Series: Making Change... Change of Habit

I'm sorry to post this late as it was last Sunday's sermon, but it was quite a busy week last week and it slipped my mind until now. The season of Lent will do that and it happens quite frequently. But...  I was able to get caught up because today a great friend shared God's message. I'm not sure how I would have done a sermon this week. Thanks Phil... I really appreciate you being with us today.

Mar. 16, 2014                                                                                      

John 3:1-17

A minister was in the habit of telling his little girl a bedtime story before tucking her in. One evening he told her such a thrilling tale her eyes popped open. She sat up in bed studying her father. 'Daddy, do you mean it, or are you just preaching?'
-Robert McClelland, Worldly Spirituality: Biblical Reflections on Money, Politics and Sex (St. Louis, Mo.: CBP Press, 1990), 81.

Prayer:

We are in week 2 of our Lenten Season series, “Making Change.”

Now… we’re not talking about all of the making of change that we do here at Cana or all of the change we make in our lives. We have too… we have to change or we die. Much of this physical or outward change is good and its change we need to make to move forward in our lives and lives of faith.

But this isn’t the change we’re talking about. The change we’re interested in is heart change, and if we are to make the physical change sustainable we will need to have a change of heart as well. We can make all the physical and outward change we want, but unless we have a heart change not of the outward change will last very long.

Last week we reflected on a “Change of Season”… Today our reflection is on “Change of Habit”

All of us have habits… things we do without even thinking about them. Things that we’ve picked up and learned along the way of life. Some of these habits are good…

o    Like… regular bathing… that’s a good habit

o    Like… brushing your teeth.

o    Driving the speed limit.

o    Buckling up.

o    Opening and holding the door for the ladies or others.

o    Covering your mouth when coughing.

o    Saying, please and thank you… etc.

I have a habit of always looking over my wife’s shoulder when she cooks… she doesn’t like that… but I like to cook!!!

And there are bad habits…

o    Like… speeding… someday you’re going to get caught.

o    Like… burping or the other… in public… it’s sort of always a bad habit, but it’s part of life too.

o    Using profanity.

o    Showing up late for work, or drunk, or not prepared.

o    Lying… or gossipy… or always exaggerating.

o    Eating too much food… chips… diet coke… sweets… etc.

Many… if not most of our habits are chosen and we choose to do them. We are aware of most of them and doing most of them… and we know that Bad Habits are hard to break.

Art Holst says in his book, “Wit and Wisdom”… Human beings are creatures of habit. We like to do it the same today as we did it yesterday so we can do it the same tomorrow, because the rut gets comfortable. But, the only difference between a rut and a grace is its length, depth and how long you're in it.
--Art Holst, cited in SourceBook of Wit and Wisdom (Canton, Ohio: Communication Resources, Inc., 1996), 5a.

How might we change our habits?

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians’ urges them to set aside their desires and bad habits. You see… the Galatians’ had some bad habits of using profanity and doing shameful acts…. worshipped idols…. practiced witchcraft… They were a jealous people and did a lot of gossiping as well as others. Kind of sounds like the church….

Paul tells them in Gal. 5:22… “to put on good habits to be Loving, Peaceful, Patient, Good to Others, Faithful, and Self-Controlled. Don’t be jealous or conceited or claim to be better than you are.”  

In the end… Paul says, “If you want to change… embrace the Spirit of God and place him in your heart.”

In the same sense… that is what Jesus is telling Nicodemus in our story today. Nicodemus is befuddled by Jesus’ words of being “Born Again”. Nicodemus is a Pharisee and one who placed judgment upon the people for doing things they shouldn’t.

Nicodemus and Pharisee’s had judgmental bad habits about enforcing The Law.

Matt. 12:1-2… when Jesus and his friends were walking along a field picking grain on the Sabbath. “Some Pharisee’s noticed this and said to Jesus, ‘Why are your disciples picking grain on the Sabbath?’ They are not suppose to do that!”

