Remember what these stones mean

As many of you know, Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day because it started when family and friends wanted to remember and honor those who had died during the Civil War by decorating their gravestones with flowers and flags and every stone that was decorated told a story. Today every stone that is decorated with flags and flowers also tells a story. Some stones remind us of dedication and service like the gravestone of Dr. Reuben Hunter in Boalsburg. Dr. Hunter was a surgeon with the 54th Pennsylvania regiment and he died of typhoid fever that he contracted while helping wounded soldiers on the front lines. It was his grave that was decorated by his family in what many of us believe began our Memorial Day tradition. His gravestone reminds us of the importance of service and sacrifice and caring for those in need. This stone, however, tells another story.

This is the gravestone of Pvt. Amos Myers of the 148th PA Volunteer Infantry who was killed in action at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863 and this was one of the other stones that was first decorated in Boalsburg. This stone tells the story of courage and valor as young Amos fought for freedom and the preservation of the union in the battle of Gettysburg. Both stones, like all the gravestones we will remember and decorate this weekend, are symbols of sacrifice and service, but each stone has a unique story to tell.

These stones  tell a very different story. This picture is from the National Cemetery in Fredericksburg VA that I was able to visit last weekend and it is the resting place for over 10,000 Union soldiers who died during the battle of Fredericksburg. The battle of Fredericksburg is known for 3 amazing facts. It featured the first opposed river crossing in American military history as Union troops bombarded the town of Fredericksburg from the opposite side of the Rappahannock River as soldiers built a pontoon bridge in order to move their troops into the city. It then featured the first urban combat in US military history as Union and Confederate soldiers fought hand to hand in the streets of Fredericksburg, and then as the battle moved just outside of town 200,000 men were engaged in combat which makes the battle of Fredericksburg the largest concentration of soldiers in any battle during the Civil War.

If you don’t remember your civil war history, it was just outside of the main town of Fredericksburg that the Union Army under the direction of Gen Ambrose Burnside faced off against the Confederate Troops under the leadership of Gen. Robert E. Lee. The main battle was fought in a field where Gen. Burnside sent in wave after wave of soldiers to attack the Confederate troops who held the much higher ground of what is known as Marye’s heights, which was a hill that was protected by what was known as the Sunken Road. Even though the Confederate Army’s defensive position on top of the hill and along the well protected road was very strong, Burnside sent seven divisions of Union soldiers across an open field to attack the South, and not one soldier ever reached the Confederate line. During the course of the day over 13,300 Union soldiers were killed or injured. Most of the men simply lay in the open field during the night with their cries for help filling the air and literally tormenting the soldiers on both sides of the conflict. It was one of the worst losses for the Union Army during the Civil War, and for a piece of local trivia here, it was Andrew Curtin, born in Bellefonte, who visited the battlefield and then went to the white house and told President Lincoln that Fredericksburg “was not a battle, it was butchery.”

As I stood along the Sunken Road at the bottom of Marye’s heights and looked out over the field where over 10,000 men were killed in the course of a day, I asked our guide from the park service what they did with all the bodies. She said that after the battle many were quickly buried in graves throughout the town, but then in 1865 after the end of the Civil War, they were all gathered into the Fredericksburg National Cemetery where today over 15,000 soldiers are buried, 80% of them are unknown and almost all of them union soldiers from the battle of Fredericksburg.

The National Cemetery is an interesting place. There is row upon row of gravestones that simply have numbers on them.

The top number is just an ID number but the bottom number tells you how many unknown soldiers are buried in that plot. The stones in this graveyard also tell a story. They remind us of the sheer number of men who died that day. They remind us of the courage and passion that both sides fought with, but the battle of Fredericksburg was such a poorly fought battle with such devastating losses that it was the victorious Confederate General, Robert E. Lee who said after the battle, "it is well that war is so terrible, or we would grow too fond of it." The battle of Fredericksburg was so physically and emotionally devastating for both sides that the stones in this cemetery remind us that war is ugly and tragic for everyone involved.

The stones we will decorate this weekend all tell a story. They tell a story of individual dedication and sacrifice and a willingness to service. Some remind us that war is ugly and that it robs our families and communities of our young men and women too soon. These stones tell us that life is short and precious but that sometimes freedom is worth fighting for. These stones tell us stories that we need to remember. It is good for us to have a day to remember what these stones tell us because we tend to forget things much too easily. God knows we are prone to forget which is why the number one command in the Bible is to Remember.

Throughout the Bible God calls us to remember his presence and power and his goodness and grace, and at times he even used stones to help the people remember. In 1 Samuel 7 the people of Israel were fighting a battle with their ongoing enemy the Philistines. Samuel was their leader at this time and he called the people not to fight harder but to turn back to God and seek his help. So all the Israelites gathered at a place called Mizpah and they rededicated themselves to faithfully serving God. When the Philistines heard that all of Israel had gathered together in one place they thought this was the perfect time for a sneak attack… this is where we pick the story up in 1 Samuel 7:10-14.

