Jesus

Jesus Includes Everyone – Acts 10

/ Scott Russ / Leave a comment

​Have you ever had a really weird dream and then you woke up and thought, “What was that all about?” When we were in Belize there was one evening after dinner that our guests wanted to take our team out for these coffee flavored milk shakes. They were very tasty. I enjoyed mine as a sat next to others, enjoying the evening and having some great conversation. But little did I know that I was in for a ride once I fell asleep. All I remember is that I had some really weird dreams that left me dazed and confused when I woke up. That morning, when I went to go take my medication, I noticed that I forgot to take them the morning before. So, with the combination of being off my meds and drinking a coffee milkshake before I went to bed was not a good combination for my mind! It was the most restless sleep I had all week. As we look at Acts 10, we see that Peter also had some weird dreams one night. And I doubt it had to be because he forgot to take his medication or drank dairy before he went to bed. But before we get to that, let’s get the back story.

Acts 10 begins this way:

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

So, there are a couple of things to note here that are very important for us to get the full gravity of what is going on. The brand-new Christian movement thus far has been a movement within the Jewish community. And at this point, for all they knew, following Jesus was primarily a Jewish thing. Non-Jewish people were seen as gentiles, nonbelievers, people not to be trusted with the Gospel of Jesus. 

But then one day, far away from the Jewish Christian community, a Roman centurion had a vision of an angel. Now understand that Romans were considered the enemy of the Jewish people. They were the occupying force oppressing them. There was no way for a person of Jewish decent to look kindly at the Romans especially a centurion. Yet, an angel visits Cornelius and tells him to call for Peter to come visit him.

Now what is really cool here in this story is the way that God orchestrates a very important and vital “God moment” between two people. A vision is given to Cornelius and then a vision is given to Peter. These visions were given to create an opportunity for these two to come together. Why these visions? Because under any other circumstances these two most likely would never speak to each other because of all the social and political barriers separating them. 

Now a vision was given to Peter to nudge him in the direction of going to see Cornelius. The story continues:

9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

What a strange dream! Peter had a weird dream of all kinds of animals, kosher and non-kosher coming down on a sheet. And then a voice told him to get up and eat. This would have been a wonderful dream for me! Eat all this delicious food! But Peter objects! He is not going to go up against everything he has always believed when it comes to a kosher diet. He objects three times and for three times the voice tells him “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

But you have to understand that for hundreds of years the Jewish people have been following, or at least attempting to follow, the laws given to Moses. In those laws are strict dietary laws that told them what they could and could not eat. Imagine this: on the DO NOT EAT list were thinks like pork and many types of seafood! There were kosher laws keeping them to a specific diet that would distinguish them from their Gentile counterparts. Peter would have found this dream to be offensive to everything he has been brought up to believe. He tries hard to stand on his principles and convictions. The dream then repeats itself three times. Any time anything is repeated three times in the Bible that attests to it importance and seriousness. God is driving home the point. Now Peter is understanding this dream in a literal sense, not yet understanding its figurative meaning. 

To summarize some of the story, the messengers find where Peter’s house is at and invite him back to Cornelius’s place. You can almost see the wheels turning in Peter’s head wondering if this has anything to do with his dream.  

When he gets to Cornelius’s house, Peter and Cornelius compare notes on their dreams and how they were given to each one of them to bring them together. 

What is kind of funny, and slightly offensive, is how Peter responds to Cornelius at first. He states, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

So, it’s kind of like Your people and my people, yeah well, we don’t really see eye to eye. I’m not really supposed to be associating with you. But God kind of twisted my arm on this matter. So, I came without objection! Thank you? I guess.

Cornelius then shares the details of his dream which encourages Peter to open up and share all he knows about Jesus. Peter begins to share by starting with stating, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” He then goes on to share everything he witnessed about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He then concludes with, “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Get that: God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right! Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. His salvation has busted through the “Jews-only” wall and is now available to all people. Anyone who puts their faith in Jesus finds forgiveness for their sins and a new life through Him! 

This was mind-blowing, earth-shattering, hard-to-believe truth here. Peter’s reluctance, questioning, and fear got steam-rolled over by God’s grace offered to all people, even a Roman centurion.

