PENTECOST 8
July 26/27, 2009
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Mark 6:7-13
“WORRY FREE WITNESSING!”
1. You’re using Jesus’ authority.
2. God will provide.
3. It’s nothing personal.
Mark 6:7-13 (NIV) “Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. 8These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them." 12They went out and preached that people should repent. 13They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”
Witnessing. Talking about Jesus. Telling others what you believe. It’s not always the easiest thing to do, is it? Why is that? Well we know the real reason. The Devil doesn’t want people to be saved. He wants people to suffer the same penalty he has received for rebelling against God. He wants them in Hell. Forever. But God in His love sent Jesus who ransomed the souls of all people, paying for their sins. He is the way, the only way, to heaven. Whoever trusts in Jesus for forgiveness is saved. The Devil can’t undo that. So he tries to stop the message from spreading. I’m sure you felt his influence to try to silence your tongue. We worry. “What will they think of me? Is it really my place to say something? I don’t know what to say. What if I say the wrong thing? What if it doesn’t work?” All kinds of worries. All of them met and soothed by the same wonderful Jesus who takes away all our sins and soothes all our worries and fears. Let’s see from God’s Word how our Lord Jesus provides us with worry free witnessing.
We can see that in a lesson he taught to some future witnesses for the Church, the Twelve Disciples, later known as the Apostles. “Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. As Jesus carried out His work as the Savior He prepared the disciples for theirs. This was like early field training for them. Two by two they were sent out to be Jesus’ witnesses. Then did you notice something? He gave them His authority. They did not need to worry about what people would think or if it was any of their business. They were simply doing what Jesus told them to do. They were using His authority.
Brothers, sisters, you too have Jesus’ authority to be His witnesses. When the Holy Spirit brought you into the family of faith, when He enabled you to say “Jesus is Lord,” the authority of Jesus Himself was given to you to be His witnesses throughout the world. Personally for you that means whatever portion of God’ great earth you happen to be occupying at the moment. So when the lunchroom conversation turns to matters of problems, fears, guilt, impending death and the Devil tries to still your tongue with his usual, “It’s none of my business,” don’t worry, be a witness. You have Jesus’ authority. When you find yourself with a friend or a friend of a friend, an acquaintance, a relative and they are in distress over finances, health, whatever it may be you have every right to point them to your own source of comfort, your source of strength to go on, your Savior. Don’t worry, just witness.
But what will I say? What if they ask a question I don’t know how to answer? The Lord will provide. That’s another lesson Jesus graciously taught the Twelve. “These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.” Talk about crazy instructions! They don’t make sense. Take no provisions for themselves. They didn’t know people where they were going. Take no money. When’s the last time you took a trip with no money, no credit cards for an emergency? This didn’t make sense. Except this was lesson learning time. What they needed to learn was the Lord would provide for them. He would provide through his people, believers in those towns. He would provide what they needed whether that was food for their bellies or a place to sleep. Now don’t make a mistake here. The Lord is not giving lasting instructions for us to never plan. He’s not telling believers not to have jobs. Later in fact when Jesus spoke with His disciples shortly before His death He told them to take provisions with them. Most importantly though they were to take with them the lesson learned. The Lord will provide.
That same truth applies to us. It applies physically to be sure. If you or your family are in financial distress right now, you can set aside your worry if you wish for the Lord will provide for you. Not everything you want, but He will take care of your needs. He has promised. But let’s also apply this truth to being what we are, witnesses for Jesus. Do you worry about what to say if you get into a spiritual conversation? Do you worry about giving a wrong answer or not having all the answers? Don’t worry, just witness! The Lord will provide. Talk from your heart about what the Lord has done for you and has promised for all people. Remember that the Lord has provided others to help you. If you don’t know an answer to a question, say so. Tell them you’ll get back to them. Call or e-mail your pastors, we’ll help you. You could also plan ahead. You could follow through on that desire you’ve had to be a daily Bible reader. You could use the People’s Bibles available in our library. Through your congregation the Lord has provided you with opportunities to grow in the Word. Once September hits you will have three different Bible Class options on Sunday morning, another on Tuesday morning, one on Wednesday evening, another Thursday morning and still another Thursday evening. The Lord has provided. Don’t worry, just witness.
But what if they don’t like what I have to say? What if my witnessing doesn’t work, they don’t listen, they don’t believe, or worse, they reject me? Don’t worry, just witness. It’s nothing personal. Jesus went on to tell the Twelve, ”And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them." When it comes to being witnesses for Jesus, it’s nothing personal. When the Twelve went out they were to stay with and teach those who would listen and leave when they were rejected. The dust of their feet would serve as a testimony. A testimony to what? A testimony that they rejected God’s one and only Son Jesus. You see, it wasn’t about the disciples at all. It was about Jesus.
