"The Two Dimensions of Love"
Rev. Kevin L. Baker
October 26, 2008 Proper 25
On the whole, God's love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. C.S. Lewis.
• Today, our Gospel reading calls us to think about our love for God and being like God by loving other people in life. There is a vertical dimension of love—toward God. There is a horizontal dimension—if you really love God you will love people like Jesus loves them.
• As CS Lewis said, it is always a nicer thing to think of God’s love for us than of our love for God.
• Why? Because all of us struggle with being unloving. We prefer to do what we want rather than what God wants—especially on Sundays.
• One of the greatest ways to keep us from God, or at least of weakening our faith, is to convince us—little by little—to trade REAL love for a counterfeit. The world offers many counterfeits.
• I hope to tell us about real love today so we can always recognize counterfeit love when we see it.
• "Teacher," they ask, "which commandment in the law is the greatest?" There were 613 of them in Hebrew Scripture. Which was the most important?
• Jesus responded to the lawyer’s question with two quotations from the Torah. The first quotation came from the Sacred Jewish Prayer called the Shema Israel. Shema = LISTEN
• This was a prayer contained in the sixth chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy 6:5 and recited by pious Jews every morning and evening, "Hear this, O Israel, Shema Israel, Listen up—this is huge.
• This is the most important thing—The Lord our God; The Lord is one. You shall love your God with your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole mind."
• The second quotation came from the Book of Leviticus, 19:18, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
• We can't just love God part time, we have to love Him with ALL—with everything we have. We can't just be good to our neighbor sometimes, we have to treat our neighbors with the same concern we have for ourselves.
• We hear these words repeated to us every week as we begin to worship. The summary of the Law as it is called, is right before the confession of sin. It is designed to cause us to ask ourselves—did I love God with my all and love my neighbor as myself since the last time I was in church?
• Since the answer is always no—we then move right into confessing our sins.
• I think the main reason we can never give perfect love back to God as he gives it to us is we still do not know what love really is.
• Let’s take the words Jesus says to us in what is known as his Great Commandment, the one commandment that summarizes all the commandments, this morning and look at them carefully.
1. YOU SHALL
37Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and great commandment.
• The question was “What is the Greatest Commandment of all God’s laws?” Jesus said “If you love me, you SHALL keep my commandments. If we don’t, we fall short of loving God.
• Jesus directs his answer to all of us like he did to Peter after the resurrection. Do you love me?
• Jesus says the Greatest of all God’s laws—you shall love me. This is personal. Do we really love God?
2. LOVE
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and great commandment
• Well if we are to love God, we need to know what love is. What is love? Can you define it?
• Where we learn about love is from God. Love is God’s very nature. Humanity by nature is selfish and unloving. Everyone of us are unloving on a regular basis.
• We don’t love God and we don’t love others. We think love is a good feeling of pleasure. We think love is how we feel when people give to us. Some think love is sex or gifts.
• In reality, love is a willful decision to make a commitment to totally give all our focus and energy in life for the good of someone else other than ourselves even when we are wronged in the process.
• Since we are unloving by nature, God came to change our nature—to give us a new heart, a new will, and new miracle power to change the way we think and live from being about us to being about others.
• Love is a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. It is the number one character trait God wants to produce in us when we become followers of Jesus and he comes to live in our hearts and lives by faith.
• Greater love has no man than this—than he that will lay down his life for his friends. There is no love greater than the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus left comfort and got involved totally to help us.
• That is why the ancient Church made sure every time worship takes place, that the love story of Jesus for sinful man is front and center at the altar as we offer up our thanksgiving for Jesus.
• Worship is about coming to love God in words, in actions, and in renewing our vows to him. I will always love you Jesus. I thank you for loving me. I give myself to you. Worship is loving God.
• It is not about being entertained, or technologically awed, or emotionally moved so we feel good, or about how good some ministry is or is not.
• Worship is about giving ourselves to God and loving him because he first loved us.
• The ISBE defines love this way: Love, whether used of God or man, is an earnest and anxious desire for and, an active and beneficent interest in, the well-being of the one loved
• That means when someone loves another person, it is serious concern; it is that longing and anxious desire to make sure the person we love is going to be okay.
• Love is the expression of this concern to the point of total sacrifice that we would give all we have including our very life without condition, and take nothing so the person we love is okay.
• We see this in real love stories—in marriages; in parents love for their children; in real friendships; and in people who give up their lives to the cause of taking the Gospel to the world.
• In 1 Cor. 13 St. Paul defines this kind of love, a love the Greeks called AGAPE, unconditional love. Total giving of ourselves without reservation for someone else.
3. WHO ARE WE TO LOVE? THE LORD.
• The question today is do we really love the Lord? Do we give him our hearts—what we are committed to? Do we give him our soul—our emotions and will? Do with give him our mind—how we think about everything? Or, do we have idols—things that are more important than God.
• Notice Jesus says the word ALL. We are to love the lord with ALL our heart. ALL our soul. ALL our mind. ALL OR NOTHING.
