How to Act Like an Adult (In a Spiritually Childish World)

Delivered January 29, 2012

I Corinthians 8:1-13

It is sad to say, but the American Church is not known for its spiritual maturity. As far as the worldwide Body of Christ is concerned it is clearly the richest materially, but the same can not be said spiritually. Churches in third world countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia – even though they tend to be much poorer and often suffer persecution – they are in many ways more healthy than Western churches. Yet the West, because of its political, economic and military might, and its access to the media, is usually seen as the face of Christianity in the world.

About ten years ago I first read the book “Revolution in World Missions” by K.P. Yohannan, the founder & president of Gospel for Asia, one of the best independent mission organizations in the world. Yohannan is an Indian and his mission organization works mostly in India and neighboring countries. In the book he talks about his first visit to America to raise funds for his fledging mission. He saw the material opulence of churches in the American southwest, especially in Texas, and he literally cried over the spiritual poverty he saw in the American church. It reminded him of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3. Jesus says to it: “You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”

The church in Corinth in Greece in the first century was such a church. When you read Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and you get a picture of a church that is a mess. In the first chapter they are squabbling over which religious leader they like best. Some aligned with Paul, others Cephas (Peter), others Apollos, others take the high road and say they follow Christ, but in fact are just as divisive as the other groups. Paul speaks to them in chapter three saying, “¹ And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able….” In the famous love chapter 13 he says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” When the apostle Paul visited the church in Corinth, he was the only adult in the room.

In America the big churches and the famous pastors selling the most books and making the most money are not necessarily the most mature churches. In fact in my experience, the bigger and wealthier the church is (generally speaking) the spiritually poorer and less mature it is. No wonder so many people reject the gospel and ridicule Christianity as an option for their lives, when the megachurches, megapastors and megadenominations with their megabucks are paraded across television sets and newspapers as the prime examples of Christian spirituality! If that were truly what Christianity is, then I would reject it also. Today in our passage the apostle Paul is trying to tell anyone in the Corinthian church who will listen how to act like an adult in a spiritually childish world. Hopefully we can learn something from it this morning. He makes three points in these thirteen verses.

I. The first is Love over Knowledge. Verses 1-3 “Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. ² And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.”  There was a controversy in the Corinthian church over food. Much of the meat bought in the marketplace in ancient Corinth had originally been used as sacrifices in the pagan temples. Some Christians did not think that it was right for a Christian to eat such meat. They thought it was religiously contaminated or that by buying this meat they were condoning pagan worship practices. So there was a division in the church over this matter. Paul uses this example to put forth an important principle: that love is better than knowledge.

He is talking about spiritual knowledge here, not academic knowledge. People can also be arrogant because they think they are intellectually smarter than others, but that is not what he is talking about. He is speaking of people who think they are spiritually more knowledgeable than others. Some people thought they knew more and knew better. Paul knows exactly what this is all about because he used to be a Pharisee, a group that considered themselves the most knowledgeable and spiritual people around.  To these super-spiritual people who thought they were so much better and more spiritual than others, he gives this admonition: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Christians who think they are the most spiritual are in fact the least spiritual. They have too high an opinion of themselves. They are all puffed up in their spiritual pride.

There was a group at that time that later would be called the Gnostics. They prided themselves on their gnosis, the Greek word for spiritual knowledge. They considered themselves the best of the best, the spiritual top 15, the truly enlightened ones. They looked down on regular Christians as ignorant and unsophisticated. They thought they were the only true Christians. Paul describes these gnostics as being puffed up. And he calls them to embrace love more than knowledge.

He says in verse 2 “And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” It is a great principle. You can tell the most spiritually mature people by how humble they are. The greatest Christians I have ever known in my life have not been the pastors of the big churches, denominational leaders, or seminary professors. They are not the religious experts who travel around giving lectures, workshops and seminars. The most spiritual folks I have known have been regular church folks. Some of them have had very little education, but they had a deep humble sincere faith. They never thought of themselves as better than anyone else; in fact it was just the opposite. But they were the true saints.

Paul tells us what true spiritual knowledge is in verse 3, “But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.” It is not what we know, but that we are known by God. It is not how much biblical, theological and spiritual knowledge we have in our heads. It is all about loving God and being known by God.  Notice he does not even talk about knowing God, but being known by God. People can even get arrogant about knowing God. “I know God and you don’t.” “No, I know God and you don’t!” Pride puts us into that frame of mind! It is all about loving God. “But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.”

II. Let’s go on to the second section now, verses 4-6 “⁴ Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. ⁵ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), ⁶ yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” Here Paul gets back to the issue at hand and uses it again to put forth another important spiritual principle. The first was about knowledge versus love. This one is about gods versus God.

The practical issue was that this meat in the butcher’s booth at the marketplace had been sacrificed to the various gods and goddesses worshipped by the Greek populace. The people in the church were fighting over whether or not they are allowed to eat it. Paul shakes his head at them as if they were children and says in affect, “What’s the problem? These gods are not even real! You are arguing over gods who don’t even exist.” He says in verse 4 “Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.”

There is only one God, and therefore we don’t have to get into a fight between religions. We certainly don’t have to fight and kill over it the way Islamic jihadists do, shouting “God is great!” God is great enough to take care of himself. The more we argue against something that is not real, the more it becomes real in people’s minds. Our job is not to get into the argument that “my religion is better than your religion. My God is bigger than your god. My God is better than your god.” Hear how childish that sounds? It sounds like children arguing on the playground: “My dad can beat up your dad!”  “My God can beat up your God.” If we get into arguments like we are just demonstrating immaturity.

