Doing More With Less – (Matthew 14:13-21)

 (Photo taken from Google Image Search)
Sermon Audio can be found here: http://goo.gl/zJhc6B

            I like this text; it is one of the passages regarding Jesus that is in all four gospels. Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-13. I have a bit of a fascination with the phrase “doing more with less” whether I hear it being used as a cliché to justify mass layoffs without the expectation of a reduction in production, or if it someone truly capable of getting more out of something than the average person is able to do. I think about our armed services veterans deployed in the field with M.R.E.s or meals ready to eat. The MRE contains:

Main course (entree)

Side dish

Dessert or snack (often commercial candy, fortified pastry, or HOOAH! Bar)

Crackers or bread

Spread of cheese, peanut butter, or jelly

Powdered beverage mix: fruit flavored drink, cocoa, instant coffee or tea, sport drink, or dairy shake.

Utensils (usually just a plastic spoon)

Flameless ration heater (FRH)

Beverage mixing bag

Accessory pack:

Xylitol chewing gum

Water-resistant matchbook

Napkin / toilet paper

Moist towelette

Seasonings, including salt, pepper, sugar, creamer, and/or Tabasco sauce

The MRE is designed for soldiers in combat out in the field who can’t just take a break to go back to the cafeteria or mess hall for food. Because the MRE is designed for lightweight packaging and has a shelf life of 3 years, they usually don’t taste too good. That being said, savvy veterans come up with little tricks to make the taste of the food more desirable. They will do things like mix the creamer and sugar with the crackers to make it taste like a sugar cookie. In 2011, the website www.supportourtroops.org put an effort together to send spices for the soldiers, oregano, garlic, red pepper, parmesan and other spices in little packets in an effort to help with the flavoring, trying to make more with less.

Another example I think of is prison; the food in prison I hear is not that great either. Archbishop Ashe spoke of his time in jail before he passed that he would rather eat food people threw away than jail food. I also heard an interview with boxer Bernard Hopkins and he spoke on his time in prison in a New York Times article:

“Not surprisingly, Hopkins hated the food in prison, all the powdered eggs, yeast and starch. The menu was posted at the beginning of each week, so he learned how to work around the worst meals, smuggling leftovers to his cell or drinking water to fill his stomach. He traded cartons of cigarettes and cases of cups of noodles for more desirable food. He could subsist on meals, sometimes for days, of peanut butter and bread. “You learn how to survive, buddy,” Hopkins said. “You learn how to make an oven out of batteries and aluminum foil and a shoebox. You become a farmer’s market, an entrepreneur.[1]

Bernard Hopkins made more with less, he is now out and as a champion professional boxer he doesn’t have to do that anymore unless he wants to.

I like to see people do more with less and that is what happens in the text that we read, Jesus does more with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread then most of us could have done with a team of chefs.

Rest-

First thing I noticed about Jesus in text was that he rested, in the 13^th chapter Jesus is teaching in synagogues and doing mighty works. Until he was rejected in his own hometown of Nazareth, Jesus went on to say that “a prophet is not without honor except in is own country, and in his own house,” and then he left, at the beginning of chapter 14 Jesus gets word that John the Baptist, his cousin has been beheaded as a birthday gift for the daughter of Herodias. Jesus had been working, he heard some bad news, and so he went away to rest. We ought to rest more, our body needs it, we can be so much more productive people if spend some more time resting. But notice I said Jesus did some work first, don’t use this as a reason to perpetually rest.

We often hear the term multitasking doing multiple things at the same time, but studies have shown that multitasking is actually not productive at all.

According to a published report:

More than one task splits the brain

Whenever you need to pay attention, an area toward the front of the brain called the prefrontal cortex springs to action. This area, which spans the left and right sides of the brain, is part of the brain’s motivational system. It helps to focus your attention on a goal and coordinates messages with other brain systems to carry out the task. 

While the right and left sides of the prefrontal cortex work together when focused on a single task, the sides work independently when people attempt to perform two tasks at once. Scientists at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) in Paris discovered this when they asked study participants to complete two tasks at the same time while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When the scientists told the group they would receive a larger reward for accurately completing one of the two tasks, they found that nerve cell activity increased in only one side of the prefrontal cortex. However, when the greater reward was associated with the other task, the other side became more active. The findings suggest that when there are two concurrent goals, the brain divides in half, says INSERM neuroscientist Etienne Koechlin, who led the study.[2]

So even if you think you are doing both tasks well, you still are really focusing on the one you think is more important or gives you more to gain. The article goes on to say that you don’t get better at multitasking with practice, in fact gets harder with age and people who multitask have a harder time ignoring external distractions. Multitasking defeats the purpose, rest.

