Message Notes for Lent 5
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
SIX STEPS TO STOP SINNING
4 of 6
REVIEW
> Stop trying .../Jesus is enough/It's not about keeping the rules, it's about living in love.
MOTIF
> To defeat sin in your life, you've got to learn to confess.
--> 1 John 1:9: Beautiful verse, comforting verse---but one of the most misused verses: "If we confess our sins, God is trustworthy and in the right to release us from our sins and to wash us clean from everything in us that isn't right [with God]"---a beautiful verse, but it means so much more than we usually get out of it.
> What confession isn't ...
--> ... admitting you've done wrong [How we use the term]/Bumper sticker: "Yes, I have the body of an 18-year-old but it's in the trunk and it's starting to smell."
--> ... for the purpose of making you feel better [www.dailyconfessions.com] [Marghanita Laski: "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me."]
--> ... to avoid divine punishment:
-----> If you are a Christian, your punishment has already been taken on the cross [When some tragedy strikes, "What is God punishing me for?" ... your punishment has already been taken.]
-----> God does let us experience the natural consequences of our bad choices. [Drink poison? Leap from a building? This falls into the general theological category of don't be stupid.]
-----> God does discipline his children---God allows events to happen in our lives to remind us that we are not in control, to call us back to him. He does this in love. [Hebrews 12:7-8]
> When I was younger ... "God, forgive me of everything I've done wrong today," each night. What was wrong with that? I wanted to avoid God's punishment, and I was confessing my sins to God, wasn't I? It was to make me feel better/avoid punishment.
--> "Just do it and then ask forgiveness" or "God knows and he'll just have to understand": That's not confession, and God doesn't have to understand---Jesus did not die so that we could exploit God's grace but so that we could imitate God's holiness.
--> To imitate God's holiness ... real confession.
> What is confession---real confession?
> Homologeo: To express the same idea from one's heart ... to confess sin to God is to agree with God's view of the sin.
--> The goal is not simply release from punishment; it's release from the sin itself---the goal of confession is to break the grip that a sin has in your life!
DILEMMA
> Where do I learn to confess my sins?
TEXT
> Psalm 51
> Ascription: After David's sin with Bath-Sheba ... [describe David's actions ... kept it under wraps for nearly a year] there is no sin that God is unable to deliver you from ... "Thou art the man."
I. 51:1: Chanani elohim k'chesedek ... : In three words, David gives up any illusion that he is in control. [At the essence of sin is the delusion that we're in control.]
--> David's king! But he knows there's a greater king! And he knows it is only by this king's mercy that he can live.
--> "You and you only": Every sin is ultimately against God ... image of God.
--> [[[1]]] In authentic confession, I give up the delusion that I am in control. [If I received what I deserve ... 51:11 ... 51:1b: It is only because of love.]
II. 51:2, 7: "Wash me thoroughly": Not "take away the consequences" but "take away the sin itself": David doesn't want to remain in this sin.
--> Sometimes confession: "Change my situation so I may praise you." David says, "Change me, and I will praise you regardless."
--> [[[2]]] In authentic confession, it isn't about avoiding the punishment for the sin [51:4b!] ... it's about being released from the power of the sin ... breaking free.
III. 51:6: "God, look into my darkest closets---the things I've done that only you can see."
--> Peek-a-boo: Practice ... damaging to child if they don't play peek-a-boo ... "I can hide" ... hide-and-go-seek ... hunting/paintball.
--> We learn that we have the capacity to hide from other people---problem: We think we can hide from God too. [Adam and Eve]
--> We can't play peek-a-boo with God; we can't hide from God. You can hide it from me, spouse, parents; God sees.
--> [[[3]]]In authentic confession, we stop hiding: 51:5-6: "Sin runs deep in me---it always has. But I want to stop hiding from you."
> "I am the problem": [[[While in therapy ... single theme ties together: "I'm not the problem; it's not my fault." Go on TV so that someone can tell them, "You are the problem."]]] Things in my past may make it easier to slip into certain sins, but I am the problem.
--> When I sin, I cannot blame: 1 Cor. 10:13; Heb.12:4.
--> Good news: Even though I am the problem, I don't have to be the solution: Only God can release: 51:10: Bara, creation from nothing ... something only God can do!
> In everyone of us, areas where heart isn't clean ... things that we've never been completely honest with God about [dark closets, corners] ... sure, we know he knows it happened ... but we've never expressed to God how wrong it was, how much it hurt us, how much it hurt someone else.
--> Do you want that "clean heart"? (51:10).
--> What are you hiding? God already sees---but he cannot create new heart until you stop trying to hide it.
-----> It may be God isn't the only one that you need to stop trying to hide from: 51:13.
-----> James 5:16: [not publicly revealing every detail ... openness to brokenness ... rather than gossiping or tearing down: "How can we work together to love and to help?"]
-----> This is not a place where perfect people come to polish their perfect lives; it is a place where we work to put broken people back together.
RESOLUTION
> How do I really confess? Stop living as if you're in control---you aren't. Don't ask God to take away the discipline---ask him to take away the sin. Stop hiding---the one who loves you most of all already knows it all.
APPLICATION
> What are you hiding?
> [Small town in northern Greece/Aphitos/Millionnaire left 2 billion drachmae [[between $5-6 million]]: One condition: Read in public square details of his relative's lives with their consent---things they'd been hiding/Preferred to miss a vast treasure than to confess]

