Sardis

“Write this to the angel of the church in Sardis: These are the words of the one who holds God’s seven spirits and the seven stars: I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, and you are in fact dead.2 Wake up and strengthen whatever you have left, teetering on the brink of death, for I’ve found that your works are far from complete in the eyes of my God. 3 So remember what you received and heard. Hold on to it and change your hearts and lives. If you don’t wake up, I will come like a thief, and you won’t know what time I will come upon you. 4 But you do have a few people in Sardis who haven’t stained their clothing. They will walk with me clothed in white because they are worthy. 5 Those who emerge victorious will wear white clothing like this. I won’t scratch out their names from the scroll of life, but will declare their names in the presence of my Father and his angels.6 If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Revelation 3:1-6, CEB)

You seem to be alive, yet you are dead…

Seems like the state of Christianity today in the world. We as Christians seem to be more interested in people being just like us and acting in certain ways and not doing certain things before God will love them.

I say we because those who are not Christian, I assume, lump us all into one pot, as we Christians normally do for Muslims, Jews, or insert other religion here. And even this of course is a generalization. We are not all like this, but we get labeled certain things because we say we are Christian.

So how can those of us who haven’t stained our clothes bring God’s love to the forefront of the conversation? How can we bring God’s love to bear on the world?

Stay focused on Jesus and do what we are led to do and know that God is always with us.

saving vs losing life

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts, and that he had to be killed and raised on the third day. 22 Then Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him: “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you.” 23 But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 25 All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. 26 Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? 27 For the Human One is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. 28 I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Human One coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:21-28, CEB)

What are you focused on?

Peter was just given the keys to the kingdom, the power to loose sin, and bind sin. He can forgive as Jesus forgives, and here he has lost his focus.

Peter knows what he and the other disciples have talked about happening, but has forgotten that the way we envision things is seldom the way it happens.

To quote a great opening to a movie, My Sister’s Keeper starts out, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans…”

God has things ready to go, and sometimes we get in the way, but God still gets the job done.

So be like Peter from last week, led by the spirit, focused on God. And try not to be like the Peter from this passage that is right after last weeks, stumbling over yourself because you think you understand what needs to happen better than God. Don’t make God laugh, make God smile, by following where God guides you. And know that while you carry your cross, God is always with you.

healing of many people

14 Jesus went home with Peter and saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and served them.16 That evening people brought to Jesus many who were demon-possessed. He threw the spirits out with just a word. He healed everyone who was sick. 17 This happened so that what Isaiah the prophet said would be fulfilled: He is the one who took our illnesses and carried away our diseases. (Matthew 8:14-17, CEB)

Here is a passage that has some issues we think as we read it. Jesus went into Peter’s home and saw Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever. So Jesus healed her and she went and started working in the house again. Now working in the house was where most women were in Jesus’ time, but that is not to say that that is where women shoudl be now. But the point of this is Jesus not only healed her but restored her to the community. She was able to do what she was to be doing when she was not able to by being with a fever.

That is what Jesus did for all He healed. It was not just curing them of infirmities but restoring them to the community.

Has Jesus restored you to the community?

hidden plan

7 The hidden plan to live without any law is at work now, but it will be secret only until the one who is holding it back is out of the way. 8 Then the person who is lawless will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath from his mouth. When the Lord comes, his appearance will put an end to him. 9 When the person who is lawless comes, it will happen through Satan’s effort, with all kinds of fake power, signs, and wonders. 10 It will happen with every sort of wicked deception of those who are heading toward destruction because they have refused to love the truth that would allow them to be saved. 11 This is why God will send them an influence that will mislead them so that they will believe the lie. 12 The result will be that everyone will be judged who is not convinced by the truth but is happy with injustice. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12, CEB)

Those who are happy with injustice will be judged because they will follow after the one who is lawless.

