Traditions or Faith

Mark 7:1-23
Length: 20:17

This is a message given on August 30, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

As we saw last week, the crowds have abandoned Jesus. The Pharisees are picking up their attacks on Jesus and His followers. Here we see the Pharisees complaining that the disciples did not wash their hands according to the ceremonial traditions before eating.

The Jewish tradition had an elaborate system of washing your hands to sanctify them or make them clean. This was not for hygienic reasons as we wash our hands today, rather it was purely a ritual washing.

For this ritual, the water was poured over the person’s hands. The hands are then raised up so the water will run down to the wrist. This insures that the entire hand was cleansed and the dirty runoff water doesn’t run back over the fingers defiling them again.

It sounds like quite a process doesn’t it. Now there is nothing wrong with this process. In fact, before performing surgery, Doctors and Nurse’s have a similar hand scrubbing procedure. Although, theirs is for hygienic purposes.

The problem arises because the traditions the Jewish people followed became more important than the actual Word of God. It sounds appalling doesn’t it? But believe it or not the same thing still happens today, not only among Jews, but among Christians as well.

Even today our religious institutions move away from the Word of God and move toward the interpretation of it by man. This isn’t necessarily motivated by any form of disrespect toward or motivation against God. It is simply the appeal of believing that this scholarly person or group of people is right and by obeying them we will be obeying God. That, unfortunately, is not always the case.

So the Pharisees approach Jesus and ask him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders?” As usual, the Pharisees really have a hidden agenda. They were really accusing Jesus of teaching His disciples to disobey the traditions of the elders.

But, as usual, Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly. Jesus doesn’t even try to defend Himself or His disciples.

Instead He gets to the heart of the issue as we have seen him do so many times before. First, He calls the Pharisees hypocrites or two-faced. They pretend to honor God, but their true nature is self-serving. Second, He quotes Scripture from Isaiah. The Pharisees follow the traditions of men because it is a mechanical system rather than a heart system

The Pharisees say all the right things, but they say them for the wrong reason. Their hearts are not focused on God, rather they are focused on themselves. This makes their worship worthless and their teachings corrupt.


Jesus then proves His point with an example. The honoring of your father and mother was an important command to uphold. In fact, it was so important, if you did not honor your father and mother the punishment could be death!

The Jews had this tradition of Corban. If you classified something as Corban, then you were designating it as a gift to God, but you could still use.

This sounds like a wonderful idea and it is. You are dedicating the things that God has given to you back to God. You are essentially putting your belongings into a trust for you to use and take care of for a while, but then you return to God for His continued work.

So, lets say a young Jewish man was well off, but his elderly parents were sick and struggling. The Jewish man could label all of his assets as a gift to God. This meant that he could not sell them and use the proceeds to help his parents.

“Gee, Dad. I wish I could help and honor you. But everything I have has been dedicated to God. Sorry.” You can see how this, well intentioned, idea of Corban was then abused.

Jesus then returns to the original question about being defiled by not following the ritual washing. Jesus knows that you do not become defiled by not washing your hands before a meal. Sure, you might get sick from a health related stand point, but you won’t be defiled spiritually.

What makes a man unclean is what enters his mind and comes out of his mouth from his heart. After saying this, the Pharisees leave, obviously very upset, and Jesus and the disciples enter a house.

The disciples ask Jesus to explain what he meant by saying the things that come out of our mouth is what defiles us. Our words express the goodness or evilness of our heart. To make the point clear, Jesus even gives a list of some things that come from the heart filled with desires of this world:

evil thoughts, fornication, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness

That is what defiles us. Not ignoring traditions. A person’s defiled heart is expressed in both what he says and what he does.

The Pharisees were hypocrites. They worshiped God for the wrong reason. They wanted money and status. Today, we too can be hypocrites. We can pay more attention to our reputation than our character. We can appear to be somebody in public, but inside we know it is just an act.

We can also appear to follow all the rules of our Church, denomination, even the Bible, but inside still be distant from God. We can also brag about our virtues while pointing out others sin.

Many people are cautious these days about what they eat and drink. It seems like there is always a new diet out there. But do you pay attention to the things that you are putting into your mind and heart?

