Who is this Man? Resurrection Sunday

Who is this Man?:  Easter Sunday

(This message was written to pick up where the Good Friday Message left off.  I started the service with the section and then after worship came back to the point Who Do You Say I am?)

It’s a brand new day.  The darkness of Friday has given away to the bright light of Sunday.  On Friday they had watched him die. On the Sabbath they had mourned his death.  And now the darkness gave way to light and the tears gave way to laughter.  Because on Friday Jesus had died, on Saturday Jesus was dead in the tomb.  But today is not Friday and today is not Saturday.  today is Sunday and Today Jesus has risen from the dead. 

If you had of asked any number of people in the darkness of Friday afternoon: Who is this man? The answers would have been completely different than the answers that you would have heard with the sun brightly shining on Sunday.  Same man, same point in time, completely different answers. 

But on Friday, those who would describe Jesus would say that he was a heretic, that he was deluded, some would even say that he was innocent but they would all agree that he was dead.  Dead and buried.  They had watched him die and they had seen him taken down from the cross and then they had looked on as he had been laid in the tomb and the rock had been rolled into place.  But that was Friday and this is Sunday.

Perhaps the first open acknowledgment of who Jesus was came from a most unlikely source and it happened not on Sunday but late on Friday.  When Jesus had died on the cross and the afternoon sky became like night and the earthquake shook Jerusalem we hear this testimony from the man who oversaw Jesus death.  The man who only hours before would have denied the very personhood of Jesus, he was just another in a long line of people who Rome had decided shouldn’t live and the Centurion had made it his business to make sure that Jesus’ death would be painful and humiliating.

But something had happened and as he stood before the body of the man he had killed a sudden realization came over him and we read in  Matthew 27:54 The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

It is interesting that in the Gospels we read that the first to acknowledge Jesus at his birth as the Son of God were gentiles, the Magi.  And here we read that at the end of his life, that those who acknowledge him as the Son of God were gentiles, the Roman Soldiers.  The sad thing about this story though is that this is all we read about these soldiers.

There are commentators who would say that this was a point of salvation for these men, but there is nothing to suggest that is the case.  We don’t see them in the upper room, there is no record of them on the day of Pentecost, and they never appear in the narrative of the church.  But at that point in time if you had of asked the soldiers at the base of the cross: Who is this man?  They would have replied: He is the Son of God.

It would appear that they had a head knowledge but that knowledge never travelled the 18 inches to their heart to make them changed men.  And there are those here today who would acknowledge that Jesus was more than a man, that Jesus is indeed the Son of God but have never let that knowledge change their lives.   And they have never surrendered their lives to the risen Son.

We don’t know what happened between the time that Jesus was laid in the tomb before the Sun sat on Friday and before it rose on Sunday.  We have no account of what his followers and families did during that time.  What happened during those thirty six hours must have paled next to the events of the day before and the day after. 

We may not know what happened on Saturday but we do know what happened early Sunday morning. 

In Mark 16:9 we read After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons.

The first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, this is the Mary Magdalene who Dan Brown tried to turn into the Bride of Christ in the book “The DaVinci Code”.  But that is fiction.  This is the Mary who tradition tried to turn into a prostitute, but that is fiction as well at least we don’t know that it’s fact. 

At different times in history Mary of Magdalene has been identified as Lazarus’s sister, the “sinful” woman mentioned in Luke 7:32 and the woman caught in adultery in John 8 that would be the entire “Cast the first stone” story, but there is no evidence for any of those theories.

The longest description of Mary comes in Luke 8:1-3 where we read Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women he had healed and from whom he had cast out evil spirits. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

What do we know about Mary Magdalene?  Grom that one passage We know that she was from Magdala a village that used to exist on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. We know that Mary followed Christ as a disciple, that Christ had delivered her from seven demons, we don’t know what those demons were and if anyone tells you what they were they are simply speculating, read my lips we don’t know.  What we do know is that it was a life changing experience for Mary.  Because she began to follow Christ, and she began to financially support Christ.

And we know that she was the first person to see Jesus after the crucifixion.  And if you asked Mary: Who is this Man?  I’m sure that she would have responded “He is the one who changed My Life”  He’s the one who set me free from my demons”

And in response Mary gave Jesus the life that Jesus had given Mary. 

I would suspect that there are many here today who could say the same, that Jesus changed your life and set you free from the demons of your past.  The question is, have you been willing to give Jesus the life that he has given you?

The miracle of grace is a changed life, that when we ask Christ to forgive us that he forgives us.  Over and over again the bible describes that experience as a new beginning, a new life, being born again, become a new creation.  And at that point we are given the opportunity of a brand new life.  The bible tells us to repent, that is to turn away from our old life, but that’s not enough.  We are told to repent and turn to God, that is: start a new life. 

Jesus delivered Mary from her demons, whatever those demons were.  But for her that was just the beginning,  the beginning of a life following Jesus.  Perhaps you think of a particular point in time when you “became a Christian”, the day you asked Christ to forgive you, or the day you committed your life to him.  But that should have just been the beginning of your becoming a Christ Follower, when we actually begin to follow Jesus.

Throughout the gospels there are accounts of people delivered from their demons, people who were healed and restored.  They each had an encounter with Christ, as did Mary on the day he changed her life, but for Mary that was just the beginning of a life committed to following the Jesus who had set her free.  The same Jesus who offered Mary a new life wants to offer you a new life.  Mary accepted the gift, will you?

 But news of the resurrection wasn’t just for Mary and the other women.  In Mark’s account we read Mark 16:5-7 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

Did you catch that?  The angel told the women “Go and tell his disciples, including Peter.”  I don’t know if the apostles decided that Peter no longer deserved to be a part of their group or if that was a decision that Peter made himself.  But the messenger wanted to be clear that Peter was to be included in the news of the resurrection.

I’m sure it didn’t take long for the news of Peter denying Christ to make its way through the group, I’m just not sure who would have known.  Perhaps John or one of the women, but other than that we are told that all the other apostles had scattered and hid.  Peter may have denied Jesus with his words but the rest of them denied him with their actions.  Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Peter had been one of the first to be called to follow Jesus, Peter was the first to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, Peter was the one who offered to die for Jesus and followed that up by cutting off the ear of one of the guards who came to arrest Jesus.  But that didn’t matter, because when push came to shove Peter blew it, and that’s what we remember him for on that day.

When Jesus was taken away Peter followed from a distance to see what would happen to his friend but three times he was confronted about his relationship with Jesus and three times he denied that he even know Jesus.  Even to the point of cursing and swearing.  And if it wasn’t enough that he denied him in front of strangers,  Jesus was led by just in time to hear Peter’s last denial.

Imagine being at the darkest moment of your life and hearing the person who you considered to be your closest friend denying that they had ever met you.  Peter knew what he had done and he left a broken man.

And we have no idea where he had been since then.  When those at the foot of the cross had been named, there was no Peter.  When the bible speaks about those who took the body of Christ down from the cross and carried it to the tomb there was no Peter.  Was he too humiliated by his failure to face his friends?  Did he find in their faces a painful reminder of the Jesus whom he had denied? 

However on the first day of the week we find him back with the other 10, perhaps it was a matter of seeking safety in numbers or simply the fact that misery loves company.  But I wonder if he had separated himself from the group even as they gathered in the same room?  

But the news wasn’t just for the ten it was for the eleven.  Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter.  Yes Peter, this news is for you as well. 

And if you had of asked Peter: Who is this man?  He would have told you: He’s the One Who Gave Me a Second Chance. 

