May 17, 2015, at First UMC (recognition of grads, confirmation, mission team)

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Ernest Thompson
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1 SERMON TITLE: The Hour Has Come SERMON TEXT: John 17:1-8, PREACHER: Rev. Kim James OCCASION: May 17, 2015, at First UMC (recognition of grads, confirmation, mission team) INTRODUCTION I don t think it s stretching things too much to say that the hour has come. When Samantha Costello and Savannah Moore move their tassels with the rest of their Weber High School classmates on Tuesday night, they will be marking a big occasion. Those young people have spent two-thirds of their lives preparing for this important event, and now it s here. The hour comes with a mix of emotions: relief at having made it and a sense of loss that it s all over, excitement for the celebrations and a discomfort with being the focus of attention, hopeful anticipation of future plans and more than a little anxiety about what comes next. This is a time for proud reflection on past accomplishments, and a time to consider the challenges ahead. Of course, graduation from high school isn t the only hour which has come. This is also the actual hour of Megan Egbert s confirmation that she believes and chooses the Christian faith into which she was baptized when she was a baby. And it s the hour we re going to commission our Volunteer in Mission team, before the team heads off to work in Colorado. If I haven t named your situation yet, maybe you re approaching another kind of hour. Marriage is an hour with great significance, as is divorce. The birth of a child or grandchild is a precious hour. When our nest becomes empty, that s an hour. Obtaining a promotion, moving to a new community, and retiring are all hours of change and refocus. Hearing a terminal diagnosis is an hour. In his prayer in John 17, Jesus refers to an hour which would include his death on the cross, his resurrection from the grave, and his ascension to God. His whole life had been focused toward this hour. He hadn t been ready earlier. But now the hour had come. This morning, I d like us to look briefly at Jesus prayer and see what Jesus can teach us about this hour which has come.

2 2 1 TO KNOW GOD The first thing Jesus tells us is that the hour has come to know God. In John 17, Jesus is praying for himself and his disciples just prior to his arrest and crucifixion. In the prayer, Jesus indicates that knowing God is the essence of eternal life. Jesus says that he has made God s name known to the disciples. Through Jesus earthly ministry and witness, the disciples have come to know who God is. To know God is basic to this hour. It s basic like the fact that a high school graduate ought to know how to read. Just as reading teachers helped us with phonics and vocabulary, Sunday School teachers, preachers, and the Bible itself have told us stories of God s mighty acts in the world. If we haven t taken advantage of those opportunities and resources yet, then now is the time to begin because this is the hour to know God. Some of us think we know God, but we have a hard time saying what it is that we know. If asked, we d be put on the spot. We d be like the man who was eating in a restaurant with some friends. As they were dining together, one of the friends said, Wouldn t it be interesting if you could turn back the clock and live your life over again? Well, you know what I would like? said [the man]. I d like to be eighteen years old but to know what I know now. At this point the waitress, who had been clearing the table, stopped and said, I m eighteen. What is it that you know? 1 Unfortunately, all the man could do was shrug. Knowing God has something to do with information that we supposedly could tell other people. But knowing God is more than just facts in our heads. Knowing God is an attitude about life that involves a relationship with our divine creator. Knowing God means living according to the wisdom passed down through God s people. Knowing God means accepting the grace and hope that come from God s compassionate mercy. Knowing God means having a familiarity that allows you to speak with God any time about any thing. Knowing God means having the assurance that God will see you through whatever difficulties you may encounter.

3 3 If you don t yet know God like this, then the hour has come for you to begin. Jesus did a good job teaching his disciples about God, but one of them betrayed him, one of them denied him, and they all ran away when the pressure became too intense. Maybe they didn t know God as well as they should have. Maybe we don t either. But the good news is that we can begin now. The hour has come to know God. 2 TO BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST The hour has also come to believe in Jesus Christ. For some people, it s a lot easier to know God than to believe in Jesus. I remember one time when I had a conversation with my dad about this subject. My dad didn t profess to be a Christian until he was almost 50 years old. It wasn t too hard for him to believe that God existed; after all, someone or something had to have initiated the creation of the earth and all the plants and animals. But Jesus was a different story. Jesus could just have been an extraordinary teacher and influential man. For a long time, my dad saw no reason to believe that Jesus was God s divine Son. But then some people who did believe in Jesus divinity became friends with my dad. Those Christian people showed Dad that Jesus wasn t just a person who lived 2000 years ago. The habits of goodness and practices of grace that Dad saw in those Christian believers gave evidence that Jesus is still alive today, bringing God s divine nature into human experience even now. Believing that Jesus is God in the flesh means welcoming God into our own human flesh. Believing in Jesus means believing that our very ordinary and sinful lives can be transformed by the holy and divine. Believing in Jesus means having assurance that our sins are forgiven and our hearts are washed clean. Believing in Jesus means living with the same kind of values and compassion that Jesus demonstrated. If you don t yet believe in Jesus, you can begin to do so now. Today isn t just the end of confirmation class or the completion of a K-12 education. Today can be a time of new beginnings for our spiritual life. This is the hour to receive the forgiving mercy of Christ and allow the divinity of God to dwell in our human flesh. The hour has come to believe in Jesus Christ.

