SOUL
CLEANSING: CONFESSION
Mount Hope
UMC
Sunday,
October 6, 2019
2 Timothy 1:1-14 The
Message (MSG)
1 1-2 I, Paul, am on special assignment for Christ,
carrying out God’s plan laid out in the Message of Life by Jesus. I write this
to you, Timothy, the son I love so much. All the best from our God and Christ
be yours!
To Be Bold with God’s Gifts
3-4 Every time I say your name
in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you, the God I
worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors. I miss you a lot,
especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a
joy-packed reunion.
5-7 That precious memory
triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down
from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the
special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep
that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving
and sensible.
8-10 So don’t be embarrassed to
speak up for our Master or for me, his prisoner. Take your share of suffering
for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after
all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy
work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a
gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we
know it now. Since the appearance of our Savior, nothing could be plainer:
death defeated, life vindicated in a steady blaze of light, all through the
work of Jesus.
11-12 This is the Message I’ve
been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the
cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more
sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me
to do right to the end.
13-14 So keep at your work, this
faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound
as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your
custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.
I’m apologizing now because this message will probably be
a little longer than usual. But it’s a
soul cleansing confession and we’re called to confess our sins one to
another. Don’t judge me, but please pray
for me.
I often heard Pastors speak on the weight of the
calling. I believed that God wouldn’t
call you into the ministry of shepherding if he didn’t prepare you, anoint you
and appoint you to it like he did with Moses, Samuel and David. And this is all true. But the oversight is that we forget what it
really means to carry the weight someone else’s burden can be. As humans we all have our own personal
struggles and challenges. As Pastors we
take on those of our congregations as well.
I often think about the weight of the sin of the world
Jesus carried on the cross at Calvary. I
cannot begin to image how the burden of sin weighed him down, but I can imagine
that it was better to carry that weight to the grave than to let it simmer and blister
and fester the world. Yet, it seems we
have taken up the same sin he saved us from and the cycle has begun again. Does it seem like that to you? Does it seem that at every corner, at every
turn, there is something or someone going through things that are so
devastating we cannot imagine how they can carry that weight, that burden, that
pain?
Many of you know that I have been dealing with my own
personal situation with my husband – a man who had not seen a doctor in over 30
years. We’ll be married 24 years this
December and for all those years I have tried to encourage him to go to the
doctor for regular health assessments, and for years his response was always,
“I’m going to make an appointment was soon as I finish this job.” Some would say he all of a sudden took sick,
but it wasn’t all of a sudden. It was
over 30 years of neglecting his health and when the weight became too heavy to
bear, he finally gave in and asked to be taken to emergency. I thank God that he made the decision in time
because he was knocking on death’s door and didn’t realize it. And now that he’s home with a boat load of
daily medications and follow-up treatments for the rest of his life. I thank each of you for your calls, text
messages and prayers. Keep praying for health
for him and strength for me, please.
In the midst of my husband’s health crisis and my running
back and forth to the hospital and trying to be efficient and effective in
ministry and at home – decluttering, rearranging, cleaning, getting rid of old
stuff that was taking up space in the house - I came down with a case of
bronchitis which was an annoyance only because I was struck with a case of
laryngitis on Friday evening I had a wedding rehearsal for a wedding I
officiated in North Beach on Saturday.
So, you can imagine how I sounded at both events. I also had my own doctor appointments to
attend to in the middle of all this – a stress test, an echocardiogram and a
trip to an orthopedic doctor here in Calvert County. After the orthopedic doctor I stopped in to
visit with Sister Sallie and Sister Gail Booze, and I stopped by the church to
check the mail in my office. So why am I
confessing all this to you? This is supposed
to be a sermon right? Soul cleansing
confession.
Too often we don’t tell folk we have problems. And if you are alive and breathing today, you
have a problem, had a problem, or are going to have a problem. As long as you’re human and living, you will
have challenges to face. And it’s not
about the challenge, but how you face your challenges that will determine what
you’re made of. God’s grace and mercy
will bear you up under the weight.
Remember the poem Footsteps In The Sand? The beginning of the poem starts with the
author dreaming about walking along the beach with Jesus and receiving a vision
of her life flashing before her and all through the scenes she saw two sets of
footprints so she knew Jesus was walking with her. But there were times in her life when she saw
only one set of footprints and she asked Jesus about the one set of footprints
since he promised he would always be with her.
He told her that when she saw only one set of footprints was when he was
carrying her through. Through the storm
and through the rain, through the heartache and through the pain. When we are not able to stand on our own, we
have the Solid Rock of Jesus Christ who will hold us up, protecting us from the
storms of life.
One
thing I know, we all need someone to share our problems with. We need to be able to talk through them and
we need someone who care enough to listen and thank God we can go to Rock we
know that he’s able, we go to the Rock of our Salvation, the stone that the
builders rejected. When the earth all
around us is sinking sand, on Christ the Solid Rock I stand, when we need a
shelter, when we need a friend, we go to the Rock. On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all else is
sinking sand.
When I accepted my calling and became a Pastor, I asked
my Pastor one question and I ask every Pastor I meet the same question – Who
feeds me/you? Who nourishes me/you with
a message of encouragement and support?
How do I/you get fed when I/you am feeding others? And I found that many Pastors are asking
themselves these same questions. They
are also wondering who will feed them. I
know this is probably a strange conversation on World Communion Sunday or
Pastor Appreciation Month, but we have Pastors who are committing suicide
because the weight of ministry is too great for them. The reward of ministry is beyond
comprehension, but the weight. I know I
say it sort of jokingly, but I always ask you to pray for your Pastor and I
know you do, but don’t just pray for me.
