Sunday, April 24, 2022
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
God's Kids Club is Moving to Sundays!
ATTENTION! ATTENTION!
**God's Kids Club is moving to Sunday mornings after worship!!!**
Starting this Sunday, April 24th, God's Kids Club will be getting together after the worship service, at around 11:00 A.M.! We'll be gathering after worship every Sunday from then on. There will be a special craft activity for younger children, and a Bible Study for older children and teenagers. We will then have a time of singing afterwards. Come join us for this special time!
Spring Youth Sunday, April 24, 2022
This coming Sunday, April 24th, our children and youth will lead us in worship for our Spring Youth Sunday! Come join us at 10:00 A.M.!
Sunday, April 17, 2022
Sermon Text for April 17, 2022 - "Where Is He?"
“Where Is He?”
April 17, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
But, imagine what it must have been like over two thousand years ago. Imagine that you were one of Jesus’ followers, and had just spent the Passover celebration with Him, as He shared a special meal with you. Then, imagine that you watched Him suddenly and unjustly be arrested by the authorities, put on trial by both the religious and secular governments in a kangaroo court, and sentenced to death on false charges – for no other reason other than they wanted Him dead. Then imagine that you had watched Jesus unfairly be put to death by being crucified - a method of execution that was reserved for the worst kind of criminals, especially murderers and traitors, neither of which Jesus was. Imagine that you were forced helplessly to watch someone you had followed, trusted, learned from, watched people’s lives be changed by, watched heal and raise the dead, and, most of all, learned who God really is and what it means to be part of His Kingdom and family. But then imagine that, as you were watching Him die, you were wondering if following Him was really worth it. You had thought that He would be the promised Messiah, the King whom God would send to overthrow the Roman government and re-establish Israel as an independent nation again. You had thought that He would bring in a new age where God would reign supreme in victory. But here He is, dying on a cross. Most of His other disciples have fled and left Him to die. He is mainly surrounded by His enemies, who mock and slander Him even more as they enjoy watching Him die. So you are wondering if anything Jesus had promised, the new age of God’s victory, was ever going to happen.
Then, imagine that you were one of the people who had to take Jesus down from the cross after He had died, and lay Him in a tomb. But even then, you weren’t allowed to come and pay respects to Him, because of the Sabbath and special holiday, during which everyone who came in contact with a dead body would be considered unclean. Nothing seems fair, and nothing makes sense: Jesus is dead for false reasons, His enemies have won, His followers have been scattered, His mission seems to have been stopped. What hope is there for you?
But then, imagine that you hear something that makes even less sense: some women who have gone to the tomb after the Sabbath to prepare Jesus’ body for burial report something that sounds ridiculous. Jesus’ body is gone! Did someone steal it? Where is Jesus? What is more, two men in dazzling light clothes ask the women, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” And then remind them of something you’ve heard Jesus repeat, but probably didn’t really understand: that Jesus was going to be delivered into the hands of His enemies, be crucified, but then come back to life after three days! Could that have really happened? Did Jesus literally mean what He said? Is He really alive? If He is, then where is He?
The words the men speak seem ridiculous, but they are true: He is not here. But the reason He is not here is not because His body has been stolen, or taken somewhere else to be buried. He is not here because He is alive again! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! He has doen exactly what He promised He would do, and come back to life! He has won victory over everyone who wanted to put Him to death. He has won victory over the power of sin, the Devil, and death itself. He has won victory, and by dying on the cross and rising again, has paid the penalty for our sins. By rising again, Jesus has won! And, His victory is our victory! Whatever we are having to deal with, whatever we are having to fight, Jesus has already won victory over it! The words “He is not here” do not mean He is no longer with us. They mean He is no longer in the tomb, because He is alive! Because He is alive, He is everywhere, even here with us!
