Hindsight

When we look at the story Jesus tells at the end of the sermon on the mount we don’t often fully grasp the significance of that summation.

Matthew was a tax collector.  As a tax collector he was trained in a Roman form of short-hand.  When he listened to Jesus sermons I’m sure he took a few notes.  So when we read Matthew we find 5 major sermons given by Jesus.

Yet when I read the sermon on the mount it doesn’t really read as one sermon, it feels more like a compilation of the poignant ideas of many sermons blended together by topic.  In fact that’s the way the Old Testament recorders of history put together their stories.  They didn’t feel it necessary to put stories in chronological order but sometimes preferred topical order. 

Matthew puts this house on the rock story at the end of what we call the sermon on the mount.  So we need to think of it as the culmination, pinnacle, apex and climax of Jesus story.  We also need to use it to interpret the entire sermon.  

When you go see a movie and you find out who the murderer is at the end, all of a sudden all the clues throughout the movie make sense.  The same is true of the sermon on the mount.

Therefore you can read the sermon on the mounts as follows:

If you apply the Beatitudes (5:1-20) to your life you’re like a man who builds his house on the rock.

If you apply the King’s Edicts (5:21-48) to your life you’re like a man who builds his house on the rock.

If you apply the Strategy for Spiritual Growth (6) to your life you’re like a man who builds his house on the rock.

If you apply the Relationship of Father to Son (7:1-23) to your life you’re like a man who builds his house on the rock.

Read through Matthew 5, 6, & 7 and see if this story helps you read the rest of the sermon.

I feel very self-conscious and inadequate writing today but I’m compelled to address the Newtown Connecticut tragedy.  I hope this is accepted as I intend it.

In the 1980’s Karen Burton Mains toured the refuge camps of the world.  Camps where adults and children were held for political crimes or famine related issues.  The camps were excruciatingly inhumane and ultimately chaotic. From her experiences she wrote a book that is incredibly meaningful to me entitled, “The Fragile Curtain.”  She chose that title because she came to realize that in the U.S.A. she was living behind a black curtain that kept her blind from the traumas the people in the rest of the world encountered.  There was a phrase she used toward the end of the book to describe the horrific conditions she experienced.  She wrote this, “My fragile curtain has been torn.”  That is how I feel today. 

Without the hope of eternal life in Christ, where there is no more crying or mourning or pain, where there is no more death, my hope in comfort and consolation would be shredded.  There is an insidious evil in our world, even in the supposedly safe areas of America, which defies rational explanation or logical understanding.  Evil has seeped into the lives of the naïve and innocent with a raw intensity that will defy psychiatry and counseling for years.  It will lift its horrendously ugly head in dreams and feelings in those who have endured their horribly traumatic day and they will never fully heal.  PTSD and other syndromes will be discussed and encountered for lifetimes.  There will be no opportunity for denial.  There is no reason “why” that will open the door of insight and personal healing.  Irrationality has no definition and this kind of childhood violence has no justification, therefore finding a satisfying explanation is impossible.  Healing the brokenhearted and binding their wounds will be slow.

The only option for us is love.  To love those who have lost someone they love. To love them so that possibly one day they might be able to encounter a day that has some normality to it with no high definition memories.  Every Christmas will force the facing of a holy day milieu that will be oppressive and dark.  

We desperately need to feel the grief of fellow humans who are just trying to take their next breath.  Who will get to that point of exhaustion and hope for some brief period of sleep so the hurt can be held at bay for an hour or two.  If I sound morbid and defeatist it’s because I, in a very very minor partial way, realize how long and painful will be the healing from emotional grief for a 5 year old child.

My fragile curtain has been torn.  I thank God my children are alive and enjoying life. And yet I fret.  I worry selfishly because I don’t want to be a grieving parent.  I don’t want to be the one who loses someone they love.

Praying for the community of people in Newtown with tangible expressions of love is our only option.  It won’t allow anyone to escape the psychological damage, and the process of grief that these poor people will have to endure.  But we can at least expend sympathy and some small acts of love.

