven [released]?: Friends, man, utterly disappointed! They've come for healing---and Jesus says is ... . [WHAT SINS CAN A PARALYTIC COMMIT?]
--> Why? Partly because release from sin is the man's deepest need ... another reason: To show that his sickness is not necessarily the result of sin. [He's received forgiveness---but he's still stuck to his mat.]
--> Forgiveness isn't everything's okay; forgiveness means, ?What you've done is wrong?but I will let a power greater than myself take care of it.?
--> By ?forgive? [?release?], Jesus isn't talking about the man being forgiven of something he's done to Jesus?the man's never met Jesus. He's saying, ?Your sins?--all the darkness within you is released.
2:6-7: Religious leaders don't buy this: ?If he's really been forgiven, he should be walking! Fact that he's not walking ... proves Jesus is a fake. Besides, only God can forgive [ISAIAH 43:25].?
2:8-11: ?Which is easier?? Forgiving sins is harder, but the results aren't as visible.
> ?So you know Son ... forgive??so you know I'm not only man but God??prove it outwardly.?
2:12: ?Amazed?? Existasthai: ?Standing outside themselves,? ?surprised out of their skins.?
> A man who is God, but most of all a God who loves the least ... a God who looks at all people as if, after all, a person's a person no matter how small. Peter Chrysologus: ?Carry the mat that once carried you, so that the sign of your brokenness becomes the sign that you are whole, so that the stretcher that bore your life's pain becomes proof of life's pleasure, so that the weight of your bed shouts for all to see that now, at long last, you are finally free.?
RESOLUTION: In light of Jesus' example, how do we do this?
(1)OPEN to reflection of God's presence in all people ... didn't say, ?I'm engaging in teaching session here, please go back on roof until our ten-minute break? ... ?Son.? Why? Looked for reflection of God's presence in all people. [Matt. 25] ... here, there are dozens who need someone to see ... need someone simply to notice [Ortberg, EN, 90].
(2)HONEST about real needs: ?Sins forgiven?: There are times when we have to give something different than what the person wants---not because we don't see reflection of God but because we aren't helping their real needs. ENABLE/TAKE ADVANTAGE. ?Sins are forgiven?: ?You're a sinner and you need forgiveness first.?
(3)AMAZED at the wonder of God's grace.
> How do we know when this really happens? When people show up broken and leave rejoicing.
> Are people desperate to bring their brokenness here? Why do most people not want to bring their brokenness to church? We are not in the business of polishing lives that have it all together; we are in the business of piecing together lives that have fallen apart!
APPLICATION: Everyone comes with a mat?a point at which others say, ?I don't love you quite that much.? Where's your mat? Where are others'?
> [Humane Society, Ortberg EN 88-90/Tony Campolo: Birthday party for a whore]

First thoughts on Epiphany 7
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Sermon Staging Area

Primary text for this weekend is Mark 2:1-12, the account of the paralyzed man whose friends dug a hole in the roof. I'll be drawing heavily from John Ortberg's sermon "Fellowship of the Mat." I always struggle with what I should do when I am drawing material from someone else's message. On the one hand, I want to be honest, letting people know that I'm using thoughts from someone else. On the other hand, aren't all thoughts in sermons "from someone else"? Plus, it's distracting when a preacher says every few moments, "As ____ says in _____ ... ." What's worse, there are people in the pews who---if you state that you're drawing ideas from someone else---respond by assuming that, as a result, the pastor isn't doing anything. What they don't see is that, even if I draw some thoughts and illustrations from someone else, the sermon was no less difficult to create---adapting each part for my specific audience, creating the PowerPoint, etc. Additionally, even if I draw ideas from someone else, I still always read every commentary I own on the text and, usually, translate the text from Greek to English, looking up each significant word. The dilemma is basically this, "How do I footnote a sermon?" I've thought about putting small "footnotes" at the bottom of PowerPoint slides, but I'm afraid that that too would be a distraction. If anyone else has any ideas on this, please email me or post a comment.

First thoughts on the text ...

This was Simon Peter's house. When Jesus first moved in, he was probably a bit proud of the fact that Jesus had chosen his home. ("Oh yeah, me and the Messiah? We're tight, man, tight. In fact, he's staying at my place right now.") But WHENEVER YOU INVITE GOD, YOU ALSO INVITE ALL THE PEOPLE THAT GOD LOVES. When you invite God in, you may get more than you expected.

