Sermon – Matthew 5:10 – Blessed are those who are persecuted

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Sermon – Matthew 5:10 – Blessed are those who are persecuted
Lay Reading: Psalm 119:73-78

We have been making our way through a section of scripture know as the beatitudes. The Beatitudes are found in Matthew chapter five. Each of the Beatitudes begins with the word “Blessed”. The word blessed in this section of scripture could also be translated “happy” – so as we have been making our way down through the Beatitudes – we are finding steps to happiness.

But to make things a bit confusing, the last two Beatitudes both say, "Blessed are the persecuted." But let me remind you that the Beatitudes are characteristics of kingdom citizens – Believers in Christ – people who are supposed to be like Christ. Such a person is poor in spirit. They mourn over sin. They are meek. They hungers and thirsts for righteousness. They are merciful and pure in heart. And they are a peacemaker. But the unique thing about today’s Beatitude is that if we live according to the first seven, we will automatically experience the eighth – the world will persecute us in some way or another.

Today we are focusing in on verse ten – Matthew 5:10 – “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

In a nutshell, what this verse tells us is that we as Christ followers need to have an attitude of endurance. We have to see it through, we can’t give up, even when the going gets hard.

I have lived long enough in this world to know that whatever you do - you will be criticized. Even if you do nothing – you will be criticized. I don’t know about you – but I would rather be criticized for doing the right thing than for doing the wrong thing. I would rather be persecuted for doing the right thing than doing the wrong thing. I would rather be called a fool for following God – then to be called a wise man for following the devil.

In this beatitude – verse ten – Jesus is telling us that persecution will come. This was a common theme in Jesus’ teachings, persecution will come if you follow me he said. So in light of that, we must have an attitude of endurance. The King James Bible would call it longsuffering. Some other translations speak of this quality as patience. Paul lists this attitude among the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.”

Patience, or longsuffering – means just that – suffering long. It is important to have this attitude – this quality – at times of criticism. It is important to have this attitude at times of persecution. It is important to have this attitude at times of harassment.

Here is a fact: If you are serious about following Christ – you will be criticized. If you are a faithful follower of Christ – you will be persecuted. If you practice what the Bible teaches – you will be harassed. Not might, not maybe, you will be harassed. Harassment will come. And how you handle that harassment matters. Here’s a nugget of spiritual wisdom for you - God is more concerned with your character than He is with your comfort. And when you are being persecuted, you are building character.

Look at what Paul says to the Christians at Ephesus – how they are to live out their Christian faith (Eph. 4:1-3) - As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Jesus doesn’t ponder whether or not you will be persecuted. He doesn’t consider whether or not you will be criticized. He doesn’t argue over the fact that you will be harassed - if you are faithful to Him - He knows you will. He says we must endure under pressure – we must endure under persecution - we must hold tight when harassed. Jesus says - “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10

When sticks and stones are being thrown at you – you need to stick it out. You need to endure! Today I want to give you four positive steps for handling when you are harassed for your faith.

The first step is - Recognize the source. Ephesians 6:12 says: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Folks, God and Satan are enemies. I haven’t spent a whole lot of time teaching on this subject since I’ve been here, but make no mistake, God is the enemy of the devil. The devil does not want God to win. He will use any and every means to attack God. If your enemy can’t get to you – he’ll attack your children. He’ll attack your family. He’ll attack your friends. He’ll attack anything you care about. Because he knows that if he hurts the ones you love – he’ll be hurting you.

The devil – Satan – can’t get God – so he does the next best thing – he attacks God’s family. He attacks God’s children. In Revelation 12:10 Satan is called, “The accuser of our brothers.” He is at war with God and if he can’t harass God – he’ll attack you and God’s family. So when you are under attack – recognize the source.

Step two – and this might be the hardest step – step two - Refuse to retaliate. In Romans 12 we find: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.” Romans 12:17-19

Jesus was accused of being a drunk, a glutton, a friend of sinners. In other words – He was accused of being a party animal. Do you know that He refused to retaliate? He could have pointed out every sin of every accuser – but He didn’t. He left room for God. You know what that’s called? It’s called trust! It’s called – Faith! He put his trust in God - He had faith that God would take care of the situation.

When you’re persecuted – when you’re harassed – when people treat you mean because you’re a Christian – you need to believe that God is big enough to take care of it someday. If you are like me you want to fight back, you want to defend yourself and your faith, and while there is a place for defending the faith, we also need to trust and have faith that God is our protection. That He is our fortress. That He is our shield. That’s why that Romans verse says, “Leave room for God’s wrath.” He is big enough and we need to trust Him. We need to have enough faith in God so that we don’t repay “evil for evil”. We need to have enough faith in God that we don’t need to avenge ourselves. I need to trust Him - you need to trust Him. Put your trust in God so that whatever comes your way – you know that He will handle it. Refuse to retaliate – leave it for God to take care of.

The third step in handling harassment in a Biblical way is - respond positively. We just looked at Romans 12:17-19, and then just a few verses later the Bible says in Romans 12:21 - “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

When evil attacks us – we are to respond with good. Is it normal for you to respond with good when someone is attacking you? Is it normal for you to bless a person who is cursing you? No! It’s not normal for me either. But that is what the Bible tells us to do – return good for evil. But let me say this: If you’re always trying to get even you will never get ahead.

When someone starts teasing you – when someone starts taunting you – and you retaliate – who is in control? They are! They are pushing your buttons and you respond in a negative way - you become their puppet. They could be looking for a fight and you have played right into their hands. How many of you have said to someone, "You make me mad!" Do you know what you are telling that person? You’re telling them - they have control of your emotions. Here is what Jesus tells us to do - “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you,” Matthew 5:44. Bless them! Bless them not hate them. Bless them not fight them. I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it, right?

Is it easy? No! Is it what God wants you to do? Yes! Is it what God expects you to do? Yes! Jesus says, “Don’t react – respond in love.” When people put you down – build them up. When people hassle you – be nice to them. Folks in life there are many things you cannot control – but you can control how you respond to evil, to your detractors, to your doubters, to those who treat you poorly. Respond with something that is good. Respond in love – and God will smile on you.

Step four in responding to persecution Biblically is that we need to rest in God’s protection. Psalm 37 says: “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. PS 37:8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. PS 37:9 For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”

It’s an interesting fact that this psalm is written by David. Why do I say this – because if you’ll remember the story of David the middle part of his life is a story of persecution and harassment. Do you remember what happened between King Saul and David? David as you might remember killed a giant called Goliath. That event impressed everyone. Everyone everywhere started singing the praises of David. Everyone except for the King – King Saul. Saul got jealous – Saul got envious – evil thoughts entered Saul’s mind. Evil thoughts entered Saul’s heart. Saul started looking at David as an enemy. Saul felt threatened. As time passed the envy and jealousy in Saul grew – in fact it grew to the point where it became hatred. Saul was so jealous of David that he threw a spear at David and hoped to “pin him to the wall”. (1 Samuel 18:11) David had to run. David had to hide. You talk about harassment – you talk about persecution. David knew persecution. David knew harassment and yet he could write: “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him…”

Let’s make this personal – where are you at today? Are you being persecuted? Are you being harassed? God knows it – He sees it – and He cares and He is concerned about how you handle harassment. God is more concerned about your character than He is about your comfort. You see God is in the character building business. He wants you to be successful. He wants you to overcome evil with good. And if you aren’t feeling the heat for your faith, maybe you need to step out in faith a little bit more, take some chances for God, step outside your comfort zone. Christ is clear, if you are following him as you should be, you will be harassed. And if you are being harassed, Christ is also clear, he is with you. You do not walk the road alone. Even though at times, when people are challenging us for our beliefs, and perhaps even making fun of us, know that Jesus experienced the same thing. He too was persecuted. He knows what it is like, and he promises he will be with you in your times of need if you are persecuted or harassed for your beliefs.

