Spiritual Disciplines ~ Celebration

The Easter story begins where the Good Friday’s story ends, Jesus has been crucified and his body was taken from the cross and laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. While Joseph was the one who rolled the stone in front of the tomb, it was Pilate who issued the order for the tomb to be made secure and so guards were posted and the tomb was sealed so that no one could tamper with or roll the stone away. It’s as final as it can be. Jesus is dead and with his death comes an end to his vision for how people’s lives could be filled with the presence and the power and the love of God. When the women went to the tomb that morning they didn’t go with any hope of seeing Jesus alive. They didn’t even expect to enter the tomb and see the body of Jesus because they had no hope that the stone would be or even could be rolled away. The death of Jesus was final and as the first day of the week dawns there is nothing that was going to change that, there was no hope and in so many ways there was now no life. Sin and failure and death were final and all that was left for the followers of Jesus was to go and look at the symbol of that finality – a sealed tomb.


I have to say that sometimes I think this is how we live our lives. We want to experience the love and joy and peace of God, and we want to experience the fullness of life and the power of God working in our lives but often all we seem to experience are sealed tombs. Our lives are littered with broken dreams and unmet expectation. Our failures and pain and sin all seem so final, so for many of us when we get up in the morning all we expect to find is another tomb – another dead end – another problem that seems to have no answer and as the problems keep piling up life begins to feel futile. I think this is how the women felt as they made their way to the tomb, but the futility and finality of a sealed tomb is not what they found. As they made their way to the garden where Jesus had been buried there was an earthquake and when they arrive at the grave they don’t see the giant rock sealing the tomb because that rock had been rolled away and an angel of the Lord was sitting on top of that rock and he told them that not only was the tomb empty, but Jesus was alive. With an open tomb and an empty grave and a risen savior - everything changes.

Think about what all of this meant for these women. On a very personal level it meant that their relationship with Jesus could continue. If Jesus was alive then they would get to see him and hear him and hold on to him again – a relationship that just moments before seemed forever finished could now be restored. The same was true for Peter and the rest of the disciples, an open grave and a risen Jesus meant that the door was open for them to experience forgiveness and a new life. Remember that just a few days earlier Peter had promised to follow Jesus to the end – but then he failed, he denied that he even knew Jesus. All the disciples failed to stay awake with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and they failed to stand by him in his time of need and they failed to walk with him as he carried a cross. They all failed and when Jesus died they assumed that their sin was final and that the end of their relationship with Jesus would forever be marked with failure. When Jesus was laid in the tomb there was no opportunity for forgiveness, but if Jesus were alive then they could seek forgiveness and they could receive his mercy and love. With an open tomb and an empty grave and a risen Jesus there is the potential for forgiveness and the possibility of a new life with Jesus.

The open tomb and empty grave and risen savior changed everything for the disciples and it changes everything for us today. The resurrection of Jesus doesn’t just mean that there is life after death, the resurrection doesn’t just open the door to heaven (which is does – thanks be to God) but it also opens the door to a new – full and abundant life here and now. The resurrection of Jesus tells us that the power of God’s love can fill us today and everyday if we will let it, and if all of this is true – if the tomb is open and the grave is empty and Jesus is alive and if we can experience the love and grace and power of this risen savior in our lives everyday then of all the people in the world we should be people of great joy. If the resurrection of Jesus brings the power and the love of God to our hearts and lives then of all the people in the world we should be known as people who know how to celebrate.

So let me ask you, is that how we are known? When people think about the church today or when they look at our lives as followers of Jesus is the word celebration or joy the first word that comes to their mind? I’m not sure many people look at the church today and say to themselves, wow, those people sure do know how to party, and honestly, we need to do something about that. We need to learn how to truly celebrate Jesus because it is that celebration of Jesus that changed the disciples’ lives and it was celebration that changed the world. Let me say that again… it is the celebration of Jesus that changed the disciples’ lives and it was that celebration which changed the world.

Think about it – the power that changed the world wasn’t knowledge or intellect, it wasn’t great reasoning or the power of persuasion, it wasn’t even brute force and physical strength – the power that changed the worlds was joy. Celebrating Jesus and his resurrection is what changed the lives of the disciples and it was the changed lives of the disciples that changed our world so celebrating Jesus and his resurrection is what has made the greatest impact on our world and I believe this is still true. If we want to experience a profound change in our own lives and know more of the fullness of God’s love and grace and peace then we need to learn how to celebrate Jesus, and if we want to change the world around us and make it a better place, a place where God’s grace is experienced by others and where God’s kingdom and justice and love shape all of life then maybe we need to stop trying to teach people about Jesus and learn how to throw a party. It is celebration that changes people and it is joy that changes our world so let’s learn from this resurrection story what it means to truly celebrate.

