Quality Time.

AT&T commercial of couple in restaurant. 

Today we are going to talk about Quality Time.  One of the dialects of quality time is focused attention.  In focused attention the activity that takes places is incidental, what happens on the emotional level is what is important.  Let me give you an example.  Beth wanted to go play tennis when she and Bob first were married.  Bob is kind of a competitive sports guy so he’s thinking this is great.  Beth is thinking this is going to be about spending quality time together.  And Bob is looking forward to getting his competitive juices going.  Well the tennis match didn’t go so well.  They didn’t even play a set.  Beth complained, “This is no fun, you don’t hit the ball to me.”   And Bob boastfully said, “Well, that is not the purpose of the game.”  Bob didn’t realize the tennis was the avenue for quality time for Beth. 

Jesus offers focused attention.  Remember when Andrew brought his brother Simon to see the Messiah.  When Simon came into his presence Jesus didn’t look over his shoulder, Jesus didn’t begin another conversation with someone else, Jesus looked him in the eye and spoke heart to heart.  Here is the account.  

For some this is love at its loudest. When I am talking about quality time, I am talking about undivided attention time.  That means no cell phones for texting, facebooking, calling, angry birding not even watching TV. Someone once noted the difference between dating couples and married couples in a restaurant.  The dating couples talked and looked into each other’s eyes while the married couples simply ate.

 Another dialect of Quality Time is quality conversation.  Quality conversation is a sympathetic conversation where two people are sharing their experience, thoughts, feelings and desires in a friendly uninterrupted context.  Quality conversation is different than words of affirmation.  Words of affirmation focus on what we are saying; quality conversation focuses on what we are hearing.  Quality conversation draws out not only the situation but the emotions and tries to understand and be at one with the other person. 

John 11:17-44  In John 11 Jesus hears not only the words of Martha but also the heart of Martha.  And when he talked with Mary, Martha’s sister, his emotions pour out too.  Martha’s tears became his tears.  Mary’s tears became his tears.  John 11:35 says, Jesus wept. 

People often don’t want advice; they just want to know they are understood.  Many of us analyze and formulate a solution.  We need to listen better that is long enough, well enough to hear cries for support and understanding.  God gave us two ears and one mouth, use accordingly.   

Another dialect of Quality time is learning to talk.  Not just speaking but self revelation.  Beth said of Bob, “I just wish my husband would talk.  I never know what he is thinking or feeling.”  Beth is pleading for intimacy.  She wants to feel close to him, but how can she feel close to someone she doesn’t know.  In order for her to feel loved, he must reveal himself.  JESUS and SELF REVELATION.  Jesus in John 11 revealed himself in some of the most powerful words ever spoken, I am the resurrection and the life.  Jesus revealed himself in John 11 by some of the most powerful words and actions ever.  He said, Lazarus come out.  And Lazarus came back to life.  It has been said, it was very important that Jesus said Lazarus come out and not just “Come out.”  Because if he had just said, “Come out.”  All the dead would have come out of their graves. 

Self-revelation doesn’t come easy for some of us.  Some of grew up in homes where the expression of thoughts and feelings was not only not even encouraged but was condemned.  To request a toy was to receive a lecture on the sad state of the family’s finances.  The child goes away feeling guilty for the request.  When the child expressed anger, the parents responded with harshness and further condemnation.  The child learned the expressing angry feeling was not ok.  And so if the child felt disappointed, he/she learned to keep those inside too.  By the time many of us reached adulthood, we have learned to deny our feeling.  And some of us to escape our feeling not counting have come up with fantasy people or affairs where we can express our feelings.  Self revelation might be hard for some of us because we are insecure and aren’t sure how we will be received.  Some of us are people pleasers and don’t want to hurt anyone by what we say or do. 

The book says the average person listens for 17 seconds before interrupting.  No wonder lectures/sermon are so hard right?  Now when it comes to talking all of us are affected by our personalities.  There are two extremes.  The one is the Dead Sea.  The Dead Sea goes nowhere.  It receives but it doesn’t give.  And then there is the Babbling Brook.  The Babbling Brook receives and then within 60 seconds begins to talk.  Whatever they see or hear, they tell.  If no one is at home to talk to, they will call someone else.  If they can find someone to talk to they will journal and talk to themselves.  Dead Seas will often marry Babbling Brooks.  Makes sense right?  Dead Seas don’t have to worry about what to say or how to get the conversation started.  Babbling Brooks need a good listener.  But after 5 years the Babbling Brook will wake up and say, “I don’t know her/him.”  The Dead Sea after five years is saying I know him/her to well.  I wish he/she would stop the flow.  The good news Dead Seas can learn to talk and babbling Brooks can learn to listen.  We are influenced by our personality but not controlled by it. 

Here is an exercise for you to learn your emotions.  Carry a small notepad/i-pad with you daily.  Three times a day ask yourself what emotions have I felt in the last three hours.  EX:  What did I feel like having to stop at all those traffic lights on Capitol Drive?  So you can just make two columns.  One marked “events” and the other “feelings.”  And so it might look something like this:

Event                                                                                    Feeling

Red lights                                                                            Impatient

Phone call                                                                           excited

Donuts                                                                                 relieved

Then share your items with your spouse.  Now emotions are necessarily good or bad.  Here is a typical response pattern in life:  Situation, Perception Emotion, Choice, Action, Consequence then repeat.  In each of life’s events we have emotions, thoughts, desires and eventually actions.  It is the expression of the process that we call self-revelation.  To learn the love language of quality conversation that is the learning road you must take.

The next is quality activities.  Quality activities may include anything in which 1 or both of you have an interest.  The emphasis is not on what you are doing but why you are doing it.  The purpose is to experience something together.  To walk away from the experience saying, “He cares about me.  He was willing to something with me, I enjoyed and he did it with appositive attitude.  Scripturally we see Jesus being involved in quality activities from the wedding at Cana, sermon on the mount, sailing with his friends, story time at the lake (Matthew 13), transfiguration mountain, parades, washing feet in the upper room, prayer with his friends, healing in the home, worship in the temple, home cooked meals with Matthew, Zacchaeus, the two disciples of Emmaus to name a few, camping at the Sea of Galilee and on and on.

Quality time, focused attention, sharing the truth all were a part of Jesus not only in bible time but also in the time of our time.  Jesus is always with us through thick and thin.  If you need someone to talk to Jesus is always with you.  Need someone to talk to open your heart to God in prayer.  Need someone to talk to you open this book and listen with focused attention and see how his story and your story intersect and connect at the cross.   