Do what you love

Second thing I noticed when people are doing more with less is that they are doing what they love. In the text Jesus was resting, he wanted some time away he just heard some bad news, but the Bible says that he saw the great multitude and was moved with compassion for them. When you do what you love it seems easier to work, sometimes it doesn’t even feel like work. That compassion of Jesus is shown by how he tends to the multitudes needs by healing their sick. That word for compassion in the Greek also means to move. Jesus didn’t just say “I love you, be blessed” he did something, it also means deep as in dealing with the anatomy the inward parts. Not a superficial feeling but something that is deep on the inside of us. When you have compassion or love for what you do, the troubles of it don’t seem so bad. I am so glad that Jesus loves us.

Ephesians 2:4-5

New King James Version (NKJV)

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

1 John 4:9-11

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 

1 Corinthians 13 

New King James Version (NKJV)

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.

⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part.¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Prioritize

The third thing I noticed about the text and those who do more with less is that they prioritize. The disciples wanted to send the multitude home, Jesus wanted them to stay the priority was the work being done, not going home to shop for food. I also noticed in some of the other gospel texts, when the disciples say how much it would cost to feed the multitudes, no one ever says they don’t have the money, only that it would cost a lot. Decisions in the texts, right or wrong, were decisions made based on priorities. When you have the right priorities you will be able to get a lot more accomplished.

Ask yourself, what are your priorities? If you have some trouble answering the question, look in your checkbook, which will help you figure it out, check out a bank statement online or paper copy, whatever you see the most going to, I would be willing to bet that is a priority. If not money, look at what you spend the most time doing, where you spend your time and treasure will tell you what you consider a priority. Only what you do for Christ will last

Know where your help comes from

The text says that Jesus took the bread, looked to the heavens and blessed it. He knew where his help came from, notice also that the boy is not mentioned anymore after he hands over the food. You turn your problems over to the Lord and you don’t have to handle them anymore.

Psalm 121 New King James Version (NKJV)

A Song of Ascents.

121 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
² My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
⁸ The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Psalm 54:4New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴ Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life.

Romans 8:31-39

New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”^[a]

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

---

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/sports/surviving-the-bernard-hopkins-way.html

[2] http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/awareness-and-attention/articles/2013/the-multitasking-mind/

Dealing With the Contradictions (Romans 7:14-25)

Human behavior is something we all strive to understand, we offer degrees in psychology and sociology, those who work well with others or are likable seem to go further in life, we spend time trying to be with and to better understand our mates. We spend a great deal of our time trying to figure out why and how somebody did something. We spend so much time trying to figure these things out because the stuff that we want to do, we sometimes don’t, and the things that we don’t want to do, we sometimes find ourselves doing. We become this walking talking mass of contradictions. I know I should work out a whole lot more than I do, but I’m still working on it, I know I need to drink less sugary drinks, but I am working on it.

Michel de Montaigne (Renaissance Author) said:

‘I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself.”

Thomas Merton(Catholic Monk) said:

“The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me.”

During the time of this writing you had Pious Jews in the area that believed in strict observance of the law, the lived every day scared that they were going to break it. You also had pious early Christians out there struggling to observe the rules as well. This life becomes a struggle of the flesh and the spirit.

Paul doesn’t minimize his struggle and neither should we; yes we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and the apple of God’s eye but we still have our struggles. The Apostle Paul exercises some self-examination if you will, he takes a “selfie” without the camera. As I was researching for this sermon, one of the commentaries I read said that some scholars don’t want to believe that the Apostle Paul was speaking on his own struggles, that he didn’t have any. They go so far as to say even though he is writing IN FIRST PERSON, using terms like ‘I’ and ‘me’ he did that just to relate to the readers of the epistle, but didn’t really have any struggles to talk about.