Are you resting in the Lord and have faith in His protection? If you are – God is on your side. Remember - “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Bulletin for Sunday, November 8, 2009

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

“Building on the past to create a future with Christ for all people.”

Sunday, November 8, 2009
23rd Sunday after Pentecost

* Denotes when the congregation stands

(Those who are able, please stand.)

The Prelude Silently prepare your hearts for worship

*The Call to Worship “There is None Like You”

*Opening Prayer

*Gloria Patri #559 red

God‘s Spoken Word Psalm 119:73-78

Silent Meditation / Pastoral Prayer

The Lord's Prayer (using ‘debts’ and ‘debtors’)

Welcome and Announcements

The Right Hand of Christian Fellowship

*Hymn #364 red “Near the Cross”

Ministry In Music Choir

The Offering

*Doxology #554 red

Children’s Message

Morning Message The Beatitudes part 7

“Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted”

Matthew 5:10

The Baptism of Abrielle Jo Caples


Pledge by Congregation Please Stand

As we welcome this child into the fellowship of our church, to be under our special care, we pledge her
our love and help, so that she shall never be ashamed
to confess Christ as her Lord and Savior, that she will grow up to be a faithful member of the household of faith, and continue to be Christ's faithful servant
unto the end. AMEN

*Hymn #448 red “Open My Eyes, That I May See”

Benediction

The Postlude

Welcome to First Congregational Church!

Whoever you are and wherever you come from, you are welcome!
May the presence of the Almighty bless and comfort you,
so that you leave here renewed and prepared
for any challenges in the week ahead.

If you are a visitor, please fill out a card from the pew pocket
and place it in the collection plate when passed.

This Week at First Congregational Church:
Today Sunday School 8:45 a.m.
Worship with Baptism 10 a.m.
Mission Committee Following worship
Monday Nominating Committee 10 a.m.
Wednesday Praise Team Rehearsal 6:30 p.m.
Choir Rehearsal 7 p.m.
Sunday Sunday School 8:45 a.m.
Worship 10 a.m.
Church Council Following worship

The Dec/Jan/Feb issue of Our Daily Bread
is available near each entry.
Please pick up a free copy for your household!

Sermon - Matthew 5:7 & 9 - Blessed are the merciful

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Sermon - Matthew 5:7 & 9 - Blessed are the merciful.

Sermon – Matthew 5:7 & 5:9 – Blessed are the merciful and the peacemakers
Lay Reading: Psalm 30:8-12

Everyone has broken relationships. In our pain and our woundedness we can build walls to keep the pain out, to keep ourselves from being hurt again. When we do that we end up locking ourselves in a prison and locking other people out. To rebuild relationships you have to tear down the walls.

That’s what we’ve been talking about in the last six weeks – the ways to tear down the walls between us and God, and between us and other people. We talked about choices and how the choices that we make can either create or keep us in our hurts, and our habits and our hang-ups. We talked about how making different choices can open up the possibilities that life can be radically different.

As we look at the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, there are two Beatitudes we’ll be concentrating on. These are the foundation of what we’ll be talking about. Matthew 5:7 says “Happy are those who are merciful to others,” and Matthew 5:9 says “Happy are those who work for peace.”

If I were going to take a survey of every single hurt that has ever happened in your life… If I passed out pieces of paper and said I want you to start now and I want you to start writing every single word that anybody has ever said to you that hurt you, every wound that has ever come your way, every relationship that was broken, every person who betrayed you. All the way back to kindergarten and you were on the playground to today as you sit here in your day-to-day life. I want you to think of everything and every person and every situation that has ever wounded you, everything that you’ve ever done wrong. I want you to put it all down on a piece of paper. Catalogue it and somehow categorize it. We would still be writing until the day Jesus comes back because the list is endless. The list is absolutely endless of the ways that we have been hurt and the ways that we have hurt each other.

The reason for that is we love poorly. When you get right down to it, we don’t love well. And because we don’t love well we are constantly hurting each other and need forgiveness and mercy and need those walls torn down on a daily basis.

In Matthew 18, Jesus tells I think a very disturbing and yet a very profound story about forgiveness. Starting in verse 21 it says, “At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, [Jesus a hard question. He said] ‘Master how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?’ [Peter thinks he’s being very generous and gracious here.] Jesus replied ‘Seven? Hardly. Try seventy times seven. The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market. The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by this plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt. The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up now!’ The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king. The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back the entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.’”

Does this story make anyone else uncomfortable? This is one of those stories that Jesus told and he told it for a reason. He told it to change our lives.

There are two principles I want to pull from this story as we continue our look at the Beatitudes. The first principle that Jesus shared is so simple.

Because I have been forgiven, I can forgive.

The foundation for us to be able to forgive this huge catalog of hurts and wounds that all of us have accumulated is because we have been forgiven. And because we have been forgiven, we are then able to forgive.

I want you to picture this story. I read it quickly but I want you to kind of picture this story. Here is a servant who worked for a very wealthy king. He doesn’t know when he gets up one morning; he has no idea, that this is judgment day. This is the day that it’s all going to come down for him. He doesn’t know it. He’s just bopping along, doing his life, and all of a sudden he gets the word that the king wants to see him.

So he comes in and the king going over his books has discovered that this servant owes him a hundred thousand dollars. I don’t know how this guy ended up with a hundred thousand dollar debt. The story doesn’t tell us. But he had a debt that is gigantic. The king says, “Pay up now. I want my hundred thousand dollars. If you don’t, I’m going to put you and your family and everything you own, you’re going to be in jail until you can pay up.” The man, the servant, falls down on his face and he begs this king for mercy. He says, “Please please, if you’ll just give me some more time I will pay you back. I’ll pay back every penny. I will pay it all back.” The king for some reason says, “Ok. All right. I’ll forget it. I’ll wipe it off the books. It’s done. We’ll never talk about it again. You’re free. I release you from this debt that you have.”

Let’s just pause right here and really think about this for a minute. This is really me and this is really you. You and I owe a debt to the king, to God, that was an unpayable debt. It’s a gigantic debt. It is compiled of everything you’ve ever done or said or thought. It comes just by virtue of the fact that we are born in sin and we are separated from God. And we owe him a debt that is gigantic and we cannot pay it. Even like that servant who said, “I’ll just work a little harder and I’ll pay you off.” He could never have done it.

And that is us. We are that servant. The debt that we owe to the king is unpayable by us. We can’t do it. We can’t ever, ever pay it back.

Why did the king in this story forgive the man? Why does God forgive me? Why did he forgive you this debt that is so gigantic and that you can’t possibly ever pay back? Why? Why would he have mercy on us?

It’s because of Jesus. The debt didn’t remain unpaid in me. The debt that I owed God did not remain unpaid. The debt that you owe God, it did not remain unpaid. You couldn’t pay it, I couldn’t pay it. But Jesus did. Because of what Jesus did in taking on the debt that I owe, God had mercy on me and on you.

Why does he do that? Why does he treat us with such kindness?