So, now that they compared dreams and Peter was able to tell his audience all about Jesus, what was the results? The story ends this way:

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Peter and his circumcised Jewish friends all of a sudden beheld the gifts of the Holy Spirit being fleshed out in the uncircumcised, non-kosher, politically incorrect Gentiles who were there, Cornelius and his family and friends all exhibited evidence of the Holy Spirit based on their faith. Now I’d like to park here for a moment and make sure you understand that Peter did not tell them to say a little prayer and then all is good, go on with life as usual. He tells them to put their faith in Jesus and do what is right. When we do this, there ought to be clear evidence of our salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit. So clear, that other people notice there is something different about you. Believe me when I say we are living in very dark times right now where faith, integrity, character, and a Spirit-filled life will stand out in the darkness. People will take notice of this and you may attract people to Jesus or you may face persecution of sorts. Keep in mind that there are Christians all around the world who fear for their lives simply because of their faith and the country they live in that is strongly opposed to Christianity. And also, be careful because in America right now there are many voices trying to speak out for Christianity that are very anti-Christ. Imposing our faith by force of will never work. Christian nationalism will fail because it is not of God. It is time we begin to look at the fruit of our lives to distinguish whether or not we are truly following Jesus and living Holy Spirit filled lives. Not that we become perfect all the time now. But there ought to be evidence of growth, that the fruit of the Spirit is developing in your life. 

With that said, I want us to focus on Peter’s initial reactions to being told three times to go witness to a non-kosher, non-Jewish gentile, who was a Roman centurion. This was an earth shattering, boundary-breaking moment in Christian history. This event did not sit well for a while with Jewish believers. Paul and Barnabus’s ministry to the gentiles started taking off as well. Suddenly, the very first Church Council was called for in Jerusalem where Peter, Paul, and Barnabus were challenged to share what they were experiencing. You can read all about this in Acts 15. 

So, let’s apply this to our current situation. Who are the people you think are beyond God’s grace and redemption? I want to open up and share with you about a group of people I used to struggle to love. That is the LGBTQ community. I was brought up to believe from pastors and teachers that to be gay was a sin. In fact, I taught this in my early years of Youth Ministry, and even during my initial starting years here at Epiphany. It was really easy for me to have a strong opinion because I believed at the time that the Bible was very clear on this subject and quite frankly, I did not know anyone, or at least I didn’t think I knew anyone, who was a part of that community. It is really easy to have a belief about a specific group of people especially when you don’t even know anybody personally from said community. As I grew up, I have had people, friends, pastors, and professors, twist scripture in such a way as to justify their racism, patriarchy, homophobia, and their hate for their political opponents. It was always about who is in and who is out. Who are the real Christians, and who are the heathens. 

A major turning point for me here at Epiphany was when the youth group was doing a mission trip to downtown Cincinnati in 2013. I had a gay couple, who you are all familiar with, ask to join us on the mission trip. Heather and Jen wanted to be a part of the trip and experience it with one of their kids. This was the first time for me that I ever had a gay couple want to be a part of a mission trip. At the time, I wasn’t sure what to think or how to approach this. Of course, they came on the trip and this began a new relationship for me. They were both very open and willing to have conversations with me about their faith and what it means to be gay. During this mission trip I was able to see them be used of God as they took part in ministry with our teenagers. This has only continued as they have both been involved in our contemporary music team for several years now.

Fast forward to approximately 5 years ago, we were in a position to hire a new director of Contemporary Music. This young kid came in and impressed us. His name was Corbin. At that time, he told us he was gay, wondering if that would be a deal-breaker or not. As he began working here, it became very evident that God was using him in a special way to lead our music ministries. A couple of years back, Corbin offered to go on one of our youth mission trips. Since then, he has attended the past 3 youth mission trips to Florida, Minnesota, and Belize. And I have gone with him on the Mexico mission trip as well last November. As I have seen him be used of God, I have come under the conviction that I love doing ministry with him, especially mission trips. It is clearly evident to me that God is also working in and through Corbin just like I have seen in Heather and Jen. In fact, both Jen and Corbin have felt a call to pastoral ministry as a result of their connection to Epiphany.

So, what do I do with the passages that seem to condemn homosexuality? Well, what I typically do when faced with an issue I am struggling with is that I grab a bunch of books on the subject and start reading away. Some books that have been very instrumental to me that have helped me better understand the LGBTQ community were these:

  1. God and the Gay Christian by Mathew Vines
  2. Torn by Justin Lee
  3. Changing Our Minds by David Gushee
  4. A Letter to My Congregation by Ken Wilson

These four books, along with others, help me better understand cultural context, translation and interpretation of Biblical texts that seemed to condemn being gay. They also helped me to look at other passages, like what we are looking at today, in which God’s inclusive and inviting nature breaks out into people groups that may or may not surprise us. 

