Calvary United Methodist Church March 1, 2015 NOT OF THIS WORLD Rev. Dr. S Ronald Parks Children s Sermon: Romans 13:8-10 Here s where the children of faith gather to give thanks to God. We welcome the youngest of the children of God to the front of the sanctuary to celebrate His good news. Take your time! There s no rush. The snow s falling. Reservations, you know, for lunch it s okay. Hey, good morning, everybody! (good morning) Ah! That was pretty lame! Good morning! (GOOD MORNING!) Good morning! (Good morning!) Hey, here we are. Went to Costco yesterday because it s about that time of the year when I need to check on my summertime supplies, you know we re talking suntan lotion, all that other good stuff. So, I get there and sure enough, I find the summer stuff aisle. Huge green kayak. Wouldn t fit in my cart. Big stand up paddle board. Already have one of them. Don t need one of them. Checking out a new bathing suit; do you think that s my color? (no) Uhha. Blue and red, matches my eyes.
Then I found this thing right here, which I thought wow! I gotta get me one of these! Actually, they come in a two pack because if you have one of these you definitely need a second one to give to somebody else. Can you guess what that does? (Shoots water!) You think it shoots water? You put it into now I haven t used this yet and it s not loaded, don t worry, it s not loaded. Do you trust me? (Yes) Okay, I m telling you it s not loaded. You are looking at me like I m about to hit you over the head with a brick. It s not loaded, honestly. But you put it in the bucket of water and you pull this part back and then you point it at somebody and you push this forward see, I told you it wasn t loaded, you still didn t believe me! This thing has a range of 70 feet. That s from here to the back of the sanctuary. Now, here s my thought. I m sitting on the sand on the beach in the summer and this thing is loaded, and people walking along the edge of the beach with their dogs and their girlfriends and boyfriends, you know you just give them a quick (bang). What do you think? (laughter) yeah, that s what I m thinking! Because I know what it s like to be down at the beach. You want stuff to do and you want things that are fun. Do you think people would really appreciate it if I hit them with a shot of water from 70 feet away and they couldn t figure out who it was? (no!) No! And I remembered they put up a bunch of brand new signs on the boardwalk at the end of last summer that had some things on it that they think, I guess this is the town of Rehoboth, thinks I need to know. Actually, there s a whole bunch of different sorts of things on the sign. Some of it is informational. Do you know what a rip current is? A rip current is a dangerous situation in the ocean where the water is rushing out very quickly in a very narrow piece of the ocean. And there are all sorts of things that you can do if you are caught in a rip current, so this part of the board was all informational and it was to help you out. Then there was this part of the board that talked about why we should keep off the dunes. How important the dunes are to the ecology of the seashore.
Then there s this other much bigger section which are beach and boardwalk rules, right? And if you look at them closely, and they are pretty well blown up on the screen you can read most of them. First of all there is no smoking. Second of all, no glass bottles or containers on the beach, no alcoholic beverages, skateboarding, feeding seagulls, sleeping on the beach or park benches. Life guards are on duty. Games involving running, using a moving object and by the way when I shoot water out of this thing it s probably considered a moving object, wouldn t you think they are not permitted. And from May 15 to September 15 bicycles are not permitted except between daybreak and 10 a.m. Rollerblades, skates, scooters, are not permitted you see there s a lot of stuff on here, isn t there? (Yes) There s nothing on there, however, about using something like this, is there? (no) No, there isn t. Sweet! No, but you know what would happen if I used that, don t you? I d get in trouble. Why are there so many rules? And it s not just at the beach. It s everywhere! You have rules in your house, don t you? Go ahead. (I know what they are for) What are they for? (There are so we can be safe). Ahh! Why are there so many were you here at the first service? That s very smart of you (I just know that from my school). You know that from your school! You are learning some good stuff at school. Rules are needed as you said, for our safety, right, because there are some dangerous situations. The rip current that it describes on the board is just one. There are all sorts of things that we need to be kept safe from. It also keeps us safe from other people, like bone heads that go to Costco and buy cool toys to use on unsuspecting beach bathers, right? Keep us safe from others.
