You Talkin’ Ta Me, Lord?!

You Talkin’ Ta Me, Lord?!

Mount Hope UMC

January 19, 2020

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 New Living Translation (NLT)

Greetings from Paul

1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.

² I am writing to God’s church in Corinth,^[a] to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus,^[b] just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

³ May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Paul Gives Thanks to God

⁴ I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. ⁵ Through him, God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. ⁶ This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. ⁷ Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸ He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. ⁹ God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

         Paul’s greeting to the church at Corinth identifies him as one chosen by God.  He is identifying himself as being called.  We could say, anointed and appointed by God to bring the Good News of the Bible to this church that, in many ways, is struggling with the same thing the United Methodist Church is struggling with today – division, factionalism, and an air of elitism.  So, he starts his letter by establishing is credentials as an apostle, not just a traveling street preacher that has been called by God.  He is doing, not his will, but God’s will, so he’s flexing his authority and giving an example of humility in action.

         After he introduces himself and Sosthenes, he greets the Church in Corinth addressing them as being sanctified, called and together.  Sanctified, not by their own efforts, but by their belief in Jesus and called to be saints to a new way of living and being.  This is a calling much bigger than themselves, their church and bigger than any collection of churches in Corinth, bigger than their egos and their divisions and their attitudes.  He greets them in grace and peace and he acknowledges that they are not lacking in any spiritual gift.

         He is writing to a body that they will fulfill their calling.  It is as a body that they will find their strength and ability to be blameless.  It is a body that they will respond to the faithfulness of God.

         Paul tells the Church in Corinth something I’m going to tell you, Mount Hope.  You are ALL chose by the will – the PERFECT WILL of God.  You did not come to Mount Hope by chance or mistake and you don’t stay here because you have no other options.  You are a chosen people – a royal priesthood – and each of us is imbued with specific spiritual gifts to uplift the Body of Christ to use right here in this mission field!  We don’t all have the same gifts, but we are given different gifts so that together, we are blessed with every spiritual gift in order to enrich our church in every way, as Paul tells the Corinthians.  Like the Corinthians, Mount Hope, you are using your gifts to keep the church going.

         Your parents, grandparents, great grandparents and you have also used your gifts and graces to keep Mount Hope going for 160 years.  You can shout Hallelujah about this.  And because you have been faithful, God has enriched this branch of Zion with many blessings and you’ve been a blessing to this community and each other.

        

         For 160 year God has provided and blessed Mount Hope with loving spirits and plentiful resources that have maintained a constant flow of abundance that has transformed lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That doesn’t mean you can sit on your accolades and accomplishments.  If we look around, there is plenty of work yet to do.  Our youth and young adults, which once were overflowing, are now conspicuously absent.  Mega churches and churches with diverse populations have claimed many of our young families.  Traditional worship has been only one form of worship as contemporary worship, praise bands, flashy videos and a vibrant youth ministry draw our young adult families.  We just have to look behind us at Chesapeake or Bethel to see their parking lots on Sunday mornings.

         But there is still a need for the small family church.  One size does not fit all when it comes to worshipping God!  He has a size and environment for everyone who believes.  God inhabits the praises of his people and it doesn’t matter whether it’s at Chesapeake, Bethel, Mount Harmony, the Lutheran or the Episcopalian church, St. Edmonds or Mount Hope.  There is a place for everyone who seeks the Lord.

         Today we celebrate two occasions.  First, tomorrow is the national holiday honoring the birthday our martyred present day apostle, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  A quote by Dr. King that is relevant today in light of our Installation of our 2020 Church Officers and Leaders is: “Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”  Tomorrow as we recall the life of this great servant leader, this drum major for justice, let us be open to the calling God has on our lives and be faithful servant leaders to live out our calling.  Dr. King also said, “No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.”

            Today we install our 2020 Church Officers and Leaders.  These are the people who have offered their gifts in service to the local church.  We give God thanks for them because of their commitment, dedication and faithfulness.  Because of their gifts and graces, Mount Hope will continue to maintain its footprint and ministries in this community.  As we had read for our hearing earlier from the book of Isaiah:

         The Lord’s Servant Commissioned

49 Listen to me, all you in distant lands!
    Pay attention, you who are far away!
The Lord called me before my birth;
    from within the womb he called me by name.

² He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.
    He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.
    I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.

³ He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
    and you will bring me glory.”

⁴ I replied, “But my work seems so useless!
    I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;
    I will trust God for my reward.”

⁵ And now the Lord speaks—
    the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,
    who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.
The Lord has honored me,
    and my God has given me strength.