Psalm 103:1 has one of my favorite lines in scripture. It says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, bless his holy name.” What does it mean for my inmost being to bless his holy name, to praise his name? What does it mean to praise God from the depths of who you are?

You and I have these caves if you will. We have layers and layers and layers deep within us in our soul. In the depths of our soul there is junk. There is garbage. There is stuff that is pathetic and awful. I don’t necessarily mean all the sins that we categorize as being really mean, wicked, bad, and nasty. I mean just the fact that you have an ugly soul. You have sin in your soul and I do too. We keep it so well hidden from each other. Very few of you really know the depths of ugliness in anybody else’s soul. We would be horrified if the real depths within us could be seen by others.

But God sees it. He sees it! He’s already seen it and he doesn’t run. He sees those Carlsbad Caverns deep inside your heart. He sees the places that are so dark that have never seen the light of day. He sees the places where you struggle and where you hurt, where you question, where you doubt. He sees where you’ve blasphemed. And he sees where you’ve cried in agony. He sees it all and he doesn’t run. He loves you. He doesn’t run. He has graced you. He has had mercy on you. Because he has treated us this way, he asks us to treat others with that same kind of mercy and grace.

So because I received mercy and forgiveness from God I can forgive others. Simple, right? A plus B equals C. God forgives me, I forgive you. Simple. We’re done. That’s the way it always goes. Right? Right! Isn’t that the way it is in your life? God forgives you and you forgive everybody else.

There’s a problem. I don’t like to forgive. Let’s be honest. I don’t always like to forgive and I bet you don’t either. As I have really thought about this I think the biggest barriers in my personal relationships through my lifetime up to this very day, through thirty-five years of life, marriage, through being a new parent, through close relationships, the deepest barriers that I have to success in my relationships is me. Not wanting to forgive.

So instead of it working in the way God forgives me and I forgive you, it more typically is God forgives me and I don’t forgive you. There’s something very distorted and even dangerous about that kind of thought pattern and that way of responding.

That leads to the second truth in this passage. It’s a very chilling, disturbing truth.

II. The unforgiving become the unforgiven.

Picture this story again, back to the king and the servant. The servant receives forgiveness from the king. He skipped out of the king’s chambers. He’s happy. He’s excited. The king has forgiven him. His debt has been forgiven. He is a happy man. He’s avoided prison. He doesn’t have to pay back this gigantic debt. His wife and his kids aren’t going to prison. He is happy.

As he’s skipping along down the road, he sees a guy that he remembers owes him ten bucks. He goes up to this guy who owes him ten bucks. He grabs him around the collar and says, “You owe me ten bucks and I want it now. Pay up right now.” The other guy goes “Ok, I realize that.” “No. I want it now. If you don’t, I’m going to have you thrown into prison. You are going to prison. You and your wife and your kids. If you can’t pay me my ten bucks right now, you’re done. You’re toast. Get out of here. You’re in prison.”

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can see myself in the role of that ungrateful servant. I could have auditioned for that part. I could have had my name written all over that one. It’s embarrassing to have to admit it but the truth is, when it comes to my sin and my weakness and my failure and the ways that I harm the people in my life, I want mercy. I want mercy from God. I want him to forgive me. I want him to excuse it. I want him to realize I’ve had a bad day or week or whatever. I want God’s mercy. I want the people in my life that I’ve wounded to look at me in that same way. “I know you had a hard day. It’s been a rough week. Don’t worry about it. It’s ok. What you said yesterday hurt me but it’s ok. It’s all right.” Mercy. I’m greedy for mercy. I want it.

But when it comes to the sin and the woundedness and the failures of people that we love, particularly those closest to us, it’s often a whole different kettle of fish. When it comes to being wounded are you interested in mercy? No! Most of us want justice. I want you to pay what you owe me. You hurt me, you need to pay. You wounded me, you need to pay. I’m angry, I deserve to be angry. What you did was wrong. I’m going to be mad. I’m going to make you pay for it.

But in this story the king hears about what this ungrateful servant did. He hears about it. So he calls that first servant back and he goes “You evil, wicked man. I forgave you a debt you couldn’t pay. Why couldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant who owed you so much less than what you owed me? Why couldn’t you have mercy?” So it says he threw him into prison to be tormented.

In the version that we looked at in the Message paraphrase it says, “Put the screws to him.” In other words, torture this guy. Get this - if you are not forgiving, at the very least you need to understand that you are creating a torture chamber for yourself. You’re going to build a wall around your heart. If you hold on to resentment and bitterness and unforgiveness, you will build a wall around your own heart and the emotional prison that you will be in and the torment that you will put yourself under can break you.

This is not an isolated teaching. Matthew 5:7: “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” That’s the Beatitude we looked at today. Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sin, your Father will not forgive you.” Mark 11:25 “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone that you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” “Stop judging others,” Luke 6:37 says “Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, for it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven” James says in 2:13 “For there will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others. But if you have been merciful, then God’s mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.”

I am afraid that unforgiveness and bitterness and resentment become like cancer in our lives. Some of you look really good. You do. And you’ve done some good work in your life. You’ve done some good work of cleaning up some relationships. You’re getting better. But just about everybody has some place in their soul where there is unforgiveness, resentment and bitterness. I want you to know that that unforgiveness and bitterness is a poison that is truly slowly destroying your healthy relationships in the same way a cancer will destroy healthy tissue until it causes death. The bitterness in your life, the resentment in your life, the anger, the hostility that you feel that you will not deal with, that you just keep covering up, is like a cancer. It’s ruining the healthy relationships in your life.

It’s time. My friends, it’s time to forgive. It’s time to release the offender. It’s time to stop telling the story. It’s time to stop stabbing yourself with the pain that you feel towards those that you think you cannot or will not forgive.

You have been forgiven a debt that you cannot repay. So whatever wound comes your way is not as grievous as the wound that God had against you.

C. S. Lewis said, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

So how do you become a forgiver? How do you let go of the layers and layers and layers of resentment and bitterness and anger that sometimes sit in our soul? There are two ways that I know and neither of them is very easy.

The first is to nail it to the Cross.

Take the wound, take the unforgiveness, take the bitterness and you nail it figuratively to the cross of Jesus Christ, the one who paid your debt, the one who made the unpayable debt finally settled and forgiven. Because he paid for my debt I can take whatever debt that you owe me and I can nail it to his cross. Because of his forgiveness for me, then I can forgive you.

In Matthew 18 the servant didn’t get another chance. The king found out that he had blown it and the king just threw him into prison. But you get another chance. You’re here today and you have another chance. It doesn’t really matter who it is you have not forgiven or what that grudge is you are holding on to. It’s just building up inside of you. You have another chance today to actually begin to release it. This is your moment.

Refusing to forgive is actually the best barometer of your walk with God. Probably more than anything else. We think that going to a lot of meetings, serving, serving in the same spot for twenty years, being at all the different Bible studies in the week, memorizing verses, giving to the poor, helping homeless people. We fill in all of these blanks of all the things we think that show our love to Jesus Christ.

But if you really, really want to know how deep your walk with him is, tell me how quickly and how easily and how completely you forgive. That will tell you where you are in your walk with God. Because an unforgiving Christian is an oxymoron. There is no such thing. Those who have been graced can grace. Those who have received mercy can give mercy. Those who have been loved to the depths of their broken souls can love those in their lives who too are in desperate need of mercy and grace and forgiveness.

The second step: start today.

