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The Message for Aug 28, 2016
Wait… What Seat? The Seat of Humility.
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Rob Miller, Pastor
It has been a busy week round here. Some people may say it’s been a crazy week. Schools are back in session, clean up from the flooding continues. Some schools are in temporary buildings and may be there for a while. Some people are in temporary housingand will be there for a while.
Still others have already moved back into theirflooded and gutted homes. With the open air concept – that is – walls without drywall. Others are waiting for help to get back into their homes, some are waiting for FEAM or their insurance to kick in. Many of us are just waiting for things to dry out. The clean-up continues…
For some people their faith has been tested this week,for others their faith has been strengthened this week. Myfaith has been strengthened this week. My faith in God was certainly strengthenedbut more importantly my faith in humanity and the church was strengthened this week. More on thatin a few minutes…
In the waters of Baptism we are commissioned and sent as disciples of Jesus to live by faith no matter what. Our faith is the guide for our thoughts and our actions every dayno matter what. Sometimes we just need a little reminder to live by faith. I know I do.
Listen to our Gospel reading from Luke 14. It’s a call for us to live by faithwherever we happen to be and whatever situation we happen to be in…
ReadLuke 14:1, 7-14
Jesus says that when it comes to living the faith we are to take the seat of humility. Wait… What?!?! Yeah. Take the seat of humility…
Humility does not come naturally to us. It’s not in our DNA. We don’t usually pray for humility. Maybe we should. But we don’t,our pride and egos get in the way.
Consider this quote fromC.S. Lewis in“Mere Christianity.” He writes…
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”
We could stop right there and say here end our lesson for today… But I have more to say. Oh if we could live like that… “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”
Let’s define humility.
True humility has two parts:
- agreeing with God about who God is
- agreeing with God about who we are
Frist - agreeing with God about who God is.
God is God. Say that with me -God is God. And God is all about righteousness. God is all about making things right in the world. God is all about making things right in our lives.
Bad things happen. The world is not a perfect place. The world is crying out for God’s righteousness. Maybe you are calling out for God’s righteousness in your own life…
Agreeing with God about who God ismeans we depend on God. We are dependent on God for everything. When the sun is shining or the rain is falling. We depend on God. Unfortunately, we don’t always do that. I know I don’t always do that.
According to Genesis,the first book in the Bible,(genesis means - the origin or the mode of formation of something)according to Genesis God made everything good. That means God made you good. Think about that for a moment… God made you good.
We are part of God’s good creation. So where did all the bad come from(aka sin) certainly not from God. Here’s the thing. God created us with a free will. We are free to choose. We can choose to do bad things or we can choose to do good things. We can help make this world a better place or we can make it some other kind of place. The choice is ours. More on that in a bit…
The second part of humility isagreeing with God about who we are. We are God’s handiwork. Say that with me we are God’s handiwork.
God createdall of us for God’s purpose in the world. We were created to be about God’s work in the world. That work involves God’s righteousness. That work involves us doing our part to help make things right in the world. To make things right in our lives and in the lives of others. It means living by faith no matter what the situation…
I want to show you some pictures of God’s handiwork at work in the world. I want to show you some pictures of people who chose to be about God’s righteousness in the world. Here are some people who chose to put their faith into action yesterday…
We hosted around 30 people who came from TX and New Orleans and ULand from our own congregation to help clean up in people’s homes yesterday. We also hadaround 20 people from our congregation who served the servers. I affectional called us “the red shirt team” because we were all wearing red shirts. Here is what the shirts look like (hold one up).
We are planning to get more of these shirts. They have our motto on the back. “Living lives the Jesus way by faith, hope, and love.” That’s what we were doing yesterday….
We anointed the palms of our hands with oil to go and serve others in Jesus’ name… Some people told me that was such a moving and spiritual experience – knowing that they were to be the hands of Jesus going out to serve…
Here’s another picture… This was Pastor Hannah (Methodist pastor) who brought a van load of college women from A&M Prairie View. They slept on the floor on air mattresses in our school building. Along with four others who came over from TX on Friday night.
Here is our bishop Mike Rinehart on the left and Pastor Tim Norris from St. Paul Lutheran Church in Lake Charles. They joined us for the day…
Here’s the group of college students from A & M Prairie View talking with one of our UL students.
Here is the group of UL students. They were a lot of fun to be with. They kept thanking me for inviting them to come help. Both college groups renewed my faith in humanity. This is a great group of young people. This group invited the family to gather on into their front so these students could pray for them and their future.
We tore out drywall and insulation and hauledit to the curb…
We cleaned up and mopped up…
We even had our youth involved helping out by cleaning windows. We served others, touching the lives of six different families during this one day clean up. We are hoping to put together more pictures for next week. And we are hoping to do something like this again. The cleanup continues…
Yesterday renewed my faith. We are God’s handiwork, humble servants to the stranger in need.
We also gave out 20 - $50 gift cards to Walmart to those who were flooded. We laughed with people. We cried with people. We ate with people. We prayed with people. We served in faith with people. We were the hands and feet of Jesus and we can’t wait to do it again. That’s what I kept hearing people say to me yesterday at the end of the day.
Here’s a question for you to consider… Why do some people seem to live by faith all the time and others do not?
Here’s a story for you to consider. It’s called “The Rabbit.”
One daya young man named, Larry, asked that pastor at his church that same question. Why do some people seem to live by faith all the time and others do not? The pastor told Larry to visit Mr. Frank -- an elderly man in the congregation. “He has the answer to that question.”
“Mr. Frank even as old man had never lost his commitment to Christ.” The Pastor said. “His faith is strong– perhaps stronger than ever in spite of everything that has happened to him over the years.”
So Larry went to see Mr. Frank. He was sitting on the front porch with his dog stretched out before him taking in a relaxing afternoon. Larry posed his question: Why do some people seem to live by faith all the time and others do not? Larry continued, “I heard that you have an answer to that question… I was told that people see something in you,they don’t see in most people who are Christian. What makes you different?”
The old man smiledthen replied, “Let me tell you a story: One day I was sitting here quietly watching the sunset with my dog. Suddenly a large white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, and took off after that big rabbit. He chased that rabbit over the hills with a passion.
Soon, other dogs joined him, attracted by his barking. What a sight it was, as that pack of dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments and through thickets and thorns!
Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued in hot pursue of that white rabbit.
In that story, young man, is the answer to your question.”
Larry sat there in confused silence. Finally, he said, "Mr. Frank, I don’t understand. What is the connection between the rabbit chase and a commitment to Christ?”
“You failto understand,” said the old man, “because you are missing the obvious question.”
“What question?” Larry asked.
The old man smiled and said, “Why didn’t the other dogs continue on the chase? And the answer to that question is -- they had not seen the rabbit. Unless you see what you are chasing after, the pursuit becomes too difficult. You will lack the passion and determination necessary to keep the faith when others do not.”
Yesterday I realize that many people are chasing after something. We are all in pursuit of something that brings meaning and purpose to our lives. Yesterday I saw that that something is Christ Jesus our humble servant who died for us so that we might live for him by serving others.
Yesterday I saw howsharing God’s love with others changes us for good. Amen.