⁶ He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.
    I will make you a light to the Gentiles,
    and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

⁷ The Lord, the Redeemer
    and Holy One of Israel,
says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,
    to the one who is the servant of rulers:
“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.
    Princes will also bow low
because of the Lord, the faithful one,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

God has called you out into service in the local church.  This is not a decision to be taken lightly.  It comes with responsibility and accountability.

            As United Methodists our membership vows require that we give of our time, talent and tithe.  Being an Officer or Leader in the local church will be a commitment of your talent (your gifts) and your time.  It is my vision that each member will be engaged in a ministry in this church in some way because God has called you, not to sit in the pew, but to be the hands and the feet on the ground and because we know that many hands make light work.  We don’t want you to just be a seat warmer.  You look real pretty, but we need you to get your feet wet in ministry to those who need us outside the walls of Mount Hope.  We need those who are willing to be a witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  We need you to be disciples who are making other disciples.  We need you to use your voice in the choir, as a worship leader, as an evangelist, as a teacher, as a mentor.  We need you.

            Don’t sit and wonder “You Talkin Ta Me Lord?”  Yes!  He’s talking to you, and you, and you, and me!  It’s 2020 and God is doing a new ting.  We have great plans for this year and beyond and we need you to join the leaders of this church in accomplishing the vision God has given us to be present and effect; to work in harmony and love to reach the masses and to grow in numbers so that Mount Hope will continue for another 160 years.

            Will you be like Isaiah in 6:8 when he heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”  If God has been calling you and you have not known if he was talking to you, but you feel the urging on your heart to be in service in any way, I invite you to come forward now.  Don’t wonder any longer.  Don’t be a dust protector in the pew.  Don’t fear the unknown of ministry and don’t feel you’re not worthy.  None of us is worthy of the calling on our lives, but Paul appeals to us in Ephesians 4:1 in The Message version, “In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.”

            God will qualify those whom he calls.  He called Moses, a stutterer; he called Rahab, a prostitute; he called Noah who was a drunk; he called Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and he called you.   Will you answer or will you continue to ask “You Talkin Ta Me, Lord?!”

            I ask that all 2020 Church Officers and Leaders, Ushers, Communion Stewards, acolytes, and choir members come to the front at this time to be installed.

Anointed and Appointed

ANOINTED AND APPOINTED

Mount Hope UMC

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Matthew 3:13-17 New Living Translation (NLT)

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³ Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?”

¹⁵ But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.^[a]” So John agreed to baptize him.

¹⁶ After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened^[b] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

            We just concluded the season of Advent this past Monday with the feast of the Epiphany.  Epiphany is when the wise men visited Jesus bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  But I want to dispel the folklore you’ve been led to believe all the years.  The Jesus that the wisemen encountered was not a baby in a manger, but a two year old child.  I mean, come on folks, do you really believe the wise men who were from the Persian Empire that we know as Balthasar of Arabia, Melchior of Persia, and Gaspar of India, just happened to be riding along, saw a star and galloped first to Herod to tell him they were going to see this new king and then galloped out to the stable?  I intend to dispel this myth right now.

            These men traveled from afar the song says of the three wise men.  Arabia, Persia (which is the present day Iran) and India are literally worlds away from Bethlehem.  The trip from Persia is over 9,000 miles?  But first they went to Jerusalem to ask Herod where the king who had been promised was. 

            If we research Levitical law, we discover that a woman who gives birth has to go through purification process.  Jesus would have been circumcised on the 8^th day and Mary’s purification period would have ended 40 days after the birth of Jesus.  Then they would have gone to the Temple to have Jesus dedicated.  Leviticus 12:6 outlines the requirements for the offering at the dedication – a spotless one year old lamb and a turtle dove.  Jesus is the spotless lamb of God and the Holy Spirit is represented as a dove.  I thought this was interesting. 

            But according to Luke 2:24, Mary made an offering of doves (plural), which meant they did not have enough money to purchase a lamb.  I’m explaining this because I want you to understand that if the wise men had come when Jesus was an infant in the stable, Mary and Joseph would have had enough to purchase the lamb with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

            Matthew 2:1-11 describes the wise men coming to visit the child at a house in Bethlehem when he was about 2 years of age, which makes sense and we can then understand why Herod decreed that all males 2 years and younger be killed.    So it is widely believed that the wise men arrived after Mary and Joseph had returned to Nazareth because in Matthew 2:13 it says “when the wise men had departed an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him to take Mary and the child and flee to Egypt.”  There are those who have said that when the wise men came to visit the child Jesus, that the child spoke.  We know that infants cannot speak, but a child of 2 years of age begins to develop their vocabulary.

