Devoted: Distraction

Devoted: Distraction

God Will Have All of Us

James 1:17-27


Rev. Tim Callow


Preached Sun. August 29th, 2021

Modern life gives us ample opportunity for distraction. Drive down the highway and there are all sorts of billboards and signs begging for your attention. TV programs are cut up into chunks so that we can fit the adverts in-between. But even those programs can suck us in, and distract us from life for awhile. If you’re like me, a well done TV show or movie can absorb you into its world, so that you can’t stop thinking about it. Some of you are listening to this sermon online through a radio app. The internet itself is full of distractions. They don’t even need to pop up, you just think of something you want to search and it’s so easy to find.

And I haven’t even begun to talk about those distraction making machines we call smartphones. Devices so adept at making distractions that they don’t even need to vibrate, you sense the phantom vibrations.

Every once in awhile there’s a study purporting to show what our attention span truly is. Microsoft sponsored a study half a decade ago that said our attention span is likely 8 seconds, down from 12 seconds the last time the study was done. Others try to figure out what the optimum length for a speech or sermon would be, before people really begin to lose interest or ability to focus. Some say 20 minutes, others say 9 or 10 minutes. The average TED Talk runs 13 minutes.

But when Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass famously traveled Illinois debating politics, they talked for three hours. The first candidate got an hour, the second a ninety minute rebuttal, and then the first candidate got another thirty minutes. And these debates were events, held outdoors, with hootin’ and hollerin’ and music and festivities. Methodist camp meetings, in the same era, would meet for weeks at a time with sermons spanning hours. We are certainly capable of greater focus and attention than we have now. Our society is built to distract.

Our capacity for diversion, amusement, and distraction can be a problem. It can be a spiritual problem. Because as James reminds us this morning we are called to a new life by the word of truth. And when we are distracted we falter.

James tells us “In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” That word of truth is the gospel that was preached to us. God gives us new birth through the preaching of the gospel. When we hear the gospel: that God loves us, sent Jesus Christ his son to die for our sake, and that he lives and reigns forevermore offering forgiveness and calling us all to himself we may find ourselves transformed. When we are confronted by that news, truly confronted, when we know in the words of John Wesley that “he died for me, even me” we may experience that new birth that sets us on a new life.

Jesus talks about that gospel, the word of truth, in a parable. He says there was a sower who went out to sow, and he cast his seed all over his land. Some fell on the path and is snatched away before it can fall into the soil. I think that’s what we’re most afraid of when it comes to sharing the gospel, that the word will get picked off before it can truly be heard. The other seeds fall into shallow soil, and have no roots to survive when the storms come. They are joyful for awhile, but don’t stick to it. But then others fall into the thorny soil. And James is warning us about the thorny soil. The seed hits the ground and grows, but as it grows it is choked out by thorns and weeds. Those thorns and weeds are distractions. Worries. desire of wealth, glory. These things can snuff out a faith before it grows into full leaf. But the word that hits good soil, in a good environment, gives much fruit.

We are those who have heard the word. That word sinks into our hearts. It proves us to be called to a new life, and a new purpose. To be the people of God in a world that is estranged from God, that needs to know God. To be part of God’s work in this world to make his love known. To be beacons of his grace.

But it is not enough to simply hear the word. The gospel is not God’s afterlife insurance. You hear the pitch, say the prayer to buy it, and keep it in your back pocket just in case. But “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”

We can’t simply hear, and be distracted. The Gospel is not insurance. It’s not some interesting ideas. It’s not a theory. It’s not a philosophy. It’s not a fact. It is news. It is proclamation. It is glad tidings. It is a calling, it’s our calling, to lead a life of love, joy, peace, and thanksgiving. It is a calling to live in the aftermath of our Lord’s resurrection, joyously awaiting his return.

If the gospel is a calling, a summons, a proclamation, it invites a response. We can’t simply be hearers who might be distracted. We must be doers. That’s why James says, “For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.” How silly it is to look into a mirror and forget what you are like! We must never forget who we are in Christ, we can’t let ourselves be distracted from our calling and purpose. But we must be singlemindedly focused on Christ and Christ alone. Knowing ourselves to have been born again, a new person.

Being a disciple encompasses our whole life. The distractions of this world would tell us otherwise. When we allow ourselves to be distracted we separate our lives into different departments, we may find ourselves imagining different world. But we can’t allow ourselves to forget who we are in Christ, we can’t be distracted from that. God will have all of us, not just some of us. Jesus didn’t die to have you for a Sunday morning. He died for you, all of you, that you might have life. That you might know his life. That you might be his, and he yours. And that we might show the world his peace.

Faithfulness: Dwell

Faithfulness: Dwell

God’s Faithfulness Exceeds our Grasp

1 Kings 8:1,6,10-11, 22-30, 41-43
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. August 22nd, 2021

When I was younger, about middle school age, I started having a problem with praying “thy will be done.” I don’t know how many of us might have had the same problem. For me, I had anxiety issues that were not insignificant. I had developed rituals each morning to keep my mind focused and to endure the inevitable anxiety attack. I taught myself to exert a certain amount of willpower and control over my surroundings in order to manage these attacks, and endure them when they arrived. So I had this overwhelming sense that my wellbeing depended on being in control of my life.

How can I stay in control and at the same time pray “thy will be done?” 

I never doubted God’s goodness, or God’s faithfulness. But I did imagine God as a divine drill sergeant at times who, in trying to bring me to where I need to be, is willing to drag me through trials. And in my need to control my life and my mind I wasn’t quite sure I could say “thy will be done.”

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, but not because God wishes to shatter us. It is a fearful thing because God wishes to shatter our illusions, and sometimes we hold our illusions dear. My illusion was the illusion I had any control at all. As if I were withholding from God the exercise of his will. Like God sits in the heavenly throne going “I want to do this, but I’m waiting for Tim to say the magic words.” God’s will is done with or without our prayers, and thanks be to God! The question is whether we are on board or we try to row against the current.

Over time I came to realize that God is not the divine drill sergeant, and God does not delight in trial. But the only way to find our way through the trials that come is hope in the faithfulness of God. 

God’s faithfulness is both extravagant, and exceeds our grasp. God makes extravagant promises. He promises Israel a King. He promises peace, and prosperity. He promises David that his throne would endure for all generations. He promises Solomon wisdom. And promises to make the Temple a place for his name. But so often we fail. The people ask for a King, rejecting the Lord as King. Saul in his paranoia and pride gives up on God. David commits adultery and murder. Solomon, the great builder of the Temple and one of the wisest men who ever lived would be tempted toward the worship of false Gods. God made promises to all these people, extravagant promises, and yet they turned away in their own ways and frustrated the fulfillment of those promises.

As the old hymn goes, “prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love” What is so wonderful about God’s faithfulness is not, first, that God makes extravagant promises. But that God is faithful to those promises even when we are unfaithful. Even when we err and even when we sin God still works to fulfill the promises he has made. And, oftentimes, he comes to fulfill those promises in still more extravagant ways.

In our Old Testament reading this morning Solomon is dedicating the Temple to the Lord. He marvels at God’s extravagant faithfulness up until that point. “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand.” But then he prays something that may have made your ears tingle when you first heard it. He says, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!”

Solomon marvels at God’s extravagant faithfulness in setting aside the Temple as the place for the dwelling of his name. That at this Temple all may come in prayer. All may receive forgiveness. All may receive blessing. And God’s presence may be assured. The Temple was a wonderful grace for the people of Israel, and indeed the whole world. But people came to take the Temple almost for granted. Or, perhaps a better way of putting it, they thought the Temple meant that they had God in some way under control. Offer up the right amount of bullocks and calves and your sins could be forgiven. God’s mercy was seen as utterly dependable. As if God did not truly desire that they love justice, mercy, and walk with their God. So God’s glory would leave the Temple, and it would be destroyed. The Ark lost for all time.

But that’s not why your ears likely tingled. He prays “But will God indeed dwell on the earth?” God had promised David an eternal throne. He promised that there would always be someone to reign in his house. And God fulfilled that promise despite the sins of the house of David, despite the sins of Israel. God fulfilled that promise by, indeed, dwelling on the earth. What the universe could not contain was contained in a manger. And God dwelt not in a Temple but in a person, as a person. Jesus Christ. 

God remained extravagantly faithful to the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon. He remained extravagantly faithful even in the midst of our unfaithfulness. And his faithfulness always exceeded our grasp, was always more than we could have asked or imagine. For indeed, God was not satisfied to simply give us a Temple, but God would make us a Temple by pouring his Holy Spirit into our hearts. God was not satisfied to dwell in a house, but he dwells among us. And he draws us all nearer to himself, as we await the fulfillment of all his promises. Probably in a way we still could not fathom.

Faithfulness: Wisdom

Faithfulness: Wisdom

Wisdom Requires Humility

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. August 15th, 2021

God was faithful to David to his dying day. Though there were rebellions, though there were famines, though there was war at Israel’s borders, God kept the nation safe and prosperous. David died, not an exile, but a King. And Solomon, his son, came to rule. Solomon, the son of Bathsheba. And these last two sermons will concern his rule, and God’s faithfulness to Solomon. 

Solomon is known for two things throughout history. One is that Solomon was very very prosperous. The other is that Solomon was very very wise. And today we hear how it is Solomon came to be both very prosperous and very wise. 

“But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?” Job asks. Finding understanding is no easy thing. We all seek understanding, and wisdom. And in a world full of so much information, true understanding can be hard to find. I got this phone I keep in my pocket. And if I wish I can go to the right app and scroll down and find all sorts of information. Some of it is actually true. It is easy to overload our mind with information, with trivialities, and with falsities. If you want to check the weather in Spain or the Tigers’ record that sort of information is easy to come by. But there is no app for understanding and wisdom. Wisdom is much harder to come by.

Understanding, or wisdom, is the ability to know what is right and what is wrong and to act on it in the right way. There’s a qualitative difference between any old information, and wisdom. Wisdom puts everything we see and hear into context, and directs our steps. This is why the Bible says wisdom is precious, with wisdom and understanding comes so much more.