You and I begin with a grateful heart. “God, I tell you again how grateful I am for the love you have given me. For the way you have poured your mercy out. For the fact that you took a debt that I couldn’t pay you. I thank you. Because of that I am willing to forgive.”

There’s a piece of paper on your pews. I want you to write on there the name or names of the unforgiven in your life. And please don’t try to tell me that there’s no one. I don’t believe you. You can be in denial if you want to. That’s between you and God. But I guarantee you there is.

We’re going to take a moment in quietness for you to think and write. Go ahead and write who God is laying on your heart.

Release your anger, bitterness and frustration. Write on a piece of paper, you’re forgiven. This other person doesn’t deserve it. That’s the point. They wouldn’t need forgiveness if they deserved it. You may find that you have to nail it again and again and again and again to Jesus’ cross. Nothing and nobody can release you except if you take it to Jesus’ cross. Give forgiveness. Be gracious.

We’re going to pray in just a moment. After we pray I want you to crumple up that piece of paper and throw it away on the way out at the end of the service

Some of you, by all appearances you’re looking pretty good. Very few people suspect that you’re carrying around pounds and pounds of the cancer of resentment and bitterness and guilt. Let it go. Forgive. Let them go. You have been forgiven a debt you cannot pay. Do it for someone else. Let’s pray.
Father, your word is disturbing. We try to live our lives and make nice and make everybody else think that we’re not hurting, that we’re not angry, that we’re not bitter, that we’re not deeply wounded. Jesus, thank you that you’re not repulsed by what you see in the dark places of our soul. Thank you for your mercy. Now God, help us today in this moment, to release that guy, that woman, those people. True they don’t deserve it. Part of us cries out “They don’t deserve it!” But when our soul is overcome with doubt, remind us again of the debt that we could not pay and how Jesus paid it for us. Offering.

Don’t forget to throw away your paper. If you can’t, hold on to it. Look at it this week and say, God help me release him. Help me release her. Help me release them. I want to be free.

Bulletin - Sunday, November 1, 2009

All Saints Sunday

The Prelude Silently prepare your hearts for worship

*The Call to Worship

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

*Opening Prayer

*Gloria Patri #559 red

God‘s Spoken Word Psalm 30:8-12

Silent Meditation / Pastoral Prayer

The Lord's Prayer (using ‘debts’ and ‘debtors’)

Welcome and Announcements

The Right Hand of Christian Fellowship

*Hymn #444 red “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow”

Ministry In Music Choir

Children’s Message

Morning Message The Beatitudes part 6

Matthew 5:7 & 5:9 “Blessed Are the Merciful and the Peacemakers”

The Offering

*Doxology #554 red

*The Prayer of Dedication

The Lord's Supper

Communion liturgy will be displayed on screen.

*Hymn #533 red “When We All Get to Heaven”

Benediction

The Postlude

* Denotes when the congregation stands

(Those who are able, please stand.)

Welcome to First Congregational Church!

“Building on the past to create a future with Christ for all people.”

If you are a visitor, please fill out a card from the pew pocket and place it in the collection plate when passed.

Leaders in the Service:
Pastor Rev. Chris Meirose
Organist Kristin Ziemke
Greeters: Karen & Calvin Below
Ushers: Leann & Mike Sutlief
Nursery Attendant: Joanne Bauman
Lay Reader: Milly Neidt
Multi-Media: Keith Johnson
Acolyte: Cole Pomeroy
Council Duty (November) Judy Mokoff
Communion Servers:
Richard Will (bread)
Judy Mokoff
Phyllis Suemnick
Diana Welander


Worship Assistants Next Week (November 8)
Greeters: Kim Meirose & Lucille Youngberg
Ushers: Diana & Steve Welander
Nursery Attendant: Stephanie Hayes
Lay Reader: Diana Welander
Multi-Media: Matt Connor


This Week at First Congregational Church:
Wednesday
Ladies Friendly 1:30 p.m.

Youth Chat (4th-5th) 3:15 p.m.

Youth Chat (6th-8th) 4:30 p.m.

Youth Chat (high school) 6 p.m.

Praise Team Rehearsal 6:30 p.m.

Choir Rehearsal 7 p.m.

Sunday Sunday School 8:45 a.m.

Worship with Baptism 10 a.m.

Sermon - Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness

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Sermon – Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who thirst for righteousness
Lay Reading - Isaiah 49:8-9, 13


Turn to Genesis 31 and 32 if you would. We’ve been in this series for five weeks where we’re looking at Life’s Healing Choices, which are the eight Beatitudes. Today, we’re going to look at the fifth Beatitude which is “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake…” There’s two kinds of hunger that people have. There’s a spiritual hunger and there’s a physical hunger. We’re going to look today at the spiritual hunger that we have to have in our hearts in order for God to change us. We’re going to look at this Beatitude through the story of Jacob in the Old Testament.

The story of Jacob actually illustrates all of the first Beatitudes we’ve just been through. These steps, these healing choices of life, are not just something I made up. They’re all through Scripture. They’re not just in the Beatitudes.

So look at Genesis 31 and 32. There we see that if God’s going to change you, make the changes in your life that you want to see and that God wants to, there is going to be some conflict.

Let me give you a little background of the text we’re going to look at today. Jacob’s entire life can be summed up in one word: conflict. This guy came out of the womb fighting with his twin brother Esau. Jacob was the second born. When Esau came out of the womb, Jacob was holding on to his ankle. They named him “Supplanter” or Jacob – deceiver, cheater. Which means you’re hanging on. You’re trying to get out first. It’s not your role to get out first.

From that point on, Jacob and Esau fought in an unusual way. In fact, Jacob cheated his brother out of his inheritance. So Jacob and his brother were estranged from each other their entire life.

As you study the life of Jacob you’ll see he is always running from conflict. Conflict with his brother, conflict with his wife, conflict with his father-in-law, conflict with his brothers-in-law, conflict with God. He’s having conflict everywhere. God is trying to get his attention.

Where we pick up the story here in Genesis 31 and 32, Jacob is between a rock and a hard place. What’s happened is he’s got two conflicts going on.

First, he’s got a conflict going on with his father-in-law. His father-in-law was named Laban. Laban actually cheated Jacob and Jacob ended up serving his father-in-law fourteen years to marry his wife. There was bad blood between Laban and Jacob.

Then, he’s also fighting with his brother who had never forgiven him for stealing his inheritance.

The Bible says in Genesis 31:1-2, “Jacob heard that Laban’s sons [that’s his brothers-in-law] were saying ‘Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all the wealth [they were jealous] from what belonged to our father. [He’s got a conflict with his brothers-in-law.] And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.”

He’s figuring out, this isn’t working out real good. So he decides he’s going to take all his family – he’s got eleven sons by now, he’s got two wives who were both Laban’s daughters. He’s become very rich. He’s got a lot of flocks – sheep, goats, things like that. He goes, We’re splitting!

So he gets his whole family, this entire group, and he says we’re quietly leaving. You can’t quietly leave when you’ve got eleven kids, two wives and a bunch of sheep and goats! He takes off. When Laban, the father-in-law, hears about it he gets ticked. So Laban starts after Jacob to get him back. That’s part of the conflict.

On the other hand, Jacob goes, I don’t have any place to go except go back home. But I’ve been estranged from my brother my entire life, so I don’t think that will go well either.

