October 14, 2012
Twentieth Sunday of Kingdomtide
Worship Theme: The High Cost of Faith
Psalm 90:1-2, 16-17 CEB
Genesis 3:8-19 CEB
Hebrews 4:1-3, 9-13 CEB
Mark 10:17-30 NLT Bible
“Count the Cost”
A reading of the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10, verses 9-13 from the New Living Translation Bible. Hear the word of God for you and me, the people of God.
(Read Passage)
Here ends the reading from the Gospel of Mark.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray. . .
Ever present God, we thank you for your ancient words of hope, love and compassion. We ask that as we listen for a word from you to us, your children, we would have eyes to see you in the world around us, ears to hear you soft whisper on the breeze and a heart that is pliable and open to and for you. Speak to us in ways that will stir our Spirits and cause us to be transformed into the people you would have us be. Speak Lord. . . we lie in wait to hear your charge for us this day. . .
Good morning. Over the past few days, we as a church have had an interesting time as we shared our abundance with those who are within our community. We had the Grace Abounds Day on Friday. It was a day when we shared with those in need what we had for the Yard Sale with no cost to them. It was free. We had a few people come and they seemed to really like the idea of how we were reaching out to the community. They were surprised that we were actually giving away stuff for free. When does someone give things away for free? There has to be some kind of catch. . .
Then on Saturday we had our yard sale, which was a success. But it was after the yard sale that really got my attention. We put all the stuff that was left on the curb and had a “Free” sign put out. Anyone who came by had the chance to go through the stuff and take whatever they wanted for free. And there was still a lot of good stuff left. I must have seen about twenty to twenty-five people come and get stuff. . . for free. Ray and I went out and talked with some of the people and they just couldn’t believe that all this stuff was free. They were thrilled to find “treasures” amongst all of these “leftovers” from the yard sale. It was unquestionably and undeniably a transformational time for the people who came. This is what transformational ministry looks like to say the least. We, as a church, were given things. . . things were donated. . . to our church for the yard sale. And what we did was to give away what we received for free to those who were in need. We emptied our barns instead of keeping stuff for another yard sale where we could make more money for ourselves. . .
But when I was thinking about how there was so much free stuff for people and we as a church were providing it, it made me think about we as Christians in general and about how we sometimes view our salvation. Now don’t get me wrong, salvation is free for anyone who asks for it through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Grace is free. All you have to do is to come to Jesus who is there waiting for the lost to come to Him as He accepts them with open arms of forgiveness, grace and love. This is all true but. . . there was a price that was paid for all of our “free stuff” as a Christian. That price was the precious blood of Jesus Christ. With that being said, how can we remain the same in sin and truly be Christian. . . to be a “true” Christian? There are ways in which we show how we are a “true Christians”. . . Christ Followers. . . What does it cost to be Christ’s followers?
First, we need to put Christ above possessions. In the Gospel reading this morning, we heard about a young rich man. He followed all the rules to be saved. He knew the commandments and followed them from his youth. But, there was one thing more. He needed to get rid of his possessions and share the proceeds with the poor. Now this young man had a lot. He must have been well off. But instead of thinking of others first he was more afraid of what he would be. . . of what he wouldn’t have. . . about his “rainy day”. He was saddened and walked away.
There are so many people. . . so many churches these days that are afraid of the tomorrow. They are so afraid of their rainy day that they fail to see that others are having a rainy day. They fail to see the message. . . the implication. . . of God’s word. God wants His people to share what they have. . . not to keep it for themselves. God wants Christ’s Church to share with others and He will provide what is needed for the “rainy day.” Now this doesn’t mean that the church needs to get rid of everything. Christ’s church needs to be able to operate so that the church can be the hands and feet of Christ. What it means is that the church needs to trust that God is with them as they are in ministry to those around them and if there is a time of “thinness”, He will provide. Kind of like the story of the rich man and the barns. He thought he had it all figured out. He thought with bigger barns he could hold more of his stuff. But he was wrong. He was about to die that evening and what then would happen to all his stuff. We can’t take it with us so we should use it while we are here to “transform” the lives around us. Our cost is put our possessions on the altar and let God direct how we use them.
Secondly, we need to put God above ourselves. In the Genesis Scripture from this morning we heard about Adam and Eve and how they put their selves above what God wanted. They knew that the God provided for them. They walked with God each day. They knew that they were not allowed to eat from the three in the Garden. But they wanted to have the knowledge of God; they wanted to be like God in their knowledge. They thought of their own “wisdom” and attaining it instead of God’s wisdom in keeping them safe from sin. . . from their disobedience to God. They felt they knew better about what would be safe for them instead of relying on God.
How many times do we get in trouble when we put our own agenda above God’s agenda for our lives? We decide we know better than God and in doing so, we put ourselves above God in our lives. Our cost is to trust that God knows best and God has a plan for us but we must be willing to put ourselves on the altar of grace.
And thirdly, we must put obedience above faithlessness. From the Hebrews scripture this morning, we hear about what happens when we are obedient. . . when we follow god’s plan. We come into God’s rest because we are trusting in God. God knows our hearts; God knows our “true” intensions. It is to God that we will answer to for what we have done or not have done while we were supposed to be carrying out God’s work in the world. God’s word is not stagnant. God’s word is living and active in the world. We cannot say that certain things of God’s word doesn’t pertain to us. . . we cannot say “well that was then but things are different in the world now.” God’s word is eternal and it is the one thing in our lives that doesn’t change. The lessons to be learned are eternal.
We, as Christ’s Church, sometimes decide that we need to be in control. We become faithless and are not obedient to what God would have us do. We have no faith that God knows best. We have no faith that God can see the big picture while we only know in part. We have no faith that God is in control. And because of this faithlessness we become disobedient to what God would have us do. We do not enter into God’s rest because we are too worried about things around us. We worry more about the god of the world instead of thinking about the God who “CREATED” heaven and earth. Our cost is to listen with our hearts and minds to what God is telling us through god’s word and do what it tells us to do. Our cost. . . our price. . . is to put ourselves on the altar for God’s purpose. To put all we have, all we are and all that is yet to be in God’s hands and let God decide our fate. Which we know is good and pleasing.
Church of Christ, that’s all who proclaim to follow Christ, there needs to be a change. . . there needs to be a shift...in the way we think. It is not all about the bottom line. It is about transforming the lives of those around us. It’s all about sharing the abundance of what we are given with those who have nothing. The choice is ours. Will we be as the rich man with the barns and keep storing away what we have for our rainy day. . . will we be like the young rich man in the Gospel lesson and think the price is to great and walk away or will we put ourselves on the altar of love and grace. . . putting ourselves aside so that others may enter in?
Will you and I decide that our storehouse is not full enough to share the bounty from it or will we chose to let God transform us to be that transformational people that God intended us to be. The choice is ours. . . which will you chose?
As we sing our last Hymn, “I Surrender All”, I want us to think about whose we are and who we are commanded to be. As we surrender our offerings of our “Talents for Christ,” I would ask that we would also surrender ourselves to the will of God. May God form us into a transformational people who will bring about change in our lives, our churches, our community and in the world.
Amen
October 25, 2012
Worship Theme: The High Cost Of the Faith
Mark 10:17-30
Genesis 3:8-19 (Common English Bible)
Hebrews 4:1-3, 9-13 (Common English Bible)
Call to Worship (Psalm 90:1-2, 16-17 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 – “Count the Cost”
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
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Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
October 14, 2012
Twentieth Sunday of Kingdomtide
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