This is the story that we sang about this morning in the song come thou fount of every blessing. I like that we haven’t changed the words because when we sing, here I raise my Ebenezer, it forces us to ask, what’s an Ebenezer? It’s not the first name of Scrooge, well it is, but that is not what we are talking about here. The word Ebenezer means stone of help. Samuel literally set up a stone that told the story of how God helped his people during a battle and how it was God’s hand that delivered the people. Every time the people saw that stone it reminded them that God was there to help them. Every stone has a story.

I wonder if Samuel got the idea to raise an Ebenezer from Joshua. It was Joshua who finally led the people of Israel into the Promised Land and the last leg of their journey was to cross over the Jordan River. When the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant touched the water of the river, the waters stopped flowing and Joshua commanded 12 men, one from each tribe to pick up a stone from the middle of the river and carry it into the Promised Land. Joshua 4:5-7.

Those stones told a story. For generations to come when people saw those stones gathered together they told the story of how God delivered his people from Egypt, and how God cared for them for 40 years in the wilderness, patiently forgiving them when they failed and feeding them when they were hungry and even making water flow from a rock when they were thirsty. And those stones told the story of how God made both the Red Sea and the Jordan River turn to dry ground so that the people could cross over and live in freedom. Those stones told a story, the story of God’s power and faithfulness and love.

Actually, while God was the one who directed Joshua to set up those stones, the idea of stones telling the story of God’s presence goes all the way back to Jacob. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and he had tricked his brother Esau out of a blessing and because his brother was mad and wanted to kill him, he was now fleeing for his life. As Jacob was travelling he laid down to sleep one night and used a rock as a pillow and during the night he had a dream where God comes and blesses him, Genesis 28:15-18. So Jacob was maybe the first person to build a stone memorial and that stone told a story. It told the story of God’s presence in a time of need and told the story of God’s faithfulness to his promise.

It seems like every stone in the Bible has a story. Even in the New Testament every stone has a story. I want you to picture a dusty road
with Jesus and his disciples standing alone with a woman lying on the ground and all around them are stones. Large stones, small stones, but dozens and dozens and dozens of stones and each stone tells a story because just moments before those stones were being held in angry hands. The woman at the feet of Jesus had been caught in adultery and thrown to the ground because the people were ready to kill her. They had stones in their hands and they were ready to throw them at her when Jesus knelt down and began to write in the dust of the road. What he wrote, we don’t know, but one by one people dropped their stones and walked away until the woman is alone in front of Jesus and all around them are stones. Those stones tell a story, a story of forgiveness and a story of grace. Those stones tell the story of God’s power to change hearts and maybe convict people of sin but to also bring forgiveness. Every stone told a story.

And then the final stone to think about is a stone that on Saturday sealed a tomb, but on Sunday had been rolled away.

This stone told Jesus disciples and that stone tells the world that death and the grave do not have the final say. That stone tells us that the power of God and the power of God’s kingdom is greater than any force of evil, any force of darkness, any force of wickedness seen or experienced in this world. The stone that was rolled away from the tomb tells us that there in nothing in our lives that God can not overcome. That stone tells us the story of God’s victory over every force of darkness in the world and every sin in our lives.

So every stone tells a story. Some of the stones we will decorate with flags and flowers this weekend tell us the story of courage and service and sacrifice. Some will remind us of the pain and the deep losses we face due to war. As we look at those stones and think about those stories, I hope we will also remember what these stones mean and the stories they tell. Like Jacob, these stones remind us of God’s presence with us and that God is faithful to his promise. These stones remind us that God will lead us through all the challenges of life and that through his grace and mercy he will lead us into his kingdom. These stones tell us the story that God is here to be our help – that God can be our Ebenezer. These stones tell us that while God convicts us of sin – he is also the one who forgives. These stones also tell us that God is victorious over all things even death and so they remind us of what Paul said in Romans 8:31-39.

Every stone tells us a story and today we need to not only remember these stones and the stories they tell

but these 'biblical stones" and the stories and the truth of God they tell. May we hear and trust and stand upon these stones – and ultimately may we trust and stand upon THE STONE, the corner stone – Jesus Christ.




Next Steps: Remember

Take time during this holiday weekend to remember those who have served our nation:

• Attend a Memorial Day Service.
• With your family, thank God for those who have served.
• Pray for wounded and recovering soldiers.
• Pray for families grieving the loss of loved ones due to war.
• Pray for peace.

Find ways to remember those who have served or are serving in our military. Check out organizations like the USO (http://www.uso.org/) and the Wounded Warrior Project (www.woundedwarriorproject.org) as well as contacting local units to see how to support our local friends and neighbors who are serving in the military.