Notice the next verse. Here’s what Jacob prayed. He’s at the end of his rope, caught between a rock and a hard place and he prays this, “Oh, God! I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you’ve shown me. Save me, I pray! For I am afraid.” He’s scared to death of the conflict.

Now we’re going to come to the next phase that happens in growth. He stays behind and he spends the night alone and that night while Jacob is alone knowing that the father-in-law and the brothers-in-law are coming after him on the one hand and his brother and four hundred men are coming after him on this hand. He has sent his family on ahead, he’s all alone in this camp by the brook Jabbok, and he gets in a fight that night. He gets in a wrestling fight. It’s an unusual wrestling match because it’s actually a wrestling match with God. A much better match than anything WWF has to offer I’d bet!

Phase two, the second phase in growth is, you move from conflict to crisis. In crisis, the crisis is a struggle with God. Now I’m not just in a conflict with other people, now I’m in a wrestling match with God.

Jacob says I struggled with God. Genesis 32, “Jacob got them [his family] safely across the brook Jabbok along with all of his possessions. But Jacob stayed behind and he’s left alone in the camp. A man came and wrestled with him until dawn. [This is a long wrestling match. He’s wrestling all night. Ever wrestled with God all night? Couldn’t sleep, your mind just going a mile a minute.] He wrestled with the man all night until dawn. When the man saw that he couldn’t win the match he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket.”

What’s going on here? His biggest conflict is not really with his brother. His biggest conflict is not really with his father-in-law or his wife or anybody else. His biggest struggle is really with God. Which, by the way, is yours too. He’s been running all his life. God says, “Ok, Buddy! You’re caught between a rock and a hard place. We’re going to have it out. We’re going to wrestle right here.”

God doesn’t mind having a wrestling match with you. When you wrestle with God it doesn’t bother God at all. Why? Because wrestling is a contact sport. It means you’re up close. And God would rather have you up close wrestling with him – “God, I don’t like this in my life!” Then you have distant and apathetic. He’d rather have you going, “God, I don’t like the situation I’m going through right now! I’m ticked off, God! I’m mad. Let’s have it out. Let’s wrestle!” God says “Fine. Let’s do it. Bring it on.

Let me make a little parallel here. You know the problems you’re having in your life right now? The crisis, the conflict, the difficulty you’re going through? That isn’t the real problem. That problem you’re having with your kids, with your husband/with your wife, with your friends, with your finances, with your health – that’s the symptom. Your real struggle is with God. That’s really it. It’s who’s going to be God in your life? And does God have a right to tell you what to do? And does God have a right to call the shots in your life? All your life, your war, your battle has caused struggle and strife in your life and that causes stress. Your biggest problem is not your dad or your mom or your brother or sister or your wife or anybody else. Your real struggle is we’re wrestling with God.

And what is your struggle with God? Your biggest struggle is when things don’t go the way you want them to and they don’t go as fast as you want them to you take matters into your own hands. You don’t wait and you don’t trust God and you don’t pray and you don’t sit back and you don’t think God will provide for your needs and you get in a hurry. You get out there and struggle. “I’ve got to get married!” I wonder how many people have “had” to get married and married the wrong person? “I’ve got to get a job… I’ve got to make more money…” And they pick the wrong job.

We get in a hurry and we take matters into our own hands. We don’t like to wait, do we? That’s what Jacob has done all his life. God said I want to bless Jacob but Jacob didn’t believe it; what does he do? He cheats his brother out of his blessing. God said I’ll take care of you. What does he do? “I’m afraid my father is going to scam me so I’m going to leave him.” And on and on.

I want you to think right now, think of the problem that you’re facing right now. Regardless of whatever that problem is in your life it boils down to two things. Will I trust God to take care of the situation? Will I obey God and do the right thing even if it doesn’t make sense? Will I trust him and will I obey him?

The root of all your conflicts in life is, you want to be in charge. You want to be God. You want to call the shots. You want to run it. You want to make your life your way. The root of all your problems is you want to be in control. God says, “Ok, let’s have it out. Let’s go to the mat. Let’s wrestle. You and me. One on one. Let’s have it out. Let’s see who’s really in charge here.”

God loves you just the way you are. But he loves you too much to let you stay that way. So he’s going to take you to down. He’s going to wrestle with you. And he’s going to move you from conflict, struggle with others, to crisis – struggle with God.

The fact is, we rarely change until our pain exceeds our fear of change. What keeps you from changing is you’re afraid of what will happen if you do change. We want the change, but we are afraid of what it will cost us – our comfort, our security, our preferred way of life. But pain often forces change doesn’t it?

Notice the next verse, the unusual wrestling match between God and man. “Then the man [that’s God] said ‘Let me go, for it is dawn.’ But Jacob panted [he’s out of breath], ‘I won’t let you go unless you bless me.’”

That’s phase three – commitment. Ok, God, I’m serious about this change. You’ve got to help me. I’m not going on in this marriage the way it’s going on. I can’t get out of it. I can’t get on with it. I’m not going on with this habit. I’m not going on with this relationship or this career. I want your blessing in my life.

Jacob says, “God, I won’t let go until you bless me!” Hear the passion in that? God loves passionate praying. He hates “Dear God, would you kind of, sort of, please help me out?” What God loves is passionate praying. “God, I am not letting go until you help me. I have got to get help! I’m not letting go until you bless me.” That’s commitment.

I want you to notice in the verse that says “Let me go, for it is dawn.” They had been wrestling for hours. Why is that? He’s wrestling God. God could have overpowered him, just like that! Why is God letting this thing go on? Ever thought about this? God obviously has the answer to every one of your prayers. Why doesn’t he just give it to you the first time you ask for it? “God, I need this…” Boom! It’s there. Why does he let it go on till dawn? Why is there always a delay to your prayers? Why is there always a struggle? Why does God let it go on? God could have ended it. But instead he wrestles with him.

Here’s the real reason why God lets the struggle go on like he did with Jacob, when you’re saying, God I need help in this area. You know the mess you’re in right now? You didn’t get into it instantly. It took you years to get as screwed up as you are. You didn’t just make one bad choice. You made a lot of bad choices. A lot of them. So God has to peel the onion, one layer at a time. You don’t build a problem in your life for twenty years then instantly end it with a pill.

Let me give you a little advice - if you’re serious about letting God change your life, you’ve got to hang on. You’ve got to hold on and don’t give up until God blesses you. You don’t just say, God save my marriage, and pray it one time and then give up when it doesn’t happen right away and get a divorce. Many people – most people miss God’s best because they give up too soon. They don’t make it till dawn. They give up in the struggle. Forget it! It isn’t worth it! I’m giving up on this dream. I’m giving up on this relationship. I’m giving up on this change. “I’ll never be able to change.”

Don’t do it. Stay with it - Commitment. I commit to God changing me. I’m not letting go until you bless me.

Recovery is a process. Healing is a process. It’s not a one-time event. Growth is a process.

The next step we have to take is confession.

I admit I am the problem. Not my wife. Not my friends. Or my mom or my dad. Not my kids, or my boss. I am the problem in me. I am my own biggest problem.

We talked about this last week. In the confession phase, “I admit. I openly confess and examine my faults to God.”

This is the breakthrough phase. Notice how it happened in Jacob’s life. He’s wrestling with God and it says, “Then the man [that’s God] asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘ Jacob’ he answered.” The reason he asks this is he wanted Jacob to admit what he was, God already knew who he was wrestling with. In ancient times names were chosen for their meaning not for how nice they sounded. So you could be named after a profession like I’m a Baker, or I’m a Carpenter, or I’m a Smith. Or you could be named after a relative, Johnson, Jackson things like that. But most often parents named their kids based on their character. It became your brand. It became your label. When somebody told you their name, they were telling you what kind of person they were.

