Category Archives: Forest Grove

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Preparing for my final Sunday as pastor of Forest Grove Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lucas, TX. Sermon is ready. Still have work to do to ready my heart, mind and spirit. Time to pray. I am hopeful, for the congregation and the wonderful people there, as well as for myself and my family and our ministry that goes forth from this place out into the world. We will carry with us so much that we have learned and received. We are stronger, wider, humbler, and hopefully more faithful and loving followers of Jesus Christ because of the time we have spent here. I hope the same is true of them because of our time together. If you need a good cry, FGCC at around 10:30am tomorrow is a good place to be. There will also be some laughter and many prayers and blessings. Sermon notes will be up tomorrow afternoon on Mark 4 – “Seeds on the wind”. And then later you’ll hear more about what is next for me in my new ministry that God is unfolding in and through me.

Seeds on the Wind – Mark 4

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NOTE: This is the final sermon I am to preach after more than ten years at Forest Grove Christian Church

Summary of Mark 4 –

Mark presents us with three seed parables about God’s reign, and then abruptly shifts to a story of a physically and emotionally exhausted Jesus falling asleep on the boat and not being roused by the terrible storm that erupted.

1-20 Seed/Word scattered without judging the soil in advance

21-23 Let your light shine

24-25 The measure you give is the measure you will get back

26-29 Partners with God: We have work to do, and God gives the growth

30-34 The tiny mustard seed produces a tree of safety for the vulnerable

35-41 Jesus stills the storm

I would like to explore for a few moments how these three seed parables work together, supported then by the two intervening proverbs, and finally encapsulated by a challenge.

The sower went out to sow seeds. The seed is the Word of God, the message of the Kingdom now and coming, the Good News, the Gospel of God’s all-encompassing redeeming love. The sower does not judge in advance whether the seed will likely be received, or how well it might grow. No. The seed is broadcast liberally, extravagantly, even wastefully – if we measure as a farmer would. After all, no good farmer would knowingly cast seeds on a pathway, or among the brambles, or in rocky soil. The farmer goes to great lengths to prepare the soil conditions BEFORE casting the seed, and then only in the places that are most likely to produce.

Not so with the Messiah. The messiah offers the gospel to everyone around him – the Priests and Scribes, the Sadducees and Pharisees, tax collectors, drunkards, sinners and the unclean, and even to the common folks in the middle. Everyone has equal access, ready or not, to experience the word of love offered.

There are at least two ways to interpret this parable. The first Jesus gives to the disciples – that the different kinds of soil represent people at different stages of readiness. So when the Messiah travels along the seashore teaching, in his audience are people who fit each of the four descriptions – some completely unreceptive, some quickly enthusiastic but easily burned out, some have too many other commitments that choke out the growth, and finally others are receptive and have good conditions for the seeds to take root, sprout and grow healthy and strong until they bear fruit of their own. Jesus does not generally take aside this last group and only teach and preach to them, only offer them healing and restoration and reconciliation with God, self and neighbor. The seed of God’s good news is offered freely to all, even though only a portion are able to receive it to full benefit.

A second meaning springs from this first. Just as at any one time a crowd will have people who represent each of the four types of seed, similarly each of us is at different times like the four kinds of soil. Yesterday you may have been so distracted by the cares of the world that you were unable to receive the good news that was offered. Today you may receive it eagerly, but in the heat and winds of life your enthusiasm may dry up. Perhaps tomorrow will you be like the rocky path, where the scavengers come along and steal away the good news? And finally, hopefully, at some point each of us will be like good soil that is ready to receive the Gospel and have it bear fruit in our lives. That is the goal, the dream.

Now, of course, we are all familiar with people who have been that good soil, but life just got too much for them. Too many rain storms washed away all the good topsoil. Too much inattention to spiritual things left their lives cluttered with brambles, or filled with people who would come in and steal their joy and peace. Perhaps each of us can relate to that experience at some point in our lives. This is not a parable about judgment from God on those unready to receive. It is simply a reality check, a true image of life as we know it. Some days we are more ready than others to follow Jesus and share God’s love and bear the fruit of the kingdom. Some days we have more energy and enthusiasm than others. Some days we are just so exhausted we could sleep through a storm.