• Funny, the Greek word there όλη (whole-ay), translated "all" really means "ALL", as in whole, complete, total, ALL. It means everything!
• Are we really most concerned to seriously give our whole life to God so that we really care about what God is concerned about? God is passionate about driving hate, sin, and death from the earth.
• Loving God is a question--are we willing to really commit ourselves without condition to seeing the Good News of God’s love reach every nook and cranny of this planet so love overcomes sin?
• If you are willing to try, then learn to love God as he defines it, and learn to love your neighbor.
• Now, do any of us actually achieve this kind of love, probably not. But we're moving toward it.
• And in order for me to love God with my WHOLE heart, I have to first let go of the piece of my heart devoted to ME! And it's a BIG piece.
• "Love the Lord" means to give up our own sense of lordship. This vertical love means that God is in charge, not us. Alright. That's the first part, the vertical love relationship. Love God.
Part two. This is the horizontal love relationship. Love your neighbor at least as well as you love yourself.
• The first and greatest commandment is to love God taken from Deuteronomy 6.
• The second greatest commandment, Mr. Lawyer, even though you only asked for the greatest let me also tell you the second greatest is Leviticus 19:18.
• Mr. Lawyer, if you really love God, the evidence is in how you love your neighbor.
• The way you love God most is by loving people like Jesus did. Love your neighbor.
• Not just your family and people who are nice to you, but the person next to you—on your street, at work, at the store, on the side of the road, in the hospital, the one who just lost their job or a loved one—those people. Do to them as you would have people care about you.
• Jesus is quoting everybody's favorite book of the Bible, Leviticus. Yes, there is some really good stuff in there. It's not just that all the talk of priestly duties and proper sacrifice techniques.
• Chapter 19 is pure genius. If you have a Bible turn there and look at it. If you only read one chapter of Leviticus, let it be that because God tells us how to love our neighbor here.
• Here is a quick summary of the first 17 verses of Leviticus 19--Be holy. Share what you have with others. Don’t steal from people, cheat people, or lie to people.
• Don’t make fun of people—especially the disabled. Don’t show favoritism. Don’t slander people.
• Don’t hold grudges and bitterness toward others or plot revenge but speak frankly about problems.
• I might also add from our first reading in Exodus today—caring about widows and fatherless kids, and lending money to the poor. This is what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.
• Last night God showed me a glimpse of LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR in Joe Drachhio as his mother died his main concern was not for himself but for his family. Tell the story… In his own pain, he was giving so others could be okay.
• I wonder if today we can step back and really look at what the focus of our lives is all about.
• Is loving God really at the center of your life every day? Are you really concerned about what God is concerned about? Look at the cross—what does it say?
• It says I care enough to leave the comforts of heaven to get directly involved in the lives of others.
• It means I care enough to commit myself, without conditions, to the point of self-denial and self-sacrifice to help remove the pain and hurt that sin has caused in them so they can be okay.
• 1 Cor. 13 AGAPE Love means I am seeking God to make me like him—to be patient and kind to people. To not envy people, to not boast which makes other people feel bad.
• To not be prideful and arrogant, to not be rude to people, to not be easily angered, to not keep a record of wrongs when people in my life screw up and hurt me.
• Loving God means I am learning to hate what evil does in this world, and instead to love The Truth—thy Word is truth; Jesus is the Truth.
• Love means I am learning to always trust God and people, to protect God and others, to always be hopeful even when things look bad, and to persevere in my relationships with the people God puts in my life.
• This is the Great Commandment. Two dimensional love. Vertical toward God, and horizontal toward others. Let us pray.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
What is Life Like In A Monastery--Part One
What It Is Like to Work in A Trappist Monastery—Part One
By Rev. Kevin L. Baker
When people think of monks and monastic life, I am sure images of beautiful settings, paradise, Gregorian chants, peace and quiet, contemplation, and silent other-worldly monks fill the imagination. Yet, there is more. I am often asked what a monastery is really like. I pray this very short article will give a glimpse into monastic life while protecting the privacy of the community in which I live and work.
Two years ago, God gave me a blessing that ranks among the most significant opportunities of my life. I was hired to work in a Roman Catholic monastery as a Controller. My job has since developed into more of a Director of Finance and Marketing. The monastery where I work is a chapter of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. You can learn more about them by clicking the links at the conclusion of this article.
Cistercians, or Trappists as they are also commonly called, live under a Benedictine Rule. The Cistercian way of life is one of living by the work of one’s hands and prayer. The center of work life at the Abbey of the Genesee is primarily a bakery called Monks’ Bread. Since 1953, our products have been a regionally popular line of breads and cakes. It is a large industry and needed an MBA to look after the business in an increasingly complex and competitive marketplace. In addition to the bakery, there are three retreat houses with a capacity of 47 beds, a farm, forestry industry, bookstore, online store, and the Abbey Church.
As a priest, I am no stranger to the spiritual life, liturgy, or prayer. Yet, a monastery is completely different than the life of a local church pastor. A monastic community, on one level, can be compared to life in the military. The armed forces protect their nation from enemies. Monasteries protect the God's holy nation from spiritual enemies (1 Peter 2:9-10) with spiritual weapons of warfare that are mighty unto God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). My experience is that the monks are the special forces of God.
