Rev. Matthew Eyerman
I. Introduction
1. start today with an old school song
I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus ---
No turning back, no turning back.
2. have you decided to follow Jesus?
3. call to mind the passage from Matthew’s Gospel
Matthew 18:9And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.
4. this morning I want us to tear off our side mirrors
5. no turning back
6. no looking back
7. revise the song
I have decided to follow Jesus ---
No looking back, no looking back.
II. Elisha ---- needed messenger -- #1
1. return to the first reading
2. Elisha was a farmer
a. fairly successful farmer
b. had own plough and oxen
c. and own land
3. some of us are also successful
a. teachers
b. nurses
c. office workers
d. students
4. I was very good at the hotel stuff
5. but the Lord had plenty of people who can do hotel stuff
III. Elisha ---- needed messenger ---- #2
1. The Lord looked over the employee list
a. plenty of fishermen
b. plenty of farmers
2. the Lord did not need another successful farmer
3. had plenty of those
4. the Lord may not need another successful whatever
5. the Lord needed a messenger
6. now don’t confuse success with doing God’s will
7. God not going to punish you for being yet another successful whatever
8. but it that really God’s will in your life?
9. a sermon for another day
10. point: God needed a messenger and found a farmer to be that messenger
III. Elisha --- no looking back
1. Elisha then broke the mirrors off his faith car
2. look what he did
a. killed the oxen
b. smashed up the farm equipment
c. burned the equipment
d. cooked the oxen
e. and ate it
3. everything that made him a farmer was gone
4. not matter what happened with Elijah
a. good days
b. bad days
c. success
d. failure
5. he could never again be a farmer
6. no looking back
IV. the big c ---
1. some of us are afraid of the big C
2. so afraid that we even call it the “Big C” rather than the full name
3. you know the Big C
a. not cancer
b. not nearly as scary as COMMITMENT
4. commitment involves trust and it is hard to trust
5. who can we trust
a. the government ---- remind me why are we fighting in Iraq?
b. business --- here today, enroned and dot-comed tomorrow
c. school system ---- are the children really learning?
d. even the church ---- out of touch or majoring in the minors
e. and relationships
1. what can I say
2. what seems great at 4am in the club
3. whole different perspective at 12 noon in the light of day
6. so who do we trust?
V. the big C ---- commit to God
1. Elisha takes everything he owns
a. all the farm equipment
b. all oxen
c. burns it
2. while the rest of the world ½ way commits to each other
3. Elisha commits all the way with one person who always commits all the way
4. Elisa commits to God and God commits to Elisha
5. commit to God
VI. the big C ---- ramifications of commitment
1. may mean you have to let go of some behaviors and some people
2. story
a. always amazed at people who have friends from back in the day
b. great you were able to grow together
c. I had to let them go
d. had to say, God bless you, see you at the resurrection
e. how I was is not how I am now
3. Elisa took the rear view mirror off his car of faith
4. no looking back
5. no turning back
6. do the same, take off the mirrors
7. make and live the commitment
VI. nostalgia
1. second reason to tear off the mirrors
2. that mirror make us look back
3. and when we look back tend to remember the good old days
4. story
a. used to have a friend
b. all he ever talked about was high school
c. finally had enough
d. been out of high school for XXX years
e. life moves on
5. the good old days weren’t all that good
6. they were just the old days
7. life moves on
8. can’t spend it living in a museum
VII. reverse nostalgia
1. or we only remember the bad parts
2. we misread Psalm 30
a. text reads that weeping MAY endure for the night
b. not that weeping always did or always will
3. and focus only on weeping
4. focus instead on the promise of a better tomorrow
Psalm 30:5Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
5. regardless of the past, tomorrow will be better
6. tear off the mirrors on our faith car
7. no turning back and no looking back
VIII. distorted --- intro
1. third reason to tear off the mirrors
2. read the fine print on the mirror
3. “objects may appear closer that they are”
4. the past is distorted
5. return to the gospel
6. Jesus is determined to go to Jerusalem
7. passes through a Samarian village
8. and they do not welcome Jesus
IX. distorted reality ---- racism ---- #1
1. did you notice the racism
2. very subtle
a. like when someone says, you are so articulate
b. or someone says, you can really read well
c. compliment or racism
d. did not expect a Black person to ….
3. story
a. talking to someone
b. said to me it is hard for you since you parents live in London
c. and you live in the ghetto
d. answered without thinking
e. started on time difference
f. as family we plan family events months in advance to coordinate travel
g. then it hit me
h. Ghetto? Where? Here?
4. clash between Samaritans and Israelites goes back centuries to 2 Kings 17
5. clash over where was the proper place to worship God
6. grew over the centuries to full blown racism
a. each side hated the other
b. not for anything the other did
c. just because of who they were
7. all the village did was not welcome them
8. no fights or attacks
9. subtle: just ignored them because of their race
X. distorted reality --- racism --- #2
1. so as the Son of God comes to town
2. pretty big deal
3. the Samarian village missed it
5. looking in the mirror at the past
6. convinced that the past told them who this present person was
7. what is the disclaimer
8. “objects may appear closer than they are”
9. distorts reality
10. and they missed the Good News
XI. distorted reality --- Jack Ryan
1. happens even today
2. did you read the papers on Saturday
3. now I am not a huge Jack Ryan supporter
a. I probably would not have voted for him
b. but I would have liked to make decision based on his political views
c. not a media trial
4. apparently he has made a huge error in judgment
5. but who among us has not made an error in judgment
6. done something stupid
a. especially when were in love
b. more especially when we were in lust
XII. distorted reality ---- us
1. now listen
2. I don’t excuse his wrongs any more than I excuse my sins
3. anymore than I expect you to excuse your sins
4. be a man, be a woman and own it
a. I did the crime
b. I’ll do the time
c. I did it
5. but aren’t we more than just our sins
6. when we were at our very worst
a. is that who we really are
b. and all that we ever will be
7. the mirror distorts reality
XIII. distorted reality ---- Jesus
1. again and again Jesus eats with sinners
2. spends time with prostitutes, thieves, revolutionaries, outsiders
3. take a chance with an imagination
4. I can hear the religious leaders
a. say do you know who you are spending time with
b. they are sinners
5. I can hear Jesus say
a. that is who they once were
b. Moses was once a murder
c. Jonah once went AWOL on God
d. but it is not so much who they once were
e. but who are they now
XIV. distorted reality --- us
1. don’t tell me you are not holy enough
a. you don’t pray enough
b. you are not sure about all the doctrine
c. you are living wrong
2. God does not care where you have been
a. He already knows
b. and watch this
c. He was there when you were doing dirt
d. and He stills loved and loves us
Romans 5:8God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us
3. God wants to know where you are going
4. tear off the mirror
5. look forward
6. put your car of faith in drive
XV. Conclusion
1. God has called you from the future to the future
2. we don’t need mirrors
3. God is calling you
a. right now
b. in the middle of corporate lunch break
c. in the middle of rodding toilet
4. make a commitment
5. the past is the past: good or bad
6. but the future is so bright I have to wear shades
7. joy comes not will come not might comes but IS coming
8. take your eyes off the distorted reality
9. now drive