 Take time during this holiday to remember:

•  A time you experienced God’s presence
•  A time you experienced God’s provision
•  A time you experienced God’s power and help
•  A time you experienced God’s forgiveness

Remember these experiences with a stone and share these stories with others.

Jesus is the Vine

Sometimes understanding the context of Jesus’ teaching makes all the difference in how we interpret what he has to say and today’s passage from John is just such a case. When Jesus talked about being the Vine and his followers being the branches and how important it is for them to abide in him or stay connected him it was immediately after the last supper, and yet before Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. It could be that all of the teaching found in John 14, 15 and 16 took place as Jesus and his disciples walked from the upper room across the Kidron valley to Gethsemane, which means they were most likely walking along a vineyard when Jesus said, I am the vine and you are the branches.


By choosing that moment, Jesus would have been using the vineyard as an object lesson to teach his disciples that just as branches need to stay connected to the vine if they are going to survive and bear good fruit so his followers were going to need to stay connected to him, to abide in him, if they were going to both survive and bear good fruit. Jesus knew that some difficult days were coming for his disciples and so he tells them that above everything else what they needed to do was remain in him, to rely upon him and to trust him for all that they need.

But what’s interesting to think about is that when Jesus shared this teaching as they left the upper room, one of his disciples was not there. One of Jesus followers had already been cut off. Judas had already made the decision to turn away from Jesus which tells us that he wasn’t really abiding in him at all. Although Judas had been there for all the teaching, all the miracles, all the sharing of faith and power and glory, although Judas just moments earlier had shared in the Passover meal and even had his feet washed by Jesus, he never really abided in Jesus at all. So as Jesus and his disciples walk along the road that night he tells them the importance of staying faithful and connected to him because one of their group had already been cut off. One had already shown that he didn’t really abide in Jesus which means, according to verse 6, that he had been gathered up and thrown into the fire.

Seeing this teaching in its larger context of Judas betrayal shows us that we can attend church our entire lives, but that doesn’t mean we are abiding in Jesus. We can attend worship services and Sunday school every week and go on mission trips every year, but that doesn’t mean we are abiding in Jesus. Judas had done everything right, he attended all the right events and served in all the right ways, in fact he held an office in this new little faith community of disciples; he was their treasurer, but he never really abided in Jesus because we see that in the end he had his heart set on something else.

So the question we have to ask ourselves is: what vine are we abiding in? Where is our heart? Maybe for Judas the vine was wealth or power or maybe it was control – but it wasn’t Jesus. What are the priorities in our life? Is the vine we aide in God or is it our hunger for wealth, power or control? Is the Vine our family, friends or our job? Is the priority that drives us in life simply doing good works, gaining lots of knowledge or amassing the most number of friends we can on facebook? If we are abiding in any vine other than Jesus, if our first priority doesn’t include God than in time we become like Judas, we get cut off from God and then we don’t bear any fruit, or experience any of the fullness of life God offers. So the goal for us is to make sure we are abiding in Jesus.

But what does it mean to abide in Jesus? The word abide means to remain or stay. To abide in Jesus means we endure and wait and live in Him. To abide means we find our strength and our life’s vision and our security in God alone. A great image of what it means to abide comes from Psalm 91:1-2.

We see here that to abide in God means that we find our security in the shelter of God’s presence or under the shadow of God’s wing. Think of the protective wing of a mother bird. It shelters her children, keeps them safe from harm and allows them to grow until they can fly on their own. To abide in Christ means that Jesus is our refuge when we are week and our strength in times of need and a fortress when all around us looks like it is about to give way. To abide in Christ means to trust Jesus and depend upon him for all that we need. It means we place our feet on solid ground when all around us is shifting or sinking sand. It means when nothing in our lives is going right – we still turn to God because we know he is still there to love us, forgive us and just help us to the next day.

Now the challenge for us as we talk about what it means to abide in Jesus is that we can’t turn it into a list of things we should do, because remember, Judas did all the right things but he still wasn’t abiding in Jesus. In college a friend and I talked at length about this passage because I always wanted to figure out HOW to abide in Jesus. I wanted the fruit, I wanted the love, joy and peace, I wanted the assurance that I was with Jesus and that the fullness of life he offered was going to come my way so I kept trying to figure out HOW to do it, and my friend kept telling me that the key wasn’t to do but to abide, to rest in Jesus, to trust that God was working in me. Remember, he would say, the branch doesn’t really do anything; the fruit is simply produced as the branch stays connected to the vine. The key isn’t for us to be doing all the right things; the key is to stay connected to and trust in Jesus. I have to say this is hard for me because I always want to be doing something to grow in my faith, but at times we just need to rest and trust in Jesus.