An evil action begins with an evil thought. Allowing our minds to dwell on lust, envy, hatred, or revenge will lead to sin. Don’t defile yourself by focusing on evil.

In Philippians 4:8, Paul tells us to program our minds with thoughts that are true, noble, right, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy.

Look to Christ for guidance about your own behavior. We become pure when Christ renews our minds and transforms us into His image.

Above all else, read God’s word and pray. Ask God to help you focus your mind on what is good and pure and holy. It takes practice and dedication, but it can be done.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good, pure, noble, and just things of this world. Help us to focus our attention on them, rather than the evil, lustful, and deceitful things of the world. Help us to not be like the Pharisees and other traditionalists that believe their good deeds will get them into Heaven. We know that Jesus Christ is the only way. Strengthen our faith and our faithfulness. In Jesus Name we pray, AMEN.

True Discipleship

John 6:60-69
Length: 15:58

This is a message given on August 23, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

As we finish up John chapter 6 this morning, it should be clear now that there are really three groups of people that are forming. The one group of course is the Twelve Apostles. This is a definite group and they are Christ’s closest followers.

Now we see the crowd starts to split into the other two groups. There are the members of the crowd that follow Christ and there are members of the crowd that are antagonistic toward Christ.

If you remember from our scripture last week, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. I came from Heaven and I am going back there. This is where the believers and unbelievers start to separate. No doubt this was difficult for the crowd to comprehend.

That is where the belief comes in to play. If the people could not believe that Christ came from Heaven and will return to Heaven, then how would they be able to believe in and comprehend other topics like Jesus’ sacrificial and subsitutionary death, or His resurrection and ascension to Heaven, or His sending of the Holy Spirit?

If it bothers the crowd that Jesus said He is the bread of life, then they will never believe in all of the stuff that is about to happen. People in the crowd admitted it is a difficult statement to listen to.

Jesus saw the crowd was not believing Him. He knew they were grumbling. This is the point where many teachers would maybe slow down, soften their message, or even change their methods a little bit to get the crowd back on board and in tune with each other.

But not Jesus. Jesus knew the hearts of men. He knew they did not and would not believe that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. These false followers were simply attracted to Him for His physical miracles, His healing and His feeding.

They enjoyed listening to His teaching up to this point, but now their hearts were made known. They failed to understand the true significance of Jesus.

Jesus was on a Heavenly time schedule and He would not compromise it. So He simply summarizes His teachings in three verses that we see this morning.

He calls the people from their fleshy ways and their fleshly thinking to spiritual ways and spiritual thinking. He calls the people to faith by challenging their unbelief. Jesus reminds the crowd of God’s presence in their life. God is the One who opens our eyes to see Him and His ways.

As a result of this sermon, many of the followers left. They went back to their old ways, their old habits, their old jobs and so on. Not only did they give up following Jesus, but they gave up on Jesus. They gave up what he represents and teaches. They are not fit for God’s Kingdom.

I figure I have preached close to 100 sermons in the past few years and I am not aware of anyone ever walking away from Jesus because of my message. Maybe I am doing something wrong. We see Jesus preaching to literally thousands of people and by the end of the day most of them are gone.

I am not sure if this is the most successful or unsuccessful sermon every preached by Jesus. It defiantly separated the believers from the non-believers. This is a significant turning point in Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus starts to reveal more and more about Himself and what He must do, but He also shifts from the public ministry to a more private training of the Twelve.

Jesus asks the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away also, do you?” Of course, Peter answers, “Lord, to who shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

Right here we see the key to discipleship. Many people skip over it and don’t even realize it is in this verse. But here it is. Two things that make a true disciple.

Faith, Peter says, "Lord, we believe." Peter is saying "We are sure who You are, and we believe.'

You know what the other one is? Faithfulness. "Lord, where would we go." See. "Not only do I believe You, but I stay where You are. I want to be with you and follow you."

Jesus said, "If you continue in My Word then are you disciples truly." In other words, faith is the birth of the true disciple. Faithfulness is the character of the true disciple.

And so Peter says in that little statement the whole of the Christian life in one thought. Faith and faithfulness. This is just living with the awareness of Christ's presence in your life, isn't it?

