Sermons

This page is intended to give visitors an idea of the kinds of sermons they might hear in a typical worship service at Dundee UMC.

LOVE WITHOUT FEAR (February 14, 2010)

Valentine’s Day is a day full of symbols of love. The usual ones, of course, include hearts and flowers, little cupids and chocolate candies. But if you were in Rome today, you might be doing your Valentine’s Day shopping at the hardware store instead of the Hallmark store. In recent years, it’s been fashionable for young lovers in the Eternal City to take a romantic walk on the Ponte Milvio bridge, where they profess their love by wrapping a chain around one of the lampposts, securing it with a lock and then throwing the key into the Tiber River. This act is intended to symbolize their eternal, undying love.

Encouraged by the popularity of Federico Moccia’s romantic novel, Ho Voglia di Te (I Want You), the practice became so popular that the weight of the all the hardware began to destroy lampposts, even snapping them at their base. Unlike the city of Florence, which banned the practice and promised to fine any couples who put chains and padlocks on public property, Rome took the more romantic approach, putting iron posts linked by chains on the Ponte Milvio so that lovers could continue to express the permanence of their love in this way.[1]

But on this Valentine’s Day, we might ask whether a chain and lock are really the best symbol for a loving relationship. Sure, there’s the idea of being permanently bonded, but the image of a chain also implies some kind of slavery or prison from which you can’t escape. Think of the old phrase “ball and chain” used by some men to refer to their wives. And consider pop music through the years. In the 1988 hit “Chains of Love,” Erasure sang, in an upbeat, ’80s way, about breaking the chains of love as a good thing. Pat Boone’s 1962 ode to “Chains of Love” begins: “Chains of love have tied my heart to you. Chains of love have made me feel so blue.”[2] So while we can appreciate the idea of strong bonds, we also know that love is not supposed to be enslaving.

Love Is Supposed to Be Freeing

In fact, love is supposed to be freeing. However, I am convinced that many relationships are enslaved to and destroyed by fear. Fear is a “ball and chain” that will sink a marriage and any other kind of intimate relationship. Think about the kinds of fears that threaten our loves:

If he really knew me, he would not like me.
If she discovered this secret about my past she might leave me?
What if he finds someone younger and prettier?
What if she cheats on me?
If I give him my heart then he might break it.
What if I love her more than she loves me?
If I am too nice then he might walk on me like a doormat.
If I say I am sorry she might say “I told you so.”
What if the relationship ends?

Fear, fear, and more fear. But when fear rears its ugly head two things tend to happen: (1) we become selfish, and (2) our relationships become competitive.

We become selfish because fear compels us to protect ourselves. “If I don’t look out for number one then who else will?” “If I give him an inch he might take a mile, so I must stand my ground!” And once we draw that line in the sand, our partner is no longer a true partner. Rather, our partner becomes a threat, someone with whom we compete for the upper hand. Once fear causes us to become selfish, our relationship easily becomes a power struggle. Instead of working together we struggle against each other.

The circumstances change but the pattern remains the same: fear leads to selfishness, selfishness leads to competition, and competition destroys our relationships. While this pattern is familiar, true love is not intended to be that way. According to scripture, love frees us from fear. Consider 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . .” (NRSV).

Jesus Defines Love

In John 13:34, Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love another.” What is new about this commandment is not the importance of love but the added statement “as I have loved you.” The first thing that we note is that Jesus defines love for Christians. But then the next question is: How does Jesus love us? The answer to this question lies in the scripture lesson for this morning.

In Philippians 2, Paul says that if you want to love like Jesus then you should do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. Rather, you should treat our partner as if she or he is better than you. Paul does not say that your partner is, in fact, better than you, but that you should treat him or her as if she or he were better than you. If you do this then you will be freed from competition.

Have you ever met a couple in which one of them is always trying to one-up the other or up-stage the other? Its like no matter what he says, his wife has to outshine him. No matter what she does he tries to get all the attention for himself. The fear behind all of this one-uping is usually a fear of not being properly valued, so the fearful one insists on his or her value and competes for attention. But love without fear frees us from this kind of upstaging, one-uping, and overall competitive spirit, and frees us for humility, which allows us to honor our partner.

If you think about it, everyone longs to be important and valuable, and when we treat others in a way that makes them feel valuable and important they are drawn to us. While competition might draw two people together, it only does so for hand-to-hand combat in which someone has to win and someone has to lose. Eventually, either someone “wins” the struggle only to lose the other person (meaning, the other person says, “Forget you!” and leaves) or the competition exhausts both people and pushes them away from each other. The relationship becomes a burden to endure or a war zone to escape. In both cases, the relationship becomes a breeding ground for resentment and the competitive spirit sucks the lifeblood out of both people.

