Jeremiah 29:11-13
“Turn the Page” by: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor, Grace UMC, Soddy Daisy, TN www.graceumcsd.org
I am told that when I was just a “wee little boy” maybe around Mary Ellen’s age I made a big decision.
I crossed my arms and took my stand, “I’ve made up my mind. I’m not going to Sunday school anymore! Daddy doesn’t go; why should I?”
My poor dad.
He worked all week long, and then came home every night and weekend to three rambunctious little kids.
He didn’t get much of a break.
So Sunday mornings, during the Sunday school hour, my dad would stay home and take a little time for himself.
I’m sure he treasured those few moments.
But when I said, “Why should I have to go to Sunday school; dad doesn’t go…”
My father made a sacrifice; he gave up his few moments of peace and started going to Sunday school with the rest of the family.
He had plans for his kids.
He wanted us to grow up knowing God.
He wanted us to learn about the love of Jesus.
He wanted us to become all we could be!
So, dad made a sacrifice!
God has made a great sacrifice for us as well.
As the blood dripped from the wounds on the Cross…
…as Jesus cried out: “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”…
The ultimate sacrifice had been made…
…made for you…
…made for me…
…and made for all the world!!!
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Who could ask for anything more?
Those plans include you and those plans include me!
Those plans include Grace United Methodist Church…
…a small band of the faithful which began meeting here at 9833 Hixson Pike in a place called Soddy Daisy, Tennessee 20 years ago.
There was no building yet built on this former cow pasture.
The only thing here was the trailer that still sits behind the church—the one that is now used as a movie theatre and computer lab.
But God had and still has great plans for this Church!
Several pastors have come and gone.
Several hundred people have come and gone over the years…
…but the plans remain…
…the future is bright and the hope is alive!!!
My dad is a great man who made many, many sacrifices for his kids…
…just as you fathers, who are here today have made and continue to make.
But, oh, all us fathers are still just human.
We make all kinds of mistakes.
Many of the mistakes we make are not on purpose.
Some we make are because we are lost and broken people…often too selfish…
In Matthew Chapter 7 Jesus instructs, “Which of you, if his [child] asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?”
We love our children, do we not?
I know I would do anything for mine!
I would jump off a cliff to save Mary Ellen’s life…
…I would rather give up my life than she have to give up her’s…
Just think, we—mere mortals…
…mere broken, selfish people…
…love our children this much…
…and yet our heavenly Father loves us even more!!!
Can YOU imagine that?
Paul instructs us in Romans Chapter 8 that the Holy Spirit, through faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as Lord, grants us to be daughters and sons of God!
And we cry, “Abba, Father.”
“Abba,” means daddy!!!
Did you know that when you cry out to God, you are calling out to your Daddy?
And your Daddy gave His Son so that you and I may live!!!...
…not only in the life to come, but in this life as well!!!
God’s plans for this church—of which each of you are a part—are great!
They include mighty deeds for this community which can only be done through the mighty love of God as you walk according the Holy Spirit.
And that means that you must be open to seeing this world through the eyes of Christ!!!
And the eyes of Christ are filled with empathy, grace, love and compassion.
In Matthew Chapter 9 we are told that Jesus, during His time on this earth, “went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Jesus had compassion on the people whom He saw and came across in the towns and villages…
…places much like Soddy Daisy and Hixson.
What an awesome God we serve!
Jesus has compassion for the folks who are a few blocks away from us right now, building meth. labs and killing themselves and others.
Jesus has compassion for the folks who, every Sunday, decide it more profitable to sleep in or go to the lake or play golf rather than to worship the risen Savior.
Jesus has compassion on those who hate, the imprisoned, the mentally ill, the handicapped, the homeless, the prostitute, the murderer, the despised, the least, the lost…
…along with the wealthy, those who are caught-up in materialism, those who do not know that life does not consist of the collection of things, but in a life lived for God!!!
Jesus has compassion for all these people…and so many, many more than I could ever name…
Jesus has compassion!
…Do you? Do I?
If the answer is “Yes!” that is a good thing…a very, very good thing indeed!
But notice that compassion doesn’t just lie around and spoil.
Compassion—the compassion of Christ takes action—it grows wings and flys!
When Jesus talked of the harvest being plentiful…the harvest was the people on whom Christ had compassion!!!
What good is it, my sisters and brothers to have compassion—but to do nothing about it?
I believe that James, the Brother of Jesus, would boldly proclaim that this kind of compassion is dead and not worth a single thing!!!
The compassion that counts is the compassion which drives us to action!!!
Action such as, clothing the naked, giving a cup of cold water to the thirsty, feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, and the list could go on and on and on!!!
One of you shared with me recently, that you always give money to those folks who are holding up signs that say things like, “Will work for food.”
You even told me that you recently gave a dollar to a gentleman who was holding up a sign that said, “At least I’m honest. I need money for beer!”
Now that is cool!
What the people do with what we give them is not up to us—that is between them and God.
What is up to us is to take action—that is how Jesus will judge the living and the dead upon His return!
“What did you do for the least of these?”
“For whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me,” Jesus tells us in Matthew Chapter 25.
Grace United Methodist Church, what are you doing for the least of these?
In the beginning of Luke’s Gospel Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor.”
And I think one of the reasons Jesus tells the poor that they will be blessed is because Jesus knew that there would come along people like you!...
…people who would care enough to do something about their terrible plight…
…people who would love them with the love of Christ, and take action in order to alleviate their pain.
There is a song by the rock group Shinedown.
I’d like to share with you some of the lyrics to a song they have entitled, “What a Shame.”
“Two packs of cigarettes a day
The strongest whiskey
Kentucky can make
That’s a recipe to put a vagabond
On his hands and knees
I watched it all up close,
I knew him more than most
I saw a side of him he never showed
Full of sympathy for a world that
Wouldn’t let him be
That’s the man he was,
Have you heard enough?
What A Shame, what a shame,
To judge a life…The choir sings, the church bells ring
So, won’t you give this man his wings?
What a shame to have to beg you to
See we’re not all the same
There’s a hard life for every silver spoon
There’s a touch of grey for every shade
Of blue
That’s the way that I see life
If there was nothing wrong,
Then there’d be nothing right
And for this working man they say could
barely stand
There’s gotta be a better place to land
Some kind of remedy for a world that
wouldn’t let him be
God forgive the hands that laid you down
They never knew how, but your broken
Heart can break the sound
And change the season
Now the leaves are falling faster,
Happily ever after
You gave me hope through your endeavors
And now you will live forever”
Our community---YOUR community—the community which surrounds Grace United Methodist Church is filled with persons with a similar life story…
What a shame!
But wait!
There is a hope and a future!
There are good plans!
For Jesus’ heart breaks for such as these.
And YOU, as Christ’s Body, are to bring faith, hope and love to the broken of this world through your endeavors!
Grace Church has a job to do!
This is why YOU exist!
What could be more exciting?
Jesus is calling YOU to be Jesus’ workers in this harvest field.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on [YOU], because he has anointed [YOU] to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent [YOU] to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
There’s another song.
Most of you are familiar with it.
John Lennon wrote it and it goes like this, “I’d like to change the world, but I don’t know what to do. So I leave it up to you.”
Everyone would like to change the world!
But not everyone knows Christ, the only One through Whom the world can be changed—but YOU do!!!
Christ has left this huge job to YOU!
Live into the plans God has for YOU!
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Amen.