The whole point for Jesus dying and then rising again was so that He could no longer be limited in His human form. He could no longer be limited to one place at a time. Now that He is risen, He can be everywhere at once. Is that really possible? We know that with God all things are possible. So we know where Jesus is – He is here with us! Because He is risen, He is everywhere. Yet we still wonder if He is still here, because there is so much trouble in the world today. Wherever He seems not to be, He is actually there. Wherever people are suffering, He is there. Wherever people are sorrowing, He is there. Wherever people are in need of justice, He is there. He is with the people of Ukraine, especially Kharkiv, Mariupol, Bucha, Kyiv, and all the other places that have been bombed or attacked. He is with the refugees of Ukraine and other places who have had to flee their homes because of fighting. He is with the people of Ethiopia, the Middle East, West Africa, Myanmar, and many other places which continue to be torn apart by war and bloodshed. He is with everyone who has had to flee their homes because of natural disasters, especially, in most recent days, the people of South Africa and New Mexico. He is with everyone who is suffering because of wars caused by religion, especially in the Middle East and Northern Ireland, and is with everyone who just wants to live in peace with their neighbors. He is with everyone who is living in anywhere where there is famine, where people are struggling to find food and just to survive. He is with everyone who is struggling to live from paycheck to paycheck. He is with everyone who is wondering where their next source of income is going to come from. He is with everyone who is struggling with having to make a major life decision. He is with everyone who is unemployed, looking for work, and unable to find work. He is with everyone who is struggling to feed themselves or their families. He is with everyone who is growing older and having to adjust to a new living situation, and He is with everyone who is helping an older relative adjust to a new living situation. He is with everyone who is currently suffering from, or who has suffered from, the coronavirus. He is with everyone who has lost a family member or friend to the coronavirus. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is suffering from cancer or any illness. He is with everyone who has lost a family member or friend to cancer or any other illness. He is with everyone who is mourning the loss of a family member or friend due to recent death, and those who, even after many years, continue to mourn the loss of a loved one. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is struggling to get through the day, and through life, because of mental conditions. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is struggling to function and keep going from day to day because of depression. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is lonely. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is struggling with addiction, and who is struggling to recover from an addiction. He is with everyone, and is one the side of everyone who is being bullied. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone who is suffering from any kind of abuse, or who has been abused. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is struggling with a dysfunctional relationship. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is dealing with a difficult job situation. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is a victim of human trafficking. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is being discriminated against for any reason. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is excluded for any reason. He is with everyone, and is on the side of everyone, who is oppressed or persecuted for any reason. Because He rose again and won victory over death, He will win victory over the powers of death, illness, oppression, fear, and sin. Most of all, He is with each of us in every situation we have to deal with, and will bring us victory. He will bring victory to any of us who are struggling with illness. He will bring victory to any of us who are struggling to win in life. He will bring victory to any of us who are struggling to make a major life decision. He will bring victory to any of us who are struggling to find work, food, and everything needed for life. He will bring victory and justice to everyone who has been suffering from injustice. He will bring victory and justice to everyone who is being hurt, put down, bullied, or abused. He will bring victory and justice to everyone who is being victimized by violence. He will bring victory and justice to everyone who has been made to feel lonely, isolated, or excluded. He will bring victory and justice to any of us who, for any reason, are simply tired of fighting. He will help and rescue any of us who are in any kind of helpless, harmful, and hopeless situation. He will not leave any of us to suffer, because He has already won! He will, in fact, usher in a new age, a new age where He, and His will, will reign supreme, where He will bring victory and justice to everyone who has had to fight and suffer for far too long. He will bring peace to the world, and an end to war, violence, and division. He will bring peace to the world, and an end to injustice, exploitation, and abuse. He will bring peace to the world, and an end to hatred and selfishness. But this is not in the far off distant future. The future is now – Jesus has already won victory over His enemies, and our enemies. He is bringing His victory and peace even now, and is causing everything He wants to happen to happen now. So where is He? He is here! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Friday, April 15, 2022
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Sermon Text for April 14, 2022 - "A Party that Changes Us"
“A Party that Changes Us”
April 14, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and
peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Amen.
