Greetings — On behalf of the Silliman church council chairperson, Dr. Angel Alcala we extend our warmest greetings of peace in Jesus Christ on your 85th anniversary. As your church history was being read, familiar names of your pioneer pastors and lay leaders were mentioned e.g. Campos, Malahay, Madrazo, Tabuena, Antonio, Villavito, Antone, Ursos, Lezama. Names which have their counterpart in Silliman which suggests that our histories and our ministries are perhaps intertwined. I thank you for inviting me to share God’s word on this important day.

1) Household of God.

Let me first dwell on my understanding of the phrase “household of God.” in your anniversary theme.

In the Creation Story in Genesis, the household of God represents Adam and Eve and all their descendants. Gen 1: 26 says, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish, birds, cattle and wild animals and all creatures that crawl on the ground.” In the broadest sense, the family or household of God is humanity in general (who are created in God’s image) who are to be stewards of the whole Creation, all the descendants of Adam and Eve whom God wished to bless. For God created Adam and Eve for a purpose, and God blessed them and commanded them, “be fertile and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth. (Gen. 1:28ff)

God blessed the whole household, all races, all nations, for they all sprung from Adam and Eve.

In the NT sense, however, the household of God refers to the new creation. When Jesus came, every discussion of God, His Creation and his fellowship changed. 2 Cor. 5: 17-18 – “Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Therefore, in the narrower sense, the household of God refers not to humanity as a whole, but to the fellowship of believers, the church of Jesus Christ. And there is a distinct purpose for this. All those renewed creation, reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ who have been forgiven their sins and who possess eternal life are especially called to do God’s work. They have been elected to do God’s mission; and the church exists only for mission. Without mission, we are not the church.

To the extent that the witness of the church, has “blessed” the non Christian world, to that extent the household of God encompasses more than the Christian church. In the same way that Abraham was called by God to be the father of nations and through whose faith God’s blessings was to flow to all nations (Gen 11:1-3), so the church is called to be united in the spirit, one body, one spirit, called to one hope of your calling, one Lord one faith one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Eph 4: 4-6) so that the whole world may be renewed.

The household of God then is the fellowship of believers who reach out to proclaim Christ (kerygma) and to witness to Christ through service (diakonia). It is a Biblical injunction that defines the church and helps the church organize itself to do God’s mission.

2) Doing Christ’s Will in context

Having clarified what the household of God means, we come to the main point of your theme – Doing Christ’s Will in Unity and love. How do we do our kerygma, and our diakonia? Or in everyday language, how do we do Christ’s mission?

Acts 4: 29-32 – “Lord, look upon their threats and grant to Thy servants to speak Thy word with all boldness (kerygma); while Thou stretchest out Thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed, through the name of Thy Holy Servant Jesus…(diakonia) and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of Jesus with boldness. Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.”

Notice that Christ’s will or purpose is that his servants act directly on their surroundings. He wants them to speak like a servant the Lordship of Christ with boldness. He wants them to heal and give signs of God’s power. He asks them to be one in heart and soul. He asks them to love and share what they have.

As a church, we are called to transform not the world but each other. Sometimes we are too macro oriented. We do not have millennium development goals, what we have is faith, and a church willing to live out that faith in the particular area we are assigned. How boldly do we speak of Christ in San Carlos City? What problems of disunity have we solved through reconciliation of different sides? How have we expressed our united witness with the Roman Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostal?

There was a time when doing Christ’s will was simple but difficult. It meant standing against the Roman world which was a slave empire that demanded loyalty to the emperor. The problem with Caesar, some times was that he claimed to be the Son of God.

In the times of emperor Nero and Diocletian, the emperors compelled everyone on pain of death, to proclaim Ceasar as Lord. The early Christians were taught to recognize only one Lord, Jesus is Lord, and so they suffered the consequences of their faith. So we had martyrs.

Our mission then and now is the same, proclamation of God’s word in Jesus Christ (John 14:6); salvation through the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and “serving in Christ” expressed in thanksgiving through good works. The good news we preach is holistic, involving salvation from sins that lead Christians to live new, ethical and moral lives; to become partners in economic, political and social well being of individuals and society. “They will know we are Christians by our love” is a song that captures this spirit.

Mission must stand on two feet. First it must stand on Kerygma proclaiming the Good News, i.e., bringing people to Christ and strengthening their faith. Second, it must stand on diakonia – proclaiming Christ’s love, serving the poor, healing the sick, teaching, rebuilding individual and corporate lives.

Our diakonia is well established. Institutionally, this is reflected in the work and mission of Silliman University and the teaching ministry, Silliman Medical Center and the healing ministry; our prophetic ministry our advocacy of human rights, socio economic programs to help the poor, exhortation for moral and ethical living in community. But there is one more thing we need.

3) We need to serve in unity and love

Diakonia means to serve. But we are no ordinary servants. We are called to serve Christ, to serve in unity and love for his glory and honor. Paul expresses it this way:

Phil 2: 1-7 – “fulfill my joy by being like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself; let each one of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men.

We conduct our servant ministry in humility aware that our ministry is our offering to God and our way of praising Him and giving our thanks. We commend to God all our efforts knowing that God is pleased by our offering of ourselves and our efforts. We do not rest in our service because we await the day of hope when the Lord shall consummate His plan for the whole creation, “when the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of Christ and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Rev. 11: 15-16)

As Ignatius Loyola once prayed, “a servant gives, and does not count the cost. Fights and not heed the wounds. Toils and not seek rest. labors and not ask for reward. We seek only to know that we do God’s will.

While we are united in and for Christ, we confess that we are still a community in need of salvation. We continue to be broken up by our own sins and idolatries. As we strive to unite with others, more churches come to proclaim the Gospel as if other churches are not already doing so. The same problem of overzealous proclamation of Jesus Christ regardless of the presence of evangelizers in the area, is causing much recrimination, “sheep stealing,” self-righteousness and disunity among churches and within churches. Indeed the Gospel can be a cause of disunity!

Related to this is a narrow emphasis on the sufficiency of “salvation” or justification. According to Dr. Everett Mendoza, UCCP resident theologian, the doctrine of salvation has two aspects. “First, salvation means justification, meaning the remission of sins through God’s unconditional forgiveness, which is received through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The sinner is reconciled to God and so regarded righteous by God even if actually the person continues to be subject to sin….Salvation refers to a new relationship that God has established with sinners. It is a relationship of a forgiving God and a sinner that sincerely asks for God’s forgiveness.” “Since it is a relationship, both parties are bound in a mutual obligation to be faithful to one another. God offers to be faithful to forgive; on the other hand, the forgiven sinner pledges to turn away from sin and to live righteously.”