How is your quality time with Jesus?  I’m not talking about the last time you read your Bible.  I’m talking about when was the last time you read your bible at took it to heart?  When is the last time you cracked open your heart to God in prayer?  Paula reads a chapter of the Bible a day.  She is always feeling guilty about only reading a chapter a day.  When she was at Sam’s Club on Thursday buying things for today’s lunch, she saw a chronological bible in a year, so she picked it up.  As she was telling me about it, she said you know God just want us to love him.  I see that so clearly now that I am reading the bible one chapter a day.  I want you to know she is in the Old Testament.  And she was able to clearly pick out God’s action and God’s desire.  His action is rescue from the serpent Satan, the life of sin, and the world of evil.  His desire is that we love him.  A chapter a day, quality time.  You reap what you sow.  Jesus is with you and loves you eternally and unconditionally.  It is your time of grace and it’s your move.  Let’s pray. 

Snickers commercial.  You are not you when you are hungry.  You are not you when you feel unloved.  Psychologists tell us to feel loved is the primary human emotional need. For love, we will climb mountains, cross seas, trudge through desert sands, and endure hardships of all kinds.  Without love we disregard the hurting, we do not see the hungry, and hate people different than us. 

We all need love.  God is love.  The perfect example of love is Jesus.  Jesus is the well spring of love that pumps into our hearts so that we can love him and others.  This well of love from God never runs dry and never even thinks of stopping to flow. (list the five love languages on screen) As we go through this series we will see Jesus’ love in his words of affirmation, in quality time he spends with people, gifts he gives, acts of service and physical touch.  We can see these all take place on the cross so don’t just look at the cross as a place of death and suffering but look at it as the power and expression of love.   The Holy Spirit helps us to love like Jesus!

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.  Have you heard that?  That is like one really big lie isn’t it.  Words are powerful.  Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.”   Jesus in the story of Rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 says, “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

The first love language we will consider is  Words of Affirmation.  One way to express love emotionally is to use words that build up.  There are any number of examples of Jesus offering verbal compliments in the Scriptures.  Here is one example.  Luke 7:³⁶ Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸ and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.  ³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”  “Tell me, teacher,” he said.  ⁴¹ “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,^[d] and the other fifty. ⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴ Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Not only did Jesus compliment her but he did it in front of others.  That is like a triple word score in Words with Friends.  Verbal compliments were an active part of Jesus vocabulary.  Are they of yours and mine?

Here are some examples:  I appreciate you doing this for me.  I am very thankful that you did this for me.  Bob and Beth have been married for 5 years.  Beth wants the bedroom painted in the worst way.  In fact, she has been on her husband Bob, for months, nine to be exact, to paint the bedroom.  And it is still not painted.  Beth learned that Bob’s love language is Words of Affirmation and his dialect is verbal compliments here is what Beth does.  Beth knows that Bob knows that the bedroom needs painting.  So she isn’t going to mention it again.  But she is going to mention how much she appreciates the other things he does around the house.  To sum it up, she is throwing the nag rag out and comforting Bob with compliments.  Three weeks later the bedroom is painted. 

Verbal compliments are something that we can give to God.  The Psalms are full of them:  You alone are worthy of praise. 2. The Lord is my strength.  3. The Lord is my light and my salvation.  4.  Praise be to the Lord my Rock.  Write out a verbal compliment to God.  Share it at your tables. 

Jesus also spoke another dialect of words of affirmation -  encouraging words.  To the masses on the mountain side, some educated and some not, some of high esteem some not so much, some thinkers, some workers.   Jesus said, You have the power to change things that will last beyond on your life time, in fact for an eternity.  He said it this way, You are the light of the world.  By the way, you know he says the exact same thing to you and me.  You are the light of the world!  You can change things.  Let your light shine!  Jesus uses words to encourage.  How about you and me?

We all have areas of insecurity.  We lack courage to do the positive things we want to do.  An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind words cheers him up.  Proverbs 12:25   Beth majored in history but she really enjoys writing.  Right after she married Bob, she submitted an article to be published but it was rejected.  And so she got on with life.  Years later Bob picked up one of her articles and began to compliment her on it.  Telling her one reason after another why this article was great.  Through this encouragement Beth sent numerous articles into publishers.  Some were rejected but others were published.  Beth now has a book contract.  Encouragement requires empathy and seeing the world from your spouse’s perspective. 

Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  Jesus knew this and in John 6, after Jesus has fed the 5K, walked on water and ³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “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. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”  ⁴¹ At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” And soon after many disciples began to desert him.  And with his heart breaking as the Savior of the world he humbly asks the twelve, (verse 67) You don’t want to leave too, do you?  Jesus spoke humble words.  How about you and me?

Love makes requests not demands.  When we demand things of our spouse we become the parent and they the child.  In our marriages we are not perfect but we are equal.  We need to know each others desires and wants.  The way we express those desires is all important because it will either come across as a demand or a request.  Love is always a choice which is what makes it so meaningful.

In Mark 2, To the paralytic who had the evidences of the sinful world in his non functioning legs as he was lowered down into the crowded room.  Jesus said, Take heart your sins are forgiven.  Language is powerful.  Let’s now put this to use in our day to day lives as a love language.  Jesus uses kind words.  How about you and me?

1 Corinthians 13 says, Love is kind.  1 Corinthians 13 says of love, it keeps no record of wrongs Many individuals will mess up every new day with yesterday.  They insist on bringing into today the failures of yesterday and in so doing they pollute a potentially wonderful day.  This is what words of bitterness sound like:  I can’t believe you did that.  I don’t think I will ever forget it.  You can’t possibly know how you hurt me.  You ought to be on your knees begging me for forgiveness.  Forgiveness is not so much of a feeling as it is a commitment.  It is a choice to show mercy.  Forgiveness is an expression of love. 

Words of affirmation are one of the ways that people get their emotional tank full?  It is it yours?  It is your spouses?  Perhaps your future spouse will have this language.  Just a thought. (A warning before we begin:  Understanding the five love languages and learning to speak the primary love language of your spouse (future spouse) may radically effect your spouse’s behavior.)  Show this statement on screen)

Let’s pray for words of affirmation in our lives.

We are on a journey to joy, not a pursuit of happiness.  Happiness is based on what is happening around us and our outward circumstances.  Joy is found in the presence of God and his blessings.  Last week we looked at some of the things our enemy will throw at us to try to get us to conclude that God is not with us.  Namely, loneliness, broken relationships, unsatisfied expectations and un-confessed sin and unresolved guilt.  Today we are going to go on the offensive and see some things that are joy builders.