Peter couldn't stand to be away from Jesus. He always wanted to be where Christ was. This is illustrated so many times throughout the Gospels. Here he says, "Lord, I'm not going anywhere, You couldn't get rid of me."

That's the kind of Christian life that's the real life of the disciples, just constantly practicing the presence of Jesus Christ knowing He's right there beside you. "Lord, share my life, share my trials, share my joys, share my decisions, share my temptations." Constant involvement with Jesus Christ. That's discipleship. Lord, I have faith. Lord, I have faithfulness. That's what you want. I believe in You and I'm staying where You are. There's the whole Christian life right there.

Now Peter and the Twelve probably didn’t completely understand everything Jesus was teaching, but they got the main point correct. That is of course, life comes through Christ.

That is the question this morning. Do you know where life, eternal life, abundant life comes from? And not just know it, but believe it! Are you a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

As we follow Christ and grow in our faith we too may be tempted to turn away because of situations that occur or difficulty with understanding what God tells us. Some people like the majority of the crowd in our scripture this morning will simply give up.

Others will skip over those biblical teachings they don’t like or agree with. But the true follower of Christ will ask God for guidance. They will ask God to show them what the Scripture means and how they can apply it to their lives. They ask God to give them the strength and courage to act on God’s truth each and every day in all situations and circumstances of their lives.

What about you? What do you do? I agree with Peter. There is no other way. Jesus alone is the way to Heaven and eternal life. Either you accept it or you don’t. There is no in between.

1 John 5:20 says “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23)

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank you for our time in your word this morning. Help us to be true and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Help us to realize and enjoy the bread of life that has been given for us. Help us to be discerning of those around us so we are not led down the path of the crowd, the way of destruction. Take our lives and lead us to eternal life. AMEN.

The Bread of Life part 2

John 6:41-58
Length: 20:13

This is a message given on August 16, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

We continue our look at the Sermon on the Bread of Life this morning. Last time we left off with Jesus telling the crowd about the Bread of Life. Of course the crowd wants this bread and Jesus tells them that He is the Bread of Life.

Our scripture can be divided into three distinct sections this morning. First, we see the reaction of the crowd. Second, we hear Jesus’ response. And lastly, Jesus reiterates the message.

Let’s start with the crowds reaction. The New American Standard Bible says, “the Jews were grumbling.” Did you know that grumbling is an offense to God? It shows a lack of trust in God. Think back to the time Israel spent in the wilderness.

Exodus 16:2 says, “The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” They were faced with scarce resources out in the wilderness and desired those things they had while they were back in Egypt.

They were grumbling, not trusting in God, even though God had just provided them with water. Now they didn’t have food, so rather than ask God, they grumbled. Of course, as we know, God provided them with manna.

A short while after this, they were tired of the manna and wanted some meat, so they started grumbling again. See, the Jews had a negative attitude in general and expressed it toward Moses and Aaron, who were obeying God’s commands. They weren’t trusting their lives to God.

Unfortunately, this is a common practice for many of us today as well. We don’t say we are grumbling against God. Rather, we are grumbling against, the teacher, our boss, the doctor, even the preacher, but not God.

But as this scripture tells us, when we grumble about God’s representatives, God takes it personally. If we reject the godly people in our lives we are rejecting God.

As we move back to the Gospel of John, we see the Jews doing the same thing. They are rejecting the authority God has sent. Not only that, they are truly rejecting God by rejecting Jesus.

They reject Jesus because He equated Himself with God. The crowd said, “but don’t we know your father and mother”, meaning Mary and Joseph? Many people today reject Jesus too. Now we see Jesus rebuke to the crowd.

Verse 44 tells us that we cannot come to Jesus unless God draws us. Well great, how does that happen? Verse 45, which is a paraphrase of Isaiah 54:13, tells us, “And they shall be taught of God, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”

God draws us to Him through teaching, through what we learn about Him. This has really been the goal of my ministry, is to simply teach others what the Bible says and what God wants you to do. That is why so often my sermons sound like lectures!

We need to have the knowledge of the Bible. We need to know what is says. If we learn what God says in His book, it will lead us to Him. Now this isn’t just an intellectual knowledge about the Bible. There are many “scholars” that know this book better than all of us put together, but they don’t believe it.

Our hearts and minds must be open to receive the Word of God. We must plant the Word of God in our hearts. As we learn God’s Word, we will want to obey it. Live out His Word and His will for our lives. As we do this, we will learn to live a godly life in this difficult world.

Many times, people think God draws or calls those to Him that He wants and that is all who will come and be saved. This usually leads into a discussion about predestination. I always think back to what Jesus said in Matthew 22:14, he says, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

Who are called? Many. Who are chose? Few. Why, because the few who were chosen, responded. To respond to God’s call, we must believe in Him, study His Word, and obey His Word. No one has ever been saved without submitting to the will of God.

Jesus finished His teaching by reiterating what He had just stated. These words are shocking to the Jews. Eating flesh and drinking blood. No doubt, the crowd is in an uproar and starts arguing again. As we have seen, the crowd takes Jesus’ words literally.

Obviously, we know that Jesus was not talking about cannibalism and drinking actual blood. Instead, He was referring to His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus voluntarily laid his life down for the sins of the world.

When we come up to participate in the Lord’s Supper and communion together, we are to remember what Christ did for us on the cross.

We are to trust in Jesus with our lives and live like Him and for Him. Our lives show how much we trust in God. Do we walk with Jesus and talk with Him? Do we live our lives like we love Him as He loves us? Do we work for Jesus while knowing that we can also rest with Jesus?

Those are some things to think about this week. If you find yourself grumbling this week, just remember that you are grumbling against God and the things He has provided for you. Don’t be like the crowd, don’t be like the Israelites, don’t be like the world.

Instead, be like Jesus and feed on the Bread of Life.





Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word. It is filled with so many important truths that we cannot begin to even comprehend it all. We pray, that Your Spirit will teach us. Help us to trust You with our lives and not grumble about the situations we are in.

We pray this morning for those to whom Your Spirit speaks, those who are being drawn by the Father. God, if some heart here is being drawn, may this be the day that they in faith say, "Christ, I come, I want You, take my life, forgive my sin." May this be that day. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

The Bread of Life part 1

John 6:22-36
Length: 17:27

This is a message given on August 9, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

The sermon on the bread of life is a unique sermon. What a wonderful message it is too. We see Jesus present Himself as the only source of eternal life. We also see the crowd turn from being interested in Jesus and His teachings to that of open hostility toward the things he has to say.

It is possible that this wasn’t just one quick hour-long message, but possibly a whole day’s worth of teaching. Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at this message in greater detail to more fully understand what is happening.

Our text starts off, the next day. This would be the day after the feeding of the 5,000 that we looked at two weeks ago and mentioned briefly last week. The crowd woke up looked around and didn’t see Jesus. They knew the 12 disciples left on a boat, but Jesus didn’t go.

So where was He? What had happened to Him during the night?

While they were no doubt thinking these things and discussing among themselves a game plan. Some boats arrive from Tiberias. The crowd wanting to see Jesus decides to get on the boats and hitch a ride to Capernaum where they believe Jesus might be.

Finally, they find Jesus and ask Him, “When did you get here?” Now you are probably thinking, that is a dumb question. But isn’t it human nature. Think about the last trip to your family reunion. What do you say to them? Usually, what time did you get here? How was your trip? Much traffic along the way?

Chit chat as we would call it today. Notice Jesus’ response. He never addresses their question. Instead he gets to the heart of the matter. He essentially tells them, “You are not here because you want me to be your eternal security, you’re here just because of your fleshly desires.

He tells them to look beyond the flesh and not to work for food that spoils. The idea is being conveyed not to work just for food that nourishes you for a while, but to really work for food which brings you to eternal life.

The crowd has spent a couple of days seeking Jesus and there is nothing wrong with that. Seeking Jesus is a job we are all called to do. But the crowd was seeking Jesus for the wrong reason. They simply wanted to satisfy their earthly desire, rather than receive eternal life.

No doubt, many people in the crowd were familiar with the Old Testament prophecies and the testimony of John the Baptist. They saw Jesus’ miracles and healings. They probably even heard about Jesus’ baptism. But the crowd still didn’t get it.