“The second aspect of salvation is known as sanctification. God’s forgiveness carries with it the seed of a new life that gradually matures but never reaches perfection in earthly existence. The new life grows in holiness in obedience to the Lord. As Eph 1:10. says “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Mere acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior is no guarantee of salvation. Beyond the verbalization of faith in Christ, is the necessary inner change that is instilled by the Spirit. For we have been forewarned that “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven…I will declare to them, I never knew you; go away from me…” (Matt. 7:21-23)

There are many other manifestations of sin in our midst, which also divide the church: pride, intolerance, prejudice, loose living, comfort seeking, self-righteousness, bigotry, hatred, hypocrisy, legalism and others.

Did you notice that when the church achieves something good, someone will find something bad to say about the achievement? When we discredit one another, our witness suffers. It reveals that we lack Christian charity. God’s mission suffers when we claim credit for God’s achievements. When we serve the church we should do so in great love of God, not in great love for our ancestors of faith. They loved God, not themselves.

This reminds me how we need God’s Spirit to keep us persevering even when we are attacked by our own brothers and sisters. Let me illustrate this with a story. “A child said to his mother, you never say anything bad about anybody. I think you would have something good to say even about the devil. Well, the mother said, imitate his perseverance.”

We fail in our kerygma and diakonia because the inner change in our lives brought by the Holy Spirit has often not happened. We do things for the church, still for our own purposes, not for God’s purposes. We fail to worship God because we love ourselves more. As Paul warned in 1 Cor. 13, “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels but have no love, I am a clanging cymbal. If I have faith that can move mountains but have no love, I am nothing. Etc.

Let me then end with this summary point. In summary, it is all a matter of commitment to Christ. How committed is the church to its mission? The early martyrs gave their lives to preach Christ. What are we willing to give up, for our Lord?

A notorious disgraced politician who became a born again Christian spoke to a large university audience. He was talking about his commitment to Christ. “I am willing if necessary,” he said “to die on behalf of the Savior.” And a young student said, “Nothing is worth dying for.

To which he replied, if there is nothing you are willing to die for, then I submit you have nothing to live for.

Is your commitment to Jesus Christ worth giving your life for? If not then, what are you living for?

Happy Anniversary to UCCP SAN CARLOS CITY May your commitment to Christ increase in the years ahead.
 
(Sermon delivered UCCP San Carlos City, May 31, 2009)

A blessed Trinity Sunday to all. During the Pentecost season, we focus on the third person of the Trinity, the one less recognized in the unity of God in three Persons — the Holy Spirit. We look at the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit and see how important the spirit is in moving us today. God the Father, we understand as the Creator; God the Son we know as the Redeemer; and now God the Spirit, the presence of God today that makes things happen.

Let us draw lessons about the work of the Holy Spirit from the man named Nicodemus.

He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish Council. He came to Jesus at night and asked, “Rabii we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs you are doing unless God is with you.

Then Jesus answers him “Truly, truly I say unto you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

“How can a man re-enter the womb of his mother and be born again? Jesus: “What is flesh is flesh, what is spirit is spirit.

Being born again is being born of the spirit. Seeing with new eyes of faith, living in eternal reality now, believing in the Son of Man, who will be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (3:16)

Nicodemus is a decent, godly man impressed by Jesus miracles. But something about his mind set, prevents the spirit’s power? Where does it come from? Elevation. Take Maria Christian falls. At the base of the falls is a powerhouse. Above the falls is Lake Lanao hundreds of feet above. Elevation enables the waterfall to create the power. If there was no elevation, if Lake Lanao and the powerhouse were in the same level, there would be no power. We must allow the elevation of God to create the power in us.

What was Nicodemus difficulty with the power of the spirit?

1. Nicodemus was too elevated, comfortable with his own power.
The Sanhedrin was the Highest Council of Israel. It would be equivalent to the Supreme Court cum Congress today presided over by the President. It was made up of teachers, lawyers (Pharisees) the landed families, the Chief Priests and the Sadducees who interpreted Jewish Law, investigated and judged minor offenders. Like the Philippine Senate investigating the case of Hayden Kho, in aid of legislation.

The Sanhedrin was not really the power source. It was tolerated by Rome, to appease the Jews. It gave them the illusion of self government, gave them enough comfort, so they would not have to resort to rebellion or seek to overthrow the government.

Nicodemus belonged to this chamber. He was a proud Jew, not eager to let Jesus take his power, remove him from his job and position of power, comfort zone. Note that his position of power, hinders the power of the Holy Spirit in him. Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Power of God.

2. Nicodemus is a timid, indecisive, fearful witness of Jesus
When the Sanhedrin discussed the controversy over Jesus in Jn 7:50, many condemned Jesus as blasphemer. He can forgive sins? What? Is He God? Is this son of the carpenter, the Messiah? But if he was the Messiah, there were two dangers: 1) the Romans would require the Sanhedrin to quash the pretender to Jewish power; 2) If the people believed in Jesus, then the power of the Sanhedrin would be undermined. The Romans would be relying on a powerless Sanhedrin. And so the Sanhedrin decided to discredit Jesus. They belittled Jesus: “Will the Messiah come from Galilee?

To his credit, decent and timid Nicodemus protested. The Council was dealing with Jesus too rashly. He wanted to give Jesus a chance. He said, “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing? (7:50)

Nicodemus was a learned, decent, godly man, but the Spirit was not with him. He understood the world through his own logic. He could not accept Jesus as the Messiah. The Law says, the Messiah would be a conquering king. God cannot change that or maybe God could. But he feared the Orthodox conformists in the Sanhedrin. He did not want to be accused as one coming from Galilee.

There’s a story of a man who was being trained as an evangelist. He would bring a tract entitled “Would you give your life to God?” knock on doors and hand out the tracts hoping for a discussion and for commitments. One day he knocked on this particular door. He heard some movements inside so he knocked again and again, even though no one came. Finally a man appeared, took the track and slammed the door in his face. The evangelist returned to that house a week later. This time the man opened the door immediately and asked the evangelist in. Inviting him inside, the man was brought to a room where a sturdy rope was dangling from the rafter. The man said, friend, when you knocked on the door last week, my head was in that noose. I was ready to jump. But since you were so persistent, I decided to go down and see who it was. And you gave me that track. Thank God, God spoke to me through that track. I knelt down and gave my life to the Lord.