To start with tonight I want you to quickly write out three characteristics of God.  How many of you wrote down the word joy.  As I reflect back on years of teaching confirmation class, I’m sure that I never stressed that God is joyful.  We will do ourselves a favor and raise our joy meter considerably if we learn to see God not as a taskmaster, but as the God of the universe who has a smile on his face.  Zephaniah 3:17 says, The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”  God delights in you and breaks out into song as he thinks about you.  The Living Bible paraphrases this verse, “Is this a joyful choir that I hear?  No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.”  If our joy meter is on a constant medium to low perhaps it is because we don’t own that one of God’s qualities is joy! When David focused on God’s character in Psalm 28, he couldn’t help but break out in joy.  Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.   Nehemiah 8:10, The joy of the LORD is your strength.  In short, know God’s attributes.

Another joy builder is to release your problems to the Lord.  Since joy is not based on outward circumstances, joy can even be experienced in the midst of intense sorrow and loss.  A Scriptural example of this is in Acts 16.  The authorities beat Paul and Silas.  In order to make sure they didn’t escape, they were imprisoned in the inner cell and had their feet chained up and secured.  Acts 16:25 says of Paul and Silas, “They were praying and singing hymns to God.”  By the way the word for prayer used in this verse is not the word for making requests but the word for praising.  The only way to have joy like this is to release our problems to the Lord.  James 1:2 says, Consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials of many kinds.”  This takes a conscious decision that we can make, only because the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts.

The next joy builder is remaining close to Jesus.  To discover we joy we need to abandon the search for it and instead go looking for the one who Himself is joy.  Over every US military establishment the flag of the United States flies proudly.  For you and me as Christians, joy can be the flag that flies over our hearts announcing that God is in residence again today.  John 15:10-11 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.   If we want the kind of joy that is complete we will need to remain close to Jesus.

These first three joy builders deal with our vertical relationship with God.  The next two joy builders that we are going to look at are horizontal.  Romans 12:12  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.  ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.^[c] Do not be conceited. ¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”^[d] says the Lord. ²⁰ On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;  if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”^{[e]  21} Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  We need each other.  God made us to be social beings.  If you are lacking joy go serve someone.  The other day when I was at Aldi I saw an elderly woman who could not get her box of groceries out of her cart.  It just made sense to go help her.  I didn’t think any big deal but she did.  She must have said “thank you and God bless you” ten times in the 30 seconds it took me to lift the box out of the cart and put it in the back seat of her car.  She felt great and after all the thank you’s and God bless you I felt great too!  At College and Seminary they always old us if you are feeling down, pick up your bible and your communion ware and go visit a shut-in. “where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”  This past week I had two important ministry meetings.  One was with Mark on Thursday and the other with Pastor Trapp on Wednesday.  After both meetings I was so fired up, encouraged, renewed and refreshed. “where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

The final joy builder that we will look at today is reignite your passion for evangelism.  One of the best ways to build joy in your life is by talking to others about Jesus.  Philemon 6 says, “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”  Luke 15 records for us how much rejoicing takes place when the lost sheep is found by the shepherd.  Luke 15:5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’  The same chapter records how much joy is found when the womans finds her lost coin, Luke 15:9 when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’  And finally in the same chapter when the Father finds his son this is what happens,  Luke 15:22 ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.  Not only do we appreciate the gift of God’s grace in our lives when we tell others about Jesus, we also get to see the inexpressible joy of those who experience him for the first time or for the first time all over again.  Some of you remember Dong-uk Kim.  Dong-uk came to UW-M from South Korea.  He came as a Buddhist.  As we taught him about Jesus, do you remember how excited he was.  He was handing the Bible out at the door so people could have the life changing word with them.  He always managed a smile no matter the current difficulty.  I smile too as I remember Dong –uk. 

Let’s close with prayer.

So I am at Mayfair on Wednesday for a meeting with this guy who has a great heart, is on journey with Jesus, who humanly speaking is all in when it comes to faith and ministry.  He is a pretty decent musician too.  I think probably some of you know him.  But anyway after I meet with this guy, I call him Mike, on Wednesday afternoon I go out to the parking lot to get my car.  And it was in that parking lot that I discovered a joy buster.  I couldn’t find my car.  All those times when I would inwardly laugh at people when I would see them walking around looking for their car was now not my joy but my agony.  I even saw another person who was looking for her car.  I was tempted to say to her, if you find your car first will you drive me around so I can find mine. 

Today we are continuing our journey to joy.  We are pursuing joy not just happiness.  It is the American dream to pursue happiness.  And sure enough we spend a lot of time, money and effort pursuing material things, entertainment, hobbies, sports and yep even addictions to find happiness.   Happiness deals with what is happening.  Happiness depends on outward circumstances.  It is God dream and heart’s desire that we would find joy.  True joy, deep down joy, joy that last is only found in the presence of God and His blessings. 

Coaching.  Key to being a successful coach is scouting the other team either in person or with film study.  When I coached we would often travel the Wisconsin winter roads a lot like this past Thursday night with snow blowing across the highway, temperatures dipping and winds howling.  When I would scout a team, for example, Winnebago Lutheran Academy, I would take my notebook and diagram their offense and their tendencies.  I would take note of what defenses they played.  Who was athletic?  Who was not?  Who could shoot lights out.  By the way, Kole, was one of those guys who was lights out anywhere in the half court.  And if you put him on the line, you might as well order pizza, so you would have something to enjoy because he was going to make those free throws.  I tell you this because I want you to know that I have studied the bible and I have been a part of life and there are things out there than want to rob you of joy.  And I want to let you know what they are so that you can handle them so they don’t rob you of your joy in Jesus.  Paul in Galatians 4:15 “What has happened to all your joy.”

So here is the scouting report on joy busters, the enemy’s offense if you will. Joy busters are situations that we all are familiar with and can relate to and unfortunately we too often found ourselves mired deep in them.  At your table share with each other a joy buster or two in your life.  Time to share.  One huge joy buster is loneliness.  Loneliness is to want people, social contact, and yet be unable to get any.  It is to desire deep relationship but not be able to have it.  Now you can be alone and not be lonely.  And at the same time you can be at a basketball game with thousands of people you can be at bar with your friends, you can have a smile on your face, you can even be married but you can still be lonely.  In case you don’t know any number of people that you may see as the life of the party are really lonely.   Ecclesiastes 4:9  “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.” Madonna, an artist from my generation, has a song called Open My Heart.  One of the lines in the song is “One is such a lonely number.” Loneliness is a joy buster.

On Christmas Day, I called up one of our friends in Minnesota.  Even though it was Christmas Day it was an especially rough day.  It was the first Christmas that she was spending alone.  Her husband died in the spring.  And just for kickers, Christmas Day, was also her husband’s birthday.  A week ago Saturday when I was on my run, I caught up with one of the people who in the past has made her own rut running up and down the lakefront.  But I hadn’t seen her in while.  As we talked I found out that she had moved from Shorewood to the Fifth Ward because her husband whom she dearly loved, has decided to go another way with another women.   Broken relationship is another joy robber.  On Christmas Day I talked with a woman named Barb who had lost her husband last spring.  It was her first Christmas without her husband of over thirty years.  And Christmas Day was his birthday too.  At the death of Lazarus, “Jesus wept.”The loss of someone you love can be a joy robber.  

