November 14, 2021 – Stewardship Sunday        Text:  Colossians 4:3, 5-6

Dear Friends in Christ,

    If you are mentally able to do this I want you to think back in life when citizens of the world did not carry around phones.   Hard to do when I recently heard that more of the world’s population owns a phone than have a running toilet.  There is something wrong with that picture, but I digress.  Ok, are you back to that time?  Before phones many people but not all wore watches.  I rarely wore one.  If I wasn’t near a bank or inside I was asking people what time it was.  As someone who respected my parent’s curfew and being at places on time, I was finding someone with a watch and saying, “Excuse me, do you have the time?”

    Were you like me?  Even if you have always been a watch wearer you have probably had a moment or two where you asked the same question, “Excuse me, do you have the time?”

    Today is Stewardship Sunday and the direction we take on this day of Sabbath rest is a simple one . . .

“EXCUSE ME, DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?”

    We begin by asking ourselves, “Excuse me, do you have the time?”  Well, do you?  Do you have enough time?  Do you feel squeezed, pressured, on edge and now the holidays are coming and well . . .  Paul writes in verse 5, “making the best use of the time?”  Do we do that?

    Do we ever waste time?  This afternoon is a bad example because I am going to the nursing home to conduct worship but on many Sundays I like to relax and watch sports?  Is that bad?  Depending on your view of sports your answer may be yes or no.  We all have things we do with our time that others may not find productive.  Does God expect us to always be out sharing His Word?  No, that too is unrealistic.  The Lord understands we all need our rest, our down time, our alone time.  It prepares our minds and our bodies to be useful in His Kingdom.

    Let’s ask God the question, “Excuse me, do you have the time?”  God is not subject to time but He is the Creator of time.  So, He has the time but does He need the time.  Scripture says this, “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Gal. 4:4-5)

    Jesus came at exactly the right time.  He kept the Law of Moses perfectly because we could not.  He bought us back from sin and gave us our freedom.  He did this on a cross at a specific time in the history of our world.  He provided us forgiveness for when we waste the time.  We are freed from the guilt that we should be doing more.  Even Jesus had to have time away.  Didn’t the disciples drive him a little crazy at times.  “Wake up Lord, the wind and the waves!”  “I’m the greatest, no I’m the greatest.”  “Let these hungry people go home.”  Even when he would go away sometimes they would have to follow just like a child following his mother to the tub.  In spite of all that, He loved them and died for them and rose for them.  He does the same for each of us.  The Lord gives us a fresh start as his children to spend our time for God’s purposes.

    We ask Paul, “Excuse me do you have the time?”  He wanted the time as he writes in verse 3, “At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison.”  Paul needed the prayers of the believers.  He needed opportunities to share the Gospel.  He wanted to use his time wisely.  A big picture view of his life certainly confirms that.  We think of him as one of the greatest Christian missionaries who ever lived.

    How do you see yourself?  Is time usage a strength or weakness?  “Excuse me, do you have the time?”  You do, so listen to Paul.  “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.  Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”  (v. 5-6)  Before unbelievers the Word we proclaim should be done in a favorable light.  We strive through the work of the Holy Spirit for tact and sincerity so that our words take root.  Let your love flow to the person you are speaking to.  Do you use words like blessing, forgiven, saved, hopeful a lot?  Or are you complaining, whining, wondering why things are so bad for you?

    Take this perspective home with you.  10 of us from Good Shepherd went to a movie this week based on the story of Rev. Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand.  Converts to Christianity who were tortured for Christ.  We sat through a half hour of previews that just kept playing over and over.  We were watching people in prison and being beaten for their faith.  As I sat there I thought, “We are all antsy to get this thing moving but we are in a comfortable theater.  There are millions around the world who are experiencing what the Wurmbrand’s went through.”  Can the Lord use your time?  Can you pray for the people around the world who can be imprisoned for having a Bible or even speaking the name of Jesus?  Can our brothers and sisters in Christ count on you?

    Help us Lord to use the time you give us for your glory.

                                    Amen.           