The second parable picks up where this one leaves off. Paul reminds the church: 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1) So Jesus points out that though the soil is good, and the farmer does everything necessary, the means of growth is still a mystery. God makes things grow. We have a responsibility, certainly, whether for our individual lives, our family, our church, community or world. There are things we can and must do as caretakers of creation (GEN2:15), colaborers with God (1COR3:9). Even so, we do not get credit for the growth that results, or blame for its lack. God sends rain on the just and the unjust (MT5:45). Let us do what is ours to do, encourage one another, and then give God the glory for all good things (1CHRON16:34).

This Gospel word of Good News that is in us must shine forth from us into the world. Our lives hold the potential to bless others with light and warmth, and we must find ways to let that light shine. The amount of light and love we share with others determines the amount we will be able to receive back from God. The more stingy and guarded we are in loving our neighbors, the less grace we will experience from God. This is not because God will withhold grace or mercy or love, but because we will be unable to receive it because our hands and hearts will be filled with fear and focus on self.

When the seeds of the Good News of God’s Kingdom of redeeming mercy and love are planted in good soil, they become like a tree which gives shelter under its canopy. Jesus compares this to the mustard seed, one of the smallest seeds known in his day. Even so small an amount of faith, so small an expression of love, can take root and grow in the right soil so that in days to come the vulnerable may find shelter and sustenance. The birds of the air make their nests and raise their young. What a beautiful image of the relationship between our faith and God’s work to bless the world in and through the church. Does the church provide shelter for the vulnerable, the fragile, the wounded? Is the church a place of refuge from the storms of life, so that when they rage against us, we can be secure in the knowledge that the one who stills the storms watches over us?

These storms of life do come. How wonderful a gift to see our Lord so worn out that he sleeps right through. You’ve felt that way, haven’t you? Much remains to be done, but you can’t stay awake another moment. You are physically and emotionally and spiritually drained, exhausted. You must rest, and rejuvenate, be renewed by God. We can see ourselves in this and take comfort when we feel the same.

We also know how the disciples feel. We cry out with them and the psalmist 23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever! 24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? 25 For we sink down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. 26 Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love. (PS44:23) At one point the psalmist is so frustrated as to compare God to a soldier waking from a drunken stupor (Psalm 78:65). We know this feeling, don’t we, of wondering where God is, whether God cares about how hard things are for us? “Lord, do you not care that we are drowning?” (MK4:38)

In response to our cry, the Lord first offers peace and calm to us in the midst of the raging storm. Then he turns to us and asks, in love, “Where is your faith? Why are you so afraid? Am I not with you, and am I not trustworthy? I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

There is one final thing here, the unspoken punch line of the whole chapter. The wind of the storm actually scatters the seeds of faith. Remember how in Acts 7 we read of the stoning of Stephen and the flight of the other disciples? And then in the very next breath Luke tells us: 4 Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word (Acts 8). The scattering of the faithful actually leads to the growth of the kingdom. God uses the storms of life to scatter seeds of faith, some of which will find good soil in us and our community, and grow and bear fruit for generations to come. Some we may never know. Others we may only learn about decades later.

I have just this week been reconnected with my best friend from high school. Jon was in a horrible car accident in the fall of our junior year, at the age of 16. He sustained a closed head injury which left him comatose for months, followed by years of rehabilitation therapy, and permanent damage to his memory and cognitive skills. Because of these deficits, his doctors believed he was better off not having any contact with him, so his family asked us to walk away forever. This was incredibly painful. It is one thing to lose a friend to death. It is something very different and strange to have him still alive, but cut off by injury. He will never live alone without supportive care. He is a 16 year old boy trapped in a 43 year old man’s body. And I’m his best friend – have been all this time even though we haven’t spoken since 1986. My care for him during our high school years has helped to sustain him through the unimaginable storms raging within and around him. I could not have imagined what it feels like to know that. He sent me two letters this week that looked just like the kinds of notes high school kids used to write to each other – back before texting and Instagram, of course. I had no idea, all these years, that those seeds of love and friendship were bearing fruit in his heart and mind, sustaining and encouraging him. We really never know how the light we shine, and the love we share, will be used by God to bless others, and eventually, perhaps, come back to bless us. We really never know.

