Next week is Palm Sunday, followed by Holy Week and Easter. We’ll celebrate with worship services at 11 am on Sunday. For Easter, we’ll also have a special service on the church front steps at 9 am, followed by an Easter Breakfast in the gym. All welcome! Food pantry opens Tuesdays 5-7 pm as usual. And we’re looking forward to restarting Wednesday evening Bible Study after Easter.
This week’s message was recorded live Sunday morning.
Week of 21 March, 2021: “A Willing Spirit, and Rebirth”
Call to Worship Reading; Psalm 119
9How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
Invitation Praises, and Prayer Concerns; Father in Heaven and universe beyond, thank you for the wondrous life you have given each of us. May we reflect and thank you each day for this incredible gift, our very being! Lord we humbly ask that you would continue to grow and mature us in our walk towards you.
Amen!
Message Reading: John 12: 20-25
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Message: “A Willing Spirit, and Rebirth”
I knew a guy, who as a boy worked the family homestead. He was the youngest of the boys (the runt of the litter) and had a unique relationship with the Lord, his family, the homestead he lived and worked on, and with all of the livestock entrusted in his care. No one needed to tell him about the ethical treatment of God’s creation. He would talk to the animals in his charge and name them one by one as they were born. He knew every inch of ground that the animals grazed and the water they drank from, as it all seemed to be a part of his very being.
It makes one think of David writing his psalms to God out on watch protecting the herd. But unlike King David, my uncle Babe (named Babe, because he was the baby of the family, Harrold was his real name), yes Babe would not go on to great office like David.
On the other hand, he was a substitute Mail Carrier and working out of Lomax Illinois. A duty that incurred the heavy responsibility of not only knowing everyone throughout the countryside, but to keep up on the latest news while sampling the latest batch of Applejack. Some would say gossip, he would say, a public service, and a quality control check on the Applejack. And then latter in retirement he was the President of his Shuffleboard club.
Babe was a marvel of a human being and he uplifted all around him who wanted to be uplifted. For Him just being alive each day, talking to the cattle (especially his Bull named Barney Fife who was an escape artist), and learning new things was a daily renewal and reward in its self. In other words, his life was a continuous one of renewal and rebirth, couched in the joy of relationships with other people.
Today I am excited to talk with you about rebirth / renewal and how our mindset, attitudes, and our very spirit; determines our ability to be nurtured, matured, and outright transformed. But what does that mean to you and me? Does renewal have to be some big event in my life, or can it be a way of life? Are there specific things I can expect to see and experience with renewal and rebirth?
I think, renewal and rebirth for that matter, comes in as many ways as there are people and mindsets to guide them. Meaning that it is something that is unique to you. There is the example of my uncle Babe and today’s “Call to Worship” reading from Psalm 119:9-16, that depicts a steady progression in life with the renewal and transformation being a part of the day-to-day life that some people enjoy.
9How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
And even though a person may be on the faithwalk with the Lord “The Path of Purity”, there is more that happens. If we look at verses 11-14, we see a transformation from the inner being blossoming into the outward sharing of that gift from the Lord.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
For the Psalmist, what we hold sacred and deep within ourselves and instructed to by the Lord, emanates outward at some point. In this case from the Psalmist lips, and he rejoices in the Lord. In my estimation, the writer of Psalm 119 is reflecting the lifeblood of a whole nation with their Lord. This masterpiece of a Psalm is 176 versus long with 22 sections (one for each letter in the Hebrew alphabet), and it reflects a long enduring relationship between God and His chosen people as a kind of prayer. This Psalm is a microcosm of an even larger life that Israel shared with God.
This leads some to ask; are there some people, nations that just have this incredible relationship with the Lord without any waves or ruffles or turmoil and all ahead full? No! I don’t think that’s the way to consider a relationship with anyone much less God. Just read your Old Testament and you will see that God was outright unhappy when the children of Israel approach their relationship with Him sleepwalking. At some point the Lord expects us to look deeper within, as we begin to look outward from ourselves to serve others.
Even the Lord on His earthly walk as a man experienced deep concern, and passion for the human condition and humanity’s relationship with God. We have the writer of Hebrews instructing us that even the Lord’s journey was one of obedience, suffering, and prayer, to build a bridge between us and God. From Hebrews 5:7-10 we have;
7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
The perfect human being, Jesus Christ, lived through challenge, suffering, and submission through prayer and aid from God the Father. How much more is prayer needed by me or you today as we all struggle to make sense of this thing called life. The Lord’s example illuminates that there is more to any relationship than just what we see on the outside, and going through the motions. When words become the reality of someone living.