While all of that is true, I’m a pretty practical person, so on a practical level it’s helpful for me to know how to order my lives in such a way that I am able to draw what I need in life from Jesus. Trust comes as we grow in our relationships, so how do we grow in our relationship with Jesus? How do we stay connected to the vine? How do we abide in Christ? Well if to abide means to stay connected than anything that we do to help us stay connected to Jesus or anything that opens our hearts and minds and lives to the presence of God is going to be helpful. For example, worship is a helpful tool for us if we want to draw our strength and power from God. But by worship we aren’t talking about sitting in the pews and taking up space on a Sunday morning. What we are talking about is an open heart to receive the love and the power God has for us. Worship means opening our ears and minds to hear God’s voice and to be shaped by God’s message for our world. Worship means surrendering ourselves to God so he can shape our motives and our desires.

This was what Judas didn’t do. Judas just sat in church, he listened to the teaching of Jesus but he didn’t allow it to shape him. He heard Jesus pray and even served others the way Jesus taught him, but he didn’t allow the love and grace and message of God to shape his heart. So just being in worship doesn’t mean we are abiding in Jesus, but it is one intentional way we can connect ourselves to God because it is here that we place our selves in the presence of God. The key is for us to allow God to speak to us and shape us and have his way with us during this time.

Actually, any activity through the church can be a way to abide in Christ: worship, small group learning, serving together in Jesus name and prayer are all ways to stay connected to God and to allow God to shape us, but ultimately it is not the activity that connects us, it is the open heart and the surrendered life. The same is true with any personal disciples of faith like prayer, devotions and even fasting and tithing – they can help us get connected or stay connected, but they do not guarantee that we are abiding because abiding isn’t what we do - it is an attitude and state of our heart.

Sometimes it is hard to know if we are abiding in Jesus, but there is one sure way we can determine if we are, we can look at our attitudes and actions and see if we can identify the good fruit that comes when we stay connected to the Vine. Jesus said that if we abide in him we will bear much fruit – good fruit – and this fruit is outlined for us in Galatians 5:22-23. So the good fruit that God produces in us when we are connected to him is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. When we experience this fruit in our lives we know that we are connected to God. When we grow in this fruit, when we feel ourselves become more gentle and patient, more filled with love and joy then we know that we are abiding in Jesus.

But this isn’t the only good fruit we produce, look at Colossians 3:12-17. So compassion and humility are also fruit that is produced as we abide in Jesus. Being willing to forgive others is a sign that we are abiding in Jesus. So there are lots of ways we can evaluate whether or not we are abiding in Jesus, it just takes some honest self reflection, or inviting others to speak to what they see and experience in us.

Now if we aren’t seeing the kind of fruit we want when we evaluate our lives, then our hearts and lives might need to be pruned in order to bear fruit. Now pruning is the act of taking off of a plant the branches that are wasteful or extra. We prune back many plants in our gardens so that they will grow stronger and be healthier in the long run, even if the process itself is painful. The same is true with us. Jesus said that all of us who bear fruit – God will prune (John 15:2). So God will work in all of us to deepen our faith and strengthen our dependence upon him, but the process of God’s pruning is not an easy one, look at James 1:2-4.

The trials we go through and the testing of our faith is part of the pruning process because it is during the difficult times that we learn to trust God more. I had a friend who used to say, Jesus won’t be all you need, until Jesus is all you have. We may not be able to abide in Jesus until every other vine we naturally turn to and trust in has been taken away and while that process can be difficult and painful, if the end result is that we are more firmly abiding in Jesus, more faithfully trusting in him, then we are in a much better place.

Because Jesus chose the walk from the upper room to the garden of Gethsemane to give us the teaching, he shows us what abiding in him looks like and what it doesn’t look like. It doesn’t look like Judas, who although he went through all the right motions, had motives that were far from God. He didn’t bear any good fruit and was cut off from God. Abiding in Jesus does looks like the disciples who in the next few hours went through the most difficult trials of their lives as they watched Jesus arrested and crucified. While they struggled to be faithful and at times failed miserably, they never stopped abiding, because they never stopped trusting. Even during their failure, their hearts never stopped looking to Jesus and through those trials they got stronger and in the end – they produced much good fruit. That’s what abiding looks. We struggle at times, we even fail, but if our hearts keep looking to Jesus and if we keep ordering our lives in a way to stay connected to God – we will grow stronger and in the end we will produce and taste much good fruit.

We are all in different places today as we think about what it means for us to abide in Jesus. Some of us need to stop trying to DO so much and just rest in Jesus. Some of us need to order our lives around God’s presence and word so that we are able to more intentionally draw from the life giving spirit of God. And some of us, in the midst of our trails and failures, need to just turn our eyes to Jesus knowing that He is there.

No… we need to turn our eyes to Jesus knowing that He is HERE. So let us abide in Jesus and find life.