But honoring our partner has the opposite affect; it draws him or her close to us in affection and strengths the bonds of love. Again, think about the way that Jesus loved. He constantly reminded people that they were children of God—that they were valuable, important, and loved. When we do this for others we honor them like Jesus honors them. This is what is behind Paul’s injunction to treat your loved one as better than yourself: honor and respect. Prominent Baptist minister, Andy Stanley, says in his sermon series (Staying in Love) that we should be so respectful to loved ones that they will always “lean in our direction.” We honor our loved ones by treating them like the most important person in the room. Again, love frees us from competition and frees us for humility, honor, and respect.

Paul goes on to say, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). Love frees us from a preoccupation with our own interests and allows us to take a real interest in others. A wise person once told me that falling in love is about learning to patiently listen to one another’s stories. We come to truly know someone and love someone by listening to and honoring their stories. As we listen we are able to see into the other person and this is the true meaning of intimacy: into-me-see. But if we are preoccupied with our own stories, if we are more interested in telling our own stories than listening to others, if we are more interested in being understood than understanding, we cannot have true intimacy. And this is exactly what fear does. We are often so scared that our stories will not be heard that we shout them, either literally (“Listen to me!”) or with inappropriate behavior. This is our way of insisting on the importance of our own stories. But love frees us to listen with real interest to others’ stories, to get to know other people for who they are, and to love them where they are. True love frees us from the compulsions to be heard and understood so we can truly listen to and understand others.

Having the Same Mind That Was in Christ Jesus

Paul sums-up all of these important points by saying, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross” (Philippians 5-8).

This is a wonderful way of saying, “If you want to love like Jesus then you have to be freed from selfishness and for servanthood. This is the key to real love: the more you empty yourself out in loving kindness, the more your own heart will be filled with loving kindness. Loving relationship is the only context in which the more you give the more you get back.

So if Paul says that we should have the same mind or attitude that Christ had, then what exactly was Christ’s attitude? How did he orient himself toward others? Philippians says that although Jesus was the most important person in the world, he never leveraged his own status, power, intelligence, or personal strengths for selfish gain. But we often do. Whenever fear creeps in and we think that our value is threatened, it is tempting to insist on our own importance and then demand special consideration or special treatment. We put ourselves first and leverage everything we have to secure our importance and build-up ourselves over and against others. Again, this leads to destructive competition that sucks the lifeblood out of love.

Jesus was free from this competitive mentality because he was secure in his own identity in relation to God. He knew who he was and did not allow others to create fear about his worth and value. Another way of making the same point is to say that he had nothing to prove. Without this fear, he was free to leverage his status, power, intelligence, and personal strengths to build up, not himself, but others! He leveraged all he had to make others feel valuable and important. Instead of being full of himself, he “emptied himself.” Instead of taking his rightful place as master, he assumed the position of servant. And he did this for our benefit, indeed for our salvation.

There is a sense in which Jesus chose to submit himself, to put himself under, you! He humbled and submitted himself for you. He lowered himself to raise you up. He was humiliated so you could be honored. In all of this, Jesus teaches us that true love requires mutual submission. Andy Stanley makes this point by saying that if you want true love you must be willing to give up what you think you deserve in order to get what you want. Again, think of Jesus: he deserved honor, respect, and glory, but he gave all of this up (even allowing himself to be dishonored, disrespected, and killed) to get what he wanted—loving relationship with you and me. He could not have both in this world, and neither can we. We have to give up what we deserve to get the true love that we want. True love frees us to do just this.

If we put it all together we can see the big picture: true love frees us from fear, and this frees us from selfishness and competition, allowing us to be humble servants who honor, respect, and build-up those we love. Love allows us to give up what we deserve in order to get what we want. My hope this morning is that we can take this lesson on this special day, Valentine’s Day, and apply it everyday. When someone you love (whether it’s your husband or wife, child or friend) walks into the room, drop your jaw, cradle your face, and say “Awe!” Treat them as the most important person in the world. Honor and respect them, and they will draw close to you. The mutuality of such honor and respect will strengthen your love and make last for a lifetime.

[1] The illustration of Ponte Milvio is taken from Homiletics, “Chains of Love,” January/February (22:1), 51-2.

[2] Ibid.

