Can God Change People s Minds About How They Act?

Transcription

1 Rev. Joan Pell Sierra Pines United Methodist Church Sermon: 01/14/2018 Series: Questions for God Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17 Can God Change People s Minds About How They Act? <Matthew 3:13-17> 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? 15 But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness. Then he [John] consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Do you have and routines that make you feel comfortable? Do you like to have a morning cup of coffee or tea before you talk to anyone? Do you read the newspaper or Facebook over breakfast? Do you load the dishwasher a certain way? Do you shop at certain stores and buy certain brands of food? Sometimes there are activities that we find comfortable that others would say no way. Would you be happy to teach a class or cook a 5-course meal for a party or jet-ski on the lake? I am sure we all have certain routines and things we are happy to be asked to do. There s a comfort zone that goes with those routines and actions. But then sometimes things happen and our routines get disrupted and we are asked to do something new. And that can feel strange and sometimes depending upon what it asked of us, it can even feel scary. In this sermon series, we are looking at some questions that the children on the video we saw earlier asked of God. Some of their questions are really profound and can cause us to dig deeper too. So our question today is: Can God change people s minds about how they act? Can God change our minds from doing something that we were planning to do to doing something different? When I hear this question, I hear it in two different ways: FIRST. Can God change our minds from doing something that is okay to do to doing something that is even better? Or putting in another way: Can God change our -1-

2 minds from doing something that is okay and within our comfort zones to doing something instead that is outside of our normal routine and comfort zone? SECOND. Can God change our minds from doing something bad and terrible to doing something good? Our scripture today speaks to the first way of interpreting this question, so I will speak mainly about that interpretation, but then I want to come back and say a bit about the second way I think we can interpret this question. Today s scripture was about John the Baptist. And he had a job to do and he understood that. His role was as the designated forerunner to prepare the way for the Messiah, for Jesus. John knew who he was and what he was supposed to do. John told the people as he baptized them water that the Messiah was coming and would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire. So when Jesus, who John already recognized as the Messiah, came asking to be baptized, John was confused. It should be the other way around. Jesus should be baptizing John. And John was uncomfortable with that idea. But Jesus calls John away from his accustomed role and to go along with the spirit of the moment. Jesus called John to change. Jesus challenged John s suppositions. Jesus called John to step outside of his comfort zone. And John did! John was willing to embrace change. And as a result, he was able to experience and see the heavens open up and the Holy Spirit descend like a dove and hear the voice of God speaking. And that is the way that God works in each of our lives. Jesus calls us still today to step out of our comfort zones to be open to hearing a challenge or move in a new direction, and to respond to each new situation that requires our attention. Jesus asked this of John. He asked it of the first disciples too, to drop their nets and to come and follow him. He asks us too to change our plans, even if they were good plans. But he also showed us by example that he too could change his plans and respond to the needs of those he met. How many stories in the gospels can you think of where Jesus was travelling from one place to another and someone comes up and interrupts his plans and says, Can you help me? Can you heal me? And Jesus would stop and take the time to provide the healing. Our world is fast-paced. We get busy and focused on the tasks we are doing. Are we too busy to notice the needs that are all around us? It takes time to stop and listen and not be distracted. And, it takes courage to admit it when we need to change. We like our routines and comfort zones. But they are not where we are called to be. We are called to listen and find ways to be more in tune with the needs of God s people. As I was preparing to write this sermon on Friday, I found myself challenged too to move out of my comfort zone. The breaking news on Friday morning was of President Trump purportedly calling Haiti and some African countries in an insulting and derogative manner. And so, I wondered, should I respond to that -2-

