What is most important?

September 18, 2016

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

The Body of Christ…?

What really matters?

Matthew 25:36-46

Psalm 150

What Is Most Important…?

Prayer of adoration and for God’s illumination so that His Word would be heard through me or in spite of me…

I would ask you to rise, as you are able, for the reading of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 36-46…listen to the word from God for you and me, the people of God.

Sometimes life can get so complicated. There are so many things and people who are needing our attention. It can get overwhelming because of demands…the urgency…the fill in the blank. I know there are days that I feel like I am chasing my tail...around and around in circles. It can be hard, some days, to organize my day as I try to do the things I feel need to get done first. OK…audience participation time… the question is this…What matters most to you and why?

How would we define the body of Christ? We have defined it as family. But how we do you and I really define “family?” Try as we might, sometimes we don’t even come close to how God would define it. We leave out people who because they don’t fit our idea of family. But truthfully…we are not the ones who define family…the Creator of our diversely awesome family is the One who really defines it…our God is the One who gets to define what He himself created…Do you remember the saying from the movie “Lilo and Stitch” from last week? Ohana means family and family means no one is left out or left behind. We also came to realize that in order to become community in the world…in order to continue to be relevant we, as Christ’s followers, need to wake up. Wake from our slumber…wake from our complacency…wake from our numbness and see the world and people around us who are looking for someone to reach out in love, hope and compassion. They are in need of a savior…we can lead them to the saving grace we were and are given anew each day

Now there are probably a million ways to help someone…to minister to those who are in need. But I think Jesus kind of gave us a list of ways…sort of like categories…that we can lift others up from their sea of despair. In the scripture I read this morning from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus talks about what the sheep and goats did…or didn’t do.

1.    For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat

2.    I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink

3.    I was a stranger and you invited me in

4.    I needed clothes and you clothed me,

5.    I was sick and you looked after me

6.    I was in prison and you came to visit me

(Speak from the Spirit for each piece) Now this is not a checklist for us to check off and then we are done. To me it seems as if it is a way of life…one that honors God and Jesus…

What is our bottom line? What really matters to us? According to Jesus, what’s the bottom line? How do we or don’t we compare with what Jesus says matters most? In the scripture I read this morning…Jesus is clear on what really matters. Serving others…helping one another…loving others remember where they are and not where we “think” they should be. Jesus is also clear on what happens if and when we care more for ourselves than others. So many things seem to demand our attention as we walk on this journey of life. I don’t think we want to miss out on what really matters in life. The world claims one way but we are called to another. We are summoned…we are beckoned to a different way of life…one in which we are in community with on another.

As we open our hearts and our doors to those who are on the outside we become family. As we become family we can work together as the body of Christ…as a family of believers who reach out to those who are looking for someone to grab their hand to pull them out of the vortex they are in. As we come together the word Ohana becomes our battle cry because no one is left out or left behind. As we help others our focus is changed and we begin to think “we” instead of “me”. We begin to see a change happen within our communities when we begin to define…to specify what really matters.  We become one as we do all of this in the name the One who is the heads of the coin toss of life…being the head of the church, our hearts and our minds…our Risen Lord Jesus Christ…

Amen

Danny Gokey - More Than You Think I Am (Lyric Video)

We, as Christians, sometimes think we know it all...there is so much more than that. We need to come with a childlike wonder to the One who Created all that we see....

We Are Family…

September 4, 2016

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

The Body of Christ…?

Family

Matthew 25:34-46

Galatians 6:10

1 Peter 2:17

1 Peter 5:9

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/family

Prayer of adoration and for God’s illumination so that His Word would be heard through me or in spite of me…

Please stand as you are able for the reading of the Gospel according to Matthew… (read Matthew 25:34-46)

Family...Merriam Webster would have us believe that family is:

1.    a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head : 

2.    a :  a group of persons of common ancestry : 

b :  a people or group of peoples regarded as deriving from a common stock : 

3.    a :  a group of people united by certain convictions or a common affiliation

How would you define family…what does family look like to you? Now here is the million-dollar question…do you feel we, as Christians…as the family of God…, have forgotten what family is or have distorted what the word family is? Why do you feel that?

The first Sunday in September almost feels like the end of our summer school vacation…we come to worship to reconnect with friends, and with the Holy Living God. “Connection” is part of who we understand ourselves to be. But we really do need to admit that we too often are concerned with “Population: Me,” both as individuals and as a church. We may even do things to each other to hurt each other or even worse, tell others they are not worthy to be part of our family. We even leave the family unit just because we don’t get our own way or we don’t like someone in our “family tree” …

But how would God have us view family? What or who would God invite into the family tree where we gather together and share our lives journey? What would it mean to follow the command of the Table Host to expand our “population”–our notion of “family”–so that we might restore our relationships with each other and draw that relationship circle wider and wider?

Let me read a couple of Scriptures from the New Testament that talks about the family of believers…

Galatians 6:10

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

 1 Peter 2:17

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

1 Peter 5:9

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

The sheep in the Matthew scripture I read is how God would have us treat others…including those within our family of faith. But all too often we wind up, as the saying goes, hurting those who should mean the most to us. Is it because we tend to take our loves ones, our family members (whatever that may look like) for granted?