I have seen the Holy Spirit use Jen, Heather, and Corbin to be a blessing to our congregation and also to others. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are evident in their lives. And just like Peter, I too have been astonished and amazed at seeing God’s salvation and grace poured out on a people group I used to condemn and be dismissive of. 

So, my question to you is who are the people in your mind that are beyond God’s redemption? Could it be those who think differently than you on politics, like the democrats or MAGA republicans? Could it be immigrants, or brown people in general that are being demonized and treated horribly by our government? Could it be people of a different race or culture than the one you are used to? Could it be a gay or transgender person? The world is full of people groups that may make you feel uncomfortable, strange, and even willing to condemn them. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the Bible is full of condemnation for certain people groups. 

Let’s consider this:

THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: Moabites are bad. They were not allowed to dwell among God’s people. 

Deuteronomy 23:3 states “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.”

But then comes the story of “Ruth the Moabite,” which challenges the prejudice against the Moabites.

THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: People from Uz are evil as stated in Jeremiah 25. 

But then comes the story of Job, a man from Uz who was the “most blameless man on earth.”

THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: No foreigners or eunuchs allowed.

Deuteronomy 23:1-2 states “No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord. No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.”

But then comes the story of an African eunuch welcomed into the church in Acts 8. This right here is the very first sexual minority whom Peter led to the Lord and baptized.

THE BIBLE IS CLEAR: God’s people hated Samaritans.

But then Jesus tells a story that shows not all Samaritans were bad. 

THE STORY MAY BEGIN with prejudice, discrimination, and animosity, but the Spirit moves God’s people towards openness, welcome, inclusion, acceptance, and affirmation. 

So, let’s think this through: is the Bible clear on sexual minorities, or gay people? After much study, I don’t think so, but you might think differently. Let’s go back and remember the story of the African eunuch. He was most likely black and a sexual minority. We don’t know if he was born that way or surgically altered to be a eunuch. Were these issues for Peter to exclude him? Absolutely not. In fact, none of this was a part of the conversation leading up to his salvation and baptism. Were the African eunuch and Peter different? Yes! In many ways! But did their differences exclude God’s grace and salvation? Not one bit. 

And remember Peter’s reaction to Cornielius. When they first met, he said, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.”

But then after seeing all that God was doing through Cornielius, Peter concludes, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritismbut accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”

Get that: God does not show favoritism. God’s grace, love, and salvation are available to all people. All means all! No matter the color of their skin, or their sexual or gender identity, their economic status, national identity, or their political identity. Doesn’t matter if you are a Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, 

Gen Z, Generation Alpha, iGen, or whatever generation you are a part of. God’s love is available to all people. His Holy Spirit is ready to transform anyone who puts their faith in Jesus. So, the next time you think about Cornelius, remember how different he was from Peter, yet God’s grace and salvation was just as available to him as it was to the Jewish community of believers where it all started.  

So, what about you? In Biblical terminology, we are all Gentiles. All of us have been on the outside at some point. Have you put your faith in Jesus? Have you received the guidance and gifting of the Holy Spirit in your life? If not, why not now? Jesus wants to enter into your life and transform you from the inside out to be more and more like him, doing good and making a difference in this world living together as kingdom people. If you have any questions, there are many people in this room as well as pastors and church leaders who would love to introduce you to the faith. May Epiphany continue to be a church for all people. Sharing God’s grace and love to all people. Just as God has lavished his love on us may we also be a people known for our love of others. May it be so for all of us. 

Benediction:

May we as a congregation of believers not give into the hate and division that our culture encourages against anyone who may be considered different from you. And may we not be people who use the Bible to discriminate, hate, and divide others that may be different than ourselves. May we never hate a group of people simply because our culture or government tells us to. Help us always to stand in God’s grace and his mercy offering a hand of welcome and an embrace of love to all people who want to know more about the Jesus we serve. Amen
 

Do Unto Others: Do Not Be Anxious

/ Scott Russ / Leave a comment

Welcome everybody! Today we wrap up our sermon series called “Do Unto Others.” In week one, I talked about the Golden Rule and what it means to be kind to each other, especially during this political season. In week 2, Jen spoke about how we can learn to disagree with one another with kindness. Last week, Mark talked to us about the Kindness Challenge by looking at the parable of the good Samaritan. Today, I want to recognize the reality that many of us are feeling anxious during this political season, and it is a challenge to lead with our faith.