And Jacob’s name means “deceiver.” And boy! Did he live up to his name? His entire life he lied, one conflict after another because he was a deceiver. He was a manipulator. When God says what’s your name? He’s saying Jacob; I want you to own up to who you are. It’s an act of confession. It’s self-revelation. He’s owning up to all of his conniving ways. He says I am a manipulator.

Here’s the cool thing about it. When Jacob says, “I am Manipulator,” God is not shocked. Like, “You’ve got to be kidding me! I’m fighting with a manipulator! How did I miss that? I didn’t see that one coming.” God already knows everything bad about you. And he still loves you.

The point is, lasting change starts with this humbleness, this brokenness, this honesty. When I stop making excuses and I stop blaming and I stop rationalizing. And I be honest to God and I be honest with myself and I be honest with one other person. That is the symptom of brokenness, when I just say, God I admit it. I’m the problem. I am the problem.

How does God respond to our brokenness? The Bible says that “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” That’s why we get to Phase Five. Here is Phase Five in God’s changing you: Conversion.

In conversion I get a new identity. God picks up the pieces and replaces the pieces with peace. Then God says, Ok now comes the conversion. You’re going to get a brand new identity.

I love God’s response to Jacob’s brokenness and confession. The Bible says this in Genesis 32, “Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob. [I’m changing it, converting it!] Your name will be Israel. [Ever heard that one? This is the guy the nation of Israel is named after! This is the guy. The scoundrel, the crook, the deceiver.] Your name will no longer be Jacob. It’s going to be Israel.” Jacob by this time had twelve sons and they became the twelve tribes of Israel.

What happens in phase five in your life? When you get to the conversion phase? The recovery stage? When you start following these Beatitudes we’ve been talking about you will find healing, just like we’ve seen them outlined in Jacob’s life.

As part of his healing, Jacob gets a new identity. God says, “You’ve been called manipulator, schemer, cheater. But you know what? Beneath all that Jacob, I see in you a prince. And I’m going to rename you Israel.” What does that mean – Israel? It means prince of God. Everybody else saw a defeated, mean spirited, cheating, lying, manipulator. God says I see deeper than that. I see in you a prince of God. Beneath all your sins and all your hang-ups I see a prince.

Listen closely to me: when God does his deepest work in you, he does his deepest work in your identity. In who you are. That is the deepest work that God does in your life. He changes your identity. How you see yourself. Why? Because the way you see yourself affects everything else in your life. You act according to the way you see yourself. For lasting change to happen you must change your self-perception. You need an identity change.

So Jacob gets a new identity. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. The old is passed away. The new has come.”

The second thing is, it says, “And he blessed him.” You get blessed. That leads us back to this week’s beatitude. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” When you’re hungry and thirsty and have to have it at all cost, hunger and thirst for righteousness. Let me say it another way. “I’m not letting go of you until you bless me, God!” That’s what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Exactly what Jacob did. I’m not letting go. I want your blessing on my life. This is the Transformation step. “Voluntarily submit to every change that God wants to make in my life. And humbly ask him to remove my character defects.”

Thank God I’m not what I used to be. Thank God, I’m not what I’m going to be. God isn’t finished with me yet. Hang on. I’m getting better. And you are too. That is the transformation process.
As we close, I’m going to ask you a few questions. I want you to think about this in your mind. Are you experiencing any conflict right now? Congratulations. God’s trying to get your attention. Two, in what area are you struggling with God? You know the right thing to do but you just keep ignoring it. You keep fighting with God over it. You’re afraid to trust him. Friend, there’s no way you’re going to win. You need to give in to God’s control. Three, where have you felt like giving up? I’m telling you as your pastor and as your friend who loves you – hold on. Say to God, I am not letting go until you bless me. Four, when are you going to face the truth about you? When are you going to stop blaming other people for the problems you’ve caused? When are you going to stop pretending that you’re not the problem? When are you going to share your struggle with a friend? Five, will you let Christ give you a new identity? Underneath every Jacob, God sees a prince. He sees in you a princess, a prince. He sees what God meant for you to be. Yeah, you’ve been Jacob. But now you’re going to be Israel – prince of God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Let’s pray.

Bulletin for Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009
Reformation Sunday

The Prelude Silently prepare your hearts for worship

*The Call to Worship “God Will Make a Way”

*Opening Prayer

*Gloria Patri #559 red

God’s Spoken Word Isaiah 49:8-9, 13

God Answers Prayer

Silent Meditation

The Lord’s Prayer (using ‘debts’ and ‘debtors’)

Welcome and Announcements

The Right Hand of Christian Fellowship

*Hymn on screen “Here I Am, Lord”

Ministry In Music Choir

Children’s Message

Morning Message Matthew 5:6 The Beatitudes part 5

“Blessed Are Those Who Thirst for Righteousness”

The Offering

*Doxology #554 red

*Hymn #445 red “O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee”

Benediction

The Postlude

* Denotes when the congregation stands

(Those who are able, please stand.)

Welcome to First Congregational Church!

“Building on the past to create a future with Christ for all people.”

If you are a visitor, please fill out a card from the pew pocket
and place it in the collection plate when passed.

Leaders in the Service:
Pastor Rev. Chris Meirose
Organist Kristin Ziemke
Greeters Joyce & Fred Bauman
Ushers Cindy & Roger Ashland
Nursery Attendant Janet Will
Lay Reader Barb Hansen
Multi-Media Tim Schroeder
Acolyte Cole Pomeroy
Council Duty (October) Shawn Pomeroy


Worship Assistants Next Week (November 1)
Greeters Karen & Calvin Below
Ushers Leann & Mike Sutlief
Nursery Attendant Joanne Bauman
Lay Reader Milly Neidt
Multi-Media Keith Johnson
Acolyte Cole Pomeroy
Communion Servers Richard Will (bread)
Judy Mokoff
Phyllis Suemnick
Diana Welander
Council Duty (November) Judy Mokoff

This Week at First Congregational Church:
Today Sunday School 8:45 a.m.
Worship 10 a.m.

Monday Nominating Committee 10 a.m.

Wednesday Bible Smuggling 6:30 p.m.

Praise Team Rehearsal 6:30 p.m.

Choir Rehearsal 7 p.m.

Saturday Church Clean-up 9 a.m.

Sunday Sunday School 8:45 a.m.

Worship with Communion 10 a.m.


from back cover:

This Week:

- Please turn in all committee expenditures & expense items requiring reimbursement so we may complete our monthly accounting.

- Nominating Committee meets Monday at 10 a.m.

- Youth Chats do not meet this week as we have scheduled Bible Smuggling for Wednesday evening.

Next Sunday (November 1):

- Sunday School at 8:45 a.m.

- Worship with Communion at 10 a.m.

from announcement insert:

Bible Smuggling is this Wednesday. We’ll meet at the top of Maplewood Park at 6:30 p.m. and be finished by 8:30 p.m.
All youth are welcome to join us. Youth under 4th grade must be accompanied by a parent. All other parents and adults are invited to stay and play “the bad guys”. Treats and hot drinks will be provided. Be sure to dress appropriately for a cold October evening! You will also need flashlights (and good batteries!) Contact Pr. Chris with questions.