It is about Jesus. If you testify to God’s truth, when you serve as witness, it’s not about you. It’s nothing personal. It’s Jesus. When someone believes it’s about Jesus. They believe in Him, not you. If someone rejects, they aren’t rejecting you, it’s Jesus. Certainly that still makes us sad, but I don’t have to worry about what people will think of me. It’s not about me. It’s nothing personal. It’s about Jesus. What if they don’t believe? What if they don’t like what I say? Don’t worry, just witness. It’s nothing personal.
And it’s not all on you. Have you ever been in group that has kind of a pyramid structure to it? You know where someone recruits you and you have to recruit two or three more and kind of a pyramid builds from it? If you have you know how it changes the way you view people. They’re not just people any more, they are potential recruits. There can be a lot of pressure there so you don’t stay on the bottom of the pyramid. The privilege of witnessing has no pressure pyramid. Let’s see what happened with the Twelve disciples. “They went out and preached that people should repent. 13They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” Did you notice the Holy Spirit’s emphasis here? It is on what the Twelve did, not the people’s response! The Twelve were successful because they did what their Savior bid them do. Now do you see how this applies to worry free witnessing? There is no pressure on you to convert or convince anyone. That’s God’s work. Your place in God’s kingdom is not dependent on how many you convert. You can’t convert even one. But you can witness. So don’t worry, just witness. You have Jesus’ authority. The Lord will provide. It’s nothing personal. Amen.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sermon July 19th, 2009
Pastor Waldschmidt
July 19th, 2009
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
July 19th, 2009
What’s So Great About Being Weak?
I. We Can See God’s Grace.
II. We Can Trust His Power.
Sermon Text: 11 Corinthians 12:7-10I. We Can See God’s Grace.
II. We Can Trust His Power.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
In the name of Jesus, dear fellow weaklings who trusting in God’s Strength,
The old comic books would often have an advertisement for Charles Atlas’ solution to the 98 pound weakling’s problems. Remember the bully would come walking the by the weakling and start kicking sand in his face. The advertisement would then have the weakling try Charles Atlas’ exercise program and soon the 98 pound weakling was not so weak anymore and he wasn’’t going to be bullied around anymore. The days of having sand kicked in his face were over.
It isn’t very much fun to feel weak. Whether you are the 98 pound weakling or just feeling weak because of the flu or some other problem, it isn’t very much fun to feel weak. But God’s word points out today that it is a great thing to be weak. That seems strange to us and so we ask, “What’s so great about being weak?” I. We can see God’s grace and we can trust in His power.
A number of years ago there was a popular song where the singer wished that “he could be like Mike.” The singer was talking about Michael Jordan. Throughout the ages many Christians could have rightly said, “I want to be like Paul.” By God’s grace Paul had some amazing thing happen to him in his life. At the time of his conversion a man named Cornelius said to Paul, “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth.” We are also told in the Book of Acts that God did “extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” On top of all of that, Paul tells us that God gave him a vision of things in heaven so wonderful that they could not be expression in human speech. It would be hard to be humble when things like that had happened. Jesus knew that and used a thorn to keep conceit from filling his heart. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” Through this thorn God showed Paul that it was great to be weak because he could see God’s grace.
Have you ever seen one of the high heel races where the ladies race for prizes by running in high heels? I’d have to tip my hat to anyone who can walk in high heeled shoes let alone run in them. It’s much easier to walk in normal shoes. Whatever it was that was bothering Paul it must have felt like he was running in high heeled sandals.. Things would be so much easier without it. He calls it his “thorn in the flesh.” The Bible never tells us what the thorn was - some think eye problems or speech problems. Others think of the constant opposition to Christ’s message and others wonder if he had malaria. If it was a physical problem like that it helped him to see God’s grace. That God would use him warts and all to spread his message.
