3-12-06 Sermon by Pastor Barbara Currie
HOW TO FOLLOW JESUS
Scripture: Mark 8:31-38
You folks are lucky today. I’m going to start my sermon with a few jokes. Now I’m doing this for a couple of reasons. This week I obtained not one but two joke books. From Ann Lorber I borrowed the World’s Greatest Collection of Church Jokes and then in the mail I received “God is Still Laughing” by Chris Anderson. The other reason is that the focus of this sermon is denying oneself and taking up the cross to follow Jesus, not very light topics so let’s have a few laughs first. To start off let me tell you about my friend Pastor Carol. One Sunday morning she advised her congregation, “Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. In preparation for my message, I want you all to read Mark 17.” The following Sunday she asked for a show of hands from those who had read Mark 17. Almost every hand went up. “Well, she said, Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying.” Another joke which I know is not true for those here today but may be so for those absent, “What is the first thing many UCC people give up for Lent?” Going to church. Now some of you know that we have a policy that we don’t cancel church because of bad weather. Whoever shows up will worship together. Not so with all churches. One Sunday after a terrible snow storm, there were only two people that showed up for worship: the minister and a farmer. Pastor Jim said to the farmer, “Well, I don’t guess we’ll have a service today.” The farmer replied, “If only one cow shows up at feeding time, I feed it.” So let’s move on to the more serious part and hopefully the sermon can feed you!
Scholars say that our scripture today is a turning point in the book of Mark. Jesus and his disciples are in Caesarea Philippi and Jesus asks Peter, “Who do people say that I am?” Peter finally “gets it” and calls out that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus then feels he needs to start talking about what is going to happen to him, his suffering and death, sometimes called his passion. Now Peter who loves Jesus so much doesn’t want to hear any of this. I can imagine that he thinks a Messiah should live forever and not suffer. Jesus strongly rebukes him —maybe because the human side of Jesus may have been tempted to escape the awful death that was in front of him. After rebuking Peter, Jesus calls both the disciples and the crowd together and says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel will save it.” What does all this mean? What does it mean for you and me living here in NH in this 21st century?
Now there are places in the world today where the Christian church and its members are martyrs. There are Christians who are victims of violence because they work to bring peace and justice to the suffering world. According to an Italian news source in 2004, there were over 100 Christians killed since 2000 in 40 different countries.[1] I will have this resource footnoted on the sermon page on our website if you want to check out more details. We know that there are still 4 peacemakers being held in Iraq. I’m not at all sure that I would have enough courage to put myself in harms way for my faith. It’s something that bothers me a lot as I want to be able to be that strong of a follower of Jesus. Living in this country we may be upset at things like removing the manger from the mall at Christmas or forbidding school prayer; however, in reality we seldom would have the threat of death come to us; however, there are many, many ways we have of denying our self and taking up the cross. To illustrate this point I want to share this illustration from Fred Craddock, “We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1000 bill and laying it on the table—“Here’s my life, Lord, I’m giving it all.” But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1000 for quarters. We go through life putting our 25 cents here and 50 cen5ts there…Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time.”[2]
Let’s go first to what denying one self means. Very simply put, the denying self that Jesus is talking about is to love God more than parents, siblings, spouse or children and of course possessions. It is saying Yes to Jesus and No to oneself in terms of secular, earthly desires. It is saying No to those actions that promote self or one’s business that are not the actions God approves of. It’s saying No to the easy life that doesn’t reach out to love and serve others. I do want to point out that over the history of the church, leaders—usually male—have used self-denial to perpetuate subjection of women in the church and the society. So this is a tricky thing. I believe God wants each of us to be the best that we can be and when we are, we can better do God’s work in the world. Let me give you some examples of denying self: To deny self means to seek God’s will, let God lead us. To deny self means to deny overeating, overdrinking, overworking and other things that take us away from God, cause us not to be healthy. To deny self means to take care of a person in need rather than giving yourself extra pleasures. To deny self means to give up personal wants for the greater good. Let me give you a personal example that most of you have heard before: I denied my desire to be near my children and bask in the warm sunshine in CA in order to answer God’s call for me to be your pastor here in Deering. The important part for me is not so much what we give up, as it is saying an unconditional and unhesitating “YES” to the voice of our Lord. Self denial is about being willing to take risks, to let go of familiar things and familiar thoughts and let God lead us.
