Hard Candy: Unwrap the Hard Sayings of Jesus: Gouge It Out, 08/10/14

Sermon 8-10-14 hard sayings – gouge it out mt 5:27- 30=

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’^{[e] 28} But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

I heard of a pastor who brought an axe to church when he preached on this topic and asked if anyone here took the bible literally……..

When we talk of taking it literally, passages like this are troubling.

Akin to this is the Mark 16 ending…..

In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; Mark 16

A Kentucky pastor who co-starred in the TV show Snake Salvation has died of a snakebite.  Emergency personnel received a call Saturday night that someone at a church, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, had suffered a snakebite, Middlesboro Police Chief Jeff Sharpe said in a statement. He said an ambulance crew went to the church, but the Rev. Jamie Coots had left. The crew went to Coots' home and found him suffering from a bite to the hand.  "After a brief examination and discussion of the possible dangers if the wound was not treated, treatment — and transport to the hospital — was refused," Sharpe said.  An hour later, police, emergency officials and a deputy coroner returned to the home to find that Coots had died, Sharpe said.

Coots, who was profiled on The National Geographic show featuring pentecostal, serpent-handling preachers, pleaded guilty last year to violating Tennessee's exotic animals law and agreed to surrender his snakes.

He had been bitten 8 times before

He had a dead finger that he kept as a trophy.

His friends said, well at least he went to his reward exercising faith

Should you be handling snakes?

I can help you with this passage.  It wasn’t in the bible originally.

What?  Read your bible, see what it says.  Not in the earliest manuscripts…….

Phew.  I don’t have to handle snakes…….

But the cut off your hand is in the sermon on the mount.  It is red letter jesus!

Some parts are meant to be literal…….. love your enemy.

Some are not.  I am the door.  He is not a literal door.  Gouge out your eye?

That’s not the point.

Remember that scripture  is not the end, it’s the means.

Its not the goal, it’s one of the things that point us to God.

Its ok to not cut off your hand…….

It is not your hand’s fault.  It is not your eye’s fault.

The part that really needs to be changed is the heart.

And now we see what Jesus is after.  Different hearts. Ahhh

Whats in your heart.

Do you find any sin and selfishness?

Roger horn…….i won’t sin for 24 hours

Big argument

He was thinking of sin as actions only

Is it only our actions or is it also our thoughts

Jesus is saying its more than what we do……..we must guard our thoughts

Do your thoughts ever get you in trouble?

Jimmy carter lusted.

You have power over your thought life

You can let them run

Or you can manage them…….

⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have [our weapons have] divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Cor 10:4-5

What is in your heart?

If it is bad for you then get rid of it.

We live in a throw away culture

Everything is disposable.  We set massive amounts of trash at our curb every week.  We throw away more food in a week than many people around the world have to eat.

Poor people in many cultures make their life off of what others throw away.

Yet we refuse to part with attitudes that are harmful
We recycle and retool and return to the same old reactions, attitudes and practices throughout our lives as if each one were made of the most precious resources available.

We are invited to change our life paradigms.

People say, oh, this is just me.

It doesn’t have to be you.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of our most beloved old rags should have been banished to the trash heap decades ago.

Story -Fire at grandma’s house from the old rags

They should have been disposed of……..

What is it that we need to pluck out of our lives?

Lets get real about what gets in the way - Money

Mark 10, Luke 18, Mt 19

¹⁷ As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’^[d]” ²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” ²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” ²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.  Mark 10:17-22

you lack one thing.  Sell all you have.  Gouge out the money.

Set aside that which gets in your way

Set aside the money- love of money is the root of evil

Un forgivenss-

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Mt 6:14-15

Jesus can I get a redirect onthis?  Is this exactly what you mean?

Does it make sense for god to forgive you if you wont forgive others

Set aside unforgiveness

Interesting that you cant chop off unforgiveness without offering forgiveness

Mt 18 peter asks how many times should I forgive?  7 times?

Conclusion
- If you want to be healthy, ... stop doing those things that harm you.

- If you want harmony in your life, ... stop doing those things that cause discord.

- If you want peace in the world, ... stop doing those things that lead to war.

- If you want a closer relationship with your children, ... stop doing those things and saying those things that build up walls between you.

- If you want to rekindle the romance in your marriage, ... stop doing those things that create animosity and boredom.

- If you want to live in a close-knit, caring community, ... stop hiding behind your front door.

- If you want a spiritual life that fills you up, ... stop pouring all your energies everywhere but toward God.

Nothing should get in the way of the kingdom

You can have a new marriage ... a new body ... a new attitude ... a new spirit ... a new career ... a new community ... a new world - but only by stopping the old destructive, hurtful behaviors you've doggedly recycled for so many years.

The changes we want to come about in our lives will not happen just by wishing them to be so. We must cut ourselves off from our old attitudes and throw them away.

Now are you thinking of yourself or someone else?

No one can judge you over what you may need to change.

It is not up to them.

Only you know what needs to change.  But you do know.

So jesus invites us to rid our lives of the things that harm us and others

For good. For God. For us

Parable of the Unjust Judge, Luke 18:1-8, 02/02/14

Sermon 2-2-14 the parable of the unjust judge  Lk 18:1-8

 

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

 

Persistence

This is a topic that has been on my mind.