Life in a monastery feels like you are on a military base and in a church at the same time. The community life is very institutional. The life is one of rank, order, obedience, self denial, hard work, prayer, striving for perfection (be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect), and discipleship. Much like life in the local church, the monks are working out their salvation in the context of a group of imperfect people. Humanity is definitely part of monastic community life. People are people.
The very human side of the monastery also reveals the presence of the Divine. In the midst of the order of the Benedictine Rule, the discipline of the liturgy of the hours, the work of the hands as counter-balance to the intense focus on the interior life, and lectio divina (spiritual reading), the monastery is also a conduit of God’s presence, power, and glory. There are many times while I am working that I experience a sense that heaven and earth have truly become intermingled.
Keep watch for Part Two of This Article Soon.
About the Trappists
Abbey of the Genesee
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Become a Better You In The Hard Times of Life
HOW TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN THE HARD TIMES OF LIFE
INTRO
When I hear my friends say they hope their children don't have to experience the hardships they went through--I don't agree. Those hardships made us what we are. You can be disadvantaged in many ways, and one way may be not having had to struggle.
• That quote reminds me of my grandmother. Born in 1912 to immigrant parents, she knew what the word struggle meant.
• After her mother died in childbirth, she lived in an orphanage, after her father remarried she was neglected and abused by her stepmother, so as a teen she moved out into a rented room on her own just as stock market crashed in 1929 and Great Depression set in.
• 50 years later, in her own small modest home, my grandmother would exhort me with words similar to what we heard in our opening quote. She would tell me one day I would appreciate the struggle and hardships. They would make me better.
• At a time in my life when I was struggling through those hard teen years, my grandmother coached me about the need to work hard in life; the need to learn to not complain about things you cannot control; and how to focus on what was really important.
• Today, 30 years later, we are living in tough times. We are living through a stock market crash and banking failure with recession coming on. The Baby Buster and Millennial Generations have never really tasted hardship. This message is for them, and for all going through trials and struggles.
• The Apostle Paul speaks to us again this week from a Roman prison where he was unjustly jailed for preaching the Gospel.
• Our reading from Paul’s letter to the Church at Philippi outlines four Christian attitudes that can make you a better person in the midst of hardships and struggles.
1. TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP AND STRUGGLE, DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF REJOICING
4Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
• To rejoice is to express joy, gladness, and happiness. Joy in the general sense is an emotional response to any pleasurable state or event.
• For a Christian, joy is a wellspring of gladness and happiness that results from fellowship with God.
• It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Spiritual fruitfulness is who and what we are—our quality of character and the essence of who we are as a person resulting from the indwelling Holy Spirit.
• The Fruit of the Spirit are nine qualities of godliness that God produces in a person when he comes into our lives to transform us so we become like him in who we are and how we live.
• When Paul tells the Church to REJOICE IN THE LORD AWAYS he is teaching us how to have a basic outlook in life that says no matter what goes on around me, nothing can take away what God has given me.
o He has given me forgiveness from all the guilt and sin in my life. He has given me a purpose, direction, a reason to live, a new beginning, eternal life beyond the grave, and he is my ever-present encourager, comforter, and friend.
• No matter what we are going through, at all times, and in all circumstances, God is always with us, so whether we are in prison like Paul was, in a struggling church like the Philippians were, or living through a stock market crash and hard times, we can have an inner happiness.
• Once Paul tells us to rejoice always, he repeats it a second time!! Again, I say rejoice. I think we need to hear this over and over. By nature, human beings are focused on themselves. We whine, complain, and want the world to revolve around us.
• The spiritual person focuses on God, and is able to say “At the cross at the cross where I first saw light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day.
2. TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP AND STRUGGLE, DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF GENTLENESS TO OTHERS
5Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
• Hard times of struggle test our character, especially in our relationships with others.
• In hard times, the worst of people will often come out under stress and pressure. People will throw you under the bus, steal from you, blame you, neglect you, and abuse you to survive hard times.
• Yet, Paul says, for the Christian, God wants to bring out the best in us in hard times.
• He wants us to remember when people do terrible things, He is at hand, He is always present to bring justice and take care of our enemies—his part. Our part is to let the fruit of gentleness be evident in us.
• Again, gentleness is a spiritual fruit of the Holy Spirit. Gentleness is a true humility that does not consider itself too good or too exalted for humble tasks. Opposite of pride or snootiness.
• “Meekness, a synonym for gentleness, is enduring injury with patience and without resentment.”
• Gentleness is never self-important but is considerate, courteous, and modest. In hard times when people are stressed, hurting, fearful, or angry, gentleness makes us leaders of the fearful.
The story is told of a corporal at Valley Forge who was directing three men as they tried to lift a log into place. It was too heavy, but the corporal commanded again and again, “All right, men, one, two, three, lift!” A man in an overcoat came by and said to the corporal, ‘Why don’t you help them?” The corporal pulled himself up to full height and replied, “Sir, I am a corporal.” Without a word the man stepped over and with his help the log went easily into place. The man was General George Washington.
3. TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP AND STRUGGLE, DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF PRAYERFULNESS.
• So often in life, when hard times come, we let the hard times set the agenda. When we face hard times we can easily become worried, stressed, and become full of anxiety. What if I lose my job? What if the money I lost in my 401k doesn’t recover? What if this illness doesn’t get better?
• Paul tells us the key to getting through hard times without anxiety:
but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
• Prayer is one of the main keys to overcoming anxiety during the struggles of life. Prayer means God wants us to talk to him. So, we cannot approach God with sin in our lives, so prayer always means we must first confess our sins, so we can stand in the presence of a Holy God.
• When our spirits are burdened, only prayer can ease our mind.
• As we come into God’s presence in prayer we say “Lord, I thank you that you gave me life, my family, and all I have. Now, I want to bring to you my struggles. I need your help and your direction for all these things that are troubling me.”
• Paul says, that when we make prayer and thanksgiving our response to the hardships and struggles we face, that another fruit of the Spirit forms in us—peace.
• Peace is calmness and quietness in the deepest level of our being. In our lives as Christians it is paradoxical. It surpasses understanding.
• God is in control. So while I don’t understand how all this will work out, I know that God is going to work it out so I can rest and not have stress. God is guarding my heart and mind now. I can calm down.
4. TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP AND STRUGGLE, DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF THINKING HOW GOD THINKS
• Truth is whatever God thinks about something since he is truth. Have you ever wondered how God thinks? In this letter to the Church at Philippi, Paul tells us.
8Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.
• In life, you can either focus on the good or the bad. You can have, as they say, stinkin` thinkin` that is negative and focused in ways that will tear you down, or you can learn to think optimistically and positively which will help you to not get dragged down into the pit of despair.
• When facing struggles and hard times, Paul says to think about the things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of a good report; things that are virtuous.
• Don’t think and act like the cable news or radio talk show hosts. Don’t become morose and focus on all the bad in the world. It will ruin you. Turn off the TV. Read, get out in nature.
• Learn to think of goodness; think and meditate on God, and on all the good that God brings into the world himself and through his people.
• Learn to take time to smell the roses; enjoy the leaves changing; smell the fresh air; live life like a child experiencing the wonder of this world as if it the first time you have ever seen it.
• The result of rejoicing and being gentle to others, of praying, and thinking about life like God--you will learn to be content in whatever life brings your way.
• Paul says, content people, no matter if we are lacking or abounding materially, we will have learned the attitudes that no matter what hardship or trial we face, we will say like he did,
I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.
TODAY, YOU CAN DO IT! JESUS IS HERE TO STRENGTHEN US. WE BECOME STRONG TO FACE THE HARD TIMES AND STRUGGLES OF LIFE WHEN WE REJOICE ALWAYS! WHEN WE ARE GENTLE AND MEEK TO OTHERS, WHEN WE PRAY, AND WHEN WE THINK POSITIVELY IN GOD.
INTRO
When I hear my friends say they hope their children don't have to experience the hardships they went through--I don't agree. Those hardships made us what we are. You can be disadvantaged in many ways, and one way may be not having had to struggle.
• That quote reminds me of my grandmother. Born in 1912 to immigrant parents, she knew what the word struggle meant.
• After her mother died in childbirth, she lived in an orphanage, after her father remarried she was neglected and abused by her stepmother, so as a teen she moved out into a rented room on her own just as stock market crashed in 1929 and Great Depression set in.
• 50 years later, in her own small modest home, my grandmother would exhort me with words similar to what we heard in our opening quote. She would tell me one day I would appreciate the struggle and hardships. They would make me better.
• At a time in my life when I was struggling through those hard teen years, my grandmother coached me about the need to work hard in life; the need to learn to not complain about things you cannot control; and how to focus on what was really important.
• Today, 30 years later, we are living in tough times. We are living through a stock market crash and banking failure with recession coming on. The Baby Buster and Millennial Generations have never really tasted hardship. This message is for them, and for all going through trials and struggles.
• The Apostle Paul speaks to us again this week from a Roman prison where he was unjustly jailed for preaching the Gospel.
• Our reading from Paul’s letter to the Church at Philippi outlines four Christian attitudes that can make you a better person in the midst of hardships and struggles.
1. TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP AND STRUGGLE, DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF REJOICING
4Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
• To rejoice is to express joy, gladness, and happiness. Joy in the general sense is an emotional response to any pleasurable state or event.
• For a Christian, joy is a wellspring of gladness and happiness that results from fellowship with God.
• It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Spiritual fruitfulness is who and what we are—our quality of character and the essence of who we are as a person resulting from the indwelling Holy Spirit.
• The Fruit of the Spirit are nine qualities of godliness that God produces in a person when he comes into our lives to transform us so we become like him in who we are and how we live.