Understanding is not the sort of thing that can be picked up by reading. In one of Plato’s dialogues Socrates jokes that he wishes understanding were like a piece of yarn that you put in a cup full of water, so that it might fill up another cup. That way he could gain understanding just by sitting next to a wise person. Of course, it’s not that way either. Just because someone has a good teacher doesn’t mean they gain understanding. Even Jesus taught Judas. Where is understanding to be found?

Solomon, like I said, was renowned for his understanding and wisdom. Early in his reign Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice to the Lord. That night God appeared to him in a dream and said “ask what I should give you.” 

What a message to get from God, right? “Ask, and you will receive. Whatever you want, I will make it happen.” No strings attached. No limitations. Whatever desires are deep in your heart, I will fulfill.

We don’t know how long Solomon waited, long in thought. But when he made up his mind he said, "Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” He didn’t ask for anything superficial: a long life or prosperity. He didn’t ask for revenge on his enemies. He didn’t ask for glory. He proved himself to be wise before such wisdom was even granted. He asked, simply, that he would be given understanding. That he would be able to discern between good and evil. That he could govern the people of Israel well.

This pleased God, and God gave him that great wisdom. But, God said, “I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.” Because Solomon was not selfish, and asked for the right thing, God gave him everything else to go along with that wisdom. It is nothing for God to give away such trifling things as honor, wealth, and length of days. Solomon asked for the truly precious thing and got everything else along with it.

True wisdom, true understanding, is not anything that you can go out and grasp. It’s not mastery over life, or over self. It’s not, in the end, our accomplishment. Some of the most foolish people, the least wise, are those who fancy themselves as being wise. Who think they are wizened and know. But if we want to be truly wise, if we want true understanding, that can only come from God. Solomon shows his wisdom, such as it was, in that he asked for it. He didn’t presume. He knew what he did not know, and he asked the one who has all understanding. 

True wisdom is a gift. It is a gift we can hone, and cultivate, and improve upon. But it is ultimately a gift. “The fear of the Lord,” we are told, “is the beginning of wisdom.” Not because we are afraid of thunderbolts from the sky, but because we are humble and recognize the wisdom of God. We need to be humble to be made wise. We need to recognize we are empty to be made full. 

God was faithful to Solomon in giving him what he asked. Jesus says to us as well “knock, and the door will be opened, seek and you will find.” God still remains faithful. And God still asks us “ask what I should give you.” If we want wisdom, it will be given. If we want understanding, it will be given. But it takes a humble and contrite heart. It takes a self emptying, of a sort. It takes listening. It comes on our knees, and through the reading of the word of God. 

Faithfulness: Absalom

Faithfulness: Absalom

God is Present

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33


Rev. Tim Callow
Preached

Sun. August 8th, 2021

The Kingship of David can be divided between his success before his adultery and murder, and the struggles after his adultery and murder. Before he committed those heinous deeds the Lord was with him, and he was blessed with victory, wealth, and peace. But following that act we see a very different David. A David who is powerless to control his own family. Who watches, helplessly, as the Kingdom is taken from him by his own son. And is only restored to the Kingship by the grace of God. It is an involved story, but one that I’ll try to tell. in it all we see that while David is forgiven, yet he must live in the consequence of sin. And through it all, God’s faithfulness shows through.

David’s troubles begin with his son Amnon. Amnon grew love sick for his half-sister Tamar. He confessed his love to one of his cousins, who counseled him with an evil scheme. He told him to pretend to be sick, ask for Tamar to prepare food for him in his presence, and when they are alone to take her. So he does this horrible, heinous thing, and Tamar can’t live with the shame. It’s horrible. It’s his father’s sin magnified.

Tamar’s full brother Absalom cannot forgive Amnon for his evil deed. And while David was furious, Amnon was his eldest. So he showed favoritism and didn’t punish him. Absalom chose to take matters into his own hands. So he held a feast with all his brothers, including Amnon. And when Amnon was drunk, he struck, and killed Amnon. After that he fled.

Absalom is really the star of this story, so I ought to properly introduce him. Absalom was a proud man, and very charismatic. But he was also, as you can tell, very vengeful and spiteful. He grew his hair out long, and shaved it once a year because it grew too heavy on his head. The Bible says he has handsome and without blemish. After a few years Joab, David’s chief general, connived to have Absalom return to Jerusalem. When Absalom returned, David refused to see him. This, as you can imagine, bothered Absalom.

Absalom himself then connived to take the Kingdom. He’d sit at the gate with horses and chariots and stop people on their way to see the King. He’d ask them what business they had, and when they told him about their lawsuits and complaints he said the King did not have time for them, and didn’t have any deputies to hear. Then, he’d loudly and openly lament this, and suggest someone else would do a better job. Someone like Absalom.

After awhile Absalom became a very popular figure. Popular enough to form an insurrection of his own. He went to Hebron, the old capitol, and proclaimed himself King, with a priest named Ahithophel as his advisor. There was enough support that David was forced to flee Jerusalem, once again an exile like in his youth. It was then, as Nathan had prophesied, that Absalom took David’s concubines.

Truly David lived with the consequences of sin in this moment. His son Amnon had taken after David with his own sin. Because David was still shackled by sin, he didn’t do what was necessary to punish Amnon. Instead, he excused it. This set off Absalom who had a warrior’s heart like his father’s. And, over time, that same spiritedness led Absalom to take the Kingship from David much as David took Uriah’s life. While David was forgiven his sin, because he had asked forgiveness in perfect contrition, that did not mean he would not need to live with its consequences. That sin dwelt in David’s house, and nearly led to David’s ruin. Imagine if he hadn’t known God’s forgiveness, how far things would have gone.

But God remained faithful to his promise to David, in spite of David’s sin. He would see David through the consequences. As it happened David was able to plant a man by the name of Hushai in Absalom’s inner circle. When time came to summon the war council Absalom asked for advice. Ahithophel first advised that Absalom send him twelve thousand men to take down David before he could muster his forces. This, we are told, was good council. But it didn’t feed into Absalom’s pride and lust for glory. Hushai advised that he wait, form a large force, and strike down David wherever he may be. This plan put Absalom in command. So Absalom chose it. That, we are told, was the beginning of the end.

Which brings us to our passage this morning. The battle has begun, they will fight in the forests of Ephraim. David commands his generals to not kill Absalom if they see him, but instead bring him alive. David waits in the gates of the city to hear the outcome of the battle. He has grown too old to fight his own battles. Absalom’s long hair is his undoing, his pride gets him entangled in the trees of the forest. And as he hangs there Joab chooses to deliberately disobey David’s order and take matters into his own hands. He murders the helpless Absalom.

When word gets back to David we hear one of the most emotional verses of the entire Bible. "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” He may have won the Kingdom, but at such a high cost. He lost his son, and will never have a chance to reconcile.

God’s promise remains with David. Through it all, despite his sin and despite its consequences, David remains King. But remember what I said before about how God’s promise works. There can be a more immediate fulfillment, and something that we only come to see at a later time. Here God provides a little foreshadowing in the midst of David’s grief, though it is only something we could see on this side of the Resurrection. Doesn’t Absalom remind you of someone? A King. A victim. Hanging on a tree. Stabbed in the side. Even in such heartache and pain, God makes his plans known. Our redemption.

Faithfulness: Repentance

Faithfulness: Repentance

God is Always Willing to Forgive

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. August 1st, 2021

God is not fair. We see this time and time again in scripture. The Bible has a word for God’s unfairness: grace. Today I want to look at one of the times God was not fair, and investigate why that is the case. I want to compare the sins of David and Saul.

You may recall I had mentioned before that Saul had sinned and the spirit of the Lord was taken from him. He had shown a pattern of pride and impetuousness. But the sin that tore the kingdom from him was an act he committed after a battle with the Amalekites. God had devoted everything in the battle to “the ban.” Meaning, the Israelites were to take no prisoners and were to take no spoils. But following the battle with the Amalekites Saul had taken their King and many others prisoner, and had captured their choice livestock and goods. In doing so he directly disobeyed a command of God. 

God alerted Samuel to Saul’s misdeed and commanded Samuel to confront him. When Samuel did Saul explained that they had only captured the livestock and goods of the Amalekites that they would sacrifice to, in his words, “the Lord your God.” Not, “the Lord my God” or “the Lord our God” but “your God” Samuel’s God. Samuel told Saul that day that the Spirit of the Lord would leave him, and he was no longer to be King over Israel.

Today we heard about Nathan confronting David for his own sins, murder and adultery. He does so in the delicate form of a parable. He says there were two men in a certain city. One man was poor and the other rich. The rich man had many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but a single ewe lamb. We can imagine the parable is already pulling at the heartstrings of the shepherd David. The poor man cared for the ewe like it was his own daughter, and dearly loved it. He even fed it his own meager food. But one day a traveller came to visit the rich man, who was loathe to slaughter one of his own calfs for the man. So instead he stole the poor man’s lamb and slaughtered it.

David was infuriated with the rich man in the parable. He said, “That man deserves to die! He should restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing with no pity!”

Nathan’s response was simple: “You are the man!” Do not think this thing you did could escape God’s notice. You took the wife of Uriah, and you had him murdered. You are no better than this rich man, who had much, who takes from the poor man, who has little. And David was deeply grieved. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Now here is what is so unfair. Saul’s sin was that he didn’t kill when he was called to kill. David’s sin is that he committed adultery and murdered. Surely David’s sin, when you weigh them, is far worse than Saul’s. But Saul has the kingdom taken from him. David does not. God’s promise remains with David, and his house. It seems more than a little unfair.

But the justice of God is not simply to weigh offenses, it is also to pardon the contrite. Why is God so unfair in these two cases? It is simply that David humbles himself. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me… Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.” Whereas Saul sees no need for forgiveness, he is convinced he knew better, that he did what was right. Moreover, David knows he sinned before his God, Saul speaks of “your God.”

God is not fair because God is forgiving, and ever ready to forgive. David escapes the punishment of Saul not because his offense is any less, but because he responds in contrition and seeks forgiveness. God is always more willing to forgive than we are to ask. He is not like us, where we may forgive begrudgingly, or we may count the number of times we’ve had to forgive. But he delights in forgiveness, because he delights in us. 