My job as a preacher is not to argue or fight about God or gods. It is to proclaim the God I know and his gospel, to testify to the Savior that I love and who loves me. Paul goes on to say in verse 5, “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), - here he is acknowledging that there are various religious beliefs in many different gods, but he tells us not to get sidetracked into those fruitless arguments. He goes on in verse 6 (the NRSV puts it better than most translations): “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

I could preach a whole sermon just on that one verse! It is so rich! The one true God is the Father. I know people can argue about that too; people get bent out of shape when Christians use the masculine pronoun for God. Let’s not get caught up in that squabble, even though that is a very popular sideshow these days in mainline denominations. It is just another way we get caught up in that spiritual knowledge trap. We are saying, “My understanding of God is better than your understanding of God! My words for God are better than your words!” Let’s not go down that road. I call God Father because Jesus used it and taught us to use that name. For me it means that God is personal; that is the point. God is not an impersonal force or power. God is a Person. In fact God is richer in personhood than our language can communicate, so we have to talk about God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

III. So far we have seen Paul talk about knowledge versus love, and gods versus God. Now we see him talk about Rules versus Liberty. In verses 7-13 he gives the Corinthian Christians some guidelines to make decisions on issues like the food in the market sacrificed to idols. That is not an issue for us, but we have other issues and his guidelines can help us. There are three of them.

1. One is Conscience. He speaks of the role of conscience in decision-making. There were people in that church whose conscience would not allow them to eat of that food. Verse 7 ‘for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.”  Paul is saying, “Fine. If your conscience won’t let you eat it, then don’t eat it.” But he goes on to tell these people, “Don’t judge others for eating it.” He says in verse 8 “⁸ But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.” There are some matters – not all matters but things like this – where it is simply a matter of personal conscience. Follow your conscience, but don’t judge others for following their conscience.

2. The second guideline he gives is Freedom. The apostle Paul is a champion of spiritual freedom. He came out of a Pharisaic tradition that placed huge legalistic burdens on people, and he did not want to see that happen in the church. Throughout his letters Paul describes how God has set us free from the Law to follow the Holy Spirit who will lead us according to the will of God. That is the way Paul sees this food issue. He thinks the people who won’t eat the meat have a weak conscience, and he says so. He does not want Christianity to get into food laws. No food is unclean. No people are unclean. Freedom is to be our guide. But it is not unrestrained freedom. As Paul says elsewhere, we do not use our freedom in Christ to become a slave to sin. It is a responsible freedom.

3. This is the third principle. In his passage he tempers our freedom in Christ with another principle, which is our responsibility to others. He says in verse 9 “⁹ But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.” He goes on to say not to flaunt our liberty in such a way that it will offend our brothers and sisters. He says in verse 11 that we cannot use our freedom in a way that will hurt others. Verse 11 “because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?” He says in verse 12 that if we live in such a way as to ignore the affect our behavior has on others, then “when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.”

In other words, we are responsible for how our actions affect others. I am responsible not just for my actions before God; as your pastor I am responsible for how my behavior affects you. That is why there is no such thing as a part time pastor. Likewise you are responsible for how your behavior affects others. There is no such thing as a part time Christian. You are responsible for how your actions affect people in your church, in your family, how they affect young people who become aware of your actions, how they affect the way the church is viewed by people in this community. We are not our own. Paul writes two chapters earlier in this same letter: “¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 

We are free. Christ has set us free. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Free from petty religious rules and laws. But we are not free from Christ. We are free in Christ. We are free for Christ. We are free for God as it says in this passage “for whom we exist.” This is mature Christian living - to live in love, to live in truth, and to live in freedom in Christ, for Christ.

KISS (Keep It Simple, Saints)

Delivered January 22, 2012

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

You have probably heard by now that 2012 is supposed to be the end of the world – again!  We had a couple of dates for the End in 2011 from a Christian radio preacher, first scheduled for May 21, 2011, and then rescheduled for October 21. But this time it is not a Christian preacher setting a date for the apocalypse. This time it is the New Age types who have set December 21, 2012. Apparently there is something about the 21^st of the month! This time the date is based on an ancient Mayan calendar which predicts that the world ends at the winter solstice this year. People who are propagating this scenario combine the Mayan calendar with predictions about aliens from outer space, prophecies by Nostradamus, as well as pseudo-scientific statements about solar flares and a mysterious rogue planet named Nibiru, which is supposed to come near earth and cause all sorts of damage to our planet. They say that a polar reversal will cause the north to become the south and the sun to rise in the west. Earthquakes, massive tidal waves and simultaneous volcanic eruptions will follow. Nuclear reactors will melt down, buildings will crumble, and a cloud of volcanic dust will block out the sun for 40 years. Only the prepared will survive, and not even all of them. There was even a movie about this entitled 2012, made back in 2009.

Some people are taking this seriously. Some people in the Netherlands seem to be especially caught up in this drama this time. Survivalist groups have formed. Some people are quitting their jobs and hunkering down for the End. Tapachula, a city in southern Mexico, has actually set up a digital clock counting down the seconds to the end of the world. The clock started on December 21 of this year. I am sure we will hear a lot more about this as the date approaches.

I mention this topic at the beginning of this sermon because our scripture passage refers to the Christian expectation of the end of the age beginning with the return of Christ. The apostle Paul says, “But this I say, brethren, the time is short.” Early Christians were expecting the return of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God, culminating in a New Heaven and a new earth, very soon. At the end of the Gospel of John we see that some in the early church thought that the apostle John would not die before Jesus returned. The Gospel denies that this was what Jesus said, but it acknowledged that some were saying this near the end of the first century. In the NT era there was the expectation that the end was near. The apostle Peter uses those words saying, “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.”  (I Peter 4:7) Even Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." (Matthew 16:28; Luke 9:27) It is commonly accepted by biblical scholars that early Christians expected Christ’s return and the beginning of the end of history as we know it within their lifetimes.

It obviously did not happen because here we are 2000 years later. But there is still in Christianity the expectation of Christ’s return. It is part of historic Christian doctrine. Evangelical Christianity, in particular, has kept the anticipation of the return of Christ alive. The scripture passage under consideration today gives voice to this expectation and then gives us some advice about how to live in the light of this future. In short it tells us to keep it simple. In fact Eugene Peterson’s translation of this passage even uses the words: “I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don't complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple —in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.”  It is from this that I get the title for this message: The KISS Principle. It has nothing to do with kissing. It is an acronym (which I have cleaned up a bit) meaning Keep It Simple, Saint. (“Saint” is of course the Biblical word for a Christian.)

