March 2016

March 27 2016

“Ephesians: Children of the Resurrection” by Rev Cody Sandahl -March 27, 2016 (Easter)

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"Ephesians: Children of the Resurrection" by Rev Cody Sandahl -March 27, 2016 (Easter)

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Introduction

Today we are starting a new series looking at the book of Ephesians, and we’re going to take 8 weeks to cover these 6 chapters. We’re also inviting everyone to read along with us on your own. We’ll have a full devotional for each chapter available next week for you, but you can see the devotional for Ephesians 1 on the insert of your bulletin.

I believe Easter is a fantastic time to start looking at Ephesians, because the resurrection of Jesus is the climax of God’s story – his plan to redeem us and all of Creation is achieved and summarized by Easter morning. And Ephesians, as we’ll see, is really a birds-eye-view of that whole story. It’s kind of like the Cliff’s Notes version of God’s plan which is culminated on Easter.

And so here’s my challenge to everyone. Give God a chance. Give him about one chapter a week – actually it’s only 6 chapters in 8 weeks so it’s less than one chapter a week. See if God shows up as you read along with us in Ephesians and hear the sermons and maybe even go to the Sunday 9:30am class or the Monday 1pm class we’re offering to go deeper. Give God 6 chapters in the next 8 weeks and see if he does something in your life. I bet he will. And with that…

Ephesians 1:1-14

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹²so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Destiny

I am a huge Star Wars fan, evidenced by my Darth Vader bobble head attached to my computer monitor in my office, and one of the most powerful scenes of the original Star Wars movies is in Return of the Jedi where Luke is on the Death Star with the Emperor and Darth Vader. And the Emperor is trying to turn Luke to the Dark Side. As Luke’s friends walk into carefully laid traps, the Emperor gloats and says to him, “It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your father, are now MINE.”

The Emperor circles back to this concept of destiny after Luke defeats Vader when he laughs and says, “Good! Your hate has made you powerful. Now fulfill your destiny and take your father’s place at my side!”

And then, confronted with a choice, Luke tosses his lightsaber aside and replies, “Never. I’ll never turn to the Dark Side. You have failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”

I find this concept of destiny fascinating. Especially since there were competing visions for Luke’s destiny. It turned out the Emperor was wrong – he wasn’t destined for the Dark Side – wrong destiny.

Paul, in writing the letter to the Ephesians, is also concerned with destiny. And as with Luke in Star Wars, there are competing visions of our destiny as individuals and as humans and as a whole world. Ephesus was the home of the main Temple of Artemis – one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. She was known by different names to different cultures, but very similar images are found in temples ranging from the Mediterranean to Asia to the Middle East. All of these carvings are of a woman with various pictures of life and birth and nursing. Artemis is worshiped as the mother of all life – kind of a mother earth personified.

So one possible destiny is that we are part of the earth, just like other animals. Maybe we spring from mother earth, from Artemis, and we return in the cycle of life. That’s a destiny that is very powerful in Ephesus, in the Temple of Artemis – it’s her hometown. If a basketball game is played in Ephesus between Team Artemis and Team Jesus, the referees are going to give Team Artemis the calls and the crowd’s going to be loud and raucous.

But Paul writes about a different destiny. Paul writes, “God chose us in Christ,” “God destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ,” “in Christ we have redemption…and forgiveness,” “in Christ we have an inheritance,” “we are destined according to God’s purpose.” Do you hear this destiny language?

So let’s go through some of the reasons Paul lists for us to be grateful for our true destiny.

Adoption

First off, in v5 he says “God destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ.” And is this because we did so much good stuff that we deserve it? No, it’s “according to the good pleasure of his will.” So we are destined to be God’s children – not by birth, not by right, not by our action, but by adoption, by God’s choice, by God’s free gift.

This reminds me of some people I know – most of us know people like this – who decided to adopt a baby from another country. And it’s this really stressful process where you could be on the waitlist for a few months or several years and you’d better be ready to go when you get the call. And you know they’re signing up to adopt without knowing who the child is – the kid probably hasn’t even been conceived yet. But when they got the call they flew over to meet the child and they adopted her.