First thoughts on Lent 5
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
Last Sunday, the message was presented by a representative of Voice of the Martyrs. So, I'll be picking up the current series with Lent 5, focusing on David's confession and lament in Psalm 51. The message will be primarily concerned with what constitutes authentic confession of our sin to God.

Confession ...
> 1 John 1:9: A beautiful verse, a comforting verse---but one of the most misused and misunderstood verses in the Bible: "If we confess our sins, God is trustworthy and in the right to release us from our sins and to wash us clean from everything in us that isn't right [with God]."
> Confession is good for the soul---it's needed. (http://www.dailyconfessions.com). "I have no one to forgive me of my sins."
> When I was younger ... "God, forgive me of everything I've done wrong today," each night.
--> What was wrong with that? I wanted to avoid God's punishment, and I was confessing my sins to God, wasn't I?
--> No ... what confession isn't: (1) Confession is not simply admitting that you've done wrong. This is how it's used in our culture---when someone is accused of a crime, as well as, in some sense, in Roman Catholic tradition. (2) Confession is not for the purpose of avoiding divine punishment.
-----> If you are a Christian, your punishment has already been taken on the cross [When some tragedy strikes, "What is God punishing me for?" ... your punishment has already been taken.]
-----> God does let us experience the natural consequences of our sin. [Drink poison? Leap from a building? This falls into the general theological category of don't be stupid.]
-----> God does discipline his children---God allows events to happen in our lives to remind us that we are not in control, to call us back to him. He does this in love. [Hebrews 12]
> Homologeo: To have the same viewpoint or idea ... to confess sin to God is to agree with God's view of the sin. The goal is not simply release from punishment; it's release from the sin itself---the goal of confession is to break the grip that a sin has in your life!
> To defeat sin in our lives, we must learn to confess our sins---really confess.
> Psalm 51
Ascription: After sin with Bath-Sheba
51:1: Chanani elohim k'chesedek: In three words, David gives up any illusion that he is in control. He's the king! But he recognizes that there's a king greater than he---and what he deserves (cf. 51:11). Then, "according to your abundant mercy": Rachamim: "Because I am your child" (the root racham means "womb").
51:2, 7: "Wash me thoroughly": Not "take away the consequences" but "take away the sin itself": David doesn't want to remain in this sin. 51:13: Wants this so deeply that he wants to lead others out of sin.
51:4: "Against you only": Every sin is ultimately against God---a violation of the image of God in that person.
51:5: Not that his conception itself was sinful---every human being is born with a tendency toward sin.
51:6: Confession is about no longer hiding from God.
51:9: "When you look at me, please don't see this sin anymore."
51:17: You are the sacrifice that God wants---confession is ultimately about sacrifice.
"Create in me a clean heart": Bara, creation from nothing ... none but God is ever subject of this verb! ... Confession recognizes, "I am the problem."
--> Many prayers ask, "Change my situation so I may praise you." David says, "Change me, and I will praise you regardless."

"Peek-a-boo" ... hiding from God (Adam and Eve) ... town in Italy (?) that received money but with requisite that embarrassing details about family had to be read publicly.

Story from David Lodge about play wherein news of John F. Kennedy's death burst in ... reality broke through the play-acting.