Believing the Resurrection with Our Lives

Rev. Mark E. Reynolds

Jesus of Nazareth has been raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God the Father! The one who was arrested as a trouble maker in the market place; the one who simply wouldn’t be a good citizen, stop stirring the pot, live and let live; the one whom the Roman rulers feared might start a political revolution; the one crucified by Pontius Pilate as a rebel and potential insurrectionist is the true King, not only of Rome but the entire world. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

This thirty-something Jewish man who was rejected by the religious authorities as a want-to-be messiah, a heretic, a blasphemer, a corrupter of the true faith; the one who died a cursed death, according to Jewish law, by hanging on a tree; the one who appears to be completely and utterly abandoned and rejected by the very God that he called Father is the Christ, the Messiah chosen by God to save the world from sin, evil, and death. The humiliated Son of God is exalted as the glorious Son of Man. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

This is the truth we celebrate today on Easter morning, because it is the only thing that makes sense of Christianity. Without the resurrection, says the Apostle Paul, our preaching and faith—our entire way of life—is in vain: it is worthless, useless, hopeless, abortive, futile. Because this claim is so important, there are many preachers this morning who are mounting so-called historical arguments to prove that Jesus was really bodily raised from the dead. While I too after years of research and reflection believe that the historical evidence supports the claim of the empty tomb and that the disciples encountered Jesus after his death, I have come to believe that this line of argument in the pulpit on Easter Sunday is unwise. There are many good books I can recommend if you are interested in pursuing this line of thought. But scripture says that no one professes Jesus as the risen Lord except by the power of the Holy Spirit, and this morning I want to explore the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection for the early church and for us in hopes that the Holy Spirit will help our unbelief or deepen our currently held convictions.

Let’s begin with the early church. Jesus’ resurrection would have come as a totally unexpected and inconceivable event. It’s not that resurrection itself was an utterly novel idea. Indeed, scholars say that most Jews during the time of Jesus believed in the resurrection of the body, but not in a way that would make sense of Jesus’ resurrection. Jews that believed in the resurrection thought that God would look after the souls of those who died until the last day, until the end of history as we know it. According to certain interpretations of Old Testament prophecy, God promised Israel that one day He would intervene in this world through a chosen Messiah. This divinely appointed savior would act in power to expel foreign occupying powers from the Holy Land, restoring it to its rightful God-given owners, and rebuild the temple. Indeed, as time went on some Jews came to believe that the Messiah would completely eradicate all sin, evil, and death and all those who perpetrate such things. God would bring a new heaven and a new earth in which the Messiah would be king. In his holy reign, the Messiah would create the conditions necessary for people to worship God in spirit and truth, to live as God’s covenant people. Since many of the righteous had been killed by agents of evil and purveyors of sin or had died, so it would seem, in vain, God promised a bodily resurrection in which His people would receive new life and be vindicated in a last judgment. Justice would prevail in a dramatic event of truth telling: evil people would be seen for what they really were—evil—and those faithful to God who were scorned, rejected, humiliated, oppressed, and exploited would be seen for what they were—righteous. The righteous would then inherit eternal life, not in some disembodied heaven but in the new creation, and the perpetrators of evil would inherit punishment for their rebellion against God. In short, resurrection was something that many Jews expected (1) at the end of time for (2) all of God’s people. So when Jesus spoke of having to die and be raised on the third day, the disciples had no idea what he was talking about. As the New Testament accounts show, when Jesus spoke of these things the disciples looked at him as if he were talking about a square circle. First, the Messiah does not die. Rather, he brings victory over pagan occupying forces and restores true worship of the One God. Second, it was inconceivable that one person would be resurrected before everyone else in the middle of history. Rather, this would happen at the end of history to all God’s people at the same time before the final judgment. The disciples simply didn’t get it, and they wouldn’t get it until they saw the empty tomb and encountered the risen Jesus in bodily form, albeit in a strange bodily form, after his death.

It is true that many thought that Jesus was the Messiah. He proclaimed God’s kingdom, God’s power of life against death and the death dealing ways of the world. He brought good news to the poor, proclaimed release to captives, restored sight to the blind, and set the oppressed free. His walking on water, calming the sea, and healing the lame and leprous suggested that he had authority over the entire natural world. His exorcisms and the way he forgave sins suggested that he had authority over the spiritual world. By witnessing his powerful words and actions many could only draw one conclusion: in this man God’s reign of life, love, justice, and peace was breaking into this world right before their very eyes. God was acting in and through Jesus. Jesus was the Messiah who would vindicate and restore God’s people.