         Recently, I went to get a haircut at Great Clips in Loveland. Whenever I get a haircut, I typically allow the person cutting my hair to lead with whether or not they would like to have a conversation. I can be friendly and have a conversation with my hair stylist, but I don’t want to impose myself and force them to listen to me ramble. Sometimes, I get a talkative person and we have a pleasant conversation. Other times, not much is said as she concentrates on doing her job, and I respect that. Now, I have different feelings about a dentist who wants to talk to me while their hands are in my mouth, but that’s for another story. Recently, I was getting my haircut, and I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation going on with another customer just behind me. It was an older gentleman. During the majority of the time he was getting his hair cut, he was really going off about his view of the state of our country. He was so tense and full of anxiety as he talked about how our country is a mess. He expressed worry for his grandchildren about what kind of country they are inheriting. I genuinely felt sorry for the guy. My thoughts went to the fact that this gentleman probably only had a decade or two of life yet, and I wanted so much to help direct his attention to investing in his grandchildren rather than getting so caught up in politics that he verbally vomited an angry word salad over this poor lady cutting his hair. He was so absorbed in his political views that he was missing the most important thing right in front of him: passing on his love to his grandchildren. The world is changing at a rapid pace. There is very little we can do to slow down or stop cultural trends. We can’t let ourselves get so knotted up inside about things out there that we miss out on those right in front of us.

         Another observation that concerns me is what was described by Russell Moore in the book “The After Party” which I am doing a small group book study on that just finished up this past Wednesday. Russell Moore was a prominent leader in the Southern Baptist denomination. He would be sought after for advice and counsel from many other pastors. He started to see a trend in which several pastors were coming to him about their congregation. These pastors were preaching from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus tells his audience to love one another, including our enemies. Jesus also says that we are to pray for those who persecute us and turn the other cheek when it comes to those who attack us. Congregation members were coming to these pastors asking where they got those woke, liberal talking points. The pastor would tell them that they were reading the literal words of Jesus from the Gospels. Then, the pastors were told by these members that that doesn’t work anymore. This, my friends, is scary when we not only choose to ignore the words of Jesus Christ but also go so far as to disagree with Him. That begins to put us on shaky ground. That is when faith no longer becomes our primary identity and instead becomes a token of our life that we can compartmentalize from all the other areas of our lives. We then justify our hate and anger towards those we disagree with outside of the church. 

          So, today I want to give you a list of things to consider as we are in this political season. It is times like this that help to sharpen or dull our faith. These are opportunities to wrestle with what you really put your hope and faith in. These times reveal more about us than we might want to admit. We would rather argue against those we disagree with than to look deep down inside of ourselves and see where we might be wrong or lacking in our faith.

         So here we go! This list comes from two sources. The first is from one of the authors of “The After Party”, Curtis Chang. I supplemented this list with another source by pastor Brian Zahnd. The first and most important thing that I want you to remember from today is that Jesus is First! Jesus is not saving the world or this country through a political party. He is saving it through the work of the Holy Spirit and through his church. God’s saving work in the world has very little to do with which political party is in power. We are citizens of God’s kingdom first. That is our highest allegiance. Everything else in this world falls under that. We cannot simply abandon the Sermon on the Mount for our politics. We must live into the teachings of Christ the best we can. Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” As the old hymn teaches us, our faith is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and his righteousness! That must be primary!

         Second, we need to have a healthy understanding that politics won’t save us. It is an imperfect system run by imperfect people. What concerns me is when more and more Americans are becoming unchurched, they are still looking for a savior. And our politicians are becoming more of a Christological figure to some. Our preferred politician is going to save us and vanquish our enemies. This is very dangerous thinking. These are imperfect people who need Jesus just as much as we do. They need to be in our prayers that God’s grace will guide and direct them.

         Third, focus on the “how” over the “what.” The “WHAT” focuses on political debates and policies that each party is promoting. But what is so much more important is in “HOW” we treat others. The bottom line for politics is power. But the bottom line in Christianity is LOVE. Therein lies the rub. I know for me, it is easy to judge a person I don’t know by the signs or flags in their yards. Especially some of those who just don’t have a sign in their front yard for their preferred political candidate but have built a literal shrine to their favorite candidate. This shows misplaced hope in an imperfect person. If they win, we think they will fix everything. If they lose, we despair and think it is the end of the world.