• When Paul tells the Church to REJOICE IN THE LORD AWAYS he is teaching us how to have a basic outlook in life that says no matter what goes on around me, nothing can take away what God has given me.
o He has given me forgiveness from all the guilt and sin in my life. He has given me a purpose, direction, a reason to live, a new beginning, eternal life beyond the grave, and he is my ever-present encourager, comforter, and friend.
• No matter what we are going through, at all times, and in all circumstances, God is always with us, so whether we are in prison like Paul was, in a struggling church like the Philippians were, or living through a stock market crash and hard times, we can have an inner happiness.
• Once Paul tells us to rejoice always, he repeats it a second time!! Again, I say rejoice. I think we need to hear this over and over. By nature, human beings are focused on themselves. We whine, complain, and want the world to revolve around us.
• The spiritual person focuses on God, and is able to say “At the cross at the cross where I first saw light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day.
2. TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP AND STRUGGLE, DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF GENTLENESS TO OTHERS
5Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
• Hard times of struggle test our character, especially in our relationships with others.
• In hard times, the worst of people will often come out under stress and pressure. People will throw you under the bus, steal from you, blame you, neglect you, and abuse you to survive hard times.
• Yet, Paul says, for the Christian, God wants to bring out the best in us in hard times.
• He wants us to remember when people do terrible things, He is at hand, He is always present to bring justice and take care of our enemies—his part. Our part is to let the fruit of gentleness be evident in us.
• Again, gentleness is a spiritual fruit of the Holy Spirit. Gentleness is a true humility that does not consider itself too good or too exalted for humble tasks. Opposite of pride or snootiness.
• “Meekness, a synonym for gentleness, is enduring injury with patience and without resentment.”
• Gentleness is never self-important but is considerate, courteous, and modest. In hard times when people are stressed, hurting, fearful, or angry, gentleness makes us leaders of the fearful.
The story is told of a corporal at Valley Forge who was directing three men as they tried to lift a log into place. It was too heavy, but the corporal commanded again and again, “All right, men, one, two, three, lift!” A man in an overcoat came by and said to the corporal, ‘Why don’t you help them?” The corporal pulled himself up to full height and replied, “Sir, I am a corporal.” Without a word the man stepped over and with his help the log went easily into place. The man was General George Washington.
3. TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP AND STRUGGLE, DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF PRAYERFULNESS.
• So often in life, when hard times come, we let the hard times set the agenda. When we face hard times we can easily become worried, stressed, and become full of anxiety. What if I lose my job? What if the money I lost in my 401k doesn’t recover? What if this illness doesn’t get better?
• Paul tells us the key to getting through hard times without anxiety:
but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
• Prayer is one of the main keys to overcoming anxiety during the struggles of life. Prayer means God wants us to talk to him. So, we cannot approach God with sin in our lives, so prayer always means we must first confess our sins, so we can stand in the presence of a Holy God.
• When our spirits are burdened, only prayer can ease our mind.
• As we come into God’s presence in prayer we say “Lord, I thank you that you gave me life, my family, and all I have. Now, I want to bring to you my struggles. I need your help and your direction for all these things that are troubling me.”
• Paul says, that when we make prayer and thanksgiving our response to the hardships and struggles we face, that another fruit of the Spirit forms in us—peace.
• Peace is calmness and quietness in the deepest level of our being. In our lives as Christians it is paradoxical. It surpasses understanding.
• God is in control. So while I don’t understand how all this will work out, I know that God is going to work it out so I can rest and not have stress. God is guarding my heart and mind now. I can calm down.
4. TO BECOME A BETTER YOU IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP AND STRUGGLE, DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF THINKING HOW GOD THINKS
• Truth is whatever God thinks about something since he is truth. Have you ever wondered how God thinks? In this letter to the Church at Philippi, Paul tells us.
8Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.
• In life, you can either focus on the good or the bad. You can have, as they say, stinkin` thinkin` that is negative and focused in ways that will tear you down, or you can learn to think optimistically and positively which will help you to not get dragged down into the pit of despair.
• When facing struggles and hard times, Paul says to think about the things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of a good report; things that are virtuous.
• Don’t think and act like the cable news or radio talk show hosts. Don’t become morose and focus on all the bad in the world. It will ruin you. Turn off the TV. Read, get out in nature.
• Learn to think of goodness; think and meditate on God, and on all the good that God brings into the world himself and through his people.
• Learn to take time to smell the roses; enjoy the leaves changing; smell the fresh air; live life like a child experiencing the wonder of this world as if it the first time you have ever seen it.
• The result of rejoicing and being gentle to others, of praying, and thinking about life like God--you will learn to be content in whatever life brings your way.
• Paul says, content people, no matter if we are lacking or abounding materially, we will have learned the attitudes that no matter what hardship or trial we face, we will say like he did,
I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.