I. First. let’s look at two statements Paul makes at the beginning and end of the lesson. It sets the context for the advice he gives to the Corinthian Christians and to us. First, he says, “But this I say, brethren, the time is short….” The time was obviously not short in the sense that the early church thought. But Paul’s words are still true; they are just true in a different sense than he understood them. The time is short. Paul says in Romans, “¹¹ “it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. ¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” That is true. If Jesus is really going to return one day then it is certainly true that the day is nearer than when we first believed. Beyond that I don’t know the how and when of Christ’s return. There are so many different interpretations of Biblical prophecy, and I don’t know which one is right. To me it doesn’t matter which interpretation is correct. All that matters is that we have an attitude of expectation and that we be prepared.

Regardless of your view concerning the return of Christ, all of us can agree that in a certain sense the time is short. All our lives are short. The psalmist says, “¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. ¹⁶ For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.” Our days are short. The longer we live the more conscious we are of how short our days are. In my 60’s I am conscious that my days are shorter than when I was in my thirties. For those of you in your seventies and eighties, you know that your days are short. The life expectancy statistics remind us of that. And no matter what our age, none of us knows how long we have on this earth. 55 million people die each year. For those 55 million the time is short.

The second statement that Paul makes is in verse 31 at the end: “For the form of this world is passing away.”  He is talking about the transitory nature of things. Everything changes. We can see that on a global scale. Scientists talk about climate change and global warming. We know from history that there have been massive changes in the climate of the earth in the past. Where we are sitting now used to be buried under a mile of ice in the last ice age. We can talk in economic terms. We can talk in political terms. We saw a lot of change just in 2011 with the Arab spring – revolutions toppling dictators around the Mediterranean. The form of this world is passing away.

We live in a world were everything is changing. The form is passing away. In such a world we naturally seek for something that does not change. We look for permanence, security and stability. The Bible says that in this changing world, there is only one that does not change. That is God and his Kingdom. That is the teaching of the Bible, OT and NT. "I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. 3:6) We change. The world changes. The universe changes. God does not change. As the hymn says, “Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.” Theologians call it the immutability of God.

          II. Because the time is short and because the form of this world is passing away, how then shall we live? The answer is that we need to live simply: Keep It Simple, Saints. The apostle lists five areas where we need to keep it simple.

          1. First, Keep it Simple with Marriage and Family. Verse ²⁹ “But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none….” In this verse Paul is about marriage in particular, but in a broader sense the principle applies to all family obligations. Marriage and family relations can become very complex and tense. That is why there are so many divorces and in-law problems and families are estranged. It is because so many people expect so much from family, and the pressure becomes more than the family can bear. That is why Paul tells us to keep it simple. Lighten up. Put it in perspective. You know the old saying about the two rules of life: (1) Don’t sweat the small stuff; (2) It’s all small stuff.  The best thing you can do for your marriage and family is lighten up. Don’t take it all so seriously. Put it in spiritual perspective.

Jesus told us to put family relations in peersepctve to our relationship to God. He said, “⁷ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” In our family-oriented society, it is somewhat difficult to hear this. In our world, family is very important. In a changing world it is the one constant in my life. I have had a bunch of churches; I have pastored five churches and been a part of a few others. But I have only one family. I would put any of them above anyone and anything. But the apostle Paul is saying that our lives and families need to be grounded upon something even more permanent than ourselves. Our families need to be grounded in that which does not change. Our lives and our families need to be grounded in that solid ground of Christ.

2. In verse 30 he talks about emotions. He says that “those who weep [should live] as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice….” Lighten up when it comes to your feelings. Keep it emotionally simple, saints. Paul is not advocating emotional detachment – putting up an emotional wall or keeping your distance. He is saying not to let our emotions control us with their dramatic swings of sorrows and joys. Life is tough. We get hurt. There is no way around it. If you care about people, you will be hurt by people. That is true of marriage, family, friends, and even churches. Life can be an emotional rollercoaster ride.  

Because of this we need to keep it simple. There is a passage in the gospels where the people were starting to believe in Jesus. The gospel says, “But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” Humans are fickle. God is not. Scripture advocates that we give our heart first of all to God. In speaking about the Macedonian Christians the apostle Paul says, “They gave themselves to the Lord first and then to us, since this was God's will.” That is a sound principle. Give your heart first and completely to God - as both Moses and Jesus instructed - Love the Lord with all your heart, and mind and soul and strength. Then you can love others well - including your family and friends and neighbors. Then your heart is in the right place, as they say. Then you can love people out of the love that we find in God. We will not love others less because we love God first; we will actually love others more. So Paul is not advocating emotional detachment or an emotional distance from people to protect us from being hurt. He is advocating that we always be conscious of the greater love that possesses our souls.

3. Next Paul talks about finances and possessions. He says, “those who buy [should live] as though they did not possess.” Once again: Keep it simple, saint, when it comes to possessions. Henry David Thoreau wrote: “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.” This is very important in our financially unstable yet very materialistic society. In our prosperous American culture, we tend to place much value on money and things. Paul is advising us to hold onto all possessions lightly.

Some people get really attached to their possessions. I see it especially with houses and land, and also vehicles. I don’t see what the big deal is about having a scratch on your car or if someone steps over the boundary line of your property. The same with all possessions. None of it is really ours. We can’t take it with us. Even while we live it is not really ours. We cannot really possess anything. Paul is instructing us to live this knowledge.  Jesus says, “¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

4. Paul finishes the passage with the words “and those who use this world [should live] as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.” Just because this world is transitory and passing away and can’t be owned, does not mean that we can misuse it. The world may be temporary, but it is not disposable nor expendable. It is still God’s creation. People may come and go, treat us well or treat us badly, but they are still God’s creation made in the image of God. This is why Jesus taught us to love even our enemies, and why Paul taught us to treat all people respectfully.