         Fourth, politics isn’t about purity. What I mean by this is that we cannot just associate with people who only think just like us. As I pointed out in my previous sermon, Jesus made friends with tax collectors and zealots. He was known for hanging out with sinners and accused of being a glutton and a drunkard with the people he sought out. It is more vital for you to be filled with love for everybody than for your political party to win everything. To isolate ourselves from people who only think just like us is unhealthy. It is through the diversity of thoughts and opinions that we are able to consider other people’s points of view that might differ from ours. Don’t give into a “US vs. THEM” mentality. We are all made in the image of God and are loved by God, from the least to the greatest. 

         Fifth, guess what? We are all going to be groaning on November 6th. Half of our country will not be happy with the election results. Since some have made politics into the new religion of our country, some may even resort to violence if it doesn’t go their way like we saw last time. But look at what Paul says in Romans 8:22-24. He states, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved.” We are all in a state of groaning with the anticipation of Jesus finally renewing all of creation, including ourselves. This state of groaning will never be satisfied by who sits in the White House. We will always find imperfections and faults with whoever holds power in our country or any others. It is the hope that we have in Christ that He will finally make all things right.

         Sixth, the relational stakes are higher than the political ones. Our relationships with each other, our families, and our neighbors are by far more important than whether our political team wins an election. Friendships, families, and churches should not be splitting up over political differences. If we keep Christ at the center, everything else should fall in as a distant second to that. Every election cycle I have lived through has always been ramped up as the most important election ever! If we don’t get this election right, then it is the end of America as we know it! Let me tell you something. There is a great podcast called “Presidential.” I have listened to every episode. Each episode focuses on a president, beginning with George Washington and ending with Barack Obama. The podcast was leading up to the 2016 election. One thing I learned by listening to this podcast is that we have had some heroic presidents, and we have had some real scoundrels. Yet, through God’s grace, we have weathered through all of them for over two centuries. Now, I am convinced that some of our past presidents would have never been able to survive the 24-hour cable news cycle or social media in our present age. But that is the reality of what we have to deal with today. We need to be aware of what is influencing us, and make sure it is not causing us to love less or feel hopeless. I know this is cliché, but it is true, with fewer and fewer people going to church or having faith, you might be the only representation of Jesus to those around you. Are you showing love, grace, and hope to others? Are you building up your relationships rather than dividing them? And as we get closer to election day, let’s remember what Paul says in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” There will be all kinds of feelings about the results of the election on the day after. Depending on who you are with, it may be an opportunity to rejoice or mourn. But it is not appropriate to show pride or contempt towards others. It is an occasion to be sympathetic to their feelings and help point them to Jesus, who is the true Savior of the World.

         Seventh, anxiety can lead us astray. There are so many things that are ramping up everybody’s anxiety. As I’ve mentioned, we have 24-hour cable news sources that have realized that to drive up ratings, they need to play on people’s fears, anxieties, and anger. This is poisoning the minds of many, many Americans. It is not healthy to walk around in a constant state of anger and anxiety. I am here to tell you that no party is perfect, no candidate is perfect, they are all flawed. They will let you down. Once again, our ultimate hope is in Jesus, and from that springs up joy within us. We have a tsunami of anxiety and anger directed at us on our televisions, on our phones, on our social media. For some of us we need to make hard choices about who and what exactly are discipling us. Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to change us and transform us to be more like Jesus, or are we allowing the media we consume to put us in a state of anxiety and anger against those we disagree with? This is a dangerous path that many have gone down recently. Paul reminds us in the letter to the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” So, let’s make it a practice to take our anxiousness to God in prayer and allow the Holy Spirit to flood our souls with His peace. Remember, God’s peace transcends our own finite understanding, and it will guard our hearts from the troubles of this world.

Eight, we need to remember that institutions do matter such as the church, the government, the schools, and others. It is up to us to get involved and help create institutions that encourage a thriving life for all. We can’t take on a fatalistic or nihilistic approach to our institutions. We must do what we can to help, whether it’s becoming a teacher, a school board member, a parent volunteer, or an administrator. We can volunteer at our local election site or serve at a church using the gifts that God has blessed us with. There are so many institutions that we need to be actively involved with so that we can help make a difference in this world. Don’t isolate yourself and become anti-institutional. Instead, find a way to plug in and make a difference in your community. The fate of the kingdom of God does not rise or fall on our political contests. But we are called to be salt and light in the world. The only way we can do that is by becoming active and getting involved in our area of influence.

