Jesus, Plain and Simple

Jesus, Plain and Simple

(Matthew 28:1-10) J G White

10:30 am, Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014, Windsor UBC

Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed!  This could be all that needs to be said.  It is as simple as that.  Jesus - human and God - is executed, and then is alive again.  Hallelujah!  How have you met Jesus alive?

So many days of our year we seem to have complex problems to solve, disagreements to resolve, or personal sins to absolve.  But at the heart of our Faith, and our church community, is a personal God, Jesus.  A God to celebrate!

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honour him, so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up” (sermon central)  

We celebrate today Jesus who shows up.  Though His appearances are often subtle and subversive.  How has Christ appeared to you in your life?

Today brings us all to Jesus, to point to Him, to enjoy Him, and marvel at Him, to put our confidence in Him, to lift Him up above other things that might seem important.  

Jesus once said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32) He was referring to his execution by being hung on a cross of wood, a common death penalty at the time.  But today we find Him up and alive!  

This day is simply all about Jesus.  Jesus, plain and simple.  Even when He gets up and is alive again, He is no show-off.

Stop and notice the extraordinary things that happened, things that would get people’s attention.  We hard one record of the resurrection, in Matthew 28. A sudden earthquake.  An angel from heaven rolling the stone away from the tomb.  The angel appearing like lightening, clothing bright white, as snow.  The guards at the tomb took off in fear at all this.  

So, Jesus coming out of the tomb would surely be a blast of glorious, incredible, wondrous, mighty, overwhelming…

Uh, no.  He is simply there, not even attracting attention.  Not glowing, not awe-inspiring.  Not even being recognised at first by some who knew him, as the Gospel of John would tell us.  Jesus Christ is simply present, alive, with them.  

Can some of you speak of moments and ways Jesus has appeared to you?

Jesus, executed and come back to life, is the One who is enough.  His story… continuing now, is the one thing needed.  He is greater than any great things that vie for attention, and any problems that arise.  

Christ is greater than the angels. Those angels who opened the tomb, or any other impressive spiritual creatures.  Hebrews chapter 1 speaks at length about this.

Christ is greater than bunnies & chocolates & easter dinners.

Christ is greater than the pagan origins of “easter” or “christmas,” and any other troubles with our religion.

Christ is greater than the passover and the Jewish sacrificial system out of which He lived His life.

Christ is greater even than the sacrificial atonement theories of Christianity.  He is our ransom, our substitute, he pays our debt, he wins a victory… all of this, and more.

Christ is greater than the problems in our thinking, such as why there is such suffering in the world, how creation came to be, and what God is or is not.  

Christ is greater than the best churches we’ve got, with the best vision statements, leaders, preachers and teachers, ministries, and music.  And Christ Jesus is better than the worst of Churches and Christian history.

You know one of my own favourite themes about Jesus and what He offers.  He is available, the Kingdom has come near.  This is one of the best ways to put it.  God and the good life is available to people - no matter what is happening in their lives.  Amid all the personal problems and disasters, and all the successes and happy moments, the best thing going is Jesus.

Father Michael Walsh at the Good Friday service here:

Jesus Christ died for me personally so that I might have life forever.  But unless I experience this salvation as a personal gift to me, my response to Jesus will always be less than wholehearted.  In order for Jesus to give me life, I must be open to that life and live my life for Him.  Jesus wants to give me life and salvation is a gift.  But it is a gift that must be received and Jesus is always waiting to open our hearts so that we will receive the gift of salvation.

Remember, as you look around the pews, here or any pews, each other person you see is on some journey with God.  From delightful obedience to desperate struggle, we are a variety.  Remember to look for God in the life of the other person.  The person you idolize, the one you appreciate, the one who doesn’t attract your attention, the one you dislike, the one you’d rather never ever meet up with.  Remember, there is a personal experience of the Lord that other one has had, and you can meet the Lord there too.  

So one way to respond to the events of what we call Good Friday and Easter is to look for Christ in others.   Another thing to do is to take the joy and glory of Easter Day and enjoy it 52 times a year - every Sunday an Easter.  It was exciting this morning to gather at the Blockhouse with believers from all around here, and have joyful fellowship at breakfast.  But on every ‘ordinary’ Sunday, shall we anticipate a special time with our living Saviour?  Yes!

A third thing to do is seek His Lordship over every project in our lives.  We plan a vacation... with Christ.  We raise our children: with the Master’s guidance.  We seek a medical doctor’s care: with the Great Physician at our side.  We befriend a neighbour: in the name of our Saviour and Friend, Jesus.  