Tonight, we’re having a party! It’s
a special kind of party, where we, and everyone who celebrates what the party
is about, are all invited! Tonight we’re all considered special guests at this
party, because our host is someone special: Jesus. This is a party that’s all
about Jesus. Tonight, we remember and give thanks to Jesus for something He did
two thousand years ago: dying on a cross to save us all from sin, from the fear
of being dead forever, and from the power of the devil. Then He rose to life
again, never to die again. But we don’t just celebrate something He did in the
past: we are also celebrating how He is with us right here, right now. He is
still here with us in power, working His power, sometimes in great ways,
sometimes in small ways. He is here with us, spiritually and physically present
with us, in His true body and blood, present in the bread and wine. As we will
talk about on Easter Sunday, even though He is now invisible, He is still here,
still working in power, because He once was dead, and has now come back to life
again. We also celebrate that even as He is here with us right now, even
invisibly, someday He will come back, and when He does, everyone will see Him.
But even before He comes back, we celebrate that, because He died and rose
again, all who die believing in Him will not have their life extinguished,
their life will not end, but instead, all who die believing in Jesus will live
with Him forever in heaven. Which means that when we die, we too will live with
Him, and will be reunited with everyone who has gone before us. Tonight, we are
celebrating a special kind of party – a party which changes us, reminds us who
we are, and reminds us of what our real purpose is.
At Jesus’ party, at His table, no
one is excluded. In tonight’s First Reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, God
promises to do something new: He promises to expand His family, so that
everyone has a place at His party table. Over this weekend, especially now that
we can after the height of the pandemic the past couple of years, we will be
getting together for Easter weekend meals as families. We will be celebrating
family parties together. We will be gathering together as immediate family, and
extended family, and also giving certain friends of ours the privilege of being
able to be considered family by joining our families for family parties.
Tonight, we are also celebrating a family party: God, our heavenly Father, and
Jesus, our brother, are inviting us join them at this family party. Previously,
the privilege of being able to be called part of God’s family, and being able
even to approach Him with confidence, was based entirely on perfection – the
ability to keep rules and laws, and do everything God commanded. The privilege
of being able to approach God, and be considered part of His family, was based
entirely on our effort, our ability, and our initiative. Being able to be
considered part of God’s family was also something that was a source of fear,
constantly wondering if one was ever good enough and acceptable enough for God,
to be part of His family. But now, God, speaking through Jeremiah, promises
that things are different now: being part of God’s family no longer is based on
rules and effort, but instead entirely on what God has done. God says that
everyone who believes, without any other requirements attached, is part of His
family. God has made us acceptable and good enough to be part of His family,
because, as tonight’s Second Reading from Hebrews promises us, we have been
cleansed of all our guilt, all our sin, by being sprinkled with the blood of
Jesus. The same blood of which we will partake as we drink the wine in just a
few minutes, as we remember and give thanks to Jesus for washing us clean in
His blood. As both Jeremiah and Hebrews remind us, all our sins, past, present,
and future, have been forgiven. Our guilt, anything which has been dragging us
down, which has been torturing us, has been removed. We no longer need to beat
ourselves up over anything we have done, because in God’s sight, it has been
forgiven and washed clean away. We can move forward to become who God has
always meant us to be, and who He has made us to be. We can change, and we can
be changed. We can leave whatever we have done, who we used to be, behind, and,
as we come to receive Communion, leave behind the past, leave behind the
present, and be changed into what God wants us to become. We can leave all our
struggles, all our problems, all our worries, at the altar, and leave them for
God to deal with. This also means, as Hebrews also reminds us, that we have
confidence to approach God, to approach Him, not being afraid of Him, but as
our loving, caring Father, and believe that, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we
are all acceptable and accepted. All are invited, all are welcomed, all are
accepted, and all are included. There is a place for everyone at His table,
with no consideration about importance or effort – everyone has an equal place
at His table. Everyone who wants to remember Him, and give thanks for His
sacrifice for us, is invited. Everyone who needs Him, which is actually
everyone, is invited.
