Hearts Burning Within

Hearts Burning Within

10:30 am, Sunday, May 4, 2014, Windsor UBC, J G White

Luke 24:13-16, 27-32

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

For me this has been a powerful a story, through many years of worshipping the Lord.  Yet this wonderful ‘hearts burning within’ was not at a worship service.  We tend to connect this Resurrection Day story with our coming to the Lord’s Table: Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and shared with those two disciples.  But it happens at an evening meal among travellers.  And the actual ‘burning’ of their hearts within them was during the walk, while this ‘stranger’ talked with them, and as they considered the scripture together.

We have walked and talked with Him a long time now together, more than twelve years.  We have shared some moments of the fire of God within us!  Even when we did not fully know what the Lord, the Spirit, was up to.  We have also shared the dullness and melancholy of the times our souls wandered in the desert.  We have come face-to-face with death; we have enjoyed new life. In all these places, has not our Lord been real, and beautiful, and incredible!

I thank you, and my God, today, for the high privilege of leading you, month by month, year by year, to the Lord’s Table.  Though we are quite traditional about our ceremony, notice this still is simply white bread cut up in small pieces, it is little sips of grape juice. Ordinary stuff of life.  It is a very quiet meal.  There will be chewing; there will be slurping; the occasional cough.  In the ordinary our Living God breaks through.  May we feed on Christ in our hearts, and know that He sustains our souls. 

May you continue in this fellowship in all the years ahead that the Lord God has for you.  May your communion be sweet, and your joy be full.  And may you testify, from time to time, in your walk together, that your hearts burned within.

Listen to the Cynical (take 2)

Listen to the Cynical (take 2)

(Luke 2413-35:)

Sunday, May 5, 2013, Windsor UBC,  J G White

I end this little series of sermons today on listening to various voices around us, with the cynical, the critical, those who doubt what this is all about.  And for the second half we will have Q&A - questions and answers about listening to people who don’t believe, don’t follow Jesus.

I've been reading and hearing a lot, in recent years, about the trends in Canadian society, and the falling away from religious faith that is prevalent.  A lot of Christian study has gone into what the younger generations think and believe and do in North America.  There is a lot of doubt about organized religion, criticism of Christianity, and skepticism about God and Jesus.

For instance, David Kinnamen has a book, YOU LOST ME: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church... And Rethinking Faith.  He quotes John Sullivan, former Christian, and writer for GQ magazine:  The hell stuff - I never made peace with it.  Human beings were capable of forgiving those who'd done them terrible wrongs, and we all agreed that human beings were maggots compared with God, so what was his trouble again?

I'm getting to be a firm believer in listening long and hard to the questions people have.  Holding back my reaction, my answer, my correction, my instant Bible-study for those who doubt what I believe about Christ.  I'm a believer in this patient listening, though my actual listening has far to go.  So I've been looking to Jesus to see if He wants to train me and you in this.

I see my Lord, newly resurrected, meeting with his closest friends and followers.  One month ago we heard the story of so-called "Doubting Thomas."  Jesus comes to meet Thomas, as He had the others, and Thomas rejoices.

Today, Liz read that compelling story of two other disciples that Easter day walking to a town, and Jesus walks with them, yet they don’t recognize Christ.  He interprets the Old Testament for them to confirm the stories they’d heard about Him, alive again.  Only when they stop for the night, and eat together, do they realize it is Jesus!  Then, He’s gone.

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" said Jesus once.

You can read all the books you want about our secular culture, post-modern culture, and digital culture; but the rubber meets the road with those who are in West Hants, on your street, in your family.  As I talk with local folk - people you also know - about God and faith, some are cynical, they doubt, they critique God and our claims about God.  One young person speaks of problems with the Bible and what is in the Bible, and how we use it.  A middle aged person talks of not fearing death and hell, while church people seem to think he should fear.  A senior, who’s actually a "churchgoer," dislikes the talk at funerals of life after death; she can't quite believe in that, doesn't want that at her own funeral.

These are all the confessions of people whom I have seen in the past in these very pews.  Which helps me wonder if we are all more alike than different, we 'believers' and we atheists and skeptics.  

We canbe safe with God.  I believe in a Jesus who can handle doubts, disagreements, questions, critiques.  He sends His Spirit to visit, and show Himself. Matthew's record of Jesus' final departure comforts me.  As the disciples gather where Jesus told them to, for His farewell, Matthew tells us, "When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted."  (Matthew 28:17)  Some of those few who were the very closest to Him still had doubts.  "Is this real?"  "Is He real?"  There was worship, and doubt, together.  And Jesus blessed them in that moment with an amazing mission statement, the great commission.

So now, let’s have some conversation: questions and answers about how to respond to people who are cynical, discouraged, scientific, or sad...