            I wanted to get that out of the way before we move on to today’s text in Matthew about the Baptism of Jesus.

            Jesus is about to begin his public ministry and he needs to dot his “I’s” and cross his “Ts” so that he can validate his ministry before the people he is to offer salvation to.  His cousin John the Baptist has grown a large following of disciples who are mostly devout Jews.  He has been anointed and appointed by God to bring the message that salvation is close at hand so repent, be baptized and be saved.  He sets the environment for people to receive the message that Jesus will bring.  As strange as some think John is, he has great respect from the people.  So Jesus knows he needs to start with John acknowledging or validating him as the one who is the fulfillment of the scriptures and the one whom the Jews have been waiting for.

            But even John wasn’t prepared for Jesus asking to be baptized by John.  In coming to John for baptism, Jesus is validating and affirming John’s ministry and his obedience to answer his calling.  John tried to get out of baptizing Jesus because he knew who he was, but Jesus told him he had to do this because it was proper and do to it was to fulfill all righteousness.  In allowing John to baptize him, he was saying that he appreciated John and his ministry.

            Secondly, in being baptized, Jesus is validating his ministry.  John proclaims loudly to people of Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  He tells his following when they attempted to elevate him as their savior to “Prepare the way for the Lord for there is one coming who is great than I, whose sandals I am unfit to tie.”

            See, Tod thought it was important to put his stamp of approval on Jesus, so that is why in verse 16 and 17 we read that when Jesus comes up out of the water, heaven opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lit on him and a voice from heaven proclaimed, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  Now, that’s anointing straight from the Anointer.

            This year is an election year and candidates are looking for endorsements from various newspapers and organizations. and organizations.  We all seek affirmation of our works from somebody.  But the affirmation of Jesus’s ministry is straight from God.  I wonder how John the Baptist reacted when he heard the voice of God claiming Jesus as his Son whom he loved and how pleased he was with him.  Momma can tell us how great we are, Daddy can say “job well done”, our supervisors can tell us how well skilled we are at our jobs, our friends can pat us on the back.  We can win promotions, certificates of appreciation and trophies for being outstanding at what we did or do.  But none of that means anything to those of us who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.  It is that approval of God, that knowing that if we succeeded with him, he will elevate us to a new level of ministry and that ministry will be just as rewarding or more rewarding than what we did before. 

            Jesus didn’t need our endorsement.  He had the Father’s and that was good enough for Jesus.  It should be good enough for us, too.

            Jesus’s baptism teaches us some lessons.

            1.  Baptism is important.  When we come up to the altar and profess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we want to be dipped in the water.  We want the experience of washing away the filth of our sins and anticipate coming up filled with the Holy Spirit with a renewed mind and heart.  Some people do experience that do experience that do experience that ethereal type of euphoria.  Most of us go down and come up the same way we went down.  The infilling of the Spirit may come before we go down or it may come at some point afterward.  For me, it was many years before I went down to reaffirm my baptismal covenant.  See, as I told you before, I was a Catholic and I was christened as an infant and then I was confirmed at 12, which is considered the age of consent for religious institutions.  And in the Catholic church, confirmation is that age of accepting Jesus into your life and asking him to come live within you.  But Jesus didn’t come an live in me until I was in my 40’s and after I had been born again in the living room of my choir director.  I didn’t feel that euphoria until one day, I was praying in the shower and I began to pour out my heart to God asking for forgiveness of all my sins.  Before I was asked to Pastor Mt. Hope, I reaffirmed my baptismal by being immersed to prepare myself for the ministry God was calling me into.  And, church, I can tell you I am so glad I did.

            For some folks, baptism is seen as a legalistic ritual of belonging to a denomination.  But Jesus’s baptism affirmed his anointing and appointment.  But is also showed that, even though he was God in the flesh, he did not hold himself above Jewish tradition.  In order for his ministry to succeed, he had to be accepted by this community.  He didn’t need to be baptized as a sign of repentance because he was sinless.  Unlike for us, there was nothing for him to repent of.

            In his final instructions to his disciples in Matthew, Jesus says to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of the world, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded.

            Finally, baptism is a testimony.  It is an outward expression of an inward grace.  Baptism is a public testimony that you have covenanted to make a change in your walk and in your talk.   Faith may be persona, but we aren’t allowed to keep it private.  We’re told to go out and tell everybody about somebody who can help anybody.

            God expects us in His word to make our faith public and we begin that journey when we are baptized.  Even in countries where Christians are persecuted, they baptize.  Many times in secret and hidden, but there are witnesses to the baptism.