So when Nicodemus hears ‘Being Born Again’ he can’t seem to wrap his head around that idea. But like his judgmental habits… it’s not about what a person does, but about what is in their heart. What Jesus is telling Nicodemus and us… is to let God into our hearts. Remember… Where your heart is… so will be your treasure.

I’d like to share two stores as we end…

Bad habits seem exempt from the laws of the universe. You can follow all the rules, eat right, exercise daily, sleep well, love your neighbor, love yourself, go to church, be honest with the IRS, give blood, vote, remember your mother's birthday, tell no ethnic jokes, write thank-you notes, recycle, clean your refrigerator, read the Bible, serve dinner at the shelter, wear clean underwear, get your teeth cleaned -- and still have bad habits. Like an obnoxious relative, bad habits just keep showing up again and again.
-- Howard Hanger, Chutzpah! Vision,January 24, 1997, 3.

A man had a habit of grumbling at the food his wife placed before him at family meals. Then he would ask the blessing.
One day after his usual combination complaint-prayer, his little girl asked, “Daddy, does God hear us when we pray?”

“Why, of course,” he replied. “He hears us every time we pray.”

She paused for a moment, and asked, “Does he hear everything we say the rest of the time?”

“Yes, dear, every word,” he replied, encouraged that he had inspired his daughter to be curious about spiritual matters.

However, his pride was quickly turned to humility .... The daughter responded, “Then which does God believe?”
—broadcaster.org.uk/section2/jokes/christianjokes.html. Retrieved May 28, 2008.

My friends… if we are to Make Change in our Hearts… we will need to have a Change of Habit.

Lenten Series: Making Change.... Season of Change

Mar. 9, 2014                                              

Rms 5:12-19, Matt 4:1-11

A father was attempting to explain to his young son the necessity for giving up something for Lent. In fact, the father suggested the boy give up candy.

The boy responded as to why this would be a good idea.  The father replied that "It will improve your character. You'll be a better person on Easter Sunday if you give up candy. After all, your mother and I have given up liquor for Lent."

The boy then said: "That's funny Dad. I saw you and mother having a drink before dinner last night." The father replied, "That was wine. We gave up hard liquor."

The boy countered, "Oh, that's really good dad, then… I'll give up hard candy."

Prayer:

We begin the Lenten season with a new series titled… “Making Change.”

You’re probably thinking… ok pastor we’ve been doing a lot of talking about making change… pretty much since you’ve come! Enough already… can we talk about something else? Before you’ll get freaked out let me explain… You are right in that we’ve been talking a lot about change in a manner of speaking… change like how you look at what you do and why you do it.

Change like adding a more contemporary worship.

Like changing the worship times.

Like changing Sunday School to take place during worship.

Change like discovering your core values.

This kind of change happens all the time as a way to become more inviting and welcoming to other people.

But our Lenten Season series is NOT going to be about this kind of change. The change we’re going to focus on during Lent is the change that needs to take place in our hearts. This will be the kind of change we will focus on during the season of Lent. It's the kind of Change I believe God is really after in us. I alluded to it last week…

Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, will be your heart.” 

The type of change I’m interested in is “Metanoia” change… meaning “To turn towards God.” We can do all the physical or outward change in the world… but if our heart is not changed, the physical won’t last very long. So my friends… our Lenten Season is about Making Change in our hearts, and we begin this heart change with having… A Change of Season.

A kindergarten teacher asked her class, "What is the color of apples?" Most of the children answered red. A couple said green. But one student raised her hand and said white. The teacher tried to explain that apples could be red or green or even golden. But never white. But the student was adamant, and finally said, "Look inside."

Our gospel story today is quite familiar and it’s a story we reflected on a few weeks ago from the perspective of worship.

Today I’m going to look at this from the perspective of season.

Matt. Says, “Led by the Spirit, Jesus went out in the desert for 40 days & 40 nights and did not eat, and he was hungry, and the devil tempted him.”

Marks version is quite different… It’s only 2 vs. “The Spirit made Jesus go out into the desert. He stayed out for 40 days, and Satan tested him.” There are no details in Marks version.

Luke’s version is similar to Matt’s… only the sequence is different.

A couple of things to note.