If you have the gift of mercy or compassion why not write down the name of a parent who has lost a child today and send a card every month for a few years.  See if God can use your concern and love to, in some small way, help someone to heal.  

One other thing, hug, forgive, call, love your kids, parents, family, and thank God for the privilege of having them in your life.

So, for your Pastor, tonight, if you have young kids, do what was my favorite part of being a dad of young kids.  Give them a bath and afterward pull their little wet, warm, naked bodies wrapped in terry cloth close and inhale the sweet scent of shampoo and soap.  Then throw them down on the carpet and put your mouth on their bellies and blow out as hard as you can, making what Bill Cosby used to call "zerbets!"  Which are really just giant fart noises made with your mouth on their belly!  And while their laughing hysterically and asking you why you're crying just say, "God has filled me so full of love for you it just leaks out."

God bless,

Pastor Ed

Hindsight

Zacharias had finished offering the incense inside the Holy Place of the Temple.  He had prayed, talked to the angel Gabriel and emerged from the Temple to take his place on the porch.  He descended the stairs of the porch and approached the altar where the sacrifice was arranged.  He was supposed to now offer the prayer, called the Benediction, and the fires would be lit to finish the Sabbath sacrifice to God. 

But he found he couldn’t utter a word!  The statement of the angel Gabriel was true!  He could no longer speak. 

People initially waited and waited, the tension rising, the moment becoming more and more uncomfortable.  “Zacharias is supposed to pray, why doesn’t he open his mouth?!” they wondered.

Finally another priest moves toward him and others follow.  They discover Zacharias is not so emotionally and spiritually moved by his moment in the Temple that he’s unable to speak.  He’s not so overwhelmed by his responsibility to pray in front of all these hundreds of people that he cannot speak.  He’s just unable to speak!

Nine months and eight days later they bring their baby to the Temple for circumcision and naming. When the child is named John Zacharias’ ability to speak returns and he prays the prayer that he would have prayed at the altar.  He addresses God and honors all that He has done and will do for His people.  Then he adds a few choice sentences for the role his own son John will play in the plan of God.

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins…”

John is called a Prophet!  There hadn’t been one seen for 400 years in Israel.  And it was true.  John prepared people for the coming of Jesus Christ.  When Jesus stepped into his public teaching role John said of Him, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

Do you remember what Jesus said of John?  He said, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist…”  Matthew 11:11

Hindsight

The interesting thing about Biblical prophecy is that the readers during Jesus time accepted the prophecy as prediction of the future.  That sounds a little silly but today we have to prove that the prophecy was actually written before it was fulfilled, then prove that it wasn’t tampered with, then prove that it applies to the actual event, then prove something else!  But when Jesus fulfilled prophecy it was in existence for at least 400 years and everyone knew it was written before it happened. Their parents had read it to them in synagogue before Jesus was born. They knew it wasn’t tampered with because they had memorized it together as a family before Jesus was born.  They lived in the culture where Jesus fulfilled it exactly as it was written. 

Why am I telling you this?

Because the impact of prophecy was greater on the original readers during Jesus time than it is on us today!  Why?  Because they felt the authenticity, they felt the exact fulfillment, they felt the authority and they felt the actual event!  We feel the shadow of a fulfillment that is 2,000 years old. 

Think of the end of child labor in the English-speaking world!  Wow, doesn’t that make your toes tingle?  Think of the end of home remedies and the advent of modern medicine!  Wow, doesn’t that bring back recollections of the black plague, polio and epidemic influenza that used to kill thousands?  Think of the end of outhouses!  Wow, doesn’t that bring back memories of walking through the snow in the middle of the night?  None of those issues are very meaningful to us because most of us didn’t experience the improvement of life or the direct impact of those culture shifts.

Because we’re separated from the events of prophecy we lose the emotional impact of the audaciousness of the fulfillment.

