Not conformed, transformed (8.21)

Exodus 1:8-2:10

⁸Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. ¹⁰Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. ¹²But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. ¹³The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites. ¹⁴and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

¹⁵The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ¹⁶“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.”

¹⁷But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. ¹⁸So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” ¹⁹The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

²⁰So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. ²¹And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. ²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”

¹Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.²The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. ³When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. ⁴His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

⁵The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. ⁶When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said.

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. ¹⁰When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Romans 12:1-8

¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.

³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, ⁵so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. ⁶We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; ⁸the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

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Living sacrifice

Spiritual worship

Discuss

What does it mean to be conformed to this world?

How does that look in your life?

What does it mean to be transformed by the renewing of your mind?

What kind of transformation might God be trying to work in you?

Pray for your partner during the week for God’s transforming power.

There are all kinds of forces in the world that shape us. The way we grow up, our family influences, the people we work and study with, all have an impact on who we are and what we value.

Some of the forces that shape us are obvious and others are much more subtle. Advertising, for instance, is obviously designed to get us to buy whatever is being advertised. The more important and subtle result of the constant stream of advertising is to make us want things in general.

It doesn’t make any difference for our souls if we buy Coke or Pepsi, but it does matter that we crave bottled sugar so much that we forget God’s gift of clean water. It does matter that we spend so much of our time and effort pursuing things that God and our neighbor get only leftovers of our time, energy and money. It does matter that we fret about having enough when eleven million people in the Horn of Africa are at risk of starvation.

There are forces in the world that want us to want things for ourselves and to fear other people. There are forces in the world that are happy about conflict and division. There are forces in our world that want us to believe that our rights, our possessions, our comfort, our desires are the most important things.

God calls us not to be conformed to this world. God calls us not to take the shape of the warped, deformed values around us. God calls us to stand apart, to be different, to take a different form, a different shape. God calls us to be transformed, to take a new shape.

Actually, it’s not such a new shape. In the beginning God made us in God’s image: in the image of love, community, compassion and mercy. Through greed and fear and sin we’ve been bent out of shape. God calls us back to our original shape through Jesus and his cross-shaped love. God calls us to be transformed; to be made new.

That transformation is about a change of mind and heart, a change God brings about inside us when we give up control. In that transformation we learn to discern and discover God’s will for our lives and for the world. It’s not usually an immediate change, but it takes place through prayer and community and ministry. We’re transformed by following God, especially when that’s not the easy thing to do.

Shiprah and Puah give us a great example of not being conformed to the world. Pharaoh gave them a direct order to help kill the Israelites. They could have been conformed to a society that taught them that Israel was a threat, that those foreigners living among them were dangerous and sub-human. They had probably been exposed to that message all their lives in different ways and now that message was reinforced by the command of the most powerful man in the world.

But they were not conformed. Instead of being afraid of Pharaoh, they trusted God. Instead of fitting into hatred, they were transformed by courage into instruments of salvation. They were renewed in love and a small corner of the world was changed for the better.

How is God trying to change you? How will the love of Christ renew your mind?

Thanks be to God.

Abundant grace (8.14)

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

¹I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ^2aGod has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

... ²⁹for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. ³²For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28

¹⁰Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” ¹²Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” ¹³He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

²¹Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²²Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” ²³But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” ²⁴He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

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            This conversation between Jesus and the Canaanite woman has always bothered me. I’m so used to Jesus being all about welcoming people and here he is calling this woman and her daughter dogs. It’s not a very nice story, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it.

            Still, this time through Matthew’s Gospel the story makes a little more sense to me. Jesus was always clear about his mission. God sent him to call sinners to repentance, to look for people left out of the community. But before this passage he sees his mission as part of his religion: he is a Jew and his mission is to Israel.

We see that clearly a few chapters earlier when Jesus sends his disciples out to preach and heal. He tells them not to go to the gentiles or Samaritans. Instead he sends them out to the “lost sheep of Israel.” The gospel is about welcome for those who didn’t feel welcome in synagogue because of their past or their occupation or other things that kept them away from God. But Jesus felt that the gospel was for the people of Israel, for God’s chosen nation.

Then Jesus meets this Canaanite woman who begs him to heal her daughter. It seems like Jesus doesn’t think she fits into his mission, but at first doesn’t know what to do. Finally he stops to tell her he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.

She’s not interested in his limits. She’s a mother and she cares about two things: her daughter needs help and Jesus can help her. Instead of being discouraged she simply kneels and repeats her plea for help.