TODAY, YOU CAN DO IT! JESUS IS HERE TO STRENGTHEN US. WE BECOME STRONG TO FACE THE HARD TIMES AND STRUGGLES OF LIFE WHEN WE REJOICE ALWAYS! WHEN WE ARE GENTLE AND MEEK TO OTHERS, WHEN WE PRAY, AND WHEN WE THINK POSITIVELY IN GOD.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Voter Consideration Liberal and Conservative
I found this note posted by my friend Steve Smallwood on his Facebook page excellent. I re-post it here. Steve was the Pastor of New Life Assembly in Nixa, Missouri where I did my ministerial internship prior to graduating from seminary --Fr. Kevin
“Roger E. Olson (PhD, Rice University) is professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University in Waco, Texas and author of the recent book, How to be Evangelical without being Conservative.
With the presidential election just around the corner I asked Dr. Olson to give us some "food for thought" before we vote:
5 Questions to consider before voting Republican:
1) What will happen to the poor in a Republican administration?
2) Will a Republican administration pursue world peace?
3) How will a Republican administration promote mercy, compassion and justice for all?
4) Is a Republican administration likely to be unduly influenced by large corporations?
5) Can a Republican administration show respect for every human person's dignity and rights?
5 Questions to consider before voting Democratic:
1) What will happen to the not-yet-born in a Democratic administration?
2) Will a Democratic administration keep America and others safe from terrorism?
3) How will a Democratic administration promote security and safety for Americans and others?
4) Is a Democratic administration likely to be unduly influenced by liberal special interest groups?
5) Can a Democratic administration show respect for traditional family values?
“Roger E. Olson (PhD, Rice University) is professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University in Waco, Texas and author of the recent book, How to be Evangelical without being Conservative.
With the presidential election just around the corner I asked Dr. Olson to give us some "food for thought" before we vote:
5 Questions to consider before voting Republican:
1) What will happen to the poor in a Republican administration?
2) Will a Republican administration pursue world peace?
3) How will a Republican administration promote mercy, compassion and justice for all?
4) Is a Republican administration likely to be unduly influenced by large corporations?
5) Can a Republican administration show respect for every human person's dignity and rights?
5 Questions to consider before voting Democratic:
1) What will happen to the not-yet-born in a Democratic administration?
2) Will a Democratic administration keep America and others safe from terrorism?
3) How will a Democratic administration promote security and safety for Americans and others?
4) Is a Democratic administration likely to be unduly influenced by liberal special interest groups?
5) Can a Democratic administration show respect for traditional family values?
Sunday Sermon 10/5/2008 How to Keep Moving Forward When Life Wants to Hold You Back
HOW TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD WHEN LIFE WANTS TO HOLD YOU BACK
Sunday October 5, 2008
Fr. Kevin Baker
INTRO
• Postage stamps are getting more expensive, but at least they have one attribute that most of us could emulate: they stick to one thing until they get there.
• Today, my message is about how to stick with your faith and make it to heaven. It is a message about how to keep moving forward when life wants to hold you back.
• Our lesson is taught by one of the greatest teachers and encouragers whose message has never been forgotten—St. Paul the Apostle.
• Our lesson is found in a letter St. Paul wrote to a small discouraged church in W. Macedonia while he was a prisoner in Roman chains for preaching the Gospel.
• This church had small beginnings and took many years for it to grow. The people in this church were faithful to the call, yet they sacrificed much facing many obstacles that caused them to become discouraged at times.
• Paul’s message in his letter, which theologians call the Epistle of Joy--keep your eyes on the prize; keep pressing on toward your goals even when it seems they are so far from ever being attained.
• This discouraged in this church eventually flourished because they listened to Paul’s encouragement. Your life can also flourish if you will practice Paul’s lesson of persevering faith!
• I wonder this morning how many of you are going through tough times in your life?
• Paul was in jail for preaching the Gospel when he wrote this letter—tough times.
• The Church at Philippi believed in Jesus Christ and were struggling to establish a church in a part of the world where people hated what they stood for as Christians—tough times.
• We all face tough times in our lives. Paul’s message to us when we are down and discouraged is:
1. WHEN THINGS GET HARD IN LIFE, PRESS ON TOWARD YOUR GOALS.
14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
• St. Paul—wow! Imprisoned for preaching the Gospel, encouraging a small new church, Paul’s message is press on toward the goal. Keep perspective! This is an attitude of Christian maturity.
• Paul says in hard times, remember the ultimate goal-- our upward call. We are a heaven bound people. Heaven puts things in perspective. The hope of heaven motivates us to persevere.
• We will live in heaven for a lot longer than we live on earth. The tough times and hard things we are experiencing here will only be a faint memory when we have been with God in heaven for 10,000 years!
• The lesson here is when you face tough times, setbacks, losses, disappointments, and heartbreaks keep pressing on toward your goals. God is with you. He loves you. He supports you.
• Maybe you didn’t get the job promotion you hoped for. Maybe you didn’t get accepted to the college you always dreamed to attend. Maybe a relationship ended or a painful loss took you into a period of deep darkness. Maybe your hopes and dreams have been shattered.
• Paul says Keep pressing on toward the goal. Don’t give up.
• God will take a life that you have lived for Him with His priorities and work all things together for good.