That is why a lot of the secular world doesn’t want anything to do with Christians because some of us walk around like we are perfect, and the higher “rank” you think you have in the Body of Christ, the worse off it seems to be. Don’t be on the Trustee board, or a Baptist Deacon, elder, or mother of the church. Then you are really big stuff, but the men and women of the cloth seem to be just as bad. I am in a few Facebook groups and there are people in there who will get mad if you don’t address them by their titles when responding to their posts in the groups. You want me to call you Chief Apostle, Archbishop Primate, Presiding Prelate or whatever and have the nerve to say something about it every time someone doesn’t do so. Why? I am not one to despise small beginnings but if I had 10 names in my title, and only 2 members in your congregation, maybe I would be a little short on honorifics, pomp, and circumstance and little longer on some ministry. We all struggle, there is no use trying to pretend that we don’t, the bible says

Romans 3:23New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

We cannot think of ourselves as perfect, if we did, I think it would be hard for us to see the God in others.

So what do we do about it?

1. It won’t be effortless

Verse 17 – Paul can speak on the flesh and “nothing good, that dwells within me” because God gave him an understanding of Donald Lawrence’s song before he wrote it, we are not natural beings having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings living a natural experience. And in this natural experience we will always have a way out.

1 Corinthians 10:13New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

13 No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

2. Expect to encounter enemies

Verse 21 – When I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.

A man with no enemies is a man with no character.

Quoted in Paul Newman: A Life in Pictures, ed. Yann-Brice Dherbier and Pierre-Henri Verlhac (2006), p. 120

Variant: If you don't have enemies, you don't have character.

As quoted in Words of Wisdom : From the Greatest Minds of All Time (2004) by Mick Farren

Simply put, all the greats are hated on.

If you are in a position where everybody likes you all the time, you might want to take a look at some of your values. Does that mean you need to get into a fight everyday, no, but you cannot please all the people all the time without lying to somebody.

Furthermore it will not be easy, success takes a lot of hard work, they say you need 10,000 hours of practice at any given skill before you become proficient at it. I was watching the movie Rocky II at home on Friday and Rocky’s trainer a character named Mickey was talking Rocky and he said to be able to last in the ring 45 minutes you need to train for 45,000 minutes, now that is a 1,000 of practice for every minute he needed to last in the ring.

We have become this culture with a microwave mentality to the point that we expect success to come without much time and without much effort. I have seen it in the way we treat our athletes. Now I am not the biggest Lebron James fan, I will be the first to admit it, but the man has a tremendous amount of pressure on him, everybody is expecting him to be the next Michael Jordan to the point that if he does not lead his team, and I say lead as in start, and contribute the most not like some of the others who just happen to be in the right place at the right time on winning teams; but I digress, if he does not lead his team, whatever team it is, to 6 or more championships, he will be viewed as a failure. There is video out, someone edited it together Michael Jordan’s “Maybe” video with Lebron James’ “Rise.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVCjUG1Mww

The video shows Lebron and Jordan talking in voice over’s and Jordan says, “maybe its my fault, maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn’t, maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free-throw line and not in the gym.” Repetition is the mother of skill, we need to find time to fill our time with the things of God.

3. Expect to call upon your extraction

Full Definition of EXTRACTION

1:  the act or process of extracting something

2:  ancestry, origin  - This is the definition I am focusing on

3:  something extracted

Verses 24-25 – the way we deal with it is practice, by ourselves we are wretched, but with the help of the lord we are the righteousness of God. Our daughter Elle Bea has a toy she likes to play with, a doll by the name of Caillou, nice looking toy, but the head comes off, often. The first time the doll’s head came off; Elle Bea could not be consoled, even after I put the head back on, she was still crying for a little bit, now the head comes off and she calmly walks over to me, hands be the doll and just says ‘Daddy’ she has had practice turning her problems over to her father because she knows that he can fix it. 

The bible says

Matthew 18:3-5New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

We ought to spend more time handing over our broken things to our Heavenly Father, he has the know-how to put things back together. That is why I appreciate some of the traditional  Gospel songs, they tell us we can’t make it on our own.

Jesus, keep me near the cross,
There a precious fountain—
Free to all, a healing stream—
Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.

Refrain:
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

We need Jesus to keep us near the cross

I serve a risen Savior
  He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living,
  Whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy;
  I hear His voice of cheer;
And just the time I need Him
  He’s always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
    He lives within my heart.

Verse 1
I've had many tears and sorrows,
I've had questions for tomorrow,
there's been times I didn't know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave me blessed consolation,
that my trials come to only make me strong.

