March 8, Second Sunday in Lent

Lesson: Galatians 5.1-15

Sermon Title: Lazy Liberty

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INTRODUCTION

Out of the mouths of God's kids (1)

After Sunday school in a Methodist church, a mother asked her three-year-old boy what they had studied that day.

"We talked about Lent," the boy replied. "Lent is the stuff between your toes after you take your socks off."

  1. For a lot of people this is Lent, lint.

    1. They can take it or leave it.

    2. They can participate on a level just above stop.

    3. They can give up what they have given up to get what they have given up.

Sign Off (2)

During a family dinner, my four-year-old granddaughter Madelyn Anne announced, "I gave up chocolate for Lent."

Later that evening, Madelyn asked if I had any candy. "Yes, I do," I replied. "I have some M&Ms."

Her face lit up in anticipation, but quickly changed to a pout when her older sister Amanda reminded her of her promise.

Madelyn thought for a second, then shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, I'll just have to give up Lent."

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MAIN BODY:

  1. For some people Lent is a time to explore the meaning and purpose of Christianity.

    1. We concentrate our efforts on the preparation for Freedom Day.

      1. Freedom Day may be the day that we stop working for our governments: Federal, State and Local, and start working for ourselves.

      2. Wisconsin Tax Freedom day for 2009 is approximately May 2.

      3. It is hard within the present economy to fix this early on a particular day.

    2. There is one Freedom Day that is fixed.

      1. This is God's Freedom Day.

      2. God's Freedom Day is Resurrection Day.

    3. This is not only a day in the past to celebrate, but we anticipate the celebration of the Day to Come.

5:1For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

    1. T.hese 15 verses of Galatians 5 open up vast springs of nutrition and information.

      1. Nutrition is food.

        1. The word is food.

        2. Food for the soul, the spirit.

      2. The information establishes an understanding.

        1. It reveals what is the proper diet.

        2. It communicates the essentials of diet.

  1. It appears that the celebration of the Galatians was being hindered, obstructed, prevented by those who insisted in an integration of the Old and the New.

    1. In verse 7 a question is asked, Who prevented you from running well?

      1. Who prevented them from obeying the truth?

      2. Who set obstacles in their way?

      3. What hindrances did they have to face and overcome?

    2. May we spend our time together this morning contemplating the hindrances that get in our own way.

      1. What is it that prevents us from enjoying life with Jesus?

      2. How may we unburden ourselves and learn to run well?

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  1. Let's examine some hindrances.

    1. We have to let go of that which gets in our way.

Joe Garagiola, former major league baseball star and TV personality, tells about a time when Stan Musial came to the plate in a critical game. As a super- hitter, Musial was at the peak of his career.

The opposing pitcher in the game was young and nervous. Garagiola, as the catcher, called for a fastball, and the pitcher

shook his head; Joe signaled for a curve, and again, the pitcher shook him off. He then asked for one of the pitcher's specialties, and still the pitcher hesitated.

So Joe went out to the mound for a conference. He said, "I've called for every pitch in the book; what do you want to throw?"

"Nothing," was the pitcher's shaky reply. "I just want to hold on to the ball as long as I can."

      1. How many of us know how that pitcher felt?

      2. We hold on to that of which we ought to let go.

        1. Do we need an enumerated list?

        2. I don't think so.

        3. We probably know well what gets in our way.

    1. Second we need the right kind of information in sufficient quantities.

      1. Keith Wagner in "Navigating the wilderness relates an enlightening story that illustrates the point: (3)

A man and his family were sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. He had little experience and he had never been in waters where you had to navigate. Unfortunately he ran aground. The Coast Guard came to his aid and towed him back into safe waters. When they asked to see his chart he handed them a Rand McNally road map. He had been navigating with a road map and not a nautical chart. For those of you who know nothing about sailing, a nautical chart shows the depth of the water, shoals, obstacles and channels.

      1. Too many people are navigating through life with the wrong map.

        1. Instead of looking outward seeking help, they look inward, relying on their own resources.

        2. Instead of plotting a course they just wander from here to there with very little planning and a lack of goals.

        3. People also live in the past, doing things the same way they have always done them before, taking no risks and having no adventure.

        4. When the journey gets difficult people get stuck, like the fellow who went aground.

          1. All seems hopeless.

          2. They are not prepared to face rough waters or weather the storms that arise.

          3. They can't cope with a crisis and they are unable to adapt to changing conditions.

    1. Third we listen to those individuals or groups who can help us.

      1. It was August 18, 1807, a man watched as Robert Fulton tested his steamboat.

He kept yelling, It'll never start! It'll never start.

Just then the steamboat pulled away from the dock and moved majestically up the Hudson River.

That observer quickly changed his tune. He yelled: It'll never stop! It'll never stop!

      1. We all know these people.

        1. They go by different names:

        2. the failure-predictors, the trouble-warners, the obstacle-visionaries, the problem-imaginers, the we-can't-afford-it cost-estimators.

      2. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises, observes:

' It is characteristic of the evil spirit to harass with anxiety, to afflict with sadness, to raise obstacles backed by fallacious reasonings that disturb the soul. It is characteristic of the good spirit, however, to give courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations and peace.

      1. We have a guide book that opens up resources that we can use mightily.

        1. Paul observation is that the Galatian believers were going backwards instead of forwards.

        2. They were using old and useless information instead of what they had received through his ministry.

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    1. We take the time to identify our own inner obstacles which are unique to ourselves yet experienced by others.

      1. In their book Sacred Bull: The Inner Obstacles That Hold You Back at Work and How to Overcome ThemAlbert J. Bernstein and Sydney Craft Rozen list these ten Sacred Bulls as the key assumptions we live by that are wrong for the new world. (4)

          1. Denial: I don't see the problem so it isn't there.

          2. Blind Spots and Shortcuts: What I don't like can't be important.

          3. Self-Interest: Always look out for Number One.

          4. Mind Reading: People should know what I want without being told.

          5. Blame: If something goes wrong, it has to be somebody's fault.

          6. Being Nice: Avoid conflict at all cost.

          7. Perfection: If it's not perfect, it's nothing.

          8. Fairness: I don't need to negotiate for what I want; I just want fairness.

          9. Excuses: There's always a good reason why I don't follow the rules everyone else works by.

          10. Being Right: There's a right way and a wrong way; my way is right.

      2. Perhaps you see yourself in one or more of these obstacle.

      3. There is a way to overcome.

  1. You may be uncomfortable with the concept of circumcision.

          1. What Paul is communicating is the difference between Law and Grace.

          2. Listen to what Paul says in verses 2-6:

    5:2Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. 4You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.

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  1. The only thing that counts is faith working through love.

    2. In his book The Kingdom of God Is a Party, Tony Compolo tells of flying to Hawaii to speak at a conference. He describes checking into his hotel and trying to get some sleep. Unfortunately, his internal clock wakes him at 3:00 a.m. The night is dark, the streets are silent, the world is asleep, but Tony is wide awake and his stomach is growling.

    He gets up and prowls the streets, looking for a place to get some bacon and eggs for an early breakfast. Everything is closed except for a grungy dive in an alley. He goes in and sits down at the counter. The fat guy behind the counter comes over and asks, "What d'ya want?"

    Well, Tony isn't so hungry anymore, so eying some donuts under a plastic cover he says, "I'll have a donut and black coffee."

    As he sits there munching on his donut and sipping his coffee at 3:30, in walk eight or nine provocative, loud prostitutes just finished with their night's work. They plop down at the counter and Tony finds himself uncomfortably surrounded by this group of smoking, swearing hookers. He gulps his coffee, planning to make a quick getaway. Then the woman next to him says to her friend, "You know what? Tomorrow's my birthday. I'm gonna be 39."

    To which her friend nastily replies, "So what d'ya want from me? A birthday party? Huh? You want me to get a cake, and sing happy birthday to you?"

    The first woman says, "Aw, come on, why do you have to be so mean? Why do you have to put me down? I'm just sayin' it's my birthday. I don't want anything from you. I mean, why should I have a birthday party? I've never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?"

