Romans 1:8-17

Rev. Brian North, Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA

August 29^th, 2010

Have you ever done something, or said something, which you were really ashamed of afterwards? Or maybe you’ve had the experience of anticipating feeling ashamed of what it was you were about to do or say, so you didn’t go through with whatever it was. Perhaps even some of us are still ashamed of something from our past, or there’s a current facet of our life that we’re ashamed of, and that’s holding some of us back from being all that God has called us to be. Shame can be a powerful force in our lives.

I remember when I was younger – probably in 4^th grade or so – I had a very shameful experience. I’m embarrassed by it still, but not ashamed. I played on a youth soccer team, and we had a soccer exchange with a team in Canada. The kids on my team went and stayed in Vancouver with the kids from another team in their homes – one child with each family – for a night or two, and in the midst of the weekend we played a soccer game against each other. I don’t remember much of the details, but one thing sticks out in my mind: I remember waking up on the morning I was to leave and my parents were picking me up at this house where I’d been staying, and when I woke up, I realized that I had wet the bed I was sleeping in. I was so embarrassed and ashamed of what had happened that I didn’t say anything to anyone. It didn’t dawn on me that the host family could probably tell right away…and I don’t know that I cared whether or not they discovered later or if I even thought about that. I was so ashamed. All I could do was shower, pack my stuff, and get out as fast as I could. I don’t remember anything else from the weekend.

Shame like that oftentimes causes us not to acknowledge something in our lives. For instance, I was ashamed and didn’t acknowledge what I’d done in my sleep. So shame – or the fear of it – can cause us to keep things to ourselves. We try to hide what it is we’re ashamed of. And almost always we’re ashamed of something negative or wrong in our lives: We’re ashamed of our quick temper or our massive debt or the lack of cleanliness in our homes or some hidden sin or some other facet of life that falls short of what it could and probably should be.

Now, our faith isn’t a negative thing in our lives, and yet so often we treat it as if it were. And so in this morning’s passage, Paul has some words of encouragement for us as he writes to say that shame has no place in the expression of our faith. Listen and follow along in your Bibles as we look at Romans 1:8-17.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ⁹God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

¹¹I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— ¹²that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. ¹³I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

¹⁴I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.

¹⁶I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. ¹⁷For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,^[a] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”^[b]

I want to focus in particular on verse 16 in particular. In it, Paul writes these words: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” Paul is saying that shame has no place in his life when it comes to the gospel. He proclaims the gospel message freely to all people. Anyone who will give him an ear, he will tell them of Jesus Christ, whether they agree with him or not. Fear of shame or embarrassment does not stop him from proceeding forward with the gospel message.

Now, Paul tells us he’s not ashamed, but he also tells us why he isn’t ashamed. He writes, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” The important part of this verse is that it’s the power of God. We aren’t in control. We don’t save ourselves. We don’t supply the power. Like a power tool that can’t operate unless it’s plugged in or it’s battery hasn’t been fully charged up: we are plugged into God’s grace, charged up and ready to go and be used by Him for his purposes. God is the one who supplies the power. That is why it’s so important to have a proper understanding of God’s grace, because it is his grace that has done this for us. It’s his grace expressed in the gospel message that gives us strength and power to be used by him in all situations and in all circumstances – including overcoming whatever shame-based fears we may have.

Now when Paul encourages us not to be ashamed of the gospel, he knows what he’s talking about, because he lived in an environment that was hostile to the message of the gospel. He had every opportunity to step down in shame and remain silent about his faith in Jesus Christ and what God had done in his life. It’s not like he only preached to nice, clean-cut people who were friendly and amenable to the gospel message.

We see this illustrated in a story about a Christian man owned a barber shop. One night, at a church revival service, the barber felt greatly burdened to do more with his testimony for Christ. He wanted to live without any shame for God. The next evening, the barber began attending an evangelism class at his church. He attended faithfully every night for two weeks. He rehearsed all the material, took extensive notes, and memorized the assigned Bible verses. At the end of the two weeks he received a plaque acknowledging his completion of the course.

The next morning, in the barber shop, he hung the plaque and bowed his head. “Dear Lord,” he prayed, “help me to witness to the first man to come through that door this morning.” At that moment in walked the biggest, meanest, foulest man the barber had ever seen. The man had recently lost a bet with some “biker” buddies and now he had to get his head shaved. He was not happy to be there at that moment. Well, the barber did not feel very comfortable quoting Scripture and reciting everything he had memorized with this man.

The rest of the day did not go any better for the barber. At 5:00 p.m., the barber was sobbing with shame. He had not witnessed to a single person. He bowed his head again. This time he prayed, “Lord, if you will allow one more opportunity, I promise I will do my part.” At that, the door opened and in walked a pleasant looking gentleman. The man smiled at the barber, apologized for coming in so late and took a seat in the chair.

As the barber draped the man in his protective sheet, he began to try to remember what he was supposed to say. He began to get very confused. As the barber put shaving cream on the man’s face, he tried to remember the answers he had learned to the possible objections. As the barber began to sharpen his razor, he realized that he simply could not remember A THING he had learned. This made the barber very nervous and soon sweat began to break out on his forehead.

Finally, in desperation, he shook the razor at the man and screamed, “ARE YOU PREPARED TO DIE??!!!”¹

I know that for many of us here this morning, the idea of entering into a conversation about God might seem like something we just couldn’t do – whether it were a Hell’s Angels type of guy or the little old lady or young little boy who lives next door. We worry about what to say, we worry about what the other person might say, how we’ll respond, and so forth. We’re ashamed to acknowledge to someone that we don’t know the answers to their questions. We’re ashamed to acknowledge that we have our own questions. We’re ashamed to acknowledge that we believe this crazy historical account of a man named Jesus who lived, died, and rose from the grave. We’re ashamed of believing all that in a culture that says that “God is dead,” to paraphrase Time magazine from April 8, 1966. We don’t know what to say or do in the face of all that. Let Paul’s words remind you and me that there is no reason to be ashamed of our faith…there’s no reason to apologize for believing or to apologize for God. God has the power to take care of himself, and he’ll take care of you and me, too.

Let me give you a true story from my life that’s a more positive one than the fictitious one of the barber I just shared with you. When I was in college I got to know I guy named Jeremy. We had a couple business marketing classes together, and in one class we joined together with a couple other people to work on a class project. After the class was all done, we decided to get together for dinner at a local restaurant and celebrate the completion of the project, the end of the quarter, and our time together as classmates. As it turned out, only Jeremy and I were able to make it. And wouldn’t you know it, the conversation turned to Christianity, the existence of God, and other matters of faith.