Jesus knows and understands the doubts each person has.  Jesus offers Himself, and is willing to meet.  Now, it's by way of God the Holy Spirit.  Jesus listens; He does this as we become His ambassadors today.

An Idle Tale?

An Idle Tale?

(Luke 23:50 - 24:12)

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013, Windsor UBC, J G White

Have you heard any news lately that was quite a surprise?  Hard to believe?  Or difficult to understand?

A woman, 34 weeks pregnant, is told at the IWK: You are having your baby today!

A man, after brain surgery, is told by the doctor: You have a couple months to live!

A person waiting in hospital for months is told: Your room is ready at Dykeland... tomorrow you can move in!

We also wonder at untrue news we hear, not knowing it is untrue.  Such as...  Kings Transit bus fares are going up!  Jeff White gave his resignation to Windsor Baptist Church!  …

Today, Easter, we enter the lives of some men and women on a day when the news, after the execution of their Leader, was unbelievable and confusing.  Some of the Master’s closest friends at first thought the news an idle tale.  

As Graham read the story from Luke, did you notice the diverse feelings and actions of the people that morning?  The women were puzzled, then terrified, then they remembered, and they rushed to tell others.  Some of the men thought it an idle tale; Peter went, looked, and wondered about what he saw.

The initial responses to God’s action and intervention are the start of a whole new life with the Lord.  A life that follows His.  In His Steps, as the title of one old book puts it.

One simple way to describe the way to follow the Crucified One - who is alive now - is these three steps:  vision, decision, action. So says Dallas Willard in a small group study called The Divine Conspiracy.  I like this pattern.

Vision: a person learns something about Christ, and catches a vision of reality that is new to him or her.  Jesus is real, He truly did live and die for the rest of us, He actually conquered death and evil for us, He opens the door to the heavenly kingdom of God now, as we rely upon Him.  

This is not only good news to one who has never tried to be a Christian.  There are many people who start off in Christianity, and later in life find a whole new hope in God that they had not yet known.  The vision becomes greater!  A deeper conversion can happen when the heart and soul are so moved.  

John Wesley became a famous Anglican preacher of the 18th century.   Well into his ministry, and after a failed revival tour in America, Wesley was depressed and despairing.  This well-loved excerpt from his journal tells of what he experienced on May 24th, 1738.  It sounds like it happened at what we might call a Bible Study or Prayer Meeting.

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

The heart strangely warmed is, to me, the vision of the human soul for what God is really doing.  It is a personal thing. It is a real experience of something new.  Good News.

Step two:  Decision.  It takes an act of will on our part to put our trust in Christ, to admit we are powerless against our own sin and slavery, to join those who call themselves Christian.  

We Baptist Christians stand in the centre of a strong tradition of spiritual freedom.  We believe that individuals have the choice to make - for Christ or not.  To trust Him.  To follow and obey Him.  To be saved by and then apprenticed to the Master.  It is never an infant that we baptize into Christianity.  It is a person who can know Jesus for him or herself, and takes his or her own steps to follow God.  

So, part three:  Action.  The first steps of a saved person are just that, the first steps - the prayer to receive God and salvation, the commitment to rely on the Holy Bible, the obedience of submitting to baptism.  The actions of the rest of life are the real living of Faith in Christ.  We develop lots of spiritual practices that help us live with the Spirit in all of the times we are not doing our spiritual practices.  I pray, I fast, I confess, I worship, I study, I meditate, and so on, so that I become more and more like Jesus in all the moments when I am not praying, fasting, confessing, worshipping, studying, meditating, and so forth.  So it can be for Atira and Christina; so it can be for you.

I had us read today from Luke not only the first resurrection events, but also the earlier moment of placing of Jesus in the tomb.  Our vision, and decision, and action, are well-founded when they stem from the complete Jesus, the complete Jesus story.  Our faith and religion will be from an idle tale if our story is incomplete.

Today, there can be no music without silence; no praise without lament first.

There can be no resurrection without a death; no Easter worship without Good Friday worship.

There can be no coming up out of the waters of baptism without going down first.

There can be no washing clean without there being any sins in life to start with.

There can be no solidarity with and obedience to Christ without denying yourself.

There can be no running the race of faith without being still far from the goal.

Vision, decision, action.  On this weekend many catch a fresh vision of Jesus and what God offers.  Here, and many other places, we celebrate individual decisions to act on that vision.  To act upon Jesus’ word, His gracious invitation to join in and follow.  He becomes our way, our truth, our life.  

Following Christ, others can catch the same vision from us.  The news to some seems but an idle tale, an old-fashioned myth.  “Death on a cross?  Resurrection?  Weird!”  To others, the glimpse of an alternate reality - God’s eternal Kingdom coming to earth as in heaven - is a stunning vision.  Some will decide to act on this, when they meet Jesus Christ.