Have you ever felt that you have denied Jesus?  That he has given you the chance of a new beginning, and like Peter you started well.  But then something happened.  And you feel that through your actions or through your words you have denied your relationship with Christ.

Maybe a mistake, a slip or perhaps a conscience decision to deliberately disobey but you feel that you’ve let him down.   Let me be clear today, the same Jesus who offered Peter a second chance is offering you a second chance as well.

Like Peter you may think that he has written you off and that he could never forgive you.  But that’s not the case.  The same Jesus who offered Peter a second chance wants to offer you a second chance.  Peter accepted the gift, will you?

When Jesus appeared to the disciples, and to Peter there was one missing.  We don’t know where he was, perhaps he was running an errand, or visiting an old friend but the bible tells us in John 20:24-25 One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”   And for the next two thousand years Thomas would have a new nickname, the doubter.  But seriously we can’t know what the reaction of the other disciples would have been if they hadn’t seen Jesus because they had, you can’t say for sure whether or not you would have believed without seeing because you weren’t there. 

Thomas’ life had been turned upside down.  A week before he had watched his teacher being swept into town on a wave of adulation.  Was this an indication of things to come? Could Jesus be the one to bring Israel back to her former glory, to get rid of the hated Romans?   And then Thomas watched as Jesus was arrested, tried and crucified.  He had just gotten his head around the fact that Jesus was dead and now everybody was saying that he wasn’t, that he was alive and they had all seen him.  Well everybody except Thomas, what was with that?  

Have you ever had times of doubts in your Christian life?  If Jesus really loves me then how come . . . ?  And you can fill in the blank.  If Jesus is really God then how come . . .?  And you can fill in the blank.  How come my kid’s sick?  How come I lost my job? How come I lost my spouse?  Why do I keep doing the things I know are wrong?

And then we feel guilty about having doubts. 

I think if you asked Thomas: Who is this man?  He would reply He’s the one Who Understood my Doubts.  Jesus didn’t write Thomas off because Thomas had doubts.  Instead he answered those doubts.  But not right away.  Listen to the rest of the story.  

John 20:26-28 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.   Eight days?  Wow, for eight days the other disciples bubbled with excitement and Thomas simmered in doubt. 

But when Jesus showed up he didn’t condemn Thomas for his feelings, he didn’t criticize him for “not just believing”  Instead he said “You needed to see to believe, well here I am.”

There are lesson there for all of us this Easter, it’s all right to have doubts, that’s human.  But God doesn’t always work on our timetable.  I’m sure that Thomas wondered why he was kept waiting, the other ten had seen Jesus on resurrection Sunday.  And we probably never understand God’s timetable.

But the resurrection was as real to Thomas in his time as it was to Mary and Peter in their time.  And because of Thomas we know that we aren’t the first to doubt.  And because of Jesus response we know that we won’t be condemned for our doubt if it leads us to believe.

Because of the Resurrection we can still answer the question: Who is this Man?  By saying,   “He is the one who changed My Life, Who Gave me a second chance and who understands my doubts.

Because here is the promise for you today;  John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

Closing of the service. 

So here we are.  Resurrection Sunday 2013.  We have looked at the possible answers that several people could have given to the question: Who is this Man?  And in May and June we will be looking at that question in depth as we look at how Jesus has changed the face of the world as we know it.  But the real answer to the question Who is this man?  Cannot be given by Mary, Peter, Thomas or even Denn. 

Before the resurrection and before the crucifixion Jesus asked Peter and the other apostles “Who do people say I am?”  Their response is found in Mark 8:28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.”   All understandable answers each in their own way.  Now listen to Jesus’ response:  Mark 8:29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”

You see folks it doesn’t matter what or who others say Jesus is or was.  All that matters today, for you is who do you say Jesus is?  Who is Jesus in your life.  He can change your life.  He can offer you a second chance.  And he can answer your doubts.  But only if you ask him to. 

If you were asked that question today, Who do you say he is?  What would be your response?  A historical figure, a great teacher.  Maybe you would even say with the Soldiers “He truly was the son of God.”  But he wants to be your saviour?  And only you have the power to make that happen.   If you have never made the decision to allow Jesus to change your life today is the day.  If you feel like you have let him down and you need a second, or hundred and second chance today is the day.  And if you really want to believe, today is the day.    

Who is this Man? Good Friday

Who is this Man:  Good Friday

Who is this man?  As the crowd roared, the question was asked by many; who is he? What has he done?  What will he do?  To some it was important to others it was secondary, after all the religious leaders had spoken and now this man stood before them. 

Would he be a history changer, or simply a historical foot note?  Nobody knew the answer to those questions but many wanted to know: Who is this man?

That was the question being asked just a little over two weeks ago as the Catholic church elected their new Pope.    Who is Jorge Bergoglio? Or as he is known now: Who is Pope Francis?

And we ask the question a lot in life; Who is this?  And it is a pretty good question.  We ask it all the time, when we are looking for a doctor, a mechanic or a dentist. Who is this?  When election time rolls around and we are electing a MLA, a MP or a Counsellor.  Who is this?  When a friend is setting you up with a blind date you want to know: Who is this?  When you daughter brings a boy home: Who is this?

And it was a question that was asked over and over again on that Friday Afternoon almost two thousand years ago: Who is this Man?  Who was this man they arrested?  Who was this man they tried?  Who was this man they sentenced and who was this man they killed?

The question was asked by many and I think if you asked them at the end of the day on Friday, when the sky had gone black and Jesus had been laid in the tomb that most, if not all of them, would have an answer for you. 

The end story had been put into play by the religious leaders of the day.  There are those who would blame the Jews and others who would say that we shouldn’t even hint that the Jews were responsible.  But like most truth’s the answer lies somewhere in the middle.  Were the Jews responsible?  No.  Jesus was a Jew, his parents were Jews, his followers were Jews.  Very clearly Jesus had said that he had come to the Jewish people that they had to hear the good news before it could be given to any others. 

To blame the Jews of today is absurd, they weren’t there and many of their ancestors were those who heard and listened to Jesus.  I don’t believe in the inherited guilt that people seem so anxious to wallow in today. 

However we can’t deny the fact that those who were responsible for the eventual death of Jesus were the Jewish Religious leaders of his day.  Not the Roman religious leaders, not the Greek Religious leaders but the Jewish religious leaders. 

Why?  Because the Jewish religious leaders saw Jesus and his teaching as a threat to all that they held near and dear.  And so if we were to ask them:  Who is this Man?  The Religious leaders of the day knew who Jesus was; he was a heretic, a false teacher and a false messiah. 

They had a firm grasp on the Jewish religious establishment of the time, they made the rules and they controlled the temple and they collected the money.  And this young upstart was threatening that. 

He talked about prayer as if anybody could just talk to God.  And then why would the people need priests?  He said that all of the religious laws and regulations could be boiled down to two, just two!  Love God and love others.    And if that was the case why would the people need the Sadducees to make sense of the volumes laws that governed the lives of the people?   

And he claimed the authority of God himself, the authority to forgive sins, the authority to heal the sick the authority to cast out demons.  And that was not his authority it was theirs and they weren’t going to simply let this Jesus take what they had inherited from their fathers, and grandfathers and great-grandfathers.   

And he challenged them, he called them hypocrites and fools.  Accused them of being more concerned with the law than with the souls of people.   But he didn’t understand, that it wasn’t just about God, the Romans expected the religious leaders to keep the people compliant and complacent.  And if religion couldn’t or wouldn’t do it then the force of Rome would have to.