Now, remember: I wasn’t a particularly strong Christian at that stage of my life, as I’ve shared with you before. I had one foot tentatively in the door of the Church and my faith, and one pretty firmly in the door of the world and all it’s trappings. I had every reason to intellectually and emotionally slink away in shame from that conversation and hide in the shadows of sports or school or some other subject I was comfortable talking about. And yet God gave me faith and courage and words to say that I have no idea where they came from – except to say that the power of God was in me in that conversation. The Holy Spirit inspired me. Now, at the end of that conversation, Jeremy didn’t ask me to baptize him right there in the restaurant with the water I was drinking or anything. Conversion isn’t ultimately our responsibility – it’s God’s. I simply answered his questions, and in the process shared my understanding and my experience of Jesus Christ, the Bible, and so on.

But, I wasn’t ashamed of the gospel – in fact, quite the opposite. In the midst of that conversation I felt inspired and full of faith, and like I had been used by God to move someone just a little closer to Jesus Christ. I could see it in Jeremy’s expression, in his questions, and in his responses, that God was working on his brain and on his heart. Some kind of seed was planted that night, all because I wasn’t ashamed of the gospel, and I was plugged into the power of God.

You see, God doesn’t call all of us to be great theologians like Saint Augustine, or John Calvin or to be preaching to tens of thousands like Billy Graham; God simply wants to use each of us where we are in our faith. The Christians in Rome certainly weren’t future house-hold names, and yet Paul says in the first verse we read this morning that their faith is “being reported all over the world.” Those words are more true now than they were then. And when we bear witness to the gospel message, that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again, then the power of God really is revealed here in Chehalis and all over the world as well.

So let this morning’s passage be an encouragement to you that we too can live courageous lives of faith for this gospel message. We can let our fears go and we can live without shame. And when that happens, we will see that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who has faith. We’ll see that power unleashed. We’ll see more people coming to know God and his infinite love and grace. And in the meantime, we’ll grow deeper in faith as we trust in him and his power to sustain us and give us the right words at the right time. We’ll realize that indeed God’s grace is enough. So don’t be ashamed of the gospel; don’t be ashamed of God. Just stay plugged in to the gospel and the power of God will work through you and me and our faith. Let’s pray…

Rev. Kent Smaciarz, Director of Family Ministries

Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA

August 22, 2010



Luke 10:1-12

Rev. Brian North – Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA

August 15^th, 2010

Today we continue in our series of messages we’re in this summer under the umbrella of “potpourri.” It’s like a fruit basket upset of Scripture passages, sermon themes, worship styles, and preachers from one week to the next. And in today’s passage (Luke 10:1-12) we see Jesus giving direction and purpose to what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. So join with me in prayer and then we’ll dive into this morning’s text and message…

So we’re in Luke 10, beginning with the first verse: After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town (Luke 10:1-12).

Right off the bat, we see what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. But they aren’t following Jesus physically: the passage tells us that they were sent out “ahead of him in pairs…” You see, following Jesus doesn’t always mean he’s going to be right there by our side, or paving the road in front of us so all we have to do is paint the lines. Jesus sends us out into our communities, even ahead of him. Now, it is true, we want to do everything in God’s time, and sometimes patience is needed. But sometimes we use that as an excuse not to be obedient to where he’s sending us. “Let me pray about that ministry opportunity,” we say. And before long we’ve forgotten about it. But these 70 disciples are obedient and do exactly what Jesus asks them to do.

Now notice that even though they’re sent ahead of Jesus, this doesn’t mean he isn’t going to those places himself. Luke tells us that they were sent to the places where Jesus himself would be going. And so they’re going as advance scout teams to get a feel for the spiritual condition of the towns where Jesus will be going. They’re sent to get a feel of the spiritual lay of the land, to prepare the way, to soften up the hearts of the people, and to prepare them for Jesus’ teachings, that the Kingdom of God is near. The mission of these advance scout teams is vitally important to Jesus’ ministry, and it’s urgent. That’s why Jesus tells them not to greet anyone on the road. In other words, Jesus is saying, “Don’t delay. No dilly-dallying on the road. This is a really important mission I’m sending you on, so stay focused on the task.”

Jesus then tells them that “The harvest is plenty,” but then he goes on to say, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” In other words, people have a need for God because they’re far from him – that’s why the harvest is plenty – but not everyone is ready to hear that message – some will even be antagonistic towards it – and that’s why there are wolves. We all have a deep-seated need for God in our lives – we were created to be in relationship with Him, but people all over the world try and fill that need for God’s love, acceptance, peace, purpose in life, and so forth with all kinds of lesser things. That’s why addictions happen…that’s why materialism is rampant…it’s why we have greed, power struggles, and so forth. And many of these things are very seductive and hard to let go of, even though they’re short-lived imposters of what God has to offer. So sometimes when the Good News is offered, it’s resisted and even attacked.

And maybe you’re here this morning and you’re trying to fill that need for God with something else, and maybe you’ve been resistant before. Maybe you’ve felt a longing for peace, to be loved and accepted as you are yet encouraged and called to be someone different and better and full of abundant life. Jesus is who you’re looking for, and he offers himself to you today. Someone has been sent by him into your life and brought you to this place to hear the good news that you, and all of us, need.

We see this sheep and wolf scenario in more detail in the last 8 verses. Jesus talks about entering a house or a town, and if they’re well received and people return the blessing of peace and they seem open to their presence and their message, then Jesus tells the 70 to stay in those towns. Spend some time with them. Get to know them. Care for them. Bless them. And ultimately, they’re there to prepare those people for Jesus’ coming to town and the message that he will be bringing: that the Kingdom of God is near. But not every town and home will be so welcoming. Some will be full of wolves.

And so when they do come to a town that doesn’t welcome them and resists their efforts to soften the ground for the message Jesus wants to plant in their hearts, then it’s time to move on. Notice, though, that they’re still to proclaim that the kingdom of God is near. The message is still delivered, even as they acknowledge the resistance. But where there’s cold and harsh resistance to the gospel message, Jesus is essentially saying to them, “Don’t spend all your time there. Spend more time with the people who are open to God and prepare them to really receive my message.”

If a door is shut and no one’s willing to open it, then move on. A person can never be forced into an authentic relationship with Jesus. So go to the people who’d doors are open and ready. We see elsewhere in the NT that this doesn’t mean we give up on reaching these people, but we wait until the time is right to share the Good News with them.

So that’s why the advance scout teams are sent, to kind of tap into that desire for God that we all have, to help people see beyond their short term solutions to this need for God, and prepare them for the message that God in Christ is what they’re looking for. Some will be open to the message, some will not.

Now, the problem of wolves is not the only problem they’re facing. The other problem is that the laborers are few. Why? Because following Jesus is costly. The grace he offers is free. You can’t earn it. But when you’ve come to Christ and received that gift of forgiveness, the response is to dedicate your life back to Him in gratitude, love, service, and devotion to His will. That’s why we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And that pushes us beyond our comfort zones. It challenges us. Anyone who says, “Being a Christian is easy” isn’t really following Christ. I came across a question in a book recently that said, “Where does a person’s need for personal comfort end and a person’s commitment to the costliness of the gospel begin?”