How do I know if Jesus is inside? When people show up broken and leave dancing.

Do people tear off the roof to bring their brokenness here? If not, why not?

At first, the paralytic must have been disappointed: He comes for a healing and Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven"---then it looks like a theological fist-fight is going to break out! But all of this occurs to show that it is indeed the power of God at work in Jesus Christ.

This house seems to have been found in excavations of the area. "The house was built at the very end of the Hellenistic period (first century B.C.). In the second half of the first century A.D. some peculiar features set apart this building from all the others so far excavated in Capernaum. Here, in fact, the pavements received floors of lime several times. Interesting enough, many pieces of broken lamps were found in the thin layers of lime."

"When Jesus saw their faith": This does not imply---as this is often interpreted---that it was strictly the friends' faith that led to the man's healing. It includes the friends' faith and the man's faith! It took faith for the paralytic to come to Jesus, to give in to this crazy plan. Faith is a shared event.

Close exegesis: 2:1: en oiko = "in home" or "at home"---presumably, Simon and Andrew's home, in light of Mark 1:29-34.

2:4: apostegazo: "unroofed"
krabbatos: "mat," rather than "bed" or "stretcher"

2:5: "Son" in its vocative usage always refers in Mark to persons that trust in Jesus with childlike trust (cf. 9:36-37, 42; 10:13-16, 24).

2:7: Release from sins is domain of divine: Exodus 34:6ff; Isa. 43:25; 44:22. Cf. Isa. 33:22, 24: "Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver. ... No one living in Zion will say, 'I am ill,' and the sins of those living in Zion will be released." Priests could pronounce forgiveness, but only when there was repentance, restitution, and sacrifice. A thought ... God always heals those that trust in him, because sickness is something less than God's creative intention for the cosmos: Sometimes it's miraculously (as here), sometimes it's through medical treatment (as in the man beaten by robbers in the Good Samaritan parable), sometimes it's by God giving the grace to endure it to the end (as in Paul's thorn in the flesh). In every case, God can heal it or share it because---on the cross---he already bore it. The same God works in medical healing as in miraculous healing. In truth, isn't even medical healing a miracle?

2:11: Church father Peter Chrysologus said in a sermon on this text, "Carry the bed that once carried you so that the proof of your sickness becomes the proof of your soundness, your bed of life's pain a signpost of life's pleasure, the weight of the mat a sign that you are now free."

2:12: existasthai: "Standing-beside-themselves," perhaps---colloquially, in English---"surprised-out-of-their-skin."

Paraphrased from Ortberg: This man had an "AS IS" tag that was three feet wide and six feet long, a mat.

Everybody comes with a mat.

The management guy in the group---the one with the MBA---holds a brainstorming session: "Remember there are no dumb ideas." Then, one of the younger guys in the group says, "Dude! Why don't we dig a hole in the roof!" At which point the management guy says, "Okay, there is at least one dumb idea."

Peter thinks he's just hosting a Bible study---what he gets is a skylight. The rest of the people are staring in awe; Peter's checking his State Farm policy.

"Jesus is here! Does that qualify on insurance as an 'act of God'?"

What sins can a paralytic commit anyway? Jesus knows that the deadliest sins---anger, judgmentalism, resentment, lust, arrogance---can occur without the body doing anything.