4th Sunday Offering On the 4th Sunday of each month, any loose change in the offering plate will be designated to support a specific mission of our church. Currently the 4th Sunday loose change offering is designated to fund our share of the Sunday Bus program. Please support this Christian ministry by placing any loose change or cash donations in the offering plate today.

Fall Church Clean-up is scheduled for this Saturday at 9 a.m. Bring rakes, pruners, etc. for outdoor clean-up. Cleaning supplies for indoor chores are available at church. A list of indoor and outdoor tasks is ready for you! Coffee and goodies provided
to all our helpers! Please come for this great time of fellowship!

Ladies Friendly meets Wednesday, November 4 at 1:30 p.m. Hostesses are Janet Will and Cindy Ashland. Lucille Youngberg has the program. All women of the church
are welcome and encouraged to attend!

2010 Calendars are available through November 8. Cost is $7. Proceeds benefit our youth groups. Contact Cindy Johnson with any questions.

Annual Thanksgiving Dinner is Sunday, November 22. This year the Talent Show will be held first (4-5 p.m.) with dinner following. We welcome all kinds of talent! (drama/comedy, poetry, musicians, dance) Sign up forms for the dinner, talent show and volunteer workers are available at the back of the church. Contact Diana Welander with questions (835-5315)

Reggie Dabbs tonight at Waseca Junior High!

Today, October 21st, the Waseca and Janesville Ministerial Associations are providing a day of assemblies in Waseca and Janesville, bringing in youth specialist, Reggie Dabbs to speak to our students.

Reggie has an incredible personal testimony. His school assemblies focus on choices—those we make and some that seem to be made for us, and how our response to them will shape our lives. In the evening rally, Reggie will build on that theme, presenting students with the greatest choice they will ever make: to choose to follow Jesus.

- We need people who are willing to pray with students who respond, choosing to commit their lives to Christ, or to reaffirm their commitment to Him. (A 15-minute training session for these volunteers will be held at 6:30 p.m., just before the Rally.)
If you want to be part of the prayer team or are willing to pray with students, contact Pastor Howard Lundeen (507.835.2235; pastorhoward@cccefca.com).

We need adults who are willing to serve - Setting up/serving pizza and pop from 6:00 to 6:45 p.m. that evening, and helping with clean up. If you can help in this area, contact Pastor Zach Marino (507.835.2235; pastorzach@cccefca.com).

If you have questions, or would like more information, please contact Pastor Brad Wickersheim (507.833.1082; pastorbrad@wcamn.org).

__________________________________

Schedule:
8:00 a.m. Assembly at Waseca Junior High
10:00 a.m. Assembly at Waseca Senior High
1:00 p.m. at JWP
Pizza & Pop
6:15 - 6:45 p.m.
Waseca Junior High Commons
Evening Rally
(everyone is welcome to attend)
with Reggie and the Band
7:00 p.m. in the Waseca Junior High Gym

Sermon – Matthew 5:8 – Blessed are the pure in heart

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Sermon - Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart.

Lay Reading - Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

PS 24:2 for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.

PS 24:3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?

PS 24:4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.

PS 24:5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.


We are in the fourth week of an eight-week series from the Beatitudes that are found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. So before we move forward, let me take us backwards and review where we have been so far. We can sum up the first three weeks real quick.

Week one was “I can’t.” We said “I realize that I am not God. I admit that I’m powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is often unmanageable.” I can’t do it on my own.

Week two was God can. We said, “I earnestly believe that God exists. That I matter to him and that he has the power to help me change.”

So I can’t, God can. Then…

Week three was Let him. Here’s what that says: “I consciously choose to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.” Let go and let God. That’s what that means. Just let go and let God.

You say, “How do I let God? What does that mean? How can I let God make the changes in my life that he wants to make?” That’s what leads us to what we’re going to talk about today. It’s probably the toughest choice of all.

Before we even get into it I just want to say, let’s be honest with each other here. Because all of us have failed, all of us have blown it. All of us have sinned. Nobody’s perfect (except my mother). Other than that, none of the rest of us are perfect.

The Bible says, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” Romans 3:23

This week we need to make the choice to openly examine and confess our faults to myself, to God and to someone we trust.

You’re going, “Hold on a minute! I didn’t sign up for any of this kind of stuff. To admit something to myself? Sure. I guess I can probably do that. To admit it to God? Yeah, maybe. It’s not like he doesn’t already know. But I am not about to just bare my soul for all the world to see.”

I just want you to relax. We’re not asking you to do that. God’s not asking you to do that. He’s not asking you to call the tabloids and create a scandal about your own life. I’m not looking for you to stand up today and list off all your recent sins. But God is asking you to be honest. To be honest with him and with ourselves and with the people who are close to us. It’s because freedom is impossible without honesty.

The Bible says, John 8:32, “When you know the truth it will set you free.” In other words, truth is the cost of freedom. But freedom is the reward of truth. Freedom is the reward of honesty. If we want to be free from all the stuff that we’re carrying around in our lives, it begins with being honest with ourselves and with God and with the people around us.

My purpose this weekend is to help bring you hope and courage to help us all take the steps necessary to move forward in our lives. To help us see how things can be, to see how things will be, and actually in a very real sense to see how things actually are right now. I want to help us understand, maybe in a way we’ve never understood before, just how deeply God loves you. It’s so important. Because when this whole issue, this whole idea of honesty starts to come up, a lot of us get kind of afraid; we get scared. “I don’t want to go into this. It’s too painful. I don’t want to do this.” We’re afraid of it. But the Bible says, 1 John 4:18, “Perfect love casts out fear.” I believe that whenever I’m afraid of the truth, if you’re afraid of the truth, it’s because we don’t fully understand how much God loves me. If I really understood the depth of his love there would be nothing to be afraid of.

I want to talk about this today. In order to do that we’re going to look at the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. The things that Jesus taught us. The Beatitude this week is found by jumping ahead a little bit from last week. It’s in Matthew 5:8. “Blessed (or Happy) are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

The first thing I want you to notice is what it doesn’t say. Jesus did not say “Happy are the religious in heart.” It’s happy are the pure in heart. Some of the most unhappy people I know are religious in heart. They’re just miserable. They won’t be happy until everybody else is as miserable as they are.

You know people like that? Their whole life is a bunch of rules. All those rules are Don’ts. They want you to believe that the Christian life is just Don’t, Don’t, Don’t, No, No, No. They want you to think that’s what life in Christ is all about.

But that’s not what it’s all about. The Christian life is not about don’t. The Christian life is about do. It isn’t about can’t. It’s about can. The Christian life is not about no, it’s about yes.

The Bible says, “Jesus said, ‘I have come in order that you might have life--life in all its fullness.’” John 10:10. Not that you might have religion, but that you might have life.

Jesus doesn’t want me to be religious. He wants me to be real.

“Happy are the pure in heart.” Not the religious in heart.

In John 11 we read about the time when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. I want us to look at this for a moment, because there’s a truth here that we need to discover. Remember the Bible doesn’t just tell us the things that God did. The Bible tells us how God does things.

The Bible says this, John 11:43-44, “Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot [picture that] with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unwrap him, and let him go.’” It says he was bound hand and foot with graveclothes and his face was covered with a cloth.

There’s significance there. That means that nothing that binds you up and keeps you from fullness of life, nothing that trips you up as you try to follow Jesus, nothing that covers you up and keeps you hidden from the rest of the world – none of that can withstand the life-giving power of Jesus Christ.