In short, Paul is advising us to live life a bit more lightly and simply. Not to take it quite as seriously as we might. Not to lose ourselves in the drama of life. He is telling us to put things in spiritual perspective. To put things in the perspective that our time on earth is short and everything is transitory and passing away. Put things in divine perspective. God and the things of this world are eternal. Our relationship to God should be the most important of all relationships and the foundation of all other relationships. One day this world will be gone and we will be gone from it. Live in the light of that reality. One day there will be a new world for us – a heavenly world when we die, and one day a new heavens and new earth that will last forever. Live this earthly life in the light of that spiritual world. Keep it simple, saints.

How to Hear God

Delivered January 15, 2012

I Samuel 3:1-10

This seems to be a good text to preach about on this Sunday of Martin Luther King’s birthday. King is often called a prophet. He would not have used that term for himself - certainly not in the sense of a biblical prophet; he was a Baptist preacher after all. He knew the difference between and preacher and a prophet. But many others have described him by that word. In fact a 2003 biography of King, with a forward written by his wife Coretta Scott King shortly before her death, is entitled, “Martin Luther King: Spirit-Led Prophet.” 

Samuel was a prophet in the Bible, and today we are going to look at the story that is usually called his call to ministry.  To begin I need to put this story in historical context. This story occurred at the end of the period of the judges, before there was any king in Israel. In fact Samuel is a transition figure between the period of the Judges and the Kings. He is the last judge and he anoints the first king, Saul. At the time of this story Samuel is a boy of about 12 years of age. He has been living with the High Priest Eli at Shiloh where the tabernacle was. They actually lived within the grounds of the tabernacle, which was a tent which served as the place of worship before there was a temple in Jerusalem. That gives us the basic setting of the story.

This story is about Samuel hearing God for the first time. I want to explore this story using that theme and relating it to our lives. Do we hear God? How do we hear God? Does God speak today or is it limited to biblical times? How do we know if God is speaking to us and what he is saying?  Most people who are interested in spiritual matters want a real living connection with God. They don’t want just rituals and dogma. They want to know God – to experience God and know his will for their lives. Samuel knew God, heard God, and discovered God’s will for his life. Therefore this text has something to say to us today.

1. First, God is heard when God speaks. This might seem at first to be too simple to even have to state, but it is an important Biblical concept. It is called revelation. Christianity teaches that God reveals himself to human beings. Left to our own resources we cannot know God. In fact our text says of Samuel in verse 7 “Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him.” To hear the Lord, you have to know the Lord. But it is sort of a Catch 22 because you can’t know the Lord until the Lord speaks to you. Atheists do not believe in God, and therefore any so-called communication from God is imaginary conversation with an imaginary friend. Agnostics say that even if there is a God, we cannot know anything about God. In a strange way they are right. Left to our own resources we will not know God nor know anything about God. God has to make himself known. That is called revelation.

Theologians talk about general revelation and special revelation. General revelation is to all people – in nature and in the human conscience. Special revelation is to specific persons or peoples. What we have in the Bible is God’s special revelation to the people of Israel, culminating in the special revelation in Jesus Christ. The Book of Hebrews opens: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, ² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” God can speak any way he wants, but we confess that he has spoken in special ways – to Israel through the prophets whose writings we have in the Old Testament and supremely in Jesus Christ, the record of which we have in the NT.

But God also speaks to individuals. In our story of Samuel, the Lord calls Samuel by name – “Samuel!” God calls us by name. God is not limited to speaking generally to humankind through breathtaking landscapes or the starry heavens on a clear night or even through scripture. Jesus taught that God speaks to individuals through the Holy Spirit, who dwells in our souls through our faith in Christ. Jesus told his disciples: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth….” This is basic stuff, but it is important to state, because if we do not believe that God speaks to us, then we will not hear him when he speaks. If you have already ruled out the possibility of God communicating to human beings as crazy thinking, then there is no way you will hear him. So I am asking that we keep an open mind in this matter; be open to the possibility that God does speak and we can hear him when he speaks.

2. Second, God is heard rarely in these days. The opening verse of our passage says, “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” I think the same can be said today. I subscribe to USA Today. Every Monday at the back of the first section they have a religion article – an opinion piece. On January 3 (Tuesday because Monday was a holiday) it was entitled “God, Religion, Atheism – So What?” It describes the upsurge of what this author called apatheism – meaning that increasingly large numbers of Americans are spiritually apathetic. They simply do not care about spiritual matters at all. It says the reason why these folks were not counted earlier was that the right questions were not being asked in the surveys. Let me give you some of the figures: 44% told the 2011 Baylor University Religion Survey they spend no time seeking “eternal wisdom” and 19% said, “It’s useless to search for meaning.” 46% told a 2011 survey by LifeWay Research they never wonder whether they will go to heaven. 28% told LifeWay, “It’s not a major priority in my life to find my deeper purpose.” And 18% scoffed at the idea that God has a purpose or plan for everyone.

If people do not care about God and are not thinking about such matters, then they are not going to hear God if he were shouting through a megaphone. That is the way it was in Samuel’s day. When you read the context of this story we see that even the religious leaders did not believe. The high priest Eli’s two sons were very corrupt and immoral men in every way you can imagine. Eli did nothing to restrain them in corrupting the religious system. As the religious leadership went, so went the society. So it is not surprising that “the word of the Lord was rare in those days.”

3. Third, God is heard by the pure in heart. In the story no one hears God but this 12 year old boy. The chief priest Eli, who was the head of the Hebrew religious system, did not hear God. Only this boy. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.” It is also true that they shall hear God. When it comes to us, we cannot expect to hear God if our hearts are not right with God. This does not mean that we have to be perfect. In fact those who think they are perfect are in the worst spiritual condition possible. To be right in our relationship with God means that we have confidence before God that our sins are forgiven. If we are forgiven by God, then in God’s eyes we are as innocent and sinless as a new born child. It means to trust God as a child trusts. That is why Jesus said that we had to become as little children to enter the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t mean we are naïve and gullible. It means we trust God and give ourselves unreservedly to God. We have an attitude of openness to God. If our hearts are open, then we will hear God. You don’t hear God with your physical ears or even as a voice in your head. If you start hearing voices, you better get yourself to a mental health specialist. I am not talking about hearing voices in our head; I am talking about sensing the Spirit of God in your spirit. The apostle Paul talks about God “speaking spiritual truths in spiritual words.” That is what I am talking about. There is a huge difference.