However, their hopes were dashed when he was arrested, tried, and crucified as a criminal. Again, Messiah’s did not die, let alone in this way, cursed on a tree and, apparently, abandoned by God. This made no sense, and the disciples all scattered with broken hearts and shattered dreams. Jesus must have been one among many would-be Messiah’s that died a brutal death at the hands of the pagan oppressors. At this point of despair they must have thought to themselves, “We were mistaken. Jesus is definitely not the Messiah.” And they must have been devastated because they built their whole lives around this guy; they trusted him, gave up family and career to follow him around the countryside, and now they were hiding in of fear of being executed just like him! How did everything go so wrong? If the story ends here we have no Christianity and Jesus is soon forgotten.

You might say, “Hold on Pastor Mark, Jesus told the disciples that he would be raised on the third day. So it couldn’t have been as bad as you are saying.” But I would encourage you to read the stories again. They never understood what Jesus meant. They never really expected him to be resurrection in three days. Maybe (if he proved not to be a blasphemer) he would be raised on the last day with all of God’s people and be vindicated as a righteous prophet in the last judgment, but not individually before everyone else in a few days. Again, that was inconceivable! There hopes were truly dashed. They hit rock bottom. Life had lost all meaning. And even one of his best friends, Judas, had committed suicide because Jesus refused to be the kind of Messiah he wanted him to be. Some scholars believe that Judas Iscariot was part of the Zachari movement made up a militant Jews who engaged in a kind of guerrilla warfare in hopes of inciting a revolt that would overthrow Rome. He expected Jesus to eventually take up the sword and lead faithful Jews into battle. But Jesus never met this expectation, and some argue that Judas didn’t betray Jesus simply to get a big chunk of change. Rather, he was trying to push Jesus up against the wall in hopes that he would come out swinging; he was forcing Jesus’ hand hoping that if provoked he would emerge as the military Messiah Judas wanted him to be. He killed himself not simply because he betrayed a good friend but because he became convinced after Jesus was arrested that he was not the Messiah, which meant that his whole life was based on a devastating miscalculation. Life lost all of its meaning and Judas hung himself. This gives us a glimpse of how grieved and disillusioned all the disciples must have been upon Jesus’ brutal execution.

But this is not the end of the story. As his best friends scattered and even denied ever knowing Jesus, the women got up early that first Easter morning to begin the two step process of burial. They would go to the tomb and cover the body in spices so that the smell of his decaying copse would not render the tomb usable for the next dead body that would share this resting place. After the body had completely decayed, they would return, collect the bones, and place them in a bone box called an ossuary. But when they got to the tomb the huge stone that seal the tomb was rolled away and his body was gone. Since no one expected a resurrection at this point, the women thought that the body had been stolen or moved somewhere else. This would have seemed like a cruel joke that would have compounded their grief.

But then something totally unexpected happened, something that would have never crossed their minds, something inconceivable, something that would have been utterly confusing and beyond any ordinary words or categories. They saw Jesus! He was dead and now he was alive. Although inadequate, the only concept they had to express what they were experiencing was “resurrection.” Once they encountered Jesus with his strange new body everything would have to change, not least their understanding of resurrection and their understanding of Messiah. Everything they expected, everything they believed about God and how God would act to save his people, everything they believed about Jesus, everything they believed about life and how they should live—the meaning of life itself—would be turned upside down and remade in light of this unimaginable event.

If Jesus has been raised from the dead then, first, Jesus is who he said he was: the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If Jesus has been raised from the dead then his death was not an accident, or a tragedy, or a divine curse. Rather, God was at work in the death of Jesus showing us the seriousness of our sin and accomplishing our forgiveness so that we could be reunited in love to our Creator. If Jesus has been raised from the dead then his teachings about God and God’s intention for the world can be—indeed, must be—believed. If Jesus has been raised from the dead then the last enemy—death itself—has been conquered and God’s plan to redeem the whole world has been revealed.

Second, not only has God’s plan to redeem the world been revealed, but it has been put into action. If Jesus has been raised from the dead then God has already begun the new creation that the disciples thought would be reserved for the last day. The kingdom of God, the reign of God’s power for life against death has already been inaugurated. This is the main point of the resurrection: We are living in the dawn of the new creation where mourning is turned into dancing, the oppressed find freedom, the sick are restored to wholeness, the excluded are embraced, good conquers evil, love conquers hate, and violence loses its power in the victory of suffering love. God has already won the battle my friends! And while the creation still groans in labor pains, and as we cry, “Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus,” in anticipation of his return, we are no longer enslaved to the power of sin, evil, and death. We are freed in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit to live in loving communion with God and each other. We are no longer slaves to sin or the fear of death, because these have been decisively defeated. We know who wins at the end because ultimate victory has already been accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The kingdom has come and will be fully consummated by the one who started it.

