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"Jesus' Call For Change" Sermon Preached By Rev. Richard E. Stetler - May 4, 2003 Psalm 4; Luke 24:36b-48
During the Scripture that was
read for us this morning, Jesus continued to teach his disciples. As
you may recall from last Sunday, Jesus said, "Just as the Father sent
me, so now I send you." In today's lesson, Jesus told his disciples
what to do once they entered the world. He said: This is what is written in the
Scriptures: The Messiah must suffer and must rise from death
three days later, and in his name the message about repentance and
the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations beginning in
Jerusalem. Most of us have lived long enough
to realize that one of our major difficulties is admitting to ourselves
that we need to change. For many of us, repentance is not one of our
favorite spiritual tools. For example, when we think that our values are
being violated, we feel quite justified in drawing a line in the sand
and in some fashion declaring war on others whom we believe are
responsible for our pain. The world, however, is not
filled with rights and wrongs as many of us suppose; it is filled with
people who choose to perceive differently. Many of us have learned how
to perceive without love. We know the Scripture, "God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself," yet until we change our methods of
dealing with each other, the recognition of that reconciliation will
remain delayed. One of the attitudes Jesus modeled for us was his
ability to communicate to people on the level where they lived. (Luke
5:30) We often find this difficult. Today we are going to consider
the changes that will soon be happening to our 23 high school
graduates. Will each of them need to repent from their current
attitudes and life-styles? Absolutely! If they do not, they will
succeed in one thing -- delay. I am not singling out this age group as
the only one that needs to change, because our need for altering our
life-style values and goals is universal. Repentance is one of the
tools each of us should use every day. Many of us have lived through the
stage in our lives when chemistry and hormones were our partners in
crime as we navigated adolescence. Our highs were very high and our lows
were so low. We knew that communication with Mom and Dad was strained
at best. We felt the urge to conform, to please and to find acceptance
from our friends. It was a time when fitting in appeared more important
than a 4.0 grade point average. And we envied those of our friends who
could do both. When today's graduates enter the
larger world, they will be dealing with a number of people whose values
were not formed in an environment similar to their own. People will
come on to their stage and enter their drama from different cultures.
There will no longer be the familiar voices of restraint to be home by
midnight, to dress warmly, to eat moderately and to study intently.
They will be with friends who may
perceive life's events through eyes that know only the pleasures of the
material world. Their definition of "the good weekend" may be plenty of
wine, lots guys and dolls and loud music. A person not anchored well
when they enter this world may find themselves ill-equipped to
understand that "having fun" has more to do with instant gratification
than how to make a lasting contribution. The wise detach from such a goal
and begin asking themselves, "Is this activity how I want to
define myself?" Repentance occurs when they have a change of mind.
Repentance comes when they learn, sometimes very painfully, that life is
a series of adjustments. During such times of transition, the
opportunity comes to reveal their faith, what they believe and the rock
upon which they stand. Paul wrote, "When I was a child,
my speech, feelings and thinking were all those of a child; now that I
am an adult, I have no more use for childish ways." (I Corinth. 13:11)
This came from a writer who lived repentance every day of his life. For
most of his life, Paul perceived without love. When he changed his
point of view, his world changed. He lived an inspired life after that
which caused him to write:
The Spirit produces love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control.
There is no law against such as these. (Galatians 5:22) Cream always rises to the top.
This happens in industry. This happens in relationships. This process
has to do with repentance, not luck. It has to do with changing,
evolving and growing every day of our lives. Heeding the call from any
other voice will produce delay.
Jesus sent his disciples into the
world to teach repentance. Clinging to values that "felt good" to us in
our past may not work in the future. For example, we now discover that
Dad and Mom knew a lot more for which we never gave them credit. We
have learned that being popular could not replace having well-honed
skills to use in the marketplace. We learned that emotional
relationships could not hold a candle to those in which intimacy was
based on quality communication, kindness and trust. We learned that
trials were nothing more than opportunities which allowed our
relationship to God to become visible. As we come to the table this
morning, bring to mind something that you want to change, outgrow or
resolve. Remember what Jesus said we could do if we had faith the
size of a mustard seed. He reminded us that we can move mountains.
Is it time to repent? If so, the overwhelming recognition of
forgiveness awaits those of us who do. THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER We come to you
this morning, attuning our spirits to your presence. We often wish we
lived in a world where little was demanded of us, where compromises were
few and where people are always kind. We confess that often our
patience is difficult to maintain. There are moments when self-interest
prevents us from perceiving with a loving spirit. There are times when
our spirits are held joyless when our experiences of being loved are too
few. As we receive the bread and the cup today, lead us to remember our
discipleship. In so remembering, may we choose to preserve our identity
as Christians by becoming like Jesus in spirit, word and deed. Amen. THE PASTORAL PRAYER
Thank you, God, for being the daily creative
presence in our lives. If only each of us could understand how to
create in the midst of our many passing moments, life would, indeed,
become an incredible adventurous journey. Yet we confess that many of
us are stopped by hurt feelings, power struggles in the office,
uncertainty with our identity and self-worth, broken hearts and illness.
We want the perky personalities. We want to wear the smiles. We want
to radiate high energy, but there are times when we cannot perform as we
would like.
We seek your understanding, love and
guidance. Help us to use our Sabbaths as days for rest as you
intended. Move us to take better care of ourselves. Inspire us to
saturate our minds with the words of thoughtful authors, walks among the
beautiful azaleas and quality time spent with family and friends. Help
us learn that our spirits need nourishment every bit as much as all
forms of life. Today we pray for our graduates as they enter a significant period of transition in their lives. May they carry themselves with hope and with an eagerness to learn more about their inner world. May they become focused on contributing rather than receiving, on building bridges rather than barriers and on sowing seeds that will help the world to become a more wholesome place to live. Help them to make their love of Christ visible each day. We pray these thoughts through the spirit of Jesus, who taught us to say when we pray . . . |