There is no sin that’s too great for God’s forgiveness, we can never be too late, and God places no limits on his forgiveness. We can know the priority God puts on forgiveness in that while he was on the cross Jesus said “father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” And we know the priority God puts on a relationship with us, that he gave us his son, and he died for the sins of the world.

David is the man after God’s own heart not because he could never sin, but because he knew God’s heart. And even in his failure, he still sought forgiveness.

But that is, of course, not the end of the story. David may know the forgiveness of God, but he still needs to deal with the aftermath of his sin. God is ever willing to forgive, but forgiveness does not mean we do not have to make amends or live with the consequences of sin. David, and by extension the nation of Israel, will have to live in the aftermath of David’s sin. “I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun.” Trouble will come to David’s house, and it’ll threaten to take the whole nation down.

Faithfulness: Bathsheba

Faithfulness: Bathsheba

The Mystery of Sin

2 Samuel 11:1-15
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 25th, 2021

We began this series through the life of David with the people asking for a king, like the other nations. Samuel warned Israel what a king would be like. He would take. He would take their lands, the fruit of their toil, their daughters, their sons. Israel decides this is a small price to pay for having a king to fight their battles for them. So Samuel anoints Saul king, who very quickly falls into sin. Samuel anoints David to succeed him. Thus far David has been an exemplary king. He has been faithful, courageous, loyal. He has shown himself to be the man after God’s own heart.

But even David can fall. 

Today we hear about David’s famous sin, a sin that will have consequences for the history of Israel. Israel wanted a king to fight their battles, but it is the war season and David remains at home. Late one afternoon David goes on his roof to cool off. It is there that he looks through a window and sees the beautiful Bathsheba bathing. He is smitten. And he is king. So he orders that she be brought to him. And he lay with her. The Bible leaves it at that.

David the king takes the wife of Uriah the Hittite. After a time Bathsheba sends word to David that she is pregnant. So David calls for Uriah the Hittite to be sent from the front. It appears David tries to appease Uriah with gifts and feasts. Perhaps his hope is that if he wins over Uriah’s favor, Uriah can forgive him for taking his wife. But Uriah is a righteous man who refuses to eat feasts or receive presents or sleep with his wife when the men of Israel fight in tents. Ironic, isn’t it? Just last week we heard how David was concerned that he lived in a house while the Ark of God dwelt in a tent. Now David is more than satisfied living in a house and feasting while his soldiers dwell in tents along with the Ark of God. Time has changed David.

Since David can’t appease Uriah, he decides he will have to get rid of Uriah. So he bids Uriah leave to the front, and sends with him a message to Joab the head of Israel’s army. The message is Uriah’s own death warrant. On top of his adultery, David has Uriah murdered in the heat of battle. His stratagem, sending forces out into the hardest fighting and having them draw back so Uriah is killed, threatens the lives of other soldiers. It also potentially threatens the success of the battle! But David does not care. He must take Uriah’s life, he must save his own skin.

Why does David do this? David, after all, has been richly blessed by God. He has known victory in battle, wealth, the joy of the Lord. More than that, he is the man after God’s own heart. David’s relationship with God is close. If David can fall, none of us are immune. He had every reason not to do what he did, but he did it anyway. Such is the mystery of sin.

Sin is a mystery because it is rebellion against God. When we sin, we choose to put ourselves and our own desires above God. It is a disease of the will, that choses the evil rather than the good. Or, in the words of the psalm this morning, when we sin we are like fools who say in our hearts “there is no God.” The psalm is not taking pot shots at atheists. There weren’t really many atheists back then, if there was a single one. Rather, the psalmist tells us something about the mystery of sin. That with sin there is a sort of practical atheism, whatever we might believe. When we sin we act as if we were to say “there is no God.” “God does not matter.” “God does not care.” We take matters upon ourselves. And we further separate ourselves from God.

David’s sin is disastrous. I’ll talk more about the consequences of that sin next week. But it also frays his own relationship with God, and also frays his relationships among his family and nation. That’s what all sin does. When we seek to place ourselves above God, and above God’s will, we fray the whole fabric of relationship. We set ourselves against God, and we set ourselves against friend, family, and neighbor. This is why sin always leads to a suffering, of a sort. Because sin always brings its own consequences.

But God will not leave us to our sins, again, as we will hear next week. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. It is for this reason that Jesus came to us. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I am only speaking of the human condition. But Jesus would forgive us, raise us up, join us back into relationship with his Spirit, and lead us in the way to life.

Faithfulness: House

Faithfulness: House

God’s Faithfulness Exceeds his Promise

2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 18th, 2021

God always remains faithful to his promises. God might not remain faithful quite in the ways that we expect. But God is always exceeding our expectations. Today’s reading is about God’s promise to David, and we have known how God remained faithful to his promise.

King David has settled in his house because God has given him rest from his enemies. It is then that David notices that he lives in a house of cedar, while God dwells in a tent. Or so David thinks. But he thinks this arrangement is all wrong. God should have a glorious house for his name. Certainly a much finer house than David’s. So he calls the prophet Nathan into his presence and tells him his plans. Nathan says, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”

But Nathan, it seems, spoke too hastily. That night God appears to Nathan and says, “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?” God reminds Nathan that the Ark has been in a tent since the days of Moses and he has never once asked that a Temple be built to his name. God, it seems, is perfectly fine to dwell in a tent, to not have his own house. After all, God did not dwell in the Tabernacle anymore than he dwelt in the Temple when it was built. God is in all places. If a Temple were to be built, it would not be because God needs it. No Temple could contain God.

And so God reminds Nathan, and by extension David, all that it is he has done. How he chose David from the pastures, gave him victory over his enemies, and has always remained with them. “Will you build me a house?” We might imagine God asking. “No, but I will build you a house.” That is, not a house a cedar but a dynasty. “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”

God promises David that his son will get to build the Temple, and his son will have an eternal kingship. Imagine the joy David must have felt. The blessing of knowing his son would have success, that his kingdom would have success, that the Temple he had set his heart on would be built. And in a literal sense God keeps this promise. David’s son Solomon does succeed him, though not without bloodshed. He is a wise and prosperous King. He does build the Temple. But as soon as Solomon dies the Kingdom is rent asunder. The ten northern tribes go their own way. The throne of David is left to Judah. Is this an eternal kingdom? Perhaps God’s promise was not kept.

Maybe we have felt this way. We read all sorts of promises in the Bible that God makes for us. The lion and the lamb will lie down together, those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength, all things work for the good of those who love God. We can read these promises and wonder, “Really? When? How?” 

Solomon’s son Rehoboam may have wondered about the promise of God. God promised his grandfather an eternal kingdom, but now it feels like it’s on its last legs. Certainly Zedekiah, Judah’s last king, must have wondered the same, as he was being sent into exile. 

The Bible is full of all sorts of promises and prophecies that mean something in the immediate context, but point to a winder and more fuller fulfillment. This is one of them. David certainly understood the more literal meaning of the prophecy he was given. His son Solomon would rule and build the temple and the kingdom would last a long time. But there is a fuller meaning to this prophecy that David may have understood but could only be known when it had come to its fulfillment. The deeper promise God had made to David and to his house. And that is the promise of Christ.

When God says “I will raise up your offspring after you” he doesn’t just mean Solomon, he means Jesus who is born of the House of David. When he says “I will establish his Kingdom” he is talking about Jesus life, death, and resurrection. Remember Jesus is proclaimed King on his cross, and vindicated in his resurrection. And the Kingdom of Jesus is not an earthly kingship. It’s not like David’s rule or Solomon’s rule. It is something far greater than David could have imagined. It is a rule over life and death. It is a rule over the forces of wickedness and over Satan. It is an eternal rule that cannot be defeated or overcome or falter or split. And he lives and reigns now and forevermore, and decrees that we might have forgiveness and life.

That is the fuller promise God made. And it is a promise not many understood. But it is a promise that we have seen fulfilled. An eternal kingdom for the House of David. How amazing. How breathtaking. But such is the faithfulness of God.

Faithfulness: Dance

Faithfulness: Dance

Worship is a Joyous Response

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 11th, 2021

By this point King David has assumed the throne of Israel. By the power of the Lord he has been able to quell Israel’s enemies. Israel has even grown to such power that neighboring kings render them tribute. God has blessed David, and by extension all of Israel, exceedingly. How is David to respond to God’s faithfulness? To God’s abundant gifts? To God’s lavish grace?

So too we have known the grace of God. Paul tells us God has “blessed us in Christ withe very spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” And, “He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us.” 

God has indeed lavished us generously with his grace. Perhaps more than generously, perhaps extravagantly and even recklessly. What has God gifted us? But God has gifted us the forgiveness of our sins in Christ. All the mistakes we’ve made, all the wrongs we have committed, all our faults, God would wipe clean and cast aside as far as the east is from the west. God will not count any of it against us, out of his sheer grace. And what else? But not content simply to forgive us our sins, God would adopt as as his own children. He would make us all sisters and brothers, he would make us heirs of a heavenly inheritance. That is to say, he would make us inheritors of an eternal life. We would know his peace, his love, his joy, forevermore. 

But let’s not stop there, what more would God gift us? But God would gift us an eternal life that is not only to be known in the world to come, but an eternal life that can be known here and now. We do not need to wait until we die to know heaven, but we can experience heaven here and now. We can know that peace here and now, we can experience his love here and now, we can dance in joy here and now. God desires for us to grow in intimate relationship with him, God desires for us to share what we have found with others. God wants to work through us to share his love and sanctify this world. 

All this God gives us in his Son Jesus Christ. All this and more. We would also receive every blessing in the heavenly realms: gifts of leadership, of stewardship, of languages, of healings, of listening, of serving, of pastoring, of hospitality, of fellowship, and on and on. He would gift us this wondrous journey, this adventure, of being part of this tsunami of grace and would sweep the world.

We certainly know the grace of God. David knew peace in his borders and the presence of God in his ark, we know peace in our hearts and the presence of God in worship. How does David respond to the grace he knew? 

He dances with all his might before the Lord.