Here s how we are supposed to play together and be safe in the presence of others who are doing other stuff and rules keep us safe from ourselves. There have been times when I have actually done something dumb. Can you imagine? And rules, like on the highway when there is a speed limit sign, that s to keep us safe from the desire that we might have to go even faster; it is to keep us safe from ourselves. Rules are also needed, however, in addition to safety, to keep order. And this is a little bit more of a discreet way that rules come into our lives. Rules are to make sure that everyone has a chance to be a part of something and to make sure that everyone has a place. These are called rights and freedoms and they help us to live together in a way which allows everybody to participate. Rules are, therefore, enforced by people who know the rules really well and have the authority to enforce them. Police, there are police walking the boardwalk, there are police on bicycles. There are police in these cool little vehicles that run around in the sand. There are also lifeguards. These are people who are especially trained to keep us safe when we are in the ocean in case something like a rip current happens and there is even national organiza-
tions like the Coast Guard which keeps us safe and maintains order. Rules tell us what we can and cannot do, but rules do not tell us what God wants us to do and the distinction is really important and Paul shares some words about how important rules are but how they don t tell us everything in Romans 13:8-10. The law is a bunch of rules. Don t steal. Don t be unfaithful. Don t want what you don t have. Those first ten laws or rules, you remember what they were called? The Ten (commandments) Commandments. Exactly right. Those tell you what not to do, right? The don ts keep you out of trouble. They keep you from doing stuff that you shouldn t do. And that s the function of rules. They tell you what NOT to do. But being faithful to God is more than just staying out of trouble. Love, according to God, is faithfulness and love is not staying out, staying off or staying away, right? Love is actually getting in! Instead of staying away, love actually tells us to get in, get in-spired to share. Get in-terested to care, to learn about each other so that we can help one another, and to get in-volved to help, to change somebody s life. That s what God s rules are about.
It s caring the way God does. And there s only one law and one rule that matters. It s a four-letter word; it starts with an L. Can you guess? (Love) It is love. That s the only law and the only rule that really matters to God. Love rules in our lives without a whole bunch of rules. Rules tell us what we can and what we can t do, but not what God wants us to do and that is love. And love is bigger than the law, because love is everywhere. Everything that God has made, every person that God has made is someone that God invites us to love. Laws change from place to place. Rules change from time to time. But love is always the same and it is huge. And love is bold. Love will have you do stuff that you never thought you would do before, like forgive people. Like offer them some help. Like maybe help them with their homework, carry their stuff, take them for a team out on the playground. Love is bold. You do stuff that other people don t do when you re filled with love. And love is blind. Believe it or not, love doesn t care what you look like, how tall you are, how short you are, what language you speak, what clothing you wear. Love doesn t care about any of that. Love is just love for love s sake. And finally, love is best. Love is the best thing you can do. When you are in a tough situation, you re not sure which is the best choice; think about which is the most loving choice. That s always the best thing to do, because love rules without rules.
The very first Methodist, whose name was John Wesley, had a really cool way of helping us remember just what love is all about. This is what he said. Read it with me: Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. Here s what that says in summary: Love everyone everywhere every way every time. Not sometimes, not when it is easy, not when it is quick and cheap. Every time! Love rules in our lives without rules. It is just about caring and sharing. One of the ways that we care and share for each other is to support one another. Last week we started a church campership collection to support our kids as they get ready to go to summer camp this year. There are four summer camps in our conference. There are lots of kids in our congregation that go, so we want to be able to help families send their kids, youth and adults to camp. So we have this program called camp scholarship or campership. What we do is we provide 50% subsidy for all the kids in the congregation if their parents would like to receive this subsidy. 18 and under, it is 50%. If you are going to camp for the very first time, it s 75% and new this year, we are providing a subsidy or a scholarship of 25% for even adults to go to camp. You are never too old to go to camp. So we would like to raise about $3,000 in six weeks. And out in the back of the sanctuary is this camping pot that I introduced you to last week which you are invited to take the little camping campership envelopes stuck in the back in the pews, you are welcome to take that. If
you didn t bring your check book or you want to make a substantial contribution, take the envelope home if you like. Bring it back next Sunday. From now through Easter we will be receiving campership donations. Last week was the first week. Now, take a guess how much money we collected last week, just last week. (24) 24 dollars? Don t read the thing! Oh, you re too smart. We collected. We collected $354, out of $3000 which we are hoping for. Is that a lot of money? It is a lot of money. Is it even close to $3000? No. No, it s not, so we are going to keep working at it. We are going to keep giving one another the opportunity and reminding one another of what God invites us to do, which is to love one another without rules. We make that all that we are and who that we are, and that s why we are the church. Thanks for sharing in our time this morning. Message: John 18:33-38 (Video) Do you remember where you were when you heard about this shooting at Nickle Mines Schoolhouse? It was October 2, 2006. At 10:27 on a Tuesday morning, Charles Carl Roberts IV backed his pickup truck up against the front porch of that tiny little one room schoolhouse, unloaded several containers and satchels full of weaponry and other things, invited some of the people there to leave and then stood ten young girls between the ages of six and thirteen up against the blackboard and systematically shot them, killing five, severely injuring the other five before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life. The news of what had happened in that quiet Lancaster community went around the world in a matter of moments. People were shocked at the insanity of such a crime. They could not believe that one human