Celebration that changes us and the world around us doesn’t come when we simply smile and pretend that things are going well, and true celebration doesn’t come when our emotions are whipped up into a frenzy at a pep-rally. True celebration comes from obedience to God, that’s what we see in the resurrection story When the women go to the tomb that morning there is no celebration, in fact they have absolutely no joy. Even after the earthquake opens up the grave and the women see that the stone has been rolled away they still aren’t celebrating, now they are just filled with fear, so what is it that brings them joy? Look at Matthew 28:6b-8.

Joy doesn’t come until after the women leave the tomb – which means that they firstentered the tomb – which means that they were obedient to the direction given to them by the angel. The women went in to the tomb to see the place where Jesus had been laid after he died and they saw for themselves that Jesus wasn’t there. The joy comes when the women obey the instruction of the angel to come and see. Celebration comes through obedience. We see the joy of the women increase as they continue to follow the word of God by going and telling Jesus’ disciples what they had seen. It says that as they were going they were filled with great joy and then it is as they are going, it is as they are being obedient to God that they finally encounter the risen Jesus and can really celebrate. So the key to experiencing the kind of celebration that will change our hearts and lives comes when like these women we are faithful and obedient to God. In his book the Celebration of Disciple, Richard Foster says, in our spiritual life only one thing will produce genuine joy and that is obedience. To experience genuine celebration, obedience must work itself into the ordinary fabric of our daily lives.

While joy comes when we are faithful to God in all kinds of ways, real celebration comes when we are obedient to the resurrection day command of the angel to come and see. While the women were invited to come into the tomb and see the place where the body of Jesus was to suppose to be, we are being invited to come close to God and see that we are loved and forgiven. Today we are being invited to come to God and not just see but grab hold of his love for us and when we do this, it fills us with joy. When we come to God and experience his presence and power and love then we will be able to do nothing but celebrate.

The invitation of the angel is still being offered. God is calling all of us to come to him and experience his love and it doesn’t matter who we are, or where we’ve been in life, and it doesn’t matter what we have done or what doubts and fears and sin we still struggle with, all of us are being invited to come close to God and see, or experience, his love and grace and if we will come to Jesus and accept the forgiveness he offers, then our lives will change and we will begin to celebrate the fullness of our faith and life and love.

So celebration begins when we are faithful and obedient and come to God and see his love for us, but celebration and joy continues as we are obedient to the second resurrection day commands to go and tell others about God’s love and grace and power. In the resurrection story from Matthew the command to go and tell isn’t given once but twice. The women are told by the angel to go & tell Jesus disciples that he is going ahead of them - Matthew 28:7

Then Jesus tells the women again to go & tell his brothers that they are to go to Galilee - Matthew 28:10

What I like about these commands to go and tell is that Jesus isn’t sending the women to the ends of the earth or even to go to strangers with this good news, God is simply sending them home. God sends them back to their brothers and sisters, their families and friends and their hometown. What God is saying here is that celebration needs to be shared first and foremost in our homes, with our family and friends and our own community. Are we willing to celebrate life and faith and love with those closest to us? It sounds so easy and wonderful but I’m not sure celebrating comes naturally for many of us and with all the problems we see around us celebration can be hard so we may have to work at it, we may have to actually practice celebrating. I want to encourage you this week to set aside some time to celebrate with your family. Set aside a night to eat together, play games together, watch a movie together, go to the park together – do something together this week to simply celebrate the gift of family and friends and then make this an ongoing discipline. Every week find time to celebrate together as a family or with your spouse or with some friends.

After we get good at celebrating with our family and friends we need to extend that celebration to others. This is how we most effectively share the love of God and change the world, by learning how to truly celebrate with others. This summer we are planning on hosting a party for our new neighbors at the Beaver Townhouses where we can simply share the love of Jesus, and every summer we try to celebrate Jesus with children through our VBS. Our goal at VBS isn’t to tell children about Jesus as much as it is to celebrate Jesus and have some fun through the week trusting that through the fun and through our celebration - children will experience the power of God and the love of Jesus.