And so they called him a demon and a false teacher, they tried to expose him for the trouble they knew he was, and when he wouldn’t incriminate himself we read in Matthew 26:65-66 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?” “Guilty!” they shouted. “He deserves to die!”

And so they arranged for one of his followers to betray him and they arranged for Pilate to try him and they arranged for Rome to kill him. 

And if you asked the religious leaders: Who is this man?  They would reply “He is Trouble”.

If you asked the Roman Soldiers who Jesus was they would tell you they didn’t know and they didn’t care.  They were just doing their job.  They didn’t have an opinion, maybe he was innocent and maybe he was guilty, it didn’t matter to them.  He might be the Jewish Messiah but what would that matter to them, we aren’t Jewish.  He might be the king of the Jews but they were Romans and Romans have no king but Caesar. 

And so in order to deal with what they would do to this man Jesus they depersonalized him, and so when they beat him they were beating nobody, when they mocked him they were mocking nobody, they shoved the crown of thorns on nobody’s  head and they gambled for nobody’s clothing and finally they nailed nobody to a cross.

Because if Jesus was a somebody, an anybody then there would be the guilt over what they had done.  And so to them he was a problem to be dealt with and orders to be followed.  Who is this man?  What man?

And then there was The Crowd, When I think the crowd that had gathered that day I picture a huge gathering of people, almost a mob.  A group of angry villagers armed with torches and pitchforks and then I realize that was from Frankenstein.  But still I see the mob as a mass of humanity, gathered to condemn Jesus with their jeers and demands to release the criminal Barabbas.   And that may be more connected with the movies of Jesus life rather than the reality of the gospels.  Granted the Bible does refer to a crowd but how do you define a crowd? 

Was it a dozen people or a hundred people?  We don’t know but what we do know is that they were hostile to the claims of Christ.  Often preachers, including myself, have talked about the fickleness of the crowd, how these may have been some of the same people who only a week before had greeted Jesus with Palm branches and shouts of Hosanna, but we don’t know that. 

We don’t know how many of them there were and we don’t know who they were, all we know is that over and over again they are defined as “The Crowd”  and the dictionary simply defines crowd as a large number of persons gathered closely together; throng: 

There have been suggestions that they may have been gathered together by the religious leaders to lend credence to the leader’s demands, but also that they may have simply been people who gathered whenever there was a “Something” going on. 

We are told that For a time, during the French Revolution, that executions by guillotine were a popular entertainment that attracted great crowds of spectators.  Perhaps crucifixions attracted the same type of people. 

We don’t know, what we do know is that the crowd, whatever the size and make up, could probably have swayed the opinion of Pilate that day, but they didn’t.  Instead they demanded the release of Barabbas, a man identified as a criminal and a murderer. 

If you had of asked the crowd:  Who is this man?  They would have told you that he whoever he was that he was a less viable option than Barabbas.  That if they had to cast their allegiance at the feet of one man that day that it would be the man who was attempting to change the world through violence, not through love.

The man who will go down through history as the man who killed Jesus was Pontius Pilate, the Roman’s man in Palestine.  And it was to Pilate that the religious leaders brought Jesus for judgment.  They may have had the will to kill Jesus but they didn’t have the authority.

And Pilate didn’t want to.  He could find nothing in Jesus’ words or actions to justify capital punishment.  And so he shifted the responsibility to Herod and that didn’t work, Herod just   handed Jesus back to Pilate.  He tried to placate the crowd by having Jesus scourged but they didn’t want a beating they wanted a crucifixion.

If you were to ask Pilate: Who is this man?  He may very well of used words like misguided, or misdirected, but he never thought that he was guilty.  As a matter of fact time and time again he told the crowd that he could find no reason to crucify Jesus.

But ultimately it was politics.  Pilate had made a number of decisions which had created friction between the religious leaders and himself and he needed to mend some bridges.  I’m sure that Pilate would have been familiar with the Latin phrase “Quid Pro Quo”  which roughly translated means “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine”.  And so he relented and sentenced Jesus to death on the cross.

But ultimately his answer to the question: Who is this man? was best summed up by the inscription that he had nailed to the cross on which Jesus would die.   The sign read “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.”  And while he may be remembered by history as the man who crucified Jesus he was the only one that day who acknowledged Jesus for who he was.

If Pilate was known as the man who killed Jesus he is still slightly less reviled than Judas the man who betrayed Jesus.  What would have caused Judas, one of the twelve, one of Jesus’ closest friends to have turned Jesus over to the authorities to be killed?  Well, there have been several theories as to what caused Judas to do what he did.  Some of have suggested that he was a thief and Jesus was about to reveal that.  Others feel that perhaps he was frustrated because Jesus didn’t seem to be interested in being the Messiah who wold overthrow the Romans.

For many, they believe that Judas did what he did out of greed.  He did it for the money.  He probably would have denied that, but you know what they say, when anyone says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money.  One commentator estimated that the thirty pieces of silver would have been worth close to $1,600.00 today.  Not a bad piece of change for an evening’s work.  Sometimes money talks so loud that it can’t be ignored.

More likely than not though, Judas never intended for Jesus to die that day, instead he hoped to force his hand, so that when he was betrayed he would use his power to liberate Israel.  If that was the case then what a tragedy Judas witnessed when he saw he plan fly all to pieces.

And if you asked Judas “Who is this man?”  I think before he betrayed Jesus he would have said “He is the hope of Israel” or  “He is the Messiah and he will deliver us.”  I think that Judas had high hopes for Jesus and for what he could do.  But after the betrayal, when he saw what had happened to his friend and teacher we read that he went back to the priests and throwing the money he had been paid on the ground declared Matthew 27:4 “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”

And then at the foot of the cross you would find a group of women weeping, but the heart break on the face of one was the sorrow that can only come when a parent loses a child.  There was only one person who was there for the birth of Jesus and his death and that was his mother Mary.    And if you were to ask Jesus’ mother: Who is this man?  She might shake her head and talk about the confusion that she had in her heart. 

We don’t know at what point Mary showed up in this final chapter of her son’s life, we don’t know if she witnessed the mockery of the trial, we don’t know if she watched in horror as the skin was stripped away from his back in the flogging.  We don’t know if she cringed as the crown of thorns was jammed on his head but we do know that she was at the foot of the cross and that she watched her son die. 

She watched what had happened but it didn’t make sense.  Like the Apostles she had seen the miracles, she had watched him feed the thousands with a few rolls and a couple of small fish.  But it was more than that; she had been there at the beginning. 

He was not just “This Man” he was her son.  And she knew how her son had been conceived, she knew how her son had been born and she knew the promise that she had been given concerning her son. 

He would save the world. 

His father was not Joseph the Carpenter his father was God the creator of all things. 

And as the tears ran down her cheeks I’m sure she was crying out to the Father:  “This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.  He was supposed to save the world not die on a cross.  How could you allow this to happen?” 

(We closed the service with Brad Paisley and Sarah Evans singing “New Again”)

The Doctor is In. Who is Speaking into Your Life?

The Doctor is In

I don’t know if Lucy is anyone’s favorite character in the Peanut’s universe.  But the reality is that we all either know a Lucy or are a Lucy and if you are a Lucy there is really no way to see that as complimentary. 

Lucy is not a nice person, she calls Charlie Brown a “Block Head” torments her little brother Linus and endeavors to belittle Snoopy.    Lucy was first introduced in 1952 and soon became a popular addition to the cast, maybe because she is so easy to dislike and I think anyone who grew up with a big sister could probably identify with her little brother Linus’s view when he said “Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life.”

