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In 1989, my daughter came home from kindergarten and put my old typewriter in front of the television set and said, “Daddy, make this computer work!”  I knew right then that if kindergartners were being taught to use computers, then resistence was futile.  I knew that I had better learn all I could about computers or else I would become a dinosaur!  Over the years since then, the computer has become my hobby.  I was lucky to have church members who were experts with computers, and they taught me how to take them apart and put them back together, usually successfully!  I’ve worked on several computers of Memorial members, and I’m not sure whether it is George Strait, John Rush, or Andy Watson who would win the prize for the person who can best mess up a computer!

About 75% of the time, I can fix the problem, but there are always times when things are beyond repair!  Sometimes the problem is so simple that a reboot – turning the computer off and then back on – will fix the problem. People think I am brilliant when in fact all I did was turn the computer off.  But other times the Windows operating system gets so messed up that there is nothing to do but to totally erase the hard drive, reformat it and reinstall all of the programs.  This is similar to a golfer’s mulligan, a do-over, a new beginning.  Jesus said that vineyard owners knew that it was foolish to try to re-use old wineskins.  There are times when you just have to discard the old and start all over rather than just repair the old system.  As Jesus told Nicodemus, he needed to be born again, to reformat his brain and start all over.

Never was this more true than it was in 1517 A.D.  The Christian Church had gotten so far away from the truth of the Gospel that it, too, needed more than just minor repairs.  Traditions had piled up so high!  The truth lay buried under mountains of errors.  Martin Luther didn’t know what was going to happen when he raised his 95 questions, but what resulted was nothing less than a re-formation, a reformatting, of the Church.  The old patterns were done away with, and there was a serious attempt to recover the practices and beliefs of the early church.  The Protestant Reformation is a process that continues to this day, affecting person after person and church after church as God breaks into our lives to tell us that we’ve got it all wrong and that we need to start all over.  So the question I raise to you today is “Have you personally experienced the Protestant Reformation?”

The Reformation began when one young man became dissatisfied with his personal faith. Luther was raised in an era that was still clouded by pre‑Renaissance images of God being a fiery judge about to doom the world. There was a general feeling of fear that gripped everyone, and the source of this fear was the church.  The church used fear to control every aspect of people’s lives. Driven by this fear, Luther rigorously practiced his faith, relying on the promise that the sacraments would convey merits to his heavenly account that was in arrears due to sin. But these offered him no assurance of forgiveness. The fear in Luther pinnacled on the day that he was struck by lightning. Believing that a holy God and an equally holy Christ were too far removed from sinful humanity, Luther called out to St. Anne to save him, promising her that he would become a monk if he lived. But his life as a monk, even with all its self‑denial, gave him little comfort. After doing his best, he realized that he didn’t deserve any special praise. After all, he was only doing what he was supposed to, and there were no extra merits in this.

But maybe there was help for him to be found in the saints. Saints were supposed to have lived such meritorious lives that their extra credits could be gained by us if we did certain things.  Luther visited sacred shrines and reverenced the relics, but this offered him no assurance either. But he still had one hope: a grant of pardon from the Pope. There was a practice in those days of selling indulgences as they were called . . .  Well, they didn’t actually sell them.  But if you donated a large sum of money to the church, you shortly thereafter received an indulgence as a gift.  This reminds me of what a ticket scalper said to the policeman who caught him:  “I didn’t sell him that ticket! I’m out of work, and this nice man gave me $400 to buy food. He was so nice to me that I just had to give him my ticket to the football game!”  Luther found little consolation in a papal pardon.