Ninth, cancel culture is not Biblical. What I mean by this is that we can’t just cancel people out of our lives simply because we disagree with them. If it is the radio, TV, or your phone that is bothering you, then yes, turn it off or change the channel. But when it comes to our neighbor, the Bible calls us to radical hospitality. The Christian response to disagreement is love, not exclusion. So, if your political passion is making it hard for you to love your neighbor as yourself, then you need to dial it down a bit. Look at your priorities and make sure you are keeping Jesus as the center of your life.  

And then, finally, we cannot forget to sing together! When the disciples were with Jesus on the night of his arrest before his crucifixion, they were all feeling the anxiety and tension in the room. The Gospels tell us that they participated in the Last Supper and then sang together. When we sing together, we connect in a powerful way that transcends our differences. This is one of the reasons we gather together for worship. Where else do people from so many different ways of life come together all around the world and sing songs, lifting up our voices in recognition of God’s love and hope for us? So, let’s invite the band to come up and lead us out with a song that will inspire us toward love and good deeds.

Benediction

Go out into the world being light in the darkness by showing God’s love to a fallen and imperfect world. Go out and vote, if you haven’t already, but let’s give our anxiety over to God, trusting that He is continuing to build his kingdom through us even despite all the empires around the world.

Kingdom over empire.

Hope over fear.

Love over hate.

May you go in peace and be the peace of Christ. Amen.

The Uncertainty of Surrender

/ Scott Russ / Leave a comment

So, today’s story is about Zacchaeus. And what comes to mind when we think about Zacchaeus? That he was a wee, little man. Not very politically correct to label a man like that. In today’s world, we may say that he was vertically-challenged. Whenever I think of Zacchaeus being targeted for his height and how he may feel about it, I always think of this clip from the movie ELF with Peter Dinklage.

And with all that we learn about Zacchaeus, his height is the most minor detail in this story for us to unpack. What Zacchaeus did for a living is more significant. The scripture tells us that he was a chief tax collector. This was not a good thing. This meant that he worked for the Roman government in taxing his own people, the Jews. The Jewish people were under Roman occupation. The Romans were seen as the enemy. So, for a Jewish person to work with the occupying government to tax their own people was seen as corrupt and inexcusable. Not only that, but Zacchaeus could work the system for him to get a significant percentage of the profits, thus building his wealth off of the backs of his own people. To say that Zacchaeus was hated and despised was an understatement. Consider the crowd as Jesus was arriving. Let’s think of a parade. Most kind-hearted people allow the shorter, younger people in front of us so that they can see what is going on. The grown adults tend to be in the back of the crowd because they can see over the tops of all the others. But Zacchaeus knows better than to push his way to the front of the crowd. For all he knows, some God-fearing zealot might stick a knife in his back if he is in the middle of the crowd. So instead of taking any chances, Zacchaeus climbs up a tree to see Jesus pass by.

Now let’s consider Jesus. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, knowing that the cross is waiting for him. But instead of taking the most direct route to Jerusalem, he goes way out of his way so that he can have this connection with Zacchaeus. This testifies to us the amazing grace of how God often goes out of his way to pursue us. In Methodist theology, we call this PREVENIENT GRACE. That is the grace that “goes before us.” Before we knew anything about God, He was the one who made the first move in pursuing us. While we were still sinners, Christ dies for us.

Then Jesus notices Zacchaeus in the tree and invites himself to his house, and Zacchaeus welcomes him gladly. And this wasn’t just a “come over for brunch” type deal. When it says that Zacchaeus welcomed him gladly, it went much deeper than only an invitation to eat together. I suspect that this was the moment of transformation in the life of Zacchaeus in which he gladly welcomed Jesus not only into his home but into all areas of his life. We call this JUSTIFYING GRACE when we connect with Jesus in a significant way where we are forgiven of our sins and are then justified before God because of our faith in Jesus.