If you haven’t found it in the bulletin yet, there are some next steps that we can take with us to help apply this discipline of celebration to our lives. We can learn how to celebrate by looking at the beauty of God’s creation and loving those God has placed in our lives and spend some time every day laughing at ourselves. With all the problems we experience in our lives and in our world we are going to have to practice celebrating life and faith but once this celebration becomes natural for us, our lives will be changed and then through us the world will begin to change.

So I invite you today to celebrate Jesus. If all you can see in your life is a sealed tomb, if all you can see is a dead end and the hopelessness and despair that broken dreams have caused then take a step of faith and come to the risen Jesus and see his power and the love he has just for you. And then if you really want to experience the joy of Jesus, go out today and celebrate life and love and faith and family and friends.

Celebrate the risen Jesus today, accept God’s invitation to come and see and then let us together follow the instruction of Jesus to go and tell others about God’s amazing love and as we do may the joy of the Lord to be our strength and may the celebration of God’s people change our world.

Spiritual Disciplines ~ Guidance

As we remember Jesus tonight and as we reflect on his sacrifice for us and his love for us, I want to pause here in the garden so that we can learn about the spiritual discipline of guidance. How does God guide us in life? How do we know which direction to go or what decisions to make? Many of us want to follow God’s will but knowing just what that will is – is not easy. In the OT God guided his people with a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night – they could actually see the presence of God going before them so they knew which direction to go, but we don’t have clouds or fires showing us the way, so how does God guide us? To answer that let’s look at how God guided Jesus.


Of all the stories we could turn to in the gospels to learn from Jesus about guidance, this story of Jesus in the garden just might be the best because what we find here is Jesus seeking the guidance of God. While Jesus had been clear all along that he was going to have to take up a cross and died on a cross, as that moment drew near – Jesus began to have some doubts or fears. It says he was overwhelmed with sorrow – even to the point of death and that he fell to the ground. Jesus knew all that he was going to be facing in the cross and I believe it was the human side of Jesus that began to question if this really was the will of God. Had Jesus heard God right - was the road to Calvary the road God wanted him to walk or was there some other way, some other road? When Jesus prays, Take this cup from me, yet not what I want but what you want – I believe Jesus is looking for the guidance and direction of God. Jesus is asking, is this the way God, or is there – can there be – another? For me this moment in the garden is a moment of Jesus looking for guidance and direction and so from this scene we can learn something about how God guides and directs us in life.

When it comes to guidance, maybe the most important thing to remember about this story is that Jesus is not alone. Jesus takes all of his disciples with him to the garden – they go together. Jesus didn’t have to take them along – they were sleepy and tired and they were all going to fall asleep anyway so Jesus could have left them home and gone off by himself like he had done so many times before, but he didn’t and that simple choice says something to us, it says that when we face decisions and as we are looking for direction – we are not alone.

Faith was never meant to be a solitary journey, it’s never just Jesus and me, God places us in a community and that community is there to help us when we direction and guidance. As part of the body of Christ we have people who can and will pray with us, people who can support us and people who can listen to us and share their wisdom and insight with us if we will ask. God uses his people in our lives to guide us so we can’t be afraid to ask for direction. Just as Jesus invited his disciples to go to the garden with him, we need to invite people to walk with us and share our struggles and our joys with us and to help us with the decisions that we face.

So Jesus invited the disciples to go with him to the garden, but honestly, they weren’t much help because they all fell asleep. The disciples didn’t encourage Jesus and they didn’t support him when he made his decision and they didn’t pray with him, so what help were they? Why did Jesus take them with him? I wonder if Jesus wanted them close by because he just needed to see them. Think about the decision that Jesus is facing here, he was going to be taking up a cross on which he would be crucified – killed in one of the most painful ways possible – not because he had done anything wrong but because it was the way God was going to save the world. The cross was the way Jesus disciples were going to be forgiven and redeemed so maybe Jesus just needed to see them. Maybe Jesus needed to see them sleeping there as a reminder of how much they needed him.

In his book And the Angels were silent Max Lucado talks about this time of prayer by Jesus and he says, As Jesus stepped into the garden, you were in his prayers. As Jesus looked into heaven, you were in his vision. As Jesus dreamed of the day when we will be where he is, he saw you there. His final prayer was about you. His final pain was for you. His final passion was you.