3. Nicodemus is a man who picks up the pieces

Because Nicodemus, defended Jesus Christ (7:50) so meekly (i.e., without spirit) in the Sanhedrin, he allowed the mob to rule. And the inevitable happened. Jesus was crucified. All a good man needs to do to let evil flourish is not to do anything.

After he died, Nicodemus was one of two men the other Joseph of Arimathea, who brought down the body of Jesus Christ from the cross for burial. He took down the body of the greatest man who ever lived. It was all sentimental superfluity. In 3 days, that body would be lifted. He picks up the pieces of things that are broken.

Reflection questions: Nicodemus is still alive today in spiritless churches. I know a church: No pastor. No tithes. Choir does not practice. No mission. No Sunday School. Too much elevation of the members. Not born of the spirit. Spirit cannot work.

1. Are we like Nicodemus, zealous in protecting our comfort zones?
2. Are we like Nicodemus, proud of his position of power, confident of his orthodoxy? God will not surprise him with new things?
3. Are we like Nicodemus, decent, god fearing, fair but timid witness of Jesus, not yet born of the spirit?
4. Are we like Nicodemus who procrastinates, acts too late, sentimentally, superfluously?

(Sermon delivered June 7, 2009, Silliman church)

Back when I was a college student, a famous writer wrote a book called Small is Beautiful. I forgot the author’s name now but I remember that he begun a new way of thinking. His point, its all a matter of perspective.

Our text this morning talks about tiny seeds. Small things that grow into new life, that become big trees, a tiny seed like a mustard seed, that becomes a big tree. Small insignificant things that become beautiful, useful and great. And Jesus was referring to “the kingdom of God …is like …a seed. A mustard seed.”

Jesus words seem to indicate that there is so much wonderment in big things – big numbers, big and powerful people, big machines, big cars, big cities, but we are missing the fact that all the great things are just in a tiny seed.

This reminds me of the story about a traveling man who was taking a long train trip. He was looking out the window of the train and every so often he would burst out with the words, “wonderful!” The passing scenery, the faces of passengers, the animals in the meadows, the trees, the sky, small details which elicited from him glad expressions of enjoyment.

Finally one traveler overcome with irritation asked him, “How come, we are bored with all the ordinary things we see, and you are having the time of your life saying Wonderful! Wonderful!

He answered, “until a few days ago, I was a blind man. A great doctor has just given me my sight and what is ordinary to you is “heavenly to me.” A matter of perspective. Heaven is here, we are just not looking.

How come, the less you see, the more you appreciate what you can see? And the more you see, the less you are thrilled of seeing the many things you do see? The less opportunities you have, the more appreciative you are of your achievements.

How is that like the kingdom of God?

1. First we need to understand that the small seed is so complex in itself.

Within that tiny seed, is a possibility, just a possibility of a great crop or a big tree. We do not know how the seed grows, but one day, it will bear fruit, and we will say, wow what a big fruit tree!

Think about this, a mustard seed, is like a fertilized egg. A mustard seed can become a big tree or it can become nothing. A fertilized egg can become a beggar. The possibilities are many, but one possibility is that the egg could be the greatest boxer that ever lived! A great statesman, a great singer. But who can tell, which one will it be?

You see, our lack of wonderment is because we think we know how nature works? In truth, we do not know. Two seeds in the same place can grow similarly or differently. Or one dies and the other grows. Something insignificant becomes significant. This is like the kingdom, it is imperceptible, unexpected and then you realize it is there.

When Jesus proclaimed, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand! He was really telling us, yow! What you are is what you are, but you can be part of something you never imagined. Just a possibility opens up. It all depends on your faith perspective.

2. A mustard is the smallest seed. And then it becomes a large tree that brings much blessing.

As far as Jesus was concerned, the kingdom of God started small and weak, through his ministry. But a day will come when it will become great and powerful. Has this not become a reality today? Aren’t there billions of people who believe today? But Jesus was just one person, a tiny seed. Now that seed is you and me, and Silliman church, and the UCCP, and the Christian world. We should not judge the significance of the kingdom by its small beginning.

3. Why parables?

Parables (from the Gk word parabole) are stories taken from ordinary life used to drive home a spiritual or moral truth. Similes, comparisons, analogies, metaphor, allegory, proverbial sayings.

Obviously, the kingdom of God, is beyond our experience. I don’t think it is just something of the planet earth. I don’t even think it is about the Solar System. Or the Milky Way. It is something that spans the eternal heavens. There are no words to explain it.

That is why Jesus used parables. Revealing the truth is more than putting truth to words. Our words are limited by our experience. What we need in order to understand God’s realm – God’s space and time — is to have alert, awake and inquiring minds. We need faith to understand. The truth is really self evident if we can see with eyes of faith. A seed is ordinary or special. We all know the vastness of the universe. We all know, we do not know. It is all matter of faith. With faith, the kingdom is in our midst.

The kingdom of God breaks open in our midst just by believing in Jesus Christ the Son of God. Amen.

(Sermon delivered Silliman Heights, June 14, 2009)

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good, pleasing and perfect.”  (Romans 12:2)

It is a privilege to speak before this distinguished gathering of Christian educators to share closing thoughts on the theme of your 48th Assembly: “Christian Schools Facing Challenges: Preparing Youth for Responsible Citizenship.”

In Rom. 12:2, Paul observes the vital link between what we learn and what we become; between faith and action in the world.

I don’t think there is anyone in this room, who can deny that Christian schools are challenged, because to some extent they are conformed to the world (albeit, involuntarily). Ex. If your nursing enrolment is disproportionately larger than the rest of the colleges combined, it is a challenge to cope with the expected decline of demand for nurses and therefore of enrolment in nursing, in the coming years.

But that is only one example. If there is a global financial crisis, if we cannot seem to have a political will to reverse global warming, if the moral life of the nation is in crisis, surely Christian schools must also be in crisis, at least a crisis of conscience? Or is it right that everything is in crisis and only we are not affected? If everyone is going crazy, and we are not, then we must be doing well? I don’t think it comforts anyone to think that we are not a little crazy, if everyone else is crazy. The common workaday mind is to conform. Better to be a little crazy with the majority, than to be sane by ourselves?

Of course some may seek comfort in the fact that some are crazier than others, so it must be fashionable to be a little crazy.

Some would argue that the crisis is specific. That globalization is just imagined and the crisis is confined only to the US. But the interrelations of the crises – global warming, global recession seems more earth changing, more Biblical in proportion, forcing us to review our assumptions and seek renewal.