1. The Number 40 for Matt. Is Significant.

For Matt….And his Jewish audience the number 40 is symbolic of the Exodus out of Egypt and the 40 years they will spend out in the desert or wilderness. It was a time of soul searching and testing for the Israelites. It is a time of repositioning of the heart… and renewing trust in God. So… for Matt. This story is a metaphor for Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. In a sense… it’s a time to discover oneself.

2. That of Being in the Wilderness.

There is a sense in the language used here that this may not have been a physical desert or wilderness location, but one of a state of loneliness or solitude. Did Jesus actually go out into a physical wilderness? Or did Jesus experience as we sometimes experience a lost, lonely, desolate state of mind or being?  Was Jesus experiencing a seasonal life change in  Matt’s story? … I Don’t Know…

What I do know is that people… you & me and groups of people like this faith community go through periods or seasons in life where times are tough. And… we go through seasons when times are good.

They’re times when life if good and things are going our way.

And times when we don’t know what to do.

Times of insecurity… and indecision.

Times when things just go right.

Times when nothing seems to go our way.

As Ecclesiastes 3 states… for every time there is a season.

I don’t know anyone who likes wilderness seasons in life. But most would agree that we gain much of our learning & understanding in life during wilderness seasons of life.

I believe the Lenten season offers us one such opportunity to journey in the wilderness to see what we might discover. It’s a season for each of us to make change in our hearts to grow deeper in our love and trust of God. It’s a season for each of us to make change in our hearts towards how we look at others… how we can soften our selfish desires… and how we can use our circumstances both good and bad as opportunities for growth. Can we look at our current season that we’re in as a learning & growing time for making change in our hearts? And… can we a faith community look at this transition season we’re in as the same opportunity for growth and change of heart as well?

Closing:

Seasons Change… Life Cycles Change… People Can Change… Churches Change… and Hearts Change

As we begin the Lenten Season it’s more than just giving up some vice or habit… it’s more than depriving ourselves of some delicacy…

The Lenten Season I believe is really about making change in our hearts and it’s an opportunity to use Lent as a change of season in restoring our hearts towards God.

Remember my earlier story about the color of apples and the one girl being adamant of the color being white… by looking on the inside…  

My friends… Jesus is interested in the inside. 

Walking in the Way of Jesus... Generosity

May 2, 2014
1Peter 4:7-11,  Matt 6:19-24

A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor’s office. After his check up, the doctor called the wife into his office alone. He said, “Your husband is suffering from a severe disease, combined with some horrible stress. If you don’t do the following your husband will surely die.”

“Each morning, fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant, and make sure he is in a good mood. For lunch, make him a nutritious meal. For dinner, prepare an especially nice meal for him. DON’T… burden him with chores, as he probably had a hard day. DON’T… discuss your problems with him. It will only make his stress worse. And… MOST importantly, make love to your husband several times a week and satisfy HIS every whim.

If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely.”

On the way home, the husband asked his wife… “What did the doctor say?” She replied… “You’re going to die.”

Prayer

We end our 6 week journey today of “Walking in the Way of Jesus, 6 values of followership. Our journey has helped, I hope, us to understand the importance of discerning and having core values as a faith community. Values, I pray will help you carry out your ministry here at Cana. The Values, I pray you will practice and live out…. Values you have chosen… Prayer… Worship… Learning… Serving… Relationship Building… and we need to add Welcome to this list… and today we will reflect on the value of…

Generosity.

Today this is not a sermon about money, rather a sermon about the heart of your Generosity.

Luther is said to have proclaimed that in the conversion process the wallet is the last thing to be converted.

Often, we in the church don’t like to hear anything about money. The church is about spiritual matters, not economic. Many do not believe money is a spiritual issue. This may surprise you, but I want to impress upon you that I believe generosity is the most important spiritual value of all those we’ve listed. And from my perspective… the one value that gives us the most ministry heartache.