That’s when Jesus tells her it’s not right to give the children’s bread to dogs. Maybe Jesus feels the pressure of too much to do in too little time. He knows the cross is on the horizon and getting closer. Maybe he’s concerned that there are so many lost sheep in Israel that he might not have time to get to all of them.

If I were that woman I would have taken offense. Maybe I would have said something hateful and walked away disappointed. But the woman turns Jesus’ words around. She knows she and her daughter are not the focus of Jesus’ ministry. She is not an Israelite, not a child sitting at God’s table. But even dogs can eat what falls on the floor. This woman knows enough about Jesus to know her daughter only needs a few crumbs from his table to be healed.

Jesus is amazed at the woman’s faith and maybe her words stick with him as he and the disciples continue down the road. I can’t prove it, but I like the idea that Jesus learned something about his mission from the Canaanite mother. After this encounter his perspective seems to open wider. He recognizes that many of the people he is preaching to are not going to listen, but others he didn’t preach to at first will follow joyfully.

Jesus continues to tell parables about the mystery, the surprises and the glory of the kingdom of God. But he also tells harsh parables about bad tenants and guests refusing to go to a feast.

These parables are about how Israel’s leaders have turned away from God; how they have rejected God’s rule and taken power for themselves. These parables are also about how God will welcome new people who will appreciate the gift of grace and respond with love. Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel, but his calling goes out also to the lost sheep of every nation, to you and to me. His calling goes out to others who have never heard of Jesus before.

In two of the most important stories toward the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus seems to have moved completely beyond the limits of family and boundary. In Matthew 25 Jesus describes what will happen when he judges all the nations of the world. He will separate the world’s population into two groups, not based on nationality or religion but based on how they have treated the poor, the hungry, the sick and those in prison. In his final words to the disciples after his resurrection Jesus tells them to make disciples of all nations.

I won’t go all the way and say this Canaanite mother is the key to this change in Jesus’ language, but she is part of the story. Maybe Jesus finds out that the dogs are more grateful for the crumbs on the floor than the children are for fresh bread hot from the oven. Maybe you’ve had a similar experience with kids; I know I once took my mother’s wonderful cooking for granted.

A father told me his oldest son was visiting after his first year living on his own. The son went to the refrigerator to get something to drink and was shocked at the abundance and variety he had always taken for granted. Because he now knew what it was like to provide for himself, he could appreciate in a new way how much his parents had provided for him all his life.

The same thing happens with our faith. Those of us who have grown up believing in Jesus, sometimes take his love and grace for granted because it’s always been a part of our life. Sometimes we even feel like faith is an obligation and burden. We feel like kids, bored by the table we eat at everyday.

Meanwhile there are hungry dogs drooling for a crumb of good news, a crumb of Christ’s hope. There are people you know who wake up each day longing for something more in life. People are starving for hope and love and community, but they don’t know where to look for it.

Often I’ve noticed the people most excited about their faith are people who meet Jesus later in life. The most excited disciples are people who weren’t used to the bread of life so they can still recognize what an amazing gift it is.

For a congregation like ours, where most of us have grown up in a church it’s a challenge to recapture our sense of wonder. It can be hard to feel the joy of God’s amazing grace because it’s just what we’re used to.

The best way to rekindle our joy is to bring new people into the community who can share their wonder with us. I don’t mean just bringing people from a different church into our church, though of course, every disciple of Jesus brings important gifts to a new community. I mean bring people who don’t know Jesus at all into the community of faith. Think about how to introduce people to Jesus for the first time and start a new relationship; then watch as the spark of interest becomes a flame of faith. Be inspired by the amazing things Christ can do in a new believer.

Another way to get excited about Jesus is to open our eyes to new perspectives. Just because we’ve grown up with Jesus doesn’t mean we can’t still see him with fresh eyes.

Each week at the Shake it Up Café, our vacation Bible school, there’s a “carry out,” something we ask the kids to do during the week ahead. It’s kind of like homework in faith building, but more fun. So here’s our carry out for this week: spend some time in prayer each day. Pray for God to shake up your life with joy and excitement. If you do that each day with an open heart I think you’ll be surprised by what you see at the end of the week.

Let’s give that process a jump-start right now. Pair off with someone sitting near you. Tell them one thing you would like prayer for so you can grow more enthusiastic in your faith. It can be really general like: “I want to feel God’s love in my heart.” Or it can be very specific like, “I need help dealing with the confusion I feel about miracles in scripture.”