Let us now go to a discussion of taking up your cross. I’m indebted to Rev. Richard Fairchild for much of this part of the sermon. He reports on the answers from a discussion group that told stories of extreme hardship, sickness, loss, handicaps as examples of taking up their cross. “They confused the suffering that is inflicted upon them by the world—a suffering that comes without their choice or decision—with that which comes because we have chosen to be faithful.” I never thought of cross in this latter way. We’ve all heard things like, “everyone has their cross to bear”, and this usually refers to what one is suffering. Think about it for a moment. The cross that Jesus had to bear, had to carry, had to be crucified on was a cross he could have avoided. Satan offered him legions of angels to rescue him; the human Jesus could have avoided the confrontation in Jerusalem and quietly ministered in Galilee. But Jesus chose to follow the road his father had mapped out for him. “A cross is something we pick up because we desire to follow Jesus. It is not something that falls upon us because we are made of mortal flesh and live in a decaying world, though how we react to those things may, in fact, turn them from an affliction that we bear to a cross we bear.” (Fairchild) A wonderful example Fairchild uses to illustrate this point is an aging spouse who faithfully tends for and cares for their partner even when that spouse can no longer recognize them or communicate with them. They have made a decision to be faithful—and the burden they bear is indeed a cross, not simply an affliction. Here are some more examples of taking up our cross daily: choosing to take care of an aged parent; focusing on the call that God puts on us daily; to be compassionate and kind to those who really irritate us; to work on the relationship of a relative or friend that is not easy to like; to go against what our culture/media say is a success if it doesn’t fit with what Jesus says is the way to live.
Another point that Fairchild mentions is that the cross we are called to bear is our very own—it’s not the same as Jesus’—or your mother’s—or your child’s. Our crosses are shaped specially for us by our own life issues, culture, age, and the call of God. It is like Jesus’ cross in the sense that it involves offering ourselves to God and to our neighbors in complete love and obedience to God, no matter where that may take us. Our motives will not be—how will this help me, but how will it serve God. If what we do is for the purpose of getting into heaven, we might as well forget it. Our Gospel today after talking about denying oneself and taking up our cross daily says, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” v .35-6. Or listen to St. Francis, “For it is in giving that we receive, and it is in dying to self, that we are born again to a living hope.”
Christ calls us beyond our known borders. And he promises to be with us until the end of the time. Could we do these things without the presence and guidance of the Spirit? I doubt it. This is difficult stuff and it is made easier when we get the ball rolling, marvelous things start to happen. With God at our side, we will experience joy. Remember Paul’s words in Romans, “whatever happens, in Christ we prevail. Neither death nor life, neither things present nor things yet to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” We remember that Jesus’ life did not stop with the cross; there was a resurrection. Praise be to God for life, eternal life as this Lenten season takes us through the valley of darkness to the ecstasy of rebirth.
Let Jesus’ love and life be our guide. Amen and Amen.
[1] http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=7838&eng=y
[2] Cited in Leadership (Fall 1984) 47.
Scripture: Mark 8:31-38
You folks are lucky today. I’m going to start my sermon with a few jokes. Now I’m doing this for a couple of reasons. This week I obtained not one but two joke books. From Ann Lorber I borrowed the World’s Greatest Collection of Church Jokes and then in the mail I received “God is Still Laughing” by Chris Anderson. The other reason is that the focus of this sermon is denying oneself and taking up the cross to follow Jesus, not very light topics so let’s have a few laughs first. To start off let me tell you about my friend Pastor Carol. One Sunday morning she advised her congregation, “Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. In preparation for my message, I want you all to read Mark 17.” The following Sunday she asked for a show of hands from those who had read Mark 17. Almost every hand went up. “Well, she said, Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying.” Another joke which I know is not true for those here today but may be so for those absent, “What is the first thing many UCC people give up for Lent?” Going to church. Now some of you know that we have a policy that we don’t cancel church because of bad weather. Whoever shows up will worship together. Not so with all churches. One Sunday after a terrible snow storm, there were only two people that showed up for worship: the minister and a farmer. Pastor Jim said to the farmer, “Well, I don’t guess we’ll have a service today.” The farmer replied, “If only one cow shows up at feeding time, I feed it.” So let’s move on to the more serious part and hopefully the sermon can feed you!
Scholars say that our scripture today is a turning point in the book of Mark. Jesus and his disciples are in Caesarea Philippi and Jesus asks Peter, “Who do people say that I am?” Peter finally “gets it” and calls out that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus then feels he needs to start talking about what is going to happen to him, his suffering and death, sometimes called his passion. Now Peter who loves Jesus so much doesn’t want to hear any of this. I can imagine that he thinks a Messiah should live forever and not suffer. Jesus strongly rebukes him —maybe because the human side of Jesus may have been tempted to escape the awful death that was in front of him. After rebuking Peter, Jesus calls both the disciples and the crowd together and says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel will save it.” What does all this mean? What does it mean for you and me living here in NH in this 21st century?