Listen to a brief litany of the seeds scattered by this congregation over the last ten years:

  • Leader Development
    • Ministry Internship has trained three people for ministry
    • Six adults have participated in the Lay Ministry Training Program
    • We have provided scholarship money for people training for ministry
  • Community Service
    • We helped launch and have been an anchor church for Family Promise
    • We have raised money for local charities, including ACO, Food Pantries, Samaritan Inn, Children’s Advocacy Center, Hope’s Door
    • We have rehabbed housing in Trinity Park
    • We have participated in Habitat for Humanity
    • We have taken two mission trips
    • We have given over $10,000 to local families during times of need
  • Men’s and Women’s work
    • Ongoing participation in retreats
    • Regular meetings of fellowship and study
  • Senior Adult Ministry
    • Worship services led at Juliet Fowler Homes
    • Fellowship, communion, prayer and song led at Loving Care Homes
  • Children and youth
    • Over thirty children and youth sent to camps and retreats
    • Over 100 children involved in VBS here on our campus
    • Countless children blessed through the Boyd Park outreach which we helped start and keep going for the first several years.
  • Worship
    • We have offered multiple worship styles and done a lot with a few resources
    • We have given everyone an opportunity to grow in the use of their gifts
    • We have held over 1000 worship services together
  • Evangelism
    • We have given away almost ten thousand donuts as a simple expression of Christ’s love and our concern for those who work on Christmas Eve.
    • We have hosted concerts, Festivals, Carnivals, Car Shows, BBQs, Dances and VBS as ways to build connections with our community.
    • We won an award for Excellence in Evangelism for 2010 for welcoming 16 adults into the church.

“Clean and Unclean”

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In the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney, we learn about the “cheese touch”. It is his version of elementary school’s atomic cooties – nothing could be worse, and from the perspective of the social caste system of middle school, the cheese touch makes one unclean and therefore untouchable. In a true display of mercy and grace, Greg rescues his friend Rowley from social excommunication by taking the blame for eating the cheese.

The religious culture of Jesus’ day had taken the law, which was meant to protect people and help them connect with God in covenant relationship, and transformed it into a tool to separate, reject, and oppress people, to claim power over them. They were like the kids in middle school who decide who is in and who is out, who is cool and who is a nerd, who is acceptable, and who is untouchable.

Jesus comes remove those divisions – 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15 He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16 and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. (Ephesians 2)

Remember the 12 that Jesus called included a radical right Matthew, the tax collector, friend of big business, who had aligned himself with the Romans, and radical leftists, including Simon the Zealot, who wanted to reclaim their land by force. It would have been like putting the KKK and the Black Panthers together, or Fred Phelps and the folks from Westboro Baptist Church together with openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. Do you remember after hurricane Sandy how New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was spending so much time with President Obama, and applauding his responsiveness to the crisis – the same Chris Christie who had lambasted the president during the Republican Convention in the summer of 2012?

Breaking down the dividing wall between clean and unclean. From God’s point of view, we are all either unclean, or all clean. Paul says “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” (RM3:23). Then later we read “As in Adam all have died, so in Christ all are made alive,” (1COR15:22) and “Christ died for all, therefore all have died.” (1PETER3:18) Both seem to be true – clean and unclean, all of us.

Those who are in Christ are new creations because we have a new awareness of God’s redeeming grace. That doesn’t mean that we are the only ones who will receive it. God’s grace is free for all. The issue is just one of awareness. Jesus comes to offer this awareness and experience of grace to all, not only those whom we deem acceptable or worthy of receiving it.

