Our Work is Never Done

Today's sermon serves a good reminder that our work is never completed.  In everything we do, Christians are called to give glory to God and to grow His kingdom.  No job, gift, or blessing is any more significant than any other.  Even the pain or hurt we encounter is meant to help us grow our faith and God uses those moments to show his power, mercy and grace.  The scripture used for today's sermon comes from Luke 13:31-35:

³¹ At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” ³² And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. ³³ Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ ³⁴ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! ³⁵ Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Today’s scripture is one of the many scenarios where we find Jesus and the Pharisees crossing paths.  The relationship between Jesus and the Pharisees is one that is very odd at times because it was so up and down.  In today’s scripture they appear to be helping Jesus by warning him that Herod is looking to kill him and they encourage Jesus to keep moving to so he could avoid his death.  They did not and honestly could not understand that the most important aspect of Jesus’ ministry was yet to come.  This lead me to think about how we approach our own legacy.  It is a common human desire to want our name, heritage, or money to be passed onto the next generation.  We have this desire to be something so great that our legacy will continue to live on long after we have passed.  This got me thinking about a different kind of legacy that we leave.  It got me wondering about my “Christian legacy” and how my faith would be remembered.  Then I got to thinking, if some stranger who had no idea who I was accidently stumbled into my funeral what conclusions could they draw about me?  Would they get the impression that I was a person who loved others just as Christ did?  Would they get the impression that God was an active part of my life?  Could the stranger see that I loved Christ and lived a life in accordance to the scriptures?  My hope is that the stranger would see that I was not perfect as I never claimed to be but see that I lived a life that allowed for growth in the kingdom of God.  My hope is that I made such an impact on those around me that they would be closer to God because of their relationship with me.  And I would hope that the stranger would realize that without a shadow of a doubt that I loved God and believed in His eternal kingdom.  

Besides the legacy that Jesus left for us to follow, there is another legacy that is at stake in today’s scripture.  Herod’s legacy is not a good one, when it comes to the life and time of Jesus, Judas is probably the only one with a legacy that is more negative than that of Herod’s.  Herod was the ruler that the Romans had put in place to rule in Jerusalem but he did not like the fact that Jesus was developing quite the following.  It is no secret that when Jesus said he had to keep moving is was because he did or he would have been killed before he had fulfilled his duties here on earth.  But why did Herod have it out for Jesus so bad, why did he want to kill Jesus, and eventually John the Baptist?  What did Jesus do to him that made Herod want to end his life?  Well there are a couple of factors at play in this scenario, first, Jesus was starting to get a lot of people following him.  He was curing the sick and casting out demons and people were starting to realize that Jesus was spreading a message of love, hope, mercy and grace and they wanted to be a part of what he was preaching about.  Herod did not like the fact that people were starting to listen to what Jesus was saying and Herod did not want their to be a revolt against him so he decided to do something about it before the crowd following Jesus gets too large to do something about it.  But little did Herod know that the crowd that was following him around there would be the same crowd that would eventually yell, “Crucify Him!”  The second factor, and I think the most important, is the fact that Herod did take the time to learn what Jesus was all about.  I believe that Herod was very curious about Jesus and what his message.  So, instead of learning about Jesus, Herod found it easier to persecute and execute people like Jesus and John the Baptist.  I firmly believe that absolutely all of us have a little bit of Herod in us where we find it easier to look down upon what we do not understand than it is to take the time to understand it.  All too often we take the easy path on this when we see someone struggling or in pain, it is much easier for us to cast our pity on them than it is to actually help and understand them.  On the other hand, when someone says something that we disagree with, we would much rather get angry then talk to them about it and try to understand why they may have said what they did.  But God calls us to be better than this.  Instead of getting angry or casting out pity, God calls us to seek and understand them.  In seeking to understand you demonstrate the same qualities that Jesus did.  The lesson that we can learn from Herod is that all too often it is much easier to persecute what we do not understand than it is to seek understanding.  God's love, power, mercy, grace and hope can all be found when you seek to understand God’s people.  Look at how different Herod’s legacy could have been if he would have taken the time to get to know and understand Christ.  I just do not want you to make the same mistake.  Even if you are unsure, if you have a ton of questions, take the time to get to know Christ.  Or if you have known him in the past, take time to reacquaint yourself with him as we go through the Lenten season.  

As we continue through Lent, it is important that we continue to prepare our hearts and minds for Jesus’ death and resurrection, it is important that we seek to know and understand him.  But it is just as important to seek and understand our fellow man.  God does not care what they look like or what they have done and we shouldn’t either.  It has become too easy for us to judge someone: the LIKE button on Facebook, the Retweet button on Twitter, the thumbs up on Pandora.  We are constantly judging whether or not we like someone’s status enough to click share.  The point is this:  It is much easier to judge someone than it is to understand them.  If a stranger walked stumbled into your funeral would they know they were at a funeral for a person who cared about others or would the stranger hear of a person who judged others?  As we get closer to Easter, I want all of you to be thinking about your Christian legacy.  How do you want your faith to be remembered?  But more importantly, how are you going to pass that faith on?

In closing, today’s scripture made reference to the fact that Jesus’ ministry is three-fold: today, tomorrow, and the day following.  I do not think Jesus was speaking strictly literally here.  Jesus is foreshadowing his death by making reference to the three days of his death and resurrection but I think he is trying to tell us something more.  Jesus is trying to tell us that our ministry and our faith needs be active in all three "days."  Today, of course, represents the present.  Our ministry and faith need to be active in the present, we cannot rely on the works of yesterday or the potential of tomorrow.  We have to be living in today.  Tomorrow represents the future and the fact that we must continually pass our faith on to the next generation.  Our Christian legacy must continue on through each generation and we must have a faith so strong that others want to be a part of it.  And the day following represents eternity.  God’s message of love, hope, mercy and faith transcends time.  In God, and in Him alone can we find everlasting life, love and peace. If you want to experience a God who walks with you today, tomorrow and the day following, all you have to do is ask Him into you heart.  If you are striving to be more like Christ, you must first accept that Jesus took your sins to the cross and then rose again.  Sometimes God just gently tugs on your heart and other times he clubs you over the head but if God is calling you give your heart to Him I encourage you to do that today.  Or if you would like to join our family here at Fairview, we would love for you to join us today, tomorrow, and the day after.   Amen.

I would like to include the Benediction and prayer as a part of today's sermon:
As you go out into the world this week do so to seek understanding so we can learn not to judge.  Please pray with me, Dear Heavenly Father we ask that you be with us this week as we do our best to seek and understand you.  You are the epitome of mercy, grace, hope, faith and love but Father I ask that you bless us this week with a little of each one of those.  Father, your blessings are too many to count and we want to lift up to you those whom the world seems to have forgotten about.  We know that you do not forget about them, we just ask that you send someone to take care of them.  Father, we ask that you help our faith flourish today, grow tomorrow,  last for eternity.  Finally Father we ask that you help us to be the light, salt, and bread in a dark, tasteless, and hungry world. Amen.

God Bless,

Clinton
Fairview Christian Church