Let me ask you – what did that little baby girl do to earn her adoption? Nothing! It’s the same with us and God. We did nothing to earn adoption into God’s family. Actually we did a whole lot to DISQUALIFY us from being adopted into God’s family, but through Jesus we are destined to be children of God.

That’s what Jesus achieved on Easter. That’s what the empty tomb means to us. That’s why Jesus’ resurrection is the Super Bowl of the Christian calendar. Because on Easter, God’s plan to bring us back into the family is realized. Yes we do all the same things that led to Jesus being hung on the cross on Friday. But NEVERTHELESS Jesus overcame our sin, overcame death, and chose to adopt us into his family. We are destined, because of Jesus, not because of what we’ve done, because of Jesus, to be children of God in the resurrection. In the Easter story that we read, Jesus tells Mary, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” On Easter, Jesus chose to make his father our father – he adopted us.

Forgiveness

On a related note, Paul writes that “in Jesus we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

I know a family whose son is a drug addict. He goes through periods where he’s clean, but eventually the pain of his life catches up to him and he seeks to escape with the high. And so every time they welcome him back, they know it’s just a matter of time before he steals from them to pay for his next hit. Or he’s out of it and breaks something in their house. Or he’s agitated and threatens them.

But despite the advice of everyone in their lives, they keep welcoming him back. When asked why, they say, “Because he’s our son.” Now they’ll make sure to hide the jewelry when he’s back – they’re not stupid, but he’s always welcome back.

In a similar way, now that we are part of the family, our faults, our trespasses, our angry words, our shameful acts, our WHATEVER – all of that is forgiven. And this isn’t just a little forgiveness. Paul calls it “the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.” This isn’t like finding a shiny penny on the ground, it’s like finding the Hope Diamond in the gutter. It’s like going snorkeling and discovering a sunken Spanish treasure galleon. It’s like finding a mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card in your garage. It’s like discovering some initial stock from Apple’s IPO. It’s lavish!

It’s so lavish that you can’t outspend God’s gift. You can’t out-sin God’s forgiveness. You can’t dis-earn God’s love. Maybe you can refuse it. Maybe you can ignore it. But it’s there. Nothing you’ve done is unforgiveable to God. Nothing. Jesus’ closest friends abandoned him as he died a gruesome death on the cross, and yet three days later he’s adopting them into the family of God. It’s hard to accept lavish gifts that we can’t repay. But take it. Take the forgiveness. It’s free. It’s your destiny.

Live for God’s Praise and Glory

Finally, Paul writes that we are “destined…to live for the praise of Jesus’ glory.” So we are supposed to live our lives in a way that points to Jesus in a positive way.

But I think this is often misunderstood. Sometimes we think this means we should always put on a smiling face and pretend it’s OK and everything’s super and even though someone smashed my car and drove off isn’t God good? That’s hogwash! We aren’t destined to be a whitewashed caricature of our former selves. We aren’t destined to have fake perfect lives.

Other times we think we have to hide. If they only knew the real me, they wouldn’t want to be around me anymore. That’s hogwash, too! The church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. We are here because we NEED that lavish free gift of forgiveness. And we don’t just need it one time, we need it every stinking day!

So our destiny isn’t to live a fake life. It’s to live our real lives while claiming Jesus’ forgiveness. Our destiny is to keep striving to live like Christ, but Paul says that’s going to take, “the fullness of time.” Our destiny is to be real and point to Jesus’ lavish free gift of forgiveness and our incomprehensible adoption into God’s family.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, God has been at work for a long, long time. He has a plan. God has a plan to reunite us with him by adopting us as God’s children, as Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Thanks to that adoption, we have free, lavish forgiveness. And thanks to that forgiveness, we can live real lives, not whitewashed caricatures. This plan, this destiny, became real once the women and the disciples found the empty tomb on that first Easter. That’s when it all came together. That’s when our destiny became clear. It’s hard to accept such a lavish free gift. But I encourage you to take it. It’s your destiny. Amen.