One astute educator of the small association of CREATE UCCP, Dr. Cesar Agnir, enumerates several variables that triggered the financial crisis — “the subprime mortgage crisis, investment vehicles such as “derivatives” which Warren Buffet calls “Financial WMD”, “mark to myth” asset valuation models which did not reflect real values; government reluctance to rein in risky investments.”

If complex investment vehicles called “derivatives” are allowed without regulation then Warren Buffet is right to call these investment instruments “financial weapons of mass destruction.” Which is what exploded and which now requires US$ 3 trillion in bail out money to rehabilitate.

Agnir notes that “what is significant about the crisis is that many socio psychologists and behavioral economists say quite bluntly that the failure of government to regulate boils down to two fundamental human failings – greed and hubris or pride (which are the same failures of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden). Greed or the insatiable lust for money and other forms of material wealth. Hubris, or the arrogance that derives from delusion that the great size of one’s holdings alone will insulate them from any economic distress. Now the entire economy must contract to reflect a more realistic value.

Agnir concludes “This troubled world, including our benighted country, needs intercessors with clean and faithful hearts, who will plead with the Lord to spare the right hearted from His wrath over widespread greed, rapacity, hubris and corruption. For God has ceased to be central, but has become merely peripheral in the lives of many of us in the midst of wordly preoccupations.”

Going back to Rom 12:2, Paul emphasizes that what we learn determines what we become.  Do not be conformed but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, by education. The implication is we need to take Christian value formation more seriously, teaching the Bible not as a history book but as living Word: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
Col 3:16

In the US there is growing criticism that the school system ignores God and therefore it teaches pupils to ignore God. Religious instruction is banned in public schools, the US Supreme Court has ruled on the grounds of the principle of the separation of church and state. Perhaps, the financial crisis, is a result of a prior crisis in education which fails to renew minds fundamentally from their natural moorings. When people can no longer reign in massive greed and hubris, when they think that it is alright to build wealth from non existent value, then they are not able to discern the will of God and are not capable of moral judgement.

As J. Gresham Machen says it well: “”Education that trains the mind without training the moral sense is a menace to civilization rather than a help.”

The results are predictable enough. Moral relativism. Financial and political weapons of mass destruction.

Christian schools teach students to understand and live all of life with an eternal perspective, while maintaining a daily, personal relationship with God. This relationship is able to nurture faith and enables the renewal of the mind. It begins with a healthy respect for God, as the ultimate judge. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 111:10) When we are fearless of the consequence of our immoral acts, we are uneducated and doomed.

Let us pray that we will “Prepare the Youth for Responsible Citizenship” by helping them to “renew their minds, so that they may discern the will of God, the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.” May God bless Christian schools. May God bless the new set of Trustees and Officers of ACSCU.

(Message for the Commissioning of Officers and New Members of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Christian Schools Colleges and Universities, 7 pm, May 12, 2009 at Silliman Hall)

As ministers, we’re reminded not to get too sentimental about motherhood (nor to idolize mothers) because for some:

(a) motherhood is an accident, and not always a welcome one;
(b) for some, biological motherhood isn’t possible;
(c) for some, mothers weren’t all that nice;
(d) for some, motherhood under the very best of circumstances is still less than a bed of roses.

For all its stumbling blocks, motherhood is a beautiful part of God’s creative plan to bring love and caring to to the world. Motherhood is God’s gift, an earthly example on how to love and to bear good fruit. Our text today is written in the context of a farm. Jesus explains an agricultural metaphor, about the relationship between vine, branches and fruit. He says “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you. I am the vine you are the branches. Whoever abides in me will bear much fruit.”(1-5)

The figure of the vine is often used in the OT to refer to Israel. Isaiah 5: 7 says “the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his cherished plant.” This means that God delighted in Israel. God considered Israel a cherished plant because this plant is the means by which God will reach out and bless all the nations.
 
But in the New Testament, there is a change. Jesus is the true vine. And those who believe in Him become the branches. If we abide in the vine, we will bear much fruit and become the means for others to receive God’s blessing. Notice that the purpose of the vine is to bear fruit. We know that bearing fruit is important for Jesus. Remember the parable of the sower and the seed and the parable of the talents? Remember also how he cursed the unfruitful fig tree (Matt21:18-19). Bearing fruit is to be in a position of being able to share a blessing to others.

Our purpose as Christians is to abide in Christ so that we might bear fruit. Not just any fruit, but a special fruit, a fruit of the spirit. As we abide in Christ, Jesus Christ becomes evident in and through us. And as we manifest Christ, others are blessed. He is seen in us as we manifest His character (Gal 5:22-23). He is evident in us as we carry on the work He began when He was on earth (see Acts 3:6, 12-16; 4:13). Being fruitful, then, is manifesting Christ in our lives and becoming a blessing to others.

Second, the branches are the instrument through which the fruit is produced. While our Lord produced much “fruit” when He was physically on the earth, He now produces “fruit” through those branches who believe in Him. Through the believers who manifest His Lordship.

Third, these branches only bear fruit in union with the vine. The branches obtain life through the vine; they are sustained by the vine; they produce fruit through the vine. The only way to bear fruit is for the branches to abide in the vine. I am sure that we have produced all sorts of fruits. Bad fruits as well as good fruits. Perhaps it is time to examine our fruits and see if we are still connected with the vine? Can we recognize our fruits as pleasing to God?

Fourth, the Father is the gardener, who tends the vine. He removes the lifeless, fruitless branches—which were never truly “in the vine”. He “prunes” the fruitful branches, so that they will bear even more fruit. When our temporal interests become paramount, rather than God’s glory, then we may fall short of what God’s Word teaches. Our purpose in life is not to “fill our cups” with good things; it is to abide in Christ so that we may bear fruit for Him.

Fifth, the Word is the instrument which God employs to tend the vine. The Word is the instrument which God employs to cleanse the branches. Put in different terms, the Word is the sharp cutting edge by which God prunes us and “removes” the unfruitful branches.

And this is where motherhood comes in. In the verses which say “Abide in me, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, neither can you. If you abide in me you will bear fruit. “Apart from Me, you can accomplish nothing.” We can probably produce many things on our own, but we can produce nothing that pleases God if we do not abide in the vine. Wealth per se, great honor, prestige, great accomplishments, per se, do not please God. What pleases God are the fruits of the vine that we bear — love, compassion, mercy because we abide in the vine.

The secret is in the word abiding. In John’s Gospel, abide is used in the sense of “dwell in a place”, stay in one’s dwelling place, dwelling at home. And here we honor mothers who bear the fruits of love, who teach us how to dwell in and make homes. We can understand Jesus words, I am the true vine and my father is the vine grower, better because we have mothers who are the home makers. Mothers are home makers, who first teach us about love and caring.