Nov. 7, 2021 – All Saints Sunday                Text:  Matthew 18:1-10

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Are you ready to be confused?  Today is All Saints Sunday but we have a text on angels, what is going on Pastor?  We are going to delineate between the two.  There is confusion within the Christian Church and even more so outside the Christian Church about angels and saints.  

    How do we use the word angel?  We say of our daughters, “She is such a little angel.”  We say of our sons, “That kid is just like an angel.”  Angels are figurines and in paintings and in TV and movies.  The caricature of the angel floating in the clouds playing the harp or the angel getting ready to shoot the arrow of love fill our heads of images that part from the reality.

    Yes, there are angels.  God uses these ministering spirits for His purposes.  We have maybe come in contact with an angel unawares.  They watch over us as we speak of travel and dangerous situations.  One thing to get straight today:  we do not become angels when we die.  Loved ones are not looking down on us or intervening for us.  Once you have attained perfection why would anyone want anything more to do with this sinful world.  We say, “take us from this vale of tears” because we are tired of the hurt and the suffering and the sin.  We don’t want to relive it.  

    Let’s go at it this way . . .

“WE’RE NO ANGELS . . . BUT WE ARE SAINTS”

    Angels, you see, surround the reality that God values man.  Consider these words from our text:  “See that you do not despise one of these little ones.  For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”  What do we learn here?  First, the abode of angels – they live in heaven.  Second, they are in the presence of God the Father.  Third, angels are keeping watch.  This verse is the basis for the depictions of “guardian angels.”  Haven’t we all had experiences where are “guardian angel” kept us safe?  Landing in an airplane in a bad snowstorm?  Turning a steering wheel just in time?  Kept from drowning?  All done by the Lord’s angels not by grandpa who floated down here to rescue you.

    Founding Father James Madison said this, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”  Are men and women and children angels?  Of course not.  Most of the time we are so far from angelic it is laughable.  Does our compassion extend to everybody, even those we see as being on the wrong side of everything?  Are we kind, and gentle and speak well of others?  Do we love with no expectation in return?  The closest we get to being angels is when we dress in white and even that is not found in the Bible.  The bottom line is we’re no angels.  Elvis sang what we can be “the devil in disguise.”

    All right we are no angels, but Pastor isn’t there another part of the sermon?  Glad you asked.  We are saints.  Say it loud.  Say it with joy.  We are saints.  Not in the sense of having a hospital with our name it.  Not in the same way as a school with a patron saint.  No colleges have plans to put our name on the letterhead.  We are saints but not because of anything we have done.  In those rare moments you are saintly the world is not preparing for you a statue.

    You are no angel and God the Father knows that.  You fail.  You fall short.  Your harp playing is little off.  Your arrow is shot into the backside of an enemy.  You need some help and quickly.

    God knew all this so he shared in our frail humanity.  In becoming like us, God shows how much He values our existence.  Whether we live a hundred years or die tomorrow, God reached through the great chasm that separates Creator from creature to bring frail, fallen, un angel like men and women and children back to the good world to come.  This happened because of the word of the cross.  

    Immanuel, God with us, mounts up on Zion, crucified and risen, and enters our ears and our mouths so that we hear and taste bittersweet victory.  Here we know that God feeds us and strengthens our faith for the battle He shares as we wait the consummation.  

    Angelic voices rise today in preparation:  “To you all angels cry aloud, the heav’ns and all the pow’rs therein; to you cherubim and seraphim continually do cry.”  We get a foretaste of the feast to come as we hear:  “With angels, and archangels and all company of heaven we laud and magnify your glorious name.”  We worship and celebrate with the angels and saints.  Today here on earth, maybe tomorrow in heaven.  We are living saints through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We’re no angels . . . but we are saints.

    As saints we still have angelic work to do.  Jesus was speaking to the disciples in our text.  His ministers of mercy.  What is speaking to you?  Where can your voice of prayer and faith make a difference?  What wayward saint needs your presence and love?  Who is turning their back on their formerly strong Jesus relationship that wants to hear some saintly advice from you?  Intervene, before it is too late.  The Holy Spirit has your back.  The Holy Spirit has the words.  Draw strength as a living saint. 

    Has the confusion lifted?  Do you better understand?  Let’s keep it simple and say it one more time.  We’re no angels . . . but we are saints.

                                    Amen.