A LESSON FROM THE POTATO
Matthew 9:14-17
Sermon Objective: A basic approach to life for the Christian should be celebration of the presence of Christ and that, like him – we should too, be everywhere spreading his love.
Supporting Scripture: Isaiah 51:11-12; Luke 19:35-40; 2 Corinthians 5:16-18; Galatians 5:18-25; Revelation 4:1-11
SUMMARY
We have begun a new series called Lessons From the Garden. You are aware that there are characteristics of many fruits & vegetables which we can learn from and transfer in different ways to life.
Past week’s sermon included “A Lesson from the Onion” and “A Lesson from Asparagus.” We’ve seen how Christ’s love saturates and infiltrates its environment just like an onion does and how real ministry and a sense of brokenness may not look good or be easy to swallow but it is sure good for our spiritual health.
Upcoming sermons will include:
• The Garlic (9:18-26)
• The Strawberry (9:35-38)
Today’s sermon is A Lesson From The Potato.
INTRODUCTION
Vickie and I are in the planning stages of next year’s garden. It will be the first garden we have planted while in the North Country and that will mean a few different plants. We’re looking forward to preparing the beds, etc. so we will be ready next spring. The youth group will begin preparing the soil here at the church for their community garden too.
One of the vegetables Vickie and I have traditionally planted is the potato. The reason is because it is such a common staple in our diet. In fact, potatoes are one of the most common staples in the American diet as a whole. Idaho alone grew over 12.2 billion pounds of potatoes last year. It is over a $1 billion dollar cash crop for them.
The average American eats over 140 pounds of potatoes each year. And we have become very creative at it. We eat them roasted, creamed, fried, baked, boiled, sliced, dehydrated, flaked, chipped, hashed, au-gratin style, and mashed. We love our potatoes! There is even a Potato Hall of Fame in Idaho and a Potato Museum in Pennsylvania.
What a vegetable the Potato. It is how many men identify themselves. Ladies, I suspect some of you are married to men you would define as “Meat and Potato” kind of guys.
Ah yes, the potato, it is everywhere, very common indeed. Regardless of where you shop or where you dine the potato will be on the menu.
And there is a lesson to be learned from this common commodity. Just as the potato is everywhere enjoyed so God’s Son is to be everywhere enjoyed.
The presence of Jesus in one’s life should invoke a celebration!
THE TEXT
14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.
17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
THE BRIDEGROOM IS PRESENT -- CELEBRATE!
God’s Son brings all sorts of reasons to celebrate.
Ray Stedman writes in Authentic Christianity that the first mark of authentic faith is "unquenchable optimism."
That is certainly emphasized here. The One they had been waiting on for millennia, the bridegroom, has arrived. This means the guest of honor has made his appearance and that should provoke a sense of joy and wonder on the part of the guests.
Sadly, there are those within our tradition which tend to make the spiritual journey into a death march rather than a party. And, like John’s disciples, they come asking what all the commotion is about. John’s disciples wanted to sing the blues and they wanted to know why Jesus let his followers celebrate. Then Jesus lets them in on the secret; while He is present it is impossible to sing the blues. The only appropriate response to His presence was thrill, joy, euphoria, celebration, and praise.
HAS JESUS COME TO YOU?
IF SO, THERE ARE ANTICIPATED AND APPROPRIATE RESPONSES. They are similar to those he brought to his first century followers. We too have reason to celebrate. THE BRIDEGROOM HAS COME AND WE ARE REDEEMED!
Enough of a downcast disposition!
Away with negativity and gloom!
Be gone pessimistic spirit!
Jesus has arrived and his light shines into the darkness bringing hope, peace, love, faith, and joy!
Indeed he has brought an "unquenchable optimism."
A NEW WAY OF LIFE HAS BEEN PROVIDED -- CELEBRATE!
Yes, just as the potato is the norm in American restaurants and households, so the joy of the Lord is the norm wherever Jesus has come. His presence affects so many things.
For example, it affects the standards of worship.
Jesus did not come to merely patch up the old institution; Hebrews suggests Jesus came to REPLACE the old institution. WE NO LONGER SERVE A RITUALISTIC, SHADOWY RELIGION -- WE ARE IN A RELATIONSHIP. Jesus brought us renewed access and a restored affiliation with the Father.
OUR FAITH IS NOT BUILT ON RULES, REGULATIONS AND RITUAL; IT IS AN ACCORD – A BOND WITH A PERSON …
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are —yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16
WOW! THAT SHOULD FILL YOU WITH JOY! The new wineskin is a complete new entity from the old. The Jews could not place Judaism within God’s new system they had to abandon Judaism and embrace Jesus the Christ. And there are transfers of that principle for us too. Embracing Jesus cannot be done while still holding on to the old ways of life. We have to forsake all and follow Him. Jesus comes to replace your broken down system of beliefs and practices with a new one.
This should spawn joy within us since, in Christ, everything for a new life has been provided. HE ISN’T JUST TRYING TO PATCH YOUR OLD WAYS -- HE’S MADE YOU A NEW CREATURE!
YOUR THIRST IS QUENCHED -- CELEBRATE!
Just as potatoes are plentiful in America so the effects of a new relationship with Jesus are plentiful too. In the Palestinian world wine was like potatoes. It was the drink of choice. Jesus is represented as a new wine; a new wine which can quench your thirst!
Over and over again I see Christians who are trying to find satisfaction by engaging in one thing or another. But the only real satisfaction comes from resting in Jesus. The quest can only be quenched when we rest in Him.
Jesus brings
[1] A new cloth to replace religion with relationship
[2] A new wine to replace quest with quenching.
What is our response to Jesus meeting the deep needs of the human race? He says it is a celebration (v.15)!
LIFE IN CHRIST IS A FEAST NOT A FUNERAL AND IT IS CHARACTERIZED BY JOY. SO WE SHOULD EAGERLY RECEIVE HIS GIFT OF LOVE AND NEW WAY OF LIVING.
CONCLUSION
You see, the believer’s life is not to be characterized by lamenting & sorrow but by joy. It is a gift of the Spirit and a product of the new life which Jesus brings.
JOHN’S DISCIPLES WERE KNOWN FOR ABSTAINING FROM FOOD -- THUS SHOWING THEIR PIETY. BUT JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES ARE KNOWN FOR ABSTAINING FROM ABSTINENCE -- THUS SHOWING THEIR JOY.
It is a trademark of the new life He brings. It is available to every Saint who follows Christ and it expresses itself in about as many ways as you can eat a potato.
REFLECTION
Christ has come and brought relationship instead of religion and quenching instead of a quest.
But maybe you have lost that sense of marvel that comes with Jesus’ presence.
Maybe you no longer feel the impulse to celebrate.
Why not rekindle the relationship? Tell Jesus what you are missing.
Why not come and experience His presence again? Come and “let him have His way with thee.”
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
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Isaiah 51:11-12
11 The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12 "I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass,
Luke 19:35-40
35They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"[a]
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
40"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
Galatians 5:18-25
18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
Revelation 4:1-11
1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." 9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."