Have you ever had a dream of how something was to be but it didn’t turn out that way and you were devastated?  On Monday night, a lot of LSU players and fans were crying, because they had unsatisfied expectations.  Have you ever fallen into a rut?  You are just going through the same old same old.  And when that happens, truth be told many of us are discontent on how our lives are progressing.  Our expectations and reality are not congruent.  There is a disconnect.  I have a message I know is going to touch your heart and apparently it doesn’t.  Mike plays a song that he loves, and nobody gets it.  You are hurting and no one sees.  You have a job interview and you do a good job and you really want the job and yet get a rejection letter instead.  You go home for Christmas and you are expecting things to be the way they were when you were growing up but things have changed and the tradition is bypassed.  You pull off a special evening with the one you care for so much and it really doesn’t touch them and your expectation is not met. Do you have an unsatisfied expectation or two that has led to a spirit of discontent?  Paul in Philippians 4:12 says, ‘I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned to be content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” 

One last joy robber for today and it is perhaps the biggest joy robber of all, un-confessed sin and unresolved guilt.  Scripture talks about a man who lived a secret life.  When he was talking with someone, although there was eye contact, he was thinking about his secret.  He carried on as normal and no one knew anything was wrong except the man and God.  The man began to look at God as someone who was after him.  And he was, just not the way the man was thinking.  Finally, God let one of the man’s friends on it.  This is how it all played out.  2 Samuel 12 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. ⁴ “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” ⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”  Psalm 32 gives us some insight into the background of all of this when David says,  When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. I love how this Psalm ends, 10Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. ¹¹ Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart! David owns his sin.  He confesses his sin and his joy returns.  He doesn’t hide his sin.  He not only confesses but he receives the forgiveness God has instead of holding on to it and then his joy returns.  How about you?  Are you having a sticking point with joy?  Are you hiding something from God?  Think about that for a minute too, if you are.  You can’t hide it, he knows.  Have you confessed your sin but you are not allowing Jesus to be your Savior because you are holding on to it in shame?

There are a lot of joy busters out there.  But I have some good news, next week we are going to look at our offensive game plan for joy.  In the meantime know this, lost joy can be restored.  As a result of some loneliness, broken relationships, unsatisfied expectations, un-confessed sin and unresolved guilt, David had burned his joy light out.  Yet David prays, (Psalm 51:12) “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.”  God honored David’s prayer and he will honor yours and mine as well.  Let’s pray. 

We just sang one of the all time favorite Christmas carols.  I hope you had an amazing Christmas.  But let’s face it, Christmas time is a stressful time.  A lot of people and companies can’t even schedule Christmas parties before Christmas because of all the busyness.  Remember what it was like just trying to find a parking place at Mayfair, Brookfield or Bayshore Malls.  And when you got inside it was just as bad if not worse.  People all over the place.  Kiosks in the mall walk ways.  Product displays in the aisles of the stores.  Clothes sizes all mixed up.  Long lines.  Tired arms.  Joy to the world, right!  More than one person has thought, “Whoever is responsible for this whole Christmas thing should be shot.”  And of course you know the rest of the story that the one responsible for this whole Christmas thing was strung up and arrested.  Unfortunately so many of us, yes us, push Jesus aside in all the busyness and stress of the season.

Today we are embarking on a journey of joy.  We are going to be in pursuit of joy not just happiness.  People spend their lives trying to be happy.  We work hard to buy possessions that can make us happy.  We spend money on entertainment to make us happy.  We involve ourselves in various hobbies, passions and addictions to find happiness.  Happiness deals with what is happening.  Happiness depends on circumstances.  The bible mentions happiness a number of times but about 90% less than it mentions joy.  I looked through virtually all the passages in Scripture this past week on joy and of the 31 categories that I placed those passages into, they almost all talked about an inner sense of well being, peace because of God.  Jesus delivers joy.  In the same way our body craves food, and yes there were a number of passages on joy that dealt with food and harvest, so also our souls craves a relationship with God.  We all have a God-shaped hole that only He can fill. 

And that brings us back to our Christmas Carol – JOY TO THE WORLD THE LORD IS COME.  LET EARTH RECEIVE HER KING LET EVERY HEART PREPARE HIM ROOM, AND HEAVENA ND NATURE SING.

Historically we know not everyone was joyful when Jesus was born.  King Herod saw Jesus as a threat.  Herod was so paranoid that before Jesus was born he had three of his own sons murdered because he feared they were going to take his throne.  Herod wasn’t about to tolerate a rival king, even if he was just an infant.  So he went ballistic and ended up in a psycho killing rage.  People today reject Jesus too.  Jesus is a threat to their plans of happiness, individual freedom, passions, greed or pride.  But the Magi were completely different.  They likely had read the prophecies of Daniel and believed.  They journeyed west, many miles with gifts fit for a king.  Herod saw Jesus as a threat.  The Magi saw Jesus as a Gift and they came to worship him.  Who are you like?  Herod or the Magi?  Honestly, we are all too often like Herod which is why it is so important that we receive our King because in him we find peace!

And that brings us back to our Christmas Carol.  Stanza 2 – JOY TO THE EARTH! THE SAVIOR REIGNS!  LET MEN THEIR SONGS EMPLOY; WHILE FIELDS AND FLOODS, ROCKS, HILLS AND PLAINS, REPEAT THE SOUNDING JOY.  We need to not just receive Jesus as our Gift and shelve him until we want to play with him again for the journey of joy involves letting Jesus reign in our lives.  While Jesus was on earth people were willing to receive him as a miracle worker, food provider, teacher but not so much LORD of life.  There are a lot of people today just like that.  They want to receive all the good things Jesus provides from food and clothes, jobs and talents but they don’t him to take charge of their integrity, entertainment, language, or public image to name a few.  Does anyone know what I’m talking about or am I the only one?  To receive Christ without letting him reign in life will rob us of one thing:  JOY.  You see indecisiveness, doubt, hypocrisy zap the joy out of life.  It has been said Joy is the by-product of obedience.  How obedient have you been?

And that brings us back to our Christmas Carol.  Stanza 3 – NO MORE LET SINS AND SORROW GROW.  NOR THORNS INFEST THE GROUND  HE COMES MAKE HIS BLESSINGS FLOW, FAR AS THE CURSE IS FOUND.  Sin promises happiness and delivers sorrow .  Satan promised Adam and Eve that eating the fruit would make them wise, instead it brought pain and regret and death to all people.  That is what the song is talking about when it says, far as the curse is found.  But there is joy when the sinner repents, changes his/her mind.  When we repent, we are agreeing with God that what we were doing is wrong.  As long as we try to rationalize that there is nothing really wrong, that everybody else is doing it we won’t find real joy.  Repentance brings relief from sin’s curse, and the relief is joy.  So it is ok to smile after communion.

