Let
me tell you how to make this Valentine’s Day the most memorable one in your
loved one’s life … name a star in his or her honor! Call 1-800 star registry and your loved one will be forever
commemorated as a star in the national registry of the world. Or log on to star-registry.com and please
have your credit card ready. We’ve all
heard this commercial on the radio!
Or if you would prefer, dazzle your loved one with his or her own personalized teddy bear. Does your loved one enjoy reading? Then your personalized bear could hold a book and a bookmark, and wear glasses. Does your loved one enjoy chocolate? Your personalized teddy (pause) bear could hold a box of the best chocolates available. Don’t delay, log on to teddy-bear.com today. Deliveries guaranteed by Valentine’s Day.
And
if you do not currently have a Valentine, do not despair. The Post Dispatch, Talk radio 97.1 FM,
Country 92.3 FM and the Riverfront Times to name a few, can all help you find
someone in St Louis today in time for Valentine’s Day Friday … or certainly for
next year!
Sometimes
the environment makes it all sound so simple!
Showing your love – and it being received, and if you are very
fortunate, reciprocated – is as easy as breathing. And finding someone to love is even easier … NOT! And the thing is, that is actually not even
the place to start. The place to start
is by loving the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mind … the God
we read about in our Old Testament reading today. Isaiah 40:21 reminds us that it is clear that God created the
World and God rules the World. We look
at what is going on in the world today – the dramatic disaster of the Columbia
space shuttle, potential war in several parts of the world, poverty, AIDS,
oppression – and God whom we love with our whole hearts says in Isaiah 40:25,
“Who compares with me? Is anyone my
equal?” And the answer is no.
I
encourage you to start your day each day by giving yourself in love to
God. That is the place to
start. The next place is in loving our
neighbors as we love ourselves, and the neighbor I am referring to today is
each other here in the Lord’s House.
You know God has put so much in His letter to us that it is a pleasure to read sections over and over again because you will find, hear and be led to answers to so much that we look for in life. For example, our New Testament reading today is a recipe for how to treat each other in fellowship. Verse 8 asks us to have concern and love for each other. Hello! That would seem like something you wouldn’t have to tell those who have Christ in their hearts to do! If you give yourself to Christ each day, how can you not have concern and love for each other? That is one of the pieces of evidence that God is in your heart.
Next
we are asked to kind and humble. Be
kind … that means having concern for each other, and being thoughtful. We are asked to treat each other as we would
want to be treated. I’ll talk a little
more about that when we look at verse 9.
But
before that, the recipe for how to treat each other talks about not
bragging. None of us has any reason to
brag. None. It is first of all God’s Grace that has brought us to where we
are, and allows us the opportunities to make the best of our lives. You know what I mean? If I have gone to school and have a degree,
it does not make me any better or smarter than anybody else. Thanks to God that I had the opportunity
time-wise, financially and all that, and then the perseverance to jump through
the necessary hoops to get the degree.
If you have lots of money, or are comfortable financially, praise
God. Again, in this day, you are
blessed and God has helped you earn what you have. Stay humble, because the money could just as easily be gone. If you are good-looking, why then you
don’t have to be humble! In fact, you
can be proud! Just kidding because you
of all people must remain humble because you have mostly nothing to do
with how you look. God made you that
way, and you have your family heritage to thank.
Verse
9 tells us not to be hateful or insult people just because they are hateful and
insult us. I say do not be hateful or
insult people period. Yet I know
it’s not as easy as that. One of the
things that we as humans most delight in is being hateful. Now before you rush to say to yourself, “I
am not hateful,” let me explain what I mean.
Scenario 1: You and me sitting in a pew, I say, did you see that Keith
came to church by himself today? You
say, I wonder where his partner Dan is.
I say, hmm, I wonder if that means anything, because last week Keith
came by himself too and Dan drove separately.
Scenario 2: me and you talking on the telephone last week. I say, did you see that Joshua was supposed
to be the reader, and did not show up or call?
And last week, Joshua was on the schedule to greet and wasn’t
there. And you say, some people just
have no sense of responsibility.
Scenario 3: you and Lucy communicating by email next week. You write, what is up with Patty? She has come to church by herself a lot
lately. Yes Lucy says, sometimes she
sits with this person, and sometimes she sits with that person. I don’t know what is going on … especially
with some people! Scenario 4: You or I
lean over in the pew, point to Moses, and say to our friend, I wouldn’t have
worn that tie with that suit.
Do
these scenarios seem outrageous? I hope
so. However you also know that stuff
like this happens all the time and we say and think hateful things about each
other. Sometimes the intention is
malicious, and sometimes we are “just being human.” I do it too … I know! But
church, we are God’s chosen ones – we are not to be hateful or insult each
other.