Third, if Jesus has been raised from the dead—if his words and actions truly reveal God and God’s intention for the world; if we have been set free from the enslaving powers of sin, evil, and death; if we have been given resurrection power to be remade into the image of Christ and thereby to live in loving communion with God and each other—then we have much work to do in this world! We have seen that the new creation has begun—indeed we ourselves have been made a new creation in Christ Jesus—and we are called to live for this new creation and against any forms of life that perpetrate slavery to subhuman behavior and the death dealing ways of evil. If we live as if the new creation has not been inaugurated then we deny the resurrection of Jesus, and if we deny the resurrection of Jesus then we deny the salvation accomplished by his death. There is only one way to be a Christian: to live as citizens of the new creation, to strive in all we do to make this world more like the new creation that Christ has inaugurated, and by the cruciform shape of our lives proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus until he comes again in glory.

So what are we going to do with this man, Jesus? He died for our sins so that we might be forgiven and allowed a chance to return to the loving arms of God. He was raised from the dead in order to set us free from the enslaving powers of sin, evil, and death so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. If you have not accepted this unimaginable gift that makes life worth living, then I hope you will do so today. I hope you will ask God to forgive you of your sins, and heal your hurts, and to give you the power to start following him along life’s way. If you do, step by step, day by day, you will experience a freedom, joy, peace, and hope that is beyond your wildest dreams. It won’t be all lollipops and candy canes, nor will you magically be perfected in knowledge and love, but you will start a journey that will lead you on a way to blessing and life.

If you are already a professing Christian, do you really believe the resurrection? Believing the resurrection means living it. Do we live as if everything—the whole world—was changed forever in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? Do we live knowing that the new creation has already begun and that the old world is on its deathbed? Do we live as citizens of the new creation? Do we live as those who have been freed from sin, evil, and death, or do we allow these to continue to reign in our lives. If they are still reigning then we are being duped by the Father of Lies who wants us to think that nothing has really changed and that we should go about our lives “business as usual” in the low grade war that we call “the real world.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. The real world is not the world of violence, war, poverty, oppression, and power politics that we see all around us. All of that is a lie masquerading as the truth keeping us in fear. The real world is the world that Jesus creates and reveals in his life, death, resurrection, and continued presence in the community of faith. That counterfeit world has already been defeated and is dying. If we think and live according to the old world, as if it were the “real world,” then we are like a person who lives in a bomb shelter well after the war is over scared to death to come out and enjoy real life. This old world has no ultimate power over us. The worst it can do is kill our bodies, but the good news of the resurrection is that death has been defeated and if we are united with Christ God will give us new life! So stand up for the truth! Suffering, evil, and death persist in this world because people like you and I refuse to accept salvation in Christ and live as if his life and death make a real difference in the here and now. Stand-up! Be re-surrected! Work for Christ to make this world what it truly is already in him knowing that everything you do to make the world more loving and justice in Jesus’ name will be preserved and perfected in eternity. You can make and should make a real difference.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Let is receive the gift of resurrection power, be transformed into the image of Christ, and live like we really mean it! Amen.

Transformative Forgiveness

Matthew 18: 21-35

(Click here for the full sermon)

Forgiveness is not a gift from God that we passively receive. Rather, God forgives us so that we can be freed for reconciliation with others. Forgiveness is intended to make us generous forgivers. In this sermon, Pastor Mark tells two stories: the story of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18 that helps us to understand the kind of person God does not want us to be, and a contemporary story of a father and a son that helps us to understand the kind of person God does want us to be. As Brad Braxton says, forgiveness is a Christian birthmark.

Prayer

What are we doing when we pray and what should we expect? Pastor Mark will explain that prayer is not about learning a technique that we can use to get what we want from God. Rather, prayer is about deepening our loving relationship with God and others. Christians are formed in prayer, both in their personal lives and in the life of the church. In this sermon series, we will explore the meaning of prayer and how our prayer life can align us with what God is doing in the world and open doors to something new and unexpected.