Which brings us back to our Christmas Carol one more time.  HE RULES THE WORLD WITH TRUTHAND GRACE, AND MAKES THE NATIONS PROVE  THE GLORIES OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WONDERS OF HIS LOVE.  Jesus brings joy because he rules with truth and grace.  Truth without love is dogmatics.  Love without truth is sentimentality but truth with love is real Christianity.  Today in the liturgical church year is the first Sunday in Epiphany.  Epiphany means revealed.  Today we celebrate that Jesus has been revealed to us as our Savior from all our sins including at our desperate grabs for happiness that we think will bring us joy.  Jesus knows the truth about us.  We can play pretend.  We can play hide and seek.  But Jesus knows the real us.  He knows who and what we are hiding and why we are hiding it in the first place.  And he treats us not as we deserve, not as our sinful nature would treat others but with grace.  Grace is giving us something we don’t deserve.  Grace is giving us joy in the journey through Jesus!  Grace is for all people so we can sing Joy to the World. 

Likely in your house, as well as mine, presents are being purchased, wrapped and labeled.  Remember when you were younger and you looked under the tree at all the presents?  Some caught your eye right away!  Maybe it was because of the size of the box or the color of the wrapping.  But after further review the ones that really held your attention were the ones that had your name on the label.  It was labeled as yours!!

Last week Kole began The Point’s December message series an “Unexpected Christmas” with the genealogy of Jesus from Matthew 1.  Through this genealogy we discovered that  Jesus was connected to all people, even people with labels.  Rahab is one such example.  You can learn about Rahab in the book of Joshua but let me give you the super condensed sparks notes version of Rahab by just giving you her label.  She was a prostitute.  Rahab is the great x28 grandmother of Jesus is a prostitute.   She has a label. 

Matthew, the author of the book of Matthew, is a disciple of Jesus.  When Jesus approached Matthew the tax collector, cause you see he has a label too, Jesus didn’t say to him once you stop being a tax collector join me.  Jesus didn’t say to Matthew:  I want you to stop it right now and never do it again, repent and then follow me.  Or: Matthew I want you to get a different job, a different badge, a different label and then join me.  No, Jesus told Matthew while he was wearing his label, I want you to follow me.  I want you to join me. 

But I think Rahab’s  story and Matthew’ story is a not a whole lot different than our story.  If I could peel back your heart, your behavior, your past, your thoughts, things you don’t want anyone to know about, I think in everyone of our lives we will find at least one label that we are not so proud about.  Maybe you have just discovered you have a label.  Maybe you try to distance yourself from your label but then you run into some one you used to know and they say I remember when . . . (dot dot dot).   And there is your label.  You have secrets and I have secrets.  You have habits and I have habits that if found out would give our very private life a very public label. 

Rahab’s story is our story.  Matthew’s story is our story.  We all have labels.  Rahab the prostitute. Matthew the tax collector.   (Various examples) Amy the abortionist.  Anthony the addict.  Cheryl the cheater.  Dan the doubter. David the drunk.  Faith the unfaithful.  Hank the homosexual.  Larry the luster.  Liz the liar.   Oliver the outsider.  Jessie the jerk.  Etc. 

The point of the Christmas story is that Jesus came for those of us with labels.  Jesus knows our life, our thoughts, our past our labels.  But Bill, you might be thinking, if you only knew what I do week in and week out, if you knew what I think of when I see certain people, if you could see the jealousy I have when I am a round certain people, if you could see how much I covet.  In front of the all knowing God truth be told a label could easily be associated with my name and yours.  If you know you have a label, don’t raise your hand.  Jesus came for those of us who have labels.  That’ the point of the story.  We are a part of the story.  Jesus righteousness didn’t overshadow his mercy.  Jesus holiness didn’t overshadow his grace.  His sense of forgiveness was broad enough to cover everyone including you, including me no matter what our label.  Our label says, O Jesus, WE ARE YOURS.

Isn’t that powerful, over whelming.  It allows us to rethink our approach to God.   No more thinking it is about my action or lack of action.  No more going to God and trying to negotiate out a deal.  Have you ever done that?  Yep, me too.  Let’s end this time in the concert with prayer and song.

Let’s pray.  And this pray is aimed for those of us who have been living like this:  If I go to the concert then God bless me by fill in the blank.  If I give an offering then God bless me you fill in the blank way.   If I go to church then God do this.  God, if you will let me do this then I will do that for you.  If I don’t do something good then God won’t do something good for me.  God, if I don’t do my label sin then give me a good grade, give me the job, the girl, the guy, the whatever.    This prayer is for those of who are spent because we have either been trying to cover up our label or have been trying to enter into a relationship with God through negotiation.  If you are ready to quit approaching God from this point of view, because you are driving yourself crazy, you’re lying to yourself and you can’t carry out your end of the bargain.  If you understand that my life isn’t perfect but that isn’t going to factor into this anymore.  If you are ready to approach God on the basis of his mercy, grace and forgiveness and that’s it, then pray with me.  Repeat after me:

Heavenly Father     I believe your grace     is more powerful      than my label.    I believe      that Christ died            to pay for the sin      my label represents      I believe       that you have offered me       a new label       forgiven, accepted, loved.   Teach me to live     in accordance     with who you say I am.  By y our unconditional love                We are yours     Amen.   

When I was coaching we often looked at a players potential.  How good are they and how good can they be?  Potential is huge.  Many were the practices and games when we would watch a player and just be mesmerized by what was possible.  Let give me you an example or two.  A sophomore forward going up to block a shot and half of his hand was above the white square on the glass backboard.  And we know it for sure because his hand print was there on the back board.  With that kind of jumping ability, there is a lot of potential.  A basketball player who is tough to beat in a game of horse because they shoot so well has a lot of potential.  Potential is what gets many people drafted into the NBA and WNBA.  But and it is a big but, when the potential is not realized after a certain amount of time the player is cut.  Maybe the player can jump out of the gym but if the player never really blocks or alters shots the potential isn’t doing any good.  The player maybe able to make shot after shot in horse but if the player hardly ever makes a shot with someone guarding them the potential is not doing the team any good.

Let’s read responsively the great story that wraps up our series on great stories that changed the world.  It is the parable of the talents.  Matthew 25:14-30 p. 689.