I believe God must have thought money was important enough to mention it some 200 times in the bible. In fact, Jesus mentions money 23 times in the gospels and alludes to it another 11 times. So… I believe we need to pay attention to this spiritual value as it affects most everything we do a Jesus followers. Jesus says in our story today… “Don’t store up treasures on earth…”

At the heart of the manner, “Where your treasure is, so will be your heart.” So my friends… this is a heart matter and we need to pay attention.

 What does Spiritual Generosity Involve?

Spiritual Generosity Involves Giving to God… as an act of Worship. 1Chron 29:10-20 

Ancient Israel gave a tenth back to God as an act of worship for all the blessings God had given them.

1Chron 29:10ff David has asked for people to be generous as he begins to build the temple and the people come through and provide the necessary funds. David praised God and they worshiped God out of love & devotion for God’s blessings. For David… it was all about giving as a response to God’s provision. So they worship God out of that love.

Trinity Lutheran Seminary professor Mark Powell in his book titled “Giving to God” says, “We are not asked to place money in the collection plate because the church needs the money, but because of our need to give as an act of devotion.

Devotion is a matter of the heart… it’s what happens when we give from the heart and the heart is the source of our worship & devotion.

Spiritual Generosity Involves Giving to God… as an Expression of Faith.

Ps. 24:1… “The Earth and Everything on it Belong to the Lord, the World and its People Belong to Him.”

An expression of faith usually means an act of trust. How is your trust relationship with God?

There is a story of the Gaul… perhaps an urban legend. The Gaul’s were war-like people from what is now France & Belgium. They spoke Celtic language and the Roman empire conquered them and they never liked being controlled, so there were numerous uprisings. As Christian missionaries ventured into Gallic territory & over time many became Christian.

The Story goes… when these Gallic warriors were converted and baptized in the closest river or stream, they would hold one arm as high as they could as the missionary dunked him under. The missionary thought this was odd, and sought to learn the reason this was practiced. It seems for the Gaul… when the next battle broke out he could proclaim that one of his arms was not baptized, grab a club or sword & engage in battle… still being a Christian.

Seems we have a similar mentality when it comes to being generous in our faith journey. Everything belongs to God and God gives us the use of some of it. None of what we have is really ours and God trusts us to manage the gift. Were not the owners of anything… we are trusted to manage God’s gifts. How we manage these gifts determines our trust in God’s provision.

When we have faith in something… we trust it will work. When I have faith in you to do what you say, I trust that you will do it.

When we give back to God it’s an expression of our faith and trust in God.

Spiritual Generosity involves Giving to God… as a Spiritual Discipline.

Matt. 6:21 Jesus says, “Your heart will be where your treasure is.”

Sam Clemens, known as “Mark Twain” was talking to a devote Morman one day on the practice of Polygamy. The Morman said, “There is nothing in the Bible that says a man cannot have more than one wife.” Clemens responded, “I may not be to well-read in the Bible, but I seem to recall something in there that says, “No man can serve two masters.”

What is the master of your life? What do you value most?

Wikipedia describes the meaning of Discipline… Discipline is a course of actions leading to a greater goal than the satisfaction of the immediate. A disciplined person is one that has established a goal and is willing to achieve that goal at the expense of his or her immediate comfort.

From a spiritual standpoint… a generous living value is the pathway to growing closer to the heart of God.

As we conclude this series Walking in the Way of Jesus, 6 Values of Following Jesus… Prayer, Worship, Learning, Serving, Welcome, Relationships, Generosity and we have to include the word Welcome as one of your values. While we won’t specifically speak about this value I believe welcome is very much a part of being a Jesus follower. Given that much of the Christian culture is about exclusivity.

Closing:

In closing… I want to leave you with some things to ponder and pray about as you continue to discern your list of core values.
Are these Cana Lutheran’s Core Values?
If they are…How do they help people BELONG to a community of faith?
How should they help people BECOME a faithful follower of Jesus?
How do they help people BELIEVE Jesus is Lord and Savior and God’s GIFT of GRACE & LOVE to ALL?

My friends… I believe the values you’ve chosen… should you choose to embrace them… will not only empower you to discover your next pastoral leader, but will be the foundation to the future vibrancy of Cana Lutheran.