We see the costliness here when Jesus told them to go without their material possessions, without their purses, and so forth. Why? Because that stuff distracts them from the mission he’s sending them on. It’s another indication of the importance of the mission he’s sending the disciples on. But it stretches our comfort zones to let go of these kinds of things.

And that’s why the workers are few. Now, here’s where things get really interesting. Jesus tells the disciples, therefore, that they’re to pray for God to send workers into the fields for the harvest. Haven’t many of us done that? Haven’t many of us prayed that God would strengthen some facet of our church: more impactful missions ministries, more robust children’s ministries, stronger leadership, more courageous decision making for Christ, or that God would make WPC a really bright light for Christ shining here in Chehalis, or that the care ministries of the church would be stronger, that we could visit more people more regularly who are sick, in the hospital, down and out, homebound…or whatever it might be. Haven’t we all prayed for those kinds of things at some point, and especially that God would raise up people who desire to participate in and lead those ministries? Haven’t we prayed that God would send laborers into the field for the harvest? Absolutely! Probably all of us have at some point.

But then what does Jesus say? “Go on your way! I am sending you!” Before they even pray, Jesus tells them that they are the answer to the prayer. If you’ve never thought that prayer was dangerous, you should now. Clearly, therefore, the problem wasn’t really that there weren’t enough laborers, it’s that the laborers were inclined to pray that someone else would do the job. So often when we pray for laborers to be sent, we presume we’re praying for someone else. We pray, “Lord, send us a person to lead the worship band. Send us some new Sunday school teachers. Send us people who will have a heart for missions. Send pastor Brian some wisdom…or at least some hair. Send us workers to fix our 80 year old building. Send someone to visit my friend in the hospital, or at home…And Lord, send the pastor or the children’s and youth director or another staff person or one of the elders or a deacon to do these things.” Oh, we might not pray it exactly like that, but deep down inside, we have an assumption that the ministry hole we’d like to see filled really ought to be filled by someone else. Well, Jesus calls us on the carpet here. Right here, Jesus shows us that the answer to these 70 disciples’ prayer, is themselves. The answer to our prayers for more workers is us! And so we are the workers that Jesus is now sending here in this community. You and I are the sent ones. We are the laborer for the harvest. You and I are the ones he commands to get uncomfortable and “go!”

Question: What is your response to Jesus’ command to go? Are we willing to be stretched and get a little uncomfortable so that we would live as sent disciples in our community? Or do we pray that God would send someone else? You see, for anyone who’s put their trust in Jesus Christ and is one of his disciples…we are automatically one of the laborers and he is sending you, and he’s sending me, to reach out to others who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus is telling us as his disciples that we are sent out as his advance scouts with a vitally important mission: to get to know people, to care for them, to spend time with them, to get the lay of the spiritual land in their lives, and when the time is right, to invite them to hear the message of Jesus Christ.

That is our job. It’s the job Jesus gives in several places besides here, such as when he proclaims, “I’ve come to seek and save what was lost,” and it’s the job he gives in the Great Commandment “Go and make disciples of all people.” Jesus is the good doctor who has come not for the healthy, but for the sick, and those of us who already know him as our doctor are now on his medical staff bringing patients to him so Jesus can be their doctor, too.

But the problem is that there aren’t enough laborers, not because there literally aren’t enough people, but because of a lack of willingness to follow where Christ is sending us. We don’t see ourselves as our answer to the prayer, “Lord, send laborers for the harvest.” And so I ask each of us, “What is your response…what is my response…to Jesus telling us to go?”

There’s a new opportunity coming for us to live “sent” lives right here in Chehalis. Beginning on Wednesday the 15^th of September, we are starting a new weekly ministry here at church called, “The Stand.” It will start every Wednesday night at 6:13. That time, and the title of the ministry comes from Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). God calls us to stand up for our faith, to stand up for our families and our marriages, to stand up for his Word, to stand up for Jesus Christ, his grace, his truth, and more. It’s not a passive standing. It’s active. It’s a “sent” kind of standing, that as we live our lives in the community and in our church we stand up for what we believe.

There are three ways each of us can support this ministry as sent disciples here in Chehalis:

1. Come and participate as a student, as a learner, and grow in your relationship to Jesus. As we grow closer to him, we will become more like him and live lives more devoted to him. We’ll know his word better, we’ll be drawn closer to others who follow Him. We’ll be stronger in our faith and able to live as his sent ones with a greater sense of conviction and confidence. All of us can do this.
2. Some of you are sent to teach, and those of you who have the gift of teaching, the harvest is ripe. There are opportunities on Wednesday nights to teach children, youth and adults. You don’t have to be a bible or theology expert. Children’s teachers work in teams, Kent is there to help, and the curriculum is already chosen and laid out for you. For youth ministry, just a willingness to listen to teens, share your faith and life experience is the most important thing. For adult classes, there are a plethora of great DVD-driven classes that a person could facilitate, and all it takes is a little prep-work in advance to familiarize yourself with the video, a willingness to run the DVD player, and then facilitating the discussion questions. If you want to create your own classes, such as Ralph Carr does or I have done, then you can certainly do that. But the thing to keep in mind is that we are the workers Jesus wants to send for the harvest. This is an amazing opportunity we have to facilitate a class in order to bless people and help them in their faith.
3. Lastly, since we are a sent people into the community around us, there are undoubtedly people we each know who are ready to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the answer they’re looking for. They’re ready for the harvest. Some out there are wolves…just be patient with them. But there are other people who are ready. All they need is an invitation to something like The Stand on Wednesday nights or to worship on Sunday mornings to hear the good news that the kingdom of God is near, and can be found in Jesus Christ.

More information will be coming soon, but mark your calendars for every Wednesday evening at 6:13 to be here for a little over an hour at the Stand. It’s one opportunity we have to live as laborers for Jesus Christ. And keep this new ministry in your prayers. Pray for teachers to labor in the field. Pray that people would come ready to labor for their personal faith growth. Pray for laborers to be sent out into the harvest. But recognize that as we pray that prayer, Jesus is sending us. We are the answer to those prayers as Jesus says to you and to me, “Go! I am sending you.” It’s an urgent mission that he gives us. No dilly-dallying. No procrastinating. We don’t have to wait for Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings. We are sent as his laborers at all times. And so in the end, let’s pray that we’d be obedient to Jesus Christ as he sends us out as laborers to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near – even right here in Chehalis. Let’s Pray…Amen.

Romans 8:1-12

Rev. Brian North – Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA

August 8th, 2010

For many people, the book of Romans is the single-most profound section of Scripture. To be sure, it’s a book that receives a lot of admiration from Christians, and a lot of attention from scholarly types, but not much serious attention from the average John or Jane Doe Christian because it’s so densely packed with high-minded theology and rhetoric, and it has a lot of Old Testament references that assume a working knowledge of those references, making it difficult to understand. Romans is much bigger than just the words on its pages. But this morning I hope to boil down this one particular passage to answering one question: What’s in you?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but that question, or very close derivatives of it, has been getting asked a lot in the last few years. For instance, a credit card company that’s been advertising quite heavily on television keeps asking us the question: “What’s in your wallet?” A lot of people, especially in this economy, would answer: not much.