Still feeling empty, he turned to a study of the scripture. While studying Psalm 22, he was taken by the idea that Christ on the cross felt forsaken by God: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus had said.  Luther knew that feeling of being forsaken by God, and suddenly he felt a new kindred spirit with Jesus. Suddenly he understood that Jesus, who knew no personal sin, had taken Luther’s sin upon Himself on the cross.  In a short number of days, Luther discovered that God wasn’t the much feared judge.  He was a merciful Father who had sent Jesus to do for us that which we couldn’t do for ourselves, to atone for our sin. At last Martin Luther found assurance of God’s pardon and the sure expectation of heaven!  Studying Paul’s letter to the Romans reaffirmed this discovery. Luther, now sure of his right standing with God because of faith and faith alone, began to challenge the teaching of his church and in so doing he brought the light of the Gospel into many lives darkened by fear and dread. The official church didn’t like his reforms because people relieved of fear by faith in Christ were no longer able to be controlled by the Church.

Each of us is like Martin Luther. A seminary professor often said, “None of us are born Protestants.”  We come into this world like Nicodemus, assuming that salvation is up to us.  God has given us the commandments; it is up to us to save ourselves by following the laws of God.  Then we discover that we are capable of sin and we feel utterly cut off from God. We hear about hell and judgement, and fear drives us to become as religious as we can. But no matter how good we become, we lack that assurance that we are going to heaven. We make bargains with God when lightning‑like evil befalls us, but these bargains often fall through and they offer us little comfort.

You heard about the man who thought his plane was going to crash?  He prayed, “God, if you save us from a crash, I will give you half of all my possessions!”  Well, the plane landed safely, and so a fellow passenger said, “I guess you will be giving a large sum of money to the church.”  The man replied, “No.  But I made another deal with God.  If I ever get back on another plane, He can have it all!”

Our bargains with God don’t help us.  All of our efforts to become more religious leave us far short of the glory of God.  In the end, we arrived at hopelessness, quite certain that nothing we can do can merit God’s forgiveness for us. Then like Martin Luther, we experience the Protestant Reformation. We discover a God of mercy who really cares about us. We discover that Jesus really did die for me! We discover that God only requires one thing from me in order to grant me eternal life and pardon: that I cease from trusting in my efforts to save myself and believe that Christ’s efforts for me were sufficient. Call it being saved; call it being born again; or call it being reformed into a Protestant! Whatever it is called, it means that you have finally found peace with God.

So one aspect of Reformation Sunday is to offer reformation to everyone.  You can be born again.  You can receive a do-over!  But there was another important gift of Luther to us. Everybody needs some source of authority for their lives, something that they can count on for objective guidance and truth. The Christians of Luther’s day relied on human beings and institutions as the sources of authority for their lives. Whether it was the head of the church or a priest, Christians looked to them as the unquestioned spokesmen for God.  Everything, even scripture itself, was subject to these authorities. Luther and the other Protestant Reformers wanted to place the Church and its leaders under the one final authority of scripture.  We United Methodists talk about Wesley’s quadrilateral ‑ scripture, tradition, reason, and experience which together give us spiritual guidance – but we know that scripture must have primacy over the other three.  The church of Luther’s day fought this reform because by making scripture the authority, Protestants were taking a move toward democracy and away from the totalitarianism of the church. Whenever you place scripture first, you place every person’s right to interpret it second.

So there were political aspects of this issue.  But how important it is for us to have an authority in our lives, one which will offer us God’s counsels on many subjects and offer us insights on other things that aren’t specifically addressed in scripture.

It is important to remember that Jesus used scripture to defend Himself against the Tempter during the 40 days in the wilderness and also when He was debating with the scribes.  In the same way, we find a sure defense against temptation in scripture. Reading the Bible can sensitize me to God’s attitudes and thoughts. In it I can find the inspiration I need to serve instead of wanting to be served.  I find constant reminders of God’s grace for me and others!  Remember: every great renewal of the church has centered around the Bible being read and believed. Think, too, where your life might be if you had not heeded its words of wisdom!