Others think that perhaps the thorn Paul is talking about was a spiritual matter like guilt. Imagine how you might feel if had been standing there nodding your head with approval at the stoning of Stephen. Even as young Stephen was calling out asking for forgiveness for his attackers, imagine you were offering to watch the coats of those throwing stones so that they could really wind up and get power behind their throws without having to worry about someone walking off with their jackets. Imagine how Paul must have felt when he went to knock on a Christian’s door and thought back upon all of the times he opened the doors to the houses of Christians to carry them off to jail. On the day Jesus stopped him on the road in a blinding light Paul was headed to hunt and kill Christians in Damascus. Imagine the burning pain those memories must have driven into Paul like a sharp piercing thorn that is driven deeply into the flesh. He knew he was forgiven but it must have been difficult to forget what he had done. That would fit well with what Paul called this thorn- a messenger of Satan. Satan must have come at Paul with the accusation, “You are a messenger of Jesus and you did that to his followers!” Those thoughts would have made any self righteous thoughts just sort of shrivel up.
Whatever the thorn was Paul felt he carry out his ministry much better if he didn’t have to carry it. Paul says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” Paul was a very smart man. He was a student of the world renown teacher, Gamaliel. That was sort of the “Ivy League” education of the day. He must have been quite a business man and salesman, able to support himself by tent making as he went on his missionary journeys. If anyone could take care of himself it was Paul. Yet Paul looked to the Lord for strength. He remembered the words of the Psalmist “In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.”
He called to the Lord for help and the Lord answered him with a “no.” We tend to think of a “no” answer to our prayers as a sign that God doesn’t like us and we stomp off all mad and pouty. But God makes clear that even in his “no” answers are filled with his grace. “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." My grace covers your sin. My grace is strong enough to help you through this.
The only thing Paul deserved from God was the back of his flinging him into the fires of hell. That’s all we deserve too. We may never have killed a Christian but God says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.” How many times have hateful thoughts every about other Christians crossed our minds.” Have we given our approval as others were throwing the stones of nasty names and insults in the direction of another. We can take our place right next to Paul- the chief of sinners. We are weak and powerless before the consuming fire of God’s judgment. “Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me.” The Savior’s blood washed Paul’s sins away. The Savior’s blood washed your sins away.
When the bombs exploded in the hotel in Jakarta the other night there were people there who held onto little statues of wood and stone tight and called out the names of “Allah” and Buddah to come and save them. And God in his grace has brought the Good News of Jesus who lived and died and rose again to you and me. That’s the second thing that is so great about being weak when it comes to our relationship with God. We can trust God’s power.
God answered Paul’s prayer, “for my power is made perfect in weakness." When it comes to troubles Paul was an expert. He talks about being beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, in danger from bandits and even his own countrymen. But trusting in His Lord who loved him Paul could go on to say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” When we are in the hospital or going through problems we don’t feel very strong. But Jesus is our good and gracious helper. He will take those thorns and use them in some way for our good. That’s why we can even delight in those thorns- sickness, set backs, trying conditions at home or work, we have the assurance from God that the cup of suffering does not contain poison, but medicine, medicine wisely chosen by the Great Physician of souls for our present and eternal welfare. His grace calms our hearts. He says in His word, “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can and when you are tempted he will provide a way out so that you can bear up under it.”
The puffer fish I talked about in the children’s message is actually poisonous. A predator that manages to snag a puffer before it inflates won’t feel lucky for long. Even though if prepared exactly right they can be eaten, almost all pufferfish contain a substance that is up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. Being all puffed up relying on our own strength instead of God’s grace can be eternally deadly. Let’s glory in relying on God. Let’s be weak when it comes to our own spiritual strength. Let’s rely on Jesus- for when we are weak, then we are strong. Amen.
In the name of Jesus, dear fellow weaklings who trusting in God’s Strength,
The old comic books would often have an advertisement for Charles Atlas’ solution to the 98 pound weakling’s problems. Remember the bully would come walking the by the weakling and start kicking sand in his face. The advertisement would then have the weakling try Charles Atlas’ exercise program and soon the 98 pound weakling was not so weak anymore and he wasn’’t going to be bullied around anymore. The days of having sand kicked in his face were over.
It isn’t very much fun to feel weak. Whether you are the 98 pound weakling or just feeling weak because of the flu or some other problem, it isn’t very much fun to feel weak. But God’s word points out today that it is a great thing to be weak. That seems strange to us and so we ask, “What’s so great about being weak?” I. We can see God’s grace and we can trust in His power.
A number of years ago there was a popular song where the singer wished that “he could be like Mike.” The singer was talking about Michael Jordan. Throughout the ages many Christians could have rightly said, “I want to be like Paul.” By God’s grace Paul had some amazing thing happen to him in his life. At the time of his conversion a man named Cornelius said to Paul, “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth.” We are also told in the Book of Acts that God did “extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” On top of all of that, Paul tells us that God gave him a vision of things in heaven so wonderful that they could not be expression in human speech. It would be hard to be humble when things like that had happened. Jesus knew that and used a thorn to keep conceit from filling his heart. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” Through this thorn God showed Paul that it was great to be weak because he could see God’s grace.
