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Never Church As Usual! |
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Is your life messy? This is the sermon outline from 'Messy Spirituality' On this “Bring-a-Friend” Sunday, I want to talk a moment directly to you first-time guests and relative newcomers I think it’s only fair that I tell you about this congregation: some of the people who worship here have or had struggles with various addictions a few have experienced physical abuse at the hands of a spouse or parent one was stabbed by a roommate a large percentage is on medication for things such as depression, bi-polar disorder, ADD, ADHD, OCD, Asberger’s, or autism the rest just have ordinary neuroses then there’s all the relationship issues – shaky or strained marriages, divorces, kids who have problems with parents, parents who have kids with behavioral problems, kids with self-destructive lifestyles, kids who don’t want to have anything to do with them or kids who will do everything they can to undermine them we’ve got people stuck in lousy jobs or lousy-paying jobs, or jobs they can hardly stand, or jobs with bosses who are out to eliminate them, or jobs that demand too high a personal price we’ve got people in or on the verge of bankruptcy and people with health needs who are without health care and lots of people whose cars die on them right on the highway and even though they’re church people, Celebration people sometimes hold grudges or fail to follow through on commitments or whack their kid in the parking lot 5 minutes after church is over many of them seldom read the Bible quite a few are plagued with doubts or questions about Christianity most wish they could do better but still have trouble living out their faith in everyday life I gotta tell ya: this bunch here is far from holy, far from perfect, sometimes far from Jesus
it’s also only fair that I tell you about me: despite appearances, I am overweight, gray, and not likely to make People Magazine’s list of the Sexiest Men Alive I must use bi-focals to see far and near, a breathing machine at night to counteract sleep apnea, medication to control high cholesterol, and medication to alleviate depression – which I’ve struggled with most of my life I have a strong streak of procrastination, complicated by a drive for perfectionism, accompanied by bouts of low productivity
and I’ll still all too easily call you all kinds of colorful and awful names if your driving interferes with mine even though I’m a pastor, I don’t have a deep or consistent prayer life, don’t have ready answers to some of the thorny issues of theology and to top it all off, many of the jokes I tell here apparently aren’t funny – but I’m not going to let that stop me from telling one right now…
Howie and Harry are talking at lunch Harry says: “My wife and I got into a big argument last night. But it ended when she came crawling to me on her hands and knees.” “Yeah?” Howie asks, “what’d she say?” Harry answers: “She said ‘Come out from under that bed, you big coward’” last Sunday we finished up an 8-week sermon series about love, marriage, and sex from a biblical perspective, and I still have some marriage jokes that series is available individually on CD and in a single disk MP3 complete version there’s also a book list and display in the lobby that can point you to helpful resources now, back to today’s message…
here at Celebration Church, we’re a MESS – sometimes we mess up and make a mess of our lives sometimes circumstances mess with us and land us in a mess either way, we can be quite needy or dysfunctional or grumpy or… well… unspiritual who we are and who God calls us to be are still pretty far apart we want to follow Jesus, but often the best we can do is a stumbling, bumbling, stop-and- start meandering in other words, we’re real human beings maybe you are, too maybe you’re a mess, too maybe at times life doesn’t go the way you’d hoped or you didn’t do what you knew was the right thing to do or someone created problems for you or you created problems for yourself and others but maybe you’re trying to find a little peace or meaning in it all maybe you’re trying to find God – even though you’re not sure God’s even there or would want to be found by you is there a spirituality for you… for me… for the kind of folks Celebration Church mostly is? – a spirituality for those of us who don’t pray all day long or read their Bibles constantly, who get angry or rattled, who don’t possess mystical powers and don’t have an inside track to God? is there a way of seeking and knowing God for those of us who are messed up, messed over, messy, and/or in a mess? – who don’t have it all together and probably never will?