After you’ve shared something, I’d like your partner to pray briefly with and for you out loud, but softly. Often, it helps to hold hands when you pray together. The prayer doesn’t need to be long or elaborate, but try to open you heart and spirit to each other and to God. Don’t worry if it feels uncomfortable to pray like that at first; many of us haven’t grown up with much intimacy or spontaneity in our prayer life. God will take whatever we offer and work with it. Once your partner has prayed switch roles so you both have a chance to share and to pray. Today, we’ll just take about two minutes each. Then I’ll close us in prayer together before we move on to the next part of our service.

saved by grace

Matthew 14:22-33

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Reading Romans 10:5-15

⁵Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” ⁶But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹⁰For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. ¹¹The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” ¹²For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. ¹³For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

¹⁴But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? ¹⁵And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

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            One of the key questions in human existence is how to live a good life. We ask that question in different ways. Religiously we sometimes put it in terms of how to please God or how to be saved. In this passage, Paul talks about righteousness and salvation.

            Paul talks first about “the righteousness that comes from the law.” His summary is brief, scriptural and to the point: “The person who does these things will live by them.” In other words, we become righteous by doing the right thing, by following the rules. We say the same thing in different ways: actions speak louder than words.

            This view of righteousness is true because being righteous, doing the right thing has to include action. Laws and rules are good, and society can’t function without them. The Law Paul talks about is the Law of Moses, which is the rules and values God gave to Israel. That means they are not only a reflection of the values of the people of Israel, but a reflection of the society God wanted Israel to be. Following the law is a good thing, especially when we’re talking about God’s law.

            At the same time while our actions are important they don’t tell the whole story. It’s possible to put too much emphasis on rules and behavior. Life is more complicated than a set of rules. Laws and rules work well as a guide to life (if they are good laws), but they require interpretation and an open heart to adapt to changing circumstances. Sometimes we forget this and put too much confidence in the law itself.

predestination and calling

Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24

¹   O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
²   You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
          you discern my thoughts from far away.
³   You search out my path and my lying down,
          and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴   Even before a word is on my tongue,
          O LORD, you know it completely.
⁵   You hem me in, behind and before,
          and lay your hand upon me.
⁶   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
          it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷   Where can I go from your spirit?
          Or where can I flee from your presence?
⁸   If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
          if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
⁹   If I take the wings of the morning
          and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
¹⁰  even there your hand shall lead me,
          and your right hand shall hold me fast.
¹¹  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
          and the light around me become night,”
¹²  even the darkness is not dark to you;
          the night is as bright as the day,
          for darkness is as light to you.

²³  Search me, O God, and know my heart;
          test me and know my thoughts.
²⁴  See if there is any wicked way in me,
          and lead me in the way everlasting.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

²⁴He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. ²⁷And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ ²⁸He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” ³⁷He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; ³⁸the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, ⁴²and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”

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            This passage from Matthew always catches my attention. On the one hand, I’m not a huge fan of judgment and burning evildoers in the furnace. On the other hand, this is about the best example passage for our Presbyterian tradition of predestination, and I value that heritage. Plus, this passage inspired our first hymn, a classic Thanksgiving favorite of mine.

            Predestination is part of our tradition that we often sweep under the carpet. At the same time, it’s one of the beliefs Presbyterians are known for, so it’s important to be familiar with the basic idea. Predestination means that God knew and decided our eternal destiny long before we were born. Like the wheat and weeds in the story there is nothing anyone can do to change the outcome. No matter how you tend the plants, wheat is always wheat and weeds are always weeds.

There’s something about having our destiny fixed that rubs us the wrong way; it’s an insult to our sense of freedom and fairness. The problem with predestination is the judgment part. God judges people without any regard for what they have done. Some are wheat and some are weeds. It seems unfair and cruel.

            But the God we meet in scripture is loving, not cruel. The God we serve loves us so much that he sent Jesus into the world to call us back home. The God we know takes on our sin and defeats it once and for all. In the end, judgment is about redemption; God judges to save and redeem. God uses judgment to break human pride and selfishness so grace can flow freely for everyone. I believe that when everything is said and done God’s love will win and even the thorniest weed will be transformed in love.

bearing fruit

Romans 8:1-11

¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law — indeed it cannot, ⁸and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹Let anyone with ears listen!”

¹⁸“Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²³But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

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            Ok, who are the characters in this story Jesus tells?

            Who do you think each of those characters is in this room?

            Today Scott, Taylor and I are sowing the word and we are all the soil. We don’t normally think of soil as active, but in this story the soil is very important. Jesus talks about four different kinds of soil. He talks about the path where the seed can’t sink in but instead gets eaten by the birds. There’s some rocky soil where the seed grows quickly, but doesn’t have enough soil to grow strong. Then there’s soil where there are thorns that choke out the grain. Finally, there’s good soil where the grain grows plentifully and multiplies.

