Sermon and Worship Resources

These illustrations are for Matthew 10:40-42
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Sermon Opener – Never Underestimate the Power of a Cold Cup of Water - Matthew 10:40-42

Now I would like to stop the world for just one minute and ask you to think back. Think back with me to the first century. Think about those 50 years after Jesus’ death and what it must been like for Jesus’ disciples. Before the last one died their efforts had brought 500,000 men, women, and children into the ranks of the church. But what they had to suffer in order to accomplish this task is seldom discussed. We like the outcome of their discipleship but we don’t want to hear the cost of discipleship. So for the record here is the cost: History tells us…

1. John died of extreme old age exiled to the island of Patmos.
2. Judas Iscariot, after betraying his Lord, hanged himself.
3. Peter was crucified; head downward, during the persecution of Nero.
4. Andrew died on a cross at Patrae, a Grecian Colony.
5. James, the younger, son of Alphaeus, was thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple, and then beaten to death with a club.
6. Bartholomew was flayed alive in Albanapolis, Armenia.
7. James, the elder son of Zebedee, was beheaded at Jerusalem.
8. Thomas, the doubter, was run through the body with a lance at Coromandel, in the East Indies.
9. Philip was hanged against a pillar at Heropolis.
10. Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows.
11. Simon died on a cross in Persia (what we now call Iran.)
12. Matthew was first stoned and then beheaded.

What sacrifices! And I ask you why? Why did they choose to die this way? Why desert your father and mother, your wife and child, and your home? Why put up with the constant humiliation, and hunger, and persecution, and defeat town after town after town?

I’ll tell you why, because, in the words of Apostle Paul, they were held captive by the words and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is Paul’s way of saying they were slaves to Christ…

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Welcome, Inc. - Matthew 10:40-42

The lady of the house was giving last minute instructions to her butler before the start of a huge dinner being held at the estate: “Bentley,” she said, “I want you to stand at the front door and call the guests’ names as they arrive.” “Very well, madam,” replied the butler, “I’ve been wanting to do that for years.”1

One of the occupational hazards of being a butler is that you have to be welcoming to people who aren’t particularly welcome-able. Actually, it isn’t just butlers who have that experience. Waiters and waitresses, for example, have to put up with patrons who aren’t always very pleasant or exactly welcome-able. I know this from experience, not because I've worked as a waiter, but because I am ashamed to admit I have been one of those grumpy customers!

Mormon missionaries and Jehovah’s Witnesses are, in contrast, usually polite and pleasant. Still, few of us are thrilled when they, or any evangelists, come knocking, as we hear in the following story:

Two church members were going door to door. They knocked on the door of a home where the woman who opened it was not happy to see them. She told them in no uncertain terms that she did not want to hear their message and slammed the door in their faces. To her surprise, however, the door did not close. In fact, it bounced back open. She tried slamming the door again, really putting her back into it. The result was the same — the door bounced back open. Convinced that the unwanted callers must be sticking a foot in the doorway, she reared back to give it a slam that would teach them a lesson, when one of them said, “Ma’am, before you do that again, you need to move your cat out of the way.”2

While it is true that door-to-door salespeople are getting rarer and rarer these days, they do have modern descendants. Telemarketers, computer spam, and pop-up window advertising are some of the unwelcome curses of the digital age.

Being welcoming and being welcome-able. As important as those characteristics are in sales, they are even more fundamental to what the kingdom of God is all about....

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Shake It Off!

One of the greatest deterrents to our spiritual progress is our inability to shake off the things done to us by others. We can't get on with our lives because we are still angry and hurt by another's sin against us. We must find ways of redirecting our antagonism into something higher. We must channel our hurt, our anger, our despair, and our disappointment into something positive. Let go. Unpack the baggage. Stop wallowing in the quagmires of the past. Get your passport stamped and move on to higher ground, to your next destination.

Jesus exhorts his disciples in Matthew 10. If the people do not receive you, don't get stuck. Don't waste your life away crying crocodile tears; "shake" the dust from your feet and keep on moving. Don't get put in spiritual, emotional, and psychological jail by the things other people do to you. After it's done, don't give them the keys to your jail cell by living in solitary confinements of unhappiness and pain. Get out of jail, pass go, and collect two hundred!

Carlyle Fielding Stewart, III, Joy Songs, Trumpet Blasts, and Hallelujah Shouts, CSS Publishing Company

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We Replace the Lamb

In that marvelous vision known as the "Peaceable Kingdom" (which we find in Isaiah 65), there is the image of the wolf and the lamb feeding together. Well, let me tell you a story about that. Back in the days of pre-perestroika Russia ... when hers was a name that made all of us tremble: the Russians brought an exhibit to the World's Fair that was entitled "World Peace." In it was a large cage. And in the cage were a little lamb and a Russian wolf ... feeding peaceably together. As an exhibit, it was most impressive. And as the fair unfolded, it was spectacularly attended. One day, however, somebody asked the curator the obvious question: "How in the world do you do it?" To which he replied: "Oh, it's really very simple. We replace the lamb every morning."

William A Ritter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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Simple Caring

For several weeks, Mrs. Sherman's first-grade class had waited for the field trip to the observatory. Notices had been sent home with instructions about the bus, lunch, and times of departure and return. To the students, waiting for the field trip was like waiting for Christmas.

Finally, the day arrived. We grabbed our lunches and coats and lined up for the bus. In the back of the room, one boy began to cry because he had forgotten to bring a lunch and would have to stay behind with another teacher. In a few minutes, the other children had contributed extra sandwiches, fruit, desserts, and drinks until the boy had a feast for his lunch. With new tears, this time tears of gratitude, he grabbed his coat, lined up, and climbed onto the bus.

We had given him a "cup of cold water." Acts of service are not always dramatic or earth-shattering. Simple caring is all that is needed. Discipleship means being alert for opportunities to care, to demonstrate God's loving-kindness, and to teach others to do the same.

Gene Blair

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The Tool of Discouragement

There is an old legend about Satan one day having a yard sale. He thought he'd get rid of some of his old tools that were cluttering up the place. So there was gossip, slander, adultery, lying, greed, power-hunger, and more laid out on the tables. Interested buyers were crowding the tables, curious, handling the goods. One customer, however, strolled way back in the garage and found on a shelf a well-oiled and cared-for tool. He brought it out to Satan and inquired if it was for sale. "Oh, no!" Satan answered. "That's my tool. Without it I couldn't wreck the church! It's my secret weapon!" "But what is it?" the customer inquired.

"It's the tool of discouragement," the devil said.

In the text Jesus is talking to the church about their attitude and deportment toward the prophets God sends among us as shepherds. He speaks frankly about acceptance and rejection, about kindness and trust. In short, he promises that in the minister's success among us shall come our own reward

Stephen M. Crotts and Stan Purdum, Sermons For Sundays: After Pentecost (First Third): Hidden In Plain View, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.