Whether it is our genetic disposition, sin dwelling in us, or the influence of generations of human culture, we want to draw lines and build walls where God wants to draw circles and build bridges. In Revelation 21:5 we hear “The one sitting on the throne says, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” (REV21:5) As Christians we are meant to demonstrate this newness, to manifest the presence of God and the coming kingdom, to be salt and light (MT5), and wells of living water (JN4), and the first fruits (James1:8). We are blessed to be a blessing, so that in and through us all the world will come to understand that they are blessed by God (GAL3:8).

In Christ, and through him in the church, Clean and Unclean are made one – we are redeemed by the Mercy of God demonstrated in the Crucifixion of Jesus May we as church go forward into the world as a people who do not put barriers where God has put bridges.

Outline of Mark 3:

Mark gives us four stories that are about crossing barriers between clean and unclean.

Vs 1-6 – Jesus is in the synagogue and heals a man on the Sabbath. The man was considered unclean, and healing on the Sabbath was viewed as unclean (a violation of the law) by the Pharisees.

Vs 7-12 – Jesus engages people who have “unclean spirits” – they are tormented and troubled by something, but it is the judgment and perception of the community that declares them unclean. Again, Jesus removes these barriers and offers restoration.

Vs 13-19 – Jesus calls and appoints the 12 apostles, who had numerous divisions and barriers between them, and made them brothers.

Vs 20-30 – People began saying that Jesus had become unclean – that he was crazy, and even that he was the lord of the unclean. Jesus’ argument is an interesting one – he does not refute them, but using logic states that if they are correct, then that would still be a good thing because he is tearing down the house of uncleanness.

Vs 31-34 – Jesus redefines the ultimate social division – FAMILY. Your social standing, your career, your place in religious life, whom you could marry and where you would live, all were determined by family relationships. People were trapped, in bondage to those constraints, whatever they were. Jesus removes that final barrier by redefining his own family as those who do the will of their common Father. The implication is that the work Jesus is doing, and has commissioned his disciples to do, is that which makes one family.

Sin and Forgiveness

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Mark 2 Outline

  • Forgiveness precedes Repentance
  • Call before repentance
  • Celebration over Fasting
  • Provision over Prohibition

 

Forgiveness precedes repentance. Do you notice that? What a strange story. Jesus is “at home” which may be Peter’s home. There is some indication that he was living there during his ministry years. Either way, he is in a home and it is so packed with people seeking healing and hope that no one can get in. Four friends are carrying a fifth on a mat. He’s sick with something that apparently prevents him from standing or walking. Did he want to be there, or had he entirely given up any hope of getting better? We don’t know. Either would be understandable. What Mark does emphasize is the actions of the friends, not the paralytic. And Jesus, in response to the faith of the friends, pronounces forgiveness.

This is an interesting moment. Some in the crowd are very threatened by what Jesus says because they know all about how forgiveness is meted out, and it certainly does not include some rabbi simply saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” Blood must be shed. There must be sacrifice. The law is clear. (Hebrews 9:22) Well, actually, Hebrews references the law, but we don’t have that stated in the Old Testament. Sacrifices were not made to pay God for our sins. As we read in Psalm 50: 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Blood was a symbol of sealing a covenant. That’s what Jesus says at the last supper, “28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. They rightly say, “Who but God alone can forgive sins?”

Jesus does not at that point claim to be God, or to be equal to God, but he does identify himself as the Son of Man, a reference to the messianic leader foretold in Daniel 7:13
“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.” This image would not have been taken in a Trinitarian sense, as God or a part of God, but as a representative of and ambassador for God. The next verse from Daniel makes clearer the import of this title: “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away ; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. Clearly political power, after the example of David, but even then not what Jesus’ contemporaries would consider the authority to forgive sins.

So what’s he doing? How does he proclaim forgiveness of sins if no blood has been shed? How does Jesus offer this man forgiveness prior to the crucifixion if the crucifixion of Jesus is the means of our forgiveness? We don’t get any more satisfactory answers to these questions than the Pharisees got to theirs. Instead, we also hear Jesus say, “So that you will know the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins…” and he tells the paralyzed man to get up. Jesus manifests his authority over spiritual things by bringing about change in material things.