Here
are some things to think about. In
Scenario 1, perhaps Keith came by himself because the choir was singing at both
services and Dan only wanted to attend one service. In Scenario 2, life happens.
We don’t know what is going on with Joshua who has not shown up two
weeks in a row for ministry. Actually
rather than judge, if I am going to go out of my way to notice that someone was
not there to serve, then the thing for me to do is to call the church office,
get his number and call him at home to let him know that he was missed. In Scenario 3, go talk to Patty. Come talk to me or whoever it is you are
wondering about. Again if you care to
notice, care and be kind enough to go talk to Patty or whoever else. In Scenario 4 – the one with the comment on
the clothes - in my humble opinion, all we need are clean clothes. If they actually match, that’s a bonus. And worry about your own clothes and outfit
… not anyone else’s!
Sisters
and brothers, I sometimes I worry that things like this are what will attempt
to bring our church down – not a thing like not having a Senior Pastor yet, but
things like not treating each other with love, concern and kindness and
creating an atmosphere in which we trust each other. But then I am reminded that we are indeed God’s chosen ones and
as God has brought us this far, He will continue to bless us. I have no doubt about that. Do you?
Alright. Do you love life? I hope so. Do you want to
be happy? Who doesn’t? On the outside we all do … and yet sometimes
we do and say things that do not add to the happiness God has given us. We bring chaos to our lives by the choices
we make. But in today’s reading God
tells us some of the ways to be happy: one, stop saying cruel things and
two, quit telling lies. Well, in my way
of thinking being hateful and insulting is cruel and we just talked about
that.
Next
we are told not to tell lies. Again
before you say “I don’t tell lies” let’s talk about that a bit. A lie is anything other than the truth. After Eve ate of the apple in the Garden of
Eden, it became a part of our human nature to be less than truthful
sometimes. For example, saying yes when
we mean no; coming up with excuses for not doing what we said we’d do; telling
someone theirs is the most beautiful car you’ve ever seen, when it’s not –
unless you are talking about my car.
Seriously though, I think we all know what lies are, and I am preaching
to me too throughout this whole message.
The point is to do your best, my best, not to tell or live lies.
“Give
up your evil ways and do right.” That’s
verse 11. I know this is a topic that
you all discuss with your friends. As
you are sitting around and talking you say, we must give up our evil ways and
do right, right? Perhaps not, but here
is my thought – and I consulted God too - about this. Let’s do right.
Back to the thought about evidence of having Jesus in your heart, when
you say you follow God, do right. God
is good and just and if we reflect God then we must do right. What is doing right? That is another sermon. Briefly, I would summarize it the way I
heard Rev Rob Hartman do last week, and which is the same way Jesus did: In
order to do right, love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor
as yourself. Do this, you do right and
you’ll find peace.
Peace. What a wonderful thing. We are all looking for peace. Peace is knowing that you are in God’s
Will. Peace is finding and knowing your
place and purpose in the world. Peace
is knowing that it is well with your soul.
Peace is the feeling that when things are funky, it will be okay. Peace is the feeling that when things are
the bomb, it is God’s Will and be thankful.
And
then a wonderful promise from God’s love letter to us, found in verse 12 of 1
Peter chapter 3: “the Lord watches over everyone who obeys Him. He listens to their prayers.” I am taking that to my bank - Commerce
Bank. The obeying God part is easy,
isn’t it? Remember, all God asks of us
is to love God and each other. God made
us, loved us first before we loved Him – and shows us He does – and asks us to
love Him. Cool beans I say. And then the second part of the promise that
God listens to our prayers. I know we
hear that all the time. However truly
believing it and practicing it is another
thing. God listens to our
prayers. Now listening, as you
know, does not mean immediately answering in the affirmative. But we have a guaranteed audience with
God. How wonderful!
Yet
maybe sometimes it seems like “God pays no attention to us! He doesn’t care if we are treated
unjustly.” This is nothing new. People in the Old Testament times felt this
way – it is written in our reading today.
Well tell you what church? I am
going to speak boldly in faith and hope and pray that nobody here today feels
this way. God deeply and profoundly
cares about each of us. The Bible goes
on to say, in Isaiah 40:28, “Don’t you know?
Haven’t you heard? The Lord is
the eternal God, Creator of the earth.
He never gets weary or tired.”
God is taking care of us all the time.
God is paying attention to every last detail of your life … of my
life. God gives us strength when we
think we have reached the end.
Then
we come to that most wonderful of verses from Isaiah 40:31. This is truly one of those to memorize –
like Philippians 4:13, Romans 8:28 and the 23rd Psalm. Let’s close by reading this last verse
together again. Please join me: “But
those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will be strong like eagles soaring upwards on wings; they
will walk and run without getting tired.”
That’s us, Church. We trust the
Lord. Let’s love God and love each
other. Please pray with me.
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