    Well, when Tony Campolo heard that, he said he made a decision. He sat and waited until the women left, and then he asked the fat guy at the counter, "Do they come in here every night?"

    "Yeah," he answered.

    "The one right next to me," he asked, "she comes in every night?"

    "Yeah," he said, "that's Agnes. Yeah, she's here every night. She's been comin' here for years. Why do you want to know?"

    "Because she just said that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you think? Do you think we could maybe throw a little birthday party for her right here in the diner?"

    A cute kind of smile crept over the fat man's chubby cheeks. "That's great," he says, "yeah, that's great. I like it." He turns to the kitchen and shouts to his wife, "Hey, come on out here. This guy's got a great idea.

    Tomorrow is Agnes' birthday and he wants to throw a party for her right here."

    His wife comes out. "That's terrific," she says. "You know, Agnes is really nice. She's always trying to help other people and nobody does anything nice for her."

    So they make their plans. Tony says he'll be back at 2:30 the next morning with some decorations and the man, whose name turns out to be Harry, says he'll make a cake.

    At 2:30 the next morning, Tony is back. He has crepe paper and other decorations and a sign made of big pieces of cardboard that says, "Happy Birthday, Agnes!" They decorate the place from one end to the other and get it looking great. Harry had gotten the word out on the streets about the party and by 3:15 a.m. it seemed that every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. There were hookers wall to wall.

    At 3:30 on the dot, the door swings open and in walk Agnes and her friend. Tony has everybody ready. They all shout and scream "Happy Birthday, Agnes!" Agnes is absolutely flabbergasted. She's stunned, her mouth falls open, her knees start to buckle, and she almost falls over.

    And when the birthday cake with all the candles is carried out, that's when she totally loses it. Now she's sobbing and crying. Harry, who's not used to seeing a prostitute cry, gruffly mumbles, "Blow out the candles, Agnes. Cut the cake."

    So she pulls herself together and blows them out. Everyone cheers and yells, "Cut the cake, Agnes, cut the cake!"

    But Agnes looks down at the cake and, without taking her eyes off it, slowly and softly says, "Look, Harry, is it all right with you if ... I mean, if I don't ... I mean, what I want to ask, is it okay if I keep the cake a little while? Is it all right if we don't eat it right away?"

    Harry doesn't know what to say so he shrugs and says, "Sure, if that's what you want to do. Keep the cake. Take it home if you want."

    "Oh, could I?" she asks. Looking at Tony she says, "I live just down the street a couple of doors; I want to take the cake home, is that okay? I'll be right back, honest."

    She gets off her stool, picks up the cake, and carries it high in front of her like it was the Holy Grail. Everybody watches in stunned silence and when the door closes behind her, nobody seems to know what to do. They look at each other. They look at Tony.

    So Tony gets up on a chair and says, "What do you say that we pray together?" And there they are in a hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon, half the prostitutes in Honolulu, at 3:30 a.m. listening to Tony Campolo as he prays for Agnes. Tony recalls, "I prayed that her life would be changed, and that God would be good to her."

    When he's finished, Harry leans over, and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he says, "Hey, you never told me you was a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to anyway?"

    In one of those moments when just the right words came, Tony answers him quietly, "I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning."

    Harry thinks for a moment, and in a mocking way says, "No you don't. There ain't no church like that. If there was, I'd join it. Yep, I'd join a church like that."

    1. Is this faith working though love.

    2. You know it is.

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CONCLUSION:

    1. So there we have it.

    2. We may identify our liabilities and hold on to the divine power to help us create a better life.

Amen

1. © Fellowship of Merry Christians, The Joyful Noiseletter, March 2006. Used with permission

2. Nancy Whitley, Memphis, Tennessee, ChristianityToday.com Connection Newsletter (HTML) [connection-html@lists.christianitytoday.com]

3. Keith Wagner, "Navigating the wilderness," April 1, 2001. right.net/~coth/navigate.htm. Retrieved August 11, 2005.

4. Albert J. Bernstein and Sydney Craft Rozen, Sacred Bull: The Inner Obstacles That Hold You Back at Work and How to Overcome Them (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994)

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