Have you been reformed? Have you made the Bible the primary authority for your life? But there was one more emphasis of the Reformation and that was the empowerment of the laity to be ministers to one another, what we’ve come to call “The priesthood of believers.” Somewhere along the way, in the good effort to bring order to society and to preserve the Christian faith from heresies, the church had placed priestly authority in the hands of ordained clergy only.  This resulted in lay people who considered themselves unworthy to serve God and who believed that their vocations were not as important as a minister’s.  The result was half-committed lay people who took no responsibility for the shepherding of people or the spread of the Gospel.  Dr. James Kennedy said that this makes as much sense as expecting generals to fight wars without any soldiers!  The task before us is too large for just ordained clergy. There is a world that still needs Christian influence.  In a world that seems intent on destroying itself, how this world needs to hear from the followers of the Prince of Peace!  There are more church members needing God’s love than we pastors can possibly visit.  It is time to rediscover the Protestant truth that we all ‑ ordained and lay ‑ are called to be ministers of the Gospel.

Product slogans always intrigue me . . .  “Quality is job 1.” “Baked by elves.” “The real thing.”  The Protestant Reformation had three slogans: “Saved by faith alone, the Bible alone, and the Priesthood of believers.” Have you been reformed?  Amen.

Arthur H. Holt

When Sylvia called and asked if I would consider giving the laity sermon today, my first thought was; why me? I had one of those Moses moments. Isn’t there someone else who would be better suited for this?

However, as I thought about her offer I realized this is how God will many times put us in situations that can take us out of our normal routines and yes while not scared to death right now, I am a little uncomfortable.

However, seriously I am thankful for the opportunity to speak today. I hope that as you leave today, you will go with good thoughts on just how special the God we serve can be. So Sylvia, thank you for asking me.

I chose as my topic this morning, “3:16: The Numbers of Hope”. For you Max Lucado fans, he published a book under this title and after reading I realized this verse of scripture in a short concise 26 words simply paints a picture of undeserved, unconditional, and unwavering love from a father to his children.

A simple verse we learned as a child, and the one verse of scripture that when we see or hear the numbers 3:16, we know the verse of scripture it speaks of.

As we heard in the scripture this morning, Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, the religious elite who rejected Jesus has found him in a back alley room meeting with his followers. He has been searching for Jesus to learn more about this man who is attracting large crowds everywhere he goes. Why is he so special?

You see Jesus goes against Nicodemus’s vision for one of God’s own. Instead of royalty he is always hanging out with the outcasts, the tax collectors, the leper, and the prostitutes. He hangs out with those who we would say are down on their luck.

All his research has convinced him that good efforts and hard work will pay off. God will take care of you if you work hard for him. Do all the right things; say all the right things and the ending will be good.

However, the scripture lesson today is considered by many to be one of the more famous conversations in the Bible.

Because his first encounter with Jesus reveals he has been somewhat wrong and finds the truth for eternal life to be in John 3:16. “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

You may be saying to yourself, I know this. Why is he going talk about something I have known since I was a child. Yes we know that our roadmap to eternal life is based on belief, but I think:

We also need the reminder of what John 3:16 gives us, for it is about how God treats us. It lets us know he loves, he gave, and if we believe, we live. Pretty simple isn’t it? Or is it?

I sometimes feel I do not deserve the deal the verse offers as, there have been times when I walked away from God for long periods of time. I did not need him to interfere in my life. I had it all under control. I knew where I was going, how I was going to get there and had the plan; or so I thought.

I spent many an afternoon in my dorm room at Gardner-Webb back in the late 70’s thinking about where life would lead me. What would I be doing at the age of 30, 40, and 50? I am here to tell you that things did not go as I planned.

But that is not a bad thing, because there are times in our lives when we must be reeled back in by his love and grace to set us on the right track to understand what the most important things in life are.

Oh, there have been times when I really questioned if God loved me or even cared about what I was going through. I have been angered and disgusted at times as I felt he was not listening to what I had to say.