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God Still Thinks about You

Helmut Thielicke says that during World War II, his students often wrote from the battlefield saying, "I am so exhausted from marching, my stomach is so empty, I am so plagued with lice and scratching, I am so tormented by the biting cold of Russia and so dead tired, that I am totally occupied, without the least bit of inner space for any speculative thinking." Sometimes they would write that they were too weak to leaf through the Bible and were even lazy about the Lord's Prayer. Dr. Thielicke would reply, "Be thankful that the Gospel is more than a philosophy. If it were only a philosophy, you would just have it as long as you could keep it in mind and it could afford you intellectual comfort. But even when you can no longer think about God, he still thinks about you."

Herchel H. Sheets, When Jesus Exaggerated, CSS Publishing Company

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Cast-off Items

John Bowes, chairman of the parent company of Wham-O, the maker of Frisbees, once participated in a charity effort. He sent thousands of the plastic flying discs to an orphanage in Angola, Africa. He thought the children there would enjoy playing with them.

Several months later, a representative of Bowes' company visited the orphanage. One of the nuns thanked him for the wonderful "plates" that his company had sent them. She told him the children were eating off the Frisbees, carrying water with them, and even catching fish with them. When the representative explained how the Frisbees were intended to be used, the nun was even more delighted that the children would also be able to enjoy them as toys.

On one level, that story is rather amusing. On another, it is very sad. There are people who would prize even our cast-off items, who would be grateful to eat what we throw away.

King Duncan, adapted from Gary B. Swanson, Frisbees and Guerillas

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Self-doubt: Burning on the Bottom of the Pan

I remember an old story about a kindergarten teacher wrote a song about popcorn and then had her class crouch down on the floor as they sang it. At the appropriate point in the song, all the children would "pop up." The teacher had them "popping" all over the classroom.

One day, during the popcorn song, the teacher noticed that one little boy remained crouched down when all the other children popped up. "What's wrong?" the teacher asked. "Why aren't you `popping' like the other children?"

The little boy replied, "Cause I'm burning on the bottom of the pan."

Some of us are like that little boy. We feel like we are burning on the bottom of the pan. We feel like we have no worth as persons.

Billy D. Strayhorn, How God Gets His Kicks

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All You Have to Do Is Look Up

A substitute Sunday School teacher couldn't open the combination lock on the supply cabinet. So she went to the pastor for help. The pastor started turning the dial of the combination lock, stopped after the first two numbers, looked up serenely toward heaven, began moving his lips silently, turned to the final number, and opened the lock.

The teacher gasped, "I'm in awe of your faith, pastor."

"Really," he said, "it's nothing. The number is on a piece of tape on the ceiling."

I wish the answers to all of life's problems were on a piece of tape on the ceiling, don't you? Then, when we hit a difficult time in our life all we would have to do is look up.

King Duncan, The Idiot’s Guide to Christianity

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Whoever Welcomes You, Welcomes Me

Recently I was sent this story. The author said, I saw him in the church building for the first time on Wednesday. He was in his mid-70’s with thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit. Many times in the past I had invited him to come. Several other Christian friends had talked to him about the Lord and had tried to share the good news with him. He was well respected, honest, a man of good character. He acted much like a Christian would act, but he never came to church or professed Christ. After I got to know him well and we had talked about a wide range of subjects I asked him if he had ever been to a church service.

He hesitated. Then with a twisted grimace told me of an experience he had as a boy. He was raised in a large family. His parents survived the depression but they struggled to provide food and clothing for the family. When he was around ten years old a friend invited him to go to church with his family.

He went – the Sunday School class was great. The songs were fun to sing and the stories, oh the great Bible stories, were exciting to hear. He had never heard anyone read from the Bible before. As class ended the teacher pulled him aside and said, “Son, please don’t come again dressed as you are now. We want to look our best when we come into God’s house.”

He looked down at his old hand me down overalls that were certainly worn and tattered. He thought about that for a moment and said softly, “No ma’am I won’t ever.” Then he looked at me, the author wrote and said, “And you know what… I never did.” It was clear that he was done with that conversation.

The author reflected, I am sure that the Sunday School teacher meant well and in fact was representing the feeling of the majority of the folks in that church. But what if, what if she had put her arms around the dirty little boy in the ragged overalls and said, “Son, I am thrilled that you came this morning and I hope you will come every chance you get to hear more about Jesus because he loves you so much.” Moreover what if she would have talked with her pastor or her friends in the church and mobilized a full blown outreach effort to help this family make ends meet.

What if that church would have thought, Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Or whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple will receive a great reward (v. 40 & 42)

The story ended like this: Yes I saw him in the church house for the first time on Wednesday and I cried as I looked at the immaculately dressed old gentleman lying there in his casket. He was looking his best. But all I could think of were those words of an impressionable little ten-year-old boy echoing in my mind, “No ma’am I won’t ever.”

David Wiggs, Who Needs a Welcome?

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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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The Rewards Program for Christians - Matthew 10:40-42 by Leonard Sweet

We probably all remember the big, hairy Viking oaf who was once the spokesman for the Capital One Visa card: ”What’s in your wallet?”

He demands to know, because if it’s not the credit card he is hawking, you are missing out on all the rewards you could be getting. Every credit card company out there is trying to convince us that running up even more debt is a “rewarding” thing to do. We will be the recipients of all these wonderful “rewards” if we just use their card for all our purchases. Discounted merchandise, frequent flyer miles, room upgrades, even cash back formulas, are all promised by various cards as our “reward” for jacking up our monthly bill.

But for the most part, all those perks and presents are trotted out in order to draw our attention away from our ever escalating balances and the bank’s stratospheric interest rates. This “final reward” was described best in the old folk tune “Sixteen Tons” — where the miner admits he is just “another year older and deeper in debt . . . I owe my soul to the company store.” [You might consider playing the Tennessee Ernie Ford version of this chorus right here.]

A “reward” shouldn’t suck your soul away. A “reward” should set your soul soaring.

Remember how good it made you feel to be “rewarded” for memorizing Bible verses in Sunday school? Remember how you coveted your friend’s perfect attendance Sunday school pins that made his coat look like a 4-star general’s uniform? Whether you got “Awana Bucks” or plastic jewels to put in your plastic crown pin, or stripes on your sleeve as you rose in rank in “the Lord’s army,” the real reward was feeling the joy of a “mission accomplished.”

As Jesus prepared his disciples to go out on their first missionary journey he didn’t sugar coat the situation they would be facing. He warned them that pain and persecution, criticism and complaints, disgrace and even death, would accompany their efforts to serve as messengers of Jesus. But in his final words to them Jesus promises rewards, rewards that would transform his disciples and rewards that would extend out to others…

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Sermon Opener - Cook Food. Serve Love – Matthew 10:40-42

A lot of families are being forced to come to terms with two competing philosophies of life living under one roof. A battle is always waging over who has access to the power. The competing family members demand their own special place in the house. Parents struggle to keep the lines of communication open, but it is tough to understand all the different messages being sent. The two camps each have their own specialized vocabulary and unique semiotics.