Now Shelly and I have many conversations about our past experiences growing up and working in various churches and our experiences here. Some of them are fond memories, some of them are painful. Some of it reflects on the good, and other parts are deconstructing what we were taught and trying to reconstruct what our faith looks like now. In a recent conversation we had, Shelly described how we were inundated with sermons about “getting saved” in our past. There was A LOT of emphasis on getting people to say the “sinner’s prayer” and begin a new relationship with Jesus. I participated in many activities and courses that taught me how to share my faith in such a way as to get others to want to convert to faith in Jesus. Pray this prayer. Sign this paper. BOOM! You are saved and going to heaven. The only problem with that is that this is not how Jesus operated. Jesus doesn’t give us “3 easy steps” to get into heaven.  In fact, if we back up to Luke 18, just one chapter beforehand, we see some interesting stories leading up to the encounter with Zacchaeus.

At the beginning of Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector coming to the temple to pray.  The Pharisee prays, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” While the tax collector prays, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus points out that it was the tax collector that went home justified.

Then at the end of Luke 18, Jesus is confronted by the rich, young ruler. Here is a guy who wants to be saved. So, Jesus, knowing this guy’s heart issues, begins by telling him to obey the commandments. In response, the man is proud to list the commands that he has faithfully followed. Then Jesus cuts to the heart by telling him to sell everything he has, give it to the poor, and then come follow him. The man turned away, sad because he was very wealthy. Jesus did not get him to say a quick prayer to get him into the club. Instead, Jesus wanted total surrender, not only of him as a person but everything else that came with him. The rich, young ruler couldn’t do it. You need to see here that salvation is not just a spiritual reality but also impacts our physical reality. In fact, it impacts everything about us!

Now we pick our original story back up with Zacchaeus. Jesus calls out to Zacchaeus and says, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” And we are told that Zacchaeus came down at once and welcomed Jesus gladly. This is once again more than just receiving Jesus to his house. He received Jesus into his life. All of it.

As Jesus went to spend time with Zacchaeus at his home, many people took notice of this. The crowd was not too kind. They began saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” Let’s stew on this a little bit. In Jewish culture, the idea of purity was a big deal. You had to obey specific laws to be ritually pure if you wanted to participate in life as usual. You could not touch dead things or mold or mildew, or you could become impure. If you were impure, then there were a whole set of other laws you needed to follow to become pure again and be accepted back into the community.

And don’t think for a second that we don’t have our own types of purity culture. In many youth ministries, there is a heavy emphasis on sexual purity. If you choose abstinence until you get married, then all your dreams will come true. But make a mistake, then you are just used goods. There has been a huge industry of shame used to control teens into making decisions about their sexuality. That is not to say we shouldn’t give our teens guidance, advice, and boundaries, but there must be grace, love, and forgiveness woven into our language. And it is not just sexual purity. Sometimes purity culture morphs into thinking we are better than others. If we are honest, we easily divide up people into categories that always make us look better. We have names for them: Karen; ok, boomer; people of Walmart. We are always quick to judge people based on their looks, their clothes, their status, their weight, their age, their sexuality, their color.   

The crowd was judging Jesus for contaminating himself with someone who was considered impure. In this culture, it was seen that contact with impurity would transfer over to others and make them unclean also. But Jesus operated differently. Wherever Jesus went, whatever he touched, whoever he met, whatever he came into contact with, his purity had a more significant impact on others, making what is considered impure now pure or clean. This was a radical change in how purity worked. This was a radical change in how Jesus worked.

Now that Jesus has changed the life of Zacchaeus, the question we want to ask is how did it impact or affect Zacchaeus himself? Was he to go back to life as usual? Going back to being a scoundrel of a tax collector throughout the week, but make sure he goes to the temple on Sunday and give some money to the offering, then all is good? I think not. Jesus did not let the rich, young ruler off the hook, and neither was Zacchaeus. Instead, Zacchaeus is immediately confronted with the corrupt way he did business and wants to make things right with his people. He says to Jesus, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” This, my friends, is called reparations. Zacchaeus felt convicted to make things right with those he cheated to become rich. He recognized that he had an occupation in which he became very wealthy off of other people’s backs. And he took advantage of them for a long time. He acknowledged that he took advantage of the system to grow his wealth at the expense of others. And he was immediately convicted of making things right. Zacchaeus’s faith was not just a personal, private thing, but it impacted him holistically and publicly. So, a couple of points to make here:

1) This action that Zacchaeus is taking after being confronted with Jesus would be considered SANCTIFYING GRACE. This is God’s grace that works within us to make us more like Jesus all throughout our lifetime. So, we see the whole pattern of grace in this story: PREVIENENT GRACE is the grace that comes before when Jesus went out of his way to pursue Zacchaeus. God is always pursuing people even before they ever know it. Then there is JUSTIFYING GRACE that represents that moment when we receive Jesus into our lives, and we become justified before God on account of Jesus cleansing us of our sin and being our righteousness. And then SANCTIFYING GRACE is when the Holy Spirit works within our lives to help us be more and more like Jesus in all areas of our life, both private and public. It affects how we interact with people, how we do business, how we conduct ourselves, how we love others, and of course, what we do with what we have, and how we steward our resources fairly and equitably. Our faith ought to seep into all areas of our lives.