How could he not? He has known the faithfulness of God in the grace he bestows. When we receive a gift we can’t help but give thanks and gratitude. When we receive the grace of God we can’t help but worship. How does David worship? But he dances. Foolishly. Simply. Naively. He embarrasses his wife Michal, who despises him for it. He is so full of joy, he cannot help but dance like no one is watching, while everyone is watching. He has no sense of propriety. He very simply offers up his joy and worship in an almost primal way.

When we gather in worship we are like a host of Davids. As David responds to God’s generous faithfulness and abundant grace, we too respond to God’s work in worship. Worship of God is always a response to what God has already done. It is a joyous response, a noble response, a dignified response, but it can also be a simple and foolish response. 

We all respond to the wondrous works of almighty God in the way that our heart sings. How did David’s heart sing before the Lord? It sung in ecstatic dance. How do our hearts sing before the Lord? In offering up our prayer and praise? In beautiful music? In the rapt hearing of scripture? In meditation? In silence? In shouts?

Michal despises David because she is embarrassed by how David’s heart responds to the acts of the Lord. She despises him because she is embarrassed by his joy. We may not all be David. But let us not be Michal. It is good for us to rejoice before God in the ways that our heart speaks. To respond to his wondrous acts in the ways our hearts lead us. For indeed, we have received every generous grace, we have received abundant blessings beyond all measure. What can we do but pray? What can we do but sing? What can we do but dance?

Faithfulness: Baptism

Faithfulness: Baptism

We Are Anointed Ones

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 4th, 2021

Perhaps you felt some deja vu hearing our reading from the Old Testament this morning. It was not that long ago when we heard about David’s anointing by the prophet Samuel. How he had clandestinely come to Bethlehem to search out the one God had chosen to replace Saul. He looked at all of David’s brothers, thinking they were prime candidates, but while humans may look on the outward appearance God looks on the heart. It was the young boy David he had chosen, and it was the young boy David Samuel anointed.

Now that young boy has grown into a mighty warrior. He has fought philistines, he has fought Amalekites. He has learned how to live off the land, he has learned how to survive in exile. And now, after a civil war, he has been anointed once again. When he was anointed King as a child he was receiving God’s Spirit. In that anointing God chose him. This anointing is different. Now the people of Israel are choosing him. The former anointing was private, this one is out in the open in front of the gathered people of Israel. 

The people acknowledge this themselves when they say, "For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The LORD said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.” The people of Israel are coming to acknowledge what was already evident, this man and no other is the Lord’s anointed. And they confirm his anointing with their own.

The greek word for anointed one is Christ. David is the Lord’s Christ. He acts as a foreshadowing of Jesus. He like Jesus flees a jealous King, wanders the wilderness, hides in a foreign land. He like Jesus forgives his enemies. Though he is an imperfect foreshadowing, as we will see. He is certainly not Christlike in all his ways. He seriously falls, and puts his dynasty in jeopardy.

But we too are little Christs. As Jesus is anointed so we too are anointed. Jesus’ anointing was at the River Jordan, when the Spirit descended on him like a dove. We are given that same anointing. That anointing is called baptism. Baptism has two parts, much like David’s two anointings. Baptism, like any sacrament, is an outward and spiritual sign of an inward and spiritual grace. And so there is the outer part, and the inner part.

This morning David’s anointing at Hebron shows us the outer part of Baptism. Baptism is a proclamation of our faith, and a public affirmation of our faith. Through the use of water, we proclaim God’s cleansing power. After all, God saved through water at the Red Sea, and we commonly bathe in water, at least I hope. And also through the invocation of God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we proclaim our faith in the God who saves. Baptism is a public pledge of allegiance to our one Lord. That is also why we say the creed, the condensed story of our faith.

Since baptism is a public affirmation, we do not practice private baptisms, unless it is an emergency. Baptism is an act of worship, it is a way we proclaim to the world who our Lord is. David, here, is baptized, or anointed, in public. He publicly acknowledges himself as shepherd of God’s people, the people of God publicly acknowledge him to be the Lord’s chosen.

That is the outward sign. The water, the words, the public affirmation. But there is also an inward grace. That is revealed in what David receives in private. The gift of God’s Spirit. The same gift given to us in our baptisms. But our baptism is superior to David’s anointing. In our baptism we are enjoined to Christ, we are adopted as Children of God, we are given a great inheritance: eternal life. We are made part of God’s mighty acts of salvation. We are joined to God’s working in this world in a way David could have only dreamed.

That is also why in our baptism we make certain vows. We renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness; we accept the freedom and power that God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression; and we confess Jesus Christ as our savior and put our whole trust in his grace. This is the life we are called to by baptism, and we are given the grace that we might live it out.

What a tremendous gift that we have been given that we may be so anointed. It is because baptism is a gift of God’s grace that we offer it to all. And such an abundant gift is only needed once. The inward grace, the outward sign, the gift of God. The steadfast reminder of God’s faithfulness toward his people.

Faithfulness: Lament

Faithfulness: Lament

The Love of Enemies and the Love of Friends

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 27th, 2021

David became a very successful soldier in King Saul’s service. So successful the women would sing, “Saul killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” This made Saul jealous, and paranoid. If they say Saul killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands, he thought to himself, how much longer before they give David the Kingdom? So he turned against David from that point on. He’d throw his spear at David when an evil spirit overtook him. At times he would set his heart to arrest and execute David. At one point David fled to Ramah, where the prophet Samuel had retired. 

Jonathan, Saul’s son, found David there. Jonathan and David were close. We are told at least twice that Jonathan loved David as his own self. Jesus tells us one of the greatest commandments is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jonathan’s love for David, and David’s love for Jonathan was that great. They would give themselves up for each other, because they saw each other as an extension of their own self.

David tried to explain to Jonathan what King Saul had planned for him, but Jonathan couldn’t believe it. His father always roped him in when it came to his plans. If Saul wanted David dead now, he would have run it by Jonathan. So David proposes a plan, to make sure Saul’s heart is set against him. He tells Jonathan he will not attend the feast at the New Moon. Instead, he will wait at Ramah. But if Saul asks where he is, he tells Jonathan, let Saul know he has gone home to Bethlehem to sacrifice with his family.

A day goes by and Saul notices David has not been attending the feast. He asks Jonathan where David is, knowing they are close friends. Jonathan tells his father the story David had concocted, that he had gone to Bethlehem to sacrifice with his family. This enrages Saul, who is certain David is set against him, will destroy the dynasty, will overthrow his Kingdom.

Jonathan leaves in a huff, having been embarrassed by his father and now afraid for his friend. He sends David a signal that lets him know it is time for him to run. But before David leaves, they embrace, and cry. 

David and Jonathan do not meet again. David will wander in exile and join the Philistines for a time. Saul and Jonathan will fall in battle at Mount Gilboa, having lost to the philistines. Our Scripture this morning is David’s lament for Jonathan. And his lament for King Saul.

What is perhaps most perplexing about this lament is its focus on King Saul. It’s understandable why he would lament the death of Jonathan. “Greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” They did love each other as if loving their own selves, they are a model of friendship. But why does David sing, "O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul”? Should he not, at this moment, be rejoicing. The one who wanted him dead has been slain. He is free. He can return from his exile among the Philistines. He will become King. 

But instead he laments.

There is another story that might help us make sense of this lament.

Once while Saul was pursuing David he went into a cave in order to relieve himself. As luck would have it, that was the very cave David was hiding in. His soldiers told him God must have placed Saul into his hands, so he could kill him and become king. But instead of slaying Saul, David cuts off a corner of his robe. 

Even that much is too far for David. “The LORD forbid!” He said, “That I should do something like that to my master, the LLORD’s anointed, or lift my hand against him, because he’s the LORD’s anointed!” So David did something that most people would think is foolish. He got out of the cave and yelled after Saul, “My master the King!” And he approached Saul explaining what he had done, apologizing. In that moment Saul had a change of heart, knowing that David had proved himself righteous. “David, my son, is that your voice?” He said as he broke down in tears. This would not be the only time Saul would hunt down David, while David spared his life.

David never sought to kill his enemy. He was never going to ascend to the kingship through the shedding of blood. But at every moment he withheld his sword, and showed obeisance to the King who he regarded as the Lord’s anointed, even as the anointing had left him. David loved Jonathan with the highest love, but David also loved Saul his enemy. As he sought to do what was right for Jonathan, he’d also seek to do what was right for Saul. And it was not right to kill him.

Why does David lament the death of Saul? Because Saul was the King of Israel, his master. Because he loved Saul, though Saul didn’t love him. That is why he laments.

David in his wanderings gives us one image of what it means to love our enemies, as well as to love our friends. In this way he foreshadows Jesus. Jesus loved his friends, going so far as to lay his life down for them. And he loved his enemies, forgiving them always. So too with David. He loved his enemies, he loved his friends. And we too are called to do the same. David helps model this for us.

Faithfulness: Goliath

Faithfulness: Goliath

David Has Faith

1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 20th, 2021

The people demanded a King who would fight their battles for them. God gave them Saul. In today’s readings we see what Saul has become. While his early battles were wildly successful, Saul now hides himself in the center of his camp while Goliath, the champion of Gath, hurls insults and blasphemies at Israel’s armies. Goliath offers a deal. Why should we fight and spill all this blood? Send out your champion to fight me. If I win, you will be our servants. If your champion wins, we will be your servants. But Goliath seriously doubts anyone can beat him.

And who can blame him? Goliath is six cubits and a span tall, which is nine feet six inches. That makes him over two feet taller than Wilt Chamberlain or André the Giant. On his head was a helmet of bronze, coated in mail. The mail coat weighed five thousand shekels, or 91 pounds. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels or 15 pounds. This man was a monster. No one in Israel’s camp could compare to his size or strength. Who would so foolishly risk their lives?