In this account one person is given five talents, another two and another one.  A talent is measured in different ways.  A talent of silver is considered to weigh between 75 and 80 pounds.  A talent is considered to be 6000 days worth of wages.  So if you make $7 an hour times an 8 hour day that 56 dollars a day that would be over $330,000( $336,000). The point is that even just a single talent is a large, large sum.  If someone were to give you or me a gift that weighed 75 to 80 pounds that would be something we would have difficulty ignoring.  If someone gave us $330,000 that would be a sum difficult to ignore.   There is a lot of potential in just one talent!  In the story, the master who represents God, gives one person 5 talents or 400 pounds or about 1.7 million dollars.  To another person it is 160 pounds of silver or $6500,000 and to another 80 pounds of silver or $330,000.  Now I’m just saying that is a chunk of change!  If someone walked in here and gave you 80 pounds of silver you would know it, especially when you tried to carry it out.  This is a big gift.  If someone came in here and gave you $300K, you would be pretty excited and you might even say, “I coming back to this place.”  God has given to each one of us either 1 talent, or 2 talents or 5 talents.  Each given to us by his grace and according to the ability that he has given to us. 

In our sinful world we often have a reaction to God’s generosity.  Those of us who have received five talents tend to think more of ourselves than we should.  We tend to wonder why other people don’t get what we get.  Those of us who have received two talents often look around and aspire to be like those who have five talents and thankful that we are better off than others.  And those of us who have received one talents often feel like life is unfair and worse yet we become depressed that we can’t be like others.  To be blunt, we tend to compare ourselves to others and this is always sinful.  I will repeat that again, when we compare ourselves to others this is always sinful.  This is all a corruption of God’s grace.  No one has the right to feel superior or inferior, these are all gifts from a gracious God.    The key here for use what you have.  Use what has been given to you by God and don’t worry about what you don’t have or what others have or don’t have.  Martha Berry is a very key figure in the education history of the United States.  She had a dream to start a school for poor children.  She had no books, no building and no money, just a heart and dream to help.  We might say she had one talent.  She went to this other popular figure in history, a guy by the name of Henry Ford.  You are probably more familiar with him than her.  She asked him for a donation and he gave her a dime.  She could have been insulted or discouraged and quit.  But she took the dime, bought a pack of seeds, planted a garden and raised a crop.   She sold the crop and bought more seeds and planted a larger garden.  After her fourth harvest she made enough money to buy a building.  She went back to MR. Ford and thanked him for his donation and showed him what his dime had accomplished.  He was overwhelmed and immediately donated 1 million dollars and the Berry School of children was firmly established.  God calls us to be productive with what he has given us!  To use what he has given us to its fullest potential according to our ability.

Potential also has time attached to it.  In the parable, the one who received five talents (400 pounds or 1.7 million dollars) and the one who received two talents (160 pounds or $660K) “went at once” and began to invest the talent.  The one who had one talent on the other hand went out and buried the gift.  I want you to understand that there was a lot of work, a lot of angst, a lot of struggle in the work to bury the 80 pound treasure, the $330K, so that no one would get it.  This action of digging shows to what great lengths that some people will sometimes go through to keep from doing what they know God has called them to accomplish.  It is sinful rebellion in all of us that lead us to do the dumbest things.  So energy is expended by all three of the talent receivers.  The other time frame in addition to “at once” is this “after a long time (the master returned and settled accounts with them).  There will be a day of review, a day of reckoning, a day of judgment.  Everyone does not have the same ability and skills; but when we are faithful with what God has given us there will be dividends.  In the parable the master does not criticize those who had less gains than other but he does criticize those who did not do anything with the potential entrusted into their care.  God knows your situation and mine and looks for faithfulness.

In typical human fashion the one who did nothing with the talent, the 80 pounds, the $330k,  makes excuses.  He said, “Master, I know that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  So I was afraid and hid your talent in the ground.  See, here is what belongs to you.”  He, as a sign of unbelief did not understand the kindness, the generosity, the love of the master.

God has given to you and me, either 5 talents, 2 talents, or 1 talent.  Each is an amazing display of his glory, honor and love for us!  If he didn’t love us, he would give us at least 1 talent, he wouldn’t have given us his Son.  The God, the almighty God of the universe, is in your life and mine with power, blessing and love.  What are we going to do?  Let’s review  the stories that changed the world.  First we learned God made us creative people.   So use your creativity!  Then we learned to be persistent in prayer.  Call on God with all your heart.  Then we learned to serve our neighbor, no questions asked.  We have the potential, by God’s grace and with his grace, to make a world of difference. Ggo at once and give your talent or talents not in fear but in honor and love for the glory of God in freedom and in joy knowing that it is God who accomplishes great things through us!  Amen.

¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’  ⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The story begins with a widow who had an adversary who was trying to take advantage of her. It’s likely someone was trying to cheat her out of money or land her husband left her. She was in grave danger of being taken advantage of.  As a widow in this place and time in world history she had no voice.  Seeking justice she went to the judge.  He was not only her last hope.  He was her only hope.  We would expect the judge to be a just man, a person whom the citizens the community would look up to and respect.  This judge was the exact opposite.  He was a doubly bad judge.  Luke says, He neither feared God nor cared about men He was a man with nor principles, no sense of justice and no conscience.  His heart was hard.  He refused to help the widow.  But the widow had one thing in her favor.  She was persistent.   She would not stop her appeals for help.  She came to the judge in the morning, at noon, and in the evening everyday pleading, “Give me justice against my adversary.”  Day after day this went on.  The judge must have thought, “Oh, no, not HER again!” To keep from getting worn out but this lady he finally ruled in her favor.  This constant begging and nagging finally paid off–he ruled in her favor. So what does this mean to you and me today?

It means pray with your heart.  (Talk in your group about some of the things that get in the way of our own personal prayer time.)  There is one major thing that keeps us from praying persistently and positively, “Worry.”   I received this e-mail this past week – “you worry too much.” It was an accurate assessment.  In the parable, the widow didn’t sit at home wringing her hands about her problem. Instead of worrying, she got up and approached the only person who could help her–the judge. Here are some lessons on worry.  1.  Worry is filling your mind with bad thoughts of the worst that could happen. 2.  Worry is like water. It begins as a trickle of doubt that creeps into your mind. If it isn’t stopped, it soon becomes a stream of fear which creates a pond of paranoia which overflows into a river of distress which develops into a raging torrent of tension. And before you know it, the flood of worry has carved a Grand Canyon of anxiety in your mind!  3.  William Ward wrote this about worry: “Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster, and belief in defeat...Worry is a magnet that attracts negative circumstances...Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.” Worry is like rocking in a rocking chair–it gives you something to do, but you never go anywhere with it.” 4.  Worry is a waste of time.  I recently read an interesting testimony from a Christian man who owned a construction company. He was losing sleep worrying about some financial problems he faced in his company. A few days earlier on the job site, they had been removing trees and the owner had noticed one of the trees had a bird nest with baby birds in it. He marked the tree and left word not to cut it down. But on this day, he realized the tree would have to come down because they couldn’t delay the project any longer. The owner used a bucket truck to lift him up to the bird’s nest. When he looked in, the birds were gone–they had learned to fly. Since he was up there anyway, he removed the nest. He removed one sliver of paper and what he read almost caused him to fall out to the bucket. Written on the fragment were these words, “God cares for you.” Pray with faith that God will give you what is best.  The verse at the end was I Peter 5:7 which says, “Cast your cares upon him, for He cares for you.”  When we face a challenging circumstance we have two choices. We can lose heart and let worrisome thoughts control our mind; or we can pray about it. We can pray and not worry because the God of the Bible loves you and cares for you.