Lucy’s full name of course is Lucy Van Pelt and she has two younger siblings, Linus of the blanket and Rerun their baby brother.  The only time it seems that Lucy is vulnerable is when she is mooning over Schroeder and we are never sure if it’s true love or because of her belief that musicians make lots of money.   Let’s take a brief look at the life of Lucy.  (Video)

In the same way that Schroeder is associated with his piano, Linus with his blanket and Snoopy with his dog house Lucy is identified with her five cent advice.  She is never overly sympathetic nor does she sugar coat her advice, instead she bluntly tells her clients what she thinks they need to hear, whether it is in their best interest or not.  And she truly believes that her clients need to accept her judgments and face up to their problems.

And that might seem a little simplistic but then again they only paid five cents for her help.  And as a friend of mine is fond of saying “Don’t you hate when you get what you paid for?”  But regardless of how unhelpful and potentially devastating Lucy’s words are to Charlie Brown he continues to seek out and pay for her advice.    He continues to allow her to speak into his life and to a certain degree control how he sees himself.  (Peanuts strip)

Now Lucy wasn’t the only one who spoke to Charlie Brown and offered him advice, there were others who offered helpful suggestions like Linus, those who offered encouraging words, like Peppermint Patty and those who offered love and hugs like Snoopy.  And yet time and time again Charlie Brown found himself listening to the negative natterings of Lucy.

Each one of us has someone who will speak negatively into our lives.  It might be someone who we work with or someone we live with, but as long was we allow them to continue to do that we aren’t doing ourselves any favours.   Now I understand that we can’t banish those people from our lives, although. . . but we can decide how much we allow them to influence us. 

In the scripture that was read earlier we discover a man by the name of Nehemiah who had various people speak into his life, so let see what we learn from the book of Nehemiah.

It goes without saying that Nehemiah was a little confused.  There were some people who loved him and others who hated him. He thought he was doing a good thing, a necessary thing, even a God thing, but obviously there were those who disagreed. 

Nehemiah was one of the Jews living in exile and was in the service of the King of Persia a king by the name of Artaxerxes. 

His life had been very comfortable, he had a great job, a nice place to live and job security for as long as he lived. You see he was the King’s cupbearer, which doesn’t seem to be much of a job today but then it was very important.  In that day and age Kings lived under the constant threat of assassination. 

Therefore, if you were a smart king, you had a cupbearer whose job it was to ensure that your cup was not hazardous to your health.  He carried that cup with him everywhere he went, it never left his sight and he could always reassure the king that when his drinks were poured that there would be nothing wrong with the cup.

Now the only drawback with the job was that Nehemiah always  got to have the first drink out of the cup, just in case.  But being an optimist Nehemiah’s outlook was "so far, so good."   Nehemiah had it made, and he knew it.

And then one day his comfortable little world was disrupted when his brother showed up after having been away for a while. They were sitting down having a Tim’s and Nehemiah asked Hanani how things were going in the old home town, not really expecting an answer or at least not an honest answer.  But Hanani obviously chose being honest over being polite because he said “You know brother, it stinks, Jerusalem is in ruins, the walls around the city have collapsed and everyone is just kind of moping around. It’s really kind of sad.”

And for some reason something clicked with Nehemiah, he had no real connection to Jerusalem, his grandparents had been brought to Babylon as slaves sixty years before and Jerusalem was no more tangible then was the far side of the moon.  He had heard about it before, he even knew that it had been destroyed and left in ruins, but it had never been real before.  And now for whatever reason it broke his heart.  And the more he thought about it the more it bothered him, it began to gnaw away at his very being and eventually he began to mope around and it wasn’t long before the king noticed that something was bothering Nehemiah.  After all Nehemiah was a constant fixture at the king’s table, he was always there with the king’s cup. 

Well it didn’t take much prompting from the king before Nehemiah poured out his heart, telling his boss the entire story, how Jerusalem had been left in ruins and that it was breaking his heart. The king asked what he wanted to do about it and the words he spoke almost came from their own volition.  He wanted to return to this city he had only heard of and do the impossible, he wanted to rebuild the walls and rehang the gates.  And amazingly enough the king agreed and that is where we began our story. 

If you remember your Old Testament history, you do remember  your Old Testament history don’t you?   So, the Babylonians had conquered Israel in 586 BC and had taken the residents of Jerusalem into captivity.  Persia in turn conquered Babylon in 539 BC and later allowed the Jews who wanted to return home.  Some chose to remain because Babylon had become home.

So what’s up with Nehemiah?  Well throughout the story we run into a multitude of different characters, each who has his own agenda and who affect Nehemiah and his quest in different ways.  As I read through the book I realized that the same is true with us as well, that none of us function in a vacuum, in isolation. We all are surrounded by people, for good and for bad.  It was John Donne who wrote “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” So, who are some of the people that Nehemiah comes in contact with and what effect do they have on our hero?

 1) His Sponsor  At some point or another we are all going to need a sponsor in our life.  Someone who believes in us and is willing to go to bat for us. This is the person in your life that you could call at 3 o’clock in the morning and tell them you need a thousand dollars and they would write you a cheque or go to the bank machine and get the money.  This is the person in your life that you could tell your deepest darkest secret and they wouldn’t walk away.  You can call them your sponsor, or your mentor or your best friend.   You know what they say “Friends help you move but best friends help you move bodies.”    In the Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell writes “To be someone's best friend requires a minimum investment of time. More than that, though, it takes emotional energy. Caring about someone deeply is exhausting.”

In Nehemiah’s case this was the King.  He not only believed in Nehemiah and Nehemiah’s dreams but he wanted to be a part of them and he didn’t just pay lip service.  When he asked Nehemiah was bothering him and Nehemiah told him listen to the King’s response, Nehemiah 2:4 The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?”

Now it’s easy to ask that question but where the rubber meets the road is when a person tells you how they can help.  “How can I help you?”  “Well I’m glad you asked, you could do this and this and this.” What now?  I guess there’s one of two things that will happen, either it will get done or it won’t get done. Listen to what happened in this case, Nehemiah 2:8 . . .  And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.

Sometimes you don’t even have to ask, when Angela’s dad passed my best friend drove up from Yarmouth the next day to be with us, didn’t ask if he could or should he just did it.  You probably don’t have too many of these people in your life because it requires such a commitment, and you probably can’t be this type of person to many different people for the same reason.  Which is probably what Thomas Fuller meant when he said “If you have one true friend you have more than your share.”

But Nehemiah wasn’t able to fulfil his dream with just the King. 

He also had 2) His Supporters   When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem he spent the first three days scoping out the situation and then he approached the local leaders and told them what God had laid on his heart for them to do.  You might say that he cast the vision for them.  And listen to their response back to him, Nehemiah 2:18 . . . They replied at once, “Yes, let’s rebuild the wall!” but that wasn’t all the scripture also says, it goes on to say: So they began the good work.

Throughout the book of Nehemiah you read about people who helped to rebuild the gates and the walls surrounding Jerusalem.  Eliashib helped rebuild the Sheep Gate, the sons of Hassenaah repaired the Fish Gate,  Meremoth repaired one section of wall and Jedaiah fixed the next section.  It was Hasshub who rebuilt the Tower of the Ovens. And how would you like to have been Malkijah who got to repair the Dung Gate.  And then there was Shallum, listen to what he did, Nehemiah 3:15 The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallum, the leader of the Mizpah district. He rebuilt it, roofed it, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars. Then he repaired the wall of the pool of Siloam near the king’s garden, and he rebuilt the wall as far as the stairs that descend from the City of David.

