revmattil.org

Almost forty years ago the movie “Cocoon”  was released. As with most movies, if  you watch this with a discerning eye, filter out the foul language and humanistic teachings, you will discover that the basic plot or story line is taken directly from the Bible. This is nothing new. Much of the literature throughout history can be traced to the Bible for its origins. This particular movie is an account of the free gift of eternal life given to man.

The story is set in a retirement community in Florida. A couple of old men sneak into an abandoned house to use the swimming pool. Then some “people”, who are actually aliens, rent the house. They want to use the pool to revitalize some of their fellow aliens that were left behind thousands of years ago in cocoon-like pods at the bottom of the sea. They treat the pool with some chemicals and forces that will accomplish this task. However, the next time these old men sneak into the pool, they find that it has a rejuvenating effect on them. It is the long sought after fountain of youth, it gives them a new life. As the story develops, more and more people start using the pool and benefiting from its effects, but they use up all of its “power.” The aliens are unable to accomplish their mission, and must return. However, they offer to take a group of old people with them, promising them eternal life. The old folks naturally accept this free gift gladly. One old man, explaining to his grandson that he would be going away, tells the boy that he was going to a place where “we’ll never get sick, we won’t get any older and we’ll never die.” Of course they wanted to go!

’m sure you see the parallels to the Biblical revelation of God’s Plan of salvation. The pool is like our Baptisms. It gives us a new life, and should have a constant rejuvenating effect on us. In Baptism, we are “born again” as the Children of God. This should always empower us for our lives of service. We should feel like new men and women, since we have had all of our sins washed away.

Lot’s of religions include the teaching of eternal life, but only the Bible tells us that it is a free gift, earned for us by Jesus. In this world we have pain, and suffering and hardships, we grow old and die, all the result of sin and disobedience. This is not only because of  the sin we have inherited from Adam and Eve. We keep on sinning, daily. The only thing we deserve from God is hell, damnation, and eternal torment. But our loving God did not abandon us.  He provided the means of escape through the living bread, His Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. He paid the price for all of our sins on the cross. He took our punishment upon Himself in order to pay the price for our iniquities.

JOHN 6:41-51   At this the Jews began to grumble about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  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’?”  “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets:  `They will all be taught by God.’  Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me.  No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God;  only He has seen the Father.  I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your forefathers ate manna in the desert, yet they died.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If a man eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

The Bread of Life  gave Himself “for the life of the world.”  By His selfless act of love and mercy, we are saved. In real life, just as in that movie, the saving comes from an outside source, not from ourselves. The sad thing is that people are more willing to believe in a fantasy like that movie than they are to believe the fact of eternal life as a free gift from God to all who believe.

Jesus was and is the real deal. He earned us a place where “we’ll never get sick, we won’t get any older and we’ll never die.” He paid the price for us to have all that.

Ephesians 3:17b-19   …That you, being rooted and grounded inlove, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God

Where are your roots? I had a great aunt who decided to check into the Mattil origins, and she discovered that somewhere back there I am related to the great composer Mozart. If that is true, he must have used up most of the musical talent in this family.

While tracing your ancestors can be an interesting endeavor, that is not what I want to share with your today. When I ask “where are your roots?” I am asking about your spiritual roots.

Paul tells us to be rooted and grounded in love: love for Christ and for our fellow man.  That is the way for us to live lives that are pleasing to God, the one who has provided salvation for us. His love led Him to make payment for our sin and give us forgiveness. And if we are rooted in Christ, we will want to attach ourselves to fellow believers.

I have been privileged to see the giant redwood trees in California twice in my life, once as a child and then again when I was in my forties. When you see those trees, some of which are over 300 feet tall and 2500 years old, you might think that their roots go hundreds of feet into the ground. Actually, their roots are very shallow. The roots of those trees intertwine in such a way that the trees are all locked to each other. They stand up against the wind and the storms because of the strength they draw from each other. Each tree is important to the other trees in the grove.

In the church, we should be tied to one another in like fashion. All Christians are rooted in Christ. These roots in our common Savior should be linked to each other. We are to share in the fellowship with other redeemed sinners. By our love for one another, and our participation with each other in the work of the church, we will show the world what a difference Jesus makes in our lives. And we will always have the strength of our fellow believers to draw upon in our times of need.