As for as I was concerned he was gone. Where was he when I needed him? But I now understand he did not go anywhere. He never moved. He was there the entire time. It was me who had deserted him.

He was just allowing me to work through the struggles of life as we all go through. As I look back now, I see it was a tough love that helped me grow stronger, so I could deal with what was taking place in my life at the time and the unknown that lies ahead for my future.

You see, John 3:16 tells us he loves the world so much, he doesn’t look at color of skin, what side of the tracks we come from, he includes everyone, rich, poor, you, me, the list goes on.

He loves us for who we are and offers the unconditional love we so desperately seek. I ask. Where can we find a better deal in today’s world?

We are blessed to serve and follow a God who loves us that much and asks that we do the same for those around us.

There have been times in my life when I got to the point of not knowing which direction to turn. I was going nowhere on my own, spinning my wheels in frustration. I finally had to just turn it all over to him and it always seemed someone unexpectedly would step into my life and become a rock for me to rely on?

I always wondered where they came from. Why did they come into my life? Each time it was someone I had not expected, and as I look back, I now see God sent them into my life.

That is how his love works for us many times. He knows we are weak, he knows we sometimes need direction; I sometimes think these angels, as I call them are his experts on what we are going through at the time.

I share this story. A few years ago the company I worked for closed the doors to the plant where I worked. I had been with the company 26 years and had an opportunity to relocate to Lancaster, SC. Lancaster is one of those places you cannot get there from here.

For those who know me will tell you I am a home body, not very receptive to change and I love Greer. I tell people many times this is my promised land.

Therefore, I had mixed emotions. It was tough to make a change after 50 years of being around Greer. Shoot, every house I have lived in during my life has been within a couple of miles of each other. I have never lived on this side of 29, so you can see I don’t stray far.

At first I had a difficult time adjusting as I felt I was losing contact with the church, community, family, and friends. I got to where I did not want to come to church when I was home on the weekends and started to miss on a regular basis. I could find all kind of excuses to miss.

While talking to a co-worker one afternoon, he suggested we meet in his office each morning at 7:45 and have a short devotion and prayer to ask God to help us deal with our emotions and give us the strength to make it through the day.

To be honest up to that point in my life I really had never sat down and talked about what God meant to me personally. I had always been private and quite about my relationship with God and really just got along, many times going with the flow.

Oh I could play the part, but kind of like Nicodemus I thought there is something to this puzzle that is missing in my life.

But, Rick was a source of strength, as his strong relationship with God taught me you should not be afraid to speak about what God means to you.

20 people were soon cramming into his office each morning for the devotion. It became a source of strength for all of us, as we were able to talk about the tough times, the sad times, and the happy times.

The group came from all types of religious backgrounds; Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Church of God, Freewill Methodist, blacks, whites. It was not long before I could see just how special God was to the people in our group.

I felt as though God was saying to me, you dummy just sit back, watch this, and try to learn something.

Oh I learned something, as I saw unwavering faith in times of utter devastation in people’s lives who sometimes because of layoffs or just bad luck were down to pennies and did not know what tomorrow held.

They never lost touch with their source of strength and made a point of putting God first, always trusting he would lead. Always thanking him for all the blessings of life and just allowing their feet to hit the floor each morning.

I will always remember Patricia, a small black lady who worked for me in our warehouse. She lived alone, had two sons who rarely visited;

A very sincere woman of tremendous faith, who was lonely, fought medical issues and struggled just to make ends meet.

But, there was not a day that went by where she did not have a smile on her face and live large for the lord. She was at church every time the doors opened and worked hard for the lord.

She took me over to the side one morning and said something to me that brought such a comfort to me, that to this day I cannot explain.

She told me, “Steve I am praying for you every day. I know you are having a hard time with the situation down here, but you remember God is good, and God will look out for you. Just give him time. He is working, even though you may not see it. God loves you! He loves you!”