Or perhaps you have seen the television and print commercials for Gatorade with their tag line, “Is it in you?” meaning, their product.

And as you’ve probably seen, heard, or read over the past few years, Gatorade isn’t the only one who’s asking, “what’s in you?”…Baseball’s head honchos and even the US Government have been asking that question the last few years to some specific Major League players, “Uh, what’s in you?”

But Paul isn’t writing to us about credit cards, sports drinks or muscle-enhancing drugs. What he tells us needs to be in us is the Holy Spirit, and he writes about it prolifically here in the 8^th chapter of Romans. In fact, you could say that the 8^th chapter of Romans is all about the Spirit. Over 20 times in Romans 8 Paul refers to the Spirit. Up through the first 7 chapters, he writes of the Spirit all of three times.

The Spirit is probably the least understood, least preached, least taught, least acknowledged aspect of the trinity. God, three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is taught in the Scriptures from the first three verses of Genesis onward. Yet the Spirit is often ignored. Not here in Romans. We’re given a full dose of it.

And the ultimate point of this passage is that for Christians, the Spirit is what is now in us. Through the Spirit, we who follow Christ now live lives that are qualitatively different from the lives we lived prior to knowing Jesus Christ; we are free from the condemnation that sin brings upon us; there is now no condemnation when the Spirit is in us and we are in the Spirit.

Now, whenever we look at a passage in Scripture, it’s important to remember that it’s not isolated by itself. It’s connected to the whole of Scripture, and particularly to those verses immediately around it. That’s one reason I almost always preach through a passage of Scripture, and not pick a verse here and a verse there and pull them together under some theme. And Romans 8 is no different. If we look back just a few verses even, we see Paul asking a question of himself near the end of chapter 7: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). It’s not so much a question about after he dies, but about the fact that as he lives, he finds himself giving in to temptation and sin, which steals life and its joys from him. It’s a question that comes out of everything else he has written in the previous verses of chapter 7, and even back into chapters 5 and 6: He is deploring his own sinful self, “the ways of the flesh” as he likes to call it. For instance in 7:21, he writes, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Romans 7:21). That sounds to me like it belongs as Murphy’s first law. But it’s an issue that we all struggle with because it’s part of being human. Sin is on the scene, and we suffer the consequences. And so he’s led to this question of “who will rescue me from this body of death?”

And in the very next sentence, before we can even catch our breath, he gives us the answer, “Thanks be to God—Through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). It’s not that he’s giving thanks through Jesus Christ; he’s answering the question of who will rescue him: Jesus Christ will.

And it is then that he launches into this great passage in Romans 8, which we read this morning, beginning with, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2). So the answer to the question is Jesus Christ. And through Jesus the Spirit sets us free from the prison of fallen humanity, and the prison of condemnation that sin brings upon us.

That, my friends, is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. And we can put our trust in Jesus and everything that Christ claimed because it was backed up, was justified, was vindicated, in his resurrection. Without the resurrection, Jesus Christ history would call him one of the most delusional characters ever to grace the face of the earth.

C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse” (Mere Christianity, p. 41).

Without the resurrection, we would all conclude that indeed he was a madman or worse. But Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and it’s attested to by the four gospel writers, and non-Biblical writers. Did you know that? Have you ever heard of the Greek Jewish Historian, Flavius Josephus? Josephus lived and wrote just after the time of Jesus’ death, and resurrection, and he writes, “Now, there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man…He was the Christ [Some debate about whether or not this reads “the Christ” or “the so-called Christ”]; and when Pilate at the suggestion of the principle men among us, had him condemned to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day” (Antiquities of the Jews). Josephus—remember, he’s a non-Biblical, Jewish historian of Greek descent who lived in the 1^st Century A.D. (he died in 100 A.D., and notice the “among us” reference — records for us that Jesus appeared to his followers on the third day after his death.

So we know that Jesus not only talked the talk, he walked the walk and rose from the grave just as he said he would. We can say with confidence, therefore, that he’s not on par with a poached egg, and Paul can assure for us that we are forgiven of our sins and that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And after Paul gives this great cry of victory over the condemnation that sin has brought upon us, he then turns repeatedly to speaking of the Spirit and what it means to have the Spirit living in us and us living in the Spirit; and what it means not to have the Spirit. And it’s from these verses, 5-11, and beyond, that I ask the question: What’s in you? And more specifically: Is the Holy Spirit in you?

Now, Paul draws for us a line in the sand: on one side are those who live their lives according to the Spirit; on the other side are those who don’t. Paul writes, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:5).

The proof of what’s in us is found in our living and in what our minds are set upon. So, each of us would do well to examine our lives and ask: what’s my mind set on? What does my life revolve around? “Who will rescue me from your body of death?” as Paul wrote. Who or what is the tether, the anchor, that keeps me from floating away on the seas of life? Who or what gives my life purpose? Who or what drives me, leads me, compels me to get out of bed in the morning, keeps me up at night, gets my blood pumping…Who or what is the overwhelming priority in each of our lives? What is in you? What’s inside your head, your heart, your emotions, your soul, and your body? Those are the questions that come out of this verse as we look at our lives. And every human being has an answer, and every one of our answers has spiritual implications. For the Christian, our mind is on the Spirit and it is the Spirit that drives us and that keeps us going. It’s like the engine in a car: You don’t see it most of the time, but without it, the car is useless. In fact, I came across an Associated Press quote from a few years ago that said, “Leslie Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had stolen the motor.”

Sometimes our lives are like that car without an engine, and it’s like the Holy Spirit has been lifted out of us. Christians aren’t perfect in keeping their mind on the spirit. Now, the Spirit is still there – it hasn’t been stolen; it’s just that we ignore it. There are so many times where I’ve sensed I needed to say something or do something that was the right thing to say or do, and I’ve gone another direction, and my life got really difficult as a result. And I could then look back on that and say, “The Holy Spirit was telling me what to do” and I ignored it. Why? Because my mind was not on the spirit, but rather on the flesh.

Let me share with you a story I have once before, that’s not from my life. A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman. He comes to an intersection and the light turns yellow. Of course, we all know what culture dictates we do when the light turns yellow (step on the gas)…Well, the man stops, and the woman behind him goes completely ballistic. She’s honking her horn, yelling at him and waving at him and in mid-rant someone taps on the window of her car. It’s a police officer. He takes her to the station where she is fingerprinted and photographed and locked up in a cell. After a couple hours, they let her out and the arresting officer gives her back her personal belongings.

This is what he says to her, “I’m sorry for the mistake. Here’s how it happened: I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing the horn and using bad gestures and speaking bad language and then I noticed the “What Would Jesus Do?” bumper sticker on your car and the “Choose Life” license plate holder and the “follow me to Sunday School” window sign and the Christian fish emblem on your trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.”