3 in this sermon? I often respond to current events in my sermons when they fit with the theme I am preaching on. So, I pondered, how on earth does it fit with our question today? Can God change people s minds about how they act? Besides our scripture indicating that God can change people s minds, I would answer that in the affirmative from experience. God does change my mind sometimes about all sorts of things. And on Friday, I was nudged to change what I was going to say to talk briefly about our President s comments and it is uncomfortable to talk about. And, it might be uncomfortable for you too sitting there and listening. But to be in tune with the needs of God s people means holding our leaders accountable, of being aware of belittling and racist language, and perhaps especially on this MLK weekend, owning up to our own participation in the systems that perpetuate racism. And, silence is participation. Just last week we were talking about how each and every one of us are God s beloved children. Our president is a beloved child of God too. BUT so are the children of Haiti and Africa and every other country who need to know from those they look up to and trust that they are precious in God s sight. What a terrible thing for a president, for a public figure, for anyone, to say about someone else's home. We expect high standards from those who lead us. We expect high standards from our children s teachers and their School Principles. You expect high standards from me as your pastor and our District Superintendent and Bishops. And whether our President is Republican or Democrat we expect high standards from our President. Name-calling or denigrating whole countries is not upholding the office of President. As a country we can do better. So perhaps this is God saying I want to change your mind. I want to move you outside of your comfortable routines. There s something better for you. Now, let s come back to today s question and look at it from another point of view. Can God change our minds from doing something bad and terrible to doing something good? Last week, I asked you if you had any questions that you wanted me to tackle in this sermon series. After the service, someone tongue-in-cheek after the service said they did not ask but were thinking of asking: Why did God allow Donald Trump to be elected as President? Perhaps some of you had the same question when Barack Obama became President! I quickly answered that God gave us freewill. And collectively, that was the way the vote turned out when each us exercised that freewill. But let s think about freewill a bit more. I believe that God is the ultimate creator of the universe willing it into being with natural, predictable laws. And that God created humans with a soul and a conscience, ability to reason and think and love and hate, and to do good and bad. God has given humans dominion over the earth putting responsibility on our shoulders and providing us with the resources to show us how to live, including the Law, the prophets, Christ, the Holy Spirit, & the church. God gave us freedom too, so that we are not forced into any behavior, it is through our own choice. We cannot have things both ways. We either -3-

4 have the freedom to choose or we are merely puppets. That choice means sometimes we hurt ourselves or others hurt us. Who we collectively vote for affects the budget and laws that are passed, employment and environmental law, the cost and accessibility of healthcare, whether to go to war and so on. So, some of our collective freewill decisions impact the whole city, county, state or nation or the even the world. We have the freedom to make those choices, and to disagree with each other as to the best possible solution from the options available to us. And not even all Christians will vote the same way. This is, as they say, a purple congregation. And God is not got going to force us to vote one way or the other. Can God change people s minds from doing bad things to good things? We might say can God change us from doing evil, or sinning? We have a wonderful cast of characters in the Bible who God both used and changed their lives around. To name a few: NOAH got drunk. ABRAHAM and JACOB both lied. MOSES was a murderer. DAVID was a murderer and adulterer. JONAH ran from God. PETER denied Christ. PAUL was a murderer. 1 So, yes I believe that God can change our minds from doing bad to good. But we have to be listening and open-minded. Each of us has a testimony as to how our lives are different because we follow Jesus. Some stories are more dramatic than others. Even as we follow Jesus, our lives are continually being changed. You had to really wrestle here with your theology in some uncomfortable ways when you made the decision to become a Reconciling Congregation, to publicly state that you welcomed without judgment all LGBTQ people. I had to wrestle with those questions myself at seminary. Now perhaps we need to dive deeper into questions about what is racism? May it be so! Amen. As Dawn Chesser from Rethink Church said: Hear the Good News! We can trust God to lead us where we did not plan to go. And who knows what can happen if we do what Jesus asks of us? We could see the very heavens open up and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove! We might hear the voice of God speaking! We might find our whole lives transformed! 2 Let us pray O Holy One, move us from the routines that we find comfortable. Open our ears to hear your call on our lives even if it means changing our suppositions. Help us to see that your plans are even better than where we thought we were heading. Give us the courage to answer, Here I am, send me. Renew us with your life-giving waters and re-affirm our baptisms as your children. Touch us with your Holy Spirit and transform our lives. Amen Dawn Chesser, Hey God? We ve Got Questions! Sermon Starters PDF (Nashville: Discipleship Ministries, 2017),

5 Resources Chesser, Dawn. Hey God? We ve Got Questions! Sermon Starters PDF. Nashville: Discipleship Ministries,