Jesus saw you. Right there in the middle of a world which isn’t fair he saw you. He saw you cast into a river of life you didn’t request. He saw you betrayed by those you love. He saw you with a body which gets sick & a heart which grows weak. He saw you in your own garden of trees & sleeping friends. He saw you staring into the pit of your failures & the mouth of your own grave. He saw you in your Garden of Gethsemane & he didn’t you to be alone.



I wonder if Jesus took his disciples with him into the garden not because they would give him great insight into what he needed to do but because he needed to see them. I wonder if it was the vision of the disciples sleeping, seeing their lack of faith and strength and their need for God grace and love which reminded Jesus just why he needed to not let this cup pass from him.

There are times when we need to look at the world around us as we make decisions for our lives. When we make decisions about how to spend our money, what do with our time and resources and how to spend our lives we need to look around and allow our vision of others to shape us. Seeing people hungry and in need needs to shape our decisions. Seeing people hurting and struggling in relationships needs to guide us in our own relationships. The larger community in which God places us can be used by God to guide us if, like Jesus, we will open our eyes and our hearts to that community. Jesus saw his friends in need and that helped him make the decision he did. God places us in community and in all kinds of ways God uses that community to guide us.

Now guidance doesn’t just come from the larger community around us, it also comes from smaller groups where we can share with one another on a deeper level. Notice that while Jesus takes all the disciples into the garden, he takes Peter, James and John and goes deeper. They not only went deeper into the garden, Jesus took them deeper into his heart. Jesus shared more with them than he did with others and what we learn from this is that God’s guidance also comes when we gather around us a close circle of trusted friends. Even though people may fail us – as the disciples failed Jesus – there is still value in having that circle of friends that will go deeper with us in life and faith.

Now while God gives us the larger community and small groups to help guide us in life – ultimately the direction and guidance we need comes from God. While Jesus took the disciples into the garden and went deeper with Peter, James and John - Jesus never asked them what he should do – that question was saved for God alone. If we want God to guide us then we need to ask God to guide us and then we need to trust that God will give us direction. The Bible is clear that God will guide us when we ask him to:

Psalm 25:8-9 - Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinner in His ways; He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

Proverbs 3:6 - In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will guide you always”

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Jesus shows us that when we ask God for guidance – God will guide, so let’s look at how we should ask. There are 2 specific elements of Jesus prayer that we need to consider. The first is that Jesus is honest with God. In this moment when the reality of the cross with all its physical pain and suffering is closing in on Jesus, the truth is that he doesn’t want to carry the cross. Jesus doesn’t want to die and so he tells God exactly that. When we are looking for God’s guidance in our lives we need to start by just being honest with God. One of the things that being honest does is put into words where we are in our life and in our faith. I wonder if Jesus’ time of prayer went something like this, Father, since everything is possible with you, take this cup from me because I don’t want to die. And then I wonder if there was some silence as Jesus thought about that statement. It was honest and truthful but now Jesus had to wrestle with his own heart. I wonder if Jesus thought about that statement, I don’t want to die, and then started to think about what was going to be good for his friends and I wonder if started thinking about what God wanted. We need to be honest with God about where we are and putting that into words can help us see where it is that we want to go. Obviously Jesus got to a place where he finally said, Yet not what I will, but what you will - it’s not about what I want God, it’s about what you God want and what is good for others.

The second thing to notice about asking God for guidance is that we need to get to that place were we can finally and fully say, God while we may want this, what we ultimately want is you and your will because we know that your will is the best. Standing in the center of God’s will is not an easy place to stand which is one reason why we need the help and support from others, but if we stand there long enough and if we stand there in every decision we make – we will eventually see that God’s will is the best for us and so we will embrace that will and follow that direction when it comes.

As we use this scene in the garden to learn about guidance it is also important to remember that this was not a unique experience for Jesus, this was the pattern and rhythm of his life. If we only come to God in moments of crisis or when we have big decisions to make it will be difficult to hear God give us direction – but if this is how we live our lives every day then we will find God guiding us every day. That’s why this is a discipline – it takes work to keep our eyes on the larger community and find God’s wisdom in small groups and be honest with God in prayer and learn to trust God’s answers when they come. It’s not easy and it takes discipline and hard work but if this is the way we live our lives – God will guide us. So let’s learn from Jesus in the garden how to experience the guiding hand of God and then once we feel it, once we get God’s direction, like Jesus, let’s then get up and go with confidence where ever God leads.