Wow! Talk about overachievers.

If we are going to accomplish everything we need to do in this life we are going to need supporters, they may not be there at 3 o’clock in the morning with a thousand dollars but they will be there to help.  And if you are going to make an impact in the lives of those around you then you need to be willing to help when they need it. 

3. His Critics Here’s the reality folks if you ever say anything or attempt anything worthwhile you will be criticized for it.  And we can’t understand that.  I mean why would people criticize you for doing something good?  Nehemiah must have wondered that himself.  All he was trying to do was rebuild the walls of the city, what could people possibly find wrong with that?  And yet they did.  Listen to the word of God, Nehemiah 4:1-2 Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?”

Nehemiah should have paid attention to Robert Kennedy who said “One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.”   We don’t know for certain exactly why Sanballat was so upset with the rebuilding of the temple but some scholars have said that he was the Governor of Samaria, which is the area to the North of Jerusalem and felt that Nehemiah was encroaching on his territory.  Whatever the reason we find Sanballat surfacing time and time again throughout our story trying to turn the people against Nehemiah. 

How do you answer critics?  Good question, I have been pastoring for over thirty years, which isn’t all that long is you say it quick, and believe it or not there have been a few times that people have criticized things that I’ve said and things that I’ve done. Actually there have been more then a few times.  And there are a couple of things that I remember when  Abraham Lincoln was President he said "If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." And the Greek Poet Epictetus wrote “If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.”

 

There will always be critics, realize that and get on with doing what God wants you to do.  Even Jesus who was born perfect and lived perfect had critics. 

The next group that Nehemiah had contact with were his critics squared. 

4. His Enemies  The critics said nasty things about him, and spread rumours about him but it was his enemies that wanted to do nasty things to him.  Listen to the story in Nehemiah 4:11 Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.”

That’s pretty serious stuff, and as Henry Kissinger said “Even a paranoid can have enemies.”  But Nehemiah wasn’t going to be put off by threats; he stationed guards whenever he had people working on the wall, he told them to keep a watch out and to be careful. 

In our spiritual life we have enemies, those who not only want to see us fail but actually try to make us fail.  You know what I’m talking about, they try to persuade you to abandon your faith to compromise your morals and to deny your God.  

Our greatest enemy is Satan, he wants to leave your spiritual life in ruins and he will use any means possible to do it. 1 Peter 5:8-9 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

And like Nehemiah the only solution is to be on guard. 

Nehemiah could never have accomplished what he did, even with the King’s help and his supporter’s help in the face of his critics and his enemies if he was functioning in his own strength but he wasn’t. 

5) His God  From the very beginning the dreams and desires of Nehemiah came from God. And God helped them do what people said they would never be able to accomplish on their own.  Nehemiah 6:15-16 So on October 2 the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.

When you set out to do something great for God, understand that will not exempt you from criticism or from the attacks of the enemy.  When I first went into the ministry when people criticised me or attacked me personally I would wonder whether or not I was doing the right thing.  But then I realized that people were being saved and lives were being changed and I couldn’t make everyone happy but I had a moral obligation to make God happy.   

That is the secret for your Christian life for the life of our church to make sure you are doing what God wants you to do. To play to an audience of One.  Because if God is on your side then you are on the winning side.  Listen to Romans 8:31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

So where are you at today, and who are you allowing to speak into your life?  There are people who you can’t banish from your life but you can minimize the effect their words have on your life.  

Good Ol’ Snoopy

My favorite character in the Peanuts world has to be Snoopy and as a kid I couldn’t understand why the strip wasn’t called “Snoopy” instead of “Peanuts”, I assumed that he was the main character and the rest of the cast were just supporting actors. And we all have favorite Snoopy moments and characters.  Perhaps Snoopy as Joe Cool, or a lawyer or a tennis ace, maybe it’s Snoopy as the leader of the Beagle Scouts.

The most iconic of course is Snoopy as the World War I ace gunning for the elusive Red Baron.   And that was made even more popular with the two songs “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron” and then “Snoopy’s Christmas”, both of which went to the top of the charts in 1966 and 1967. 

Snoopy decorates his doghouse for Christmas and wins, he organizes a hockey game for his pal Woodstock on his water bowl, complete with a Zamboni.   He walks on his hind legs at time and dispenses advice to those who will listen. Robert Short who wrote the book “The Gospel According to Peanuts” back in the sixties had this to say about Snoopy: “Snoopy is a typical Christian, a flawed character who is nonetheless good: He is lazy, he is a ‘chow hound’ without parallel, he is bitingly sarcastic, he is frequently a coward, but he is ‘a hound of heaven.’”

Which might explain Snoopy’s desire to write a book on Theology. Here are some highlights from Snoopy’s life. (profile video)

And everyone takes it in stride that perhaps this is normal behaviour for a dog, except of course Peppermint Patty who refers to Snoopy as “That funny looking kid”.  And at least once Charlie Brown says his wish is “To just have an ordinary dog, like other people!’’

But what fun would that be?  Snoopy shows up in the third Peanuts strip that Charles Schulz drew and through the years we discovered a few things about Snoopy.  We all know where he came from, Daisy Hill Puppy Farm.  If you paid attention to the strip than you know that we have been introduced to four brothers, a sister, both parents and a nephew.

And a little known fact, Charlie Brown was not Snoopy’s original owner.  That would be a little girl named Lila whose family adopted Snoopy but discovered their apartment was no place to raise a beagle, especially one as eccentric as Snoopy and so they returned him to Daisy Hill where Charlie Brown obtained him as a “used dog”.

The debate has raged for years over what type of dog Snoopy actually is but he was called a beagle throughout the strip and with the one exception of when he told Charlie Brown “I ain’t no stupid beagle!”, he even identified himself as a beagle.    

But the question still remains “So what?”  What is it we can learn from Snoopy? 

Well here is a shocker, Snoopy wasn’t really a famous flying ace, or a tennis pro or Joe Cool, anywhere other than his mind.  Snoopy was a dreamer.  He knew he was a dog, but those other things were what he dreamed he could be. 

In the scripture that was read earlier we discovered another dreamer.  His name was Joseph, and the Bible miniseries on the History channel skipped him completely but you really can’t understand the story of Moses without the story of Joseph. 

And when we first meet Joseph he is just a kid.  A kid who had dreams A kid who was loved by his father and a kid who was loathed by his brothers.  Perhaps you know of him?  

Joseph’s father Jacob, who would be Abraham’s grandson, had settled with his family in Canaan which is now part of what we think of as Palestine. A part of Jacob’s immense family was seventeen year old Joseph. 

Now to be real frank with you Joseph wasn’t the most popular member of that family, at least not among his siblings.  And there is good reason for that listen to how the Bible describes the relationship between Joseph and his father Jacob, Genesis 37:3 Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.

Now sometimes we do that with our kids, now I know that we claim that we don’t play favourites but reality says that there are times that one or another of the kids is more lovable then the others.  But listen to Genesis 37:4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.

You see that was the fatal mistake that Jacob made, it wasn’t that Jacob loved Joseph more than all the other sons.  Unfortunately my friends that is a failing of the human condition, We may try to love all of our children equally but everyone knew that my parents didn’t.  I know that my parents loved my sister more than me.  It’s funny though because she knows that her parents loved me more than her.  Oh well.

