November 9
Thanksgiving for a Lift, Psalter 830, *Matthew 23.1-12 Jacqueline Hines
One of the most precious gifts we as the church have to offer
one another is to honor one another. Honor is like the sweet fragrance of a
beautiful rose. If we spend enough time in an atmosphere where WE are honored, we learn to honor like
God honors. We learn that every human being is worthy of our honor and respect
at all times. Even when the prophets rebuked and chastised God’s people it was
always filtered through respect and honor for God and God’s precious people.
If no one in the world honors us today, God honors and delights
in us. Nevertheless, like the scribes and Pharisees there may be times when we
long to be recognized and honored by others. We feel a need for attention and
we seek it. There are preachers who always want to sit up front, who want to be
the next Charles Stanley. There are teachers who are waiting for that Teacher
of the Year ribbon. Sales persons compete for that gold star on their lapel,
and we have seen actors who cannot stand it when the curtain closes.
Jesus knew the heart of the Pharisees, so in the 23rd
chapter of the gospel of Matthew, we read [ #1 Matthew
23.1,2] Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2‘The
scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; [ #2 Moses’
seat ]
When you walk into a school class room, you automatically
know which seat is the teacher’s seat. When Jesus referred to Moses’ seat, the
Pharisees who were very fine teachers, understood that Jesus was pointing to
Moses’ authority and Moses’ teachings. Everyone understood that Moses was great
enough to receive the Ten Commandments; that was great. 2‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’
seat; [ #3 another Moses’ seat ]
The Pharisees wanted to imitate Moses. They knew the rules,
they knew the teachings, [ #4 Matthew 23.3] 3therefore,
Jesus says, do whatever they teach you and follow it; [ #5 Matthew 23.3…continued]
BUT DO NOT DO AS THEY DO, for they do not practice what they teach. [ #6 Matthew 23.5 ] 5They do all their deeds to
be seen by others;
[ # 7
Matthew 23.5 continued ] for they make their phylacteries
broad and their fringes long.
You have probably seen pictures of Jewish men with fringes
and phylacteries. They represent devotion to God. Each fringe on the prayer shawl [ #8 prayer shawl with fringes ] has five knots representing
the first five books of the bible. Phylacteries are boxes with portions of
scriptures inside, worn on the bicep and the head. [#9 black box on head]. They were worn by ancient worshippers
[# 10 boy and man wrapping phylacteries ] and
they are still worn today. [ #11 modern scene of boy
and man with phylacteries]. The leather binding, [ #12 leather around the hand ]
wrapped around from hand, to heart, to head symbolize a very intentional and
intimate connection to God and a reminder to keep the law. [ #13 young boy with phylacteries]
Jesus noted that the Pharisees and Scribes had a habit of
wearing these very dramatic displays, not for devotion, but for attention, in
order to be thought of highly. Instead all were instructed by Jesus to be lowly
servants who positioned themselves to look up to others, for looking up to
others also gives the best view of God’s will and blessings.
[#14 Matthew 23.11,12] 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12All who
exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
(or lifted up)
The humble will be lifted. Thank God for a lift. When Jesus
lifts us up, we can lift up those who need it most. Last week I had the
opportunity to meet the President of Lincoln University, Robert Jennings who
serves over 2000 students [ #15 picture of Dr. Jennings ]. He talked about the
future of the Church. He talked about the need to seek the lost, to lift up the
lowly among us, to invite the unchurched to church, to have a relationship with
those who are hungry for a gospel that works, hungry to hear our stories of
faith, like the one Rocky shared this morning. Dr. Jennings urges us to reach out to this new
generation. He calls those born in the 80’s the NET generation for their
constant exposure to technology and the internet. They are also called Millennials
because they are the first generation of the new millennium.
The new generation has their own language, their own dress,
their own lifestyle as every generation does. You do not have to think back too
far to remember some of the confusing speech and controversial lifestyles you
had that made some seasoned citizen wonder about your generation. Dr. Jennings
talked about today’s generation’s prolific use of tattoos. He made mention of a
bright young medical school student who was attracted to a wonderfully
ambitious young man who had tattoos all up and down his arm. He had all
expectations of going into the Navy, but was disappointed when told that he
could not be promoted until he got rid of the tattoos, and removing the tattoos
would take 7 long years. Every generation has their own way. This new
generation is said to be more culturally diverse than any generation in world
history. There is no doubt that in order to lift them up as worthy of our love
and attention, we must continue to keep a healthy conversation going with them.
If we keep our eyes on what the church has been in the past, we will be turning
our backs on the future.
This is a new day, and we need a new church. It is an
important time to be the church that God’s dreams are made of. That is why the
Holy Spirit led us to not only develop a preschool but a Christian
Preschool. One Philadelphia pastor talks about seeing rows and rows of taxi
cabs lined up on the street where his church is. They are Muslims stopping to
offer noonday prayers. The pastor mourns the fact that if he were to ask the
Christians in his church to gather for noon day prayer, he doubts anyone would come.
This is a new day, a day to be devoted to God as never before.
Are we doing whatever God asks us to do to be the church we
are called to be? Only by surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit can we
possibly know what to do and what to say. The Spirit of God can teach us how to
act in ways that unite us so we can live in harmony with those who think
differently from us. The church is a business, Dr. Jennings warns the church, and if we are going to be
in business in the next generation, we need to invite people to Christ and the
Church, connect with those who show up so they return, disciple those who stay,
and send them back out into the world to be neighborhood missionaries. The face of evangelism is relational.
We grow the church one healthy, positive, loving conversation at a time, one
act of obedience at a time. Giving in to temptations to uphold isms and schisms
and to build between us what Ephesians 2 calls “walls of hostility.” Unless we
forgive others, our sins will not be forgiven. Others may not notice, but God
sees all. Why start a war with God when we know we cannot win.
The Holy Spirit always gives us dreams and visions, insights
and guidance, strength and wisdom so we can be a strong body of Christ. It is
not easy. This world can be dark and scary. There may be battlefields in every
corner. The only way to survive as a good soldier of the Lord is to follow
God’s commands, to humble ourselves and pray, to bind ourselves to God’s word, [# 16 boxes with
leather]mind body, heart and soul [ #17 young
man wearing phylacteries and fringes]
On this Veteran’s Sunday, we remind ourselves what every
Christian soldier understands, [#18 soldier] the
battle belongs to God. We fight with weapons of divine power that demolish
strongholds that separate us from God’s diverse people [#19
demolishing strongholds]
We need divine
power to heal, help, and save those who are spiritually drowning. We need divine power to drive out
demons, petty attitudes, sneaky one-way conversations known as gossip, and
nasty ways our human egos have deceived us into believing will make others
think more highly of us. Instead, we are called to humble ourselves, to give
somebody a lift, to look up to others in order to get a good view of God’s holy
will and abundant blessings. Then when we see somebody who needs a lift, we can
speak with confidence of a God who has given us a lift and who can lift them
up, too. [ #20 God lifting another up] Amen.
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