I began sermon with the Todd Agnew Song "My Jesus"; showing the words on the screen as it was sung.
My Jesus - By Todd Agnew
Which Jesus do you follow? Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ, why do you look so much like the world?
Cause My Jesus bled and died, He spent his time with thieves and liars.
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant.
So which one do you want to be?
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land?
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness,
Or do ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand?
Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins.
He spent his time with thieves and liars.
He loved the poor and accosted the rich.
So which one do you want to be?
Who is this that you follow, this picture of the American Dream?
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side?
Or fall down and worship at his Holy feet? Holy yeah!
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion is how you see Him as He dies for your sins. But the Word says He was battered and scarred,
or did you miss that part? Sometimes I doubt we’d recognize him.
‘Cause my Jesus beld and died.
He spent his time with thieves and the least of these.
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable.
So which one do you want to be?
‘Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church.
The blood and dirt on his feet might stain the carpet.
But He searches for the hurting and despises the proud,
And I think he’d prefer Beale Street to the Stained Glass crowd.
And I know that he can hear me if I cry out loud.
I wanna be like my Jesus, I wanna be like my Jesus,
I want to be like my Jesus, I want to be like my Jesus.
Not a poster child for American prosperity but like my Jesus.
You see I’m tired of livin’ for success and popularity.
I wanna be like my Jesus, but I’m not sure what that means, to be like you Jesus.
Cause You said to live like you, love like you,
But then You died for me.
Can I be like You, Jesus?
I wanna be like my Jesus!
I wanna be like my Jesus!
Can I? Can I? Can I be like you Jesus?
My Jesus
Elizabeth Stutler
March 25, 2007
Isaiah 43:15-21; John 12:36b-43
Let us pray: Lord give me the words that you would have me to speak this day; open the hearts and minds which will hear and send your Spirit amonst us that each may gain what you would have us to gain. Amen.
It’s good to be home again, but I have to tell you in my travels I gained a new perspective of just how mighty is our God! We have had two teams go to Mississippi from Witmer’s Church and one from Lewisburg District and frankly until I saw for myself the ravages that Katrina left, I had no idea! Pictures can never do it justice and teams of people – even the 101 which went two weeks ago can only begin to put a few of these property damages to right.
But more importantly, I got a glimpse of true faith, faith in God which exists even in the midst of ruble and devastation. I got a glimpse of life after death and the hope that only Christ can bring. As the weeks pass, I will be sharing stories of the paths I crossed and the stories I will never forget, the pictures that now speak personal volumes and the heartfelt appreciation of the people in Mississippi.
Today, I would like us to turn toward what the scriptures say about Jesus and who and what it is that he really should mean in our lives.
I chose the song carefully and I know it was a long song to sit through. I hope you took the time to read the words as it was sung (played). Who is our Jesus?
Isaiah says, I am the Lord, your God. He is Creator and King. I am the one who cut a path through the mighty ocean and struck down pharaoh’s army with the back wash as the red sea went back into its own path.
In Isaiah it says too, to forget about the past because the great I AM is creating something new! Can you see it? Can you feel it?
Several years ago as I was coming home from Wesley Seminary at the end of four very long weeks, I felt a bubbling of energy within myself. I felt like I was waiting on a precipice about to jump into a new life. Energy was being sparked within me. I was ready to follow Christ wherever I was led and I still am. I can still feel that excitement and that element of waiting – kind of like a kid in front of a candy store window.
In Ephesians we are told to imitate Christ. What does this mean in today’s world? Have we forgotten what Christ did for each of us? Has the world pulled us so far away with all of the luxuries and niceties that we have forgotten that Jesus died for us to take away our sin? And that we were told to be the ones to pass on this message of redemption to all of the generations to come?
In most of America today can we even imagine what it is like to suffer in the way that Christ suffered for us? Are we too good for the real Jesus? The real Jesus bled and died for us. He spent his time with thieves and liars not just the polite society which looked and acts like we do, dresses like we do, and is of the same social ethical and ethnic background as we are. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not condemning anyone – I’m simply asking when was the last time we mingled with the lost, the lonely and the least of these which Jesus talks about in Matthew 25? Are our hands too clean to think about those who are suffering, lost, homeless, sick or dying?
Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the Kingdom of God. How many of us really believe those who only have Christ to depend upon are better than we are? What would happen if tonight a disaster struck and wiped out our bank accounts, houses, and places of employment? Would we be lost? Would we blame God or would we still be able to worship and praise Him in this storm just because he spared us and is still with us?
The song asks if we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land? Do we ache for righteousness or do we ache for the things of this world? Do we see Christ as our ticket to wealth and possessions?
When I was a little girl, I can still remember seeing a picture of Jesus. He had curly blonde hair, blue, blue eyes and skin as fair as fair can be. Is that how we picture our Jesus?
Do we really grasp how Jesus looked the battering and scars that he bore for us? Sure we see the crown of thorns on his head and the idea of the picture of him as he hangs from the cross but do we gloss over these distasteful images and pass on to his resurrection because its so much cleaner and happier. Would we even recognize him if he were to walk down the street towards us or would we cross the street to the other side in fear of being robbed or possibly even touching him?
This was brought home to me in a very poignant way while I was in Mississippi. I went down to work as head of the base camp so that the head of St. Paul’s Camp, could coordinate with the field teams better.
Monday evening we had just finished serving all 104 people and had sat down to eat. A man came in through the front doors of the church and right into the social hall. The man was scruffy – but what one of us wasn’t at that hour and after a days work. He walked right up to me (and I was sitting at the middle of the table) and asked if he was too late to get a bite to eat. I told him no – there was still plenty left. I figured he was one of the workers which I didn’t recognize. Yes, his clothes were tattered and worn but then I wouldn’t wear my Sunday best while roofing or working on houses either. He quietly slipped back into the kitchen, brought out a steaming plate of food, sat at a table near us but alone. I noticed he paused before eating (I believe to say grace) then quietly listened to devotions and chatter around him. When he was done he picked up his plate cleared the table even putting the silverware in the proper pans, came back and thanked us for the meal and quietly slipped back out the front doors.
Then it finally struck me that we had had a "guest" that night. We did not go overboard welcoming him but then I don’t think he would have liked to have been noticed or made any more welcomed. Possibly if we had known he wasn’t “one of us”, he might have thought he would have been chased away. This was not a “public meal” or a soup kitchen but I know for sure if he had come back the next night, I would have seen to it that he was fed again.
Did we have Jesus with us? I don’t know and never will but I kept on thinking about the Statement from Matthew 25, “What ever you do for the least of these my brothers, you do it unto me.”
Jesus loved the poor and he accosted the comfortable. Are we too comfortable too? Would his blood and dirt stain our carpets? Would Jesus be welcomed here? I pray he would be. I pray I would recognize him – but would I?
Jesus searches for the hurting, the lost, those who are in need physically as well as spiritually and we should too if we want to be like Jesus.
Almost without a question I can state that most of us could be poster children for American prosperity in some way – we live for success and popularity, for wealth and influence.
Is it because we don’t know what it means to be like Jesus? Is it because we’re a bit frightened by the prospects of really living like Jesus – because remember He told us to live like him, love like him and then he died for us.
Most of us hesitate to be bold in Christ. We don’t know what to say. But sometimes words are not enough –sometimes all we can do is love them like Jesus.
We will never be able to answer some of the hard questions. Questions like “Why did my child die?” “Why did God take them from me?” And God does not expect us to have all the answers, all he asks of us is to help carry them to Him in prayer, to be with them in their hour of need when darkness surrounds them.
God through Christ has made it abundantly clear that if we go through life giving freely of ourselves and our possessions that we will still have more than enough to go around and be blessed in the process. Holding the hand of someone who is suffering may not seem to be glamorous but it is comforting.
Giving from a full cup always insures that your cup will never be empty, instead it will be brimming over with a wealth that can never be taken from you because it will be the wealth of the Creator and Sustainer.
And speaking of giving; God has told us to give Him our first fruits – then have the rest of his bounty to enjoy. How many of us give him only what’s left over and maybe just part of that? If we were in God’s shoes would we be ecstatic with left over’s? I think not.
In closing, this is the time to take to heart the gravity of what Jesus expects from us. Do we still see curly brown hair, pretty blue eyes or do we see our Savior reaching for us, sustaining us, giving us hope which we need desperately to give to others so that we can love them like Jesus. If we don’t mirror our beliefs in the one true Savior – as he really is, then we can not pass our heritage along to our children or our children’s, children so just love them like Jesus. Pass it on.