Notes for Epiphany 6
Mood:  happy
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
MOTIF
> The Sneetches: We're all caught up in same dilemma.
--> We know things aren't quite right, we see brokenness in our world, in ourselves.
--> We know we need change---but the CHANGES that the world around us offers ... don't satisfy our deepest needs, cannot heal our deepest hurts.
--> Yet the awareness remains: There are things in my life that need to change---the question is WHAT and HOW.
[[[VIDEO ON CHANGES]]]
> Sale rack: "AS IS," "SLIGHTLY IRREGULAR." [pocket won't hold, zipper won't zip, button won't butt]
--> We're all slightly irregular---none of us is normal, NORMAL is a setting on your dryer. We all have things that need to change.
--> "Totally normal women who stalk their ex-boyfriends."
--> AS IS tags: Fear, pain, temper, lust, illness, haunting memory, regret
> One thing I love about the Bible is God doesn't try to hide fact that God's people need to be changed: Adam blames Eve, Cain murders Abel, Abraham plays favorites with sons---still enemies to this day, Isaac does the same, so does Jacob whose sons throw Joseph in well ... and these are the heroes!
--> These people are not the Waltons or Cleavers---need a therapist, Dr. Phil/Laura/Ruth/Spock/Seuss!
--> What do we learn from this?
--> The babies in the nursery aren't the only ones that need to be changed: Isa. 53:6.
DILEMMA
> What do I need to change? What am I supposed to change into? God's goal for you: PEACE. ALL OF OUR CHANGES ARE ATTEMPTS TO FIND THE PEACE FOR WHICH GOD CREATED US. [SHALOM: Harmony with God and with others] [[[SHALOM]]]
> What takes away my peace? Your AS IS tag ... pain from past/Frustration with present/Fear for future
> Col. 1:19-22; John 14:27: How do I live in the peace that's already mine in Jesus Christ?
TEXT: 2 Kings 5:1-19 and pray
5:1: NAAMAN: Name means "pleasant one"---but his life wasn't. "Great man," "valiant soldier" ... BUT something in his life that needed to change, something that's struck every semblance of peace from his life: "He had leprosy"---this was his AS IS tag.
> Small spot at this point [5:11], but ...
> "Leprosy" included not only "Hansen's Disease" [from listening to Hanson] but also other skin diseases: If this was Hansen's Disease ...
> Soon, leprosy spread until ... repulsive, he couldn't lead battles, reduced to rotting remnant of man, separated from all he's ever achieved or loved. As he looks at his life, huge AS IS tag---no peace, needs change.
5:2-3: [Show Aram on map] Arameans were Israel's enemies; in fact, Arameans had just defeated Israel at Ramoth-Gilead.
> Not only that, thieves and kidnappers ...
> Little girl, unnamed, as his wife watches her husband wither away day by day: "If only my master ..."
5:4-6: Believes only way he can find peace is through what he can do ... he may not have health but has money ... 10 talents [750 pounds], 6,000 shekels [150 pounds].
5:7-10: Goes to king's court > "Am I God? King is trying to pick a fight with me!"
> Elisha: "Send him to me, he will see, there is a prophet in Israel"---hope!
> Elisha sends secretary/"Seven times ... Jordan"/When it's calm enough to dip in, the Jordan is a nasty, muddy river.
> Change you need isn't something you can achieve; it's something you simply receive---but the path to receiving it isn't always the pathway you expected.
> Naaman can't see past his "AS IS" tag---he sees his leprosy, his power, his way, and nothing more.
5:11-14: "If it had been something you had to achieve---win battle, give money---you would have done it. Why not try this way?"
> Each time, looks at skin ... finally.
5:15-19: Rushes to Elisha's, "No God except in Israel!"
> "Can I give you ... ?" No! "Can I have ... ?": Irony, dirt of Israel had been precisely what he didn't want just a few moments earlier! Now, he wants two truckloads!
--> Why? He believes God of Israel can only be worshiped on Israelite soil ... Elisha smiles and says, "Okay, take dirt"---Elisha knows what Naaman doesn't, God who reigns in Israel also reigns in Aram.
--> "What about when I go into temple?" [Thunder, high god of Aram]---recognizes, if Israel's God is supreme, Rimmon is false.
--> Elisha sees that it isn't only Naaman's body that's been changed; it's his soul: "Go in peace."
RESOLUTION
> How do I change so that I can experience peace? Stop living AS IS and start living AS IF.
> Naaman: "AS IS": Leprosy ... money and power can change/"AS IF": However absurd it may seem, I will step into this water as if this God can change me.
APPLICATION
> How does this work, practically?
--> AS IS: Anger ... root: "My agenda is most important" ... AS IF: "God is in control, greater agenda than my own, I will live as if he knows what he's doing."
--> AS IS: Lust ... root: "I want more/different than what God has provided." AS IF: "I will live as if God provides me what I need."
--> AS IS: Struggles with money ... "I just need to make more" ... AS IF: "I will live as if God will provide what I need/change my habits/give God what belongs to him."
--> AS IS: Relationships that stand in way of God ... "God doesn't provide all I need" ... AS IF: Every need I have, Jesus can fulfill.
--> AS IS: Bitterness ... "What that person did wasn't covered at the cross" ... AS IF: "I will live as if that wrong was nailed to the cross with Jesus, Jesus suffered punishment for it, God can take care of it."
> "I can't!": Naaman, standing before muddy water ... it's in risk of radical obedience that we learn to live AS IF.
> Each AS IS is something that blocks our peace.

