Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2006 : January 27, 2006

Theme: Come, Follow Me

Church year occasion: Epiphany 3

This morning I want to see how well I know you. I want you to do the following.

Pick a number between 1 and 10.
Double it.
Next, add 8 to that number.
Now divide by 2.
Subtract the number your started with.
Select the letter of the alphabet that matches you number (example: A=1; B=2; C=3; etc.).
Pick a country in the world that starts with that letter.
Take the 2nd letter of that country and write down the first zoo animal that comes to your mind that starts with that letter.
Finally, pick a logical color for that animal.

Did you come up with Denmark, elephant and grey? 80% of you probably did. That's because it's predictable. If you did the math right, you could only end up with 4, which means you could only end up with the letter "D" as the first letter to your country. While you may have chosen Dominica or Dominican Republic or Djibouti (a country in Africa bordering Somalia) for the country, chances are pretty good that you chose Denmark. Taking the second letter of Denmark, the first animal at a zoo that probably came into your head was an elephant, not an eagle, egret, or emu. And while there are black elephants, most elephants we are familiar with are grey. I put you in a situation where it was very predictable what you would do.

This morning, the Apostle Paul breaks the mold. His advice to you is very unpredictable in some respects. But everything becomes understandable when we look at life from his perspective, which is also the perspective Jesus wants us to look at life from -- the perspective of believers who have just heard Jesus say to us, "Come, Follow Me."

The first thing we need to understand is that Predictability is a Matter of Perspective.

The Apostle Paul was writing to a group of Christians who were struggling. They lived in an age and in a culture where it wasn't just difficult to be a Christian, but it was downright deadly. Sexual immorality was rampant. Idolatry was normal. The devil had the world in his back pocket. And in that world, Christians fought a very difficult, uphill battle.

But I would tell you that even though Christianity is much more accepted in our culture and in our time, it is still difficult to be a Christian. Do we have to deal with sexual immorality? When's the last time you turned on the TV? Look at the liberal agenda pushing for same-sex marriages and gay rights. And our nation and the world is becoming more and more filled with idolatry. Times are gone in our nation when you could close your eyes to the unbelievers in our neighborhoods because it's obvious that many of your neighbors aren't Christian, but Mormon or Buddhist or nothing. Bible-believing Christians are increasingly looked on as sectarian and judgmental and out-of-touch-with-reality.

But that's not the worst of it. The devil is working overtime on us to make us feel comfortable in this world we live in. Imagine this -- the devil wakes up and sees what's on his schedule for the day: he has an appointment with you! He is going to dangle something from this world like a carrot under your nose to see if you will take the bait and show that you love the things of this world more than you love Jesus and his gospel. So he looks at his options:

A) Tempt Christian to sit back and let others witness -- the excuse: no time.
B) Tempt Christian to hold that grudge against a co-worker or relative. Reasoning: they started it, or they should apologize first.
C) The classic: Tempt Christian to love money and possessions more than God and the work of the Church.

Which one will the devil use on you when he meets you today? Or maybe he's gotten you in one already and thinks he can go for two. Maybe he's feeling lucky and thinks he can go for the trifecta and get you in all three.

And don't think he won't go for all three. In fact, he's got hundreds of temptations at his disposal, and thousands of demons to help him carry out his scheming, as well as our sinful flesh as an ally. And then the devil knows those particular sins that you and I fall prey to all the time, those pet sins that hopefully we're trying to shake, and some days faring better than other days. And once he hits a weak part in our armor, he will exploit it and hit the same spot time after time after time. Why? Because we're very predictable. And Satan knows it. He set the stage and put us in this situation when he caused the human race to fall into sin. And he's been busy ever since. The devil is very predictable. The Bible tells us that he knows his time is short, so he will do everything in his power to make sure you never see the mansions of heaven.

That makes for a pretty scary existence for us, doesn't it? Especially when we realize that when we were born into this world, the devil didn't have to tempt us to his side. We already were one of his disciples. The Bible tells us we are enemies of God by nature and that nothing good lives in us as a result of the sin we were born and conceived in. That makes our otulook on life very dark indeed because it would be a life of only serving ourselves, and not thinking about helping others and certainly not thinking about serving God above all.

What will change that? The Holy Spirit will. And the Holy Spirit did. When you stumble around in a dark room at night, you bump into all kinds of things, you even might hurt yourself by falling or running into or stepping on things. But that changes when someone turns on the light. Suddenly everything is different. You can see clearly. You can avoid walking into the wall or stepping on the kids' toys or just walking through the dark flailing your arms in front of you.

Who turned on the light for us? The Holy Spirit did when he brought you to see Jesus hanging between earth and heaven as he was suspended on a cross. Why was he there? To pour our his perfect life, to shed his innocent blood for all the predictable sins you've ever committed or ever will commit. For us, who were disciples of the devil, that was unpredictable. Even though the prophecies of the Old Testament pointed forward to what Jesus would do to save the world from sin, even the Jews who knew those prophecies couldn't have predicted that was how God was going to save sinners and take them from the clutches of the devil.