Someone said: The most creative job in the world involves fashion, decorating, recreation, education, transportation, psychology, romance, cuisine, literature, art, economics, government, pediatrics, geriatrics, entertainment, maintenance, purchasing, law, religion, energy and management. Anyone who can handle all those has to be somebody special, a special blessing. Mothers are homemakers.

Home is the center of the universe. Home is where we feel comfortable, and can really be ourselves. Home is a place of safety and security. Home is our base of operations; it is at the center of what we do. Home is where you find your strength for life; it is where you eat and sleep. Home is where the people and the things we love the most are found. Home is our dwelling place.

After appreciating our earthly mothers as examples of love by virtue of their being home makers, we can then take one higher step and say, The Lord is our spiritual dwelling place — the true vine, the true home for our souls. The true source of our life and strength. The true dwelling place of refuge and security. Jesus is the reason for our fellowship and community. He is where our heart is. When we abide in the Lord, when the Lord is our dwelling place, then we certainly will bear His fruit and become a blessing to others.
 
Thank God for our Mothers who lead us to the Lord Jesus.!

(Sermon delivered in Silliman church, 9 am, May 10, 2009)

Our text this morning tells us about Jesus the Good Shepherd and also a little about our accountabilities at work. This being Labor Sunday, the text is appropriate. Jesus calls himself as a servant, a worker serving His Father as a Good shepherd. To him is entrusted the salvation and welfare of the sheep in many sheepfolds, which he aims to lead and gather into the household of God. Jesus is a worker who takes care of the sheep knowing each sheep individually. He provides food, shelter, water, and care. Psalm 23 is the classic rendition of the Good shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters…yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me…”KJV

The good shepherd is skilled in leadership and communication. The sheep know him by the sound of his voice and by the touch of his staff. But Jesus also points out there are shepherds who are really thieves and robbers. There are hirelings (subcontracted shepherds) who run away when wolves come. He differs from them, in that he gives his life for them, while the hirelings run away and steal. This is because they work for pay (verse 13) and have no concern for the sheep.

Let me propose 3 applications for us:

1. The Lord is our shepherd we shall not want

The picture of gentle sheep contented with their leader, grazing lazily in the grass, lying down beside a pure stream is so difficult to conjure in our country today. I am sure there are contented sheep who have found their perfect place of employment, (often greener pastures abroad) where they hope to work and contribute their utmost until retirement. There are contented sheep in Silliman too I am sure. There are those who have realized Jesus words “I came that they may have life and life in abundance.” John 10:10.

But somehow TV news footages in May jar our sense of reality as workers march in the streets and demand higher wages in Cebu, Manila and Davao. We see footages of thousands of workers in England and the US charging into police out of frustration for jobs lost in the global recession. We see footages of Job Fairs and thousands of people pushing to get inside, demanding to be interviewed by labor recruiters, many for jobs abroad. An academician talked on TV about job mismatches. Colleges are not preparing for the kind of workers they need. Many college graduates need to be retrained, they said.

Except for a few, the majority of Filipinos cannot truly say, I shall not want, can they? They can say “The Lord is my Shepherd”. Full stop. They cannot say “I shall not want.” Because they want a job; They want a higher salary; they want a good working environment. They want safe and clean water; a clean environment?

How do we reconcile this statement? “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”? We are a Christian country, but why do we want so much? Is it our shepherd’s fault? Or should we understand this to mean, abundance is a reality that refers only to life eternal? I think we need to postpone deciding on those until we get to the next point.

2. Second point, We are shepherds of other sheep V16

Our text says that Jesus has his flock taken cared of. But in v 16, Jesus says “I have other sheep who do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. John is telling us that Jesus is the good shepherd, who loves us, and gives up his life for our sake. He gives us a full life, a life with meaning, a joyous life in union with Him. The amount of gifts and possibilities given to us are truly enormous.

But material abundance is not everything. Love is everything. Sharing is everything. Abundance therefore refers to a full life of love and sharing in the here and now, as well as in the life afterwards. Remember the rich man who gave morsels to Lazarus? He was not abundant. He was poor in spirit.

Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, our Good shepherd. He desires abundant life for us. But abundance is not an individual achievement. It is given in relation to the command to love the neighbor.

In history the believers lived in abundance, even in times of persecution and want. Acts 2:42 ff tells us, the believers “devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles, and to a common life, to the breaking of the bread, to prayer. And awe came upon everyone, and many wonders were done through the disciples. All who believed were together, and had all things in common.” There was Shalom, union with God, peace, nothing missing, nothing broken. 

The community of faith became abundant in love as shepherded by the apostles. They shepherded one another. How well we have shepherded each other will reveal how abundant we have become?

3. We need to deal with wolves and thieves (v

One of the things I have learned in Silliman is the way we handle external and internal enemies. You must have heard of the Exodus and the way some people are trying to say, Silliman grabbed their lands. And this problem is not yet going away. We do have enemies. How do we deal with them? We deal with them in a redemptive way. We have talked to them, given them opportunities for scholarships, acknowledged the contributions of their ancestors to the mission of the university, recognize their needs, given service to their communities, but never by surrendering the truth and the mission.

We also have to consider that sometimes, we are our worst enemies. We forget that we are called to be shepherds. We are content to be tended like sheep. We idealize the sheep. We simply receive blessings but do not give out blessings. That is not abundance. In fact, we are the Body of Christ. We are the body of shepherds. Sometimes we never graduate from being the sheep. And being selfish, sometimes we graduate to become the wolves and the thieves ourselves.

There are stories of priests devouring their members and vice versa. We have hearts that are capable of being cruel, deceptive, manipulative, greedy, and selfish. These things cloud our judgment and hearing of what God wants and demands from us. Sometimes we are tempted to say, “I don’t care what happens, I’m going to….do what.? We do things that will make us happy, make us feel good, make us have a good time. We may aspire for the good life. But we can never have the good life without the truth and the mission.

And so to the question for today, what are we working for, who are we working for? We answer: Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd. We are working to be shepherds of the flock of this generation, so that they may have abundant life. But abundant life must not be achieved by surrendering the truth and the mission. In fact, we can only shepherd by upholding the way, the truth and the life. This is why we are here. This is our mission. So help us God.

(Sermon delivered in Silliman Church May 3, 2009)

(John 2:1-11, 20:1-7)

I am reading a book by Ann Rice, “Christ the Lord: The Road to
Cana”. It is an unexpected rendering of Jesus story supported by Biblical scholarship, leading up to Jesus active ministry. If you are among the many who ask, what was Jesus life before his first miracle? What were his thoughts about his mission? How did he struggle to obey God’s will? This is a book for you.