Spiritual Disciplines ~ Worship

I have often wondered how these crowds who waved palm branches and shouted Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord as Jesus entered Jerusalem could have been the same ones who just a few days later cried out to Pilate, crucify him, crucify him. Now the reality is that they may not have been the same crowds. The city of Jerusalem was filled with all kinds of people who had gathered for the yearly celebration of the Passover so the crowds who paraded into the city with Jesus could have been a completely different group of people from those that were stirred up on Friday to call for his death, but even if that’s true, even if the crowds were different, where were these people who worshipped Jesus when he was being tried? Where were these Palm Sunday crowds when Jesus was being beaten in the public square? Where were they when Jesus was forced to carry a cross? Why were they not speaking up for Jesus when he needed them the most? Why had their worship of Jesus on Sunday not sustained them for the events and the choices they faced later during the week?


Since we don’t have clear answers for those questions, let me ask another one. Does our worship of Jesus on Sunday strengthen us, empower us, and direct us for the trials and the choices that we face on Friday? Or on Tuesday, Monday, Saturday or any day of the week? Does our worship of Jesus change us? Does it fill us with power and courage, grace and love? Does our worship of God give direction to our lives so that we look more and more like Jesus? All through this Lenten season we have been talking about how spiritual disciplines are tools that we can use to strengthen our faith so that our lives look more like the life of Christ. Study, solitude, simplicity, submission and service are all tools that we can use to give direction and shape to our lives so that we reflect Jesus to the world, and worship is also one of those tools. Worship is a spiritual discipline that can change our lives and strengthen our faith.

But what exactly is worship? Is worship just singing, praying, preaching and the reading of God’s word? Is worship just the combination of what we do on Sunday morning, or is worship something more, something deeper? In his book Celebration of Discipline Richard Foster gives a great definition of worship, he says worship is to know and feel and to experience the living God in the midst of the gathered community. He goes on to say that worship is not our entering into the presence of God as much as it is the presence of God entering into us. So as we gather in the presence of God what happens is that God’s presence and his power enters into us and it is that divine presence that changes us. What we do in worship doesn’t change us it is the presence and power of God that changes us – it is always the presence and power of God that has changed his people.

In Exodus 34 when Moses came down off of Mt. Sinai after meeting with God it says that his face was radiant – physically I think it actually glowed because the people backed away in fear, they hadn’t seen anything like that before, and then every time Moses met with God in the tabernacle it says that his face would become radiant. Being in the presence of God changed Moses, but it didn’t just change the way he looked, it changed Moses on the inside as well. Meeting with God gave Moses courage and hope as he led the people of Israel through the wilderness, over time the presence of God changed Moses and it can change us as well, our face may not physically radiate out light, but our lives will change so that we will radiate out the love and grace and power of God. Worship needs to change us from the inside out and it needs to change our thoughts and words and actions and it can if the object of our worship is Jesus and if we truly open our lives up to his presence.

As we look at worship as a spiritual discipline, let’s go back to that Palm Sunday story and learn some fundamental truths about worship. The first thing we see in this story is that Jesus is the one who has set up this whole event. Jesus told his disciples where to go to find the donkey and he was the one who told them to bring the donkey to him, so Jesus obviously had a plan for that donkey. Jesus chose the day, the mode of transportation and the route for the parade and so if we look at this parade as an act of worship or a worship service we see that it is Jesus who initiates the whole thing. Can I let you on a little secret? It is always God who initiates the worship experience. We might think that we start the worship process by gathering together or by choosing to worship God, but if God had not first called us into his presence, we would not be here. If God had not opened the door for us to enter into his presence we would not be in his presence. Worship is always by the invitation of God and the good news is that God is always inviting.

Look at Revelation 3:20.

So it is Jesus who comes to us. Where ever we are in our lives or in our faith today, Jesus comes to us and he stands at the door and knocks with the hope and the desire that we will respond. Jesus is the one who invites us to meet with him and to eat with him. So God initiates worship and invites us into his presence and the reason God does this is because he wants to share his love with us – I think we see this in the Palm Sunday story as well. Jesus was the son of God and he could have chosen a powerful majestic horse to ride into the city to proclaim victory, but he didn’t, he chose a donkey. Jesus chose to come in humility to make himself available to us. When we gather in worship we don’t have to come and gravel before God, we aren’t like Dorothy and the scarecrow coming before the great and powerful Oz with our knees trembling and our hearts failing us, we enter into the presence of God with boldness and confidence because God loves us and because God is inviting us to be here. Listen to this from Hebrews 4:16 and 10:19