The reality is, perhaps more than
ever, we live in a world that needs Jesus, where everyone needs Jesus. This
means we are to invite everyone to come to experience Jesus the way we have experienced
Him – as someone who is our faithful, loyal friend, who is always there for us,
who has helped us through many difficult moments, and who will continue to be
there for us, no matter what. We live in a world where people continue to
choose to fight, argue, and battle each other over politics, religion,
ethnicity, class, and many other reasons. We live in a world which continues to
suffer the effects of the covid pandemic, especially with lingering fears over
illness, some people still being unable to see their families and friends,
rising prices of food and fuel, and continuing mistrust between nations. We
live in a world which continues to be torn apart by war, especially between
Ukraine and Russia, in Ethiopia, in the Middle East, and other parts of the
world. We live in a world where natural disasters wreak havoc in the lives of
many, most recently the floods in South Africa. And while we can suggest many
different solutions, mainly political or economic ones, to the problems and
conflicts which continue to go on, there is really only one solution to
everything: Jesus. This world needs to listen to Jesus and follow Him once
again. This world needs to abandon fear and uncertainty, especially fear over
what will happen next during the ongoing pandemic, and trust that Jesus is
bringing an end to the suffering we have all had to deal with. This world needs
to abandon pride and the need to be right, and humbly submit to the reign of
Jesus, where all are regarded as equal, as brothers and sisters, and as such
are to value each other’s lives and well-beings. This world needs to abandon hatred,
and instead recognize that, as God loves every person and every being equally,
He desires that we do the same. We are encouraged, again, in tonight’s Second
Reading from Hebrews, to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who
promised is faithful.” Jesus has promised He will always be with us, and He has
kept that promise even to today. Even though the world is in a hard place right
now, Jesus has not abandoned the world. He gives us hope because He promises
that, even as He defeated death and the devil by dying and rising again, He
will defeat all the other problems this world is facing. Even as we hold on to
the hope we have because of Jesus, we are to pass on that hope. We are also
encouraged not to abandon each other: instead, we are encouraged, as we are
doing tonight, to continue meeting together, providing support and
encouragement to each other, especially as we continue to struggle together. We
are to support and encourage each other as we face both common and individual
struggles. We are especially to support and encourage each other as we can give
each other hope; by letting each other know that we are there for each other,
and, in doing so, to experience the presence and power of Jesus in each other.
Even as we experience the presence and power of Jesus in the bread and wine of
Communion tonight, we can continue to experience His presence and power as we,
His body, continue to encourage and uplift each other.
So there’s another part to celebrating
tonight’s party: sometimes, when we celebrate at a special gathering,
especially a family gathering, we’re all given special gifts to take home.
Tonight, we’re given special gifts to take out and share with others. Even as
we are comforted by the promise of Jesus to be with us, strengthen us, heal us,
and comfort us through His body and blood, we are to take that same promise,
comfort, and healing outside these doors to everyone else. Jesus is the
solution to all the world’s problems, and we are the means He uses to cause
change to happen. As the slide says, you are what you share. We Christians are
indeed what we share, and we have a choice in what we can share. We can either
share pessimism, doubt, and fear; or, we can share hope, certainty, and joy. Even
though it would certainly be tempting to share pessimism and fear, that’s not
what we’re called to do. We have bought into the pessimism and fear others have
expressed for far too long: we have an alternative, because we have a source of
hope. Since we have been given hope, certainty, and joy, that comes from being
part of God’s family and knowing that we are accepted by Him, that is what we
are to share.