            There are lots of things that can interfere with the growth of God’s word. One of the obstacles Jesus specifically mentions is understanding. The Bible can be hard to understand and as someone entrusted with sowing the word, one of my most important jobs is helping you understand it. Without understanding the seed can’t sink in and grow.

A farmer doesn’t just plant seeds; he or she also takes care of them and nurtures them. Preparation, care and tending the soil and the new growth are just as important as sowing the word. But it’s not just my job; the elders of the church are responsible to help develop educational opportunities so we can grow in understanding. And each of us is responsible for actively engaging in our spiritual life, for understanding and applying the word to our life. The soil isn’t just a passive part of the story; Jesus calls us to work on being better soil.

The first question the passage has for us is what kind of soil we are and how we can be better. How can we become good soil to receive, nurture and grow God’s word in us? What gets in the way of that growth now and how can we remove those obstacles to growth?

             Let’s take a few minutes to discuss these questions in groups. We aren’t just one type of soil. We are partly good soil, and partly choked by thorns. We’re partly so short on understanding we can’t grow and partly enthusiastic but too shallow to endure. If one of these kinds of soil really resonates with you I invite you to move to that group. Like I said, we are all responsible for engaging with the word, so whichever group you think is going to help you most is the place you should be. If you stay where you are, that’s fine too, since we each have each kind of soil in us.

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            Our role in becoming better soil and my role with other teachers and worship leaders here in sowing the word is only the first part of the story. You are not just soil to receive the word; when you receive the word it grows in you and the grain that grows is an important part of the story too.

barriers to repentance (7.3.11)

Matthew 11:16-30
16“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 17‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; 19the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

20Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. 21“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.”

25At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”


Romans 7:15-25
15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
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Reflect briefly on the following words:
Sin
Repentance
Good
Evil


Repentance is a hard word to hear; often we cover our ears and head off in a different direction instead of examining our hearts honestly. John the Baptist and Jesus both found themselves in trouble for calling people to repent. We often put up the same barriers to repentance that Jesus and John’s audience did in their time.

In our passage from Matthew, Jesus takes his audience, his generation, to task for closing their ears to God’s message. He says, “John came neither eating nor drinking and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The son of man comes eating and drinking and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’”

His point is that people reject God’s message of repentance when it comes through John because they see his strange clothes and write him off as crazy. Then they reject God’s message of welcome and forgiveness when it comes through Jesus because he hangs out with questionable characters. Like petulant children, they only want things their way. They only accept a message that comes in the expected package and says what they want to hear. How often do we ignore a critique or suggestion because it comes from a person we don’t expect? How often do we put down the Bible because we don’t like what it says about us?

We also sometimes ignore the message of repentance because we forget that we need it. We say to ourselves: “I’m a pretty good person. I don’t hurt anyone or break the law.”

For many Jews of Jesus’ time, especially the religious leaders, it was simply taken for granted that they were God’s favorites and that everyone outside Israel was outside of God’s plan. Jesus shatters that illusion by talking about foreign cities like Tyre, Sidon and even Sodom. Jesus says those gentile cities would have repented if they had seen the miracles he did in Israel, but the Israelites he’s preaching to haven’t repented. The people closest to the message are least likely to listen.

We have the same problem in the church. Many of us have grown up with Jesus’ words, so they can seem like just part of the background of our lives. Familiarity dulls the impact of Christ’s calling, so we get complacent about our spiritual lives. We forget that Jesus is always calling us to repent, to follow, to grow in our faith and let the word change us.

lamentation and freedom

Psalm 13:1-6

¹    How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
          How long will you hide your face from me?
²   How long must I bear pain in my soul,
          and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
     How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

³   Consider and answer me, O LORD my God!
          Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
⁴   and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
          my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

⁵   But I trusted in your steadfast love;
          my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
⁶   I will sing to the LORD,
          because he has dealt bountifully with me.

I want to spend most of our Bible time with our New Testament lesson, but I just couldn’t let this beautiful Psalm sit untouched. I couldn’t leave this painfully honest Psalm alone because too often the church isn’t painfully honest.

We put on our best faces for church, maybe we put on our best faces for other people in general. Someone asks how we’re doing and we say something socially acceptable. That’s actually an OK habit to be in a lot of the time. It’s not a great idea to pour our guts out to everyone we meet. But when we take it too far it kills genuine community and relationship. 

         When we come to church we are with our brothers and sisters in Christ. That means we are supposed to be in a safe place for honesty; a place we can share our struggles and our pain. We’re family, so we should be able to be vulnerable with each other.