The words that are translated as “rooted and grounded” also have as a meaning “to take up residence and dwell” in this love. We should live in the certainty of the love of Christ. That, then, will guide and direct our lives. It will control our actions. You will ask yourself in any and all decisions, “What would Jesus want me to do?”

Happy Father’s Day! A pastor asked a young boy if he could explain what Father’s Day is, what it meant to him. He answered, “Well, it’s just like Mother’s Day, only you don’t spend as much for the present!” It is good to have a day set aside to remember dads for all that they do. Many of us cannot say “Happy Father’s Day” to our dads because they have died. We’d love to be able to give him a hug or a gift or speak with him one more time, but he isn’t here. So if your dad is still living, take advantage of the chance to make this a special day for him.

Most of us resemble our parents, if not in physical and emotional traits, then maybe in abilities, attitudes and actions. Many times my mother commented about something I have said: “That’s something your father would say!” My wife will chime in with an occasional comment to my mom: “Who does that sound like?” And over the years, when one of our children imitated one of my less than sterling qualities, my wife would say to them in an exasperated tone, “You’re just like your father!” Being like your father or mother does not have to be all bad. The character of a child’s life reveals whose child he or she is. While this is typically true in terms of our earthly parents, it is even more accurate in terms of our spiritual Father.

1 John 3:1-2  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

You and I are the children of God. Not by natural birth, though. By nature, we are children of wrath, enemies of God, orphaned and estranged from Him. We show this by the behavior that we so often lapse into, like those things I wish my kids hadn’t seen and imitated.

Have you noticed that no one wants to be held accountable for his or her actions? So many have the attitude, “Yes, I did it, but it is not my fault.” That excuse just doesn’t wash. Before God, you are accountable for all you have done and what you have not done. But you and I have something that will wash. We admit our sins, without making excuses for them, because we remember that we became God’s children through a washing that He provides. We have received the washing we need in the rebirth that comes through water and the Word, the rebirth of Baptism. Jesus stepped in, took our place, and paid the price for our sins. He did that through a perfect life, a cross, and a resurrection. He offers the benefit of all He did – forgiveness, life and salvation – in Baptism, which makes you clean in His sight and marks you as His children. By His grace, you and I have become His children through this REBIRTH, a spiritual adoption as it were, which God initiated and completed. We are His children!

More on this tomorrow.

Cheryl and I recently had dinner with a good friend. She told us that her grandson had moved to another state, and that he and his fiancée were going to get married. He had visited a church near his new home shortly after he moved there, but after attending several worship services, no one ever talked to him. The pastor did not contact or call him. He said he didn’t feel welcome. He decided to give the church another try so that they might possibly get married there. He met with the pastor, who reluctantly agreed to let them get married in the church. However, as they were making plans, every time they asked if they could do something, he said no. Our friend said it was a very difficult time.

I don’t know all the details or circumstances, but hearing that story made me sad. What could have been an opportunity to show the love of Christ and open a door for people to be welcomed into a community of faith was instead a rejection and slamming of the door.

How often do we do that in our lives? When someone visits your worship service, do you make that person feel welcome or do your actions (or lack thereof) make that person not want to return. Is that what Jesus asks us to do?

You and I have been welcomed into the family of God. We have heard that God loved us enough to do whatever it took to make sure that we could have forgiveness for our sins and the certainty of eternal life. We have seen the love and grace and mercy of God in the face of Jesus. It is something we should never keep to ourselves.

Matthew 5:14–16 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Are you opening doors for people to see Jesus or slamming them shut?

Lord, you have led me to faith and assured me of forgiveness. Help me to live today and every day in a way that helps others see you and your love. Amen.

In a preschool classroom, a little girl was working intently on a drawing. Her teacher noticed her concerted effort, so she went over to ask her what she was drawing. The little girl replied, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” The teacher smiled and responded, “That’s nice, dear. But you know, no one really knows what God looks like.” Unfazed, the little girl never even looked up from her drawing as she said, “That’s because I’m not finished with my picture yet.”

What picture of God do the people you know have in their heads? You will most likely get a different answer to that question from every person you ask. Some see Him as a loving Father. Some think of God as the Good Shepherd. Some picture Him as the all-powerful Creator. Some will reply that He is the Judge. There are those who see Him on a cross and those who see Him as the Risen Lord. Others will describe Him as vengeful or angry or harsh. According to the message of Scripture, all of those things are aspects of who He is.