Another topic that has been on my mind recently is the selective way that we tend to look at scriptures.

 

ONE - At first it seems a parable that indicates that if you stay after it long enough, god will give you what you want. 

 

Is that the purpose of Prayer…

Does God change His mind?

          If I get more people to pray will that work?

Is prayer about us changing God?

Is prayer about us getting what we want or God getting what he wants.

Or in prayer does God change our hearts?

 

Although we are encouraged not to pray with vain repetitions,

Prayer is intended to be an ongoing life of communication with God

I was reading the other day about how little Americans pray. 

That people should have a set time and pray for at least five minutes in the morning and 5 before bed.

Really?  Then the rest of the day belongs to me?

I would offers something else.

Prayer is intended to be an ongoing communication with God.

 

Prior to cell phones and email, I had to go to a phone to call you. 

I had to wait for a pay phone to open up.

Now that we have cell phones, I can talk to you anytime. 

We can be in constant communication.

So how I pray is no longer a hit and miss thing, but an all the time thing

My praying becomes a fluid experience.

 

usually this relationship happens over time. It takes time to build

in time - My vantage point –view point begins to shift toward God’s.

My will to his will

That is when I can begin to see something that that I had not before….

Realize a Story bigger than me is happening in and around my life. 

 

The prayer in this story is not about me getting what I want for my consumption

TWO - It is about justice.

I am not going to chase this a lot this morning, it is very painful to us

But imagine if our lives and brains,

instead of thinking about what I want and desire

Thought instead about making things fair in life.  Giving others a fair shot.

 

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good -And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy  and to walk humbly^[a] with your God.

 

Justice conference dates……..Feb 21-22

 

Lets talk about the spiritual nature of persistence……

In life, it is a character trait……. To persist.  To be determined. 

To stay with a thing.

It is a character trait that we honor, it is a spiritual character trait

·        The little engine that could

·        The tortoise and the hair [the tortise]

·        Getting up and getting after things.

·        When the going gets tough, the tough gets going

That is why we love underdog stories

Great come from behind stories- where someone stayed at a thing

 

It is a skill that is mandatory for a successful life.

You have to say with a thing

You have to work at a thing- did I say work?

          2 thess 3:10 Paul – if a man would not work, neither would he eat

You have to work for a living. – I have been trying to teach my kids this their entire life

If you work in life, you have a chance, if you don’t, you are doomed to a life of victimhood

 

          Get up when you get knocked down

          Work hard

          Work first.  Play second

Go to work, work all week.

You can solve your problems on the nights and weekends.

You have to keep going.

 

Some people quit.

Its too hard - Its not easy

They become Bitter and angry - There is never anything to gain from this.

 

Do you want to quit? --You can always quit tomorrow

Don’t give up today

[some relationships should end, but that is not what I am talking about]

 

You have to keep after a thing.

The same implies to spirituality. The importance of staying with it

Praying thru to the other side

Adonijah -Holding on to the horns of the altar 1 kings 1

Jacob wrestling with the angel [before meeting esau]

 

The nature of the spiritual walk in engaged for the long haul

Leland high school 1973 - Story of first track meet – fastest 880 man.

          Passed by their three. 

At the end of the season, I was the slowest 880 man

 

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart….

 

The nature of the spiritual walk is Engaged for the long haul

THREE - Will the son of man find faith on the earth

If it doesn’t go the way that we want it to go, will we still remain faithful?

The parable does not end with an insistence on the promise of God

But on a question of whether or not we will remain faithful, even if things don’t go our way

 

James 1:2-4 ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 

Maybe you know the story of Derek Redmond,

400 m runner for the British in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. 

Invested his life in training for this race. – he was favored to win

 

150 m short of the finish—

He pulls up lame                                                                                                      PHOTO 1

torn ham-string and down on his knees. 

He was leading only a couple of seconds before, now everyone passes him on the way to the finish. 

He is in great pain                                                                                                   PHOTO 2

Track personnel gathered around him, stretcher bearers huddled…

then, Derek Redmund emerged up from the midst of the huddle and started limping/hopping his way toward the finish.                                                     Photo 3

The crowd of 65000 rises to its feet…cheering him on                                    

 

After he struggled to go some 30 m or so…a man appeared on the track…

fighting his way past security…                                                                            Photo 4

he put his arms around Derek and helped him to the last leg of the journey. 

It was his father       

 

You may have collapsed under…

a heavy load,  a physical condition,  a broken heart,  a conflict,  a disappointment,  a loss…

 

Will everything turn out as you want?  Perhaps not…

Did Derek Redmund lose?  Who defines losing? 

Maybe God has a different finish line…

 

A broken son…was joined together in the arms of a loving Father.

65,000 in the stadium cheered on as they witnessed courage, persistence, and faithfulness.

All of heaven rises for you.  we still cheer on courage, persistence and faithfulness

 

God expects us to keep trying.

He promises to be with us.

 

Isaiah 40:29-31 says:

“He gives strength to the weary   and increases the power of the weak. ³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,  and young men stumble and fall; ³¹ but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

 

Let us pray