"Jesus
Taught Us How To Play The
Game" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler
– January 13, 2013 Centenary United
Isaiah 43:1-7; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 Our lesson opens
this morning with John the Baptist’s preaching.
His listeners were so captivated by John’s message and the
passion with which he delivered it that they thought he might be
the Messiah foretold by the
prophets. John quickly
dispelled such rumors and provided his listeners with a description of
what they could expect from the
Messiah when he does come. Eugene Peterson’s
translation of this passage put John’s words into shirtsleeve English.
I am baptizing you
here in the river. The main
character in this drama, to whom I am a mere stage hand, will ignite the
kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the
inside out. He is going to
clean house – make a clean sweep of your lives.
He will place everything true in its proper place before God;
everything false he will put out with the trash to be burned.
(Luke 3:16-17) Peterson has an
interesting way with words.
His translations in many cases help people to have a better
understanding of what they are reading.
John’s words provided an accurate description of what Jesus
brought into the world.
Jesus eventually did provide a
clear path for people to follow by teaching them what is important in
life and what could be discarded. Last week, we
mentioned how Jesus described his purpose for being in ministry: “I came
into this world for one purpose and that purpose was to speak about the truth.
(John 18:37) John the
Baptist described that truth
in this manner: “He is going to clean house – make a clean sweep of your
lives. He will place
everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he will
put out with the trash to be burned.” This morning we are
going to discuss how this process works, particularly when a lot of
people are not paying attention or they do not know what Jesus taught.
When we were younger, we heard people say, “He’s just sowing his wild
oats. All young men do that.
They eventually do grow up.”
“She’s going through those late adolescent years when young
girls’ lives are being driven by raging hormones.
She’ll be okay.” Unless
someone teaches young people the
rules for living a wholesome life, they are not aware that their
early choices often create the habits that govern the rest of their
lives. There are
rules for life that produce
fabulous results. Last year I was observing a group of women playing dominoes during one of our Ecumenical Teas. When I noticed that a woman was stuck and could not play any of her tiles, I pointed out where she had several moves available to her. She looked up at me, smiled and said, “We are playing by different rules.” Everyone at her table laughed. They were having a wonderful time and no one really cared who won or lost. Many people are not
aware of the rules of life
when they begin playing increasingly more important roles that
contribute to their future.
When they are surrounded by a loving environment and are reared in a
home where love is abundantly present, they learn what is important and
what is not. Love fashions our lives when we are busy with the process
of growing up. One afternoon when
our daughter came home from middle school, she decided to make chocolate
chip cookies for the family.
She mixed together all the ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, flour,
vanilla, salt, and semisweet chips. When she pulled the first pan out of
the oven, she asked me to look at her cookies.
Something was wrong.
The cookies looked like flat three inch ponds with floating brown
icebergs. When I asked if she
had followed the recipe, she said, “Not exactly.
The recipe called for baking soda and the only thing I could find
in the cupboard was baking powder.”
We ate the cookies anyway. She
learned the importance of following
the rules if she wanted a
desired outcome. John was telling his
listeners that the Messiah
would “ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within them,
changing them from the inside out.”
Is that an accurate description of what happens to people?
You bet it is when we follow where our love and compassion take
us. The problem we have
today is that people are no longer being exposed to the guidance that
Jesus’ compass provides.
There was a time when
faith informed our culture. Years ago, the church was one of the
most important buildings in Each person, whether
they believe so or not, is equipped with a spirit that needs to be
nurtured and fed. Jesus
provided the path for generous, compassionate living. Our spirits help
us to recognize beauty in nature, the compassionate attitudes of others,
opportunities to explore, the wonder of developing our potential and the
experience of confidence that comes from feeling the presence of God
every step along our journey.
All behavior is symbolic of what is guiding us. Do we ever wonder
why people are drawn to experiment with marijuana, cocaine, PCP and a
host of other illegal substances?
Almost every morning in the
Gazette, there is an article featuring someone who was arrested for
having alcohol in their system that exceeds all acceptable limits. A
recent study in the One of my classmates
from our college days spent some time with us some years ago.
He was so grateful for our hospitality that he gave us an ounce
of something called, I asked Bob why he
smoked marijuana. He said, “To
escape for a while. I use it
to feel good, to be at peace, happy and carefree. Dick, if I could get
away with it, I would get stoned
everyday. Life is painful
for me and marijuana helps me to pull away from that pain even if it is
only for a little while.” Today, the symptoms are
everywhere as people attempt to feed a hunger that they do not know they
have.