Notes for Epiphany 5
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Motif
> "How the Grinch Stole Christmas": Will they still celebrate Christmas when all the gifts are gone?
Dilemma
> You've struggled with this question too. No, the Grinch has never slipped into your house, but ...
> ... Will I still trust in God when I'm not getting anything good out of it?
---> There will come a time in every person's life when, as far as you can tell, you're not getting anything good out of your faith in God.
---> PROBLEM: Often, when we advertise Christian faith to the world, we tell about all the wonderful things you'll get out of it.
-----> The world is smart enough to see that not everything is positive and perfect---not even for Christians.
-----> Christians experience tragedy, pain, and sickness in the same amounts as the rest of the world. And the death rate of Christians? So far, every person who has become a Christian has eventually died!
> Recently, asked some people on the street about this: "Why do even people who believe in God experience tragedy?" [[[VIDEO]]]
---> Caused by karma/caused by sin/caused by chance [[[KARMA: Doesn't see that there is more good than evil/CHOICES: {Job} Partly true; none is sinless---but why isn't it proportionate? Assumes God directly causes/CHANCE: Partly true; but, if chance is the final word, life is a series of random events, with no guaranteed outcome]]]
---> God has set up the world so sin and stupid choices have consequences: SO, sometimes, it's sin/God has created a world in which nature operates freely: SO, sometimes, things happen and God doesn't intervene./In such a world, you'll eventually face the question: "Will I still trust God even when I get nothing good out of it?"
> That's how Israelites felt in Isaiah 40.
TEXT
> Read Isaiah 40:12-31 and pray.
> Israel: Nation that God chose so that he could show his power to the world ... turned them from slaves to a mighty nation ... called him, "Yahweh"/"I AM."
> This passage is written from the perspective of the exile---the time when the country of Babylon removed the Israelites from their land.
---> Some scholars believe that Isaiah wrote it, looking FORWARD to the exile (around 700 BC); others believe that one of Isaiah's followers wrote it DURING the exile (550 BC).
---> Ultimately, doesn't matter: It is part of the record of God's dealings with humanity, and it is true.
> [Israelites in Babylon/assumed it was because of sin/Many of them admitted, turned/"Now what?"]
> "If God doesn't come through for us, why trust him? If we don't get anything good out of following God, why follow?" Like what Grinch envisioned in Whoville: If we don't receive the gifts we expected, why celebrate?
> The prophet says the same sort of things that God said to Job: [Verses 12-13]
---> These people are homesick in Babylon, considering turning again to idols---and God wants to talk about the size of the oceans, the width of the sky, and the weight of the earth!
---> Why, when people are wondering ... , does God consistently direct their attention to nature? YOUR STRUGGLES ARE NOT THE FINAL WORD. [[[The earth was here long before you ever set foot on it, and it will most likely continue long after its dust and your body have mingled together in the sleep of death. The universe is vast and ancient, and we are ever so small. READ VV. 12-13.]]]
---> One of the great losses of spending so much time in cars, homes, buildings, enfolded in TVs and headphones is that we lost sight of how small we are.
---> Plus, if you look at universe honestly, you cannot deny that there is, here, imprint of power greater than eyes can see. [PSALM 19:1-2]
[[[THE LORD OF THE RINGS: "There are greater powers at work."]]]
> When we wonder, "Why serve God when I'm getting nothing good out of it?" ... we are assuming that the powers we see working are the only ones/when we look honestly at creation, we see that there are powers at work far greater than anything we can imagine. [[[Vv. 14-17]]]
> V. 18: "To whom can we compare?" Dangerous! For these people, there is another option besides Yahweh---Marduk, god of Babylon.
---> So ... Vv. 21-22, 25-26: "I'm the one beyond it all!"
> Vv. 27-29: "How can you say that I'm not seeing your struggles? ... you're following me for nothing? I'm offering you power and strength!" >> "Yes! This is what we've been waiting for! Defeat our enemies!"
> V. 31: "I will give you power and strength to keep going."
---> Begins with "soaring," then running, then walking, then waiting: If God only gives us strength for the times that we're soaring and running, he wouldn't be giving us much---what he offers is the strength when all that we can do is to plod and to wait.
---> Maybe your entire Christian life is all soaring and running---if so, good for you ... go home. [You don't need what we have to offer here; this church is a place for people who struggle.]
---> If your life is anything like mine, your spirit spends far more time plodding and waiting than soaring and running.
---> This God gives us strength for the waiting, power for the plodding, and grace for those few moments when we find the wings to fly.
RESOLUTION
> So, what do you do when you're following God and you're getting nothing good out of it? CHECK YOUR DEFINITION OF "GOOD."
---> Our definition of "good": "What works according to my standards---what makes my life easier"---the soaring and the running.
---> That's not necessarily God's definition of "good" ... God offers a greater goodness ... in every circumstance, at the very least, he gives the capacity to keep walking and waiting ... any run-of-the-mill God can be there for you when you're soaring---it takes a truly great God to be there when all you can do is plod.
> Will you still trust God when you're getting nothing good out of it? That time will never come---because he always, at least, gives what you need to wait on his power.
> Why can God always give the ability to keep going? Because there was a time that God himself could do nothing more than just keep going. [["If there is any other way..."/Up Calvary, he wasn't soaring or skipping---it was all that he could do simply to keep going/There was a time when, from human perspective, God in human flesh was getting nothing good from his own plan/But he kept going.]]
APPLICATION
> Why are you serving God?
---> If it's only to get more things in this present life, you probably won't.
---> If it's just to skip Hell in the next life, you probably won't either.
---> God longs for you to serve him not for what you may get out of it but because you truly trust that---whatever you get, good or bad, in this life or the next---his way is best ... because you love his way.
> What will you do when it feels like you're getting nothing good out of God's plan?
---> He will always give you the strength to wait ... so don't give up, keep trusting that your wings are on their way.
> [[[BOWLERS OR TRAPEZE ARTISTS]]]
> Prayer of Merton