I honestly believe to this day I was standing there talking to one of God’s angels. Never had more sincere words been spoken to me. Has anyone ever looked you in straight in the eyes and said, God loves you!!!!

What does this all mean? It means God never deserted me. He knew I was weak, he knew I was struggling, and doubting his presence. He should have been angry with me that I would question.

He sent people into my life that for the next 3 years got me through the tough times when I questioned and asked how did I end up in Lancaster, sitting alone in an apartment at the age of 50. Bottom line–he taught me the lesson of his tremendous love that we many times cannot understand or even fathom.

God taught me to appreciate what I had at home. He taught me how important family and church are. Those things we many times take for granted, until we are away. He took me away from home and let me look from the outside to see what I was missing on the inside.

But he also taught me one big lesson, maybe the most important and that is plans can change in an instant and turn on a dime. Where you think you are headed may not be the course he has set for you. Thank goodness he has the roadmap for my life. I have learned that if you follow his map you will never be lost.

As I reflect on those 3.5 years away, I thank him for being him, a God of love who still thinks I am worth it, and can still receive his grace, which I do not deserve. He sent his son to pay the ultimate sacrifice for each of us. He has taken care of our salvation. As the song says, what a friend we have in Jesus.

John 3:16 also tells us, whoever believes will not perish. There is no distinction here of who will receive the blessing of eternal life, but says whoever believes. The opportunity is there for us to take, if we only believe. But have you ever questioned who is a whoever?

It is you, it is I, it is the neighbor who has lost his job. It’s the teen who made a mistake, it’s the drug addict who never thought it would end up this way, it’s the husband and wife going through divorce and those we think are just lost and down on their luck.

It is also the most Christian of the Christian, the dedicated faithful followers of Christ. It does not make a distinction.

Whoever’s do not have to be heroes, but have to say yes to God. I do believe. I do believe you sent your son to the cross-to die for me. I am a sinner and need to make changes in my life.

Michael Jackson had a hit song in the 90’s which was titled “The Man in the Mirror” the lyrics talk of looking at what is around us and realize when we need to make a change in our lives. However, we must first look at the man in the mirror.

You know sometimes that is the last person we want to see; ourselves in the mirror, because we see all the blemishes, all our faults and try to rationalize we may not have done things as we should.

We think how can God love us when we all fallen short so many times in our lives. We start to think about the would’ve, could’ve, should’ve’s of our lives.

The good thing is God already knows what is in our hearts. He knows if we believe. He cannot be fooled and we cannot hide from the open invitation John 3:16 gives us. An invitation to come follow him, believe in him, and have eternal life. All he asks is that we make the first step. Trust he will be there and waiting when we need to regroup and reorganize our lives.

In closing eternal life used to be something I always thought was way off in the distance, but as I have grown older; I realize it is something I desperately want.

Life is good on this earth, but what we have to look forward to is going to be so much better. There will be no suffering, no pain, no recessions, no wars, no divorce, no loss of jobs, no jealousy, no drugs, and the list goes on.

Compared to eternal life we are only here for a short time on earth to do God’s work, to teach future generations of God’s love. We are just passing through this life to get to the prize. Do we make the most of it, or do we set it on cruise control and just get by.

As we all know, we are not promised tomorrow, and the invitation is only extended as long as we are on this earth. Do we gamble with our days, or do we accept the invitation and get to work? It is our choice.

I would suggest that we do not wait; God wants us to be good stewards and make good use of our time for his work while in this lifetime.

Martin Luther once said the best prescription for the head and heart is not treated with medicine, but contained in the words of John 3:16.

Nicodemus took his share of the prescription. When Jesus was crucified, he was the one who showed up with Joseph of Arimathea and oversaw Jesus burial and this was no small gesture, being the anti-Christ movement of the day.

When word got out that Jesus had left the tomb and was back on his feet, Nicodemus probably smiled to himself, and thought of the night he first met Jesus in the back alley room. Yes, things had come full circle.