David happened to be in the field that day delivering food to his brothers. When he heard the philistine’s boasts and the prize Saul was offering to fight him, he marched into the King’s tent and offered his services. “Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

Imagine how incredulous Saul must have been. Of all the ranks of Israel, the only one willing to go and fight Goliath is this child? "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him,” Saul said, “for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

But David reminded the King he was not inexperienced in combat. For David was a shepherd, which meant he fought lions and bears. And he won. And David was convinced this philistine would be no different. Goliath would be no different because it was not David alone who fought the lions and the bears, but the Lord who was with him. And the Lord will be with him when he fights this philistine who blasphemes the Lord and insults the army of God.

Who knows why, but Saul was convinced. Maybe Saul was desperate, maybe Saul thought a little bit of crazy is what was needed to do the job. Either way, he relented. He summoned his armor and had it put on David, but Saul’s armor was far too big for him. David insisted that he use only the weapons of a shepherd: his sling and five stones he found in the creek.

Last week we talked about how God does not look on what is outward but instead he looks on what is inward. Saul looks on what is outward. He sees a monster of a man who could crush his bones. The fear of the Lord has left Saul. He does not put his trust in God to fight his battles. He is left to cower in fear and despair. 

But David does not care about the outward appearance. This is what makes David a man after God’s own heart. What did God see when he chose David from the sons of Jesse to be King over Israel? He saw his faith and zeal that is on display as he steps forward to fight Goliath. This is what human eyes cannot see, what makes the boy David far stronger than the giant Goliath. It is his faith in the living God that wins for him the victory. 

When David stands before Goliath, wearing no armor and armed only with a sling and a few rocks, Goliath is insulted. “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" He asks. “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.”

But David is unmoved, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand.” 

That’s some trash talk. David has no fear.

Goliath approached David to fight, and before he could wield his spear David takes out his sling and strikes Goliath with his rock. The rock hits him with such force that it sank into his forehead, and the giant was struck dead.

In all the troubles and adversities we face, there is no greater support than faith. How is David able to stand up to the giant? But because he has faith in the living God, and by that faith he knows how to act. He knows he does not fight the battle alone. None of us, are left in the arena alone. But the Lord fights his battle alongside him. By faith he knows he will be delivered. And by faith he looses his sling.

Saul lacks faith, which is why he stays huddled alone. Goliath lacks faith, which is why he is so boastful and arrogant. Only David has faith, and by that faith God wins for him the victory. David is not foolish, he is not brash, he simply knows who God is, and knows that God is with him.

What David knows is that God is faithful. And that is why God makes him King.

God remains faithful. God is faithful enough to send us his Son that we might have life. God is faithful enough to provide for us this Church in which to grow and serve. God is faithful enough to pour out on us his Spirit that gives us life. God is faithful enough that in all the trials of this life he will not leave us or abandon us. That when when we may feel that we have had enough and cannot go on any more, God does not abandon us in that time. God is faithful enough to have won for us the victory, the victory that matters, over sin and death. 

Let us be like David, confident that the victory is won before we enter the arena. Confident that God is with us. Confidence that comes from our faithfulness in God’s faithfulness.

Faithfulness: Inside

Faithfulness: Inside

God Doesn’t Regard the Outside

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 13th, 2021

Saul was the first King of Israel, and he was everything the people of Israel would have wanted. We are told Saul was, “a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.” Samuel said of Saul, “there is no one like him among all the people.” Saul was not only tall and handsome, but he was a ferocious warrior and great leader. One of his first acts as King was to draw the people together and defeat the Ammonites who had oppressed the tribe of Gad and Reuben. When the Spirit of the Lord was upon him he routed their armies in a single day.

But Saul was also a flawed man. We are told one time he had waited for Samuel to arrive and offer sacrifice before battle. When he saw his soldiers slipping away, he took matters into his own hands and offered the sacrifice himself. Another time he had beat back the Amalekites but did not destroy all that the Lord had asked him to destroy, instead it seems he wished to keep it for himself. When Samuel confronts him he explains he wished to offer these things in sacrifice, but I don’t know if we can believe him. He is a King like Samuel had warned, he takes. 

We are told the Spirit of God left Saul, and left him to his own devices. While he remained King, commanded the armies of Israel, and had every appearance of being a mighty King, God no longer regarded him as King of his people. 

Samuel, as we might expect, takes this hard. Israel’s leadership was once in his hands, he handed it over to Saul. And now God has rejected Saul. What will become of Israel? But God tells him to stop grieving, for he has provided a new King for Israel, one of the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite.

So Samuel heads to Bethlehem and claims he is there to offer sacrifice, so he can fly under the radar. Saul, being a King, would not appreciate someone else being anointed to take his job. These things need to be done discretely. 

When Jesse and his sons arrive Samuel looks at them and sees many prime candidates. Men tall and strong and handsome much like Saul. When he looks at Eliab, the eldest, he is certain this is the man God has provided to be King of Israel. But God tells him, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

Samuel sees the next youngest, Abinadab, and is certain that this man must be the one God has chosen. But again, God tells him he has not chosen Abinadab. And so it goes until Samuel is told God has chosen none of these sons. Samuel asks Jesse if all of his sons are here. "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.”

Someone has to keep the sheep, might as well be the youngest. Samuel asks that this kid, David, be brought before him. He was ruddy, handsome, but young. Though he didn’t look it to Samuel, God looked upon his heart and chose him to be his King.

We’ll learn a little more next week why God chose David over all of his brothers. But it is enough to say today that God does not regard the outward as much as the inward when it comes to those he works through. Saul had every advantage. He was tall, strong, wealthy, and handsome. He was a leader of men. But what he lacked was faithfulness and humility. He took charge, and wanted to take matters into his own hands. He couldn’t leave matters in God’s hands. 

David was not as tall, dark, handsome, and strong as Saul. He was not, yet, the great leader of men. He was only fit, in his father’s eyes, to tend to the sheep. But God does not regard the outward appearance. He does not see as we see. God looks upon the heart. What is on David’s heart? I would suggest his faithfulness. He is willing to put things into God’s hands, as we will see. 

Ironically, God won’t do too much with the strong and powerful. God prefers to work with the faithful. You can have all the trappings of success and not get very far when it comes to the mission of God. But you can be filled with zeal and strong in faith and God will move mountains. 

One of the great American frontier preachers was a man by the name of Lorenzo Dow. I don’t know how may of us have heard of Lorenzo Dow, but at one point his autobiography was the second most purchased book in America after the Bible. He regarded himself as a Methodist, though he was a little too wild to become formally connected to us. He lived a life of poverty. He had long hair and a large beard, which he kept unkempt. The only clothing he owned was the clothing he kept on his back, and when it tore up he was dependent on others to buy him a replacement. He would show up in public spaces and at public events and shout that he would preach in this place a year hence. And always showed up. He had a unique style with lots of shouting, and hollering, and weeping, and insults. He was mesmerizing for his time, though he didn’t preach conventionally, probably because he was so unconventional.

He certainly did not look like the preacher of his day. He was not well regarded by the well to do. But he left a great influence in Britain and frontier America. He became a household name. Not because of the outward appearance, but because of the faithfulness within.

Jesus, too, did not look or act like a king. From the outward appearance I’m sure he was perfectly normal. He did not have any of the trappings of glory or pomp. But he remained faithful to all, and obedient to his Father. On account of his faithfulness, we have come to know salvation.

Don’t worry about the outward appearance. Don’t worry about whether you possess great gifts. Saul had all the talent in the world, but he lacked the faith. David had the faith. And he took down Goliath. All God looks for is faith. And through faith comes blessing.

Faithfulness: King

Faithfulness: King

God Remains Faithful

1 Samuel 8:4-11 -20, 11:14-15
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 6th, 2021

Paul tells us in Romans that we have been grafted into Israel, the unnatural branch into the natural tree. If we have been grafted into Israel then Israel’s story becomes our story. When we read the Old Testament we are not just reading what God did for Israel, we are reading how God worked through Israel for us. We learn more about the character of God, and the character of humanity. Most strikingly, we learn about the faithfulness of God even in the midst of our own faithlessness.

Through the course of the summer I am going to be focusing on the Old Testament readings. We will cover 1st and 2nd Samuel, the story of David. We will pick up that story with the people demanding a King so that they might be like the other nations. We will conclude with King Solomon dedicating the Temple at the height of Israel’s powers. There will be battles, intrigue, romance, murder, and betrayal. Through it all we will see God working through David and others, whether he works through their successes or their failures. Their good works or their horrific sins. Through it all we find humanity acting faithfully or unfaithfully. But God always acts faithfully. As Paul writes in 2 Timothy, “If we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself.” 

This morning the people of Israel are unfaithful, and yet God takes their unfaithfulness and will eventually use it for his own purpose. The people of Israel had never had a human King. Instead, they operated as independent tribes, occasionally ruled by a military leader called a Judge when needed. Samuel was that Judge. And Samuel was obedient to the true King of Israel: the Lord. Through Samuel God beat back their adversaries. But the people feared that Samuel’s sons were unfaithful, and so they wanted a King.

They wanted a King, they said, so that they could be like the other nations. You see, the other nations that surrounded them all had Kings who would fight their battles for them. They didn’t have to worry about finding a Judge, or coordinating the forces of their tribes. The King simply handled all military affairs so they could go about their business at home. The Kings of the nations won battles and brought glory and riches to their nations. Israel wanted to be like the other nations, they wanted the fame and fortune that can come with a King.

This displeased Samuel, but God reminded him the people were not rejecting Samuel. The people were rejecting the Lord. But the Lord was prepared to give them the King they asked for, as long as they understood what they were asking for. So Samuel told the people what a King would do, if they were to get one:

These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.

“He will take, he will take, he will take.” The Kings of the earth win their battles and earn their glory because the Kings of the earth are always taking. They are always taking the wealth of others. Whether that wealth be the wealth of the nations, or whether that wealth be a portion of the wealth of their own people. If the King of Israel will be like the Kings of the nations, he will take, and it will be oppressive and burdensome.

But none of this bothers the people. They grow even more determined to have a King reign over them. So Samuel relents, and anoints Saul King. Saul, in the end, becomes a King who takes. He, too, acts like the Kings of the nations. Paranoid, fearful, arrogant, and acquisitive.