being could have so much anger in his heart toward God, as his suicide not said that he could perpetrate such an atrocity. But what was equally surprising to the world was what was portrayed by the movie that you just saw a brief snippet from called Amish Grace. As the newscaster mentioned watching the three Amish men walk into the house, it s like they are going for tea. Have you ever seen anything like it? And the cameraman replies No. Never. There s a reason you don t see things like that too often. It s because that kind of grace is foreign to most of us. It is so alien to the way our world operates, so unusual and incredibly out of the norm that most people have difficulty even wrapping their head around it, let alone understanding it, let alone trying to have it be a part of their understanding of who they are. Grace like that is foreign because the Kingdom of God is not from this world. It does not emanate out of us, it does not arise out of our minds, out of our hearts, out of our consciousness. There s nothing like it that you know of or that you ve ever experienced that kind of grace. The Kingdom of God is not from here. And Jesus is all about making sure that we know that. On the last night of his life, standing before Pontius Pilate, he flat out says it. Pilate asks him, Are you a king? Now, Pilate is asking from the perspective of a Roman ruler who wants to know if in this individual there is a challenge to his authority, to the order that Roman rule establishes. Are you a king? And Jesus said My kingdom is not of this world. It is not to be understood by this world, it doesn t find expression in many places in this world and it is not governed by the way people govern the kingdoms of this world. It is, if my kingdom was like your kingdom, Pilate, then my disciples would serve me as soldiers and they would fight at my command. It would be a clash of military might. It would be a battle of muscle. Pilate says in response:
So, you are a king! because the idea that a kingdom may exist that s not part of this military political order is just foreign to him. And Jesus answered: So you say. I was born into the world to testify to the truth and everyone on the side of the truth listens to me. And all Pilate can say is this rather obtuse philosophical retort: So, what is truth? And that s the question that you and I have to answer as we walk through life with one foot in this world and one foot in the kingdom of the next. And as we pray the Lord s Prayer, we are reminded of how special and how different God s will, God s law, God s rule; God s kingdom is from everything else that we see. Last week we began our study of the prayer. Pray like this, Jesus says to his disciples. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. And those three little pieces, last week we talked about them in terms of establishing God s place in the order of all things. Our God is in all. That s how it is Our Father not my Father, not your Father, God is the creator, the source, the wellspring from which all being comes. Our Father, who art in heaven. God is by definition above all, beyond all, in all and through all, but still a mystery to all. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. God is Holy and God is over all. Above it, but also intimately involved in it and God reigns. God has authority. God rules over all. That s that first little piece of the Lord s Prayer. But here s the kingdom stuff. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is already is done in heaven.
That s how we know that the kingdom does not come up from the life that we live in this world. It is a gift given to us. It is not of this world. s There are people who suggest that this kingdom stuff, this is an interesting piece of Jesus Gospel. It is not a part of the Gospel. The teaching of the Kingdom of God is the Gospel of Christ. It is the first thing in the Gospel of Mark when John the Baptist walks out of the wilderness and says Repent. The Kingdom of God is at hand. And Jesus steps right up and is baptized and takes that proclamation and walks forward with it. And everything that Jesus does in some way reveals and unveils the kingdom. His teaching opens the kingdom by opening up our minds to considering that which is not so obvious and that which we had already assumed we understood. Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter the kingdom; only those who do the will of my Father. Jesus is talking about the idea of righteousness. All the teachings, if you do this, if you give this, all those rules, those 635 rules of the Levitical Law, if you do that stuff than you and God are like this. Jesus says You can do all that stuff, you can call me Lord, but if you re not driven by the love of God, if you re not doing what God demands of us, expects of us, tasks us to do, then you don t understand the kingdom because you are not in it. His parables reveal the truth of the kingdom and the parables are not always easy for us to understand. He keeps talking about seeds and light and all sorts of bizarre things that for us, as 21 st century human beings, we have to really study that stuff, because it s not apparent to us. And the disciples time and time again ask Why do you keep teaching us in parables? Can t you just explain what it is you re trying to say? Jesus does explain it. You ve been given insight into God s