So we see from the Palm Sunday story that God initiates worship by making himself available to us, but it also makes clear that Jesus needs to be the object of our worship. They only one they are worshipping that day is Jesus, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We need to worship God and God alone. The first 2 commandments say this: you shall have no other god before me and you shall not bow down to or worship any idol or the form of anything in heaven or on earth. Since Jesus is not just the son of God but God in the flesh - we are to worship Jesus alone. Philippians 2:10 says that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, so we worship Jesus Christ alone which means that we place nothing in our lives before our commitment to Him. Now those are easy words to say, but much harder to live. The kind of worship we are talking about here calls for complete surrender to God, which is why submission is a spiritual discipline that we need to work on day after day after day. There is no worship, no true worship without our submission and the one we submit our lives to is Jesus Christ.

So God initiates worship and Jesus is the object of our worship, but if worship is going to change us we have to be open to the presence of God and we have to allow God’s presence and power to enter into us. Did we think about that as we gathered together for worship this morning? Did we come here anticipating God speaking to us? Did we come looking for God to change us? It’s not enough to gather together and say and do all the right things, it’s not enough to come together and go through the motions, if worship is going to change us and shape us into the image of Jesus we have to allow the presence of God to enter into our hearts and lives.

Let’s go back to those Palm Sunday crowds for a moment, they said all the right things (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord) and they did all the right things (they took of their coats and laid them and palm branches on the ground in front of Jesus), but their lives weren’t changed and we know that because five days later they had abandoned Jesus and left him alone to die.

Just think about the disciples for a moment, they were all there that day. They marched into the city with Jesus and they saw him riding on a donkey – coming in humility, and yet their hearts and lives weren’t changed because while they watched their leader showing the power of humility, all that filled their hearts and minds were hopes of status and power and position. While Jesus was showing them the way of humility and sacrifice they were talking about who would sit at Jesus’ right and left hand in his kingdom. So while they were all saying and doing the right things they had not opened up their hearts and lives to allow the presence of God to enter in and change them.

So let me ask us the uncomfortable question, did we come here this morning with a heart and life open to the presence and power of Jesus? Did we gather today expecting and wanting the presence of God to enter into our hearts and to begin a process of changing us? Worship will only change us if we want our worship to change us. Worship is only a spiritual discipline if we open ourselves up to the presence of God which is right here – right now. Like the Palm Sunday crowds, we can go through the motions and sing, pray, listen and give but if we don’t open ourselves up to the presence of God and if we don’t eagerly expect and desire to be changed – we will not be changed.

Jesus is right here today, he’s not riding on a donkey, but he does stand at the door of our hearts and knocks and if we will open the door, if we will allow him in – Jesus will come and eat with us – he will feed us and strengthen us and bring us the power we need for all of life. Jesus is here today but he will not force himself upon us. God’s love gives us so much that he gives us the freedom to choose and so the choice is ours, are we willing to open ourselves up to presence and the love of Jesus. That has been the choice given to everyone since this Palm Sunday parade. The choice to follow to Jesus, to really follow – not just in words but with our lives fully surrendered to God, that choice is ours. Will we worship Jesus Christ the one who comes in the name of the Lord?

I hope you will make that choice today and I hope you will make that choice often during this coming week. We have some wonderful opportunities to worship this week and I hope you will take advantage of them. Tonight there is the Easter Cantata where we can gather and ask God to speak to us through song and word and times of reflection. There is last Lenten breakfast on Wed. at 7am at Trinity UMC, there is the Maundy Thursday service with communion and 2 Good Friday services and an Easter Sunrise service and then the celebration of the resurrection next Sunday. So many moments where we can gather in eager expectation that God will not just meet with us, but that God’s presence and power will enter into us and change us. So come let us worship – let us worship Jesus Christ, the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