Of course, we are talking here about homes in which some family members have PC’s while others have Macs. Microsoft vs. Apple. Bill vs. Steve. It seems to be an eternal, uncompromising battle between good and evil ---- the good or the evil depending on whether you follow Bill or Steve.

And we haven’t even begun to talk of other computer wars between open source (Linux) and closed source (Microsoft/Apple) systems.

Why is the computer world so decidedly two-headed?

Basically it is because there are two radically different philosophies that drive each of these IT giants. The PC that runs according to Microsoft depends on information delivered according to a strict hierarchical structure. The information is unique to that system and is gathered and guarded from all outside systems. Safe-guards against any interlopers take the form of complex directives, quirky, yet demandingly incremental steps that must be accomplished in order to gain access. To use a PC you must learn to speak a new language, read a new set of signs and symbols unique to its design.

Apple’s concept of “putting it all together” is less like building a pyramid, more like putting everything in a blender. Apple uses all the same “stuff,” but it takes on a new form. The rise, then fall, then rise again, of Apple operating systems and gizmos is based on a three-part philosophy:

1) Keep it simple;
2) Make it user friendly;
3) No jargon.

The iphone with its intuitive and fun-to-play touch screen technology instantly made poking at buttons and directional arrows out-dated and obsolete. Compare the iphone touch screen with the stack of remote control units that are no doubt sitting around your TV stand. Or if you want a jargon-rich, as opposed to a jargon-free, experience, go into a Best Buy, or some other electronics store selling flat-screen TVs. Deciphering all those multiple menus, input options, and AV accesses, insures job security for all the TV techies, and keeps the rest of us frantically pushing buttons.

[Please use props here: a stack of your own remote control units, confessing that you don’t even know what this one works with anymore–-so why do you keep it? Or an actual iPhone that some kid could show off. You might also mention that whereas parents used to have kids to “work the fields,” we now have children to “work the remotes”]

You wonder why people are so passionate about Apple?

Getting your message across in the simplest, most “user-friendly” manner is always good for business. When Jesus began his own Galilean mission, wandering the familiar countryside, speaking to both his disciples and to the crowds that would spontaneously appear to hear his words, Jesus kept it simple. No matter where he was or to whom he was speaking, Jesus’ specialized, not in hocus-pocus holiness or wham-bam miracles, but in simple presences of divine love, compassion and concern for all creation…

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The Bristlecone Pine

Some time ago a fascinating article appeared in Reader's Digest, telling about a most unusual tree called the "Bristlecone Pine." Growing in the western mountain regions, sometimes as high as two or more miles above sea level, these evergreens may live for thousands of years. The older specimens often have only one thin layer of bark on their trunks. Considering the habitat of these trees, such as rocky areas where the soil is poor and precipitation is slight, it seems almost incredible that they should live so long or even survive at all. The environmental "adversities," however, actually contribute to their longevity. Cells that are produced as a result of these perverse conditions are densely arranged, and many resin canals are formed within the plant. Wood that is so structured continues to live for an extremely long period of time.

The author Darwin Lambert says in his article, "Bristlecone Pines in richer conditions grow faster, but die earlier and soon decay." The harshness of their surroundings, then, is a vital factor in making them strong and sturdy. How similar this is to the experience of the Christian who graciously accepts the hardships God allows to come into his life. In Hebrews 12:11 we read that such chastening produces "the peaceable fruit of righteousness." (KJV) For those not rooted in Christ, suffering can be decimating. As Christians we claim glory out of suffering.

Carlyle Fielding Stewart III, Joy Songs, Trumpet Blasts and Hallelujah Shouts, CSS Publishing Company

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I’m with Phil

Sometimes, it just takes a little coincidence to get good will flowing.

Lastweek, a bunch of Phil Campbells descended on the small town of Phil Campbell, Alabama to revive an annual gathering that has been ongoing for some time. This year, though, the Phils have a bit of a mission. They are gathered to help out the town of Phil Campbell, Alabama after the devastating tornado of April 28th, 2011. The Phils are extending themselves to their namesake town in a spirit of camaraderie and good will.

“It’s an odd privilege,” said Alaska Phil, a pastor from Juneau. “Just because of the happenstance of my name, I have a chance to do some good.”

If a bunch of guys can gather to do good works because of the coincidence of their name, how many places can we find good works to do because of our choice to be called Christians? How many ways can we pull ourselves together, put ourselves out there, and gang up for good?

The New York Times has a fun article about the Phils with lots of photos at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/us/18alabama.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=phil&st=cse

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Good Actions

Baron De Rothschild was one of the richest men who ever lived. Legend has it that the Baron once posed before an artist as a beggar. While the artist, Ary Scheffer, was painting him, the financier sat before him in rags and tatters holding a tin cup. A friend of the artist entered, and the baron was so well disguised that he was not recognized. Thinking he was really a beggar, the visitor dropped a coin into the cup.

Ten years later, the man who gave the coin to Rothschild received a letter containing a bank order for 10,000 francs and the following message: "You one day gave a coin to Baron de Rothschild in the studio of Ary Scheffer. He has invested it and today sends you the capital which you entrusted to him, together with the compounded interest. A good action always brings good fortune. Signed, Baron de Rothschild." A simple act of kindness was bountifully rewarded.

Now hear the words of our Lord: "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you he shall not lose his reward." Even a cup of cold, says the Master, water given to one of his little ones will be rewarded.

King Duncan, A Cup of Cold Water,www.Sermons.com

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You Can’t Will Them All

The 1962 New York Mets baseball team managed to lose 120 games that season. The last game of the season, a player named Joe Pignatano hit into a triple play to end the game. It was a fitting ending for an infamous season for the Mets.

Casey Stengel was the manager of the Mets that year. After that last game, he called the team together in the locker room, and said, "Fellers, don't feel bad about this. It's been a team effort all the way."

"You Can't Win Them All" sounds like baseball wisdom. But I would like to point out to you that it is also biblical. It was Jesus' advice to his disciples. It is our lesson for this morning, the 10th chapter of Matthew, Jesus' instruction to his disciples.

Most people remember Casey Stengel from his glory days with the New York Yankees in the 50s, when they won all those titles and world championships. Most don't remember that Casey Stengel coached the Mets, and lost 162 games. Even fewer people know that he coached the Boston Braves, where one year he lost 92 games. In fact, Casey Stengel lost more games than he won. And yet he is considered one of the immortals in that sport, instructing us that you can't win them all, so you better learn how to lose some.

Jesus gave us this advice on how to do it. "Shake the dust off your feet and move on."

Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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Cross Purposes

All around the upper ledges of the curved glass windows in our living room perches a collection of dappled and dimpled art glass tumblers. These brightly colored tumblers come from an old family collection. They were put together long ago by grandparents long gone. They bring hundreds of different shades and hues of color into the room on a sunny day.

Of course, our house is also located in an earthquake zone.