Pray for the calling of Pastoring for all the Shepherds of our churches. Pray for our local pastors, our elders, our
DS’s and our Bishop. Pray for those who
are praying for a word to answer the call to ministry. Pray for our seminary students. Pray.
And don’t just pray for us. Pray
for your strength in these troubling times.
Pray for your family members, friends and coworkers and
co-laborers. Pray unceasingly for the
prayers of the righteous availeth much.
Pray for your church and church family. Pray that Mount Hope will be a pillar of hope
in the community of Sunderland and beyond.
Be steadfast and unmovable always seeking to abide in the Word of
God. Be confident. Be bold because as Timothy says, “God does
not give us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a strong mind” for
the casting down of strongholds.
Paul’s letter is reminding Timothy of God’s grace in
their lives and implores him to remain committed to the Gospel even though he
is suffering for preaching it. We have
to learn to speak the truth to power.
Paul encourages his mentee, Timothy and us that we cannot be afraid of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to
learn to speak truth to power. 2
Corinthians 10:3-5 AMP version says, “For though we
walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual]
warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of
man. 4 The weapons of our warfare are not physical
[weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the
destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying
sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that
sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking
every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ, For
though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our
[spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the
weapons of man. 4 The weapons of our warfare are
not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful
for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying
sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that
sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking
every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ, For
though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our
[spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the
weapons of man. 4 The weapons of our warfare are
not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful
for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying
sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that
sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking
every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ.”
Paul
encourages Timothy to remember his sincere faith that leads to the challenge of
rekindling God’s gift of the laying on of hands, and to resist feelings of
being ashamed and to join him in suffering for the Gospel. When the Bishop commissions someone during
ordination, it is done by the laying on of hands. Many of us know that there are folk who
profess to have the gift of healing by the laying on of hands. God is using our hands to do his work
through us. Many of us are skeptical
about someone laying hands on us. “You don’t let just anyone lay hands on you”,
or “I don’t know where their hands have been”.
Let me assure you, God can work through anyone he chooses – and most of
the folk he works through had dirty hands at one time.
Paul continually says he is a prisoner. He is a the Lord’s prisoner. He is a slave for his Master. And once again I confess, I am also a
prisoner and a slave for Jesus Christ.
If it had not been for the Lord on my side when I was sinking deep in
sin, where would I be? I confess I have
not been faithful, I have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory more times
than I can count. I have not loved my
neighbor; heck, I haven’t even loved my family members sometimes. I have not heard the cry of the needy even
when I see them begging on the street sometime – although now I do try to do
better because there but for the grace of God go I. But what I’m trying to say is that confessing
that I have faults and not using the excuse that I’m only human and we all make
mistakes – that’s a cop out for Christians.
A mistake is something that is totally unintentional. We do a lot of things intentionally because
we do what we think is best in our own eyes rather than what Jesus has
commanded us to do and then we make excuses as to why we do it. We need to be honest and confess our sins one
to the other. I’m confessing mine now so
that I can cleanse my soul and move on to receive Communion and become one in
union with the God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Now, I’m going to ask you to do something a little
different as we move into the service of Communion. I want each of you to take time to have a
little talk with Jesus. I want you to
spend 5 minutes either talking with someone next to you or in silent prayer and
confess where you have fallen short. And
if you are confessing to someone else, ask them not to judge you, that’s not
what we want. Ask them to keep you in
their prayers that you will be strengthened against the darts of the
enemy. If you are confessing in silent prayer,
ask God to forgive you and to strengthen you.
But whatever you do, confess so that your soul becomes free from the
weight and burden of carrying baggage that does not belong to you anymore. Let go and let God.
Remember King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles when he was up
against a mighty army and his back was against the wall, he cried out to the
Lord for help and the Lord answered him and said, “Do not be afraid
nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not
yours, but God’s. 17 You will not need to
fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not
fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:15, 17 NKJV.
Exodus 13:13-14 says, “And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the
salvation of the Lord,
which he will work for you today. For
the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and
you have only to be silent.”
And
1 John 5:4, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the
world—our faith.”
And,
now the key is having the faith to overcome your fear and use the gifts that
God has given you so freely and lovingly.
It just takes a mustard seed kind of faith. Faith that is convinced and convicted that
nothing can stand against you because God will never leave you nor forsake you
but will be with you even until the end of time. Mustard-sized faith that can move
mountains. Faith that says “I am more
than a conqueror in Jesus Christ who loves me”’; faith that says, “No weapon
formed against me shall prosper”; faith that says with confidence and purpose,
“I can do ALL things through Christ that strengthens me”.
It’s
one thing to be locked up physically, but the worst thing in the world is to be
a prisoner in your mind to fear. See
fear has a domino effect that destroys everything around it. Fear creates doubt, doubt creates distrust
and distrust creates division. When
division enters in the enemy has entered the camp. Church, Jesus defeated the enemy on
Calvary. The enemy has no power against
those of us who are in Christ Jesus.
Don’t give him any room to recover what he lost when Jesus went to the
cross. Be bold, confident, unmovable
with the gifts you have been given. Use
them in all your power and authority given to you by Jesus to uplift the
Kingdom of God here on earth to glorify your Father who is in heaven. Don’t let no devil step on the Jesus in
you. NO weapon – no physical weapon, no
mental weapon – that is formed against you by any power real or perceived can
harm you because you are MORE than conquerors in Christ Jesus who loves you. When the enemy comes against you, tell him
with all authority and conviction – Get thee behind me, Satan – you have
already been defeated. Your power has
been taken away. You can shoot your best
shot, but this battle is not mine, it’s the Lord’s and he has lost a battle
yet. You are cooked, roasted and
toasted.
Do
some soul cleansing confession and have enough faith to leave fear outside the
door of your heart.
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