2. THE SECOND GUIDING PRINCIPLE TO REMEMBER IN TOUGH TIMES IS WALK OUT YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF PAUL AND OTHERS WHO KEEP THE FAITH DURING TOUGH TIMES
15Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; 17Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
• St. Paul calls our life in Christ a "spiritual walk." In the midst of hardships, He calls us to maturity by making his walk with the Lord an example for us to follow
• He also exhorts us to take note of those who also have walked out their faith following Paul’s model —her saints or heroes of faith--they are our pattern; our example.
• Did you know some of the Church’s saints suffered from mental illness? Were alcoholics? Contemplated suicide? Were betrayed by friends? Yet they pressed on and overcame?
• I want to recommend that everyone read Ordinary Suffering of Extraordinary Saints by Vincent O’Malley.
Paul instructed us to NOTE THOSE WHO FOLLOWED HIS EXAMPLE.
• The saints through the ages have faced many tough times doing the will of God in their lives, but they pressed on toward the goals God gave them and are now a pattern for us to walk out our faith.
• Now Lets’ learn about walking out our faith.
• By definition--To walk is to advance by steps toward a destination.
• St. Paul is encouraging all of us that when we face tough times, keep walking.
• Step by step, keep advancing toward your goals and toward your destination. Keep trusting in Jesus. Keep believing. Keep following. Keep serving.
• Don’t trade in your born again birthright of heaven for a bowl of earthly pottage.
• As Christians, we often say we need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. We can say we love God, trust God, praise God—but what about when the going gets tough? Will our faith stand?
• Many of us will come to points in life where the tough challenges and trials of life can trip us up.
• Illness, grief, divorce, disability, unemployment, loneliness, poverty, and discrimination. All experiences that can trip us up in our spiritual walk.
• When we get tripped up, that is when we can stumble and fall—turn away from God in anger, disappointment, discouragement, and shattered dreams.
• Now let’s go back to St. Paul. Called by God to preach, he was constantly opposed and rejected.
• He could have looked at being in jail as unfair, why did this happened when I have done everything you asked? Why God? Where are you God?
• In his letter to the Philippians, from jail, Paul tells this church things like “Rejoice in the Lord always!” “Work our your salvation without complaining,” and forget the things that are behind and keep pressing on. Keep walking. Keep advancing step by step. Don’t let life get you down.
• Where did Paul and other overcomers get the strength to press on? From God’s Word.
• A promise I encourage all of to hold on to in tough times is found in
Psalm 37:3:
23 If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
CONCLUSION
• No matter what hardship, temptation, grief, or trial you face today that could trip up your spiritual walk, remember God calls us to keep walking; to press on toward the goal.
• His promise is if we will choose to keep the faith, he uphold us when we stumble so we will not fall.
I want to conclude with a record of perseverance from the diary of the great Anglican priest John Wesley. . .
Sunday, A.M., May 5 Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday, P.M., May 5 Preached in St. John's. Deacons said "Get out and stay out."
Sunday, A.M., May 12 Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there, either.
Sunday, A.M., May 19 Preached in St. Somebody Else's. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn't return.
Sunday, P.M., May 19 Preached on street. Kicked off street.
Sunday, A.M., May 26 Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday, A.M., June 2 Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.
Sunday, P.M., June 2 Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.
• John Wesley kept pressing on toward his goal of reaching the world for Christ. He learned to persevere and keep advancing forward step by step.
• Behind the scenes, God was upholding him with his hand helping Wesley to not stumble or fall.
• Today, God is here to help you keep moving forward in faith even when life wants to hold you back. Call out to him. Bow your head and ask for strength to go on, and he will give it. Amen.
Sunday October 5, 2008
Fr. Kevin Baker
INTRO
• Postage stamps are getting more expensive, but at least they have one attribute that most of us could emulate: they stick to one thing until they get there.
• Today, my message is about how to stick with your faith and make it to heaven. It is a message about how to keep moving forward when life wants to hold you back.
• Our lesson is taught by one of the greatest teachers and encouragers whose message has never been forgotten—St. Paul the Apostle.
• Our lesson is found in a letter St. Paul wrote to a small discouraged church in W. Macedonia while he was a prisoner in Roman chains for preaching the Gospel.
• This church had small beginnings and took many years for it to grow. The people in this church were faithful to the call, yet they sacrificed much facing many obstacles that caused them to become discouraged at times.
• Paul’s message in his letter, which theologians call the Epistle of Joy--keep your eyes on the prize; keep pressing on toward your goals even when it seems they are so far from ever being attained.
• This discouraged in this church eventually flourished because they listened to Paul’s encouragement. Your life can also flourish if you will practice Paul’s lesson of persevering faith!
• I wonder this morning how many of you are going through tough times in your life?
• Paul was in jail for preaching the Gospel when he wrote this letter—tough times.
• The Church at Philippi believed in Jesus Christ and were struggling to establish a church in a part of the world where people hated what they stood for as Christians—tough times.