March 20 2016

“Lord, Teach us to Pray: Thine is the Kingdom” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – March 20, 2016

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Sermons

"Lord, Teach us to Pray: Thine is the Kingdom" by Rev. Cody Sandahl - March 20, 2016

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Introduction

This is our last week looking at the Lord’s Prayer in depth. Last week we prayed for God to give us clear signs so we can get out of the bad neighborhood of trial and temptation, and we were warned against the false detour signs of the adversary.

Starting next week and for eight weeks total we will be going deeper with the letter to the Ephesians. We’re inviting everyone in the church to read along on your own as well. So we’re giving you eight weeks to read six chapters. And to help you go deeper, we’re putting the finishing touches on a devotional guide for each chapter and we have my class at 9:30 on Sundays and Carol’s class at 1pm on Mondays. We are convinced that leading our whole church deeper into Scripture, and Ephesians in particular, will help strengthen our spiritual practices – the trunk of our spiritual growth tree.

But to finish out our series on the Lord’s Prayer and get us into Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week, we have the final phrase of Jesus’ prayer – “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” As we read the whole prayer from Jesus one more time I invite you to notice where this phrase lands.

Matthew 6:9-14

⁹“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. ¹⁰Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.¹¹Give us this day our daily bread. ¹²And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. ¹⁴For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

Doxology

Well did you catch it? Did you notice where this final phrase of Jesus’ prayer is? No? That’s because it’s not there. Maybe you’re thinking we should check Luke’s version, since we’ve noticed a few differences throughout this series. But you’d be out of luck there, too. And maybe you’ve been to a Catholic mass before, and maybe you noticed that they end the Lord’s Prayer before this final phrase, too. Now if you have your trusty King James Bible with you and flip to Matthew 6:13, here’s what it says: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen”

Aha! Now we’ve found it! But we know this prayer so well. We know it ends with this closing. So why does it only appear in the King James Version? Why was it removed from the more modern translations? Why did the Catholics never have it as part of the prayer?

First off, have you ever played a game of telephone? That’s where someone starts with a phrase and they whisper it into the ear of the person next to them. Then that person whispers what they heard into the ear of the person next to them. And on and on and on you go until you’ve gone through you whole group. If you have more than about six people, you’re in for a shock. For instance, maybe the first person whispers, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” And by the end you’ll get something like, “We gobbled the toad and shaved a ton.” If you don’t believe me give it a try at home.

Or maybe you prefer the rumor mill. Once a rumor is passed along by two or three people, it has a life of its own and no longer bares any resemblance to the truth. We as humans simply can’t accurately pass along what we’ve heard.

And so it is indeed miraculous that when you compare all the various scrolls and parchments and letters with Bible verses from early Christianity, they agree about 95% of the time. And most of the places in the remaining 5% where there are some differences? It’s stuff like one version says “Jesus Christ” and the other one says “Christ Jesus.” Boring.

But occasionally there are true differences. And this last phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is one of them. So every translation of the Bible uses some baseline – they have to choose which ancient scrolls to go with when there are differences. The Catholic Church commissioned St. Jerome in the year 382 to collect and update the various Latin texts that were used in the church. That eventually developed into their baseline version, called the Vulgate, and when in doubt Jerome went with what was most commonly used in Catholic churches at the time.

When the King James Bible was being commissioned in 1611, however, they used a different baseline called the Textus Receptus. That was a Greek version put together primarily by a scholar named Erasmus, and he tried to figure out where scribes might have made errors while copying, and wherever he had a question he used the Catholic Vulgate to fill in the gaps. So his version was a little different than the Vulgate, but really similar.

Modern translations use yet another baseline, which treats the oldest scrolls as the de facto standard. So when it’s not obvious where the scribes messed up, modern translations go with the oldest scroll when they’re in doubt. Again, very similar but occasionally different.

And for Jesus’ prayer, the Latin Vulgate has never had this closing phrase, so the Catholic Church has never said it. Erasmus’ Textus Receptus used by the King James? It has this phrase. He thought the scribes messed up when they didn’t include it. And the modern translations based on the oldest scrolls? Not in there. To make it even more fun, the Byzantine church – the Eastern offshoot of Christianity – added our last phrase, not to the Bible, but as a blessing to be spoken together whenever it was read aloud in worship. It’s kind of like how we say, “This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.”

Now that I’ve bored you, what’s the “so what” for all of this? Well I think it presents us with a choice. Now that you know that our tradition intentionally added or added back in this phrase, “Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” Now that you know that, you have a choice. The first choice is to pretend it’s not there. You can end your prayer by asking God to deliver us from evil. The second choice is to say it like you mean it. Because if we pray, “thine is the kingdom,” we’re saying “mine is NOT the kingdom.” If we pray, “thine is the power” we’re saying “I don’t have the power.” If we pray “thine is the glory” then we’re saying “I don’t deserve credit.”

Thine Is the Kingdom

And that brings us back to Palm Sunday. I think this is the choice available to the crowd as they gathered for Jesus riding into Jerusalem. Our text says, “the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

Did you hear that last bit? “Blessed is the KING who comes in the name of the Lord?” Add our last phrase to the end there, “For thine is the KINGDOM and the power and the glory forever.” The crowd is primed and ready for a KING. The crowd is primed and ready for a KINGDOM. The crowd is primed and ready for the Messiah. They are ready for Jesus to claim the throne.

They were ready for a revolution. And so as they followed Jesus, gathering in numbers, they knew, absolutely KNEW he was going to go straight down the road. Because at the end of the road, straight ahead, was Herod’s palace in Jerusalem. It was time for Jesus, the true King, to confront Herod, the pretend king propped up by the Romans.

But then a funny thing happened. Jesus turned right. And he went up the stairs. And into the Temple. And he drove out the merchants and the money changers.

To help you see how shocking this was, imagine that there’s a movement to clean up Arapahoe County. So a march is organized to go up Littleton Blvd and end at the Arapahoe County offices across the street from our church. And that’s where this march is going to demand change! But when the leader of the march gets to Littleton and Windermere, he turns right. And comes in through the main entrance of our church. And he trashes a bunch of stuff in here that he thinks distracts people from God. People’s jaws would be on the floor in shock!

But that’s kind of what Jesus did. The crowd expected him to go trash Herod’s palace. Instead he trashed the Temple courtyard. The crowd expected him to go clean up the government. Instead he cleaned up worship. The crowd expected him to want to save the nation. Instead he saved our souls.

And I believe that unmet expectation led the crowd that shouted “Hosanna” on Sunday to shout “Crucify him” on Friday.

They wanted a king. They wanted a kingdom. But they wanted the power and glory – they wanted it their way. They made their choice. They were shouting and singing and dancing. But it was for all the wrong reasons.

Instead of praying “THINE is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever,” they were praying, “OURS is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”

Summary

Maybe on one level that’s why this phrase slips in and out of the Lord’s Prayer depending on which version you look at. Because we really want the kingdom and the power and the glory to be OURS, not GOD’S. We want it our way. Jesus refused to do it our way, and the rest of Holy Week shows how we respond.

So as we enter Holy Week again, where does Jesus want to turn right even though you want him to go straight? Where does Jesus want to save your soul instead of saving your kingdom? Where does Jesus want to do it his way, not my way?

“For THINE is the kingdom, THINE is the power, THINE is the glory. Forever.” Amen.

March 13 2016

“Lord, Teach us to Pray: Temptation” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – March 13, 2016

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"Lord, Teach us to Pray: Temptation" by Rev. Cody Sandahl - March 13, 2016

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Introduction

We are still in our series looking at the Lord’s Prayer. Last week we talked about forgiving our trespasses, our sins, our debts as we forgive our debtors. And we looked at what we “owe” our neighborhood and our community as a church. And I also just wanted to pause to celebrate for a moment. I can account for about 50 people and 14 blocks walked last week as we prayed for our community. I’m excited to see what God does with that in our hearts.

If last week was the terrible petition, this week is the fantastic one. We can all get behind asking God to rescue us when we are tempted or troubled. This one’s easy. At least, it’s easy until we ask what our role is in this.

Matthew 6:9-13

Temptation

My grandfather was an interesting man and apparently quite a character. Despite being bound to a wheelchair due to polio, he managed to get a law degree, run a very successful Pepsi bottling company in Austin, and get elected to the Texas House of Representatives. In fact I have two Texas-shaped coasters on my desk here at the church that are from the Texas House – don’t rat me out, I’m not giving them back!

He had many reasons to be proud. But whenever you put a dessert in front of him, he would state, “I can resist anything…except for temptation.”

I love that – I can resist anything…except for temptation. Isn’t it so true?

I mean, I absolutely hate gambling. Not because I’m morally opposed to it as an entertainment form, but because I’m too good at math and too much of a cheapskate to enjoy it even when I’m winning! I’m just waiting for the inevitable losing to commence. I blame my Swedish roots.

So should I be proud of myself for resisting gambling when it isn’t tempting to me in the slightest?

I was talking with someone recently who decided to give up Diet Coke for Lent. They’re braver than I am, that’s for sure. But then I saw this person with a huge, 40 oz cup with soda in it, and my puzzlement must have been evident because they explained, “This is REGULAR Coke, so I’m still good.” Should we be proud of ourselves if we simply substitute one temptation for another?

We can all resist anything…except for temptation.

So let’s throw out everything that you easily resist because it doesn’t even tempt you. Maybe that’s alcohol or smoking or gambling or whatever. Throw that out for now. That’s great, but what actually tempts you? What takes willpower to overcome? What gives you pause? Does unattended cash tempt you? Does income that can’t be traced by the IRS tempt you? Does lying tempt you? Does pornography tempt you? Does a great dessert tempt you? What actually tempts you?

God Always Gives Us A Way Out = Signs Pointing Back to Him

Now I’ve long debated what it means to pray to God, “lead us not into temptation.” Why would God LEAD me there? Does he have a grudge or something? In Matthew it’s no better – “do not BRING us to the time of trial.” Why would God BRING me to trial? Is he bored? Have you ever wondered that?

Well James writes in chapter 1, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

OK, God isn’t tempting me. So what does “lead me not into temptation” mean, then?

Well to answer that, we need the whole phrase. In our version of the prayer it’s “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Matthew’s version has, “Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”

To move this image into a contemporary setting, there’s a scene in the movie Bruce Almighty, and the main character is driving around asking and PLEADING with God for a sign. He passes by a “slow down” sign as he prays the first time. As he again asks God for a sign, a construction truck pulls out in front of him with a bunch of stop signs hanging out of the back. Finally he looks up toward heaven – while still driving mind you – and demands a sign. And that’s when he rear-ends the construction truck. The joke is that he was ignoring all the very literal signs God was sending him.

Temptation is kind of like driving around and finding yourself in a bad neighborhood and your GPS just keeps repeating in an ominous tone, “Make a U-turn, Make a U-turn.” When you’re in the bad neighborhood, somewhat lost, you need to follow the right signs to get out.

And this prayer isn’t asking God to keep you out of those bad neighborhoods, it’s a prayer to God to give you clear signs to follow to get out.

Our first text today from 1 Corinthians 10 says, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

Think about that – it’s incredibly hopeful. God will not let us be tested beyond our strength. No matter the circumstance, we have a way out. No matter our genetics, no matter our upbringing, no matter our situation, we have a choice. I know a guy who was taking his brother to rehab, and the guy going to rehab started talking about how it was his parents’ fault that he was doing drugs. So my friend replied, “I grew up in the same home, and I never did drugs.” Shockingly, the brother replied, “You know, you’re right.” My friend took the way out, his brother didn’t. But he could have. And maybe rehab will let him finally take that way out.

Our text today asks God to “rescue us from the evil one,” or as I usually call him, “the adversary.” My friend’s brother was falling for one of the most common detour signs the adversary throws up when we’re looking for directions out of the bad neighborhood of trial and temptation. The detour signs says, “it’s inevitable – just give up.” Another detour sign reads, “it’s someone else’s fault – just give in.” Another detour sign reads, “it’s so small no one will notice.” Or, “it’s just this one time.” What detour signs get in your way when you’re in the bad neighborhood of trial and temptation? What does the little red guy on you shoulder whisper in your ear?

Whatever it is, it’s a lie. It’s a detour. It’s not the way out.

God has a way out – always – but it’s a different sign. Many times it’s a much harder direction.

Ways Out

Back in the year 2000 the US government started requiring that clinical trials of medications and treatments start publicly registering their methods and how they were going to measure impact before doing the actual research. And when they looked at studies before that requirement and after it, the difference was striking. Before researchers had to tell other people their methods ahead of time, they found a positive impact – a reason to go to market with the drug – 57% of the time. But when they had to register their methods, they only found a positive impact – a reason to go to market with the drug – 8% of the time. It seems even researchers can succumb to the temptation of wealth while conducting their science. But public accountability took a lot of wind out of those sails. Public accountability was a much harder direction, but it was a way out of the bad neighborhood of temptation.

Just as the adversary has some common detour signs, God has some common direction signs. Being publicly accountable is one of those common signs. Could you use another person – or maybe several people – to hold you accountable and ask you about your temptation? Or maybe you know someone who could use you graciously checking in on them? Accountability is a common direction sign from God.

Another common direction sign from God is “Find Something Better.” Now probably this doesn’t mean going from Diet Coke to regular Coke for Lent – that’s not really helping. But we all know the phrase, “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.” When I was a bachelor, there were more opportunities for temptation because I had way more idle time. Having a wife and two kids certainly is an effective means of reducing idle time! Whenever that idle time is there and temptation comes, though, one way out is to have something better ready to go.

Weight Watchers has had an ongoing debate about how many points to assign fruits and vegetables. Scientifically, fruits and vegetables have calories and fruits have sugar. But many of the programs make fruits and vegetables free – you can eat as many as you want. I once heard someone say, “I don’t need Weight Watchers because I’m eating too many fruits and vegetables. That’s not the reason.” Having fruits and vegetables be free – always available if you’re hungry – was a huge blessing to this person because they always had a guilt-free option rather than trying to just ignore the hunger. They had something better. One of the common direction signs from God.

The third major direction sign from God says, “Exit here.” Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.” There’s a progression there – walking with the wicked. Then that leads to standing – lingering – in the way that sinners take. And that leads to sitting – making friends with – the company of mockers. At any step along the way, someone can take the “Exit Here” sign from God. It’s a lot easier to take the exit when you’re walking, not lingering. And it’s a lot easier to take the exit when you’re standing, not sitting at the table. God gives us “Exit Here” signs so that we can get out of the bad neighborhood while we’re still on the outskirts, not trapped in the middle. What’s the first step that leads you closer to temptation? What’s the second step that leads to temptation? How can you exit sooner?

Summary

Sisters and brothers, we will all find ourselves driving around in the bad neighborhood of trial and temptation. But no temptation is stronger than you can bear, and God is faithful and always, always, ALWAYS provides a way out.

What direction signs might God be giving you? Is he telling you to find accountability? Is he telling you to find something better? Is he telling you to exit sooner?

Follow the direction signs from God, not the detour signs from the adversary. We know we’re not always going to do that. But now we know it’s always possible. And for that I say thanks be to God.

March 6 2016

“Lord, Teach Us To Pray: Forgive Us As We Forgive” by Rev Cody Sandahl – March 6, 2016

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"Lord, Teach Us To Pray: Forgive Us As We Forgive" by Rev Cody Sandahl - March 6, 2016

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Introduction

We are still making our way through the Lord’s Prayer. Last week we talked about praying for our daily bread as a daily shopper prayer, not a once-a-week Costco run. But we were also encouraged not to get to bread too soon in our prayers – it’s in the middle for a reason.

To get us into the next part of Jesus’ prayer, let me tell you a story. In middle and high school, there was another boy in our youth group who rubbed me the wrong way. Every time I was around him alarm bells were going off in my head. Over the years, my instinct was proven correct. I won’t go into the details, but there were complaints from most of the female members of the youth group. When I think about this boy – and now he’s a man somewhere – alarm bells still go off in my head. I can still get worked up thinking about it.