We can think of ourselves as being like
delivery drivers. We are given gifts, gifts that come in special packages, to
deliver. In this case, we are the packages. We deliver what we have to everyone
who needs what we have. We literally can bring deliverance to people who need
to be delivered from something, especially something painful, hurtful, or
destructive. We are the ones who can speak words of comfort to people who are
struggling, sad, or in despair, and work to make their situations better. We
are the ones who can speak words of encouragement to people trapped in
addiction, and work to rescue them from their addictions. We are the ones who can
speak words of hope as everyone else continues to talk about doom and gloom,
especially because of the pandemic and war, and work to bring that hope by
emphasizing that God is in control, has a plan, and is working out His plan
even now. We are the ones who can speak up for those who are being oppressed or
enslaved, and work to free them from their oppression and slavery. We are the
ones who can comfort the families and friends of those who have died, by
reminding them of the promise that everyone who dies believing in Jesus lives
safely with Him forever. We are the ones who can change the world, because God
can change the world through us. So let’s get ready to party tonight – but
let’s also get ready to deliver. Even as we are going to be changed, and
delivered, let’s prepare to bring deliverance – deliverance to a world that
needs to be delivered by Jesus, that needs to be saved by Jesus, that needs to
be changed by Jesus.
Now may the peace of God, which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Join us this Sunday, April 17th, at 10:00 A.M., as we celebrate Jesus' victorious resurrection for us! We will be celebrating Holy Communion; we practice Open Communion, all baptized Christians are invited to the Lord's Table.
Community Easter Sunrise Service, April 17, 2022
Join us on Sunday, April 17th, at 6:30 A.M. at the Farmersville United Church of Christ for our annual Community Easter Sunrise Service! Pastor Jon will be preaching this year. Join us as we gather together as one community and family of God to praise Jesus for His glorious and victorious resurrection!
Community Good Friday Service, April 15, 2022
Join us on Friday, April 15th, at 7:00 P.M. for our Community Good Friday Service! This year, the service will be held at St. Andrew. We look forward to gathering together as one community and family of God to remember Jesus' death for us on the cross.
Maundy Thursday, April 14, 2022
Maundy Thursday is this coming Thursday, April 14th, at 7:00 P.M.! Join us as we remember how Jesus celebrated the first Holy Communion with His disciples the night He was betrayed. We practice Open Communion: all baptized Christians are welcome to the Lord's Table.
Sunday, April 10, 2022
Sunday, April 3, 2022
Sermon Text for April 3, 2022 - "Press On Toward the Goal"
“Press On Toward the Goal”
April 3, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
You can be successful! And here’s how you can be successful! Here’s how, if you follow these simple steps, you can be successful in your school, your job, your marriage, your life, and, if you put in the right amount of effort and work, you can be successful in anything you want to be!
If we think about it honestly, sometimes we come to worship each week expecting to hear some kind of a motivational speech, emphasizing what we can accomplish, what we can achieve, what we can do to be successful in various parts of life. We expect to hear that God will bless us with success if we put in our best effort. Indeed, we hear readings from the Bible like today’s Second Lesson from Philippians, about pressing on towards the goal, and the first place we want to go is how to be successful in being a Christian: we would expect to hear a sermon about easy steps we need to follow in order to make sure we live a life pleasing to God so He blesses us. And we can think we have it all figured out – if we do this or that, or don’t do this or that, if we work hard enough and put in the right amount of effort, God will bless us, we will be successful, everything will work out, and everything will be under control. We’re also afraid, and anxious, that if we don’t follow everything the way we think we’re supposed to, God won’t bless us, things will go out of control, and we’ll end up failing and losing. And, since people tend to look down on people who appear to be failures and losers, that will be a terrible thing.