Who is truly happy with injustice? This is an interesting question for this period in time. Where we have people saying that churches should be open because people are rioting all over the place. It is safe to riot but it isn’t safe to gather in a church. Well first of all, not everyone is rioting. Some are peacefully protesting. And yes it is unsafe for us to be in churches, but that doesn’t mean churches are closed.

You see this passage is actually very relevant today because all of us who perpetuate the system of racism are the ones who follow after the lawless one and are happy with injustice.

All of us who cry for justice for people who got justice while our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) siblings don’t have it are ones who follow the lawless. We need to stand up for justice for all and for some of us that looks like we are getting the short end of the stick, but that is because we have lived in a society that was built on racism and we have gained from it. That means we must change our view and see things from our siblings point of view. It isn’t easy, but it must be done.

Do not follow the lawless, and seek justice for all.

Children of the Light

Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children. 2 Live your life with love, following the example of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. He was a sacrificial offering that smelled sweet to God. 3 Sexual immorality, and any kind of impurity or greed, shouldn’t even be mentioned among you, which is right for holy persons. 4 Obscene language, silly talk, or vulgar jokes aren’t acceptable for believers. Instead, there should be thanksgiving. 5 Because you know for sure that persons who are sexually immoral, impure, or greedy—which happens when things become gods—those persons won’t inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas. God’s anger comes down on those who are disobedient because of this kind of thing. (Ephesians 5:1-6, CEB)

Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas…

Hold my drink and watch this…

We should not follow after those who lead us astray, but rather follow after Christ and be imitators of God.

We should be thankful for what we have and show the love that we have been given to the world, so that they might know that same love is available for them.

How do you imitate God?

Perfume

6 When Jesus was at Bethany visiting the house of Simon, who had a skin disease, 7 a woman came to him with a vase made of alabaster containing very expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus’ head while he was sitting at dinner. 8 Now when the disciples saw it they were angry and said, “Why this waste? 9 This perfume could have been sold for a lot of money and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said, “Why do you make trouble for the woman? She’s done a good thing for me. 11 You always have the poor with you, but you won’t always have me. 12 By pouring this perfume over my body she’s prepared me to be buried. 13 I tell you the truth that wherever in the whole world this good news is announced, what she’s done will also be told in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:-13, CEB)

So wherever in the world this good news is told, what she has done will also be told. But what is her name?

She did a good thing for Jesus by preparing Him to be buried, but we don’t even get to know her name. And in the Gospel of John it says that Judas was upset about this because it was Nard and expensive. So they could have gotten a lot of money for it.

But she did a good thing for Jesus.
Who does good things for you?
Do you know their names?

Deep

33 God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep! They are as mysterious as his judgments, and they are as hard to track as his paths! 34 Who has known the Lord’s mind? Or who has been his mentor?  35 Or who has given him a gift and has been paid back by him? 36 All things are from him and through him and for him. May the glory be to him forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36, CEB)

God is deeper than we can possibly fathom. As I read this I’m reminded of the sonf Deep and Wide.

Deep and Wide.
Deep and Wide.
There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.
Deep and Wide.
Deep and Wide.
There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.

God’s expanse is so much wider and deeper than any of us can image. We can not fit God in our box and should not try. We can not possibly know all that God knows, or see all that God sees or understand all that God understands.

And that should bring us peace, knowing that everything is in God’s hands.

without excuse

So every single one of you who judge others is without any excuse. You condemn yourself when you judge another person because the one who is judging is doing the same things. 2 We know that God’s judgment agrees with the truth, and his judgment is against those who do these kinds of things. 3 If you judge those who do these kinds of things while you do the same things yourself, think about this: Do you believe that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the riches of God’s generosity, tolerance, and patience? Don’t you realize that God’s kindness is supposed to lead you to change your heart and life? 5 You are storing up wrath for yourself because of your stubbornness and your heart that refuses to change. God’s just judgment will be revealed on the day of wrath. 6 God will repay everyone based on their works.[a] 7 On the one hand, he will give eternal life to those who look for glory, honor, and immortality based on their patient good work. 8 But on the other hand, there will be wrath and anger for those who obey wickedness instead of the truth because they are acting out of selfishness and disobedience. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 10 But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 11 God does not have favorites. (Romans 2:1-11, CEB)

So every single one of you who judge others is without any excuse. So isn’t that all of us? I mean really can any of us say we have not judged someone else?