And so, thinking of this boy, I really wish I could change the Lord’s Prayer. More of a tweak really. Jesus probably wouldn’t even notice. I’d much prefer “forgive us our debts but don’t forgive our debtors.” Just a small change. Doesn’t that sound better? We should start a petition.

Unfortunately that’s not what Jesus said. Listen to why the ancient theologian Augustine called this, “the terrible petition.”

Matthew 6:9-12

Debts, Sins, Trespasses

One of the common questions pastors get about the Lord’s Prayer is: “should we use forgive us our debts, forgive us our trespasses, or forgive us our sins?” The answer is, of course, “Yes!” All three can make a pretty good case for themselves.

I mentioned last week that the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Matthew is slightly different than the version in Luke. Let me read you Luke 11:4: “And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.”

I don’t know about you, but I dislike that version even more than Matthew’s version. If I pray Matthew’s version – “God forgive me as I forgive” – then I’m nervous that God will actually do that. I’m afraid he’ll use my own record of forgiveness to determine how much to forgive me. Scary.

But if I pray Luke’s version – “God forgive me because I forgive everyone” – well then I’m lying to God in prayer. I don’t think that’s an especially good idea. In fact, I think lying is covered by one of the Ten Commandments.

But did you notice that Luke says both “sins” and “debts?” Archaeologists have discovered a lot of letters from early Christianity, and many of them have the Lord’s Prayer on them. And some of the letters say “debts.” Some of the letters say “trespasses.” And some of the letters say “sins.” All three were in use. The early Christians were emphasizing three different aspects of our need to forgive and our need for forgiveness.

Sins = Damaging Relationship with God OR Pointed People Away from God

So let’s look at sins first. Sin is anything that separates us from God. Which is only almost everything we do, so we have that going for us. But sin is also any way that we point people away from God through our actions, inactions, words, and attitudes. And when others do that to us, that’s when we need to “forgive those who have sinned against us.”

Now I know that no one here has been un-Christ-like to others, but has anyone been un-Christ-like to you? Have they had no patience, sapped your joy, destroyed your sense of peace, been impatient, been unkind, done wrong or unjust things, been harsh, or simply lacked self-control toward you? Then they’ve sinned against you.

The first text we read today is interesting in this regard. The king forgives the slave his 10,000 talents worth of debt until the slave refuses to forgive a 100 denarii debt. To put that into scale, a denarii was one day’s wage for a laborer – minimum wage if you will. So if someone owed you 100 days’ worth of minimum wage, that’s like $12,000. That’s a considerable sum!

But a single talent is worth 20 years of minimum wage labor, and the slave owes 10,000 talents. The math is a little fuzzy, but that’s somewhere between two and seven BILLION dollars’ worth of debt. So he’s not going to be able to pay that back no matter how hard he works.

So the point of Jesus’ story is that it’s good to be the king. Oh wait, no.

The point of Jesus’ story is that we owe such a debt to God it is incomprehensibly bigger than what anyone else could possibly do to us. Again, $12,000 is no joke – I think most people would notice if they had loaned $12,000 to someone and it wasn’t paid back. Other people can really and truly do us harm. But the weight of our sins toward God – against whom we can sin without saying a word, without anyone else noticing – makes any sins against us pale in comparison.

Jesus is saying – if God can forgive you $4 billion, can’t you forgive your $12,000? If God can forgive you for everything you’ve thought and said and done, can’t you forgive someone else for what they’ve said and done against you?

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

Trespasses = Damaging Relationship with Neighbors

The next version – trespasses – really focuses in on those $12,000 damages. Trespassing primarily means to enter another person’s property without permission. It’s primarily about damaging our relationships with our neighbors.

We have a neighbor who is incredibly kind and gracious. And whenever the snow is very deep he will bring his heavy-duty snowblower and help out five out of the six houses around him – luckily we’re one of the five he helps. But it’s fascinating to see him clear off the sidewalk of one house, turn off the blower, and then turn it back on after he crosses the property line of that other house. Clearly there’s some major hurt, major damage between those neighbors. And clearly there hasn’t been any forgiveness in either direction yet.