So we aren’t perfect in living out our faith. Our mind wanders from the Holy Spirit, we start listening to other people, let other things influence us that aren’t holy and Godly. But that only gets us into trouble. It gets us out of balance.

Just this week, while on vacation, I played a game with Blakely and Hailey at a little park on Vashon Island where we were for a few days. The park has this toy that looks like a plastic doughnut, maybe 5 feet in diameter, that spins around, and it’s on a bit of an angle, so it’s not level. You can sit on it, stand on it, etc. I don’t know if we were using it the way it was intended, but we stand on it and walk on it, like it’s a round tread-mill. But we’ve turned it into a competition to see who can stay on this thing the longest. So we all hop on, start the thing moving, and try not to fall off, while trying to get the others to fall off at the same time. We’ve played this game before. This time, though, when Blakely and I first got on, he won the first 7 competitions. I was 0 for 7! And I have good balance! The whole point is that you have to stay balanced on the toy. And to do that, you have to be focused on the toy. You can’t look at the ground on either side, or the people around you or your competition. You have to keep your mind focused on what you’re doing. It’s the same with the spirit. Paul says our minds are set on the spirit. If we’re going to live life in balance with God, we have to be in tune with the spirit, with our minds focused on God’s spirit, listening to his leading through other Christians, through Scripture, through his still, small voice that speaks to us.

Listening to the voice of God through his Holy Spirit is something that takes time to cultivate. Sometimes that’s just an excuse we use, because there are some ways God’s spirit speaks to us pretty clearly, like through the Bible. But the Spirit will remind us of the truths of the Bible when we need that prompting. And then it’s a matter of listening to that spirit and obeying.

My guess is that the Holy Spirit speaks to us more often than we realize. Because the spirit is kind of slippery, can’t be seen or really defined (unlike the other 2/3 of the trinity: Father, and Son), we chalk it up as a big mystery, and something that only really spiritual, way out there Christians are in touch with. But the Spirit is something that’s deep in side of every Christian, that anyone who’s put their trust in Jesus has access to and can be guided and led by. And: When we’re guided by the spirit, we experience life and peace. That’s what Paul writes in verse 6. If you want life to the full, and if you want peace that surpasses the circumstances of life, then living the by the Spirit is the only way to live. That’s living how God intended us to! And that’s the best living there is. It’s the most peaceful, the most vibrant, the most life-giving and life-receiving way to be.

And so, for a Christian, the answer to the question “What’s in you?” is the Holy Spirit, through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s the Spirit that guides us, leads us, prompts us, transforms us, heals us, and gives us life, and it’s his spirit that dwells in us. It’s the Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove; it’s the spirit that raised Him up to life after three days in the tomb. And it’s through God’s Spirit that we are given a new chance at life, a “do-over,” and the daily chance to walk with God, guided by His Holy Spirit in us. Let’s pray…Amen.

Job Posting for Modern Worship Director

Job Posting for Modern Worship Director

Westminster Presbyterian Church is looking to fill a job position for Director of Modern Worship. Responsibilities include leading the worship band at the second Sunday service, rehearsals, choosing songs, assembling PowerPoint for the songs, supervising/coordinating personnel in the band and supporting roles such as soundboard and computer operators.

We’re looking for someone who has a heart for Jesus, plays guitar (preferably) or keyboards, can sing, lead worship and inspire worshipers, and has strong administrative gifts. Let Pastor Brian know if you or someone you know is interested. This is a paid position of about 8 hours per week.

Contact Westminster Presbyterian Church at 748-0091.

Isaiah 28:16

Levi Atlhauser, guest speaker

Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA

August 1, 2010



Summer Worship Service Schedule

One Combined Worship Service

at 10:00 AM Sunday Mornings

Fall Worship Service Time Change

Beginning September 12, 2010

Sunday mornings

9:00 AM (Traditional)

10:30 AM (Modern)

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Rev. Brian North – Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA

July 25th, 2010

Sports often provide an interesting window into the nature of people. We’re able to see raw emotion, unbridled passion, and the true make-up of the people playing on the field or court. We see loss, pain, failure. As ABC used to say, we see the “Thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”

One thing we’ve seen, and it seems to be more and more common in team sports, is individuals trying to raise themselves above the team. The glory that the person seeks isn’t for the team at that moment, but rather for their self.

It’s not that celebrating a touchdown or a game-winning basket is wrong, but it’s the spirit in which it’s celebrated. Or it’s the use of performance-enhancing drugs to make themselves better than they really are – maybe to be a better team player, but more likely to get into the record books for most home runs, touchdowns caught, and so forth. So much of sports is all about “ME.” Take a look at this video clip to get an overblown taste of what I mean (Warning: This is a video clip advertising Budweiser beer. Jesus doesn’t condemn drinking, so I think this is ok to use…but I’m not advocating the drinking of alcohol if you struggle with an addiction to it. I think you’ll appreciate the commercial for it’s insight into human nature.) (“Leon” Video clip). If You’re reading on-line, click here to watch the video.)

The whole series of commercials – there are 7 or 8 at least – that feature Leon portray him as someone who wants his team to do well – as long as it’s on his terms and benefits him personally – especially financially and with regards to his public image. In his mind, he’s the strong one, while all his teammates are weak. He doesn’t acknowledge his own weaknesses, such as the inability to hold on to the football, or his selfishness and lack of humility. Pride is a weakness for him.

Of course, it’s easy to pick on sports and media stars because their every move is scrutinized in the press and on TV. The greed and selfishness that exists in sports is magnified because of the amount of money they make and because of the publicity they receive. And we’ve also seen that kind of attitude displayed in the corporate world, the music industry, politics, and elsewhere.

But are those of us who don’t live in the limelight making millions of dollars necessarily any different? After all, we’re all human, stumbling around with the same weaknesses: temptations, selfishness, struggles, and sins. But this morning’s passage from Paul tells us that for the Christian, yes, there is a difference. The difference isn’t in our socio-economic status or what we do for a living. Rather, the difference is found in Jesus Christ. Through faith in Him, we trade our weakness for God’s strength. In doing that, we bring glory and honor to God, and we’re drawn into a closer relationship with Him.

In several places in this passage, Paul sheds light for us on what it means to be a humble servant and how as weak and fragile human beings we trade that weakness for God’s strength. By weak and fragile, I don’t simply mean that sometimes we get sick or break a leg. Rather, this is a weakness that encompasses our entire being: our spiritual lives, morality and ethics, tendencies toward selfishness and independence, our sinful nature, and so forth. This is then contrasted with God’s grace and power. Let me read a few of the verses that we just heard a few minutes ago, which illustrate this for us:

• Verse 1 says, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy, we have this ministry…” (I Corinthians 4:1). In other words, the ministry that each of us has before us is something that God has given us, not something that comes from ourselves.
• Verse 5, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (I Corinthians 4:5). For the Christian, the focus is not on ourselves, but on Jesus Christ.
• Verse 7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (I Corinthians 4:7). The treasure is the love, grace, truth, and power of God and all that is given to us in a relationship with Him. The jars of clay are us – humans, which like real jars are fragile, weak, and breakable.
• Verse 10, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (I Corinthians 4:10). We always remember what Christ did for us on the cross so that we may share with others this life that is offered through his eternal life.
• Verse 11, “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body” (I Corinthians 4:11). Similar to the last one, but here he speaks of our death – death to selfish ambitions, sin, and so forth, and not the remembrance of Jesus’ death, as in the previous verse. Again, we see the exaltation of Christ and the power of his that is revealed in and through us.