Chorus
Through it all,
through it all,
I've learned to trust in Jesus,
I've learned to trust in God.

Through it all,
through it all,
I've learned to depend upon His Word.

I’m a testimony
Look at me, I'm a testimony,
I didn't make it on my own,
I'm not standing here all alone.
It is Jesus who gave me this opportunity,
look at me, I'm a testimony.

Verse:
(It's Jesus) who made me a possibility,
(nobody but Jesus), who never gave up on me.
(Jesus), who put all His trust in me,
(Jesus), found me, fixed me, and decided to use me;
look at me, I'm a testimony.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

7 even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep[a] me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.[b] 8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, 9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power[c] is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Isaiah 40:28-31King James Version (KJV)

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

That is how we deal with the contradictions, we call for help, we cannot make it on our own, in out weakness God makes us strong. God keeps us putting one foot in front of the other, keeps giving us grace and mercy which are new every morning. God gives us the ability to carry on.

Living Victoriously (John 17:1-11)

http://goo.gl/wpU82B (link to live sermon)

            This particular passage of scripture is called the High Priestly Prayer, and also the Farewell Discourse. The Gospel according John Chapter is divided into 2 books, the book of signs, and the book of glory, it is also has 7 discourses;

Sign No. 1wedding at Cana-John Chapter 2

Sign No. 2            Healing of the nobleman's son-John Chapter 4

Sign No. 3            Healing of the lame man in Jerusalem-John Chapter 5

Sign No. 4            The feeding of the 5,000-John Chapter 6

Sign No. 5            Jesus walks on water-John Chapter 6

Sign No. 6            Healing of the man born blind-John Chapter 9

Sign No. 7            Raising Lazarus from the dead-John Chapter 11

Discourse No. 1            Early Judean ministry: Nicodemus-John Chapter 3

Discourse No. 2            The Samaritan woman: woman at the well/living water-John Chapter 4

Discourse No. 3            The discourse on the father and the son-John Chapter 5

Discourse No. 4            The bread of life discourse-John Chapter 6

Discourse No. 5            Feast of tabernacles: the spirit-John Chapter 7

Discourse No. 6            Jesus as light of the world-John Chapter 8

Discourse No. 7            Jesus as the good shepherd-John Chapter 10

But John chapters 14-17 are known as the Farewell Discourse, it is given by Jesus to 11 of his disciples after the Passover meal, that we Christians refer to as the Last Supper. This is a passing of the baton of sorts, Jesus knows what he has to do, so he is preparing himself and the Disciples not only for what is to come, but what they have to do afterwards.

As I was studying the passage, I thought this was going to be a real complicated piece to preach, I thought I was going to have to prune and take it piece by piece not trying to overcomplicate the message with some sort of profound revelation, but the more I studied the more I realized the purpose of this prayer was real simple. Eternal life is to know God and know Jesus. All right there in verse 3, know God and Jesus, you will know eternal life. That is what we are all here for right? Once we get past tradition, and maybe our parents making us come, that is why we are all here, we want there to be something more than the 70-100 if we are real strong, years on this planet. Here Jesus provides a prayer and gives us the answer, because he gives us the answer, he is operating like he already has the victory.  Notice also this prayer is not alone, clutching a rock, like so many artist have painted when he is in the garden; this prayer is right within earshot of all the other disciples.

Jesus prays for his own glorification in the first 8 verses, and he prays that the people know God, that word that Jesus uses for know in the Greek, is comparable to the Hebrew word used for know in the Old Testament, it means to intimately know God, develop a relationship with Him. The next part of the passage, Jesus intercedes for the disciples praying for them because he is going to the Father, they still have work to do on Earth. Jesus is not praying with defeat, he is praying from a position of victory.

I am a fan of video games; I am a fan of all kinds of games but mostly video games and particularly those from the 80s and early 90s, for the home console systems. Something that I understand about those games is that they are expensive to make. Teams of computer programmers, hardware and software specialist come together to make a video game along with testers, graphic designers, musicians, etc. They work together for a year or some years to develop a game, which is why they cost so much. These days, they try to make the video game long to play  (60 hours on some) so that the customer doesn’t feel like they wasted $60, but back in the 80s and 90s there was not much room on the disks and cartridges so to make the customer feel good about their purchase, they made the game hard. I would spend entire weekends, and when school was out, the whole summer trying to figure out how to win some of these games, some I got really good at, others, not so much.