Next Steps

Jesus is the Vine.

What Vine are you abiding in? What are the priorities in your life?
God, Family, Job, TV, Sports, Friends
Good works, Knowledge, Social Media

What 3 practices currently help you abide in Jesus?
1.
2.
3.

What new practices can help you more fully abide in Jesus this week?
1.
2.

To abide in Christ often requires pruning (the cutting away of that which is wasteful or not productive). What needs to be pruned from your life so you can more effectively abide in Christ and bear fruit?

We abide in Christ to bear fruit (see Galatians 5:22-23,
1 Corinthians 13, Colossians 3:12-17).
Which fruit do you experience most often in your life?
Which fruit do you most want God to produce?

Jesus Is The Door

The last couple of weeks we have been taking about the vision God gives us for our lives. The story of the disciple Thomas who struggled to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead showed us that God gives each of us a vision that is personal, powerful and purpose-full and then last week see saw that God shapes this vision through ordinary moments of life and everyday moments of life in the church. God also shapes this vision through the opportunities he gives us to serve those in need and I know that in different ways God shaped the lives of the over 100 people who served yesterday in our first Annual day of service. Today I want us to keep thinking about God’s vision for our lives and how God works to refine and clarify that vision by looking at a teaching of Jesus found in the gospel of John. John 10:1-10.


One of the most familiar images for God used in the Bible is that of a shepherd. Psalm 23, King David says, the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, and then David goes on to talk about all the ways God as a shepherd leads and guides his people. Here Jesus builds on that idea and talks about himself being the shepherd who not only guides God’s people but who at times acts as a gate or a door for the sheep.

In Jesus day, there were two places that shepherds could take their sheep for the night. If they were near a town they would take the sheep to a common pen in the village that all shepherds would use and the sheep would be all mixed together for the night. 

A watchman would stand guard at the gate to make sure no one entered to steal the sheep while the shepherds slept and then in the morning, each shepherd would come to the gatekeeper who would let them in. Once inside the pen, the shepherd would call out to their sheep and the sheep would recognize that voice and follow their shepherd out of the pen. Through this process, all the sheep would be separated into their own flocks and the shepherd would lead them out to find food and water.

Now if a shepherd was not close to a town and so had to keep the sheep out in the fields through the night they would find one of many small stoned pens that dotted the countryside where they could keep their sheep safe for the night.

As you can see , the problem with these pens was that there was no gate, so the shepherd would literally become the gate, or door, by lying down across the entrance to the pen. The presence of the shepherd would keep the sheep inside the pen through the night by becoming a physical barrier that would keep them from just wandering off. The shepherd’s presence also helped keep the wild animals away. So the shepherd literally become a door that closed off the dangers of the night and then in the morning when the shepherd got up the door would be open for the sheep to go out and find food and water for the day. As a good shepherd, Jesus is the door who shuts out the dangers of the past and open up to us the potential of the future and it is this opening and closing that refines God’s vision for our lives.

As we think about Jesus being this door in our lives, let’s start with how Jesus is the door who shuts out the dangers of the past. None of us has to look too far into our past to find some problem that can keep us from moving forward in life or in faith. For Thomas it was his struggle to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. For Peter it was wondering if Jesus could ever forgive him for denying that he was one of his followers. For the apostle Paul it was the pain of a life spent persecuting the followers of Jesus and seeking to put an end to both their ministry and their lives. For us it might be a failed relationship that keeps us from being able to trust or love anyone – including God. It might be the guilt of having been the one who failed in the relationship and broken vows made in marriage. It might be the pain of losing a loved one, or the pain of losing a job, or a house or our savings. The problems of our past might just be the reality of our own sin because every day we are reminded how we fall short of God’s glory.

Our lives, all of our lives, are filled with sin and failure, brokenness and pain, shame and guilt and if we can’t shut the door to these problems we will never be able to move forward. If we spend all our time looking behind us reliving the past, we can never really move ahead in life. Have you ever noticed in a car how small the rearview mirror is compared to the windshield? There’s a lesson for us in that – we need to spend more time looking forward than we do looking back and the only way we can really do this is to ask Jesus to be the door that shuts out the problems of our past pain and problems and sin.

But asking Jesus to be the closed door to our past doesn’t mean we just ignore our problems or pretend like they aren’t real. That’s called denial and usually those problems come back to disrupt our lives. Asking Jesus to be the closed door means asking Jesus to bring real forgiveness, healing, hope or understanding which brings closure and freedom so we can move forward. If what we need is Jesus to be the closed door to the reality of our sin than we need to understand the reality of God’s forgiveness which does close the door to the guilt and shame that comes with sin. Jesus is always willing and wanting to do just that, to be the door which removes our sin from us.