We learn from this parable to pray persistently!  In your groups brainstorms some ideas, situations or people the exude persistence.  ( How about this one?  Ahman Green, the Packers all time leading rusher, rushed for right at 9200 yards in his career.  He had 2056 carries and 60 touchdowns.  What that means is pretty much there 2000 times were he got the snot knocked out him.  But he kept getting up.  Sure, he was injured a few times, but he always returned. I’m impressed that someone would be knocked down almost 2,000 times and still they get up and run again.)  Life is full of adversarial people who will tackle you. You will face difficult circumstances that trip your feet out from under you. You have an adversary who opposes you on every hand. The devil doesn’t want you to pray and he’ll do everything he can to make you stop praying! 

The widow kept going back and back and back again.  In Matthew 7 Jesus Ask.  And the verb form means to keep on asking. Be persistent in your prayer.  You are not praying to an unjust judge you are praying to your loving heavenly Father who is full or compassion, whose power is unlimited, whose mercies are new every morning, whose faithfulness is constant!

Be persistent and pray positively.   I John 5:14-15: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.” Pray  positively, without doubting. Sadly, sometimes we pray we really don’t expect an answer. But I want you to know God answers every single prayer.  I know people who have quit praying because they didn’t seem to get an answer. But God answers prayer in different ways.

1. God may answer our prayer QUICKLY.  We like that one!  2. God may answer our prayer LATER.  God always answers prayer immediately, but sometimes it is later. When our prayer is heard in heaven, God acts on the request immediately, but it may take awhile before we get His answer. So if it seems God hasn’t answered your prayer yet, don’t quit! The answer could be just around the corner. God’s delays are not God’s denials. Our sense of timing is flawed, but God’s timing is impeccable. So pray persistently, and then wait patiently for His answer.  3. God may answer our prayer BETTER. Sometimes you don’t get what you ask for because God has something better in store for you.  I know some o fyou praying to get married.   Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham once said, “If God answered every prayer of mine, I would have married the wrong man seven times!” 4. God may answer your prayer NO Sometimes you ask God for something and His answer is simply, “NO.” But that’s still an answer to prayer. Don’t ever stop praying until you hear God say, “No.” At that point, stop making that request and start praying in a different way.

Pray persistently and positively.  Imagine Jacob hanging onto the angel of the Lord in our reading. He said, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.” So the angel said, “Okay, your name has been Jacob (which means “heal grabber”). From now on you will be named Israel (which means prince of God). What a great prayer lesson! Have you ever grabbed onto God in prayer and begged Him saying, “I’m not going to quit praying until you answer me?”  Grab on to God in prayer. 
Are you consumed with worry and anxiety? Grab on to God in prayer!  Have you stopped praying about a need in your life? Grab on to God in prayer!  Are you considering quitting in some area where God has placed you? Grab on to God in prayer!  Are you filled with doubt about prayer? Grab on to God in prayer!  He is going to answer!  Let’s pray. 

Today we are beginning a series on the parables.  We are going to be calling it “Great Stories that changed the world.”  Parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings.  One of the parables that you chose to study was the parable of the unjust steward or sometimes called the parable of the shrewd manager.  As we look at this parable we want to be thinking about creativity.  So let’s jump in.

 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.  “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’” ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ”‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.  “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” Have you ever seen the show undercover boss?  The boss goes out undercover and checks in on his employees to find out about their lives and about how to improve working conditions and products.  In most episodes the boss finds really faithful employees.  But occasionally the boss finds an employee that is not doing his job, is hindering the company and unless he changes needs to get fired.  In this parable the manager is dishonest.  He was likely treating other people poorly and had run up a healthy expense account.  Well the rich man, the business owner found out about it.  It was time for the manager to make his trip the corporate offices and give an accounting of all the expenses.  On his way to headquarters the manager began to scheme and come up with a creative plan to help him n his predicament.  This is what he did. He changed the amount the people owed his soon to be former boss so that people will look favorably on him because he will soon need a job. His plan is to make himself useful to others even though he has a bad past. He is looking for his opportunities; he is thinking things through so he can make the best impact on others he can.  The rich man “gave credit to” the manager. Although the manager was still dishonest, still stole from and mismanaged his funds, the boss still commended his creativity.

People both good and bad can be really creative.  Check this true story out:  Two burglars wanted to rob a mansion in Los Angeles so instead of breaking in and having to deal with the family that might be home, they got creative.   They made up a phony prize letter and sent LA Dodger tickets to the family. Of course the family went to the game and had a great time, but while they were gone and at the game, the burglars broke in and robbed them clean. Pretty clever.  Sinful but creative.

God made us full of imagination and creativity.    Think for a moment of how creative we are when it comes to getting good grades.  More than a few National honor Society students cheated their way through high school and into nice scholarships and grants.   We are creative in getting our homework done so we can hurry up and get to Water St. or North Ave.  We get all creative when we want to meet that hot chick or guy.   We are creative when it comes to putting together our portfolio or writing out our resume.  But are we as shrewd in growing in our walk with the Lord and becoming a stronger Christian and sharing Jesus with others?  We are creative when it comes to sneaking in some time on Facebook or talking with that special someone but how creative are we when it comes to being creative in our relationship with God.  The bad news, the sinful news is that we often take God his creation, his blessings, his people, his truth for granted.  Our spiritual well being and the eternity of others really is in the balance. 

Our lesson today is that Christians should use this same ingenuity in helping people come to know Christ. Jesus is teaching us children of the creative God to use our imaginations and be shrewd when it comes to heavenly matters. Jesus wants our use of foresight, our ingenuity, our shrewdness to gain souls for the kingdom of heaven.

You have a several piece of paper.  I want you to get creative.  Make us many things as you can in the next 75 seconds with the paper that is at your table or at your chairs.  Go.  So what did you make.  Show and tell time!  Great job.  Thanks for participating. 