However, what do you do if things don’t go as planned, and you lose control? What do you do when you can’t put in the effort to achieve or accomplish what you set out to do? What do you when all your energy and desire is spent? Indeed, what do you do when you lose? What happens when you fail? What do you when your life doesn’t always work out the way you had thought, or the way you had planned? Does that mean you’re a loser? Does that mean you’re not a success? Does that mean you’re a failure? The reality is, things don’t always work out as planned, and things frequently happen that slip out of our control, and that are beyond our control. If anything, the whole experience with covid the past couple of years should have taught us that many things happen, indeed, almost everything, happens that causes things to be beyond our control, and causes things to happen in ways that didn’t work out the way we planned. But does that mean we’re not successful, and that we’ve failed? We can certainly think so. We can look back at things that have happened, and wonder if things could have turned out differently if we had put more effort into them. Fortunately, being a Christian is actually not about what we can achieve, how we can try to be successful, or how we can put in our efforts to live the best kind of life – it is all about what Jesus does for us. It is all about trusting in the effort and success of Jesus, and letting Him take control.
Even though I sort of hinted earlier this wasn’t going to be the kind of sermon which would tell you easy steps to living a successful Christian life, actually, this first point does, in a way, guarantee success: Let Jesus take control. But this is not an easy step. We want to be in control. We want to do everything by our own accomplishments. We want to put in the effort – and boast later that what we achieved was because of the hard work and effort we put into it. But we can’t always do so. Indeed, the more effort we put in, the more anxious, worried, and stressed we’re going to be, when things don’t work out the way we expect. Again, trusting in Jesus, and being a Christian, has nothing to do with the amount of effort we put into anything: it is entirely about letting Jesus take control. It is trusting Jesus to take control, and letting Him work things out in the way He knows is best for them to work out. It is not about us putting in a certain amount of effort, or following certain rules or guidelines, in order to be successful in life: it is about letting Jesus take control of us, changing us, transforming us, speaking to us, and guiding us. It is not about anything we do: it is everything about what Jesus does. It is a great comfort to believe that even when all your energy is spent, when you have no effort left, when you can’t go on any more, when you can’t press on any more, Jesus is carrying you. Jesus is carrying towards the goal. Your accomplishment, your victory, is already guaranteed, not because you are putting in the effort, but because Jesus is bringing you there Himself. He’s putting in the effort for you. That’s what He came down to earth for in the first place: to save us from sin and death by putting in the effort we could not, and accomplishing what we could not by dying on the cross and rising again. Even our sins being forgiven, our being saved, is nothing we can point to and say we accomplished it ourselves. Even now, we can’t say that anything we do, anything we accomplish, anything we try to do to cooperate with God, contributes to our being saved in any way. It is still all about the effort Jesus already put in, and what He already accomplished. I can say from experience that, when driving a vehicle, sometimes the least safest thing is to grip as tightly as possible on to the steering wheel, especially when in a difficult driving situation. But if you loosen your grip, the vehicle becomes easier to manage, and you become less stressed, and better able to drive. Trusting Jesus means going a step further. It is all about taking your hands off the steering wheel, and letting Jesus drive. You’re not driving the car getting you to your destination – Jesus is driving you there Himself. You’re simply a passenger, safe in Jesus’ car, trusting that He is bringing you all the way to where you need to be. This means:
Get to know Jesus and only Jesus. Again, not an easy step. We want to point to our achievements, even what we think are great spiritual achievements. We want to look for guidelines for how to be successful in every part of our lives, and we want to know how to achieve and accomplish. So that’s what we look for in being a Christian: how Jesus can help us be successful. We want Jesus to help us achieve what we think matters for accomplishment. We think that belonging to a certain group, following a certain lifestyle, appearing a certain way, will help us be successful. Paul himself had once thought that being circumcised, being a member of an Israelite tribe, being a member of one of the strictest traditions of his religion, and following the rules of his religion as closely and as perfectly as possible, was all that was important. He too had once thought that everything was about what he had achieved, the successes he could point to, the way he thought he was supposed to live his life, the things he had done which he thought would cause God to bless him. But then, as he says in verse 7, whatever he once thought was important, whatever he once thought was of greater worth, he realized was rubbish, was worthless, compared to the greater, more important value of knowing Jesus personally and trusting in Jesus. There are a lot of things which distract from focusing only on Jesus. For example, trying to figure out how Asking what the right way to think or believe about certain issues or things can only lead to taking the focus off of Jesus. But once you get to know Jesus for who He really is, everything else will become clear. And who is Jesus, really? He is your friend. He is the most faithful, trusted, loyal friend you could ever want. He is someone who will never let you down, who will always stick with you, and stick up for you. Also, we can help each other focus on Jesus – we can encourage each other, especially in times of struggle or crisis, to look past our worries, and focus on Jesus. We can pray for each other, and help each other turn control over to Jesus by praying. The most important thing is to focus on Jesus, and ignore everything else. If you follow the example of Paul, you can think of everything else as being of lesser worth or value, compared to the superior, better way of getting to know Jesus and following Jesus.