In fact, every year at least a couple low-number, rocking-n-rattling sessions roll through the Puget Sound area. Although a tiny drop of museum putty helps give the glassware a bit of a foothold, we're ever mindful that any good shake could easily bring them all down. It would seem that our wish to keep the tumblers in clear view and the inherent instability of the land we sit on are at, well, cross-purposes.

Cross-purposes keep the pet-lover with allergies continually sneezing and snuffling while joyously playing fetch with the dog.

Cross-purposes keep the gardener moving slowly and cautiously on arthritic joints while gleefully playing in the dirt.

Cross-purposes keep football-loving dads at a daughter's Sunday afternoon ballet recital instead of at the stadium.

Making choices that run counter to our good sense or best interests, making decisions that are at cross-purposes with that which is easiest or even most enjoyable, is the central paradox of the Christian faith.

Leonard Sweet, Leonard Sweet Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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The Titanium Rule

A few years ago American Express quietly introduced its most exclusive new card. The Centurion Card is absolutely black, and is actually made out of titanium — the hardest known naturally occurring metal. In fact, when one of these titanium Centurion Card expires, the member has to send it back to American Express for recycling. The titanium can’t be cut up or shredded. Besides, titanium is too valuable to be thrown away.

Jesus introduces and invokes a whole new mindset, heartset, soulset into the universe. Jesus established The Titanium Rule. Anyone figure out what it is? Here’s a hint: you find it in his understatement in this morning’s text that “it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher.”

The titanium rule does not focus on “doing;” it focuses on "being" and on “loving.” Jesus asks his followers to “Love one another as I have loved you.” Love others as the Christ who hung on the cross for our sins loved us. Love others as the God who “so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son” loved us. Love others with a love that enables you to lay down your life for them. How did Jesus put it in his Farewell Discourse (John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17), when he introduced his “Great Commandment:” “Love one another as I have loved you.”

And how has Jesus loved us? In that same Farewell Discourse defines how he has loved us: “Greater love has no one than this, than that he lay down his life for his friend.”

Leonard Sweet, Leonard Sweet Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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Fear Can Make Us Miserable

I remember a story about two little boys whose mother asked them to chase a chicken snake out of the henhouse. They looked everywhere for that snake, but couldn’t find it. And the more they looked, the more afraid they got. Until finally, they did find it. When that happened, they fell all over themselves running out of the chicken house.

“Don’t you know a chicken snake won’t hurt you?” their mother asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” one of the boys answered, “but there are some things that will scare you so bad you’ll hurt yourself.”

Most of us have been there at some time in our lives.

Fear is a terrible thing. Isn’t it? All of us are afraid of something. Some of us disguise our fear better than others, but fear can make our lives miserable.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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Humor: You Can Never Please Everyone

The story is told of an old man whose grandson rode a donkey while they were traveling from one city to another. The man heard some people say, "Would you look at that old man suffering on his feet while that strong young boy is totally capable of walking?"

So then the old man rode the donkey while the boy walked. And he heard some people say, "Would you look at that, a healthy man making the poor young boy suffer. Can you believe it?"

So the man and the boy both rode the donkey and they heard some people say, "Would you look at those heavy brutes making the poor donkey suffer."

So they both got off and walked, until they heard some people say, "Would you look at the waste –– a perfectly good donkey not being used."

In the final scene, the old man throws the donkey off a bridge.

The moral of the story: No matter what you do, someone will always criticize it. Or, if you you try to please everyone, you will wind up losing your...donkey.

James Kegel, Encouragement

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Criticism and the Holy Spirit

Oswald Chambers, the great Christian writer, noted, "Someone who is constantly criticized becomes good for nothing; the effect of criticism knocks all the gumption and power out of the person. Criticism is deadly in its effect because it divides one's powers and prevents one from being a force for anything. That is never the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit alone is in the true position of a critic: He is able to show what is wrong, without wounding or hurting.

"The counsel of Jesus is to abstain from judging. This sounds strange at first, because the characteristic of the Holy Spirit in a Christian is to reveal the things that are wrong; but the strangeness exists only on the surface.

The Holy Spirit does reveal what is wrong in others, but His discernment is never for the purposes of criticism, but for the purposes of intercession."

Oswald Chambers

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Outreach: You Never Know Who the Stranger at the Door Might Be

Jim Somerville is pastor of the First Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. Once one of the most prominent churches in our nation’s capital, it is still housed in a wonderful, ornate facility. However, there are few people who come to worship there anymore.

Washington has one of the highest populations of homeless people in America, if not the highest. They’re everywhere, and sometimes they take refuge near churches. Jim couldn’t help but notice that a group of homeless people were spending their nights on the church’s property. In an effort to be hospitable, and to put a human face on homelessness, he and another young fellow from his church took their sleeping bags and spent a night with these people who had no roof over their heads.

They had to endure the initiation process, as if being homeless is a fraternity. First of all, if they were going to relate to these people, they would have to give up the sleeping bags. Nobody else had them. They were instructed as to how to make a good bed out of cardboard and to use other materials to insulate their “home.” In the course of questioning their new friends, the pastor and his idealistic deacon asked them what were their greatest difficulties. The answer was obvious... where to go to the bathroom. And since there were women in the ranks, it was especially difficult for them.

So, the next day, Jim ordered a portable toilet to be delivered to the church and placed nearby where this group of people slept. It did not – how shall I put this – it did not go over well with some folk in the congregation. A day or two later, a padlock appeared on the outdoor facility... as I recall, courtesy of the grounds committee, or someone else “in charge.” When we visited there in late February for a meeting, the padlock was still there. “What are you going to do?” I asked Jim. “Oh,” he responded sadly, “the toilet will have to go.”

But that’s not the end of the story. Here’s the interesting thing... One of those homeless men joined his church and has developed into one of its most active and committed members.

You never know, you just never know, what might happen when you extend a hand or even a cup of water – or a port-o-let – to someone in Jesus’ name. You see, you never know who that stranger may be at your door.

Randy L. Hyde, The Stranger at the Door

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Throw Caution to the Wind and Open the Door

One night, Mark Ralls, a minister in North Carolina, was leaving his church at the same time a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous was adjourning. He found himself in conversation with a man standing next to his rusty, worn-out Ford, and introduced himself as one of the pastors of the church that had hosted his group. The man sighed and told Mark how long he had intended to “get back to church.” So Mark invited him to worship. Immediately, the man launched into a story of his life.

It was, as Mark puts it, “the familiar string of regrets and loss that accompany addiction.” Mark prayed with him, and they parted ways.

As he walked to his car, the man called after him with a sense of urgency. “Did you mean what you said?” “About what?” “Did you mean that I could come to this church?”

Mark says that as he drove home he realized the man had told his life story as a way of explaining why he couldn’t come to church. He felt he wasn’t “clean enough” to be included in that kind of congregation.

How clean does someone have to be before he or she is accepted by Jesus? How clean before someone is accepted by you and me?