The most likely thought, born again? Who would have thought he’d start with himself. My friends that is the greatest example of his love for us; to be the first to die so we might live.

It has been said, if you know nothing of the bible; start with John 3:16, if you know everything about the bible, return to John 3:16. We all need the reminder 3:16: our numbers for hope.

Amen.

Steve Barbrey

It must be very difficult for a foreigner to learn our American version of the English language!  We don’t say anything plainly that we can complicate with an idiom.  We could say that it rained very hard but we prefer to say, “It was raining to beat the band.”  Which band?  The Beatles?  The New International Version of the Bible could have just said that the rich man was very sad as he heard the words of Jesus, but instead it says, “At this the man’s face fell.”  That sounds quite painful!  I really hate it when my face falls!  Today we will see if we can figure out why the man’s face fell.

One day a rich man approached Jesus and said, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  That was a very important question, but Jesus seemed to think that the man’s salutation needed to be addressed first before the main question was answered. “Why do you call me good?” Jesus responded. “No one is good except God alone.”  As an orthodox Jew, Jesus would have naturally recoiled at being called “good.”  Goodness or holiness was understood to be something completely beyond the attainment of all human beings, and apparently even Jesus felt this way. God alone is always good, always holy.  It is dangerous to claim for oneself a characteristic that belongs only to God.  Later in church history, when Christians began to teach that Jesus was God on earth, this passage was used to bolster that claim, reinterpreted to mean that Jesus was subtly claiming to be God.  But scholars say that this could not have been Jesus’ intent.  Rather, He was being true to His faith heritage by affirming that no human being on earth deserves to be given the respect that only God is due.

Some of you are going to find this difficult to believe, but sometimes we preachers have to go out of our way to prove to people that we are just normal human beings, that we have no inherent holiness within us that deserves special fear or respect.  I know that I have done an especially good job of doing this here at Memorial!  At the Waffle House one day a man asked me, “Aren’t you a ‘man of God?’” and I answered, “Sometimes.”  The truth is sometimes I am God’s man and sometimes I am just a sinner who is saved by grace. It is important for people to know that we preachers have an unusual calling and special training, but our humanity is not removed from us. Just because we are preachers, it doesn’t mean that we are better than other folks or that God favors us above others or that He hears our prayers more easily than He does yours.  I like to remind people that I have led the invocation at three Wofford College football games and Wofford has lost all three times!  Are you sure you want me to pray for you the next time you are in the hospital?

When we lived in Rock Hill, our young children would come home from school laughing because some of their superstitious little friends believed that, since John and Hillary were preacher’s kids, they had secret powers to bless or curse people.  And this is the 21^st Century!  Jesus said, “Why do you think that I, a human being, would be full of goodness like God alone is?”  If there is goodness to be found within any of us here on earth, it is an alien goodness, a goodness not our own, a goodness bestowed upon us from above!  God alone is good.

Next Jesus moves onto the main question that the rich man has asked: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Rev. Stacy Elizabeth Simpson, a Southern Baptist pastor in Georgia, wrote that this story is actually a healing story.  Like the other healing stories, a man kneels before Jesus.  Like the other healing stories, Jesus tells the man to “go” and do something and then he would be healed.  The only difference is the kind of sickness that the rich man had.  His was the illness of meaninglessness in life, the illness of having succeeded in business and also in religious pursuits but still being empty.  His was the spiritual illness of not knowing why or if God was going to accept him into heaven.  Rev. Simpson writes, “What he lacks is that he does not lack.  This man is possessed – but only by his possessions.”  Then Rev. Simpson adds, “He is the one person in the entire book [of Mark] who rejects the healing offered him.”