One of the keys in ministry to getting everyone involved.  One of the keys in ministry is giving people freedom.  One of the keys in ministry is being creative and not boring, right?  So I need your help and your creativity.  I need you to be creative on how we can reach out to college students with the gospel who are right across the street.  So at your tables or in your groups I want you to come up with at least some creative ways that we can share Jesus at UWM.  We have the people power and creative resources to get it done so let’s do it.  I will give you a couple of minutes.  Show and tell time again. 

Key here is that action must now take place.  Kole borrowed a book to me, it is entitled Action Trumps Everything.  We can be as creative as anyone but if we don’t do anything it won’t do any good.  If the man in the parable had come up with his plan but not carried it through, it would not have done him any good.  Steve Jobs could have come up with all of his brilliant ideas but unless he did something with those ideas a lot of us would not have computers or phones.    

God is creative.  Look at some of these pictures of his creation.  And now consider these in your mind:  Moonlight on a lake.  Vineyards at dawn just before harvest.  Songbirds in a forest.  The northern lights.

God is creative.  I actually think he out did himself when he came up with the plan of salvation.  I mean who would come up with the idea for God to take on human flesh.  Who would have come up with the idea that God would have to learn to walk and talk.  Who would have come up with the idea that God would love people who hated him.  Who would have thought that the pure and holy God would take all of our offenses and sins upon himself.  Who would come up with the idea that God would die on the cross for the ungodly.  Who would have come up with the idea that God would rise from the dead.  Who would have come up with the idea that God would keep blessing us because of who he is, his grace and his mercy and not because we earned or deserved it.  Who would have come up with the idea that we would get to live in the glories of heaven for all eternity.  One day our eyes will be fully opened and we will see just how creative God is as we stand in his presence in the holy of holies of heaven.  Be like God.  Use your creativity for good.  Be like God.  Have fun.  Do the surprising.  Let your creative light shine.   So use your imaginations, think outside the box and change someone’s eternity.   Amen.

To begin with today I want to ask you to write out just three of the responsibilities that you have.  Now share those with someone sitting close to you.

In this series on Identity called I Am, The Great I AM, God, give us some descriptors and definitions of who we really are.  Sometimes we may be uncomfortable with these descriptions but I think for the most part that is because we don’t’ look at ourselves through the eyes of God’s grace.  One of the goals I have for us in this series is that we perceive, see and live out our true identity in Christ.  In week one, I think most of us were actually blown away to see that God calls us royalty.  We are his sons and daughters and so we can call him daddy.  And since we are royalty and not servants, we can make large asks with expectation because our God, our Dad, loves to bless us.  Last week we noted that God called us his temple.  And while we may never have really thought about that before it is pretty cool that God chooses to lives in us.   Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  And when we think about that it actually can help us to live a much more courageous, joyful and confident life.  And that is good because as God defines us and gives us identity today he has a privilege and responsibility for you and me to carry out.  Who are you?

In my pocket I carry a rubber band package of cards. (It’s my wallet.  And it drives Jacky and Alyssa nuts.  J ) I have a Roundy’s card so that when I go shopping and there are two different prices at Pic-N-Sav, I get the cheaper one.  It’s might right and privilege as a card holder.  I have a Barnes and Noble Card.  It even says member on it.  And with this card, I automatically get 10% of every purchase sometimes even more.  I have a Qdoba card.  And I am eagerly waiting to get my free meal.  I have a Sam’s Club card so that I have the privilege access to Sam’s when I show them this card at the door. 

A lot of times at churches people think they have privileges because their name is on the membership role. By being a member of a church a person is not somehow automatically better than anyone else.  It maybe our normal place to sit but it is not our pew, whether you or I actually bought it or not.  People come to church sometimes because they want to be nourished in their faith.  They want to be a part of great worship both in the message and the music.  Sometimes people come to church because they are burdened and need someone to pray for them.  These are not bad reasons for coming to church.  They are actually good.  These things provide a life sustaining encounter with God.  But what can happen is an unhealthy imbalance comes into play and we begin to think of church that is something for me and this bleeds over into our relationship with God.  And when that happens we begin to ask, “why hasn’t God done this for me yet?”  “Why hasn’t answered my prayer request yet?”  And as we allow this imbalance to remain we get a little bit more demanding, a little bit nit picky, and the small things begin to frustrate us.  We focus on us instead of on God.  Our church experience and our God experience begin to be filtered through the “me” lens.  Churchgoer, who are you?

Today Jesus let us know that we actually are privileged people.  We are priests.  We may never have thought about but it is our privilege and our responsibility!  1 Peter 2:4-12 ⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:  “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” ⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,  “The stone the builders rejected  has become the capstone,” ⁸ and, “A stone that causes men to stumble  and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. ⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  ¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

In the Old Testament the priests were to represent the people before God and also to offer sacrifices for the people.  It was a great privilege and it was an awesome responsibility.  Peter’s original readers would be very familiar with priests.  In their pagan culture, there were a lot of gods and a lot of priests.  They thought they weren’t holy enough to approach their gods so they had to go through the priests who could approach their gods on their behalf.  But Peter in these words is telling us when it comes to the true God, the God who is real, and who really is holy, all believers have access to God and do not need to have priests. 

V 9 also tells us as priests what our responsibility and privilege is:  that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Being a priest means we have a responsibility to live in such a way that the unbelievers in the world take notice.  This is not the station wagon dude who has his car covered in posterboards with the loud speaker shouting out stuff but this the life of quiet humility marked by good deeds.  We are priests as we share God’s word and love in all its truth and purity in the midst of our sometimes impure lives.  We are priests as we share God’s Word and love with the person in one of our study groups, when we encourage a fellow believer either with the comfort of the gospel or even when we need to share the convicting law.  As priests we are to serve God by serving others.  We aren’t the master, God is.  Our primary focus then is one of service, service to God and to others  not the other way around. 

So who in your life who is serving whom? Are you expecting God to serve you or do you see that the expectation is that you are to serve God?  Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying don’t ask and don’t pray, but I am saying serve God.  I’m not saying that our service to God is going to be perfect, oh that it would be, but I am saying serve.  I’m not saying that our service to God will merit us heaven, Jesus has already taken care of that, but I’m saying serve God.  I’m not saying that God will not bless us and serve us, he will.  But that is his deal, in his time and we can trust in him in every deal and in every time but we are to serve. 

One of the best ways you can serve God is to start serving God through The Point of Grace, either as the congregation or the student organization or both.  Imagine what UWM, MU, MSOE, C. Stritch, would look like if all started embracing the priestly ethic and identity that God gives us.  What if people started coming to The Point not because of the music or the message but because they saw something in our life.  What if we put aside our church cards and started to serve.  You are a priest and being a priest is a privilege and it is also a responsibility.  God is with us.  Let’s go serve!

How are you going to serve this week?  ______________________         and  ________________________