In this inhospitable world of ours, Jesus would have us – I think Jesus would have us – throw caution to the wind. You can’t do that without opening the door. And when you do, you might just find Jesus standing there disguised as a stranger.

Randy L. Hyde, The Stranger at the Door

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Living for Christ in Daily Life

It is not easy following Christ in our daily life. To be a Christian Monday through Saturday is, in fact, pretty hard. I would like to share with you the story of a man from my first parish, Chan. Chan was the superintendent of the Sunday school at Edison Park Lutheran Church in Chicago, well-educated and multi-talented. He served as president of the congregation was a gifted public speaker and able leader. He was also an executive on the move with a large retail chain. Chan had managed stores around the Chicago area and had become manager of a large downtown store. Chan was in his early forties and his future seemed bright. His children were about to enter college and his life seemed fine. Then he quit his job. Chan didn't have another job to go to and it took him a long time to find another one. When he was asked why he quit he simply said it was because of his Christian faith. His direct superior asked him to harass and hound some employees they wanted fired. The goal was to make life so miserable for these workers that they would quit the organization and then the company would not have to pay unemployment. Chan refused. As a Christian, he refused to do that kind of dirty work. If employees failed in their work, they would be reprimanded or even fired but not hounded into resigning. Chan could not do this as a Christian.

Christians are called to live out their faith in daily life. Our faith is not secret –– we are to uncover those things which are covered up and to make known those things which are secret. What you hear in the dark, say in the light; what is whispered, proclaim from the housetops. It is in and through suffering that we grow in love for God and our neighbors. And we as followers of Jesus are called to be with the sick, to comfort the dying, to console the grieving, to understand the troubles, to care about others as God cares for us.

James D. Kegel, His Eye is on the Sparrow

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Hospitality versus Entertaining

Karen Mains distinguishes between Hospitality and Entertaining: Entertaining says, "I want to impress you with my home, my clever decorating, my cooking." Hospitality, seeking to minister, says, "This home is a gift from my Master. I use it as he desires." Hospitality aims to serve.

Entertaining puts things before people. "As soon as I get the house finished, the living room decorated, my house cleaning done -- then I will start inviting people." Hospitality puts people first. "No furniture -- we'll eat on the floor! The decorating may never get done -- you come anyway. The house is a mess -- but you are friends -- come home with us."

Entertaining subtly declares, "This home is mine, an expression of my personality. Look, please, and admire." Hospitality whispers, "What is mine is yours."

Karen Mains, Open Heart, Open Home.

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The Idiot

There is a novel by the writer Dostoevsky titled, The Idiot. There is a central character in this novel, Prince Myshkin, who does not fit in to the society around him. His peers are striving for status and power. They judge each other on the basis of money or appearance or family connections. In their world, there is no real friendship or intimacy.

People use each other to meet their own needs. And into this world walks Prince Myshkin. He just doesn't get it. He treats everyone, whether poor or rich, with respect and kindness. He has no hidden agenda, no need to dominate others. He is pure in thought, word, and deed. This makes him a fool in other's eyes. At the same time, all these empty, cynical, status-seeking people are strangely drawn to him. He attracts others, not through money or power, but through the strength of his character.

The Idiot. If that is what an idiot is, I wish that we could all be idiots for Christ.

King Duncan, The Idiot’s Guide to Christianity, www.Sermons.com

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Lost Bearings

Christian author Max Lucado visited New York City just a few days after the attacks of September 11, 2001. On a ride around the city, Lucado asked his taxi driver if his life was any different since the attacks. The driver replied, "I keep getting lost." He explained that he had always looked to the World Trade Towers to get his bearings while driving around the city. Now that the giant towers are gone, he said, ". . . I can't get my bearings anymore."

Many of us can relate to that man's problem. After a sudden tragedy in our lives, we feel like we can't get our bearings anymore either.

King Duncan, adapted from Max Lucado

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Embracing the Gracious Gift

Writing in a book entitled With Open Hands, Henri Nouwen asserts that “The challenge of the gospel lies precisely in the invitation to accept a gift for which we can give nothing in return. For the gift is the very life breath of God, the Spirit who is poured out on us through Jesus Christ. This life breath frees us from fear and gives us new room to live.”

Nouwen’s words remind us that the Christian faith is founded not upon your action or my action, but upon God’s action: God loving us with a love that will not let us go; God choosing to dwell among us in Christ, taking human form; God seeking relationship and reconciliation with all the world; God adopting persons of faith as daughters and sons. Our task is but to receive the gift, to recognize and live in the assurance that all that we have in life—and indeed, all that we are—comes as gift from God. Once we embrace this gracious gift which we cannot earn and which cannot be repaid, only then are we freed to become gracious givers.

Joel D. Kline, The Blessings of Receiving

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A New Social Order

By the fourth century, the churches in Rome were feeding an estimated 20,000 poor people each week. The church at that time presented to the world a visible alternative to the prevailing social order. As Georges Florovsky has written in "Empire and Desert: Antinomies of Christian History":

Christianity entered human history as a new social order or, rather, a new social dimension. From the very beginning, Christianity was not primarily a "doctrine," but exactly a "community." There was not only a "message" to be proclaimed and delivered and "Good News" to be declared, but there was, precisely, a New Community, distinct and peculiar, in the process of growth and formation, to which members were called and recruited. Indeed, "fellowship" ("koinonia") was the basic category of Christian existence.

Jay M. Terbush, The Significance of the Insignificant

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A Choice for Righteousness and Not Evil

During the Second World War Dr. Ernest Gordon, later Chaplain of Princeton University, was a prisoner of war in Thailand. In his book, Through the Valley of the Kwai, he reflects on the difference between two Christmas seasons he spent in prison. He says that in Christmas 1942 there were thousands of American soldiers in that prison who robbed the sick among them, mistreated one another, and did not care whether the other prisoners lived or died.

During the following year, a healthy American soldier began giving his food to a sick buddy to help him get well. In time the sick prisoner recovered, but the buddy who had given him food died of malnutrition. The story of the man who sacrificed his life to save a buddy made the rounds of the camp.

Some of the prisoners remarked that he was a lot like Christ. Some of the soldiers began to recall passages from the Bible they had learned years earlier under far different circumstances. One of the passages stated, "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Some who were Christians took heart and began to witness to other men. The prisoners began to ask about Christ and to meet for Bible study. When they began to know Christ as Lord the entire atmosphere in the camp changed from despair and desperation to hope and compassion. When Christmas of 1943 arrived, Dr. Gordon said, 2000 prisoners assembled for worship. They sang carols and someone read the story of the birth of Jesus from a Gospel account. Much more was different. In spite of their hunger, prisoners who were well shared food with the sick to help them gain strength faster. They cared for one another. They agreed that the difference came about because of faith in Christ and people who lived his love in the midst of unloving circumstances. The choices they made were for righteousness and not evil.