Christ as the centre, around whom everything revolves.  Lift Jesus Higher, says one gospel song.  For Jesus once said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (John 12:32)

Author and evangelism professor, Leonard Sweet, says: “We lift Him up and He does the drawing…  It’s not ‘come to church,’ it’s ‘come to Christ’.”  Sweet finds, in his American context, that Christ is often missing from the churches, and he is missing Christ.  That breaks his heart.  

Jesus Christ is alive.  So our gospel, the good news, is alive today.  What is the Gospel?

There is a Kingdom, of sorts, that is God’s.  It has come near, it is available, people can enter this kind of life that is with God and from God.  The opportunity to turn around and receive it is here.  Jesus speaks of this, Jesus lives it, He is it, He provides it.

We people can be saved from evil, sin, wrong, pain, injustice, even death.  The reality of Jesus Christ is the way.  

We can be saved for good works - to do well and make a difference in this life.  Good things for us to do that are prepared for us to do by our Lord.  

We can be saved for eternity with God and God’s people, and God’s new creation.  

And the Gospel is rooted, simply, in the story of Jesus: crucified and risen.  That’s how it happens.  What He does.  

For weeks we spoke these Bible words to each other here:

Let us keep looking to Jesus. He is the author of faith. He also makes it perfect. He paid no attention to the shame of the cross. He suffered there because of the joy he was looking forward to. Then he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NIRV)

The joy He looked forward to is here.  Is now.  Is Him.

Let me end with a short, almost poetic, biography, that is known and loved by some, and is now almost 90 years old.  A Baptist preacher in California, James Allan Francis (1864-1928) came up with it in 1926. (The Real Jesus and Other Sermons)

Let us turn now to the story. A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life. He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him; another betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. 

Those are the facts of his human life. He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, What kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life...

He Humbled Himself

He Humbled Himself

(Matthew 21:1, 6-9; Philippians 2:5-11 ) J G White

Palm & Passion Sunday, April 13, 2014, Windsor UBC

Robert Roberts writes about a fourth grade class in which the teacher introduced a game called "balloon stomp." A balloon was tied to every child's leg, and the object of the game was to pop everyone else's balloon while protecting one's own. The last person with an intact balloon would win.

The fourth graders in Roberts' story entered into the spirit of the game with vigour. Balloons were relentlessly targeted and destroyed. A few of the children clung to the sidelines like wallflowers at a middle school dance, but their balloons were doomed just the same. The entire battle was over in a matter of seconds…  It's hard to really win at a game like balloon stomp. In order to complete your mission, you have to be pushy, rude and offensive.

Roberts goes on to write that a second class was introduced to the same game. Only this time it was a class of [special needs] mentally handicapped children. They were given the same explanation as the first class, and the signal to begin was given. But the game proceeded very differently. Perhaps the instructions were given too quickly for children with learning disabilities to grasp them. The one idea that got through was that the balloons were supposed to be popped. So it was the balloons, not the other players, that were viewed as enemies. Instead of fighting each other, they began helping each other pop balloons. One little girl knelt down and held her balloon carefully in place, like a holder for a field goal kicker. A little boy stomped it flat. Then he knelt down and held his balloon for her. It went on like this for several minutes until all the balloons were vanquished, and everybody cheered. Everybody won. (sermon central, Davon Huss)

In the game of life, shall we be competitive and struggle to win?  Shall we be humble and helpful and stoop to others?  It all comes down to attitude and approach.

The great hymn to Christ in Philippians 2 says:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited / grasped,

But emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.  

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death

-- even death on a cross.  

It’s an amazing piece of spiritual poetry, and maybe Paul is quoting a slightly older hymn that was in use among believers.  The apostle puts this here in his letter as he talks to the church in a town called Philippi, telling them to get along, don’t be so petty, show some unity.  He’s trying to settle a little church squabble, yet he speaks these profound words of the greatest things God ever has done: Jesus!

The little, petty things of our lives matter to our Lord.  The small issues and problems are answered by the gigantic actions of God.  The stooping, sacrifice of Jesus was for everything, even the simple need of disciples to get along and work together.  Christ, the Son of God, lived out humility: you, do likewise.

Little things mean a lot.  I see this in many things… things like, well… the bulletin each week, and our experiment in not having the agenda for worship in it.  Oh my, how startling and troubling this little change can be! ;)  

Let me be frank.  My experiment is working!  I have heard from some people about how much a problem this is, and we need to go back to having the order of service printed.  I have heard from some people about how great it is not to have it, so that leaders feel more free with the plan, and the followers in the pews are not distracted by checking off things and watching for mistakes.  

Let me be frank, again.  I like a printed order of service; I’ve been collecting them since I was about 13 years old, and I still have many of them.  But our experiment may really be about how people who don’t get what they want think of those who do.  And how people - in the same congregation - who do get what they want, esteem those who don’t.  I have been listening for your attitudes to the people who do not see things like you.  I have been listening for my own attitude, and where that comes from, inside me.  At some moments, we who disagree do have this in common - we will grumble and complain about others!