We all judge others, based on religion, race, sexuality, political party. I am in no way saying it is right, I am saying it happens. People who say they don’t notice those things are lying to themselves. We all see things and judge others who are different than us. Admitting it is the start of working through it.

We as followers of Christ need to surrender ourselves to Him and let His eyes be our eyes. Then we will see people not for the things that separate us, but by the hurts that are in their lives. We will see the pains they are dealing with. We will see the evil that is assailing them.

Then maybe we would love them, as God loves them. And that is really what the world needs now.

Who do you say I am?

13 Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Human One is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Then Jesus replied, “Happy are you, Simon son of Jonah, because no human has shown this to you. Rather my Father who is in heaven has shown you. 18 I tell you that you are Peter. And I’ll build my church on this rock. The gates of the underworld won’t be able to stand against it. 19 I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20, CEB)

Who do you say Jesus is?

The Christ?

The Messiah?

God?

What do these words mean?

Well, Christ is the Greek term for the Hebrew Messiah, and they roughly mean savior. So do you see Jesus as your savior? And if so what is He saving you from?

Peter said Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God. To which, Jesus responds, yes and God gave this to you. You are blessed.

Then Jesus says upon this rock I will build my church and even the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. Now did Jesus mean Peter, the rock, or the rock He was standing on.

I would say yes. Roman Catholics take this as the verse where Jesus makes Peter the Pope or the head of the church and gives him the keys to the kingdom, which is true, and yet he also gives them to the rest of the disciples as well a little later. And the interesting thing is where they are. Actually scholars say they were at the place where a temple of Pan was. And if you don’t know about Pan, look it up, interesting stuff, but it was also known as the gates of Hell. So Jesus was saying that even in this place known for worship of Pan and it being the gates of Hell itself, will not stand against His gathering. His followers will do more and be more than those who stand against it.

Do you believe this?

Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

5 When the disciples arrived on the other side of the lake, they had forgotten to bring bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “We didn’t bring any bread.” 8 Jesus knew what they were discussing and said, “You people of weak faith! Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you don’t have any bread? 9 Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves that fed the five thousand and how many baskets of leftovers you gathered? 10 And the seven loaves that fed the four thousand and how many large baskets of leftovers you gathered? 11 Don’t you know that I wasn’t talking about bread? But be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he wasn’t telling them to be on their guard for yeast used in making bread. No, he was telling them to watch out for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:5-12, CEB)

Whose teaching should we watch out for today?

Many would say the teachings of those who say that everyone is included in God’s grace who are living sinful lives. LGBTQIA+ people are not to be included because they are sinning and living a shameful life is what some people say, and they would think that anyone who doesn’t believe this is not teaching correctly and therefore are yeast we should look out for.

But who really should we not pay attention to? I am sure there are lots of people who would say that you should not listen to me, because I am one of those people that believes God accepts us as we are and loves us. God doesn’t want us to change before we come to God, because God has made us perfect. To quote the great theologian Jon Bon Jovi, “When you want to give up and your heart’s about to break Remember that you’re perfect, God makes no mistakes” (From the Song Welcome to Wherever you are.)

We should know that God loves us the way we were created by God, and when someone tells us we need to be different before God will love us, then I will tell you, they are the yeast Jesus is talking about.

Now this doesn’t mean we do not change, but God is the one that does the changing, not us.

Know you are perfect as you are, because that is how God made you, and God doesn’t make mistakes.

And here is our theologian for your listening enjoyment: