Twenty-Second Sunday of Kingdomtide
Worship Theme: The Way to Glory
Isaiah 53:7-12 CEB
Hebrews 4:4-16 CEB
Mark 10:35-45 the Message Bible
“Down to Earth”
A reading from the Gospel of Mark. . . Chapter 4. . . verses 35-45. . . Listen for a word from God to you and me, the people of God. . . (Read from the Message Bible).
Here ends the reading for the Gospel of Mark. . .
Let us pray. . .
Loving and gracious God, we thank you for your living word. . . your love letter to your children. We pray that as we listen to your ancient words, you would reveal to us what you would have us know and understand. Illuminate our hearts and minds so that we, your ambassadors, would be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. Speak Lord, your children are listening.
Good Morning. Have you ever noticed that it seems to be those who are strongest that get all the “good stuff”? I see how people step all over each other to get to the “top” and when they finally reach it, they have to continue to fight so that they can keep it. You hear about people who made it to the top because they are standing on the backs of those of whom they climbed over. It’s a “dog eat dog” kind of world and only the “strong survive”. If you have trouble with doing this to your neighbor you are considered weak.
Everyone wants to be first. Even in the grocery store people want to get there first. I have had times when I was getting in a grocery lane to check out and have had people run in front of me to get there before me. What is this fixation with being first? I have even let people get in front of me who may only have a few things so they don’t have to wait for me to get cashed out. (You can only imagine how long it takes at time with having a family of 5, 4 cats and 2 dogs to buy for. . . ) This whole thing about wanting to be first is a long standing problem in the world. Why can’t humanity just be down to earth and not have their heads so high that they are lost in the clouds?
But we, as Christians, live by another rule. God would have us think about others first, to find strength in weakness, receive salvation through suffering and to serve through and in humility. We live sort of backwards to how the world would have us live. But to live that full life that has been promised to us by God we need to live by other standards. To go up in the Kingdom of God. . . to work in and through the Kingdom of God. . . we must be down to earth. . . It is the way and the theology of the cross of Calvary. It is counterintuitive to what the world would have us be and act. Christianity is a backwards way of thinking to the world in which we live.
Let me explain:
1. Strength through weakness – from the Hebrews scripture from this morning, we can have strength in weakness because our high priest, our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, sympathizes with us in our weakness. He went through trials as we did and knows what we are going through and how we feel. But even though He was tempted, He overcame and that gives us hope. When we are weak, God strengths us with the grace we need for every situation we encounter. When we are weak, God is able to use us better because it is not by what we can do but what God does in and through us. We get out of the way of God’s plan when we are weak and can’t do it on our own. We trust God with the outcome and not our own ability.
2. Salvation through suffering – The Isaiah scripture this morning we hear about the “Suffering Servant”. . . the one who would suffer for the sins of many. We are made right through suffering. If there had been no servant to suffer “as a lamb brought to slaughter” there would be no redemption for you and for me. . . there would have been no bridge gapped so that we may cross over and receive forgiveness. . . thee would be righteousness through the righteous One.
3. Service through humility – In the Gospel reading we heard about two of the disciples wanting to “go to the head of the class.” They wanted to be honored above all others. But. . . Jesus’ answer to them must have confused them. He told them that if you want to be first you have to be last, you have to be a servant to all. We, as Christians are to serve others without having our own agendas but to have God’s agenda as we serve. We don’t do things to have the glory for ourselves but to glorify God and what God is doing in the world and community’s in which we live.
Now this is all goes against what the world would tell us and have us be. We may be seen as backwards but if we are to follow in the steps of Christ we must be as backwards as He was when He ministered to the world in which He lived.
We need to live another way. We need to live in such a way that it is God who gets the glory, not ourselves. We need to live in such a way that others will want to join in the fun of ministry. We need to live so that we can be used for God’s good and perfect plan for our lives and in the lives of others. My question is, have we truly put ourselves to the “back of the line” in order for others to be first in our lives? Have we put God first or have we put ourselves on that pedestal? Are we serving God with humility or are we puffing ourselves up? Only you and I know the answer to these questions. I pray that we would search within ourselves and see if there is any way within us that needs to be changed. Let us go forth for the kingdom of God as our tour guide, the Holy Spirit, leads us in the way of the cross. . . to find strength in our weakness, cherish our salvation through the suffering of Christ, and serve in humility and love to those in need. Let us keep our heads out of the clouds and be a down to earth Christian for the glory of God.
Amen.
October 24, 2012
Worship Theme: The Way to Glory
Mark 10: 35-45
Isaiah 53: 7-12 (Common English Bible)
Hebrews 4: 14-16 (Common English Bible)
Call to Worship (Psalm 104: 1, 33-34 Common English Bible)
Unison Prayer by Pastor Ruth Foss
Pastoral Prayer by Pastor Ruth Foss
Prayer of Dedication by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon – “Down to Earth”
by Pastor Ruth
Foss
sermon blog
meditation
blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
Suncook United Methodist ChurchSuncook, NH
October 21, 2012
Twenty-Second Sunday of Kingdomtide
All of my
poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights
reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage.
See all 36,680+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
No comments:
Post a Comment