4 4 3 TO BE SANCTIFIED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT If the hour has come to know God and to believe in Jesus Christ, then the hour has also come to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In John 17:17, Jesus prayed that God would sanctify the disciples in truth. That truth was what Jesus had previously taught his disciples. In John chapters 14 and 16, Jesus had told his disciples that he would be going away. But he wouldn t leave them alone. Instead, he would send the Holy Spirit, as an advocate, comforter, and guide. The Spirit of truth would turn their pain into joy and bring them peace. When Jesus then prayed, in John 17, for his disciples to be sanctified, Jesus was asking God to fill them with the power of holiness so that they could continue to live in the world but not be contaminated or determined by the world. Jesus was praying that the Holy Spirit would protect them and embolden them to stand tall in their Christian faith, so they could live in the manner that Jesus had taught them. This prayer that the disciples would be sanctified by the Holy Spirit was critical for the disciples. They had given up so much to follow Jesus. Then, when he was killed on the cross, their faith wavered in fear. They could have easily fallen away, except for Jesus appearances among them following the resurrection. Being able to talk with Jesus, walk beside him, and touch his wounds with their hands sustained their faith. But when Jesus resurrection appearances would come to an end, would the disciples be able to keep on believing? So Jesus assured them that the Holy Spirit would be coming upon them, to give them power for their faith and ministry. It was like a guarantee that there would be an on-going supply of fuel to keep their Christian engines running. The hour had come to fill up their tanks from the never-ending supply of God s spiritual energy. The hour has come for us too to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It s good to know God and believe in Jesus Christ, but we can t stop with those basics. If we do, we ll find ourselves living in the past. We ll be like the girl who called her friend to tell her what gifts she had received for her graduation:

5 5... and Grandma gave me a diary, she said. It s a nice diary, but it s awfully late to start on a diary now, when everything has already happened. 2 Our Christian experience can t be limited to what we learned about God in childhood Sunday School classes or even to a time when we accepted Jesus Christ as our savior. Anyone with any years behind them knows that things happen in life that you can t predict or plan for. Some of those happenings are positive and fun and some are agonizing and traumatic. Either way, our faith must be constantly growing and changing to fit the new circumstances in which we find ourselves. The Holy Spirit of God enables us to ride the waves of life and stay afloat. The Holy Spirit empowers us to experience our faith in new ways, in new places, and with new people. The hour has come to receive the power of God s holiness. Only when we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit will we be able to fulfill our calling to be witnesses for Christ, sent out into the world. CONCLUSION I don t know how true it is, but there s an old story about Gracie Allen who was a comedienne in the early 1900s. Gracie had called a repairman to come to fix her electric clock. When he saw the clock, the repairman knew immediately what the problem was. There s nothing wrong with the clock, he told her. You didn t have it plugged in. Then Gracie replied, I don t want to waste electricity, so I only plug it in when I want to know what time it is. 3 Well, electricity or not, we know that the hour has come. We can almost hear the Pomp and Circumstance tune already, and in just a few minutes we ll be reciting the membership ritual and sending out our Volunteers in Mission team. Others of us are moving to new houses, starting new jobs, preparing to change schools, or coming to the end of a long journey. Whatever our life situation, the hour has come to clarify and strengthen our faith. It s time for us to know God, to believe in Jesus Christ, and to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The hour has come. 1 Adapted from Eric W. Johnson, ed., A Treasury of Humor, (Ivy Books: New York, 1989), p p p. 180.

died. Of course, the three small children were quite sad. To help them with their grief, their mother

died. Of course, the three small children were quite sad. To help them with their grief, their mother SERMON TITLE: The Holy Who? SERMON TEXT: John 14:15-27 PREACHER: Rev. Kim James OCCASION: May 21, 2017, at First UMC INTRODUCTION There s an old story about a family that had a pet parakeet. The day came