Reverend Ray Osborne, Senior Minister
Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

This morning we begin a totally new event both for you and for me. I can't remember in my twenty plus years of ministry when I have ever written and delivered a sermon series! So why begin now? We both know the old adage "If something isn't broke why fix it?" But that's just it - something IS broke and it NEEDS fixing.

As I look at the world we are living in, the communities in which we live, our churches, I see something has gone VERY wrong - something is VERY broken. There is a breakdown occurring about us that is detrimental to our very existence.

I will be using as the foundational thesis for this series my belief that is a construct of the things I see, hear, and experience. I believe that we are living in a time when men, women, and children MUST be taught what the Bible has to say about how we are to live in community with one another and how God expects each one of us to order our own lives.

I expect that as we sit through these messages God's Spirit is going to push us out of our "comfort zones." In fact, as I have prayed about and worked on this message, God has been pushing me out of my own comfort zone. I believe these sermons will challenge us all to move out of our comfort zone into a more vital walk with our Lord. If we are never challenged we will never change. We will never experience spiritual growth and Christian maturity. If we are never challenged we will never know that something within our own lives stands in need of fixing. Instead we will continue throughout life as the Pharisee who prayed "Thank you God that I am not like THAT sinner" and never realized just how severed his own relationship with God had become.

As I look at the church of today, I see a culturally, politically, theologically, and spiritually blended church. The church has literally become a "melting pot" of society. People from multitudinous backgrounds are coming to the church seeking answers for all of their questions about life and all the ugliness of life. It is here that they seek genuineness, it is here that they come to find who God is, what God is like and if God is real. They want to know what God's solution is for this mess we have caused.

Yet, sadly, many of those who come seeking answers leave believing that there is no hope for their world, there is no hope for their life, no hope for their family, or for the future. Why? Because often what they find in the church is the exact same thing they have found time and time again in the World - a lack of genuineness, a lack of concern, an assembly of self-centered people who, like the Pharisee, want to leave looking good and feeling good about themselves. They are looking to us for love, and they find rejection. They are looking to us for acceptance, and instead they find criticism. They are looking to us to learn how to get along in this world, and they are devastated when they see unforgiveness, hatred, and bitterness in our relationships with one another.

In the Gospel reading this morning, I think Jesus' story was one that wasn't meant to make us feel good about ourselves nor was it a story that allows us to remain comfortable. If we closely examine His words throughout the Gospels, the Gospel writers did not always portray Jesus as an individual who always told a sweet story. More times than not, Jesus is portrayed as a person who was constantly engaged in the business of pushing people outside the confines of comfort and into the realm of reality. He challenged people to take up their cross and follow Him. Many of us think He meant to say take up your easy chair and kick back and enjoy life.

I would reason with you this morning that Jesus is still in the business of convicting us about our relationship with God and others. He will not be satisfied until we become holy as He is holy.

His message to you and me this morning is one of issuing a challenge to be MORE conscious about how we are perceived in the eyes of GOD, than looking good in the eyes of the World.

I suggest we ask ourselves "Am I doing the things I am doing because I am being driven by my desire to serve God, or am I doing what I am doing because I want others to see what a wonderful and proper human being I am?"

If we are willing to ask ourselves this question, and to answer it sincerely, we probably will be pushed out of our comfort zone, but we will be well on our way to sincere spiritual growth.

Some may ask if such a question has anything to do with being a "nurturing community." "What's THAT have to do with the way we interact with each other?"

The answer is really quite simple. The way we enjoy community, the ways in which we interact with each other is a construct resulting from the depth of our relationship with God through His Son - Jesus.

Show me a person who beats his/her spouse, I'll show you a person who has a dysfunctional relationship not only with the spouse but most importantly with God.

Show me a person who abuses a child and I'll show you a person who has a dysfunctional relationship with not only a child, but also with God.

Show me a person who thinks they are more righteous, more elite than others and I'll show you a person who has no true comprehension of the holiness of God.

Show me a person who has abandoned church and I'll show you a person who has abandoned God.

Show me a person who has a "hit miss" habit of worship and I'll show you a person who has a "hit miss" relationship with God.

Show me a person who is controlling and dictates to others and I'll show you a person who tries to control God rather than allowing God to control him.

Show me a person with prejudice in his/her heart and I'll show you a person who doesn't understand the true meaning of love.

Show me a person who hates his brother or sister and I'll show you a person who doesn't love God completely either.

Show me a person who has not forgiven someone, and I will show you someone who is cut off from the forgiveness of God.

You see, it's all about the depth of our relationship with God and with Jesus.

It's about how willing we are to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit and how willing we are to allow our lives to become broken in God's presence and allow His hands to form us into the likeness of Christ.

It's about getting our eyes off of our societal positions and getting our eyes upon who and what we are supposed to be in the eyes of God.

As our family journeyed to Colonial Williamsburg I followed the route that Stephanie deemed to be the most direct. What she didn't tell me is that the road ended at the James River and we had to ride a ferry to the other side. Now you have to keep in mind that I have never been on a ferry before. As the ferry pulled away I immediately spoke "Lord Jesus grant us traveling mercies and get us off this thing as soon as possible!" My next words were "Stephanie hand me my hamburger. If I sink on this thing I at least want to die with a full belly!"

As I sat in the van and watched the front of the ferry it seemed to make a whole lot of unnecessary turns which caused my stomach to make some unnecessary turns as well. But then again I was sitting in the van and I had to place my trust in someone else to get us safely to where we needed to be. When it was all said and done we made it safely to the other side and I actually looked forward to doing it again only this time in daylight!

That's the way it is with our lives. We MUST come to a realization that if our lives are going to turn out the way God wants them to be, we have to quit trying to steer our lives and stop living by the self-destructive ideology that man's opinion of our lives is more important than God's.

The quickest way to cause self-destruction within our very lives is to deflate the importance of our relationship with God. This morning you and I are being challenged to a deeper relationship with God. We are being challenged to look deep within ourselves and see any sin that is present. To see where our values actually lie. Is pleasing God more important to us than pleasing our flesh and others?

How are you going to answer this question this morning: "Is your life driven by your appearance to others or by your relationship with God?"

This is the place we must begin and this is the place we must end. Everything we do in life is a product of the answer to that one solitary question.

Let us Pray:

Help us O God, to be completely honest with ourselves and and you this morning. If we are more concerned about looking good and feeling good, about man's opinion's than yours, convict us right now in your presence of our need to change and then move us to a place of transformation - Amen.

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