Are you aware that our world is full of people just like this rich man?  Did you know that our churches are all filled with people like that man?  Our parents raised us to be successful, to find a good career and make lots of money, and so we did.  They told us the importance of a good education, and so we got one.  They told us how important is was to do all of the right things, to follow good moral laws, to actively practice our religion – don’t murder, don’t be unfaithful, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, and be sure to go to church.  We did all of these things, and still, some of us feel so empty.  “Teacher, what must we do to find meaningful life?  What must we do in order to have the assurance that God will invite us to share eternity with Him?”

It is interesting that this man was exceedingly wealthy.  How he came by his wealth we aren’t told.  Perhaps he came from a family of wealth and inherited his riches.  Maybe he was a very successful merchant.  Perhaps it was a bit of both.  His wealth had sheltered him from loneliness because rich folks have friends as long as they have money.  His wealth meant that he didn’t have to worry about paying for medical care or providing for his retirement.  He never knew what is was to be hungry or without adequate clothing.  His wealth sheltered him from everything but meaninglessness.  It didn’t buy him happiness.  It made him think that he didn’t need anything or anybody, not even God.

It is of particular interest to me that this story shows that being religious isn’t enough.  This rich young man not only was a success in business; he was also what you and I would call “a model Christian.”  Ever since he was a young boy, he had practiced his faith zealously.  He went to the synagogue every week.  He tithed.  He was careful to observe all the rules and rituals, but this was not enough to make him feel fulfilled in life or acceptable to God.  If anything, it made him feel like he was good enough so that he didn’t need God’s mercy.  What must he do to have eternal life?

We are told by Mark that Jesus looked at the man and loved him.  Jesus felt unusual kinship with this young man.  Except for the wealth, they were very much alike.  Jesus was raised in the faith just as this young man was.  Jesus admired him and would have liked to become his close friend.  Therefore, Jesus spoke very plainly in love to this young man.  “Get rid of those things that possess you that you depend upon instead of God for your happiness.  Give it all away, and then follow me.”  That’s when the man’s face fell!  He went away sadly because he had loads of money that he couldn’t part with.

“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” Jesus said.  To emphasize the importance of what He had just said and to expand His thought to include more than just wealthy people, Jesus said the words: “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!”  For lots of people, it seems to be very difficult, indeed.  Paul J. Wadell, professor of religious studies at St. Norbert College says “The unsettling upshot from this Gospel passage is that, yes, it may indeed be hard to enter the kingdom of God, but the source of difficulty comes not from Jesus, but from us.”  We just won’t let go of whatever it is that we are trusting in instead of God.  We just can’t part with it.  We join the Disciples in exclaiming, “Who then can be saved?”  And then we hear Jesus answer, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Part of this rich man’s trouble was that he depended upon his religious practices and the goodness that he supposed it gave him as the reason God should grant him eternal life.  He thought he was good enough for God.  The idea that eternal life wasn’t something one could earn but was only something one could be given by God was a foreign idea to this rich man.  Dr. Wadell said,  “Keeping the commandments has brought him to the threshold of the reign of God, but in order to cross that threshold he must do one more thing.”  That one more thing was to turn loose of the things he trusted in so that he could depend upon God alone for his salvation.

Have you made the same mistake that this good man made?  You thought that it was up to you to become deserving of eternal life, to earn it.  Like that man who was rich in religion, you now hear Jesus saying, “Turn that loose and put your trust in God’s mercy and goodness instead because that is how you receive eternal life.”  It is God’s gift. “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