4. Fourth, God is heard in God’s house. Samuel heard God speak to him while he was in the tabernacle of God. God is heard elsewhere also. Scripture is filled with such examples. It is certainly true that God is heard by people today in nature. But I am not talking about that type of general revelation of God in nature. That is very limited in what can be communicated. If you want something more than a feeling of God’s majesty and power communicated through the natural world, then God’s house is the place to be.

That is why I think that so-called “organized religion” is important and necessary. I know it isn’t popular these days. People like freelance individual spirituality, but that won’t take you very far in the spiritual life. There is a need for community. There is a need for the wisdom of the ages as contained in scripture. There is even a need for religious tradition, even though that is on a different level than scripture. This might seem like a strange thing for a Baptist to say. We tend not to be very keen on tradition; we speak of “scripture alone” – sola scriptura. But every church and every denomination has a tradition, whether or not we admit it and whether we call it that. Those who don’t acknowledge their tradition are the ones most enslaved to it. Religious rituals and creeds and confessions of faith and forms of church government have value in conditioning our souls to be receptive to the Word of God. They may also mask and blind us to the Word of God. That is the danger of religious tradition and organized religion. Like anything, religion has to be used wisely and not made into a substitute for God. But if church is done right, then it can help us hear the voice of God.

5. Fifth, God’s voice – even when heard – is not always recognized. In the story the boy Samuel heard the voice of God in the tabernacle, but he did not recognize it as God’s voice. He thought Eli was calling him from the other room. So he runs to Eli, and say, “Here I am. You called.” Eli answered, “No I didn’t. Go back to bed.” This happened again. Finally the third time it happened, Eli figures out what is going on. Verse 8-9 “Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. ⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.’”

This tells us something interesting about the old man Eli. It shows us that there was once a time when Eli knew the voice of God. He hadn’t heard God for many years, but he recognized the characteristics of it in Samuel’s experience, and he was able to instruct him. Here is an example of the importance of religious instruction. Eli had been instructing the boy Samuel throughout his childhood, and here again he was instructing him correctly as to how to hear the voice of God. Even Jesus acknowledged the value of the Pharisees’ teaching, even though they were his fiercest opponents. Jesus taught the people concerning the Pharisees, “Do as they say but not as they do.” Eli was not doing what was right, but he still played an important role in teaching Samuel how to hear the voice of God, even though he himself had gone spiritually deaf long ago.

The boy Samuel heard the voice of God, but he did not recognize it as the voice of God. That is also true today. I believe that God speaks today. I believe God speaks to you and me. But often we do not recognize God’s voice. If someone we know calls us on the phone, and we recognize their voice – even if you don’t have Caller ID. The same is true of God’s voice. If we hear God’s voice enough, then we will recognize it. The best way to get to get familiar with God’s voice is through Scripture. We call the Bible the Word of God. We believe that God spoke through the prophets of the OT and the apostles of the NT. If we read it enough then we become familiar with the way God speaks. So when we hear the same Holy Spirit who inspired scripture also speaking in the depths of our souls, then we will recognize it as God’s voice.

We have thousands of voices speaking to us each day. Family, friends, government, the TV, computer. I have a GPS which literally speaks to me and tells me where to go!  We have all these competing voices telling us things. It is difficult to discern God’s still small voice in the midst of the whirlwind of contemporary voices. But if we familiarize ourselves with God’s Word, then we will know his voice when we hear it. That is one reason why I am encouraging people to read through the Bible in 2012. Even if you don’t understand half of what you read, it is training your heart to recognize the voice of God.

6. Sixth, God is heard when we are ready to hear. In the story Samuel only hears God after the third time. Verse 10 “Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.” On this third occasion, Samuel does not go to his religious instructor and adoptive father Eli; he responds directly to his heavenly Father. He doesn’t go to the priest, he responds directly to God. We Protestants call this the priesthood of all believers. We relate directly to God without any intermediary other than Jesus, who is God himself.

In this story, Samuel says, “Speak, for Your servant hears.” That is the beginning of his relationship with God and a ministry which lasted for many years. The same is true for us. The spiritual life is a conversation with Almighty God. It is living our lives in his presence and being directed by his Spirit. But it can only happen if we hear and respond to God. It only happens when we are ready. Are you ready?

Day One

Delivered January 8, 2012

Genesis1:1-5

Whenever one preaches on the first chapter of Genesis one is entering a minefield. I was meeting with some pastors this week, and we were discussing what we were going to preach on this Sunday. I told them I was going to preach on Genesis 1, and one minister replied, “Good luck. It was good knowing you!” Apparently many preachers avoid the opening chapters of Genesis like the plague. It is because these chapters are so often used as a battleground for the creation-evolution debate. It is happening here in NH. Right now we have two bills presently going through the NH legislature on this issue. House Bill 1148 is scheduled for a hearing on February 9, 2012, and HB 1457 is scheduled for a hearing on February 14, 2012. Both deal with the teaching of Creation, Intelligent Design, and Evolution in public schools.

Not only is it politically controversial in New Hampshire, but also on the national scene. I remember back in a 2008 Republican presidential debate the moderator asked for a show of hands from the candidates about who did and did not believe in evolution. I don’t recall this question ever having been asked before, and I am not sure it has been asked this time in the debates; but then again I have only seen a couple debates. This subject has also become commercialized. A few years ago a the first ever Creation Museum was built just over the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio, in Petersburg, Kentucky – just a few miles from the Cincinnati airport. It is a state-of-the-art 70,000 square foot museum promoting creationism. Apparently Creationism is not only popular but profitable.