Wayne Peterson, Critical Choices

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You Are a Son of God

Do you remember the movie, Dead Man Walking? It’s the story of one seemingly at the opposite end of the spectrum, a convicted killer on death row, and his relationship with a Catholic sister who serves as his spiritual director. In a scene near the end of the movie, it is the final evening before the scheduled execution, and all appeals have been denied.

The man and the spiritual director talk honestly about the horrifying crime he committed, its impact upon the victims’ families, and the readiness of the convicted killer to face death. In the midst of these painfully honest remembrances, the sister reminds the killer, "You are a son of God." Moments of shocked silence follow, and then the one facing a mandated death sentence confesses, "No one’s ever said that to me before. Plenty of times I’ve been called a son of something else, but never a son of God."

One senses that it is a truth that all too late in the game begins to settle in the convicted killer’s heart. Yet even at that late date, it is a gift that carries with it the power to transform and make new.

Joel D. Kline, The Blessings of Receiving

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No Small Worth

A cup of water in the eastern countries was not a matter of small worth.

In India, the Hindus go sometimes a great way to fetch it, and then boil it that it may do the less hurt to travelers when they are hot; and, after that, they stand from morning to night in some great road, where there is neither pit nor rivulet, and offer it, in honor of their god, to be drunk by all passengers. This necessary work of charity, in these hot countries, seems to have been practiced by the more pious and humane Jews; and our Lord assures them that, if they do this in his name, they shall not lose their reward.

Adam Clarke's Commentary, Matthew 10:42

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Highlights of the Best

Hockey great Wayne Gretzky was interviewed before the second game of a particular playoff series. His team hadn't looked very good in the very first game. They lost. He was asked whether his coach had shown the players their mistakes on video.

Gretzky said that rather than showing them a video of their mistakes, their coach showed highlights of some of their best games where they performed well. Why reinforce negative images? They needed to see themselves as they could be, not as they had been. That's the cup of cold water that the Church offers, the promise of who we are in God's eyes and the hope of what we can be through Christ. By the way, Gretzky's team won the second game and subsequently took the Stanley Cup that year.

Billy D. Strayhorn, How God Gets His Kicks

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A Morning Greeting

James Snelling, of Richmond, Virginia is 72 years old. Every single morning, unless the weather is very bad, James stands at the corner of Maple Avenue and Bremo Road there in Richmond, and what he does is he simply waves to the passing motorists, waves ‘good morning’ to them. He has become a kind of self-appointed ambassador of goodwill on that corner, and every day at 7:15 he’s there and he stays until 9:00 A.M.

Because he’s not as spry as he used to be, he has to often use his cane as he stands there. In an interview, James said that women are generally more generous in responding to his greeting than men are. One day he counted 180 women who waved back and only 75 men. A guy kind of thing, I guess. James went on to say, “You know, I just do it for the fun of it, and what I have found is if you are nice to people, welcoming to people, they respond to that and they are nice in return.”

Now that’s such a simple kind of thing, isn’t it, but how profound that is. Hospitality is simply the ability to make another person feel welcome in a sincere kind of way. In a lonely world where people are rushing to one place or another, these busy motorists were made to feel welcome in the world by this man who stood there on the corner waving to them - someone who dared to break through that barrier of isolation and dared to offer a sign of hospitality.

Andrew R. Wolfe, You’re Welcome

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Hospitality Opens the Door for Healing

Dr. Paul Tournier was a renowned Christian therapist and a spiritual writer. One day Bruce Larson, a pastor in California, asked Dr. Tournier how he counseled people. Dr. Tournier replied, “You know, I’m embarrassed, really, by all of the people who seek me out for counseling. I don’t really know how to help people. I don’t really do anything at all”. He said simply, “What is important is that people are trying to find their way, and so I try to welcome them and I try to support them. And in that welcoming and in that supporting, the possibility for healing is opened.”

When we extend hospitality, we open the door for healing to happen.

Andrew R. Wolfe, You’re Welcome

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Free Ice Water

You may have heard the story behind the Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota. The owners, Ted and Dorothy were having trouble keeping the store afloat. Five years earlier they had moved from another state to buy the store, and now it was going under. That was not unusual in 1936. One day Ted said to Dorothy, what could we do to get some people to stop here and buy something? The only thing Dorothy thought of was to give them a cup of ice-cold water. That might be a nice treat in the middle of South Dakota, in the days before air conditioning. The towns there are few and far between, and people would like the break, and the drink of water. Ted thought it was silly and too expensive, but Dorothy prevailed.

Ted drove a little ways from town in every direction and put up a sign that said “Only twenty miles to Wall Drug Store, and your cup of free ice-water.” To Ted’s amazement, people were soon lining up for their free drink of water, and more than enough bought an item or two. Then they came up with the idea of paying people anywhere to put up a sign, directing people to the Wall Drug Store. The store was saved, and as you may know, people are still stopping in Wall at the drug store and buying a few things. We did it last year.

The Wall Drug Store still lives off that idea of “free ice-water,” although today it is from a drinking fountain in a courtyard, by the stuffed grizzly bear. They still have signs. There is a sign on Long Island, on the other side of New York City, but because of the highway beautification act, there are more in other countries than the United States. There is one in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on a bus in London, at the Taj Mahal, and at the north and south poles – they all point out the mileage to Wall Drug Store and your glass of free ice water.

Do not be fooled, it was not the free ice water that made the store a success, and saved the store from the creditor. It was their welcome, their service, and their attitude toward the thirsty traveler once they were in the store. Jesus said that whoever welcomes the disciples, as they went out to preach this new gospel, welcomed him and the one who sent him.

Larry Klaarn, Welcome!

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Fortunate Gifts

I once read about a woman whose church group bought Christmas gifts for a missionary family. After meticulously selecting the presents based on the family's needs, sizes and ages, the group gathered to pack them. That's when another member whisked in and plopped an almost-new man's coat on the table. Her husband didn't like the style. As she turned to go, she suggested that maybe one of the missionaries could use it.

Several people were offended. The coat wouldn't fit anyone in the missionary family. Obviously, the woman hadn't given much thought or time to the project. But the other presents didn't completely fill the barrel they were packing. So someone folded the coat and stuck it in. It made perfect packing material.

After Christmas, a thank-you letter arrived from the missionary family. They thanked the church for their many gifts and especially for the "miracle" gift. It seems that, during a storm, a destitute man knocked on their door. He was so ill-dressed for the cold that they invited him to stay until the storm had passed. Even though their visitor would have no gifts in the barrel, they decided to open it. That's when they discovered the coat. It fit the man perfectly.

Do such things really happen in this world? Yes they do - all the time.

You never know when you give that cup of cold water -- whether to the needy stranger or to the work of God -- how that gift may be used.

King Duncan, A Cup of Cold Water

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The Work of the Righteous

In his book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman recounts a story of an American soldier in Vietnam. His platoon was hunkered down in the rice paddies locked into the heat of a firefight with the Vietcong. The rice fields in Vietnam are often separated by an earthen beam, and on this day, a line of six Buddhist monks started walking along the elevated beam separating the field where the American soldiers lay hugging the ground and the field where the Vietcong were also crouched in battle.