The crowd thought Jesus was saying they must do some work for God to receive eternal life. So they asked Jesus, “What work must we do for God?” The question is pretty straight forward and it is still a question that many people ask today. “What must I do for God, so I can receive eternal life?”
Jesus gives a very simple and easily understandable answer. He says, “Your job, your work, is to believe in me.” The only “work” God desires of us is to have faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Messiah, the Son of God.

But your sitting there thinking faith without works is dead right? That’s in the bible, right? You are indeed right! Well how can this be? (James 2:17)

The answer is the fact that we don’t work FOR our salvation, but we work in response to it. There is no way to earn your salvation. No matter how “good” you are or how well you follow the laws and rules, it will not get you eternal life.

Faith is all your need. True faith in Jesus Christ gets you eternal life. Once you realize that, you will want to “do” things which demonstrate your faith. In fact, it will be almost impossible for you not to “do” good works.

It sounds simple. All I need is faith. And it is, until you realize the all encompassing attitude that it requires. Every part of your life will be rearranged in accordance with the will of God. You will use your time, talents, money, and energy, all that we have to serve Him.

After Jesus gives His answer, the crowd responds with another question. They essentially tell him to prove it. Prove that He is who he says He is. Perform a miracle for us and we will believe.

Jesus had already performed many miracles in their presence, there were healings, cleansings, feedings, calming of storms and so on. But the Jews want a sign from heaven, saying Moses fed our ancestors, the entire nation of Israel for 40 years in the wilderness.

“This manna they ate was from heaven, you just feed us earthly food. Give us a heavenly sign, a heavenly food and we will follow you” they say,

Jesus said I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. By rejecting Jesus, they are rejecting the very thing they are asking Jesus for, that is eternal life.

Jesus criticized the people for following Him for physical and temporary benefits rather than the spiritual life that will satisfy them eternally. Some people today come to the Church for physical comfort or other self-centered earthly motives.

A true Christian is a follower of Christ from their belief. We must believe on Him whom God has sent. Satisfying God does not come from what we do, but from whom we believe in.

Listen to some scripture about salvation.

Salvation belongs to the Lord (Psalm 3:8).

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31

“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Accept Jesus for who He is. Your spiritual life for eternity depends upon this. Declare and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God and grow in your lifelong journey of serving God. He is the bread of life, feed on Him.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly father, we thank you for feeding us not just with earthly food, but with the heavenly food, your word, the bread of life, Jesus Christ. Help us this week to be nourished by Him, so that we may live our lives for you in humble obedience to your word. AMEN.

Miraculous Jesus, Son of God

John 6:16-21
Length: 17:36

This is a message given on August 2, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

Our Scripture reading this morning is no doubt a familiar one to most of us. We usually refer to it as the miracle of Jesus walking on water. However, upon looking at the account as recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, we see there are really four miracles here.

First, and most familiar, is Jesus walking on water. Second, from Matthew we read that Jesus enabled Peter to walk on water. Third, Jesus again calms the wind and sea. Finally, Jesus gets into the boat and immediately they arrive at their destination.

This story continues the theme we saw last week, which emphasized the sovereignty of Jesus, but also shows the people misunderstanding who he really is. Let’s take a closer look at what is happening with the Walking on Water miracle.

Jesus had just fed the 5,000 people as we saw last week. The people of course wanted to make Him King. The crowd is still around Jesus well into the evening. As the evening wears on and the crowd settles in for the night, Jesus tells His disciples to head to the other side. Jesus heads off to pray for a while and will join the disciples later.

Meanwhile, the disciples are in the middle of the sea, about 3 or 4 miles from shore. The disciples were no doubt tired and to make matters worse a storm was kicking up. A strong wind was blowing.

Think about what must have been going through the disciple’s minds here. They had just witnessed another miracle of Jesus when he fed the crowd. They too probably wanted to make Him King.

They were probably wondering why Jesus sent them away and not only that, but why were they sent into this storm at night. And where was Jesus, why didn’t He come with us and how is He going to meet us on the other side?

So far, we see two scenes. The disciples struggling on the sea in the middle of a storm and Jesus praying alone in the calm of a mountain top.