Even those people who seem to have it all; power, looks, grace and poise, who seemed to have the perfect relationship with the Lord, all have times of angst, fear, and waywardness. I believe this is why scripture provides us with people like Paul and his arrogance and forcefulness, and the impetuousness Peter and his forays up and down the scales of embarrassments.
It is why we have David, a man who had a lifetime relationship with the Lord. As a boy is writing love songs to his Lord while keeping the predators at bay from the flock, and yet all too human in stumbling along.
David was incredibly blessed by God and who even as a man after God’s own heart, had a knack of screwing things up. Perhaps one of the best eight step programs outlined in scripture is Psalm 51, where David recalls his guilt and asks the Lord for forgiveness and a resumption of their relationship. Here is Psalm 51:1-10;
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
(#1) Knowing there is a problem and admitting it.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
(#2) Knowing God is God and we are not.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
(#3) Understanding what God expects.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
(#4) Having faith God can fix us.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
(#5) Having faith in our future.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
(#6) Believing that God will forgive & more.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
** (#7) Renew us.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
**(#8) And sustain a willing spirit, which will keep all this going forward into a long-term real relationship!
David, realized he had a problem, by not lying to himself but by doing what we talked about last week, by looking directly at his sin. Doing this, he now was able to look directly towards God for admission of guilt, asking for forgiveness, faith, belief, and knowledge that the majesty of the Lord can overcome anything we have done or ever will do.
Yes, we learned this last week with Moses raising the serpent on a pole and having Israel look directly into their sin, and then later with all of us looking directly at our sin, and then salvation by the raised Christ on a cross. Reflecting how we can get right with God.
And as we learn to get right with God, David shows us that when God renews us, he also sustains us with a willing spirit. That the willing spirit and renewal/rebirth go hand in hand, seem to be beyond doubt for me at this point, because:
- My willing spirit creates renewal
- Renewal leads to more willingness to grow
- At some point rebirth takes place and that is as unique a process as the person that it is occurring with!
- And rebirth leads to more of a willing spirit that can lead to more renewal and along the way rebirth.
** Oh, and I can also deflate all this with my free choice and choose to wither and parish!
How all this works and takes place varies by the person and their faithwalk at any given time. My thought, and again, that’s just what it is (you have the deep burden of praying, studying, and thinking for yourself). My thought is that once we have looked straight on at our own defects, we are now ready to look directly to God for our salvation renewal, and rebirth, through a willing heart.
A willing heart is what God used in Abraham to begin a whole new family in God. A family that has grown and jumped from race to race as God adopted new members into His Celestial Household. First, the children of Israel, and then all willing others available for the call and adoption. This adoption process takes place when anyone of us is open to the promptings of God’s Spirit, and ready to invite Him in for the walk of a life time, no even more, eternity!
The call and adoption, willing spirit, renewal, and rebirth, happens every day everywhere, there are people open, ready, and available for God, His Son, and the sustainment of His Holy Spirit. And we get to be a part of this process for our Lord by witnessing to the people He places in our lives. A process that goes all the way back to the beginning with the Lord.
Reminding me of a passage from the Gospel of John when the Lord’s hour has come for the inclusion of all people of willing spirits, into the grace of forgiveness, and rebirth. John 12: 20-25
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
Here we have people open to being in relationship with the Lord. They have been there when Jesus raised Lazarus from death, I’m sure they are excited and they want more with God. Although they have only an inkling of what is going on, they are open for more.
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
The seed is the Lord and through His sacrifice many will be born of new seed. Jesus is crucified and through His resurrection humanity is offered eternity and more. And people will finally find their real selves if they accept the offer.
Next week we will look at what happens when we decline that willing spirit, that opens our hearts and makes us available to God. How our free choice gives us the ability to ruin the potential discussed today in favor of the darkness and anarchy that results when we choose to go it alone, only to be offered a way out yet again by a loving God.
Finally, through the death of our own old lives of sin, we find our new real lives in God’s family, and we open the door for others with willing spirits, when we share the gift. To be renewed and reborn, into something much, much, greater. My hope and prayer this week, is that you take those opportunities God is providing you, to share His love with others of willing spirits.
Amen! Benediction: Numbers 6: 24-26