When a woman was caught in the very act of adultery, the very act of her sin, Jesus didn’t ignore her problem or pretend like she never sinned – he forgave her and in that forgiveness closed the door to her past. Jesus said to the woman, neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. Jesus forgave her and his forgiveness shut the door to her past so that she was free to live a new life, to really be able to go and sin no more. If what we struggle with is closing the door to our past sin, then we need to come to terms with the reality of God’s forgiveness. In Psalm 103:12 it says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our sin from us. God’s forgiveness is not God looking the other way, it is God wiping the slate clean, and it is God wiping our hearts clean. In this forgiveness, Jesus becomes the closed door to our sin and all the guilt and shame that comes with it, which allows us to experience the freedom of new life.

If what we need is for Jesus to be the closed door to our past pain and loss, then what we need from Jesus is healing and hope which is exactly what Jesus offered people during his lifetime. To those who only knew the reality of disease and the loss that comes with it (like the lepers, blind and lame) – Jesus brought healing. To those who felt shunned by society and unworthy of love and acceptance (like the sinners and outcast), Jesus brought a sense of self worth and dignity that filled them with hope which gave them life. Again, Jesus didn’t pretend like their problems weren’t real – he faced them head on and brought about real changes in people’s lives. In the midst of our own pain and loss – God still is able to bring healing and hope. God affirms us when we need it, he offers encouragement and direction and love when we need it - which all becomes the closed door to our past pain and loss.

So Jesus is the door who helps us shut out the problems of our past but there is another purpose of a door and that is to open up for us new opportunities so we can move forward. Sheep couldn’t be kept in a pen forever because they would run out of grass to eat, and there was no water for them, so the door had to be opened if they were going to experience the fullness of life and the same is true us. We need Jesus to be the open door for us to grow in faith and experience abundant life, and that is exactly what Jesus does.

When Jesus called people to follow him, the reason they did was because they saw in and through Jesus new possibilities for their lives. When Jesus looked at Peter, Andrew, James and John he didn’t see fishermen – he saw skilled, hard working, organized leaders who had passion and faith and who in time could teach, preach and love others enough to change the world. Jesus saw this and in time these fisherman came to see the same thing. Jesus was the door to a new life for them. What I love about Jesus is that he never sees us for who we are in this moment – he sees the new creation we can become when we are willing to trust in Him to be that open door.

In 2 Corinthians 5:12 Paul writes, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see everything has become new? And all of this is from God. In other words, Jesus is the closed door to the past and the open door to new life so when we are in Jesus, we are trusting in Jesus, we can step out and experience the abundant life Jesus offers.

But here is the most important thing to remember about a door, it is only good if we use it. A door is only good if we use it, and the way we use this door is simple, we trust in Jesus. If Jesus is the door then to find freedom from our past and hope for our future, we need to learn how to trust Him. We need to learn how to trust the forgiveness God offers us through Christ. We need to trust Jesus to truly take away our sin, to remove it completely from us. To trust Jesus as the door means trusting Him to heal our pain and fill up the areas of loss in our lives that we sometimes we don’t want to let go of. Trusting Jesus to be the closed door in our lives means trusting Jesus to forgive us and heal us and love us.

Trusting Jesus to be the open door in our lives means trusting Him to love us enough to provide new opportunities for us that might stretch us but will not break us. Sometimes trusting Jesus to walk in new ways is hard because change is hard and trying new things is hard and taking a risk a hard – but if we trust God to love us – then walking with Jesus into new opportunities won’t be a terror but an adventure.

The process of Jesus being closed doors to our past and open doors to our future is part of how God refines and clarifies His vision in our lives because every closed door brings an end to one direction and every open door brings a new direction and as we walk with Jesus, God guides us and leads us to where he wants us to be. Sometimes this process is long and slow and painful – sometimes it is quick and simple and full of joy but the end result is always the same – we end up where God wants us and doing what it is God wants us to do. We also end up with a clearer Vision of what God wants for our lives.

Jesus is the door in your life today. He is the door who brings closure to the pain of yesterday and he is the door to the exciting potential and purpose of tomorrow. So today, let us trust Jesus to be the door who through his closing and opening brings abundant life.
 

Next Steps
Jesus is the door.

What door does Jesus want to close in your life?
The door to past sin? Guilt? Shame? Pain? Loss? Failure?

• Identify past problems and ask God to bring the healing, hope and forgiveness you need to close that door.

• Use Psalm 103:8-14 and 2 Corinthians 5:16-20 as tools to bring about needed closure.


What door does Jesus want to open in your life?
The door to new opportunities? Relationships? Faith? Power?

• Name one door God has opened for you in the past that you walked through with success. Celebrate that victory.

• Name one door you sense God has open before you today.

• What will it take for you to walk through that door? Who can help you take the necessary step?