            I remember a woman who came to the Catholic church I attended who shard her testimony of living in a socialistic society where any form of religion was abolished and, if people are found to be practicing a religion, are persecuted horribly.  She shared how when communism was over and people were free to practice their religion, they came up out of basements and other hiding places and for the first time were able to shout “hallelujah” out loud.  We have so many privileges in this country, can you imagine being persecuted for your belief?  Afraid that if you were caught practicing your faith or acknowledging your love of God, you would be threatened with death?  Can you imagine entire generations of people who were repressed from worshipping publicly and hiding in fear in the shadows of practicing their belief in Jesus?  My God!  Not being able to orally call on the name of Jesus for fear someone would hear and report you to the authorities and having to face the consequences?  Yet, some of us are afraid to express our praise publicly.  I used to be.  We were pretty quiet in the Catholic church.  But when I became a United Methodist I began to praise God in the worship service.  My older sister, who had been a United Methodist for many years before me, would tell me to “shhhhh, be quiet” – trying to suppress my praise.  But you know what Shirely Ceasar said in the story of Shoutin’ John right?  Shoutin’ John said “Hold my mule!”  I told the story of Shoutin’ John to Dr. Iannicelli in a staff meeting one day and she has been say “hold my mule” now for years!

            John the Baptist was not just a footnote in gospel history.  Jesus could have by-passed John and still be the Messiah, but Jesus was determined to affirm John and to support his ministry.

            Baptism gives us some directions.  There are a few things we can apply to our own lives through this scripture.

            Remember John’s words when he said he needed to be baptized by Jesus, why do you come to me?”  Jesus was sinless.  If he was sinless he could not have paid the price for our sins.  So we have to always recall the sinless of Jesus.

            Secondly, we come to Christ in baptism.  The water is just a symbol of the cleansing baptism represents.  When we come to Christ we are saying we want him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  We are putting our trust in him.  We are trusting the blood Jesus shed for us on Calvary.  We are trusting that our sins are forgiven past, present and future.  That “there is therefore, now, no condemnation to those of us who are in Christ Jesus.”

            We acknowledge that we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s gory, but God is faithful to forgive.  He is close to the broken hearted.  And we acknowledge that when we sin, we break not only our hearts by God’s.  God knows we are not perfect, but he made provision for us to strive toward perfection. 

            John Wesley said there are 5 benefits of Baptism:

1. Guilt Cleared

For Wesley, baptism clears the guilt of original sin, a doctrine Wesley believed wholeheartedly and which asserts that every person comes into the world in a state of brokenness and guilt. 

2. New Covenant Status

Baptism brings us into covenant with God.  Whether infant or adult, baptism marks a person’s entrance into the new covenant. It is God’s everlasting commitment, Wesley says, “to be their God, as he promised to Abraham, in the evangelical covenant which he made with him and all his spiritual offspring”.  Baptism establishes our relationship with God as sons and daughters of the Most High and, therefore, heirs.

3. Church Entrance

Baptism also marks a person’s entrance into the Church.  For Wesley, the sacrament incorporates a person into the body of Christ, who is the head of the Church. He points here to Galatians 3:27, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.” This is one of the keyways that Wesley understands baptism as a means of grace. 

4. Made a Child of God

Wesley believed that “By baptism, we who were ‘by nature children of wrath’ are made children of God”. Wesley was apparently quite comfortable using the language of baptism alongside the language of regeneration: “By water then, as a means, the water of baptism, we are regenerated or born again”. He was comfortable with this because he found it in the Bible. Check out Titus 3:5 which reads in the NLT, “he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.”

5. Heirs of the Kingdom

If baptism makes us children of God, then it also makes us heirs of the kingdom of God.  Wesley turns to Romans 8:17 to make this point: “if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” 

            Jesus said to count the cost of following him because he doesn’t want blind followers.  He wants disciples that are willing to following in the good times as well as in the bad times.  I have found that I can hold on much better during the bad times now that I trust in, believe in, rely on and trust in Jesus.  It doesn’t mean I don’t have trials, but the trials don’t take me out.  Jesus wants us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow him.  He said his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  And not when it’s convenient, but 24/7 in season and out of season.

            Jesus commanded those who follow Him to be baptized.  If you have received Jesus as your Savior and want to testify publicly about your faith in him, you need to be baptized.  And, if you would like to be baptized or reaffirm your baptismal vows by immersion or sprinkling, let me know.  We will coordinate a baptism class where we can go much more into depth as to what baptism means and signifies.  I’ll keep you posted about that so you can take advantage of it when the time comes, probably Easter or shortly thereafter.

            In the meantime, let’s turn to page 50 in the United Methodist Hymnal and recall our baptismal covenant.