On the other side the issue, the so-called New Atheism movement is also making money selling books and giving lectures on the topic. The New Atheists champion a hardline atheistic form of evolutionism which ridicules anyone who says there is a God or suggests that that maybe science does not have all the answers concerning the origin of the universe or of life on earth.

The John Templeton Foundation is a well-known philanthropic organization that funds research and discussion about science and religion. They are presently funding dialogues relating to what they call “the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality.” They devoted 2010 to the question: “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” Thirteen different scientists, philosophers and theologians addressed the issue. The answers ranged from “Absolutely Not” by William D. Phillips, a Nobel Laureate in physics - to “Yes” by physicist Victor J. Stenger author of the book entitled “God: The Failed Hypothesis - How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist.” My answer is obviously, “No.” Science does not make belief in God obsolete. God is completely beyond the scope of the scientific method.  

This morning I am not going to enter into the Creationism and Evolutionism debate. I don’t see it as helpful.  I see it as a sideshow that attempts to avoid the main message of the opening verses of Genesis. I will talk about science and atheism some. But mostly I am going to deal with theology and spirituality.  What do these opening verses of Genesis say?

I. First, Genesis teaches creation. I am not talking about Creationism here. Creationism sees itself as a scientific theory of cosmology; it refers to itself as creation science. I am not talking about any scientific theory; I am talking about the theological doctrine of Creation. Verse 1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis declares that there is a Creator and that this world is his creation. Atheists reject this as superstition. Regardless of what atheists say, this is a rational thing to believe. As Christians we have a reasonable faith. A couple of years ago, Anthony Flew made waves in philosophical circles. Flew is a well-known Oxford University philosopher and atheist, who is credited with being the godfather of the 20^th century philosophical atheist movement, which culminated in the so-called New Atheism of this 21^st century. Recently he changed his mind. He calls it his conversion. He now believes in God. I am presently reading his new book entitled simply “There Is A God.” He changed his mind based on logical and philosophical grounds. Christianity is a reasonable and rational faith.

That does not mean we can prove there is a God. Neither can anyone disprove God. God is not an object in the natural world that can be scientifically investigated. But it is philosophically reasonable to believe in God. Furthermore we can experience God. Experience is what it comes down to for me, and I think that is what it comes down to for most people. People believe in God because they have experienced God. People do not believe in God because they have not experienced God. Then based on their experience they come up with arguments to bolster their case. Either side might be deluded. Atheist Richard Dawkins bestseller is entitled “The God Delusion.” He might be right, and I might be deluded. Theists think that Dawkins is deluded. I sense the presence and reality of God. For me this is a deep awareness and intuition. Personally I am more certain that God exists than that I exist; and I am pretty certain that I exist. As Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” The people who wrote the Bible knew God was real. That is why you will not find in the Bible any philosophical proofs for God’s existence. It is simply assumed because God was known.

So Genesis starts out “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The NRSV translation actually puts it this way: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.” I am told this is a better translation of the Hebrew. It assumes God created the universe, and then goes on to talk about it. If God is Creator, and the universe is his creation, then that means that we are creatures. By our very existence we are related to the Creator of the universe. If this is true then there is nothing more important than to be in right relationship to our Creator.

II. Second Cosmos comes from chaos. That is the message of the second verse of Genesis. “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1 paints a word picture with deep spiritual meaning. The picture painted here is a watery abyss. It is a picture of formlessness out of which came form. It is chaos out of which came order. The Spirit of God is pictured as hovering over the waters like a bird. We see this image elsewhere in the Bible. We see it in the Flood story when Noah let out a raven and then a dove over the floodwaters. We see it again at the baptism of Jesus where Jesus is being immersed in the water and the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove.

Genesis is communicating the truth that God brings order out of disorder. He brings something into existence where there was nothing. Why does this universe exist at all? Why is there something rather than nothing? That is a question that science cannot answer, and atheism cannot answer. When something exists, then science can investigate the laws and mechanisms of the natural world. But why is there a universe at all rather than nothing? There is no natural explanation.  Why is there life, rather than just a dead universe? Life is a true miracle that science cannot explain how it came into existence. How did life come from nonlife? It is a mystery. 

We watched the Sound of Music again this holiday season. In the film Sister Maria sings, “Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could.” She is a nun in the movie, and this is good creation theology. The rest of the lyrics aren’t so good: “So somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good.” She is saying that she deserved to meet and marry a wealthy Austrian with seven children because she was a good little girl growing up.  That is bad theology. But nothing comes from nothing is good theology. The buck stops somewhere, and the Bible says it stops with God.

 God brings something out of nothing in our lives as well. That is how the creation story applies to us. And that is the message of the baptism story in our NT Reading as well. Without God, our lives have no ultimate meaning or purpose. They are chaos. We can try to impose some self-made meaning and order on them, but it is like trying to make a sculpture with water.  But when God enters into our lives, then he creates order and purpose.

III. Third, these opening verses of Genesis is about the separation of light and darkness. Verses 3-4 say, “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.” This is not just physical light and darkness. The apostle John patterned the beginning of his gospel after the beginning of Genesis. The gospel of John opens, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”  It is clear here that the apostle is talking about spiritual light and darkness.

As we move through the Gospel of John Jesus picks up the theme. We were talking about it at the Wednesday night Bible Study. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”  Jesus is clearly not talking about the physical phenomenon of light waves or light particles. He is talking about spiritual light. He is also talking about moral light and darkness – good and evil. If we do what is right, we are walking in the light. If we do what is wrong, we are walking in darkness. This is what Genesis is alluding to. This theme becomes obvious as you read through the seven days of creation in Genesis. In the first chapter of Genesis, the sun and the moon and the stars are not formed until the fourth day. Obviously the light created on day one is not the sunlight that illuminates the earth. The light of these opening verses is meant to be read spiritually. This is speaking of spiritual light and darkness, and moral light and darkness. The physical phenomenon of light is used as a symbol and metaphor to communicate spiritual truth. It culminates in the story about the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 3. It is about spiritual and moral good and evil.