Mark assumes, I think, that some of us are slow learners, so we need the same message repeated in several different ways. Jesus travels on from Capernaum and encounters Levi sitting at his tax collecting booth by the sea. He is there at the center of commerce so that he can see how much people are earning and have a better chance of knowing whom to successfully oppress. He has betrayed his people, to say nothing of violating multiple laws of Moses meant to protect the poor (DEUT15:4; 24 & 27:19). We have no indication from the story that he has been reconsidering his life values or his career. He has not repented or confessed. He is a bold, audacious, public sinner.

And Jesus… Here he goes again. What Jesus does not seem to understand is that there is a proper order for people to receive forgiveness.

  1. They recognize God’s holiness
  2. They recognize that they are sinners
  3. They hear the good news of God’s love.
  4. They repent of their sin and commit to a new life following Jesus.
  5. They are forgiven and welcomed into the Body of Christ.

That’s how we have been told the system works. But apparently nobody told Jesus.

Jesus walks right up to Levi and says, “Follow me.” Jesus’ first encounter with Levi is to welcome him into the fellowship of followers, disciples. Jesus then enables him to serve the kingdom by providing hospitality. Then Levi repents, and commits to a new life which includes making amends to those he has violated. So how does it work?

  1. Jesus calls
  2. Jesus invites into ministry
  3. Levi experienced forgiveness and love.
  4. Repentance comes as a response.

Levi knew the law, and he knew that his life was inconsistent with it. He didn’t need someone correcting him, demanding he change his ways. He needed an experience of unconditional love, and that is exactly what Jesus offered him.

The Jews of Jesus’ day did not only have the Law of Moses. They had a whole tradition of interpretation for how they should live out those laws. It was not enough to be told “Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” They had very religious people who had figured out systems of just how to do that.

Again, Jesus presses beyond what people thought they knew and understood to reveal new truth and new life in the ancient faith. “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” Jesus says, “Don’t you understand that the Law exists to bless humanity and the earth. Any interpretation or application of the law, or its derivative, that brings about suffering or prevents blessing and healing and life, is a violation of God’s love for creation.”

Jesus also recognized that this is difficult to understand, and that some folks will never get it. Some will stay behind in the old way. Jesus says that new wine will need to be put into new wineskins. That is just the way of nature, there is no other option. “Things are going to be different now,” Jesus says. “We’re not going to be playing by those old rules any more. There is a new kid in town.”

What about us? Are there places we get hung up on old rules, laws or traditions? Jesus does not reject Law or Tradition. He honors them by bringing us back to their original intent, which is to lift us up from our brokenness and restore us to relationship with God. How often have we seen law and tradition used to beat people into submission, to handcuff the church and imprison it behind bars in the name of God? That is what the Pharisees were doing – trying to protect God’s reputation. Do we really think God needs to be defended by us? The One who made billions of galaxies and scattered them across a vast universe? Who designed life itself? Does that God need you or I to fend off the bullies? No, but God’s children do. God’s creation does. While we are paralyzed and while we are still sinners, God enlists us for service in the kingdom. It is through being blessed, called and commissioned that we come to experience and believe that we are forgiven. Salvation is a preexisting fact that we have only to come to experience, understand, and accept.

We were taught that faith worked this way:

  1. Believe the right things
  2. Behave the right way
  3. Belong to the “in group” of Jesus’ followers

Jesus actually practiced it in exactly the reverse order:

  1. Belong to Jesus – you already do, even before you realize it
  2. Behave as he blesses and leads you – live into the kingdom as you discover it
  3. Believe that you can be different – because God believes it

What would change if we began to live this way?

  • How would we think about categories like church membership?
  • How would we treat those we consider unrepentant sinners?
  • How would we serve people in need even if they show no hope of changing?

What if Jesus related to us the way we treat the people who have offended us? That would not be very good for us, would it? Thanks be to God that we are all loved so much that God came to be among us and make us whole, not waiting for us to get our act together first, and not counting our sins against us. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Call to Worship Psalm 85

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Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin.

You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us.

Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.

Psalm 85, NRSV