If I could give you an experience of the hair on the back of your neck standing up I’d have to; pick the stock, exhort you to put every penny you could scrounge up into it and tell you to hold it for 2 years, 2 months, 2 days, 2 hours and 22 minutes and then sell it at the exact time I prescribed and you’d be a trillionaire!  You’d appreciate my prophetic ability.  The hair on the back of your neck would stand up.

That’s the feeling the first century Jewish people experienced when Jesus fulfilled prophecy.  Jesus fulfilling prophecy struck people as unbelievable.  So they put it all on the line for Jesus and he fulfilled every expectation and prophecy the Old Testament could throw at Him!

I just wish I could feel the ancient fulfillment in the here and now like they did!

Hindsight

Freedom is one of the tremendous blessings for which I’m thankful to God!  I didn’t mention it in my sermon Sunday because I had to keep my message to 9 tremendous blessings!  But I am so thankful for a country that allows me to live out my freedom of religion in whatever way I see fit. 

Freedom is why we have the opportunity tonight at 4:30 to hand out fliers inviting Visalia Christmas Parade attenders to GateWay during the holiday season. 

146 people responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ in 2011and made a commitment.  Did you know that we're on the same pace or even ahead of that number this year?  Do you think God is using GateWay to reach, touch, heal, encourage, and save people in the Visalia region for Christ? 

Almost 38 years ago Cindy invited me to go to church with her.  I heard the message and responded by accepting Christ.  There are people who are valuable to God waiting to connect in a relationship with Him if we’ll just be bold and invite them to GateWay. 

We’re meeting at Starbucks on Main St. at 4:30.  Be a part of what God is doing at GateWay. 

Let’s utilize our freedom of religious expression and reach out to those who don’t have a church home this Christmas season.  

Hindsight

$41,218.00 worth of cash and commitments were made to Network Missions at GateWay on Sunday!  Thank you for your generosity and trust in what GateWay is doing to reach people for Christ.  Because of your gifts we were able to give Pastor Bill’s Metro Ministries a check for $10,000.00  That gift will keep buses rolling and Sunday School happening all over New York.  If you weren't able to give and would like to just drop a check in the offering marked "Network Missions."

I hope you had a great day hearing Pastor Bill Wilson’s story.  Someone said the job of a Pastor is,  “To comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable!”  I think Pastor Bill epitomizes that sentiment.  He went to Brooklyn to be a missionary to the urban world and his desire was to not only make a difference not in their physical living conditions but in their knowledge of God and commitment to Jesus Christ.  The staff of Metro Ministries has literally led tens of thousands of children to Christ.

I hope your were inspired and motivated not just to give financially but to think of yourself as the Bill Wilson missionary to your world!

GateWay to Christmas is coming and it’s the perfect opportunity to be on mission to invite friends, relatives and neighbors to a Christian Christmas experience.  Take a step of faith and buy some extra tickets and reach your friends for Christ!

Hindsight

Romans 16 is a roll call of important people in the life of the Apostle Paul.  I hope you’re taking time this week to make your list of people who are important in your life!

Bill Wilson is one of those important people for me.

I met Bill in 1987 at People’s Church in Fresno.  I was astounded by his story of moving into the Bushwick community of Brooklynn to begin a ministry to retrieve and minister to hurting and abandoned children. Bill began with the name of Yogi Bear Sunday School but soon adopted the new name of Metro Ministries.

Bushwick is an area filled with drugs, violence and urban dysfunction.  Bill has been beaten, stabbed and shot in the face, yet he stays in this to touch the lives of children.

Due to the success of Metro’s programs, President George Bush, Sr. appointed Pastor Bill to serve on the National Commission on America’s Urban Families in 1991. Metro’s influence was also identified as a factor in the noticeable reduction of crime in the Bushwick community and the organization was featured on ABC’s Nightline.

Bill will be speaking at GateWay this Sunday at 8:45, 10:30 and 6pm (There will be a Thursday night service but Bill will not be able to be a part of it.)

If you’d like to read Bill’s biographical book please call the church office and come by and pick up a copy as they’re available.

Come meet someone who was added to my list!  Bring some friends, they will be amazed by Bill’s story.

God bless,

Pastor Ed