It part, this is a matter of humility.  Of stooping to others.  Of learning from the Master to do well, and to act on things together.  This was the challenge for the church in Philippi; it is also ours.  

The failings we have in our lives, and the successes, are both with us.  God, our God, has come to us to work with us, as we are, and take us farther.  Transform us.  Regenerate us.  Redeem us.  

I find that video clip we watched earlier presents a helpful contrast: the black & white silent film of Jesus abused and executed, with the words of praise He was given just days before, superimposed on it.  We must face the truth that “Hosannas” and “Crucify Him” are both within us.  At least, they are in us in how we treat our fellow human beings, and the Christ we could meet in them.  

This is what we find preached in Philippians chapter 2.  

Be concerned for each others’ interests,

No only for your own.

Let your attitude be that of Christ Jesus.  (trans JRC Perkin)

Beloved author, Andrew Murray (1828-1917), in his book, simply called, Humility, says: I am sure there are many Christians who will confess that their experience has been very much like my own in this - that we had known the Lord for a long time without realizing that meekness and lowliness of heart should be the distinguishing feature of the disciple, as it was of the Master.  Such humility is not a thing that will come on its own.  It must be made the object of special desire, prayer, faith, and practice. (Humility, ch. 1, p.19)

Our special desire, and prayer, and faith, and action go back to Jesus.  This Holy Week, can be a special week of desiring what He can do in us, a time for special prayer to take up our cross and follow, a season of finding new faith in Him, a week of walking with Jesus.  We see our Jesus stooping low, taking on the deepest of pains, and entering death, for us.  

Paul, in the Bible, wrote to prompt one small church to make a financial contribution to one in another town.  He said, For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)  For the sake of finances, for the sake of worship, for the sake of getting along and making decisions together, Christ has saved us.  

Follow the story of Jesus.  Down, down, down, as the Philippians 2 hymn sings it, and as the Gospels tell the story in detail.  We dwell upon Jesus, and by His Spirit God dwells upon us; and we are changed.   Through the pain of this week, we are changed.  

Two hundred years ago the great Scottish hymn-writer, James Montgomery (1771-1854), was turning out lyrics about Jesus like this, still in use today.    Follow to the judgement hall;

View the Lord of life arraigned.

O the wormwood and the gall!

O the pangs His soul sustained!

Shun not suffering, pain, or loss;

Learn of Him to bear the cross.  (1825)

As your pastor, and as a fellow-traveller with you on this pilgrimage, I long for your transformation, for us all to learn to take up the cross.  The apostle Paul wrote to some friends, My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…  (Galatians 4:19)  So I sometimes feel for you, friends.  I long for your discipleship to move and grow.  I long for your fellowship with Jesus to be so good, that it shows more and more.  I long for me, and for you, to get to a place of bowing to one another, or, as Paul said, in humility regard others as better than yourselves. (Phil 2:3) For weeks we greeted each other with these words, so that we might find this in our hearts.  Let us keep looking to Jesus.   (Hebrews 12:2)

He is the author of faith.  

He also makes it perfect.  

He paid no attention to the shame of the cross.

Joseph Shulam, a Jerusalem pastor, tells a remarkable story of a man who simulated the actions of Jesus.  The son of a rabbi battled severe emotional problems.  One day the boy went into his backyard, removed all his clothing, assumed a crouched position, and began to gobble like a turkey.  He did this, not just for hours or days, but for weeks.  No pleading would dissuade him.  No psychotherapist could help him.  

A friend of the rabbi, having watched the boy and shared the father's grief, offered to help.  He, too, went into the backyard and removed his clothes.  He crouched beside the boy and began gobbling, turkeylike.  For days, nothing changed.  Finally the friend spoke to the son.  "Do you think it would be all right for turkeys to wear shirts?"  After some thought and many gobbles, the son agreed.  So they put on their shirts.

Days later the friend asked the boy if it would be acceptable for turkeys to wear trousers.  The boy nodded.  In time, the friend redressed the boy.  And, in time, the boy returned to normal.  

(Max Lucado, Cure for the Common Life, p. 132, quoting Lynn Anderson, "Portrait of a Servant")

Christ Jesus stoops down to us completely.  To take our own crosses and follow Him is to stoop to others.  

After Paul eloquently exclaimed,

at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend…

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord...

he wrote to his friends: Therefore, my beloved, ...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  (2:12-13)

To put our salvation to work takes a whole lifetime, and requires humility.  Our humble Saviour is at work in you, enabling you to have the humble will to do good, and enabling you to work and do it.  

Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Speak to Bones

Speak to Bones

(Ezekiel 37:1-14) J G White

Sun, April 6, 2014, Windsor UBC

“Hope never dies until hope dies in the heart of the hoper.” Pastor Tim Johnson used to quote that around here.  “Hope never dies until hope dies in the heart of the hoper.”  

Hope does sometimes die.. maybe quite a lot in our world today.  The annual week-long seminar I attend in Truro (ASTE) has as its theme this June: “Hope and Compassion in a World of Fear.”  Our world needs hope.

People out there are dead, as it were: hope lost. Some people among us the same. Churches: the same: dried up; hope died in the heart of the hopers.  Land and Sea recently aired an episode on closing church buildings, including some creative possibilities.  Hints of hope.

In the days of the Jewish exile, about 600 years before Jesus, hope had died in the heart of the people.  So God spoke.  God spoke through individual people.  They got called prophets.  We visited that valley of dry bones with Ezekiel the prophet today.  The dead valley of bones was a picture of the people of God: captured, taken from their Promised Land, and their Holy City.  

“Mortal, can these bones live?” asked the God.

Ezekiel answered, “O Lord God, You know.”  

When hope has died, there are possibilities with our God.  And it is often only when hope has died in the heart, that a real new possibility can arise and grow and flourish in our lives.  We must truly fall before we get picked up and stand tall in a new place.

Richard Rohr teaches that Real transformation happens when people have lost their foundation and ground, and then experience God upholding them so that they come out even more alive on the other side.  At Dykeland Lodge the other day we sang, “Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.”  

Lady Julian of Norwich said it even more poetically: “First there is the fall, and then we recover from the fall. Both are the mercy of God!”

For Jesus Christ, hope seemed to die when he suffered and died.  But His painful sacrifice was answered with a resurrection.  His destroyed body made it possible for us to gain an imperishable body, along with Him.  God’s loudest and greatest WORD to us all is the Christ event.  

Long before, the same God said to Ezekiel in that valley of dry bones:  Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! ... I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' (37:4, 6)

Some of you have your own stories to tell; stories of new life that arose when life seemed at a dead end for you.  Some of you have told me your stories.  Some of you have told these stories to others.  Sometimes that testimony is just the word the Lord will use again to speak hope into the lives of others.  It can be prophesying to the bones.  Speaking of the hope that is within you… a new hope from the real, living God and Saviour.  

A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn’t come over here." But sure enough, the man did come over to their table.

"Where are you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice.

"Oklahoma," they answered.

"Great to have you here in Tennessee," the stranger said. "What do you do for a living?"

"I teach at a seminary," he replied.

"Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I’ve got a really great story for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple .

The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great ... Just what I need ... another preacher story!"

The man started, "See that mountain over there? (pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, ’Hey boy, Who’s your daddy?’ Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, ’Who’s your daddy?’

He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so bad.

"When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, ’Who’s your daddy?’ But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.

Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, Son, who’s your daddy?

The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, ’Who’s your daddy?’

"This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy ... "Wait a minute! I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God. "

With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, "Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it."

"With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, ’Who’s your Daddy?’ he’d just tell them, ’I’m a Child of God.’"

The distinguished! gentleman got up from the table and said, "Isn’t that a great story?"

The professor responded that it really was a great story!

As the man turned to leave, he said, "You know, if that new preacher hadn’t told me that I was one of God’s children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!" And he walked away.

The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over & asked her, "Do you know who that man was who just left that was sitting at our table?"

The waitress grinned and said, "Of course. Everybody here knows him. That’s Ben Hooper. He’s the former governor of Tennessee!"  (Sermon Central, Bob Soulliere)

To speak into the life of another person can be a God moment, an act of grace.  

Ezekiel had been told to “speak to the bones,” and “speak to the breath/wind.”  If he had not spoken, not prophesied, would he have seen the real hope from God: a resurrected people?  No.  So we sometimes are called upon, are needed to speak into the lives of others.  You may be called to speak into the life of a community, with the unbelievable hope that God intends to give.  

And when our Lord speaks - through one of God’s servants - people can know the Lord.  

“Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.” (37:13)

When hope has died… thanks be to God! …there can be a resurrection.  There can be a day of salvation.  This is from God, not something you or I create.  There can be a new hope.  

Remember the first Star Wars film, Episode IV: A New Hope.  That was 1977, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…  

In 2014, a new hope is needed for us in Churches, and for all those outside the churches.  We are beginning a new episode.  Our congregational Vision may actually be about having a new hope from God for us who are here, trying to make a difference,  as well as a new hope from God for the individuals who are growing up and making their way in West Hants out there.  

Thanks be to our God and Saviour: there is hope and compassion in a world of fear!