Jesus knows what is going on with the disciples and starts walking out to meet them in the middle of the sea. As He approaches the boat, the disciples see Him and become frightened. They cannot believe their eyes and they think they are seeing a ghost.

Honestly, this would probably be the reaction of most of us today too! Imagine seeing a human like figure walking toward you in the middle of the sea. It is a natural response. Jesus senses their fear and tries to calm them.

“It is I” he says, more literally it reads “I am”, which is an Old Testament name of God. Of course, Peter responds, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

The account of Peter walking on water is only found in the Gospel of Matthew and speaks of his faith and his failing. Peter often gets a reputation of failing and lack of faith. But we need to give him credit. Peter was the only one of the 12 who had enough faith to step out of the boat! The other 11 were still clinging to their seats, hanging on for dear life.

When Peter realizes that he is walking on water, he becomes a little distracted and starts to sink. Crying out to his Master he says, “Lord, save me.” Jesus stretches out his hand and pulls him into the boat.

The disciples marvel at this and say, “truly you are the Son of God.” Suddenly, they are at the shore and the lesson is over for now.

What can we get out of these lessons today. Obviously there are many things we can learn from this story, such as the need for individual prayer or the sovereign power of God at work in our life and in the world..

But I want to focus on something different. As I said at the beginning there were four miracles in this story. Jesus walking on water, Peter walking on water, calming the storm, and immediately being transported to their destination.

Many “scholars” have tried to minimize or explain away these miracles of Christ. With the feeding of the 5,000 they say the crowd really did have their own food. They just didn’t want to admit it until they say the generosity of the little boy.

Of the walking on water and the immediate transport to their destination, they say that the disciples were almost there and Christ was walking in a shallow part of the sea or maybe there was a coral reef or ridge or something in the water that He was able to walk on.

Nonsense, is what I say to them. Their hearts have been hardened and cannot perceive the power of God through Christ.

The disciples too had a hard time believing in everything they saw and experienced. Even though they confessed that Jesus was the Son of God, they had at times trouble believing and understanding it.

Maybe they couldn’t figure out why God would choose them to be His followers and workers. It seemed to good to be true and human nature says that if it is too good to be true than it probably is! Maybe, like the crowd, they didn’t understand the real purpose for Jesus’ coming to earth.

The disciples were unable to comprehend the miracles of Christ and realize that He was their working in their lives. How about you?

We believe in these miracles and these stories of the life of Christ, but do you believe He is working in your life today as well?

The bible has so many wonderful truths in it, but do you apply those truths to your life? Do you live as though you believe the bible? Do you live trusting that Jesus has His arm out ready to save you?

If not, like Peter, say, “Lord, Save me.” And He will. Read His word, study his word, live his word. Cling to Him and He will not let you go.


Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your Word that has been so well preserved over these many years. Strengthen us to continue on in the faith as our fore-fathers have. Purify our minds and cleanse our hearts as we prepare to communion with you and with each other this morning. AMEN.

The Power Of Christ

John 6:1-14
Length: 20:33

This is a message given on July 26, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

In our Scripture lesson this morning we learn that the Jewish Passover Feast was near. This marks the transition of Jesus’ second and third year of ministry. It also explains partially why there were such large crowds following Him to Jerusalem.

As they pass through villages more and more people begin to follow. Jesus looks around and sees the great crowd, so he asks Philip where they can buy food for all of these people.

Why did He ask Philip this? Well, Phillip was probably in charge of the logistical aspect of Jesus’ ministry from an earthly perspective. We would say he was like the administrative assistant. He was a facts and figure kind of guy.

So Jesus asks Him to figure it out. Now, Jesus already knew the answer so this was a test for Philip. Jesus had a particular lesson in mind to teach Philip. Philip responds, “200 denarii” or about eight months wages.

It was late in the day, probably close to supper time, in a remote area. Of course, eating in those days was not an easy task like it is today. There were no fast food places to stop at. There were no microwaves or instant meals like we have today.

Now remember, from our Scripture last week. The disciples are tired and haven’t eaten either. When Jesus tells the disciples to feed the crowd, Judas probably cringed. Since he was the keeper of the money and wanted to keep as much money to himself.