The Seven Deadly Sins

In this sermon series, Pastor Mark defines sin as broken relationship and explains how repeated sinful actions transform natural God-given desires into sinful habits. Once corrupted habits of the heart take hold of us, we are blinded by and enslaved to them. Our hunger for more is never satisfied. In fact, the more we feed sinful compulsions, the more they grow and become insatiable—the more power they gain over our lives. Only the gifts of God's forgiveness and empowering grace can break the power of these habits and gradually reshape our lives according to love. Each Sunday, Pastor Mark will teach us about a created good, show how this good is transformed into a deadly and enslaving sin when it is not guided by love, and describe the life-giving virtue that serves as an antidote and leads to true happiness, peace, and fulfillment.

Pride and Humility

In this first sermon, we look at how healthy self-esteem (created good) is corrupted by pride (deadly sin) and remedied by the ancient notion of humility (virtue). Pride is described as over-valuing oneself by devaluing others, a competitive orientation that causes us to devour each other. Humility is described as a non-competitive attitude in which we equally value ourselves and each other as children of God created in God’s image to love and serve each other for mutual enrichment. Humility is seeing others through the compassionate eyes of Christ, recognizing that all of us are fallen creatures equally in need of God's grace, understanding that no one is in a position to play God by judging others, remembering that we are all people on the way to becoming like Christ, and living with the awareness that we cannot secure ourselves with wealth, social status, or by controlling or dominating others because our security comes only from surrendering ourselves to God. Because humility is a word that has been terribly misused in our contemporary culture, Pastor Mark explains that true humility has nothing to do with humiliation; despising, devaluing, or abusing oneself; accepting an inferior position in life or allowing someone to dominate, control, or abuse you. Nor is humility about being a helpless victim, but about true power as revealed in Jesus Christ--the power of love.

Envy and Gratitude

God instills a natural desire that leads us toward greater experiences of abundant life. But as we lose sight of the true meaning of abundant life, lust after what others have, and entertain jealousy, this natural aspiration is transformed into envy. Looking at the story of Naboth's vineyard in 1 Kings 21, we see that envy is not simply wanting what others have. Rather, as we entertain jealousy by focusing on what is out of our reach, an insatiable void opens-up inside of us that cannot be filled. As we turn our ultimate concern away from love of God and neighbor, our desire to possess what another person has intensifies, we come to resent the one who has what we want, and we become more willing to act in ways that will hurt this person. Finally, we legitimate our illicit taking by saying, "They don't deserve it . . . I do!" A sense of entitlement drives envy and passes it off as good. Like a scorpion surrounded by fire who stings itself as the flames close in, envy eventually destroys us. The only antidote for envy is heartfelt gratitude. Since envy is so pervasive in human life, it takes time to be released from its power. As with all the seven deadly sins, there is a sense in which we are like addicts “recovering” from envy. In this process, we come to see gratitude not only as a feeling that sometimes catches us by surprise, but also as a spiritual discipline that we are called to practice. The discipline of gratitude is captured by the popular hymn “Count Your Blessings.” We are called to focus not on what we don't have but on what we have. Furthermore, we are to constantly remember that everything we have--from delicious chocolates to the very breath running through our lungs--is a gift from God. By focusing on the many ways that God has gifted us we can live a life oriented by genuine gratitude: a life of praise, worship, and thanksgiving!

Resentment/Wrath and Faith

Many Christians have come to believe that anger is inherently bad. But Pastor Mark debunks this misunderstanding by explaining that God gives us the capacity for anger so we can pursue justice. None of our feelings are “bad” if guided by love and used to gather information about what’s going on around us and inside us. Even Jesus got angry when the temple was turned into a "den of thieves" (Matthew 21:10-13). And let's not forget that Jesus got pretty hot with the Pharisees too, calling them “a brood of vipers.” However, when not guided by love, used to gather information, and resolved in timely ways, anger can become a way of life characterized by resentment and/or wrath. Ephesians 4:26-32 helps us to understand how to prevent anger from becoming resentment and wrath: don’t harbor it and let it intensify to the point of consuming you. Most of us know that anger can make us crazy if we hold on to it. But this is precisely what many people do. They get stuck in the past and are unable to forgive those who have wronged them. Like an untreated wound, unresolved anger festers so that even the slightest touch on that sore spot triggers a hurtful or violent reaction. Furthermore, by generalizing past experiences of betrayal the angry person is robbed of future hope: "Nobody can be trusted.” Anchored to the past and robbed of hope for better relationships in the future, the angry person cannot experience the freedom of forgiveness, the joy that comes with being fully present with others in mutual love, and the promise that God is making all things new. Like envy and pride, resentment and wrath blind, enslave, and ultimately destroy us. The antidote is faith: being able to trust that God can redeem any situation and heal any hurt and that God is just and will ultimately set all wrongs to rights. Furthermore, true faith in God empowers us to forgive those who have wronged us and hope for a more peaceful future.