Each of these verses puts the emphasis on God and his power, his grace, his love, and more. They help us to see our weakness compared to the strength of God, but they tell us that: When we come into relationship with God, our weakness becomes God’s strength. God will use us in spite of our weaknesses and work through them, or he will transform them so that they become a strength through which God can be glorified. Either way, the focus is ultimately on God.

For many years I didn’t really understand what it meant that through our weaknesses God’s power or strength is displayed. The way I understood it that meant that if I wanted to be an effective preacher, I should be preaching in German, because I don’t know German. Or as I understood it, I should be sharing my gift of music through playing the electric bass or the organ for us each morning, because I can’t play the bass or the organ. You want to see a weakness in music? Put me on the organ! Or how many of us would feel comfortable about the financial state of our church if the people who kept track of such things had a weakness in arithmetic?

Quite frankly, I just never understood what it meant that God uses our weaknesses because it didn’t make any sense to me. Perhaps you’ve struggled with that as well. And for me, this passage brings those kinds of questions back to the surface for me.

I’ve shared this story with you before, but it bears repeating: I can remember when I was a freshman at Bellevue High School having to take a Washington State History class. It was required of all students to take state history for graduation. One of the components of the class was to give an oral report on some aspect of Washington State history. When my time came to give my report, I stood up in front of the class and looked out at my peers, staring back at me. I began to get nervous. I got light-headed, shook, sweated, fumbled around, said more “ummm’s” than you could count. It’s a complete miracle that I didn’t pass out. When I returned to my seat, I had absolutely no idea what had just come out of my mouth.

It was obvious to me, from that day forward, that public speaking was going to play absolutely no role in my future. There was no way I was ever again going to get in front of a group of people and give any kind of speech – let alone preach God’s Holy Word!

And yet, here I stand! What on earth happened along the way? There is only one response: God intervened. And that is where God’s power is able to be seen. You see: It’s not in the weakness itself where God’s power is shown; it’s in the overcoming and transforming of the weakness. For me, God did a couple things.

First, the Lord helped me to see that I can’t just get up in front of a group of people and expect that I’m going to have anything to say, and say it well, without preparation. God taught me to study and prepare for public speaking and for preaching, and to trust His leading in that preparation. Every sermon I craft begins with prayer, with reading the passage several times, letting it soak in, seeing what God seems to be raising up to my attention in the passage, studying key words, and so forth…all before typing out a word of the sermon. And in that process of preparation, and during the writing, too, I am continually leaning on the Lord for His wisdom and insight.

Second, God gave me small opportunities along the way to learn what it’s like to be in front of a group of people. God did that through ski school, through working as a waiter in several restaurants, through two youth ministry positions, through preaching classes in seminary, then preaching occasionally as an associate pastor for 4 years, and finally has brought me here for the last 3 ½ years. And through it all I’ve gotten more and more comfortable and confident in front of people. I don’t get light-headed and nervous the way I did back in High School. You don’t have to worry that I’m going to faint on a Sunday morning.

But it doesn’t end there, because this true story ultimately points to God. It’s not about the fact that I’ve overcome this phobia of speaking in front of people. It’s about God’s transformational power leading me through the deep waters of fear and moving beyond that fear so that God could be glorified through me; God gave me the courage to face that weakness and work on overcoming it and having it be transformed for his glory. And: Bringing glory and honor to God is what it’s all about. Much of my fear of speaking in front of people was abated after I re-dedicated my life to Christ. That was when I started speaking in front of groups larger than a ski-school class of 7 or 8 or a few people sitting at a table in a restaurant. It was after God became an acknowledged presence in my life that I started to lean into that grace and that transformational power. There have been other aspects of my life that have been changed by Jesus Christ as well, and all of those things lead me to live my life for him more and more.

Of course, overcoming a fear of public speaking is really pretty trivial compared to the things that many people in this world have overcome. Martin Luther King, Jr. was used by God to transform a nation in overcoming it’s weakness in how it perceived African-Americans – a transformation that is still in the works; Joni Eareckson Tada has overcome a diving accident that left her a quadriplegic to share God’s transformational power with people all over the world. I’m sure that each of you knows someone – maybe yourself – who has been led by the Lord to step out in faith and trust Him to overcome some weakness – physical, spiritual, mental, an addiction, or a behavioral weakness, whatever it might have been – to get to a new place, which has brought God much glory.

I like to think of the process of overcoming our weaknesses and allowing God to transform us in terms of a marriage. In marriage – or in any relationship for that matter – the way that always seems easiest is not to face the issues that are preventing the marriage from being what God wants it to be. Maybe there are hurt feelings, an addiction, lies, broken trust, or alienation that are road blocks to true love and friendship. These are weaknesses in the relationship that prevent it from growing. The easy way out is simply to live with those issues and ignore them.

But when we do that, we’re denying God’s healing and transforming work in our lives. It’s always scary to talk about a difficulty in a relationship such as that. It’s intimidating to express our feelings and initiate a conversation along those lines. But when we do that, God is able to enter in and bring about healing, and transform the relationship into something new. And when you break through to that new place, the relationship is so much stronger than it ever was or could have been. And through growth in our relationships – with our spouse, a friend, a sibling, and so on – we grow closer to the Lord and we bring honor and glory to Him.

It’s the same thing in facing our weaknesses. We could just continue to allow them to fester and hold us back. They could continue to be obstacles to following God where he’s leading and to being used by Him for his glory and his kingdom to be made known. And no doubt, facing some of those weaknesses and struggles is a scary thing. But when we let those fears dictate how we live, we’re letting our weaknesses get the best of us, rather than living in the transformational power of Jesus Christ.

The metaphor Paul uses is found in verse 7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God, and not from us.” The treasure is the relationship we have with God through faith in Jesus Christ. With that relationship comes God’s power to overcome our weaknesses, God’s power to cancel the effects of sin in our lives, God’s power to raise us up for eternity; God’s power to love our neighbors as God loves us…the list goes on. God’s power is infinite. And that power is in these jars of clay.

You and I are the jars of clay. Paul is making a contrast between the power of God and the jars of clay. They’re not the same. Where God’s power is infinite, the jars of clay are finite. There are cracks. There are holes. They have some strength on their own, but they break when dropped. There are imperfections.