The fatal mistake here was made when Jacob let everyone else including his other children know that Joseph was the favourite.  The coat of many colours may have been a neat idea for a musical but it was really dumb for fostering sibling unity.  Now Joseph didn’t help the matter when he told his brothers about the dream where they were all subservient to him.  Talk about how to win friends and influence people.  I bet it was Joseph who wrote the sequel to that book, you know the one called “How to win back the friends I’ve already influenced”  And so on that day as Joseph’s brothers saw him coming across the field toward them he was not the most popular person in their world.  As a matter of fact he probably didn’t make the list of the top 100.

Now with that in mind how do you think they welcomed him.  What tone of voice did they use.  Excitement?  Awe?  Respect?  Not.  Dollars to donuts their words were dripping with sarcasm.  But I like their words.  It says something about young Joseph, with a different tone of voice I can’t think of a greater compliment.  Genesis 37:19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said.

If I could sum up the single most important difference between successful people and non-successful people it would have to be the ability to dream.  The ability to see things the way they should be or could be.  A couple of weeks ago I mentioned one of my favorite quotes and that was from George Bernard Shaw who said “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”   That quote was used by Ted Kennedy when he eulogized his brother Bobby Kennedy in 1967, but the sentiment is the same no matter who said it.

I have spent the past thirty two years pastoring local churches and I’ve become more and more convinced that the secret to the success of churches is to have a dream, to dream of where we can go, how high we can fly and what we can do.  Over the past years I’ve been asked by different people to account for the growth of the churches that I pastored.  In each instance I’ve searched my ministry for some indication of what I might have done to accomplish what had been accomplished.  Was it my preaching?  Hah, I could wish.  Was it my visiting?  Hah you could wish.  But what was it?  I think I nailed it down, if I was to be asked today to account for the numerical growth of Truro Wesleyan Church, North Point Wesleyan Methodist Church and Cornerstone Wesleyan Church I would respond “A Dream”

If I could tell you the most important thing that you need to have to make it today it would be a dream.  More important than education, as important as education is.  More important than good health, as important as good health is.  More important than popularity, as important as popularity is. 

People with a great education will become failures without a dream.  People who are in splendid health will fail without a dream.  The most popular people in the world will become failures without a dream.

I would suspect as different as they might be that most everyone here today has a dream, or dreams, dreams about where you want to go, what you want to see, and the things you want to accomplish.  Don’t sell them cheap.  Don’t mortgage your dreams and don’t tie them down.  Dreams are a part of what keeps you young, you become old when you give away your dreams. 

So, why are dreams so important? 

1) Without Dreams There Can Be No Change.  If necessity is the mother of invention then dreams must be the father.  You will never see it in your hands until you first see it in your head.  It’s true with people and it’s true with churches. 

We won’t accomplish anymore at Cornerstone Wesleyan Church than what we can dream of.  In other words if we can’t see it then we can’t have it.  God knew that and so that is why he said in the book of Joel 2:28 “Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.

That particular prophecy was fulfilled in Acts 2:17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

What that tells us is that the church of God cannot exist without God sent dreams.  Because dreams are indicative of the presence of the spirit.  No Spirit, no dreams.  No dreams, no spirit.  When you see a church whose only commitment is to keep the doors open.  A church where there is no vision for reaching the lost, no vision for changing the world, then you have found a church that exists without the spirit.  It’s a church in name, a church in organisation maybe even has a church building but it isn’t a church.  It’s a religious social club, nothing more, nothing less.  When churches become content to simply hold their own then they become losers.

Every church needs to ask itself the question, “What does God want us to do?”  I would suspect that the answer will be a dream, a dream that touches men and women, boys and girls.  A dream that touches those who know Jesus personally and a dream that touches those who have never ever met Jesus at all.

Reality is that every church is but one generation away from extinction.  Without a dream, without a vision for tomorrow this church will be dead in forty years, why?  Because most of us will be dead within forty years, now that’s a cheerful thought isn’t’ it?  And so unless we continue to plan and dream and hope for the future we might as well close the doors today and save ourselves forty years of grief and frustration.

It’s only as we visualize this church as continuing to win people to Jesus Christ will it actually happen.  Nothing, nothing at all has ever been accomplished that was not first dreamed of.  The realities of today are the dreams of yesterday.  And the realities of tomorrow will be the dreams of today. 

It is easy to settle in and say “We’ve got it made as a church”  But that isn’t the dream.  The dream is reaching people who are unchurched, de-churched and pre-churched?  That was that dream 18 years ago at the birth of Cornerstone and it is the dream today.  Can you dream of the day that two services won’t hold all the folks who call Cornerstone their spiritual home? A day when three services are full of people who have found a church home and found a relationship with God.  A dream of the day that we begin construction on a brand new worship centre to hold those people?  And some of you are asking “Is tht possible?” 

In the past 8 years Cornerstone has grown by 700%  and if that happens over the next eight years we would have over 2000 folks worshipping at Cornerstone, that would pretty well pack her out, don’t you think?  Can you believe in the impossible?  Can you believe the word of God, because it says in Luke 18:27 He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”

I have said before that under my leadership Cornerstone Wesleyan Church will never worship at the shrine of church growth.  But I trust that if we do what we are supposed to do then the church will grow. 

What about our personal dreams?  Have you read your old high school year book recently?  How you doing on your dreams?  Maybe they have changed over the past twenty years, there’s nothing wrong with that, unless they have died completely, and that is a tragedy.  There was a song out once that proclaimed “dreams never die, just the dreamer” but in reality dreams do die, and it’s not long after the dream is dead that the dreamer begins to die, not physically but emotionally and spiritually.  When we lose our dreams we lose, period. 

The world as we know it has been shaped by dreams.  All of the great achievements were once considered to be impossible.  And a man with a dream is a lot more powerful than a man with the facts.  After all, facts said that electric lights were impossible, but Edison’s dreams made them a reality.  Facts said polio was inevitable, but Jonas Salk’s dreams developed a vaccine.  Facts said that man would never fly but the Wright brother’s dreams gave them wings at Kitty Hawk.  Facts said that a man couldn’t run a mile in less than 4 minutes but Roger Bannister’s dream proved that it could be done. By the way the 4 minute mile is now the standard of all male professional middle distance runners.

Whatever your personal dreams are don’t let them go and don’t let something as trivial as facts stand in your way.  Some of you have had dreams to build your own company or to write a book or provide a safe house to get girls off the street of Brazil.  For others it has been to get more education, to raise a family and to excel at what you do.  How do you want to change your world?

2) Dreams Allow Us to Leave the Past    Time and again I discover two things which hinder us in our personal growth.   1) We waste our time dwelling on the failures of yesterday.  2) We waste our time dwelling on the successes of yesterday.  Listen up, yesterday is gone, finished, done.  In his letter to the church in Philippi Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.

You cannot relive the successes of yesterday anymore then you can change the mistakes of the past.  Remember “Yesterday ended last night.”  All you have is today and tomorrow.  It’s not that yesterday is bad or evil; sometimes we get that impression, if it is in the past then it isn’t any good and sometimes we swing to the other extreme.  It is only good if it was in the past.  Not so on either count, if it is in the past it is unchangeable and to dwell on it is to waste precious time.    It was Thomas Jefferson  who said, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”  Focus your dreams on tomorrow and don’t live in yesterday. 

Don’t look back, look ahead to what you can see accomplished.  What can God do for you?  As much as you can dream, that’s how much.

Where do you want your church to be in five or ten years?  Don’t know?  Don’t care?  You’d better know because that’s where we are heading. 

The question that you need to ask yourself over and over again is this “What are my dreams?”  And when you get a grasp on your dreams then start sharing them with other people.  Why?  Because it makes you accountable for your dreams.