The monks walked directly toward the line of fire, calmly and steadily. They did not look to the left or to the right, they just kept walking. The soldier reported, "It was really strange because nobody shot at 'em. And after they walked over the beam, suddenly all the fight was out of me. It just didn't feel like I wanted to do this anymore, at least not that day. It must have been that way for everybody, because everybody quit. We just stopped fighting."

Of course, I cannot say what any of us are called to do right now. I can only say that anyone who chooses to walk with God may well be completely out of step with the expectations of the office, the neighborhood or the family. Sometimes, it seems, God's people are called to walk right through the field of fire, faithfully, sacrificially, loyally, doing what we have been called to do.

Roger Ray, When God Won't Be Nice

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The Ministry of Hospitality

Bob Edmunds, my former colleague in the church where I used to serve in Elmira, New York, tells a story of what it feels like to be denied hospitality. He and his family were vacationing one summer and decided to worship at a prominent church in the Washington D. C. area. Apparently this church had quite a reputation for the quality of their preaching and corporate worship. The reputation held up, according to Bob and Susan's standards. And believe me, they have rather high ones. The sermon was riveting and the music, inspiring. That much did not disappoint them. But the lack of hospitality did.

From the moment they arrived at that church to the time they left, not one person spoke to them - except for the pastor who made a feeble attempt on their way out the door. No one directed them to the nursery. They had to find it themselves. No one invited them to the fellowship hall for coffee and refreshments afterwards. They had to find it themselves. In fact Bob deliberately stood underneath the huge chandelier in the center of that spacious hall for at least five minutes - gazing up at it and looking as conspicuous as possible. But no one came up to him or introduced themselves to him.

"We felt as though we were invisible," Bob says. "No one noticed that we were even there. I don't care how good the preaching and music were. Nothing could have made up for their lack of hospitality. That church was as cold and lifeless as a corpse."

J. Scott Miller, The Ministry of Hospitality

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The Messiah Is Among You

There was a famous monastery which had fallen on very hard times. Formerly its many buildings were filled with young monks, and its huge chapel resounded with the singing of the choir. But now it was deserted. People no longer came there to be nourished by prayer. A handful of old monks shuffled through the cloisters and praised God with heavy hearts.

On the edge of the monastery woods, an old rabbi had built a tiny hut. He would come there from time to time to fast and pray. No one ever spoke with him, but whenever he appeared, the word would be passed from monk to monk: "The rabbi walks in the woods." And, for as long as he was there, the monks would feel sustained by his prayerful presence.

One day the abbot decided to visit the rabbi and open his heart to him. So, after the morning Eucharist, he set out through the woods. As he approached the hut, the abbot saw the rabbi standing in the doorway, his arms outstretched in welcome. It was as though he had been waiting there for some time. The two embraced like long-lost brothers. Then they stepped back and just stood there, smiling at one another with smiles their faces could hardly contain.

After a while, the rabbi motioned the abbot to enter. In the middle of the room was a wooden table with the Scriptures open on it. They sat there for a moment, in the presence of the Book. Then the rabbi began to cry. The abbot could not contain himself. He covered his face with his hands and began to cry, too. For the first time in his life, he cried his heart out. The two men sat there like lost children, filling the hut with their sobs and moistening the wood of the table with their tears.

After the tears had ceased to flow and all was quiet again, the rabbi lifted his head. "You and your brothers are serving God with heavy hearts," he said. "You have come to ask a teaching of me. I will give you a teaching, but you can only repeat it once. After that, no one must ever say it aloud again."

The rabbi looked straight at the abbot and said, "The Messiah is among you." For a while, all was silent. Then the rabbi said, "Now you must go." The abbot left without ever looking back.

The next morning, the abbot called his monks together in the chapter room. He told them that he had received a teaching from the rabbi who walks in the woods, and that this teaching was never again to be spoken aloud. Then he looked at each of his brothers and said, "The rabbi said that one of us is the Messiah."

The monks were startled by this saying. "What could it mean?" they asked themselves. "Is brother John the Messiah? No, he's too old and crotchety. Is brother Thomas? No, he's too stubborn and set in his ways. Am I the Messiah? What could this possibly mean?" They were all deeply puzzled by the rabbi's teaching. But no one ever mentioned it again.

As time went by, though, something unusual began to happen at the monastery. The monks began to treat one another with a very special reverence. There was a gentle, wholehearted, human quality about them now which was hard to describe, but easy to notice. They lived with one another as brothers who had finally found something. And yet, they prayed over the Scriptures together as those who were still looking for something. Visitors found themselves deeply moved by the genuine caring and sharing that went on among the brothers. Before long, people were again coming from far and wide to be nourished by the prayer life of these monks. And young men were asking, once again, to become part of the community.

In those days, the rabbi no longer walked in the woods. His hut had fallen into ruins. But somehow or other, the older monks who had taken his teaching to heart still felt sustained by his prayerful presence.

Adapted from "The Rabbi's Gift" in Stories for the Journey by William White

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The Earliest Signs of Civilization

The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked this question: What was the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture? He expected the answer to be a clay pot or perhaps a fish hook or grinding stone. Her answer was "a healed femur." The femur, of course, is the leg boneabove the knee. Mead explained that no healed femurs are found where the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, reigns. A healed femur shows that someone cared. Someone had to do that injured person's hunting and gathering until the leg healed. The evidence of compassion, she said, is the first sign of civilization. I would contend that it is also the first sign of the work of Christ in the life of a Christian.

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com

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No Higher Duty

Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual writer was going to a monastery for a retreat. The monks observed vows of silence and the retreat was to be meditative and prayerful. Nouwen was delayed and was late getting to the monastery on that miserable, rainy night. He rang the bell, well after bedtime, and was met at the door by one of the brothers. The brother warmly greeted him, took his wet coat, brought him to the kitchen and made him a cup of tea. They chatted in the late night hours and Nouwen began to relax and feel ready for the retreat. But he knew this monk was supposed to observe silence, so he finally asked him, "Why are you willing to sit and talk with me?" The monk replied "Of all the duties of the Christian faith and the rules of my order, none is higher than hospitality."

J. Burton Williams, The Reward of a Disciple

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Humor: He Was a Stranger and I Took Him In

The story is told of a Kansan who owned a general store. He was a well-intending man who made a habit of offering a verse of Scripture whenever anyone purchased something from him. The group of people who sat around the store in this rural area enjoyed the exchanges, because some of the purchases challenged the imagination.

One winter day a Texan stopped in, wanting to buy a blanket for his horse. The locals knew that the store stocked two types of blankets. One sold for $60, and the expensive one cost $89.95.

He showed him the first. "No, that's not good enough. I need something warmer for my horse." He showed him the second blanket for $89.95. "That's not good enough, either. Don't you understand? This is for my horse, and nothing's too good for my horse. Now show me your most expensive blanket!"