Spiritual Disciplines ~ Submission

Today we are going to look at the spiritual discipline of submission and when many of you saw that this morning you may have just wanted to leave because even the word submission makes you feel uncomfortable. Or maybe the word and the images of submission bring back horrible memories or experiences for you, if that is the case then let me be clear from the very beginning that when we talk about submission today we are not talking about submitting ourselves in situations or to people where we are going to be abused, taken advantage of or beaten down. In fact, if you are in a situation today that is like that I urge you to get some help to change that situation. In the world around us, submission is often seen a bad thing because it reflects an abuse of power and position that only seems to put people into bondage. From marriage, to families, to employment and community relationships at large and yes even in the church when submission is misused it creates brokenness and pain and if that has been your experience or if that is where you are today, you may just wanted to run, but I would ask you to not run this morning and I would ask all of us to open our hearts and minds and our lives to a new way of looking at relationships and submission, because when we talk about submission the way God intends it to be lived, when we talk about it through the perspective of our faith and according to the values of God’s kingdom, submission can lead to freedom and stronger and healthier relationships and even to life. I think we see this in a teaching that is often misunderstood and definitely misused from the book of Ephesians.


Ephesians 5:22-24. Now if we were to just stop here, which many people have done and many may want to do, we have a completely wrong understanding of submission. If only one party submits you have bondage, and unfortunately this is where many women have been during their lives, but this is not what Paul is saying here, Paul never says that only person has to submit – it is always both parties. When both parties in any relationship are willing to submit to each other we have freedom, so Paul goes on, Ephesians 5:25-30. The clear word of God here is for husbands to submit to their wives in love and be willing to love their wives to the depth that Christ has loved the church, or loved us. When we look at Jesus, we see that his love for us moved him to give everything he had, even his very life for us. So husbands need to be willing to sacrifice everything they have in order to love and care for their wives, they need to submit to them in love. It is mutual submission in the bonds of love and commitment that God calls for, yes wives submit to your husbands but husbands submit to your wives and in fact, husbands you are called to go deeper and take it a step farther – love your wives even to the point of death. What we begin to see here is that if we all practice the spiritual discipline of submission, if we are all willing to submit to God and to one another in love then we will have strong, healthy, life-giving relationships.

Paul continues to outline this understanding of submission in the family in Ephesians 6:1-4. Again, if we stop at children obey your parents we set up the possibility for unhealthy relationship that can lead to abuse and bondage and brokenness and the sad truth is that this has happened all to often, but when we see that parents are to submit in love and grace and patience to their children – we see how healthy life-giving relationships can grow and become strong. So again, when the world talks about submission it leads to abuse, but when God talks about submission it is mutual submission in love and that leads to life.

Paul takes this idea of submission one step further and talks about the relationships we have in our community when he talks about slaves and masters. Ephesians 6:5-9. Here is where we see mutual submission in love actually leading to freedom. It says masters were to treat their slaves the same way slaves were to treat their masters, which means masters were to serve their slaves and look out for the best interest which could lead to them actually setting their slaves free. In fact, Paul later addresses this very situation with a runaway slave who had become a Christian. Paul sends the slave, Onesimus, back to his master but with the clear call for the master to receive Onesimus not as a slave but as a brother. Because of their relationship with God through Jesus, a relationship which sets us all free, Paul calls Philemon, the master, to set Onesimus free. So instead of leading to bondage, mutual submission and the love of Christ can lead to freedom. This idea of mutual submission and love is how Paul began this whole teaching - Ephesians 5:21.

Now something that is important to think about here is that when Paul is writing this letter about submitting to one another he isn’t writing to wives, children or slaves to tell them to submit because first of all – they already were, but also, wives, children and slaves were not the ones who are going to read this letter. Most women at this time didn’t read, neither did children and while slaves might have been educated, they wouldn’t have been given the time to sit and discuss things in church – they were working. So this letter was not addressed primarily to women, children or slaves but to the men of the church, so Paul is clearly writing to those in power and those who have positions of authority and he is calling them to submit first. This teaching isn’t a call for wives, children and slaves to obey as many people have taught in the past or want to teach today, this is really a call for men and parents and owners and leaders and all people who are in a position of power to treat others well and to be willing to deny ourselves in order to care for those around us in love. So today, if we are in a position of power or authority in any situation or in any relationship then we need to ask ourselves if we are practicing this discipline of submission. In our families, at work and in the community are we submitting ourselves to others? Are we denying ourselves for the sake and well being of others?

It all comes back to Ephesians 5:21, submit to one another out of reverence to Christ. We could also say, submit to one another because of the example and the call of Christ. You see the reason we take this spiritual discipline seriously and think and pray about what it looks like for us to submit ourselves to God and others is because submission is the clear example and call of Jesus.