Opening and closing doors is a way God refines VISION.
Make a list of doors God has closed and opened in our life in the past few years and begin to look for God’s vision through these doors.
Opened:

Closed:

God’s vision:

Shaping Vision

Last week when we looked at the story of Thomas, we saw that when Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection and gave him the opportunity to place his hand in the mark of the nails and the wound in his side, he was giving Thomas a personal, powerful and purpose-filled vision for his life. The vision of the resurrected Jesus forever changed Thomas and it gave him a mission, but this God given vision didn’t come all at once. It was over a period of time that God worked intentionally and patiently in shaping the vision for Thomas and God works just as patiently and intentionally in shaping the vision he gives for our lives as well, and we see how and when God shapes vision from the resurrection story found in Luke 2436-49.


It is again immediately after the resurrection of Jesus and the disciples are struggling to understand what is going on. They are filled with doubts and fear because they are not sure if Jesus is alive, but they are also experiencing some joy and amazement because some among them said that they have seen him. Mostly what the disciples are right now is confused and it is into the confusion that Jesus appears and again shows them his hands and feet. Now the reason Jesus does this is to help shape their vision. Like Thomas, they need to see a resurrected Jesus, but like Thomas they also need to be sure that the one they are seeing is Jesus, so Jesus gives them proof. The mark of the nails in Jesus hands and feet would convince the disciples that the person they are talking to really is Jesus and then when he asks them for something to eat it shapes their vision again because it helps them understand that they aren’t seeing a ghost but the living, breathing resurrected Jesus. Just as he did with Thomas, Jesus gave his disciples a personal and powerful vision to assure them that he was alive but something else we learn here is how and when God goes about shaping that vision.

The first thing we notice here is that Jesus comes to his disciples in some very ordinary moments of life. It says that they were just gathered together talking about what had been going on when Jesus appeared. Maybe it is during lunch because we see that there is some broiled fish at hand, whenever it is, Jesus just appears to them in the course of their day. They aren’t doing anything special or particularly religious at this moment, they are just living their lives. In the gospel of John there is a story about how Jesus prepared breakfast for the disciples while they were out fishing and then invited them to come and eat with him. Again eating with the disciples helped shape their vision because it reminded them that Jesus was indeed alive, but by coming to them at breakfast shows us that God chooses to shape vision during the daily routines of life.

Throughout the Bible, God has shaped the vision of His people through ordinary daily events. Moses was at work tending sheep when God appeared to him in the burning bush and gave him a new vision for his life. The people of Israel had their faith in God shaped every day through the simple routine of gathering food. As God’s people travelled through the wilderness they learned how to trust God by going out every morning and gathering up the bread, or the manna, that God provided. By giving them only what they needed for each day, God was shaping his people and teaching them to lean on him and trust him every day for what they needed. If they tried to provide for themselves and gather more manna than what they needed, God made the manna rot through the night. Through all of this, God was shaping their vision and helping them see that God could be trusted each and every day, and God did all of this through the simply routine of gathering food.

Too many times we think we have to be in some holy place doing some religious thing for God to speak to us, reveal himself to us or shape our lives but actually the opposite is true. God usually works to shape vision through very ordinary moments and daily routines. For example, God shapes our vision while we work. Whether it is a paid job or the time we give volunteering to help others, God shapes our lives through the work we do each and every day. When we feel satisfied and fulfilled in what we are doing, it can confirm that we are right where God wants us, but if we are feeling unsatisfied and longing for something different or something more it can be a prompting from God for us to explore something new.

The reason I am a pastor today is because the job I had as a manager of a movie theater just didn’t fulfill me and then after a few years of searching and studying I spent a year as an intern in a local church and it was while I was working in the church each and every week that I realized, this is where God wants me. He shaped my vision through daily routines and jobs that I had.

Now just a word of advice here, if you are feeling like God is shaping your vision for a different vocation or a different job, and you are wanting to move in that new direction, don’t quit where you are now! Seriously, don’t stop doing what you are doing, instead allow God to guide you from one place to the next. Not only are there realities of life that need to be cared for by your current paycheck, but since God uses our current jobs to shape our vision for the future, we need to trust that when a new opportunity is needed God will bring it to us. We can explore all we want, but if we quit where we are without knowing where we are going – we cut ourselves off from one of the ways God chooses to shape us and that is through our work. So we need to keep going in our work because that’s when and where God shapes the vision he has for us.