Feeding 5,000 men (there were also women and children in the crowd, which would boost the number to maybe 20,000 people) would pretty much empty their money bag. But Jesus sends them out into the crowd to see what food they have available.

They find a boy who has five loaves of bread and two small fish. The bread is not like ours. More than likely it was a flat barley loaf, about 4 inches round. The fish were probably small fish like canned Sardines.

Jesus instructs the disciples to have the crowd sit down on the grass in groups of fifties and hundreds so the food can be distributed in an orderly manner, making sure everyone got something.

Jesus looks to heaven and gives thanks for the food and the food was distributed to all. The hunger of everyone in the crowd was completely satisfied. After the meal was over, the disciples collected the leftovers, which were12 baskets in all.

What an amazing and wonderful story of the power of God. He provides food for His followers. But as usual, there is a point to this story and I want to focus on that point from Philips perspective.

We know Philip was a leader. Jesus picked him to be one of the twelve. We know that he was a student of the Old Testament and we know that he was a faithful man. Even though he sometimes let logic get in the way of his faith as we read in our scripture this morning.

The question Jesus asked Philip was basically, “How do you propose to feed all these people?” Philip jumps into action and starts counting and calculating. Every way he figures it, he comes up with the same answer. It can’t be done.

Philip was there when Jesus turned the water in to wine. Philip had seen the numerous healings and miracles that Jesus had done. Instead of saying, “I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but I know you will Lord” Philip said “It can’t be done.”

This was a true test for Philip to look into himself and bring his faith to the forefront. Like Philip we don’t have all the answers. As much as we try and as much as we calculate things, we don’t always know.

That is where our faith needs to kick in. We know that God will supply all our needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). We shouldn’t focus on material or earthly matters. Instead we should be focusing on heavenly matters and glorifying God.

An essential element of leadership is a sense of vision and this is especially true for Christians. Philip was focused on earthly things and was overwhelmed at the task that Jesus gave him. The reality of the facts and data bouncing around in his brain, said “It can’t be done.”

He was so focused on the calculations and thought process that he completely missed the opportunity to see God’s hand at work. The power of Christ had escaped his thinking. Philip’s rationality took precedence over his faith.

Andrew brought the little boy with the bread and fish to Jesus. Andrew wasn’t too sure about how Jesus was going to feed everyone, but at least he had a little faith by bringing the boy and saying, “Here’s what we have Lord, what’s next?”

Philip lost the opportunity to have his faith rewarded while the action of Andrew was honored. Jesus taught in Matthew 17:20, “If you have faith as a mustard seed you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Philip needed to learn that lesson. Everything Jesus was doing seemed impossible to Philip. He just couldn’t calculate it out. He needed to set aside his materialistic, practical, and calculative ways and learn to see the miraculous ways of God.

How may of us today need to learn that same lesson. We all face struggles in our lives. We think things just can’t work out. The situation is impossible. But we often forget the power of Christ. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

Let the power of Christ strengthen you this week. Ask Him for it. Tell him you have no idea how to figure out the trouble surrounding you and let Him be honored and glorified through your life.
Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You this morning for Your word to us. We just have scratched the surface of many things, but, Lord, we pray that You'll teach us by Your Spirit. Seal these things in our
hearts. Teach us to obey.

Send us tests of trust, send us tests that are beyond our trust and then show us Your power that our trust may move just that much further ahead, Lord. These things we pray in His name, Amen.

Teaching, Healing, and Feeding

Mark 6:30-34
Length: 21:05

This is a message given on July 19, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

In our Scripture lesson this morning we see similar things happen as before. This is really the height of Jesus’ ministry now. This is the peak of His popularity.

We see the Apostles return from their ministry expedition. No doubt it was an exciting and productive time in the Apostles lives. As they gather around Jesus I am sure they all want to talk and tell Him about their adventures and successes. How they healed, cast out demons, preached to the crowds and saw people’s hearts turn in repentance.

As we have studied the Apostles for the past few months now, we know what they were like. They were hyper, impatient, excited, ready to act. As with most conversations the stories probably got bigger and better. Each Apostle was trying to tell their story and make it more exciting and more interesting than the others.