Now there are places in the world today where the Christian church and its members are martyrs. There are Christians who are victims of violence because they work to bring peace and justice to the suffering world. According to an Italian news source in 2004, there were over 100 Christians killed since 2000 in 40 different countries.[1] I will have this resource footnoted on the sermon page on our website if you want to check out more details. We know that there are still 4 peacemakers being held in Iraq. I’m not at all sure that I would have enough courage to put myself in harms way for my faith. It’s something that bothers me a lot as I want to be able to be that strong of a follower of Jesus. Living in this country we may be upset at things like removing the manger from the mall at Christmas or forbidding school prayer; however, in reality we seldom would have the threat of death come to us; however, there are many, many ways we have of denying our self and taking up the cross. To illustrate this point I want to share this illustration from Fred Craddock, “We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1000 bill and laying it on the table—“Here’s my life, Lord, I’m giving it all.” But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1000 for quarters. We go through life putting our 25 cents here and 50 cen5ts there…Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time.”[2]
Let’s go first to what denying one self means. Very simply put, the denying self that Jesus is talking about is to love God more than parents, siblings, spouse or children and of course possessions. It is saying Yes to Jesus and No to oneself in terms of secular, earthly desires. It is saying No to those actions that promote self or one’s business that are not the actions God approves of. It’s saying No to the easy life that doesn’t reach out to love and serve others. I do want to point out that over the history of the church, leaders—usually male—have used self-denial to perpetuate subjection of women in the church and the society. So this is a tricky thing. I believe God wants each of us to be the best that we can be and when we are, we can better do God’s work in the world. Let me give you some examples of denying self: To deny self means to seek God’s will, let God lead us. To deny self means to deny overeating, overdrinking, overworking and other things that take us away from God, cause us not to be healthy. To deny self means to take care of a person in need rather than giving yourself extra pleasures. To deny self means to give up personal wants for the greater good. Let me give you a personal example that most of you have heard before: I denied my desire to be near my children and bask in the warm sunshine in CA in order to answer God’s call for me to be your pastor here in Deering. The important part for me is not so much what we give up, as it is saying an unconditional and unhesitating “YES” to the voice of our Lord. Self denial is about being willing to take risks, to let go of familiar things and familiar thoughts and let God lead us.
Let us now go to a discussion of taking up your cross. I’m indebted to Rev. Richard Fairchild for much of this part of the sermon. He reports on the answers from a discussion group that told stories of extreme hardship, sickness, loss, handicaps as examples of taking up their cross. “They confused the suffering that is inflicted upon them by the world—a suffering that comes without their choice or decision—with that which comes because we have chosen to be faithful.” I never thought of cross in this latter way. We’ve all heard things like, “everyone has their cross to bear”, and this usually refers to what one is suffering. Think about it for a moment. The cross that Jesus had to bear, had to carry, had to be crucified on was a cross he could have avoided. Satan offered him legions of angels to rescue him; the human Jesus could have avoided the confrontation in Jerusalem and quietly ministered in Galilee. But Jesus chose to follow the road his father had mapped out for him. “A cross is something we pick up because we desire to follow Jesus. It is not something that falls upon us because we are made of mortal flesh and live in a decaying world, though how we react to those things may, in fact, turn them from an affliction that we bear to a cross we bear.” (Fairchild) A wonderful example Fairchild uses to illustrate this point is an aging spouse who faithfully tends for and cares for their partner even when that spouse can no longer recognize them or communicate with them. They have made a decision to be faithful—and the burden they bear is indeed a cross, not simply an affliction. Here are some more examples of taking up our cross daily: choosing to take care of an aged parent; focusing on the call that God puts on us daily; to be compassionate and kind to those who really irritate us; to work on the relationship of a relative or friend that is not easy to like; to go against what our culture/media say is a success if it doesn’t fit with what Jesus says is the way to live.
Another point that Fairchild mentions is that the cross we are called to bear is our very own—it’s not the same as Jesus’—or your mother’s—or your child’s. Our crosses are shaped specially for us by our own life issues, culture, age, and the call of God. It is like Jesus’ cross in the sense that it involves offering ourselves to God and to our neighbors in complete love and obedience to God, no matter where that may take us. Our motives will not be—how will this help me, but how will it serve God. If what we do is for the purpose of getting into heaven, we might as well forget it. Our Gospel today after talking about denying oneself and taking up our cross daily says, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” v .35-6. Or listen to St. Francis, “For it is in giving that we receive, and it is in dying to self, that we are born again to a living hope.”
Christ calls us beyond our known borders. And he promises to be with us until the end of the time. Could we do these things without the presence and guidance of the Spirit? I doubt it. This is difficult stuff and it is made easier when we get the ball rolling, marvelous things start to happen. With God at our side, we will experience joy. Remember Paul’s words in Romans, “whatever happens, in Christ we prevail. Neither death nor life, neither things present nor things yet to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” We remember that Jesus’ life did not stop with the cross; there was a resurrection. Praise be to God for life, eternal life as this Lenten season takes us through the valley of darkness to the ecstasy of rebirth.
Let Jesus’ love and life be our guide. Amen and Amen.
[1] http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=7838&eng=y
[2] Cited in Leadership (Fall 1984) 47.
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 9:20 AM
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