If you have given your life to Christ, the Bible says he brought you from death into life. It’s just like Lazarus – you were brought from death into life. But there are still things in your life that keep you from fulfillment in your life. As we read a moment ago, Jesus said I came to give you fullness of life. But there are things that bind us up, that hold us back, that restrict us, that keep us from finding or reaching our full potential in life. There are things that still trip us up as we try to follow Jesus – old ways of thinking, old behavior patterns, addictions, all of that kind of stuff. Things that trip us up as we go along. There are still masks that we try to hide behind because we don’t want people to see the real me. Jesus says I want to set you free from all of this junk. It’s not just enough that I’m bringing you from death into life, but I want to bring you into freedom. And he does it through his people.

Look at that text in John 11. Look toward the end, “Jesus said to them…” Who are the “them”? “Them” are the disciples, his followers. Jesus said to his followers, you loosen him and you let him go. Jesus does it through his people. That’s why it’s so important for all of us to be in relationship with other followers of Christ. It’s about people helping other people to walk into freedom. And to get free from the things that hold us back and trip us up and cover us up. Jesus says to his followers, loosen and let him go.

Notice he doesn’t say, loosen and then wrap him back up in another bunch of stuff. He says let him go. The Bible says in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” It’s not to bind us up and restrict us. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Then Jesus said in John 8:36, “If the Son has set you free, you will be free indeed.” He said, “Happy are the pure in heart.” Not the religious in heart.

You say, “That sounds great but how is that possible to have a pure heart? Because I know me and when I look at me I don’t see a whole lot of purity going on around here.”

First, it’s important to understand that you cannot make your own heart pure. Good behavior does not purify the heart. You can’t just say, I’m going to clean up my act and behave myself and then I’ll have a pure heart. Good behavior does not purify the heart. But a pure heart will change your behavior. Repentance is not what you do in order to earn forgiveness. Repentance is what you do because your forgiveness has already been paid for.

Romans 5:8 says, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He didn’t wait for us to clean up our act. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. The only way to have a pure heart is through the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross for your sins. Purity of heart is the gift of God’s grace. You cannot earn it. You cannot buy it. The only way to get a pure heart is to surrender to him. Give your life to Christ. Let him forgive you of your sins and purify your heart, to give you the pure heart.

You commit your life to Christ; you receive his gift of forgiveness and of a pure heart. That is how God sees you right now. He sees you right now as having a pure heart.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus has become a new person. [Has become, not will become, has become a new person.] The old life is gone and a new life has begun.” And Jesus says “Happy [or blessed] are the pure in heart, because they will see God.”

You’re still going, “I still don’t see how this is possible. How can I have a pure heart when there’s all of this stuff that’s still in my life? How is that possible? Because, quite honestly, my mind is dirty. My hands are dirty. My mouth is dirty.”

Let me let you in on a little secret. So am I. You think you’re the only person in this place who doesn’t still have to fight against temptation? You think you’re the only person in this place who doesn’t still lose his temper or do things you shouldn’t do or say things you shouldn’t say or think things you shouldn’t think? There’s not a person in this room, there’s not a person on this platform, who still doesn’t have to fight temptation, confess sin and repent. We are all in the same boat.

This is so important for us to understand.

The basis for a pure heart is not how good you’ve been. The basis for a pure heart is how good God is.

It’s not how good you’ve been. It’s how good God is. It’s based on God’s character not yours. It’s based on God’s actions, not yours. It’s based on God’s goodness, not yours. Your good behavior does not purify your heart. But a pure heart will change your behavior.

So my question is what does your heart want? Deep down inside, what does your heart want? Do you want to see God in your life?

I think you do. The reason I think you do is because you’re here. The very fact that you’re here today is a reflection of the deep desire in your heart to have a relationship with God. And to have him make things right in your life that are not right.

Psalm 139 says, “You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me.” God knows all about you. He knows that you really want to be free. He knows that you don’t want sin in your life. He knows that you want him to purify your heart. The only way to do it is to surrender to him. He promises if you surrender he will purify your heart. Then you will see God in your hands, in your feet, in your mind, through your eyes, in your mouth, in the way you live. You will see God in and through your life as he develops the character of Christ in you. That’s when you will see God in your life.

Let me give you a word picture. Are you familiar with Michelangelo’s David? The story behind that magnificent sculpture is that Michelangelo said when asked how he created this masterpiece? He response was, “I just cut away everything that wasn’t David.”

The rest of us, all we see is a big block of stone. That’s all we see, just a big old ugly rock. But the master Michelangelo saw David in there. He cut away everything that wasn’t David. So David became what he already was in the mind of his creator.

It’s the same process with all of us. God has already declared your heart as pure. He already sees you in Christ as having a pure heart. Now you cooperate with him in the process of becoming what you are. The cutting away, the getting rid of the things that bind you and that trip you up and that cover you up. And God does it through his people. He just wants you to cooperate with him and let him do it in you.

If you fall down in the process, get back up. If you fall down again, get back up again. And if you fall down again, get back up again. This is where God’s people come in. You need people around you who love you, who love the Lord, to help you get back up on your feet and keep moving forward in the right direction. When you fail, when you sin, when you fall - confess it, repent, and move forward.

But the way things tend to be for me, and I have a feeling probably for a lot of us, is that when I fail, when I mess up, I want to hide from God. I don’t want him to look at me. I can’t talk to him. I sure can’t read my Bible because I’d just be a hypocrite. I can’t go to church. I stay away from my Christian friends because I feel guilty, so I want to hide.

Don’t ever let sin keep you from God. When you do that, you’re just playing into the devil’s hands because he wants to separate you from God. He wants to isolate you from fellowship. Don’t ever let sin keep you from God. Sin should drive you to God. Because that’s the only place you’re going to find forgiveness and mercy and hope and healing and the strength to get back up and move forward. When you sin, don’t run from God.


 
Prayer:
As you turn your hearts to the Lord, remember Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but it took his friends to set him free. I want you to ask God a question. Actually I want you to ask him two questions. He will answer you. Ask him, what do I still need to be set free from? And, who do I need to talk to that can help me to step into freedom? Ask God those questions right now. What do I still need to be set free from? And, who can I talk to that can help me find freedom?

I want you to pray this in the quietness of your own heart. Say, Lord, I know that I have hidden some things in my heart. I’ve denied the truth about my life. I’ve tried to hide from you and from myself and from other people. Lord, you know what’s inside me. I want you to help me to see it too. Lord, I want you to search my heart and reveal the secrets in me. Shine your light into the darkness, into the shadows. Show me what’s in there. Lord, I confess to you that I have sinned, that I am a sinner. Sometimes I sin in ignorance. Sometimes I do it deliberately. And I’m sorry. I want you to know I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the things I’ve done that have hurt you and have hurt other people and that have hurt me. I’m tired of running and hiding from you. So Lord, I’m turning my heart to you today. Lord Jesus, I’m asking you to forgive me. I’m asking you to come into my life to set me free, to purify my heart and to show me how to live life the way you want me to; to bring me from death into life. I give my life to you. I surrender myself to you. And Lord, one of the hardest things for us as Americans to surrender is our money, our finances, so we thank you God that we get to give through our tithes and offerings to Your kingdom work. We thank you God that you trust us with so much, and ask in return so little. Lord open our eyes to the needs around us. The physical needs, the spiritual needs, the emotional needs, that we may be pieces of Christ to the world. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.