And there is Jesus in the middle of all this, listening with patience and enthusiasm for His students. If you remember from our scripture last week, a group of John the Baptists disciples approach Jesus and informed Him of the sad news that John is dead. He was executed by Herod.

Jesus is listening to the Apostles with excitement, while feeling the intense sadness of the death of the greatest man born of a women and the last Old Testament prophet. Not only that, but John the Baptist was a friend and family member of Jesus’.

What a difficult position to be in. Showing exciting for your students but also grieving the loss of a great man.

Jesus knows it is time for some rest again, to reflect on the recent events and to consider the next step in their ministry. Jesus knows that doing God’s work is extremely important, but to do it effectively we need periodic rest and renewal.

So Jesus invites them to a secluded place for rest and privacy from the crowds. But, the crowds keep coming. Some come because of Jesus’ popularity. Some have no doubt followed the Apostles back. Some have showed up over the outrage of John the Baptists death. Whatever the reason for coming, they were there. And there were lots of them.

Jesus and the Apostles jump in their boat and start to cross the Sea of Galilee once again. The people wait for a minute to see which direction the boat heads and then they start their journey by foot to the other side of the Sea.

As it turns out, some of the crowd actually beat the boat across the lake. When Jesus arrives He is once again moved with compassion for the people. He ignores His own tiredness and hunger to minister to the crowds.

Instead of showing impatience with the needy crowd, Jesus welcomed the people and ministered to their needs.
He teaches them. He heals them. And as we will see next week, He feeds them. What a wonderful model of ministry we see here. Teaching, healing, and feeding. Surely, we as a church should be doing this today.

We can all be teachers can’t we? If you are a parent, you are a teacher. We should be teaching our children and grandchildren about Christ. It is so wonderful to see children and families in Church.

Scripture tells us we are to bring our children to Christ and teach them in God’s way. We are to tell them of the miraculous works of God.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

We should be introducing Christ to our neighbors and friends and encouraging them to come to Church as well.

Teaching the gospel of Christ isn’t hard to understand. In fact, most of you here have probably taught others what it is like to be a follower of Christ whether you realize it or not. Sometimes our actions speak louder than our Words.

I remember Dr. Cook, from the Walk with the King broadcast, telling a story about how he went in to a store one day and bought some tapes. When he got out to his car, he realized he was under charged for the items.

He went back in to the clerk and explained the mistake to the clerk. The clerk replied, “I didn’t make a mistake, I just wanted to see if you practice what you preach!”

That is a testament to the gospel. You may teach it in words, but do you live it in your actions?

What about healing? We don’t have the power to heal do we? Well some of our Charismatic friends would argue that we do. I’m not so sure about that, but I do know that God has the power to heal.

How can we heal today? Easy. We can pray for healing, of others and for ourselves. We can also minister to those people that are sick. We can cook for them, clean for them, visit them, call them on the phone, send cards or letters. Everyone needs some maintenance on their homes, right? We can do whatever is needed to help them.



And finally feeding. Today this is probably the easiest type of ministry for us to perform here in the United States. We have an abundance of food. And not just an abundance, but a wide variety of food as well. We can donate money or food to the local food banks and soup kitchens. We can even volunteer at these places.

There are many poor and needy people out there, but there are also many people just going through a difficult time economically.

Listen to the words of Leviticus 25:35, “If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or sojourner, that he may live with you.”

Can you imagine if we all lived like that? No one would be hungry. No one would have need. It would all be provided for.

This is what Jesus did. He taught, healed, and fed. Isn’t this what we ought to do too? Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we need to do this to be saved.

I am simply saying, if we truly serve Christ, wouldn’t we want to do what He wants us to do? And isn’t that what he did?

Yes, I know we are all tired and this world seems to wear us out. When someone interrupts your schedule how do you view it? Is it an annoyance or is it an opportunity for you to minister to that person.

Living the Christian life means living like Christ and Christ obeyed the Father’s will.

Deuteronomy 10:12 says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord our God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

That is what the people of the Old Testament needed to do. That is what Christ did and it is what we too need to do today.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time in your Word this morning. Help us to take what we have learned and apply it in our lives. Strengthen us so that we may live as Jesus did, teaching, healing, and feeding others. All so that you may be pleased, honored, and glorified. AMEN.