the answer is yes! and the answer is yes because we have some surprising company in our messiness
JESUS began human life in a mess – his first crib was an animal feeding trough in a dirty sheep shed Jesus’ family tree was a mess it included a con-artist, a whorehouse madam, a foreigner, an adulterer, and folks who ignored God more than they paid attention to God Jesus hung out with people who were a mess lepers had a skin disease that looked awful and often resulted in the loss of fingers, toes, ears, and noses everybody else shunned these people Jesus went to them, touched them, and healed them there was a Samaritan woman that Jesus engaged in conversation by a well her life had been a series of broken relationships and poor choices Jesus didn’t judge her or shame her, but he did enable her to approach life from a whole new perspective Jesus took a trip across a lake and when he got off the boat, he was greeted by a guy who was a real mess – this guy howled and cut himself and ran around naked and lived in a cemetery and couldn’t be captured and was possessed by multiple demons Jesus made him well there were people like Levi, a tax collector – hated not only because he was crooked but because he worked for the enemy Jesus invited Levi to join up with him Levi did and then invited Jesus to a party at his house the religious authorities didn’t like that But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think they are already good enough.” (Luke 5:30-32 New Living Translation) Jesus wanted to be with people who were messed up so they would know that God cared and that God could make a difference in their lives and then there were the disciples – Jesus’ core group of followers these guys were definitely a mess they were constantly jockeying for position, impulsive, selfish, lazy, disbelieving, and disloyal most of the time they were too dense to get what Jesus was up to, and when Jesus died they had no clue what to do next Jesus also ended human life in a mess -- as a bloody, beat-up mess of a man executed as a criminal by being nailed up on a cross near the garbage heap outside of town Jesus’ followers have often been a mess one look at the biblical letter called First Corinthians and it’s clear that the Christian life doesn’t take place in the rarefied air of perfection it was written to help the congregation in Corinth deal with some of its messes: doctrinal infighting, an incestuous affair, vicious lawsuits, idol worship, divorce and separation, over inflated egos, going to prostitutes, and getting drunk at communion
now, don’t get me wrong here – none of this is meant to glorify our messes or to suggest that Jesus is happy with the messiness of life no, the point here is that the spiritual life begins where we are now in the mess of our lives the Bible presents a glorious story of a very messy faith MESSINESS is the workshop of real spirituality it’s the place where the real Jesus meets the real us let’s look at some key aspects of this by way of what spirituality – following Jesus – is not:
1. Following Jesus is not NEAT AND ORDERLY it does not track a smooth, steady, constantly improving progression it is not nicely packaged or predictable – far from it it is topsy-turvy, up-and-down journey of fits and starts – the disorderly, sloppy, chaotic look of authentic faith in the real world
2. Following Jesus is not about BEING FINISHED spiritual people admit that they are incomplete, imperfect, in process we are under construction, works in progress messy spirituality not only reminds us that we are faced with a more-than-a-lifetime finishing process – it also reminds us that the unfinished life is a lot more spiritual than we imagined this isn’t about arriving – it’s about trusting God along the way
3. Following Jesus is not about COMPETENCE messy spirituality affirms our spiritual clumsiness it’s the recognition that I don’t know how to pray well, that none of us are expert at living out our commitments to Christ so many people are afraid of embracing the spiritual life because of the possibility of saying something dumb or doing something wrong but that’s not the way Jesus operated Jesus cares more about desire than performance I love the prayer of a boy named Frank recorded in Children’s Letters to God: Dear God, I’m doing the best I can.
4. Following Jesus is not a CALM PLEASANTRY it is not merely a nice diversion or a positive influence no, this kind of messy spirituality is more about desperation the gospels are filled with desperate people – people who barged into private dinners to see Jesus, who shouted at him until they had his attention, who tore up the roof of someone’s house to get to him people who are desperate for real life seldom worry about the mess they make on their way to be with Jesus
how do you get in on this messy but magnificent spirituality? how do you access real life with Jesus? 2 action steps – for both newcomers to Jesus and those who’ve been with Him a while (because we are always a work in progress!)
A. ADMIT your mess – come as you are pastor, writer, and youth ministry guru Mike Yaconelli – whose book, Messy Spirituality, is the inspiration for this message – tells about a time when he was lucky enough to have a housekeeper who would come in once a week to dust, vacuum, mop, etc. he writes: “I dreaded the day she came, because my wife and I would spend all morning cleaning the house for the housekeeper! We didn’t want the house to be dirty, or what would the housekeeper think?” he goes on to point out that we act the same way with God we talk ourselves out of the spiritual life by refusing to come to God as we are we decide that the way we lived yesterday, last week, or last year makes us “damaged goods” and that until we start living “right,” we’re not “God material” some actually decide that until we clean up our mess, Jesus won’t have anything to do with us but that’s not the way Jesus works he wants us to come to Him now – as we are he wants us to bring our messes to Him and lay them at His feet you don’t have to be fixed first for God to love you in fact, God’s the only One who can fully fix you anyway so… B. START -- even if you’re not much good at it those of us who want to move on from our past, those who have come to the end of the road, can start with our unchanged life we don’t have to wait until we are “mature” we don’t have to move to a new town or take a special course simply start take the first – or the next – stumbling, bumbling, teetering steps along the path to life with Jesus just do it – even if you’re not very good at it it’s OK it’ll be enough God’ll make it be enough for now
OK, I’ve talked about the messes of our lives now I’d like to make one
[MAKE MESS ON TARP WITH EGGS, FLOUR, MILK, SUGAR]
Jesus understands the mess of human life. Jesus knows the messes of your life, and He isn’t repelled by them. Jesus meets you in the messiness. Jesus offers hope, peace, love, and joy even in the midst of the mess. Jesus can transform your mess through His message of Good News. with the warmth his unconditional love, he will transform that mess into something beautiful… or useful… or delicious
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death [those are some major messes]? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39 New Living Translation)
and that, my messy friends, is absolutely Good News, indeed… Amen. This page was last updated on 01/25/2009.
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