Another ordinary daily event that gives shape to God’s vision is when we eat together. Jesus had breakfast with the disciples; he actually cooked it for them and then invited them to eat with him. Here in Luke Jesus asks for food to eat and eating the broiled fish actually helped strengthen the faith of the disciples – it helped them believe that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, but maybe Jesus was also setting an example saying it is important to eat togehter. These moments of eating together shaped vision and eating together can still shape vision. Spending time with family around a table where we share food and faith actually does shape our lives. Studies show that children and youth learn more from eating meals together with their families than maybe any other time during the day. If we want God’s hand to shape the vision for our lives and for our family then we can’t ignore the important routine of meals together – breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Now it’s not just the ordinary times of life that God uses to shape vision; it is also simple routines of life in the church. Jesus most often appeared to his followers, gave vision to their lives and deepened and directed their faith when they were gathered together. It’s while they were together talking about what had happened that Jesus appeared and stood among them (Luke 24:36). Jesus shaped their vision by opening their minds so they could understand the scriptures and he did this, he taught them, when they were together (Luke 24:44-45). In other words it was during Bible Study that God shaped the lives of the disciples and gave them a clearer vision and a better understanding of all that had taken place and all that was to come. Today the world has a good understanding of what Jesus’ life, death and resurrection are all about because the disciples were willing to have God shape their lives through small group learning.

This is why Sunday School classes, small groups and bible studies are so important, it is one of the ways God shapes His vision in us. Thomas was able to share his faith with the world because he was there when Jesus taught them and opened up for them the scriptures. He was there when Jesus explained what had happened and what they needed to do in the future. Thomas was there when Jesus gave them the mission of making disciples of all nations. God’s vision for our lives will take some molding and shaping and while that can and does take place in a lot of different ways we can’t ignore the power of small group learning.

Teaching in small groups was one of the very first things Jesus did after the resurrection and we see throughout the book of Acts that the early church continued to commit themselves to this way of life. The disciples prayed together, worshipped together, learned together, met together, celebrated baptism and communion together, they lived as a church together and their daily routine as a community of faith was used by God to shape the vision He had for them.

If we want God to shape the vision he has for us, we need to commit ourselves to meeting together for worship, prayer, learning and service. My hope for the youth who have been confirmed and baptized today is that they will take this to heart. You know, Confirmation isn’t graduation; you aren’t leaving the church today, look around at your family and friends who gather here each week. One of the reasons we do this is because we want God to keep shaping the vision he has for us and we believe God does that most powerfully every time we come together. The vision God has for our lives will be shaped as we continue to take part in the ordinary moments of life in the church. Worship, study, fellowship, service, prayer, mission trips, coffee and cookies, church dinners - they are all ways God shapes the vision he has for us and making the commitment today in words to keep going in this way of life and faith isn’t enough for any of us, we need to make this our way of life.

And then Luke 24 shows us that God goes about shaping vision in our lives through mission and ministry. Look at Luke 24:48-49. God sends his disciples out to work, to be witnesses to what they have seen and learned from Jesus and to share God’s power with others. When we serve God in any capacity in the church or in the world, it is an opportunity for God to shape the vision he has for us. There are many people right here, who have had their lives changed by going on a mission trip. Working day after day meeting the needs of people shapes our hearts and lives and we don’t leave those weeks the same. Going away on a mission trip may not be possible for many people due to commitments and schedules, but we would invite you to serve for a day – next Saturday to be exact. Serve the needs of your friends and neighbors. Reach out to those in the church and community who need some help doing things they just can’t do on their own right now and as you serve I guarantee that God will be shaping the vision he has for your life.

As we saw with Thomas, God’s vision always involves reaching out to others. It always involves loving and caring for others so it makes sense that God would shape our lives as we are serve. If you feeling somewhat unsure about the God given vision for your life then step out and serve in some way, in any way. Serve in the church or volunteer in the community, it doesn’t matter - what matters is being the hands and feet of Jesus so that God can place his hands on us and give shape and direction to our lives.

God doesn’t just reveal the vision he has for us in one shining moment and then return to heaven. God is the master potter who diligently and patiently molds us and gives shape to the vision he has for our lives. The shaping comes during the daily routines of life and the ordinary moments of life in the church and it comes when we are willing to stretch ourselves and reach out in love to serve others. May we allow God the opportunity to shape the vision he has for our lives through the simple routines of this day and this week and through our life and service together as the church.


Next Steps
Shaping Vision

God shapes vision during ordinary moments of life:
• Plan to eat one additional meal this week with your family (or friends) and make sure to start with a prayer asking God to shape the vision He has for you.
• Pray before work each day this week and ask God to use your job or service to give shape to His vision.

God shapes vision during ordinary moments in church:
• Commit to being in worship 4 of the next 6 weeks.
• Gather with others in Sunday School or Bible Study for the next 4 weeks so God can open your mind and help you understand the Scriptures.

God shapes vision during ordinary moments of ministry:
• Sign up today to help those in need next Saturday and be part of our Serving Our Seniors mission event.
• Volunteer one Sunday next month to work with our children’s ministry.
• Give one day during the next month to a community organization that you feel passionately about (PAWS, Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Red Cross…).