The goats in the scripture seemed surprised that they didn’t see Jesus among them. So maybe we need to ask ourselves this question, who do I consider Jesus to be? Do I see the face of Jesus in those around me or do I just see it when I look in the mirror…or even worse…do you not even see Jesus at all in the world around you?

I was talking with a very wise lady a few days ago and I think she hit the nail on the head. We, as the family of Christ…the family of believers, have forgotten what family means...what family is We all too often bail when the going gets tough…we forget the old saying “when the going gets tough…the tough get going.” And that doesn’t mean we get going out the door but stick even closer together to work through and weather the storm… The sad part about this is that it is happening in many of the places where God’s family meets. It is like a cancer that is destroying, eating away the bond of family ties we have with each other.

As we gather this morning I would have you ponder on these questions…

Who are my family members? Who do I consider my extended family? Are there others that I should invite into my extended family? Who would God want me to become a part of the family of God? Will I extend grace and love to my family members that God has called me to be part of? What did Jesus do so that I could be invited? Will I go and do likewise…?

The message in the Mathew scripture is clear…we know both sides of the coin. Which will you choose? I choose heads…following the head of our church, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ. How about you?

Amen.

Hey...Are You Asleep Yet...

September 11, 2016

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

The Body of Christ…?

Wake Up!

Galatians 6:1-5 NLT

Acts 20:7-12 MSG

Hey…Are You Asleep Yet…

Prayer of adoration and for God’s illumination so that His Word would be heard through me or in spite of me…

I remember as a child I went to many sleepovers at my friend’s houses. Now, being a mom, my daughters love to have friends over to sleep. I don’t know how much sleep happens during these sleep overs. I remember trying to go to sleep at these sleep overs and saying to my friends “Hey…are you asleep yet?” Of course they weren’t so we would start talking until the sun came up… I am not sure these should be called sleep overs…maybe “stay up all night having fun talking and having random dance parties while we constantly eat night” …but that is way too long…

There are times when we gather together as a church family…the body of Christ…that we may ask each other…hey are you asleep…during our church services…I know that would never happen here during a sermon right…right? OK…to be sure we are all awake here I want you to turn to your neighbor and say “Hey…are you asleep…?” But it is unfortunate that there are times…within the body of Christ…within our family…the answer is yes…yes I am asleep. Maybe that answer needs to change…maybe it’s time to wake up from our slumber and see the world around us…

How would we define the body of Christ? Last week we defined it as family. We asked ourselves the question “how would I define family?” We even talked about how God would view family and discovered that we sometimes don’t even come close to how God would define it. We can tend to leave out people who, for whatever reason we have, just don’t fit our idea of family. I left us with some questions to ponder and I pray we really did ponder them, because unless we do…there will be no change in the tide we are in…the scripture is clear in Matthew 25:34-46 what will happen if we don’t change… Shyanne reminded me this week of a saying from the movie “Lilo and Stitch”, Ohana means family…and family means no one is left behind or left out.

OK…so how are we going to change the tide? That seems like a really daunting task. I would say yes; it is an intimidating task but it is one that must be done. And yes…we can’t do this alone. We need God’s help to do this because if we try to this alone we will be overcome by the immensity of the problem. So…here’s where we begin…by simply waking up.

Let’s listen to a story in Acts that talk about falling asleep. It is found in chapter 20 verses 7-12…I am reading from the Message Bible Translation this morning…

Now this man Eutychus’ name means fortunate…and yes he was very fortunate that Paul was there. This story kind of symbolizes what happens when we, as the body of Christ, decide to fall asleep. We fall…we miss the mark…and die. But there is hope in this story. God can make us alive again when we decide to open our eyes again.

In order to begin to live outside our own little world…outside our walls…we need to wake up to the world around us. We need to see beyond what is right in front of us…what we see may not be what is truly there unless we look with the eyes of love and grace…through and with the eyes of God…those same eyes that looked upon us and showed mercy and grace even as we sat in sin. Sometimes we just go through the motions …in our lives…in our worship … in our fill in the blank. Maybe…just maybe…it is not so much about staying awake at church but staying awake as a church.

Look…there may be many reasons why we don’t want to wake up to the world around us, maybe there is too much pain and sorrow…maybe there is too much evil that we see…it can be overwhelming. Speak from the Spirit about the world around us…

But the problem is this…if we go numb and decided that it is better to sleep…we miss the blessings God has for us…even as we deal with the pain and despair around us. If we go numb what is going to happen to those on the outside reaching out to take hold of the rope that will pull them out of the spiraling vortex of pain and darkness into the light of a new day…a new beginning?

Here’s the Good News. God is waiting for us to wake up…He is waiting to lay across our lives…our churches…our ministries and bring them back to life…to bring us back to life…so we can truly live…! Church…as we wake up as the body of Christ…as Christ’s Church we reclaim the hope and power…we can and will make a difference.

Ok…so here’s the scenario…As we open our hearts and our doors to those who are on the outside we become family…as we become family we can work together as the body of Christ…as a family of believers who reach out to those who are looking for someone to grab their hand to pull them out of the vortex they are in…in doing so the word Ohana becomes our battle cry because no one is left out or left behind. And we do all of this in the name the One who is the heads of the coin toss of life…being the head of the church, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ… Got it?

Amen