People have lost sight of the
path that helps them to navigate through life safely and confidently.
Ignorance of that path has created a Band-Aid approach to coping
with life’s never ending issues that come up for all of us. Evangelists,
however, are everywhere but they do not belong to
The Body of Christ.
They are employed by pharmaceutical companies.
They claim to have the answer for every ailment and symptom that
enters our bodies.
After listening to their
gospel-like testimonies filled with promising images by attractive
actors, we even hear the come to Jesus tag line, “Ask your doctor if our product is right for
you.” People take
medications to sleep, to mask the pain in their joints, to stabilize
their emotions, to pull themselves out of depression, to rid their
bloodstream of harmful LDL cholesterol, to lose weight – the lists go on
and on. Where were all these
diseases, syndromes and afflictions 50 years ago?
Many of these issues were once
dealt with by skills of spirit. Our bodies are a print out of what is happening inside of us. When our spirits experience life as an adventure filled with barriers that actually strengthen us when we overcome them, the chances are good that we are also happy and filled with gratitude. We have learned the purpose of the challenging experiences we encounter. John the Baptist
said, “The one who is coming after me will ignite the kingdom life, a
fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out.
He will place everything true in its proper place before God;
everything false he will put out with the trash to be burned.” What Jesus brought was a path for living that offers creative guidance for every man, woman and child on earth. Those who discover that compass and follow it, climb the highest mountain peaks, achieve the greatest satisfaction with life, continue their evolution of spirit and learn that barriers in their path can be cast into the sea. Those that choose to
follow that path have learned that anger can be replaced with patience
and peace. Blaming others
for unhappiness can be replaced by the acceptance of circumstances over
which we have little control.
Inconsolable grieving over losses can be overcome by letter go
and trusting God for the outcome of all things.
We have been taught never to allow anything in the material world
to gain control over the quality of our thoughts, emotions and spirit.
If Jesus could face a cross, we certainly can successfully face
the challenges that confront us.
The people that ignore the
spiritual realities that govern life or that never learned that such
realities exist, cannot prevent the consequences of their ignorance from
impacting their lives.
It
is no wonder why medication has filled the vacuum caused by people that
feel there is no other place to turn. A pill to lose weight appears to
be a much better solution than taking responsibility for what and how
much people eat. One day a very
handsome young man came to my office with a woman whom he had met at a
bar. They wanted me to do their
wedding ceremony. Their story was
interesting. He was an
electrician that owned his own company.
He had six trucks and crews in the field.
He was wealthy and confessed to being a playboy that had been
intimate with over one hundred women. And,
yes, he kept the count. He had
everything that a number of young, wealthy singles dream of having
including a yacht and several homes in beach communities.
He dropped a verbal bomb during our
meeting. He had been near
the point of taking his own life because he felt empty and alone. He
began revealing the fears in his inner world to the woman who was
tending the bar.
Interestingly enough, she was a Christian who found that talking to
people from behind the bar became a
perfect mission field.
Countless men flirted with her and tried to pick her up.
However, she had the ability to listen to their needs and send
them back to their wives and children by assuring them that there is no
greener pasture better than
what they already have. During our meeting
Mike said,
Susan gave me back
my life by teaching me how to experience and express love. I had never
had that. I was always
seeking gratification. My life
was always about me. My new responses have healed me. I never knew who I
was until Susan introduced me to the guy that lived inside my body. During the process
of putting him on the path Jesus’ taught, Susan realized that she had
fallen in love with the new
Mike. Regardless of what anyone
personally believes, life is a
required spiritual journey
for all human beings. The
fact that we have free will does not give us the right to
choose the curriculum. We
will either learn the rules of
living through
joy and gratitude or we will learn those
rules through pain and suffering. We will either embrace life as it
comes or we will constantly try to escape from being
victimized by it. Those who use the compass Jesus provided
will know joy and peace.
Those that never had the compass
will take a little longer until they learn that everything they needed
to experience a remarkable life was already inside of them since birth.
We Christians are blessed that we know this and we are blessed
to be a sent people to “Go into all the world and make disciples.”
This is who we are and this is what disciples do. |