God wants to be known. That’s why He came down to live among us. He wanted us to understand that He loves us and only wants what is best for us. He was willing to pay the price our sins deserve so that we could be with Him always. This was the most generous, kind, unselfish act ever. And that is the picture of God that resonates most clearly in my heart and mind:  God is Love (1 John 4:8). Not simply a feeling, emotion, or talk. God is love in the sense of doing something. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16).

As a follower of Jesus, you will be the only picture of God some people will see. If we are to make Him known to others, we need to follow His lead. You need to be love, love that does something. Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:18). What kind of picture of God are you sharing with people in your life? How well do you represent Him? Are you finished with your picture yet?

The Church needs to remember who we are and what we should be doing. The church, the people of God who have put their faith in Jesus, needs to be busy living their lives as followers of Jesus.

One thing we should be concerned about is customer service. That may sound strange, but we are a people who have been called to serve.

Have you ever had that person “waiting” on you who just doesn’t seem to care. We have had that happen more times than I care to remember. The person who is supposed to be serving us ignores us and does not seem to have any desire to help us. You get the impression that we didn’t matter at all to that person.

Have you ever had a server like that? Have you ever BEEN a server like that? Something we tend to forget is that in the church, we are not the customers. We are to be the servants. Jesus tells us that repeatedly. He gives us the example to follow, like He did during the Last Supper when He washed the feet of His disciples and said…

John 13:15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

That same evening, when the disciples were jockeying for position, arguing who was most important among them, Jesus said:

Luke 22:27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

This same thing had been addressed earlier when the mother of James and John asked if one of her sons could sit on Jesus’ right and one on His left in His kingdom. Jesus puts everthing back into proper perspective saying:

Matthew 20:26–28 … whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The one who came to offer Himself as payment for the sins of the world also came to show us how to be servants to the world. The problem we have is that having a servant sounds so much more appealing than being a servant. We want to be the ones who are served, not the ones who serve others. But that is not the life to which you have been called. When Jesus gets a hold of you, you belong to Him. You want to follow Him because you know what He has done for you. And that means you take on the role of a servant.

How can you show Jesus the gratitude you have for what He earned for you with His suffering and death and resurrection? Be a servant, the kind of servant Jesus was.

I came across an article entitled “The Wisdom of the Dakota Indians.” The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from one generation to the next, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. That sounds self-evident. It is good advice. It makes sense. If you find yourself riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. So why don’t we follow it? How many of the following strategies have we tried in dealing with a dead horse?

• Purchase a stronger whip
• Change riders
• Appoint a committee to study the horse
• Arrange to visit other places to see how they ride dead horses
• Lower the standards so that dead horses are acceptable
• Reclassify the dead horse as “living impaired.”
• Harness several dead horses together to increase speed
• Provide additional funding to increase the dead horse’s performance
• Do a study to see if lighter rider’s would improve the dead horse’s ability to function
• Declare that the dead horse carries low overhead and therefore should remain in use.
• Hope that the dead horse will come back to life

We all have to deal with a dead horse from time to time. Back in 2010, the congregation I served made the difficult decision to abandon a building program that we had been working on for more than three years and had spent well over $100,000 on architect fees. It was a trying time.

I reminded the congregation that the church was not our planned facility, nor was it the current facility with its bad plumbing and foundation problems. People make up the church. Buildings are simply tools for us to use as we go about our business of making disciples. If a building keeps us from doing that, it has no place in our lives.

The word church is the most common translation of the Greek word “Ekklesia” and it literally means the “called out ones.” It is not used in Scripture to describe a building, but the people that have been called out of this world to be disciples, believers, followers of Jesus. We have been brought together by the assurance that God loves us. He demonstrated that love with a cross and an empty tomb. We know that Jesus is our Savior from sin and death. We rejoice in sin forgiven and life eternal. We live in confident victory. And that is true whether a group of believers owns a building, rents one, or worships in people’s homes.

In the church, at times there will be disappointments and setbacks. Sometimes you need to abandon “dead horses.” Just remember who we are, the redeemed and forgiven children of God who make up the church, the church Jesus promised to build, the one of whom He said  “The gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matt. 16:18) Jesus was talking about His Church. Not buildings. Not facilities. He was talking about the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, all true believers in Christ. In spite of disappointments, the Church goes on.