You should be excited about this.  You can’t do anything about yesterday, try as you might it is beyond your control, and the time spent in yesterday is wasted.  But tomorrow is yours.  Tomorrow belongs to the dreamers. 

3) Dreams Alone Are Never Enough I love the positive thinkers, and I love the possibility thinkers.  I don’t think that there are any of us who wouldn’t personally benefit from reading books by people like Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuler, Dennis Waitly and John Maxwell.  My only problem is that sometimes they leave you with the impression that all you have to do is dream. 

My favourite story is about a man who saw an empty lot he knew he had to have it.  It was the only break in a forest of brick and mortar and he knew it would be his own personal oasis.  And so he scraped and saved and he saved and scraped until the day came that he bought it.  Then he stood back and saw just exactly what he had bought; a small rubble strewn piece of property deep in the heart of the city.  What little green that had managed to survive amongst the garbage was the very worst kinds of weeds, sturdy and stubborn. 

The lot became his dream, his hobby and his all consuming passion.  Every spare moment he had he spent there, carting away rubble and garbage.  Levelling the hard ground and tearing up weeds.  Finally it happened.  He had achieved the first part of his dream.  The lot stood barren and flat devoid of any living thing, it was a beginning. 

As ferocious and ruthless as the man had been in getting the lot to this stage he now became a gentle nurturer.  He broke the ground by hand, tilled in fertilizer and then carefully chose the flowers, trees and bushes that would make his dream a reality. 

With the care of a mother for her children he dug each hole and placed the plant in, then gently packed the soil back with his hands.  Then he watered them and talked to them.  He kept the weeds and birds away until one day it was his, a piece of Eden standing in stark contrast to the dark and dreary man made cliffs that rose around it.  The flowers exploded in a prism of colour, providing a respite from the concrete desert surrounding them.

One day as he stood admiring his garden a stranger happened by and commented, “That sure is a beautiful garden the Lord has given you”  “Yes it sure is” replied the man, “but you should have seen it when the Lord had it by himself.”  Any dreams we have for Cornerstone no matter how good, no matter how noble, no matter how spiritual will not happen without commitment on our behalf.

If your dreams are going to come true then it will your responsibility to make them come true.  You see a dream which does not result in action is nothing much and an action which doesn’t come from a dream is nothing at all.  That old saying of the salesman may be trite but its true when they say, “If it’s going to be it’s up to me.” 

Nobody else is responsible for making your dreams into realities.  Your dreams are the beginning of your success, but a dream alone won’t guarantee success.  Without dedication to your dream, without work, without sacrifice, without commitment, that dream will never be anymore then a dream.   The man who wants to do something finds a way; the man who pretends that he wants to do something finds an excuse. 

What will you have to do to make your dream a reality?  What will we have to do to make Cornerstone’s dreams a reality? 

Listen to the  dying words of D.L. Moody to his sons, “If God be your partner make your plans big”

You're a Good Man Charlie Brown

When I think of Charlie Brown one of two images immediately comes to mind.  And maybe it’s the same with you.  It’s either the scene of Charlie Brown staring forlornly into the tree that has once again eaten his kite or it’s Charlie Brown lying flat on his back after Lucy has pulled the football away at the very last minute as Charlie has attempted to kick it. 

And I would suspect that whatever image you have of Charlie Brown it has something to do with defeat or failure.   Perhaps as he stares at the Christmas tree that he has brought to the pageant, the one everyone laughs at.  Or maybe it’s the futile crush he has on the Little Red Headed Girl, and she doesn’t even know he exists.  Or perhaps it’s the sight of Charlie Brown standing in the rain all by himself on the ball diamond. 

Charlie Brown’s creator Charles Schulz wrote “Charlie Brown must be the one who suffers, because he’s a caricature of the average person. Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than winning. Winning is great, but it isn’t funny.”   

Here are some highlights from Charlie Brown’s life.  (Video Clip)

Schulz was asked if, for his final Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown would finally get to kick that football after almost fifty years of trying. His response: “Oh, no! Definitely not! I couldn’t have Charlie Brown kick that football; that would be a terrible disservice to him after nearly half a century.” Yet, in a December 1999 interview, holding back tears, he recounted the moment when he signed the panel of his final strip, saying, “All of a sudden I thought, ‘You know, that poor, poor kid, he never even got to kick the football. What a dirty trick — he never had a chance to kick the football!’”

In the Old Testament there is an entire book written about a man who made Charlie Brown’s life look like a walk in the park, pulled out football and everything.  His name was Job and the book is found in the Old Testament.  If you have your bible with you then you can find it by going to the middle of your Bible which should be Psalms or Proverbs and then turning toward the front. 

Schulz even gives a nod to the book of Job in the Peanuts cartoon. 

(Charlie Brown: Nine home runs in a row! Good grief! What can I do. We’re getting slaughtered again, Schroeder. . . I don’t know what to do. Why do we have to suffer like this?
Schroeder: ”Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.”
Charlie Brown: What?
Linus: He’s quoting from the Book of Job, Charlie Brown, seventh verse, fifth chapter. Actually, the problem of suffering is a very profound one, and . . .
Lucy: If a person has had bad luck, it’s because he’s doing something wrong, that’s what I always say!
Schroeder: That’s what Job’s friends told him. But I doubt it. . .
Lucy: What about Job’s wife? I don’t think she gets enough credit!
Schroeder: I think a person who never suffers, never matures. Suffering is actually very important.
Lucy: Who wants to suffer? Don’t be ridiculous!
Schroeder: But pain is a part of life, and. .
Linus: A person who speaks only of the “patience” of Job reveals that he knows very little of the book! Now, the way I see it. . .
Charlie Brown: Good grief! I don’t have a ball team. I have a theological seminary!)

Job was the righteous man’s poster boy, the Bible tells us that He was blameless, a man of complete integrity, who feared God and stayed away from Evil.  And just to top it off we are told that he was the richest man in the area.  But these aren’t the things that made Job famous, and we’ve all heard of Job, even if you don’t know the story of Job you probably have heard the expression, “The patience of Job” an expression that was most often used in reference to my Mother’s dealing with her youngest son.

But you have to know the story to understand the reference.  Now the first part of the story is a little confusing, I don’t understand it, and really can’t explain it.  It would appear that one day the angels appeared before God reporting on what they had done and Satan shows up.  During the ensuing conversation God questions Satan on his activities and Satan responds by saying Job 1:7 . . . “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” 

And at that point God draws Satan’s attention to his servant Job and how righteous he is, and Satan says “sure, and why wouldn’t he serve you?  You have always protected him, and his property.  Everything he touches turns to gold, take away his possessions and I can guarantee that he will curse you.”

Now what I don’t understand is why at this point God agrees to allow Satan access to Job, someday I might understand it, but right now I don’t.  A long time ago I discovered that God is way up there and I’m way down here and I can’t understand everything that God does, but that’s ok, because if I could understand everything about God he wouldn’t be much of a God.  After all I can’t even understand woman.    But that is what happens. 

Not very long after this conversation Job is at home when a servant arrives telling him that his enemies have raided the farm stolen his oxen and donkeys and killed all his farm hands.  Just then another messenger arrives and says “you’ll never believe what happened boss, fire fell from the sky and burned up your sheep and shepherds” And a third guy arrives on the scene to inform Job that all his camels have been stolen by raiders from the north.

