[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 16B

[Joe Parrish]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Thu, Aug 23, 2012 10:25 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 16B


Dear Friends,

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Whom Do You Serve?” and deals with
the Old Testament lesson (Joshua 24: 1-2a, 14-18) and the Gospel (John
6: 56-69).  Here it is:

In our Old Testament lesson (Joshua 24), we heard part of the mighty
prophet Joshua’s last words to his beloved people.  To get the most
out of this sermon, let me refresh your memory about the sequence of
the Old Testament.  You recall how the Children of Israel were slaves
in Egypt; and how God called his mighty Prophet Moses to lead them out
of Egypt through the Red Sea to the Promised Land.  It was in the
desert that God gave the Children of Israel (and therefore us) the Ten
Commandments.  Just before the people were about to enter the Promised
Land, Moses died and Joshua was appointed the next prophet to take
over after Moses.  Joshua led the Children of Israel across the Jordan
River and also as they settled the Promised Land.  Do you remember
what happened next?  Time and time again, the Children of Israel, who
had seen miracle after miracle as God protected and provided for them
in the desert and in conquering the Promised Land, started following
the sophisticated ways of the pagans who lived among them and
worshipped idols.  Calamity would hit; they would pray for God to save
them; God would; then things would go back to normal- including their
worship of the fashionable idols of the land.   Now- in today’s Old
Testament Lesson, we hear Joshua’s last words to his beloved people.
We hear him as he challenges them: “Choose this day whom you will
serve” (God or idols).  Then Joshua reminded them of his own lifelong
choice: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Now let’s move our focus to the Gospel.  Crisis- the 5,000 men (plus
women and children) had been listening to Jesus in the hot sun.  It is
getting late- time to travel home, and many will be sick and fainting
on the journey, since they haven’t eaten.  Jesus feeds all 5,000 plus
from the five barley loaves and two small fish donated by a small
boy.  After everyone has eaten, twelve baskets full of leftovers are
collected from the five barley loaves and two small fish.  What a
miracle!  Jesus saved the day!  Surely after such a great miracle, the
people would be receptive to Jesus’ teaching- right?  Wrong!  Jesus
used the occasion to teach some of the 5,000 plus people about the
meaning of the Bread from Heaven (i.e. his Holy Flesh given for the
life of the world- Holy Communion).  Do you remember what happened
next?  Some of these very same people who experienced this mind-
blowing miracle start mumbling- “This teaching is too hard!  Who can
stomach such teaching!”  They start to drift away- leave!  Jesus turns
to the disciples and asks if they are leaving too?  That’s when Simon
Peter makes his prophetic statement: “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You
alone have the words of eternal life!”  In other words, the twelve
disciples choose to stay with Jesus- no matter what.

Look at the pattern: Crisis, miraculous deliverance; life gets better;
the people drift away- go back to the same-old, same-old; the choice-
whose side are you on?  With the Children of Israel- they faced their
huge crisis (slavery in Egypt, the Red Sea in front and the Egyptian
army behind); with relief they gloried in their miraculous
deliverance; life got better and they drifted away from the Lord to
selfish behavior; and Joshua challenged them.  The same pattern
happened in today’s Gospel.  The many would-be disciples faced their
crisis- no food and a long trip home; miraculous deliverance with the
multiplication of the five loaves and two small fish so that all 5,000
plus were fed; and then hard teaching.  They decide that following
Jesus is too hard; they start to drift away; Jesus’ challenge.

Now- what about us?  We’ve seen the same pattern in our lives,
sometimes over and over again. Crisis; we pray for deliverance; God
works things out for us- we get the house, car, job, health,
whatever…  We get used to it and go back to the “same-old, same-old”,
in other words- living as if God doesn’t exist and our only concern is
what we want.  We become our own idol.

You don’t want to be like that, do you?  So how do you recognize the
symptoms of going back to the “same-old, same-old”?  It depends on
your own personal weaknesses to temptation.  Check these out:
1.	When someone does evil to you, do you drop it and give it to God,
or do you get revenge?  (This one can be really hard to identify- it’s
easy for us to trick ourselves, and revenge can be so very subtle.)
2.	What about money as your idol?  Do you put up God’s money first and
work toward a tithe, or do you give God the leftovers?
3.	What about your relationships?  Do you treat everyone with respect,
even your enemies?
4.	What about sex?  Do you follow your way or God’s way?  Adultery is
NEVER all right!  Sex within marriage is always the rule, but if
you’re doing it your way- are you taking all possible precautions
against pregnancy and STD’s, especially HIV?  It’s one thing to risk
yourself.  It’s something else to bring an innocent baby into this
world when you are not in any kind of position to care for or even
provide for it.
5.	What about your time?  Do you always give God his worship every
Sunday, or do you just come to church when it is convenient?  Is every
waking minute all about you, or do you invest your time for God-
helping others, improving yourself, doing all you can to make God’s
church and world glorious in His name?
6.	Your friends?  Do they determine your values, or does Jesus
determine your values?  When you’re trying to decide what to do, do
you ask yourself WWJD- what would Jesus do?

This list of six temptations may not have identified yours, but you
know your weaknesses.  You know what God is calling you to change (or
to keep changed), to improve (or to keep improved), how God wants you
to grow (or to keep growing).  So now I’m asking you the same thing
Joshua asked his people?  Whom will you serve- God or yourself and
what you want?  I can only tell you my choice- I intend to serve the
Lord.

I’m going to close with a story.  I hope and pray these scriptures
have you thinking about changes that will make you a better
Christian.  To be honest, our problem is not making a choice for Jesus
while we’re in this holy church- it’s keeping the commitments we make
when we get home.  This is a story about the First Goose Church of God
in Christ.  Pastor Gander waddled up to the pulpit and began his fiery
sermon. “What kind of birds are we?” He thundered. “Geese!” The
congregation answered, and an “Amen” was heard from somewhere in the
back.  “That¹s right!” shot back the Pastor. “We are GEESE! God made
us GEESE to be GEESE, and not DUCKS or SPARROWS or KIWIS!”  “AMEN!”
honked several congregants. “And what are these things that GOD has
given us, these MAJESTIC appendages?” “WINGS!” shouted the
congregation, honking its approval of this fine observation.  “And WHY
did GOD give us these fine wings?”  “To FLY, Pastor!” said Mrs. Thelma
Gosling, standing up in the first row.  “We can FLY with them!”
Choruses of “That¹s right, Thelma!” and “You go, Girl!” rang out from
around the room.  The pastor really started to groove now. “God wants
us to FLY! We can soar above the clouds! We can fill the skies! We are
God¹s flying children! The moles can dig, the lions can hunt, but we
can fly! We can catch the winds beneath our wings and thrill to the
sensation of the breeze through our feathers. We can reach the mighty
mountain tops and skim the tips of the giant Sequoias!” “AMEN! We can
FLY!” the congregation echoed back  “If GOD wants us to fly, then what
do we gotta do?” challenged the pastor. “We gotta FLY!” said the
congregation. “We gotta WHAT?” asked Pastor Gander. “We gotta FLY!”
“WHAT?” “FLY!!” “WHAT!” “FLY!!” And as the congregation WADDLED out of
the church and WALKED home, they remarked to one another on how
inspiring the pastor¹s sermon was that morning (The Rev. John Ramsey,
Ottawa, Ohio).  So don’t be like those geese- don’t waddle home.  Use
your Holy Spirit power.  Don’t block the Spirit.  Make Jesus your
choice and stick with Him.  Amen.

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American
wisdom statements either is or will be posted on our parish web site.
The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.com .

Blessed preaching,
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan

 
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