As far as the man’s wealth goes, having it didn’t make him lost and giving it away would not save him.  Only God could save him.  What Jesus hoped for the rich man to see was that neither wealth nor poverty could save him; only God could.  Perhaps if he gave up his security blanket and became vulnerable, he would see his need for God.  It is so easy to hang onto our lesser good than to take a risk, give it up, and take the risk of finding a greater good.  It is easy to become a slave of our possessions, to make an idol of them, and willingly sacrifice anything – our principles, our values, relationships with others, an eternity with God – in order to hang onto our possessions.  It is also very difficult to let go of various addictions and bad habits.  Jesus employed another hyperbole to show just how difficult it is for us to value God above our possessions: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  This was such an absurd hyperbole that some folks have tried to soften it just a bit. Maybe the word “camel” should have been translated “rope” or “cord” or maybe Jesus was talking about a gate into the city that is so tiny that a camel can barely get through it. But folks in that day joked about fitting an elephant through the eye of a sewing needle, so why not a camel?  The point is, salvation for any of us is utterly impossible without God.  Without God’s help in breaking the bondage to possessions or addictions or habits or trusting in our own goodness, we won’t make it!  “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”  God is here today to help you break free of the bondage that has kept you from meaningful life on earth and give you the assurance of eternal life.

We really don’t know the end of this story.  The man’s face fell, but maybe it didn’t remain fallen.  What if, after going back home and mulling over Jesus’ words for a few days, this rich young man broke free from all of his possessions and returned to Jesus and followed Him?  What if he came to the awareness that his personal goodness was not enough to save him?  Surely the same Savior who looked at this man and loved him would always be looking in hope for this man’s return, even as Jesus looks in love at you and hopes for your return to Him.  Amen.

Arthur H. Holt

Today is World Communion Sunday.  As an expression of the spiritual unity which exists among all Christians of all denominations, churches all over the world are observing Holy Communion today.  We have a common Lord, a common faith, a common baptism.  It is very fitting that we have Charge Conference and a visit from our District Superintendent Dr. Charles Johnson today because these remind us that as a United Methodist Church we are in a vital connection with other United Methodist Churches.  Together with all United Methodists in all United Methodist Churches, we exercise oversight of both this congregation and also the entire connection.  There is a connectional unity between us and other United Methodists, and there is spiritual unity with the rest of Christendom.

For twenty centuries the Church of our Lord kept splintering into more and more factions.  But during the Twentieth Century there was a concerted effort to stop this splintering and work toward mutual understanding and cooperation.  There were some successes in organizational unity as three Methodist bodies – The Methodist Episcopal Church, The Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Protestant Methodist Church – united in 1939 to form the Methodist Church and later in 1968 when the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church came together to form the United Methodist Church, and the same types of mergers occurred within other denominations, but full unity of organizations didn’t get much further.  Since then, the movement toward unity has taken a different track, that of recognizing the validity of each others’ ordination and sacraments.  You are aware, I trust, that there are still churches where you United Methodists could go that your baptism would not be recognized as valid because the ministers who baptized you would not be considered valid ministers of the Gospel!  And there are churches where you would not be allowed to receive Holy Communion because you wouldn’t be considered a valid Christian.  That’s what we’ve been working on overcoming in recent years.

The most exciting move toward unity occurred just this past year!  At our General Conference of 2008, our denomination voted to fully recognize the Lutheran Church (ELCA) as our complete partners, and the Lutherans voted likewise this past summer!  Although we maintain separate organizational structures still, a United Methodist pastor may now serve a Lutheran congregation and a Lutheran pastor could be appointed to a United Methodist congregation if those needs ever arise.  You might want to sniff the communion wine if that ever happens…  In the future we will be able to save on some resources by having either a Lutheran or a United Methodist pastor serve as a campus minister to all the Lutheran and Methodist students.  We will be cooperating on foreign missionaries.  Lutheran Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson says that “having a full-communion partner means that Lutherans no longer have to worry about planting congregations in every community,” and Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of our Council of Bishops, speaks about the practical benefits of having interchangeable ordained clergy (The Christian Century, 9/22/09).  And I, who graduated from the Lutheran Seminary in Columbia, suddenly feel like I have two church homes!

I think you will be seeing other expressions of unity like the ELCA-United Methodist agreement in years to come.  We could do ten times the work of reaching out to the world if we would do so in concert rather than in competition.  May God hasten the day when all Christians see that the One Who unites us is much greater than the many things that would divide us!  Amen.

Arthur H. Holt