In summary (I haven’t finished the book yet), the book portrays Jesus as a person with real life dilemmas. He was an ordinary carpenter. Joseph and Mary knew him but, like Jesus, were prayerfully waiting for a time when his mission will be revealed. The intriguing thing about the fiction book is that real events led Jesus to do what he did. He falls in love with Avigail. He struggles to be faithful to God, despite his love for Avigail. Unexpected events happen, Jesus surrenders Avigail to another man. Avigail is the woman who was wedded in Cana, where Jesus performs his first miracle; where he launches his ministry.

Jesus life and those of his family are lives lived in the real world, where unexpected things happen. This is the real world where we must live in real faith in order to have hope.

Sometimes it is convenient to assume everything about our faith, with out realizing that Jesus himself did not have all the answers all the time. He lived in constant serendipity[1] of God’s revelation. But the events of every day were unexpected leaving Jesus to wonder, what will happen next. His arrest, torture and death were certainly forecast. But the pain was unexpected and real.. Even at the last moment, Jesus struggled to obey.

Our text today talks about Jesus resurrection story. I would like to dwell today on a small detail of that story. It is an unexpected detail that may have great meaning.

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus went to Pontius Pilate and begged for the body of Jesus. They were allowed to take his lifeless body from the cross to a new tomb that Joseph had prepared for himself. They washed His body, and wrapped it in white linen, folding His arms over His chest. They closed His eyes, kissed His cheek, and placed a napkin over His face.

For 3 days, the disciples were hopeless. But on the third day, something unexpected happens. The stone rolled away, and up from the grave He arose. He lives!

In our text, Mary Magdalene comes first to the tomb. The unexpected happens. The stone rolled away. She goes to Peter and John, and they run together to the tomb. John got there first but stops at the door. Peter arrives and goes right in. The tomb is empty, but he sees the linen clothes strewn about. But there was something unexpected in that scene. Something caught his eye that was very interesting. And this is the small detail that has great meaning.

The Gospel of John tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside as the linen was scattered. V. 7 “The napkin was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Is that detail important? Let’s see.

The folded napkin has to do with Master and Servant relations, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was set and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master had finished eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and take the napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then clear the table. For the napkin cast aside, meant, “I’m done”. But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, “I’m not finished yet.” The folded napkin meant, “I’m coming back!”

Peter and John saw a folded napkin in the empty bed! Was Jesus saying, “Im not finished yet…Im coming back!”

Jesus had accomplished his mission on the cross. John 3: 17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him, might be saved.

But in many ways his work was to be continued by his disciples. But were they prepared? So Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene (20:10ff) and commands her to “tell the disciples” that she had seen him (which is the fundamental Evangel). Mary Magdalene gave the Evangel to them, “I have seen the Lord.”

Imagine how hopeless they were before that Good News. Wouldn’t you be hopeless too? Would you believe Jesus if he did not resurrect on Easter?

So the question is: Was the napkin folded in order to…in verses 19 ff, enable Jesus to first send out his fearful disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Was the napkin folded, because …v 22, the disciples had to first,  “Receive the Holy Spirit. You are given power, to forgive sins, or not to forgive sins.

Was the napkin folded, because (24), hope was not yet a reality to Thomas? “Unless I see the nail marks and put my fingers where the nails were, I will not believe it.” V. 26, Jesus tells Thomas, “put your finger here, see my hands, reach out your hand and put it into my side, Stop doubting and believe. Only then does Thomas says “My Lord and my God.”

In fact none of the disciples understood what Jesus meant with the words “I will rise again” until after the unexpected fact.

This may be surprising to you but many Christians believe in Jesus but cannot yet accept the unexpected resurrection part.

Some might ask: Does God violate the law of gravity? But if God obeys our laws of gravity, we would not need faith. We would be God’s ourselves. Nothing will be unexpected. Like the Jews who could not reconcile God becoming a human person. And so we are doomed to faithlessness and hopelessness.

Easter reminds us that without the unexpected resurrection there is no hope. Easter reminds us in Revelation there will be a day when another supper will take place. It will be called the marriage supper of the Lamb, and that at the end of the meal, Jesus will stand at the head of the table, and He will wipe His fingers, mouth, and He will take His napkin, and cast it aside…when that happens, it IS over!

The last soul that will be saved, has been saved. The last doubter that’s going to come home has come! When Christ’s work is done, He will come again.

Right now, the napkin is still folded! Tomorrow the napkin may be cast aside. Are we living in the reality of hope? If so prepare for the unexpected.

The Gospel of John, unlike the other Gospel stories, does not tell much about the Lord’s Supper, but it does have the only account of the foot washing of the disciples. It is that act of servant hood, in the midst of the drama of Jesus coming crucifixion, that I would like to look at this evening. As Jesus sought to accomplish his mission of reconciling the world with God, which was amazing in itself, his teaching of the ultimate lesson of humble servant hood, an example of the way he wanted his disciples to live, is even more amazing.

I don’t know if you have ever washed anyone else’s feet? Not the kind of washing in a bath tub or washing a baby’s feet in a basin? But washing a stranger’s adult feet in public. I have and it is a very moving experience. There is something about the feet and the way we stand on it that is interesting.

The Hindus have four castes: Brahmin high caste (symbolized by head – for teachers and priests), Ksatriya (the arm – the warriors, rulers), Vaisya (the stomach – the merchants, artisans) and lowest caste Sudra (feet – laborers, the one’s who touched the ground, soiled, dirty, and did demeaning work). There were also the outcastes, who took care of the dead, of animal carcasses in tanneries, of shoemakers, which were the lowest jobs. Our feet represent the lowest part of the body.

I did a first foot washing many years ago at my ordination. Washing an unknown farmer’s feet is very humbling. Touching the the lowest part of the human body that is “down to earth”, so to speak, dusty and soiled, is truly humbling. This was followed by other foot washings as part of the ritual of holy week. In the beginning, I was hesitant at first, but determined. I went down from the pulpit to the aisle looking for someone to wash. The guy I picked out did not protest, but I could see he was very uncomfortable. I took off his shoes, his socks, put his foot in the basin, poured water over it and dried it with a towel. Being on the ground, kneeling before him, washing with water, made me feel like a servant.

After the service, the guy who’s feet I washed, was thankful. He felt humbled, that someone would actually do that for him. It was a moving experience for him and I think both of us could fully appreciate how Jesus might have felt to care for another person, intimately. Think of our humble nurses who do this everyday?
 
