One of Those Days...

There was an aspect of this sermon that I wish I would have expanded on because I have continued to think about it since Sunday.  As you read through this sermon you will find that I say that the closer we are to the will of God the better we will be able to see the blessings that God lays in front of us.  I always wondered how I would help someone cope with the sudden loss of a loved one who passed before their time.  I always thought I would tell the family that God called them to heaven before we were ready for them to leave.  I always thought this would somehow help the family cope but the more I thought about it, I would not feel better about what had happened if someone would have told me this.  On the other hand, if someone were to ask me why they lost their loved one I feel like I should say that I do not know.  There is a lot of things about God that we do not understand and this leads a lot of us to just give up on God, our faith, and ultimately on each other.  But what our faith does is that it gives us the tools to deal with situations that we do not understand, situations that do not seem fair are easier to handle when we have faith.  This is where seeing those blessings, often they are in disguise, because of our faith becomes important.  Because of faith, tragedy has the opportunity to be transformed into hope.  If we make it the goal of our faith to get as close as we can to the spirit of God then we will be better prepared to handle the tragedies of life.  Just because you believe, just because you are a devout Christian, just because you have faith it does not make you immune to the tragedies of life.  Whether Christian or not, life is not fair.  Tragedy is not bias, it does not care what you believe but if you place your faith in God, instead of the world, then you will be better able to see the blessings that God presents to you in times of tragedy.  

The scripture for this sermon comes from Paul's letter to the Philippians 3:4-14:If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcisedon the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law,faultless.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Have you ever had one of those days that seemed like you were on a huge roller-coaster?  Where it seemed like everything was going your way and then all of sudden things just keep piling up and now it seems that nothing can go your way?  Then when it all said done, there is just a little ray of light that helps you get up the next day?  That is exactly how Friday was for me... I got up, took Griffin to Melcher, and went to work.  When I get to the farm the first thing that I do is check the cows and heifers in the lot to see if they have calved so I when I was checking the cows I saw that there was one cow who had calved.  As I got a little closer I was able to see her tag, and it was 925.  And 925 is my cow and she was the first cow at Dan’s to calf and she had a heifer so my herd just keeps growing!  So anyway, the day keeps progressing and Dan has to go to Bloomfield for parts so I am still there at the farm and I doing the chores, most of them he didn’t tell me to do... I was soooo overachieving!  I was feeling great about what I was accomplishing.  Then all of a sudden, I hear this grinding noise in the track skid-steer and I know that it is not going to be good.  The worse part about it was that I was about an 1/8 of a mile from his house on the gravel road.  But by the time that I had happened I fully expected Dan to be back soon.  Well an hour or so had rolled by and I finished up all the chores I could think of and he still wasn’t back yet.  So I finally called him and I expected the conversation to go absolutely terrible because he does not usually take that kind of news very well.  Anyway, I call him and I told him what has happened and he says well, “I am sitting alongside the highway just outside of Moravia because the alternator went out of the pickup.”  Well, he finally gets back home and we somehow get that loader loaded on a trailer.  So my day has gone from excitement to disappointment in a  matter of hours.  When I got home I was feeling pretty down on and I open the door and I hear this little voice yelling Daddy! Daddy! and Griffin comes running to the door, gets down on all fours and starts barking like a dog... So it is in this moment that I have a choice, I can either let the discouragement of my day ruin this unique moment that I have with my son, or I can choose to participate in that moment with him.  So I get too get down on all fours and start barking like a dog and chasing him around the house.  

Today’s scripture hit me in the same kind of way.  Paul lists every possible reason for him to not believe in Jesus.  He says that he has enjoyed every benefit of being a Jew, he has followed the laws by the book, and even goes on to say that he was a persecutor of the church.  Yet Christ moved so powerfully within him that he still went against all of that.  Christ has the power to work that powerfully in each of us if we allow him to.  I had a conversation the other day and I was talking about opportunities and missed opportunities and they said the more that you are attuned to God’s will, the less opportunities you will miss and I thought that was exactly true.  I am not perfect and in no way do I even approach Paul’s ability to share God’s message but I have started to notice this in my life.  I have notice that when I take the time to share with God and be more faithful to Him, that I do not miss those opportunities as often.  There would have been a lot of times not that long ago that I would have not taken that opportunity to play with my son and walked around the house like a grump.  I strongly feel that if we can allow ourselves to get in a relationship with God and we take full advantage of His love, then we will see the world around us in a much different light and it is because of that light that we do not miss as many opportunities.  Paul goes on to say that his everything that he had gained from being Jewish was lost because of the sake of Christ.  Verses 8 and 9 say:  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith...”  The one phrase that really stuck out to me in that scripture was the where Paul says the “surprising worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”  There are two points that can be made from this: One, it is difficult for us to realize just how the Jews functioned.  Our cultures are very different from how they were 2000 years ago but I cannot stress enough that falling away from your Jewish faith is not something that happened, at all.  Especially for people like Paul who had gained a lot of earthly power by their Jewish faith.  That is why Paul saw the power of Christ as such a surprise.   So this got me thinking about the second point, In today’s world, are will still open enough in our faith to allow Jesus to surprise us?  Or are we so stuck in our ways that we do not allow Christ to make those surprises in our lives?  Paul had to give up so much so follow Jesus, yet he was surprised by the power that Christ had in him.  We too may have to give up a lot to follow Christ but I want you to know that God does not leave you empty handed, and if you allow Him to, God will surprise you.  

In closing I want to talk to you about what has transpired this week with Joanne, Dwight and their family.  First, I want to read to you the last 3 verses of today’s scripture: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” I feel like we as a church learned a lot this week.  I wanted all of you to know that you did what Christ has called us to do as a church.  You stepped up when the McKays, as well as I, needed you and I could not be more proud of you.  The way you all handled this situation, from those of us who were here that night, to those of you who went up to visit her without me saying anything to you, is exactly what I talked about in today’s message.  This was my first experience with anything like this and I feel that I was able to move through the situation with confidence because I had the support of all of you.  We are being “churched together,” what I mean by this is that you and I are growing together and you are more than willing to work at this with me, and for that I am so thankful.  I feel like verse 14 perfectly describes what has happened this week, we press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God.  As a church, we keep moving toward the prize of the upward call of God.  That “upward call of God” is the light that shines on all the opportunities that lie before us moving forward.  And why do we choose to do this?  Because Christ loved us so much that he made us his own, so we are called to extend that same type of love to those we come into contact with.  If you would like to be apart of the surprising power of Christ, I encourage you to take a moment, whether it be in your seat or you come forward, to open yourself up to the power of Christ in your life by accepting what he has done for us on that cross.  Are you allowing God to shine light on your opportunities? And if you are, are you taking advantage of them? Amen.

God Bless,

Clinton

Fairview Christian Church