Just recently I came across a group of professional gamers who “speed run” they have made a career out of playing a video game better than everybody else, and some specialize in beating the game in the fastest way possible. So games that would take me all weekend to get halfway through, they can beat from start to finish in 10-15 minutes. Some of these speed runners put on an annual charity marathon where they speed run these games live and raise money for charity. For example somebody will call in to the marathon and say they will donate $1000 to autism research if someone can beat a certain game in 13 minutes, and the speed runner will do it.

Now after getting over the pain of watching them make my childhood video game skills seem trivial I started to watch how they played and noticed they didn’t play the same way I used to play or play now, they have a whole different approach, and I found a sermon in it. The speed runners play the game victoriously.

First off, they prepare, they know the game sometimes better than the people who programmed it. We should all study our craft no matter what it is.

2 Timothy 2:15

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁵ Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

That word study has other translations, be diligent, do your best, The Message Bible even says concentrate. The fact is if you want to be victorious, you have to prepare. One of my favorite music producers Leon Lewis, says all the time, “I am not the best musician, not the smartest, not the most creative, but you will NEVER out prepare me.” We ought to spend time studying what ever it is we want to do, but especially study God’s word.

Something else I noticed about the speed runners, they don’t stop when the enemy comes, nor do they fight every enemy. I watched the speed runners walk right past enemies, straight up ignore them and what they were doing, didn’t fuss, didn’t stress, didn’t stop, just kept moving. That is hard to do for some of us, we won’t allow ourselves to be disrespected. We argue every motion, fight every battle, resist every bit of change, because we want to do it our way and our way is best. We might think so, but I noticed in the game when you stop to fight every enemy, you might win, but you lose energy.

Psalm 23:4-5

King James Version (KJV)

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Thirdly when they enemy does lay a hand on the runner, they allow the damage caused or the way that they enemy hit them, push them forward. Everything is used to push the runner forward and not backwards, instead of sitting around complaining about getting hit they let the hit push them further toward the end. Too many times we let our setbacks be our stopping points, we want to spend the rest of our lives talking about something that happened years ago instead of learning from it and moving on.

Philippians 3:13-14

King James Version (KJV)

¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Last point I noticed about the runners, they played with victory in mind, they knew in the end, they were going to win, just like Jesus knew in the prayer Glory was his. Even though it was the last supper he knew he had to be whipped all night long. Crown of thorns on his head, nails in his hands, piercing in his side, fed vinegar for water, hang his head and die. Be put in a borrowed tomb, but early on the third day rise again!

Dry Bones, Breath, and Life

Dry Bones, Breath, and Life

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Ezekiel 37:1-14, the passage on the valley of the dry bones is one of the most famous Old Testament passages, definitely the most popular of the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel is more structured than other OT prophet books, and it is one of the few times in the OT that life after death is discussed. About 600 years before Christ, Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon defeated the Hebrew people, the Kingdom of Judah, some of the people we held captive, while others were exiled. The people of God were in disarray and Theologians refer to this period as the exilic period, a byproduct of the period was some of the rich OT literature, and the finalization of the literature that was already out.

This also influenced literature and art for the later years. James Weldon Johnson, author of Lift Every Voice and Sing also penned a song in dialect, you may have heard of…

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Influenced by Ezekiel 37

This passage is pretty popular.

Ezekiel is taken to a valley of dry bones, you can tell a lot about an organism based on its bones. I remember taking a health class in High School and the teacher showing us a skeleton. The teacher asked us to tell if the skeleton was male or female. No one knew how to determine this and after many guesses, the teacher showed us the hipbones, they pointed out, he said that was for child bearing so the skeleton was a woman. You can tell a lot by the bones, that is why we have archeologists digging up fossils and when we have something wrong with us medically we get x-rays.

The bones in the valley were dry, we can relate to dry situations. Trying to look for colleges, find money for colleges, looking for a spouse for the first or second time, struggling to have children, struggling to raise children, health issues, finances, looking for a job, loosing family members, friends, or dealing with our own mortality, we all have dry periods in our lives.

God asks “can these bone live? I wonder what was going through Ezekiel’s mind when God asked him that? The very idea seems preposterous, bones do not get up they stay down. I know we can see the end already but I am wondering what someone like Ezekiel would have thought in this situation. Bones stay down, dry bones are dead and gone, and how do you reconcile that in your mind?  The prophet is told to speak a word that will give life and power, but be have learned not to trust words anymore because we are flooded with them.