But thank God that our God is unpredictable, because only through that sacrifice that wiped your slate clean of any wrongdoing in God's eyes could you have the hope you have of finally going to that mansion in heaven one day, and in living in harmony with God right now through faith. Seeing the almighty God of heaven and earth whom the heavens can't even contain, who with a thought could destroy this world, seeing him die for you and me and then rise from the grave in victory which he freely gives you you and me through faith -- that will change our perspective completely in this world.

Predictability is all a matter of perspective. When we see our Savior and his love for us, and the power of his Spirit guiding us to be Jesus' disciples, our life changes. Then Paul adds one more element that changes our perspective even more. He says, "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short." And then he explains what he means by saying the last thing in our text: "For this world in its present form is passing away." God realizes that the devil is still after you and your soul. Even though he is already defeated, he still tempts you every day to throw away your treasure of Christ and his free gospel to serve yourself. And he knows his time is short, so he acts like a cornered animal and will stop at nothing to bring you to hell with him.

But that's where the Holy Spirit comes in. He looks at his daytimer and sees, ah, you need a lot of encouragement to fend off Satan's temptations, to remind you what Jesus did for you and that you are now a child of God and a disciple of Jesus now, no longer a slave to the devil. He gives you that encouragement again to today as you come to worship with fellow Christians who are also here to be strengthened in their lives and to praise God for all his promises and power and salvation.

So now you have a choice -- you can fall back into the sins of darkness and follow the ways of this world, or you can live the life of a Christian and serve him. And then Paul reminds us that time is short and this world is passing away. We get two things from that. First, we know that God knows the tough days we're going through. The Bible even says that this world will get so bad and ungodly that God will shorten the last days because otherwise Christians wouldn't survive. But God is with us. He is in control. We need not fear. Time is short. That also tells us there is no time to lose in living for Christ.

When you see a clock ticking down, what do you think -- is it good or bad? It depends on your perspective, doesn't it? If it's New Year's Eve and you're counting down the seconds to a new year, you're usually happy. But what if the countdown is a timer on a bomb? Happy feelings gone. Maybe you're counting down the seconds to the end of the Superbowl. That's good if your team is winning; it's sad if your team is losing. Or, maybe you just don't care. Well, when Paul tells us that the clock of this world is ticking down and it's almost to zero, that changes our perspective on what's important in this life. There's nothing like telling a person they have a month to live to change their perspective on all of life.

That's how Paul sets the stage, for his next words to us: When the Holy Spirit changes our perspective, the result is predictable.

"From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none." Paul isn't advocating divorce here because that would contradict the rest of Scripture. Instead he's talking about priorities. When you are married, you have more things demanding your time and resources. Since Paul was talking to Christians who would be undergoing persecution for their faith, he advised those who were unmarried to remain unmarried because then they would be spared the pain of seeing their wives or children killed for their faith, or their father or husband killed for his. Paul wanted to spare them that pain. Then they could also devote all their lives, all their resources and their time, to Christ. After going to Peru, that realization hit me like a ton of bricks. Because I'm married and have a family, it would be more difficult for me to serve in a foreign mission field. But for those of you who are single, you have a freedom that married folks don't have. And perhaps that's where God is calling you.

Paul continues, "...those who mourn, as if they did not." We have plenty of sad things happen in this life, from failed dreams to the loss of loved ones. But notice how our perspective changes when we aren't focused on this world, but on our resurrected and ascended Savior. If one earthly dream fails, we trust that God is directing us into a different path. If we lose a loved one in death, we know that person's faith connected them to their Savior Jesus, and they are already in heaven, where we will join them as soon as God calls us home as well. Those who are happy, as if they were not. Again, we won't find happiness in the things of this world because they can change at the drop of a hat. Think of those who thought they had everything under control before 9/11. Suddenly, some lost loved ones, some lost their jobs as fear spread through the country and the economy hit the skids, which after four years has finally gotten back to where it was. Don't be happy in the things of this world, where rust and moth destroy. Instead, make sure your treasure is in heaven. Those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; "those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them." Once again Paul tells us not to be connected to the things of this world.

I recently heard a story about a man who brought his Native American friend with him to visit New York City. His friend was out of his element -- everything was loud and fast as cars raced by and people were talking or shouting. But he was amazed when his friend said, "Can you hear the cricket?" The man said, "What are you talking about? I can't hear anything except the noise of the city." So his friend went over to a tree and knelt down and picked up a cricket that was chirping. He explained that anyone could have heard the cricket if they were listening for it. Then to show what he meant, he reached into his pocket and grabbed some change. He took the change and dropped it on the sidewalk. Suddenly everyone in the area looked at him and at the money he had just dropped. His point was clear. They were listening for how to make money.

Paul warns us not to be like that. Listen for Jesus calling you to be his disciple and to live as his disciple. Then do something that the world sees as unpredictable and un-looked-for. Talk to your neighbor about something other than the weather and the prospects of the Packers for winning it all next year. Say, "You know, Bill, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about...."

When Christ says, "Come, follow me," our perspective has changed because our hearts have changed, and because our hearts have changed, now our lives have changed. Time is short. Soon comes eternity. Make sure Christ is your treasure while on earth. Then your life will be very predictable as you follow him. Amen.