|
"How Our Needs Define Jesus” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – August 2, 2015 Centenary United
Ephesians 4:1-7; John 6:24-35 There was a time in my life when I used to cut out religious
articles from newspapers and periodicals that featured very unique
relationships that people had with Jesus.
As I was growing up, it did not take me very long to understand
that not everyone understood Jesus Christ in the same way.
There actually was quite a variety of ways as to how Jesus is
perceived by people and groups. There were two ads that appeared in the
strangest areas of life.
One was Karate for Christ. I
believe their mission was to bring people to Christ by teaching them
marshal arts. The other one
was Strippers for Jesus.
This one clearly gave me pause.
It turned out that this was a group of former pole-dancing
striptease artists that were attempting to intervene in the lives of
young women who were headed toward their former profession. Last week Lois and I were watching the Pan American games when
this very bubbly female reporter
was interviewing an American boxer that had won the gold medal in his
weight class. The first
words out of his mouth were:
"I would first like to thank Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior,
for granting me this victory!
I just want to praise his name."
There have been other athletes that, once they completed a
remarkable play or score on the field, they immediately kneel and
assumed a posture of being in prayer.
Others, like the boxer I just mentioned, seize the moment of an
interview to witness what Jesus means to them even though they had been
asked, "How does this victory rank among your other accomplishments?" There is a dating service called
ChristianMingle.com and the
tag line on their television ad is, "Sign up today so you can find
God's pick for you."
This one is preaching some
serious theology about how to find a life-partner.
I am sure this appeals to a
number of Christians. Last Sunday, when we were celebrating the lives of Stanley and
Clarissa Woolridge, our pews were filled with a variety of people
representing a cross-section of One attendee said, The Spontaneous
Choir was wonderful. Our
choir director needs everything perfectly sung and choreographed.
You had 28 people up there having a good time as they were
singing Blessed Assurance.
No one seemed to care how the choir sounded.
Let me tell you something, pastor, they put
our perfect choir to shame
just with their smiles and joy. Another person from Another woman said, "Your worship service was filled with so much
warmth and serendipity. There was a wonderful informality in here.
I love it. Our
worship services are formal and very serious."
I am sure her comment was inspired by Chris Swan who was seeking
divine intervention that would insure a
Cup Match victory for As we consider the passage this morning from John's Gospel, it is
very evident that Jesus was understood quite differently by a number of
his listeners. There were
people coming that wanted another
pot luck meal like the one when Jesus fed the 5,000.
There were some that asked Jesus to perform a miracle.
Still others wanted Jesus to tell them what God wants them to do
with their lives.
When he responded, "I am the one who has come from Heaven in order to
give life to this world," his listeners said, "Give us that
life." Everyone wanted something from Jesus, and for many Christians
today, the chances are good that we are no different.
Some people look at Jesus as the one who navigates their lives
for them. There are some that
turn to Jesus for support because their spouse wants out of their
marriage, because there was an unexpected death or because a decision
was made not to hire them for the
dream job they always wanted.
Most of us have been taught how to relate to Jesus by what our
parents modeled for us, by what pastors and Sunday school teachers have
taught us and from our own personal experiences.
There are so many people with deep seated ideas about their
relationship with Jesus that each may feel that they have
the right path.
The truth is, all of
us have the correct path.
How can this be? The answer is that, during his ministry, Jesus met people where
he found them.
There was no absolute formula
for how to approach Jesus.
People did not need to have a personal relationship with him for him to
love them.
People in every generation have
tended to define Jesus according to their needs at any given moment
during their lives. Why
would it be any different for us today?
One woman only wanted to touch the hem of his garment.
(Matthew 9:20)
Another has become known
throughout history because Jesus used her as an example of faith and
trust. He watched her put
two copper coins in the Back in the early 1960s, the courts mandated racial integration
of all public schools in the When I was six
years old, my father answered a knock at the front door of our home in He went on to tell us that, after witnessing the senseless murder
of his father, he had to take a
boat ride with Jesus.
As all of us were still reeling from his story, he continued to tell us
what happened next. I did not know how
to fight a disease I could not see.
That disease was hiding under white sheets worn by model white
citizens of our community.
Instead of destroying myself with bitterness and resentment, the spirit
of Jesus came to me. That
night I decided that for the rest of my life I was going to try to bring
healing, justice and peace to a world that seems to go crazy when those
qualities are missing. I
decided to go to law school where I could learn to practice law. My
people matter to God and I wanted, even as a child, to give them a voice
in a court of law. The number of
ways that we connect to the creative energies of the universe is
infinite in their possibilities.
Everyone from the Apostle Paul meeting Jesus on the road to These human experiences are what make the study of
Spirituality almost mandatory
for people to navigate through life without surrendering their spirits
to life's occasional craziness.
A friend and colleague of mine put it this way:
I don't worship the
carpenter from When the Apostle Paul was writing encouraging words to a small
group of Christians in Always be humble,
gentle and patient. Show
your love by being tolerant with one another.
Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by
means of the peace that binds all of you together.
There is one God for all people and that one God is the Lord over
everything. Each one of us
has received a special gift
in proportion to our level of understanding.
(Ephesians 4:2f) We can take this message home with us this morning.
God meets us where we are at any
moment in our lives. In the
Scriptures this has come by a
still small voice, a dream,
a burning bush, a blinding light
from the sky, or a miraculous
one moment in time.
God will do almost anything to
get our attention. Sometimes our moment comes from a need to get in touch with God. Unmanageable dramas enter our lives causing us to open that window to God's presence regardless of what beliefs we hold. Suddenly a new understanding dawns on us. God was there all the time waiting for us to ask for guidance through circumstances we honestly believed we could no longer manage alone. We will always be met right where we are by love's presence in whatever form love comes to us. |