Jesus was trying to show the disciples that he came to serve. He humbled himself to serve those who called him Master. There was to an extent a crushing of his pride in doing this. The Greek word used in chapter ten for this is laying down a life. John was really trying to show that Jesus was a servant who was willing to lay down his life for the sake of his friends. On the cross, Jesus spread out his arms as the true servant of God and welcomed all the sins of humanity.

Spreading out your arms like that makes you feel vulnerable, open, accepting. As a servant on the cross that is what Jesus was, vulnerable, open, accepting. He opened himself to all the sinfulness of humanity.

Tonight Jesus is inviting us to come to him, to rest our sins on him. That is why today is called Maundy Thursday. Maundy, from Latin mandatum, means command. He commands us to eat and drink, he commands us to come, he commands us to love as he loves us. He commands us to serve. He commands us to embrace him at the cross.

The Cross is the place where grace and sin collide like two speeding cars that smash into each other head on. But the wreckage is suffered only by God. We walk away free - free from sin’s penalty, free to walk with God, free to live with God for all eternity. Jesus came as a servant to lay down his life for us. On the cross of Calvary that servanthood was manifested where he stretched out his arms to sinners and we obtained eternal life.

Let me end with an illustration: “A story from Scotland tells of a mother’s dramatic rescue of her child. Workmen were blasting rock in a quarry with tons of dynamite. One day after they had attached the fuse, lit it, and retired to a safe place and gave the alarm they saw a three year old child wandering across the open space where danger threatened. Every passing second meant death was closing in on the child. The workmen called to the child and waved their arms, but he only looked on their strange antics with amusement. No man dared run forward knowing the explosion was only seconds away. The child most certainly would have been killed, had not his mother appeared at this moment of crisis.

Taking in the situation at a glance she did what her mother’s heart dictated. She did not run toward her son or yell to frighten him. Instead, she knelt down, opened wide her arms and smiled for him to come. Instantly the child ran towards her. Shortly later the area shook with the force of the explosion, yet the child was safe in his mother’s arms.

That is the picture of the grace of God on the cross. With outstretched arms on the cross, Jesus gives his gracious invitation to the world. Indicating we are to come to him for eternal safety. (Sermon at Silliman church, April 9, 2009, Maundy Thursday)

 (Psalms 118, John 12:9-19)

The triumphal entry of Jesus into
Jerusalem was a royal coronation ending in a death sentence. But it was a drama scripted from Psalms 118: “Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever (1) This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it (24). …. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord… (26)With branches in hand, join the joyous procession (27)

This is the day of salvation! Jesus is the long awaited King of Israel. Hosanna in the highest (which means save us! But by week’s end, people were calling for his blood “Crucify him!. Why was Israel so fickle? Was it because Jesus did not fit the bill?

1.       The expectation: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord…(26)

Can we blame the people for their great expectations on Jesus coming to Jerusalem? They had heard of his miracles, especially the raising of Lazarus from the dead. They expected Jesus, the healer and miracle worker from Nazareth, to be the Messiah, Savior, King of Israel. His coming to Jerusalem was his ascension to the throne of David. They had waited far too long for this promise to be fulfilled. And it was being fulfilled right before their eyes. Or so they hoped. Was it a misplaced expectation?

There’s an apocryphal story that says that Judas betrayed Jesus after he was corrected by the other disciples. No Judas, it is not “Take up your crown and follow me?” Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow me…..And Judas betrayed Jesus.

The old covenant stipulated that God will perpetuate the crown of David if Israel, the chosen people, will worship only one God, and obey the commandments. This was based on Scriptural promises.

And this is where the problem lies. After David and Solomon, the kings of Israel with few exceptions, became power seekers. They trusted in other Gods, and in the might of their political allies. Despite the warnings of the prophets, like Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the kings went about their politics like ordinary kings. They were warned against befriending Assyria. They were warned of the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar. They were warned against the worship of other gods. But they were hard necked.

And so again and again, the Israelites were made captives – first by the Assyrians, by the Babylonians, by the Greeks and now at the time of Jesus, by the Romans. And the 500 year waiting for salvation by God’s anointed Messiah, was palpable. At every Passover when they gathered in Jerusalem, the expectations of Hosanna were raised higher. And so when Jesus, the miracle worker arrived in Jerusalem, they crowned him king of Israel.

2.       Rejected by Israel: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone (22)

The problem is the Jews were not paying attention. All religions start with faith in God but end up wielding power over one another. It was faith that gave Israel the Law. But the law became a power system, an institution with hierarchy and interests. Salvation was by the grace of God in Egypt, through the plagues and the Passover. But now salvation was a matter of offering sacrifices in the temple, a mechanical act. If you were a rich sinner, you sacrifice a cow. If you were a middle class sinner, you sacrifice a goat. If you were a jobless sinner, you sacrificed a dove for your sins once a year at Passover. There was no contrition. There was piety. But there was no faith.

Jesus was the stone that was rejected. The priests rejected the cornerstone of the temple, by allowing the idolatrous selling of animal sacrifices and of money making at the temple which had become a market. So Jesus drove the merchants away. Jesus said “I will destroy this temple and rebuild it in 3 days. The priests exploited Jesus “words”. Quickly, Hosanna became Crucify him!

The priest’s agenda was power. Their expectations were now in conflict with God’s plan of salvation.

3. What is God’s plan of salvation? Jesus is the cornerstone.

God’s plan was to offer a new covenant for his people. He would offer his only Son to remind them of his Fatherly love. That through His Son, they may learn that more important than power, is the Spirit of love.

How did the Jews misread the Messiah? How did they fail to grasp what was going on? John clearly informs us that even our Lord’s disciples didn’t understand. Well, it was something new. It was difficult to understand until Jesus was glorified—that is until after our Lord had been rejected, crucified, and resurrected. It is only then that the Holy Spirit made things clearer.

Palm Sunday is the day of understanding what the Lord is like. The Lord chose to ride a donkey. His message is simply that He is a different King, not the king of quick solutions, but the king of your heart. We must allow Jesus to rule our lives triumphantly. We too welcome the Lord with joy and celebration as He rides triumphantly into our hearts and minds.