Have you ever seen one of the high heel races where the ladies race for prizes by running in high heels? I’d have to tip my hat to anyone who can walk in high heeled shoes let alone run in them. It’s much easier to walk in normal shoes. Whatever it was that was bothering Paul it must have felt like he was running in high heeled sandals.. Things would be so much easier without it. He calls it his “thorn in the flesh.” The Bible never tells us what the thorn was - some think eye problems or speech problems. Others think of the constant opposition to Christ’s message and others wonder if he had malaria. If it was a physical problem like that it helped him to see God’s grace. That God would use him warts and all to spread his message.
Others think that perhaps the thorn Paul is talking about was a spiritual matter like guilt. Imagine how you might feel if had been standing there nodding your head with approval at the stoning of Stephen. Even as young Stephen was calling out asking for forgiveness for his attackers, imagine you were offering to watch the coats of those throwing stones so that they could really wind up and get power behind their throws without having to worry about someone walking off with their jackets. Imagine how Paul must have felt when he went to knock on a Christian’s door and thought back upon all of the times he opened the doors to the houses of Christians to carry them off to jail. On the day Jesus stopped him on the road in a blinding light Paul was headed to hunt and kill Christians in Damascus. Imagine the burning pain those memories must have driven into Paul like a sharp piercing thorn that is driven deeply into the flesh. He knew he was forgiven but it must have been difficult to forget what he had done. That would fit well with what Paul called this thorn- a messenger of Satan. Satan must have come at Paul with the accusation, “You are a messenger of Jesus and you did that to his followers!” Those thoughts would have made any self righteous thoughts just sort of shrivel up.
Whatever the thorn was Paul felt he carry out his ministry much better if he didn’t have to carry it. Paul says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” Paul was a very smart man. He was a student of the world renown teacher, Gamaliel. That was sort of the “Ivy League” education of the day. He must have been quite a business man and salesman, able to support himself by tent making as he went on his missionary journeys. If anyone could take care of himself it was Paul. Yet Paul looked to the Lord for strength. He remembered the words of the Psalmist “In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.”
He called to the Lord for help and the Lord answered him with a “no.” We tend to think of a “no” answer to our prayers as a sign that God doesn’t like us and we stomp off all mad and pouty. But God makes clear that even in his “no” answers are filled with his grace. “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." My grace covers your sin. My grace is strong enough to help you through this.
The only thing Paul deserved from God was the back of his flinging him into the fires of hell. That’s all we deserve too. We may never have killed a Christian but God says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.” How many times have hateful thoughts every about other Christians crossed our minds.” Have we given our approval as others were throwing the stones of nasty names and insults in the direction of another. We can take our place right next to Paul- the chief of sinners. We are weak and powerless before the consuming fire of God’s judgment. “Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me.” The Savior’s blood washed Paul’s sins away. The Savior’s blood washed your sins away.
When the bombs exploded in the hotel in Jakarta the other night there were people there who held onto little statues of wood and stone tight and called out the names of “Allah” and Buddah to come and save them. And God in his grace has brought the Good News of Jesus who lived and died and rose again to you and me. That’s the second thing that is so great about being weak when it comes to our relationship with God. We can trust God’s power.
God answered Paul’s prayer, “for my power is made perfect in weakness." When it comes to troubles Paul was an expert. He talks about being beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, in danger from bandits and even his own countrymen. But trusting in His Lord who loved him Paul could go on to say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” When we are in the hospital or going through problems we don’t feel very strong. But Jesus is our good and gracious helper. He will take those thorns and use them in some way for our good. That’s why we can even delight in those thorns- sickness, set backs, trying conditions at home or work, we have the assurance from God that the cup of suffering does not contain poison, but medicine, medicine wisely chosen by the Great Physician of souls for our present and eternal welfare. His grace calms our hearts. He says in His word, “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can and when you are tempted he will provide a way out so that you can bear up under it.”
The puffer fish I talked about in the children’s message is actually poisonous. A predator that manages to snag a puffer before it inflates won’t feel lucky for long. Even though if prepared exactly right they can be eaten, almost all pufferfish contain a substance that is up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. Being all puffed up relying on our own strength instead of God’s grace can be eternally deadly. Let’s glory in relying on God. Let’s be weak when it comes to our own spiritual strength. Let’s rely on Jesus- for when we are weak, then we are strong. Amen.
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