• We all face tough times in our lives. Paul’s message to us when we are down and discouraged is:
1. WHEN THINGS GET HARD IN LIFE, PRESS ON TOWARD YOUR GOALS.
14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
• St. Paul—wow! Imprisoned for preaching the Gospel, encouraging a small new church, Paul’s message is press on toward the goal. Keep perspective! This is an attitude of Christian maturity.
• Paul says in hard times, remember the ultimate goal-- our upward call. We are a heaven bound people. Heaven puts things in perspective. The hope of heaven motivates us to persevere.
• We will live in heaven for a lot longer than we live on earth. The tough times and hard things we are experiencing here will only be a faint memory when we have been with God in heaven for 10,000 years!
• The lesson here is when you face tough times, setbacks, losses, disappointments, and heartbreaks keep pressing on toward your goals. God is with you. He loves you. He supports you.
• Maybe you didn’t get the job promotion you hoped for. Maybe you didn’t get accepted to the college you always dreamed to attend. Maybe a relationship ended or a painful loss took you into a period of deep darkness. Maybe your hopes and dreams have been shattered.
• Paul says Keep pressing on toward the goal. Don’t give up.
• God will take a life that you have lived for Him with His priorities and work all things together for good.
2. THE SECOND GUIDING PRINCIPLE TO REMEMBER IN TOUGH TIMES IS WALK OUT YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF PAUL AND OTHERS WHO KEEP THE FAITH DURING TOUGH TIMES
15Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; 17Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
• St. Paul calls our life in Christ a "spiritual walk." In the midst of hardships, He calls us to maturity by making his walk with the Lord an example for us to follow
• He also exhorts us to take note of those who also have walked out their faith following Paul’s model —her saints or heroes of faith--they are our pattern; our example.
• Did you know some of the Church’s saints suffered from mental illness? Were alcoholics? Contemplated suicide? Were betrayed by friends? Yet they pressed on and overcame?
• I want to recommend that everyone read Ordinary Suffering of Extraordinary Saints by Vincent O’Malley.
Paul instructed us to NOTE THOSE WHO FOLLOWED HIS EXAMPLE.
• The saints through the ages have faced many tough times doing the will of God in their lives, but they pressed on toward the goals God gave them and are now a pattern for us to walk out our faith.
• Now Lets’ learn about walking out our faith.
• By definition--To walk is to advance by steps toward a destination.
• St. Paul is encouraging all of us that when we face tough times, keep walking.
• Step by step, keep advancing toward your goals and toward your destination. Keep trusting in Jesus. Keep believing. Keep following. Keep serving.
• Don’t trade in your born again birthright of heaven for a bowl of earthly pottage.
• As Christians, we often say we need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. We can say we love God, trust God, praise God—but what about when the going gets tough? Will our faith stand?
• Many of us will come to points in life where the tough challenges and trials of life can trip us up.
• Illness, grief, divorce, disability, unemployment, loneliness, poverty, and discrimination. All experiences that can trip us up in our spiritual walk.
• When we get tripped up, that is when we can stumble and fall—turn away from God in anger, disappointment, discouragement, and shattered dreams.
• Now let’s go back to St. Paul. Called by God to preach, he was constantly opposed and rejected.
• He could have looked at being in jail as unfair, why did this happened when I have done everything you asked? Why God? Where are you God?
• In his letter to the Philippians, from jail, Paul tells this church things like “Rejoice in the Lord always!” “Work our your salvation without complaining,” and forget the things that are behind and keep pressing on. Keep walking. Keep advancing step by step. Don’t let life get you down.
• Where did Paul and other overcomers get the strength to press on? From God’s Word.
• A promise I encourage all of to hold on to in tough times is found in
Psalm 37:3:
23 If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
CONCLUSION
• No matter what hardship, temptation, grief, or trial you face today that could trip up your spiritual walk, remember God calls us to keep walking; to press on toward the goal.
• His promise is if we will choose to keep the faith, he uphold us when we stumble so we will not fall.
I want to conclude with a record of perseverance from the diary of the great Anglican priest John Wesley. . .
Sunday, A.M., May 5 Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday, P.M., May 5 Preached in St. John's. Deacons said "Get out and stay out."
Sunday, A.M., May 12 Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there, either.
Sunday, A.M., May 19 Preached in St. Somebody Else's. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn't return.
Sunday, P.M., May 19 Preached on street. Kicked off street.
Sunday, A.M., May 26 Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday, A.M., June 2 Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.
Sunday, P.M., June 2 Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.
• John Wesley kept pressing on toward his goal of reaching the world for Christ. He learned to persevere and keep advancing forward step by step.
• Behind the scenes, God was upholding him with his hand helping Wesley to not stumble or fall.
• Today, God is here to help you keep moving forward in faith even when life wants to hold you back. Call out to him. Bow your head and ask for strength to go on, and he will give it. Amen.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Does Anyone Read This Blog?
After the Labor Day holiday I stopped blogging here to see if anyone actually reads this. If you are a reader of the blog, would you please leave a comment. If there is no substantial audience, I will most likely discontinue regular blogging here and concentrate on our Facebook presence.
Thank you.
Fr. Kevin
Thank you.
Fr. Kevin
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