We are bombarded constantly with commercials, radio, television, magazines, billboards, news presentations with words all over the screen social media, now companies compete for the “second screen, meaning they know you are watching TV, but looking on your phone or tablet at the same time. I know better than to get on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram on Thursday nights after 9pm CST unless I want Scandal spoiled before I get to watch it.

We have learned not to trust words over time; speed limit signs are merely a suggestion. We know politicians are lying either by omission, commission, or the fact that they really don’t understand how hard it is to pass a bill or really changes laws when it is not their time. Make campaign promises, get to Washington and learn they cant even be on the committee that makes the laws they promised to change because they are a Freshman Senator. We make vows and break them; sign contracts and renege, gossip columns and blogs are more popular than ever. I heard one news reporter say the problem with news now is companies would rather be first to break the story and wrong than fifth to report on it and right. We have stopped placing value on the word.

But the word of God is different than the word of man. When God speaks things happen, the word is still important.

Genesis 1:3

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Isaiah 55:10-11

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

¹⁰ For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
    and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

John 1:1

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^[a] full of grace and truth.

Psalm 119:25

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

²⁵ My soul clings to the dust;
    revive me according to your word.

You see the idea would seem silly or preposterous to some because they have tried to control their god. God is only as big as they want him to be, they decide what kind of God they have and keep him in a box.

Shubert Ogden said “God is the all inclusive whole of all reality”

Anything less is not God. Even though Man may have failed us, we can rely on God. God has the knowledge that we do not.

God gives a word, and then he gives breath.

Breath is important, we use the word for so many terms, Breathe child breathe, when somebody is shocked or surprised. You can take the air out of the room, when somebody talks a lot with no action we say they are full of hot air. When you try to tell someone something but it is not received well, you are wasting your breath, a burst of energy is called a second wind. When you don’t think something is going to happen you tell people not to hold their breath on it. Breath is important, in the Hebrew the word used for breath in this passage is also used for wind and spirit, ruah or ruach.

God’s word was promising them life, also note how the text says they were promised breath/life but they got put together first. The promise came in verse 5, but the breath did not actually come until verse 10. Dealing with a verse 6-9 moment can be hard but

Isaiah 40:31

King James Version (KJV)

³¹ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

It is hard waiting but once we are finished waiting we will appreciate the hard times and be glad we went through them. A period of financial hardship will help us appreciate the next time we get money. A period of sickness will force us to take better care of our health. We should be grateful for the waiting period because after the waiting period comes the breath of life.

James Weldon Johnson saw resurrection of a dry dead situation in his life, he was the son of a waiter, went to college, graduated and became an attorney in the late 1800s. Once of his examiners walked out in protest because they did not want to see a Black men become a lawyer. Johnson went from the son of a waiter, to a college graduate, to an attorney. Johnson went on to work on Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidential campaign and was appointed Consul to Venezuela. He had seen a dry situation resurrected and come to life!

The breath of life that can resurrect our dry situation, the breath of life that resurrected Lazarus, the breath that was with Jesus when he gave himself up for us so that we might be saved, so that death does not have the final say over us.

The Tipping Point (Matthew 17:1-9)

The Tipping Point (Matthew 17:1-9)

I fancy myself a student of business, I ought to be, I have 2 degrees in the subject, but in business, and in other subjects there is something called the tipping point. A tipping point is defined as “the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change.” When water is heated to 99 degrees Fahrenheit, you don’t see much going on with the water, but add one more degree, you see the water boil. That single degree of additional heat could be considered the tipping point. 

The Battle of Britain in World War II was a tipping point, it was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, Germany failed to destroy Britain’s air defenses in that battle and gave Germany their first major defeat, showed that they were vulnerable, and that the allied forces could win the war, the battle of Britain was a tipping point. There have been several television shows that aired on television, got cancelled, but so many people watched the syndicated reruns, that the shows would be brought back with new episodes. The reruns would generate enough interest, a tipping point to get them back into popularity. The story of the Transfiguration, in my humble opinion is a tipping point; it is an event that happens after many other events that gets us heading towards the cross, and the Passion of our Lord and savior. What happens on that mountain sets us toward events of things to come.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, often called the gospel of the church, because it is favorable to the church. Jesus only explicitly talks about the church twice and you find them in the Gospel according to Matthew. In this gospel the disciples “get it” they understand what Jesus is saying, they comprehend what he is talking about all the time. Matthew is where we find Jesus fulfilling a lot of the prophecies of the Messiah from the Hebrew Scriptures, and that is why we hear of this transfiguration of Jesus. This event happens in the three synoptic gospels Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36 and the transfiguration is referred to in 2^nd Peter 1:1-18. This is a tipping point, or turning point in the ministry of Jesus.