We the Church can fall into a similar temptation. When ministry grows difficult we may say to ourselves we want to be like the nations. We look for the quick fix and see what we might imitate, who we might imitate. We look for success in those our society deems successful people. And there we might find a hidden snare.

Or too in our own lives, to make it more personal, we may find ourselves tempted by the trappings of worldly success to act in ways that are contrary to the life of a disciple. We may be tempted to greed and take and take. We might be tempted to backbiting or politicking. We might be tempted to envy and curse the successes of others. 

But despite the faithlessness of Israel, and despite our own faithlessness, God always remains faithful. Even though God says Israel demands a King because they are rejecting him, yet God chooses to work through Israel’s Kings. God remains with David, God blesses Solomon. But most importantly God becomes Israel’s last and greatest King: Jesus Christ. And while the Kings of the earth, the Kings of the nations, may accumulate glory and wealth by taking and taking and taking, Jesus shows his glory in what he gives. He gives healing. He gives forgiveness. He gives his Spirit. He gives his very life. Though we may be unfaithful, God remains faithful. Despite our sins and our mistakes, God remains faithful. We are sooner to deny God than he is to deny us. He is patient, and loving, and merciful to the last. And his plans can never be frustrated.

Trinity: Receive

Trinity: Receive

We Receive Grace

Isaiah 6:1-8


Rev. Tim Callow


Preached Sun. May 30th, 2021

Before I get into today’s Scriptures I want to tell a different Bible story. This one comes from 2 Chronicles chapter 26. King Uzziah was made king of Judah at the tender age of 16, but reigned for fifty two years. He was a great military leader who beat back the Philistines, those pesky people who much earlier had sent out Goliath as their champion. He also forced neighboring nations to pay him tribute. He was also a great builder, constructing towers and gates. He even built towers in the wilderness in order to strengthen Judah’s defenses.

Uzziah was an excellent king by any earthly standard. We are also told he was brought up in the ways of the Lord by Zechariah. It was God who made him prosper. God spread his fame far around the known world.

All that success can get to your head, and it got to Uzziah’s head. Though he started well, walking in the ways of the Lord, he did not end well. One day he was determined to make sacrifice at the altar of incense. The altar of incense was placed near the inner sanctum of the Temple, right in front of the veil that hid the Holy of Holy’s where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The Ark of the Covenant was believed to be God’s footstool, and his sure presence. No one was allowed that far into the Temple but the priests. The High Priest Azariah intercepted and confronted Uzziah with eighty of his priests. He explained to the King that it was not lawful for him to make sacrifice.

But telling the King what to do only made him angry. When Uzziah responded angrily to the High Priest Azariah God struck him with Leprosy on his forehead. The once mighty King was then taken away and isolated. He remained leprous until he died.

It is in the year of King Uzziah’s death that Isaiah has this tremendous vision of God’s throne. The hem of his robe filled the whole Temple, and he was surrounded by angelic beings with six wings called seraphim. The seraphim are always before the throne of God singing their threefold Holy, Holy, Holy. The whole Temple was filled with the smoke of the altar of incense.

This is the vision King Uzziah would have grasped for himself. Likely would have thought he deserved it for all his exploits and wisdom. Isaiah, the prophet of the Lord, does not respond in awe or satisfaction. He responds in fear, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seethe King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then a miraculous thing happens, a miraculous thing that perhaps you did not know what so miraculous. One of the seraphs takes a coal from the altar of incense, the very altar upon which Uzziah vainly sought to offer sacrifice, and with the tongs places the coal on the lips of Isaiah. What made Uzziah unclean, corrupting his skin with Leprosy, makes Isaiah clean. “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”

Uzziah seeks to grasp the right of offering sacrifice, he seeks to barge into the inner sanctum of the Temple and is punished for his impiety and presumption. Isaiah on the other hand is given this vision of the Father as a gift. It is sheer gift. Sheer grace. Though I am sure he did not recognize it as such in the moment. Because he responds to the grace of God in piety, not impiously, the altar of incense is allowed to approach him, in the seraph who brings the coal of the altar to his lips. And he experiences the cleansing grace of God. His sin is blotted out.

It is always tempting for us to be Uzziah, it is always hard for us to be Isaiah. It is tempting for us to be Uzziah because we are naturally prideful and acquisitive. It is hard for us to be Isaiah because it is hard to acknowledge our own sinfulness and the sinfulness of this world that affects us. But when we confess our sins to God, when we approach that throne of grace humbly we find ourselves lifted far higher than we could ever place ourselves. If we approach proudly with our shoulders straight, we find ourselves knocked down farther than we’d ever dare to go.

Such is the grace of God, which is given to the undeserving. It’s not so much withheld from the supposed deserving, as much as they would never ask. Uzziah never asks. He seeks only to proudly approach the altar. Isaiah is afraid of the outrageous gift given to him, and receives the grace necessary to accept the gift of this vision of God.

We cannot grasp God. We cannot define God. We are in no position to negotiate with God. We can only behold God, and receive what God has to offer us. That, I think, is one message of the Trinity, this mystery we celebrate today. We know that God is one and in three persons. That God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet remains one God. How this is the case there has been much ink spilled. There are different models, there are alternatives that hav been rejected for various reasons. But it is nothing we could have arrived at if we were guessing. The Trinity is something you could never guess.

Instead, the revelation of the Trinity is something we have received. Like the vision of Isaiah looking upon the throne of God, we have seen God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We may behold Jesus baptized at the River Jordan. The voice coming down, Jesus in the water, the Spirit descending like a dove. We may behold the mysterious working of the Cross where Jesus offers himself to the Father and is raised in the Spirit. We may experience the Triune God in our worship, as we lift up our praises to God, for Christ, in the Spirit. But in all these things, the Trinity is something given to us. A miraculous vision of the wonderful and gracious and powerful God we serve, who desires us to be his children. Who desires us to join with our brother Jesus in the Spirit. Who draws us all into himself.

Not because of anything we have done. But by his gracious favor.

Pentecost

Pentecost

The Church is God’s

Acts 2:1-21
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. May 23rd, 2021

Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. The Church did not begin because someone had planned it. The Church did not begin with the drafting of a constitution or bylaws. The Church began as a gift. It was nothing anyone expected. 

The disciples could not know what was in store for them. They had been through a strange and bewildering fifty or so days. They marched into Jerusalem with their Lord and the multitudes. One of their own would go on to betray him, the crowds would turn against him, he’d be crucified. The third day he’d rise from the dead. And then ascend into heaven. What could they expect? The future was wide open. All they could do is wait.

God does not operate on our time. That can be frustrating. We all have our plans, our wants, our desires. In a world where so much can be ready made and pizza arrives in thirty minutes or less waiting can be tiresome. For the disciples the waiting must have been both terrifying and like a child waiting for Santa. They had seen the awesome grace of God in raising Jesus from the dead, and what more might he have in store? But, indeed, what more might he have in store? And what might that mean for them? Their future was no longer in their hands. Their future was in God’s hands, and would take place in God’s time.

So the disciples are all gathered in one place on the day of Pentecost. We are told there came a sound from heaven like the rush of a strong wind. The wind filled the house in which the disciples sat, and the house was filled with divided tongues of fire that came to rest upon each of the disciples. Not, I suppose, what they expected. The fire, the wind, was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. They found themselves filled with the Holy Spirit, sent by Christ, and were given the gift to speak in the tongues of the nations.

Outside multitudes from all over the known world gathered to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, which is the celebration of the gift of the Law of Moses. There were people from nationalities that belong to Rome, but there were also people from nationalities that belong to enemy empires. All those gathered heard the disciples preach, and they heard the disciples preach in their own languages. The spirit-filled disciples preached the gospel in such a way that all could understand, no matter their background, because the gospel that they preach is meant for all and can transform all.

Some scoffed that they must be drunk, as good an accusation as any. So Peter spoke, defending the disciples. They can’t be drunk, it’s only 9 in the morning! No, what all had come to witness was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, that God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh that they might prophecy, and that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved.

What a fantastic miracle. The nations of the world hear the gospel in their own tongues, those who might be enemies hear of God’s reconciliation and mercy. And thousands come to believe. And what’s more, the once cowardly Peter now stands before the nations in zeal and courageously proclaims that salvation comes from the crucified messiah. 

It’s the birthday of the Church.

The Church is not built on the talent of the apostles. It’s not built on their ingenuity or charisma. The Church is built on Christ, and is given to us through the Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit there is no Church. It is the Spirit that takes the many and makes one. It is the Spirit that gives power to our proclamation. It is the Spirit that guides us, and empowers us, and animates us. Without the Spirit we are nothing. But through the Spirit we are given a grand mission to reach a world that desperately needs to hear of God’s love.

This morning we should remember the Church is not our own. The Church is the gift of God. And it is the gift of God through the Spirit of God. It is not about what we want to do, it is about what God wants to do through us. We are only the Church insofar as the Spirit is given to us. But in that Spirit miracles take place. 

It is the Spirit that gives us vision, focus, and direction. It is the Spirit that can take these weak hands and this stammering tongue and transform lives. It is God’s gift to us, and to this world. 

That is the birth we celebrate today. God’s people. God’s gift. The Church. 

Ascension: Freedom

Ascension: Freedom

God is in Control

Ephesians 1:15-23
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. May 16th, 2021

When I was growing up I remember we used to have Good Friday off school. Some of the businesses would shut down. And the protestant churches would gather from noon to three for one long service built around Jesus’ seven last words from the cross. Oddly, I remember segments of that service being decently well attended. Nowadays I doubt they still hold that service back home, I don’t think there’s enough people who could get off work to make it happen. 

It was not all that long ago that I would go to the ecumenical Good Friday service to sing in the choir. It is one of many changes that have taken place the past few decades that can seem dizzying when you stop to think about it. I have heard people talk about the end of Christendom, the period when the Church fit so neatly into the political and cultural order, and businesses were closed on Sundays. But the decline in Church membership and cultural influence aren’t the only changes that have taken place. We are more aware of gun violence than in the past, with mass shootings publicized and grieved over. If the argument over cancel culture means anything it shows that there are different groups of people in this country with very different sets of norms. 