IV. Fourth, these opening verses of Genesis is about time. Verse 5 says, “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” One of the popular discussions about Genesis is whether these seven days of Creation should be understood as 24-hour days or whether the word “day” is to be understood as a huge segment of time - eons or geologic ages. Sometimes the apostle Peter is quoted, when he says, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  I think that whole discussion misses the point of Genesis one.

Earth days are measured by the rotation of the earth on its axis. An earth year is one revolution of the earth around the sun. Night and day are determined as the light from the sun illuminates the earth’s surface as the earth revolves. But in Genesis 1 the sun is not even created until day four. So on days one, two and three in Genesis, you have light and darkness, night and day, before the sun is even makes an appearance. If there is no sun until day four, what is the earth orbiting around? That doesn’t make sense if you are talking about physical days and physical light and darkness. But if you read this spiritually and theologically it makes a lot of sense. Genesis is not about clocks and calendars. This is about sacred time. Genesis 1 describes the origin of the heavens and the earth in the framework of the seven days of the Hebrew week, culminating in the holy day of the Sabbath. That is what Genesis 1 is all about. This is about our weeks, and how we use our time. And it is about setting aside time for God.

There are two words used in the NT to describe time. One is chronos and one is kairos. Chronos is chronological time – seconds, minutes, hours, days, years - quantitative time. The other word is kairos. Kairos is qualitative time. We talk about spending “quality time” with our family. Kairos is quality time spent with God. People assume Genesis is talking about chronos when it is actually talking about kairos. It is sacred time lived in relationship to God our Creator. You have heard the expression, “This is the first day of the rest of your life.” That is what Genesis talking about. This is day one of the rest of your life.

It is about us and the days of our lives lived in relationship to God. It is about the Spirit of God hovering over the world and entering into our lives, bringing order out of disorder, bringing meaning and purpose into our years. It is about spiritual light and living in that light. That light is God, and that light is Christ. The Bible says, “God is light and in him is no darkness at all.” It is about how we use our six 24-hour days each week, and especially how we use that seventh day, a day set apart as holy to God. It is about how we live 24-7. When Genesis says, “in the beginning” it is not just talking about the beginning of the universe, it is about our beginnings – whether our days will be ordered in relationship to the Creator and Savior. Whether we are God’s new creation crafted in his image to do his will on this earth or not. It is about whether this new day and this new year will be a new beginning for us as we walk with him who is the light of the world, through whom all things were made – Jesus Christ.  

A Bucket List

Delivered January 8, 2012

Luke 2:22-40

“The Bucket List” is a 2007 film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The movie follows two terminally ill men on a road trip with a wish list of things to do before they "kick the bucket."  Together they take an around-the-world vacation. They go skydiving together, climb the Pyramids, fly over the North Pole, visit the Taj Mahal in India, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, and go on a safari in Africa.  The subplot of the movie is about relationships: the Freeman character’s relationship with his wife, and the Nicholson character’s relationship with his estranged daughter. It is a funny and thoughtful film.  It communicates the truth that it is not experiences or things that are important in life, but relationships with people.

Our scripture text this morning is about a man named Simeon who had only one thing on his bucket list. Before he died he wanted to see the Messiah. And verse 26 of our passage tells us that God told him he would get his wish. “And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  Here at the beginning of a new year – New Year’s Day - let’s give some thought to our own bucket lists. I invite you to take a look at your life this morning –while I am preaching and during the communion service later in the service. I suggest that you might start a bucket list today, but a different type of one. Simeon’s one item was a spiritual one, and that is what I hope you might do this morning. Not to make a list of places you want to visit or experiences you might want to have. I am not talking about skydiving or visiting New Zealand. I am asking you to make a spiritual bucket list.

Every few years I read the Bible from cover-to-cover in one year. Even though I study the Bible every day – not only for Sunday sermons and the Midweek Bible study, but also for personal reasons - I haven’t read it cover-to-cover in a year for quite a while. So 2012 is the year I have decided to do it again. If you have never done that – or if you have started and stopped in the middle of Leviticus - you might want to consider this as a personal goal, especially if you have never read through the whole Bible in your life. Isn’t it about time? A lot of people who have been attended church all their lives have never read through the whole Bible. Why not this year? This time I am using a website called the One Year Bible Online that makes it very easy. In fact I have been getting a head start the last couple of weeks. I make it part of my morning devotions, the first thing after breakfast. It is amazing how little time it takes. That is just one idea; I hope you will think of many more.

To get back to Simeon and his bucket list, I want us to look at this man this morning and see if he has anything to teach us concerning our bucket lists. We meet Simeon in connection with a visit that Mary and Joseph make to Jerusalem with their infant son Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel narrative it is 40 days after Christmas. Mary has gone through the required 40 days of ritual purification according to Jewish law, and they could now come into the temple to present their child Jesus to the Lord – much like Christians today have infant baptism or infant dedication ceremonies. There in the temple they met Simeon. It doesn’t say that he is an older man, but it sounds like it from what he says, and most Biblical commentators agree. Here is a man who is getting older and on this day his bucket list is completed, and he says in verses 29-30 “²⁹ Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word;³⁰ For my eyes have seen Your salvation.” What can this figure of Simeon teach us?

I. First of all there is Simeon’s character. Verse 25 “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” It says that Simeon was just and devout. We could use the terms morality and spirituality.  These are good things to put on our bucket list. On New year’s Eve people pledge to lose weight, exercise more, stop smoking or save money – things like that. But consider instead this morning some moral and spiritual qualities. We might also use words like honor and integrity. 2011 was a year when the news was filled with leaders who did not act with honor and integrity. We have seen politicians and sports figures resign over issues of personal morality. Those people should have put spiritual and moral qualities on their bucket lists. Now their names are going to be associated with shame and disgrace for the rest of their lives.

How are you going to be remembered? Simeon is remembered in the scriptures as just and devout. We don’t know anything else about him. He pops up in these few verses and then disappears from history. His appearance in Scripture is brief, but it is enough.  He left a legacy that has inspired generations. Our appearance in this life is brief. What is your legacy going to be for those who have known you?