         But that’s not always how it feels. One thing that gets in the way of honesty and openness is Sunday best syndrome. We feel like since our outfits are well put together, we’re supposed to button up our troubles too. We shine our shoes and our smiles and we tuck our problems and doubts under the carpet so we can do church “the right way.”

         That’s the smaller part of the problem. The bigger issue is that we feel we have to be careful with God. We use carefully crafted words and scripted prayers to talk to the God who is high above in heaven. The language in the Bible is stilted and our worship language doesn’t usually sound like how we would have a conversation. We don’t want to say the wrong thing or offend God.

         The truth is that God can take it. Look at this Psalm: “How long O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” Have you ever felt that way before? Did you cry out to God like the Psalmist did? Our polite religious tradition is hard to break, but when we open ourselves to God and to each other we learn how to actually trust God. Look where the Psalm ends up: “I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” If we open ourselves up and trust God with our doubt and pain, we’ll find out for ourselves that we can count on God. If we handle God like fragile, precious crystal we’ll never find out how strong and supportive God really is.

OK, like I said, we’re going to spend most of our Bible time on the New Testament reading. It’s kind of a doozie, so we’re going to play with it a little bit in groups. Each of you has a small piece of paper with a number and a piece of our lesson on it. I’d like you to get up and move to the section of the room with your number on it and arrange yourselves in groups of 4 or 5. Introduce yourselves quickly and read the passage together.

Once you’ve done that discuss the passage for a couple of minutes. If you have a hard time starting your discussion, you’ll find a couple of questions on your sheet that might help. In a few minutes we’ll come back together and talk about the whole passage.

Romans 6:3-23

³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For whoever has died is freed from sin. ⁸But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹²Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. ¹³No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

²⁰When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. ²²But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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          Sometimes we feel trapped and overwhelmed by our lives and situations. We feel the press of bills and family responsibilities. We feel the demands of our job or the stress of looking for work, while we also wrestle with to do lists at home. Sometimes guilt or grief or anger or addiction or hopelessness take hold of our lives and refuse to let go.

Anything that traps us and takes away our freedom releases its grip when we die. If alcohol or gambling or bitterness or fear holds you so tightly you feel like you can’t breath, imagine what happens to that clutching claw when you die. It can’t hold you anymore because those traps and prisons are part of life. They loose their power when we die. That’s why when people feel like they have come to a dead end in their lives suicide can seem like a tempting escape. Suicide is the wrong choice, but when we feel trapped, the temptation makes sense. Death breaks the bonds that trap us.

Jesus died.

In baptism we become part of Jesus’ body.

That means in faith we have already died, and we are set free from all the concerns that take up so much of our energy and weigh so heavily on our shoulders and our souls.

The crazy thing is that Jesus didn’t stay dead, but instead he rose from the grave. By faith in Christ we are also part of his resurrection, which means we move from death to new life. So we are free from the tyranny of life and the cold grasp of death. We are free to do whatever we want with the amazing gift of new life in Christ.

All our responsibilities and relationships can be transformed in our new life in Christ. Instead of being traps and obligations we are free to see them as gifts and opportunities.

         In all the choices of freedom one of our choices is to fall back into sin and selfishness. We are free to get stuck again in the traps that held us before we found freedom in Christ. We don’t have to accept the freedom God offers; it is our choice.

         Sin isn’t an isolated thing. When we use our freedom to sin we become trapped in it, slaves to sin again. When we use our freedom to build up wealth for ourselves, for instance, we gradually become more and more attached to money. We start seeing other people as a threat to our financial security instead of being brothers and sisters we can share with. We use more and more of our time to pursue and secure wealth instead of following our calling to love and enjoy other people. Little by little the choice to make a little money becomes total slavery to possessions.

         We can imagine the same trajectory with any other sin if we want: pride, infidelity, racism, etc. One action leads to another and before long the trap is complete.

         On the other hand, we can use our freedom to follow God. Like with sin, choosing to follow God isn’t really an isolated choice. That choice leads to a life of service, a life even of slavery to righteousness.

When we choose to base our life on love we become trapped in the joy of fellowship, the freedom of giving, the warmth of acceptance. We loose the freedom to treat other people as objects because we know they are our brothers and sisters. We loose the freedom to build walls around ourselves and our possessions because we know we are connected to other people. A life of discipleship is slavery in its own way, because we give our lives to God, but it is a slavery full of joy, peace and fulfillment.

         In the freedom God gives us we choose whom we will serve. Will we choose to serve ourselves and the sinful structures of this world or will we choose to serve God and those who need us most? Will we choose the dead end of selfishness or the joyful road of community and discipleship? Christ sets us free for new life. How will you use your freedom?

Thanks be to God.