kingdom. You know how it works and not everybody has this gift, this insight. Whenever someone has a ready heart for the kingdom, the insight and the inspiration freely flows. Look what s important to know: if our heart is ready, then we will be inspired, then all truth will be revealed to us. It will freely flow into us, all the teachings and all the parables is to help our heart become ready for that which God wants to teach us. And his miracles: regardless of what you think of them as you read them, and believe me, it is hard as a 21 st century person to read the stories of the healings and all the other things he does and not come at it with critical eyes, with scientific eyes and that s okay. But the purpose of the miracles is to demonstrate that the kingdom has come in the presence of this person. Listen to his words, hear his stories and his parables, but see what he does. If it is by the Spirit of God that I heal and I bring wholeness to you, then the kingdom of God has come to you. That kingdom is right here, as John says. It s right here at your hand. Repent and believe and let wholeness come and the Kingdom of God has come to you. And as we approach Holy week, as we approach Palm Sunday and then Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, the sacrifice which simply makes real all the teachings and all the parables and all the miracles, that sacrifice explains the cost of the kingdom for Christ and what Christ invites us to participate in. This is how we know what love is. Christ gave his life for us. We therefore must lay down our lives for one another. How can God s kingdom reign in anybody who sees someone in need and has the ability to help, but refuses to do so? Not every opportunity for you to share God s love is going to come to you in a life defining, death defying opportunity. Most of the ways that we allow the Kingdom of God to come through us in sacrifice comes in ways that we have a decision about. We have to choose whether we are going to be
generous and gracious, whether we are going to forgive and reconcile, whether we are going to heal or whether we are going to hurt and divide and critique and judge. This is all our choice. But when the heart is ready, God will inspire and when we see the need, we respond. His resurrection, then, displays the victory of the kingdom. It s not Christ s victory. Jesus doesn t pick himself up off the slab and roll the stone away. God s victory is the resurrection. God s victory is Easter Sunday. Our natural earthly lives do not take us into the Kingdom of God. You know that you are dust, born to die. Every morning I m reminded that I m getting older. There are mirrors in my house. And every day it s a reminder that my time is coming to an end, that there are more days behind me than there are before me, unless I live to be 116. We are dust. We are born to die, but that s not the last word. In one single victorious stroke of life, sin and guilt and death are gone, the gift of our master, Jesus the Christ, and thanks be to God for it. This kingdom stuff, it s easy to understand. Think of it like this: it s when God s desire and design comes to us and defines our identity, when we are no longer the people that we have thought that we were, the people that you write out the resumes of, the people that you write the obituaries for, the people that you critique on your job evaluations. All of those people, these are the things that define our identities: how much we make, where we work, who we are married to, who are kids are, who are parents are, what church we belong to, but these are not the things that define you. They may define your relationships and affiliations, but they don t define you. God is inviting us to make His design for all things and His desire for a new creation to be the defining quality of who we are. Let us not be conformed to this world, as Paul says. Let us be transformed by the renewal of our minds, that we may prove what is the will and the Kingdom of God, what is good and right and noble and perfect, and
that only happens not because you decide to be nice. It happens because you invite Christ to define your identity as a kingdom citizen. And that kingdom comes as that desire and design of God finds its way into everything that we do. It determines our activity. It determines how we spend money, it determines how we schedule our time, it determines who we consider to be neighbor, right? That s what the Good Samaritan story is all about: who is the neighbor? Whoever s right next to me in need, that s who my neighbor is. That s the challenge to help. That s the opportunity to bring the kingdom right up in front of somebody else, because it is already here in me. It determines our activity. And that kingdom comes not only as my identity is turned over to Christ, not only is my activity, my scheduling, my calendar becomes filled with things that give me the opportunity not only to be refreshed, but to be a refreshment to somebody else. It defines us and it describes our community together as a church. This is Calvary. There were nine people at the hospitality desk this morning and nobody was there. So Pastor Jeff stepped up. And he didn t know what to do. (laughter) Because it s not his job! It s your job. Not to stand at the desk and not to hand them an orange nametag. They are here in this room. Do you know where they are? Have you looked for them? They are here. I m telling you. They may have an orange do they have orange nametags? They have orange nametags. He knew that much. He gave them an orange nametag. I wouldn t have known that. What describes our community? Calvary? United Methodist? Church? Those are nice words. They put forth an expectation. The only thing that really describes this community, however, that has any validity, is the kingdom. The Kingdom of God. Is it here? Is it here? Is in what we do? Is it in what we publish, what we promote, what we re involved in, the missions we do, the ministry that we share? Is the kingdom here? Is God s design and desire the thing that defines who we are?
Because when it comes in us as individuals and it defines our identity and when it totally determines what we do and who we are and then when it becomes part of our community, we can trust that it will deliver us to our eternal destiny. You don t have to worry about where you are going and I m not talking about heaven and hell. I m talking about living a life that matters, living a life that has eternal significance, living a life that is everlasting. Not because it goes on in time indefinitely, but because it is connected to the quality, the characteristics, the identifying self that makes us kingdom citizens. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, in us, as it is in heaven. That s what we re praying about. The Kingdom of God is not of this world. That kind of grace portrayed in that movie, embodied by those individuals, it is foreign, it is alien, it is in-human, but when the Kingdom of God, when that design and desire, lives in us and defines our identity and determines our activity and shapes us as a community and then delivers us into our destiny, not only is the Kingdom of God not of this world, but neither are you and I. Let us present our tithes and offerings.