Palm Sunday reminds us that the Lord is a personal God, who knocks at the door, rides calmly into our lives and uses us to inspire a world that is fallen and hopeless. We are invited, too, to wave palm branches of joy and salvation in the air, and shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

The “triumphal entry” was a day of misunderstanding. Jesus did not fit the bill of a military Messiah. Even today, He does not fit the bill of a God who overthrows the wicked, who brings prosperity, peace, and freedom so people can think they have a right to God’s blessings, though they cannot accept their sinful state. Because they believe they are sinless, they cannot accept a king to die for their sins. Like the Jews, we prefer to hear Jesus saying, “Take up your crown, and follow Me” . Actually he said “Take up your cross, and follow Me.” Is this the day? For a quick fix king? No. Is this the day for Christ to rule your heart today and forever? Yes.

(Sermon delivered April 5, 2009, Silliman church)

II Timothy 1:7; Philippians 3:13-14; Hebrews 12:1-3

A Grade VI boy handed over his report card to his father. He noticed his father’s face turn red. Most of his grades were failing or very poor. Before Dad could speak, he asked, “Dad, what do you think is my problem, heredity or environment?” (Pause)

Congratulations! Good News is you have overcome your problems of heredity and environment.

You have made it through 4 or 5 years of college, overcome some very real challenges. Now, the Bad News is, are you ready for more? Are you ready for more challenges to overcome? Global recession. Steep competition for jobs here and abroad. Changing environments and technologies. Moral ambiguities.

It is said that
Rome remained great as long as it was challenged by definite enemies, who forced her to unify, to cling to a vision and to be challenged by acts of heroism. When she had overcome all enemies, she flourished for a while, and began to die.

The wonderful thing about confronting new challenges is that we can face them with some victories already under our belt. Just think of all your previous successes. You graduated from the womb and successfully came out to the world. You graduated from infancy and successfully passed kindergarten. You graduated from high school and successfully navigated those teen years. Now you have graduated from college. Are you ready for the challenge of building a life career?

If it is any comfort, everyone has gone through what you are going through. Your heart beats rapidly’ you have short breath. Difficulty swallowing. Your knees are weak. Your hands are cold, and you’ve never been so hot in your life. What I’m describing are some of the physiological reactions that you will experience when being interviewed for a job placement for the first time.

One of the greatest hurdles to success is fear. While not all fear is bad, everyone knows what its like to be afraid. When fear immobilizes us and keeps us from doing that which we are called to do, we are dominated by a “spirit of fear.” Paul advises:

I. Face Your Fears (II Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and self discipline.”

I like this verse because it was written to a young person, like you. Timothy was a young pastor at the church of Ephesus, and the Apostle Paul was his mentor. Paul encouraged Timothy not to be intimidated by others because of his young age. Timothy felt inadequate. He lacked self-confidence. Paul reminds Timothy that any cowardice in his life did not come from God’s Spirit. For God did not give us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
When we trust Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our life and provides the comfort that we need to eliminate our fears. With God in control we can face our fears. He gives us the ability to do what life demands, and to be under control when others throw restraint to the winds.

Being alone can be fearful at times. Going in for a job interview can be traumatic. Not having any friends who care about you can be devastating. But God has not given you a “spirit of fear.” It is God’s will to move you from fear to confidence. God can and will use your life, but you must be willing to face your fears.

Saying “Yes” to a godly lifestyle in a difficult job environment takes courage.. You may be ridiculed saying “No” to drugs and the parties that you are invited to. You face the fear of being alone. Saying “Yes” to honesty and integrity in the work environment is a courageous thing to do when you are alone. One of the biggest battles you’ll face is the battle for honesty.

A friend in govt office told me: I’m disturbed by corruption in the office.

What’s happening I asked? …Well, opposing parties are campaigning to get our support for their pet projects.

So? …They are giving us gifts.

What gifts? …Cakes, snacks, Gift certificates, and free movie tickets. Inviting us to birthday parties. Envelopes with money.

So did you take them? …Honestly? Everyone does. Our bosses receive cars. So yes. I received money.

In exchange for what? …For my vote of course and my promise I will not use my position to discredit their party. I did the same to the other party.

You mean you took money from both parties?… I didn’t tell them of course.

But who will you vote for if you received gifts from both sides? …None of them. I figure this is my money anyway. I deserve this money. I am only getting what they stole from the public.

The workplace is full of moral ambiguity, fear and dishonesty .

Ambiguity is the norm today. It takes courage to say no, to be honest in your job. You are asked to make choices. Are you with us or not? Face your fear of losing a job or of losing profit if necessary, knowing that God has promised power and love and self-control. What does it profit you to gain a house for your son…if you lose your soul?

Many say that the cause of today’s financial crisis, is dishonesty and greed. The credit crunch was caused by companies encouraging people to spend money they had not earned, and by companies who had no accountability. Dishonesty here is prompted by greed for money. When everyone is living on credit, being honest and living within your means, takes a lot of courage. But many fear — honesty does not work.

There was a test conducted by a university. Ten students were placed in a room. Three lines of varying lengths were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the longest line. But 9 of the students had been instructed beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second longest line. One student was the stooge. The test showed that the stooge would raise his hand up, look around, and realizing he was all alone, pull it back down. This happened 75% of the time, with students from high school. The researchers concluded that many would rather stand with the majority than risk being right and alone. Now is the time when you will have to face some of your fears squarely with a firm confidence in God. Never, take your cues from the crowd…     

II. After fear, the second challenge is can you handle failure?

“Not that I have already attained this—or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own.  Brethren, 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,  I press on the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

Paul does 3 things here. 1. He refuses to allow failures to destroy his life. 2. He refuses to allow failures to burden his journey to his goal. 3. Implied, learn from your failures. The secret? He put his past behind him and determined to have a positive mental attitude in life. Forget your failures. No one is perfect and the only ones who never fail, are the ones who never do anything.

You have failed many times, although you may not remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You bumped the tree the first time you rode a bicycle. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim. Your first true love, went away.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Confucius.

III. Follow Your Faith (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set out for him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

Following your faith is not a game of hit and miss. A lot of consistency is required. The Hebrew writer establishes that all runners need a reference point in running a race. People in a spiritual race also need a reference point. If a Muslim is in the middle of the desert and has no idea where he is, for example, the first thing he does is to face the East to Mecca. Christians, look to the Southern cross. When you know the South then the opposite direction is North. Once we know where true north is, we can navigate from there. The cross is our reference point for our mission — “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”  

For Christians our reference point is the cross. You can be flexible on many things in life, and you should be. But when it comes to True North, the Lord is your reference point, don’t budge.

CONCLUSION: Face your fears. Forget your failures. Follow your faith. This is important. I invite you to make sure everything is where it needs to be between you and the Lord as you move through your journey from here on. And may God go with you.

Sermon for Baccalaureate Service, March 22, 2009