Sloth and Hope

The creation stories in Genesis tell us that God worked for six days to create the world and then set aside a day for rest. These accounts help us to understand that as people created in the image of God we need meaningful work and rest in order to be truly fulfilled. As we turn to the sin of sloth we begin with the natural goods of work and Sabbath rest. The command to work reminds us that we have been given the gifts of activity, creativity, and stewardship. God gives us the capacity to create beautiful things with our hands, and (most importantly) empowers us to share in the work that sustains genuine community. On the other hand, God’s instruction to keep the Sabbath points us to our utter dependence on God for our activity and creativity. God is the source of life and empowerment, and keeping the Sabbath means that we set time aside to connect with God. In the spiritual discipline of meditation we see the importance of setting aside all of our distractions to be fully present with God—to “plug-into” the source of life that heals, sustains, and energies us.Sloth corrupts these natural goods in two ways. First, sloth can take the form of laziness or idleness. There are many different reasons for inactivity, but regardless it hurts the community and the person who does not find meaningful work. Some people are genuinely disabled and cannot work, and God does not condemn them. In fact, we see in the gospels that God has a special concern for those who are helpless, weak, and marginalized. We as disciples of Jesus Christ have a responsibility to care for the genuinely disabled in our communities, and part of this is to help them find meaningful work that is available to them (e.g. painting a picture, making an ornament, etc.) and to value this seemingly “meaningless” work in a society that idolizes productivity and profits. We also have a responsibility to help those that are depressed to find hope that restores them to meaningful activity. But those who can work and willfully chose not to contribute fall into the deadly sin of sloth which leads to genuine despair.But sloth is not just laziness. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul explains that sloth is also being a “busybody.” Some people can’t stand to be in their own skin, and the idea of sitting in quiet reflection is terrifying. In order to avoid uncomfortable feelings such as loneliness, guilt, grief, and anxiety, many fill every minute of their time with busy work, work that “kills time.” This form of sloth prevents us from stopping to drink from the well of God’s presence. It prevents us from experiencing true fulfillment, which includes being able to delight in the simple things in life and eventually leads to burn-out.The antidote for both of these kinds of sloth, which entail wasting or squandering the gifts of meaningful activity and Sabbath rest, is hope. Hope is given to us as a gift as we take time to commune with God. It is not enough to simply say, “Pray and read your Bible,” because even these activities can serve as a distraction in busyness. Rather, we must find ways to pray, read scripture, worship, etc., that will allow us to genuinely and deeply connect with God—to be fully present with God without busyness or distraction. When we do this, God renews our hope and empowers us to stand-up and be active in ways that really matter.

Greed and Generosity

God created the world so that everyone would have that which is necessary to flourish as children of God. God flourishes us with good gifts that we are intended to enjoy and share with others. As long as everyone delights in God’s gifts and shares them equally with their neighbor, then everyone not only has enough to survive but flourishes in abundance.However, God’s gift of abundant life is corrupted by the deadly sin of greed. When greed gets a foothold in our lives it shifts our attention away from what we have to what we do not have. We lose the ability to distinguish between wants and legitimate needs, and when we do not get what we want it feels like we are being deprived of something essential for life. This experience generates insecurity and anxiety, which compels us to hold tightly to what we already have and dupes us into thinking that we can cure the anxiety by consuming more. But the more we focus on what we do not have and buy, consume, and possess to alleviate our anxiety, the more we feel deprived. Our insecurity grows and our hunger to consume and possess more stuff becomes insatiable. We come to feel as if we never have enough, like we are living in an auction house without ever having enough money. Intensifying feelings of deficiency eventually cause us to withhold that which we should give for the flourishing of life in community, and can even cause us to act immorally and at the expense of others to gain some unnecessary personal benefit. Finally, greed tends to reduce everything to a commodity to be bought and sold, which can transform the gospel of Jesus Christ into a “get rich quick” scheme. “If you just give money to the church and be a good enough Christian then you will be healthy and wealthy!” But this is a corruption of the gospel that leads us to ignore essential parts of the Bible that are less comfortable. We forget Jesus’ injunction, “Take up your cross and follow me,” and his promise that we will suffer in a fallen world if we live like him. We lose sight that abundance is not primarily about money. While God does want everyone to have what is needed to live, and even a little extra to share with others, abundance in the gospel is about life together in the Holy Spirit characterized by peace, love, and joy.The antidote to greed in the Christian faith is gratitude, and gratitude grows in proportion to our self-giving. Jesus calls us to give ourselves away, which includes our time, talent, and treasure. As we do this we become more aware of our present abundance. If we give our time away, then we realize that time is a gift and appreciate it more. The same applies to our talent and treasure. As we focus on gifts we have already been given and our gratitude expands and deepens, we are freed from fear and empowered to give, knowing that as we give our lives away we will receive them back transformed in peace, love, and joy. As everyone in the church gives cheerfully of themselves, everyone benefits and abundant life becomes a real possibility for all.