Fifth Sunday of the Epiphany
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Okay, after one week of emphasizing the church's future and one week in which the associate pastor preached, it's back to series again ...

During the month of February, the messages will be outward-focused, asking the question, "What will it take for the world around us to believe?" The visual-cultural motifs will be drawn from Dr. Seuss.

On this, the first Sunday of the series, the answer will be, "When they see that, for the people of God, every moment matters." The primary text will be Isaiah 40:21-31.

Whether this chapter was written by Isaiah or by one of his immediate disciples during the exile, I am not concerned. Chapters 40-66 do not directly claim Isaianic authorship, so---even as a staunch inerrantist---I have no problem with the hypothesized authorship of Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah. At the same time, the style and content of chapters 40-66 are clearly drawn from the same well as chapters 1-39, whether or not they were penned by the same individual. And, in any case, the perspective of this chapter is exilic, whether it was written prophetically before the exile or existentially in the exile.

I'll probably use Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

Thoughts on the text ...

From Fred Gaiser: “Who is my equal?” asks God, in our text. It’s kind of a macho question. Picture Clint Eastwood challenging any and all comers to “make my day.” “Who is my equal?” A big God on his high horse staking his claim, drawing the line in the sand, daring any to cross over it. “To whom will you compare me?” Well, nobody, I suppose, now that you put it that way. But is that the right tone of voice to put in the mouth of the God of this text, the God of the Bible? One of the most surprising things in this part of the book of Isaiah is that God invites the comparison at all, lets himself be put on trial, in fact. Who is God? Have at the question. God not only allows it, God invites it. It’s a surprising and dangerous move, because then and now there are real and obvious alternative answers. Safely seated in Sunday school, we may have no trouble naming God as God, but outside in the real world, the answers are not so clear. Then or now. When our text was written over 2500 years ago, Israel sat in captivity in Babylon, having been sorely defeated by that superpower of its day, and every observer would have said not only that Nebuchadnezzar had won, but also that Marduk had won. Who is my equal? Well, Marduk! No question. Who won? Not only your equal, but your better. Jerusalem is a burning ruin, and your people are confined to the Babylonian ghetto. “Who is my equal?” Think twice before you ask, God, there is another possibility.

Verses 27-28: "My way is hidden": There are areas of my life that I can hide from God, there are moments in my life that don't ultimately matter to God---moments when I can do what I want, times that belong to me. There are none. Every moment matters to God. There is no time when God becomes too tired or too distracted to look at your life. God does not tire, and those that wait expectantly for him to look into their lives---for the time when he will examine their lives, believing that one day he will---will find themselves sharing in this unending strength.