Similarly, you and I have cracks, holes, and other imperfections in us. And just as with a cracked jar that what’s in side can leak out through the cracks, so the power of God can be leaked out through our imperfections, our weaknesses. God may ultimately take that weakness and fix it up so it’s a new found strength; but in the meantime, even our weaknesses can be instruments of God’s grace in the world around us. Perfect people aren’t what God is looking for or desiring to pour his power into. Rather, God takes imperfect jars of clay – like you and me – and fills us up with this treasure of his love, truth, grace, and power, and through us transforms people to live for him.

God may be saying to you this morning, “I know you perceive a weakness in your life. I know you have let it rule over you and have dominion over how you’ve lived your life and your faith. But if you’ll lean on me, I’ll give you the power to work through that weakness or to transform it and to use you for greater glory of Jesus Christ.” So, what’s holding you back? What is, or what are, your weaknesses? We’re all bent toward selfishness as we saw in the video near the start. Some of us have fears. Some of us have addictions. Some of us have anger management issues. Some of us aren’t nice to other people. Those are all weaknesses that God can work through and transform. What is the weakness that you’d like to give over to God and face with him leading you, to transform it into something that brings God glory? What are the cracks in the jar that is your life that you’re trying to hide, rather than letting God’s power shine through them and fill them up? Let’s bring them to God, acknowledge them before Him, and ask him to take those cracks and use them for his glory, for the growth of his kingdom deeper in us and wider through us. Let’s pray…Amen.

Mark 10:46-52

Rev. Brian North – Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA

July 18^th, 2010

We’re in a series of sermons this summer called, “Potopourri.” It’s an applicable sermon series title on a number of fronts. For one, there are different people preaching throughout the summer – it’s a potpourri of preachers; our worship order and style is different every Sunday – it’s a potpourri of worship; lastly, the Scripture passages from Sunday to Sunday are not necessarily connected to each other – we’re not going through a particular book or going through a series under a united theme – so it’s a potpourri of Scripture and topics. And in the midst of this potpourri, I trust that the Lord will bring a word to each of us each Sunday that meets us right where we are.

This morning’s sermon is a preview of our first sermon series this fall. We’ll kick off the fall with a series that’s going to be titled something like, “Back to School with Jesus.” And like all good teachers, Jesus doesn’t just give answers, he asks a lot of questions. Isn’t that what a good teacher does? We have a number of current and former teachers in our congregation…you all know that a teacher doesn’t just dispense information, but asks questions and gets students thinking. And so in that series we’ll be looking at some of the questions Jesus asked. This morning we’re looking at a question Jesus asked – one we won’t look at in the series later on – and will give you a preview of what’s to come this fall. With that, I invite you to listen or to also follow along in your Bibles or in the pew Bibles as Jean reads God’s Word to you and me from Mark 10:46-52…

46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ⁴⁸Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ⁴⁹Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ ⁵⁰So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ ⁵²Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

It’s not very often that we have the opportunity to answer a question where the answer we give can have a major impact on the course of our life. When you think about it, most of the questions we’re asked each day, or even less frequently, don’t have answers that dramatically impact our lives, largely because usually answering these questions doesn’t take much faith. In fact, as I prepared this sermon, I could only come up with one question that I thought qualified for the ideal set by Jesus’ question this morning, in terms of the faith it would take to answer it. And that question is, “Will you marry me?” Other major questions we face really aren’t so important, so life-changing, or so dependent on faith to answer.

For instance, the question of which job to take can certainly be a big one, but that is changed relatively easily if it doesn’t work out. The question of where you’re going to live is a big one, but even the answer to that question is likely to be influenced by answers to other questions – such as where you work, where your closest friends live, what you can afford, and so on. Most of the questions we face each day are even more routine still: Cheerios or Lucky Charms? (Cheerios) Costco or Sam’s Club? (Costco) Snooze button or not? (Snooze – but only once or twice.) Country or Rock? (Rock) Paper or plastic? (plastic) UW or WSU? (Actually, that’s almost as important as “will you marry me? And the answer of course, is? [Congregation answers randomly.]) Every question we face has at least two possible answers, and the choice is ours to make. But far and away, in most instances, the answers to the questions we face do not have a significant bearing upon our lives, and do not require great faith to answer them. That doesn’t mean they aren’t important at that moment in time, but simply that in the grand scheme of life, they aren’t too significant.

But this morning’s question of Jesus’ to the blind man, Bartimaeus, is a question that ranks as one to which the answer has the power to alter one’s life. If you don’t agree then I suggest you read the text again, because Bartimaeus certainly would agree with me. The question that Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51) is a question that gets to the heart of our faith. It certainly got to the heart of Bartimaeus.

Here’s this blind man, sitting on the side of the road, begging for money. He probably sits there or at a place just like it, most every day. As a person who can’t see, he’s cast out from society, he’s an untouchable, he’s a nobody. Society has written him off as someone who has nothing to contribute and who according to their culture, probably isn’t worth the cost of the clothes he’s wearing. So, each day he finds a place to sit where he hopes that a few people will have compassion and put a couple of pennies into his worn-out Starbuck’s cup.

And so one day, as he’s sitting in his personal darkness in the middle of the day, he hears a crowd approaching. Being dependent on his other four senses, he’s acutely aware that this is not a normal sized group of people approaching. It’s much larger than would normally pass by. Perhaps this is Jesus walking by me! Maybe I can call out to him and get his attention! He cries out: “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). In spite of the opposition from the crowd as they try to shut him up, he calls out even louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Suddenly, the crowd stops moving, because Jesus has stopped. He asks the crowd to call the man. It’s kind of ironic how this works. All of the sudden the crowd, which thought it had authority over this socially discounted man, is now under the authority of Jesus. When Jesus speaks, people listen. And so they’re suddenly encouraging the man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you!” (As if they had never tried to discourage him in the first place.) That’s the kind of change that Jesus speaking into your life can have. Just a word, or a phrase, and if you’re listening for his voice, hear it, and receive it, you can turn around 180 degrees, just as this crowd has. But the best is yet to come.

Bartimaeus jumps up and goes to Jesus. He may not be able to lift his eyes up to the hills, but he does know from where his help comes. How did he know where Jesus was? I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t tell us. Probably, he was helped along by the suddenly amiable crowd. And there he stands, face to face, toe to toe, with Jesus. And then comes the question. It’s the question he’s dreamed of hearing: “What do you want me to do for you?”

You see, Bartimaeus must have heard of this man Jesus. He almost certainly heard of the miracles he performed, maybe heard the rumors that Jesus just might be the long-expected Messiah. And probably deep inside, he had hoped that maybe, just maybe, their paths would cross and Jesus would be able to help him in some small way. He might have heard that Jesus had come to town a day or two ago and would be on his way to the next town soon. Bartimaeus must have felt that this may be his one opportunity to see Jesus. But as an outcast, it would be nearly impossible to get anywhere near him. So he picked a spot that morning on the road that exits town, where he thought Jesus just might walk by.

Or, maybe none of that happened, and simply by the miraculous grace of God he was in the right place at the right time. I suspect he knew Jesus was there. I suspect he knew where to go to meet Jesus, just as we’re here to meet with Jesus right now. Either way, here Bartimaeus is, just as we are, with Jesus standing in front of him, face to face, with his question lingering in the air. “What do you want me to do for you?”