The store became very quiet as the storekeeper reached under the counter to the $89.95 stock, pulled out a plaid one, and spread it on the counter with great finesse. "This is our finest and the only one I have. Colorfast, 100 percent wool, with a very tight weave. It sells for $250."

“Now you are talking. I'll take it." He counted out the money, folded the blanket, and left with a big grin on his face.

As the shopkeeper opened the cash drawer and carefully counted the money, he said, "Matthew 25:35, He was a stranger and I took him in."

Hospitality, reaching out with a cup of cold water, is hard to find.

Traditional

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Making Friends Out of Strangers

You and I tend to offer hospitality to only a limited number of people--persons whom we already know, mostly relatives and a few close friends. But, in Abraham's time, hospitality was extended to whomever needed it--strangers and acquaintances alike. In fact, in its original form, "hospitality" combines two separate words--one meaning friend and the other meaning stranger. So, from the beginning of its usage, hospitality has carried with it the idea of making friends out of strangers.

James W. Cox, The Minister's Manual, Harper, 1994, 109

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Rewards

Do not be worn out by the labors which you have undertaken for My sake, and do not let tribulations ever cast you down. Instead, let My promise strengthen and comfort you under every circumstance. I am well able to reward you above all measure and degree. You shall not toil here long nor always be oppressed with griefs. A time will come when all labor and trouble will cease. Labor faithfully in My vineyard; I will be thy recompense. Life everlasting is worth all these conflict, and greater than these. Are not all plentiful labors to be endured for the sake of life eternal? Lift your face therefore to heaven; behold I and all My saints with me--who in this world had great conflicts--are now comforted, now rejoicing, now secure, now at rest, and shall remain with Me everlastingly in the kingdom of My father.

Thomas a Kempis

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Our Cornerstone Is Christ

Lest we think that only Jesus could show that kind of powerful, contagious love, this Sunday's gospel teaches us that all who welcome prophets and righteous people share their reward, any cup of water given to a little one brings the reward of the pure in heart, and those who welcome any of Jesus' flawed followers will be received as herald of God's Messiah.

St. Paul got that. For as much as some want to read his letter to the churches in Rome to find out who to shun, it teaches instead that those who belong to righteousness live under grace, not seeking to impose the law (Romans 6:14), and they receive even enemies with cool water to refresh them (Romans 12:20), as Jesus taught his followers to receive his "little ones" (Matthew 10:42).

And so the choices the church faces are not between mercy and faithfulness, generous hospitality and holiness, God's embracing love and God's righteousness. These are all false dichotomies: our cornerstone is Christ, and Christ's love and the apostles' teaching both urge us forward until every house is a "house of prayer for all people," and every prophet's word of peace has found flesh on every street corner and among all nations, rejoicing in the perfect love that makes every gathering in which it's found God's holy temple.

Thanks be to God!

Sarah Dylan Breuer, Radical Hospitality and Contagious Holiness

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The Best We Could Do

A woman of immense wealth dreamed she went to heaven and was met by the angel Gabriel, who proceeded to give her a tour of the celestial city. First, she saw a palatial estate that belonged to her former maid. Then Gabriel showed her a mansion, where her former chauffeur lived. Finally, Gabriel gave her a sneak preview of her home - a shack in the back of the maid's palace.

Taken aback, the woman protested: But I lived in a palace on earth!

The angel Gabriel replied, I'm sorry. This is the best we could do with the material you sent up.

Les Schultz, Welcome Wagon

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Looking in the Light

You've all probably heard the old story about the town drunk who was down on his hands and knees one night underneath the streetlight searching and searching for something. The preacher happened to be walking by and asked him, "Sam, what in the world are you doing out here on your hands and knees?"

Sam looked up and said, "Oh, Hi Preacher, I'm hunting for my keys. I lost my keys."

The preacher, being kind hearted, got down on his hands and knees to help and said, "Show me where you dropped them and I'll help you find them."

Sam pointed off about 50 or 60 feet in the distance and said, "Oh, I lost them way over there in the grass."

That really got to the preacher so he asked, "Well, if you lost them way over there in the grass, why are you looking for them over here on the sidewalk?"

And Sam said, "Because this is where the light is."

As old and as dumb as that joke is, there is a semblance of truth to it. People look for things where there is light. And I have a feeling that a lot of people come to church because somewhere they have lost something.

They're not sure what they've lost; maybe it's themselves or their faith or their belief in life. They're not sure what they've lost or even where they lost it. But, they are convinced that the Church is where the light is.

And we shouldn't be surprised, because this is what we've been telling the folks for years. This is the place of the light. This is the place of Christ, the light of the world. This is the place where people come to find answers.

Jesus put it a little differently in today's passage. He spoke about "welcoming our neighbors" and "giving a cup of cold water" to the thirsty.

Billy D. Strayhorn, How God Gets His Kicks

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Tending to Christ

I cannot help but think of an old story told about Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was asked how it was that she could continue to tend the sickest and most wretched of the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India. Mother Teresa said that as she looked at each person for whom she was caring she tried to imagine that she was tending the Lord Jesus’ wounded body – His nail-scarred hands, feet, and side. And so it was that in each act of caring, the Kingdom of God embraced and even reached out through Mother Teresa as she welcomed Christ in her neighbor and as she embraced the neighbor as if that person were the Lord Himself! God remembers each act of hospitality.

Samuel Zumwalt, Welcoming Christ

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A Miracle Gift

After Christmas, a thank-you letter arrived from the missionary family. They thanked the church for their many gifts and especially for the "miracle" gift. It seems that, during a storm, a destitute man knocked on their door. He was so ill-dressed for the cold, they invited him to stay until the storm had passed. Even though their visitor would have no gifts in the barrel, they decided to open it. That's when they discovered the coat. It fit the man perfectly.

Do such things really happen in this world? Yes they do - all the time. You never know when you give that cup of cold water – whether to the needy stranger or to the work of God - how that gift may be used.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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I Have Received

Over the years I've heard a lot of sermons. And I always meet the pastor if I can at the door of the church. I never say, "Preacher, I enjoyed it!" For sometimes we're not meant to. That's like telling your surgeon you enjoyed his operation. Rather, I look him in the eyes and say, "I received from you today. Thank you. I heard God's Word to me from the text through you."

Stephen M. Crotts and Stan Purdum, Sermons For Sundays: After Pentecost (First Third): Hidden In Plain View, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.

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Onesiphorus: An Unsung Hero

One unsung hero of the Bible is Onesiphorus. He is forever known as a minister to the minister, the one who kept the Apostle Paul on his feet. In 2 Timothy 1:15-18, Paul confided, "You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me - may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day - and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus." Just listen to the action verbs:

He often refreshed me.
He was not ashamed.
He searched for me.
He found me.
He rendered service.

May we be that sort of person to one another, and especially to our prophets!

Stephen M. Crotts and Stan Purdum, Sermons For Sundays: After Pentecost (First Third): Hidden In Plain View, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.