Notes for Lent 3
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
STOP SINNING 3 of 6
Sermons and diapers both need to be changed frequently—and usually for the same reason.
Stop trying to stop sinning ... / Life as if God is really enough—because he is.
Motif
> HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS/ANYONE CAN HONK; IF YOU LOVE JESUS, TITHE!
> Neither honking nor tithing is what God wants if you love Jesus: JOHN 14:15.
> What comes first—love or obedience? If we loved God completely, we would naturally do what God commands.
> No one has a sin problem—what we have is a love problem.
> When I sin, it's because I love the world around me more than I love the God whose presence is within me. [MATT. 22: Two great commands are not Don't sin against God/Don't sin against your neighbor ... “Love the Lord”/“Love your neighbor.” Why? Central problem in human soul is not a sin problem—it's a love problem.]
> SIN BY ANGER, LASH OUT: Begins with not loving/LUST: Not loving spouse, person/STRESSED: Not loving God, not loving myself as someone formed in God's image.
> Where there is total love for God beyond me, for the people around me, and for the person God created me to be ... there is no space left for sin.
> Lost sight of the love: What is a Christian like? Against certain things? Keeps certain rules? Rules aren't necessarily bad—but a Christian is someone who's absolutely in love with God as he has been revealed in Jesus.
> You can be here every Sunday, keep all of the outward rules that good Christian people are supposed to keep—and still be living in depths of sin. The essence of sin is failing to love God completely.
--> To do this, I have to be honest about what I really love.
--> This is one of those things it's tough to be honest about—like your weight. How many people are really, completely honest about their weight? “Don't measure weight—measure fat content”—which sounds like a good idea to me, it's a lower number. Problem: Pinch or pool. Get out of shower/jump three times/start stopwatch/whenever everything stops jiggling, that's your fat content/I'm down to three ... days.] There are some things it's difficult to be honest about!
--> I'd like to think, “Oh, yeah, I love God”—but every time I sin, ... there's some spot in my soul where I don't love God completely.
Dilemma
> How do I move from keeping rules to loving God?
Text
> John 2:13–22
> It's Passover! Spring! When people who worship God of Israel remember how God delivered Hebrews from Egypt.
--> Everyone who's able goes to Jerusalem; population swells from 50,000 to 180,000. And not only Jews! Gentiles—God-fearers—who worshiped Israel's God would come to Jerusalem. There was an area for them; they couldn't go past the courtyard; ... ask a Jewish person to offer sacrifice for them, remain in the outer court to pray.
--> It's a profitable time: Most people didn't bring animals with them; instead, they bought them when they arrived in Jerusalem—these animals had to be pre-approved by the priests.
--> What's more, only “shekel” weights could be used in temple. Roman coins didn't come in shekels, plus had the image of Caesar.
--> Moneychangers converted Roman coins into Tyrian coinage, pure silver shekels with no image of Caesar.
--> This is a huge money-making operations for thousands of people!
--> Everyone that's here is keeping the commands.
> Might have expected Jesus to say, “Wow! I am so impressed! All these people, keeping the rules I made all the way back in Moses' day!”
> That's not what Jesus does.
> Makes whip/lashes oxen and sheep/threw coin-boxes to the ground/threw out sellers of doves/“Stop turning the house of my Father into a house of merchandise!” [Imagine if this happened here after offering!] [Jesus is annoying, inconvenient.]
> Leaders: “What sign do you show?”=“Why are you doing this? We're keeping the rules!”
> Good question: Why, if all these people are keeping the rules, does Jesus become so angry? Bad day?
--> Nothing to do with Bingo!
> To understand why Jesus did what he did, we've got to understand where he was when he did it.
--> Court of Israel, Women, Gentiles/sign between/expectations of Messiah: Charge into the temple area and throw out all the Gentiles/Where do you suppose the market had been set up?/Jesus, rather than throwing out the Gentiles, throws out those who had turned the place for Gentiles to pray into a market, spattered with the dung of pigeons, sheep, oxen.
--> They were keeping God's rules—coming to worship at Passover—but they weren't living in love.
--> What's more, Jesus makes a shocking statement ... refers to “Court of Gentiles” as the House of his Father/for religious leaders, “House of God” didn't begin until after you reached the Court of Israel [Gentiles, women were excluded from God's house]/”Father's house? House of God doesn't reach this far.”/”Fullness of God's love and grace doesn't reach that far!”--maybe as far as the sign, but certainly no farther.
--> Even more shocking statement: “Tear down the temple, and I'll rebuild it in three days.”
--> “46 years?”: King Herod began renovations on this temple 24 years before Jesus was even born; vast and beautiful! By this time ... 46 years
--> “His body”: Wherever Jesus is present in love, there is the house of God.
> What truth do we experience in this text? Keeping the rules isn't what God wants; what God wants is love—love of God beyond us, people around us, the person God has made us.
RESOLUTION
> So, how do I do this? How do I move from keeping rules to loving God, people, myself?
> LOVE JESUS / LOOK FOR JESUS: (1) LOVE JESUS: Not fuzzy feeling in tummy/not love ... indigestion/Adore Jesus, “Whatever you want to do with me, do it”/passion for pleasing Jesus/more precious to you than any dream/Does your mind wander toward Jesus?/You can never defeat sin until you love Jesus./(2) LOOK FOR JESUS: [When sit at restaurant, at work: “Hmph, can't believe ...”/Every person ... “Jesus desperately desires to live within that person.”/Tough to despise them then.
> Problem with religious leaders in Jesus' day: Couldn't imagine that God wanted anything to do with anyone but people like them, didn't think God's house could reach beyond.
--> As a result, they were keeping rules—but God was not impressed, because ... didn't truly love God, others, selves.
APPLICATION
> Consider honestly the sins that you're struggling with. Each one begins because we don't believe God is enough, continues because—somewhere—there's a failure to love. Who am I not loving with God's love?
> May need to ask God, “Where? What?”: Charles Steinmetz/electrical engineer for GE in early 1900s/retired/everyone baffled by problem in machines/X/$10,000/itemized: Making one X: $1.00/Knowing where to put it: $9,999.

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.