For some of us it can feel like everything once fit, and now it’s coming apart. Or, perhaps we are realizing this was always a world of injustice and our eyes are being made to see. In either case, there is the feeling of a loss of control, helplessness in watching the news, a nostalgia for a time long past.

Where do we go from here? 

Today is Ascension Sunday. Today we remember and commemorate Jesus ascending into heaven. Luke recounts that Jesus was carried up into heaven. In Acts he says a cloud took him out of their sight. What a strange episode. Having been raised from the dead, forty days later, Jesus ascends into heaven. We may feel, as his disciples must have felt, that he has left us. Imagine how different this world might be if the incarnate Son of God remained. Continued to perform his miracles, continued to lead us into all truth, and established his Kingdom. Instead he has gone up into heaven. And left us to be witnesses to him.

But the significance of the Ascension is not simply that Jesus has gone up to heaven. It is not simply the doctrine of Jesus’ absence. The significance of the Ascension is that Jesus has gone up into heaven for us. That the crucified one reigns, for us. That he fights his enemies, for us. And that he will come again to set all things right, for us.

Our epistle reading this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and this passage never ceases to amaze me. Paul is giving thanks to God for the Ephesians, a very common thing in his letters. But he takes the opportunity to wax poetical and to give praise to God. He writes, “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

Here he’s talking about the doctrine of the Ascension. He says that when Jesus was raised he ascended, and was seated at the right hand of God. That is to say, he was given a position of great power. In the ancient world the right hand of the King was a place of great influence. God’s right hand is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, which is to say it is far above whatever spiritual power, whatever demonic power, and whatever political power. He is given a rule far greater than Caesar’s, far greater than Jeff Bezos, and far greater than the President of the United States. He has, Paul tells us, put everything under his feet. And he rules not just for his own sake, but for the sake of the Church, the Church which contains his fulness, the fulness of the one who is present to all things.

What a grand statement. You could imagine it being read in a great cathedral, or preached by a powerful orator in flowing lacy robes. The sermon would end with the blast of a pipe organ, hundreds of thousands of dollars in value. A grand choir would sing a song, half of them might not even believe the things they’re singing but they are paid well to sing it. And the well-dressed congregation would boldly praise God for being on their side.

But what makes this passage so astounding to me is that Paul was not a powerful man. He was, in fact, a poor artisan who barely scraped by. Paul only had opportunity to speak to the well to do and powerful when he was brought to them in chains. No, Paul writes this spectacular passage from a Roman prison. And he doesn’t write to a Church that gathers in a grand cathedral, but he writes to scattered house churches. Each church probably gathered no more than twenty or thirty people. All in all this letter was likely circulated among maybe 400 or 500. Possibly less. And they were a rag tag bunch. Many women, many slaves, some artisans, maybe a handful of people who owned homes and could host a gathering. Paul is not writing to the impressive leaders of Rome, showing how God proves his power in blessing them. He’s writing to the rabble. He’s writing to the rabble from prison. And still he has the gall to say, “And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

He has the gall to say it because it’s true. Christ reigns. He reigns for the Church. He is in control. And it isn’t any less true because Paul is in chains, it isn’t any more true when the Church has a hotline to the Oval Office. Christ reigns and he reigns for his Church. We do not need to worry about the future and what it holds. We know the end of the story. We do not need to worry about the Church, Christ has that in hand. All we need to worry about is doing what Christ called us to do, and that is to witness.

This is a world that is in desperate need of the witness of Christ’s love. That is our particular calling. We are called to love. And we are given the freedom to do so because we do not need to be in control. Jesus is in control.

The Gospel on the Move: Spirit

The Gospel on the Move: Spirit

God Shows No Partiality

Acts 10:44-48


Rev. Tim Callow


Preached Sun. May 9th, 2021

When I was in seminary I was involved with a hospitality house. The house was run by both current and former seminarians. The doors were open to absolutely everyone. That, of course, led to a real rag tag group of people across racial, class, and religious lines. And I don’t mean to paint too rosy a picture, there is of course always conflict in any such group of people. But any rag tag group of people that stays together for a halfway decent amount of time is a witness to the power of the Spirit and our hope in the Kingdom.

I remember one summer a group of us decided we wanted to a watering hole to go swimming. This is North Carolina, most of the lakes are manmade. What they call rivers I’d call a creek. But one of the nearby rivers settled briefly into a pond. The current was just strong enough to prevent any algae growth. And the water was deep enough to make swimming worth it. The trek was maybe ten or fifteen minutes down a wooded path, after maybe ten minutes on the road. As we were rounding up people one of the guys who came to our breakfasts agreed to go.

He was one of the scarier people I’ve met. Though he didn’t frighten me. He did not have a home, to my knowledge. He would disappear for months at a time, and I was led to believe he was probably in jail. There were stories about his anger issues, though I never saw it. More likely he skipped town. But he claimed to spend most of his time working out at a mixed martial arts gym, and certainly looked like it. But he was mostly a quiet guy. Which was really what made him seem so frightening. I was surprised he agreed to come with, especially since he was nursing an arm injury. I think he was surprised too. Because by the time we got to the watering hole he did not look very pleased. As we were swimming and jumping off limbs, he stood there rather awkwardly and silently. And when we were done he came home with us and we all had dinner.

The hospitality house led to all sorts of strange moments of joining like this. When people who otherwise would have never crossed paths, cooked and ate together, took trips together, hung out together. And that is, as we see in our New Testament reading, the gospel in action. If the gospel is on the move, we should expect to see strange encounters. We should anticipate peculiar joinings. The communion formed in the Spirit is not a communion of the same. But it is a communion of all sorts of people, the respectable and the odd, the insider and the outcast.

Perhaps I ought to flesh out the full account. We are told there was a centurion in Caesarea named Cornelius. He was what they called back in the day a God fearer. That is, he was a gentile who worshiped the God of Israel. He was known for his generosity to the synagogue in Caesarea and kept good relationships with the Jews. At about three in the afternoon he saw an angel in a vision. The angel told him to seek out Simon Peter, at the house of Simon the Tanner near the seacoast.

At noon the following day Peter had a vision as he went up on the roof to pray. He saw heaven opened up and something like a large linen sheet being lowered to the earth by its four corners. Inside the sheet were all kinds of animals, both clean and unclean. Peter heard a voice, “Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!” Peter refused, “I have never eaten anything pure or unclean!” Again, the voice said, “Never consider unclean what God has made pure.” This happened three times until the linen sheet was brought back up to heaven, and Peter pondered the meaning of the vision.

But as he was pondering the meaning of the vision the Holy Spirit told Peter to go downstairs because three people were looking for him, and that God had sent them. They were messengers sent by Cornelius arranging a visit. They arranged to meet the next day.

And then the unthinkable happened. In one house a faithful Jew met with an unclean Gentile. Cornelius explained his vision of the angel. And Peter preached the gospel. Indeed, he came to recognize, “God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” And as Peter preached the gospel the Spirit descended on Cornelius and his people. What could Peter do but baptize?

And then, the most remarkable thing, “they invited him to stay for several days.” They were joined in one communion. They stayed together. The Spirit made them one in Christ.

We must never forget that the gospel is for the Jews first, and then the gentiles. That salvation comes from the Jews. We come in from the outside. We are the outcast, the disreputable. But God’s love is such to draw us all in to his embrace. Even the unclean gentiles may receive the Spirit. Because God desires such a rag tag group of people as his witnesses.

White and black. Hispanic and asian. Rich and poor. Republican and Democrat. In our communion we witness to the power of the Gospel. The gospel that proclaims one Lord over all the earth who gave his life that we might have life. Who binds us together in his Spirit. Who seals us in one common baptism. The strangeness of our communion is just another way we witness to the world.

The Gospel on the Move: Strange Joining

The Gospel on the Move: Strange Joining

God Calls All

Acts 8:26-40
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. May 2nd, 2021

I’ve always had a certain ambivalence about planning. On the one hand, it’s crucial to plan ahead. If you don’t set goals and make plans you’re unlikely to accomplish what you need to accomplish. You’ll frustrate yourself, and you’ll frustrate others. And certainly as a pastor, as someone placed at the head, so to speak, of an organization I understand the need for planning. Yet on the other hand I can’t forget the words of Jesus, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Or the words of his brother James, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”

There is a balance we need to strike. Having a clear mission with clear goals, and the acknowledgment that we serve one Lord and, as the old saying goes, we make plans and God laughs.

Philip was a man consumed by his mission. I’m sure he made some plans, but we do not see him planning here. In our reading this morning he simply follows the Spirit. The Spirit sends him on the move, that he might preach the Gospel. The Spirit does not even clue him in to God’s plans. But first says, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” Philip drops everything he is doing, and heads out to the road not knowing what that might mean.

When he gets there he sees a large and elaborate chariot. He cannot know, but in the chariot is a eunuch from Ethiopia. As a eunuch he is something of a slave, tied to the court of the Candace of Ethiopia. He was a man of means, he ran the Treasury and had this chariot. But he was just coming from the Temple, where he had gone to pray. At this moment, the moment of God’s planning and not Philip’s, he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he was puzzled.

The Spirit again spoke to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip sprinted to the chariot. He heard the eunuch reading from Isaiah and asked, huffing and puffing, “Do you understand what you are reading?” “How can I,” the eunuch said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip into the chariot and let him sit next to him.

This whole scenario is God’s prevenient grace. Prevenient grace is that grace that comes before. The grace that comes before the gospel is preached, the grace that comes before forgiveness, the grace that comes before justification. Before that moment when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, Jesus is already working to make us his own. God gives up on no one. And God deeply desires the salvation of all. Even this eunuch from a far off land. It is because God was working in his life, before the Spirit sent Philip, that the eunuch took a trip to Jerusalem to begin with. And it was because God was working in his life that the eunuch had a scroll from Isaiah to read. And it is because God was working in his life that he cared deeply enough about the meaning of this scroll that when Philip asked “do you know what you are reading?” He said “how can I unless someone guides me?”

The Bible can be tough. Maybe one reason the bible is tough is so that we may be given guides, and God might bring us together that way. God brings Philip to the eunuch so that the Gospel might be preached to him. And God brings Philip to the eunuch so that he might know salvation that day.