The question has to pierce right to his heart. He’s hoped for this opportunity for so long; but does he now have the courage to say what he’s only dreamed of saying? He could just ask for a few coins to be thrown into his cup. I’m sure Jesus would have done it. Bartimaeus is sure Jesus could do it. But it’s not the cup that he wants filled. He could have asked for a meal, like a burger from McDonald’s or a burrito from the local Judeo-Mexican food place. But it’s not his stomach that he wants filled. His faith is bigger than that. He’s got a faith in Jesus that says he could produce a hundred burgers, or fill a hundred of those cups, let alone the solitary one he probably just left behind with his cloak on the ground, spilling his coins as he jumped up to come to Jesus. No, his faith is bigger than a cup.

“Rabbi, [he says] I want to see.” Jesus responds, “Go, your faith has healed you” (Mark 10:51, 52). And immediately, for the first time in years, he was able to look into the face of another human being, to see a friend, to look into the eyes of God, to see eyes filled with compassion and love, and to know that he was valued as a human being. For the first time since perhaps he was an infant, or perhaps ever – who knows how long it had been – he was able to look into the eyes of a person who had compassion on him as he said “Thank you. Thank you for having mercy upon me.”

With his response, with that simple reply expressed in faith, he opened the door to have his life changed forever. The question was asked, and he answered boldly, in faith. He came to Jesus, not with a cup, but with his whole self. He took the risk, and answered. He stepped off the edge, and was lifted up. He had faith.

How much faith did he really have? Who knows? How can we really measure faith? Maybe in his heart he was like the man a chapter earlier who, in asking Jesus to help his son, said, “I believe, help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Those are words that many of us can identify with. Maybe that’s where your faith is today. Maybe your faith is one that waffles between belief and unbelief. We don’t all have a faith as big as Bartimaeus’ faith. Maybe your faith is equivalent to the size of a mustard seed. But even that, Jesus says, is faith enough to move mountains. What matters is having enough faith to come to Jesus.

When Bartimaeus stood there face to face with Jesus, with Jesus’ question hanging in the air and the crowd surrounding them, he had enough faith to dare to answer the question with the answer that to most would seem impossible. “Rabbi, I want to see.” And indeed, we find that for those who have faith, all things are possible.

How would you answer his question if Jesus were standing in front of you right now? Would you ask him to fill your cup, your bank account, with money? Would you ask for your stomach to be filled up? Would you ask him for a new car? Would you ask him for wisdom? Would you ask him to heal you? Would you ask him to use you for his purposes? What you ask him to do is between you and Jesus. Nothing is too small or too big for Jesus to do.

I once heard a sermon from John Ortberg that he began with an old saying that goes like this: “If you bring God a thimble, he’ll probably fill it. If you bring God a bucket he’ll probably fill it.” If you ask God for a little comfort, a little peace, a small blessing, he’ll probably do it. But if you ask God to stretch you past your capabilities, to use you beyond your wildest dreams, to heal your deepest wounds, to let you see with new eyes, he’ll probably do it. It takes stepping out and trusting him. It takes faith.

What are you bringing to God, and do you believe that he’ll fill it? Are you bringing him a thimble? Or are you bringing him a bucket? Right now this morning, he’s asking us, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus would tell us to go for the bucket.

I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon that the only question I could come up with that some people face today and was even close to the impact of Jesus’ question is, “Will you marry me?” I know that isn’t exactly an everyday question (at least I hope it’s not). The reason I think that question stands out from all others is that faith plays a much greater role in answering it than in answering other questions. Actually, from personal experience, I can say it takes faith to ask it, too!

My wife (Gwen) and I met in Sun Valley, Idaho, where we were both living at the time. We were both graduated from college. She had a real job, and probably because I graduated from the UW…I was a ski-bum. After about 10 months of friendship, we began dating. And after we had been dating a week, I wanted to ask her to marry me. It took me six more months to get up the faith and courage to do it, however. When I did propose to her, it was on the very top of the ski mountain, just after we’d had lunch. It was just two days prior to her birthday, and we were sitting in the snow, getting our pictures taken by a mountain photographer, supposedly for Gwen’s birthday as my gift to her. While the photographer was still there, I popped the question, with ring in hand. It was the only time I’ve ever managed to surprise Gwen in a significant way.

At that instant, Gwen had a choice to make: Do I wait to respond and take some time to think about this, or do I respond now? If I do respond now, do I say, “Yes!” or do I say, “No!”? Fortunately, she didn’t leave me waiting long for a response, and said, “Yes!” Undoubtedly it helped that she was staring at a really sweet ring, which I bought with money earned and saved from delivering newspapers as a kid.

Of course, soon after she answered, we still had to ski on down the hill. We were at the top of the 9,000 foot Baldy, and the valley lay more than 3,000 vertical feet below us. A word of advice to any of you who are considering getting engaged, or pass this along to people you know who are considering: Don’t propose in a place where your new fiancée will have to put her life in any kind of a dangerous situation immediately after becoming engaged. You just don’t know how the other person is going to physiologically react. For instance, when you’ve just promised to get married, skiing is not safe for anyone on the hill. Gwen is a very good skier; But you would not have known it if you saw her on what ended up being our last run as she skied in the biggest snowplow I’d ever seen and stopped every 50 feet to catch her breath for fear of hyperventilating and passing out.

Anyway, that’s an aside. The point is: When she said “yes,” Gwen asked God to fill a bucket. (Actually, I’d say she asked God to fill a really big dump truck.) It took faith for her to answer yes. It took faith for me to ask the question. And it took a bucket of faith for Bartimaeus to tell Jesus that he wanted to see.

Where is your faith right now? What are you bringing to God? What are you giving over to God? Are you trusting him for your health, your wealth, your time, your energy, your mind, and your soul? Are you leaving your cup and your cloak and in faith, coming to Jesus?

We are all here this morning in some way, either large or small, because of faith. It takes faith to come to a worship service on Sunday morning – especially if you’re a guest or if you haven’t been in church in a long time or ever. Some of you might not even be because of your own faith – maybe it was someone else who brought you here! So we come in faith. And like Bartimaeus, Jesus is asking us, “What do you want me to do for you?” We’re here offering ourselves to him, seeking his grace and love in our lives, asking him to touch us in profound, new, and beautiful ways. It takes faith to come to Jesus. What answer will you give to Jesus, who is asking you what you want him to do for you?

The faith that you have may not always feel like much. Perhaps you do identify with the man who believed and asked for help in overcoming his unbelief. Perhaps your faith is one that waivers between belief and unbelief. If that’s you, then Jesus says, “Come to me.” If you’re like Bartimaeus, then Jesus say, “Come to me.” Either way, he then asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” Come prepared with a bucket, and see if he doesn’t fill it one way or another. Let’s pray….Amen.