II. A second characteristic about Simeon is prayer. Verse 27 says that he came into the temple. He was in the temple when Mary and Joseph arrived because he probably spent a lot of time there. Later in this passage we meet an eighty-four year old woman named Anna. It says of her in verse 37 that she, “did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.”  I am not suggesting that you be in night and day. The fact that you are here on New Year’s Day and most of you were here also on Christmas morning means that you are the more regular worshippers here at this church. So you can just pat yourself on the back on this one. You probably don’t have to put “Go to church more” on your bucket list. If you do, then go ahead. But you are probably the ones I least need to urge to come to church.

But I would like to suggest spiritual disciplines. In this passage we see both Simeon and Anna praying. Anna is said to have done it “night and day.” That is a tall order! The apostle Paul instructs us to “pray without ceasing.” This does not mean to be continually mumbling the Lord’s Prayer under our breath all day long. This is referring to living in the presence of God. It is one thing to worship God on Sunday mornings, it is another thing to maintain and attitude of worship throughout each day.
I think that one of the goals of the spiritual life should be the everyday awareness of God. Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth century French monk on Paris called it “the practice of the presence of God.” A collection of his letters is published under that title. Jesus used the phrase the Kingdom of God. This is the heart of individual spirituality. It is not whether we have all the right theological answers or fulfill all the religious obligations. It is about whether we have an inner spiritual awareness that connects with God. For me this is what the Christian faith is all about - everyday connection with God during every part of every day. You might want to put a richer and deeper prayer life on your spiritual bucket list.

This is something know no one needs to know about but you. In fact this spiritual bucket list is probably best kept private for the most part, especially when it comes to prayer. Jesus says a lot about the importance of privacy in prayer. One of the religious stories of 2011 was the phenomenon known as Tebowing. Some of you may not know what Tebowing is, so I will explain. Tim Tebow is the starting quarterback for the Denver Bronos. He is also a devout Christian. He is known for publicly thanking God and Christ on the football field and in new conferences. In particular he is known for kneeling down on one knee on the field and putting his hand to his head and offering a silent prayer to God. The distinctive characteristic of Tebowing is to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different. For him everyone is celebrating a touchdown or a victory and he is no a knee in prayer. This posture has “gone viral” as they say these days. People around the world are being photographed in this distinctive pose of Tim Tebow in all sorts of places and situations. Some are getting in trouble for it.

A couple of weeks ago two New York high school athletes  - twin brothers, Connor and Tyler Carroll - got students together at Riverhead High School to "tebow" in between classes. The brothers and their friends did this Tebowing in the hall at school in between classes three days in a row. On the third day, the boys were suspended from school; the school officials said the Tebow tribute was dangerous. It posed a safety hazard by blocking others from getting to class. So now another form of prayer has become illegal in schools. These public displays of prayer are fine – and I think they should be a protected form of free speech in our nation - but this type of prayer is not going to do much for your spiritual life. It is more of a public testimony. But if you are going to put prayer on your bucket list, I suggest you don’t put tebowing, but instead a regular spiritual discipline of private prayer.

III. The climax of this scripture passage is the scene where Simeon holds the baby Jesus in his arms. Our passage says, “And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, ²⁸ he took Him up in his arms and blessed God….” For me this is one of the most moving scenes in scripture. We read the Christmas story every year about the infant Jesus lying in a manger, but this in the baby Jesus lying in someone’s arms. Can you imagine what that experience would have been like for Simeon? Can you imagine what it would have been like to hold the infant Christ?

Two years ago in 2010 at Super Bowl XLIV, Drew Brees – quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, had that kind of moment as he celebrated a Super Bowl win. He stood with his son lifted up high in the air. He later said, "I stood there with my little boy, and I was overwhelmed. I told Baylen how much I loved him and how much he meant to me….. I thought of my mom, who I believed was smiling down from heaven, and all my family and friends who were there watching. 'We did it, little boy. We did it!'" In that important moment in Drew Brees' career, that memory of holding his son up in the air will be forever sketched in his mind. But that is just a football game. Can you imagine Simeon holding up the Savior of the world in his hands, and saying to God,

       ²⁹ “ Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
      According to Your word;
       ³⁰ For my eyes have seen Your salvation
       ³¹ Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
       ³² A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
      And the glory of Your people Israel.”

It is no wonder that the next verse says, “³³ And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.”

          Every child born is a miracle. I know in my life every one of our children was a miracle, and we gave each one of them back to God in a child dedication ceremony. Each of our grandchildren are a miracle. Each of the children in this town, each of the fourteen children born in Sandwich in 2011 is a miracle. I hope that in 2012 we can reach out to these children and the families of these children with the love of God. That ought to be on our church’s bucket list.

          IV. The last thing that this passage says about Simeon is in verses 34-35, “Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Simeon here embraced and proclaimed the full truth about Jesus. It is a good thing to have on our bucket list as well.

Christmas has a lot of sentimentality connected with it, especially in popular culture. But today with Christmas a week in the past we can look at it a bit more soberly through Simeon’s eyes. I think that Simeon’s words sobered up Mary and Joseph. They were still basking in the memories of angels’ songs and shepherds. Soon would come the Wise men with precious gifts. But here Simeon prophesies that this child is going to be spoken against, that he is going to cause people to fall and rise, and will reveal the thoughts of people’s hearts. Most disturbing of all was his prophecy that a sword was going to pierce Mary’s soul. His words must have pierced Mary’s soul as well.

As I connect this to us and our bucket lists this morning, I invite you to some soul searching. Maybe even be open to some soul-piercing. Hebrews says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Communion is a good time for this. I invite you this day and this year to open your heart and soul to the Holy Spirit that we might truly know the truth and that truth might set us free. For Simeon it was his life’s hope and dream to see the Messiah. When he did see Jesus and held him in his arms, he told it like it was. May we tell it like it is – and to listen to the Spirit of God telling it like it is to us in our souls - as we come to the Lord’s table this New year’s Day.   And may our bucket list be as spiritual and meaningful as Simeon’s.