ShuttleSermon 3-6-05 communion...examine yourselves 1 Cor 11
Communion instructions….
· don’t have to kneel,
· we willl serve you at your seat
· Cups go here
· Take time to pray and think
When was the last time you thought really hard about something?
Shopping cart at Sam’s
Paul....examine yourselves
Corinthian church is a mess
Some wont come because they are not worthy….not the point….you are to come not when you see yourselves as worthy, but you are to come when you understand that in your own strength you are not worthy
When I look at myself I find three levels of living
level one
competitive, demanding, its about me, what I want to buy, what I want to do, annoyed by others, Self justifying, and stuck in this frame of mind
Level two
Engaged, working hard, busy, trying, serving others, raising kids, trying to be a good husband and father….but it is not always Christ centered
Level three
some people never get there, some people don’t even know that this level exists Where the deepest part of my soul is crying out to God
Jesus in the garden….who am I, how am I doing, what am I about?
Which level does God live on? All of them....we just don't notice him. He is there, he wants in, we just aren't paying attention.
Best merit badge a sermon can have is not the commitments that come from it, but the self-examination, the thinking that comes from it. For without the thinking, the considering, the self-examination, there would be no commitments.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian dissident and novelist, said, "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." That includes mine and yours. If we could have the courage to embrace our scary shadows, we would thereby take a giant leap to heal our deep and lasting pain... .M. Scott Peck, the "central defect of evil is not the sin but the refusal to acknowledge it." The refusal to acknowledge our dark tendencies is the central defect, not the dark tendencies. it is not the evil in us, but our refusal to take the time to examine ourselves, our refusal to be honest with ourselves. Only when I can acknowledge all parts of me, can I move from childhood to maturity, from self centered living to Christ centered living.
Do you take time to look at your life? Do you know where your shopping carts are? Or are you so lost in what is going on that you are not paying attention?
Mystic story …..A wise, old Middle Eastern mystic said this about himself. "I was a revolutionary when I was young, and all my prayer to God was: 'Lord, give me the energy to change the world.'
As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: 'Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me. Just my family and friends and I shall be satisfied.'
Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: 'Lord, give me the grace to change myself.' If I had prayed this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life.”
Do you know that you need him…..Jesus bids us to come to the table.
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