2) Let’s talk about reparations. Zacchaeus wanted to repair the way he did business by making things right with those he took advantage of in his business practice. A very cursory study of American history has shown us that white European settlers took advantage of the Americas’ indigenous people. Time and time again, our country would make deals with them only to break promise after promise. Also, the institution of slavery was used for 250 years to build this nation. People from Africa, who are image-bearers of God just like us, were stolen from their country and brought here by force to be used in one of the cruelest forms of slavery in history. When slavery ended, it just morphed into other ways of keeping the white race in control and the African American race under subjugation: through Jim Crow laws, mass incarceration, among many other things. I have my ideas about what we as a nation should do to rectify our past sins. But I am not holding my breath. I can ask us, though, what can we do as a church? How can we respond to current-day racism? What can we do to try and make things right in light of our dark past? The hope is that we bring reconciliation and restoration to all. That we create a community in which we see the inherent worth and dignity of all as image-bearers of God. And that we live in a country that is fair and just for all equally. I will be the first to admit that I have grown up in a country that has benefited me tremendously simply for being a white, heterosexual male. How can we be welcoming and inclusive for all, not only within our church walls but also out in our community and throughout our country?

Here is the deal, we are called to be ministers of reconciliation, not just reconciling people with God but also with each other. This is the kingdom of God we are to be living in right now. And when we do this correctly, we draw people to Jesus instead of repeal people away from the church. What does working toward reconciliation and reparations look like for the United Methodist Church? So far, here at Epiphany, we have people involved in a social justice group studying and talking about this very thing. I would encourage all of you to read the book “Be The Bridge.” Christian author Latasha Morrison, an African American, helps us understand our faith and how to pursue God’s heart for racial reconciliation. It is one of the best books I read on the topic of racial reconciliation. Another book I would highly recommend is “The Color of Compromise” by Jemar Tisby. This book helped me see the church’s complicity throughout American history when it came to its response to racism. Both of these books will be offered as small group studies throughout the rest of the year. I think this should be required reading for all Epiphanyites. But our efforts shouldn’t stop at reading books. We need to wrestle with how we can be more welcoming and inclusive to all people, connect with other organizations and other churches to help, and be a blessing to them to inspire and encourage racial reconciliation. How can we help in areas related to poverty, incarceration, addiction, and families in crisis? How can we help to bring equity to education, housing, and access to jobs? 

So, today’s theme is the Uncertainty of Surrender. We have always liked the idea of privately surrendering to Jesus, making a personal commitment to follow Him. But why is it so hard to publicly surrender to him in all the other areas of our life; making things right, repairing broken relationships, reconciling all people to live into being the whole and diverse body of Christ? Jesus didn’t give us a prayer to say to be in the club, and then all is good from there on out. Instead, he continuously said, follow me. Follow me.

Follow my example.

Follow my lead.

Follow as I am doing.

Has Jesus impacted you in this way? We may not talk a lot about salvation as compared to my past experiences, but we must ask what is Jesus saving us from? Yes, he is saving us from our sins, but he is also saving us from ourselves. He is in the business of saving us and transforming us so that we are more and more like Jesus in all areas of our life so that we as a community represent the present Kingdom of God as an alternative to the broken kingdoms of this world. Just like Zacchaeus, have you opened yourself up to Jesus breaking into all areas of your life? Have you surrendered to Jesus, allowing him to save you from yourself? If not, know that Jesus is pursuing you, inviting you, and welcoming you into this kingdom project. He is there and has always been there. Are you willing to come down out of the tree and follow him? What are you holding on to that prevents you from surrendering to his call? What do you not want to let go of? Today would be a great day to surrender to Jesus and allow Him into your home and transform your life from the inside out. If you are ready for this move, then I invite you to follow Jesus. Jesus loves you where you are at, but he never intends to leave us there. He intends to take us on a journey of total surrender to his will and purpose for our lives. And what a journey it is.

AMEN