Jesus’ entire life was an example of submission and we see this in Philippians 2:6-7. Jesus submitted himself to God when he willing denied himself and came into this world. Jesus was fully God and as God he had every right to remain in heaven dwelling in all the splendor, power and glory of heaven, but Jesus didn’t hold on to that right, he denied himself all that heaven held to enter into this world. And then in this world Jesus again submitted himself to the will of God and denied himself all the rights and privileges he was due here. In this world Jesus was still King of kings and Lord of lords and he could have had everything handed to him, but he gave up his rights to live in a palace and be attended to by servants to become a servant. Jesus not only submitted himself to God, he submitted himself to us in this world and he did it to show us that the way of submission is in fact the way to life.

We see the submission of Jesus leading to freedom and life in the rest of this passage from Philippians 2:7-11. The submission of Jesus to the will of God and his self denial in this world did lead to the cross, but Jesus always knew that the cross was not the end of the story – an empty tomb and a resurrection were coming - freedom and victory and life was coming. When we look at the example of Jesus we see that his submission to God in heaven and in this world leads to freedom from sin and victory over death and eternal life for us all and what we need to learn here is that full submission to God and being willing to submit ourselves to one another in the context of God’s love and grace will also lead us to freedom and victory and life. This is why God calls us to practice this spiritual discipline of submission, because true freedom, victory and life are only found when we submit ourselves to Jesus and through Jesus to one another.

So we need to take this discipline seriously because we see it as the hallmark of Jesus life, but it is also the clear call of Jesus to all who want to follow him. Jesus said if anyone wants to become my disciple, deny yourself, take up a cross and follow me. When Jesus says this he is not calling us to pick up and carry an actual wooden cross on which we will be crucified, but he is calling us to take up a way of life that is characterized by self denial and submission. The cross for Jesus wasn’t a symbol of death as much as it was a symbol of self-denial and his being willing to submit himself to God. I wonder if we see that every time we see a cross.

Yes, the cross is a symbol of God’s love for us because it shows us the length and breadth and height that God was willing to go to save us, but it is also a symbol of submission because while Jesus did carry and die on an actual cross – he didn’t have to. There were any number of occasions when Jesus could have turned away from the cross and followed a different path. Remember last week we heard how the death of John the Baptist may have brought Jesus own death into clearer focus and Jesus could have turned in that moment to follow a road that would not lead to the cross, but he didn’t. Jesus denied himself, he gave up his rights to an easy, safe and comfortable life and chose to submit himself to God, and while his submission did lead to the cross, let’s not forget that the cross did lead to a resurrection and victory and life.

So the cross is a symbol of submission and when Jesus says we need to take up a cross and follow him, it means we need to learn how to submit ourselves to God and one another. Submission to God begins with a simple yes. Yes God I want to stop living for myself and start living for you and then submission is followed up in how we live out all of the spiritual disciplines we have looked at so far. Submission to God calls us to confess our sin to God, it calls us to study God’s word so that we can more fully understand God’s will, it calls us to let go of this world and all it’s excess stuff so we can get hold of God, and it calls us to find moments of solitude so we can hear God’s still small voice. Submission to God calls us to spend time in worship and prayer as we place God first in our lives. Submission to God is also an ongoing battle because our natural inclination is to live for ourselves and place ourselves first and think about what we want. So taking up a cross means that every day we are willing to stop thinking about what we want and what is good for us and begin to think about what God wants for us and what God wants from us.

Look at Philippians 2:4-5, if we all did this, if we all placed the needs of others before our own, we would all be loved, all be served and all be honored. If we submit to one another in love there is no abuse, no bondage, no brokenness but only life and freedom.

So when we talk about submitting ourselves to one another, here’s the question we need to ask:

• Have we placed the needs of others before our own?

• Have we placed the needs of our spouse and/or our children before our own?

• Have we placed the needs of those who work for us before our own?

• Have we placed the needs of those we work with in the church and community before our own?

• Have we placed the needs of those who are hungry and hurting in our world before our own?

If we haven’t placed the needs of others before our own, if we need to submit to God and one another, what is it going to look like and what will it take for us to do this?

For many of us, submission is not an easy thing to think about because we have seen it lead to abusive situations and pain, but in the context of God’s love and grace – submission leads to freedom and life. So where do we start? We start by submitting ourselves fully to God. We start by giving God full control of our lives here and now and yielding our will to His and then we allow God to teach us more fully what it means to take up a cross, to deny ourselves and follow Jesus.