Now you gotta admit at this point Job seems to be handling it pretty well, until the fourth messenger arrives to tell his boss that a powerful wind hit the house where his children were celebrating with their oldest brothers and there have been no survivors, all ten children have died.  It was at this point that Job broke down in grief.  But even with that listen to what he says in Job 1:21 He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!”

Did you catch that?  If you missed it the bible sums it up in the next verse by saying Job 1:22 In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. Let’s read it again just in case you didn’t catch it the first time.  Job 1:22 In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. 

Well someone must have come along and said “Cheer up Job, things could be worse” cause he cheered up and sure enough things got worse.  Kind of reminds me of what Poul Anderson said “I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.”

Up to now the tragedies happened to the things and people surrounding Job but not Job himself, and Satan told God, “Well sure, he can still praise you; he still has his health, let me take that from him.”  And again I don’t understand it but God agreed, saying “Just spare his life.”  Now personally I think Satan underestimated Job as a parent, I think that the death of his children would be a far greater tragedy then mere physical discomfort.  But Job became covered with boils from head to foot, yuck. 

But you know Satan had some smarts because of all the things that Job lost, Satan left him with his wife.  You say “Denn, that’s just nasty.”  Not so, listen to the comfort that Job’s wife offered in Job 2:9 His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”  “Why thanks babe, I love you too.” 

And so for the next forty or so chapters we read how various friends came and the discussion they had concerning the tragedies that had befallen our hero. If you don’t know the story they try to convince Job that it’s all his fault and he probably deserves everything that has happened to him.  If you’ve ever heard someone called “Job’s comforter” this is where it comes from.  If you’ve ever been called “Job’s comforter”  it’s not a compliment.  But through it all, Job remained true to God. 

And we struggle with bad things happening to good people and I’m sure that sometimes Charlie Brown wondered why bad things happened to him.  When Schulz died Henry Allen of the Washington Post wrote a piece in memory of Sparky and as part of his reflection he said “It’s not so much that bad things happen to good people in Peanuts. At least in the Bible, God is testing Job. In Peanuts, bad things happen for no reason at all.”

In one strip Charlie Brown, say: “Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, ‘Why me?’ Then a voice answers, ‘Nothing personal. Your name just happened to come up.’”  You ever feel like that?

So this morning, for a little while we are going to look at suffering.  Why does the football keep getting pulled out and why does the tree always eat my kite?

1) Stuff Happens   Because you are a member of the human race you will have troubles, you can’t get around that.   We live in a world that has been corrupted by evil and because of that bad things happen.   If we go back to the verse that Schroeder reference in the strip Job 5:7 People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.   Without wanting to sound really cynical, it shouldn’t surprise us when we have problems it should surprise us when we don’t.

Bad things even happen to believers.  It would be neat if becoming a Christian exempted you from all hurt and heart break, you’d never get sick, never become unemployed never lose a spouse or a child, but that ain’t the way it happens.  The bible is full of examples of bad things happening to good people. 

It would be nice if our salvation was a passport out of suffering and tragedy.  What a great outreach.  We could put a sign up “Become a Christian and escape life’s problems”, we’d have to bar the doors to keep people out, but that’s not the way it happens, sorry.

Jesus brother James wrote a letter to the early church and he said James 1:2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. He didn’t say if trouble comes your way, he said when trouble comes your way. 

And Jesus himself said in Matthew 6:34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Did you catch that? Today’s trouble is enough for today.

C.S. Lewis kind of summed it up when he said “We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, ‘Blessed are they that mourn.’”

And no it isn’t fair, there are times that life isn’t fair, but we live in a world that has been corrupted by sin, and stuff happens.  Little stuff and big stuff.  But you’re probably doing alright compared to Job.

2) Don’t Take It Personally Sometimes when trouble happens we tend to look at it a couple of different ways.  As Christians sometimes we look inward for reasons, wondering what have I done, why me, I don’t deserve this.  Job hadn’t done anything wrong, there was no hidden sin in his life, and he wasn’t rebelling against God.  We need to realize that trouble happens to the just and the unjust. And I know that’s a cynical view of life but Jesus said in Matthew 5:45 “. . . For He (God) gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”

How often do we focus on our problems to the exclusion of everything and everyone else?  We aren’t alone in this world and chances are there are people with bigger problems than yours, it was Humphrey Bogart who said “Everybody in Casablanca has problems.”  And everybody in Hammonds Plains has problems and everyone in the HRM has problems.  

The second thing that believers do is to automatically attribute every problem in their life to Satan.  Now I don’t want to underestimate the power of the dark one, however I think we give him way too much credit.  I don’t know about you, but I’m a child of God and certain privileges come with that position.  And my Bible still has 2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

Sure you say but what about when you’re in bondage?  Again I don’t want to minimize spiritual warfare, but there are a lot of people out there who are in bondage because they choose to be in bondage.  It’s a very convenient excuse when we enjoy a sin to simply throw up our hands and say “I can’t help myself, I’m in bondage.  I’m not sure that is what Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples in  John 8:34-36 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

I like that: So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

And you might be thinking: “But Denn what if what happened to Job happens to me? What if God allows Satan to strike at my family and I.”

Probably won’t happen.  Job is very much an isolated incident in the scriptures, we can’t explain why God allowed it to happen the first time but it doesn’t happen again.  And considering the description of Job, remember it Job 1:1 He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.  So probably, unless you are blameless and a person of complete integrity who fears God and stays away from evil you are probably safe.  If that is the criteria than most of us have nothing to worry about. 

Don’t be in so much of a hurry to give the Devil all the credit for the bad stuff that happens in your life.  To quote C.S. Lewis again “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors.”

3) It’s Not Wrong To Question  Sometimes we are given the impression that Job stoically endured all that happened, that he never asked why, never questioned whether it was fair or not, just endured.  And that just isn’t true, for most of the forty chapters in the book of Job, Job was asking; Why? 

And there’s nothing wrong with asking why.  Throughout the Bible people questioned God, Abraham asked why, Moses asked why, Joshua asked why, David asked why, Isaiah asked why, Peter asked why, Paul asked why.  Even Jesus when he was hanging on the cross looked up to heaven and asked “Why?”

But if you’re going to ask God why, you are going to have to be satisfied with the answers and that can be tough.  Because as God told Job 38:2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?

Because I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, God is God and we are just people.  But a little homework for this week, go home and read Job chapters 38-40, won’t take you long but it might help you understand God a little more.

4) We Have The Victory  Sometimes we can figure out a solution to our problem on our own perhaps by using Brady’s First Law of Problem Solving: When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question: How would the Lone Ranger have handled this? But more often than not, that’s not enough and so if you get nothing else out of this morning’s message get this “We Win”. 

When we are faithful to God, in the good times and in the bad we are the victors.  Listen to what Paul wrote to the early church in Rome, and remember this was where the persecution broke out against the early church, where Christians were killed for the sheer sport of it.  Romans 8:35-37 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? . . . No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

Did you catch that Overwhelming victory is ours.  And in 1 John 5:4 We read 1 John 5:4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

Don’t throw up your hands and say, “I quit”  It was Billy Sunday who said, “Stopping at third adds no more to the score then striking out.”    

Friends the message I leave with you today is: Don’t quit, don’t give up, the victory has already been won.  So where are you at?  Do you sometimes find it tough to be faithful, to believe in the victory?  I want to pray for you this morning.  Life is tough, but God is there for us.   If you want me to pray for you this morning, and through the week I’d like you to stand where you are, I don’t know what you’re going through but God does.  There’s an old saying that says “Let go and let God.”  Is that what you need to do today, is to let go and let God?