Gluttony and Temperance

God gives us the capacity to enjoy good food. But when we use food to cover-up pain, ease anxiety, or secure us from discomfort it is transformed into gluttony, the abuse of food. However, gluttony is not only about food, but about over-indulging various appetites to cover-up pain that needs to be honestly disclosed and healed by the grace of God. The antidote to gluttony is temperance.

Lust and Love

God gives us the gift of sexual attraction and sexual pleasure. When guided by enduring love, sex is a beautful and powerful gift that can deepen intimacy between two people and further strengthen a committed relationship. But when love is not the guiding principle, sexual attraction and pleasure is transformed into lust, which objectifies the other and uses him or her for the gratification of selfish impulses. Love is the antidote of lust.

Downloadable Documents

Review of Romans 1:18-3:31

Sample Sermon, September 23, 2007: Abraham, For He Is the Father of Us All

The Challenge of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is at the heart of Christianity. Yet, the idea is often misunderstood in contemporary life. In this sermon series, Pastor Mark explores the nature of God as Forgiver, how God forgives us in Jesus Christ, how we should forgive as disciples of Jesus, how it is possible for us to forgive in the power of the Holy Spirit, and how we make God credible and make this world more like the Kingdom of God when we actually forgive as God intends. The series is inspired by Miroslav Volf’s book, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace, and each sermon is deeply influenced by many of Volf’s insights.

God the Forgiver (Ps. 32:1-11; Romans 4:1-8)

Message: If we want to truly understand forgiveness we must start by looking at God the Forgiver. However, two false images of God must be avoided: on the one hand, God is not an implacable judge; on the other hand God is not a doting grandparent. The message ends with the idea that God condemns sin without condemning the sinner; God separates us from our sin and condemns it without destroying us.

How God Forgives Us in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22b-26)

Message: God forgives us while still taking our sin seriously. God's forgiveness is not simply a "shrugging off." In order to help us see how God forgives while remaining just, the Apostle Paul explains how Jesus not only dies for our sins (in our place) but also how Jesus enacts our death as sinners. In baptism, says Paul, we die with Christ, and as our old sinful self is crucified with Jesus our sins are condemned. But because in baptism we are also raise with Christ to new life this condemnation does not destroy us. Rather we are separated from our sin and given a fresh start. In this way, God forgives while still taking our sin and the requirements of justice seriously.

How Should We Forgive? Part I

How Should We Forgive? Part II (Matthew 5:38-48)

Message: In both of these sermons, Pastor Mark explains the goal of forgiveness as reconciliation. While forgiveness does not always attain this goal, it is important to look at the ideal so that we can move toward forgiving more like God intends.

How Is It Possible for Us to Forgive? When Things Go Wrong (Ephesians 4:25-5:2)

Message: Since the goal of forgiveness is reconciliation, and since reconciliation takes the willingness and work of two or more people, sometimes forgiveness does not end with embrace. However, this does not let Christians off the hook: Jesus commands us to love and forgive our enemies. This sermon looks at the possibility of forgiveness when the offender is unrepentant or the victim is unwilling to forgive. Pastor Mark answers the question, "What does this kind of partial forgiveness look like?"

Forgiveness and the Church (Ephesians 4:25-5:2)

Message: Forgiveness is a miracle! It is rare when two people or more experience deep hurt or offense and move through the difficult work of forgiveness to achieve genuine reconciliation. However, it does happen. As an example, a church member gives his testimony regarding the murder of his father and his path to freedom through forgiveness. Once we realize that (no matter how rare) true forgiveness does happen in this world, we realize that it is only by the power of God. Finally, when forgiveness happens this event becomes a sign pointing to the Kingdom of God--to what is eternally good, true, and beautiful, and to God's will for human beings.