The eunuch reads the scroll, “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” He asks, “who is this about? The author or someone else?” And so Philip explains what has happened. That the one led like a sheep to the slaughter is Jesus of Nazareth. That he did not open his mouth before his persecutors, but remained silent. That his life was taken from the earth. That he died for the sins of the world. “By his stripes we are healed.” But that is not the end of the story. But he also lives. And he reigns. And he calls all to himself to know his forgiveness and salvation.

Philip preaches, and the eunuch listens. Philip preaches, and the eunuch accepts. In joy the eunuch asks, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” Philip could think of nothing. So they stop. The eunuch is baptized. And the Spirit moves Philip on. The eunuch goes on his way rejoicing in the Spirit of God. Philip goes on his way to follow the Spirit where he leads. To continue to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

We are a Spirit led people. Philip ought to be a model for us. Our success relies not on our work, but on our faithfulness. The Spirit is always calling us out. Always beckoning us to be joined to others. Even people as strange and exotic as an Ethiopian eunuch. Because God is not content that his Gospel be kept under lock and key in certain buildings and only known by certain people. But his grace is over all his works, and he claims the whole world. He has called us to go out. To follow, as Philip did, his call. To share the love of Christ to all and sundry. Because God loves all. And wishes to unite all in Christ.

The Gospel on the Move: Follow

The Gospel on the Move: Follow

Follow the Spirit

Acts 4:5-12
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. April 25th, 2021

The first century was and anxious and demanding time for the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. Since Herod the Great died there hadn’t been a competent and clear sovereign in Roman Palestine. Pilate ran Jerusalem on behalf of Rome, Herod Antipas ruled the Galilee because he couldn’t be trusted with much else. Archileus and Philip ran their own territories. And the Temple was run through the Sanhedrin. 

The Temple was the crown of the Jewish world. Herod the Great had it refurbished at great expense in a forty-six year project. It was at the Temple that the Jewish nation raised up praise and sacrifice to God. It was the Temple that formed the linch-pin between Israel and God. The Temple that held the finances for redistribution and tribute. But the Temple could also be a site of great strains and division. Not all Jews accepted the Temple’s authority, and those who did tended to think it was a tragedy that Rome occupied Jerusalem. Riots were not uncommon. It was not long ago that Pilate slaughtered many Galileans and mixed their blood with their sacrifices as a warning to others. One of the reasons they had to kill this Jesus of Nazareth was to keep him from upsetting the fine political balance between the Romans and the occupied Jews. 

Two things were more important than all else. One was that the sacrifices continue. The other was that the nation be sustained. Caiaphus, Annas, and the rest did their best to achieve these two goals. But it was not always easy, and sometimes they had to make the hard decisions.

When you walk around in their shoes, a bit, you begin to understand why they couldn’t let the good deed of Peter, James, and John go unpunished. We are told that Peter, James, and John arrived at the Temple at three o’clock for prayer. There they found a crippled man at the Beautiful Gate whose friends would bring him there to beg for money. Peter told him they had no money to give, but they did have the name of Jesus by which all may be saved. And said, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, rise up and walk!” He lifted the man up, and he began to jump for joy.

But all that jumping for joy and praising God caused a ruckus. The people poured around Peter, James, and John and the formerly crippled man. This gave Peter an opportunity to preach the gospel, which he did with boldness. He let them know it was not by his own power that he healed this man, but only by the power of Jesus Christ “The one you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence.” He told them about Jesus’ resurrection, and called them all to repentance.

None of this could escape the notice of the guards, who seized them for causing a ruckus. That is where we are brought today. Peter, James, and John stand before the Sanhedrin once again preaching the gospel boldly. It is in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Peter tells his judges that it is by the name of Jesus Christ that the man was healed. The same Jesus they, the builders of Israel had rejected. The same Jesus God has raised, and made Lord, the chief cornerstone. And that it is in Jesus alone that salvation may be found.

The Chief Priests and the Apostles find themselves in very different situations. The Chief Priests feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. They are, as Peter says, the builders of Israel. They make order. They keep the peace. They keep Rome at bay. They make the sacrifice that sustains Israel. And because they are the builders, the keeper of order, they have to render judgments and make the tough decisions. But Peter, James, and John are not weighed down by the cares of the world. They have been taken from the world. They are witnesses to the one who sustains the world. They witness to the one who has already rendered judgment in his cross. They witness to the one who truly keeps order by the power of the Spirit.

The Chief Priests make order, but the Apostles are called to follow. The Gospel is on the move, but not because the Apostles decide where it should go. The Gospel is on the move because the Spirit is on the move. Because the name of Jesus is on the lips of people from every nation. The Gospel is on the move because Jesus has already claimed the world and calls us to preach in it. 

We as the Church often face the temptation to put ourselves in the role of the Chief Priests. We are those who render judgments, those who hold the weight of the world. We imagine it is up to us to keep the institution afloat, up to us to make the mission of God work out in the end. But we need to be like the apostles who know a man already died for the sins of the world and so we don’t have to. We need to be like the apostles who are free to follow Jesus where he leads. Who are free to listen to the promptings of the Spirit no matter how uncouth. John Wesley was a man well formed in the ritual and practices of the Church of England. But he was also a man deep in prayer. So when the opportunity came and the Spirit called him to preach not in a Church but in a field, not from a prepared script but extemporaneously, he “submitted to be more vile” and did it. And with decisions such as that, the willingness to follow the Spirit, a movement was started that reached out to millions of souls.

We put so many burdens on ourselves, we weigh ourselves down with worry and anxiety. But Jesus tells us that no one extended their life by worrying for tomorrow and God takes care of the sparrow and has richly garbed the lilies of the field. What more will he do for his Church? We are called to faithfulness and to boldness. We are called to be on the move. That is what matters.

The Gospel on the Move: Kingdom

The Gospel on the Move: Kingdom

We Do Not Build the Kingdom

Acts 3:12-19
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. April 18th, 2021

The Kingdom of God is not up to us. Sometimes we make it seem like it is. I have heard preachers and read books that make it sound as if the fate of the Kingdom of God rests in the hands of the Church. And while God is certainly very helpful, whatever the Kingdom is it is something very tangible. The Kingdom of God may be the vast number of souls that are saved through the work of the Church. The Kingdom of God may be a just social order brought about by the political interventions of Christians. The Kingdom is, in the end, something that we are called to build. People will say that: “build the kingdom.” And it really grates me.

It grates me because you will never find a single line of scripture that says we are called to build the Kingdom of God. But what are we told? We are told the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, that though it is the smallest of seeds yet it grows to one of the largest of trees. And when it is grown the birds find rest in its branches. What else? The Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man discovers the treasure, covers it up, and sells all he has to buy that field. What else? The Kingdom of God is like leaven in dough. What else? The Kingdom of God is among us. And what else? The Kingdom of God is something we are called to seek, and the rest will be added onto us. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus tells us, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not in any way, shape, or form, dependent on us. It is not ours to build. But the Kingdom of God is a matter of grace. The Kingdom is God’s gracious gift to us, that grows on its own, that may be discovered, and loved, and rejoiced over. We aren’t called to build it, we are called to find it and to celebrate it and to watch it grow.

The Apostles do not seek to build the Kingdom of God. How could they? They know very well that the Kingdom is something Jesus makes happen, not themselves. But they do seek to find it, and to celebrate it. This morning Peter is preaching to a crowd in the Temple. He and John arrived in the Temple at three in the afternoon to pray. At the gate was a man who had been lame from birth. His friends would set him in the gate to beg for alms. When he begged Peter and John for alms, Peter confessed that he did not have any money. But what he did have was the powerful name of Jesus, and in that name he healed the crippled man.

The man could not help but leap and jump for joy. Just imagine being able to jump for the first time! He praised God loudly and the crowds watched him in amazement, because they recognized him as the one who had begged in the gate. This gave Peter an opportunity to preach the Gospel.

“You Israelites,” he proclaimed, “why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” Peter is emphatic that the power to heal, the power to bring forgiveness, the power to save, is not a human power. Peter did not possess the ability to heal. But Christ chose to heal through his words. Peter does not possess the ability to save. But he has the words of salvation, because he is a witness to the risen Lord.

In this healing we have a sign of the Kingdom come. The lame walk. But it is not because Peter put his power or his piety to work. He is very quick to throw that suggestion aside. It’s the first thing he says! The Kingdom does not come by his power or worthiness. The Kingdom comes by the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who brings the Kingdom. It is for us to discover it.

It is also significant, I think, that Peter and John do not go out searching for people to heal. They’re not roaming the streets of Jerusalem looking for all the beggars. Instead they are given opportunity. They go to worship God, and there is a man who is in need. God is present. The Kingdom is among them. And at the invocation of Jesus there is healing. There was no plan. There was no grand program. There was the chance encounter. The moment of grace. The gratuitous gift. The beggar asked, and God more than he could have ever hoped.

When we mistake the Kingdom of God as something God charges us to build, then we hazard missing out on the grace God freely gives. The apostles aren’t Kingdom building, they’re Kingdom proclaiming and Kingdom discovering and Kingdom celebrating. And the Church’s mission needs to remain that way. We need to proclaim, discover, and celebrate the Kingdom. Because God freely gives to all who ask.

I’ve seen both styles firsthand. I was part of one ministry that called us to “evaluate needs” and let me tell you that is an awkward position to be in. That is a position of judgment. It creates distrust. But we need to evaluate need because our resources are limited, and we are called to be judicious in distributing them. And they are, in the end, our resources, and it is up to us to disperse them, and we hope that in meeting the evaluated needs the kingdom is being built. But I’ve also seen ministry that was based on not the assumption of need but simply on friendship and celebration. People from different walks of life simply joining together in their common love of Jesus. Welcoming others to celebrate with them. Joining in a common meal, helping out as their friends needed help. And I have to think the latter was a greater image of the Kingdom than the former.

It is not by Peter’s own power that the lame man walks. It is by the power of God. He does not possess the ability to build much of anything. But he can witness to the gracious love of God, the God mighty to save, whose good pleasure it is to give us the Kingdom.