Getting to know Jesus, trusting in Jesus, and following Jesus also means you’re going to lose. Again, we’re constantly told nobody likes losers. But if you think about, following Jesus means following a loser: Jesus wasn’t exactly successful by the standards of His day. He didn’t have a home. He was poor. He had a relatively small amount of followers, who ended up running away from Him at His death. He was meek in His attitude and behavior, and He was put to death at the hands of His enemies. Not someone who would automatically be thought of as being a winner. It seemed like Jesus lost everything – even His life. But Jesus actually won: He defeated sin, death, and the devil, and won for everyone. He continues to win for us, because He overcomes all our struggles, our doubts, our problems, So if you want to be a winner, trust Jesus to help you win. But in the process, you’re going to be a loser. You’re going to lose who you used to be, especially anything that has kept you from living a life of peace that comes from trusting in Jesus. You’re also going to lose quite a bit of anxiety, as you realize that Jesus is in control, He cares for you, and He is helping you in power. You’re going to lose quite a bit of doubt, . You’re going to lose any idea of what it means to be a success, because you’re going to realize that what you have in life is not anything you have achieved entirely on your own, but it all is a blessing from God. You’re also going to lose any idea of what it means to be a failure, because you’re going to realize that, no matter what happens in your life, Jesus is still caring for you, providing for you, and helping you get back to where you need to be. And, you’re going to lose any notion of what it means to be a loser and a failure, which means you’re going to lose any desire to judge or look down on others because of apparent lack of what others might consider success. But even as you lose so much, think of everything you’re going to gain. You’re going to gain peace from trusting that Jesus has you, and everything you’re struggling with, well in hand, and He’s eventually going to defeat whatever is against you at that moment. You’re going to gain joy from experiencing Jesus’ power, and experiencing Jesus’ special care and concern for you. You’re going to gain contentment, because you’re going to experience the peace that comes from trusting that Jesus is providing for you, and everything you have is a blessing from Him. You’re also going to gain the peace that comes from being comforted by the fact that none of your efforts contribute to the victory Jesus is going to win for you – your victory is already guaranteed, because His victory is already guaranteed. You’re going to gain comfort from knowing that no matter what else might happen, Jesus is the most important relationship you will ever have, one that will last forever. Jesus will always love you, and no amount of effort you put in, or don’t put in, will ever change that – Jesus will always love you unconditionally.
So what’s the real secret for success? Trust Jesus. Keep pressing on, keep your eye on the goal – but don’t take your focus off of Jesus. Let Jesus keep carrying you toward the goal, and let Jesus carry you when you can’t press on and keep going. Don’t worry about what you should or shouldn’t be doing – trust Jesus to achieve and accomplish for you. Don’t worry if you’re spent, exhausted, discouraged, and can’t put in any effort – Jesus doesn’t need your effort, He’s already put in the effort for you. So don’t give up: trust Jesus – and you will win, because He has already won for you.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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