Contrast that with two neighbors when we lived in Bethlehem. One neighbor had a basketball goal. The other had a swimming pool. And in between them was a pretty high, maybe five or six foot wooden fence. But they had installed a ladder that straddled the fence from one side to the other, and whenever I walked by I would often see the families playing together on one side of the fence or the other. Even when the other family wasn’t there, it wasn’t uncommon to see them playing in the neighbor’s yard.

How’s your own neighborhood? How’s your relationship with your neighbors? Is it closer to the snowblower story or the ladder story? Any trespasses you’ve committed or that have been committed against you? Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Debts = Obligations

In our own back yard in Bethlehem some prior owner had installed a much smaller fence. But curiously there was a gate at the very back going from our yard to the house behind us. I’m guessing that at some point our two houses had a similar relationship – families going back and forth between the yards using that gate. But that wasn’t the case for us. The neighbor behind us only spoke to us once in over six years – and that was because the tree pruning company wouldn’t trim the tree that started in our yard and stretched into his without permission from us.

So there wasn’t any damage there – no trespassing to forgive. But I wonder if forgiveness is still needed in that case. Do we need to ask for forgiveness if we never get to know our neighbors? Do we, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the city on a hill that cannot be hidden – that’s how Jesus describes the church – do we have some kind of obligation to do better than that?

And that brings us to debts. Because a debt is really an obligation. It is a weight, a burden, it can even be a form of bondage. So what are our obligations – especially with our neighbors? What do we owe our neighborhood? Our community? What can they expect of us? If you watched the sermon teaser video this week you know these three stories.

This past week one of Charlie’s teachers figured out that I’m the pastor here, and she said, “Oh that’s such a beautiful building!” And you know what? She’s right! We do have a beautiful building. Thanks to our Properties and Renovation Committees for making sure that’s the case. In fact, when people figure out where our church is I hear two statements more than any others – “That’s such a beautiful building” and “Oh, I park there when I eat at Romano’s.”

But is beautiful architecture what we owe to our community? Is that enough for us to feel like we’ve met our obligations, our debt, to our community?

A couple of months ago I talked with a man who had visited our church and he told me how much he enjoyed the music. He liked that it was traditional but still very alive. He loved that we sang the hymns he knew. And you know what? He’s right! We do have great music. Thanks to Mary and Susan and Karen and everyone in our various choirs and thanks to the Worship Committee for making sure that’s the case. In fact, many people who visit our church or become new members at our church say they came here because we have traditional music done very well.

But is good music what we owe to our community? Is that enough for us to feel like we’ve met our obligations, our debt, to our community?

About a month ago a man walked in on one of my night meetings and said, “I heard this is a place where I could get some help. I don’t have a place to stay tonight, but I also just need to talk to someone.” And you know what? He’s right! He was able to get some help – not as much as I would have liked, but enough for a night. And we were able to talk a little about Jesus Christ and how he can change the trajectory of someone’s life.

And I wonder if THAT’S what we owe to our community. Do we owe it to our community to be a place where people can get help? Do we owe it to our community to be a place where you can hear about Jesus Christ and how faith in him can change whatever trajectory you’re on?

That’s how the prophet Micah summarized the nation of Israel’s obligation in Micah 6:8 – “What does the Lord REQUIRE of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

God was a little more confrontational when he spoke through the prophet Amos in chapter 5: “²¹I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. ²²Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. ²³Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. ²⁴BUT let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

In other words, God said – “You’ve got a beautiful Temple, but that’s not what you owe me. You’ve got great worship and great music, but that’s not what you owe me. You owe me a concern for justice and a concern for people’s relationship with God.”

So, God, forgive us our debts – forgive us for wherever we’ve ignored our community’s need for justice. Forgive us for wherever we’ve ignored people who need to know Jesus. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Summary

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. God clearly cares about our relationships with our neighbors and our community. So God, I pray that we – as people and as a church – would let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.