The text says that Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, Jesus was a man of the people, sometimes he was with the multitude, sometimes he was with the twelve, but some other times he was with Peter, James, and John. Yes we ought to be Christians in community, but even Jesus had to get away with his inner circle from time to time. Furthermore sometimes-even Jesus would need to be alone with just him and the Father. Here Jesus is not with the multitude, or the 70, not with the twelve, it is just Jesus, Peter, James, and John. The Gospel according to Mark points out those four together often, but this is the first time we see it in Matthew. Who we keep close to us is very important. Many people believe that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with or the average of our five closest friends. Because of that I will be looking to spend some time with Bill Gates, Bob Johnson, Our nation’s President  (Barrack Obama), Michael Jordan, and Warren Buffet. Who we spend our time with is important, so is what we spend our time on.

That term transfigured literally means metamorphosed in the Greek, and we use metamorphosis often, we use it to describe a change. There are plenty of organisms that go through metamorphosis in their respective life cycles; tadpoles become frogs, some fish change from saltwater to freshwater, caterpillars become butterflies. The thing about metamorphosis that we may not understand is in our mind, that is the exact same organism, but biologically, parts, or almost the entire first animal had to die to go through the change and give you what you see in its changed state. The same thing is true about us in this walk with Christ, in order to get some real change, we have to do more than go to a conference, or listen to a song about change, some things in us have to die, we cannot be the same after experiencing Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NRSV)

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷ So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Jesus was changed when he was transfigured, the radiance and brightness that shined like the sun.

They show Jesus in the text with Moses and Elijah, that is important, Matthew thought about who was going to be reading and hearing this, the church, the more organized, those who were looking for Jesus to fulfill the prophecy, this is here to let you know, not only is Jesus in line with the prophets, but he is the fulfillment of the prophets. Just like the prophets Moses and Elijah, who were originally rejected by the people, then vindicated later by God, Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected and will become the chief cornerstone.

Then a voice came from the cloud and said, This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” Where have we heard that before? Matthew 3:17, Matthew is about tying up loose ends in my opinion. Mark got right to the point, Matthew wants to stay and tarry a little while, Matthew likes to unpack the story of Jesus a little more he was telling the story of Jesus to those who knew a little something about scripture and would be looking to see some things from Jesus that spoke to their soul. Not only that, but with Matthew the way you start is the way you finish. If you didn’t hear God the first time telling you about his son, let me tell you again. We look at this differently then they did, we already know Jesus is the Son of God, but during their time, the disciples, and the people of the scripture, they are still learning.

While they are still learning, they are caught up in the glory of God; they are overcome fear the text says. But even in being overcome by fear, this is why I love Jesus; the text says Jesus came to them. If Jesus can come to them, then I think it is ok to think that Jesus may come to me. Who am I that he is mindful of me, who am that He might touch me and speak to me, and that I can form a relationship with him. Who am I that Jesus would think that much of me, I don’t deserve it but yet he did it just for me. We serve a God, a risen savior that is willing to come to us.

After the transfiguration, they came down the mountain; Jesus told them “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Jesus knew what was coming, he knew that he had to show his passion. He knew that he had to go through some pain

Isaiah 53:5-7 (NKJV)

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

He knew he had to be whipped all night long, he had to be whipped with a cat of nine tails just for you and me, he had to pierced in his side, be given gall for food and vinegar for drink. They had to cast lots (gamble) for his clothes, had to wear a crown of thorns, and carry a cross to Golgotha, the place of the skull, or Calvary, he knew he had to get on that cross, but not just him, our sins had to get on that cross too, and he had to die. He had to die, so that we could avoid death, hell and the grave, he did all that for us. For you and for me, but most importantly he got up, three days later he got up with all power in his hand, so that whosoever believes in him will not have death but everlasting life. The transfiguration was the tipping point, the tipping point that took us towards victory on the cross.